Iron Dragon Question!

Okay, so when I was little, Iron Dragon is the ride that got me into roller coasters, and I still ride it to this day, although it just seems like a senic tour of trees now. Anyway, since the beginning of the 2009 season I have noticed that the first lift hill has decreased in speed by a lot! It almost stops every time in the middle of the lift. Am I the only one seeing this?

Oh yeah, and it seems like that thing breaks down every hour or has some kind of malfunction every hour. Am I the only one seeing this, too. One time a friend and I counted, and it malfuntioned SEVEN TIMES in one day. What is wrong with it??? Once, we got stuck in the middle of the second lift hill, and the other train already was sent down the first lift hill, and was on a crash course to us. In fact, the second train crempt right on behind us and stopped gently on the block brakes at the bottom of the second lift hill, then slightly tapping our train.

So, does anyone else notice this? And does anyone know what happened from between 2008 and 2009?

(So sorry, I know this post is a novel :) )

I have noticed for a few years now that Iron Dragon does slow down a little on the first lift. However, sometimes they will stop it on the second lift on purpose to prevent the trains from hitting each other.

It has to slow down. cpboy77 can't hold his cookies if it goes normal speed.

I dont know about the breaking down 7 times in one day thing but the story you told about stopping on the second lift doesn't sound that out of the ordinary to me. The ride did what it was suppose to do.

How many trains can they run? Three?

Iron Dragon Answer!

^Nice!

From what I understand, Lift 1 will slow down depending on where the the train in front is at on Lift 2.

Meaning that if train 1 is dispatched and is still on the course when the 2nd train is dispatched, lift 1 will slow down until train 1 makes it through the block brakes. Once train 1 makes it through the brakes, lift 1 will speed up. Get it?

As for the rest of what you asked, I have no idea. I suppose its just an older coaster which will tend to have more problems than the newer ones. Plus while you might have seen it go down seven times in one day, it could have had no downtime at all the day before or the following day. Just because a ride has a lot of downtime on one day does not equal a ride with a lot of downtime.

ThePoint'sBiggestFan said:
Once, we got stuck in the middle of the second lift hill, and the other train already was sent down the first lift hill, and was on a crash course to us. In fact, the second train crempt right on behind us and stopped gently on the block brakes at the bottom of the second lift hill, then slightly tapping our train.

First of all the safety features and block system do not allow that to happen and if they failed the ride would have been shut down for a very long time and the state would have to come and inspect the ride. none of which ever happened... so this is just a complete story. Please do not come on here telling stories. It makes you look very dumb.

That story sounds believable to me. Remember what happened with Magnum? Yeah, that was up and running in no time at all and it was a little more than a "bump". Ever seen the picture of Raptor with two trains on the lift? Little bumps like what he has explained can and do happen.

I haven't seen that picture. Where can I see it?

I could have swore I heard someone yell, "Here comes the train!" from behind me, but who knows because it was Halloweekends, it was dark and foggy, and I couldn't tell what was happening. All I know is that we were stopped on that second lift hill WAY too long for the first train to have not made it to the second lift.

The breaking down seven times in a day DID happen, because everytime my friend and I got into line, It would close for some unknown reason, and we're not the type of people to just ride a ride once in a day and move on, so going on (or at least trying to go on) the Iron Dragon 7 times in a day is not all that weird to us.

And thank you, 99er. I know I'm not telling a story, this is the truth that I type.

Iron Dragon has become just a weird ride! :)

I'd say it was a weird ride since day one. Iron Dragon is one of the only coasters I have ever ridden that got "boos" from trainloads of riders its inaugural season. People waited for 2-3 hours for that ride the first year and I can vividly remember people booing from the train when it pulled onto the brake run.

People were expecting a "Big Bad Wolf" type experience and they got a "Little Lap Dog" experience instead.

That said, with all of the coasters that have been built since ID it is a nice coaster to have for young/novice coaster riders and I still enjoy it...so long as I can just walk right on.

I like the trees of the ride! It would be cool if they could upgrade it and give it more thrill! Just a thought!

I have to agree that this story is slightly unrealistic. I thought i heard that the reason why the train slows down on the lift hills is to prevent it stacking on the second hill. I don't know about Iron Dragon but Magnum's blocks are set so if it lands on the one after the tunnel, a ride operator has to do something to make the ride function again. Thats why I see a ride op running to that block once or twice a day. Also some rides just have bad days. Look at Maverick. This story is really unbelievable. I think 7 breakdowns in one day in unrealistic with Iron Dragon or other Arrow coasters.

Who would spend their time at Cedar point counting the number of times ID broke down?

coolkid2345 said:
This story is really unbelievable. I think 7 breakdowns in one day in unrealistic with Iron Dragon or other Arrow coasters.

Because its an Arrow does not mean it can have a bad day and go down 7 times?

Being in the industry and having been in charge of a few roller coasters in my day, I have seen plenty of rides go down multiple times in one day. Heck, I have seen a CCI go down 17 times in one day. Seven is not unbelievable, especially if 4 of those times were the crew being slow and setting the ride up and maybe another being an ill guest that the crew had to clean up after and then 2 mechanical reasons. The guests never know why a ride goes down and it could literally be down for 3 minutes but guests who walk away from the ride do not know that.

I think a lot of you would be shocked if you knew how many times a ride/coaster can go down in a day, even at Cedar Point. You have to remember that at CP, even small little things that take only 3 minutes to take care of, result in the closure of the entrance or the telling of the guests that the ride is down. Also just because its down does not mean it "broke down"!

Someone explain to me why Iron Dragon can't go down seven times in one day. Anyone?

That sounds like a direct challenge! :)

Dragon iron is almost as old as big bad wolf.

Look what happend to the wolf.

I'm still waiting. Anyone?

Yeah but Wolf beat itself up. And really if they ripped out ID there really isnt a good place to build back there unless they dug up a ton of trees. The trees are what make that area good.

This story is true! I remember because we counted, and every time it went down, I blamed my friend for breaking it :). I'm not the type of person to lie!