Kinzel's "WORST DECISION EVER"

Some of you are so wishy washy. "TTD is a good ride!" "Tear it down!" I'll give it another chance!" "What a waste of $25 million." "I hate it." "I love it." I'm driving myself crazy just reading it. It's not all of you, just some.

I've been keeping my story straight all along. I love TTD, it's my favorite ride. I get frustrated with the downtime (it was closed my last visit), but it's TTD, what do you expect. I entered the 2005 season expecting the ride to run pretty much like it did in 2004, but it didn't. Not including Sept. and Oct., the ride ran like a champ. I'm expecting no difference for 2006, but maybe it'll get even better, who knows.

But TTD had the most down time it has ever had in one year this year. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Still I love TTD as well and never want to see it torn down.
*** Edited 11/7/2005 8:37:07 PM UTC by CP4eva'04***

I say give it a send off RCT style. Remove a section of track near the top of the tower and launch a train, when the train trys to freefall backwards, set off the explosives to make the train explode.

Gomez said:
Some of you are so wishy washy. "TTD is a good ride!" "Tear it down!" I'll give it another chance!" "What a waste of $25 million." "I hate it." "I love it." I'm driving myself crazy just reading it. It's not all of you, just some.

I've been keeping my story straight all along. I love TTD, it's my favorite ride. I get frustrated with the downtime (it was closed my last visit), but it's TTD, what do you expect. I entered the 2005 season expecting the ride to run pretty much like it did in 2004, but it didn't. Not including Sept. and Oct., the ride ran like a champ. I'm expecting no difference for 2006, but maybe it'll get even better, who knows.

I agree totally. It is and will probably always be a love/hate relationship. I (and you Gomez) seem to fall into the love/love category when it comes to Dragster.:)
Although I have a different outlook on downtime. I like short spurts of downtime because it just builds up tension and the suspense becomes unbearable.;)

I three agree with Gomez. I expect 2006 to be Dragsters best year. That's my prediction. I was talking with TTD-120 last night and my suggesstion was they need to do inspections on this ride like maybe once or twice a week to check for problems that might shut the ride down for a week or more. Another good idea would be to shut it down at certain times during the day to see if there is anything that needs fixed or adjusted. Then you could open it up the next hour. See this is why I keep saying on here, lets not build 500 ft because we have our 420 foot coaster that keeps acting up. I'd rather see Top Thrill Dragster have a few good seasons before we break the 500 ft barrier. Let Technology advance!!

Shawn Meyer said:
I three agree with Gomez. I expect 2006 to be Dragsters best year. That's my prediction. I was talking with TTD-120 last night and my suggesstion was they need to do inspections on this ride like maybe once or twice a week to check for problems that might shut the ride down for a week or more. Another good idea would be to shut it down at certain times during the day to see if there is anything that needs fixed or adjusted. Then you could open it up the next hour.

Ok for one every night after we transfer the last train off, They start doing work on that ride and when we get there in the morning to transfer on guess who is still there working. and shut it down during the day to do checks would not be fun. Try explaining that to the guest sitting at entrance. not fun at all. And then the fun begins again with trying to clear the tower.

Shawn, who said that the 500 footer had to have a state of the art launch.

I'm sure a 500 foot MF wouldn't break down nearly as much a TTD.

Oh, yes... a 500' 55-deg MF hill would be urine-inducing fun! But, I can wait until 2010 for that. Give me a coule quality coasters with some "meat" to them, in terms of length and such.

TTD will likely improve in the future. I mean, at worst they could just replace the entire launch system with a newer, more stable one. I realize that its probably a good chunk of change, but it would still likely have a decent ROI in terms of the previous investment, park image and so forth.

Yeah it would be cool, but the new system would have to have a serious guarantee behind it. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Intamin say, before Dragsters construction began, that the hydraulic system was "reliable"?

The thing that needs to be replaced is what's causing the problems (duh!!). So maybe the new parts that are coming are....well....NEW!! New as in more reliable. ::wink wink::
But that's just a guess.

TTD's launch system is very reliable. How many other system have so much power to launch a 6 ton train up to 120mph and do that almost every 60 seconds? Sure it's not reliable compared to other roller coasters, but that motor has a big job to do.

CP finally has the motor adjusted to operate the ride very efficiently. Replacing it would be like starting from day 1. Look at KK, that ride has just as many problems with a new motor.

You fanboys are nuts.

Gomez said:
TTD's launch system is very reliable. How many other system have so much power to launch a 6 ton train up to 120mph and do that almost every 60 seconds? Sure it's not reliable compared to other roller coasters, but that motor has a big job to do.

CP finally has the motor adjusted to operate the ride very efficiently. Replacing it would be like starting from day 1. Look at KK, that ride has just as many problems with a new motor.

There! that's what people need to understand!!

bholcomb said:
You fanboys are nuts.

And darn proud of it!!:) *** Edited 11/9/2005 9:47:59 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

Gomez said:
TTD's launch system is very reliable. How many other system have so much power to launch a 6 ton train up to 120mph and do that almost every 60 seconds? Sure it's not reliable compared to other roller coasters, but that motor has a big job to do.

CP finally has the motor adjusted to operate the ride very efficiently. Replacing it would be like starting from day 1. Look at KK, that ride has just as many problems with a new motor.

TTD's launch system very reliable? A reliable machine is one that requires virtually no thought outside of routine maintenance. TTD's launch is far from reliable.

The train is around 7.5 tons fully loaded depending on the sum of the rider's weight. This varies with each train. Reality is actually a bit more impressive than your guess.

Hydraulics are inefficient. Less than 30% of the electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy of the train. The rest is turned into heat and a little noise.

I'm currently in the thought of a different launch system that uses half of the current hydraulics. The valves would need replacement. The motors and gearsets would be removed. The rest of the system would be the same. It would use large electric motors(1) mounted on either side of the drum. The power used is built up and stored in the accumulators between each launch. On each of the 4 accumulators, there is a large linear generator attached. A controller would actively adjust the generator to produce a voltage reference. This would be used in an inverter(2) to power the large motors.

The operation sequence begins with the accumulators filled by the pumps. When the launch sequence begins the valves open pushing the linear motor insert through the generator. This produces the voltage needed to run the motor. The drive controls this power giving the motor an exact waveform to accelerate at PLC requested speed. This speed varies depending on the last train's time. The drive has a full sequence it carries out determined before the launch. The motors accelerate up to that speed. The valves close, the gen. brake turn on, and the motors brake the launch system when the launch terminates. When the PLC determines it's safe for catch car reversal, the system starts that particular sequence. The eddy plates lower, the motor brakes release, and a clutch engauges the reverse gearhead motor. The catch car reverses and then approches the launch position finally stoping. The reverse motor clutch disengauges. By that time, the accumulators are fully charged for another launch.

1) 3 Phase AC High Torque synchronous motor with an overrated duty cycle and permanent magnet rotor.
2) A custom drive that also operate the the hydrualic valve, gen. voltage, and motor. It failsafes with the valves close, the linear gen. brakes on, and the motor in braking mode.

Well. I like dragster. It is a very good ride. It goes give a good experience.

Although I hate down times. This year it seemed to run good.

Here is some sugestions cp should look into.

Maybey making the cars less heavy would help them get up.

Maybey they should make them out of carbon fiber . Yeah expensive but, compared to the downtime and maintnence, its worth it. And I think they should put a stronger hydraulic motor in. Who knows, it may not do any more use.

But I have a feeling if you made the cars lighter it would make it over the top way easyer.

And maybey they need to leat the hydraulic motor cool every 15 mins for 5 minutes.

A stronger engine would not do any good. Think about it Kingda Ka uses 7400 horse power to get its trains up to 128 mph. Our engine is a 10000 horse power engine and we only go 120 mph. I dont know how much Kinda Ka's trains are but they are probably close to ours.

When did TTD get an engine? I thought it had a motor.

arms down - Who says that TTD uses all the available HP? A smaller motor costs less. Since KK (and I'm sure TTD) don't need all of 10000HP, why spend the money on it.

I have a question... I couldn't listen to the podcast so did they ever say what size of cotton candy they were offering for 25 cents? Would it would be a full size cotton candy like at other parks or only be the size of a baseball? Spun on a popsicle stick? lol!

I like the dragster and I think that it was the best decision that they could have made...Top Thrill Dragster was the one to set the record... Its a good ride overall its just that the hydrolic system cant work up to the rides popularity...

Jugga Lotus- If you read the comment above mine i was replying to that person saying we needed a bigger one when we dont. The engine Power has nothing to do with down time.