Magnum's lift chain breaks!

Snoopy, are you referring to the accident that happened at a seaside pier in Wildwood NJ. I don't know exatcly how old the park is. The coaster was a wild mouse type ride built by Zamperla. I think only two people died. The car rolled backwards and couldn't negotiate the sharp turn at the base of the lift hill. The car derailed killing a mother and her young son. The coaster has since been removed.

Snoopy, Joe...
Indeed, it was the Wild Wonder. The coaster was almost brand new when the incident happened. That particular ride had been equipped with a 'quiet' anti-rollback system. Somebody somewhere screwed up and allowed replacement parts for the anti rollback system to be used which were not sufficient for the job. Whether the problem was with Gillian's, or with Zamperla, we may never know for certain.

I don't think the car actually derailed at the bottom of the hill, but it took the curve designed to be taken at low speed...at high speed, and ejected the two riders who were killed.

The incident is eerily similar to an incident on a Wildcat a few years ago at Bell's Amusement Park. This was the older model of Wildcat, similar to the one Cedar Point got rid of in 1979. The Wildcat has a plastic insert in the anti-rollback dog, and that insert shattered under load, allowing the car to roll back down the hill. Two cars collided, riders were ejected, at least one person was killed.

Neither incident involved a chain break.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yes, it was the Wild Wonder at Gillian's Wonderland Pier, located in Ocean City, New Jersey. It was a 39-year old woman and her 8-year old daughter that were killed. It was on August 28th of last year. It rolled backwards 30 feet, went around a very sharp curve, never derailed, and the two victims were indeed thrown from the car. It is a very sad story, that I wish would never happen, to anyone, especially a young child.

That's so bad, people come to an amusement park to have fun and to be scared to death, but not literally!!

Beeman,

They Are expecting to reopen it by Thursday.

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control! *** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 8/9/2000. ***

Yeah, only 2 people died in that incident. 6 people died last year, TOTAL.

Magnum was back up today (Tuesday) sometime around 3 or 4. However, it had over an hour wait the rest of the day once it was running.

lee owens is right. I was there yesterday (tuesday), that was going to be my friend and I's first ride of the day. they said it would open later that day. Open it did. I got two rides on it, including a night ride.

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Car 5, Discovery Channel, look for me on the
on-ride discription.
MF Rides-12

On a nice, shiny new chain, no less. =)

[Is it a new chain, or just an older back-up chain temporarily doing the duty until the new chain can come in?]

I'm not sure if the chain being used now is new or a backup or whatever, but all of the lift chains for Cedar Point's rides are made right here in Sandusky by Union Chain Co. The only exception is the Wildcat, whose chain came with the coaster.

Talk about determination and fast operation! It breaks on Monday, and is already up and running the next day! It took CP 1 whole day while it took about a whole week for Six Flags America's Superman:RoS to get up and running.

And the free ticket SFA gave me when they walked me down after the break was completely useless!

Sorry, I just like to share that I was on the ride when it happened. ;)

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 35

I feel your pain...wait a minute, I've never been on a lift when it stopped, so I guess I can't feel your pain, but I do sympathize.;)

The longest a ride has ever been down at CP was three days(?). Back in the 80's no less. After that accident at SFGA the Demon Drop was shut down. It took some parks two weeks to get there free fall rides back open. CP only took three days.

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!

Raptor was down 2-3 days a couple of summers back when the lift motor burned out. But you're right about fast maintenance -- in '98, the cobra roll track cracked, and they had it welded together and running that evening by 8pm!

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***************
Disaster Transport '97 Crew
Iron Dragon '98 Crew

Bill...They are still using the same chain. That's why the ride was back up the next day.

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Brandon Sorc
Millennium Force count:44
www.spiritofthepoint.com

Careful stating "facts" like..."the longest a ride at CP has ever been down is three days". While I am at the front of the line in praising Cedar Point on their maintenance record there have been cases BEYOND CP's control when a ride has been down longer than three days...The Monster comes to mind -- back in 96(?)or 97(?) the Monster was closed for months while CP waited for some parts from Europe.
CP has set the standard for PARK OPERATIONS, everything from the traffic control,food,rides etc. That is why CP has been awarded the Golden Ticket as Best Amusement Park 3 years running.

The question mark in my post indicated that I was not sure about that statement. I think everyone would agree that long down times at CP are rare. I'm not certain but don't they have a much larger parts room than they did back then?

I did forget about the Monster incident. I Also just remembered during the 1990 summer a Disaster Transport train was down the entire season.

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!

Now why would the Monster be waiting for parts from Europe?

Oregon, perhaps, or Utah, which is where the sweeps are roll-formed...but I don't think there is a single European component *anywhere* on the Monster...

--Dave Althoff, Jr., who thinks maybe Monster was waiting for a new sweep...

Magnum is sinking!, you are saying that the first year of DT operating as DT that one of the trains were down?