Mantis Future

It's based on years of experience in engineering work. If you can commonize as much as you can, it makes design work much easier. I'm just hypothesizing that they simplified their work and used the same track design for both types of rides. If they did that, then the other train should at least fit on the track. If it won't immediately fit, it should be easy to design one that would. If it can properly run on the track, I don't know. Don't read too much into what I'm saying, its just an educated guess.

That's a lot of ifs; and I remain concerned that you can't change the position of a body in motion without considering how the dynamic forces in play affect that body.

That's not necessarily true. Until about two years ago, the park management was very reluctant to invest any money into anything beyond enough to keep it running. I doubt they would have wanted to invest the money just for an improvement in the experience of one of the rides. With the new management, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them invest that kind of money to improve the experience of one of their under-performing rides.

Uh, OK... I have no idea what you are talking about in terms of park management not investing anything. This rumor of a Mantis conversion has been on message boards sine the turn of the millenium and there has been substantial investment at CP during that entire time. An argument that CP was not willing to spend any money during this time is quite silly.

Beyond that, how exactly is Mantis an under-performing ride? And what metrics is this statement based upon?

I didn't say they wouldn't invest money in anything. Old management built shiny new rides, and kept all the rides running well. Beyond that, there wasn't much in terms of maintaining or upgrading things. Look at disaster transport. They kept the ride running, but let all the themeing fall into disrepair until it was just gone. Look at the lighting package on Millennium Force. Before Ouimet, it degraded until it was a shadow of its old self. As soon as Ouimet came, the lighting package was improved, and it was returned to what it was like when it first opened. All I'm saying is that putting new trans on Mantis, and improving the ride experience is something that may be considered under Ouimet, that wouldn't be considered under Kinzel.

noggin, that is the biggest concern with the new trains. Putting the trains on the track may be easy, but the new position of the riders could be an issue.

Ok, I see what your saying in terms of investments in the park.

Going back to these floorless trains on Mantis now... Lets just assume that CP has a problem with Mantis in the first place ( a big assumption it is), and then lets assume that the track can handle floorless trains, next let us assume that the forces from a different riding position are of no concern, and finally let us assume that no track modifications need to be made.

After all of that the question still remains how do these floorless trains make Mantis an uber-cool ride worth the expenditure? How do these floorless trains take care of what some people's complaints about Mantis are - namely boring and rough?

We have already assumed a lot here and the main question still remains - Does Cedar Point even have an issue with Mantis? Are the powers that be at Cedar Point worried about anything in regards to Mantis - such as maintenance costs, ridership etc???

So far the only people we know that have an issue with Mantis are some fans on online forums, the same places that these floorless train rumors first showed up over 13 years ago...

You're missing the point here J. Just close your eyes and imagine it. Riding Mantis......BUT not standing up! Ohhhhh, the excitement! ;)

I actually think it's a cool layout (except the signature 90's B&M turn before the drop).

JUnderhill, I applaud you. Well said.

And also said multiple times by multiple people for a long, long time.

vwhoward said:
And also said multiple times by multiple people for a long, long time.

Well it obviously needs to be said more. After all I am captain obvious right...

Just got off Mantis, it's still fun to stand. Then I saw someone get arrested in front of MF.

Arrested in front of MF? That means they are changing Mantis for SURE!

What did they get him for?

For revealing the llamas' secret, obviously. Can't you see it?

^That means that the llama's told him about the secret raising of MF's green-train! Trust no one, because I am sure that guy is getting brainwashed right now…

JUnderhill said:
Well it obviously needs to be said more. After all I am captain obvious right...

You...and many others. ;) But I think I prefer obvious observations than the crazy, improbable dreams some have. I can appreciate what you are saying, and even somewhat agree with it. It's just this has been discussed to death for years now.

^^ I've only been here for a few months so I am still a newbie in regards to some of these ongoing discussions. I haven't had to deal with them for years like some of ya have.

^No worries. When there isn't much CP news to talk about, some things get recycled from time to time. This very thread was created two years ago. And here's one from 2002:

http://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/9425.aspx

I don't know why the guy was under arrest. He was arguing with the CP cop escorting away.

I am not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV. I also did not stay at a Holiday Inn express last night. I'm just a lowly rider with a wallet and an opinion. Here are my thoughts:

1.) I like the existing paint scheme and think it's cool. It makes a ride that was built in the 90's look pretty darned modern. I'd hate to see it dulled down but if it was a part of some sort of a renovation then I'd be pretty excited to see what they came up with.

2.) The overall "course" of the track is fun. I love the first drop and it has plenty of twists and turns (it's kinda "snakey") to keep things interesting.

3.) Standing up is ok but I'd rather be sitting. The ride position just isn't all that comfortable and I think that detracts from the overall ride experience. I know that YouTube isn't the best place for gathering opinions on a topic, but nearly every video of this ride has multiple people complaining about how much the Mantis is not comfortable to ride and some even describe it at painful. A different restraint might help address the headbanging issues. Could an actual seat be incorporated into the trains so that the rider position could remain the same? Maybe there's not enough clearance for people to place their knees in front of them?

4.) Converting the ride will involve cost. So will dismantling it and moving it to another park. Demolition is not cheap and neither is transporting tons of steel. Keeping it "as is" in the same location also has a certain cost but it isn't just about maintenance. There's an opportunity cost associated with having any ride occupying space in the park...especially one that riders have mixed feelings about.

5.) Aside from seeing the same picture of a some paint that everyone else has seen, and having heard that CP offered to rename a ride if Lebron came back to Cleveland, I have no "evidence" that CP is considering making any improvements or modifications to Mantis. The only people who have that information wouldn't be commenting in these threads. I do think that doing "something" to the ride might help breathe some new life back into it and that it might be less costly than tearing in it down - not to mention it won't reduce the park's total coaster count.

6.) Lastly, Centurion - 2020 :)

Pete said:
I think after 13 pages of speculation, the most likely thing that will happen to Mantis is NOTHING.

Something