Maverick ... What the heck was CP and IntaRide thinking?

CP really needs to improve the capacity of Maverick ...

Maverick is going to have poor capacity by nature, as the trains are short and the blocks are pretty large themselves. However, while at the park, I noticed that there would be 1 pair of trains in the station loading, 1 set on the blocks before the station, and another train right behind them (with the last train nearly at the final break run). This is double stacking and is just ridiculous. Dispatch times need to be increased. It would make sense to dispatch the pair in the station ASAP and have them wait just before the lift hill, while waiting for the blocks on the track to clear, so that the pair behind them can roll into the station and unload/load. In addition, Maverick is the sort of ride that definitely could use dual-stations. It's nice they took the TTD approach with having two trains per station, but they could vastly increase capacity by having a load/unload station, which would be very helpful with the OTHRs as they require longer load times.

I think there is certainly enough room around the final bend entering the station to build a second, unloading, station. Sure, for us it would be great to cut down on line time, but is it worth the money?

Hmm, a lame water ride or a shorter line for a great coaster?

Wrong on most every critique. Maverick is a people eater, and has one of the better capacity numbers in the park. That "double stacking" is what is supposed to happen. There should always be two trains outside the station, and three is actually normal and perfectly acceptable. Dispatch times are already pretty fast, and very rarely do I see the other four trains stopped in the blocks outside the station and on the brake runout. When that happens, that fourth train is only sitting for about two seconds before they get moving again, and in one more cycle, they're back to normal. How it operates is about the best that it can realistically operate (because the best that it could operate includes such impossibilities as all guests understanding the loose articles policy, how to pull down the restraint and buckle the belt, all before the ride ops get there, etc.).

But hey, what would I know, I just operate(d) rides... ;)*

*While I did not actually work Maverick, I still have a pretty good understanding of procedures and such for the ride in general. Reading through ride manuals that are laying around your room when you're bored can only help you. :)

Shoot the Rapids may be lame for YOU, but not for families. CP doesn't revovle around you.

Interesting. I agree that it has bad capacity. I wonder if they could have built the station so it would be a continuous moving platform. Just have it slowly move through the station. About the trains: the trains could not be any longer. It would be very uncomfortable for the riders and the train would be very worn down in the back. Load/Unload station would also be a very hard thing to do. They can not just remove blocks to put in an unload station. Something they could do is have the trains unlock the trains as the train is approaching the station.

BlueStreak, I have worked at parks before too and also know a lot about capacity. Maverick is close to bottom of the totem pole out of the coasters at CP. I personally recorded the average "lap" times, and calculated RPH on my own while waiting in line at the park. MF and TTD ran around 1100-1200, and Maverick around 800-900. All of CP's other "major" coasters run around 1400+.

Disney's rides are "people eaters" (having 2000+ RPH), definitely not Maverick. Having two trains on the block for a split second should be customary. As soon as the second train in a pair hits the last open block before the station, both trains should be proceeding into the station. Not ever should the first train of the third/following pair stop at any other block location rather than the one right before the station. The way CP has Maverick operating now, they are not benefiting from using 3 pairs of trains, and 2 would be equally as quick.

I also don't understand why CP is so slow at dispatching, the restraints are no different than MF's with an OTHRs component .. and they don't even check them any different than MF's (as it seemed as a rider)

I agree with Bluestreak. I think Maverick is one of the better capacity coasters. Every time I have rode Maverick there has been 6 trains running.. two loading.. two on queue for the lift hill, and two returning to the station waiting. That is why the line moves so good. Now if six trains are not running, then I can understand the wait may go slower. But every time I have been to Cedar Point, six trains have been going when I have rode it. So if six trains aren't running.. take your kids and go ride the mine coaster! =)

I think that all of those nit picking on Maverick need to get over it or just don't ride.
Lets complain about Gemini not running both red and blue trains.
Lets complain about Magnums station its self when its full.
Lets complain about Raptors last break run as it almost shatters your skull.

Maverick runs fine the way it is. LEAVE it alone!

dwalls: You evidently went on a bad day or were there for a bad hour. Maverick's usual capacity is around 1,100 pph, or it was in 2007. I know they hit 1,300 as well and it wasn't that unusual to be right around 1,200. I know this because I would sometimes compare Blue Streak's numbers with a friend at Maverick. If we want to compare to Disney, of course Cedar Point is going to lose (well, at least since they went to two trains per track on Gemini, with three each capacity was scary high). Magic Kingdom and the other parks have to be setup to handle 15 million+ guests each year, compared to Cedar Point's average of 3 million. Would it be great if Cedar Point could hit those kinds of numbers? Yeah, of course. Is it really necessary? No, not based on attendance. Even the typical busy Saturdays during July and August (and now Halloweekends, although there is the exception of Columbus Day weekend with everything so ridiculous its almost mind boggling), which really test the capacity issue, don't result in lines that are too much longer than normal on the major coasters, Maverick included.

Call it a bad day, but I was there for three days in a row (but the line was just under 2 hours for the first day, so we only rode just after park opening on the two following days). The first day was just over 1000 RPH, and the second day was just over 900 RPH. I recorded both of these averages twice a day. I'm sure they could hit 1300 RPH on a good day, as could MF .. but from my varied experiences, it certainly wasn't. Even still, 1300 RPH is laughable. A ride like this will not stop being popular, yet the capacity engineering suggests otherwise.

I only brought Disney into the picture, because you claim Maverick is a "people eater" .. which is far from the truth. I wouldn't classify any ride at CP as a people eater compared to other rides out there in the world. Even if we were to compare only CP rides, Gemini, Raptor and Magnum would certainly be at the top of the list before Maverick .. it would be at the bottom, if not nearly last.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great ride and I wouldn't change much if I could (albeit the capacity issue, which as already stated, could be easily fixed - oh, and slowing the launch or removing the dam trim right after the launch), but these issues should have never been overlooked in the first place.

I haven't been there this year, so I can not commit on Maverick. But a side by side load/unload would make capacity higher.

I'm with Maverick'n Magnum XL, we should be

When did we invite all these trolls here?

First off, hang out and get to know the community before you start a bunch of new threads. It annoys people.

Second, as someone else mentioned, you're pretty much wrong about everything you criticized in terms of how the ride was designed and is operated.

My only complaint about dispatching on Maverick would be when they sometimes seem unable to get the second train of a pair headed up the lift in time to have that "near miss" with the first train. Granted, I don't know what's going on in the booth, but from block perspective, there's nothing preventing them from hitting that interval.

If I recall correctly when Maverick first opened the 2nd train would make its way up the lift just as the 1st train came out of the tunnel and into the rise before the water bombs. This last year though I have noticed the 2nd train doesn't actually start moving until the 1st train is in the canyon after the water bombs. Its only a few second difference.

Nothing has changed, from an operational standpoint. They've never been incredibly consistent with the second train launch.

dwalls, not to continue to rip on you or anything, but have you ridden Maverick?

Maverick operates the same station system as Top Thrill, where TWO trains are loaded at a time and TWO trains are sent out of the station at a time. One is immedietly sent up the hill and the other is idle until the first train enters the tunnel. Maverick has 6 trains to increase capacity, and 2 trains are always ready to be unloaded.

I think your problem is that Maverick always has extra wait times, but wait, doesn't every popular coaster at CP have that?

Also, the Maverick crew works incredibly hard day in and day out to launch trains with consistancy and speed. They are human, they can't be perfect.

How to spot an obvious vendetta against a popular coaster that the person holding the vendetta obviously doesnt like.

Step 1 - They spent hours timing RPH instead of riding rides.

Step 2 - Said person gets the company who makes the ride incorrect, Intamin not Intaride.

Maverick has a long line becase it is popular, the line however is always moving, this is a sign of good capacity. I think the worst capacity in the park is Mean Streak because there is just never enough people brave enough to shatter their organs and bones...

1 - It doesn't take long to calculate RPH. Figure out how long it take for all 6 trains to go through and do some math. 72 riders/X minutes * 60 = RPH. So, with how long the line for Maverick is, it could easily be done in line.

2 - Intaride is the US incorporation of Intamin Worldwide. He got it right.