MONSTER was new and improved!! ...for only 5 weeks...

I went to CP in mid-June with my sister, which was her first time in nearly a decade. As I gradually worked her up to some of the more extreme rides, we rode Monster. This is normally a ride I walk right by because it's rather dull and near impossible to get that thing to spin. Not to mention the terrible load times. We were in for a surprise when the ride started and we were flying! The ride had been sped up considerably, and we loved it! I checked with the ride attendant and they confirmed the speed change.

For the next several weeks, Monster was required riding. We had such a blast on this new and improved ride. But then 5 weeks after the first awesome ride, we rode it only to find it back down to its previous dull speed. What the...??? I checked with the ride attendant and she confirmed the speed reduction. What a tease! It's now back to being a kiddie ride that I ignore.

A friend of mine sent a message through CP's online feedback form and got a pretty generic response thanking him for the message, but no comments on the speed changes or why. Blah, blah, blah...

There are reasons why maintenance make changes to rides. I used to tease the maintenance department about how they should restore WT back to its original operation, because it was real intense back in 2002. But for mechanical reasons, rides do tend to get tamed.

I wonder if people complaining that it was too intense would be enough to get the speed dropped. I recall Monster being pretty intense anyway, but I haven't ridden it for years and it could very well have slowed down in the meantime.

I never thought the ride was enjoyable because it seemed like every 2 circuits they stopped to load people which took entirely too long. It sure looks pretty though if that's any compliment

No ride should ever have to be toned down or trimmed. If they need to do that, the ride was poorly designed.

I didn't realize WT was toned down. I recall riding it in 2002 and not having my head against the seat back during launch. Painful. Learned my lesson.

^ Agreed, If you can afford to spend millions on a ride you can spend the money to make sure the ride meets the standards of quality you initially used to justify spending millions on it. Yes monster is not worth millions but just look at Mean Streak and WT. I understand that MS has maintenance issues without the breaks, but it is as if I spent $40,000 on a BMW then after a month was not able to use half the features because it could not handle it. I feel like a lot of rides nowadays have this very issue and not just at CP.

Thabto said:

No ride should ever have to be toned down or trimmed. If they need to do that, the ride was poorly designed.

Maybe Shoot the Rapids will require a trim in a few years? ;)

Every boat is trimmed by 2 people.

Wish I had a chance to ride the improved Monster. I remember a few years ago, I had one awesome ride, spinning really fast the entire time. And I've always been excited about it ever since, but then it's always pretty lame. I wonder if I was riding the sped up version that night.

My memory of this ride dates back to 1974, and in a nutshell, it was intense, to say the least. I would do some riding on my day off, and would frequently wind up on the Monster. I knew all the girls on the crew, and it wasn't unusual for them to lock me in for several cycles. Life was good Then came the issues with stress cracks in the sweep hubs in the 1980's and they were all dialed down. I don't think I've experienced one since then that went all out since.

TwistedWicker77 said:
There are reasons why maintenance make changes to rides. I used to tease the maintenance department about how they should restore WT back to its original operation, because it was real intense back in 2002. But for mechanical reasons, rides do tend to get tamed.

Some would even say that it was wicked! ;)

I remember a few years back when Cedar Downs was so out of control, they had to lame the soundtrack...

I've never paid attention myself but one of my kids was asking me the other day why they never put anyone in the yellow cars on Monster. Is this a thing or is he imaginig it?

Empty cars can be normal if the line is a certain length and they want to speed up operations. Plus it helps with balance if the line is up and down in numbers.
As for yellow, if you're inferring something must be wrong with them, it's probably just a visual for the ops. Yellow goes empty first, or something.

I loved Monster when it opened last year and thought it was so greatly improved. I sat by myself and had never had such a fast, spinny ride- even in the 70's when it first came. When I was there early this year it was down all day. Maybe in the process of being tamed?

The Monster has six sweeps, and can load two at a time. To load the whole ride, load sweeps 1 and 2, then 3 and 4, then 5 and 6. But if the crowd only warrants loading 16 of the 24 tubs, the best way to do it is to load sweeps 1 and 2, skip 3, then load 4 and 5. That way the ride can be kept in balance, and the load time can be cut by a third.

My guess is that the park has done some calculating and figured that the time saved by only stopping twice per cycle to load instead of three times might even allow them to move more riders per hour than loading all of the cars.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.