More Downtime

No Josh, it's actually "I knowwwwwwwwwwwwwww! RIGHT?!"

Even though Top Thrill Dragster is down, we still have Iron Dragon next store that we can all get some serious ride time on. THE MIGHTY IRON DRAGON AWAITS YOU.....LOL. You also have the MAGNUM XL 200, I think there will be a queue wait for that ride now since Dragster is down. Maybe they'll have someone on the stairs as well.

Magnum had the same line before TTD as it has had after - that is generally not much of one. Especially this time of year.

Is anyone ready to concede that CP TTD = KI The Bat? Yes, it had a good season this year, but it finished with a bang that apparently requires a special part. If this is going to be an ongoing problem where there are so many major repairs with downtime, well....

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sounding the death knell here. I'm actually pretty peaved that Intamin thought they had invented the wheel with this launch mechanism. Hey, if nobody's invented a hydrolic cable-launched coaster before they did, maybe it's because it's a bad idea.

But short of suing the lederhosen off Intamin, I don't know that TTD will ever provide the return that CP hoped for.

Intamin builds awesome rides. They just need to slow down and work the kinks out of the systems. Restraints need to be redesigned and so does launched mechanisms and brakes. (SROS) They had trouble with the trains colliding constantly because there wasn't enough braking power. They need to stop building new rides and get the ones they did build already up and running contsantly.

Intamin hasn't done much wrong with TTD. If Intamin didn't quote such a low number, than TTD may never have existed.

In the short term, the launch system works great. It has many parts and even more longevity issues. Up untill about a week ago, the only remaining part of the launch system that hadn't yet failed... did. It was in great working order at the begining of the season, so it wasn't expected that it would fail. Another first time issue happened to the ride back in May. A small leak became a big issue, mostly because of were the oil was going.

All of the other issues that TTD had have been minimal this year. Other than the new issues the ride has ran much better than the past two years. Given that they will likely evaluate the current issue, it will probably not be much of an issue in the future.

The hydraulic launch system is not bad. It's a very powerful system. It simply has a few issues that could be worked out.

Intamin probably won't work them out as well as could be done. The reason is that costs money and eats capacity to build current ride products. Intamin would also lose business if they can't keep their prices low. In the end, those who would rather have a more reliable ride eventually realize how much more a high quality product would cost.

There is a good chance that the next coaster CP builds will also be an Intamin. After TTD and WT, maybe CP will pay more up front the next time around.

mostly because of were the oil was going.

SHHH. The EPA might be reading ;)

I think they already know......WAIT!!! That's why it's closed!!!:)lol

They fixed the problem with the leak months ago. I think the EPA would have been more concerned about the ride heating the lagoon water killing loads of carp back in 2003. I guess the oil isn't very healthy for them either.

Either way, poor poor carp. I heard some horror stories from employees that had to clean up rotting carp carcass.

Their "fix" didn't last however.

I was kind of just kidding. I would have immediately quit. Cleaning up Carp Carcii is not my idea of fun. ugh.

That would be nasty

Yeah, but I guess my question is would CP take out TTD? Like are these repairs prohibitively expensive? With so many moving parts under so much stress, there's a lot to go wrong over time. It's not like replacing some lumber. Or cleaning up carp. (How sad!)

I was shocked when The Bat was taken out. After a substantial investment like that, I thought KI and Arrow would evaluate the problem and retrofit the cars somehow. It was only three years old and only ran for two.

"would CP take out TTD?"
$25,000,000.....enough said.

I'm with TTD 120mph, you don't spend $25 million on a ride which broke world records, changed the CP skyline, and still draws crowds of people who just sit/stand and watch it, let alone all those who ride and then take it down because of maintenance problems. It may cost a lot to fix now, but hopefully in the long run it will be worth it.

Look at Superman: The Escape at SFMM. It's cost them over twice what they paid for it to have it built. It still stands.

^Yeah and that ride isnt even close to as good IMO. I also never saw such huge crowds hoarding toward it like you do TTD. It was very strange seeing TTD sit there this weekend with no one working on it at all or anything. Gave me some Deja Vu flashbacks!

Just as a reference, Hercules at Dorney was torn down because of high maintenance and low, low crowds (like empty). Now I’m not saying anything, but if Dragster were to be torn down, it would have to have some staggering reasons piled up against it.

I just hope the part (or whatever it is) can be fixed and opened by the end of the month. But if the part is very hard to replace and it needs to be closed for the rest of the season, then there's no sense in crying about it.........no wait there is, WAAAAHHHH!!! :)

900th post YAY!!

*** Edited 9/12/2005 8:27:01 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

If you know what the problem is, does it fix it any quicker? No.

Just know that it's down, and it'll be down for awhile.

Just out of curiosity, If Dragster does close for the season, would Cedar Point notify that kind of info to the public (i.e. the website)?

I would think so, but I just want to be certain.

*** Edited 9/13/2005 12:32:34 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***