New things for 2003

About Gemini, that stinks! I wish these companies that sell high tech automation can get their sh**t together and do things right! I agree with Dave, the Mine Ride station braking is laughable. We have some student employees at work that can do a better job programing the damn thing then what they did with it. Consign, if I'm not mistaken (correct me if I'm wrong), did the control system. Did the same company do Corkscrew, or did Arrow come in and do the system upgrade? Perhaps, they should have Arrow do the Gemini upgrade, maybe they can get it right.

The transit authority in Cleveland had a company come in to do a high tech cab control conversion of the control system for the Red Line rapid transit trains. The signal lights next to the track worked fine for decades, but this new system was supposed to increase safety by directly controlling the cabs in each train and overriding the operator if necessary to prevent collisions. All it did was to slow the trains down because it couldn't handle train spacing as efficiently as the old system, and increase ride time from the east to west terminals by about 15 min. Arggh.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

Regarding #1... a result of the new lapbar mechanism is that the park has had to replace far fewer restraints so far this season.

8.) Although not present at the beginning of the season, the wood fence separating the Snake River Falls maintenance area from the midway has been replaced.

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James Draeger
CP Maintenance 2003
*** This post was edited by Draegs 7/12/2003 3:02:13 PM ***

9.) Last night, the smoke was working in Magnum's last tunnel.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm with Dave reguarding Gemini, add the air gates if you must, but leave the ride alone. Speaking of 6 trains on Gemini, has anyone seen this happen yet this year? The closest I've seen it to running 6 was when a red train had rolled back into the helix so they were running all 3 trains on the blue side.

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-Chris Woodard
"We got pop and Gatorade over here for $100 a bottle, so have your credit card ready. Seriously, the food here is so expensive, I just eat the condiments because I can't afford a meal." - MF que DJ 6/16/03

I think I remember hearing from a Gemini ride op that they have been up to 6 twice this year.

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...and the most anticipated event of summer 2003 is...

The Matrix: Reloaded!

I've seen five a couple of times, but not six. Five is a strange thing to watch, to be honest.

Thing is, Gemini is possibly the most tightly engineered ride in the park, in terms of the ride timing and traffic flow. Ever notice that it is a 'dueling' coaster? It isn't that the two trains in the pair duel each other, it's that each pair 'duels' with the other two pairs. That is, they do if and only if the thing is running all three pair.

That said, demand is down a bit, and six trains requires that the crew move really really fast, and four is a lot easier for everybody, particularly with those miserable seat belts (why can't they at least get a bottle of 'slut-red' fingernail polish and paint a gigantic arrow on each buckle to indicate how to fasten it correctly?).

But here's something to think about...Perhaps it isn't important for the ride to be able to run six trains anymore. But in my opinion, it is critical that it be able to run *three*. Consider...if one of the lifts breaks down, or if a train rolls back on one side, and it's a busy day in the park, nobody wants to see that thing running only two trains. Besides, if it's a busy but not outrageous day, it takes twice as much staff to run the ride with four trains as it takes to run three.

Just some thoughts...It occurs to me that of the rides that have received updates, the only ones they didn't screw up in the process are Iron Dragon and Corkscrew.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who wonders why it always takes a computer four tries to park a train...

Yesterday I noticed Corkscrew had an auto-spiel for the station. It's funny because the spiel seems too long. Half of the time they had to stop it in the middle and start it over because another train was entering the station.

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-Eric
"Enjoy your ride on the only orange coaster in the park, that we still call red" - Ride Op on Magnum

I moticed that too...thought it was kinda funny...maybe they should just say get in, secure restraint and keep your head from hitting it throughout the ride LOL

:)

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Races for the sky - 2 Front Seat - 1

Rideman, when I rode Magnum, during the day, at Coastermania the smoke was working. It was just leaking out though, there was very little of it. It was not like it used to be.

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"I can see Canadaaaaaaaaahhhh!" - Me atop of Magnum.
HTTP://community.webshots.com/user/glbubba

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RideMan said:
it takes twice as much staff to run the ride with four trains as it takes to run three.

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Do not suggest that only one set of trains be run at a time. It kind of looses it whole twin appeal and it's handsmackin' goodness when that happens. I do miss seeing 6 train operation, especially when it takes me 20 mins to get on Gemini and the same for magnum.

I agree fully with the decision to put in air gates on Gemini and improve the station. That yellow line is only a foot and a half wide and it doesn't leave much room for judgment errors.

And this needed to be brought back just for that?

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Can't wait to be at the Point!
2003 coaster count:47

2. I was dissapointed to find that on all 5 of my Raptor rides yesterday that the trims were on. Although still rather fast, the final helix wasn't pulling as many g's as usual.

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CP 2K3: 15
"What are you, a dentist? Or a hippie? Or some kind of hippie dentist?" - Strongbad

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Draegs said:
Agreed Jeff...

Just last Thursday while waiting for friends outside the Magnum entrance I watched two different groups of people walk up to the attendant and ask what ride it was.

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James Draeger
"But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do"

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No, people do that for ALL rides. They even do it for WT. Go up to that ride, and put yourself in a newbie mindset and see if you can figure out which ride it is. Take it from me... they do it all the time, so it's not by any means a problem with the sign (although it might be something to look at... I haven't been to that side of the park this year, or haven't really noticed it at least)