Out of curiosity....

I know that TTD and Xcelerator are both Rocket Coasters. But when I imagine Xcelerator, I imagine the noises that TTD makes (rumblinig, engine riving). Is there loud noise on the ride? Thanks!
*** This post was edited by physicsoncoasters 11/24/2003 9:17:25 PM ***

Noise on the ride itself is mostly the sound of a coaster train running down the track, very fast mind you. Outside the ride down near the hydrallic building, there is a surprisingly quite "wind up" sound as the cable it taken in. A majority of the noise of the launch is contained in the building itself.

And techinically, Intamin is marketing the two coasters as different designs in industry magazines. They are marketing Xcelerator as the "Rocket Coaster" and Dragster as an "Accelerator" coaster (I know.. kinda weird). The difference seems to be in the style of support structure they use for the mainhill/top hat element as they are saying "Rocket coaster" for Hershey Park's new coaster and it's main "tower" is the same style as Xcelerator.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
*** This post was edited by Red Garter Rob 11/24/2003 9:40:55 PM ***

Now, on Intamin's web-site, they refer to TTD's design as a "Dragster Coaster". I have heard TTD being called the "Accelerator Coaster" to though.

:) In the IAAPA name, TTD is refered to as a "DragsterCoaster"again! ;)

*** This post was edited by cp&le rr guy 11/25/2003 6:38:13 PM ***

One thing I found kinda funny was the 'christmas tree lights' on Xcelerator were just a cheap $3 pole with those cone-shaped colored lights you get for your outdoor lighting (like sensor lights, etc).

There wasn't any noises except for the same hydraulic noises that are on TTD (not as loud, though, as I remember).

The guy operating controls does the spiel to keep your arms down, etc.

So there was ,"Keep arms down ect." spiel right? And a christmas tree. By the way, just so I don't have to start a knew topic, (I'm brand new at this site so I don't know about recent topic disscussions) how does Power Tower work?

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Math is the alphabet, in which god has written the universe.

There is kinda a keep arms down thing, the operator ussually mentions it once, but its not a big deal. And the christmas tree is about 8 feet tall, with 8 outdoor lights like bholcomb said.

How does power tower work? Well.

Theres a pulley at the top of the tower, and one at the bottom. A cable, connected to the seats, goes from the bottom of the tower to the top pulley then back down to the bottom pulley and is connected to the other end of the cable. A big piston is connected to the cable inside those big tubes you see in the center of each tower. They are filled with air pressure. For the drop towers, the piston is pulled down inside the tube, which pulls up the car...when the car reaches the top, and the piston is now at the bottom of the tube, air is forced into the tube, forcing the piston to rush upward, thus bring the car downward. Same with the launch upward, just the piston is forced downward, not upward. Its really a pretty simple concept. And i believe there are magnets at the bottom of each tower to keep it from smashing at the bottom if the cables that hold the cars ever snap...kind like the breaks on TTD. Hope that helps.

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-Adam Carolla is GOD
-*Perturbed at the world*
-No good deed goes unpunished
-There are 10 types of people in this world that understand binary...those who do, and those who don't.

*** This post was edited by pole-lock 12/3/2003 3:18:58 AM ***

There are hydraulic plungers at the bottom of PT to keep the car from crashing.

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- Chris -

There are no magnets on Power Tower, and the hydraulic plungers are buffers for setting the car down normally, they don't act as emergency brakes. The safety in Power Tower comes from quadruple redundancy in the 4 cables for each car. If one fails, the others will still control the car.

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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.

Oh yeah, thanks Pete, I tend to forget the cables on PT. I don't ride it enough to think of the cables.
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- Chris -

Power Tower Sucks.

Back to TTD please, not power tower!:(

*** This post was edited by cp&le rr guy 12/4/2003 6:18:07 PM ***

Sorry.

TTD is my favorite coaster. I used to be a mantis fan, but now that I have Dragster, Mantis seems boring.

On the "Roller Boaster" article on Virtual Midway it says that Top Thrill Dragster goes 124 MPH too. I wonder if they just got that from the Intamin site, or if that is what Cedar Point told them, because it has quotes from Monty and some others. It could just be a misprint too.

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Final 2003 Stats: Trips: 37
Top Thrill Dragster: 17
Magnum XL-200: 85 (last train of the year in 6-1)

If you can trust the accuracy of the radar speed display on the ride, it does go that fast at times.

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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.

I can vouch for the fact that the radar is, in fact, calibrated.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82

I heard that the radar was changed because too many people were saying it didn't go 120mph and that Cedar Point was lieing, so they adjusted it. Which makes sense because afters its absence for a little while it always read a few miles per hour faster.

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Final 2003 Stats: Trips: 37
Top Thrill Dragster: 17
Magnum XL-200: 85 (last train of the year in 6-1)

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fat chris said:
I heard that the radar was changed because too many people were saying it didn't go 120mph and that Cedar Point was lieing...

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This is absolutely ridiculous. People are crazy. That's like saying the MF doesn't really go at 92 mph or any other roller coaster going at a steady speed. If they did, then nothing would ever give two different ride experiences. It's all just averaged out.
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MANTIS ROCKS 2002 & 2003

I have seen it, numerous times this past season, go 124 mph.

-Michael

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Drag Races: 8

That is true though that early in the season when it was constantly reading about 117-118 that GP were saying that it didn't go 120 and that Cedar Point was lieing. I heard that myself in line plus the employees I was really good friends with also said guests told them that. And it just must be an odd coincidence that after it was gone and came back it was reading 121-123 all the time too. Im not saying they are doing that so they can say it goes faster, but so the GP doesn't think that it doesn't really go 120.
Just my $0.02

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Final 2003 Stats: Trips: 37
Top Thrill Dragster: 17
Magnum XL-200: 85 (last train of the year in 6-1)

And I respect your $0.02

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MANTIS ROCKS 2002 & 2003