Potential Disaster Transport refurbishment

I know people have mentioned it. But a reboot of DT as a Snoopy themed dog fight ride would be awesome I think.

^ Sounds a bit morbid.

Hahahahhahaha. ROFL.

Wait, you weren't being serious, were you?

Jason Hammond said:
According to DK, it cost about 200K

I thought it was a 4 million dollar conversion.

(More than the cost of Avalanche Run)

I seem to remember reading 3.4 million to build in 1985 and 4 million to renovate in 1990

Wicked Twister 90 said:
I know people have mentioned it. But a reboot of DT as a Snoopy themed dog fight ride would be awesome I think.

Come on now... we all know that the first first rule of dog fight club is that YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT DOG FIGHT CLUB.

Didnt realize how that sounded. Air Force family. Dog fight to us involves planes, not dogs. We have a name for Michael Vick's dog fighting. But I can't really say it cause after all; this is a family friendly place.

I was just going off of what he said at the CoasterMania Keynote last year. That being said, I was wrong about the number. I just went back and listened to it again. He said that coming off of having just built Magnum, that they only had a budget of 400K. So if they said 4 million, it proably included the original cost of the ride as well.

Start listening at about 26:00

Wikipedia has construction cost of Avalanche Run at $3.4 million in 1985 and $4.0 million to renovate into Disaster Transport in 1990. That sounds high to me, but just repeating whats out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_Transport

Wonder how much that 7.4 Million would be today to build? In case your wondering, yes I added them up. If they decided to get rid of Disaster Transport, would it cost about the same?

RCDB has it at 4 million to renovate so that's obviously the best source,

http://www.rcdb.com/19.htm

Kinzel isn't a good source?

Bigmal said:
Maybe the best way to refurbish it is to make it as pitchblack dark as possible. I recall the ride being fairly lit for being indoors. Pitchblack, like the dark water slides, might be an option.

After seeing the inside of the DT building yesterday, keeping it dark is the best way. Even Bryan Edwards made a comment to that effect during the tour yesterday.

Jason Hammond said:
Kinzel isn't a good source?

\

Maybe Kinzel missed a decimal point in his figures. He probably did the same thing when he filled out his bid for the Paramount Parks. Didn't he say one time that he was better in operations than he was in the finances of the company?

Ok ironically enough when looking at another thread that was talking about Cedar Point's new website and linking to one of the old ones, I found the original figures as stated by Cedar Point on how much the ride originally cost, and how much was spend on the Disaster Transport Refurbish/Special Effects Package.

According to Cedar Point's Website in 1997:

PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS:
Track Length: 1,932 feet of steel trough
Lift Height: 63 feet
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Large-screen video projections, simulated lasers and more than 150 props, including two lifelike robots.
VEHICLES:
Transports: Five transports, carrying 10 passengers each
Special Features: Free-wheeling transports rely on gravity to determine the speed and course of the ride.
RIDE CAPACITY: Approximately 1,800 riders per hour

INVESTMENT: $4.0 million Disaster Transport special effects and construction
$3.4 million Original ride expenditure
$7.4 million Total investment
SPECIAL EFFECTS PRODUCER: ITEC Productions, Inc., Orlando, Fla.

Created December 1, 1995

Source:
http://web.archive.org/web/19970101084634/http://www.cedarpoint.com/dist.htm

How about putting a working air conditioner or ventilation system inside

How about blasting the warehouse down. It was a crap ride when built, except for being able to get a nice view of Lake Erie. It's an eyesore now and not worth the rehab for an old ride that is crap to begin with. I have been on Intamin bobsleds that kick this ride to shame.

Everyone on here needs to google image this:

Alpine bobsled, great escape.

nuff said : )

just my 2 cents.

I was on that one back when it was known as Rolling Thunder. I remember it being a great ride but I was 12 then. Not sure if I would have thought the same about DT as well at that age.

Well, I did Google Alpine Bobsled and watched the point of view video. To tell you the truth, it doesn't really look any better than what I remember Avalanch Run to be before it was enclosed, except Alpine Bobsled may have one extra block brake making it just a bit longer. Both rides are pretty tame and somewhat boring, going by the video.

What makes the Flying Turns type rides fun are the rapid transitions between left and right turns, the more of those the better. The Intamin designs seem to have one transition followed by a long, drawn out helix. That is what makes the design somewhat boring.

I like the idea of it being outside better. It seems that you would get that feeling similar to a water slide where you feel your going to fly off the edge.