I've been watching the webcam throughout the day today and I just saw a train (that appears to be empty) have a traditional full-speed launch rollback on 3 straight attempts. The time it takes for them to reset the system and re-send the train on another attempt feels like it is only 10% of what it was with the hydraulic launch.
Yet another improvement from the original — I am impressed.
...adding to the comment above. This is the most I've ever seen this thing struggle to crest the tophat. It's had about a 25% success rate for the past hour. There was a lot of talk about how this ride wouldn't have issues in the cold because the LSMs would adapt, but this has definitely been the most I've seen it struggle to complete the circuit. Some launches the front car isn't even getting to the white section at the crest.
I’m at the park now, winds are over 35 mph at the hill which is causing issues according to the ride ops. Zamperla folks are still here and this seems to be an expected issue. Pretty cool to watch this, better than being at work anyway.
as a side note, the trains are barely making it to the second to last red section of the spike.
Yet another edit. The ride can’t launch itself off the spike on a reverse launch because a second reverse launch doesn’t exist. Its forward launch, reverse launch, forward launch, clear top hat. Anything outside of that resets the ride control system.
Tough to get a lot of good data on impact of wind (different speeds and directions) and temps without running the ride in different winds and temps.
JUnderhill:
The ride can’t launch itself off the spike on a reverse launch because a second reverse launch doesn’t exist.
I would still feel better with a stopper up there.
It could still launch itself off the spike on the FIRST reverse launch. Just get the right wind conditions. No need for a second :)
Sit tight fellas ;)
I'm fairly certain that temperature is not a huge issue. My first ride was in 38°.
Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - Blog - Music
I doubt it had anything to do with temperature as well. The weather yesterday was pretty bad between the rain and the strong winds coming off the lake. Gatekeeper was even a painful ride due to these conditions and I have had enough sandblasting rides on MF over the years to not even attempt that one. I can't imagine the conditions on the hills for TT2. I got the vibe from the workers at the entrance along with one of the maintenance techs who was chatting with us that they were simply testing things out yesterday as the conditions were right on the borderline of being able to operate the ride. Take it for what its worth but I was told sustained winds of 35+ on the hills is the no go line and they said it was 33 mph at the time. I had to leave around 530 so I am not sure if it ever ended up opening last night.
The fact that Gatekeeper and Millennium Force were open is at least encouraging that perhaps they have loosened up some of the extremely overreactive weather policies just a tad.
Just the fact it was operating at all, whatever the reason, in that weather is a big improvement over the previous edition.
First ride; Magnum 1994
The internet comments are precious.
"Looks like they've neutered the 3rd launch!"
"I've also heard that Cedar Point has lowered the speed of the third launch in an effort to reduce wear and tear."
"It would go over every time if it was built union.. well that's what you get."
Promoter of fog.
Is there any substance to the comments that 3rd launch has been tamed, resulting in less of a pop going over the tophat?
lmao. My favorite one though was:
"I heard Cedar Point reduced the third launch, because they overheard guests complaining that the third launch was too intense, going over the TopHat"
^^ Nah, the third launch has not been changed at all. Yesterday the ride was being tested at the edge of operability due to the weather conditions. I think the seating position being farther away from the track since the new trains are taller has a lot do with the increased intensity of the spirals and top hat.
Watching a couple 3rd launches on the webcam today, the trains appear to be going over the tophat with the same speed as they did on media day/opening weekend. Definitely faster than Dragster did. Someone who rode initially and now would need to confirm that though.
Expect there will be something of a learning curve with the ride in different weather conditions. Can model but a lot of actual experiences in actual weather can be different than models.
Not only does that make me hate the Internets, it makes me sad that people don't understand basic physics. Is there really someone out there that thinks they can launch it slower and still get it over the top? I just watched it, and it looks the same to me. I honestly think if they were able to back off just a tiny bit, it would be more enjoyable, so you had an extra half-second to look around up there.
Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Publisher - PointBuzz - CoasterBuzz - Blog - Music
Um, there obviously has to be a minimum speed to get over the top.
But one could launch in excess of that speed and pop over the top with more intensity.
Which is what I have heard to be the case with TT2 as opposed to TTD.
So I think it was reasonable to wonder if they had tamed that back down after seeing that someone had claimed this to be the case, and there is precedent for CF neutering rides after opening- Magnum's 3rd hill, and adding trims on the drops of both Mean Streak and Mantis.
Good to know that apparently that hasn't happened.
Reasonable if it was happening on an otherwise normal day.
Not reasonable when one considers there were 35 mph winds.
And it's always the same ..."well I heard..."
I think my favorite though might have been the rando "this is what you get for not going Union" comment.
Promoter of fog.
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