Rumors about Ride Nights

I have heard rumors that when the ride nights are happening, the op's will actually TURN OFF the brakes! I'm just wondering if this is true, and if it is, how safe is it?

I've heard the same but i dont believe its the main brakes they turn off. See how i dont work in rides i really have no clue how that works, but i assume they have some other sort of brakes on the tracks to control speeds and those might be the ones they turn off.

Also i rode the mean streak once while they had the sprinklers on. Though i dont believe the rides employees did it, i think it was just what time the sprinklers had their timers set for.

They don't turn off the breaks.. or speed up the lift... coasters run faster at night after they have been running all day, the grease on the wheels has warmed, etc... You want a faster ride? Ride it at night.. it will be slowest first thing in the morning...

Well, that depends on the ride. When Magnum's trims are off it's a crazy ride through the pretzel and back. But I don't know anything about crew members opening the trims for my last ride of the night. ;)

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
"And he says 'I'm goin' crazy up there at the lake...'"

I heard they did it on Raptor ride night and someone fainted or something and they put the braks back on.

Coasters may also seem faster on ride nights when they have Mantis or Raptor in the dark - when they turn all the lights off. I know I've done both of those ride nights, and when you can't see where you're going, it seems to be going a lot faster (just my opinion :))

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Carrie's Cedar Point Employee Page
http://cpcarrie.tripod.com

Raptor feels faster in the dark because you don't have the visual cues that you have during the day. My cousin very nearly hurled once at night because of it. I too feel that it feels more disorienting at night.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
"And he says 'I'm goin' crazy up there at the lake...'"

I agree with Jeff about the Raptor, it does seem faster at night. On the trim breaks...at coastermania last year Magnum seemed to be MUCH faster than usual. Is it just my imagination or were the brakes open for that too?

I remember it clearly, I rode it earlier that day and remember the bugs were swarming like never before. Later than night we rode again, and man did it seem to be faster. Those were the best rides I have had so far on Magnum.

Have to agree with jeff Raptor is a totally different monster at night. It is so much better when the brakes are off on it. I have been on Gemini when the trim brakes before the helix at the end were off. WOW, it throws you around alot more with them off. Pretty hard for me to lean all the way out the car going that fast, but I did once.

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