Steel Vengeance

cp kid said:

Let's not forget that cp put all their focus to make sure sv would open today, that they forgot to get the other rides up for opening day. That's what has made me mad. I have never seen this at a CP opening day before. CP was not ready at all to open today.

Was it specifically rides not running/working?

There is a staffing shortage right now for the month of May. Cedar Point just started promoting a $1 bonus for every hour worked in May to try and get the staff they have to work longer hours and/or to get kids in school/college to come in as soon as possible. What parks typically do in such situations is open the majors and then all the minor rides go on rotation, they take the staff they have and try to open all rides for at least half the day as they move crews around.

I still think recruiting retired seniors is an untapped resource for staffing, but Cedar Point management needs to understand that people 55+ and older can't work 10-14 hour days. Be flexible, let seniors work 4 to 6 hour shifts as a way to staff up.

I agree with the BayernKurve. It seems, however, that Cedar Fair’s corporate culture is more comfortable with “systems” and “protocols” and does not operate comfortably with flexibility and/ore creativity. From the little I know of the new leadership, the current corporate culture is not going to change anytime soon.

BayernKurve said:

Was it specifically rides not running/working?

...What parks typically do in such situations is open the majors and then all the minor rides go on rotation,

From a report I saw on Twitter the majors were not open. It listed Blue Streak, Gatekeeper, Iron Dragon, Millennium Force, Steel Vengeance, Top Thrill Dragster, Valraven, and more minor attractions as not operating.

At 9 am only steel vengeance was running
When I was doing my park walk back to the car... Here's what was not running:
Valravn
maxAir
Wicked twister

I'm not sure if TTD or magnum was running, or gemini. I never made it over there.

What really baffles me is Wicked Twister and maXair not running. Wicked Twister at the bare minimum can operate with 5 people (2 people checking the train. 1 in controls, 1 at Fast Lane, and 1 to send breaks). Now if Valravn and Dragster is down, why can’t they send those people to a ride that can operate in windy weather (ie: yesterday). Did they even commission WT yet for the season? I didn’t even see it test this off season. Same with maXair. Like geeze oh man. I understand staffing levels, but if 1 ride can’t be open, at least compensate with opening another ride with all of these extra ride ops probably “cleaning”.

Those handrails sure do shine!

^^ I understand what you’re saying, but not every ride op is trained on every ride, especially this early in the season. It’s opening day, after all. Later in the season this is more feasible as ride ops cross train at other rides, but the kids who have been training all week have mostly been training on just one ride, the ride they were hired to work.

From what I've read those waiting for SV when it went down got a day meal pass and fastlane. I hope the fastlane was for the future because a 5 hour queue of new fastlane people with half the big rides closed at least part of the day sounds bad.

Cartwright said:

Pete said:
It must just have been a bump because of the tire drive, but at least no one can bash Intamin for this one! 😀

If Trump gets to blame all of his mistakes on Obama, maybe RMC gets to blame Intamin for this.

Ah, just what the forum needs. Politics in completely apolitical topics.

I'm hearing reports that Steel Vengeance has reopened.

Yeah, I am seeing pictures on Facebook. Open with one train. Looks promising for those going tomorrow. But one train ops... eeek...

Yes, it is open.

We watched them testing water dummies for about an hour. Then, a couple of employees testing. They let a small number of people on at 9:00 while running one train. WOW! What a great ride!! Shortly after, they closed down the line. We were in the right place at the right time!! Thanks RMC and Cedar Point for getting the ride back open!!

My family was in line for Maverick when the entrance host told us that Steel Vengeance was open. When we got over there, security told us that it was at capacity.

So we got back in line at Mav, then briskly walked on very tired feet up to Millennium for our last ride.

Overall, what started as a disappointing day has been really fun.

CPVet said:
^^ I understand what you’re saying, but not every ride op is trained on every ride, especially this early in the season. It’s opening day, after all. Later in the season this is more feasible as ride ops cross train at other rides, but the kids who have been training all week have mostly been training on just one ride, the ride they were hired to work.

Not necessarily true at all. For at least the past few years, a lot of employees (including ride supervisors) are trained at more than 1 location. Also, if there are that many rides that aren’t commissioned yet, they could’ve easily taken the employees from rides that were down to help commission these other rides to help them get open ASAP. WT takes a whole 5 hours to commission. Now, this is assuming state has already came by and gave the approval for it to operate. It’s crazy that these crews will have to wait a whole week before they can operate with guests, when they could potentially be open by tomorrow. I already can see more complaints coming through for tomorrow with lack of rides open. Sorry I’m complaining like this. I wasn’t even affected by opening day 2018 haha. But, lack of staff is one thing. Not being prepared is another.

Yeah, trained on more than one ride eventually in the season. But by opening day? I never was trained anywhere other than the ride I was contracted to during training week.

Interesting. I was trained at many locations prior to opening day.

Not open as of 9:30. Very long line, but they’re still just running one train with water dummies.

This has been quite the disastrous honeymoon period for Cedar Fair/RMC. I wonder if Railblazer will have the same "restraints make your shoulders bleed after several rides" issue as Wonder Women. If so you really couldn't ask for a worse start. Hopefully things get figured out and we don't see a "the two don't work together for a decade" thing.

Welp now I got the unpleasant experience of being on SV stairs and it shutting down due to mechanical issues.