Top Thrill Dragster Control Panel

For those ride operators who work on TTD, in the control booth there is a and control panel in front and a launch control panel to the side. The launch panel has two dispatch buttons. When these buttons start to flash, and when the operator pushes them, does it lower the break fins on the launch track or does it start the christmas tree lights?

The brake fins retract automatically ~5 seconds before the actual launch and come back up after the train leaves the launch track. That being said, I'm not sure which other steps are automatic vs. authorized by controls.

Launch op panel, lights flash, once pressed and launch is enabled, the ride itself will release the train back and drop the launch dog onto the catch car. Once it's on the catch car, brake fins automatically drop, from there system automatically launches train after. Basically you wait for green lights, arms down. Once they put arms down and stop being stupid you enable launch, rest is automatic unless you ride stop/e-stop/fault

Once train passes, brake fins start going up, catch car hits it's set of brakes, train crests hill, system repeats. Brake fins for catch car drop, it reverses, heads back, charges accumulators, and starts all over again.

Main control panel doesn't do anything regarding launching trains, only thing it can do is ride stop or e-stop. That panel is for moving trains from safety/ready/unload/load/transfer table/launch during normal operation basically.

^ That sounds like exactly what I expected. Everything is automated after the launch buttons are depressed. :)

The ride basically runs itself. Other than the ops enabling the trains to move, more than half the buttons on the main control panel do not get used other than in the morning or by maint.

You wouldn't really want an op controlling every step of the launch. It's all a very calculated process as you described. The launch dog needs to engage, followed by the lowering of the brakes and a quick release of pressure from the motors. Any misstep here could be catastrophic.

Computers can certainly handle autonomous movement well (when the proxes aren't malfunctioning!). Low speed movement around guests and operators as well as the launch are the only two places you would really want to have human input. Of course, I'm speaking entirely from a theoretical perspective.

I wonder how much changed with the control panel after the first season in 2003? I remember that originally the ride was designed to run 6 trains in "automatic" mode, but that it never really worked well. Instead, the current system of 5 active trains is used. I suspect the controls were modified to have 5 trains run "automatic" mode, but I'm not sure other changes were also made at that time while the "kinks" were being worked out.

Theres a handle on the bottom left to designate how many trains are in service so it runs in the correct mode. All you do is switch it to five. Pther than that I'm sure it had some issues, I know in 2011 right at the beginning of the season it had to get reprogrammed a bit due to issues, but since opening, not too entirely certain. There's a few people who for sure can answer for that one.

I've had a question about TTD also: How come sometimes the ride op has to move the train in manual to the launch position. You can tell it's in manual when the trains are going slow out of the station

We will occasionally move a train from the Load 1 block to the Transfer block if we are anticipating a potential rollback. This way if it does rollback then we only have to repositon one train as opposed to five to relaunch said train. Just doing everything in our power to keep downtime to a minimum. :)

And as for the trains in operation switch, the ride runs fine no matter the number of trains. If you happen to be early entry and catch a glimpse of our morning test cycles, we have all six going at once then transfer off the spare. It has been found to have a higher capacity in five train mode.

Thanks for the clarification and keeping the ride moving quickly. I've noticed that TTD has been running pretty smooth this season so far and I appreciate that

What are some clues that would anticipate a rollback? :D

Also, the gold or brownish train was rough as heck so wondering if the wheels are getting wobbly.

Down for an extended duration due to mechanical or weather, first runs in the morning... Generally you don't get a rollback these days. It's quite rare.

The train you are referring to is gold.

I'm an operator at another Cedar Fair park, and I've honestly gotta ask rootown (or any other Cedar Point op): are you guys actually allowed to put the ride into manual mode?

Where I'm from, we're only allowed to run our rides in automatic. If there is a fault, or something needs to be done that can't be done though auto, we need to call our area managers to come they'll run it in manual.

I'm honestly really surprised you guys are allowed to run manual.

Each ride location at CP has a ride Supervisor, a Team Leader, and eventually 1 or more people appointed as an "in charge", to fulfill the duties if the ride supervisor and TL aren't there. They are all trained on how to run a ride in manual if there is ever a trouble light, or to jog a train forward and backward. We don't have to call and wait on a manager or area supervisor to come do it since we already have someone on location who is already trained.

That's actually really cool. We also have supervisors and leads for our rides but even they aren't trained on manual operation. There are only 3-4 non-maintenace personnel in our area (10 rides) that are allowed to put it in manual, and even they need to get permission from the duty manager to do that.

I must say, your way sounds a lot more efficient. If we have a fault light or a ride gets stuck (we have a Top Scan ride that always faults) guests are stranded for 5-15 minutes until somebody can put in manual and clear the faults...

Yes it is very efficient to have someone (most of the time more than 1 person) trained to run a ride in manual at each location. If you guys aren't allowed to do it, I'm curious to see how early you have to be at your location to transfer trains on the track and do pre opening tests, because you have to wait for maintenance or management to come do it for you. I'm amazed by that actually. Can I ask what park you work at? Or did you just want to remain anonymous?

It's so different that all Cedar Fair parks have different ways of operation. For example, at Dorney Park they have to "scan" before clearing a ride. Also, clears and high clears are so different at other parks compared to Cedar Point.

I work at Canada's Wonderland up north of you guys :P Our shifts usually start ~40min before park opening. When we get to the ride all the trains are on the track and maintenance has already finished their preventative maintenance checks. Then we check individual restraints, test dual dispatch buttons, ensure the trains/rides wont dispatch with different gates open, make sure that ride stops are working, and other minor things.

I believe at CP you guys remove trains during rain. At CW, we always run max trains. You'll hardly ever see a ride without all its trains, unless the train is being worked on by maintenance or if its less efficient to have that train on the track.

He kinda hit the nail on the head in the post above mine, but TwistedWicker, within the industry, our ride ops are pretty empowered.

Go see KI..their rules are ridiculous and I've fought against their SOP/training for years. If there's a camera on the lift, I've seen it out during dispatch and notified a ride op (and actually held my arm up in a hold lmao) and they didn't do anything but spiel on the lift..that was it..Saw the phone out as it jogged into the station too, not a word was said..it's sad really.

With CP, we basically have full oversight of our rides we're trained to operate, aside from evacs or e stops basically. Hell if anything but normal operation happens at a ride @ KI, they have to call an area sup to the ride location

The same goes for *some* rides at CW. We won't lift stop The Bat (Vekoma boomerang) for a cell phone out because if we do, an area sup needs to throw it in manual to continue the ride. We don't have a lift start button. Although, we do spiel like crazy when we see them and often threaten to stop the ride. That usually gets the job done :P

Most rides, however, can start and stop their lifts as they require, which I'm surprised KI doesn't do. It's my assumption that The Bat doesn't have a lift start button due to technical aspects (the control system might not be able to handle an interruption by itself, or something along the lines) rather than them not wanting us to restart the lift, but either way, it's a tad silly not to be able to lift stop unless it's an emergency.