Top Thrill Dragster: Years from now.

You guys better get rid of that bottle of Haterade.:)

JuggaLotus said:I expect MUCH more from a 25 million dollar investment.
And if you think this is "as good as it's going to get" then you must agree that its time to take it down. It was down for most of September, they get that problem fixed and then something else major breaks, c'mon, the things a lemon.

Well than you're expecting TOO much. $25,000,000!!!! What do you think allot of that money went into? It isn't a mear $9,000,000 coaster that can be thrown away like *snaps fingers* THAT!!
And never in a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 years will I ever consider Dragster a flop, or even think that it should be torn down. Do you know why I think its "as good as it's going to get", because during the many days that it did run, it ran soo smoothly and had hardly any(if not no) downtime. And if I recall, ALLOT of you said that it had gotten better. So some of you have gone from "wow it's been running very well so far!" to "TEAR IT DOWN!!"
Yes it was down for all of the month of September, but if you think about it, it has only technacilly been closed for 19, park operating, days...that's close, but it's not a month.

OH and for the record: TOP THRILL DRAGSTER IS A MUCH MORE COMPLEX RIDE THAN THE OTHER COASTERS!!! >:O

Wow....

TTD isn't a lemon. It just has a large number of parts with very short life expectancies. :)

Top Fuel Dragsters are worse then Top Thrill Dragster. Their slicks have a very soft compund with a static friction coefficient of over 1.6. There average milage is 2 miles. Their engines need to be completely torn down and repaired after several runs. Failure to do that will result in an catastrophic failure and a whole new engine. The exhaust needs to be plugged after each run or the valves will warp.

Oh yeah, Intamin voluntarily dropped over $8 million into TTD for repairs in 2003. Cedar Points half assed attempts at getting the ride reopened is a big contributing factor. Intamin could easily convince a Jury that Cedar Point was responsible for much of the damage. Their reason would behind it was in attempt to get it open when repairs should be conducted instead. Cedar Point may have a strong service reasoning They really screw themselves over running the ride in poor operation conditions and with temporary mods. The mods generally didn't work right and caused plenty of damage to the rest of the hydraulics.

As for the current issue, the ride has run a decent amount now so problems that occur within the first year for most rides is now occuring on TTD. The gearbox finally went out and they fixed it. I am willing to bet that maintenance either contaminated the hydraulics in the repair process or didn't put the gearbox on properly that caused the rest of the downtime. They have bit themselves in the ass before doing crap like that. *** Edited 10/22/2005 12:11:25 AM UTC by ForgottenEE***

Hmm.....very interesting post ForgottenEE.
Especially the last two paragraphs....

Where was ForgottenEE back on page one?

*** Edited 10/22/2005 9:20:34 PM UTC by Gomez***

TTD 120mph said:
Well than you're expecting TOO much. $25,000,000!!!! What do you think allot of that money went into? It isn't a mear $9,000,000 coaster that can be thrown away like *snaps fingers* THAT!!
And never in a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 years will I ever consider Dragster a flop, or even think that it should be torn down. Do you know why I think its "as good as it's going to get", because during the many days that it did run, it ran soo smoothly and had hardly any(if not no) downtime. And if I recall, ALLOT of you said that it had gotten better. So some of you have gone from "wow it's been running very well so far!" to "TEAR IT DOWN!!"
Yes it was down for all of the month of September, but if you think about it, it has only technacilly been closed for 19, park operating, days...that's close, but it's not a month.

OH and for the record: TOP THRILL DRAGSTER IS A MUCH MORE COMPLEX RIDE THAN THE OTHER COASTERS!!! >:O

Yes, "ALLOT" of people have said that it has been running better. That is true for the most part, but look at it now. Also, you said "Top Thrill Dragster is a much more complex ride than any other coasters!!!" Well, if it's so complex, how can you be sure that all of the little (and big) parts that rely on eachother for it to work will not deteriorate in the near future (like many others have already stated)?

I also have to question how you consider it only being down for 19 days and that only park operating days count. Cedar Point was lucky that this happened during HalloWeekends, because they are only open on weekends, but what if this happened in the summer? You would have to consider EVERY day of the week. Regardless, it was not possible to operate during the weekdays in September even if the park was open, since they didn't have the parts in to fix it, so it ends up being over a month of downtime anyway.

Everyone understands that you are "Top Thrill Dragsters biggest fan", but perhaps you need to be a little bit more realistic about the downtime situation. Face it, Dragster most likely hasn't hit a million riders again for the third year in a row, and in my opinion, that's unacceptable. I could be wrong, but I'll agree with everyone else and say that it will never operate smoothly for an entire season.
*** Edited 10/22/2005 9:58:40 PM UTC by CoasterRider310***

^Never say never. :)

Well, if it's so complex, how can you be sure that all of the little (and big) parts that rely on eachother for it to work will not deteriorate in the near future (like many others have already stated)?

Well thats why its so complex. The parts do deteriorate over time, and need to be replaced....like brakepads. It's something you have to think about. So next year just keep in mind that there is the possibility of downtime due to a worn out part.

I also have to question how you consider it only being down for 19 days and that only park operating days count. Cedar Point was lucky that this happened during HalloWeekends, because they are only open on weekends, but what if this happened in the summer? You would have to consider EVERY day of the week. Regardless, it was not possible to operate during the weekdays in September even if the park was open, since they didn't have the parts in to fix it, so it ends up being over a month of downtime anyway.

Yes, I understand that fact but see it this way. Days down = 43 Days down with people at the park = 20. I'm only considering the days that it was down when the park was open to the public(Halloweekends) which is now 20.

Everyone understands that you are "Top Thrill Dragsters biggest fan", but perhaps you need to be a little bit more realistic about the downtime situation. Face it, Dragster most likely hasn't hit a million riders again for the third year in a row, and in my opinion, that's unacceptable. I could be wrong, but I'll agree with everyone else and say that it will never operate smoothly for an entire season.

Being Dragster biggest fan doesnt mean that Im not more realistic about the downtime situation. If anything, everything I've been saying proves that I have a large understanding of the downtime situation. And yes, although Dragster will probibly never operate for an entire season, it will improve.

The only thing I can say is dont get mad at Dragster or CP. It's the fact that it's just so da** complex. Its parts will fail, and they will be fixed. So just have faith that it can be fixed and that CP is doing everything they can to keep it up for as long it can during the season. Also, just keep this in mind, Dragsters recent downtime could and probibly was because it ran so well for the first few months. If that's the case, then it needs a good time off every couple weeks or so, so it can be checked for any developing problems.

*** Edited 10/23/2005 3:12:54 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***

It's not like TTD120mph and myself are saying, TTD IS DA BOMB! KK sucks, you're all TTD haters, I LUV DRGSTR.

We're keeping are disputes very realistic. We're also the only ones who seem to look at TTD with the glass half full concept.

Thanks Gomez, thats exactly how I am concerning Dragster.
I love it, and Im going to overlook certian problems that arise with it. BUT I will keep them in perspective.
"OK, this(whatever it may be) happened. This doesnt make me hate it in any way but I am aware of it and will make logical reasons for it." Thats how I am.......It's kind of hard to explain, but Gomez pretty much explained it perfectly.
Here's an example:

I said:What! Its closed again!? Oh man! this sucks!.....oh well, I'll get on it again next year. I can wait.......CP will fix it and it will probibly require some fixing during the course of next.

After all everybody, It's Top Thrill Dragster! What other coaster has gotten a famous reputation for its downtime!?:) *** Edited 10/23/2005 4:15:38 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***

That's not a reputation to brag about really.

"Cedar Point: Most Down-Time on the Planet!"

Except that even counting Dragster, CP's up-time is still near the front of the pack.

Good point......plus I was kidding about Dragsters reputation being that it's always down (just so ya know).

Ditto.

I bet TTD won't see another 10 years. CP will finally say that they tried and tried to keep the ride up and running but it just costs too much to keep reparing it and such.

Kinda like Mean Streak, right? ;)

Yeah kinda lol.

I HATE Six Flags said:
I bet TTD won't see another 10 years. CP will finally say that they tried and tried to keep the ride up and running but it just costs too much to keep reparing it and such.

And in 10 years from now when its still up and running, I'll be laughing.

You guys are taking this breakdown too seriously. I can understand if it was something like what happened on Kingda Ka, but it isnt. So you guys are jumping to the gun with expectations. Sure 10 years from now would be a good run for Dragter, but I would rather see it still stand 30 years from now.

I personally see TTD hitting about 20 years tops... Something like the life of a lot of the schwartzkopf shuttle loops.