Top Thrill Dragster: Years from now.

Also don't forgot TTD is A LOT rougher on it's parts than most rides...

As long as intamin is around the ride will stand

Not neccesarily.... CP could have special parts made. They don't have to be from Intamin.

Yeah but they're pretty limited in what parts can be made/ordered by a different company. Intamin is the only company that truely knows what Dragster needs to be fixed. I mean where else can they get a gearbox or any of the parts that make up the hydraulics? Those are Intamin parts, they are specially made and only Intamin has them.

I'm not hating on the Dragster fanboys, I was one briefly, lets be honest, the ride won't see its 10 year annv.

Why does everyone doubt it? We may never know but it may have a long future after all.

Serious question:

Intamin does not outsource any of the mechanical parts for their rides? They make everything from raw material and assemble it in their shop?

That does not seem economical for the company.

The future for Dragster and Kingda Ka seem to be going the way of Superman at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The gimmick will wear off eventually.

Assumptions......only assumptions.

I think Superman at SFMM has been unnoticed due to SF not running the ride at full power or just not running it at all. As long as CP can get the ride at good running status, TTD will remain one of the star attractions for a while.

TTD 120mph said:
Yeah but they're pretty limited in what parts can be made/ordered by a different company. Intamin is the only company that truely knows what Dragster needs to be fixed. I mean where else can they get a gearbox or any of the parts that make up the hydraulics? Those are Intamin parts, they are specially made and only Intamin has them.

Any qualified fabrication shop can create replacement parts for any ride - regardless of manufacturer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but CP gets the plans for each ride once they are complete, so they would have a complete bill of materials, assembly drawings as well as detail drawings of each individual component - and would likely know where Intamin had the part fabricated originally, as its unlikely they did everything themselves.

I'm willing to bet that most ride manufacturers contract out a majority of the smaller components for the ride to manufacturers who are more equipped to fabricate those parts.

Thats what I was thinking. The ride may have been designed by Intamin AG, but the engine and gear boxes were probably manufactured by a company with their primary business being hydraulic engines or what have you.

Although, when we design our systems we are not obligated to give out prints that would actually tell our customer how to build it or where to order parts. We call them "as-built" drawings. They simply give dimensions, equipment lists (without manufacturer or price) and maintenance procedures.

Do you think ride manufacturers are required to give fabrication drawings? Or do they simply send CF L.P. a manual and some as-built prints. *** Edited 3/1/2006 3:29:55 PM UTC by Coastern3rd***

That would probably depend on the contract. Obviously for Intamin, supplying replacement parts could be a big chunk of their business, so they may not want to.

For $25M, if I were Kinzel, I would politely ask for the detail/fab drawings. Of course, I have no way of knowing the actual goings-on when it comes to such things.

Alternatively, any competent designer can create detail drawings from an existing part. Using measuring devices and the like, they can replicate the part to a universally acceptable level of precision - dimensionally, at least. When it comes to material composition and manufacturing process, however, that would be a different story. In that case, the new designer would likely have to over-engineer the part to insure that its robust enough to handle the application.

Yeah I guess that can be true. I don’t know much about manufacturing parts.:D
If that is true, I wonder if a new, more reliable system cold be built by another company? I know they wouldn't because it would cost a great amount to do it but just is it possible? And I'm sure that the current hydraulic system will be reliable enough to have very little maintenance problems (not general maintenance), this year, now that they have newer parts.

2006 WILL be Dragster year to shine.:)

*** Edited 3/1/2006 8:23:33 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

10 years? It will still be around.
30? Who knows.

Mantis is 10.
Mean Streak and Disaster are even older.

10 years isn't long in a coaster's life. Millennium is already 7 and it still seems new to people.

2006 WILL be Dragster year to shine.:)

Yeah so was 2003
Yeah so was 2004
yeah so was 2005

Fanboy of the ride or not lets be realistic here. It took Kinzel over decade to admit Disaster Transport was a mistake and barely three for Dragster......

Look at Raptor, it's 12 years old and one of the park's most popular rides. Magnum turns 17 this year. Gemini turns 28. Age isn't that big of an issue. All of the rides I just listed are 10+ and remain Cedar Point classics that many people love.

Dragster is different though. I'm sure the structure itself could last well over 20 years, the question is the hydraulic equipment. Will it last? Maybe one day they will retrofit it with a completely new motor. Who knows?
*** Edited 3/2/2006 5:04:08 AM UTC by Vince982***

Huh? Since when was 2003 or 04 EVER referred to have be Dragsters year to shine?! Those were the worst years if anything. And believe it or not but 05 WAS its best year yet. (And don’t give me that end of the year crap)

And I don't care about what Kinzel said. He only recently admitted that Dragster was his worst financial decision, but exactly how long has he been saying themeing DT was his worst decision?......yeah, he's been saying that for a while. Plus, I think I've mentioned this about a hundred times, Kinzel said that he will change his mind depending on this years performance. And they (CP) are looking at a great year for Dragster. So he can change his opinion where as, with DT, he can't.

Dragster will stand for years to come. They are NOT going to just decide to demolish a $25,000,000 coaster after only 4,5,6,or 7 years of running......that would be a waste of both money and resources.

*** Edited 3/2/2006 5:10:25 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***

TTD 120mph said:
If that is true, I wonder if a new, more reliable system cold be built by another company? I know they wouldn't because it would cost a great amount to do it but just is it possible?

Yes, its certainly possible. The main factors would be the current system's reliability, the introduction of a newer, more reliable launch system and (of course) price. If all of those elements came together, I can't see why CP would pass up such an opportunity. Keep in mind, though, that such an occurence is pretty unlikely.

In essence, everytime a part is replaced with a different one (i.e. stronger), they are replacing the system with redesigned parts. So, in this regard, in 20 years the bulk of the system may have been completely replaced by newer, more reliable components.

And I'm sure that the current hydraulic system will be reliable enough to have very little maintenance problems (not general maintenance), this year, now that they have newer parts.

Don't get your hopes up. Sure, they've replaced the parts that broke most recently, but there will be more problems - I'd bet money on it, if I had any. ;)

2006 WILL be Dragster year to shine.:)

There's always hope. :)

*** Edited 3/2/2006 11:15:17 AM UTC by djDaemon***

"Don't get your hopes up. Sure, they've replaced the parts that broke most recently, but there will be more problems - I'd bet money on it, if I had any. "

Oh I know that Dragster will have it's problems this year(its an almost guarantee:)). But I bet they will be down to a bare minimum.