TTD Running Smoothly

I just got home from riding Dragster. What a late and eventful night. We hopped in line about 10:00 pm and at about 10:45 or around there it broke down. It was down for about 30 minutes and then they launched two test trains then loaded 2 trains and sent them out to ready position. The first one launched and everyone cheered. Then Bryan Edwards (I think thats his name) came over the P.A and announced it was down. Then about 15 minutes later this happened again. This happened about 4 times and then finally they kept it going. We rode about a quarter til' one. When it went down again at 11:15 (for the second time that night) they announced that they would keeep Millennium Force's line open an extra 15 minutes for people who wanted to get out of line. Just another reason why CP is the best around.

Note: If I spelled anything wrong, please dont take offense, its been a late night but the Top Thrill Dragster ride was worth it. :)

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2003 Statistics
Top Thrill Dragster: 8
Millennium Force: 18
Trips to the point: 21

CP kept MF open until 11:30pm tonight, presumably because of Dragster problems. It was great and unexpected. I got 4 MF rides in between 10:30 and 11:30.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

Raptor1116 - TTD opened around 11am on Sunday

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Stop Still Dragster 3...2...1... No !! ;)

I didn't ride Dragster yesterday, but I took a lot of pictures...

When it was operating, it was running with a consistent 66-second interval. They still do not have the trains moving smoothly through the station, though they have solved the odd-train problem. The added brake fins on the catchwagon track have not succeeded in reducing the cycle time, though apparently the system is resetting faster, as there is now a delay between the end of the launch and the cable reset...but the cable reset interval is still about 48 seconds. A trip down to the ride entrance revealed the problem...after a train is launched, the catchwagon brake fins are retracted, and one of the fins is sticking, taking roughly 14 seconds longer than the other fins to drop....and as soon as it hits its limit switch you can hear the catchwagon moving overhead. Okay, since the catchwagon reset is delaying the launch, and since that mechanical problem accounts for about 14 seconds, that means if they fix it they'll get the reset time down to 34 seconds. That would still only get the launch interval down to 52 seconds, though, which is still longer than the park wants. They're going to have to get the platform gates open quicker, and they have got to get the cars moving together. But in two weeks of downtime, they've certainly come a long way!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Raptor 1116, I think, it might have opened around 3 or 4... I didn't get there until 2, so I don't know before that.

Small little note: The official CP site has readded the TTD pics to the home page now, as well as the other CP ride pics. Looks like TTD will be running good throughout the rest of the season, but I still think they should take the winter to iron out the small little bugs.

A 66 second interval puts hourly capacity at 981. So, they're running at about 65% (assuming 1,500 is 100%)

Sounds like they're moving in the right direction, considering where they were a month ago.

It'll be interesting to see how the next month progresses.

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Without upstops, airtime would have a whole new meaning!

We went tonight (7/14) and it was down for a good part of the day. We got in line around 10 pm which was about an hours wait. We were the next car to be launched and it broke down. The mechanics were there and worked near the launch area. Seeing that there has been a lot of work with the LIM's according to updates around here, I assume they were doing the same. They ran a test car, which didn't clear the top and rolled back. I saw this same thing happen last week after it went down. I am assuming that they may be intentionally launching empty trains so that they roll back to test the brakes, seeing that is where the problems are.

After they completed working on it, they launched a train full of riders which rolled back. It wasnt even close to making it. Thats the first time I saw a rollback occupied.

The riders loved it. A few people told us it was awesome.

After about 30 more minutes of waiting, they closed the ride and gave us front of the line passes.

I wasn't that disappointed as I live close enough to get there often, but the people who waited and came from out of town get the green weenie.

Im not blaming CP or anyone. Its just the way things go.

But the ride is worth it if you can get on it.

The crew was doing very well with their launch intervals. A far cry from my 6 hour wait on opening day.

Ok, I meant the brake fins, not LIMS, my mistake. I should proofread before the vultures get to it. Thanks for the corrections.
*** This post was edited by Digital Daredevil 7/15/2003 2:47:05 PM ***

Ummmmm.....ttd doesn't use LIM's

so yeah.........

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Race for the sky TODAY!!!!!!!!!!
*** This post was edited by JoshBrown 7/15/2003 3:15:56 AM ***

It looks like they got it back up pretty quickly. I just saw it launch on the cleveland cam. There are people in the station too.

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You had better scream now, because at 420 feet no one can hear you!!

ya, I was about to say, there are no LIM's on TTD.....

So the ride is clearly open again today, despite what the message on the Web site says. My guess is that they're going to work as needed to get this launch interval where it needs to be. As Dave observed, there are still precious seconds to shave off that reset time.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Luau II Cam 7/19
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I am excited to see what things will be like when they get the capacity all the way up. I was there on Sunday, 7/13 and they were cranking people through the line. When we entered the queue at 7:40, all but the last section was full. We were lucky enough to get our ride without waiting for downtime. When we got off the ride it was 8:45. While in line I kept thinking about how quickly the line moves and that if it weren't for the downtime, the ride would have excellent capacity.
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CP2K3: Visits: 22 Drag races won: 5

Yeah, Jeff, but on Sunday, fifteen seconds of that system reset time were for a plainly obvious reason. They're really close now, mechanically, to getting the interval they want, but at the same time they need to work it out operationally. But that comes with experience, something the Dragster crew hasn't had much time to get this season... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I have a question. Has the smoke effect as the train launches been working? In Walt's pic of the tower countdown lights @ night if you look closely just to the left of the little countdown lights it looks like smoke.

Hubert, on Sunday the smoke effect was indeed working.

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CP2K3: Visits: 22 Drag races won: 5

Not only was the smoke working on Sunday, I noticed that where it used to come out of a single smoke nozzle positioned under the last car, it now comes out of two smoke nozzles positioned behind the last car. I wonder if they're planning on dressing up that bumper on the back of the train................. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I was there today for my 9th run on TTD. The smoke is working and I was unsure in the past if the themeing was gonna come back.. but those black brackets on the back look like they are there for something.. so maybe the theme will be replenished.. I sure hope they work out the rest of the bugs. I have been very paitent but it is starting to get a little rediculous I have spent over 23 hours waiting total for my 9 rides..
That is 1380 MINUTES of waiting for 153 SECONDS of absolute amazement.. hehehe

Not complaining just hoping for some better dragster days ahead.
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TTD=9. MF=80. Raptor 100+ Magnum. 250+ lost count.

Hopefully no one has mentioned this yet, but tonight I saw the first TTD commercial on TV in weeks. It was a new commercial with a father and son trying to decide what to do at Cedar Point for the day and the son was enamored by TTD... It has to be a good sign that they're advertising it again! BOUYA

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Is Spam meat?

Not to mention the e-mail I got from Funtimes today stating the ride was back in operation.

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CP2K3: Visits: 22 Drag races won: 5