Two question about Mantis...

Last week I was at the point and i noticed that Mantis is really braking hard at the brakerun that runs parralell to MF's 2nd hill. It's the one after the midcourse brake. This basically dead stop is quite painful. How long has it been doing this? Has anyone else noticed?

And how long has that train been sitting under the transfer track? Don't they rotate them in periodically, or just keep it on the maintance track just incase on is broken down.

That's all thanks!

It has been doing it forever and quite honestly, it seems unnecessary. With them only running two trains, there is plenty of braking room (room enough for two trains) left on the straightaway behind the station. Those brakes should be more like trims, and just slow the train as they approach a final brake run. The train never stops and sits there, so it isn't necessary for it to come to such a harsh stop. It shouldn't be a big deal for Consign or Cedar Point's controls people to change that.

The train under the transfer track has been shrink wrapped for freshness since either 2001 or 2002 although I think someone said that they rotated it in to start the season this year and put another one down there. I haven't been paying close enough attention to know for sure.

All I know is that when I last went, 2 weeks ago, it wasn't braking as Raptor Man said it is now...or has been rather. Well, it's probably for a good reason. I would think that Cedar Point knows what they're doing. They have to be, right? *** Edited 6/30/2005 4:01:48 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***

The slow capacity on Mantis really bugs me. I like the ride, but not enough to wait 2 hours every time for it. Those brakes are a mystery to me, because as said above with only a 2 train op it is really un-needed. Would a 3 train op increase the capacity, or would the constant stacking make it the same?

The numbers did decline the year they took off the third train, but it wasn't by nearly as much as if the third train were able to be used efficiently (if that makes any sense).

For example, on Magnum or Raptor, you get about 1000 riders per hour with two trains. With three trains, you get about 1500 - so the capacity increases by 50% or close to it. With Mantis, they were getting maybe 800 with two trains, and 900 with three trains, so there wasn't much to gain. I argued that they should have left the third train on Mantis even if they can only hit a three train interval 10% of the time beause 10% was better than nothing. But maybe they didn't want to have people stacked on the brake run with tht bicycle seat in between their legs getting all antsy for 2 minutes most of the time! :) I think we can agree that since they are running two trains for good now, the hard stop at the end of the ride is unnecessary.

We'll see the same thing at Corkscrew now that they have added seatbelts to that ride. I suspect having the third train on the track there will now add NOTHING to capacity (it will only add to the amout of time people sit in the train stacked) and eventually, they'll probably shrink wrap one of those trains and store it or send it to Michigan's Adventure (whose Corkscrew only has one train and rght now has no transfer track either).

i agree - that harsh brake has been there since the ride opened. (and its not a fun harsh like on wildcat!) but, that's when they had three trains.

it appears to be an evil trend at CP to remove trains from the circuit if they are stacking. do you guys think that they will remove a train from MF because it stacks all the time too? when i was there a couple weekends ago, i doubt they hit interval once. there was always a train sitting outside of the station with people on it. i know its because of the seatbelt thing, but i don't see that issue going away either.

Mantis with 3 trains would stack for 2 minutes. MF only stacks for a matter of what...30 seconds or less. Most of the time of course.

For the braking, Mantis most likly still runs with the same computer program it started with. Making the final brakerun two separate holding brakes. You could change the program, but look at CCMR and Gemini to see what happens when CP changes a safty system.

I'm used to the hard brake by now, but I still don't get why it is there. It seems like both B&Ms grab hard on the brakes.

It doesn't seem like all the rides have long lines anymore. With TTD and MF being at the top the rides of the 90s like Maggie, Raptor, Mean Streak, and Mantis just are a 15- to walk on wait. I went their last week and that's the story I saw. For just going their one week a season, do I just luck out and hit a really slow week or is it like that all the time.

I read somewhere attendence is down 8% thus far this season, so that might have something to do with it. Having worked there for three seasons, the real crowds really don't show up until about July. The 11 o'clock closings start tomorrow I think. The big jump in crowds is probably still to come.

The weekdays have been slow this year, even Fridays. But come July you will start seeing long lines even on the weekdays. And I'm not talking a 30 min. wait for Magnum. I'm talking 1 hour or more for Magnum, possibly over 30 mins. for Mean Streak, Blue Streak, Corckscrew, Iron Dragon, and over 1 hour waits on most everything else. I know a few Saturdays ago it was more crowded than usual for that time of the month, and also considering it rained as well for about an hour in the morning.

But back to the topic of Mantis...I don't think there is much more to talk about on this issue.

I am disgusted with Mantis. I've only been on it once. It was 2003 I believe and it was before the third train was completely removed from the track. I had a great ride. Last year, I happened to come when they were doing work on the lift hill, so I missed my ride.

I have never experienced a Mantis wait at all. That time I rode, it was a somewhat stormy day and I happened to notice a "testing brigade" heading towards Mantis. My friends and I decided to stop and wait at the entrance. We were the first ones on the ride.

I can completely understand how it stacks terribly. They had to unlock the restraints several times when they loaded our train.

However, I'm sure the old Mantis stacking was nothing like Mad Mouse at Michigan's Adventure. That is the slowest loading, stacking nightmare of the century. You sit at the end of that ride for well over 5 minutes. There's 3 cars ahead of you before you even reach the station. That ride has so many trims along the course that are never used. You sit in that station after you're loaded for what seems like an eternity before they dispatch.

How can you be disgusted with a ride you rode once two years ago?

With the number of blocks they have on MM, I still haven't figured out why they can't dispatch closer together. Sometimes it is the fault of riders too though. I've had to wait by the storage track, with the ride track empty, because whoever is getting in in the station is a complete moron and doesn't know their butt from a hole in the wall.

There's actually a thread about that. Oddly enough, it's entitled Corkscrew got seatbelts.

What an odd name for a thread...