Winter Chill Out 2025

Not sure where to post this (and apologies if it has already been noted), but it appears they are performing track straightening on TT2 (mistakenly identified as welding):

https://pointbuzz.com/News/Story/3409

So there was something to the rumor that there were issues with the track. It looks like both the pull up and the pull out are being "straightened."

Also found it interesting that it was said that you will barely be able to tell the difference between the first set of trains and the reworked trains. That seems to fly in the face of the testing footage that shows a car or two with much lower seats which to me would be a significant and obvious change.

Tony's interview a few weeks back with Marcus Leshock sounded very optimistic, but what do you expect him to say? "This re-imagining has been a bigger clusterf%^& than even the first iteration of this awful ride?"

My guess is there's a lot of people at Cedar Flags with fingers crossed that this goes okay this year and isn't another disaster. I'd say it's 50-50 at this point and Siren's curse was thrown in to CP despite being a better fit at other parks in the chain as an insurance policy.

Remember, there were photos of Zamperla doing 3D scans of TT2 track, with the rumor they were going to replace the tophat track. Looks like these attempts at tweaking these sections may be related to them doing careful imaging to try to reduce some of the hunting/strain on the trains. That -- in tandem with potentially reinforced trains -- should do the trick.

I refuse to believe there is not a relatively straightforward engineering solution to whatever was troubling the Zamperla trains.

^There likely is, but as I've found in my career, sometimes the solution is easy. The hard part is truly understanding the root cause of the problem. Which, I suspect Zamperla found out the hard way when they tried a band-aid fix last year and it didn't work. But once they shut it down for the season they were armed with plenty of time to do some deep structural analysis on the track and make fixes both to the structure and the trains. I think their chances of success are decent here, but time will tell.

I see the Aldrich theater is missing from that press release. Wonder if Class of 99 will only get one season, or if that's one of the 'Additional live productions released at a later date'

Perhaps choosing a company not best known for mouse coasters and spinning rides to take on a monumental task such as TTD “reimagining “ would’ve been prudent and cost effective.

Engineering, it’s in the DNA or it’s not.

Big risks come with big learning curves. They can't all be successful all of the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I still believe they'll get things figured out. But I doubt Zamperla will be eager to take on such a large undertaking like this again. Although, there's no more strata coasters for them to "re-imagine" anyway sooooo.....

XS NightClub:

Engineering, it’s in the DNA or it’s not.

Right, which is why Shoot the Rapids was such a roaring success.

MDOmnis:

So there was something to the rumor that there were issues with the track. It looks like both the pull up and the pull out are being "straightened."

Also found it interesting that it was said that you will barely be able to tell the difference between the first set of trains and the reworked trains. That seems to fly in the face of the testing footage that shows a car or two with much lower seats which to me would be a significant and obvious change. Tony's interview a few weeks back with Marcus Leshock sounded very optimistic, but what do you expect him to say? "This re-imagining has been a bigger clusterf%^& than even the first iteration of this awful ride?"

My guess is there's a lot of people at Cedar Flags with fingers crossed that this goes okay this year and isn't another disaster. I'd say it's 50-50 at this point and Siren's curse was thrown in to CP despite being a better fit at other parks in the chain as an insurance policy.

What new footage has been shown with the reworked trains going through high speed testing?

Hudson:

I see the Aldrich theater is missing from that press release. Wonder if Class of 99 will only get one season, or if that's one of the 'Additional live productions released at a later date'

It is back, I believe a slightly different version/storyline.

Question for anyone who went. I think on someone's video on the event it was reported that Millenium Force seat belts were being changed. Any one know more? Are they actually changing them?

Robintodd:

Question for anyone who went. I think on someone's video on the event it was reported that Millenium Force seat belts were being changed. Any one know more? Are they actually changing them?

Yes, they are new/being changed. From what I gathered, they have a little bit more length and stretch to them, as well as where they are installed will be changed for easier access/buckling.

XS NightClub:

Engineering, it’s in the DNA or it’s not.

This is not correct. Engineering is learned, not hereditary.

For those that attended WCO, I've seen some pictures showing some work going on near the Gemini entrance. I realize they're working on Happy Friar, but this seemed to be unrelated, or not directly related. Does anyone know what they were doing there?

Photo credit Tim Stradtman via Cedar Point Nation Group.

XS Nightclub said:

Perhaps choosing a company not best known for mouse coasters and spinning rides to take on a monumental task such as TTD “reimagining “ would’ve been prudent and cost effective.

Because NONE of Intamin’s installations didn’t need modifications when building the “first of its kind” or create potentially disastrous outcomes, right? I’m not a CP apologist, but the amount of people that still complain about Zamperla being the company that did this “reimagining” seem to have forgotten about Intamin’s reputation.

djDaemon said:

For those that attended WCO, I've seen some pictures showing some work going on near the Gemini entrance. I realize they're working on Happy Friar, but this seemed to be unrelated, or not directly related. Does anyone know what they were doing there?

I was wondering the same thing. However, I did notice the one area of Gemini’s station that faces the midway no longer has that faded pink spot that was like that for years. It might have been painted last year, but either way, it looks much better.

Did anybody get clarification about TGIFridays on the beach? Will that be replaced with anything? What about the old Melt location? Chickie’s and Pete’s? Still waiting for them to announce the departure of Perkins. I can’t stand their food.

For our money, we've historically found Perkins to be totally unremarkable, but reliably consistent. Though I think we've only ever been there for breakfast or brunch.

Fridays used to be tolerable, even at their "premium" prices, but more recently the experience went downhill while their prices went from eyebrow-raising to insulting. I guess I can't blame them, though, since the place always seemed to be pretty busy.

^^^^

James Dyson certainly thinks engineering innovation is in his DNA. He was born with vacuum cleaner dna ;) Or, overpriced cool looking plastic DNA, depending on whom you ask.

https://www.dyson.com/insid...ty/our-dna

djDaemon said:

Fridays used to be tolerable, even at their "premium" prices, but more recently the experience went downhill while their prices went from eyebrow-raising to insulting. I guess I can't blame them, though, since the place always seemed to be pretty busy.

It is wild how much they charge for the food there. But like you said, it’s always busy. Not sure if that has to do with it being the only restaurant inside of the hotel, or what.

Being from an area that has a lot of non-franchised restaurants, it astounds me how many people still eat at places like TGIFridays, Applebees, etc. Their fries taste like they all come from the same distributor. Same goes for the new Dave and Busters that opened up near us. I had never been to one before and was excited to try it out after reading the history of the company. Turns out, their food is the exact same as any other chain restaurant.

I’m all for CP getting rid of the chains throughout the park and taking a stab at introducing some more diverse options with real food.

djDaemon:
For those that attended WCO, I've seen some pictures showing some work going on near the Gemini entrance. I realize they're working on Happy Friar, but this seemed to be unrelated, or not directly related. Does anyone know what they were doing there?

I think those are some pre-built interior walls for the Happy Friar renovation that they're protecting until they can be installed.

TwistedWicker77:

But like you said, it’s always busy. Not sure if that has to do with it being the only restaurant inside of the hotel, or what.

Sandusky in general suffers from the captive audience phenomenon. It can be mediocre and not try, because where else are you gonna go? That's why Kinzel was able to let Breakers go decades without the much needed renovation it got.

However, I wonder, is there an extensive premium seeing market that visits the area? There are no truly premium hotels. Is that because of the seasonality? Breakers and even Sawmill are... fine... but not that special without their locations.

Being from an area that has a lot of non-franchised restaurants, it astounds me how many people still eat at places like TGIFridays, Applebees, etc.

I don't get it either. The Walmarting of America, I guess.