Witches Wheel?

When we were leaving the park yesterday we saw Witches Wheel being disassembled. They had a few of the carts off and already loaded in trucks.

Anyone know whats up?

Thats news to me...

Either they are disassembling it for the off season, or perhaps it has something to do with the Huss Enterprise incident earlier this season?

However, if the latter were the case, you would think they would have closed the ride earlier this season...

Hmm.

The ride was open Sunday during the day until...I don't know maybe 3-4 P.M?

We saw it not running, and then as we're leaving the park at 8:30 we see some pickup trucks driving through the park already.

We get up to the Witches Wheel and they had a forklift lifting one up on to a CP pick-up truck, and a few others carts sitting to the side.

I hope it is just a repair issue.

That's one of my favorite flat rides ever...and Lord knows CP cannot afford to LOSE any good flats.

It may be possible that some problem unrelated to the incident earlier this season was detected. The slightest malfunction can cause grave attitudes until the real problem is known. For instance, the air canisters for the station brakes on Blue Streak. We knew one was leaking, and were kinda edgy about it, but maintenance reassured us that everything was fine. The worst that could happen is a train not being able to leave the station, because the air opens the brakes. A loss of air pressure simply meant our brakes wouldn't open, which wasn't a real safety concert.

Unless maintenance finds something major that can't be fixed by the weekend, it will most likely be up and running.

I'm not sure how WW is put together, but is it possible that to get to the cart that needed work, several others needed to be removed as well? That could explain why others were still sitting around while one was loaded up to be taken to the shop.

I posted in the 2008 thread as well.

But yeah to re-confirm.
We seen 3-4 CP pickup trucks, a forklift, 3-4 carts removed from Witches Wheel, one being raised and loaded on to a pickup truck. And about half a dozen people in general.

That's strange. I hope they're not removing it! KI used to have a Huss Enterprise called Skylab, and it was one of my favorite rides at KI, but one year they were having maintenance nightmares with it. I remember it was always stopped on a tilt, i.e. it wouldn't go all the way down, and they eventually just took it out.

Jugga,

It looked like general maintenance at first, but then I found that they seemed to be tearing into WW a bit much for routine work. I snapped a boat load of photos yesterday from my camera phone, but when I got home I saw that my brightness settings were way to low to capture anything.

I need to go buy a camera tonight.

Doesnt GL have a Enterprise sitting around in storage? If Witches Wheel is indeed on its way out, I sincerely hope that its only because it is being replaced by GL's (which I assume must be in a better condition.)

Also, lets not forget that CP likes to move rides around, perhaps WW is moving to a new location to make room for a new flat near Magnum.

Or perhaps CP is combing their Enterprise with GL's for the World's First Dueling Enterprises... What a treat.

^^Why "must" GL's enterprise be in better condition?

Witches Wheel has been extremely efficient as far as I can tell. It's been running fine every single time I've been to the park since 2000. Granted I often only go one day per year... but that's just my point of view.

^If it wasnt in better condition then there would be no point in CP removing theirs to put in GLs in this hypothetical ;). I have no idea if this is true.

If you notice when you go to the park by the Gemini Games area they have a webcam attached to one of the buildings, I know its a webcam because it the same style they have been showing on the blog. The Camera is pointing in the direction of the Witches Wheel. So we shall see.

But that my 2cents
*** Edited 10/15/2007 8:55:15 PM UTC by Cedar Point Man***

I can't recall Geauga Lake's enterprise ever operating when it was installed when I was there... It was always in pieces and being worked on. My guess is, that if it still exists, it isn't in any better condition.

Cedar Point Man said:
If you notice when you go to the park by the Gemini Games area they have a webcam attached to one of the buildings, I know its a webcam because it the same style they have been showing on the blog. The Camera is pointing in the direction of the Witches Wheel. So we shall see.

That's a security camera... and it's pointing at High Striker, for obvious reasons.

*** Edited 10/15/2007 9:03:59 PM UTC by DBCP***

For obvious reasons...?

Yeah... Don't get me wrong. I'm not speculating on any conspiracy theories here, but I am a bit intrigued at what these "obvious reasons" are... Unless I'm missing something?

*** Edited 10/15/2007 9:18:10 PM UTC by Josh M.***

There's an employee standing out in the open with large amounts of cash... Same reason they have cameras in all the gift shops and in the games areas.

^ Apparently for some, it's not so obvious. :)

-Josh

As stated, that "webcam" is a security camera pointed at high striker.

Secondly, many rides have already started going through their winter overhauls. Witch's Wheel seems to usually get its overhaul around this time as I remember from years past. Sky Ride has already had at least a few of its cabins overhauled, and I'm pretty sure there have been other rides getting worked on already. The park is closed for nearly 5 full days, that's plenty of time to start getting winter overhauls done.