FeelTheFORCE

While I still have a great time each and every time I go, I get bored with Kennywood and Cedar Point, and am ready to go home around early evening...if not sooner. I agree that having someone with you who has never been there before does help with that a lot, however.

This isn't a life or death matter. It's a freaking roller coaster! Do I consider myself an enthusiast? Sure. Do I like to go to parks for recreational purposes? Sure. Hell I'll even discuss what some of my favorite parks are currently doing...imagine that. However, I am not going to dwell on one issue for weeks on end, lose sleep over it, and pull my hair out over a t-shirt (I have seen Top Thrill Dragster go as low as 115 and as high as 123...launched coaster I know, but it's heavily advertised to go 120, so it's the same concept). Kings Dominion has been in this business for decades, and they are the experts. Based on those credentials, I put faith in the fact that they know what they are doing. What's wrong with our society is that it would take someone to DIE on this ride because of the extreme forces for the trims to be accepted without conflict...and even then I bet the same people would still be whining. It's like that anywhere, not just amusement parks. My major is in safety (construction safety, fall protection, that sort of thing), and sadly I know that first statement all too well. It takes a fall for people to wear their fall protection, it takes someone to get electrocuted for people to take those precautions, etc. Otherwise, it's just whine city all day every day.

Wow that sounds really cool! I was pleased to read that he had high expectations and was still blown away.

Completely understandable. I've always felt stand-ups in general, let alone Mantis, were sort of an acquired taste anyway. I was just curious on the status of the trims. Also yes, I agree about Millennium and Dragster in the front seats...definitely a different, unique, one of a kind, and completely AWESOME experience!

Magnum could possibly give different rides based on humidity, as it's been more humid recently than it was one or two weeks ago. Was Mantis' trim on? I know a week ago it was giving some AWESOME trim-less rides.

^ Didn't you already post that 4 pages ago? Also, I think CP's entrance is fine how it is. I like it.

As I said in the CP thread, Mantis was trim-less all day yesterday and has been giving some amazing rides. I previously rated it a 7/10 on my CF ratings, but after yesterday bumped it up to a 9/10. Makes me want to ride Riddlers again.

Both Mean Streak and Blue Streak at Cedar Point are giving some pretty bad rides this year.

Top Thrill Dragster yesterday at about 7:40 pm EDT!

Great pictures! I was at CP yesterday and saw the no smoking policy enforced quite a few times. Good to see!

Chiller! Awesome pictures!

Lights were on the trees yesterday, yes. Starlight starts the 29th.

^^ Maybe that wasn't it then, because it was down for a good while...probably about 45 minutes to an hour. Let's put it this way, the inside queue was full, I was on the bridge when it broke down, and when it reopened, I was next to ride. The whole queue except for a select few of us had left the line. Also, three trains on the brake run(s) were evacuated. No, the entire trains were being loaded all day, and TTD was flying over the top. My guess is because it was colder then, and TTD has a better chance of rolling back.

Just got back from one of my best Point visits in years (May 25, 2010). As much as I liked Demon Drop's ride experience, I actually think the front looks much better without it. No doubt Demon Drop was a Cedar Point icon, but it still was pretty clunky looking and borderline eyesore...at least to me. Highlights: -The weather was amazing. -There were minimal to no crowds. -Practically every ride was a walk-on. -Everything ran great all day, for the most part. -Mantis is giving some GREAT rides this year, rode it at least 5 times today in various locations throughout the train. The absolute BEST rides I have ever had on it...in any row. The trims were off all day long (maybe they are worried about it rolling back again?). Mantis is hauling some serious ass. -Magnum is giving some awesome rides, smoothest I've felt it in a while. -Raptor's MCBR brakes were completely off. -Saw the no smoking policy enforced a good amount of times. Lowlights: -Mean Streak is the opposite of Mantis, as it is giving some of the worst rides I have ever had on it. -I was never a fan of Blue Streak to begin with, but it is also giving some *worse ever* rides...at least I think so. -Heh, this is more bad luck, got in line twice for Maverick, both times it broke down. The first time I left the line. The second time I just waited it out, but I heard someone say a train got stuck in the launch tunnel. Not a big deal at all, but if that's what was wrong the first time also, I hope there isn't some glitch in the system that will cause this to occur more than it should. Either way, the crew still worked diligently and had it back up and running. -Heard a Corkscrew ride-op insult guests. Corkscrew had rows blocked off, and these kids tried going in another gate to get to one of those rows...basically like 6 people walked through one airgate, the two that were supposed to be there, and these four extra kids. The op said that there should be classes on how to board rollercoasters, but it would be no use anyway because they would all fail. While the kids were't right at all, and while the comment isn't a huge deal, it still irked me a bit that he would talk to PAYING CUSTOMERS that way and basically say they are stupid. I wish I would have remembered to report it, but I completely forgot, as this happened early in the day. -Waited an HOUR for food at TGI Fridays next to Castaway Bay.

That would actually be a decent speculative choice if Kinzel hadn't already said it was geared towards thrill seekers.

I believe it's at CGA now.

Looks as if Dragster has been running smoothly all day, so nothing to be concerned about. Also looks like this "Amusement Park 101 week" isn't anything that attracts a lot of school groups like M&S week does. The parking lot isn't nearly as filled as it was last week, and Dragster looks like it's been a walk-on all day long. I'll be there tomorrow, can't wait...first park of the season, since August of 09!

I've seen this happen on Apollo's Chariot and Carowinds' Intimidator. Not a happy process for riders or ride-ops. Same here. I've seen it happen at Cedar Point many times. Maverick, Raptor, Mantis, etc. As you guys have said, it's a fairly common practice.

Unless it's windy there or something, I guess we can just chalk it up to bugs still being worked out from the off-season.

Looking at the webcam, people are finally being let into Dragster's queue after having to wait outside the entrance practically all day. I hope nothing serious is wrong...at least it's open now.

^^ Also not to mention, who knows if Millennium Force still consistently goes 93 MPH regularly anymore. For all we know it could be in the 80s.

^^ While I agree, there is a slight (HUGE emphasis on the word slight) chance it could be a typo, considering the "r" is right next to the "t." I do, however, have a hard time believing, that after all the wheels and train problems they seemed to have had so far, their FIRST priority is the blacking out. I understand guest safety is and should ALWAYS be number 1, but still. I also highly doubt they'd be letting the world know "their biggest mistake in history" through Facebook. Thanks for the link.

^ I second that. I "like" 3 different KD pages and an I305 page and haven't seen this. Am I missing something?

It would probably be more than a few. It might be the difference of 20 MPH or so. The general public are attracted to high thrills and fast speeds. Maverick is most likely going to go over better with the GP by launching at 70 MPH rather than 50 MPH (exaggeration). Being such a low to the ground coaster, the general public would probably perceive it as a kiddie coaster if it just meandered slowly throughout the course. Launching at 70 MPH gives it that *wow factor* and makes people say, "Holy **** this is fast!" rather than "This is kind of boring..." But why not keep the launch fast but design the rest of the ride to fit the launch properly? I definitely agree that you need the "wow" factor coasters need, especially something like maverick, which doesn't have the height. I'd rather see it use that "wow factor" speed, in elements throughout the ride instead of trimming it down. I completely understand what you mean, but I'm not sure Maverick could have been built any bigger. Space-wise and also money-wise, it was already $21 million as it is now. One could only imagine how much it would cost if the layout accommodated that 70 MPH launch.

Nowhere did I say they were great rides. Regardless, they still attract guests more so than launching 50 MPH slower, and in the end that's what it comes down to...$$$. Whether Dragster is a good ride or not, it's still the ride the people run to first when the gates open every morning, and that one ride that's a *must ride* during every visit to CP (at least to everyone I know)...even 7 years after it was built. Gimmicky or not, bottom line when it comes to appeal and attracting people...it works.