Reality15

Hey, Big Mike, if you ever make it up to Michigan's Adventure way up here in Michigan, let me know! BTW, love the Road Show, I check back every day to see what's new. Can't escape your craziness!

I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that on the Cedar Point contract you signed, Tony, it says you may not be guaranteed the ride on your contract. I know they also say this when they do the phone interview. I understand how much it sucks to be put on a different ride, I was contracted for Maverick last year and was put on the train for my first three weeks. I was also sent to Snake River Falls, maXair, and several other rides throughout the season. Honestly, while it sounds like "fun" to work a major ride like Dragster, it's the major rides that lose people the fastest because it becomes a drag. You're stuck at the same ride, listening to the same music, dealing with the same problems... it gets quite annoying. I'm not saying you did the wrong thing, but I think you should have given it a chance. You never know, you could have been moved to a major ride in a couple of weeks. And if not, then I wouldn't blame you one bit for leaving. As for me, I'll be spending this summer up in Muskegon, Michigan at Michigan's Adventure. I'm in leadership as a Roving Team Leader, so you won't find me at the same ride every day. If anyone's up in the area, look around, I'm sure you'll find me somewhere!

Wow. I'm not one to talk about strange rides, but this one is really interesting. With only two ever built, it's really strange. Was Chaos scrapped when the park closed?

For those of you working at Cedar Point (even though you SHOULD be processing in today), make sure to go to the pre-opening ride nights (usually things that require people to run, like Tiques, Cad Cars, Turnpike, Go Karts, Sky Ride) and DEFINITELY don't miss the PEP RALLY! I didn't know any of my crew, and all I had to do was go to the pep rally to realize I was going to have a great summer. As for me, I've transfered from the largest Cedar Fair park to the smallest. I'm in leadership as a Roving Team Leader at Michigan's Adventure this year. I know there's at least one TPR member that works in rides up there, but if there's any more, say hi at training, I don't bite (hard).

The control panel was in the back of the station on the left side of the track (unload, at Geauga Lake). I believe the "bluge" you're talking about, however, is the brick shaft in the front of this picture. I have a feeling that is going to be an elevator shaft for special access.

No, this isn't about TPR shirts. I was going through old updates today, and in one of them Elissa was wearing a shirt where you could change the letters like a letterboard/marquee... any idea what that's called and where I could get one? I know, kind of a weird question, but there's an event coming up that I'd love to have one like it for. Thanks!

1. What do you find most useful about the front page? I like that the latest official updates are posted and easy to find, instead of digging through the forums. 2. What do you find least useful about the front page? Nothing, really. It's a pretty basic front page. 3. Is anything on the front page confusing? Official updates and updates by forum members are in the same place. 4. How far do you scroll down the front page looking for updates? Far enough to see if there's a new official update. 5. How often do you look at the front page? Once a day 6. How often do you click on the "whatsnew" link? Never 7. What would you like to see added to the front page to make your visits to TPR better? Nothing added, but I'd like to see official updates and forum updates in separate places. 8. Anything else you would like to mention? Like any thing else you would like to see us add/change/leave alone/etc? Maybe make the navigation menu easier to read, space things out a little bit (web 2.0), and maybe even offer an RSS feed for the latest official updates.

What exactly was the Dragon? I've been looking for information/other photos on it, and I can't find anything.

I'm actually not quite sure who owned the park before. I believe it was just a bunch of investors, if I'm not mistaken. Once again, I'm not quite sure, but I know for a fact that Cedar Fair (and Paramount Parks before them) did not own the land. I'll try looking at older articles from back around '01-'02... I think that's when it was sold for the first time.

Cedar Fair never owned the park in the first place. They've only been managing it, never owning it.

Read the second article again... Cedar Fair is still going to manage the park. They never owned it in the first place, in the same way they don't actually own Star Trek: The Experience or the former Camp Snoopy (Nickelodeon Universe). They only manage these two properties.

I remember having my wisdom teeth out a few years ago. I had just gotten home from park hopping for a week when I found out I was having them pulled the next morning. Needless to say, the anesthesia messed me up quite good, I don't remember anything until the next day. But supposedly I tried to make out with the surgeon's assistant (don't know the official job title). That wasn't as bad as some of the other oral surgeries I've had, however. I had three teeth broken into pieces so they could pull them, numerous root canals, and I was in orthodontics for over 10 years. Needless to say, I've had my fair share of work done to my mouth.

Surprisingly enough, seeing Magic Mountain build this makes me want to get out to California even more than the other improvements. Not many parks celebrate their history like this, so to see SO much going into this, I honestly can't wait to see the end result for myself. Job well done Magic Mountain, job well done.

Hey, I know Patrick! I worked with him this summer, actually, so when you see him next, tell him Jon from Maverick says hi! Love the pictures, Hector. Can't wait to see Florida!

Shane, just one question that you might be able to answer: was Valleyfair! a Cedar Fair park at the time that brochure was made? I didn't notice any reference to "Cedar Fair" on the brochure, but I thought they owned it by then.

I know, for example, my park (Michigan's Adventure) we hire ride operators at 16 years old, but they aren't allowed behind the control panel until they're 18. All you can do as a 16-year-old ride operator is check lap bars.

TL is Team Leader, they are in-charge of the ride they are assigned.

Two days should be plenty, in my opinion, to hit the park and Soak City, but three will make it less stressful especially in the busy months.

From the bottom of the same blog post: I wouldn't say they aren't getting anything just yet.

Maverick is designed to stack two trains. Here's how it works: In five train operation, only one train will stack when interval is hit, but that means it's a slower loading time because that second train will be 45 seconds behind the first one. In other words, unless you run six trains, your load time will be completely shot. In six train operation, stacking two trains on the brake run is REQUIRED. And nine times out of ten, stacking any more than those two trains is not caused by the crew being slow. It's caused by guests with loose articles that don't put them in the bin (sunglasses, sunglasses, sunglasses, and SUNGLASSES) or guests of exceptional size.

Maverick is not an aqua trax. I've seen the blueprints, talked to the programmer, and was a part of the re-construction and programming all through the month of May. The ride is a new product from Intamin called the "Ricochet Lift and Launch" coaster, not an "Aqua Trax".

I dare say this might be the end of the remaining rides on-site. The only hope would be someone interested in the park would buy it and fix it up, which is a slim chance at this point.

I've been informed by one of my crewmates that he did not end up getting to ride, unfortunately. I hate to bring bad news, but just thought I would share that with everyone. He's probably riding a better coaster now anyways, better than anything the rest of us have ever ridden.

I got the chance to meet Dan once... unfortunately I was the person to tell him he couldn't ride Maverick. I was really happy for him when he came on here and decided to try to lose weight in an effort to ride the ride. I was really sad to read this when I opened the forum this morning, but I hope that wherever he is, he's finally getting the chance to ride the coaster he worked so hard to get on.

Seen as how I worked on a ride, I have my own list of things I liked to say whenever the ride broke down... "One, two, three, four, five... where's copper?" "Hehehehehehe..." And then there's always the good ones to make guests give you a weird face, even though nothing's wrong... "Harnesses have been released, and are now locked. Please recheck all harnesses." "105, 20, 10, 95, 105, 57, 2, 8, 70, 400, 4250. I'll let you figure those numbers out." Sometimes people freak out about the little things. I once had a lady that was going crazy because the train stopped before going up the lift (it's supposed to do that). She ended up getting off the ride because she thought something was wrong with it.