tkkyj

Ah! Cool! Thanks.

I've only been to DCA once and it was this year. In the construction timelapse of that promo, what is the projection of the hand-drawn Mickey face on California Screamin? What was this?

And, I am very surprised to learn that rides continue to operate despite being overdue for an inspection. Are guests now supposed to be burdened with the task of determining whether each attraction has been inspected per the manufacturer's schedule? The following rides are closed: ... The following rides are open, but overdue for inspection. Ride at your own risk: ??

I made a little time-lapse of the webcam yesterday before it went down. You can see quite a lot of details (like Power Tower moving in the backgroud) in the "HD" version:

I wonder if they would care about whales at all if they hadn't first seen one at SeaWorld before? And who cares about a letter from Matt Damon? "dear mr. sea werld.. i think whales should be free. i also like mooses. love, matt damon"

I really hope no one will LOSE thier jobs either. --Robb Don't loose your hat, or you might lose it?

But that does nothing for the kids who are afraid of black sheets.

Wow, this post is great if you imagine cheesy, melodramatic soap opera music playing in the background, and an organ vamp or two for punctuation. If you've followed this park enough to decide that Cedar Fair has been ruining it, how could you have been so uninformed about how the Haunt operates, or that Xcelerator was down, or that the park attractions open at different times? Actually, I'm not sure that any of those issues were introduced by Cedar Fair. I must say that I always find their website frustrating this time of year... it always takes me a couple minutes to find the daytime, non-haunt website.

I noticed that in 2008, too. But it seems like a problem that could be solved. The rest of the ride went very smooth.... then, ka-THUNK!!! ouch. It will be pretty cool/strange to see it in a new setting, though!

It would be kind of funny (but perhaps to some it would make more sense) if it went to a park like CGA. They got rid of their original 1st-gen and got the "Foot Lopper" model. Out with the new, in with the old. And we'll take that Schwarzkopf back, while we're at it! But I guess CGA is getting CHAOS...?

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/sep/22/weaverville-boy-injured-in-knotts-berry-farm/

On the other hand, the train does not suddenly stop at that point... it's hard to gauge velocity from this video, but the ride definitely gets rough at that point. that seems to support the "running over shit on the way back" theory. we don't really have enough information to know for sure. If the broken end of the cable is caught up in the train and the other end is attached to the catchcar somewhere, then the roughness could be caused from whatever the train is dragging the catchcar through/over.

It has been reported that the cable entered the vehicle, so it is possible that the cable got caught on part of the seat, and--similar to the SFKK incident--ripped whatever it was holding loose when the cable tightened up on the way down. While it is very possible the train ran over the cable or something else on the way down, it is also possible that the cable may have stopped the train if it had become attached to the train somehow.

I tried to demonstrate the change in seat position, too. The red outline is the position prior to the secondary collision.

And you are assuming that the wheels were the point of contact... the train chassis could have dragged the cable and/or catch car into the brake fins, causing any number of things to happen... like a broken brake fin acting like a prybar underneath the vehicle.

This is great and silly. I hope they aren't pressured to change anything! Now if California's Great America were to, say, theme their wave pool as "The Grave Pool" for their Haunt... that might be a little too far since a kid actually drowned in it.

That's like saying "if nobody reported the story then there would be no story." Yes, that's true... but... I think there are also people who are somehow offended by the interest in this incident. Maybe you're a Knott's homer or something. I'm not, but I still love Knott's + Intamin + Xcelerator + Cedar Fair. And if you're defending any of them because you have developed some kind of personal investment, I think that's great. However... the video IS shocking. I'm surprised that some people deny that the seat was dislodged. You can measure the distance between either the headrests or the armrests of the two seats from start to finish. They change (good thing no OTSR?). Anyway, I'm sure they will fix it and fix it for good. Top Thrill Dragster is currently still running (from what I've read). Perhaps this problem has already been solved, but not quite applied to Xcelerator. After all, Top Thrill Dragster and Xcelerator are quite different despite their shared lineage. I bet the math says that Xcelerator's cable should long outlast Top Thrill Dragster's without watering or whatever they may be doing to keep it cool. Long live Xcelerator!

ugh... don't you know it... "...it was only last month when roller coaster riders at another Cedar Fair park were left stranded in the hot sun for hours while they waited to be rescued..."

The reason that nobody else on the train reacted as much as these two is because these two deflected most of the debris away from the other riders. I am particularly alarmed that the seat became dislodged as a result of the incident. I don't recall anything like THAT happening as a result of Top Thrill Dragster's broken cable, and it could mean that far more serious damage to the seats and passengers is possible during such a failure. I was hoping to drive down and ride this weekend. Damn.

Wow. That is the most damning and downright scary coaster video I've ever seen. I will be surprised if this does not impact operation of Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka as well. There is a lot of crap flying in their faces on both the way up and way back down.

Not a pic, but you can see its layout and location here: 1969 Map courtesy RollerCoasterFreak.com

The "whyte lightning" in this case refers to the fluid used in the flume. Instead of water it is a specially brewed liquid that has higher density than water yet lower viscosity, while remaining close to non-toxic. This will allow the ride to reach much faster speeds than similar rides that use fresh or salt walter. ...or is it a liquid with a stronger surface tension so that the beyond-90 degree drop will be achieved without using rails?

I made up a picture of that on page 3! now everyone's doing it!

Ooh!

I had my cam at the park last week... here's some footage of the Delta Flyer. I've always loved these sky rides and it's fun to see a bit how they work. I've got a few clips of the grip attaching, the towers, and then a detach. It looks even better pre-YouTube processing, but I think it is still clear enough. Plus some random CGA footage.. Demon, carousel.