ZeroGravity55

^ I can't speak for crucial parts, but I can tell you that as of this past Wednesday, Blackjack has yet to have the grab bars that the other 2 trains have. It also appeared that train was no where near ready for cycles. I also say this, with the way they're operating that ride, it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see 3 train operation this season. They're basically disregarding the MCBR and only using it has a trim. The screen that shows if the restraints are locked or not has a 85 second countdown clock on it and they will not dispatch a train until that clock hits 0 even though most of the time they're probably ready to go in 60-70 seconds.

^What time did you ride? I got a couple of trimless rides in the morning on Tuesday and Wednesday, but when I went back in the afternoon when it had warmed up outside and the ride had been running for several hours, the trim was definitely grabbing.

Oh dear god... It was posted on reddit so it has to be true.

1. Steel Vengeance 2. Maverick 3. Millennium Force 4.Top Thrill Dragster 5. Raptor 6. Valravn 7. Gatekeeper 8. Magnum 9. Wicked Twister 10. Gemni 11. Rougarou 12. Blue Streak 13. Corkscrew Those were the ones I got to ride during my 2 day visit this week.

I love The Voyage, but Steel Vengeance is by far and above the better ride.

Was at the park today too. Didn't regret buying FL+ one bit. Steel Vengeance is something else... I honestly don't see how that ride can be topped. I think my favorite part was the first outerbaked turn. The airtime just kept getting stronger through the entire element. My favorite comment came from my friend who isn't an enthusiast.. when we hit the brake-run he looked at me and said the ride was trying to make him stand-up the whole time which I think is a pretty accurate description of SV.

^ The drive wheels will still be there. The train can't move without them if at a complete stop. They seem to be adding the friction brakes to make sure the ride comes to a complete stop.

There are two blocks on the break-run. In the after part of the video where the train comes to a complete stop the first time, that's the first block. The second one is located right before the station. So they can totally do a 3 train operation. Now the question is how comfortable are they going to be doing a 3 train operation? The fear would be a train completing the circuit coming in so fast that the drive wheels on the 1st block can't slow it down to a complete stop in time and keep it from bumping into the train sitting on the 1st block. That seems to me to be what happened when the incident occurred. The train was moving so fast coming into the 2nd block that the drive wheels couldn't stop the train. Of course, that's all speculation. They really have two options to make sure this doesn't happen again. One would be using the MCBR to slow the ride to the point that the train hits brake-run at the speed it was designed to. The other would be adding friction brakes to the brake run so the drive wheels aren't the sole thing bring the train to a complete stop. Based on the pictures we've gotten today, the latter of those two options is what they've opted to do.

Sounds like a fail safe. The cylinder that locks in the station should be the one that stays locked, but if it fails, the second one takes over. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is if the restraint wasn't locked, why was everything showing green? To me, that should never happen.

I'm not sure if they could do this with a cable lift, but the chain lift allows them to do a varied speed hill lift, which allows them to dispatch a train before it clears the first block. B&M did this on Fury in place of a MCBR.

There are 2 blocks on the brake-run. There's the more obvious one right before the station, but before that, there are 3 sets of drive wheels between the magnetic brakes that can stop the train if needed. I'm not sure why else they would be there if that wasn't the purpose.

Hopefully this is just a minor issue and everything will be back to normal by the end of the week. It' definitely doesn't seem "Lightning Rod bad" as the ride will actually be open. Hopefully it's them going through and making sure the programming, brakes and drive wheels are redundant as possible so this never happens again.

Going then, I'd be surprised if you actually needed FL+ for the park... That's why typically it's a good idea to wait until getting to the park to see what the crowds are like. I just know when I go to CP (between mid-May and mid-June during the week), on most of the coasters, the FL+ is a complete waste for those who bought it. Basically, it'll help you get on SV, and Maverick faster, most likely. Too late now, but for future reference, especially when going during the week early in the season, and for multiple days, you probably don't need FL+ unless you absolutely abhor any waits at all. Yeah I kinda knew it would be pointless on some of the rides, but I kinda want to get a ton of laps in on SV and Maverick. Plus, my friends girlfriend gets motion sickness so she may have to take a break and sit out some rides, so the less she has to wait on us the better.

I'm visiting Cedar Point June 5th and 6th. I'll be driving from 9 hours away and it'll be the first time I've been to the park since 2010. Thanks to following this thread for the last 4 years or so, I've definitely over prepared for this trip. I've purchased FL+ for both days and have budgeted for a third day on the 7th in the case there is bad weather, staffing issues, rides being down, ext.

Just noticed this on the parks website: Can't say I'm surprised by this. It feels like it's rained every day for the last month around here. Although I will say that since I've been following the park, if it does indeed take until early June to open Tembo Falls & Tembo Tides, that'll be the latest I've ever seen them open a new attraction. Again, not trying to say this is bad, as the weather hasn't been conducive the last month or so for construction to proceed at a normal pace.

Yeah! It looks like the Wildfire hill, but banked to the level of Outlaw Run's first element. It's not quite banked to the level of Outlaw Run. Looks more similar to that overbanked element after the last inversion on Steel Vengeance combined with the hill mentioned on Wildfire.

^^ Those seat belts on those trains can be a pain in the ass, especially if you're riding after a little kid who had it adjusted to its shortest length possible. I eventually learned that it was easier to pull it to full length before you ever sit down then to try and do it while your sitting down.

Even if they have a train ready to go, I don't think I've ever seen them dispatch a train until the one on the course has cleared at least the third 90 degree turn.

^ According to the park, they determined that they have faster dispatches with the 2 train 24 passenger cars. They have one less car to check and are more efficient. When they had 3 trains, I believe they always ended up stacking and it didn't really help capacity.

That video is a great example of why you don't judge a coaster on videos of it testing before the ride has even opened. Especially videos from a drone that is at least a 100 feet in the air and 200 feet away from the ride.

Some of the earlier rides like Medusa and Wicked Cyclone use a combination of both the urethane and nylon wheels. Although I believe I've read that they've switched almost all their rides over to the urethane wheels with the exception of Outlaw Run. The way they've redesigned the train appears to me that Steel Vegeance and Twisted Timbers is going to ride more like Texas Giant and Iron Rattler.

The trains suck too badly to do much more then basic turns. Actually, an overbanked turn wold be less stressful on the trains. There wouldn't be lateral G's, still the same positive G's as when hitting the bottom of the hills from the drops I think the point your missing is that the current trains can't articulate through an overbanked turn. They would have to purchase a train like the timberliners to make that happen.

I still think they're going to re-use most of what used to be Pilgrims Plunge for a similar attraction.

Straight from GCI's website: "Our Millennium Flyer trains may be available for existing wooden roller coasters that meet Great Coasters' strict standards for track and structure condition, as well as acceptable dynamic profiles. We are available to assess these conditions and help you with any necessary improvements that may be required in order to make your coaster fly."

They've listed track improvements on The Voyage for the last few years when they've announced "what's new". It sounds like it's going to be located to the left of Kima Bay, so the Pilgrims Plunge site will still be there for at least another year.