_s3_

^ All of the track other than the tower has been removed and is sitting stacked back by maintenance now. Definitely done neatly compared to normal removal to not be reusing it.

What are the chances that we get the full details on the project on January 9th, 2023... The 20th anniversary of the original TTD announcement. I couldn't imagine a better date to put the details out, since they seem to be following the "you can see it but you don't know" scheme that they did originally with TTD, even if it is a 2024 re-opening.

Little sidenote. Not sure if anyone else has been watching the webcams the last couple of minutes but it's been funny watching them chase down a random drone flyer that decided to start flying over the Boardwalk construction site. Found the drone, followed it and ended up finding the guy on the east side of the parking lot by the residences over there. Within seconds, CP Police rushed him. Funny to watch.

Someone posted this on Reddit today. From the looks, it appears on the left that all of the cables have been severed/removed from the control boxes that monitor and/or control launch brake fins. Pretty much confirms removal of the hydraulic launch.

Thoughts of LSM limitations in terms of achievable speed are pretty moot. LSMs have been used in maglev high speed rail for years and have hit speeds over 300mph. The key is how much space is needed to achieve the desired speed, and whether or not TTD has that space. To me, since speed is achievable and space is the concern, the sheer length comparison between Red Force and TTD's launch section leads me to think that it should definitely be possible to bridge 8mph difference without too much issue. Trains would definitely need replaced with lighter, permanent magnet mounted versions.

Here are the pictures: (Originally by @cltkendall05 on Twitter)

The problem wasn't the brakes, it was the flag plate on the train detaching. It damaged brake fins, but they weren't the issue. The brake run fins that were damaged are stationary and should have been quickly and easily replaced and recalibrated if they were just "fixing" the issues from the accident.

Just a couple of thoughts I've had the last couple two days. Mostly throw away but nonetheless... Wicked Twister used LIMs which required a very large amount of power to run. Since it's been axed, they could extend it's power line (which is a much higher voltage, dedicated line run to mainland) over to TTD if it were to get an LSM conversion. Definitely would alleviate a large chunk of infrastructure cost comparative to if they needed to run a brand new high voltage line entirely. Any sort of change to LSMs is going to require a much larger infrastructure cost than just track, trains, stators, controls, etc. (which are large in and of itself). If Intamin is involved in this (and it's not some other manufacturer), could it be possible that some of the cost of this could be part of a differed settlement between CP and Intamin? I can't imagine there weren't any discussions between the two, legally, after the accident last August. Curious to see if anything decent, change wise, will be visible this weekend. When it has come to "renovating" coasters, CP tends to wait until the last second to announce it before it would be way more widely recognized as happening. Rougarou was already being painted in more remote, non-highly-visible areas prior to the announcement, which afterwards they immediately started attacking it with new paint. Mean Streak had markings everywhere but cranes showed up immediately after it's send-off. Feels like déjà vu right now back to 2002 with speculation over layout, launch, etc. Can't wait for months or year (if CP pulls another Mean Streak/SV and this is for 2024) of speculation ahead.

Everyone knows they are taking that launch track, turning it 45° and re-supporting it to become lift track that way they can be the tallest non-launching roller coaster in the world. Lift, turn, drop/spiral, brakes. Just renamed "Coaster".

A retheme means.... No more "Ready To Go" on repeat. A moment of silence is necessary.

Missing launch cable means nothing one way or the other. It would need to be removed and replaced prior to reopening again anyways. Steel cable sitting stationary for 12 months = no bueno.

Great addition for the park but very curious on the decision to snake it around the existing slides and cluster up the area. Will be very interesting to watch it be built and see how it impacts the water park visually. This will be Waldameer's biggest single investment to date at $7-8mil, coming in at roughly $1mil-ish more than RFII cost to build ($6mil).

Well they posted another teaser: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuQ2ovLp1i/ Looks like they are getting a ProSlide RocketBLAST, which would make sense as they mentioned it being the "largest water park investment" they've made. With that survey pin location, I'm very interested how they are going to shoehorn this in. Will be intriguing to see.

Very interesting, would not have expected anything else in that specific area. Definitely a tight fit, whatever it might be.

Waldameer teasing on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChQU4ROg2Rt/ Judging by the looks of the location, I believe this tends to point to an addition in the former kiddie pools area of the water park. We'll see. Waldameer loves informal announcements, so who knows when they will mention it.

Interesting to see (at least in the renderings) that this ride isn't entirely Titan Track. Large sections of it are, but there are a lot of wood track sections too. I would think that it would either be entirely one or the other. Maybe a cost factor, or maybe as a furthering test of Titan Track and it's capabilities?

Update via the official PR, the Wild Mouse is a Zamperla spinner: https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/media-center/cedar-points-heyday-reimagined-at-the-boardwalk

Welp, there is another coaster. "Wild Mouse" (appears to be a classic twist version of a Mack Spinner?) and moved flats: Also nods to the "18th roller coaster" with Pipe Scream being considered a coaster and assuming that TTD isn't going anywhere.

Vending machines kill on average of 4 people and injure upwards of 1,700 per year in the US. Weird factoid I learned from an NEISS article years ago but your point is valid though. I understand the need or desire to the move the queue because of this incident. No simple netting is going to stop a jagged piece of metal hurling at near 100mph, and even fencing / walls (unless concrete) wouldn't really do much except for create a larger shrapnel path if that metal were to fly directly into it. That being said, this has happened once in it's nearly 20 seasons of operation and it's occurrence shouldn't be an average, but one time incident that is solved and eliminated as a possibility to reoccur. I guess from a PR perspective moving the queue would be solving the potential problem from both the insurance and GP point of view, but I do think it's overkill and brings up the question "do they anticipate this happening again?"

Only talking about it because of wayyy too many mentions / rumors about it. Nobody thinks of the larger implications and why it wouldn't happen. That being said, the accident was caused by a faulty bolt on the flag plate failing and that issue could have been solved (along with moving and/or changing the queue) prior to this season. I likely feel that there is something larger at play with TTD being shelved for this season, but I highly doubt we'll see any operational changes to the ride itself.

If this were to happen, it'll be a costly investment. Train modifications, launch track modification and/or replacement, likely brake run changes, control system swap, etc. Maintenance wise, it would be better as less moving parts the better. If it ever were to switch to LSM you are removing a lot of parts that are a constant source of the downtime. Around 312 individual hydraulic pistons and brake fins (that all need monitored), the launch dog and cable system, and the actual hydraulic motors for the launch itself. That's the beauty of LSMs is that they are stationary and serve as brakes when not powered to launch. That being said, LSMs are also not foolproof and have their own issues, especially if you were to take the risk to "push it to the limits" and create the fastest launched LSM coaster in the world. Would it be less maintenance? Quite possibly. Could it open up a whole new can of worms in terms of problems arising? Absolutely. Let alone the power draw that is required for each launch, which would be astronomical compared to the hydraulic motors. There are a multitude of factors that would need to be cost analyzed for this. At the end of the day, can LSMs reliability even push 120mph+ in TTDs current space? Red Force gets to ~112mph in 100ft less of launch track, but how much further can you push it? So many questions. Curious to see what will be done with it though. There are a hell of a lot of utility and survey markings around. Could be anything though. Even replacement of pavement / concrete would require an 811 survey to mark out everything. Wouldn't read too much into any markings, wait for work to actually start.

That gunk is just grease which is normally part of any hydraulic system. As it sits it "clouds" instead of appearing more viscous or not at all. The trains not being on the transfer track isn't an indication of anything as there is no need to have the trains exposed to the elements sitting stationary for no reason. Better to have them off and in longer term storage where there is more control over the environments and elements, let alone if there is anything additional being done to them. If the ride is going to be modified in any way (like with the wild rumors of changing it to a different type of launch), then the trains are likely needing modifications done to them anyways.

I believe (and I might be wrong) that Dragster's trains haven't been on transfer/storage all season.

Anton died in 2001. Intamin's roots are traced back to Schwarzkopf Industries and also Hubert Gerstlauer left Schwarzkopf when they were having financial issues in 1982 to start Gerstlauer. If you track back every company currently manufacturing, its very rare to not find connections to either Schwarzkopf or Arrow. Both were the original innovators of modern coasters.

I wouldn't consider them horrible by modern standards. Schwarzkopf coasters at least have always had a semblance of smoothness,and also have a purity in their innovation, even if age and maintenance have made them worse over time. Remaining classic Arrow coasters are pure nostalgia.