coasterbill Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Wind isn't the reason for Smiler. Stupidity was the reason for Smiler. Cedar Point valleys coasters all the time and they've never managed to clear the blocks and crash 2 ride vehicles into eachother (well... Magnum crashed 2 ride vehicles once but nobody was injured to my knowledge). This year they valleyed Maverick and I want to say Gemeni. Last year they valleyed and Rougarou (though the Rougarou one was a strange one). They've valleyed . , and Mantis (this is a cool video too, watch them load it and push it at 1:37 and then crawl at a snails pace back to the station). Wind is an a**hole at Cedar Point. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 ^Dude.... You have better research skills than some of my investigators at work. Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I totally used that to showcase my dork collection of sh*t Cedar Point has managed to valley. Anyone on here who considers themselves a coaster dork hasn't lived until they've dorked out to that Iron Dragon and Mantis recovery video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcoastermark Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 ^^^ Cool find on some of the storms on Lake Erie. I used to love to make a trip up from Columbus to visit the lake during times like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Wind isn't the reason for Smiler. Stupidity was the reason for Smiler. Cedar Point valleys coasters all the time and they've never managed to clear the blocks and crash 2 ride vehicles into eachother (well... Magnum crashed 2 ride vehicles once but nobody was injured to my knowledge). This year they valleyed Maverick and I want to say Gemeni. Last year they valleyed and Rougarou (though the Rougarou one was a strange one). They've valleyed . , and Mantis (this is a cool video too, watch them load it and push it at 1:37 and then crawl at a snails pace back to the station). Wind is an a**hole at Cedar Point. . #geeksquad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rattlesnout Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 what's their fail-safe in the event of a valley? if a coaster fully loaded with people valleyed is there a signal that's sent out automatically and it locks other trains on brakes throughout the ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOG1991 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Wind isn't the reason for Smiler. Stupidity was the reason for Smiler. Cedar Point valleys coasters all the time and they've never managed to clear the blocks and crash 2 ride vehicles into eachother (well... Magnum crashed 2 ride vehicles once but nobody was injured to my knowledge). This year they valleyed Maverick and I want to say Gemeni. Last year they valleyed and Rougarou (though the Rougarou one was a strange one). They've valleyed . , and Mantis (this is a cool video too, watch them load it and push it at 1:37 and then crawl at a snails pace back to the station). Wind is an a**hole at Cedar Point. . I have to admit I absolutely love this in depth valley report. I watched the Mantis video 4 times in a row and now I feel dirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) I'm glad I'm not the only dork who loves this kind of crap. My favorite was the Iron Dragon one though which was obviously taken by a ride crew member who sent the train knowing full well that there was a really good chance that it wouldn't go well and they'd need to winch it out from over the lagoon. Oh and I apparently forgot some. The little engine that couldn't. Iron Dragon is still having none of your shi*t (different valley) Guess which train lost the race... (From this year) So yeah... I can't hate on them for their wind policy. Edited October 21, 2016 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOG1991 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'm honestly surprised Draggin Iron ever makes it through its course. I'm sure that isn't the first time this has happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastin Eric Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) Twisty pieces have arrived!! And it's i box track, I drove by it quickly! It's just past the lift hill on perimeter road. Sorry I couldn't snag pictures on my first pass, the road was busy, I'll have some up soon! Edited October 21, 2016 by Coastin Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'm sure that isn't the first time this has happened. Our posts crossed but as you can see from my last post you're 100% correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastin Eric Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Here are the twisty pieces I promised!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meghna Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 That's gonna be one wild railroad if we're gonna believe Tony and his previous tweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Farmer Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 There's your pre-lift, I'd imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Password121 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I really dig the color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcoastermark Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Liking the color. It looks more like a traditional wooden coaster track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Steeper lift for sure! And I'm loving this color! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 what's their fail-safe in the event of a valley? if a coaster fully loaded with people valleyed is there a signal that's sent out automatically and it locks other trains on brakes throughout the ride? A train can never enter an occupied block unless the brakes fail or you're at Alton Towers. If a ride valleys a ride op often notices and can either e-stop / lift stop or simply not dispatch a train but even if they don't notice the ride will stop the next ride unit before it enters an occupied block... either on the lift hill or in a midcourse brake run that separates them. Coasters are block checked every morning so if you go to a park and notice a coaster stopped on the top of the lift or in a brake run it's probably because they parked a train at the end of the brake run on purpose to make sure this system was working properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImNotOneOfYou Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Well there goes the I-box v Topper track argument. Then again they could be retheming the railroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theredskull84 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I absolutely LOVE the color of that track Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillseeker4552 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I absolutely LOVE the color of that track I agree! It's so refreshing to see something other than orange/red for an iron horse, not that that's bad, but it's nice to see a park go the Twisted Colossus/Joker route and choose a unique color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpuddle Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Same. Even though I love the RMC red tracks on many of their rides, I'm glad Cedar Point is making this "look" like a wooden coaster. Also, I'm hoping for a few inversions on this thing, if only for the fact that Cedar Point doesn't have an inverting coaster without OTSRs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedarpointguru Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'd rather there be no inversions, only because it's been since TTD in 2003 since we've last gotten a coaster without em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfelice Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 A train can never enter an occupied block unless the brakes fail or you're at Alton Towers. Unless you have the proper keys......With maintenance keys anything is possible. Block says it's occupied? I have the override solution for that! Alton Towers did exactly this which proved to be disastrous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Well yeah but I'm assuming nobody will ever be dumb enough to do that again. Anyway guys, I need to dork out a little more about Cedar Point's operations. This isn't so much a criticism, there's clearly a reason for it. But I'm wondering what it is and I'm sure somebody knows. I'm fully aware that this may be a stupid question. As I predicted yesterday (and I'm assuming if I did then the people in charge of operations did too), Gatekeeper, Raptor and Dragster are down for wind tonight. So is Windseeker (which I think is scheduled to run on Friday nights) and Magnum (probably since the headwind is in the opposite direction that it normally is facing Magnum's highest, slowest point but now I'm just making sh*t up). Obviously they're really short staffed on Friday nights and I'm assuming they now have the Dragster crew, Magnum crew, Raptor crew and Gatekeeper crew standing around doing nothing / cleaning the trains. I assume the Windseeker crew is doing something else since they're probably cross trained and used to this and there's no chance in hell of that ride operating tonight. So the thing that seems like a shame about this is that Rougarou is literally just sitting there, perfectly capable of running in high winds. Since this happens all the time during Halloweekends, why don't they cross train some people from these crews of rides that have frequent wind closures to work something like Rougarou as a backup plan for nights like this (which aren't uncommon during Halloweekends) when it's insanely windy and not overly likely that some of these rides will operate, at least not for a few hours? I'm sure this is much easier said than done but I was curious so I figured I'd ask. Right now it's entirely likely that they're going to pay these people to stand around and do nothing all night or at least for the vast majority of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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