Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[coasternut]

There maybe life for Dragster after all. I was speaking with a rider today here at Kings Island, and he said there are new markings for a different queue line. Also tonight the tower and platform were illuminated. Maybe the lawyers won't win and TTD will live again next season, or possibly later this year.

[operative_me]

Seeing as how the trains have not been brought out all year, I'm going to go ahead and say there is 0% chance it opens this year.

Other than that, we're in wait and see / baseless speculation mode for 2023.

[coasterbill]

Yeah, CP Rundown has a post showing an absolute crap-ton of markings everywhere.

 

[thepoint4life23]

I think CP rundown also posted you can see markers when you ride iron dragon near the TTD brake run. 

Not sure what any of this means. I assume that the marks are for marking utility lines. So i guess all we know is that something is going to happen.  

[Pedrinho]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

Yeah, CP Rundown has a post showing an absolute crap-ton of markings everywhere.

That's one of the best news possible!

[Hilltopper39]

For whatever reason as soon as they announced this would be closing for the season I immediately thought about a renovation to a LIM launch like Red Force has, I have no idea if that's the case or a possibility but seems like everything is moving to LIM launches so it would probably make sense from a reliability and maintenance standpoint (again something I know nothing about).

 

I'm not exactly tuned into the European coaster world but haven't really heard of regular extended downtime for that ride. If it's possible to convert it and it makes it more reliable seems like that would be a reasonable option considering how popular this attraction is.

 

Also what was the last hydraulic launch coater Intamin built? Was it Formula Rossa in 2010? Has there been another hydraulic launch coaster built since then? 

[tndank]

From cprundown

 

[_s3_]

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.

[coasterbill]

^^ This is basically a Six Flags Diamond Membership

It's really interesting that Cedar Fair is moving towards knockoff Six Flags memberships just as Six Flags is getting rid of memberships.

[tndank]

10 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

^^ This is basically a Six Flags Diamond Membership

It's really interesting that Cedar Fair is moving towards knockoff Six Flags memberships just as Six Flags is getting rid of memberships.

Exactly what I thought.  And they are doing it right after Six Flags ditched their version.

It's a bit strange for sure.

[Hilltopper39]

2 hours ago, _s3_ said:

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.
 

Red Force only gets to 112 but also only has 4 car trains with 12 riders vs 5 trains with 18 rides like Dragster. I'm no expert on this but seems like with a longer launch track and the smaller train it could be possible to use the existing track, but you're right in that it would still be a massive investment for the controls system, trains, and launch/braking hardware alone.  

Will be interesting to see what ends up happening with it for sure. 

[AmyUD06]

Re: TTD - For the thousandth time, the launch mechanism had nothing to do with last year's incident. They're not changing the launch mechanism.

Re: Prestige Passes - Why does the regular $300 Prestige Pass not include access to other parks, when the $250 Platinum from MiA does?  This leaves so many questions.  I find it hard to believe that after so many years of CF pricing its "All Park" pass the same depending on what park you buy it at that they're going to change it now.

[southpuddle]

3 hours ago, _s3_ said:

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.

Absolutely.  There’s nothing preventing them from running the LSMs a quarter of the way (or more) up the tower. It wouldn’t be as powerful of a launch and would take away a lot of the point of the ride, but space constraints are not an issue. 

[tndank]

8 minutes ago, AmyUD06 said:

Re: Prestige Passes - Why does the regular $300 Prestige Pass not include access to other parks, when the $250 Platinum from MiA does?  This leaves so many questions.  I find it hard to believe that after so many years of CF pricing its "All Park" pass the same depending on what park you buy it at that they're going to change it now.

These are new passes.  Traditional Gold and Plat will be on sale next week.

[coasterbill]

Since we're all talking about things that don't make any sense and wouldn't fix anything that had anything to do with the accident, what about a twisted vertical lift hill all the way up the tower that just drops you over the other side.

... think about it.

[_s3_]

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.

[CP_RULES]

Those markings mean they are adding a Cracker Barrel to replace the grandstand. Actually nothing at all to do with TTD at all that’s just the “study area” outline Cracker Barrel uses for their new restaurants. It’s pretty basic stuff, nothing to worry about. Trust me, I am a marking specialist!

[TurnOfTheCentury]

hmmmm..... those markings at TTD.....

the safest guess is that they are simply re-configuring the line area (not sure why that necessitated an entire down season, but maybe they needed the findings to come out, consider a variety of options, and finally execute on a plan....)

I do suspect that they must have considered scrapping the ride because of the enormous costs and downtime on it.   But as much as a LSM or multiple launch like Pantheon would make sense if built TODAY, from a return of investment standpoint, it makes very little sense to invest in an entirely new launch system on this ride because of all the reasons others have mentioned (new trains, LSM system, control system, etc.... -- that's a many, many millions investment for a change that the general public wouldn't even notice and so how do you market that investment? )

Now, I have to confess that the irrational fanboy part of me was hoping they would simply repurpose the tophat to create a 400 foot-full circuit ride (somehow)

[boldikus]

17 hours ago, _s3_ said:

Only talking about it because of wayyy too many mentions / rumors about it.

There are are only way too many mentions/rumors about it because enthusiasts are basically f*ckin' crackheads.

[Hilltopper39]

29 minutes ago, boldikus said:

There are are only way too many mentions/rumors about it because enthusiasts are basically f*ckin' crackheads.

Heaven forbid anyone has a little fun with some fantasy speculation in this hobby. 

[coasterbill]

I get what you're saying but this isn't a Top Thrill Dragster fan-fiction thread. Most people (hopefully) are operating under the assumption that we're all living in reality. I assume that most of the insane ideas posted here that aren't framed as a crazy fantasy ideas are 100% serious, and even if they're not other people will assume they are and run with them because coaster enthusiasts are mostly insane.

[CoasterNerd87]

Likely they couldn't begin any changes to the ride due to possible pending litigation (probably including a NDA). They were probably already well into the operating season once that cleared up and they definitely aren't going to work on any queue/plaza modifications while the park is open 7 days a week. IMO, they are getting prepared to move/modify queue with fencing of some sort along the launch and brake areas to prevent this from happening again. 

[prozach626]

On 8/3/2022 at 9:03 PM, coasternut said:

Maybe the lawyers won't win and TTD will live again...

Um. Who's lawyers?

[AmyUD06]

8 hours ago, prozach626 said:

Um. Who's lawyers?

Please don't entertain baseless conspiracy theories LOL.

[rachelmadcow]

It would only make sense to add LSM if they can extended it somehow. As-is the GP wouldnt even notice the 20m investment that the overhaul of the launch system would cost. 
 

if they do add LSMs then they need to add a bowl section like accelerator. So that the GP will recognize it as “different”  or go nuts and create a Formula Rossa West 

I think the expansion of TTD is the most logical  route for CP since they will get a bunch of records  

regardless CP is never getting rid of TTD simply bc Kingda Ka exists.