Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[Doppel Looping]

Supply chain issues?

seatbelts in time for 2025 though.

 

[prozach626]

Nah. They make plenty of seat belts, bro. 

[thrillseeker4552]

Even if it does end up with seatbelts, hopefully they click to the outside like a standard OTSR rather than a lap belt underneath. Those outside seatbelts are hardly disruptive to operations compared to the lap belts underneath the restraint.

The trains look great. As long as they don't ride like a shopping cart on asphalt (like Zamperla's Thunderbolt model does...) then I am all in. And those have got to be the largest road wheel diameter for any coaster that I've seen. Even bigger than the B&M Gigas.

[DoinItForTheFame]

18 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

Even if it does end up with seatbelts, hopefully they click to the outside like a standard OTSR rather than a lap belt underneath. Those outside seatbelts are hardly disruptive to operations compared to the lap belts underneath the restraint.

I 100% agree. I won't mind if seat belts are added outside the harness. As you mentioned they are hardly disruptive to operations, and they don't even seem affect the ride experience.

18 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

The trains look great. As long as they don't ride like a shopping cart on asphalt (like Zamperla's Thunderbolt model does...) then I am all in. And those have got to be the largest road wheel diameter for any coaster that I've seen. Even bigger than the B&M Gigas.

Yeah..... Thunderbolt is a POS. Hopefully this ends up a much better ride experience. I would hate for TT2 to become as unbearably rough as Thunderbolt is. I have no idea how they messed up that coaster so badly. 

[tndank]

They started testing TT2 yesterday.  Footage on socials.

 

[thepoint4life23]

I guess that want to make sure everything is fully working and all the bugs worked out by May of 2024

 

[KBrylczyk]

Seeing the train get higher than Power Tower on the spike got me all kinds of giddy.  That long floater plus the long, high-speed race to the top hat with a potential headchopper through the old station is going to be pretty dang awesome.  The rest of the ride remains mediocre, IMO*, but the swing launch should be wacky at those heights.

 

*Kingda Ka would put me to sleep if it didn't feel like a 9-pointer earthquake.

[gardyloo!]

On 11/19/2023 at 10:01 PM, DoinItForTheFame said:

Hopefully this ends up a much better ride experience.

Is it me or do I miss some contouring on those lapbars..? I hope I'm wrong haha

I still find it remarkable that cedar fair would rather take a major gamble going into business with Zamperla, rather than contracting Intamin to do the job.  

 

[_s3_]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it has been mentioned that during the "ramp up process" Zamperla did to bolster their coaster division, they brought on a number of prior Intamin employees. That, if true, itself could have provided the edge to go with them in addition to the lower cost than Intamin gave them.

In addition to that, the launch components are being handled / subcontracted through Intrasys, so it's not like Cedar Point will be dealing with a beta product from Zamperla on the most important aspect of the ride.

When it comes down to it, it appears the Zamperla was awarded the contract because of:

1. Lower overall cost of renovation project
2. Former Intamin employees now working with Zamperla
3. Intrasys launch technology (established company and product)
4. New robust train design with "less moving parts" (decreased maintenance time/cost and less chance of randomly ejecting parts mid-course)
5. While "new" to the big coaster game, Zamperla is extremely dominant and well respected in the overall rides and attractions industry
6. Possible "sour taste in their mouth" from prior Intamin projects and headaches (thus giving them a natural edge)

[prozach626]

On 12/12/2023 at 1:21 PM, thepoint4life23 said:

I guess that want to make sure everything is fully working and all the bugs worked out by May of 2024

 

I'm glad the merger isn't happening sooner, or they would have it up and running in mid July.

 

  

3 hours ago, gardyloo! said:

I still find it remarkable that cedar fair would rather take a major gamble going into business with Zamperla, rather than contracting Intamin to do the job.  

 

Is it any less of a gamble than going with Intamin?

[_s3_]

Surprised that this hasn't been posted yet, but Cedar Point posted Episode 7 of their "Pit Stop" construction series:

Awesome to see them already testing the system and that we're already clearing the top hat even in the cold temperatures. Love that they decided to post some POV footage as well.

[prozach626]

Looks like about as minimal shaking as you can get on the roll. Maybe it's the dive machine wheels...

[gardyloo!]

On 12/13/2023 at 9:20 PM, prozach626 said:

Is it any less of a gamble than going with Intamin?

With intamin's recent track record, being the only company to date whose coasters go above the 160 mph (red force being the prime example ofcourse), and with having indrivetec as their partner, I think intamin would be the option with a lower risk. However... @_s3_ makes some very solid points.  Zamperla's lower price (it ain't Swiss, but it's Italian after all), Cedarfair's historical grudge against Intamin, and former Intamin employees changing teams suddenly paints a different picture. If it ends up being a better product, we'll never know for sure of course.

 

[Doppel Looping]

On 12/22/2023 at 7:31 AM, gardyloo! said:

  Zamperla's lower price 

 

That will be something nice to think about  as you swing launch over a 400’ top hat and down the other side… Glad they saved some money on this thing. 
 

Hope they had the good sense at least to hire Stengel to do the engineering. 

[prozach626]

I hope it rattles and is uncomfortable as hell, just to piss enthusiasts off. At the same time, I hope the general public likes it that way, which will also piss enthusiasts off.

 

At the very least, let's cross our fingers that it's "accommodating for large riders,"  so we don't have to read Facebook comments from people who binge eat while binge streaming bitch about how "only 'skinny' people can ride." 

[thepoint4life23]

Cheaper in this case doesn't mean its a less good product. They could of asked for a bids from a few company's.   Zamperla could of picked to be less just to get the project. This is  kind of the one chance they have  show the world what they can do in the Big coaster game.  Zamperla Could of approached Cedar Point with a idea that could of kicked started the project. I feel like I heard intamin was never given a chance to discuss the redesign but I could be wrong. 

[prozach626]

Redesign their problematic design in the first place?

[bill_s]

The subject of Zamperla's lower price for TT2 needs to be considered to scale.  The difference is surely multiple millions. I heard B&M's proposal was to tear it down and build something else and Intamin's could have been also -- Red Force 2? I doubt many others would want to modify an existing ride. There are also certain cost thresholds such as the original cost of TTD, preferably not adjusted to inflation. It seems a good guess that would exclude Intamin. Zamperla could be costing them that much.

I think reusing that top hat gives Zamperla a huge break. There is nothing complex about the new trackwork. The launch design is extremely conservative.

[coasterbill]

People under-estimate how cheap this park is. People put them up on a pedestal, but at the end of the day they're a regional park in Ohio that sells day tickets for $49.99.

All we heard about at IAAPA was about how cheap the train was and how cheap it would be to maintain. It's proof-of-concept for Zamperla so they probably got a good deal, but I feel like people focus too much on the up-front cost and not the continuous costs of ownership. Intamin's spare parts are expensive. Zamperla is... Zamperla. Intamin could have built an insanely kick-ass ride but it would have cost more money up-front and probably more money every year going forward.

Cedar Point is cheaper than most enthusiasts want to believe that they are. The entire motivation behind removing an Intamin multi-launch and replacing it with a Zamperla Wild Mouse was cutting costs without acting like they were cutting costs. It cost them money up-front, but think about the change in power consumption and staffing / maintenance costs every year forever. The entire motivation behind Top Thrill 2 is... exactly the same thing. Less staff positions, less maintenance, cheaper parts... etc.

I'm not even upset about either of those things, but let's call this what it is.

[Garet]

Even if it gets great reviews when it reopens the big test will be how well it holds up in the long run because those Zamperla Thunderbolts go from ‘that was pretty fun’ to dumpster fire rough fairly quick 

[KBrylczyk]

3 hours ago, Garet said:

 Zamperla Thunderbolts go from ‘that was pretty fun’ to dumpster fire rough fairly quick 

Soooooo exactly like Kingda Ka, I see.  That ride is goddamn mean these days and has been rough since season 2.

[bill_s]

11 hours ago, coasterbill said:

People under-estimate how cheap this park is.

Exactly, cheap enough if it costs too much to rebuild a ride, they might not do it at all. Wouldn't be the first time for Cedar Fair, and everyone has a limit.

[prozach626]

I don't know anything about Cedar Point being cheap. (FL+ and Breakers are mandatory for us...)

Even if Ka was smooth I don't think it would be as thrilling as OG Dragster. The shoulder restraints are a buzz kill. It also felt like the launch characteristics were numbed. Dragster had that feeling of the instant snap of letting go of a rubber band. Ka's acceleration felt much more reserved and linear to me. It was a one and done for us.

[zacattack]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in its own thread, but does anyone have any input on the best time to visit the park this year with the hopes of avoiding crowds? Getting on TT2 would be nice but is not my main concern. haven't been to a major park since 2018 and have developed a pretty serious disability since then and I'm going to have to be creative with how I pace myself. My cousin and I will have a few days at CP and are going to hit King's Island too, which takes some pressure off, and I'll definitely have to use whatever accommodations are offered. I've also done both parks a handful of times, although not for a lot of years, and my cousin's never been so I want to get her on as much as possible.

I don't think any of us enjoys crowds but yeah, I would feel so much better planning the trip knowing it was at a time we have at least a chance of finding fewer people there. It's been so long since I've been at a park I don't even know if avoiding crowds is a thing one can do anymore lol. Or maybe it's just the FL parks that are like that, I don't know. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking it's better to go early while kids are in school despite running the risk of overlapping with some school trips? 

(And happy to make this its own thread if that's what I should have done.)

[thrillseeker4552]

19 hours ago, zacattack said:

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in its own thread, but does anyone have any input on the best time to visit the park this year with the hopes of avoiding crowds? Getting on TT2 would be nice but is not my main concern. haven't been to a major park since 2018 and have developed a pretty serious disability since then and I'm going to have to be creative with how I pace myself. My cousin and I will have a few days at CP and are going to hit King's Island too, which takes some pressure off, and I'll definitely have to use whatever accommodations are offered. I've also done both parks a handful of times, although not for a lot of years, and my cousin's never been so I want to get her on as much as possible.

I don't think any of us enjoys crowds but yeah, I would feel so much better planning the trip knowing it was at a time we have at least a chance of finding fewer people there. It's been so long since I've been at a park I don't even know if avoiding crowds is a thing one can do anymore lol. Or maybe it's just the FL parks that are like that, I don't know. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking it's better to go early while kids are in school despite running the risk of overlapping with some school trips? 

(And happy to make this its own thread if that's what I should have done.)

In my three most recent visits (2023, 2021, and 2017), I have found August a nice time to go. Particularly mid-late August, and weekdays if you can (basically whatever is the last full week they're open before moving to weekends only). I've also heard May is decent crowd-wise but the flip side is that the park is still getting on its feet from the off-season and staffing/ride availability can be a crap shoot. I would also say the weather in August is generally a bit more reliable than May but that's just luck-of-the-draw when it comes to Sandusky. Anything can happen with the weather and that definitely influences crowds one way or another.