Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[alpengeist04]

That's a fair assessment in relation to the article

 

Well yea, I was replying to a reply about the article after all.

 

As for the parks... I enjoy going to both, so there's really no reason for me to pick a favorite.

[JonnyRCT3]

Seems were still the best park. What else is new?

 

These awards are getting more pathetic each year. Clearly there are some shenanigans going on.

 

Speaking of shenanigans.... The CF trend of Giga Coasters. I beleive CF(Kinzel) refused to build a Giga taller/Faster than MF, just for Cp bragging rights. Like how I305 was originally 94, and then trimmed(for good reason) and then re-profiled. Now it's advertised as "excess of 90 mph". Just say 94. The same for Leviathan, just 1 foor taller than I305. If any other park (other than CF) were to build a Giga, it wouldn't just barely reach 300'. CP/CF needs to get over MF, quit milking the dang cow already.

 

Sorry, needed to let that out.

[Yamez]

Out of curiosity, what do you feel like they could do going any higher on these types of coasters? They're all about speed, and showing that off. All making them higher does is make them slightly faster at a higher cost (I would think). Its probably just not beneficial enough to build anything taller. And we've yet to see Six Flags build a Giga for some unknown reason.

 

If the two major chains aren't building them, and no one overseas is doing it, there is probably a solid reason for NOT building it. Just sayin'

[azza29]

If the two major chains aren't building them, and no one overseas is doing it, there is probably a solid reason for NOT building it. Just sayin'

 

It has to be the cost-benefit equation. The "coaster wars" have cooled down significantly lately and the reality is that a $10m addition will draw roughly the same number of visitors as something that costs $30-40m.

[SLUSHIE]

The thing about building rides taller is that the increase in speed from the added height isn't all that huge.

 

Here is a dumb graph to show what I mean. You can see that tripling the height doesn't even double the speed.

 

It has a lot to do with wind resistance and wheel diameter. For instance, TTD goes 120mph on the way up the tower, and then crawls slowly over the top, the speed coming down on the other side probably is in the realm of 100mph even though the distance traveled on the way up and down is pretty much the same, it doesn't get all it's speed back.

 

So when looking at a coaster like Leviathan, if B&M was to build a coaster 400' tall, the 2nd hill wouldn't be all that much taller than Leviathan's 2nd hill because so much speed would be scrubbed off by wind resistance and friction from the small wheels.

 

Train design would have to change drastically in order to achieve higher speeds. They would have to be much more aerodynamic and have larger diameter wheels. Then in the interest aerodynamics you might as well make it enclosed, but doing that would just ruin a large part of the experience.

[DirkFunk]

Even if you enclosed the ride vehicle and did a ton of work to reduce wheel resistance, eventually by building a coaster tall enough you'd reach terminal velocity anyways (unless you plan on enclosing the track, pressurizing the train, and making the entire course a vacuum). The faster the train goes, the more ground it covers over a specific period of time. Unless you launch the train into a huge drop, you're simply not going to have significant gains in terms of increasing speed from a 300ft-400ft drop with anything mechanically that you do which can realistically be accomplished.

[disneyfan1313]

If the two major chains aren't building them, and no one overseas is doing it, there is probably a solid reason for NOT building it. Just sayin'

 

It has to be the cost-benefit equation. The "coaster wars" have cooled down significantly lately and the reality is that a $10m addition will draw roughly the same number of visitors as something that costs $30-40m.

 

 

This. It is all about maximizing your ROI. Parks realize that a unique draw that is cheaper is better than building something uuber expensive - plus I also think they are realizing that the life cycle of rides is a little less than it used to be.

[Manic Monte]

It's certainly the new Six Flags mantra. They haven't spent $20 mill on one coaster since Tatsu.

[theonetheonlyJT]

^ They don't want to go back into debt and in this economy I don't blame them (just wish some of their prices would drop )

[Tbcoasterfan]

Hi everyone,

I was flying around Cedar Point earlier today and thought I'd snap you guys some pics! Not in any particular order cause we circled several times. Enjoy!

[jmicha]

^Those are fantastic! Thanks for sharing with us. The beach looks infinitely better already.

[JonnyRCT3]

Love those birds eye views. What was going on in the parking lot?

[Tbcoasterfan]

Love those birds eye views. What was going on in the parking lot?

 

I'm not actually sure. I didn't notice that stuff until I was going through the photos otherwise I would've tried to zoom in on it.

[coasternut]

^^^^ Beautiful pictures of the park and peninsula. I see finally the Space Spiral cabin is on the ground. It's been stuck in the middle for a long time. That should disappear soon too.

[coasterfreak101]

Wow, thanks so much for sharing! There's something very awesome to me about aerials of parks. Mean Streak actually looks even better from up there!

[jedimaster1227]

It is neat to see those overhead shots of the former Disaster Transport plot. It is interesting to see just how much space is available now that the ride is gone.

 

As for the Space Spiral, I'm curious to see if the ride will be scrapped or disassembled to be sent to another park.

[Wes]

Awesome shots! The park's location is so cool...wish there were more like it!

[3Mutts]

Nice photos TBCoasterFan! That area over there were Disaster Transport was looks way better now.

[adavis]

A brief trip report:

 

Went to the park yesterday with my wife, daughter, mom, and dad. My folks haven't been there in nearly twenty years, but this just worked out to be the perfect time schedule-wise to go for them, even though it was, shudder, a Saturday. I'm not sure if it was providence, or my pre-order of Fastlane passes, but the park was damn near dead. Millie and TTD were 15 minutes all day, and only Maverick saw a true boon to our red wristbands-Bwahaha, 45 minutes? Not today!

 

In any case, great trip, though my mom was bummed that Windseeker was down, she was excited for the view. I was honestly shocked how light the hordes were, and I would keep it a guarded secret just how toned down the crowds are the weekend after Labor Day, but before Halloweekends. Wink wink.

 

A brief aside:

 

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but TTD ran great today in 70 degree weather! Is high heat the reason for the seemingly normal constant string of malfunctions on summer days?

Edited September 10, 2012 by adavis

[coasterbill]

Great pictures.

Thanks for the new wallpaper!

[kidcoaster 2]

As for the Space Spiral, I'm curious to see if the ride will be scrapped or disassembled to be sent to another park.

 

I do belive they said it will be scrapped.

[coasterlover420]

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but TTD ran great today in 70 degree weather! Is high heat the reason for the seemingly normal constant string of malfunctions on summer days?

Some days it can be, but it's mostly just a toss up. Heat will cause a lot of coasters to break down because they are timed and the trains travel too fast, but for Dragster there are a lot more problems than just over speed errors. It's luck of the draw really. It could be that the time you spent away from the ride, it was broken down. You never know.

[John Peck]

I noticed the cabin of the Space Spiral has been lowered. It was sitting mid-tower for the last few weeks. Shame for them to lose it.

[CoasterKings908]

They should've pulled a Six Flags and relocated it to another park in the chain and market it as "new."

[harper83087]

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but TTD ran great today in 70 degree weather! Is high heat the reason for the seemingly normal constant string of malfunctions on summer days?

Some days it can be, but it's mostly just a toss up. Heat will cause a lot of coasters to break down because they are timed and the trains travel too fast, but for Dragster there are a lot more problems than just over speed errors. It's luck of the draw really. It could be that the time you spent away from the ride, it was broken down. You never know.

 

TTD was running really great last week too. One day was cooler and the other was 85 plus humiduty. I had the best couple laps I've had on it to date, with some great airtime over the hat in the last car which I've never gotten like that before.