jerryd Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Spent the day out at Valleyfair with some friends. Some comments.. Started out the day on Renegade, as some of you know there is a variation of lapbar locking points so I'm somewhat careful in my seat selections. Renegade opened with 1 train operation with the blue train that I had no experience with yet. So with friends in row 1 (who report that the front left seems to lock at the correct point) I score a ride in row 2 right with no problems. Being early in the morning its performing well so we take a second ride and say we will return later in the day. Later in the around 3PM we find a 30 min queue, note 2 train operations and trains that had a very bad squealing as they traveled the course! We only took one ride due to the noise and a noticeably slower ride. This was a big disappointment. Maintainance was sighted listening to it, so hopefully it gets corrected before long. Total of 3 rides for the day out of 3 attempts. Excalibur, nothing too much as changed here.. Overall still a underrated coaster in my book. Wild Thing, still nothing has changed here. Ride in the front car for airtime, back if you want that first drop yank down the hill. High Roller, seems to be running much better so far this season. Corkscrew, the new on ride video system is not in use yet. Extreme swing seems to have a longer ride cycle with 1 more swing than last year. Always fun to ride next to a first time rider and listen to the comments. Steel Venom, 2 rides with no seatbelt issues. Back seat riders do not always hear the launch countdown, this time was no exception and caught them by surprise. Mad Mouse, no changes there. In short, a very good visit with moderate crowds in the afternoon with a max wait of arround 25-30 for Renegade and Extreme Swing. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asr Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 That's Cedar Fair alright, breaking a woodie after less then a month of operation I actualy almost typed "braking", as in trim brakes instead of "breaking' like breaking down there. Ofcourse, Cedar Point brakes rides (particulary woodies) as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkymn Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Hey Jerry, I was out there today with a buddy of mine.. As we drove in to the parking lot, they had signs everywhere, "RENEGADE IS CLOSED FOR THE DAY". My buddy had to seriously think if he wanted to pay to go to the park today, since that is one of the big reasons he wanted to go. He eventually decided we'd go in, so we did. Before the park actually opened though, we noticed a big group of people riding Wild Thing. I kind of wondered who was the group getting the ERT, and later found out it was the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain! Poor guys came all this way and wanted to ride Renegade. Well, it was still broke at 2pm, and I had no idea if it got fixed the rest of the day. Hopefully it did and they made it on. (My friend had to leave, and since I was driving, I left with him.) Robb, Andy from RCCGB told me to say HI for him. That group looked very disappointed about Renegade. Anyway, it was a TOUGH day at the park today. I counted over 70 buses in the parking lot at one point, and the park was PACKED!!!!! I honestly don' remember a time I have seen the park more busy in the past several years. It was so busy, they actually had 2 trains going for High Roller and The Corkscrew, which I haven't seen in a LONG, LONG time. That didn't always mean faster lines, as some of the staff seemed incapable of operating the rides in a timely manner. This was especially apparent on the Big Swing. That ride can be so fun, but to sit and watch the employees literally take so much time to do their ride checks, and to stand around and talk to each other, was almost too frustrating to bear. Each ride that should have taken about 3 minutes to run and load, was taking at least 6-8 minutes per load. VERY frustrating. Other than the employees that acted like the customer was an inconvenience to them doing their jobs, and no Renegade, things were actually going pretty smoothly for the park being so packed. The line for High Roller was actually faster than normal due to 2 trains, (though there was still a lot of standing around by the employees), and even Steel Venom was only a 5-10 minute wait. (Though an inept imployee was controlling the entrace to the ride and was not paying attention to the actual queues in the ride area itself, and rows of seats were going out emtpy because he wasn't allowing people in to the ride to get in those rows! Ride waits would have been even better if not for that guy.) Ride times on Wild Thing during the peak periods were about 20-25 minutes. It might have been possible for them to put a third train on to reduce that ride time, but it seems parks are really hesitant to keep their employees actually busy. But in their down time, it seems the employees start chatting, and not paying attention to the next car coming in, so it takes longer than normal to load a train since they didn't notice the train was ready to be checked. Very few rides seemed to have operators that were really taking pride in their jobs and trying to get as many people through, quickly, and safely, as possible. I guess they get to come on off-days, and off-hours to ride so don't seem to think about standing in line 25 minutes for something. (Yes, that is quite short compared to many parks, I know.) Ok, now I might officially be rambling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 It was so busy, they actually had 2 trains going for High Roller and The Corkscrew, which I haven't seen in a LONG, LONG time. You mean the other train for High Roller still WORKS?! I thought it rotted away years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkymn Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 It was so busy, they actually had 2 trains going for High Roller and The Corkscrew, which I haven't seen in a LONG, LONG time. You mean the other train for High Roller still WORKS?! I thought it rotted away years ago! Yes, I too was amazed by that.. It really works and was running! They really need to have 2 trains running much more frequently. High Roller can still be a fun ride. Though I wish they'd take off about half that trim brake at the first big turn.. It really reduces the fun on the return, and you don't get much air until you're nearly back to the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I wish they would take off all of that trim. It was pretty intense before they added it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkymn Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 ^ Well, we all wish that! I was just trying to be a bit more realistic. I don't understand why they continually trim down rides.. I'm sure they will say it is something to do with safety, but there has to be a happy medium somewhere in there! I wish they'd find it. Wild Thing is running too slow as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Why isn't that realistic? They could slow the train the same amount with half the trim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkymn Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 ^ You said remove all the trim. I just said to remove half of it, knowing there is no way they are going to remove all the trim. No biggie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryd Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Renegade was down on Sunday, with a train sitting on the lift so its possible that it has been down since Saturday night when it broke down. I feel sorry for the RCGB group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValleyfairFan Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Renegade was back open at 3 pm when I was at the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Though an inept imployee was controlling the entrace to the ride and was not paying attention to the actual queues in the ride area itself, and rows of seats were going out emtpy because he wasn't allowing people in to the ride to get in those rows! Ride waits would have been even better if not for that guy Ride operators dont purposely send empty rows, he wouldnt just not allow riders if there wasnt a reason. Its quite common that rides have to send empty rows to control the weight of the train due to maintenence wanting less stress on the ride, its actually quite common, especially on Intamins. Also it could be that Cedar Fair is very strict about the weight distrobution on the trains and if there is only a one or two train wait, they need to keep a specified area of the train tied off. It happens a lot at CP. I have no idea if that is the case here, but a ride op wouldnt just purposley send empty rows for no reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkymn Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Well, this guy actually sent empty rows because he wasn't paying attention. When I pointed it out to him, he blamed people not getting in the row when he let them in. (People get in line for the front queue to ride the front seat, or the back, or wherever.) He really wasn't paying attention. He was looking all around and trying to appear cool, doing everything but look at where people were in the queues. It was not a maintenance issue. It was an idiot issue who didn't care how long it took people to get on the ride. He counted 28 people to go in and that was all he did. He didn't even attempt to notice if there were open queues or not. He probably was never trained to actually try to work effectively. Who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topdrag Posted July 29, 2007 Share Posted July 29, 2007 I think I know that ride operator. His name is Bob and he no longer works at Valleyfair from what I have heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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