California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread

[Tmcdllr]

Lift chain, sprocket, proxy sensors, anti rollbacks----- track?

[Cgavisitor]

Also I noticed a few days before Gold Striker closed that when ever the train on the ride made a sharp turn it made this loud noise but this happened more toward the end of the ride. Did anyone else notice that happening on the ride.

[rumble]

Was at the park on Wednesday afternoon and tonight, no sign of activity at all on or around Gold Striker. The ride now has this themed closed for business sign:

 

Even with the ride closed "Fun TV" continues to loop endlessly in the queue line! LOL.

 

I asked around a bit, to see if any one knew what was up with the ride and when it might be re-opened but nobody knew anything. The best I got was from someone at guest services who said there was "a major problem with the ride, but they don't tell us any more than that".

 

I'm not convinced by the broken chain theory - the ride has had a lot of sporadic downtime before its extended closure, which isn't indicative of a suddenly broken chain. Still, who knows, could be anything!

[Canobie Coaster]

Was at the park on Wednesday afternoon and tonight, no sign of activity at all on or around Gold Striker. The ride now has this themed closed for business sign:

 

[attachment=0]closed.jpg[/attachment]Even with the ride closed "Fun TV" continues to loop endlessly in the queue line! LOL.

 

I asked around a bit, to see if any one knew what was up with the ride and when it might be re-opened but nobody knew anything. The best I got was from someone at guest services who said there was "a major problem with the ride, but they don't tell us any more than that".

 

I'm not convinced by the broken chain theory - the ride has had a lot of sporadic downtime before its extended closure, which isn't indicative of a suddenly broken chain. Still, who knows, could be anything!

 

The fact that you saw no one working makes me agree that they are waiting on a part, though it could be anything. While it's a bummer the ride is down, as long as it reopens with the same wild ride, I'll be content.

[GCI Wooden]

I hope they don't neuter the ride by adding trim brakes. I wonder why no one knows anything, seems pretty strange. Was the failure bad enough that it might scare riders away from it? That's the only reason I can think of as to why they don't say anything. Has anyone checked with the Dippin Dots guy? they know everything.

[Cgavisitor]

I think it's safe to say don't expect Gold striker to open this week at all.

[Cgavisitor]

I also noticed all the employes who operate gold striker still report to the ride even though it's closed.

[Cgavisitor]

They even updated there website to say gold striker is closed.

[aCoasterStory]

They even updated there website to say gold striker is closed.

 

Noooooo......

 

I guess I should just expect that it won't be open next weekend. Seems less and less likely as time goes on.

[StuckInSD]

If the problem is the chain, it makes ya wonder if its because of the faultiness of the chain or if one too many fat trains made the round...

[Tmcdllr]

I hope they don't neuter the ride by adding trim brakes. I wonder why no one knows anything, seems pretty strange. Was the failure bad enough that it might scare riders away from it? That's the only reason I can think of as to why they don't say anything. Has anyone checked with the Dippin Dots guy? they know everything.

 

 

Really, trim brakes? What makes you think they would do that? There is no reason to put trims on this ride and besides that I really don't think you could easily as it's so twisty.

 

I think it's pretty safe to say this ride will never have trim brakes.

[singemfrc]

I hope they don't neuter the ride by adding trim brakes. I wonder why no one knows anything, seems pretty strange. Was the failure bad enough that it might scare riders away from it? That's the only reason I can think of as to why they don't say anything. Has anyone checked with the Dippin Dots guy? they know everything.

 

 

Really, trim brakes? What makes you think they would do that? There is no reason to put trims on this ride and besides that I really don't think you could easily as it's so twisty.

 

I think it's pretty safe to say this ride will never have trim brakes.

Not that I think that they will, but I think what he's saying is perhaps the reason the ride is down is because the high speeds have made the track, trains, or their parts wear prematurely and trim brakes would solve that hypothetical problem. I don't believe this is the case, especially as I'm guessing IOE would be involved in that installation if it were. I also agree that would completely ruin the ride. It would take it from being the best woodie I've ever ridden to a completely bland woodie that I wouldn't care about, but I dont for a second believe that's happening.

[GCI Wooden]

^ I doubt that it is the train wearing prematurely, but I decided to throw the idea out there to see what others think. It seems that Cedar Fair likes to trim roller coaster for some reason (Magnum, Mean Streak at CP, Thunderhawk at Dorney, Wild Thing, High Roller at Valleyfair etc.). I still find it hard to believe the chain broke.

 

Also, has anyone heard rumors about 2015?

Edited August 9, 2014 by GCI Wooden

[Tmcdllr]

Yeah trims would ruin this ride for me too.

 

Hard to believe the lift chain broke yes, but, it's not impossible.

 

So the speculation so far is they are waiting for a part, but, what could that be?

[rcjp]

I think it's pretty safe to say this ride will never have trim brakes.

You can NEVER say that about any ride! There is always a way that can be found to do it.

[Tmcdllr]

Sure.

 

What GCI coasters have trims?

[rcjp]

^I was kidding, and yes, right now I can't think of one, but you never know....

[Tmcdllr]

I would be surprised if even just one GCI had trims. That is one company/coaster I never consider having trims- but parks do whatever they want.

 

It's like 'GCI' and 'trim brakes' just don't belong together.

[singemfrc]

Certainly a chain isnt supposed to break in this amount of time, but its possible. I heard from one person that someone at the park told them it was a "manufacturing defect", which could refer to a problem with how the chain was made causing it to fail.

 

Also I think we're all jumping to the type of chain failure that X2 incurred which was an actual snapping of the chain leaving a train stuck on the lift; but it's possible that maintenance simply noticed an unacceptable problem with the chain during an inspection and decided it needed to be replaced before operations could continue.

[Tmcdllr]

Certainly a chain isnt supposed to break in this amount of time, but its possible. I heard from one person that someone at the park told them it was a "manufacturing defect", which could refer to a problem with how the chain was made causing it to fail.

 

Also I think we're all jumping to the type of chain failure that X2 incurred which was an actual snapping of the chain leaving a train stuck on the lift; but it's possible that maintenance simply noticed an unacceptable problem with the chain during an inspection and decided it needed to be replaced before operations could continue.

 

I agree with this.

 

Hard to believe about the chain but completely understand the possibility of a defective part of the chain, nothing is always perfect and sometimes these things happen. Sometimes right away and sometimes not for.... some time.

 

Defective chain and I too think they may have caught a problem and decided to shut the ride down to avoid a catastrophic failure. I mean, nobody has said they saw anywhere the lift chain slack, hanging, or in pieces and I would think if it actually broke apart you might at least see a little of that, unless they were very quick to get it out of there, which would not surprise me because they have a very good maintenance staff at this park.

[MagnumFreak25]

^ I doubt that it is the train wearing prematurely, but I decided to throw the idea out there to see what others think. It seems that Cedar Fair likes to trim roller coaster for some reason (Magnum, Mean Streak at CP, Thunderhawk at Dorney, Wild Thing, High Roller at Valleyfair etc.). I still find it hard to believe the chain broke.

 

Also, has anyone heard rumors about 2015?

 

I wouldn't count Magnum's trims as being Cedar Fair's fault. I'm pretty sure they were added when the up-stop pads were replaced with wheels, making the ride run faster than it should. Thus resulting in the need for trim brakes, I think.

[Tmcdllr]

Yeah, what's the rumor for 2015 here?

[rumble]

I don't buy the trims theory either - there's barely a straight section on the entire ride to fit them, and again we haven't seen any activity on the ride to suggest that this is anything more than a crazy idea.

[CPSFMMCW]

^^ wasn't there something going on by the front entrance and the picnic pavilions? I dunno I thought I heard about that and there was talk of a large flat ride going in that area. it was something like that.

[GCI Wooden]

^^^^ I forgot that Magnum originally ran with pads. Do the pads make much of a difference because I believe Magnum still hits the same speed as when it opened, and there aren't trims on the first hill. maybe the wheels speed it up a lot on the 3rd hill, which looks like the upstop wheels are in use because of strong airtime. Still, CF likes trims.