Cedar Fair Racers

Looks like the former Paramount trio of racers, Rebel Yell, Thunder Road and Racer will no longer feature backwards running trains on one side. From what I hear all three coasters will run forward only this season.

Danny

I'm going to ask for proof first, but I must add that The Racer going backwards was by far my favorite ride at Kings Island and I would be very disappointed.

It was confirmed by a KD media person for Rebel Yell, who said it was in line with KI and Carowinds for this season.

Well then I don't mean to be a downer, but that ride won't be much fun anymore.

I can roll backwards 420 feet down a tower, but I can't go backwards on a simple out-and-back wooden coaster.

Ya it's a shame. Windjammer at Knott's is also going going to run forwards this coming season only.

Oh wait..

This move annoys me to no end. Why take 3 rides that differentiated these parks from many others for their uniqueness and do this, very poor decision. I never rode Thunder Road or Racer, but I do know that Rebel Yell was by far best backwards, especially in the back when you got whipped over the first drop! It was a classic the way it was. I do realize that in reality they will be returning it to its originial form, but that really wasnt that great! (At least Rebel Yell.) Is it just me or is KD the most affected park by the stupid changes that Cedar Fair is putting into effect? They'd better be putting LIMs on Scooby Doo to make up for this!

I wonder what the thinking behind the changes is. The rides have run safely for decades, after all.

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snowboard83 said:
Is it just me or is KD the most affected park by the stupid changes that Cedar Fair is putting into effect? They'd better be putting LIMs on Scooby Doo to make up for this!

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You complain about stupid changes, but want LIMs on a junior woodie?

^it's all in the art of sarcasm... ;)

Yes it is an interesting change. Whenever I am in line I notice that the Recar line was at least 3 - 4 times longer than Racer. So it appears that the GP loves it.

Did PTC ever approve the backwards running of their trains? I know CP sent the Blue Streak trains to PTC for a refurb a few years back (2001?). I wonder if they'd like to do the same for the KECO "racer" trains, but PTC wouldn't touch them since they are run against manufacturer specifications? Just an idea.

Speaking as someone who loathes riding backwards ( I only ever do it the once, just for the credit!), I personally do not see this as any particular loss.

That being said it is indeed very difficult to identify any reason why Cedar Fair has chosen to implement such a change, especially to three iconic coasters across three parks. Where's the improved safety/enhanced rider experience/reduced operating costs/increased throughput/enhanced marketability consequent on this move?

Well this may or may not explain the decision but they have rebuilt alot of the reverse side of Thunder Road this winter. The turn around and now one of the return hills. Also in the past the reverse side was always less crowded than the forward so maybe they are doing this to change things up a bit for a few seasons and later on change back.

The reasons is so they can only run one side more often than not as the rides capacity far exceeds it's ridership on all but weekends.

Typical CF capacity monster, How come when I show up I get almost SF treatment? Three hour lines for Mantis, Hour waits for Magnum when it could be half and one side of Gemini?

Rant over but CF is a micro managed company and their guest suffer because of it.

Chuck

or perhaps the G trains can't run backward :)

There is some truth to this thinking as the G trains are artculated and the PTC's that run on Racer are not.

Chuck

This has been a rumor for a while now on one of the KI fansites and discussed at great lengths there, and from what they have gathered it has come down to money (what??...CF cares about money and cutting costs?!...surprise, surprise!!!)

But basically if both racers run forward they can close down one side and only run the other side, because from a capacity perspective the wait time wouldn't be extended *that* much longer, plus you save money in the reduction of operations.

Personally, as a 25 year-old who has only known the Racer as having a backwards side and loving that ride, this actually makes me sick!! I rode the forward side opening day in 07 and the experience was atrociously rough and it was the only ride that day to give me a headache and cost me my bluetooth, which I admit was not fully secured yet its *same* location DID survive rides on both Delirium and Face/Off!! Needless to say, I didn't ride forwards for the rest of 07.

I can only hope if one side is regularly open that it is the former backwards side, which while not B&M glass smooth, was fairly decent IMHO. In addition, KI's recent appeal has plummeted in my mind, is the definition of old hat, and if it wasn't my closest park (living in Indianapolis) I wouldn't be going at all in 08, and am only planning on going maybe two days this season with those being mostly water park ventures preceding going to nighttime Cubs/Reds games.

However, their kids section is without question one of the best out there for not being Disney, and since CF owns one of my favorite (but very equally flawed) parks in CP, there's not a whole lot I can do about it other than getting my Platinum Pass from CP, which I have already done.

Bottom line is that with the amusement park industry in today's economic world and times there is absolutely NO loyalty or tradition anymore (i.e. Indiana Beach/Kennywood, with maybe HW as an exception), and while I find it utterly disgusting, sad and pathetic, I have come to accept and live with it.

The only saving grace is that if maybe saving some of this extra money is what enables CF to build the rumored 09 coaster at KI and Behemoth at CW (which I will be going to for the first time this year) and Maverick and maybe this helps the park and company out in the long run then it is an acceptable trade-off, and I'll continue to think (and hope) that if running one side forwards and the other backwards made more money than only keeping one side open running forward then CF wouldn't have made the change.

In the meantime, I'll have to leave it up to parks like Disney to stay true to the tradition and charm that made park-going the wonder it is from childhood and to the years after...thanks to anyone for listening to my rant.

Chuck I don't know when you're at CP, but I'm hard-pressed to recall a time that Magnum has had a line and isn't running all available trains, unless they are running in "wet-worry-mode".

(Folks may recall the Magnum collision in the rain recently; since then, at least Magnum and CCMR run only a single train when there is even a hint of rain...)

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ShiveringTim said:
Did PTC ever approve the backwards running of their trains? I know CP sent the Blue Streak trains to PTC for a refurb a few years back (2001?). I wonder if they'd like to do the same for the KECO "racer" trains, but PTC wouldn't touch them since they are run against manufacturer specifications? Just an idea.

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I don't know when the Blue Streak trains went to PTC - but they were fitted with clap brakes in 1994 and really neutered/bastardized in 1995 with individual ratchet bars, individual seat belts, seat dividers and headrests (and had the bottom orange stripe removed; but at least those hideous lapbars match the remaining stripe *sarcasm*)

A 'big' CP PR person said in the late 80's early 90's - "Cedar Point is NOT into gimmicks" (or something close to that) when asked if they would ever turn one side of Gemini around. What's going on with the Racer coasters across the chain is a hypocritical reassurance of this 'claim'.

I say 'hypocritical' b/c Cedar Point from 1991 (Mean Streak) to Dragster have put in rides that were meant to set record/follow or one-up the current trend. This is just MY opinion. Most of those rides are just NO FUN on a long term basis. Sure, they got the people there though.

I would rather have my all-time favorite CP ride back any day over ANY of these new rides. The pre 1994 Blue Streak - a classic coaster that looked and felt like one.

As for PTC and their guidelines/trains, it's really time to come up with something new and a little more comfortable. These ratchet bars and seat dividers are very restricting and uncomfortable. I think going around a high lateral G turn is more dangerous with that back bending seat dividers than it is squishing your buddy.

And I dare anyone to try to 'put head against headrest' (as Six Flags tells you to do) on one of those volvo-like headrests.

Those ratchet lapbars have caused more problems, are uncomfortable and have arguable cause worse injuries (many of which have never made it to mainstream news.) Thanks to people/parks not putting them down, and of course - they used to be easy to open (and if the coaster is rough enough *Thunder Run* then open themselves during the ride!)

Of course, it would be possible to only run one side of the ride in low-crowd conditions without turning one of them around. So, I don't think it's only for that reason, and suspect there is some other.

^^Yes, but it explains away complaints of "why isn't the other side running? that's MY favorite side"....

Making them both the same shoots that down.