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8/3 - We decided to leave the city at 5:30 AM, To beat the traffic. We were making good time. So we got to CP at around 2:30 in the afternoon. TTD was down but we did see ride ops in the station and a small line. It looked like TTD was going to open that time, So we decided to stick around near there and wait to see how it goes. So we on in line for power tower. About 10 minutes into the wait, I see in the corner of my eye something moving over there. So i turned around and saw the Yellow train on TTD creeping up the Ready position. At that point, I got so excited because never have i even seen the trains even MOVE on TTD. So anyway, After about a minute or 2...Finally the train moves to launch position. By then my adrenaline was rushing like crazy. So a few seconds after that The lights go down and there it goes, I was getting really excited seeing the first launch. But Ofcourse the first train didnt make it over. So anyway, The line for power tower was pretty long, So by the time we got off the line for TTD was upto the station. Right away we got into the line and decided to wait. It was looking pretty good but there was a huge amount of rollbacks. after about an hour and a half. The final tests were being run with sweepers. Then they finally opened the line, I saw the final train moving up to launch position. There it went, And then the trian didnt make it over. So by then were were already in the line. We were pretty close byt the station. Then it all went quiet after that rolback. There were no more tests and they stopped letting people in the line. They were announcing that they didnt know how long this delay would be. So we decided to wait, Then after an hour or 2. They said that it would be a "Lengthy" delay. And they didnt know even if it would open today. So there pretty much everybody was leaving excpet the people in the station. That was pretty much the end of that, We got a couple of rides on other rides and we decided to go already.
8/4 - We get to the park at 9 AM, TTD was really dead and there were some engineers working on it. So we decided to go to MF and ride that. We get there, The ride was down for about 40 minutes. BTW, There was some pretty bad downtime on most of the rides when we were there. Anyway, After about 40 minutes they finally fixed MF and they started letting people in the line.By the time we got up into the station, Something happened and it went down yet again. Luckily that was a very short delay and was only about 10 minutes. That was a really weird breakdown like i never seen before. When they dispatched the train, The sled engaged and started pulling the train out of the station at less then 1Mph. Really slowly. Anyway, Once we got off that. It was almost time for the freeway. The line was huge ofcourse. I was surprised how bad the lines were this time in august from last year when it wasnt this bad during the week. Anyway, Later that day when we came back to TTD. There were engineers working on the ride. I got a chance to ask one of them when it might open, He said Definatly not today and possibly tomorrow. He also said that they almost have it "fixed". Later on, We saw another engineer drilling holes in the launch sled track. We asked him what was wrong with it, He said he doesnt know....Which was pretty funny. He was doing all that work but he didnt know what he was doing. I knew he wasnt allowed to say anything. Anyway, We finally figured out that it was a launch cooling system for the sled. There was also huge welding going on at the end of the launch.
8/5 - This was supposed to be our last day. We get to the park, There was ALOT of work going on on TTD. The new brake fins for the launch were being worked on and they were connecting hoses for the cooling system. We asked one of the engineers, he said the ride should open around 5:30 today. So we went to ride MF. Anyway, When we got off, The line for MF was already looking like its an hour plus. That was horrible. So we went on Power tower, The wait for that was pretty long as well. After that we went back to MF and waited for the freeway. We came back to TTD and asked one of the engineers again and he said it would open around 7:30 Pm. At that time, The ride ops were slowly coming back into the station. There was alot of scrubbing going on, That went on pretty much most of the day. They were soaking down the queues and the station and wipeing down the trains. We went to Ride WT, Which seems really weak on the way back up the first time. The train was barely making it into the twist. That was a little disappointing but it was still a great ride. Around 6:30 we were already getting tired, So we just decided to sit on the grandstands and watch the progress. There was a line upto the grandstands. For some reason, I didnt understand, At some point then a lite of people just got up and started rushing into the line. I didnt get it but we just decided to go along and jump into the line. We were waiting in line for about an hour, It wasnt looking good, The last mechanic we asked said it was going to open at 8:30. We asked a ride op that was walking by, He was one of probably none....That acctually didnt say HE DOESNT KNOW. He said that he really didnt think it was going to happen because the engineers were still not done working on it and they still needed to power up the ride turn everything on, warm up up and cycle the trains. So that was a let down, We just decided to sit in line and just wait. At around 7:30, The first train creeped out of the station. Everybody started cheering. The train launched and ofcourse it didnt make it over....The crowd let out a big OOOAAAWWWWWW. By that time, they started announcing that they dont know when or if it would open. It was already getting day when they started loading the trains up with sweepers. It was looking good. It was almost 9:00 or so, They were running the final tests when one of the trains doesnt make it over. That was the last train to launch that day. After about a half an hour or so they finally announce that TTD will NOT be opening today. I was really pissed, So was everybody else in line. By that time we pretty much made friends with half of the line. Mf had a 2 hour wait and everything else had a pretty long wait, So we just decided to watch the Lazer show. That was pretty cool, But there was a little misfire of the fireworks and a little spark hit the screen and rolled down. We finally decided to stay one extra day, Because it looked like TTD was going to open the next day and It would suck if it would open right when we left.
8/6 - The final day. We get into the park for the ERT, Go straight to TTD. This looked like the most promising day for TTD opening. Ride ops were in the station. There were dummies loaded up in the trains. We went to ride MF, We were getting up the ramp and near the unload station. The yellow train was coming in from the brakes. When suddenly the kicker wheels lock up and the train stops about 3 feet away from where its supposed to be. That sucked, Just with our luck. The ride breaks down right before we ride it. Anyway after about a half an hour...They finally move the train up and start cycling test trains. So we get off MF and decide to go check on TTD. It was about 10:30, it wasnt even testing yet but the line was Huge already. So we get in line. After about an hour we were almost at the grand stands because there was alot of people leaving. They had a generator up for that new cooling system i believe. That was pretty funny, They were testing without the generator and it rolledback. Once they turn that yellow piece of crap on the ride starts running perfectly. That thing was giving off fumes like crazy. I was getting dizzy after sitting 2 hours and the wind was pushing the fumes straight for us. Anyway, After that....They run the last test. We see a rideop walking with the little measuring stick. Everybody jumped up and right away the line opened. I didnt realize how close we were to the front of the line. We get into the station right away and decided to wait for the front. It was amazing, Everybody was cheering and clapping. People in the midway, The queue, The grand stands, and the midway. Everybody was cheering. The anticipation and excitment was building. I was running on adrenaline. They were loading the first 3 cars only that time. We were on the first few trains to leave the station that day. So the gates finally open, It seemed like i was dreaming. I couldnt believe i was finally getting to ride. So we get in and sit down. I was trying everything not to get stapled. Then the ride up comes up, Gives a light tug on my seat belt and a little push on my restraint. I did not get stapled what so ever. I didnt get why people keep saying you get stapled so badly. Anyway, We pullout of the station. People were cheering and clapping. Everybody on the midway was watching. We finally pull up, The engine noises came on, The anticipation was amazing. Finally, The lights go...And we're off. The launch was insane, The speed and the wind was unbelievable. The laterals on the twist were really nice, Right as we began to turn up to the tophat. I got the biggest burt of airtime, The view was amazing and i was floating in my seat through the whole tophat. That was somthing i wasnt expecting. All in all the ride was unbelievable. There arent enough words to decribe it. I did excpect it to be more intense, But still the ride was amazing.
Anyway, We got off the ride at around noon time. We got some food and decided to get in the line again. Everybody was amazed by the ride and we quickly wanted to get back in line for another ride. The sign outside said 3 hour wait, Nobody cared and we got in. After about an hour and a half to 2 hours, We were almost near the station. So the sign does always lie. Right before the ramp that splits up into the station, We noticed the trains were barely making it over. It was incredibly hot that time. Once we got to the top of the ramp, The rollbacks started. I was pissed, That was just my luck that the ride started breaking down once we were about to ride it. Anyawy, They started resetting the blocks for that rollback. They relaunched it and it went over fine. They loaded the next trains and dispached those. THe next train went and didnt make it over again. The trains were only making it over on the 2nd try. Finally after about an hour of resetting and rollingback the engineers come in and that was the end of the tests. The go down to the launch, And start watering down the launch sled. You could almost see steam coming off the sled. So after about another hour or so, They reopen the ride and it was going good after that. The annoying thing about that was, We were so close to the station and didnt let us it. I was so frickin hot and dehydrated....One of the rideops opened up the hose near the vending machines and let people fill up bottles. I just soaked myself and drank, I didnt care if that was lake water. I wasnt going to leave the line. So anyway, That ride our train almost had a rollback. It barely made it over. I didnt think we were going to go on TTD again. Then after we got some drinks and got refreshed. We looked at the TTD line, It was REALLY short. Only upto the vending machines. So finally, We decided to get in line YET AGAIN.
Everything was going good, Once we got up to the same spot as last time when the rollbacks started happening. The trains were launching good. The voice started skipping....Then the blue train went off, And we were watching. The blue train launched awefully slow. It only made it up half way up the tower. First time i seem a real misfire. After that, It got really quiet. The voice kept going on from time to time and just saying ARMS DOWN, ARMS DOWN, ARMS DOWN. At one point for some reason i heard it say FEET. Then the engine noises were going on. But there was no train. So that was great, Yet again we were almost up to get on and the thing started to ghost. It was already getting dark. I noticed the onride camera was flashing really slowly. So they tried to reset it and that didnt seem to help. So for the next few hours it kept doing that. Finally, It was almost 10...They load the train up and dispatch. Everything goes good like nothing happened. Anyway, That was so worth the wait....Night ride was the most unbelievable experience. With the exeption of a little bugs. The ride was amazing. All the lights along the launch turned into a line. And the view up to of the park lit up was just hard to describe. Our train got whipped over the top. The view reminded me of being on an airplane....An airplane that takes a huge nose dive into the ground!. The lights were shinning in my face and started whirling around on the twist. It was amazing. The bugs stung a litte but it wasnt as painful as i thought. The wait for the front was worth it.
Anyway, That was my trip....It great. All in all i got 3 rides on TTD with a total of over 15 hours waiting for it. It was an amazing experience. I still dont really remember some parts of the ride. The lines were really long, But it wasnt that bad. They seriously have to get TTD fixed up so it can acctually work when its hot. Anyway, I think thats it for my trips this year. I went 8 times altogether to CP this year. It was a great season for me, I still hope i can go this year but i doubt it. Definatly going to make it out for Coastermania next year. Hope you Enjoyed my REALLY long Trip report.-Dennis
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