Cedar Point Operations

Tommytheduck:

But what if I don't want to ride behind a family holding up 4 ipads?

Then don't visit Six Flags.

About Magnum's amazing dispatches, I don't know if they do this in the spiel anymore, but when I worked at the park, "Ready" meant that the train has crested the lift and the train in the station could be dispatched now, and "Ready Ready" meant that the last dispatched train was about to enter the break run, and if they didn't dispatch the station train right now, the ride would e-stop and maintenance would have to be called to undo it.

If anyone can correct my recollection/understanding, I would appreciate it. Also, is this still the way the ride works, and do they still say Ready Ready?

With the new control system they don't have to physically run down to the safeties to release a train that stops after the tunnel. The last time I rode they would say "Magnum is ready" when the train crested the second hill and then if they weren't ready to dispatch would start calling numbers (15, 20, 25) and I assume there was a number that was associated with "the ride is going to setup".

Even without having to run down to the safeties during a set up, when they run three trains that ride still runs no differently than it did in the heyday of great CP operations. Which means that even with IROC it is still possible.

OhioStater:
We saw a lot of "training" going on a lot rides which was confusing to a lot of guests and somewhat disrupted ops on a few rides, but honestly I thought ride ops were overall pretty damn good on our trip.

We just got back from our trip after spending last Friday at CP. Overall, ride ops felt a bit slower, but not terrible. I did seem to notice more downtime than on previous visits. Magnum was down for a while, as well as Blue Streak, Mine Ride, Rougarou, and Maverick. I honestly was quite impressed with the speed of the queue for Steel Vengeance. In each case we rode, there was no more than a 45 minute wait. Even with the metal detectors (which were effectively false flagging almost everyone and thus requiring wanding), the line kept moving. Our longest line was Millennium Force, but part of that was the fact it went down for about 20 minutes while we were just about up to the station.

I was surprised to see 2 train operation on a lot of the rides. Magnum, Iron Dragon, Rougarou all seemed to only have 2 trains running.

Overall, we had a really fun visit. And, I must say, the food is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago.

Walt S:

And, I must say, the food is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago.

Agreed.

Can we work on the bathrooms next please?

^ If they could get all of the restrooms up to the quality of the newly-renovated ones across from GateKeeper, I'd be very happy. Not sure what it is, but I love those faucets with the built in hand dryers. It's the little things that make me happy I guess!

Those are newly renovated??? I used them 2 days ago and besides a new sink, it was the same as it's always been. Too small, not enough toilets, hot, smelly, and just all around "old." And the ladies' side had a line.

No, I'm thinking the park needs to build all new bathroom buildings. Bigger, more toilets, better ventilated, and easier to clean.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any bathroom complex at CP that is any good, save for the newest Pavilion facilities.

People gotta poop.

“Ready” and “Ready Ready” were great tools for creating a sense of urgency, hustle, and teamwork on coasters. That would have been back in the days Peggy Bertsch was Director of Training and Development in Park Ops.

Walt S:

Iron Dragon...seemed to only have 2 trains running.

Iron Dragon, Gemini and Corkscrew are only able to run two trains now. In fact they have parted out the third train on each of the rides for parts (and in Gemini's case parade floats) and there are only ever two trains on the track.

That I'm not sure I entirely understand. I mean, I suppose the lines are not typically long for that ride, but if they were even a dozen times a year, I'd want the third train. As long as that ride is with the two lifts, blocking on that one is easy.

From what I heard from someone who knows someone, IROC is to blame again for that. Apparently one of the "rules" is that you can't have a ride block stop in an area where it is not visible from the op at the control booth. An Iron Dragon train block stopped at the top of the second lift because the brake run behind the station is still occupied can't be seen from the station. Same with a train block stopped in the C-brake on Gemini.

Take it with a grain of salt, obviously.

Well. You can't see Maverick's launch tunnel even though it's directly underneath the station. :) That also doesn't explain Corkscrew.

I don't really know that the third train on either of those rides would do that much more for capacity. I'd bet the parts or the ability to rotate trains is more beneficial.

IIRC the move to auto-parking on Gemini made three train op impossible—the controller takes too long to park the train.

Its a bummer that Crokscrew can’t do the Red White and Blue ‘murica thing though!

I didn't think Gemini was auto-parking, given the variations in performance depending on who is running controls...I did notice that the red side is no longer stopping on the safety brake if the station is clear. I also noticed that that old problem of bright sunlight just before sunset causing the ride to go down still hasn't been fixed.

Gemini in particular is one that I think could use an extra train. With six trains it can run 3,400 PPH, and I know there's really no reason for them to need that kind of capacity anymore. Running six trains really isn't necessary now that there are a bunch of additional coasters in the park. But there are those busy days when the park is busy but staff is short, where it would really be useful to be able to run three trains. Which, if they do it right, would give them a higher capacity than they typically get with four, and they could do it with fewer operators on the platform.

Magnum seems to take no fuvg from anybody, and the present crew is up to the challenge. They are clearly determined to push as many trains through as they possibly can in spite of the roadblocks thrown in their way. Not the least of which is the waterslide tower over in the waterpark that obscures the view of the second hill from the doghouse. Or the completely unnecessary co-dispatch console behind Load 6 that should have been positioned at Unload 6 so that the person standing there could actually see what is going on along the platform. As far as their signaling goes, personally, I miss the window pounding.

The whole IRT thing mystifies me. Why does the Magnum operator at Load 2 have to run down to the front of the train and tag the wall before going back to his little box and sticking his thumb in the air? Why do they seem not to understand that a collision is a more serious incident than anything involving the load and unload process, and therefore getting trains out on time is of much greater importance than they seem to allow. Of course the biggest question is why is it that the park that practically invented the whole field of ride safety as an operational (as opposed to maintenance) consideration is even hiring a consultant for that in the first place?

I will say that Kings Island operations are a lot better than they were before FUN took over. It's almost as though they sent the best people from Cedar Point to go clean up Kings Island, and let Cedar Point ops go to fuvg in the process. That said, I absolutely hate their penchant for assigning rows. Just fill the platform and let people take care of that themselves! And quit telling me to sit in the middle of the train!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I've visited KI a lot over last and this year, and it seems like their ride ops range from decent to really really good. When they are slow, it's usually either guests themselves being slow, having things out, not buckling, etc. Sometimes it's a restraint that's too tight. I'll give KI credit, they'll unlock a row to fix an overly tight restraint; they do seem to take guest comfort seriously.

Orion ops were crushing it Tues night, taking advantage of mostly walk on conditions and people riding who knew how to ride. Three train ops and we still managed a no-stop ride, just a slow coast through all three brake blocks. Big props to that crew, they knew they were making great numbers.

I seem to get row requests more often than not, hope you get better luck future visits. I tend to ask for back most often, perhaps that's not as popular. When it's slow (like today and Tuesday) many rides do just fill the platform. Crowds bring the stricter assignments.

BrettV:

Apparently one of the "rules" is that you can't have a ride block stop in an area where it is not visible from the op at the control booth.

If only there were devices where you could see places that you were not in fact currently inhabiting, and there was even technology to see said places when it was dark.

I was just about to write what Jeff did about Iron Dragon. Uh...cameras? Heck there are all kinds of potential hiding spots on rides like Splash Mountain, the various large indoor rides, etc. If all those spaces have to be line of sight from the operator...can you imagine?

Back to Gemini for a moment. If there are only a handful of days a year when it would be even necessary to consider running three trains...I wonder if that just isn't worth the effort of training the staff to operate under three train conditions?

RideMan:

That said, I absolutely hate their penchant for assigning rows. Just fill the platform and let people take care of that themselves! And quit telling me to sit in the middle of the train!

This. I understand the reasoning as it prevents people from clogging the front and back, but on some rides, it seems sort of meaningless. At Kings Island last Friday (which was a relatively slow morning), I was assigned to ride in row 3 - one of the non-separated rows - with another single rider on Diamondback. There were 3 other empty rows on the train that the grouper wasn't even trying to fill including the back row. I asked if I could ride back there and she said "No, we need you to sit up here". No reason given... just do as we say. I shrugged my shoulders and rode in row 3, which was fine, but I didn't quite understand why if she wasn't filling seats, why is it such a problem for me to ride in the back, or as a single rider, in a separated seat row? The seats weren't closed off as people had exited the back row on the previous ride, so I have no idea what their reasoning was.

Also, on a ride like The Beast where I like to ride in a ".2" seat of a car, you don't get that option. If they assign you row 17, that's what you get. Granted Beast is much less rough than it was pre-retracking, but the non-wheel seats offer a much better ride and I would appreciate being able to select which row I can ride in, even if it's not the front or back row.

Just my 2 cents...