Cedar Point says Top Thrill Dragster is done, sort of

I am middle aged.

And back then it was hard to imagine a better coaster than that ear-beating, rattle trap would ever come along. When KI’s ride finally opened we waited 3 hours. Now I won’t wait ten minutes.
I will say that if there’s a redeeming quality it’s that Six Flags runs theirs without that dead stop mid-course brake.

I can remember when we thought Disaster Transport was the hot new thing.

(Yeah, we never thought that.)

No, but it was the cold indoor thing. When the A/C worked. Which wasn't always.

I did the math, and assuming a constant acceleration for 4 seconds, calculate that the peak power required to launch a Dragster train is just under 10MW. For perspective, 10MW is about 1.1% (Edit - corrected number from 11%) of the 894MW generating capacity of the Davis–Besse nuclear power plant just up Route 2. The power companies don't like rapid changes in power consumption. At all times, the power generated must match the power consumed, as there is no way to store AC electric power on the grid. If Cedar Point were to have a power consumption load that went from 0MW to 10MW in four seconds, then back to 0MW in 100mSec, the power company would not be very happy. Thus some method of on site energy storage is required. (As an aside, when large industrial equipment is started, the operators of the equipment will often times have to notify the power company before they start the equipment). For Top Thrill Dragster, the energy storage was hydraulic fluid stored with compressed Nitrogen. For Red Force, the storage medium is capacitors. For Hulk, the storage medium is large flywheels. Thus, instead of needing an instantaneous grid load of 10MW, a constant load of 500kW could recharge the system in about 50 seconds.

As far as what the acceleration of what New Top Thrill Dragster will be, Red Force is probably the best example, as it is the only recently-build LSM launch with speeds close to what Dragster reaches. According to what I read, Red Force launches 0 to 100kPH (62 MPH) in two seconds, an 0 to 180KPH (112MPH) in 5 seconds. (Source for 0 to 100kph at bottom of this post.) From those numbers, the acceleration of Red Force is similar to Dragster for the first two seconds, then the acceleration fizzles out a little bit as the train gets up to speed. I would guess that if the acceleration off the starting line is similar to Dragster, the average guest wouldn't notice that the acceleration drops a little bit, as long as the peak speed is the same.

Now, why does the acceleration fizzle out on Red Force. Off the top of my head, I can think of two possibilities. First, is simply the amount of power required to launch the train. The more power power required for the launch, the more it costs to store the energy required. The second possibility has to do with the motor design. A motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The torque of the motor is proportional to the amps the motor is drawing. The speed the motor is rotating is proportional to the voltage applied to the motor. Different motors will have different ratios of torque/amps or speed/volts, but once you know that relationship, it holds true for that motor. Likewise, each stator on the launch may be wound differently giving it different characteristics. At the start of the launch, the train is moving slowly. Thus, less voltage is needed to drive the motor. Suspect that a lower voltage stator would have fewer windings. Fewer windings allow for a larger guage wire to be used. This, in turn, allows for more current and more force. As the train speeds up over the launch, the voltage required goes up. They may compensate the higher voltage with more windings in the stator. With more windings, a thinner gauge wire would be used. The thinner gauge wouln't permit as much current to there is less force near the end of the launch.

One thing that it appears Zamperla did on their lightning trains is to have two rows of stators. When the rumors of an LSM launch started, I wondered if this would be possible to do on Dragster. Having two rows of motors would probably help get that extra "oomph" to get up to speed.

Source: https://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/content/technology/the-technology-...r-coaster/

I don't remember nearly enough physics to check the 10MW calculation (and I sucked at electrodynamics), but 10MW is not 11% of 894MW.

What is the slip of a decimal point amongst friend?

It’s not very often that Coaster Buzz gets to the point where you think you should go to Point Buzz to wash off the nerd.

Upsetting that I pay for the best and the worst. And December was dismal for ad revenue, despite higher traffic. Took a loss for the first time in years.

Winter Chill Out this weekend had one surprise in store; the fence around the ride was taken down and guests were free to take pictures of the site, which now includes only the roof of the station.

What sparked a lot of oooohs and aaaaahs was the discovery that a chunk of Iron Dragon's track (and the supports) are gone, directly behind the launch side of the station area. It was also confirmed that Iron Dragon would operate in 2023, so this is temporary for some reason. The missing track is from green to green:

Other big highlights include 1) Forbidden Frontier is done, 2) Chick-Fil-A is done, and 3) The Town Hall Museum is not going to be renovated.

We talked about Cedar Fair’s margin on their 2022 year end results thread. Much of the news out of winter chill out is the first example of this. After the last several years of focus on immersive experiences, extended stays, resort atmosphere, broadening their appeal, focus on expansive and improved F&B… now CP strategy seems to be swinging the other way.

Forbidden Frontier - done. The popular beach event Cedar Point Nights - done. Townhall Museum reimagination - done. Certain pass holder ride nights - done. Frontier Nights - done. Multiple F&B outlets - closed (though sounds like there is strategic consolidation into fewer locations which makes sense on a variety of fronts).

Typically, winter chill out was used to share a number of smaller enchantments being made to the park for the upcoming year. This year, not much of that at all.

I get the pressure to expand their margin, but wish they’d cut their bloated Charlotte corporate staff and put the power back to GMs and park-level leadership rather than keep hundreds in a corporate office in Charlotte and cut guest-facing experiences.

The museum not being finished (or at least reopened in some fashion) is really disappointing, and from an outside perspective doesn't make a lot of sense. The park is one of the most history-rich in the United States at this point, and the building is just sitting there.

I get Forbidden Frontier closing. That had to be extremely expensive to maintain with the massive amount of actors. If you have been back there the past couple years, you would see the numbers dwindling. Fewer and fewer kids participating. I'm glad our girls got to enjoy it when they did, and that property has come incredible potential for the future.

I get the "foreboding" sentiment, but let's not forget that at the same time, the park is getting a brand new coaster, pavilion and essentially a new area to explore...oh and there's that 420 foot thing they are working on.

Plagues are hard to deal with and recover from.

The Museum was a gem. It was also nearly always empty (or very close to it) every time I looked around. It is not hard to see why they might not make it a priority given that the 150th has come and gone.

I thought the same thing. It is a nice historical repository but it did not seem to get much foot traffic when we walked through it back in the day when the kids were younger.

It was cool in there, there were a few places to sit, and it was a Ken Miller’s information/measuring/complaint station. Now he’s near there it out in the heat under a tent.
I wonder if they’re not at least somewhat sorry that they didn’t just leave it as it was. I can’t imagine CP without a museum, given the park’s age, history, and availability of artifacts and ephemera. I also wonder then what’s next for the building. Jitney Arcade v2? An old fashioned ice cream parlor? Or, and I think of Dollywood in particular as an example with this, an empty building that functions as event space with various temporary installations throughout the season. Maybe that would work, although so far the event back there is cancelled…

Staffing issues are obviously part of the reason for reduced F&B outlets. I am kind of surprised though that more automated options haven't been looked at, isn't it Japan where you can pretty much get anything from a vending machine and they are quite popular?

Leaving the TownHall sit empty and unutilized is so Six Flags. Incredibly disappointing to hear when Cleveland is close by and Cedar Fair could work with the great talent that exists at world famous cultural institutions there to design something that tells the Cedar Point story from 1870 to today in a fun and interactive way.

I do agree that Zimmerman taking the company in the direction of Paramount Parks with a bloated corporate office and the management style that comes from that is just not the "Cedar Fair" way of doing things. There is great talent at the park level and they should be trusted to manage their businesses given they are on the front lines, that is who Cedar Fair "is" and why they are so successful and have been for decades. How's that working out for Six Flags and SeaWorld P&E?

I think it's more Tim Fisher, their COO, than Zimmerman.

Fisher is a Paramount guy through and through. Oversaw all Paramount Parks before being let go after the Cedar Fair acquisition in 2006.

After the acquisition, Zimmerman worked for Kinzel/Falfas for 5 years and then Ouimet for 7 years. He lived through the transition of Kinzel micro-managing the operation to Ouimet's style of empowerment. He was Ouimet's hand-picked successor, and was the COO under Ouimet his entire tenure. You've got to imagine the regression of the culture and the micro-managing from corporate is coming more from the "new guy" who never worked under Ouimet than the guy who was Ouimet's #2. At least under Kinzel, there was only so much micro-managing he could do with a corporate staff of about 10 in Sandusky (so he really couldn't micro-manage outside of CP) -- but now Zimmerman/Fisher have a corporate staff of hundreds and hundreds in Charlotte who have made the GMs nothing more than figure heads.

These were handed out today at Coastermania. Guests were told to "hold onto these until May 2024" and "they will not be replaced".

Things are afoot.

Looks like "dp" to me. 420' member gonna do some damage.

DP = director of photography