Closing Dragster for season "last resort"

Jeff sez:

"While this does certainly suck, it's not like it's the only ride in the park. I look forward to my next visit and will be there every weekend in September and October, just like any other year. There's still plenty to do."

I wholeheartedly agree and think anyone already planning on going should still go.

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A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Gargoyle [n.] - an olive flavored mouthwash.

One advantage that Dragster has over hydraulic lawn mowers, though...

Dragster is NOT based on hydraulic cylinders (unless the accumulator(s) use a conventional cylinder) and therefore cylinder wall damage due to fluid contamination may not be as serious of a problem as it would be in other applications.

One advantage that Dragster has over virtually all other hydraulic applications at Cedar Point is that (again, unless I am mistaken) the entire hydraulic system is contained in a fairly small space. The hydraulics are not used out on the ride, only in the motor house.

The disadvantage, of course, is that the system operates at very high volume, very high pressure, very high temperature, and very high complexity. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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I wholeheartedly agree and think anyone already planning on going should still go.

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Although I would half agree with Jeff's comments, My decisions are a bit more tricky. Basiclly I was meant to go to Cedar Point about a week ago but the trip got cancelled and is now delayed until October. At first I was actually delighted my trip got cancelled because TTD went down a week before I was due to go and I was hoping that near the end of the season, Dragster might be running a bit more reliable.

However this news worries me, I know that CP are only going to close the ride at a last resort, but I was soo looking forward to riding Dragster and this is quite possibily the only chance I will ever get to visit again. I know I would still have a good time visiting CP but Dragster was obviously going to be the highlight of my trip.

You may be wondering why this is tricky for me. Well I'm travelling from ENGLAND and like I say I probably wont ever get another chance to go back(I'm very lucky to be going this year IMO) so what do you think I should do, Should I still go even if Dragster is closed or even if it is open, should I risk it anyway????

Oh Decisions, Decisions. I think I will go reguardless of what happens but I'm still hoping this just wont happen.

Couldnt agree more with Jeff and Moosh.

If you being an enthusiast means that your life revolves around "1" ride, than you have some serious issues.

Do like we do at SFGAm with Deja-Vu. We just pretend the ride doesnt exist and enjoy everything else the park has to offer.

Its not that difficult guys, you "CAN" do it!!

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

On second thought, this topic is much better than watching someone's grass grow.

If the ride is closed for the season it will serve as a definite reminder to all of us that new rides of this magnitude should not be planned around in the first year of operation. It's too risky and could be very disappointing.

Either that or make your plans with the mindset that even if the ride is closed for some reason you will still have fun and not dwell on the negative.

Man this sux....I hope they find the problem soon and get this thing running again. That would be ashame for such a GREAT ride especially being the new top attraction of the year. They should be looking at this as there #1 priority because i bet if this thing gets closed they wont see as many people coming to the park. I guess as long as MF is up and goin theres the 2nd best.

Dustin

I have to agree with Chitown. You owe it to yourself to go especially if you've never been there. You will be amazed at the metal rides they have, just don't expect to ride good wood there cause it ain't happenin'.

Jon Blakemore

Yeah, but Chitown, you know as well as I do that Deja Vu and Dragster are not equal. :)

I think that Cedar Point really hasn't lost any respect on this (as long as they do keep informing the public about the goings on), and about the worst they could lose is a year's worth of ride addition/development.

Expensive as it may be, there's no doubt that this ride has caused a whole ton of buzz and positive publicity (until the problems, that is.) If they could install the entire ride in an offseason, what says that they can't rehab the hydraulics in as much, or possibly less time?

Sure it costs money, and it delays the plans (possibly, I don't know this for sure, of course), but a reliable Dragster next year will be a great selling point for the park, in addition to a great PPH boost.

That said, I was one of the (apparent) few who was lucky enough to ride it before Memorial Day, and I really loved the experience. I bet I'd have a different opinion if I hadn't ridden it, but I still think that whatever happens to be necessary is, well, necessary.

Simply put, I'd gladly sacrifice a half season or so for guaranteed reliability of the ride in future years. If Cedar Point keeps running this ride with the issues it has, what's to say that it won't become X or Deja Vu and never want to run reliably in the seasons after it got put in?

Lastly, I do not know whether or not Kinzel's statement has any subliminal messages about Intamin, but after the rough opening of Wicked Twister last year and Dragster's problems this year, it's a pretty safe bet that CP won't be installing anything too unconventional anytime soon.

And those are my $.02 (worth considerably more in Canada.)

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"Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation." - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
http://www.loopscrew.com

Noooooooo..................I'm coming up from Florida and going to the point in July it better not be closed........Going to be there the 15 of July So I hope the Ride is Functional...

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WARNING:
You are no longer who you were and tomorrow is now yesterday. In the event of an emergency, do not become alarmed. Move Quickly to the nearest exit.

I think you're right Rideman about the accumulators. I have the feeling the contamination is probably a chemical problem because I heard that they had some seals leak which made a huge mess. They replaced them and had another seal failure. So my guess would be the part of the hydraulic fluid isn't compatible with the sealing material or they might have a problem with the sealing material deteriating from heat and not know it.

As far as I know Intamin is one of the first companies to use this type of hydraulic systems for vehicle propulsion. So it's not surprising that they are having some teething pains.

Air launch (aka S&S airpower) is probably the only other feasible propulsion system that could fit in the same area that the hydraulic system fits. I really doubt Intamin would ever give into and get S&S to help them out.

Bartman

Oh yah, that air-powered thingy.. ;)

I wonder how much testing they were able to do at the factory. You'd think a materials compatibility problem like that would have been discovered during the "months" of testing (wink wink)....

I'll bet they had the motor built with very little time left for testing. It always happens...testing get's squeezed out and then too bad. But then again, when you are dealing with a tight schedule...

Could they have thrown more people on it had that been the case? I don't know. I'm sure they did all they could to avoid something like this. But if they had problems the previous year...I can only speculate based on my own bad experiences with development. Quality vesus schedule. Sometimes it comes back to bite you.

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"It's not a Too-mah!" - Arnold after riding Batman the Ride

The Thrill 2 wrote "It's not like this forum's users would find the solution quicker than the people working on the ride. Let's just see what happens."

Jeff responded "I have an idea, why don't you just let us moderate, OK? So what if we don't know, we're enthusiasts, we speculate on this kind of thing. It reads a hell of a lot better than the usual crap about paint on the sidewalk and cranes in parking lots.

Maybe you can't deal with it, but learning about how the ride works might actually be of interest to members."

When I read Thrill 2's post I was going to reply that there is nothing wrong with speculating. No point in being a smartass just because Jeff is. But Jeff was there with a response so rude that it made me forget about Thrill 2's smartass comment. Once again, Jeff proves to be a moron and an ass.

I wrote my post because I can see the potential for getting people all worked up about the ride potentially opening this year based on what is said on this forum. People shouldn't take the comments of the users on the forum too seriously because only the people working on the ride can make an educated guess on the outcome.My message was "Don't set yourself up for disappointment because someone on the forum said it can be fixed soon"

That post really did sound like something Jeff would say, though. Just not in this instance. I think you should accept that it's Jeff's site and if you don't like it you have the option of not participating. I have gotten a lot of helpful info from this site and because of that I can overlook that he comes off as a wise a** know it all sometimes.

I'm sure he is very pleasant in person. Many forum members have spent time with him and that is the concensus. Also, there are very real consequences of being a smart a** or rude to someone in person. Things typed to someone on a computer sometimes don't fly so well when they are standing in front of you.

Just my .02

Okay, Legendary, I guess you can call this "excessive" (I still don't like it though....;)

Chitown said: Couldnt agree more with Jeff and Moosh.

Surprise!

Chitown also said: If you being an enthusiast means that your life revolves around "1" ride, than you have some serious issues.

Well, what if somoene's life does revolve around "1" ride? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.....it makes for a nice break in the day....it's better than your day revolving around some cheap prostitute or something. I say go 'STD free' and mentally masturbate about TTD all day. Lord knows what you spend your day thinking about ;).

then, as we read along, troll says: "...But Jeff was there with a response so rude that it made me forget about Thrill 2's smartass comment. Once again, Jeff proves to be a moron and an ass."

There there - I think tempers are all a little high right now. Why don't we all lay on our carpet squares and drink some milk and we'll all feel much better after a 20 minute nap.

I am sure CP will get TTD up and running. Till then ride the other great coasters and rides in the park. This is what I did when The Bat Broke down at PKI back in the 80's.

LOL! Look what happened to that ride! ;) - Although it is troubling to me that TTD may very-well be closed for the season, I will respect CP's desicion. I'm proud to have ridden TTD, and will continue to bother the park with my presence a few more times this year.... But I will take my chances and head to the park for the 4th weekend. In the worst-case senario, I'll sit back and relax at Red Garter for some quality drinkin time :)

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Corey
"This is America! We speak English not jive!"

Just to echo Moosh and Jeff's comments, I'm planning my first ever trip to CP in mid-to-late-July, and I have no intention of cancelling the trip even with the prospect of TTD being a (to quote those talking about X) $25 million lawn ornament.

Even if TTD isn't open, there are so many great rides that I can ride there...Magnum, MF, Raptor, just those three alone are enough to get me to go. Good times!

I knew this ride and know it's going to be done for the 2003 season. I'm not at all trying to bash this park i love this park as same as my home park which is SFWoA. The reason i knew it was going to be done for is when i took a trip up. It was the wensday before it reopend for the whole day. They had it up and running around 6:30 on that wensday and i waited about 45mins and was 5-10mins from geting on untill it had "mechanical difficulties". Then waited a half an hour more untill the CP maintenence came. While their playin around with it smoke comes billowing out of the electrical box. From what i saw it seemed that this coaster has no hope for the rest of this season. I say let them close it and fix the bugs. In the reply to they'll rsh another coaster in. You have one problem. Where can they expand into? Nowhere as of know and in the future still nowhere unless they takeout some coasters.

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The "Other" northen east ohio park has something up there sleave for 2004

I love when someone signs up just to anonymously call me names. That's the mark of courage and someone who really has their priorities straight.

Opthodoc: Is there something Freudian about the way the ride looks? Mentally masturbate?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Get your mind out of the gutter.

.....there's no need for both of us to be in there.......;)