CP 5/16: Mantis Stalled?

I was at Cedar Point today and I saw workers pulling a Mantis train backwards up the hill that follows the midcourse brakes. Earlier, from Paddlewheel Excursions, it looked as though the train had stalled at the bottom of the drop between the brakes and the corkscrew. The train was empty, by the way. Was anyone else there today? Anybody know what happened?

Yeah I was there. The train valleyed between the MCBR and the corkscrew. It was a little chilly this morning with the wind.

Was it full of passengers? If so, how long did it take to get them out?

Bakeman31092 said:
Anybody know what happened?

Yeah, it stalled.:)

It was in the morning before guests were on it. Just a little too slow for it to make the corkscrew. Nothing it hasn't done before.

Yeah, I also saw this.

Yep it was not a banner day for CP. Mantis vallied, Millie was stuck for about an hour on the lift and they made multiple trips up in the elevator but I did not see any evac. Maverick's second LIM was acting up and either not firing, or when we rode the timing was way off with us coming to a near stop. Dragster was also acting up, but that is expected early in the season.

Really off topic here, sort of, but how much did the new water ride change Paddlewheel, Bakeman? What is in the spiel between where Buck Skinner, Canfield and MgGees, and Bucky Beaver used to be. Is the town of Seville still there?

Another words, how bad did they destroy the ride this year?

PWE is pretty different now, or at least the back stretch of it is. Buck Skinner was gone, as was Bucky. Seville is still there. None of the anamatronics are working yet. There's one really tight squeeze going under STR, and the corner closest to Mantis is a tight 90 degree turn now.

When I rode the girl driving was apparently still getting used to things because it took us a good 10 minutes to get all the way around. The guy on the mic was mostly ad-libbing, with a few of the classic jokes here and there.

DaveStroem said:
Yep it was not a banner day for CP. Mantis vallied, Millie was stuck for about an hour on the lift and they made multiple trips up in the elevator but I did not see any evac. Maverick's second LIM was acting up and either not firing, or when we rode the timing was way off with us coming to a near stop. Dragster was also acting up, but that is expected early in the season.

And why I would never go to CP during the first two weeks of the season...

Paddlewheel was basically a waste of time last night. The captain was making the best of it, but because of continued construction on Shoot the Rapids, there was only one mechanical gag that was actually functioning (the fishing boat). So it really wasn't possible to see what kind of an impact Shoot the Rapids will ultimately have on Paddlewheel, because with the power shut off, so much of what's left of Paddlewheel is rendered inoperable.

I'll reserve judgement on Paddlewheel until after Shoot the Rapids is completed.

As for Mantis:TCFKAB, yes, it was valleyed yesterday. It took all day to winch the train back up into the mid-course block brake. I missed the train at around 7pm and looked over and noticed that the train, still sitting on the block brake, was fully loaded, so I started watching. The brake was released and the train moved about four feet, then stopped. Four or five guys swarmed up the staircase and pushed the train off of the block brake, and the loaded train completed the course *very* slowly. I got my train ride, and on my return to the main midway I watched an empty train cycle through the course. A fairly large number of people had lined up at that point hoping to ride the coaster, but the ride had still not opened.

Does anybody happen to know if Mantis:TCFKAB actually opened or not?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

What the heck is "TCFKAB?"

@Carrie "The Coaster Formerly Known As Banshee"

I've been referring to the ride that way more-or-less consistently since early 1997, so I figured it was pretty well known. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thanks CP Chris and Rideman. Watching PWE being destroyed very slowly really saddens me.

Those PWE Captains will probably not deliver a fantastic ride for at least a few weeks, and then it's hit-and-miss. Sometimes you'll get a pro, and sometimes you'll get a newbee.

When the water level is high, I suspect that the new access bridge may cause clearance problems for the boats sometimes, if it is as low as it looks in the photos that I've seen.

There is a picture of it in my photo report....

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/57391.aspx