Ghostrider

I never understood the mentality behind rain closures. Sure, if the ride would become "dangerous," I can accept that. Still, in these situations, we aren't talking danger. We're talking rain. Rain. Oooooooooo rain. Sheesh!

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Jeff said:
No worries... I'm just looking forward to moving away from this area in a few years. I'm so done with the weather here.

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A little Randy Newman on the mind? Heh, heh.

Californians are wusses, that's all there is to it. The rain might mess up their hair and of course that would be the end of the world!

Some of the best rides I've ever had at most parks were in the rain: Wicked Twister, Lightning Racer, S:UE/Steel Venom, Dominator, Villain, Phantom's Revenge. The rain just adds to the experience - the ops always seem to get a little more animated and annouce things like "get ready for your ride on the tallest, fastest water ride in the park" mostly because they think you're insane for still wanting to ride. Add to that the extra little pain - sort of the whole conquering your fears rush.

Launch coasters in the rain? Maybe not...

Woodies in the rain? Definitely! :)

Well on the impulses at least, the entire launch track is covered anyway, so you only get minorly pelted in the face on the launches - the cool part is when you're headed up the spikes going face first into the rain, and coming back down the back spikes actually catching up with raindrops ;) Can't beat rain falling "up" either in loops, great stuff!

Californians are wusses, that's all there is to it. The rain might mess up their hair and of course that would be the end of the world!

Has nothing to do with Californians being wusses or even merely that the park is in California. SFMM operates their coasters in the rain. I've been to Cedar Point and seen most/all their coasters close when its raining, too. Seems to me it may be a Cedar Fair procedure.

Erm, only sometimes. I was there on Saturday and only a subset of the coasters were open (and then only sporadically).

Funny thing about drive tires and friction brakes not working very well when they're wet. It's a crazy thing!

Well its a common fact that drive tires and friction brakes are wuuses, Jeff ;)

I was missing a ";)" back there. I've seen some of CP's coasters close in rain, but rarely the whole park, unless it's really pouring. GL never seemed to close coasters when it was raining last year, especially since it was raining just about every time I was there!

Last year was really bad for Northeast Ohio and rain. We ended up playing late into September for baseball in a leauge that was supposed to end mid-August due to all of the rainouts. *** Edited 2/21/2005 4:44:40 PM UTC by Fastball84***

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Mamoosh said:
Well its a common fact that drive tires and friction brakes are wuuses, Jeff

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Mooshie, that has to be my favorite "so there" moment so far this off-season. :)

In regards to the potential for rain, I didn't think about the friction brakes. Still, they wouldn't stop operating completely. The braking would just be a little less forceful. ;)

A LITTLE less forceful? How about nearly non existant! You get either or both brake surfaces wet and your friction coefficient goes out the window. It's a lot better with fin brakes, but not perfect. Magnetic brakes are obviously not affected.

Not a coaster, but the last few posts remind me of working on Super Himalaya one day at CP when it was raining. The wind kicked up and was blowing the rain into the ride itself. On the next cycle, the drive tires couldn't grab the ride, and it started going backwards. One of the rare times that Super Himalaya goes down for weather :)

I'm sorry, I thought I apologized before (see first post on this page). That comment was made as a joke, I forgot the ";)" and it apparently wasn't taken that way. I feel bad that a "so there" was required ...

Apologies again to Californians ...

I wasn't offended, Brett....and everyone knows I speak for all Californians ;)

Wusses, Moosh. Wusses.

........or was that Goons?

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Jeff said:
Funny thing about drive tires and friction brakes not working very well when they're wet. It's a crazy thing!

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Exactly! Rain closures are not so much a Cedar Fair procedure. Rather it is Knott's ride selection that creates the issue. Monte can run in the rain for a bit, but if it continues to rain the brakes will slip and not stop the train in the correct position. The same can be said for Jagar. I've seen Boomerang run in the rain for awhile, but I guess things get too much for it too. I assume Xcelerator is more due to rider discomfort as I wouldn't think rain would be a factor on the magnetic brakes but I could be wrong. And I am not sure what the issue is with Ghostrider. Maybe they should consider building a brake shed if rain is an issue on their brakes.

Historical note: Wacky Soapbox and the Sky Jump Parachutes always closed immediately in the rain. Corkscrew could run longer then one would expect as long as it wasn't too heavy a downpour. If it rained hard, it would mess with the optical sensors and they would close it.

Guess Knott's was just meant to be a fair weather park.

LOL Nasai...it has been a while since I've had to break out the Goons, eh? ;)

Braking sheds aren't always a help - if the braking surface (fins, whatever) on the train are wet, the train could still slide through the brakes a bit and not stop properly. You have to combine that with a train/brake design that guarantees no water gets on the braking surface (from wind, splashing off the wheels/track, etc.)