Knott's GhostRider slow down

I was at Knott's the other day and as soon as I got in the gate, I took my first ride of the day on Ghostrider. I had last rode the coaster at the Haunt this past year.

I couldn't believe it when the train made all of a complete stop at the mid-course brake - pretty much killing one of my all time favorite coaster experiences, which is the second half of the ride (especially at night in the dark - which to me is pure ecstatic joy and thrill mixed into one).

I watched a few runs of the ride after I got off and each time, the cars did the same stop. As I randomly watched for the rest of the day, the extreme mid-course brake never faltered.

I was surprised I hadn't heard anything about this and was wondering what is going on. Could this be a permanent addition, or maybe a temporary one for some unknown reason?

Oh no! I sure hope it's temporary. That second half is brilliant!

I guess it's been that way for a few months now. :(

As rough as it was last time I rode it, not intense but actually rough, I'm not too surprised. Still sad to hear, Ghostrider used to be a top 10 coaster for me, circa '04 and '06. Lately though the intense fun has been missing and it is just rough.

It was doing that back in December when I visited. I wondered if they had brought someone into Oprations from Kings Island...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thank god Racer has no blocks...

Having the train go into the second half the way it used to run was causing excessive wear and tear to the structure which required extensive structural maintenance every year for weeks at a time.

In other words, the park is too cheap to keep a good thing going. Let's all settle for mediocrity.

Ensign Smith said:
Thank god Racer has no blocks...

But it still has breaks :)

Kings Island's Racer is the only one of the Taft/KECO racers (Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds) that has brakes on the turnaround. Likewise, of the Taft/KECO "Scooby Doo" junior woodies (Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland) Kings Island is the only one with a trim brake. Meanwhile 90 miles to the North, the Sea Dragon runs fine with no added brakes.

So when I noticed GhostRider behaving like Vortex, Son of Beast, Flight of Fear and the departed Ghosster Coaster with respect to it's midcourse block brake, I wondered if someone from Kings Island had been transferred to Knott's.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^Are the 2 (3, really) original KI woodies also the only Taft/KECO coasters to have their last dips removed?

Dave, when did SOB stop on the mid-course brake? I thought it had to go through there at like some specific speed for the loop?

Although now that I think about it, I did get e-stopped out there once for about 10 minutes.

I don't think I've had a ride on Racer where those trims were more than a little kiss on the turnaround.

When SOB was running without the loop and with the Gerstlauer trains they were stopping it on the mid course.

SVLFever, I do not have a definitive answer to that question. I can tell you that one of the worst cases of wood coaster butchery I have seen was the hatchet job that the Mighty Canadian Ballbuster (once based on the Coney Island Shooting Star) got when they turned the first two low airtime hills into a shaking, rattling, bouncing mess of a single tall hill. That's at Canada's Wonderland which gained notoriety for REMOVING the trim brakes from the Wildebeast (which is their version of the Grizzly, which was based on the Coney Island Wildcat).

Hey, how come Kings Island didn't get Shooting Star and Wildcat copies?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I know that there are people who think that Ghostrider is too rough. I have ridden it all through the years and have always loved it. There are times through a single year's operation when it is more or less rough depending on the time you ride it (as well as the car you ride).

All I know is that from my perspective, it is one of my favorite rides in California - specifically the absolute mayhem of the second half. Add into that a back seat night time ride and I find it like some sort of addiction. Flying through the structure at incredible speed - as if there is no way it could actually stay on the track and your brain feeling like it can't keep up with the input ... just wow!! Whenever I get off of one of those rides, I am usually laughing so hard I can barely sit up.

Again, I know it's a personal thing with my attachment to the ride, but I feel like I lost something great and hope there will be a point when it will be restored to it's original intent.

I wonder if Cedar Fair execs have their cars modified to go no faster than 40mph after they are a few years old. You know, to save on maintenance.

Where's that "like" button? I want to click it for the above post. :)

Pagoda wins Post of the Week, and it's only Monday!

^LIKE Pagoda's post as well.

Thanks for the info Dave. I only have ridden SOB on one day since the loop removal and I didn't remember the complete stop. I also haven't ridden Shooting Star...but am not sure if I want to after reading your description.

My last rides on Ghostie were at Solace 2009 and they were epic! It hadn't ran that well since my first visit in 2001. I really hope this is a short term fix or I won't have much desire to go back to what *was* one of my favorite themeparks.