Quick CP opening day TR 5/8

I got there at open, most rides were up and running. Dragster was down and we did not hit until later in the day. Millennium Force was running really amazing, but Dragster was crap today, constantly having breakdowns... CONSTANTLY, same with its brother WT. So I don't like like Intamin right now haha. However, once we did get on (which should of been an easy 1/2hr wait, turned into 2hrs) it was simply amazing.

I got some cheese on a stick at the park, which was pretty disgusting, GL's was 100% better. Bad cheese or something?

All in all, Dragster and WT were down way too much. MF should of ran all 3 trains (they ran 2 which they constantly stacked). Raptor was running real good, along with most the other rides, just a select few let me down today. It just was hard to believe this was CP with all the breakdowns, stacking, etc. All in all I was a little dissapointed.

The problems with TTD so do not surprise me. They only added the final train last week onto the tracks, and this week, it suffered from rollback after rollback. I only saw it go over a few rare times. The crews stopped testing each day at 5, and with the intermittent rain all week there, it is not shocking that the kinks were not all worked out in time for opening day. I am glad that I decided not to venture there until next week.

I bet you still had a fun day though :)

Wow thats not looking so hot. Im going there in the end of May and I really dont want that happen. Whats up with Wicked Twsiter? And do you think these problems with Dragster are going to be over with for good? And finally how was the crowd?

I wonder what changes they made and what they're actually certified for. I have a sneaking suspicion that they didn't get all of the rides certified in time.

Well if you check out www.virtualmidway.com they have a news story and they said that Dragster was going to consistenlty be running like it was was in the end of last season. I really hope things will pick up a bit.... *** Edited 5/9/2004 2:15:05 AM UTC by Dragster***

The few minutes I watched on the webcam looked like rollback city and they took off a train, not good. It also looked like MF was doing horrible dispatch rates...bad start I guess.

Well maybe things will cheer up:-/

I was there today and most rides were running fairly good, the Exceptions to this, as mentioned above, was TTD, MF, and WT. I managed to get onto TTD first thing and it was only about a 30-45 min wait (I think). that wasn't too bad, but we made it to the ramp without stoping, when it then broke down. MF was running fast around the course, but very slow in the station. Most of the time a train would be unloaded and would have to wait on the one in the other station to leave. WT I really don't know what was up with that.

On another note, Mean Streak seemed to be running way better. It didn't beat the crap out of me and the front row was very smooth, I even got some air and some lateral g's. The back row was a little worse, but still nothing like the pain from last year.

hopefully they will get TTD running great and i hope storm runner does not have ttd problems.

PS: is there anyway to get the live cam at Cedar point to update more than just 60 seconds??

We had quite a few winners today in the "Find Jes, win a prize" contest. Those who did find me should e-mail me or PM me to claim their prize.

On a side note, if this keeps up, I may have to cut short the contest. I'm hoping it was just because today was opening day, but then again, Raptor is a popular ride among enthusiasts.

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Mark Burleson said:

On another note, Mean Streak seemed to be running way better. It didn't beat the crap out of me and the front row was very smooth, I even got some air and some lateral g's...

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The main reason that Mean Streak was running much better was because that coaster is a gem in the rain or after it rains. Once the wood gets wet & swells up, it really provides a much smoother & faster ride.

I rode it in mid-June last year when it was really rainy out & wet... and Mean Streak rode awesome. I would have loved to re-ride it a number of times (front 2 cars only, BTW)...
...but then I went again in mid-August when it was dry & nice out, and the coaster was back to its old self.

Isn't this a Dinn-Summers coaster? Because same symptoms happen at Six Flags Darien Lake with their Predator... runs like NEW when wet, but when dry... it's like a dry-heaving horse caught in a meat grinder.

Damn, I forgot about the "Find Jes" game. Grr.

MF's red train was still being put back together it seems. I was on the ramp watching a mechanic working on the fins. But MS was running exceptionally well. The trim on the drop wasn't being used.

I'm surprised to hear of so many bad experiences with TTD! I got on the ride twice and only waited an hour and 15 minutes each time. Only witnessed one rollback. Also got in three MF rides and two Raptor rides, among others. WT did break down while I was waiting, and my girlfriend and I had to leave the line because we had MF handstamps to use.

Our second TTD ride was at 9:50, so we quickly ran over to MF to get a night ride before calling it a day. MF was admittingly running pretty poorly with only two trains and very long reload times. I didn't get on Mantis because it wasn't worth the wait with only one train running.

I wish I had gone on MS if the trims weren't on! I saw the line and passed because I figured the trims were still on. Oh well, hopefully I'll be up there again this summer!

By the end of the day TTD seemed to be working great. It was getting over the hill very quickly. I figured the rollback problems earlier in the day were caused by a combination of cold wheels and a fairly strong wind.

They were also toying around with the last car on the TTD trains. Sometimes the last car was full, sometimes empty, and most of the time the last row was left empty. As best I could figure, the launch wasn't powerful enough to consistently make it over with a full train, so they were 'lightening the load' by leaving some seats empty. That still leaves a lot of varience, though, since the weight of the people on each train differs so much. Who knows!

It WAS very cold and windy though!

Yes, Dragster went down in the morning of opening day. I was half-expecting that to happen (I brought a deck of cards)

Luckily I made a mad dash to Dragster at park opening and hopped on the 4th train of the season. It was after the 5th train that the ride started having problems.

On Sunday, Dragster was running pretty consistent with a few problems here and there. That was up until about 7:30, then there were problems with launching the train.

It's opening weekend, I'm sure they will tweak out the rides and get them up and running to full capacity.

Really? I didn't watch it very closely, but did use a parent swap at around 2:00---it took a good 10-15 minutes to launch three trains. Perhaps I just picked exactly the wrong time.

Well, I haven't been on this site in a long time, but I just HAAAD to log on to say how much I thoroughly enjoy this park, and opening day was no exception...

...All in all, I thought there were a fair number of people in the park for opening day, thanks in part to mostly sunny and cool weather. I was greeted by a spotlessly clean entrance, and there were little surprises here and there that I don't remember from last season. A few of the highlights: New paint jobs on Iron Dragon (which looked VERY very sharp in bright orange and red) and Corkscrew, a new Donut/Coffee shop (complete with a "Fresh Donut" neon sign that lights up when fresh donuts are being made and a front window where you can watch the donuts come off the line), and a new neon sign for the dodgems. Most of the flower beds were still bare, but there were plenty of new shrubs and trees planted through the park (in fact, while standing in line for MF, I couldn't help noticing all the new-appearing shrubs that had been planted along the queues - did they rip the "old" ones [if you want to call them that] out?). This is a very beautiful park, and I couldn't help but just sit back and admire the unique beauty every now and then.

I agree with whoever said that Mean Streak was running better. I visited the park with my friend, Joey, who swore he would "never ride it again" after his maiden trip on the coaster nine years ago; but it was his decision to ride (I am indifferent to riding it when I visit), and we really thought our ride was quite smooth in the front. The airtime (if you want to call it that) is very brief, but it was there. And, no, it wasn't raining that day, which explains away its smoothness simply due to the weather. The pines in the center of the ride have really grown nicely; too bad nobody stands in the queue; its one of the nicer ones in the park.

Low marks go to two-train operation on MF (minus red); one train operation on Mantis (at least later in the day); and a rag-tag college student who was a temporary employee working the Space Spiral. When I'm on the Space Spiral, I don't want to hear 'that nobody really listens to the recording, so I think I'll just talk about how I'm a temporary employee here.' At least when I said "hey, I'd rather hear the recording," he did so, and without complaining. I also HATED the season pass line; at least it moved a lot faster than the Season Pass line at Geauga Lake on opening day. Things got down right ugly in that line, and I myself even made a few enemies (no, really??) as people were reaching the desperation point inside the building.

Remember peeps, its opening weekend and this is the first time the ride ops have been put to the test. Give them a week or two before they get up to there full potential.

Also, there are always problems with the rides(breakdowns) in the first week or two. They tear the rides down and rebuild them every winter.

I thought opening day went well. We got our season passes Friday, so that made a better enviroment.

TTD was up and down all day, but I managed 2 rides by the end of the day. Sunday was a much better day.

WT was a different story. We got in line and were seated in the back. Thats when the ride just shut down after the first spike. A little alarming but it was ok. They said they had a bad sensor and it caused the ride to go down. We tried again later and it broke down again. We managed to get a ride Sunday morning but I haven't seen it up since it broke down Sunday.

MF was a big dissapointment. Two trains made for a miserable wait. I hope they fix the red train soon, same with the red train on TTD. What a coincidence...

Mantis was only running one train, but I can't stand it anyways. (No pun intended.) No rides for me.

Everything else was fine, and I had a great time. MS seemed alot smoother and Gemini was as fun as ever. I agree with carzy horse, the employees are just starting, give them some time to get comfortable.