"Stealth 1021"

There have been many updates made to TTD. Any update made on TTD will be used on newer rocket coaster products. If you don't know that, you must be dumb.

There was numorous changes to TTD over this past offseason. I don't feel like going into them, just do a search about it.

If you don't know that, you must be dumb.

I didn't know about the updates made to TTD. Not because I'm dumb but because I don't read every single tidbit of news about the coaster.

I'd be careful who you're calling dumb, Shaun!

I must be dumb. :-\

+Danny, *sobs in dark corner of the room* ;)

I'm well aware of the current additions to Dragster such as the water coolant that runs through the catch-car skid track, however, they still have recurring problems that they have yet to fix.

Once again, how do you propose that they have fixed them for future installations yet they haven't implemented them into the original model? It's at Cedar Point, if there was a means to make it run operationally better, they would have invested in adding this fantastic newfangled technology that you speak of. Please enlighten us all to this information that you alone must be privy to. We can't bear to wait any longer!

Assuming there was some fantastic miracle fix for a Dragster-sized rocket coaster, why would you assume Cedar Point would get the fix before a brand new ride would open with the technology? Perhaps Cedar Point wouldn't be willing to pay the costs for such a fix. Perhaps Cedar Point is flat-out done working with Intamin on the ride. Perhaps Cedar Point would want to wait until the off-season to implement such a fix (again, this is just assuming such a fix exists). It seems awfully presumptuous to say that this SFGAdv ride won't work just because CP's doesn't.

-Nate

Just look the maintanence records of the parks, then reconsider your statement. CP is universally know as one of if not the best in maintanence. Especially when it comes to fixing "destination" rides. Cable snaps taking less than a day to fix? That sounds like a park that going to every length to get as much uptime on their coaster as they can.

How is GAdv. at maintainance? Evolution, Jumping Jack Flash, Viper, Chiller.....need I go on?

Day-to-day maintenance has nothing to do with the condition of the ride when constructed. Dragster obviously had its problems. To assume this new ride
will "just because it's in a Six Flags park" is ridiculous.

There have been times in the past where Chiller has valleyed and has re-opened the same day. Sounds like a fair comparison to the Dragster cable snaps.

-Nate
*** Edited 9/21/2004 12:38:56 AM UTC by coasterdude318***

Except that when Dragster's cable snaps, there's a lot more involved than just pushing the train back to the station.

How do you know? Have you replaced Dragster's cable and re-positioned a vallied train? I'm not talking about a train stalled in an easy-to-access location; I'm talking about the train stalling between the zero-g roll and the spike.

-Nate

I thought 4 days was the length of time it took to replace Dragster's cable last time.

+Danny

I thought it was much shorter than that.

The cable snapped more than once, I believe it was down for a few days the first time, and since then, it's been replaced quicker.

I believe it was part of a day for them to replace the cable last time that it snapped. It broke in the morning, and they had it up an running before the park closed for the evening.

The maintanence team will have nothing to do with the operation of the ride in the first months or weeks, but once things start breaking (which they inevitably will, as we can all extrapolate) the maintanence team will make all the difference.

I mean, how do you explain Evolution never running. I mean in over 30 visits with it just sitting there, I didn't get a single time. I'm sure it ran well on media day and for a while after it opened, but do you think it would have been closed for 30 visits over 3 years if it were at CP?

Wasn't the last time when it snapped and metal shards were stabbing people? I thought it took four days then unless the stabbing issues were included in that.

+Danny

I never said anything about the operation of the ride past its initial installation. What I said was that if Intamin were to have come up with a fix to the problems, I think it's presumptuous to assume CP would have that fix before the new SFGAdv ride (and I pointed out several possible scenarios to back up my claim). You're trying to turning my post into something it wasn't.

As for Evolution, I think it was a piece of crap that was just a burdon to SFGAdv. It wasn't a signature attraction, and the time and money that could have been spent to fix it were better spent elsewhere. When they moved the ride to SFStL, they could install it as a "brand new ride", market the hell out of it, and have a new signature ride. And - surprise! - it seems to operate rather well in Saint Louis.

-Nate

The last time (that I know of) dragster's cable snapped happened before the park even opened. It was just down from opening until it finally went up in the late afternoon. I'm not sure if that one made it to the internet.

I've heard reports from people who rode rides when Geauga Lake was SFWoA and when they rode Batman Knight Flight it was a bumpy ride because the routine maintenance had been neglected. Then when Cedar Fair took over, the problems were resolved and the bad wheels have been maintained. This is just one example of a very simple task that maintenance appeared to neglect at a Six Flags park.

It just seems that Six Flags parks as a whole has exponentially more downtime than Cedar Fair parks. If you were to compare the number as a ratio of ride down to rides operating it would be evident.

But you have to take into consideration the number of Six Flags parks vs. Cedar Fair parks as well into your exponential equation or whatever you're making it into...

Personally, if it's really big, really fast, really tall, and launches, I'm half-expecting there to be downtime no matter how wonderful the Intamin system may or may not be...natural stress and wear will cause parts to break and whatnot no matter how many preventative measures are taken. Perhaps SFGadv will hire some Intamin people or maybe their own "Stealth" specialty crew to work specifically on the new ride, to maintain and prevent. Downtime is inevitable...how much is dependent on how well SF wants to maintain it's "record-breaking" ride.

If you think about it, Chiller, while it is a great, cool, awesome ride, isn't one of the park's more important rides (like Medusa, Batman, Superman or Nitro), and therefore might not exactly be on the top list of maintaining. Therefore, as long as one side of it is running, guests will be somewhat happy. With a huge new coolio ride like "Stealth" or whatever it's gonna be called, I'd like to think that SF would pay more attention and more care to their brand new ride and keep it up and running as much as possible...providing maximum enjoyment to the peeps that come in.

That's my story, and I'm stickin to it...

You missed the point I was trying to make about the ratio. I know that there are many more rides at Six Flags, that's why if you put the number of rides that are down, over the total number of rides, you will get a comparable percentage of downtime. Do this for both companies, and it will give a better understanding of how each company maintains its parks. *** Edited 9/21/2004 4:51:26 AM UTC by CPgenius***

Just looking at the pics on xtremecoasters.com, and I've noticed something a bit odd, maybe someone who's been there can explain. These are the 9-17 pics. Pic #50 clearly shows the end of the launch with a teal piece. It also shows a green piece, that is either for the pull up or out, this is farthest on the left. However, I see another green piece, this time launch track (as indicated by the sled guide) that has a slight curvature to it, it's either the second or first on the right. Now, I can't seem to place that one piece, either it's two launches, or there is some other explination... anyone?