TTD Down this week?

Thanks for the update Sean...

[uhh oh, ranting begins...]

I'm sick, though, of people complaining... "I didn't spend the $43 to have TTD down" because I forgot, they only have 15 other world-class coasters.

The coaster, I understand, is meant to be a signature attraction... but people need to stop basing their trips / experiences around Top Thrill Dragster. Shut up and ride the other 15 coasters and numorous rides that are at the park.

If you want to fix it, go ahead, or else shut up and let Cedar Point / Intamin work out the issues.

[/ranting]

It's not like Cedar Point closes the ride just for fun. I guarantee they lose more money trying to fix it in a day than they would spend on operating costs for that ride.

When I was there on 6/27 it launched one train that cleared the tophat. After that it was closed till late in the afternoon, but the ride host said that something serious went wrong.

Dragster had some trouble Friday and today (Saturday) but once they got it running it ran flawlessly.

Friday it started launching trains at about 7-8, and then I belive it was running with people at around 8-9. Dont know for sure cause I didnt get over there in the evening, but from mf's que and on our way out it looked to be consitant.

Today it took them till around 3 to start testing, and they started loading up around 4 maybe. Didnt have my watch so I dont have exact times. But it looks like they were having trouble getting the rollback brakes to retract fully cause the train would launch and then slow down so it only made it a fraction of the way up the hill.

Once it got running though it was super consistant, looked to be hitting its capacity perfectly. The crew was fast and the line moved shockingly fast. They said the line was 2 hours, but we were on in 1.5.

My first ride and it was FAR better than I was expecting. I was screaming my head off the entire time, and couldnt stop laughing when it was over. I was really surprised by the air in the second seat, we floated over the tophat!

I like how everyone is fixated on TTD. For one, I belive TTD is not even the best ride in CP. MF has the upper hand in my opinion. If you can't ride the tallest in the world, just ride the 3rd tallest

IS TTD REALLY NOT RUNNING RIGHT AGAIN I HEARD THAT IT IS THE CABLE OR SOMETHING

Ok okay, I decided I'd finally say something. I went to CP from Sunday June 27- Sunday July 4. Here's how TTD was:

Sunday - Closed while I was there (3PM - close), although it was open earlier in the day, because I saw several people walking around with on-ride photos

Monday - Closed

Tuesday - Closed

Wednesday - Closed most of the day, open for a few hours at night

Thursday - Open!

Friday - Open!

Saturday - Closed in the morning, open later in the day

Sunday - Waited 5 hours in line (and then had a 7 hr drive home). Some of it was due to weather, but there were also many mechanical problems!!

So out of 7 days that I was there, it ran quite crappy. I wont complain to much, though, because I did get 6 front seat laps. It's certainly no record, but it was still content :)

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MILLIENIUMFORCE310 said:
IS TTD REALLY NOT RUNNING RIGHT AGAIN I HEARD THAT IT IS THE CABLE OR SOMETHING

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Punctuation, grammar, and NOT SHOUTING are all appreciated by your fellow posters and required by the TOS.

If you are really that pissed at TTD being down for most of the days you were there, then try having it not opperate during the 2 ERT sessions you were supposed to have on it and a video shoot. The thing is just plain mean.

And its not Cedar Point's fault, its Intamin's fault. They bit off more than they could chew. After all the trouble with Xcelerator you would think that they would spend alot of time tweeking the design, but then Intamin goes and builds the same thing, except twice as tall and fast. Its just too much.

Anyways Cedar Point is probably loosing a ton of money and is ruining its reputation for have rides in amazing running condition with no downtime. During the ACE con there 2 weeks ago they worked day and night on that thing.

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fearless ben said:
or is it just the customer's fault for going when it is broken (Stupid customers for not planning their trips around TTD's down times)

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Perhaps... stupid customers for planning their trips around TTD?

"Miss Brant, get me a violin." - JJJ

It's not like CP is angelic, innocent, or blameless. They knew what reliability on Xcel. was like before TTD was built. That was the whole point of Xcel. CP knew it would be a feat to keep TTD up and running. Not saying it's not Intamin's fault as well, but CP has to shoulder some of the blame itself. *** Edited 7/5/2004 8:45:31 PM UTC by ApolloAndy***

ME AND MY FRIENDS ARE PLANNING ON GOING TO CP THE 1ST WEEK OF AUGUST AND WE ARE HOPING THAT IT RUNS FINE THEN I MEAN ITS A COUPLE OF WEEKS AWAY WHY COULDNT THEY FIX IT IN THAT AMOUNT OF TIME

Its not one problem. They keep on have problem after problem. First it was the hydrolics last year, then the opperating system coordinating 6 trains, then the weight of the tires on the back of the trains, the cable snapping, they blew a pump during the ACE convention, it just goes on and on and on.

As Sean said, the cable room is so cluttered with hoses, pumpes, the drum, and the billion other gagets and stuff, its amazing the ride works at all. Its like a maze in that room. Theres just so much that can go wrong.

In reply to ApolloAndy:

But CP has had a good history with Intamin. Millennium Force is a hit and has an unbelievable up-time record and Wicked Twister is the same. They thought that Intamin could work out the problems. Xcelerator was a prototype. There are bound to be problems and errors in prototypes (The bat, etc). They just thought Intamin could deliver. *** Edited 7/5/2004 8:41:26 PM UTC by DreamTheater***

DREAMTHEATER YOU DO HAVE A GOOD POINT WICKED TWISTER IS AWESOME AND RUNS I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT DOWN AND MILLIENIUM FORCE IS ALSO A HIT THATS HARDLY EVER HAS A DOWNTIME

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DreamTheater said: They just thought Intamin could deliver.

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And they (CP) were wrong. That's CP's bad judgement about Intamin's reliability.

well, Intamin has proven to be reliable with a few exceptions. Intamin is also one of the only companies that is fairly successful with the new coasters they introduce. B&M doesn't push the limits, come up with new designs, nor are that creative. Vekoma invented suspended and B&M simply made it better. Vekoma invented flying dutchmans, then B&M made it better, etc. Intamin pushs the limits with hight, speed, launches, design, etc.

Anyways, what other company do you know that would be able to build something of that gigantic proportion? B&M? Probably not. Intamin seemed the most logic and reliable company to deliver this giant coaster. *** Edited 7/5/2004 9:00:25 PM UTC by DreamTheater***

MellinniumForce310, why are you still using the caps lock? Your point can be made without shouting. ApolloAndy, I think you are wrong. Here's why...CP is not wrong about Intamin's reliability. What other Intamin coasters experience as much downtime as Dragster? None I can think of. I think even Xcelerator is running fine now.

And, I can't believe over one coaster, people are now trying to say that CP is as bad as SF....Not! As was stated before, at SFMM, often many of their major coasters are down at any given time. Other than Dragster, no other coaster at CP even comes close to the problems SFMM seems to have with theirs on a regular basis.

hey sorry dragster freak but i didnt mean to have caps lock on it automaticly does it but i fixed it and also i am with you on your reply

i wasnt shouting im calm i think the problems will be fixed soon