What Exactly Happened To 'Windjammer'

DawgByte II's avatar
At Knotts Berry Farm... what exactly happened to the Windjammer? I took a look at the stats of the coaster, and it notes that it was only in operation since 1997. It looks like a very original coaster, with a twin track & only 2-cars per train.

Why was this coaster removed (aside from the obvious Xcelerator replacement) , and what is supposed to happen to it?
- Is it supposed to be moved to another park, or just going to the junk yard?
- Were there any reported or non-reported injuries, or was this coaster just junk to begin with?

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not from the area there... but looking at the coaster in photos, it looks quite interesting.

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...Wondering what the 2002 season holds for all parks...

They removed it with disgust.  People wer complaining about it I guess!
It was a TOGO and is being replaced by an Intamin.  End of story.
There were quite a few problems with Windjammer. 
First, It could not operate in winds more than about 10 mph, or it would roll back.  Because of this Knotts could not operate it very often, so it they were losing money because of it.
Second, I never rode it, but according to many people it was an extremely rough ride.  Because of this it got little patronage during the few times it did operate.
Third, Another thing that I heard was that it did not use the land that it was situated in very well.  There was very little track length in a large area.  Knotts found another way that they could use tha land in a better way.
Because of all these problems, Knotts tried to sell it.  After a long time on the market without any buyers, Knotts gave this coaster its just deserves.  They mercilessly demolished it without any regard for saving it.  If anything Knotts sold the steel to some company to melt down or they just junked it.  Im really not sure about that.
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"If somebody throws a rock and knocks a man off his donkey, do we say that he's stoned off his ass?

*** This post was edited by Mustang on 12/18/2001. ***

Mustang, to answer your signature I'd say yeah the man would be stoned off his ass, no questions asked. 

I can't say I can offer any insightful knowledge to the inquiry as to what happened to WindJammer.  I personally love the name they gave the coaster before they even knew it'd have such a hard time with the wind.  Its so ironic.

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Just wait till next year!

Big coaster fall down. Go boom!
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DON'T....LOOK....BACK! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Model coasters and rides: www.angelfire.com/oh4/tk173
Hey to  what happend to it, last thing I heard, it's on sale for One Million Dollars. A used amusment ride site is selling it. WindJammer:  Unable to operate in 5 mph winds!
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http://hometown.aol.com/racer92845/myhomepageprofile1.html Mr.X's Rollercoaster Site, now open!
It was scrapped. I don't think anyone is going to be buying it anytime soon (nor would anyone want to!) I couldn't operate in winds over 3MPH and was EXTREMELY (I cant stress that enough) rough. CF took over, realized the ride was costing more than it was worth (no one was riding, and yet they still paid for the maintence, ops, etc), sued TOGO, demolished the ride, and now you have Xcelerator.
mr. x did you read any of these post at all? lol

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Because of all these probles, Knotts tried to sell it.  After a long tie on the arket without any buyers, Knotts gave this coaster its just deserves.  They ercilessly deolished it without any regard for saving it.  If anything Knotts sold the steel to soe copany to elt down or they just junked it.  


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*** This post was edited by Funkytones on 12/19/2001. ***

Sorry just going by what I remember, guess I don't remember alot of stuff.  I think I saw this bout hmm 4-5 months ago.  But, it was a err bad ride anyway, and here's a question, who would buy it anyway?
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I'm too lazy to put anything here....
no one! its scrap metal now!
Ok, who would've bought it if it was um still complete?

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I'm too lazy to put anything here....

no one! It was for sale for quite some time before the scrapped it...
Maybe a smaller foreign park in need of a cheap coaster at any cost...

TOgos seem to be pretty well recieved in Japan, so maybe...

But from what I heard the ride was tearing itself apart.  Stress Fractures.  I guess Knotts decided to speed up the process!  :)

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

boblogone's avatar
What happened to Windjammer?  Imagine a roller coaster as Mr. Bill and then give Sluggo a cutting torch.
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22 parks so far in 2001.
Tremors, my 100th coaster.
Ghostrider, stopped counting laps at 100.
I have a theory TOGO doesn't make good coasters in america to get back at us for WW2...


anywayz, there coasters in japan seem to have a higher quality to them (I so want to ride fujiyama!), which would explain why they are so well recieved in Japan...

Uhm, people...Windjammer had WAY much more problems than just being "rough" or not being able to run in speeds as low as 3 MPH-13 MPH (other than this, which is a big part of its design flaw).


• Park management reported misaligned tracks and supports in lawsuit


• Constant ride malfunctioning


• Lawsuit reports park claiming a loss of $2 million dollars just for maintenance and repair


• Park management reported wrinkles in mainframe of cars

 
• Park was forced to re-track yellow side just TWO and a half weeks after debut


• Park forced to rename the ride to Jammer in 1999 because of a company using the same title confronted the park. The charges were dropped awhile after, and the ride went back to its original name. What a lame hassle for the park!


• Original restraint system was replaced within two weeks from opening because of a design flaw


• Few incidents occured when trains would stall on circuit because of winds as low as 3 MPH


• The ride seldom operated both tracks in a racing fashion at the same time after mid-1998. And when it did, it was a rare occasion, but the programmed side-by-side racing was aborted however.


• Spiral Cone located within the helix finale never operated other than opening week because of mechanical difficulties


• Windjammer yellow closed in 1999, leaving Windjammer red running by itself for a little bit more than half a year before the entire ride was shut-down March of 2000


• The whole ride stood idle for almost an ENTIRE YEAR in a SBNO status while the park settled the vicious lawsuit and attempted MANY times to find it a new home. More than the reported 10 interested clients backed out of buying the ride at last minute

*** This post was edited by kRaXLeRidAh on 12/19/2001. ***

http://www.italintl.com/coaster/index.htm

go to that site and check C9. Thats windjammer! Also selling is King Cobra!

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"Roar" You'll never hear the end of it!

DawgByte II's avatar
The Windjammer COULD have been used as an indoor ride!! As an indoor ride, there is no wind resistance (unless you count the air-conditioning :) ). If somebody bought the ride, they could have enclosed it.

I guess maybe the reason it wasn't (aside from being rough), is something somebody mentioned before... that it took a very large footprint for a somewhat small ride.

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...Wondering what the 2002 season holds for all parks...

kRaXLeRidAh is correct.  There was a lawsuit over Jammer, Windjammer, or whatever you call it.  There has never been a public announcment of a setlement to my knowledge.  

kRaXLeRidAh also got all of the salient points about the coaster.  It was listed for sale, but then they removed it from Knotts, they it in a manor which indicates that it will never run again.  They pretty much ripped it to shreds as opposed to simply taking it apart so another park could use it.

I was one of the lucky (I should say really UNLUCKY because it hurt!) people to ride Jammer in its short lifetime.  Let me just say that I am not sad to see it go!

Here are some pictures and information for you (but the info has pretty much all been covered in this thread)

http://www.coastergallery.com/GA/KBF61.html

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