whats the deal with wicked twister?

I heard they have lowered the speed on the launch system of Wicked Twister due to the structural problems. Is this true and what are the specific problems and why? Details please.

Mr. John Stamos

John Stamos... Were you on Full house?

-----------------
Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK

lol MikeMir87, and yes Mr. John Stamos they did lower the speed of the launch. Its not as powerful now as I guess it used to be. Im not exactly sure why they did it though, im sure Jeff or somebody else could answer that question.

-----------------
Deja Vu Count = 27
SFGAm CoasterWorld

I think it was to increase capacity.

-----------------
Have you ever seen the Demon?
Have you ever heard him scream.............

They don't actually turn the speed down, but rather turn the power down. Say when it is at 72 mph, it is at 100% power, and they can turn the power down to reduce the speed. Simple as that.

-----------------
Rob

"Some people spend an entire LIFETIME wondering if they made a DIFFERENCE. The MARINES don't have that problem." -President Reagan 1985

I will answer it, since CP is my homepark. Wicked Twister had stress problems and it was down for about a week. They started running at a lower speed so they can get the ride fixed and also find the problems. They close certain seats on the ride once in a while like they will close every other seat off then open it up next ride. It will be back to itself for sure next season.

*** This post was edited by WickedTwister44554 on 9/21/2002. ***

swimmerkev said:
I think it was to increase capacity.
-----------------
Have you ever seen the Demon?
Have you ever heard him scream.............

There is always a park fan that twists things around to take advantage of the given situation in order to make the ride look better than it really is. Increase capacity my ass.

Capacity is already higher than all the other impulses as it is.

-----------------
The ice age killed the dinosaurs, we killed ourselves.

WickedTwister44554 said:

...They close certain seats on the ride once in a while like they will close every other seat off then open it up next ride....

Why exactly do they tie off the rows? To reduce weight, reducing stress?

The only difference between WT on opening day and WT now is that you do not get shot up the back spike twice. Every other launch, including the initial one is back to full strength. There was a period during June/July that the launches were extremely weak and you never got more than 2/3 of the way up the tower on any pass. Cedar Point replaced many of the cross braces in the track during this time. I think the ride is now at "full strength." As cool as it was to get shot up that back spike twice, I kind of doubt if you'll see the ride doing that again next year. The other impulses around don't go all the way up the back spike twice, do they?

The only time I've seen rows tied off is if there is a problem with the restraints in those rows. I can't imagine it being done for any other reason.

-----------------
-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

*** This post was edited by MDOmnis on 9/21/2002. ***

The other impulses do go up the back spike twice.

-----------------
I am proud to say my homepark has 3 B&M's, soon to be 4!

Yes but the first pass up the back spike is not as high as the second. Thats what Matt is getting at.

Last night riding in the rain was pretty darn cool, twisting up through the rain as it comes down and you go up is just surreal.

-----------------
The Beast and Night, They go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

both trips up the back spike are as high as they can get. the front spike is the one that gets screwed. the first trip doesn't have enough power to make it up the front spike and the last trip doesn't reveive any extra power so the coaster naturally slows down and doesn't rise as high the last time up the front spike.

-----------------
-Bob (formerly Coaster Jedi)
Do any of you know how to build a sundial out of a pen and a donut?
uh oh, sounds like someone has a case of the mondays.

I've been to the park six different times this year, and I've seen the train get somewhat close to the top stoppers. (within reason.) When I was at the park last weekend, they were not running full power. I hope that any problems with WT get fixed in the offseason.

-----------------
"I own you!"
"SUCKA!!!!!!!"
-quotes I have been known to exclaim on coasters.

when i went in early june, i think the train went 3x up the first spike, the middle being the highest but the other 2 not too far behind, and 2x up the back spike, the 2nd being a bit lower. Mind you, the ride was only in operation for about 2 hrs of the day though and there were maintenance workers on the back spike doing some work. I hope that they dont keep the coaster running at a lower speed or whatever next year. Maybe this will be an example to other parks to stop getting impulses that have problems and spend a little more on a full circuit coaster with better capacity and less downtime!

*** This post was edited by Kaldaim on 9/21/2002. ***

There was also talk of replacing the spikes for next year. True or not, I don't know. Do a search, there was a lot of discussion on this.

-----------------
The worst day at Cedar Point is better than the best day at work.

Wicked Twister has hardly any downtime anymore. Besides, Wicked Twister does not have a capacity problem. It is very good for an Impulse coaster.

-----------------
The ice age killed the dinosaurs, we killed ourselves.

ALF is cool, Lets see how simple we can make this. DUH!!!! Obviously if they "turn the speed down" they've turned the power down, and if they turn the power down, the speed will go down. You don't have to explain something like that......and you said they don't turn the speed down, when if fact, turning the power down acomplishes that. So yes, the speed of it was slowed. How you word it makes absolutely no difference in the result.

Anyways, there were lots of rumors about WT having problems. I'm not sure if any were ever confirmed...... but still, we were there a few weeks ago, and it was going to the top of the back spike. Not sure what it's doing now. It does have great capacity for a impluse. But that's CP for ya.

Eric

-----------------
A one that is not cold, is hardly a one at all.

*** This post was edited by eric.walton on 9/21/2002. ***

Well they have painted the replacement cross ties so I think they must be pretty happy with them now (at least enough that I think we can discredit the rumours of spike replacement).

-----------------
The Other Siebert