Who Rode Vertigo and What Did You Think?

I rode Vertigo right after it was opened and thought that it was a great ride. It is too bad that I only got one ride on it.

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What goes up Must Come Down, Lets hope it comes down really fast!

I rode it befor it opened to the plubic as a ride opp. Great Ride, sad to see CP screwed it up like they do everything...

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- Stupid People Shouldn't Breath...

CP did not screw this up what so ever. And I do not think that they screw everything up. What makes you say that they screwed it up?

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What goes up Must Come Down, Lets hope it comes down really fast! unfortunatly Vertigo came down to fast!

Ummm ... Excuse me, what would you call taking the cables off the ride causing the towers to sway 30+ feet insead of the usall 5-15 feet. And what would you call running the ride in "unsafe conditions" as deemed by S&S.

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- Stupid People Shouldn't Breath...

They Did! We were FORCED to operate the ride in High Winds, much higher than the ride was designed to operate in! I can't count the number of times we operated that ride WITH GUESTS, in HIGH WINDS! You can't tell me those events didn't have anything to do with the accident. I agree, Stupid People Shouldn't BREATH!!!! :)

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Salt Lake City, Utah. Host City of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the 2002 Paralympic Games - Light The Fire Within!

Stan said that taking the cables off was an unforseen problem with both S and S and CP. Beyond that what else has cp screwed up?

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Does CCI know how to make a bad coaster?

Re-Read my post, you never mentioned the fact that CP Ran the ride in "UNSAFE CONDITIONS" as deemed by S&S... Never try to correct Steve-O-Mac

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- Stupid People Shouldn't Breath...

*** This post was edited by Gonzo on 3/6/2002. ***

Where is it stated in official terms that CP ran the ride in "Unsafe Conditions?" Besides being a CP employee (which I am as well) In what reports does it say "Unsafe Conditions"? Also S&S did not know that removing the cables would cause that problem.

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What goes up Must Come Down, Lets hope it comes down really fast! unfortunatly Vertigo came down to fast!

Getting back on topic, I experienced Thrill Shot at SFMM, which is the same ride.
The ride was definitely worth riding once, however, I wouldn't ride it again. Option 4 was the best option and is the only option I would ride more than once or twice!

It will be interesting to see if SFMM keeps their version of the ride.
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http://home.earthlink.net/~sfmm84
Six Flags Magic Mountain Xtreme Guide

ACCORDING to the S&S Ride Operations Manual And the way that VertiGo Was Run the Ride was run under High Winds, in other woords "Unsafe Conditions" Being a CP employee you should know CP likes to hide skeletons in the closet. Even disreguarding the fact the cables were removed that ride was run under Unsafe conditions. BTW big deal you were a CP employee, anyone could direct traffic...

VertiGo, V-e-r-t-i-G-o. That's an uppercase G ;).

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- Stupid People Shouldn't Breath...

*** This post was edited by Gonzo on 3/7/2002. ***

The cables were apparently removed because that's what they were told to do. Don't be so sure you know everything, or know anything about the engineering behind the ride. If anything that park is overly cautious.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Sure Jeff... If you call overly cautious that I have to stand out and continue to fly ppl in a thunder storm, or launch VertiGo Riders in 30+ winds... Ehhh mate? You want Cautious go to Lagoon in Utah, youll see what I mean...

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- Stupid People Shouldn't Breath...

*** This post was edited by Gonzo on 3/7/2002. ***

The ride is really exciting, on the way up and on the way down. But since it costs like $15 it's not really worth riding twice. But many people are too chicken to go on it, so at least be glad your braver than them since you only got 1 ride.

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-Robert Alland

That's right Gonzo! Here at Lagoon, we monitor Lightning very closely. When Lightening is detected within a 15 mile radius of the park, we IMMEDIATELY close down Sky Coaster and EVACUATE the immediate area surrounding the attraction! This means we leave ALL POSSESSIONS BEHIND and do not re enter the immediate area until there is no lightening detected within the Safe Zone. At Cedar Point, on Rip Cord, Gonzo and I were flying GUESTS when a LARGE Lightening bolt lit up the sky, as it was right over Sandusky Bay! I Wouldn't call that being overly cautious, on CP Management's part. I respect you very much Jeff, and appreciate all you do for all of us enthusiasts but, when we have to do the following, it doesn't seem like CP is ALWAYS overly cautious. This past summer at VertiGo, when we had Sustained Winds of over 35 MPH, we were required to call Park Ops and explain we needed them to send Management to close VertiGo down due to high winds. We would wait up to ten minutes for a response from management, meanwhile FLYING GUESTS! We, as Ride Operators at Cedar Point, could not close the attraction ourselves, although we all knew we were flying guests in "Unsafe Conditions," as the Manufacturer had outlined in the Operations Manual. This happened multiple times! On a few occasions, we were caught off guard by some pretty intense storms, because we were not forewarned by CP Management. Cedar Point Management on a whole, operates the park very well, and very safely, as the park's Safety Record shows. It was my personal experience, as well as other's, that in Challenge Park, the same safety standards used within the park were not carried over into Challenge Park. Those of us who operated VertiGo at CP often joked about the ride falling over, due to the fact it was operated in "Unsafe Conditions," as outlined by the Manufacturer. When we heard the news, some of us wondered if possibly this had something to do with the incident.

I would testify in COURT, that my previous statement is 100% True, and that there are NO exaggerations what so ever.

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Salt Lake City, Utah. Host City of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the 2002 Paralympic Games - Light The Fire Within!

*** This post was edited by Icarus on 3/7/2002. ***

Can we go back to the topic and forget about the war? Hey Gonzo, you would be surprised as to what I do and have done at that park!

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What goes up Must Come Down, Lets hope it comes down really fast! unfortunatly Vertigo came down to fast!

Gonzo, I know that CP has very advanced lightning monitoring and prediction equipment, in fact, the best equipment that can be purchased. I doubt the lightning you saw over Sandusky Bay was close enough to cause problems. I've been to Soak City or CP many times when a storm formed, and I thought they are very conservative when it comes to stopping operations due to weather. I've been out on the lake in small boats during thunderstorm weather so I know what it's like. CP never even comes close to getting me nervous about operating in bad weather.

About Cedar Point running a ride in 'unsafe' conditions, I have 2 comments. First, I worked at the Magnum, where we have this thing called a wind speed guage. Any time the winds exceeded 15 MPH, we called VertiGo and told them. And I have a quote fronm the Cedar Point ride operations 'SOP' manual: "If at any time a ride host feels as though a ride is being operated in an unsafe manner or in unsafe conditions, he should immediately stop operating the ride, and call a supervisor". In other words, if it was being run with high winds or lightning, it was the fault of the operator at the controls for the ride, not of Cedar Point.
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Dustin -Cedar Point ride host

Flame if you want, but I'm thinking, based upon real-time evidence, that this tends to lie with S&S and possibly with ride operators. Evidence: issues S&S is having with Hypersonic, plus the consistent percentage of negligence in ride operator function - you have it across the board though I must say it tends to be more prevalent in Six Flags parks. Maybe I'm not seeing some evidence perhaps, but what ride failures or collapses or malfunctions has CP recently had anywhere near this level?

I personally loved the ride and I'm going to miss it, I got about 12 rides on it but I never got on Big Bang Plus.

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Daniel Haverlock
magnum count :2166
www.spiritofthepoint.com

Big Bang Plus was easily the best ride I've ever been on. Im really going to miss the ride, hopefully this wont scare other parks into not buying them.