1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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Interesting. Additional live entertainment today...It's just after 9:30 so the park is really not open yet. But I've just been stopped by a traffic jam on the main midway: one marching band heading North on the East side; another coming South on the West side!
Since I was just at the Po!nt a couple of weeks ago, I won't bore you with all the details again, particularly since I also plan to do CoasterMania. But there were some differences and new finds this trip.
I've made five different park visits this week, and at each, I made an effort to find something out. This time, I wanted to know the significance of the sign on the CP & LE Railroad on the main midway:
"Population: 2,359,963"
Now, I know that CP's attendance should be right around 3,000,000, so that can't be it. So I headed back to the Town Hall museum. There, I had a nice chat with "Marion" who dug through her official park information manuals and SOP book. It turns out that the CP & LE Railroad, according to the SOP manual, carried "over 2.3 million" riders last year. Hmmm...I'd say 2,359,963, to be precise about it.
I talked briefly about the coasters and various changes on the peninsula after my last visit, so I'll keep it brief this time. I did ride all of the coasters this trip except Jr. Gemini and Disaster Transport.
Iron Dragon and Magnum XL-200 were both running smoother than they were two weeks ago; Magnum was really flying.
Gemini was running two trains on each side this time around, and the operators are clearly a little more practiced. Interesting; on this particular day, they woke up the blue side first...in fact, it was interesting to see how the red train sped up in just a few cycles. By the time I took my first ride, both tracks were running passengers, and I rode on the red side. Interesting...the red side was running brakeless, which is rare when there are people on board. I must say, it makes for a noticeably faster and wilder trip for the final return run, particularly the finish helix. Of course, the few seconds shaved off the red train's time by running brakeless were made up for when the operator stopped the train on the safeties and brought it in really slow. She just needs a little practice; in another couple of weeks she'll be bringing those trains in full-tilt like an old pro.
There are a couple of other changes on Gemini as well. Most notably, Gemini's crew has been integrated! That's right...there are MALES helping out the ladies on the Gemini crew! And some potentially good news. Workmen were doing some final prep work to the two idled trains, and when asked, one of the crew members said that yes, they ARE planning to run all six trains, and that the first 6-train practice session was to begin that very night. I offered my encouragement; I am convinced that it can be done in spite of the new seat belts.
Mean Streak: Gave a very disjointed ride...the first drop was braked heavily, making for a jerky and sluggish ride to the bottom, but once past the *$!@ brakes (someone taking cues from PKI?) the ride ran fast...but with little or no air-time. Just when it seemed it might pick up a bit, the mid-course trims brought the train to a near stop. Watching Mean Streak from the railroad, I noticed how solidly the track handles the punishment of the multi-ton train by not shifting, squeezing or otherwise moving at all...That should be a nice smooth ride. They're to the point where the only thing left to tweak is the train. It seems obvious to me what needs to be done to this ride, as my overly-aggressive riding posture gives a nice smooth ride...and on my first ride, I noticed that halfway through the ride, the people ahead of me did the same. What is stopping Cedar Point from fixing the seats on this coaster so that they can let it run at its full potential? If it is so obvious to me, why do they apparently not see it?
I also took several rides on Raptor through the day. The first thing I noticed was that it is running noticeably faster than it was either last season or two weeks ago. The second thing I noticed was that it got noticeably faster through the day, and by nightfall it was really flying. Raptor was running better than ever before.
I spent most of the afternoon with Dana and Dooley Schwartz, who are on their roller coaster vacation. Then in the evening, Jason Brooks joined us after he got off work. He really is a nice guy, and he has made a difference in the operation of the Blue Streak. No, he can't bring back the skid brakes and double-bars, but he has got a crew (including, by the way, Mr. DC-Edit himself, Brian Grooms) that works hard to get the trains out on-time and with a minimum of rider hassle.
I have long noticed that Cedar Point somehow manages to have really good people running the rides. This season, through conversations with Jason and Jonathan (Mine Ride), I think I have a clue to what CP is doing right. It is most obvious when the team leaders talk about their rides, and consistently refer to them in the posessive..."my ride". Whatever Ride Ops has in place in terms of procedure, they are giving their teams pride in running their rides. The crews are enjoying their work running their rides, and the result ultimately is a better experience for the park customer. As usual, on the coasters, at least, Cedar Point seems to have found the answer to finding good ride operators. Now if they could just do something about the ridiculously short cycle times on the few flat rides...
Speaking of flat rides, Chaos is still absent. I stopped at Guest Relations, and was not given a projected opening date. I had meant to stop at Operations and ask, but didn't manage it.
All in all, it was a good day at Cedar Point. Of course, a bad day at Cedar Point beats a good day at work. But this was another pleasant CP experience. I'll be back again Thursday night and Friday for CoasterMania.
Next trip: Cedar Point CoasterMania '97
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page
--Dave Althoff, Jr.