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Windseeker closed yesterday due to....wind


nrage
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I met my family at the park after work yesterday, only to discover that during the duration of their time there, as well as the remainder of mine, WindSeeker was closed due to--wait for it--high winds...

I'm no meteorologist, but my guess is that the wind speed was maybe 15MPH most of the time there--it was a soft breeze. In no way would I condone them operating the ride in an unsafe manner/conditions, but as I recall, wasn't the main advantage of the WindSeeker over similar Starflyer types its availability to operate in windy conditions. Heck--the name itself even indicates that it is ok in windy conditions...

I'm glad they are being careful, the last thing we need is an injury/death, but i can't help but think that if it was incapable of running in yesterday's conditions, there will be many days it won't run. Furthermore, Cedar Point, with the amount of wind off the lake the few times I have visited the area, may run even less.

Any thoughts/insight?

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Also take into consideration that when you are walking around the park, you are sheltered by trees, buildings, and rides, knocking down how much wind you feel. So the fact that you don't feel a breeze on the ground doesn't mean the wind is blowing hard 301 feet up.

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I know it's only been a couple days, but it sure seems like this might turn into a fiasco really fast if down time due to wind is going to be this common. Maybe the wind the last few days has been abnormal, and soon everything will be great. I certainly don't expect or want them to run the ride if it isn't safe, but it sure will be a major disappointment if the ride ends up being closed more than open this season.

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I am of the mind that they have built another "Bat", but without the mechanical and physical breakage. If it will not run in winds over 10 mph, then why build it in this climate? Winds here are more than 10 mph on the majority of days...

I went yesterday afternoon, got to the park at 4:30ish, noticed it wasn't running while we were in Boomerang Bay. Went to main park 7ish, they were moving it a bit, but not running.

I figured that it was because of the storms that were forecast for yesterday.

If indeed it won't operate with 10 mph winds or better, they have built a major disappointment, and will be a PR disaster, IMHO.

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I am of the mind that they have built another "Bat", but without the mechanical and physical breakage. If it will not run in winds over 10 mph, then why build it in this climate? Winds here are more than 10 mph on the majority of days...

I went yesterday afternoon, got to the park at 4:30ish, noticed it wasn't running while we were in Boomerang Bay. Went to main park 7ish, they were moving it a bit, but not running.

I figured that it was because of the storms that were forecast for yesterday.

If indeed it won't operate with 10 mph winds or better, they have built a major disappointment, and will be a PR disaster, IMHO.

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I'm a private pilot and can definetly tell you the winds a few hundred feet off the ground are different than what you feel on the ground. KI should put a readout next to the sign that gives the winds aloft from the top of the tower...then maybe it would be easier to explain to people why the ride is down due to wind.

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^ That would be a great idea. I wonder if they wish they woudl have went with the starflier? The WindSeekers are much cooler but at least the starfliers are open

Mondial's WindSeeker model was allegedly chosen over Funtime's StarFlyer in part because the former's metal arms allow the ride to operate in far windier conditions that the chain-supported seats of a StarFlyer. A 300 foot StarFlyer on the island of Cedar Point would probably open for an hour or two two each day. And it makes sense - with the hydraulic parts added, the seats on WindSeeker are (theoretically) stabilized and safe to operate in low wind, whereas the StarFlyer's seats hanging from chains would probably be swinging right into eachother. Imagine if our own Zephyr yo-yo swing ride was raised to 300 feet in the air. Ouch.

I'm not sure if you've actually analyzed the various wind conditions that StarFlyers have successfully operated in vs. the conditions for WindSeekers, but have you also factored in that the WindSeekers are twice as tall? And that makes a massive difference.

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yeah I am really wondering about the wind thing as well.

They got this style so it could run in winds, obviously not high winds.

I think the real design was for CP and if it met that standard it would be ok.

But after seeing some videos and hearing about it closing, not sure about this.

I figured that the arms were rigid more than they are and so did others. If they

were it should be able to take higher winds. I do like the idea of having a wind

speed monitor by the ride. Then if they say no rides when > 10 mph and the

gauge shows 11 mph, they can explain. I agree it is probably a fun ride (not on

yet) but seems like a odd one to put in 4 parks. Well I am not the marketing

manager or park designer so that is their job. Just wondering how this ride will

do long term.

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I don't understand why there aren't hydraulic stabilizers on both the front and back of each arm. Why does the design allow for forwards/backwards sway at all? It isn't even like the ride experience depends on it even a little bit. If the arms were completely and utterly stabilized and could not move front to back, nothing would be different except that the seats wouldn't sway when entering and exiting (which is good) and there would be no in-air collisions due to wind (which is good). Perhaps I'm missing something.

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However GYK, if you have something too swift when operating, especially when under multiple stresses (weight in the seats, vertical movement of the carriage, horizontal movement of the arms, AND wind stress coming from both forward and from the sides from crosswinds,) not having some forward and backward movement would not be as advantageous as you think it would be.

Oh, and the wind limit is NOT 10MPH.

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I don't understand why there aren't hydraulic stabilizers on both the front and back of each arm. Why does the design allow for forwards/backwards sway at all? It isn't even like the ride experience depends on it even a little bit. If the arms were completely and utterly stabilized and could not move front to back, nothing would be different except that the seats wouldn't sway when entering and exiting (which is good) and there would be no in-air collisions due to wind (which is good). Perhaps I'm missing something.

I think that if it didn't allow for any sway, we would have another Bat on our hands.

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If it is indeed 25mph, why was it not running yesterday?

Do you know of any conflicting information which would show the wind speed was 25 mph or less at an elevation of 300+ feet yesterday?

Yesterdays MAX wind speed at CVG was 23 mph...average wind speed was 11mph...

http://www.wundergro...ilyHistory.html

Again, if wind is why it is closed, SAY SO! It's not a difficult concept.

Also, Tuesday's MAX wind speed at CVG was 31 mph. Was open.

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So one breeze at CVG located over 30 MILES away from the park hit 31 MPH..... Great. What was the speed at the park?

It really doesn't matter what is said about the wind, or what the level is set at, or if it was maintenance or weather related, people are going to complain. The fact that we are having this conversation is ridiculous, considering that it ran for an entire day before closing down whereas other WS have opened for an HOUR and then closed down for what, a couple of weeks!?

People need to calm down and realize that these are PROTOTYPES, trying to work out the bugs after state inspection is part of the game you play with prototypes.

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Just bad PR. If it is as wind speed issue, again, SAY SO. Post a wind gage at the top, which I'm sure is there, as well as a readout at the bottom of the ride. If it is above XX mph, it stays closed.

If it is 20 mph, which I've been told, or 25, or whatever, just put it in the open.

I am thinking that they are not saying because the speed is low enough where you'll have a ride closed just as often as it is open, just as The Bat was.

And, CVG is the best closest gage to measure at, similar ground. Lunken is too sheltered. No discernable meteorological difference.

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^The park will never post a read out of the wind speed because the trolls will be gathered around it all day and the minute it dips below the max wind speed they will start complaining that the ride isn't open.

This has never been a problem with Drop Tower/Zone in the past and no one seems to question the park's decision when they close it for high wind.

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The ride op that was talking to us when it was down explained that WindSeeker is their "baby" and they're treating it extra carefully right now. They explained that once it "grows up" they'll be less strict and give it more freedom.

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