BoddaH1994 Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 Just to clarify -- 96 seats are up for auction -- regardless of how many are listed. The reason why the list was extended is because now more than 96 have bid. You'll notice a yellow line below the 96 seat mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goofywdw Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I didn't want to do my homework so I calculated how much money has been raised so far. I have question first though. If someone does not bid enough to get a seat does that money still go towards A Kid Again? If that is the case then the park will raise so far $21,378.83!!!!! Also if that is the case then $3,559.71 will go towards A Kid Again from people that did not even get a seat on the first 3 trains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Force Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I believe only those who win pay, but it is still a lot of money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterboy22101 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Pshhh im goingon opening day but not riding Diamondback. Im going to take advantage of everyone in line for Diamondback, and try to walk on the other rides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goofywdw Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^I was seriously considering that. Like go and film Diamondback but hit up The Beast and everything else the park has to offer with no lines. Maybe run to Diamondback for one quick ride and then run off to the other side of the park and reunite with some friends in rides and enjoy the emptiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterboy22101 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^I was seriously considering that. Like go and film Diamondback but hit up The Beast and everything else the park has to offer with no lines. Maybe run to Diamondback for one quick ride and then run off to the other side of the park and reunite with some friends in rides and enjoy the emptiness. Or everyone else is going to do that and Diamondback will be a walk on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterboy22101 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^One can only dream that there will be a big pile up of running guests and only a couple of people can get by. The pile up is so big people cannot possibly get through to Diamondback so all of us that made it through the accident can ride DB until the accident gets cleaned up. It's going to happen...I'm telling you. Mabye....we can work out something...mabye that will happen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast08 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I could go as high as $450 for the first ride on Diamondback!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Wow $2,500 from Adena C. from Ohio. You have fun bidding that high haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexandtheBeast.com Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Just to clarify -- 96 seats are up for auction -- regardless of how many are listed. The reason why the list was extended is because now more than 96 have bid. You'll notice a yellow line below the 96 seat mark. Hey Bodda, thanks for clarifying, my concern was the language a "minimum of 96 seats" in the release and some of the comments I have seen flying around various sites about how extra bids would be handled. The yellow line wasn't up when I made my last post and I think that helps confirm it. So, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigacoaster2k Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I'm going to ride on the first day but I'll just wait in line. Same. My platinum pass cost enough, I'm not spending 5 car payments to get on the first ride when there will be ERT every morning. I'm still going to donate to the organization, though. I think it's great what they are doing. Pshhh im going on opening day but not riding Diamondback. Im going to take advantage of everyone in line for Diamondback, and try to walk on the other rides. No line for Drop Tower, Beast, Slingshot, and FOF.. on opening day? I wish. I have no idea what my exact game plan is yet. I know that I am definitely riding DB.. but I want to hit those four too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^^Btw, referring to your WT sig...a guest relations employee at CP last year told me that the WT crew playing countdown games with the launch was one of the most complained about rides issue, and she was baffled that despite that, it still wasn't adequetly cracked-down on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^ It's amazing how many park goers have zero in the way of a sense of humor. Would it simply be better if the ride op said "clear" and then let the train launch like on FOF? Case in point, I was at CP (ironically enough) watching the Three Point Challenge game, and the attendant was watching a shooter throw up air ball after air ball. The attendant basically repeated this line with some variation... "the shot is up...oh...air ball". He even got the shooter to stop and laugh in between a couple of shots, which made the crowd laugh that much more. All in good fun right? Next shooter gets up and it's a repeat of the first performance, including the attendant commentary. We come back to Cedar Point a week later and find out that the attendant was written up for what he had said! When he (the attendant himself) told us about why he said that he received a complaint that came through Guest Relations about his "treatment" of that player. Unbelievable. (Begin Rant) Long story short, if an employee decides to show some personality and do something a little outside the box they may hear about it later as a complaint! I realize this is not true across the board, and that these are most likely (very) isolated incidents but as long as said employee is not being rude, discourteous or unprofessional I don't see what the problem is. (End Rant) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^^In all fairness, playing games with the countdown launch can be kind of bush... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 ^ I agree with part of that. I guess I look at it from the standpoint of the ride op. Could you imagine doing that job hour after hour and day after day and never varying your routine? It'd be like riding the same coaster over and over every time I went to the same park...I may enjoy the experience but it's nice to have a little leeway to add something different to the experience, albeit in a non-conventional way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenageninja Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 From a ride op stand point, it's fun to change things up and hope people have a good sense of humor. The job does get tedious though, that's why people do fun things like that. I'm glad to see this ride auction is generating a lot of money for A Kid Again, it's a great organization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Safety is safety. I believe that ride ops that "play games" with the launch countdown on Wicked Twister should be terminated. Period. Just imagine the lawsuits if a guest were to be seriously injured when the train, which in virtually all previous cases launched on cue, launched what to the guests appeared to be prematurely during said countdown and a guest, who was injured, claimed this was the result of not being ready for the launch. The park should have to defend this lawsuit because a ride op was bored and had fun? Please. I'm sorry, but I see nothing even remotely amusing about this. And if it is too boring a job for you, there are many others who will be most happy to do it. Especially now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomkatt7 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I see Terpys point. It would be different if they did a countdown 3..2...1....and then nothing happened. To get a little nervous laughter, and then do it again correctly. But, he is right in saying it's winning lawsuit ready to happen. I'm sure they keep a record of complaints. If someone sued them, and their lawyers found out about more complaints that the park overlooked, or didn't take seriously.....It would probably never make to court. CF would be forced to settle for whatever the person wanted, just to save themselves the negative publicity.....Maybe even a way to start a class action suit? I don't know how those work though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Not launching and then laughing is just as bad. The next time, when the train launched appropriately, if someone were injured they could claim "But I knew they were just playing, I never expected the darn thing to actually launch." Either the spiel is important and needs doing and doing right, or it should not be done at all. One or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Case in point, I was at CP (ironically enough) watching the Three Point Challenge game, and the attendant was watching a shooter throw up air ball after air ball. The attendant basically repeated this line with some variation... "the shot is up...oh...air ball". He even got the shooter to stop and laugh in between a couple of shots, which made the crowd laugh that much more. All in good fun right? I could see how the shooter could be angry about that. I mean, the attendant is pretty much making fun of him and he/she could see that as getting the crowd to humiliate him/her, and though they may laugh at it as well, they might take it personally as being insulted by a worker at the park for playing a game they just paid quite a few nickles for. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaredap88 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 nothing[/i] even remotely amusing about this. And if it is too boring a job for you, there are many others who will be most happy to do it. Especially now. i have to agree 100%...if you're not going to do your job correctly then why bother doing it at all. let someone do it correctly thats all there is to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welchce Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Allen H. From Texas has bid $100 for seats 65 through 96 and he has 2 bids at $500. Have fun Allan H Does anyone know who that guy is? That's $4,300 that he is bidding right now (and about half of those aren't above #96). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 ^^That is interesting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvivaLynn Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Allen H. From Texas has bid $100 for seats 65 through 96 and he has 2 bids at $500. Have fun Allan H Does anyone know who that guy is? That's $4,300 that he is bidding right now (and about half of those aren't above #96). I don't know but, I'm definitely curious about who he is... I bid! Two seats for $115/seat. Pricier than a regular admission but, I've never been to opening day at a park and I've been wanting to ride Diamondback since before it was officially announced. It is also a great cause. I don't know how much higher I would get but, it seems like something I'd be willing to spend some savings on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Allen H. From Texas has bid $100 for seats 65 through 96 and he has 2 bids at $500. Have fun Allan H Does anyone know who that guy is? That's $4,300 that he is bidding right now (and about half of those aren't above #96). I don't know but, I'm definitely curious about who he is... I bid! Two seats for $115/seat. Pricier than a regular admission but, I've never been to opening day at a park and I've been wanting to ride Diamondback since before it was officially announced. It is also a great cause. I don't know how much higher I would get but, it seems like something I'd be willing to spend some savings on. Welcome to KICentral and thanks for bidding! Remember that when it comes down to it, it's all about the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Safety is safety. I believe that ride ops that "play games" with the launch countdown on Wicked Twister should be terminated. Period. Just imagine the lawsuits if a guest were to be seriously injured when the train, which in virtually all previous cases launched on cue, launched what to the guests appeared to be prematurely during said countdown and a guest, who was injured, claimed this was the result of not being ready for the launch. The park should have to defend this lawsuit because a ride op was bored and had fun? Please. I'm sorry, but I see nothing even remotely amusing about this. And if it is too boring a job for you, there are many others who will be most happy to do it. Especially now. Love you to death, 'Terpy, but I've got to respectfully disagree. I've pondered this very issue the past two years of my employment on the ol' Twister and have experienced some things that have led me to my stance on the matter. Now, this will be my only post on the issue as I don't want to start up an argument (just want to give my point of view), and I'm uber sick and don't have my 'debate team instincts' with me. I really don't want to go into too much detail on the matter other than a couple points: Ride hosts that false launch a train usually aren't doing it out of boredom. The guests are the ones that usually want the controls person to mislaunch. Now, I'm not in any way sticking up for anyone that is mislaunching the train based on this fact alone. I know you're probably already thinking "Not everyone on that train wants to be mislaunched." However...and this is something I experienced quite a few times...We had a large group of hearing-impaired guests ride. (At one point, either in 07 or 08, we had a whole train of hearing-impaired guests riding) Now, if this countdown to launch was a serious safety concern for the park, you'd think they would have a visual cue, like Dragster, and/or some other sort of assistive device. Besides the hearing-impaired, I've experienced (*MUCH* more often) the "listening-impaired." These "listening-impaired" people are the ones that have no hearing-related issues, other than the fact that they are too busy chatting to their friend in the seat ahead of them or are just too good to listen to anything the ride host is telling them. Even if you find something wrong with those arguments (and you very well could...again, just offering my opinions and observations), the fact remains that you've been in line and seen the ride and what it does. Even if the ride was a walk-on, you would've seen at least one train launch while you were approaching the station. You *know* that train will launch. What's more...that train isn't going anywhere until the brakes go up with their loud *hiss*. And, of course, all of those ride hosts are around you, behind their gates, with their thumbs in the air. That "3, 2, 1" spiel is a nice extra safety check. I'm not going to deny that. But the fact remains that there are a LOT...a LOT of people that do not pay one bit of attention to the countdown. Those that do are usually looking for a bit of a laugh. As an aside, terminating an employee for mislaunching a train is definitely a bit extreme. I can't tell you how many new employees go to that ride thinking they have to say "Clear...Launching in 3, 2, 1" and then push the Dispatch button, only to have the train wait a couple extra seconds after the countdown. What many people don't realize is that you have to hit the Dispatch button as you are counting down. It takes awhile to figure out exactly when you need to hit that button, too, as everyone counts down at different speeds. For me, I would usually hit Dispatch as I was saying "2". (Of course, the "new guy" excuse can't work forever. We did have one guy in '07 that just couldn't figure out what was going on. Needless to say, he wasn't at the ride for long. Not just for that reason, but many other reasons as well. ) Anyways, 'Terpy, definitely not trying to start an argument with you. You're a great person and I totally respect your opinion, but I did want to offer the input of someone who has spent a couple years at the ride. (And yes, I have mislaunched a train or two in my time.) I'd be happy to argue with ya in private sometime if ya want! (haha!) Just give me some time to recover from my current ailments and get off of this medicine before I start in debate mode. edit: I'm pretty much in agreement on the "getting rid of it part," though. I personally don't see it as much of a safety measure due to the above observations, and do agree that some lawsuit happy person could find a way to make a few easy dollars. I would have no issues seeing the countdown gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittenpooh Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 so much for the topic of who is bidding on the first seats...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigellinus Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Looks like they increased the # of trains to 5 as the yellow line is now at 160!!! Yeah, baby!! The question is, will yet one more train be added?? But I can't imagine there being more than 2 full cycles (6 trains). The other question is, if I'm overall bidder # 7 and bidders #1-6 all pick the first seats on the first 3 trains, can I pick the first seat on the fourth train?? I'm guessing, and hoping, yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 ^ If you are #7 I think you will get enough rides in that day... Not to mention I would say yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollercoast19 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 The other question is, if I'm overall bidder # 7 and bidders #1-6 all pick the first seats on the first 3 trains, can I pick the first seat on the fourth train?? I don't think you will be able to. From the Diamondback website: The highest successful bidder will select their seat on the first train while all other successful bidders will be assigned their seats according to their bid amount through the last seat on the fifth train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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