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New For Cedar Point 2020


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Oof. More problems for Steel Vengeance. The ride is amazing when open (it is my current favorite ride based on ride experience) but it has issues: from what I have heard, and these are just rumors, is that Mean Streak's old structure is not handling the new RMC trains and increased speed very well. They are heavier than the old PTCs Mean Streak was using, and going nearly 10mph faster at maximum speed. This is apparently forcing Cedar Point's maintenance team to have to repair the structure fairly often, thus why the ride was usually not open for ERT in 2019 and now won't even attempt to operate during ERT on weekdays in 2020.

The metal detectors also being needed on this ride also kills the capacity: dispatches are pretty slow because of this, so in spite of 3 trains, Steel Vengeance is likely getting 550pph on good hours, which even Mystic Timbers smashes (I have estimated MT to get 900-1000pph by watching the webcams before). Which is why you see 2 hour waits on even not-so-busy days when Millennium Force is only 20 minutes.

As much as I would love a RMC I-Box or Topper Track coaster at Kings Island, these issues make me doubt one will come (same deal as with Intamin coasters) until these issues have been solved. Kings Island has been on a streak of adding tried-and-tested models with good reliability and capacity, and they have had lots of success so far with this.

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On 2/22/2020 at 3:31 PM, McSalsa said:

Oof. More problems for Steel Vengeance. The ride is amazing when open (it is my current favorite ride based on ride experience) but it has issues: from what I have heard, and these are just rumors, is that Mean Streak's old structure is not handling the new RMC trains and increased speed very well. They are heavier than the old PTCs Mean Streak was using, and going nearly 10mph faster at maximum speed. This is apparently forcing Cedar Point's maintenance team to have to repair the structure fairly often, thus why the ride was usually not open for ERT in 2019 and now won't even attempt to operate during ERT on weekdays in 2020.

The metal detectors also being needed on this ride also kills the capacity: dispatches are pretty slow because of this, so in spite of 3 trains, Steel Vengeance is likely getting 550pph on good hours, which even Mystic Timbers smashes (I have estimated MT to get 900-1000pph by watching the webcams before). Which is why you see 2 hour waits on even not-so-busy days when Millennium Force is only 20 minutes.

As much as I would love a RMC I-Box or Topper Track coaster at Kings Island, these issues make me doubt one will come (same deal as with Intamin coasters) until these issues have been solved. Kings Island has been on a streak of adding tried-and-tested models with good reliability and capacity, and they have had lots of success so far with this.

I think the biggest issue would be as you stated that the existing Mean Streak structure can't handle the new forces as well. Kings Island I don't see converting any existing wooden coasters they have so that wouldn't be an issue there. Beast and Racer are classics and MT is new. Woodstock is too small to worry about as well.

So I'd say it's a possibility still even with the SV issues for them to build more if it was right, they jsut might be more hesitant to do a conversion, but considering how many of those have been ok even that might not deter them. Twisted Timbers seems to be great for them.

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I can still see a Topper Track RMC working as those are always ground-up designs and only are partly steel.   The I-Box track on older structures is definitely plausible as a likely source of hastening structure fatigue, especially on larger wooden coasters where swaying structures are already an issue in regards to comfort.  The I-Box just magnifies that with heavier track, trains, and usually higher speeds and acceleration.  I wonder if NTAG and Iron Rattler have similar problems.  

  

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20 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

I can still see a Topper Track RMC working as those are always ground-up designs and only are partly steel.   The I-Box track on older structures is definitely plausible as a likely source of hastening structure fatigue, especially on larger wooden coasters where swaying structures are already an issue in regards to comfort.  The I-Box just magnifies that with heavier track, trains, and usually higher speeds and acceleration.  I wonder if NTAG and Iron Rattler have similar problems.  

  

 

To be fair, NTG and Iron Rattler also didn't add 40 extra feet of height (and thus much more speed). OG Texas Giant went 62mph, NTG goes 65- a increase of 3mph. OG Rattler went 65mph, Iron Rattler 70mph. It probably has had some effect but Steel Vengeance went crazy when adding extra height and speed, not to mention the new "2nd-Gen" RMC trains are also claimed to be a source of issues, as they apparently are also heavier than the 1st gen trains. For the record from what I know, only Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers have the 2nd gen trains but I could be wrong (I dunno if Zadra for example has them). Twisted Cyclone- which also opened in 2018- still had the old trains and it didn't seem to have any problems. I would find it a bit funny if Kings Island got a RMC, and then it had the old 1st gen trains because Cedar Fair realized the 2nd gen ones stunk (or just had RMC remake the trains again, creating a Gen 3 train).

Kings Island would also want something that could run 3 trains: I don't know if New Texas Giant has the same issues in terms of capacity Steel Vengeance has or not, but a park pulling 3,000,000 guests per year is gonna want at least around 1,000pph for a major attraction (all of the big popular coasters currently at KI- Orion, Banshee, Diamondback, The Beast and Mystic Timbers are at or above this level). Finding a solution to the loose articles/metal detectors issue would also something to overcome.

If they wanted to keep Steel Vengeance's "mystique" I would also imagine KI may wait until 2028-ish (when SV is 10+ and some of the hype has died down) and/or build a Topper Track coaster that isn't as large (to be fair a topper track woodie that is "only" 185 feet tall would be able to claim it is the current world's tallest wooden coaster, though then you get the whole is topper track wood can' o worms). Plus this would give RMC more time to improve their coasters reliability and capacity.

PS: I would also be all for a ground-up RMC (I can wait if it means fixing the Steel Vengeance issues though) not only because it would likely become my new #1 at KI, but because their custom structures look epic. This appears to be a drawing (maybe? Could be a photo, it blurs that line...) but it looks cool (from Energylandia.pl- the park's official site):

IMG_6949-900x600.jpg

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, PatchesC said:

Just out of curiosity what's up with the dozer building the dam on the CP beach? Is water up that high on the lake?

Screenshot_20200520-070229_Chrome.jpg

As an avid watcher of the cams. CP does this every year. They are just pushing sand around to make it look pretty.

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5 hours ago, PatchesC said:

Just out of curiosity what's up with the dozer building the dam on the CP beach? Is water up that high on the lake?

Screenshot_20200520-070229_Chrome.jpg

It is the other side that floods the worst due to the way the wind blows. Lake Erie was at an all time high last summer and at one point in June they even shut down Blue Streak for a day or 2 due to flooding.

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