Cedar Point - 9/25
Brian Place
I managed to talk the people at the information desk into giving me a "Behind the Lines" employee newsletter, which basically has the Raptor press release and a few B&W diagrams of the ride and the trains on it. I don't have a scanner, but if anyone's interested, I'll post the press release (I think it was already posted, but I never got a chance to read it). It's very informative.
I was last at Cedar Point before Labor Day, and the site of the Raptor shocked me - the Mill Race looks like it was hit by a bomb or something! They've levelled the site, and it looks like they're mid-way through pouring the foundations for the supports.
I did manage to ride the big rides before it started raining, and noticed a few things:
Draggin' Iron: (When it rains, the large puddle out in front of the line is referred to by the employees as "Lake Iron Dragon" :) This seemed MUCH slower than it did a month ago. It may be because I was in the front car, but I don't remember it making that much of a difference. Also, the lift hill doesn't slow down like it did 3/4ths of the way up... it just pulls the cars straight up at a constant speed. I liked that slow down, kinda disappointing that it wasn't there. I did notice something new tho
ugh - there wasn't a JOLT at the bottom of the lift hill like there used to be when it caught the guide at the bottom of the car - they've connected the bottom "guide track" from the bottom of the lift hill to the station... makes the ride smoother, at least for that part. :)
Blue Streak: is boring when you've got a tight seatbelt. I rode with my younger brother (who was riding for the first time), and he wanted the seatbelt tight. Not much airtime.
Mean Streak: This seemed smoother than it had been all summer. It may be due to the weather - it wasn't very warm. My brother loved it, but not as much as the Beast (of course). He liked it better than the Gemini, and I tried to talk some sense into him but we just didn't get a chance to ride each of them more than once.
Gemini: They actually had both tracks open! This made me happy, because the last two trips were on weekdays and I didn't get a chance to slap hands. Of course, no one in the other train seemed in the mood for slapping hands anyways. Darn. Oh well, my brother loved the "fine del capo"... I'd forgotten how much better the ride is when you can see another train right next to you.
Magnum: It started to sprinkle when we were done riding Gemini, and then rained for a few minutes, so they stopped the Magnum while we were in line. They started it back up, and by the time we got on it was starting to sprinkle again. It's DEFINATELY a different ride in the rain! The rails were very slippery (you could feel the added speed) and the rain drops HURT when you're going 72mph... it was cold and windy at the top too. My brother liked it though. :)
Corkscrew: Half of our group rode before it started to really rain, and then we waited for the other half for about a half an hour because of the rain. This ride really sucks. It was a little better in the rain, and I could actually see the CP employee dorms this time (never noticed them before) off to the right, but it's not even worth a 20 minute wait. It's way too short. It's a nice ride for historical reasons, though...
Disappointment Transport: (as the employees affectionally call it)
Waited in line an hour, rode the 20-second ride... sigh. It was about the only thing we could ride until we started riding the Matterhorn, Scrambler, Swabinchen, etc. which are fun in the rain.
Well, that's it. If you think this was boring to read through, just tell me to shut up. :)
-Brian
P.S. How in the heck will the Raptor *fit* into the space? Even with the cobra roll by the carousel and the lift hill by the blue streak, it doesn't look like it'll completely fit! Is the roll going to be *way* over the Midway or something? It looks like it's too big of a coaster to fit in that small space.
P.P.S. How do you pronounce Bolliger and Mabillard? I assume Mabillard is "mah-bee-yard" - French-Swiss. Bolliger must be "bow-ee-jay," right?
Pete Babic
In a previous article, mbsun.mlb.org!yyz!114!Brian.Place (Brian Place) says:
>
>Draggin' Iron: (When it rains, the large puddle out in front of the line is
>referred to by the employees as "Lake Iron Dragon" :) This seemed MUCH
>slower than it did a month ago. It may be because I was in the front car,
>but I don't remember it making that much of a difference. Also, the lift
>hill doesn't slow down like it did 3/4ths of the way up... it just pulls the
>cars straight up at a constant speed. I liked that slow down, kinda
>disappointing that it wasn't there. I did notice something new tho
The first lift only slows down when 3 trains are running. This is to adjust
the spacing of the trains. There were only 2 trains on Sat. so this adjustment
was not necessary.
> -Brian
>
>P.S. How in the heck will the Raptor *fit* into the space? Even with the
>cobra roll by the carousel and the lift hill by the blue streak, it doesn't
>look like it'll completely fit! Is the roll going to be *way* over the
>Midway or something? It looks like it's too big of a coaster to fit in that
>small space.
It won't fit into the space. The rest of the site clearing will be done after
CP closes for the season (Oct. 3 is the last day this year). See previous
messages posted in this group for opinions of where the layout will be.
--
Pete Babic - p...@po.cwru.edu |*| RAPTOR flies May 7, 1994
Library Information Technologies |*|
Case Western Reserve University |*| "Rules The Sky!"
WJS...@psuvm.psu.edu
>>P.S. How in the heck will the Raptor *fit* into the space? Even with the
>>cobra roll by the carousel and the lift hill by the blue streak, it doesn't
>>look like it'll completely fit! Is the roll going to be *way* over the
>>Midway or something? It looks like it's too big of a coaster to fit in that
>>small space.
>It won't fit into the space. The rest of the site clearing will be done after
>CP closes for the season (Oct. 3 is the last day this year). See previous
>messages posted in this group for opinions of where the layout will be.
>--
Cedar Point announced only the rides that would be moved (carousel and Calypso)
There will be some major reconstruction of food and gift stands that are in
the area of the Mill Race. I'm not sure what they're going to do, but I assume
that the area will get a big facelift.
Walt Schmidt wjs...@psuvm.psu.edu
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Opening Day: May 7, 1994