TR: Cedar Point 05/12/2002 (#2)

[Dave Althoff Jr]

Trip Report: Cedar Point
Sandusky, Ohio - 05/12/2002
===========================
"How to Handle an Umbrella"

Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up for today's highlight match. In
this corner, in the Ultimatte Green trunks, with degrees in
meteorology, climatology, and Earth Science and lots of letters after
their names, it's The Meteorologists!

In the opposite corner, with degrees in communications, computer
science, and art, it's The Coasternuts!

For the day The Meteorologists consult their maps, their computer
models and their years of experience and training. Their prediction:
Scattered thunderstorms, some severe, throughout the day.

The Coasternuts look at the aggregate weather maps and make their
prediction: Rain in the morning, clearing about lunchtime and clear
the rest of the day.

Choosing to believe the coasternuts rather than the meteorologists, I
got into the car, stopped off to round up the usual suspects, and
proceeded to Cedar Point. Arriving at a quarter after nine, I was
directed to park in the very first row, right behind the handicapped
spaces. Personally I wonder how a little blue paint handicaps a
parking space, but I digress...

It hadn't rained on the trip up, but the roads had been wet...in some
places, very wet. It wasn't raining as we approached the park. We
noted that neither Millennium Force nor Wicked Twister was operating,
and signs at the entrance indicated that Millennium Force would be
opening "later today." Scott Short had parked a couple of spaces
over from me and joined our foursome. A light sprinkle began, and we
opted not to take advantage of the Joe Cool Club early entry.
Instead we ducked into the picnic shelter just as the skies opened up
and rain poured down. What a miserable day. The rain abated just a
little and we entered the park. For a time we simply moved from gift
shop to gift shop. At an opportune moment we broke across the midway
for Cedar Downs where we wished the small crowd would result in a
longer ride. In recent years the park has made some unfortunate
changes to the Racing Derby. In paticular, the controls have been
automated and the operators no longer have a brake conrol. That in
itself is not such a bad thing. But the ride profile is now a far
more gentle start and stop. Again, that isn't itself a bad thing as
it probably prolongs the life of the equipment. The bad thing is
that now the total ide time is about the same as it ever was, but far
more time is spent in ramping the speed up and down. I was once told
that the ride's proper speed is 4.25 RPM. But while it achieves that
speed, I doubt that it operates at that speed for even one full
revolution. It's everyone's complaint about Cedar Point: The cycle
times on most of their flat rides are terrible. It's an effort to
keep the capacity up, but the result isn't very satisfying. Of
course one of the results is that most people end up not riding the
flat rides.

After riding we dashed into the Snoopy Boutique. The rain appeared
to be settling in, so I opted to run out to the car and get my
umbrella. It's such a simple thing, but I have found that it can
make a rainy day a whole lot more pleasant. It's not so much that I
mind being wet, but there are certain details to walking around in
the rain that are more unpleasant than others. Getting rain in my
face, and all over my glasses is a particular annoyance because quite
frankly it means I can't see. Squishy shoes are another problem,
though I usually solve that one by wearing sandals. But a simple
full-size umbrella can make things just a little more pleasant. Of
course I can't take it on the rides, but Cedar Point has even thought
of this. I remembered seeing it on their web site and I thought it
was a nice thing for them to do. Here's what I am talking
about...this is lifted straight from Page 26 of Cedar Point's Little
Book of Operational Paranoia, better known as the "2002 Rider Safety
Guide":
"...Items which are allowed past the entrance but not permitted on
rides include umbrellas, canes, crutches, etc. These items may be
left on the platform, however, Cedar Point is not responsible for
items lost or stolen."

Well, that's very nice! So very accommodating! Once the rain stops
it will save me a trip back to the car...and I'll be prepared when
the rain starts up again! Of course once I had my umbrella I was
happier to be walking around in the rain, which means it was an ideal
time for the rain to let up. Which it did. Iron Dragon came to
life, and we took a ride on that one. As I stepped into the last
car, I tossed the umbrella onto the platform, well clear of any
operational areas. The platform attendant was most insistent. Not
being in the mood for an argument, and knowing it would be more or
less harmless on this particular ride, I tossed the umbrella into the
car tub. This wasn't right, but for this ride it would be OK I
suppose.

Iron Dragon has a new set of wheels this season. I don't know if
that's it or if they have done something else to this ride. It's
simply running better than usual. It's still nothing spectacular,
but it doesn't shuffle as much, it seems faster, and best of all, the
huge jolt halfway through the knot at the end of the ride seems to
have been fixed.

We wandered around a bit and got a ride on Wicked Twister. More
umbrella trouble here as the entrance host wouldn't allow it past the
ride entrance. I guess the storage bins on the ride platform are
strictly for decoration. The ride was a walk-on, and Scott is too
tall to ride, so he obligingly held the umbrellas while we took a
ride. For those of you keeping score, this time I know my weight was
down by more than three pounds since my previous visit, but I needed
help with the safety belt that I didn't need last week. Go figure.
At any rate, the ride is consistent, and the more I ride it, the more
I actually do like it. The park has lots of other rides that I like
better, though!

We hiked across the park and I stopped in at the Ops office to report
on my Iron Dragon experience and to find out if I had remembered
wrong. In my brief visit I learned that I had been correct, though
neither I nor the person I talked to could find the right chapter and
verse (quoted above). Turns out we were looking in the wrong book.
I hadn't asked for an explanation, but I was given one anyway...it
was chalked up to what carnival operators usually call "green help."
I dunno...I thought this guy was "red help"... [Footnote 1].

The weather was improving, and Raptor was practically a walk-on. We
opted for a ride in the back row. Raptor presented a most
Raptor-esque performance until we stopped on the safety brake, well
back from the usual stopping place just uptrack of the station.
Hmmm? After a few moments the third train came to a stop on the
mid-course brake. I guess we missed that one by one train. A crew
member walked out on the runway to tell us nothing we didn't already
know. It took a few minutes as the rain started up again, but they
finally loaded the train in the station, moved us up to the ready
brake and released the third train from the mid-course to stack in
behind us. Not a big deal except for the quickening rain.

Blue Streak was next, still flying in the second week of the
season...and this is with a wet track that still wasn't squealing in
spite of the rain. Not a word from the crew when I tossed my
umbrella on the unload platform.

Millennium Force was running, and I hoped for a ride...but it wasn't
to be. Yet again, the entrance host was, in spite of the published
policy, not letting people bring umbrellas through the queue, and was
in fact giving one lady quite a hard time about it. Not having
found the official text at this point, I figured I didn't have a leg
to stand on. But the rain had stopped, the wait was short...I
figured I could just stuff the umbrella into a locker. It was then
that I learned why the official policy is so accommodating: There is
no way that a full-size umbrella can fit into any of the coin-op
lockers at Cedar Point. It is simply too long, even for the larger
units. Knowing that if the weather held I would be back later
empty-handed, I bypassed the ride.

We took the train around to Frontiertown for a ride on Mean Streak.
As I prepared to board, one of the crew members collected my umbrella
and set it against the side of the doghouse. The ride was still
running with tight brakes on the first drop and on the mid-course,
but the ride seems to like having wet track. The notable exception
to a generally competent ride is the sheltered bit where the train
passes under, then over the lift hill. Because it is sheltered there
it was screeching and shuffling at that point, but otherwise it was
the "generally improved a bit" Mean Streak from last week. Had I
been smart, I'd have stayed away from Mean Streak for the rest of the
day.

I'm still getting used to seeing White Water Landing without the
fake mountain. It just seems...well...odd somehow. But no mountain
means no dripping waterfall, and that means that on a rainy day like
today I could actually take a ride on it. Have to give that some
thought, but for now I'll take a ride on the Mine Ride.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride was my first roller coaster, and as small and
quirky as it is, it's still an interesting ride. Of particular note
this time is the new brake installed on the rise into the place where
the second block brake used to be. It's a bladder-type brake unlike
the new block brakes on the ride, and was apparently put in place to
either catch the train if it starts to roll back, or to prevent it
fron rolling back when conditions are just wrong. I'm surprised they
don't just put a sawtooth up there and be done with it. That would
also give us back that "clunk-clunk..........clunk-clunk" noise we
used to get up there.

A tradition is fast forming with the Mine Ride. Well, a pattern,
anyway: Take a ride on Mine Ride, then walk across the plaza and say
hello to Joe. Joe is a gentleman who mans the counter in the Town
Hall museum, answering Cedar Point trivia questions, handling the
message center, and doing Official Kid Measurements. And taking
grief from frequently-visiting enthusiasts like me who hassle him
about the museum not having a Fascination table or a "so-high" sign
[Footnote 2]. We swapped speculation about what is going into the
Big Grey Box, and while we were in there I picked up a copy of the
little paranoia book and thumbed through it. That was where I
finally found the little tidbit on Page 26. Part of me wanted to go
back to Millennium Force and make an issue of it, but I wasn't in the
mood for such troublemaking. I simply made a note to include the
incident and the official policy in an upcoming trip report. <grin!>
But instead we went back to Magnum. I tossed the umbrella on the
platform against the wall. I'm very pleased to note that while
Magnum was a little slow to wake up on this rainy morning, all those
problems it was having last week with broken lap bars seem to be
sorted out. I don't think I saw any roped-off seats all day.
Naturally, I rode in my customary seat. They seem to be doing better
with the new signals, too. In any case, where the ride was really
back again to its top form was out on the course. It was a little
windy, the trains were lightly loaded, and the trims were on heavy,
but it still flew through the course. Magnum is geting excessively
rough in its adolescence, but when you get off there is no doubt
about the magnitude of the experience.

It was early afternoon and the weather had cleared up nicely. A bit
of legwork revealed that the mysterous Big Grey Box is an irregularly
shaped space about 150' corner to corner. The peak of the Gemini
lift is probably the best vantage point for getting a look inside
unless you shell out $6 to go up the climbing wall. Aside from not
wanting to spend the money, that seems to me to be an awful lot of
work just to get a better view of bare dirt and three footers for
round columns.

I eventually made my way to the car and dumped my umbrella, which
made it a whole lot easier to get through the rest of the day. By
this time virtually all of the rides were walk-ons. There was a
negligible wait for Wicked Twister, a negligible wait for Raptor, no
wait for Blue Streak, almost no wait for Millennium Force.
Ah...there's something to talk about, as this was the day for my
first Millennium Force ride of the season.

Millennium Force is not off to a good start this season. Part of it
is probably the bad weather...the thing is running terribly slow, and
only with two trains, meaning the capacity is awful. Things are a
little different on the platform. The annoying music is gone, and
the old, practially inaudible autospiel has been replaced with a new,
equally inadible autospiel. The customized safety instruction signs
on the far wall of the station have been replaced with the same
meaningless boilerplate found everywhere else in the park now
[Footnote 3]. In the train I didn't notice any major changes from
last year except that a loop has been added to the free end of each
seat belt. Initially I thought it was to aid in adjustment. It
isn't, as the belt (still) cannot be adjusted once it is fastened.
But it does give the attendant something to tug on to make sure the
belt is fastened. Seems like a good idea to me.

Our train blasted out of the station and up the impossibly steep lift
hill. I was trying to get a look inside the Big Grey Box from up
there, but by the time I got my bearings we were over the top.
Millennium Force is running smooth, fast, and QUIET. I mean, the
sound the train makes out on the course these days is no louder than
Magnum. But all is not well. The three major hills...the two lagoon
crossings and the final speed hill...are all feeling a bit slow. I
also noticed an unusual amount of axle hunt on the straightaways, as
if perhaps the guide wheels are a little looser than they were last
season. I wonder if perhaps the wheels have been loosened a bit to
allow the tires to run a little cooler...as if the weather on the
North Coast hasn't been cool enough! I do find it interesting,
though, that they changed the wheel configuration after their
maintenance director indicated over the winter that the combination
they were using last year was gave "consistent performance under all
conditions." I guess it's now a CoasterMania question. Anyway, what
this all means is not that Millennium Force is suddenly a bad ride
(quite the contrary; it's still a pretty amazing coaster!); but
rather that it isn't presently performing in the way we CP regulars
know from experience it can.

We went around the park again. A second ride on Mean Streak proved
that if you get a decent ride on that thing, enjoy it and don't go
back. With a nearly empty train but very tight trim brakes on both
the first drop and on the mid-course, the ride's performance was
absolutely pitiful.

Across from Mean Streak is White Water Landing. I was not carrying
my camera, and with the mountain gone I knew there would be no
"waterfall" so I opted to take a ride, sitting solo in the boat. The
ride is in serious need of a cosmetic overhaul. The paint on the
boats is looking really bad, the trough looks like it seriously needs
paint, and in general, the ride could really use some sprucing up. I
realize they recently planted evergreens around it, but that is not
exactly what I had in mind. The new landscaping, on the other hand,
looks fabulous, and it's the best-running flume I have ridden in a
long time. It didn't attempt to knock my fillings loose on the lift
hills, and it runs with just enough of a splash to be a little
refreshing, without a gratuitous soaking. Mostly I noticed that the
boats seem to do a lot less bumping around in the trough than other
flumes I have ridden, making it feel more like a boat ride than like
something on a track. I got wetter than I expected on the Hydro-Jump
after the long drop; it's a good thing I didn't have my usual
assortment of electronics with me [Footnote 4].

I rode all the coasters again, and finished the night on the Magnum
XL-200. By the 8pm close, the skies had cleared beautifully and we
witnessed a beautiful sunset. I could tell that all was not well.
From Magnum's lift hill the sky looked beautiful, but on the
turnaround the dark clouds were visible to the south. It was almost
as though Cedar Point was the lone clear spot in the region. No
surprise, we'd have rain for the trip home.

It got off to a slow start, but it turned into a really nice day with
very small crowds. I got lots of rides on all the coasters in the
park. The temperature was just about perfect, and except for the
lousy weather before noon, I couldn't ask for a much better day at
the Point.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Footnote 1: At Cedar Point there is a definite heirarchy. It's less
obvious to the naked eye now than it once was, but you can get an
idea of any employee's position in the pecking order by looking at
his name tag. Most are red; foremen are blue; supervisors are
silver...and the "green help" have red tags marked, "RIDE PRIDE."

Footnote 2: It was Joe who first told me it was a "so-high"
sign...that is, a sign that says you have to be "so-high" in order to
ride.

Footnote 3: The following sentence: "All passenger restraint
systems, including lap bars, shoulder harnesses and seatbelts, must
be positioned and fastened properly to allow guests to ride." ...is
now posted on every ride in the park, including the Midway Carousel,
Kiddy Kingdom Carousel, Racing Derby, Space Spiral, CP & LE Railroad,
Witches Wheel, and White Water Landing...the seven rides which are
not equipped with any of the enumerated restraining devices.
Useless, meaningless boilerplate, good only for lawyers.

Footnote 4: Of course, not carrying the computer with me tends to
delay the trip reports a bit...

--DCAjr
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