News Top Thrill Dragster Severely Injures Bystander

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DECoasterGuy said:
Given that screamscape is notoriously unreliable, and that the trains are most likely undergoing routine maintenance, this seems extremely premature. Everything I’ve seen points to an eventual reopening, which of course means the ride needs to be maintained
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Just because trains aren’t on site doesn’t mean we should jump to conclusions. If the trains not being on site meant closure, all’s the rides would’ve been removed after the first year bgw, because they strip the trains down and send me out for maintenance each winter (the ones that aren’t running during CT, that is)
 
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warfelg said:
Xcelerator and Storm runner seem rathe resilient for this model. But even Storm Runner has issues 2019-2021
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There weren't any major issues.... the problem was they did some type of upgrade and the pandemic hit in the middle of it. They needed Intamin on-site for some part of it and travel was restricted so that part of the project just simply couldn't happen. The situation with SDL was very similar.
 
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It was a new hydraulic winch drum which needed to be produced and shipped from Intamin's facilities in Europe but COVID derailed the maintenance cycle for the ride.

Sooperdooperlooper's issue was that the programmer was from England and was travel restricted which caused the original delay, and then all the parts that were needed for the reprogramming didn't arrive until Fall which basically pushed it off for the 2020 season.

Top Thrill Dragster from all that I understand of the situation was not able to have its traditional off-season maintenance performed due to the incident, and the reason why it was announced as closed for the entire 2022 season is because Cedar Point still needs to do that maintenance along with any additional work needed from the ride sitting for essentially what will be over a year and a half come 2023.
 
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If TTD is leaving, on the bright side, that plot of land would be juuuuust big enough to squeeze in a roller coaster like, say, El Toro. With modifications, of course.

But, not a terrible outcome, overall...
 
Coasterguy95 said:
friend sent me this, ttd has been removed from fastlane. I believe the end is near.
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I wouldn't say that. They had already announced that it wouldn't be opening this season, so why include it on signage that may confuse guests? I'm sure they get enough complaints about it being closed, they don't want more because they saw TTD listed as a ride on FL. I firmly believe that at this point, they still plan on eventually re-opening it. There is no point in saying they are closing it for the season when they really plan on taking it out. Whether they eventually change their minds is a different discussion.
 
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While I agree that it’s too soon to say TTD is dead, I’d point out for context that at Kings Dominion, three different rides were “closed for the season” before being unceremoniously removed: Hurler, Volcano, and Tornado. So just looking at KD alone, CF does have a history within the last decade of closing attractions after saying they’d just be closed for the season.
 
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Bad comparison - Hurler was a woody with it's own complications of rough track plus a park that hadn't seen a new coaster in 5+ years so RMC'ing it was a worthy option, Volcano was a prototype with a ride system that wasn't replicated anywhere so the expense to overhaul it may have been too much (my guess is they initially tried but then found it to be a money pit so scrapped it), and Tornado, besides being a water slide, had known incidences of injuries that couldn't be rectified with better maintenance procedures.

TTD, on the other hand, just needed someone to pay for the recommended hardware/bolts and should have been ok; KK is another version of the same ride model and Intamin had listed the model for sale making it likely they can relatively easily replace parts on it when needed.
 
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Jonesta6 said:
Bad comparison - Hurler was a woody with it's own complications of rough track plus a park that hadn't seen a new coaster in 5+ years so RMC'ing it was a worthy option, Volcano was a prototype with a ride system that wasn't replicated anywhere so the expense to overhaul it may have been too much (my guess is they initially tried but then found it to be a money pit so scrapped it), and Tornado, besides being a water slide, had known incidences of injuries that couldn't be rectified with better maintenance procedures.

TTD, on the other hand, just needed someone to pay for the recommended hardware/bolts and should have been ok; KK is another version of the same ride model and Intamin had listed the model for sale making it likely they can relatively easily replace parts on it when needed.
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But the thing is would cedar fair want to do anything with intamin anymore.
 
I'm not saying they'd buy a new ride from them, but why would they cut off their nose to spite their face with the parts supplier to many of their existing rides?
 
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TTD will always have a next level "holy cow" factor to people seeing it for the first time, there is no way CF would let that ride go down permanently without a major fight to keep it around. Distaste for the parts supplier doesn't outweigh the continuous return on investment this thing provides.
 
Volcano was totalled, as in would cost more to fix than rebuild(or at least close to it). TTD is not. TTD is still awaiting the results of the investigation AFAIK and while we might see something done to prevent future issues, There aren't any massive budget costs in doing so.
 
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Being that the trains are gone, I truly think the park is just going to purchase new trains, and do minor changes to the track like changing positions of sensors to accommodate the new trains' flags.

Purchasing new trains is not a small undertaking but it may even improve the ride experience. I also think the queue line will be better guarded with fencing than before when this reopens.
 
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I thought they'd reroute the queue anyways, so there's basically nothing close enough to the track.

I also thought the existing trains would just go through a substantial rebuild using only the approved hardware (no incorrect material bolts), which is less expensive and takes care of the same thing - they just have to wait until after they're cleared to reopen the ride before you'll see them again.
 
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