Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

Probably good lesson that even after a ride op checks your seat, it's not a bad idea to check it yourself while you're still in the station, and again while the train is pulling out just in case. Can never be too safe.

I always do that out of habit - used to be a major chicken.

Some lap bars freak me out unreasonably still, like Screamin Eagle @ SFStL whose classic wooden coaster lap bars sat way above my lap - best floater air I've ever gotten on a ride but a little unnerving the first time.

The push up is always better than the push down as a test I think.

I never believe stories like that about restraints coming open, so it was a little surreal when it actually happened. Even stranger was that his seat stayed green on the board until they lifted the restraint completely back up.

 

Needless to say, the nephew didn't do that run with his hands up!

 

Another weird thing happened when we got out of the train, the restraints refused to stay up once we pushed them up, the left restraint (the one that wouldn't lock) came back down as I was stepping out and trapped my foot. Darn Chess was getting in one last shot.

 

Our second ride today was back on Chess and those 2 seats were still not in use and showed grey in the board.

Well at least the additional seatbelts will hopefully hold you in place just in case the restraints fail.....Seriously, whoever is responsible for that issue (Cedar Point, RMC or IOE) they should really look into that.....

Anyway, Twisted Timbers seems to be down to 1 train ops again, don't know if that might also be related to the same issue....

The push up is always better than the push down as a test I think.

I'm willing to put money on the test being a press forward and a tug back. Why would you do one and not the other?

What's interesting to me is that Dollywood apparently won't touch the restraints on Lightning Rod and you have to pull it down, but Cedar Point won't let you pull the restraint down at all on SV. When I was there, they were doing two checks, once to push down and they came back through to pull up on the restraint to make sure it was locked.

Just got off Digger. Chess is still running and Blackjack parked.

I miss the days when roller coaster trains would be referred to as red train, blue train, etc.

Yeah, I have no idea which train is which but I don't mind the park having a little fun with this.

Beau is still the goat of Frontier Town though.

This has me wondering if they do any testing with just the lap belt to see if it actually would keep you in the car? Seems like they would need to.

I'm sure that if the park thought there was any chance that a lap bar could open once a train fully left the station it wouldn't be operating.

The restraints are designed to lock your lower half of your body in place. If they were to fail and come up, the seat belt on the ride is not going to keep you in the seat.

As coasterbill just said, if the park thought there was any chance of the restraints failing once the ride left the station, it wouldn't be open.

Lightning rod's seat belts have the force rating listed as 3 or 4 kilonewtons (I think) which is anywhere between 675-900 lbs of force. My backseat engineering degree says that if the lap bar failed the seat belt would keep a 300 lb mass in at -2.2 g. Without the full restraint though that would be a scary ride.

What's interesting to me is that Dollywood apparently won't touch the restraints on Lightning Rod and you have to pull it down, but Cedar Point won't let you pull the restraint down at all on SV. When I was there, they were doing two checks, once to push down and they came back through to pull up on the restraint to make sure it was locked.

I just spent the past several days at Dollywood (first time visit), and they require YOU to bring down the bar yourself. This is true on all their coasters not just Lightning Rod. In fact if they think your bar is too high (that's the way I like it), they make YOU pull it down further. I was waiting on Thunder Head yesterday morning as they waited for a "fat guy" to latch his restraint. They even made his girlfriend help. I was right behind them and they asked for help, and the rideops said they can't do that. After about 3 minutes of tugging and grunting it finally clicked 1 click. In my opinion that was too long delaying all other riders. I feel after 3 tries - get out!

The restraints are designed to lock your lower half of your body in place. If they were to fail and come up, the seat belt on the ride is not going to keep you in the seat.

Of course it would. That’s the whole point of the seatbelt.

I'm sure that if the park thought there was any chance that a lap bar could open once a train fully left the station it wouldn't be operating.

The countdown was at zero, all thumbs up, seat lights all green when my nephew gave an extra tug on the restraint and it lifted. We had to yell and wave our arms to get them to abort and re-set. If he hadn't discovered the problem we would have launched.

Had the train begun to move yet? Because once it moves away from the load position, the contacts release and the bar will stay locked. Without power, the cylinders won't release. This is why they need batteries to evac trains.

No, it hadn't begun to move yet. So, if the car had released then my nephew could have tightened his restraint but there is no way it would have been able to be lifted after that point? That is what we assumed since it seems logical, but we also assumed the trouble light would show a fault if the restraint was lifted after being locked.

I suppose it would depend on how far up it lifted. If it was just an inch or two, but still technically “green”, then I would imagine there would be no fault.

The restraints are designed to lock your lower half of your body in place. If they were to fail and come up, the seat belt on the ride is not going to keep you in the seat.

I don't think you fully understand how seat belts work.

What's interesting to me is that Dollywood apparently won't touch the restraints on Lightning Rod and you have to pull it down, but Cedar Point won't let you pull the restraint down at all on SV. When I was there, they were doing two checks, once to push down and they came back through to pull up on the restraint to make sure it was locked.

Last year on the tpr trip, there was an issue with 9ne of the guys not fitting. He tried using his elbows, other tried helping him, but we got yelled out if we did help him.

I suppose it would depend on how far up it lifted. If it was just an inch or two, but still technically “green”, then I would imagine there would be no fault.

He pulled it all the way up to show them there was a problem, the light stayed green.

The restraints are designed to lock your lower half of your body in place. If they were to fail and come up, the seat belt on the ride is not going to keep you in the seat.

 

 

I don't think you fully understand how seat belts work.

I understand how they work just fine. My point was that this ride was designed around a restraint system that locks your lower body in place so there is no movement and you can't slip out, which is what allows them to do the inversions without implementing an over the shoulder restraint system. If the restraint were to fail and come up, nothing on your body would be locked into place. You would only have a retractable lap belt holding you into place on one of the most aggressive rides ever built that literally feels like it's trying to eject you into Lake Erie at times. If the lap belts alone were going to keep people in the ride, then what's the point in having restraints that literally allow no movement in the lower half of your body?

If you're riding with just a seatbelt without using your own effort to maintain your position, sure you might flop out like loose change. The restraint is designed to make that effort for you.

What specific effort would you exert that would allow you to stay in place without the lap bar locking your legs? The only things to hold on to in the car are attached to the lap bar. I'm not saying it would be impossible, but it serms improbable.

Yet lap belts prevented countless ejections in car accidents for 20+ years before shoulder belts became common (SPOILER: Those are way more violent than any roller coaster)

I really wonder about enthusiasts sometimes

Blackjack is currently running in 2 train ops with Chess (with riders). We are one step closer to three trains.