Shoot the Rapids?

JUnderhill said:

The venom certain enthusiasts have for Intamin is laughable.

Your perspective lacks, uh, perspective. The down time, modifications and expense to get a number of their rides actually working reliably over the years is not in dispute. The opinions of buyers who've had to deal with Sandor are not in dispute. The email exchanges I've had with that asshat are not in dispute.

I'm as thankful as anyone for Millennium Force, but Intamin still sucks as a company.

I used to be an Intamin defender and never knew what all the hate was about. But after looking into it further, the hate is justified. If you think enthusiasts are bitter toward them, how do you think management feels? Their rides are higher maintenance than others. Sure, their rides may have put Cedar Point on the map, but going to the park to ride some of their rides can be a gamble. I just recently read a review on the CP Facebook page that said someone traveled from out of state to ride Dragster and it was down the whole time they were there and never got to ride it. That contributes to disappointed guests. Many of us here are able to ride what we want when we want because we got season passes, but not everyone that goes through the gates everyday is a season passholder. They may only be once a year or once in a lifetime guests. Having rides that are reliable with minimal downtime and high capacity is what a park would want, Intamin is terrible at providing rides that meet that criteria.

I don't see Intamin doing much stateside for the forseeable future. I think the management has burned all their bridges stateside. I don't see any parks over here working with them until they undergo a management change and improve their reliability track record.

I like Intamin's rides, but can't stand them as a company.

If someone has had personal dealings with Intamin or one of its employees that is another matter entirely. If Jeff has had personal conversations with someone from Intamin and they were a jerk, or made rude comments that is a justified and understandable reason to not like them. If a company that bought a product from Intamin is not happy with the product then that is a reason to not want to deal with them again.

Thabto - you are not responsible for the maintenance of Intamin rides, you are also not responsible for making sure a park gets what they paid for. For you to have this venom towards Intamin and making comments that you wish they went under, those are the exact references I was referring to when I said that the venom some enthusiasts have for Intamin is laughable.

A ride being down for a few days is the nature of the beast, TTD experiencing downtime is a well known issue. Yet the fact remains that other than Kingda Ka there is nothing in the world like TTD, so I'll say it again - if it were so easy to make a ride better and with less maintenance than TTD someone would have done it already. It is a unique experience that you can't get anywhere else so while someone might be upset they couldn't ride it while at CP, they can't go anywhere else to ride something similar.

I have not had any personal dealings with Intamin, but I can sure as heck say that I love riding MF, TTD, and Maverick and therefore I am thankful that Intamin was around to build them.

When the president of the American division of the company comes at a site's webmaster, demanding personal information on the identity of its members who have spoken out against them, I'd say that's grounds enough for people to have a problem with them.

I love their rides, and I've long been a fan and defender, but there are some things that are just unacceptable.

No, they would not have done it already. These aren't commodity objects, they're one-of-a-kind attractions that are custom built for a specific customer in a very finite market.

JUnderhill said:

Yet the fact remains that other than Kingda Ka there is nothing in the world like TTD...

The statistics would beg to differ...

http://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&mo=8377

^ Every coaster on that list was built by whom? I also didn't see any that were close to 420' tall except for the new one coming to Ferrari land in Spain thus I will definitely hold to my original statement that TTD and Kingda Ka are indeed unique with nothing else like them in the world.

It would appear that there is indeed a market for accelerator coasters though, so I'm still not understanding why all of these other companies available to build one better, and more reliable have yet to do so.

In any event, I see that the head of Intamin made numerous boneheaded comments on many subjects, including to the family of a person killed on one of their rides. Why someone like that would continue to talk to anyone instead of having a dedicated PR person is beyond me.

I should probably step aside from this discussion now as I was not trying to defend Intamin, I just think it is a bit on the ridiculous side for some to have hatred towards them like they do when there was no personal interest involved. For that I will agree to disagree and leave it at that, on to more important things now - like why webcam 1 is still out!

Because Intamin made that webcam.

^thats more like it, was getting too serious in here.

I'll try to pull this topic back on track, I rode STR once back when it opened in 2010, I didn't think it was a horrible ride but I just don't like getting really wet on rides. The pace of the ride to is just so awfully slow which wrecks it.

Was anyone at the park today that got to see the wait times for the water rides? Curious to know. I wonder if STR ever gets a line down past the train tracks anymore? I remember opening year I waited down in that area. Doubt it is used much anymore except maybe on days like today. (A Saturday and hot)

Silverado09b said:

I'll try to pull this topic back on track, I rode STR once back when it opened in 2010, I didn't think it was a horrible ride but I just don't like getting really wet on rides. The pace of the ride to is just so awfully slow which wrecks it.

Rode STR twice and have to agree. Getting wet is one thing, getting drenched is another. Why do they need to literally pour water on you, aren't splashes over side of boat enough? I know the cannons could get you, but its nothing like the gallons of water pouring from in the canyon area.

BTW CPboy77 - park was packed Saturday! Soak City lot was completely full and SC was packed. I would assume water rides were the same

I went on this today and got drenched. It was a hot day, so I decided to go on it. I like getting just a little wet, but I think STR gets you a little too wet. And the ride was down for half the day today.

So, rode STR today. Waited about 45 minutes and to my surprise, not once did it break down while in line. Was impressed. The line seemed to move quick too. Did come off drenched, I think they added a new water feature? There was some type of hose that completely sprayed and soaked us after the canyon area on the island.

No new features have been added this season. The "hose" you mentioned is all a matter of timing and wind direction

CPboy77 said:
So, rode STR today. Waited about 45 minutes and to my surprise, not once did it break down while in line. Was impressed.

I think this sums up STR. We are impressed it didn't break down in a 45 minute period of time.

I'm surprised people came on here and didn't say TEAR IT DOWN!

Oh don't worry, Shawn. We will be here soon enough. Some of us would rather sleep or go out and do things and socialize rather than obsess over STR's status.

Oh and TAER IT DOWN!!!!1111

Just thought I would surprise everyone on here by saying the last 2 visits I've gone to Cedar Point, I did not ride Shoot the Rapids. I wanted to, but my friends weren't up for it. It's cool I haven't lost sleep over it. I plan to ride it a couple more times before Labor Day.

Long wait times Shawn?