Antinos
Slut for Spinners
I was fortunate enough to acquire a ticket to this event and it was a fantastic experience. It was great to see all of the behind the scenes work that happens at the park as well as learning about the projects that either hadn't been announced yet or just went under the radar. All proceeds of the event were donated to A Kid Again charity, which gives underprivileged children opportunities to live a better life. Overall, this year's Winter Chill Out raised $40,000.
The tour started at Midway Market (located by Raptor) where the park provided hot chocolate, coffee, and muffins as we waited for our group timeslot. Our first stop was the picnic pavilions between the main entrance and Blue Streak. These pavilions historically have been converted into maintenance shops, although with Halloweekends expansion and Gatekeeper's dive loop, the usable area has shrunk considerably. They walked us through a carpentry shop and then through the Zombie High haunted house with the lights on. They have some interesting methods of constructing all of the props and elements inside the haunted house.
Millennium Force was the next tour stop for a photo op. All three trains recently completed their winter refurbishment and are awaiting reassembly on the transfer tracks. Millennium Force will be running on new road wheels this year:
Next was Steel Vengeance. I'll simply link to my post in the Steel Vengeance thread.
Following the Steel Vengeance portion of the tour, we stopped by Top Thrill Dragster for a peek into the motor room. This thing made me feel things. The system pressurizes the hydraulic fluid to 4,500 PSI by means of superheated nitrogen (the nitrogen expands when heated and hydraulic fluid is about as incompressible as a fluid can be - it's a beautiful recipe). The ride's computer collect's the train's speed as it crests the hill for the previous six launches, averages them, and adjusts the valve's flow rate. When the system reaches pressure, the valves open, the fluid rushes through the hoses and converges into the drum. The valves (there's one in the bottom right corner of the picture - it looks like three cylinders stacked on top of each other) are a special, extremely heavy duty type of valve called a blow valve. As previously mentioned, the ride's computer controls how much they open, even under 4,500 PSI. This sort of system allows the ride to compensate for different temperatures, rider weights, and wind speeds as long as these variables are not too extreme.
As a bit of an aside, my buddy who I attended the event with is a process engineer for Detroit Edison power generation and his job is to keep multiple power plants in operation. The steam tanks at his plants operate at HALF the PSI of Top Thrill Dragster which really puts a good perspective on just how completely insane Intamin's hydraulic launch system is.
As the hydraulic fluid converges in the drum, it forces its way through an impeller, which causes the drum to turn. The drum accelerates up to 540 RPM, pulling the cable and launching the train at 120 MPH. The overall horsepower of Top Thrill Dragster's hydraulic launch motor is 4,700 HP. Also, the red ring on which all the hoses are mounted is roughly six feet in diameter. There is a ladder next to the motor for scale. The entire room actually goes down about another six feet lower than what you can see. It's pretty lewd.
The green tanks store nitrogen and the red tanks are the hydraulic accumulators:
Still at Top Thrill Dragster, they had the catch car on display as it's awaiting re-installation. One thing that is completely blowing my mind is that it does not have any sort of wheel or bearing (unless I just can't see them or they're not installed yet). It appears that this entire mechanism slides through the trough with low friction pads interfacing with the trough itself:
Prior to two presentations in their conference rooms, we stopped by the old stadium plot. They stated that they are not ready to announce what's happening with the land, but did state that it will likely be an open area with views of the beach for this summer. I like it - it really opens up the midway:
Maverick's trains awaiting a short ride back to Frontiertown:
Alright, the first presentation was a rapid fire announcement session by Tony Clark and Jason McClure. They're quite a dynamic duo! I honestly do not remember everything that they announced so here is the full list from CP Rundown:
The highlights...aside from Steel Vengeance:
- CoasterMania tickets go on sale on March 6th, NOT at any particular time. The park is not announcing a time because they don't want the site to crash.
- Basically all of Frontiertown is getting an overhaul. There will be tons of new shows and food options and many of the buildings are getting a facelift.
- Actually...there's a plethora ****load of new food options. If you visit the park frequently, it actually might be worth getting the dining pass.
- Luminosity is sadly getting replaced by a new show called Vertical Impact, which was described as a hybrid between Luminosity and All Wheels Extreme.
- Iron Dragon VR will return with the same format and schedule.
- Chick-Fil-A is returning.
- The tunnel effects in Maverick are getting fixed!
The park also gave us some information on the rest of their marketing department and showed us a preview of their marketing campaign which will kick off soon. They showed us a 60 second commercial which...is pretty out there. It honestly felt like I was watching one of those philosophical car commercials where the product is 'more than just the product' but the commercial does align with their mission.
Basically, the park is completely aware that it was a concrete slab with tons of coasters on it at the end of the Kinzel era and they've been working ever since to transform their image into being a resort with so much more to offer. This mission is evident in their projects since Ouimet joined the team. The hotels have been updated, they're really pushing people to visit the beach, Cedar Point Shores has more to offer, and the new RV sites expand availability for something that's actually in high demand at the park. The mission is also evident in their ride projects. Gatekeeper revitalized that whole corner of the park and included a new entrance. Valravn added a ton of life to its section of the park. Finally, Frontiertown is getting a revitalization with Steel Vengeance.
Lastly, Cedar Point is even pushing for improvements in the community. Their Sports Force park is a great first step to providing more activities under the Cedar Point umbrella. The park has been active in initiatives to keep Lake Erie clean and is also lobbying the city to tax admission tickets (yes, you read that correctly) such that the city of Sandusky gains more revenue. The park has partnered with numerous charities (A Kid Again, LeBron James Foundation, etc) and businesses (Cleveland Cavaliers, Bowling Green State University, etc) for outreach purposes. One of the goals of these partnerships is to get a university to build a satellite campus in Sandusky. Overall, Cedar Point has tons of big ideas to improve not only the park, but the entire region.
Woah...back to the tour. The next stop was a walkthrough of the Intamin maintenance shop. Maverick's and Top Thrill Dragster's trains are still undergoing winter refurbishment. It was interesting to see both rides' stripped down chassis next to each other (from a design standpoint, Top Thrill Dragster appears to have functional holes cut in the chassis whereas Maverick's design contains a bunch of lightweighting). Certain parts undergo non-destructive testing to determine the part's overall health and if it needs to be replaced. Earlier in the post, I mentioned that Millennium Force will be running on new road wheels in 2018 and the same is true for Top Thrill Dragster. For the Intamin rides, Cedar Point has a urethane supplier out in California who removes the old urethane from the steel rims and applies new material before sending them back to the park. The park has another supplier in Cleveland for the other coasters (that don't go 120 mph). Also, Maverick will receive new seats for 2018.
Next door to the Intamin shop is the laundry facility (btw, these buildings are all sort of around the water tower). The park washes employee uniforms and all linens and towels from the hotels and water parks (including Castaway Bay). It's a pretty hardcore operation in here - there are dozens of industrial size washers and dryers as well as about a half dozen folding machines.
Following the laundry facility walkthrough was lunch. The park served salad, chicken wings, and mac n cheese with a topping bar. Cedar Point provided a 2018 calendar on the way out of the park and also had each of the park's CoasterDynamix metal cutout coasters on display (I did not realize that they actually have most of the coasters). It was a neat little display.
Before returning to Detroit, we stopped by The Amazement Shop as part of a 'bonus' to the tour. The Amazement Shop is Cedar Point's additional maintenance shop which refurbishes the B&M and Arrow coasters and some other rides. The shop is located across the street from Castaway Bay.
Look closely at the left side of this photo. You will see Mantis' restraint check station laying on a pallet. The park held onto this to be used as a training unit for new employees:
The shop also contains a paint booth where the park repaints the ride vehicles. The park utilizes automotive paints for both the vehicles and also the ride structures. Ride vehicles undergo a multi-stage paint process with a clear coat, but ride structures undergo a one-stage process where the protective coat is integrated into the main paint. As we've seen on CF in the past, the park contracts a company that specializes in ride repainting for when the coasters need a freshening. Witch's Wheel coaches are currently receiving some TLC and will have a fresh coat of paint for 2018.
Winterfest. One question that came up while on the tour is whether Cedar Point would be hosting Winterfest in the future. Although the park would love to host the event at some point, it actually is not feasible to do so due to infrastructure. Cedar Point winterizes all plumbing as soon as the park closes for the season because the plumbing is only six inches underground. Failure to winterize the bathrooms, kitchens, fountains, etc would result in the pipes freezing and bursting. This adds constraints on where people would go to the bathroom, how food would be served, etc. So now we know...the park knows the event would be great to put on, but that damn water table would really cause a mess of things.
So there's the 2018 Winter Chill Out. If you're within a reasonable distance to the park and haven't been, I encourage you to attend in 2019. It's a great event put on for a great cause, you get to see some sweet behind the scenes things, and you also get to learn some interesting tidbits about the park along the way.
The tour started at Midway Market (located by Raptor) where the park provided hot chocolate, coffee, and muffins as we waited for our group timeslot. Our first stop was the picnic pavilions between the main entrance and Blue Streak. These pavilions historically have been converted into maintenance shops, although with Halloweekends expansion and Gatekeeper's dive loop, the usable area has shrunk considerably. They walked us through a carpentry shop and then through the Zombie High haunted house with the lights on. They have some interesting methods of constructing all of the props and elements inside the haunted house.
Millennium Force was the next tour stop for a photo op. All three trains recently completed their winter refurbishment and are awaiting reassembly on the transfer tracks. Millennium Force will be running on new road wheels this year:
Next was Steel Vengeance. I'll simply link to my post in the Steel Vengeance thread.
Following the Steel Vengeance portion of the tour, we stopped by Top Thrill Dragster for a peek into the motor room. This thing made me feel things. The system pressurizes the hydraulic fluid to 4,500 PSI by means of superheated nitrogen (the nitrogen expands when heated and hydraulic fluid is about as incompressible as a fluid can be - it's a beautiful recipe). The ride's computer collect's the train's speed as it crests the hill for the previous six launches, averages them, and adjusts the valve's flow rate. When the system reaches pressure, the valves open, the fluid rushes through the hoses and converges into the drum. The valves (there's one in the bottom right corner of the picture - it looks like three cylinders stacked on top of each other) are a special, extremely heavy duty type of valve called a blow valve. As previously mentioned, the ride's computer controls how much they open, even under 4,500 PSI. This sort of system allows the ride to compensate for different temperatures, rider weights, and wind speeds as long as these variables are not too extreme.
As a bit of an aside, my buddy who I attended the event with is a process engineer for Detroit Edison power generation and his job is to keep multiple power plants in operation. The steam tanks at his plants operate at HALF the PSI of Top Thrill Dragster which really puts a good perspective on just how completely insane Intamin's hydraulic launch system is.
As the hydraulic fluid converges in the drum, it forces its way through an impeller, which causes the drum to turn. The drum accelerates up to 540 RPM, pulling the cable and launching the train at 120 MPH. The overall horsepower of Top Thrill Dragster's hydraulic launch motor is 4,700 HP. Also, the red ring on which all the hoses are mounted is roughly six feet in diameter. There is a ladder next to the motor for scale. The entire room actually goes down about another six feet lower than what you can see. It's pretty lewd.
The green tanks store nitrogen and the red tanks are the hydraulic accumulators:
Still at Top Thrill Dragster, they had the catch car on display as it's awaiting re-installation. One thing that is completely blowing my mind is that it does not have any sort of wheel or bearing (unless I just can't see them or they're not installed yet). It appears that this entire mechanism slides through the trough with low friction pads interfacing with the trough itself:
Prior to two presentations in their conference rooms, we stopped by the old stadium plot. They stated that they are not ready to announce what's happening with the land, but did state that it will likely be an open area with views of the beach for this summer. I like it - it really opens up the midway:
Maverick's trains awaiting a short ride back to Frontiertown:
Alright, the first presentation was a rapid fire announcement session by Tony Clark and Jason McClure. They're quite a dynamic duo! I honestly do not remember everything that they announced so here is the full list from CP Rundown:
The highlights...aside from Steel Vengeance:
- CoasterMania tickets go on sale on March 6th, NOT at any particular time. The park is not announcing a time because they don't want the site to crash.
- Basically all of Frontiertown is getting an overhaul. There will be tons of new shows and food options and many of the buildings are getting a facelift.
- Actually...there's a plethora ****load of new food options. If you visit the park frequently, it actually might be worth getting the dining pass.
- Luminosity is sadly getting replaced by a new show called Vertical Impact, which was described as a hybrid between Luminosity and All Wheels Extreme.
- Iron Dragon VR will return with the same format and schedule.
- Chick-Fil-A is returning.
- The tunnel effects in Maverick are getting fixed!
The park also gave us some information on the rest of their marketing department and showed us a preview of their marketing campaign which will kick off soon. They showed us a 60 second commercial which...is pretty out there. It honestly felt like I was watching one of those philosophical car commercials where the product is 'more than just the product' but the commercial does align with their mission.
Basically, the park is completely aware that it was a concrete slab with tons of coasters on it at the end of the Kinzel era and they've been working ever since to transform their image into being a resort with so much more to offer. This mission is evident in their projects since Ouimet joined the team. The hotels have been updated, they're really pushing people to visit the beach, Cedar Point Shores has more to offer, and the new RV sites expand availability for something that's actually in high demand at the park. The mission is also evident in their ride projects. Gatekeeper revitalized that whole corner of the park and included a new entrance. Valravn added a ton of life to its section of the park. Finally, Frontiertown is getting a revitalization with Steel Vengeance.
Lastly, Cedar Point is even pushing for improvements in the community. Their Sports Force park is a great first step to providing more activities under the Cedar Point umbrella. The park has been active in initiatives to keep Lake Erie clean and is also lobbying the city to tax admission tickets (yes, you read that correctly) such that the city of Sandusky gains more revenue. The park has partnered with numerous charities (A Kid Again, LeBron James Foundation, etc) and businesses (Cleveland Cavaliers, Bowling Green State University, etc) for outreach purposes. One of the goals of these partnerships is to get a university to build a satellite campus in Sandusky. Overall, Cedar Point has tons of big ideas to improve not only the park, but the entire region.
Woah...back to the tour. The next stop was a walkthrough of the Intamin maintenance shop. Maverick's and Top Thrill Dragster's trains are still undergoing winter refurbishment. It was interesting to see both rides' stripped down chassis next to each other (from a design standpoint, Top Thrill Dragster appears to have functional holes cut in the chassis whereas Maverick's design contains a bunch of lightweighting). Certain parts undergo non-destructive testing to determine the part's overall health and if it needs to be replaced. Earlier in the post, I mentioned that Millennium Force will be running on new road wheels in 2018 and the same is true for Top Thrill Dragster. For the Intamin rides, Cedar Point has a urethane supplier out in California who removes the old urethane from the steel rims and applies new material before sending them back to the park. The park has another supplier in Cleveland for the other coasters (that don't go 120 mph). Also, Maverick will receive new seats for 2018.
Next door to the Intamin shop is the laundry facility (btw, these buildings are all sort of around the water tower). The park washes employee uniforms and all linens and towels from the hotels and water parks (including Castaway Bay). It's a pretty hardcore operation in here - there are dozens of industrial size washers and dryers as well as about a half dozen folding machines.
Following the laundry facility walkthrough was lunch. The park served salad, chicken wings, and mac n cheese with a topping bar. Cedar Point provided a 2018 calendar on the way out of the park and also had each of the park's CoasterDynamix metal cutout coasters on display (I did not realize that they actually have most of the coasters). It was a neat little display.
Before returning to Detroit, we stopped by The Amazement Shop as part of a 'bonus' to the tour. The Amazement Shop is Cedar Point's additional maintenance shop which refurbishes the B&M and Arrow coasters and some other rides. The shop is located across the street from Castaway Bay.
Look closely at the left side of this photo. You will see Mantis' restraint check station laying on a pallet. The park held onto this to be used as a training unit for new employees:
The shop also contains a paint booth where the park repaints the ride vehicles. The park utilizes automotive paints for both the vehicles and also the ride structures. Ride vehicles undergo a multi-stage paint process with a clear coat, but ride structures undergo a one-stage process where the protective coat is integrated into the main paint. As we've seen on CF in the past, the park contracts a company that specializes in ride repainting for when the coasters need a freshening. Witch's Wheel coaches are currently receiving some TLC and will have a fresh coat of paint for 2018.
Winterfest. One question that came up while on the tour is whether Cedar Point would be hosting Winterfest in the future. Although the park would love to host the event at some point, it actually is not feasible to do so due to infrastructure. Cedar Point winterizes all plumbing as soon as the park closes for the season because the plumbing is only six inches underground. Failure to winterize the bathrooms, kitchens, fountains, etc would result in the pipes freezing and bursting. This adds constraints on where people would go to the bathroom, how food would be served, etc. So now we know...the park knows the event would be great to put on, but that damn water table would really cause a mess of things.
So there's the 2018 Winter Chill Out. If you're within a reasonable distance to the park and haven't been, I encourage you to attend in 2019. It's a great event put on for a great cause, you get to see some sweet behind the scenes things, and you also get to learn some interesting tidbits about the park along the way.
