[KIJester]

Anyone know why they are only running two trains on Timmy during this busy Holiday week? The lines were terribly long on Monday and there was a 3rd train sitting in the storage shed. The still shot from Cam 2 still confirms this is indeed the case today....

http://cs1.pixelcaster.com/carowinds/camera2.jpg

[RollerBee]

Because maintenance only has two trains on the track.

[dabrian]

The Intimidator crew is so much slower this year that the third train wouldn't make much difference. They were consistently stacking with two trains yesterday.

[aoriole19]

Seriously, why are they so slow?

I remember the first year Intimidator opened, they used to have competitions between each hour to see which one would have best capacity. I don't know if there was some kind of reward to the winning ride ops or it was just for fun, but I felt like they were into it and going fast and having fun. They should do this again. The people working there probably just need some motivation to go fast (I'm sure it's really easy to be unmotivated and slow when you've been working all day and it's super hot and the guests are annoying..)

[FUBAR]

The Intimidator crew is so much slower this year that the third train wouldn't make much difference. They were consistently stacking with two trains yesterday.

I rode a few times on Tuesday, and at one point the loading team was running races to see who could 'check' the train the fastest. by check i mean, touch each seat belt and slightly push on the lap-bar. The girl on the left side won.

As much as i hate the idea of paying for lockers, they really make Fury load fast. Of course i don't care about the lockers, as i just parent swap.

[swampfox43]

OK, so it's not just me noticing the dismal operating team on Intimidator. I was there last Sunday evening and the team running the 3 train operation were cutting up, too busy talking, flirting, making antics, while 2 trains were sitting on the brake runs.. I rode it several times and it was like that each time. The A TEAM has definitely left the building and moved over to FURY 325. Always thought CF had their act together a little better than that.

[Jonathan]

I don't know if it has anything to do with the problem here, but if you want to read an interesting thread on Cedar Fair's outsourcing of ride operations procedures to a consultant and the negative changes this has resulted in at Cedar Point, check this out: http://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/lots- ... op-podcast

It's a bit concerning.

[theintimidator]

I think they'll get faster. There was one point last season, mainly in July and August, where Intimidator's crew was stacking all three trains on every single cycle as well. I remember waiting for Intimidator when the line started outside of the queue. The trains stacked every single time. Then came September, right around the opening weekend of Scarowinds, where they significantly sped up. I hope we don't have to wait till then, but I know their operations will speed up.

[RollerBee]

It takes 2 maybe even times longer to dispatch Hurler than it took in 2006.
2006:
Lapbars are checked, Crew says clear while giving the hand signal. Drive position then says All clear, ride dispatches.

2015:
Lapbars are checked. Drive says Load Clear, Unload Clear, Scan(Ning), Dispatch then dispatches train.

Safety was no less important to Paramount but Capacity was always number two. Most likely it was changed for a reason but it slows capacity down, every second matters.

Yes I know it was ten years ago but it doesn't appear to me to have made the rides any safer.

[LocalYokel]

I was watching Carowinds from a bench outside Cabellas yesterday (waiting for someone, not stalking the park). Intimidator and Fury were dropping at around the same time for the 4 or 5 runs I watched. I was surprised because loading Intimidator feels so much slower than Fury.

[kirkgun]

I've noticed Intimidator is just all over the place, and completely unpredictable.

The Intimidator crew is so much slower this year that the third train wouldn't make much difference. They were consistently stacking with two trains yesterday.

Isn't that the unfortunate truth.

I guess I'm not the only one that has noticed that. They can be really awful. How they can run it so slowly (with only 2 trains) that it just means you'll be sitting on brakes for 2 minutes after the ride. They might as well just run only one train for those times. At least you wouldn't have to wait to get off the ride, after it is over.

Lately, I look at Intimidator as kind of being like Nighthawk. It's just something in the park to keep lines shorter for Fury and Afterburn. And combined with the fact that the seats are assigned (so, I stand very little chance of getting the back row) it just isn't worth it to stand in that line. That's a crying shame. It's a good ride, and the back row is just fantastic. It's too good of a ride to not bother riding it, most of the times we go.

[KenB]

Fury was stacking with 3 trains yesterday pretty consistently. Also, I noticed several people jumping into the Fastlane line that didn't seem to have the wristbands, and was awaiting their walk of shame when they got caught. Nope, they got on - and front seat, no less.

Cedar Fair is going entirely the wrong way from an operations standpoint, which used to be their strong point. Assigned seating which is hurting capacity rather than helping it, slow moving lines to get into the park and then once inside, and probably the most obnoxious implementation of a "skip the line" system out there are combining for a not terribly fun guest experience.

[Dharma_Guy]

I can only imagine management evaluating the crews to see who goes where. Obviously the best will be on the Fury 325 crew. I imagine that Intimidator was the A crew the past few seasons. I have noticed that Afterburn can be a little slow in the loading process a lot of times. The lines are usually quite short (well, during the week, I don't do weekends), so I would think it would load faster than it does. Not complaining about the short lines during the week though. But I agree that having the bins gone would speed up Intimidator and Afterburn similar to Fury 325. I can't really comment on Nighthawk. I just avoid that one completely, but I can understand the slow loading process on that one. I don't get to ride Vortex very often, because my girlfriend for some reason refuses to ride it. She will ride Fury 325, but not Vortex. I keep telling her there is nothing to it, but she is freaked out by standing on a ride. Oh well, at least she rides Fury.

[RollerBee]

My wife won a quick que pass for 2 people on Fury Sunday. It is a coupon, could this have been what you seen?

[KenB]

Doubt it. These guys walked in the regular line, then went under the railings near the stairs. They had no armbands and didn't seem to be carrying anything. If I had won passes I would just go in the Fastlane entrance and not act like I was a line jumper.