[coasterdave]

Came across this while I was checking one of the daily rags that the state gave the go ahead for the park to reopen cliffhanger. I might drop by as I am heading out of town today.

Source: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090701/NEWS01/90630123

[bgwfreak]

Thanks Dave for the heads up!

I'm going to call the park and if its open, I'm probably heading up there today or sometime this week to finally get that credit.

[Jonathan]

[youtube]gJWtaO8jd_o[/youtube]

[Davidtmp]

wow, that thing almost stops at one point! LOL I would probably be more nervous on the chair lift though. LOL

[DaveVan]

Looks cool....may have to go!

[swampfox43]

Thanks for the YouTube clip. I smell a road trip comin' on....
It appears they may let you take video cameras on too, just like they did in 1992.

If anybody gets there and feels like posting some better pics of the trains, I would love to see them.

The old O.D. Hopkins trains had a serious flaw, especially for backseat riders. There was a gap between the seat cushion and the back rest that opened to the outside of the train. My buddy's wallet fell out of his back pocket and went straight to the ground below.. Needless to say, the folks at Ghost Town were gracious enough to allow us in the secured area to search for it and we found it. Of course, I took that opportunity to video the ride from below the track. Yes, they kept running the ride while we were below it searching for the wallet.

Definitely not the theme park mentality we are so accustomed to at most parks.

[coasterdave]

I will be dropping by there in the morning since it seems my planned trip just had to many roadblocks in the way to pull it off. So I should have pics up by thursday night sometime.

[bgwfreak]

I got 11 rides on it today.

I was concerned it would have issues, but it greeted me as my chairlift got near the top and never stopped the whole day except for one maintenance check.

I like the new train, and the best way to describe it is to take a B&M Invert seat, and combine it with the Hypersonic seats. Yet, it's very comfortable.

Looks like the same people that did the drop tower, or the drop tower's seats did the seats/train for Cliff Hanger.

Anyway, I liked the ride but of course it's not anything that amazing. It does have pretty heavy g's coming out of the loop and whips you a lot in the very front and especially the back in that one section.

It's funny how they release the brakes and it creaks to life and just slow rolls out the station and picks up speed really quickly.

Oh and yes, it does slow down a lot coming out of the final half helix or whatever you'd call it. The first helix is taken at full speed.

I'll get a trip report up soon, maybe tomorrow. The camera is charging at the moment.

[John43221]

I made this little piece of art to commemorate the occasion. I sent them this file to use on their website, I hope they like it:

Picture 1.png (490.66KiB)Viewed 6459 times

[Davidtmp]

^^^Very nice John.

[coasterdave]

I can report that Cliffhanger was down all day today. I was there abit after opening and it never ran but the funny thing is I went to Guest Relations to ask if it was going to open and they said it was open as far as they knew. I said really it is then maybe you might want to get someone that knows what is going on to man this.

I will say that I was not one bit impressed with the operations of the park. I would say it is on par as it was the last year it was open. But if you buy tickets online or a season pass then you will have to wait 24 hours for it to show up at the park. Abit backwoods way if you ask me.

[bgwfreak]

Well that sucks. They'd better have it running this weekend with all the press they're getting over it.

[Jonathan]

Cliffhanger is still down, and will likely be down this weekend and into next week. Just a head's up in case anyone was thinking about going up during the holiday. Might want to call first.

[bgwfreak]

From the park...

Maggie Valley, NC - Park officials said this morning that they are pleased
to announce that the Cliffhanger has passed all necessary NC State
Inspections. As with any commissioning of such a unique and exciting
coaster, they are now finalizing minor modifications to the grounds and
coaster and are unable to open the coaster for the weekend. They are very
sorry for the inconvenience.

The world's only roller coaster that is literally located on the side of a
mountain, the Cliffhanger, opened Tuesday, June 30, at Ghost Town in the
Sky, Western North Carolina's mountain top theme park and family
destination. Then, on Thursday, July 2, the coaster was closed for
fine-tuning.

"There are minor issues that we ran into after Wednesday's full-day debut of
the coaster. As we've said all along, our guest's overall experience is our
number one priority," explains Steve Shiver, President and CEO of Ghost
Town. "Although we are disappointed, we will not jeopardize our guests'
safety or experience in any way."

"We have waited this long to open the coaster and because of our false
starts in the past, we want to make sure that all of our theming and the
complete Cliffhanger experience is satisfactory according to the high
standards I personally set when we embarked upon the renovations and
remaking of Ghost Town in the Sky. While we must endure this short term
inconvenience, we are preparing the park for our guests' enjoyment for many
years to come."

Ghost Town will have the coaster back in operation as soon as possible.

[derek_lentz]

Watching that video, it looks like the train barely has enough speed to make it back to the life hill. I wonder if rollbacks are a problem with that coaster.