CP's Wildcat rolled back...

[CedarPointer]

"Sandusky, OH (WWJ) -- A close call for some riders at Cedar Point.

A spokesman for the theme park told WWJ that a car on the Wild Cat ride suffered what's known as a "roll back," meaning the car didn't make it up the initial hill on the track Friday night--and rolled back down, slamming into some other cars.

Nine people were taken to a first aid station at the park. No one was seriously injured.

The incident was described as "highly unusual" by park officials."
(source) (http://www.wwj.com/pages/2228089.php?)
That doesn't sound fun.

[RoyT]

So it's confirmed as truth.

[ytivarg]

Old news.

[~LoveTulie]

How could it not make it up the first hill when it's on a chain? :bulb:

[marc0o0o0o]

I was wondering the same, Tulie... :bulb:

I have heard some rumors of this being removed from Cedar Point. Blah, I don't think they are removing a coaster for one roll back... On the other side, I have heard pretty bad reviews of the coaster, and it's ridership is on the floor... They might use that as an excuse to remove the coaster and make room for something else...? But I don't think so.

[TheSkipper]

There IS something suspicious, because you hear the roll back dogs clicking as you climb. Those prevent roll back

[p8ntball]

There IS something suspicious, because you hear the roll back dogs clicking as you climb. Those prevent roll back

Is there a vid somewhere?

[~LoveTulie]

I was wondering the same, Tulie... :bulb:

I have heard some rumors of this being removed from Cedar Point. Blah, I don't think they are removing a coaster for one roll back... On the other side, I have heard pretty bad reviews of the coaster, and it's ridership is on the floor... They might use that as an excuse to remove the coaster and make room for something else...? But I don't think so.

And to be honest, I wouldn't mind if it went. It's not that great a ride anyway, and I'll only go on it if there's barley any line. The line goes by extremely slow, and it's just not a great ride. But I can't really see anything better going there considering the small amount of space it occupies. Although, I'd love to see a Texas Twister from Geauga there ;)

[marc0o0o0o]

And to be honest, I wouldn't mind if it went. It's not that great a ride anyway, and I'll only go on it if there's barley any line. The line goes by extremely slow, and it's just not a great ride. But I can't really see anything better going there considering the small amount of space it occupies. Although, I'd love to see a Texas Twister from Geauga there ;)

Yeah, maybe not a coaster, but a nice flat ride would be good. I think they can fit 2 or 3 flats there.

[Cedar Point]

What happened to the anti-rollbacks?

"The riders suffered what is known as a rollback" makes me think that these guys don't really know carp 'bout coasters, maybe they mistook a different hill for the "initial" one?

There's no way in a kazillion years that every single anti-rollback device on the lift would fail.

[SnooSnoo]

If the one that is attached to the train fails.. anything on the track doesn't matter does it?

[JayAC]

If two cars collided, each one holding a maximum of four people, how come nine people were injured? :weird:

[RoyT]

Debris perhaps?

Which reminds me of that scene in Twister, where they are driving along, and these huge pieces of farming equipment start landing on the road they are on, and Jo says something along the lines of "We've got debris!" and Bill is like "DEBRIS?!".

[Bored Bunny]

Wildcat is closed for the rest of the year now :/

It seems to me that it didn't make it up the hill after the chainlift, not the chainlift itself, but I dunno.

[CedarPointer]

^Where did you read that?

[ytivarg]

If the one that is attached to the train fails.. anything on the track doesn't matter does it?

Correct.

[Bored Bunny]

^Where did you read that?
Here: http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22372

[CedarPointer]

"Further investagation reveiled that this is a design flaw: the anti-rollback never worked. As such, CP is forced to close down wildcat until it is either refitted or removed."
That's hilarious.

[Cedar Point]

WTF? How come nobody discovered that the anti-rollbacks never worked? I'm gonna need a second source to believe that.

[Bored Bunny]

WTF? How come nobody discovered that the anti-rollbacks never worked? I'm gonna need a second source to believe that.
Well, I guess they never tested them and they were never needed until now, so no-one knew about it :/ That's my guess.

[SnooSnoo]

^The test them every single day.. park, company, and state policy.

The ride malfunctioned, simple as.

[TheSkipper]

Here: http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22372

This is an 18 year old's "report" of hearsay from some employee's. There is nothing official to indicate the rollbacks NEVER worked... Doubt if there ever will be...

[BoRJoYZeE]

"The incident was described as "highly unusual" by park officials."

There IS something suspicious, because you hear the roll back dogs clicking as you climb. Those prevent roll back

Yes, rare indeed. So, it is highly unusual, but things can happen.

[Bored Bunny]

This is an 18 year old's "report" of hearsay from some employee's. There is nothing official to indicate the rollbacks NEVER worked... Doubt if there ever will be...
Well, you're right, we don't know if the rollbacks did work or not. But we do know that the ride is closed for a while, or at least until they fix that problem.

[marc0o0o0o]

If two cars collided, each one holding a maximum of four people, how come nine people were injured? :weird:

They never said they were 2 trains. They could've been 3 trains, with 3 people on each.


Now I wouldn't be surprised if they removed the coaster... That might be just an excuse to remove the ride.

[RoyT]

And replace it with a SkySwat. :)

[TheSkipper]

I can think of a place a Swat would be handy....

[CedarPointer]

They should replace it with a motobike coaster. (actually, I would not be shocked if a small coaster was a replacment, I'm sure CP would rather not go back to 16 coasters)

[RoyT]

Well obviously, whatever they replace it with, it can not interfere with Hot Summer Lights.

[ytivarg]

Who said they were replacing it?

[SnooSnoo]

^The Dippin Dots guy.

[Cedar Point]

Lemon Chill guy, actually.

[RoyT]

I thought it was Dick Kinzel's mailman...

[Harpo]

There's a very good article about it here: http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19717349&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46371&rfi=6

It answers many of the questions that have been asked in this thread.

For example, the article says:
"An inspector from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which licenses amusement park rides, traced the cause to an 8-inch stretch of track near the crest of the hill, where the lift chain releases the car and gravity draws it downward, said Cindy Brown, communications director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture."

It also had this quote from Robin Innes:
"'It's a very popular ride,' Innes said. 'We have an excellent safety program. It's very important for us to determine the cause and make those changes. Guest and employee safety is the number one priority at Cedar Point.'"

From the sounds of the article, Cedar Point intends to make the repairs and get the ride running again.

[~LoveTulie]

^Good to hear, even though I never go on it...

[CedarPointer]

^^ From what they said, it does sound as if the anti-rollback didn't work (it "didn't do what it needed to do" apparently...).

[SnooSnoo]

To put it short, if a train rolls back down the hill.. it shouldn't.. basically. If it does, something is broken larger then 'a piece of track at the top of the hill'.

I smell some BS.

[RoyT]

Unless it's TTD. :p

[~LoveTulie]

Unless it's TTD. :p

Nobody would make a big deal out of that. It happens all the time now.

[Westcot]

I understand that the ride is a classic and it has a very high ridership, but it's rather old and would be better replaced by a new Pony Express-type coaster or a new spinning wild mouse.

I may be missing something here, but I think that once this happens to a ride with the age it's at, it should just be replaced.

[CedarPointer]

Nobody would make a big deal out of that. It happens all the time now.
Then how come it never happens when I'm on it? :mad:
Jk.

[~LoveTulie]

Then how come it never happens when I'm on it? :mad:
Jk.

Haha okay well not all the time. It happens occasionally though!
I hopefully will go on it on Friday for my first time! Hopefully I get a rollback. :p

[SnooSnoo]

I understand that the ride is a classic and it has a very high ridership, but it's rather old and would be better replaced by a new Pony Express-type coaster or a new spinning wild mouse.

I may be missing something here, but I think that once this happens to a ride with the age it's at, it should just be replaced.


The space of a Schwarzkopf Wildcat model is.. small. Replacing it with coasters of that size just won't work with the boundries on either end of the ride.

While, they could dig into the midway, it seems doubtful.

Right now, they will try and fix the problem.

btw.. Wildcat was never popular.. ever.. lol

[Jekoon]

They should replace it with a B&M hyper or a Dive Machine.

[~LoveTulie]

They should replace it with a B&M hyper or a Dive Machine.

Yeah because Wildcat has that amount of room to make a coaster that big...

[CedarPointer]

Haha okay well not all the time. It happens occasionally though!
I hopefully will go on it on Friday for my first time! Hopefully I get a rollback. :p
Good luck!

The space of a Schwarzkopf Wildcat model is.. small. Replacing it with coasters of that size just won't work with the boundries on either end of the ride.

While, they could dig into the midway, it seems doubtful.

Right now, they will try and fix the problem.

btw.. Wildcat was never popular.. ever.. lol
Good point. (http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=41.48047%7E-82.68442&style=a&lvl=17&tilt=-38.7714511538556&dir=0&alt=1135.37450886052&cam=41.469343%7E-82.68566&scene=2369458&phx=0.159515176385076&phy=-0.312550433599195&phscl=10.4375&encType=1)A wildmouse would fit...

[Westcot]

They should replace it with a B&M hyper or a Dive Machine.

And I thought my ideas were a little far-fetched. :weird:

Why a B&M hyper when they already have some hyper coasters (and the size too)? Plus, Busch Gardens has the rights to the dive machine design until 2012 I believe, and it's still too big.

A very compact wild mouse could fit in there if they wanted to, but a really cool flat ride would always be a good idea in the future. SnooSnoo is more than likely right that they will just repair it and let it continue to run.

[Garfield 06]

Hey, they still are running DT...

G-06

[~LoveTulie]

Hey, they still are running DT...

G-06

Now, if they got rid of DT, that could clear up a LOT of room for a Dive Machine or a B&M Flyer!

[Cedar Point]

DT can just go die.

As for Wildcat, I'm not surprised. According to Harpo's CP Virtual Tour, the wind used to stop Wildcat in its tracks while going around the course. I'd bet money that the wind had something to do with this.

EDIT: Oh, and I have to address this as well.
And I thought my ideas were a little far-fetched. :weird:

Why a B&M hyper when they already have some hyper coasters (and the size too)? Plus, Busch Gardens has the rights to the dive machine design until 2012 I believe, and it's still too big.

A very compact wild mouse could fit in there if they wanted to, but a really cool flat ride would always be a good idea in the future. SnooSnoo is more than likely right that they will just repair it and let it continue to run.
A B&M Hyper and an Arrow Hyper are two completely different things. Totally different styles. I know that BG has the rights to the DM, but until 2012? I didn't know it was that long.

Meh, I don't really see the point in replacing a wild mouse with a wild mouse. Most people won't even know the difference. And it eems like a really awkward place for a "really cool flat ride". The ride itself would probably fit in the space, but if is a "really cool" flat ride, then there's going to be big queues for it. There's not much of a queue for WC, so the queue would spill out onto the midway, which would be a total disaster.

I'm not saying that they're putting in a B&M Hyper or any other ride. WC's footprint simply isn't big enough. I'm going to agree with SnooSnoo and say they're just going to repair it and let it run.

[Harpo]

To put it short, if a train rolls back down the hill.. it shouldn't.. basically. If it does, something is broken larger then 'a piece of track at the top of the hill'.

I smell some BS.

Actually, it seems reasonable to me that a problem at the top of the hill could cause the car to go all the way to the bottom without being stopped.

The anti-rollbacks are relatively small pieces of metal attached to the cars. The reason there are so many ratchets on the lift is that the piece of metal can handle a very short rollback (and I've been on Wildcat when such a thing has happened -- had to walk off the lift), but I would expect that it is likely to break if there is a rollback of even one or two feet. I expect that the momentum would be too much for that little piece of metal to stop.

So, if an 8 foot section of track was misaligned such that the anti-rollback was unable to function, and the vehicle rolled down most of that distance, I would consider it very likely that the anti-rollback device would snap off, causing the car to roll back the rest of the way down the hill. The car would be slowed by the tire drives, hence it wouldn't hit the station at full speed, but it probably would be going at a fairly good speed.