the coaster lineup felt like it was lacking ever since montezooma and xcelerator closed, glad it's finally back open, hopefully we get a montezooma replacement in the next year or two
It totally felt that way! The energy from all was incredible! And having so many executives and whatnot around. I had a gazillion cameras on me when I was sitting in the front row on that first train. Was a rockstar moment! And the excitement continued throughout the day. As I'm sure it'll be today and the following days to come. People are pumped for Xcelerator. And with good reason. It's an incredible ride. One of the best launches anywhere in the world.
Excellent to see the fans of Knott's finally get their champion back. It made me happy to see YOU so happy. I could hear the joy in your voice and I know the feeling. Let's hope the (new) Six Flags will realize the value of their star attractions and show them the love they deserve. 👍👍👍
Yes, so yes. 1st ride yesterday in 20 months. First time for two oldest one in 4 years. And first time ever for youngest. All loved it as always and the youngest she was terrified but exhilarated at the same time.
Omg the brothers behind you. I grew up going to knotts since the 90's, I ended up working there as my first job ( soak city life guard ) the year they opened. I was 16 and Im now 36 I have seen those brothers at knotts (minute 19:45) since then. I still own a knotts pass to this day and see them REGULARLY. The ultimate KBF fanatics. Back in the day they used to mingle and chat with people in queue, now a days I just see them sticking together and hanging out rushing everywhich way to ride coasters. I cant remember their names for the life of me, but I've seen them my entire life almost.
Oh nice! They were in front of me in line. One of them recognized me from these videos. And we chatted for a bit. I never knew they were regulars. Very cool. Thanks for the story. 😀
I’ll never forget my first xcelerator ride. What a ride man. The view as you slowly get over is just so cool. Feels like time stops. One of the best first time coasters. Used to scare me shitless as a kid though. Still does.
Exciting news! I sadly never got to ride it because I went when it was closed but hopefully I will make a return in the near future. Hope to see red train on the track too
There's only a handful of rides in the world where when riders return to the starion, everyone is clapping and yelling. Knott's is fortunate to have one, the other that I know of, is FURY 325. Every, single, cycle.
People also clap, wolf whistle and yell for Shambhala at Port Adventura. When it arrives back in the station, it’s known to get a round of applause and whoops and hollers. That’s one of the only rides I know of in Europe that has the same effect as Xcellerator! 😂
While i still think xcelerator is on borrowed time. Its good to have it back for now. I hope i can get one last ride before the day comes though. I love this thing to death
Im pretty sure I've met the ride op that rode Xcelerator first. If I'm right he used to work Montazooma's, he's a ACE member too! At least he looks familiar.
An OG fan! Love it! And what a crazy day that was! I remember a random guest walking up to Sandor and asking him about the ride. They had zero idea who he was. His lit up and was so excited to tell them about ze hydraulic launch.
From what I understand, this family of launch coasters needs warm up runs, then weighted runs to calibrate the launch. A major operating issue I’ve seen with Knott’s even pre pandemic is that a lot of their attractions are not ready to run when the park opens. Ghostrider seems to be the only one ready to go once the front gates let people in. Maybe the railroad.
That's exactly what I was thinking. The control system is having to learn with weighted launches vs empty launches. I remember seeing that about Top Thrill Dragster, how it based its launch pressure off of the previous 3 launches.
Chris can't wait to ride this with you hopefully next summer. Also I read today that Cedar Fair won't be putting the SF name on their Parks, and vice versa that CF won't be on SF. Parks. Just on merchandise etc.
I finally rode this because X2 was down and it was the most powerful acceleration I’ve ever felt. No matter how many times I rode it my body never caught up with. It’s the 2nd best ride in California
OMG ITS BACK…THIS IS THE BIGGEST BUCKET LIST INTAMIN ACCELERATOR…or shall I say Xcelerator…AND I AM SO GLAD ITS BACK!!! If it’s anything as good as Storm Runner, I’m so excited!!!
Hope you get to ride it soon. We were at Hersheypark earlier this year. I forgot how good Storm Runner is. But I like Xcelerator a bit more. Even though it's shorter, the launch is one of the best and the 200 foot tall top hat is amazing. Also great to have lap bars only.
@AmericasCoasterNetwork I know. I love Intamin, but their rides are so problematic🤣 I'm already picturing Hollywood Drift opening day. The coaster will be up, then down, then up, then down.... it's a prototype...
The only thing weirder than standing in line for 4 hours for a coaster is watching a video of someone standing in line for 4 hours for a coaster. But I still watched the whole thing. All the riders looked SO happy to be there for such a fortuitous comeback!
It wasn't quite as bad as it looked. The switchbacks weren't being used. But, given how much it was breaking down, I feel bad for those way in the back.
Maybe? But it was a fairly significant part that broke. And one that was original to the ride (from my understanding). So it should be good for a long time.
I hope it's open Friday, I'm going and hopefully it's running, I'm just a little nervous because I never been on anything like this Edit: rode it twice, what an amazing experience
There was a crack in the winch drum for the hydraulic launch. Needed a full replacement. But it was one of a kind (Xcelerator being the prototype). So had to be custom made. And, with supply chain issues, it took a very long time.
The reason this coaster is down all the time is due to the hydraulic launch as I recently visited SFGA (six flags great adventure) Kingda Ka broke down a bunch the day I was there so yea dragster as we know was a failure and kenzel even said it was his biggest mistake to 💀
I was wondering the same at the time of the video. But found out it was because maintenance needed full trains to work on an issue they were having where the train wasn't stopping in the correct spot in the station when fully loaded. This was faster than loading water dummies.
This is one reason TopThrill switched to LSMs from this launch system for the reimagining of the attraction. Such a unreliable launch, more problems than its worth IMO.
I’m sorry but it is so annoying everyone pulling their phone out to record their life instead of actually living it. I can’t stand people that can’t live without their smart phones. Makes me glad I grew up when I did where even at age 25 they were still new and not everyone had one. I dont think I had one til I was 26 in 2011 and the novelty has definitely worn off with so much of seeing everyone glued to them and the horrible creation of Tik-Tok.
Sorry about that. I just left it up to TH-cam to set the amount. But I totally feel ya. I've had TH-cam Premium forever. And when I'm on a different account and get with an advertisement, I'm like "WTF. This is annoying." Hopefully it was only every 5 minutes or so. Which is how I'd typically set it if I did it manually. I still might go in and make sure the breaks are at appropriate points in the video. Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah. I was honestly shocked the employees didn't all get to ride prior to the line opening up to the public. It's why I was caught off guard with the line opening seemingly out of nowhere. Because I knew employees hadn't ridden yet. And then it would have been understandable to mix employee rides in with the general public waiting in line. But I couldn't understand why they sent so many employee trains in a row. Only thought is that it was because they were still having issues with the coaster and would rather have the employees on. Because, otherwise, it would have made more sense to given the employees ride time after the park closed.
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork It looked very odd sending some public, then employees, then empty, then employees, then empty??? It didn’t look like there was someone in charge who knew what they were doing. They would never allow employees to ride if something was wrong. I think they were just being cautious but then why open to public? They should have just ran it empty until satisfied, then run 20 or 30 trains with employees and then open instead of open and then think, what about employees…to bad now they can wait until tomorrow.
So, I confirmed what I was thinking during the wait. The employees were being used as water dummies of sorts. For maintenance to test out some things with a full train. Annoying, but understandable.
Thanks. Yeah I'm about half way between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's. Universal Studios being the closest. I can't wait for them to have a legitimate coaster.
Seeing Xcelerator reopening is a rare sighting now. After almost 2 years, its now revving up on the Boardwalk.
Yes! The Boardwalk was so quiet without it running.
Without it, Boardwalk is gonna be quiet forever. But at least it's back open. Gonna go there for my birthday.
It probably won’t last long, then they’ll cheap/lame out for a weak sauce lsm launch
Not really to be exact
@@NicEeEe843the launch is great
the coaster lineup felt like it was lacking ever since montezooma and xcelerator closed, glad it's finally back open, hopefully we get a montezooma replacement in the next year or two
💯
Because, of lack of customer service and maintenance of maintaining their rollercoasters for years. KNOTTS SUCKS
@@mikebrown2948Great America is better at maintaining their coasters than Knott’s.
@@mikebrown2948better off going to scary farm part
It feels like a new attraction opening.
It totally felt that way! The energy from all was incredible! And having so many executives and whatnot around. I had a gazillion cameras on me when I was sitting in the front row on that first train. Was a rockstar moment! And the excitement continued throughout the day. As I'm sure it'll be today and the following days to come. People are pumped for Xcelerator. And with good reason. It's an incredible ride. One of the best launches anywhere in the world.
lol, I was there for the re-opening! It is back better than ever!
real
There is no footage out there that does proper justice for a lot of things and this beast is definitely one of em! Highly recommend this ride!
Excellent to see the fans of Knott's finally get their champion back. It made me happy to see YOU so happy. I could hear the joy in your voice and I know the feeling. Let's hope the (new) Six Flags will realize the value of their star attractions and show them the love they deserve. 👍👍👍
Me being happy making you happy makes me happy! And, yes, I hope the merger is beneficial for both CF and SF parks.
It’ll break down again before march 2024
Yes, so yes. 1st ride yesterday in 20 months. First time for two oldest one in 4 years. And first time ever for youngest. All loved it as always and the youngest she was terrified but exhilarated at the same time.
Sounds like a memorable day for all of you! 😀
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork Yep rushed over after work once I saw it on social media.
I’m ready to go! If there is no other OG to take it’s place, it’s a good day
Omg the brothers behind you. I grew up going to knotts since the 90's, I ended up working there as my first job ( soak city life guard ) the year they opened. I was 16 and Im now 36 I have seen those brothers at knotts (minute 19:45) since then. I still own a knotts pass to this day and see them REGULARLY. The ultimate KBF fanatics. Back in the day they used to mingle and chat with people in queue, now a days I just see them sticking together and hanging out rushing everywhich way to ride coasters. I cant remember their names for the life of me, but I've seen them my entire life almost.
Oh nice! They were in front of me in line. One of them recognized me from these videos. And we chatted for a bit. I never knew they were regulars. Very cool. Thanks for the story. 😀
Wow so cool!
What luck!!! I'm going this Friday and I couldn't be more X-cited!!!
I see what you did there! 😂
Great to see it open again. Such a shame it had so many problems though. Hopefully Knotts will get it running a bit better in the coming weeks.
I’ve been waiting almost 2 years for this video. I can’t wait to go back to knotts.❤
I have 2 Knotts / rollercoaster buddies that they told me inside . Still have problems with there launch system that they have at KNOTTS
😢
So glad to see this back open . Being from the UK and having two old intamin launch coaster here . Can’t wait to visit next year
I’ll never forget my first xcelerator ride. What a ride man. The view as you slowly get over is just so cool. Feels like time stops. One of the best first time coasters. Used to scare me shitless as a kid though. Still does.
I moved to LA about 4 years ago, and I finally had a chance to ride it for the first time last night. It was awesome!
Nice! Yeah it sure is!
Was able to get myself a front row ride today before coming to work. Glad to have her back up and running
Sweet! What did you think?
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork I think one ride wasn't enough lol forgot about the air time front row gets at the peak of the top hat
Exciting news! I sadly never got to ride it because I went when it was closed but hopefully I will make a return in the near future. Hope to see red train on the track too
Glad i came to knotts when i came! (it literally was the day before it closed) But also ecstatic its back up.
There's only a handful of rides in the world where when riders return to the starion, everyone is clapping and yelling.
Knott's is fortunate to have one, the other that I know of, is FURY 325. Every, single, cycle.
People also clap, wolf whistle and yell for Shambhala at Port Adventura. When it arrives back in the station, it’s known to get a round of applause and whoops and hollers. That’s one of the only rides I know of in Europe that has the same effect as Xcellerator! 😂
17:33 thats me in the 2nd car giving a thumbs up. i thought i saw you there ANC.
Oh nice!
I’m praying to all that is holy that it’s open when I go next November, it’ll probably be the closest thing I get to Kingda Ka or old Dragster.
Darn. Gotta wait an entire year?
I was the one in back of you guys walking towards the ride..it was amazing!!
While i still think xcelerator is on borrowed time. Its good to have it back for now.
I hope i can get one last ride before the day comes though. I love this thing to death
Finally it opened but I wish that it opened last month when scary farm was taking place though!
Yeah, that was the plan before something else broke during testing.
I had Xcelerator as my background on my school device until Xcelerator is open, time to change it
Patience pays off right? Super stoked to see Xcelerator back in business! 🤙
Was so worth it!
SO much fun! Perfect coverage here. Aloha from Hawaii!
This is my Favorite Park. I miss those fun times iam looking foward to visit one more time. Hope soon.😁
I hope 🤞🏻 I have time to ride xcelerator before thanksgiving.
Wow. Amazing Xcelerator is returning.
Im pretty sure I've met the ride op that rode Xcelerator first. If I'm right he used to work Montazooma's, he's a ACE member too! At least he looks familiar.
I remember going when I was like 11 (18 now) and seeing the first turn when u go up sway back n forth
The tophat used to sway even more when the ride first opened. Then they installed a horizontal piece between the two towers and cables forming an X.
Omg we were there 11/6/23 I wish I got to ride it I'll be back to knotts soon
Went today, first time and I LOVED IR
Awesome!
I cant believe I was able to ride this the night they opened it. Definitely a surreal experience
I remember ACN's coverage from when Xcelerator opened over 20 years ago. The video of it going over 100mph and Sandor getting stapled lol.
An OG fan! Love it! And what a crazy day that was! I remember a random guest walking up to Sandor and asking him about the ride. They had zero idea who he was. His lit up and was so excited to tell them about ze hydraulic launch.
cool
Glad to see it open. I really hope they can keep this operating consistently. Otherwise it may be time to move on...
Finally!! I can't wait to ride it again,so excited
As soon as you said "hurry up and wait!", brought me back to my days in the navy too 😂 definitely going to be making a quick trip to marathon this!
Hopefully I didn't traumatize you with that saying! Motrin and hydration 🤣
What happen to the beautiful 55 Chevy they had on display near the ride that was so cool to look at
It was! By the station. But it became a spot to advertise a new Toyota or something! There was also and old station wagon by the launch track.
“Especially for a cedar fair park… excuse me.. six flags park” 😂 idk if that was intentional or something but that’s funny
😁
yesss! another coaster I hope to do in februari!
It's wild to say that I rode reopening day. Only waited 25 mins for a back row night ride. It's great to see it back up.
The wait is finally over!
OMG BASED LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
From what I understand, this family of launch coasters needs warm up runs, then weighted runs to calibrate the launch. A major operating issue I’ve seen with Knott’s even pre pandemic is that a lot of their attractions are not ready to run when the park opens. Ghostrider seems to be the only one ready to go once the front gates let people in. Maybe the railroad.
That's exactly what I was thinking. The control system is having to learn with weighted launches vs empty launches. I remember seeing that about Top Thrill Dragster, how it based its launch pressure off of the previous 3 launches.
Thank you. Yeah, that totally makes sense now with everything I was seeing. Wish they could update that system to suck less.
Chris can't wait to ride this with you hopefully next summer. Also I read today that Cedar Fair won't be putting the SF name on their Parks, and vice versa that CF won't be on SF. Parks. Just on merchandise etc.
Yeah let me know! Also great news about Six Flags name not being added to the CF parks.
I finally rode this because X2 was down and it was the most powerful acceleration I’ve ever felt. No matter how many times I rode it my body never caught up with. It’s the 2nd best ride in California
Mml2 is on the front seat
My bad mnl2. !! !! You him an coasters studios !! Are my favorite
after 2 damn years, im pullin up soon as possible
I will go this Sunday! I will ride exclerator tfor the first time ever!
Sweet!!! Have fun! Hope you love it as much as I do.
I have ridden Excelerator several times and yes I love the ride!
omg im coming here as a Field trip in 3 days
So exciting 🎉❤
OMG ITS BACK…THIS IS THE BIGGEST BUCKET LIST INTAMIN ACCELERATOR…or shall I say Xcelerator…AND I AM SO GLAD ITS BACK!!! If it’s anything as good as Storm Runner, I’m so excited!!!
Hope you get to ride it soon. We were at Hersheypark earlier this year. I forgot how good Storm Runner is. But I like Xcelerator a bit more. Even though it's shorter, the launch is one of the best and the 200 foot tall top hat is amazing. Also great to have lap bars only.
So problematic😂 I'm hopeful to ride next week! I love Intamins💙💙
Such a love-hate with Intamin. Always having some kinda issue. But so incredibly fun and intense.
@AmericasCoasterNetwork I know. I love Intamin, but their rides are so problematic🤣
I'm already picturing Hollywood Drift opening day. The coaster will be up, then down, then up, then down.... it's a prototype...
The only thing weirder than standing in line for 4 hours for a coaster is watching a video of someone standing in line for 4 hours for a coaster. But I still watched the whole thing. All the riders looked SO happy to be there for such a fortuitous comeback!
Haha! Thanks for watching the entire video! You're not wrong... It's weird. Lol.
The line is massive lol
It wasn't quite as bad as it looked. The switchbacks weren't being used. But, given how much it was breaking down, I feel bad for those way in the back.
I never got to ride this coaster, every time I went it was always closed
Hope you can eventually ride it. 😀
we've learned that while your ride won't close forever.. it's not a good idea to theme your launch coaster after mid-1900 cars
Or naming a coaster after travelers diarrhea?
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork Haha, don't see that one opening again unfortunately.
I’m gonna miss og dragster’s launch sm😭🤧
Do they still only have ONE train???
Last time I was there, yeah. But it's been a few months.
Are they using the same launch mechanism if you would know?
They are. Still the original hydraulic launch. Such a beautiful sound!
Is fast lane still available on this ride
It is.
Just wait when it breaks down again. Another 2 years all over again.
Maybe? But it was a fairly significant part that broke. And one that was original to the ride (from my understanding). So it should be good for a long time.
I was there!!!
montezuma next? fingers crossed?? idk if it's doomed at this point, but i very much hope not
🤞
so they got rid of the cable launch?? it looks like it has LSM launch now. am i seeing that right??
Still the same launch. Those are the brake fins you're probably looking at.
Finally
So after being closed for all this time they couldn't have two trains ready??
Yeah, I thought that was weird. With that said, two trains doesn't speed up things by much.
Why did it take two years of delay?
Took forever for a part to be manufactured. Then something else broke which added a couple months.
6:30 fun fact that's the restaurant that I work in
Nice! It's a great spot! I love how much of an improvement it is over the old building.
I hope it's open Friday, I'm going and hopefully it's running, I'm just a little nervous because I never been on anything like this
Edit: rode it twice, what an amazing experience
Never knew it was out… what happened?
There was a crack in the winch drum for the hydraulic launch. Needed a full replacement. But it was one of a kind (Xcelerator being the prototype). So had to be custom made. And, with supply chain issues, it took a very long time.
Correct me if I'm wrong, please. They changed this to LSM Launch correct??
It's still the original hydraulic launch.
Nice
👏 👏👏👏
The reason this coaster is down all the time is due to the hydraulic launch as I recently visited SFGA (six flags great adventure) Kingda Ka broke down a bunch the day I was there so yea dragster as we know was a failure and kenzel even said it was his biggest mistake to 💀
Better hope intamin makes a more improved hydraulic launch coaster.
Just goes to show how problematic these old intamin coasters are! Great to see the ride back though.
If Xcelerator is an old Intamin, that makes me old too. Damn it! 😂
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork 🤣🤣🤣
Why are employees riding during public operation?
I was wondering the same at the time of the video. But found out it was because maintenance needed full trains to work on an issue they were having where the train wasn't stopping in the correct spot in the station when fully loaded. This was faster than loading water dummies.
They need to add more boosters
More boosters?
Yes
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork they do
finaly
What is the problem with this thing
Its built by Intamin.
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork😂
This is one reason TopThrill switched to LSMs from this launch system for the reimagining of the attraction. Such a unreliable launch, more problems than its worth IMO.
For being one of the biggest park in the chain knotts maintenance is very lacking especially compared to other park's.
I think they do a pretty good job. Can't blame them for an Intamin coaster doing what an Intamin coaster does best.
I would be happy if I was there instead of sitting my ass at home.
Get going! 😂
went yesterday, it was closed. facepalm
Darn!
I’m sorry but it is so annoying everyone pulling their phone out to record their life instead of actually living it. I can’t stand people that can’t live without their smart phones. Makes me glad I grew up when I did where even at age 25 they were still new and not everyone had one. I dont think I had one til I was 26 in 2011 and the novelty has definitely worn off with so much of seeing everyone glued to them and the horrible creation of Tik-Tok.
Way too many ad interruptions in this video. At least 4 or5 times . Super annoying
Sorry about that. I just left it up to TH-cam to set the amount. But I totally feel ya. I've had TH-cam Premium forever. And when I'm on a different account and get with an advertisement, I'm like "WTF. This is annoying." Hopefully it was only every 5 minutes or so. Which is how I'd typically set it if I did it manually. I still might go in and make sure the breaks are at appropriate points in the video. Thanks for the feedback.
It looks hopeful but it wasn’t cool how they kept putting employees on letting everyone wait forever in line.
Yeah. I was honestly shocked the employees didn't all get to ride prior to the line opening up to the public. It's why I was caught off guard with the line opening seemingly out of nowhere. Because I knew employees hadn't ridden yet. And then it would have been understandable to mix employee rides in with the general public waiting in line. But I couldn't understand why they sent so many employee trains in a row. Only thought is that it was because they were still having issues with the coaster and would rather have the employees on. Because, otherwise, it would have made more sense to given the employees ride time after the park closed.
@@AmericasCoasterNetwork It looked very odd sending some public, then employees, then empty, then employees, then empty??? It didn’t look like there was someone in charge who knew what they were doing. They would never allow employees to ride if something was wrong. I think they were just being cautious but then why open to public? They should have just ran it empty until satisfied, then run 20 or 30 trains with employees and then open instead of open and then think, what about employees…to bad now they can wait until tomorrow.
imagine if disney let a bunch of employees go first over paid guests. very bad form knotts
So, I confirmed what I was thinking during the wait. The employees were being used as water dummies of sorts. For maintenance to test out some things with a full train. Annoying, but understandable.
You Live In LA?So Lucky
I live close to the LA/OC border less than 10 miles from Knotts so my school is doing an end of the year trip there! Oh, the perks of being in LA.
Thanks. Yeah I'm about half way between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's. Universal Studios being the closest. I can't wait for them to have a legitimate coaster.
@@AmericasCoasterNetworkHOLLYWOOD DRIFT INCOMING! WHOOO!!