Dandelion

Dandelion is a future rollercoaster to be opened in Cedar Point in 2016. Before, in 2010, however, the Dandelion was popular in one other park; Coney Island. Dandelion got so popular that they decided to keep it there, until an accident in 2015, which devastated Coney Island after, and got rid of the ride, so they decided to replace it and put it in Cedar Point Sandusky.

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## Ride History

In late of December 2009, an old rollercoaster manufacturer, Centrifuge, had an idea for a new coaster in Coney Island. They began blueprints for the ride, as Coney Island began to clear out some old rides to make room for Dandelion. Many people wanted a new, awesome ride to replace the other rides, a thrilling, unique, crazy, awesome ride. Much work was taken place on Dandelion. The ride took months, until finally, the ride opened in late April 2010. Many people were enthusiastic about the new ride, many people were excited except a few rival rollercoaster manufacturers, who claimed the ride was a bad idea, it would cause many injuries, and it just wasn't an original design. Eventually, they finally finished, and people were extremely excited for the ride, as they had to finish up a bunch of painting for the ride, as they were extremely excited, as the first variant of the ride, Dandelion, was created.

### Opening Day

The first ride took place at 12:04PM, many people lined up. The ride fit a peak of 102 people on the ride, many of them luckily in shape. The ride took off at 12:07PM, lasting for a duration of 3 minutes. However, around 16 to 17 of the people complained about how rough the ride was, some complained about headaches, and one person even claimed they nearly passed out on the ride. After that, the ride went on smoothly, with an average of 2 or 3 people per day complaining about the ride. Eventually, 4 days later, they shut down the ride for the day, having a very successful debut, as they made expansions to the ride, giving the supports and joints a more smoother ride. The next day, around 94 people rode the ride, this time, only three of them complained, stating how the restraints tightened around your chest. Then, after many more complaints and if they didn't want to have any more incidents, they shut down the rollercoaster for a quarter of the season, adding less heavy restraints, with soft things inside so it wouldn't bump against the head, and they managed to fix a malfunctioning seat that people had problems with. Eventually, 1 month later, the ride opened up again, successfully finally getting no complaints on the ride as it went smoothly.

### Coney Island Era

The debut season was bumpy but good, as the years went on, only getting two to three monthly complaints and getting between 36 and 48 complaints per year as it went on, getting many revamps, and new variants, such as the following below:

The first revamp that happened was "Project Ocean" in 2012, as it got new ocean themed colors, with blue seats, black supports and light green restraints, and they updated the seat mechanics so it doesn't hit or barely miss the supports anymore, making it an overall safe ride for everyone. They also added softer back seats, and Project Ocean was brought back with great reviews.

Then, they made another variant, and placed it in the middle of a field for practically no reason, buying a plot of land and then building it again, creating the variant "Petal" which the seats are like petals and instead of one seat blowing out, the entire petal blows out. This variant got neutral reviews, most of them being neutral but some being good and some being bad.

They did another project in 2014, called "Sunlight Starbright" which once again gave the Dandelion new colors, giving it nice shades of orange, red, and yellow. They also added lights onto the support, still with the themed blue to give it a cool, nice glow. The people hated some of the red shades for practically no reason, so they were forced to strip off the red shades. After that, it was given great reviews.

By 2014, there were no complaints.

**Then, in 2015, an incident happened.** The incident took place on July 4, 2015 at 4:21PM. The cause for it is unknown, although it might be due to the bolts slowly unscrewing throughout June and the part of July. At 4:22PM, the ride left the station, and began operating. As the ride began to spun, the screw finally unscrewed, collapsing nearly the entire ride and leaving the remaining riders hanging upside down, killing an estimate of around 68 people, which is the deadliest rollercoaster accident known to man. The last 34 people remaining on the ride were stuck up there for nearly 2 hours, as the ride then malfunctioned and shutdown due to the safety lock.

Because of this, people were needed counseling, the ride was immediately shutdown. The people also criticized the maintenance workers for not checking on the screws, incase it would unscrew. They also criticized the rollercoaster manufacturer, Centrifuge, despite not having any other incidents during the entire time they were manufacturing coasters.

They decided that they couldn't keep it open anymore at Coney Island; they decided between four locations; Six Flags California, Cedar Point in Sandusky, or Busch Gardens in Tampa/Williamsburg. Eventually, after a poll, they came to a result of 2% Williamsburg, 19% Tampa, 34% Six Flags and 45% Cedar Point. Eventually, the census agreed to open it in Cedar Point, adding an artificial strip of land to replace it. They decided to make two variants in Cedar Point; Petal would be the sister, while Dandelion would be the original ride. Petal would be painted in Sunlight Starbright while Dandelion would be painted in Project Ocean themed colors.

### Cedar Point Era

The variant 'Petal' was the first one to be installed; being constructed in August 2015 and being finished by April of 2016. They decided to paint it in Sunlight Starbright colors as it had a very successful debut season; however people complained that they heard an awful scratching noise when they turned around a specific bend; they were never able to figure out what caused it until a viral video released by "Coaster Reviews" was released; showing it up close as it showed the paint coming off as it scratched, but Coaster Reviews gave it a mostly good review.

In early April of 2016, an unexpected snow coated the coaster, causing the ride to go too fast and therefore cause more complains. It was shutdown until the heat (May) and then reopened. After the snow, they fixed the supports, turning out they placed the supports 2 inches too close to the ride; moving it away 2 inches. This stopped the noise complaints.

Then, in November of 2015, they decided to construct Dandelion, being complete by mid June of 2016, becoming a sister ride of Petal as it began to operate. Then, it was the same problem, but they managed to fix it faster than the Petal. They painted the Dandelion in Project Ocean themed colors; intended to resemble the ocean.

Another unexpected 'cyclone' hit Cedar Point in early October, causing minor damage to the coasters but collapsing several other coasters as they both battled 90 mile per hour wind gusts as it began to calm down; overall, Gatekeeper, Raptor and Top Thrill Dragster were destroyed by the deforming winds, but many of the other coasters managed to stay safe; Mean Streak was on the verge of collapsing, luckily they managed to repair the wood.

Dsndelion and Petal had a very successful debut season, other coasters had a below average season.