Cedar Point Announces New Water Ride for 2010 Season

What "raised concrete area" are you referring to? I see 3 concrete elements that have not been built upon yet - the two near the lagoon bridge (which will be used for stairs, presumably) and the sort of half-wall on the "downtrack" side of the station (which is partially obscured).

I am refering to the area of rock work on the island side...the concrete on the pool side of the rock work....

Ahh, yes. I have no idea what they're doing there, though it could be where they'll "hide" the mechanical/electrical equipment needed to pump the water up the rock work there.

Notice that the two areas of rock work on either side of the final splash down area have "rock" that sort of hides the equipment - between the station & rock work on the near side, and between the rock work and tunnel on the far side. This is all pure speculation, of course.

^Sounds legit to me. I can see some other scenarios, however yours seems one of the most likely.

Question: Will these lockers be complimentary or complementre? Will they be complimentary with an e? They compliment the ride, and they're not free? Or will they be free?

^My guess, your going to have to pay.

My thought is why are they adding more lockers when they have some right by Thunder Canyon?

Because the lockers at Thunder Canyon are for Thunder Canyon.

Or put another way, the park's water ride capacity has increased with this new ride, so the locker capacity must increase as well.

^Spoken like a true business man.

Are we going to have to pay $5 for these lockers too? I wish they would just put some of those all day rentals in the back of the park, so we don't have to go all the way up front to get our stuff. I'm guessing these are going to be like the TTD and MF lockers.

So... Tunnel is almost done. They recently put a "Shoot the Rapids" sign on top of the station, to show the PWE people, as if they didn't already know. :) Mainland rockwork looks about complete, same with the island rockwork. Look how dirty the mainland pool is, and the park isn't even open yet! They're doing pretty good with the storage building too. Looks like themeing has begun on the pump houses. Good stuff, good stuff.

RideWarrior18 said:
^Spoken like a true business man.

No, a "true business man" (whatever the 'eff that is) would reduce the locker capacity as water ride capacity increases, and double the prices on said lockers.

^Then guest satisfaction goes from unsatisfactory to miserable.

The CP blog says they will soon start filling the ponds (1.5 weeks or so). Wonder if they are pumping that from the lake or using city water (hate to see that bill).

Hope that have some really fine filtration and chemical treatment equipment to keep all that water clear and not looking like the lagoon right next to it. Heck, keeping my pool clear is a chore!

Remember as a kid we had a place nearby in Ohio that had a huge cement swimming pool. Supposedly (granted it was a long time ago) treated. They never could keep it clear or keep algae off the cement. Maybe we will see blue dye added like on the old Mill Race.

question!?!?!? Why don't they use real rocks for the rockwork?

They did the same thing for Millennium Force at the tunnels. I think they did the same thing for Maverick with the rocks. Maybe it's cheaper?

One reason might be that it wouldn't be as simple to make waterfalls and such by attempting to shape real rocks and try to make them fit around the flume. Plus, it would be more difficult to put plumbing into real rocks without drilling holes.

^Pretty much. With real rocks, you can't exactly form them around what you are building. I mean, you could be it might take a real long time to find the rocks you are looking for. The other as mentioned above is stuff like plumbing. With a false exterior, you can have just about anything underneath to hide your pumps, electrical, plumbing, etc., can't do that with real rocks. Another reason is real rocks are heavy. You would need a crane to place them and it would take a while to do so. Much quicker and cheaper to just build from scratch.

Yes, I think cost is a big issue, in that it would be much more labor-intensive to create what is essentially an industrial sized fieldstone fireplace.

I'd bet liability plays a large role in it as well. With real rocks, it's difficult to secure them in such a way that you're guaranteed they won't become dislodged and fall on a guest.

^Don't underestimate the power of the general public to injure themselves with fake rocks or on a completely safe ride. (Ex. Son of Beast.)

Son of Beast is a completely safe ride?

^ I was thinking the same thing. Hopefully this is the first and last time Shoot the Rapids and Son of Beast are mentioned in the same discussion.