2-year plan: Does it still exist?

Since Cedar Point built a roller coaster 2 years in a row, what will happen to the plan that they build one every two years? Will they build one in 2005 and continue the plan on the odd years? Or will they build one in 2004 and continue on the even years?

(DISCLAIMER: This is a "What do you think?" thread, not an "experts tell all thread")

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2005: Ride Operator
2006: General Manager
My track record

Good question. One thing you have to think of is cost. They built 2 coasters in 2 years, both are record breakers, but, both are not long rides & don't take too much space. They aren't really coasters, as you would traditionally think of coasters (MF, Magnum, Raptor, etc). I personally think they'll wait until 2005 for another coaster. In reality, they did keep with the plan of a coaster every 2 years. They just happen to be a year early for this one. Just my thought though. Great post.

There was never a plan to build a coaster every 2 years and there hasn't a pattern of that happening either:

1989 (2 years) 1991 (3 years) 1994 (2 years) 1996 (4 years) 2000 (2 years) 2002 (1 year) 2003 ... not including the transformation of Avalanche Run to Disaster Transport.

Notice that coasters have opened in both odd and even years.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

I believe he was refering to the big attraction every other year. So it would include PT. I think it all depends on the return of their investment. They saw a way to add two coasters in two years and from a financial POV it made ssense to them.
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----Jesus Freak----

Well, then I suppose it depends on the definition of "big attraction." Here's one way to look ... since Magnum:

1989 - new coaster
(1 year)
1990 - transform coaster
(1 year)
1991 - new coaster
(2 years)
1993 - new water ride
(1 year)
1994 - new coaster
(2 years)
1996 - new coaster
(2 years)
1998 - new ride
(1 year)
1999 - Camp Snoopy
(1 year)
2000 - new coaster
(1 year)
2002 - new coaster
(1 year)
2003 - new coaster

And that's not including major expansions to Soak City, the resorts, etc and the millions upon millions spent on those things. The point remains - there is no pattern of a 2-year plan. Cedar Point researches and make decisions based on many factors. As history has shown, they are not afraid to make major improvements in back to back years.
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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Lets just hope that now it is lucrative for CP to build a new coaster every year. That would be great.

Look at MF. Cedar Point wanted a big coaster for the 2000 season. They wanted a coaster than was over 300' tall, and goes close to 100 MPH.

They consulted the project with several manufacturers. Intamin is the obvious one, and probably B&M, morgan, and/or arrow. You probably would think Intamin wouldn't have been their choice consitering there history at that point. The manufacturers threw their cards on the table. Intamin had an elevator lift system which let them build taller on the releitivly small plot of land. In Cedar Points case, Intamins design was the best.

Millennium Force was a special case. They knew what year they wanted it to open on. In other cases, it can be driven off of the timeframe, like in Top Thrill Dragster's case.

Cedar Point started talking about going higher in 2000. They had a great experince with Intamin with MF, so they went back to them about going taller and faster. I think they soon came to realize a lift-coast roller coaster wasn't a possibility.

Then they started talking about a launched roller coaster. Intamin probably was already thinking about a more powerful launch at that time. Intamin designed and built a test model of the launch. This proved to Cedar Point that it could be done. I guess that they built Xcelerator as a 'bug tester' so they could work out the bugs before they got TTD up. Xcelerator is a big success in many ways.

Cedar Point plans on a technology and return on investment basis. If the techology is there, and it will prove to be a good investment, it works itself out.

What will the next recored breaker be? I really doubt Cedar Point is worried about that, and neither should you be. :)

Note: this post, and most of my posts may sound like I'm talking like an 'expert;' however they are opinions deduced from many sorces such as official interviews or statements, observations, and other opinions with integrity.

Actually with Camp Snoopy cam another coaster (Woodstocks Express) so from 96-99 thats 3 years but 99-00 came two coasters.(WE and MF) 00-02 brought WT and now 03 brings TTD

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One Man, One Mission, One Thought To Save The World.

Camp Snoopy 2000-2002
Mean Streak 2003

Good call - I missed that one.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

According to Janice Winthrow ( www.onridecentral.com ) she says that they have a 5 year plan so they know what years they are going to build a coaster, but they don't know what kind of coaster until a few years before hand, so that they can exploit the new technologies available at the time.

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.

I believe it was Janice who said herself that Cedar Point generally plans a few years ahead for a big project. (The park is always watching for advances in amusement technology, or at least that was my understanding.)

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The InCrowd™
http://www.theincrowd.tk

I always thought CP had a magic 8-ball that told them what to do.