2008 Announcement - What gives?

I am just curious if any of the critical thinkers on here can figure out why they waited until after the season pass sale was over to announce the *specific* 2008 capital improvements for CP?

I would have expected the GP to be positively influenced (especially those with kids) by the news, potentially driving more SP sales. Especially during a time when traffic was at it's highest for Halloweekends, which may have exposed the announcement to many more potential buyers than the middle of winter would.

I have almost given up trying to understand CF after the Geauga Lake fiasco.....

*edit* I realize they said there would be a new kids area, I meant why didnt they be specific
*** Edited 11/20/2007 4:41:10 PM UTC by RTurb0***

Season Passes are still on sale. Why would you want to drive customers to you when they are cheaper? The sale is pretty much for people who would have bought a pass regardless of what is going in next year.

Not to mention capital plans are not announced for season pass sales anyways. Capital plans are announced once they are finalized and in place, and in rare cases, delayed to build up hype. (i.e., Dragster)

I am sure CP is still hammering out some last minute details so that they can present a complete picture of what 2008 will bring.

I'd rather know everything thats going to happen, rather than get bits and pieces.

Ya know what interests me the most? So far we know that CP is adding a new kids area and renovating Sandcastle Suites on the inside. We also know that seven of the seven rides in the new kids area are coming from Geauga Lake.

Capital plans are usually made years in advance. Remember that Maverick and TTD were in the works for three years or more. Yes, that's a bigger investment. But, they had to have had some idea what the capital expenditures were going to be for 2008 before the closing of Geauga Lake.

So, I wonder what the plans for 2008 were going to be before they were able to get the rides from GL? Were they just going to renovate Sandcastle? Was something else in the works that is now on hold? Were the rides from GL always slated to be moved to CP even before the park's closing? Or, is there something else going to be announced with the new kid's section?

Lots of questions. Even more interesting scenarios of what may have been. :)

They were planning on tearing down the stadium and building that Boardwalk and woodie everyone wants.... but don't start any unfounded rumors now....

Oh yeah. The boardwalk woodie. The 500ft one with 17 inversions and a brake run. Sounds pretty sweeet.

It is possible they delayed building something big. It is also possible it wasn't finalized in time. Its even more possible they are just going to fix things up and that "fell into their laps".

If we take a quick look back at the last time no "major" rides were installed 2004 and 2001. You can see that the park generally did something with the resorts (Lighthouse Point in both of those cases), repainted a coaster or two, and added/modified a food/gift location in the park.

CP is very good at keeping the park looking fresh and new year after year. The differences are usually significant as well every opening day, even if it isn't a multimillion dollar ride.

I was hoping for some infrastructure improvements such as fountains, wifi in the hotels, better food options and the like. Hopefully they still include some of that in their plans.

^^^Why a brake run? ;)

Is anybody with me on the new Eltoro type woodie in 2009? I keep repeating this but nobody seems to jump on it at all. Just wondering if anybody else thinks CP is gettin new wood.

DK already flat out said "No" when asked if they were looking at a pre-fabbed woodie. I think we'll see a GCI before anything.

Which is unfortunate in my mind, considering the expanded limitations that the laminated plug-n-play track allows vs. the traditional track methods used by the other wood designers out there. A friend of mine was lucky to talk to Sandor about several things, and the differences between the plug-n-play model vs. traditional was one of those.

Yeah, I was very disappointed when I heard Dick said that. El Toro not only looks amazing, it provides a truly stunning ride experience. The only other woodie I've been on that even comes close is The Voyage. But, El Toro still far surpases that in my mind. It will definitely be interesting to see how both El Toro and The Voyage fare in the long run. Then again, SFGAdv hasn't had to re-track a major portion of El Toro yet either. Holiday World did.

If they don't go for a monster woodie again, I hope they put in something like Lightning Racer. Talk about a blast of a coaster.

I heard from a friend who just came back from Europe that the wooden Collossos in Germany hasn't fared so well. When it first opened, it was smooth as steel, but he says it now rides like a Gemini wheel seat.

Wasn't that one of the first plug-n-play models in quite a while, though? I've heard that Balder is still pretty smooth. I'm trying to remember if Screamin' Eagle was the first Intamin plug-n-play, or if it was another coaster.

halltd said:

Capital plans are usually made years in advance. Remember that Maverick and TTD were in the works for three years or more. Yes, that's a bigger investment. But, they had to have had some idea what the capital expenditures were going to be for 2008 before the closing of Geauga Lake.

So, I wonder what the plans for 2008 were going to be before they were able to get the rides from GL? Were they just going to renovate Sandcastle? Was something else in the works that is now on hold? Were the rides from GL always slated to be moved to CP even before the park's closing?

Or maybe their cap ex plans for Cedar Point in 2008 haven't changed at all.

^^ Colossos was the first that I'm aware of. I'm fairly certain that Am. Eagle is just a standard wood coaster.

Colossos was the first

http://www.rcdb.com/id988.htm

American Eagle wasn't prefab

http://www.rcdb.com/id9.htm

Well there you go. Looks like I need to brush back up on my general history again.

The milled track system is so much like steel that I'm not sure what the point is. If you're going to build a wood coaster, build a wood coaster!

I find it amusing that any of you would again cry conspiracy about cap ex plans. If you hadn't noticed, they're spending $80 million+ around the company, and they just put in a $21 million ride in this year.

RTurb0 said:
I am just curious if any of the critical thinkers on here can figure out why they waited until after the season pass sale was over to announce the *specific* 2008 capital improvements for CP?

It's pretty simple really, CP wants to reward the people who consistently purchase season passes. This happens ALL the time:

Lollapalooza tickets are $40 cheaper the week before they announce the line-up.

89X(Detroit radio Station) offers their annual The Night 89X Stole Christmas tickets to fans of the station for about $5 cheaper before they announce their line up.

Cornerstone Music Festival offers tickets $45 cheaper if you ordered by Aug 31, for their 2008 festival.