2008 Watch

On the subject of Splash Mountain and flumes, I really hope Cedar Point does not attempt to use animatronics. I can only imagine what a disaster that would be. I'm sure they'd look good up front, but I don't want to even think about what they'd look like after 2-3 seasons. Animatronics (at least good ones) need a veritable army of maintenance staff looking after them to remain realistic at all.

I dont know, Boneville is pretty realistic to me.;)

Yeah, I love Boneville.

I think looking at what midway needs more attention in the park and I see frontier area looking pretty nicely taken care of. The TTD midway is pretty snug but someone said that the picture of onpoints blog post are next to the TTD by paddlewheel excursions.

I think that they are going to do something with the wicked twister midway. I think that area of the park lacks in rides. They have done a lot with the area with Wicked Twister / Troika / MaxAir / Raptor. I have to say that the Disaster Transport is a disaster, and who knows what demon drops future is. I predict by 2010 that the WT midway will not have a DD / DT. I think CP could swing a few more rides / coasters without having to lower its coaster count while building the other cedar fair parks with better coasters.

I would be happy if rides from CP got to be relocated, and smaller parks just built up their arsenals with coasters.

Some parks have amazing room to grow, and I think CP gives people a taste of what CP is...and make Cedar Point the resort highlight of all of Cedar Fairs parks. You have your smaller parks which give people a taste of what is to be had.

But hey I bet you one tihng....we get another 3 point basketball game.

I can't believe how busy that thing would get during the night time.

I agree Nickelodian characters are obnoxious fads. Snoopy is classic and timeless that both adults and kids like.

Snoopy = The Beatles

Nickelodian = NSync

At what point does Nickelodian cease to be a fad? My generation saw the network's inception (24) and we are now starting to have kids of our own. The characters may change but the Nick logo/brand and slime have been going strong for nearly three decades now.

Back on the Splash Mountain idea, you have to admit that would be a big hit! It doesn't really have to feature all animatronics, but would bring back a flume and dark ride to CP in one shot.

halltd said:
I can only imagine what a disaster that would be.

Good one.

notice in my post I said nickelodian characters were a fad not the actual station itself, I know all to well how long it's been around I was about 5 when it debuted, ah remember pinwheel, and you can't do that on tv and was it mighty mouse? to name but a couple, but the characters themselves come and go, Snoopy is timeless, I hope he stays and I don't think he's leaving I think the end of the Joe Cool Club was nothing more than an indication that the benefit clubs are going to be universal to all parks eventually.

halltd said:
^^ Well, there are things I know, and there are things I don't know. As you know, I'll stand behind the things I know based on my own education and experience. If I'm not sure on other things, I'll ask those that know and learn from them. It's as simple as that.

Go ahead and use "footer" all you want. If you ever hire an architect to design a house for you though, just know they're chuckling to themselves when you ask about the footers for the basement. LOL!

edit: ^ Do you know what the budget for Splash Mountain was at the Magic Kingdom? I doubt Cedar Point wants to pay anything NEAR that for a flume ride. Is that possible? Yes. Is it a cool idea? Yes. Will CP pay for something like that? Doubtful. *** Edited 9/4/2007 8:21:53 PM UTC by halltd***

LOL again! I know people that design and build houses. Like I said, just because you know of an oldtime term that may have been used in Old England about 200 years ago doesn't mean it is the more proper term to be used. You are actually making a fool of yourself by claiming that 'footing' is the correct term. In fact, it was a stupid subject to bring up anyway!! Who cares!!!!! People will always call them footers, so who cares about your little findings in the dictionary!

:rolleyes: We dropped this subject a long time ago. But, since you brought it up again, I didn't go to school in England 200 years ago. I happened to attend the second-rated Architecture school in the country and passed with flying colors and an AIA award for my thesis. So, last I checked, I'm no fool when it comes to design and construction. Thanks for checking though.

^^ - Apparently you do a great deal.

**EDIT - added carets

*** Edited 9/5/2007 2:33:37 AM UTC by JuggaLotus***

Do you think CP would put one of those crazy looking Intamin 4d coasters in the aquatic stadium's spot? it seems like that could work out real nicely there. And they look like fun!

I was thinking about this the other day- if CP did re-theme the kid areas to be Nick based, it wouldn't be such a bad thing. The benefit would be that they could theme Kiddie Kingdom and the old Bearnstein Bears area as Dora and Diego which would appeal to the toddler/preschool crowd that enjoys those attractions, and would not be objectionable to parents. Little ones would LOVE Dora and Diego, then camp Snoopy could either stay as is or be re-themed with more intermediate Nick characters like Sponge Bob that would appeal to young elementry school children. My daughter barely noticed the themeing and didn't ask once for any Peanuts themed item. If Dora had been on CP branded merchandise, though, she'd have wanted every Dora CP item in the shops. I guess that's what I'd be thinking about if I were themeing the parks: what will make me the most money, Peanuts or Nick characters? My guess would be Nick.

I can't even begin to describe how devastated I will be if the kiddie lands are all re-themed to Nick characters. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and I just can't comprehend why they would do this.

Cedar Point is supposed to be the flagship Cedar Fair park. So, why would they strip away one of the core items that makes it unique and put in something that exists at almost all of their other parks? If they're trying to boost attendance, why not just enhance the kiddie areas with more rides, newer rides or unique rides? Why theme the lands to what exists at the other park in Ohio? They're not really doing anything unique for the kiddie areas to draw people up from Southern Ohio by just changing the characters.

I think it would be a better idea to take their "flagship parks" and keep the Snoopy characters. I was originally thinking Knott's and Cedar Point since they're the most attended in the US. Since Wonderland is already Nick, I guess just leave it. But, they really need to start doing something unique at their parks or they're not offering any kind of incentive or desire to attend the other parks. Even if people have a Platinum Pass, they still need to travel to another park for CF to see money from those guests.

Besides all that, I think Cedar Point would lose a HUGE portion of it's charm and soul by stripping away Snoopy. :(

^wouldn't be the first time Cedar Point stripped something away that had charm.

Regardless of whether CP uses Peanuts or Nick characters, they're not making nearly good enough use of them. If you were to take away three or four props from Camp Snoopy, it would be unrecognizable as having anything to do with Peanuts. At all the kids' areas, they should really take a page from the Disney playbook and make the experience more immersive. It doesn't have to be expensive animatronics; in fact, given CF's track record, it would probably be better if there were no moving parts at all. But they could certainly do a better job at making the experience more magical and memorable.

I think this applies to the park as a whole, as well. Frankly, Cedar Point has enough attractions. They have enough roller coasters, enough shows, enough rides. (Hope nobody choked when they read that!) CP's attendance numbers are probably maxed out given the length of the season and regional population.

What they can do now is do more with what they have. They could take all those cap ex dollars and put them into making the ride experience more interesting, more captivating. Maverick is approaching the template of what they can, and ought to, do. Same goes with the queues. That's one reason I never liked Fastpass at Disney; I missed out on all the cool stuff during the wait for the rides.

There's a whole lot the chain can do to enhance the entire park experience, which in my opinion would do a lot more to give the customers a wonderful time and make them want them to come back than adding another coaster would.

Ensign Smith said,

They have enough roller coasters, enough shows, enough rides.

Well you knew someone...or everyone would comment on this when you said it, so I'll take first stab at it.

And here is the kicker....I agree! Even though a new attraction every year is nice, its just not feasible. There is more than enough to keep guests busy in the park for more than a day...you can't ask for much more than that. CP is fine like it is....for now.

I just hope (and I'm assuming you do) that you still foresee some changes in the future. Even though things are fine now, in the future, there will have to be attractions added, and probably some removed, but that should be some time away.
*** Edited 9/6/2007 6:51:05 PM UTC by Tennessee_CP_Fan***

Unfortunately, I think they're going to "enhance" the park experience with a bunch of tacky and annoying characters that exist at countless other parks. :(

^^ Sure, the park ought to be able to change and evolve. It doesn't have to stay frozen like a snapshot in time...although personally I like that for the last couple decades or so CP has made some effort to preserve all the existing coasters. It's just that there's not really any need to get bigger than it already is.

^ That would be 'negative' enhancement, right?

*** Edited 9/7/2007 1:33:38 AM UTC by Ensign Smith***