All Wheels Extreme

Your comment got me interested, so I googled and found a youtube video from Knotts, and this video of a maintenance worker climbing the tower at Canada's Wonerland. interesting.

But have an entire stadium for a windseeker contraption? A bit ridiculous...

The stadium doesn't have to stay but the contraption does..

Having an entire stadium for the contraption and a popular (enough) show seems reasonable.

The stadium is hideous. Like others have mentioned it's a blight on the coastline and would disappear with one wave of my magic wand.

Keep A.W.E., lose the eyesore.

If there's one eyesore that needs to go, it's Cedars.

I don't think anyone would argue with you on that. Each eyesore is welcome to bid adieu.

Cedars is run down but the stadium is down right ugly from an architectural stand point. Cedars at least has quaint going for it but I have to say a nice wood coaster would be much better looking.

The stadium is in bad shape, its only been getting worse and I doubt they are doing much about it. More than likely they are going to let it rot up to the point that they need to remove it, much like they did with the Goodtime. As for AWE, it is a very popular show, much more than the ice show. So much more popular that while I was still working at the park they were considering moving AWE into the Goodtime so they didn't have to worry about shows being rained out. If I am not mistaken, this is exactly what happened at Dorney just a couple years after they built a new theater for the ice show.

The show is good and is only getting better each year with the space they have available. My guess is that once the stadium comes down, you will still see the show in the same area but with a more opened up view so you can see the show from the midway. Much like you might see some skateboarders along Venice Beach doing tricks for the crowds.

99er said:

...they are going to let it rot up to the point that they need to remove it...

More likely, rather than let it rot they're going to let it sit and host the show until they gave a better use for the land it's on.

Presumably, he meant that they will allow the facility to decay, through a lack of maintenance, to the point where it is not feasible to be used or even repaired, at which point it would be sent to the concrete recycling plant.

Presumably, multi-billion dollar corporations do not actively endanger guests. It's rather bad for business to do so.

True. But the neglect of a facility through deferred maintenance need not endanger...or in fact, impact in any appreciable way...the safety or experience of the paying customers. Roof leaks, missing flashing, rusted steel skin panels (possibly even painted over), worn out or shredded carpeting in backstage areas, peeling paint in non-public areas, damaged or missing A/V equipment, the list goes on. There can be a lot wrong with a building, even a simple building like Oceana, that is not hazardous in any way, and that may be completely invisible to the casual observer, but can add up to accelerating deterioration and extremely expensive repairs.

In fact that's one of the reasons it happens: repairs are expensive and the casual observer will never notice that anything was ever fixed. That tends to limit the return on the investment in those kinds of fixes, especially if the long term plan calls for demolition of the building.

Now I don't know if any of this sort of thing applies to Oceana. But I do remember walking near the Hotel Breakers a few years ago and noticing that while all of the 'exterior' parts of the outside of the building were in good shape, the 'interior' portions...that is, the parts where the wings faced each other, and the associated dormitory buildings...had a whole lot of peeling paint and broken trim. In other words, the easily visible parts of the buildings had been recently refurbished, while the less visible parts had not. Of course now those buildings have all been demolished.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

...Who has seen Cedar Point do some unconventional things, but who has never thought any of those things to be *hazardous*...

99er said:

The stadium is in bad shape, its only been getting worse and I doubt they are doing much about it.

Can you elaborate on this? Isn't the stadium mostly concrete with concrete ramps leading in and out?

noggin said:

Presumably, multi-billion dollar corporations do not actively endanger guests. It's rather bad for business to do so.

You'd be surprised.

What Dave said pretty much nailed it as far as what I am talking about (thank you, Dave). I'll use the Goodtime Theater as an example here. For a long while the building was falling apart and little to nothing was being done to fix that. Ever look up at the ceiling while catching a show? All the silver areas you could see was the roof where the black insulation had fell off, directly down to where guests sat for the show. Sometimes happening while the show was going on. There was a leak onstage that would drip so much during rain that it would freeze to the ice and make it dangerous for the skaters. Paneling on the sides of the building were coming off and the electrical wiring in the Goodtime was pretty much shot. Instead of fixing these problems over time they just let them go and eventually removed the theater for a new attraction. Now from what I have been told, it was removed a year early because the roof got to the point that they didn't want anyone in the building anymore.

My guess is the same will be done with the Stadium as I have not seen any repairs made to it over the years (and by years I mean the 11 I worked there). Like Dave said, the park will slap some paint on anything a guest can see but the areas you can't access are littered with obvious repair points. That said there are places within the stadium where you can find major cracks in the seating area, exposed rebar from crumbling concrete, broken joints where the bleachers connect to the stadium, and rusted out rigging points to name a few. Thats just a few things that are easy to find as a guest, many more issues reside backstage like cracked or missing flooring, holes in walls, missing lighting, rusted out bathrooms, etc. Now don't for a minute take this as me saying the stadium isn't safe because I am not. The park clearly knows these issues exists and know when to shut things down and presumably that will happen just like with Goodtime. Maybe it will be for a new attraction that they already know about, or maybe it will be removed for another version of AWE once the stadium reaches its lifespan.

noggin said:

Presumably, multi-billion dollar corporations do not actively endanger guests. It's rather bad for business to do so.

Whoa, who said they would do anything to "actively endanger guests"?

The architecture of the AWE stadium is perfect...for its original use. I'm all in favor of removal of the stadium. However, the show shall never be replaced.

Having had worked for that show for 4 years, I agree, the stadium has seen much better days. But that show has a bigger more dedicated following than any other show in the park. I can't see the show going anywhere, even if that stadium does get removed, I can see it still being around. Knott's has their show on a main Midway and it's all standing room. I would have loved to of seen the show inside someplace for numerous reasons. The Dorney Park show looks incredible with the lighting and getting it out of the elements would be a huge plus. Trying to dry a stage and theater that was originally built to hold water, is a pain. I've seen the theater so full there was no seats left and standing room was full. It's wildly popular and for a venue, it has the best backdrop.

All Wheels will be around for a long time, and I can only see the show getting bigger and better from here on out as the fan base continues to grow. I would love to see it on the Luminosity stage. I think having two shows in the daytime that are the normal All Wheels, and then a night time show that incorporates the Lumo singing and the All Wheels show, would be amazing to see.

I would love to see the beach area of the park opened up more. If this means AWE moves and the stadium comes down, so be it.

As it stands, the Celebration stage could/should be moved due to the traffic congestion at night. The removal of Goodtime and the minimal layout of Valravn leaves plenty of room on the south/west side of the midway.

99er said:

My guess is that once the stadium comes down, you will still see the show in the same area but with a more opened up view so you can see the show from the midway. Much like you might see some skateboarders along Venice Beach doing tricks for the crowds.

I like your idea 99er. I think If that happens, I think they should build another Luminosity stage set-up specifically just for All Wheels Extreme. Call me crazy, but I like the All wheels extreme show where it's currently sitting. Might have to build a wall so guests don't see the big Windseeker contraption though.