Best location for a relocated Ripcord...

I really wish they had a webcam underneath one of the Millennium Force hills this time of year. It's so hard to tell what they're doing to the former Shoot the rapids site. Good grief.

I really hope Shoot The Rapid's former area isn't going to be Ripcord, its such a nice station and area, also i would like to see a nice family coaster here.. something like Manta at Seaworld San Diego would be nice..

They are starting to install Ripcord's towers at the old STR site.

Such a sad day in CP History.

The park has made enough smart, considered choices in recent years that it's a safe bet that StR's site is the best location for a relocated Ripcord.

Except replacing this

with that.

No disrespect Brandon, but there have been some blunders along the way such as the closing of the Game Day Grille bathrooms also to make patrons walk across the midway to go use the john. We shall see if the more "visible area" of Ripcord generates more revenue. Just a wasted space of real estate, imo. Now where to put that future dark ride or new water flume...

Did Ouimet's regime close PWE?

Under Ouimet - or, as some would say, "in recent years" - there haven't been any major blunders, in my opinion.

I would argue that the Celebration Plaza design and implementation was not the greatest. The general flow and appearance of that midway is bad, in my opinion. On the surface, it felt to have been rushed through design in an effort to get a brand new nighttime show ready for the new season. I have no insider knowledge but I believe incorporating a brand new nighttime experience was one of Ouimet's first public talking points when taking over.

Other than that, I would agree everything in recent years has been pretty spot on from a high level perspective. The lower level stuff is a different story.

CPfan1976, it's the dramatic increase in accessibility and foot traffic that will allow the revenue to increase. The scale of people walking by the shoot the rapids area at any given time is dramatically more than the people walking by the old Ripcord location. Plus I think it would still be pretty visible anyway.

A towering metal arch looks so good in a rustic, western themed area. 😞

2x 152ft spikes and a 180ft steel arch is gonna stick out no matter where it is. Regardless where it goes in the park, it's going to get more foot traffic than the previous location. I can't tell you how many times guests told me they struggled to find where to actually get on the ride this past summer

Pete said:

A towering metal arch looks so good in a rustic, western themed area. 😞

By that logic, what is Maverick doing back there? Or Skyhawk? Tear it down!

Yep. Being in a park with themed areas requires a willing suspension of disbelief.

Celebration Plaza is actually pretty good for what it does. Large area, a vip area, several smaller interactive stages. Did exactly what it needed to do. Also, it's appearance mimics the design setup elsewhere in the park (front Gate & Valravn as notable examples).

Again though, I agree under Ouimet, they are doing a spectacular job with placement and ideas. Who knows what else placing Ripcord at this spot will do. Until we have details, we're all just assuming.

The biggest failure of Celebration Plaza (to me, anyway) is the placement of the bleachers. Way off center and too far back. Bleachers should provide the best viewing option.

Not necessarily. Think of a concert - you can sit up in the stands, where you have a comfy seat and some elbow room, or you can brave the floor, where you may get a better view, but you're crammed into close proximity to others.

While they would benefit from being more central to the stage, we've found the view from the bleachers to be fine. It's not as if we're watching Shakespeare. ;-)

As usual, I disagree with dj... I'd rather have a centered view. If you went to a football game would you rather be between the 30 yard lines or off the corner of the end zone? Also assuming distance from the stage/field/whatever is the same between options (you argument is bringing that into play as well). Or think of your living room... You buy a gorgeous 70" TV and hang it at the perfect height on the wall, and then put the couch in the left corner of the room. Sure it's comfy and you CAN see the TV, but that should be the best viewing spot. Not standing in front of your stereo rack.

I didn't say I wouldn't prefer the bleachers to be centered. I just said that their being off-center isn't a big deal. And they couldn't have centered them anyway.

As for being too far back, that's also unavoidable. The bleachers need to be on the opposite side of the midway, otherwise guests on the midway wouldn't be able to see.

Why couldn't they have centered the bleachers? They were working with a clean slate...

I think they should paint Ripcord brownish (kinda like Mean Streak's RMC track) and theme it to some crazy pioneer's attempt at making a flying machine. Or maybe the "fly paper" guy from PWE - he'd be a perfect fit.

I hope that Ripcord is installed perpendicular to the path, perhaps with the towers across the river from the loading aea (I think that's possible, at least) closer to MF's hills than SRF. If this is the strategy, then you'd have space for a future coaster (GCI, maybe) starting by STR's old station and going back towards the (hopefully former) stie of Dinosaurs alive and crossing over and under MF.

Not sure how centered the bleachers could be when the projection tower is right there in the middle...just saying