Best location for a relocated Ripcord...

There is a larger plot of unused land next to Ocean Motion between that and Pink's.
It was previously lightly traveled and is now gated off with no real development.
It is a front of park possibility and doesn't require removal of really anything.

A friend suggested putting it on top of the old pirate ride and have it swing over Blue Streak. While the building was likely not designed to support that amount of weight, I still thought it was a cool idea. :-)

bootymix96 said:

the second could still be likely, though it would be more difficult safety-wise (swinging out towards the midway), but would give the best visibility from the midway,

I am all for the second of the 4 proposals. People will see it from the midway, and the smartest part is you could have people swing over the midway. It would require some thinking safety wise, but if you are part of the GP and you are walking down the midway, just imagine looking up and seeing someone fly over the midway and back, and seeing the ripcord structure. It would be a way to liven up the area beside that part of Blue Streak, which right now other than people eating nearby, doesn't have people walking through and around there to experience things.

In that position, the arc would not reach the main midway.

Yah, after I posted I was just thinking about that. My original thoughts were that your would swing over the midway, but two restaurants are in the way, and you would end up swinging over the restaurants, not the midway. I still think you would be able to see the swingers overhead from the midway, but they just wouldn't be directly overhead.

Keep in mind though, Raptor nearby is 15 feet shorter than RipCord, so it would definitely have a large presence if it went there. Also, where I placed it, the flight lines would be visible from the Main Midway more or less if it's rotated slightly to be set up perpendicular, so it wouldn't really be "hidden" per se, just set back from the midway (the yellow lines indicate the flight lines). If anything, the "3-2-1 FLY" announcement and the screams following would definitely make people look over to see what it was coming from! XD

As long as they don't remove the Lemon Chill stands, we'll be just fine....Cause those stands are the only way we have any clue as to the future plans for the park.

What about in the overflow queues for Millennium Force? That area certainly sees plenty of foot traffic. I'm just not certain it could be squeezed in with the railroad tracks so close.

I like the Pirate Ride/Blue Streak idea, but I'm not sure how it could work. Seems a little too tight there as well.

When Valravn was built, it revitalized what was a dead end and quiet area of the park. If Ripcord was installed near the Pirate Ride end of Blue Streak where right now there are just buildings, and except for people eating is very quiet. Knowing how Cedar Point opened up the area near Valravn, it would be cool if Ripcord were placed near the Pirate Ride area and opened up that area!

It's not even close to quiet in that area this year. I don't know what part of that midway you've been looking at.

Chuck Wagon said:

What about in the overflow queues for Millennium Force? That area certainly sees plenty of foot traffic. I'm just not certain it could be squeezed in with the railroad tracks so close.

Yeah, that area looks to be too small by just a tad. Another consideration in placement is the ambient noise of the location, as much of the flight is handled through conversation with the flyers and conversation between the flight controllers, and too much noise (in this location, from the train, Millennium Force, and Rougarou) could cause a safety issue to arise.

^ Even if you took out a couple concrete slabs in that area? Maybe they could reconfigure the queues a little for Millennium Force and still squeeze it in.

It looks to be just barely large enough, though it would require a re-route of the main midway closer to Rougarou, which could cause severe traffic jams.

^ You know what, I was imagining that flyers could fly over the last overbank turn. Stupid A.D.D!

I think my placement is what Chuck Wagon was going for, but your idea would definitely be more thrilling if it could work, lol!

I have a better option.

^ That's my favorite option for sure.

I don't have the photoshop skills to show what I'm thinking, but I was looking at the area currently occupied by the 3 Point Shootout, Lotsa Palooza, and a little of the backstage stuff behind there, and after taking measurements, Ripcord would fit in there on a diagonal, where you get pulled up towards the spikes back in the current backstage area, and then swing back over the midway behind the Starbucks. It's a visible location near the front of the park, yet is out of the way, with its own little midway, essentially. It wouldn't affect Ocean Motion, other than a portion of of the large grassy expanse to the left of it. It also wouldn't affect the road running behind there next to the worker's parking area, nor Pink's, as it would be located directly to the right of there. The only things affected could both be easily relocated, as the 3 Point Shootout can find another spot on a midway (it it's even deemed necessary to have another one in the park), and Lotsa Palooza can either be placed in another current building, or eliminated, if deemed unneeded.

To me, this checks a lot of the boxes of what an ideal re-location of the Ripcord would involve, and requires minimal removal of current infrastructure. They could avoid removing the Lotsa Palooza building if they instead eliminated the parking area next to GateKeeper's helix, and re-routed the road to run along the side of GateKeeper there. I don't think that positioning works quite as well however.

In the end, I do think the Point Pavillion area is probably the best, though as has been alluded to previously, I don't know that they'd want to eliminate so much of their prized Group Catering space. Does anybody know if the new area along the beach would be a sufficient replacement for that space?

Lotsa Palooza is closed, the three point challenge is no longer there. That area is fenced/gated off with the closed store inside the fenced area.

The pavilion as stated above by Jeff, is used by group sales and is likely not going anywhere.

Here's what could work in the 3-Point location, though the diagonal DILravn suggested may work even better. Again, not sure on direction/placement and such, but the site is just big enough as-is. I was just trying to fit it in within park boundaries.

Also, I cooked up a 3-D view to see what presence it would have on the Point Pavilion site from the midway's point of view, and it would definitely be quite striking, no matter where it's going to go!