Cedar Point 2013

DejaVu2001 said:
And djDaemon, I have trouble believing Cedar Point would even consider parking cars in that area now that they are digging footers.

Of course they're not. There are multiple reasons to leave the parking lot intact, and no good reasons to tear it all out now. As Tennessee pointed out, equipment operators are good at what they do. There's more than enough clearance between the footers and remaining asphalt.

Hauling all that asphalt away right now would be a waste of valuable time. The critical path of the project is such that there's no rush to get all the asphalt out. There is, however, a rush to get the coaster built, and they can't build the coaster until they have footers installed. Delaying footer installation to tackle a project that can be done in the spring doesn't make any sense from a project management perspective.

In addition, perhaps they have plans for the parking lot in the area immediately surrounding the construction areas. It doesn't make sense to tear out a big section of parking lot now, only to have to revisit the same area and tear out more.

Finally, to 99er's point above, it makes sense to leave the asphalt in place to provide a solid, weather-proof area on which to work.

Again, lots of logical reasons to leave the parking lot intact. No logical reason to tear it all out now.

^I agree. It would be easier to work on a concrete surface during a Lake Erie winter. It's flat, which makes it easier for construction equipment to navigate. And you don't have to worry about mud issues and uneven surfaces that can be hard to bypass when frozen.

I'm sure when the track is complete the concrete/asphalt will be removed and "landscaping" will be done.

djDaemon said:

There is, however, a rush to get the coaster built, and they can't build the coaster until they have footers installed. Delaying footer installation to tackle a project that can be done in the spring doesn't make any sense from a project management perspective.....No logical reason to tear it all out now.

You just stated the logical reason to tear it out. The parking lot and the asphalt will be ripped to shreds after October 29th (when the park is totally closed for the season.) They will still be using that area for employee/preferred parking up until Sunday the 28th. People forget that only about a 33% area of footers has been prepped so far (DT's old footprint). The other 67% track and footer continuation (beyond the other side of the employee lot fence and white prop tent), the diagonal part stretching across the parking lot and the main gate area's footers ALL still need to be dug, prepped, and poured. Add this time to dig and pour the other remaining 2/3's of the footers, set up the vertical supports, tear up the 2 existing main gate areas, build a new main gate (with towers) and pour parts of a new main gate plaza also, build a loading station, lift hill, queue areas, GK plaza with seating area, new grass landscaping, new fences around GK & refreshment stands, piece together and match up track and coaster, and TEST the whole thing for a few weeks when completed and still allow down time while working through the unpredictable Ohio winter, that's why the parking lot will be torn up in 2 weeks (sooner than later). Trust me, these guys are on a time crunch. They need as many footers as possible done ASAP, track is coming in November, and you can't lay ALL of the track when ALL of the footers and vertical supports aren't there, just 33% of it.

You do know they have been pouring footers in the parking lot already right?

I hope they plan on putting grass around the areas they put footers in for the parking lot. That way we don't have a coaster similar to Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

They wont keep the asphalt there Shawn. There's a 99% chance they'll landscape the area once it fits within the construction time table. Which, for all we know, could be in the spring.
And CPfan1976, like Diehardrider said, they already have a great start on the footings stretching towards the park entrance. (seen here http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/375811_457058250999206_5...3603_n.jpg). And if they so wanted to, I do believe that they CAN in fact start vertical construction while other footers are still being set. I've seen this being the case with a few coasters (Skyrush @ Hershey Park being a recent one). It's all up to the designers to figure out "What area(s) can we focus on and get steel erected without compromising the other areas of construction and how the steel track and footers are arranged?" These things have already been planned way in advance so I don't think there's as much of a worry as it may seen.

I, for one, think they have made amazing progress so far. The crane is on site being assembled and footers for the station/transfer/maintenance shed are already underway. Once those are done, I bet we'll see steel erection start with the transfer track and station track while supports for the lift, drop and brake run are started.

That's just my guess though.

CPfan1976 said:
People forget that only about a 33% area of footers has been prepped so far (DT's old footprint). The other 67% track and footer continuation (beyond the other side of the employee lot fence and white prop tent), the diagonal part stretching across the parking lot and the main gate area's footers ALL still need to be dug, prepped, and poured.

As has been pointed out, they've already been working well into the parking lot. Hence the entire discussion about the removal of only sections of asphalt.

Which is why I was pointing out that their method is actually efficient, in terms of time. They can begin vertical construction soon, and tear out the remaining lot later on.

^ my bad. After seeing those pictures, I'm very surprised they tore up the parking lot already. This still goes with my belief they need as many footers as possible to get more of the vertical construction quicker. I'm due to go to the park one more time before it closes for the season to take more pictures,etc. The workers seem ahead of schedule, I'm impressed.
Now I see what you're saying about them leaving the asphalt. It looks horrible, kind of like a Six flags coaster footprint. I guess you're right about them pouring the footers first, then tearing out the asphalt/ planting grass later. Now I see what you're saying. IMO, I thought it would be easier for them to tear out the lot first like they did with the cement under DT. They usually do focus pouring the footers by the main loading station area first and lift hill like they did with Millenium Force. This also seems to be the same case with GK. Can't wait til May!

Anybody have any new pictures? I won't be going to Cedar Point until closing weekend so just wandering if anything new has happened yet? Has anything been dug up by the entrance yet or are they waiting until the park closes to do that?

It's safe to bet that they'll save the entrance work till after the park closes for the season.

Imagine walking into the park and tripping over dozers and people falling in dugout pits, etc. :)

Make it an upcharge attraction :)

Shawn Meyer said:
Anybody have any new pictures? I won't be going to Cedar Point until closing weekend so just wandering if anything new has happened yet? Has anything been dug up by the entrance yet or are they waiting until the park closes to do that?

I will hopefully try and send Walt some new pics Sunday or monday if I can. I think the main gate area will be worked on in the off season. I was going to wait, like you, until the last closing weekend (the 27th/28th) like I always do but this weather here hasn't been cooperating and if it rains that weekend then we're out of luck.

I will see tomorrow! We are going there tomorrow and then closing weekend!

Miss_Maverick07 said:
Imagine walking into the park and tripping over dozers and people falling in dugout pits, etc. :)

But it's not an Intamin...

I'd say it's impossible to over engineer something as simple as a pit/hole, but it IS Intamin and they DID give us Shoot the Rapids.

Well I got some construction pics in from Sunday but due to large piles of dirt, and construction equipment blocking areas, alot of my usual vantage points are gone now. Maybe someone else can get some other pics on closing weekend ? BTW, very crowded today @ CP for a Sunday!

ACE had a behind the scenes tour Sunday of the GateKeeper construction. Much of the work in the parking lot and the entrance area will begin after the season is over next week. Steel will start to arrive then too.

Seems GateKeeper is still #1 (170'), with Ocean Kingdom's coming in at #2 (164' 1''),and Wild Eagle comes in third (135').

If the height of Ocean Kingdom's WingRider is the same as it's drop, then it has a 1"(1 inch) higher drop than GateKeeper -_-

Here are a couple of pictures I grabbed from the Sky Ride. Not many good places to catch pictures of the construction at this point. Also a couple of pictures of my daughter at the front gate to remember what it looked like before GateKeeper.

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/45wheelgun/Cedar%20Point/