Cedar Point/Cedar Fair Dark Ride(s)

Personally I think the newer generation of dark rides are quite impressive. I recently rode one of the Justice League rides at a certain competitor chain, and I have to say, it's really impressive. A lot of good action sequences, a good blend of live-action effects vs. screens, and it's overall very exciting. Another one that comes to mind is Curse of DarKastle at BGW. I'm sure there'd be a place to fit in a well-themed dark ride should CP ever want to do it, and I'd look forward to it if they did put one in.

One question we still haven't answered is theming.....
I brought up backlot stunt coaster in the first place because of a car chase/helicpoters/fire and explosions/James Bond like theming that would be really cool.
My question is what do y'all think about what theme a dark ride at CP should have?
Dragons?
Castles and Princes?
Car Chase?
Alien?
Zombies?

Oh, and on a side note: Did anyone hear about Skull Mountain at SFGAdv getting VR?

noggin said:

True, but ... KW celebrates history (Noah's Ark, Racer, Jack Rabbit*, Auto Race) while CP, while not ignoring its history, is more about the rides (Top Thrill Dragster, Maverick, GateKeeper, Valravn). IMHO.

So, what would you say if Kennywood came out and said they'd be working with RMC? Even if it was for a brand new ride, would that change your thought process on that?

A) I would say that's cool.

B) All I was saying was the Kennywood, historically, has celebrated its classic historic rides (*ahem* aside from that Garfield's Nightmare nightmare).

Oh God. Garfield is a literal nightmare. I have no idea what they're thinking. It could have been tastefully done, but - let's puke neon paint everywhere!

Latest internet musings is that after the success of the refurb of Noah's Ark Kennywood will do the same to Garfield... Fingers crossed that's true!

If I had to guess, which is all i'm doing at the moment I would think when Point gets a dark ride it'll be a lot better then anything currently in the chain. I don't think Ouimet would settle for less then the best (within their budget, this isn't Disney here) for CF's flagship park.

I got my first taste of Guardian this season and I wasn't that impressed. While fun, it was basically just a bunch of screens and it was very short. I'll be in LA in October and may do Knott's, if I do I will definitely hit up Iron Reef.

My hopes for Point would be more along the lines of Kurse of DarKastle at BGW. That is by far my favorite dark ride outside of Orlando or LA. I'm not really a fan of shooters, but if Point can get anything like Toy Story Midway Mania I would be pleased. In a perfect world, Point would receive more then one dark ride over the years and maybe have a shooter and a non-shooter.

My family went to BGW about 4 years ago I think. My daughter would have been 6 or 7 at the time and absolutely loved DarKastle. I think we rode it 3 or 4 times over 1 1/2 days.

noggin said:
Admittedly I'm a geezer with questionable brain functioning, but I can't think of any Cedar Point rides that are as old as Kennywood's Noah's Ark or Racer. (I am leaving aside the carousels.) WildCat was removed, in part, because the manufacturer no longer provided replacement parts, while Kennywood continues to make replacement parts for its Kangaroo riide, for example.

Well, let's see. There's Cedar Downs and...um, Cedar Downs. And also...uh, Cedar Downs.

I retract the point.

Good (if retracted) point. Cedar Downs first opened in 1920. It completely slipped my mind when I was quickly running down the rides at Cedar Point in my mind before making that post.

The Sky Ride lives on, quite successfully, as does the Cadillacs, and one of CP's oldest continuously operating rides, Scrambler. These rides are from the early 60's. A classic car has to be between 20 and 40 years old and an antique auto is generally 45 years old or more before they earn the distinction. Would I be wrong to draw a parallel between cars and mechanical rides? I think it's a good comparison and guideline for lack of something better.
Cedar Downs is a relic, but wasn't placed under CP's care until the 60's. As we all know, Blue Streak is from 64. Calypso, Matterhorn, Monster, and Super Himalaya are from the 70's, so they're heading down the path toward immortality as well.

Show off :-)

I was thinking in terms of rides that matched the longevity of Kennywood's Noah's Ark and Racer.

Realizing that by that definition, I'm an antique, I'm going to return to watching episodes of Food Network's Chopped while drinking boxed wine with Shirley Bassey playing in the background.... good heavens, I'm old.....

Chopped! I love that show.

Also, why are we talking about old rides on a thread of what CP could do/create with a dark ride....

Speaking for myself, I'm prone to digression.

Now that I've digressed to Food Network shows, do you watch Chopped After Hours? :-)

As someone mentioned above, BGWs dark ride was quite a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't mind seeing a similar ride at cp

I enjoyed both the Justice League rides, and Guardians at Canada's Wonderland. The former was definitely more impressively themed/rode better, the latter had a special element I wasn't expecting. As someone that hasn't done Disney or Universal, these rides impressed me and would be a solid addition for me.

Dvo said:

I'm sure there'd be a place to fit in a well-themed dark ride should CP ever want to do it, and I'd look forward to it if they did put one in.

What if they put a dark ride where STR was? It's kind of hidden, isn't blocking any good views of anything and can easily be themed as "frontier" or even something water related since it's by the lagoon.

Oooooh! Me likey! It could be themed to an underwater diving expedition searching for a sea monster in Lake Erie....

How about a dark water flume?

Possibly something similar to Splash Mountain? I know Cedar Point has never done well with animatronics, but something where the technology is a little more 4D-like, keep the themes you guys are suggesting, but still giving a flume feel with a drop at the end like Splash Mountain/White Water Landing.

It would kill two birds with one stone in providing a sorely missed flume and a sorely missed dark ride. Putting it in STR's former site would provide a place for buildings as would be required for the dark ride, but you would still have the proximity to SRF and TC.

Just my $.02.

Genius!!

That's all I have to say to that idea.