Dark Ride Possibilities

Changing because CP seems to be putting more focus on the appearance of the park without abandoning their thrills. Look at the new seating areas around the park, new lights on the Ferris Wheel, the new entrance, the GK entrance plaza (easily the best looking one in the park), taking down the A-frame roof, and you could keep the list going.

Is it Disney or Universal grade stuff? no, but is it high quality for what we are typically used to at CP? yes.

The rumblings are is that they are talking to the company that is doing the refurbishment of the Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knotts about coming up with a concept for the other CF parks. Dick Kinzel was a coaster man, because his mentor Robert Munger felt that they were the best return on investment at that time. As far as Gatekeeper, remember it was in the pipeline before Matt Ouimet came on board. He sees things differently, which is probably a good thing, regardless what some may think. Remember, the enthusiasts don't pay the bills, the average family with two kids do. Right now there isn't that much for those kids to do once they outgrow Kiddie Kingdom but they aren't tall enough for the majority of high rides in the park. That is revenue lost as that family will look for someplace else to spend their leisure dollars. What CP is lacking now is balance, something it hasn't had since the early 1980's.

I love the idea of getting a dark ride. But what theme would it be? It's easy for Disney to make great dark rides because they have 32857398 movies to theme rides to. Cedar Fair/Cedar Point doesn't have that.

Something I would really like to see is a dark ride similar to DINOSAUR at Animal Kingdom. Although, that isn't something I would consider to be a ride the whole family could enjoy. That would be more for thrill seekers. With the addition of Gatekeeper for all the thrill seekers, I don't see another "high thrill" ride coming in 2014.

I've said this all along, a Buzz Lightyear or Toy Story Mania type ride would be perfect. They're interactive and appeal to most families and they can compete against each other.

I actually see a theme that could be perfect for the park: Snoopy/Peanuts. I have 2 possible options for this ride.

Option One: It's like an arcade style, shooting ride where you ride in cars designed like an airplane, and you are "flying" like the Snoopy Red Baron. The goal will be to shoot other aircraft while flying around various scenes including episodes from the major Peanuts holiday specials like the Great Pumpkin and the Christmas one. It's interactive, has a storyline, and would entertain all ages.

Option Two: Instead of an interactice dark ride, this option focuses more on special effects, and would be more like a traditional ride. Guests could wear 3D glasses (maybe this could be added to Option One, too) and would be a scaled down mix between Spiderman at Universal and the Forbidden Journey. It would also be focused on the Snoopy Red Baron theme, and you would ride in "airplanes" and would soar through different Peanuts scenes. Special effects could be used such as misters, water, fire, fog, scents, etc. I think this could be pulled off very well. Like Option One, this option has a storyline and would entertain all ages. The only difference is that it would not be interactive but would have more special effects.

I think having a dark ride like one of the ones I've mentioned would be pretty cool. It would fill the dark ride/family ride gap the park currently has, and would also fit into the park's atmosphere due to the Snoopy and Peanuts theme.

I agree that a ride like that would be a great addition, but CP would have to create some type of story for the ride to follow. If they do something like this, I think Frontier Town would be the best place since it is the only part of the park with an actual theme. They could make some kind of Wild West chase or something.

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EDIT

RideOn, I didn't even think of have a peanuts theme... -____-

^Haha that's Ok, I think most people completely forget about that. It's such a big part of the park yet it seems to get forgotten about a lot.

I love Frontier Town. Probably my favorite part of the park. Anyway, I would LOVE for CP to get something like the Radiator Springs Racers. Something that would still get some speed as well as a slower section that is more themed. You could also incorporate the idea that SLL488 had and for the part where it would go faster, it could be like the Wild West Chase. Just an idea.

^I like that idea. So far I think the Wild West theme and Peanuts theme are the 2 best possibilities so far.

I can't think of a place to put something like a radiator springs in FT. Unlesss..... They got rid of Mean Streak.

The original Frontier Trail and Frontier Town were designed by Ray Wallace, a former Disney Imagineer. While there was no intent of turning CP into a theme park in the Disney or the original Six Flags sense, George Roos and Emil LeGross felt that an area that paid tribute to the frontier spirit of Ohio would be worthwhile addition to the park. This all started to go by the wayside with the passing of Emil LeGross in Winter of 74-75 and the accession of Robert Munger to CEO. Munger was a banker, and to him anything that didn't directly have anything to with making money was a waste. Thus the theming was allowed to die a slow death. It's the mentality that was continued up until Matt Ouimet was brought on board.

If you took out the petting farm you could possibly fit one. http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad112/njr140/wildwestrunawaynewf...1a693b.png

If CF was to add something along the lines of Radiator Springs Racers, they would have to find a way to make it a different ride concept. I am pretty sure Disney has a patent on the design. I still don't see where they can have the room to add it in. Seems like this kind of ride would take up a ton of room.

It obviously couldn't be as big. But something where the car goes faster than a few miles an hour would be cool.

I don't believe that CF would attempt anything as ambitious as RSR. However a good dark ride is much more doable now that the technology that Disney pioneered is now readily available and fairly affordable.

Don't forget there will be plenty of room once those red dorms are gone.

Still can't wait for that to happen. Still hoping for a new midway and a diver or flyer.

Don't get your hopes up too high, Gatekeeper maybe the last major coaster for a while. Remember it was ordered about four years ago.

I think the Snoopy / Red Baron idea has tremendous merit. Cross generational appeal, and a neat concept.

Picklesthedrummer said:
Cedar Point for years and years has been going down the path of thrill rides.

So that means they cannot change to a more inclusive, profitable direction?

Picklesthedrummer said:
Cedar Fair would be unlikely chose a ride like this because they can get just as an effective of a ride for getting people in the gate for 1/4th the cost.

Where are you getting your data from? It's fairly common (and easily-attainable) knowledge that the per cap for families (the target of family friendly rides) is higher than that of teens (the target of high-thrill rides).

So, no, CP would not get the same bang for 1/4 of the buck as Disney. That's not even a logical assumption.

There was a Ouimet interview posted recently where he specifically discussed that CF is looking into dark rides. Specifically, they're looking at ways to create a compelling dark ride without using expensive IP.

In other words, direct from the mouth of the person in charge of Cedar Fair, their path is changing.