Dark Rides

A lot of folks are wanting a dark ride at CP. The park had 3 but removed them. The last time I inquired with Cedar Point about what became of the Earthquake and Pirate Ride, I was told they were in storage. This led me to believe that they could be brought back sometime. I know some of the figures are being used (misused) for the Halloweekends thing. Are the cars and boats in storage. Are the walls and things still in storage? I wanted to buy some of those things, but I don't think I was taken seriously. Both of those rides could maybe go on the ground floor of the coliseum. Does anybody have any insider information about this?

Not sure about the Earthquake cars but could've sworn the Pirate Ride boats (the ones w/ the skulls on the front) were sold privately in an auction? I know the wizard w/ the crystal ball was being used for the kiddie Boo Hill haunted house for a while. The themeing of both of these rides was well maintained in my opinion until their closing years, don't remember any props , lights or sounds going into disrepair, so I'm not sure where that sentiment comes from w/ others. I always thought an "expansion" of the Boneville area would be cool for an indoor dark ride / water flume. Just my 2c.

100% agree! I don't think anyone appreciates how far re-opening the pirate ride along the lake in the boardwalk area would go for cedar point among families who want other things than new coasters. Not to mention this is a traditional boardwalk type of ride anyways!

Nothing fancy, nothing expensive.. just the OG pirate ride. I guarantee it would be busy the whole day with happy families.

These days, most dark rides are using some kind of shooting gallery thing, or turkey caller or whatever it is that Holiday World calls it.

I would love it if CP had a dark ride but bringing back a ride that was dated and corny in 1990 is not what I mean when I say I want CP to have a dark ride. It’d be nostalgic for me for sure but other than that no thanks.

I guess i'm saying that sure, a full blown multi million dollar dark ride would be amazing.. but I guess where i was going was that it would cost next to nothing (relatively speaking) to get this back up and would go a long ways.. But I do like Jeff's comment.. Shooting element + Pirate Ride??? Battle of lake erie or something... sounds amazing

CoasterHawk:

...I was told they were in storage.

lol....they are gone.

Dark Rides don't have great hourly capacity but a quality Sally Dark Ride is always a good addition to any park.

Would love to see a ride like Spiderman at IOA, but it's just too expensive and I don't think CP has the capabilities to deal with the technology or the upkeep

Having the capability and willingness to spend on upkeep are two different things entirely.

When Garner Holt refurbished the Calico Mine Ride and the Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knotts there were rumblings that corporate was seriously looking at building high end dark rides at Cedar Fair properties. So far there it doesn't seem to have gotten past the talking phase....

Dvo,

They can't even keep all the lights working on Gatekeepers trains.

fritzer:

But I do like Jeff's comment.. Shooting element + Pirate Ride??? Battle of lake erie or something... sounds amazing

I'd be all for that, I know my teenage kids laugh at me but I love Boo Blasters and Knotts Berry Tales. I am all for taking that same type of ride and making it into a pirate / lake Erie type of shooter ride. I know CP cannot do a massive dark ride like Universal or Disney but why can't they have something similar to a lot of other parks in the chain? I know maintenance budgets are not unlimited but a ride like that can't cost that much to maintain right?

CoasterHawk:

Dvo,

They can't even keep all the lights working on Gatekeepers trains.

Yeah, nevermind as you just answered my question. When we left the park the other night we noticed that only a few of the GK train lights were working. I guess they need a few more drink stands to make enough money to replace those light bulbs...

Or maybe the constant vibration of the trains keeps knocking them out and in the end it’s just not worth it.

Perhaps, but there are bulbs that are resistant to much more vibration than what the GK lights are subjected to. But if they don’t want to foot the bill to have them working just remove them all, it’d look better than the few currently working. I get it though, the lights don’t make money and the executives need their bonuses, keep the priorities in line.

I am convinced amusement park leadership doesnt have ADHD. That bulb issue would cause some flare ups for sure.

I think you're confusing ADHD with OCD. The former would likely cause you to forget about the lights as soon as you see a squirrel.

Yes. But to be fair it was almost 9pm, well past my bedtime.

When I took my kids to CP in the 90s, I was always bummed they couldn't experience the Earthquake ride (which I loved in the 70s). But at least they still had the Pirate dark ride--they loved that. Quite frankly, I'm glad, now that they're grown up, that I don't have to go back--it's changed so much since my boyhood, and when I worked there ('83). So fewer family rides and quiet places (I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually level Frontier and the trail). Just more and more megacoasters to justify price increases and shorter and shorter rides to maximize rider numbers.