Demon Drop 1983-2009

It'll be strange not seeing Demon Drop at the front of the park next year. That ride is one of my earliest memories at the park. I wanted to watch it all day long because I was convinced (as a 4 or 5 year old) that eventually the car was going to fall off the end of the brake run.

I'll definitely need to take a few laps in the next two weekends.

crazy horse said:

I say the ride is popular because durring the summer, the ride always has a line. The ride had 944,853 riders last season.That's more riders than mean streak, mine ride,wildcat,and blue streak had. If the ride was not popular, there would not be a line.

Again, I never said it wasn't popular. But popularity is a relative term. If you have two equally-popular rides, and one costs $648/person and the other costs $4/person, which are they going to remove first?

Why not take out a ride like mean streak?

You mean, aside from the fact that they just did a bunch of work on it?

It only had 849,746 riders last season.

Which means its 90% as popular as DT.

BlueStreak64 said:

dj, about that image where the Demon Drop and DT area was highlighted blue, there is at least one major problem/obstacle that remains in the highlighted area. It includes the main security gate, which is where several full size semis come in for deliveries on a very regular basis. There has to be both the height clearance and room for them to maneuver once they are inside that area, and its already rather limited as it is. Adding supports (especially for a wooden coaster) there would severely complicate if not make things impossible for full size trucks and subsequent deliveries.

You mean like this? And I never said I thought a wooden coaster was going there. Or that any coaster was going there. I was simply pointing out that the are is big enough for almost any coaster CP could want.

And I'm not saying I think DT is going anywhere. I just can't understand how the area's size is being so wildly misunderestimated.

Misunderestimated? Wouldn't that mean its being overestimated?

Welcome to the year 2000. ;)

A few of years when Demon Drop was first listed for sale, we did a behind-the-scenes tour. You can view the gallery at:

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Photos/Gallery.aspx?id=429

Also, here are some PR photos from the ride's opening year:

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Photos/Gallery.aspx?id=430

dj, I wasn't saying anything about the size of the entire area regarding if a ride could fit, I was talking specifically about the security gate area and about how adding anything that removes space in that vicinity would likely make things very complicated if not next to impossible for deliveries that take place there. I am very familiar with the size of that area. I've watched trucks come in and out, regular sized vehicles drive around and through the gates, and spent enough time back there to have a good idea of how big it is.

I didn't chose that image to show the size of anything. I chose that image because it shows a wooden coaster that goes over the top of something (in this case, a river). Its not difficult to make a pass-through for trucks and the like - you just build a steel frame around the opening, and build the supports on top of that.

I'm well aware of such things that could be used over the security gate in particular. Heck, Ravine Flyer 2 crosses over a road (4 lane highway I think). I'm talking about obstructing anything beyond the inside of the gate. It is vehicle movement inside the gate, not through the gate that I'm getting at.

The blue highlighted area in the image I posted doesn't tread on anything inside the area of which you speak. Nothing "back-of-house" is affected in any way, aside from the aforementioned gate.

It does, actually. The blue includes two vehicle corridors that are used quite often, and one of which is sometimes used by maintenance as a repair area. You can see in that picture that when those parking spaces back there are full, it is already really tight for a full size truck. Take out those two vehicle corridors and things become even more difficult.

Note: the trucks don't come in with their trailer facing the games/Johnny Rockets. They have to turn around once inside the gate because of how much foot and other vehicle traffic there is back there. Not to mention that when some of the trucks arrive, the parking lot is so full as to make turning around to back in through the gate a next to impossible situation.

Ensign Smith said:
What would installing a new GCI in the front of the park have to do with removing Mean Streak in the back? Would they be over quota for woodies?

Obviously you don't have to remove Mean Streak, but that is a prime piece of land for maybe some more resort expansion or other park expansion. I guessed they might remove Mean Streak based on a comment that was posted some time ago, from a Coaster Mania presentation I think. This was made by a CP official that said something like "I'm not looking forward to when we have to remove Mean Streak". Of course, there was not a time frame attached to that, so it might be soon or 50 years from now.

Sorry, BS64... didn't realize we were splitting hairs here.

Dj, in all of my posts I was clearly talking about how traffic - particularly full size truck traffic - would be impacted by anything that takes away room back there. Nothing more, nothing less. Your image clearly shows two vehicle corridors being overtaken. This is not splitting hairs, it is addressing a real and existing problem that would have to be considered if you want to use that area for any sizable installation. Changes would have to be made to the buildings (removed or heavily modified, especially the warehouse/cash control) back there to gain back enough room if any is taken away.

But anyway, I am disappointed about the ride leaving, despite my more hate than love relationship with it. The front gate area will seem very empty and quiet without it.

Just curious as to why you would be disappointed that a ride you don't like is leaving? I will miss it, but only because it has been a part of my "picture" of CP since I was 8 years old. That said, though, one thing I love about CP is that it is ever-evolving.

Attachment is a path to the dark side; learn to let go.

Eh, there is just something special about the drop on Demon Drop that you just don't get on Power-Tower. The faux sense of danger that DD created was priceless.

Have fun in California Demon Drop.

Demon Drop has a stronger sense of falling compared to Power Tower because it is a pure gravity drop, not controlled by pneumatics.

*sigh*
My original contention was that the area is easily large enough to accommodate an attraction the size of Raptor, Gemini, etc. With regard to that point, getting all hung up on how they'd route vehicles in and out of that area is, in fact, splitting hairs. There are countless solutions to the problems you mention. Hell, almost every attraction in the park allows for large vehicle access to the infield, and the solutions aren't even remotely complex.

If an attraction were installed toward the front of the park, and the bulk of said attraction is placed where DT sits, and crossed over to where DD sits, its not going cause any sort of problem that a second-year civil engineering student couldn't work out over a weekend (while half-drunk & hungover).

You take out a few rows of the lot, go over the security gate, and voila - problem solved. Trucks can get in and out, and none of the back-of-house area has been sacrificed.

Looks like the Cleveland Plain Dealer got wind of this:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10/cedar_points_demon_drop_ride_o.html

I just realized something. Demon Drop is going to be running a hell of a lot more now, seeing that Knott's has a longer operating season. Could this mean that, for the first time, Demon Drop will be pushed farther than its normal limits, causing maintenance issues?

^Not only a longer operating season, but it'll have to withstand fires and earthquakes!

(just kidding, of course)

I would image that, like most things, maintenance is performed on a per-cycle schedule, just like oil changes on your car.