Dinosaurs Alive

Pete said:

see some diversity in the ride lineup with large scale attractions that are not coasters. Boat ride, log flume, dark ride, something cool not seen before, anything.

Exactly.

I think we need boats with captains that tell corny jokes. That would be an awesome use of the space.

Yes we need a good captain to get around those wooden indians shooting wooden bullets that wouldn't hurt!

There's going to be a bump in the front, a bump in the back, and a jerk behind the wheel.

It would be relaxing to sit around and pet one of the local dogs...they are Cedar POINTERS! All while you sit and enjoy one of the favorite locally made swine coolers they sell on the midway :D

...oh, and don't forget, we always found out the price of fur.

Back on topic, I've always understood DA to be a 7 year lease with the 2018 season being the last. Could the contract be extended based on popularity? I guess so but the DA attraction has had a few more patrons than the highly visible Prof. Delbert's Frontier Fling, and that ain't saying much. I think DA will be gone after 18'.

In all my visits to CP this season, busy and slow days, I have never seen anybody on that ride. Poor Delbert.

I've seen maybe 5 people on that ride ever.

^.... Well then its settled! The ride is clearly a failure!!!

CPfan1976 said:

Back on topic, I've always understood DA to be a 7 year lease with the 2018 season being the last.

When KI installed the attraction it was said to be a 2 year deal, then at Cedar Point it was a 3 year deal, then 5 and now apparently a 7 year contract. I don't know where these numbers come from but it always reminds me of "B&M has a 3 ride deal with all Cedar Fair parks!".

I heard the parks 150 year lease is up soon and they have to relocate CP... that must be why they closed Geauga Lake so they can put it there.

I would still like to see a Disney style ride take its place. And bring back the dang paddle boat!

I volunteer to come out of Paddlewheel retirement if the need arises. I'm ready to go right now.

After visiting Kings Dominion this past week, it's pretty remarkable to see the difference in this attraction across the parks. We have two young daughters, and given our Platinum Passes we of course gave it a try. Aside from Cedar Point, we had never ventured into another park's DA setup.

Having trekked along Cedar Point's DA path as recent as this June, I was almost reluctant to walk through Kings Dominion's setup, mainly due to the abysmal state that Cedar Point's dinos are in. A large percentage of them simply don't work, the dinos themselves have all sorts of obvious rips and tears in their skins, and nothing says "dino adventure" like Millennium Force racing above and around you. I don't dislike Cedar Point's DA simply because it toned the bell for what was left of the Paddlewheel Excursions, I dislike it because it's poorly executed. Zoos all across the country put on a much better show. That said, I get it; it must make $ or it wouldn't be there. I can choose not to walk through it.

Now on to Kings Dominion we go. The entire attraction is a walk through the woods, with only Grizzly (a wooden coaster) occasionally within earshot. Only one dino was not working, and I did not notice any of the beasts that looked to be worn. There were a couple moments when I actually got startled, as some of the dinos are positioned in a way that they "come to life" as you are rounding a bend or perhaps staring off into the woods elsewhere as you walk. I was a little taken aback by how much we actually liked it.

I will never understand where people get their ideas about 2-year deals, 3-year deals, etc., and while I am fully in the camp that feels this piece of real estate could be used to a much greater degree at Cedar Point, the attraction does work at Kings Dominion, at least.

As others have noted, if it ever does get the proverbial boot, I hope that it's replacement is something that adds some diversity to Cedar Point's lineup, a dark ride, a family flume, true family coaster, etc...

Kings Island just announced that their dinosaurs will be going extinct again on 10/29. Hopefully this means the other installations will quickly follow suit, if not this year...

Theirs was first, so CP's removal should/might be the year after that.

Perhaps in place of DA they could open Professor Delbert’s Professional Drone ‘Pilot’ Academy and Hot Wheels Road Course.