Exploring Old Areas at Cedar Point

Thanks for setting me straight. I thought I was looking at Jungle Larry's . It's been awhile since it's been there. There is a lot of stuff in that wooded area though.

The ballroom is arguably cedar point's biggest unused asset. Why it never dawns on them to have a hard ticketed event in there one night per week blows my mind. They upcharge for line acces, they upcharge for parking, I'd happily pay fifteen bucks to enjoy a retro swing band on Saturday night while all of the ride warriors spazz out to the lights and sounds of luminosity. Cedar Fair is well known for trashing anything that hasn't made them money In the last twelve hours, but they've kept up that beautiful building...

Jungle Larry's Safari was on its own island, separate from the island that the paddlewheel boats encircled - note Jason's '69 map. "Millenium Island" as it has been refered to is actually the northern two thirds of the original, larger island. That island was cut with a new channel when Iron Dragon was installed so that Paddlewheel Excusions could continue on most of the original Western Cruise course. (counter-clockwise of course)

The channel that separated Jungle Larry's and the area where the maintenance buildings and gold dorms are now, was filled in when they built Corkscrew, thus eliminating that island. Corkscrew for the most part was built on the filled in area. Most of what was Jungle Larry's at the time did not move to accomodate Corkscrew, rather Corkscrew was built primarliy around it. But of course it was only a matter of time before it was closed allowing for the eventual addition of Power Tower and Super Himalaya to that midway.

In response to what is seen on the island that is under Iron Dragon, yes, the jeep was one of the props used at Jungle Larry's and as mentioned, other material and buildings seen in that area are part of the "Blood on the Bayou" walk thru for Halloweekends (entrance next to Top Thrill Dragster).

The length of the CPLE train route seems dramatically shorter than it once used to be based on the two park maps posted earlier. Is that true or am I misreading the scale?

If you want to see the ballroom, just apply to be a Screamster. You'll get to spend many hours there.

cptedsdisciple2 said:
Cedar Fair is well known for trashing anything that hasn't made them money In the last twelve hours, but they've kept up that beautiful building...

I assume the arcade downstairs is still making them a fair amount of money. Plus the building also houses a number of offices, such as Park Operations downstairs and Live E, Costuming, and the GM's office upstairs.

The original station for the CP&LE was out on the main midway next to the Cadillac Cars. It was on the north side(west side) of the original automobile crossover of the midway which passed in front of the Sky Ride station - about where the Dodgem building is now. It was moved back to its present location when the Million Dollar Midway was added - Frontier Lift, Monster, Bayern Kurve, Schwabinchen and Dodgems (#2). Also added was the (third) Western Cruise loading station (where Iron Dragon is today) - moved from its previous location which became the Paddlewheel Cafe (where Coasters is today). Prior to that, the loading station for the Western Cruise was at the end of the Midway behind Sky Ride - about where the corkscrews go over the midway on Corkscrew.

CP&LE's station was never by the Cadillac Cars. There used to be a miniature train at the park. I'm not sure where that was located. Perhaps that's what your thinking about.

The original location of the CP&LE station can be seen in this photo.

IMO - The ballroom is likely the most underutilized lot of property at Cedar Point and the excuses everyone comes up with for improvement's are all solvable.

As an example: For Halloweekends, the picnic pavilions, the ballroom areas of the hotel, temporary buildings (tents, trailers, etc.), or even offsite property could be used for these training and prep functions. If they can enclose the picnic areas for winter maintenance, why not do the same sort of conversion of otherwise empty areas for training tasks and any operational support peak periods? The picnic areas also hold an enormous amount of potential if they were modernized beyond what they have now (which is basically just a roof & picnic table - oh, and don't forget the bees).

Assuming it makes as much money as many profess, the arcade area could easily be relocated elsewhere as well. To support these games all you really need is a power grid, an enclosure, and a patch of land (i.e. old dorm areas everyone talks about?). The arched areas of the lower level could be incorporated into a dark ride, and it could easily fit into a dungeon sort of theme. Disney and Universal have rides that use Automated Guided Vehicles that follow a wire in the floor and don't even require a track - so using the limited space in this fashion is possible. Even if left as is, nothing in the basement would likely prohibit a repurpose of the upstairs areas and vice-versa.

As for safety and access issues, there is a lot of room behind the building to correct any access problems such as ramps, elevators, and stairways issues that likely need updating to current building codes. The costs for correcting any violations to get this area useful has got to be less than the liability, operating expenses, and lost profitability of the potential $$$ it possesses since today it most patrons have never really been in it, and have only walked past.

Lastly, if a project to convert this building included the repurposing of the aqua stadium property as well, the two could be connected with a sky bridge over the beach midway which would really increase the possibilities in terms of size and pre/after-show events.

With this huge footprint and existing historic structure, whatever attraction you can imagine could be installed. A Disney/Universal class dark ride, an authentic awesome theater/showplace, a concert venue, an indoor coaster, or possibly a set of simulators or even some sort of international street pavilion all of which would certainly make a lot more interest and profit than the area does today.

Walt said:
The original location of the CP&LE station can be seen in this photo.

I sit corrected :)

P.S. Awesome photo!

Having done more than my fair share of ADA renovations I think the issue of the ballroom likely comes down to a Return on Investment...as is often the case in the amusement business. Can the ballroom be made accessible? Of course it can. But, what is the cost to do that versus the value they will get out of the use when it is said and done?

And, while you can certainly provide access to the second floor, what other issues are there from the standpoint of building codes, emergency egress, fire suppression and a host of other issues? Once you go in and modify a building EVERYTHING will have to be brought up to existing code and we may not even be scratching the surface on those issues.

And, for that matter, the issue might be more of: what is the life expectancy of that building relative to the costs it would take to make it accessible? I don't have the answer to that but that facility probably isn't going to stand forever. If it only has 25 years left then is there a value in spending X?

Smart people have worked at Cedar Point over the years and smart people are there right now. I'm sure all these questions have already been asked and answered...and the fact that it isn't open to the public today is probably the answer in itself.

Thank you Walt.

Walt, that is a great picture...Thanks! Interesting to me is the line of traffic that appears to be coming in from where the Marina Gate is to, I'm guessing, the hotel. This picture unlocks alot of history.

^ don't know if you collect CP stuff or not, but there are early 60's maps/brochures on Ebay periodically that show that auto access road (from the marina to the hotel) along with other stuff in that pic. Just thought you'd be interested.

STEVE H, you and I should be on the park's board of directors. The park needs to embrace its history and market that to new generations, not merely pander to the ritalin set. (I can hear them revoking my season's pass already.)

Here's some pictures of the inside of the ballroom http://ohioforgotten.drewborg.com/hauntings/cpballroom/

cptedsdisciple2 said:
STEVE H, you and I should be on the park's board of directors. The park needs to embrace its history and market that to new generations, not merely pander to the ritalin set. (I can hear them revoking my season's pass already.)

They would have to get their own history section on their website correct first but it's not their fault, they were given some faulty facts. I've emailed them.
I think Mr. Ouimet is making a turn for the better with that. I really enjoyed the 50th anniversary train signs by the station, the celebration on 6/22, and the train signs now by Cedar Junction. I agree w/both of you. Hopefully we'll be seeing some 50th anniversary Blue Streak stuff in 2014.

Um, folks, you can't go by those maps which are not accurate size-wise. The area that was the separate Jungle Larry "island" was long landlocked already at that point with the back lagoonway filled in. Jungle Larry wasn't really moved much though the layout was changed -- things grew up around it until it was removed. Back in those days they didn't move stuff around yet, they just built around it because they had so much available space.

To be honest, there isn't much left of any of the old areas...its been paved over, or de-weeded, or plowed under. Whatever was salvageable has been salvaged, but most of it was just scrapped (or more realistically until everyone suddenly got "green" a decade ago" was just thrown out in the garbage and towed away to landfill.

They moved some old stuff to other parks for theming, but not much even of that. In all honesty, it cheaper for them to just build from scratch than to preserve any of that rotting old stuff. There was more to explore back when I worked there in the late 70's but even then they basically just threw stuff out as they built new.

By the way -- if you look closely enough, you can still see old roadside curbs on the Marina Entranceway...that used to be where the road to the Breakers went -- right through the middle of the park. Much of it is now paved over and relandscaped, but the outline of the old road can still be seen, especially from satalite photos...