Farewell, Wildcat.

I'm really upset now ): WildCat was so much fun wen I was little and I remember my first ride. I'll miss it a lot. My younger cousins are gonna be so sad.

It was going to be fun riding it this year without looking at a giant white screen as you crest the lift.

We all saw the webcams before they went offline, the area was going to be a bottleneck, do some of you forget that the stage will feature a runway going out into the middle of the midway with a DJ on the end?

I agree that the age and popularity and maintenance cost may have been attributed,
But it still goes back to Luminosity. If Raptor was sitting where Wildcat is they would've had to try and make it work, but a new CEO with fresh eyes and no emotional connection (who like i said previously probably had never even been on the Cat) sees how the new area was starting to take shape and saw an old carnival ride that seemed easy to bulldoze.

And to the folks who think the fact they're not retiring the ride shows even more proof of mechanical failure- seriously? Transport an old 1970's ride to another park and opening it as new? I believe that sounds as crazy as Cedar Fair buying Geauga Lake to close it!

The endless posts on this topic has been entertaining to say the least!

Ffej said:
Again, all emotion about the ride aside

It's a RIDE for crying out loud! Some of you are delusional that a CARNIVAL RIDE is important in life! I would suggest stepping back from arguing on the internet with your tinfoil hats on and find something that honestly matters in life! It's waaaaaaaay to short to worry about 1 carnival ride being shipped off to a metal shredder for scrap value.

If you found out you had 48 hours to live, would this really make your list of important things in the end?

^^Give it up, man. People are gonna believe what they wanna believe. I'm part of the 'bad decision' school of thought, especially if the only reason was Luminosity. To spend money on it during the offseason to do regular offseason maintenance, man hours getting it ready, then testing, just to decide they needed more room doesn't make any sense. But you arguing with people telling them they're wrong via an internet forum is even crazier.

Honestly...and this is strictly opinion here, not based in anything I have heard/read/whatever...I suspect that the "You know, we really should just go ahead and yank the Wildcat" decision really got rolling when the control booth went up.

My guess is that when "they" saw how that booth looked backed right up against the Wildcat station roof, that's probably when the discussions about removing the ride really got started.

As for the seeming illogic of the decision? Don't read anything into the words that isn't there. If it is logical, in fact downright obvious, that some catastrophe led to the sudden decision to yank the ride, then what would be the illogical alternative?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Bill02 said:
The endless posts on this topic has been entertaining to say the least!

Ffej said:
Again, all emotion about the ride aside

It's a RIDE for crying out loud! Some of you are delusional that a CARNIVAL RIDE is important in life! I would suggest stepping back from arguing on the internet with your tinfoil hats on and find something that honestly matters in life! It's waaaaaaaay to short to worry about 1 carnival ride being shipped off to a metal shredder for scrap value.

If you found out you had 48 hours to live, would this really make your list of important things in the end?

Considering I spent two summers of my life working it, I met my future wife working it, and I spent countless hours trying to make the ride the best it could be not only for guests but for my fellow crew members, you can bet I have an emotional connection to it.

^No one can ever take away those great memories from you! Removing the ride doesn't remove those good feelings about it for you. No use complaining about the decision.

Nochom Chypsarth said:
WildCat was a pretty awesome little coaster, but the capacity turned me off from it many times...

Capacity was its downfall, and probably was a major factor in removing it. As Jeff said a few pages back, Cedar Fair has perfected the art of managing budgets for ride operations, and WildCat just wasn't worth keeping financially. Am I sad that the ride is leaving? Yes. Was it a good decision to get rid of it? More than likely.

Bill02 said:

Ffej said:
Again, all emotion about the ride aside

It's a RIDE for crying out loud! Some of you are delusional that a CARNIVAL RIDE is important in life! I would suggest stepping back from arguing on the internet with your tinfoil hats on and find something that honestly matters in life! It's waaaaaaaay to short to worry about 1 carnival ride being shipped off to a metal shredder for scrap value.

Gosh... This is going to sound crazy, but here it goes:

After being a Cedar Point regular for almost my entire life, I have gotten emotionally attached to these rides. For as long as I can remember, the park has been like my home in the summertime. So, seeing a ride go, to me, is like watching a friend go. I'm sure some other Cedar Point regulars can tell you same.

However, WildCat was almost to the end; it was quite obvious.

It's not like I'm going to curl up in a ball and burst into tears over WildCat (or any ride for that matter) leaving, but it is a bit of a sad event.

(I think that was just as crazy as I thought it would sound...)

I don't think the responses have been that extreme. Any time you remove anything, people are going to get emotional about it. The timing of all this is to blame for a lot of the reaction though.

Wish the webcams were still up!

I have a question. Where are all of the people who were upset about not having enough family rides in the park? If anything this has done nothing but take another solid one away. WildCat was a great family ride that pretty much everyone could ride together, not to mention have your own car. To be honest I'm surprised that there isn't more of an uproar over that considering how many people have been begging for more family attractions.

Wildcat is hardly a "family" ride. It's small, sure, but it's the most aggressive coaster in the park, and it has a 48" height requirement. The "what about the family" people would have been expected to come out if it had been Iron Dragon that got taken out.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

An attraction's family appeal is sort of detracted from when said attraction has a 48" height requirement. Every time I walked by it, I saw a much higher ratio of adults to children queuing. That's not to say kids didn't like it, but they're often in line for other, larger attractions. We'll probably see a much better family attraction brought to the park in the future.

Edit: RideMan beat me to it.

RideMan said:
Wildcat is hardly a "family" ride. It's small, sure, but it's the most aggressive coaster in the park, and it has a 48" height requirement. The "what about the family" people would have been expected to come out if it had been Iron Dragon that got taken out.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

But I think the 48" height requirement coupled with the simpleness of its design attracted alot of unsuspecting people to it. They did not realize that it's looks could be deceiving. But once the kids survived their first ride on it they would be hooked. That with the fact that the family could all sit together in their own car made it a family ride to me.

The ride was a piece of junk and looked like it belonged in a trashy roadside carnival. It was a huge eyesore, and that midway will look 1000x better. I have been going to CP for many years and have probably only ridden Wildcat about 3 times...

WildCat was a fun ride, but it would have been really out of place with a new area. I believe that something happened during testing. I am very curious to see what they are going to do with the empty space.

On the bright side, even though CP doesn't hold the "coaster wars title", Cedar Point can at least say that they have 16 roller coasters operating everyday.

I don't agree with it, but what's done is done. Just like WWL, a ride I know my kids would have really enjoyed, gone! Replaced with a 46" tall height requirement ride vs. WWL 36" height requirement. PWE, a ride my son and I rode numerous times because he loved it so much, gone! Replaced with dinosaurs, in which he already told me that he doesn't want to see dinosaurs because they scare him, same with my daughter.

My son and daughter are 5yrs old, my son is 47 1/2 inches tall and my daughter is 45 1/2 inches tall. Hopefully, my son will take to the new 46" and taller rides, ID, DT, STR, TC.

Luminosity will be interesting to see because they love fireworks and the light show last year. The removal of WC just seems like a big downer after all the excitement with all the new lighting and other upgrades being done at the park.

We all just have to sit back and watch how this all plays out now. I'm all for a coaster next year (woodie), but now with the removal of WC, I hope they add a family friendly coaster/rides in addition to a new extreme coaster. Do I see both happening.......no, but as we have seen recently, you never know what they are going to do next.

SSL488 said:

I feel like that just gave us a major clue as to when we could be seeing a new coaster!

Really? When? I missed the clue I guess.

MillenniumFan94 said:
The ride was a piece of junk and looked like it belonged in a trashy roadside carnival. It was a huge eyesore,

Kinda like a 420 (!?) foot high phallic McDonald's themed ride?

The Wildcat looked like a *roller coaster* to me. Providing more *FUN* than the other coasters in the park (for me - and many others).