Future of Iron Dragon

Last weekend I took a trip to Cedar Point with one of my friends. We had about everything done so we decided to do Iron Dragon, the line was about 10 minutes but we waited for front which made it a bit longer. We were talking about how old the ride was and how significant it was to getting us into the larger rides (it was our starter coaster.) I looked up when the ride opened and it was June 11, 1987. I realized this is it's 30th year. Cedar Point. Normally, Cedar Point celebrates these marks like they have done with many rides in the past but why not Iron Dragon?? Corkscrew hit it's 40th last year and they didn't do anything really, but Corkscrew looks good and takes up a small space so it's safe for now. Iron Dragon is not the most thrilling but is still decently cool. They should have at least done something for it's 30th and the sign it has is pretty faded. Then I thought if they are not celebrating it's birthday, how much longer will it be around?? Could Iron Dragon be on the chopping block??? I would hate to see this ride leave but as it gets older it becomes harder and more expensive to maintain. So could this be leaving Cedar Point's line-up soon?? I hope not.

I really never had any attachment to ID, would be glad to see it go. The only reason I would be upset is if they just let the land go, and didn't do anything with it. Looking at the plot of land it sits on, I could quite honestly see the station for the GCI woodie going there, if they were to go with an out-and-back similar to Mystic Timbers. It could really stretch all the way out the the Shoot the Rapids island. I would love to see that happen.

You'd like to see a wooden coaster that would close early every night of its life due to a nearby nighttime spectacular?

Did you guys miss the whole virtual reality thing on Iron Dragon the past 2 seasons? It seems like it was well received by a lot of people who were able to try it out. I would guess the future of Iron Dragon will be to continue using the VR on it, and maybe spend a bit to upgrade said VR.

Iron Dragon is a very good "starter" coaster for the people who don't want to go on the larger coasters. It is still quite popular with the families. I have seen it get a full queue even on the moderately crowded days. Unless maintenance on the ride is becoming excessive, I don't see it going anywhere.

Yes, it is both an excellent 'starter' coaster and also an excellent 'maintenance' coaster for adults who have fear issues. I can ride any coaster in the park with my child, but her mom will only ride ID and CCMR (and even those are not always willingly). She has back issues and fear issues, but on her brave days, she will sometimes do those two. I would hate to lose either (even though I am not overly fond of CCMR due to the lap bar configuration) and lose the opportunity to ride with my wife.

I've been looking at the bird's eye views and something family oriented with a racing theme (Dragster is right next door isn't it?) would fit in well. Maybe a motorbike coaster with a racing element to the launch. The extant Iron Dragon footers in the lagoon could possibly be reused although it's unlikely.

Not my video! Also how do I embed YT videos?

No inversions, a 40"-ish height limit and shared theming with TTD (another grandstand in between with a side for the new coaster and a side for TTD? Dismantle TTD's current grandstand and free up that space). Lot of trees still left here right? Lots of scope for terrain hugging (no real height to the coaster so no fear from kids or non thrill rider adults). Good merchandising potential with shops and snacks for this new "zone".

Or an actual racing bike coaster like the Maurer design (seems elaborate and expensive however for the marginal thrill it provides).

I seem to love Maurer stuff?!

VR is a fad I believe. It will however keep ID relevant for a few more years at least.

RCMAC said:

You'd like to see a wooden coaster that would close early every night of its life due to a nearby nighttime spectacular?

The Beast says hi.

There have been a lot of rides hitting anniversaries in recent years that weren't acknowledged. Between last year and this year Ripcord 20, Thunder Canyon 30, Corkscrew 40, Iron Dragon 30, Maverick 10... etc

As much as we all love a good thrill, you can't just have only large, high thrilling rides everywhere in the park. Variety is important. Iron Dragon is an excellent family coaster with the exception of the ridiculous height requirement.

Yeah, the Luminosity aspect is the only thing that doesn't work. A GCI woodie out there in the woods that ID is in would make some great night rides, so that would be a downside. They could however, potentially put the station on the STR land, and put the turnaround towards the ID station location.

I enjoy ID.

Still would like to see it painted to match the tree colors of brown and green.

Or just back to its original colors.

I prefer the original colors as well

What was the reason for the color change? I too like the original

^ Total guess here, but I'd venture to say it's to resemble fire. The yellow / red track resembles the colors of the dragon's fire in the logo.

I like it.

Shoot, didn't mean to upvote your post there, F1rePhant0m, but rather reply that it was ostensibly repainted that way to match Top Thrill Dragster's colors, as it was repainted for the 2003 season if I'm not mistaken.

The McDonald's color scheme really needs to be rethought. Having 2 coasters in the same area having the same color scheme is an eye-sore, personally.

Going back to the original color scheme would make it less garish right in the middle of the park. Of course, I still haven't mentioned that they repainted Rougarou with the combination of ID's colors, which makes it even worse.

^ Hah, it's cool. I'll mentally subtract it :D.

I honestly wasn't even thinking about it matching TTD. I just assumed it was to more closely resemble the logo.

If it was in fact repainted yellow and red to match TTD, I find that to be a strange decision.

Especially because the yellows don't match.