Mill Race memories

As much as I love the Raptor I do miss the Mill Race, the log flume that was retired to make way for the green monster. The ride got you wet but nothing like TC or Snake. The ride was added in 1963 and was only the second flume ever built. The ride was also pleasant to look at but I did feel it did kind of looked out of place in the front of the park.
I worked at the park in 1993, its last season, and the ride looked old. the sign on top of the hill was gone and I think water no longer lubricated the drop. But I still didn't like the idea of it being torn down. I was hoping that the ride would be sold or moved. That didn't happen but I think the logs were saved and sent to another CF, probably Dorney.
The first time I rode it was near the end of my first visit to Cedar Point in 1972 with my dad and I got soaked. It was the second flume I had ever rode. I rode Gold Rush at Geauga Lake earlier that summer. My last ride was during one of the employee "Beat the Heat" nights. 1993 was a hot summer and we had a lot of those, usually on the new Snake River Falls, but in late summer they had it at the Mill Race. To make sure everyone got wet they hooked up hoese hidden in the bushes to get you extra wet.
I missed out on a chance to ride it on its last ever operating day on Labor day. It was a cold and rainy day and I closing that day so I stayed in bed. I remember seeing the silver tags heading to the ride to get one more ride before closing time. It was weird seeing people enjoying the ride knowing in 24 hours it would be rubble.

Some Mill Race trivia facts:
When it was built the the big hill was built so the monorail could travel underneath.
In 1979 the Mill Race became Nestea Plunge, one of the few times the park evr renamed a ride. It reverted to Mill Race in 1981.
Mill Race was the second flume to be razed by the park. The 1967 Shoot-the-Rapids was retired to make way for the 1982 White Water Landing.
During the years CP had gender segregated ride crews the Mill Race was a guy ride.
Mill Race's last season was Snake River Falls' first so 1993 CP had 4 in park water rides.

All very interesting facts. :) I'm not that old (18) but Mill Race is the first ride I can remember riding besides the kiddy rides, so it holds a special place for me, too. :)

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Cedar Point-a lifetime of memories.
2004 season entertainment hopeful

Oh and yes, I realize disaster is spelled wrong in my name, too late to change it now, *sniff*

One of my favorite memories of Cedar Point in the old days is sitting in the Silver Dollar Cafe watching the logs float by. I also remember the absurdly long lines for the Mill Race, but it was one of the "must rides" in those days (mid-70's). It certainly would be considered laughable in terms of thrills by today's standards, but at the time getting your butt wet sitting on those log seats, trying to decide whether to sit in the back or front for maximum wetness, and (dare I say it) getting your hands wet by dipping them in that crystal-clear water - it was all the stuff that made CP the place it was.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.

That was my first ride with a hill, I went on it when I was seven and it was the closest I came to riding anything like a roller coaster, until I became older. I rode it everytime we went until it was torn down and I even wrote CP a letter how sad I was that it was gone. ( I was only ten) and that I was going to start a petition to save it. I never did start it, I guess I enjoyed the Raptor to much.
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No, the other Millennium Force!
JF all the way baby!!!!

Tim, do you sit arounding thinking of ways to make some of us feel old?

I worked on the Mill Race in 1981 (it was still the Plunge that season) as we had to read a script every now and then about "taking the Nestea Plunge".

While I too miss the ride I like the changes CP has and will continue to have each year. CP wants to keep the park "fresh" and will always offer the best available.

Hey atleast in the place of the mill race they put up a great ride...not some stupid bear country later turned into crap stoopid, like they did with slides...those were awesome!

Sorry a little bitter about the slides! but i wish the mill race was relocated instead of full removal.

I agree about the slide. I think the sky slide was more of a family atraction then Bear Country/ Peanuts playground would ever be. My mom loved going on the sky slide with me, but years later hated sitting in the playground all day while my brother messed around with that stupid truck.

I remember when I was about 4 or 5 my family and I where on Mill Race. Halfway thorugh all the water drained and everything stopped. Apparently something went terribly awry with the water pumps or whatever. After a few minutes we were taken off. It was fun :).

Also for whatever reason I always wanted the boat loading on the midway side of the "dock."

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Wow, a new ride is being built.
*** This post was edited by Joe E. 3/18/2003 7:04:10 PM ***

For me it was special as it was one of the few rides that I rode with my dad and brother.

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magnumdan
magnum count: 2233
www.dannyjphoto.com
"all I want is a short launch"

The Mill Race was the first ride I was on that had a hill in it. As a very young child, that drop looked huge, and I felt like I was dropping 500'. It turned into one of my very favorite rides, and was still fun right up to the last day.

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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

This was one of the only "thrilling" rides that the whole family would ride together. My mother doesn't like anything with much of a drop. Millrace was about her maximum. She won't get on White Water Landing.

I remember being fooled by the water spout gag inside the old mill building.

One time, my father's cap fell off on the drop. he told the guy at the bottom (the person who controlled which loading trough the boats would go to). The guy caught it as it came floating after our boat.

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everything's better with a banjo

I'm only 18, but i remmeber riding it with my little brohter and Dad. I too was sad to see it go, but with it leaving we got my favorite Coaster of all time, Raptor. At least it made way for a killer coaster, and didnt get torn down for nothing.

man, i remember the mill race...that was a fun ride! thanks for bringing back the memories...

now, do any of y'all remember the shoot the rapids in frontier town? *that* was kewler than kewl. that double drop...WILD!

karla in texas. :)

I remember back in '93 when I first visited CP (back then I was too chicken to ride anything what a differance 7 years makes) I was forced to ride Mill Race with the group I was with even though I did not want to I did and actually I had a lot of fun too bad it is now defunct

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Stupidity Has A Habit Of Getting It's Way.

Camp Snoopy 2000-2002
Mean Streak 2003

I remember harassing the Ops on Mill Race when riding like twelve times in a row. As we got to the station and the op was directing the boats to each side of the station. Each time we passed by, my friends and I asked him: "Do you get paid for this?" He began replying before we got to the station... :)

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I own you!

So when the Mill race was taken out, was it destroyed, or was it moved to a different park?

Mill Race closed towards the end of the 1993 season and was demolished. I'm not sure what happened to the boats, but the ride itself no longer exists.

You boarded about where Raptor's first drop is today. You meandered around behind the Silver Dollar Cafe (now Game Day Grill) and the Pirate Ride building (now House on Boo Hill on Halloweekends). The final lift and drop is where Raptor's lift now stands.

When our family had passes in '89 it was the first ride we would hit whenever we visited. Good times.

~Rob

I miss the Mill Race too. It was a great intro to drops and helped me get ready to brave WWL the following year after I first rode it.

The Mill Race was the family friendly, fun type of ride that Dick Kinzel detested. None of the boats or the track was saved or reused, however, many tourists (unknowingly) passed by it's ruins for several summers thereafter.
Just off the causeway, by the current Lyman Harbor complex there is a company called Lewco which made conveyor machinery and such. They have a big fenced-in lot right off of Lane Street. Inside the fenced-in lot was the crushed steel flume and supports from the Mill Race and at least a few of the boats. Why they were purchased or sent here, I do not know, but I do have pictures from the early 2000's. (The lot was never open to the public so creativity was required.) A friend of mine who was a fellow Kinzel hater tipped me off to this around 2001 and sure enough, it was there.
Lately, the lot has been cleaned, so I would expect it to be gone now, but for at least 9 years a steady stream of tourists drove right by the Mill Race without ever realizing it!

Are you sure about that? I have seen photos of a flume that was stored in Sandusky which I presume to be the same place you're talking about...but in analyzing the photos with the photographer, we determined that it could not have been the Mill Race. The presence of a sign from the ride (I forget what the name was) kind of clinched it. But most of the flume on Mill Race was Fiberglas, and much of this stuff was galvanized.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
"Please do not sit on the green wall"

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The original Shoot the Rapids was built with a galvanized trough supported by a wooden frame (with the exception of the loading station which was a concrete trough).