News: Cedar Point blog shows footers at WWL site

A flier wouldnt be really bad but im kinda hopping for some sort of a floorless coaster or sit down looper that will break the inversion record.

Something tells me that CP isnt going to go for the most inversions record.

I'm Dick (I've been called that before). I decide to try to breathe life into the flat family market so I decide to lower prices on the Junior and Senior ticket. Then I build a coaster for the new attraction that neither demographic can ride?

I just don't see a big, record-breaking, mega-loop coaster...as much as that might disappoint the Buzz crowd.

I don't either, Dick. ;)

MrScott

Well, I'm Mr. H, and I say a 500', 23 inversion, 12 underground tunnel, dueling hover coaster...

;)

Actually, doesn't Mr. H. say "HEEEIIIIIIDDDYYY HOOOOOO"

Dueling coasters would be wonderful, and for some reason, I just feel it's a strong possibility.

Anything's a possibility.

I personally have no clue what the coaster would be, however, I would like to see a Floorless coaster with a lot of inversions.

Not to whine, but...

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=3255

Was it really necessary to blur out that little tiny bit of the photo? 1, you're not on Cedar Point property so they can't exactly do anything if you take pictures, 2, you're too far away to make out anything significant, 3, what's the point when there's going to be more work done in the area by the time the park opens and you're allowed to take pictures back there?

Oh, how I wish I had money and time to charter a plane. I'd take pictures of the entire area and put them up on my own personal website. And I'd sit and laugh with every day that went by without me getting in trouble for anything.

I'm been a reader here for a while, but just signed up to share my thoughts on "Project 2007" with you. I've also posted this at C-Buzz and another site, but I thought I'd see what you guys here thought. Sorry it's a bit long, but I like to be thorough!

I've pretty much held off from making any sweeping predictions for what's ahead for the former WWL area, but I feel that now is the right time for me to reveal what I see in store for that much speculated about area.

So what do I think about "Project 2007", which is what I understand the official term that has been given to the WWL development by CP management. First off, notice the term "Project" is a part of that. While a project could certainly be only a single coaster, I believe the reason that this is being broadly termed a "Project" rather than "2007 Addition", or something like that, is because it is indeed a large project. This is no simple removal of a ride, and addition of a large roller coaster in it's place. I believe that we will see an entirely different Frontier Town next year than we have had for the past many years, and a much more thrilling and functional one at that.

It's no secret that for years the general attendance and interest in Frontier Town has declined, especially in the early and late months when the water rides are not drawing a crowd back there. It's also no secret that Mean Streak has really fallen out of favor with many people, and while the rough nature of the ride has a lot to do with that, I believe it's poor, out of the way location also has played a big part in that. Let's face it: it's not the easiest coaster to locate for the newcomer, even when they see it looming large right ahead of them. These factors have relegated Frontier Town to almost an afterthought, and a place regular attenders are quite likely to skip alltogether on entire visits to the park (I've seen it happen more than once just in my trips there!). Besides it's back-of-the-park location; it's lack of marquee attractions, and generally been-there-done-that atmosphere has resulted in the largest themed area of Cedar Point going underused, and underappreciated. This fact has not been lost on CP management, and has likely been a source of consternation for them for some time. But what could be done about it? How could they revitalize and make relevant this long-neglected area, without completely starting over? They have already begun the revival with the addition of Skyhawk to Frontier Town, and that will bring many people back there that wouldn't otherwise bother this year. But that is only the beginning. As much as I'm sure it was a hard decision to make to get rid of the fairly popular and family friendly White Water Landing, it clearly had to be removed for the greater good of Frontier Town, and CP as a whole. That has been done, and construction has begun in earnest on it's former site.

So that brings us to the question of the hour: Exactly what is going in back there? While I may not know "exactly" what is going in there, I have formulated a pretty good idea of what I think we will be seeing in 2007, in at least some general fashion. Let me begin by suggesting that I don't think we've seen the last of the changes or removals for "Project 2007". While a lot of people are getting hung up on the early start date, and trying to link that to the supposed height (500 feet), it makes much more sense that it is because there is a lot of work to be done on building an entirely new area, with multiple new attractions, as well as the fact that the following offseason will see the removal of another attraction that has been left open for one more swan song this season. Yes, I know some of you won't agree with me on this next point, and that is fine, but I really think we will see the removal of the Antique Cars after this season. We also may see either the removal or at least moving of the Wave Swinger (I'd bet more on it moving than being removed completely, and it may not need to go anywhere). With these offseason changes, the path will be cleared for the entirely new and improved Frontier Town to take shape.

Look for the path that is currently bottled up over near the Wave Swinger and Undertaker U. (which I expect will also be removed) to be expanded past the Frontier Inn, all the way through the old WWL area in a diagonal line, and then connect to the path that is right at the Mean Streak exit and photo booth. This will create an entirely new midway, and that is where at least one of the new coaster stations will be located, as well as some more frontier themed shops, and maybe even a new flat ride or the relocated Wave Swinger. The old path that ran between the Antique Cars and WWL will be removed, making way for a new coaster. Just from a traffic and flow standpoint, this will do wonders for both Frontier Town, and especially Mean Streak. Gone will be the slightly confusing layout that is currently there, and gone will be the dead end that is the Mean Streak area. Now it will be one big loop, that will take people right past MS, boosting it's accessibility, and keep the natural flow moving, instead of getting bottled up at the various dead ends currently in Frontier Town. It makes a tremendous amount of sense, and the added benefit for the currently unpopular MS could be one of the biggest side benefits of all!

"So what about Maverick?", you ask? What about all that room in-between the new loop, and on the Thunder Canyon side of the new midway? What about our new, huge, 500 foot Dive Machine, 4D, coaster??? Sorry, but as cool as any one of those three ideas would be, I don't see any of those fitting into the new Frontier Town's design, or Cedar Point's desire to install crowd pleasing and reliable coasters that will not repeat the debacle of TTD. I see a Floorless coaster named Maverick going into the area, and setting some sort of record for something, probably height for a Flooless coaster, and possibly (though not likely) inversions. It's station will be located on the new midway, and the ride will actually span both sides of the midway. I think it will be located in the northern side of the land inside the new loop, and then all of the area to the west of the new midway. Features on that side will include a helix or inversion area near the old Swan Boats lagoon, and possibly even a crossover out into Lake Erie. I'm not sure how plausible that it, but it certainly seems possible, and would be a great new thrill as it'd be the first ride at CP to do so. I would guess that construction on that coaster has already begun, and the footers we've already seen belong to it.

But that's not all folks! I also see CP adding a record setting Flyer (Quit your groaning Flyer-haters! ;) ) into that area, which will take up the remainder of that loop area, and likely even interact with Maverick. I could see this Flyer being themed to a Ghost Town possibly (Ghost Flight?), perhaps with some run down buildings added for theming. It is also where I see the old WWL station being used as a fly through, as you can come in one side, curve around, and go back out the other. I think that we will also see some of the water areas from WWL left and utilized for effect on this ride as well. The station for this coaster could either be located on the new midway, or the old area where the Chuck Wagon Inn and various other shops are. There are no other stations on that midway, which would help shift some of the crowd to that area, rather than filling up the new midway with congestion.

So CP jumps back to being the park with the most coasters in the world in a big way, adding two at once, and leapfrogging SFMM. This also makes a lot of sense as to why they would not be concerned with losing that title for this one year, since they can be relatively sure that they will reclaim their crown next year. That would also explain the extent of the shroud of secrecy surrounding the nature of this expansion, as word that two coasters will actually be getting added will not come out until late this year; too late for SFMM to do anything about it for next year. While I know that many claim the "Coaster Wars" do not exist, you know that CP has always prided itself on it's many world records, and that is for sure one they'd like to have back. And they are seriously upgrading a whole section of their park in the process of doing it! Tossing in the added impact of possibly rejuvinating Mean Streak's popularity as well, and "Project 2007" becomes an incredibly brilliant decision for CP on so many levels, as well as their largest expansion ever.

So that's my take on this whole "Project 2007" thing, and you can take it for what it's worth. But analyzing every thing we've seen, and everything we know about CP, as well as looking at it from a fundamentally sound business standpoint, this is what I get. It may not be as flashy as a 500 foot coaster, a 4D, or a Dive Machine, but in the big picture, it makes a whole lot more sense. The one area that seems to have lagged behind the rest of the park suddenly is infused with a ton of new energy and excitement, and the entire park now feels more complete, and balanced. As for that whole "Kinzel going out with a bang" concept, he certainly will, whether he ever actually stated he would or not. He can leave knowing that the one area of Cedar Point that seemed to be left behind, has seen a rebirth, and the park will likely be healthier than ever. Now that's something a CEO would love to have as part of his legacy!

So that's it, now we'll just have to wait for the announcement, and see how far off I was. But I wanted to get that out here in the public sector for consideration, and you all can let me know what you think. It should be an exciting time at CP over the next two years, and regardless of what happens, I'm sure we will all be pleased!

Walt chose to blur the pictures because of his respect for the park and their marketing efforts for Project 2007. CP will show us exactly what they want on opening day. Until then, just relax... Just be happy that we have a site that will take the time to upload aerial pics at all.

You're a little late, AphelionAxeMan, but welcome to the party.

Was it really necessary to blur out that little tiny bit of the photo?

As has already been mentioned, there really isn't anything of significance behind the blur. I was just being cautious.

1, you're not on Cedar Point property so they can't exactly do anything if you take pictures

Apparently you missed the other big discussion we had about this, but since you seem agitated, I'll repeat here:

Whether I have the legal right to post them isn't the point. Cedar Point obviously has a specific plan in place for the announcement and marketing of Project 2007 and I have no desire to derail that in any way.

It's no secret that a lot of work has been done on the former White Water Landing site. Aerial photos wouldn't give it away, but it's a safe bet to say they would show more than the park is ready to reveal. I'm here to work with the park, not against them. This isn't Dateline NBC or 20/20.

2, you're too far away to make out anything significant

Very wrong.

what's the point when there's going to be more work done in the area by the time the park opens and you're allowed to take pictures back there

Pictures from 1,000 feet reveal much more than photos from the ground. But, if the park gives me the OK to post the photos after May 6, I will. Otherwise, we'll wait until the announcement.

I'd take pictures of the entire area and put them up on my own personal website.

Knock yourself out. No Cedar Point fan site would let you share the link.

without me getting in trouble for anything.

Because you have no perks to lose.

Nicely put DILinator. That may be a convincing thought for a lot of people.

DILinator has some interesting and exciting ideas. But, I can't help but wonder if Cedar Fair is starting to consider GL when making decisions about the next thing for CP and vice versa.

If you are trying to convince people to visit two different parks then I think you don't want to duplicate attractions. At least not the big ones.

DILinator had a very very very long post there! There are a lot of good posts that the said in that long paragraph. The only thing I disagree with is that I think the Antique cars will still stay, but just may have to be reconfigured like the way they did when they were building Raptor. And finally someone else agrees with me that thinks that this won't be a 500 ft monster. That sounds cool, but to me it would be coming way too soon. I think Top Thrill Dragster will run great again like it did last year. Even Better!! We have to give Top Thrill Dragster a lot of credit this past year. It ran So Perfect until the last 2 months of the season. Hopefully in the off-season they ordered extra parts of the one that caused Top Thrill Dragster to be down for like 2 months.

I can see Maverick being a Floorless like what DILinator said, being able to break maybe the record as having the tallest, fastest, and maybe the record for most inversions on a Floorless Model. I could see one going in maybe the size of Magnum XL 200 which I think would be a really good size for a Floorless.

That was one heck of a First post DILinator. I love the detail you put into your whole idea. The only thing i would have to disagree with is a coaster element over the Lake.

Also, the comment about the project 2007 secrecy to keep Magic Mountain from having time to do something about it. Coasters are planed years in advance. About 3 years +/-, based on the past few Cedar Point has put in. Unless maybe they just plop a Wild Mouse in somewhere. Plus based on the comments Shapiro has said, they are going to somewhat steer away from building the Bigger Better coaster and move toward building a more family friendly environment.

Otherwise I love all of your ideas about what Frontier Town has the potential to become. Kudos.
*** Edited 4/14/2006 7:53:49 PM UTC by Jason Hammond***

Well, DILinator.. you kinda warped my idea to your own liking, with the new midway idea,coaster,and new shops and a few flatrides.

I have tried to build a coaster (floorless) in a template I made based off that area and it just fit, mind you it was around 180 feet with 12 inversions... Which means fitting any kind of coaster back there would be hard, unless everything was built on top the other...

I think the antique cars will stay... but in reality, they may just move them somewhere else. I also agree we will not see a 500ft coaster.

I also agree that a floorless will probably come to that area. I dont think CP will ever break an inversion record. That dosent make sense to me primarily because not everyone enjoys going upside down 10+ times in a 2 minute window. More people would be more apt to enjoy a coaster with a few real nice elements, a very strong layout and speed versus a strong layout with an insane amount of inversions.

Inversions are nice but, anything over 5 or 6 and you're catering to the enthusiast crowd more so than the general public. (I am not bashing enthusiasts... i am one!)

Would be interesting to see a coaster in which the 1st drop bottomed out dead center in the middle of meanstreak's central grassy area. this would be in conjunction with
the original rumors of the coaster going from its current corner all the way to maggie.