NOT following a [new] ride's construction?

Has anyone thought about NOT getting really, really, almost overly involved with the construction of a new attraction? I was just thinking about this as I was going to sleep last night.

With all the recent ideas to keep enthusiasts occupied while a park builds a new attraction - webcams, online journals, etc.. - we are pretty consistently updated with new and very specific views of the new attraction. But I also remember when these things weren't around and I used to go to Cedar Point for the first time that year, drive up, and just be caught in awe at the new huge attraction. Personally, I didn't start watching construction of rides until after MF was built, so I remember being blown away at Mantis, Power Tower and even Millennium Force because I wasn't aware they were new rides. I remember being excited about them driving up to the park and when I got inside, trying to find out all the info I could on it. I remember being SURPRISED by the layout of the ride and never knowing what the ride would do next. It was much more thrilling than knowing where every single piece of track was going to take you.

So anyways, I was thinking maybe it'd be kinda fun to cut myself off from the updates and such if CP does anything in the comming years. I thought to myself, maybe I should just keep going to the park, and one time, I'll be surprised with something completely new and surprising. I won't know a single thing about it and it'll be great. :)

Thoughts? Maybe a purposeful leaving-out of information could be fun. I'm not saying everyone lets become Amish, but maybe it'd be fun to not know everything about a ride for once. Maybe it'd be fun to be surprised. *** Edited 8/15/2005 7:05:54 PM UTC by Grovite18***

Well you could do it, but you would have to deal with the off-season doldrums some other way than discussing new happenings here or elsewhere. You would also have to dodge local news coverage on developments.

You mentioned that the whole internet construction coverage thing didn't get big until MF. Well, I suspect that that had to do with the explosion of the internet and message boards in general more than anything else. Sure there were a few around here for Power Tower's construction during the '97-'98 off-season, but the number of people "online" at the time paled in comparison to the amount just two years later in 1999. Even then there were less than 1000 members at GuidetothePoint.

Cedar Point really saw the potential that the internet had as an advertising tool, and they took full advantage of it with Monty's diary entries, ominous photos of construction, and the webcam.

To do it, at least in my case, would take a lot of self control since it's so easy to pop on the internet for a couple seconds and find the latest on anything new. I would probably have to find another hobby or something.

I suspect that this off-season will be much like last off-season, however.

Right, and I fully recognize that CP has done an amazing job with GP-relations. If the news story says "CP announces ride" that's cool, if they show it after it's built, that's cool, but what I'm saying is to not watch every piece of track get lifted, or put in place, or the trains testing, or anything. Just getting to the park, looking at this ride, and trying to figure everything our for yourself, or just being surprised by it all the way through.

It is funny to me that someone else was thinking this. I remember have a dream / nightmare about Thunder canyon after hearing that it was gonna be built. The night before my family went to the park that year was crazy excitment for my siblings and I. It would be hard to do in todays world with everyone knowing and talking. could be fun to try though, I do not think I could do it. It is too bad that Cp does not have a way to really hide what they are up to for the next season.. :) nice topic!

I get really bored during the day. So if im not at home im here. In front of this thing. Usually reading this kind of stuff. That makes it all the harder for me NOT to look. And like you said, I was in awe the first time I had seen MF. It was HUGE!!! and being in 6th grade makes it all the bigger. And even when you see the rides online, you still feel some awe when you actually see how big it is. Think about the first time you stood "under" the tophat and looked up into the sun. Or when you seen the "new" skyline driving up to the park. If you were/are anything like you me, you still get wide-eyed and smiling just waiting for the first ride of the day.

I was that exact same way growing up. The "artist's rendering" on the brochure and the weird television commercials they had back in the day was all I had to get excited about. Driving up to the park was the most intense experience. I miss those days too. I still get excited to see things in person and ride them, but not nearly as much as I did back in the day when information was limited. There's good and bad things to it. The anticipation is now created by the blogs and witholding information. :-)

Mmm yeah... I remember when I was younger and almost expected a new ride (back in the Mantis days) each year, it just became custom to drive up and see what was on the big circle sign on the front gates, you know what I'm talking about?

I kind of prefer this way though, I'm gonna stay with my internet :)

It's the reason I became a big time ethusiast of Cedar Point, and it is the reason why I'll continue being a big time ethusiast.

The good ol' days of discovering the construction cams of Wicked Twister. I never would have thought and big yellow coaster would take over my life so much. I started riding roller coasters for the first time, making multiple trips to CP for the first time, and signing up for a online forum (GTTP) for the first time. 2002 was a good year, unlike this ugly ending of 2005.

I've only ever seen the construction of maXair. My first trip to Cedar Point was in 2003 and when I went I never looked it up online or anything, I just went once and that was it. The next May my school had a trip and I went and that is when I got a bit more interested. I began to look here on PointBuzz and went on the CP website. I looked at every single construction picture on CP's site and really enjoyed it. By the time I went in October 2004 I was a full blown fanboy, my obsession started. Whenever construction starts for a new ride, whether it be this off season or the next, I will watch it because I love the construction of new things.