Notes from Winter Chill Out 2022

Top_Thrill_Tyler said:

I believe the rooms were renovated as part of the original Radisson-Castaway Bay transformation in '04. But if you look at the updates to Breakers, LHP/Camper Village, and Express over the last several years, it seems like the CP resort properties generally are getting about a 15-year timespan between receiving some sort of major update or addition. I'm sure those rooms needed it.

I was a bit surprised that they didn't use this opportunity to add anything new to the waterpark itself other than a coat of paint and matching decor. Most likely a cost-benefit reasoning behind that as well.

Yea, I was also surprised they didnt add a slide or something. Tony did make it a point to say cb isnt kalahari and this is geared towards families with younger kids.I guess im just happy they didnt remove the water coaster as kalahari did. From what kalaharis marketing team told me, the manufacturer of their coaster no longer supplies parts so they removed it before safety became an issue. Take from that what you want as I believe CB ride is made by the same company.Just glad CB is coming back as its a favorite of my family.

I couldn't find manufacturer information on the Zip Coaster from Kalahari but I was able to confirm it was a conveyor belt accelerator method instead of water jet (which is what CB has) I know the water jet model is still alive and well at may parks so I imagine it's not going away. I don't remember any other conveyor belt launch models in my time though.

My bet is parts for both Millie and Top thrill. I found a site that has the shipping info and it said Millenium and Dragster. Millie is 23 years old this season and is probably over due for new parts. yes CP and Intamin don't talk new rides but they need them for new parts.

Walt said “Another WCO note, look for WCO 2023 to be "bigger and better."”

They said the same thing about CoasterMania back at CM 2019. I understand why nothing changed except the earlier closing time, but I’m still hoping to see the changes happen one of these years.

Well, Coastermania IS bigger and better this year in that they're letting everyone in even without a club membership. I get that the parks don't NEED the clubs, but given that KI's Coasterstock event sold out in under 10 minutes and that's WITH a club membership required, I'm kind of interested to watch, with popcorn, the cluster commence when it comes time to sell tickets for Coastermania this time.

Dispatch Master said:
From what kalaharis marketing team told me, the manufacturer of their coaster no longer supplies parts so they removed it before safety became an issue. Take from that what you want...

I just had drinks this past weekend with the guy who had it removed. In addition to what you mentioned above, he said it was the biggest maintenance nightmare in their lineup of rides. It became too difficult and expensive to operate safely.

First and foremost, it is important to highlight how much they raised for A Kid Again! That is awesome. $100,000 for this year. It looks like each year there is more raised than the previous year as this event becomes more and more popular. Kudos!

My thing about WCO 2022 is either all attendees were told not to say anything about additions/improvements this year, or it seems as though no real big announcement or teaser was released at WCO.

- Can’t ask about Dragster (for obvious reasons)
- They did not hint towards what might be going in the old WT spot.
- I’m still curious to hear/see what will go where Cedars once stood. Still no answers or hints/teasers.
- You learned that the museum project is on hold indefinitely.
- All resort and restaurant related things were announced a couple of days prior to the event.

Other than being the first to purchase a $215 1/2” piece of track from a coaster a lot of the attendees did not care for, what was the real kicker for WCO 2022? (No, I am not saying there has to be something big announced at WCO and that we are owed anything. I am simply curious).

Winter Chill-Out really isn't a good place to make announcements. It actually makes more sense to make official announcements a couple of days ahead of the event, so that the people visiting know what they should look for on their tours!

Although I did think it kind of fun the one year when our tour guide stopped us at the end of the midway and pointed out that it was a good view of the theater that was being demolished, completely failing to mention that we should not have been able to see the theater from there because the Dodgem building should have been in the way...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I remember the few years I went, they announced a few things and told everybody to not post anything until all attendees have went through (ie: Rougarou trains first look, Tiki Twirl relocation, new restaurant/food selections, etc.). I’m just saying, we really haven’t learned much from those that attended WCO than what we already knew. Again, I don’t feel like we were owed anything. I’m just curious what was saved if anything for WCO that wasn’t already announced.

How about the Causeway project and a possible "Roundabound" at Cleveland Rd.? Also, I heard that the U.S.Army Corps. of Eng. project has resulted in a few dikes of a good size being constructed along the west side of the Causeway just south of the parking booths. Wondering if they touched on that subject.

Kudos to the donors to the charity.

My memory's already fading on the bits that I wasn't directly interested in. They did mention the causeway. The dikes aren't part of the new causeway project, It had to do with clearing out boating lanes and creating a nature wetland area for the lake cleanup.

The causeway project was still planned, but it sounded like the process was going slowly. Don't remember hearing anything about Cleveland rd.

The point of WCO is to allow exclusive access to the park that isn’t normally available to the general public at a time of year that the park isn’t accessible at all to raise money for charity. It’s not about getting exclusive scoops on upcoming projects. (Not to mention that those “exclusive scoops” always get announced later in the day after WCO ends anyways)

Wow thats crazy but I can understand it.

Wonder if upkeep was the reason the took the point system and light gun type system off the dual waterslide? Now you just slide down without shooting at targets.

when the cam was pointed towards the old cedar dorms it looked a lot like dirt parking spots. there were lines that looked like parking spots at least.

Dispatch Master said:

Wow thats crazy but I can understand it.

Wonder if upkeep was the reason the took the point system and light gun type system off the dual waterslide? Now you just slide down without shooting at targets.

I was trying to figure out what conversation I was missing but finally clicked that this goes back to the conversation about Kalahari?If so what slide is this referring to? That sounds like a unique experience but I don't remember it.Scott Sarah:The past few seasons they have been using it as expanded parking, not sure exactly who it's targeted at but after monster Jam it's been parking.

TwistedCircuits said:

Dispatch Master said:

Wow thats crazy but I can understand it.

Wonder if upkeep was the reason the took the point system and light gun type system off the dual waterslide? Now you just slide down without shooting at targets.

I was trying to figure out what conversation I was missing but finally clicked that this goes back to the conversation about Kalahari?If so what slide is this referring to? That sounds like a unique experience but I don't remember it.Scott Sarah:The past few seasons they have been using it as expanded parking, not sure exactly who it's targeted at but after monster Jam it's been parking.

Haha sorry, I should've quoted the convo.

It's the storm chaser slides. They have handles on the intertubes with buttons on them. When you passed certain sensors in the slide you would press the button that corresponded with the color lighting up and score points. At the exit to the slide were 2 tvs that kept score and you could enter your name to keep track everytime you rode.

That sounds like work.

Heard from a reliable source 2 story restaurant were wicked twister was tore down possibly pier out into the lake

A restaurant would block the view from the park but if it's indoors/outdoors with a pier into the lake from the park I'd be a happy camper. Especially if it's a pier with some rides on it. Classic!

That makes more sense at least than the one in frontier town XD

I feel like it's been discussed here before why there hasn't been anything built into the lake proper on the beach side of the peninsula. I can't recall any specifics, but I do figure it'd probably have something to do with the lakebed and/or the beach being on the exposed/windward side.

In theory the Sandusky Bay side of the park seems like it would be better for a hypothetical ride pier, but short of the bit of land directly across from Millennium Force's station, I'm not sure where you could put anything since the marina's pretty much claimed most of the usable space on that side of the peninsula.