Potential Disaster Transport refurbishment

DT was a huge enigma to me and still is. As much as I would love to see it go and replaced by another family coaster I don't see it happening, DT while it may seem to be in "Prime Beach" location its really not. Most of the ride goes back to the merchandise warehouse and CP behind the scenes stuff that they would want to hide. would you spend millions putting in a new coaster just to have it open the curtain to another eyesore? Even if you take out Space Spiral and employee parking as many have suggested you would have plenty of room for a new family or thrill coaster, but no way to hide the real warehouse and offices.

If DT gets renovated open air would be best, I understand that sand from the beach was causing damage to the trains and that's why it was covered in the first place. I really like the Snoopy dog fight idea A LOT! It could be bright inside so you can see and appreciate your on a bobsled coaster. With modern projections and effects there could be amazing things done. I would be scared in a few years they would just let it deteriorate again and be just like it is now.

Maybe the best way to refurbish it is to make it as pitchblack dark as possible. I recall the ride being fairly lit for being indoors. Pitchblack, like the dark water slides, might be an option.

KevinL332 said:
...would you spend millions putting in a new coaster just to have it open the curtain to another eyesore?

Nope. Which is why I'd guess (especially with a former Disney guy at the helm) if DT did go away, the buildings in that area would at least be refurbished, or possibly even relocated elsewhere.

I didn't think the whole "sand on the track and trains" rumor was ever true. I think Wicked Twister has a few days a year that are an annoyance, but nothing serious.

Sand on the track is as true as Magnum sinking. It was nothing short of an effort by Kinzel to bring a version of Space Mountain to Cedar Point. He took the boys' club to Disney to get them jazzed about the idea, and the warehouse was born.

In other words, you could just bring back Avalanche Run. I'd be happy with that.

Admitting failure is difficult. See Son of Beast.

There's still no decision on SOB and it's been three years. Hopefully we get a look at the future of DT in the next three years.

I do not see why SOB would not be a perfect ride to get the Rocky Mountain treatment. Thing is, the layout is so blah to begin with, it would be best just to tear it down and start over.

I think that a lot of guests were disappointed with AR. For a new coaster that was marketed as a thrill ride, it was a fairly placid affair outdoors and in the light. (Disclaimer: personally I quite enjoyed the ride.) I suspect that Kinzel, in addition to the whole fantasy about "Disney North", probably wanted to take a (relative) lemon and turn it into lemonade.

I was definitely too young to recall guest reaction to AR. Am I making this up, or was there a clock of some kind that kept track of your "course time" like in a real bobsled race? Maybe it was there and just for looks.

Do you realize the absurdity concerning the back areas, when the next closest rides include Space Spiral and Giant Wheel?

I don't mind Disaster Transport. What I do mind about Disaster Transport is the leg room. Something has to be done about the leg room! It would be cool to see a new theme added. Maybe take notes from Kings Islands Flight of Fear! By the way if Disaster Transport was ever to be removed, I would love to see something on the lines of Flight of Fear!

Yes it would be another launch coaster, but that's alright! We love the launch roller coasters here! I also wanted to add, that you guys cannot all call Disaster Transport an eyesore because when September/October rolls around, you guys loves love it because of Jack's Toy Factory. :)

I love Flight of Fear but I'd like to see Cedar Fair getting away from branding KI and CP very similarly. It would be nice to keep some of the original KI and make it more of a family park which it is now. I'm afraid though that it's going to get bigger and bigger and someday be along the lines of Cedar Point or maybe better, it deffently has potential. I think it has the most land available than any other Cedar Fair park.

As others have elluded to, I definitely think this ride fills a piece the park desperately needs more of and that's whole family rides. This is one of the few I could get all my siblings and parents on for years. I think/hope the management will start focusing on that area in the future and think a remodel of it is likely for that reason.

Being cost effective though, I wonder how much they can really afford to put into it. Turning it into Disaster Transport wasn't cheap at all.

According to DK, it cost about 200K

I would be happy if they just repaired/replaced all the lights and added sound effects again. It can't cost that much!

^ THIS.

Thought, with my name and all, that I should reply to this thread.

Honestly, that's what this ride needs. From hearing and reading things about this ride, it sounded like at one time this ride was very exciting. It seems like all of these rides start off all shiny, polished and exciting and then just get left alone year after year until the paint gets faded and then they just slap a coat on. Is it really that much to keep this ride up? Last time I rode this a few years ago, you couldn't even tell what the theme was at all.

It's like someone should tell the company to have some pride about their rides, even if they aren't the newest and flashiest. Either have some pride or get rid of it. Don't sit there in the middle.

I don't know, it seems that investing a significant amount of money into DT, a nearly 30 year old ride, would be wasteful. Doing the half-assed warehouse conversion today would cost around $350,000. While that's not a lot of money in the scheme of things, how many more years can they actually get out of the ride, refurbished or not?

Seems to me that money might be better spent on a reboot. Install a modern, in-demand family ride along the lines of an interactive dark ride.

Speaking of refurbishing rides: I just thought about Maverick's tunnel lights, sounds, even the fog. With Mr. Ouimet I still have hope for this ride. :)

Well to replace audio and repair lighting would probably be under $5,000. And could be less if they use equipment that they already have in the park and storage. To me that is not all that expensive. Compared to repainting a roller coaster, and this should just be treated as DT's repaint job (I think it's overdue!)

djDaemon said:
I don't know, it seems that investing a significant amount of money into DT, a nearly 30 year old ride, would be wasteful. Doing the half-assed warehouse conversion today would cost around $350,000. While that's not a lot of money in the scheme of things, how many more years can they actually get out of the ride, refurbished or not?

Seems to me that money might be better spent on a reboot. Install a modern, in-demand family ride along the lines of an interactive dark ride.

You have a point, even if Cedar Point returns it, there's no guarantee the ride will actually be able to run 5-10 years from now. It's one of the last of its kind which makes it unique but there's rumors the Great Escape is going to remove theirs. Disaster Transport saw its peak years, years ago.