Shoot the Rapids Commercial

WTF!!11 The hite requirement is wayyyy 2 high! Ceder Fare lyed 2 us!! They made the commmerciall toooo cold!!

Better? I might have given them too much credit on the spelling. :)

You forgot the "It's all Kinzel and Intamin's fault!!!!!" ;)

Left the house at 4am...

Arrived at the park at 6:15am...

Waited.

Finally got on the ride for the first time at 10:15.

Actually, I was pretty hot by the time we got on the ride, and I was certainly not overwhelmingly wet at all. I was sitting in the back row on the right hand side...got a few good splashes here and there, but that's about it.

That's about what I would expect in the back based on my experience on Pilgrams Plunge.

A few thoughts about the ride as this was my first time:

First, the theme/atmosphere...it's simply a great looking ride. As others have noted, we constantly knock CP for its lack of theming and attention to detail, but this ride has plenty of it. The natural interaction with the boat ride and the train (the train is an especially nice touch) really completes the whole atmosphere, and once the trees grow a bit over the next few years, it will only get better. Talk about mist! The mist got so thick midway through the tunnel you could barely see in front of you...I hope they keep this up. There is a rather interesting piece of scenery just before the second hill which is a nice little touch given the "bottling company" theme.

Second, the operation. Loading is a piece of cake, there was plenty of leg room (I'm 6-2), and the restraint bars are entirely non-obtrusive. Given consistent ride functionality, boats could literally keep moving in and out of the station nonstop. One observation....this ride is ssssllllooowww as molasses. The ride cycle is over 6 minutes long, as the boats crawl through the channels. No complaints here though; it was relaxing, and you get your "money's worth", so to speak. The drops were great, and its the second one that really gets the front row completely soaked.

If you're worried about wetness, sit in the back. It's a nice (probably unplanned) touch that if you want to get soaked, you can, but if you don't want to, then you'll just get some refreshing splashes. So for those of you still losing sleep over the WWL wetness factor, you have nothing to worry about.

It was nice meeting Josh M and Campfreak today...hope you both had a great time at the park the rest of the day. Also talked a little bit with Tony during our immense "downtime" as the shoot went on.

Definitely a great addition to the park.

Left for park at 2:30pm yesterday..no way was I going to leave at 3am this morning so stayed in a hotel last night. So got to play in park for a bit last night before calling it a night. 10 minute drive to CP WAY better than 2.75 hours!

I got my 1st ride around 8ish I believe (we were the 2nd load w/camera to go out) I sat seat 2 left side so got SLAMMED by the waterfalls! :)

The 2nd ride I sat on right side and then got SLAMMED by the auto cannons. It was sooo fun! :)

REALLY like STR! It really is lots of fun!!! :)
Glad I got picked to participate in the filming, anxious to see how it comes out!

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 2231 :)

Really had a blast today. Only rode once this morning sitting in the front seat with the giant camera in my face. I got absolutely drenched sitting in the front.

Now... in the afternoon commercial shoot, probably rode about 7-8 times without even leaving the boat once. I sat in the 2nd seat on the right and did not get nearly as wet as I did in the front. It was great meeting everyone today and getting to ride STR as much as we did. Job well done CP.

Excited to see how the shoot turns out!

All, I can say is WOW!

First, I'll start off by saying yes, there are still several kinks to work out. They need to figure out a better way to distribute the weight among the boat. Because at points the boats were leaning to one side and almost having water spill over the edge.

Second, this ride DEFINETELY lived up to my expectations. It's going to be a great family water ride once all the kinks are worked out. I will admit there was a lot of down time today, but I believe most of that was due to the repositioning of camera crews.

So, I got to the park at 6:00 and walked over to the STR entrance. It was love at first sight. We really didn't start the filming right away, which was a bit annoying, but once we got started, it was awesome. I rode 3 times in the morning. At 11:00 we were dismissed, and some of us were asked to return at 3:00 for more shooting. So, we got 4 hours in the park to roam around and ride rides! When we got back at 3:00, the ride went down cause someone's poncho got stuck in a gear on the first lift. But, they got that problem fixed fairly quickly. We then rode 4 more times. After this, the Commercial crew was done with us, but then Tony asked if we'd be willing to do some more STR laps for the website. (So, look for a pointcast soon). 3 more laps brought my total for the day to 10. We were finally dismissed around 5:45.

One strange part about it was the water from the waterfalls was much warmer than the water shooting from the cannons.

It was really kool meeting Tony, coolkid, kevinj, luvraptor, josh m, and if I left anyone else out, I apologize.

Bottom Line, I would definetely recommend this ride to anyone. I only wish I lived closer, cause on my 3 hour drive home I started having withdrawals.

^Lol I wasn't there. I couldn't get out there today. I am happy to hear you had a great time though!

lol....I don't even remember typing your name! I'm sooo tired...left my house at 2:30 this morning, and got home around 9:15.

I'll post a full TR later since I did more than just STR while I was at the park the past 2 days, but I just wanted to echo that I had a great time at the shoot today. This morning was a bit slow getting started since we didn't get on the boats until after 10 AM, but those 3 laps, and the 7 laps in the afternoon were a whole lot of fun. It was nice meeting some of you today including campfreak06, kevinj (sorry you couldn't stick around for the afternoon), and LuvRaptor.

Yes, the ride is not the most thrilling but I think it has a very nice blend. I enjoy the slow meandering parts, as they are very relaxing. The drops are both very fun. The height of the first drop, and the fun water effects on the second drop are great. Also there is a decent head chopper effect on the second drop that adds to the fun. The various water effects throughout the ride (especially the cannons) provide that dynamic element of "how wet am I going to get this time?" As others have said the further back in the boat you sit, the less wet you will get. If you sit in the front, have a change of clothes with you, if you sit in the back, you should be fine.

With that being said, due to the load balancing issues, if you are a heavier person, prepare to ride in the front as they are assigning seats based on size/weight. This is the only option to keep the boats balanced.

Hey everyone!

Yesterday was a success! I left my house in Columbus at 4:15 to arrive at CP around 6:30. The drive wasn't bad, but after the caffeine wore off I was dead tired!

I waited around for a ride and finally got it around 10:15. It was a great ride, but I was freezing! It's definitely a ride for a HOT summer day. My favorite part was the tunnel and the thick, dense mist.

After the morning shoot I rode TTD twice, MF once, and Skyhawk once.

Once we came back at 3, I rode about 8 more times and got stuck for 30 minutes on the ramp to the first hill.....tedious to say the least!

After the filming was over I rode Maverick, Raptor, and Magnum and called it a day. I arrived home at about 10:00. Overall it was one of my best days at Cedar Point and a unique experience!

Sorry I could not stick around as well...we have a 2 year old at home and my wife had to work, so I had to get out of Dodge. That's why I was getting just a bit anxious about getting on or not...and then of course we all get stuck before the second lift on my one and only ride!

It was still fun, though. That was my first time getting a chance to drive around Perimeter Rd., and also my first chance to see the park at 6:00am...

I drank WAY too much coffee while waiting for the ride.

If you look at the webcam you can see they are shooting some type of video from the train tracks.

^ I just looked at the cam, and that appears to be Tony and Lake (Tony's assistant). They're not filming anything for the commercial. That crew is gone, I believe. They're probably working on a podcast of some sort. Tony and Lake were also there yesterday filming, but I accidentally talked when he was filiming, so he might be getting some clean footage, lol.

Hey everyone, please check out the topic listed "Pointbuzz Gathering" under "Trip Planning".

So, I e-mailed Ann Marie to thank her for the opportunity to be in the commercial. She e-mailed me back and said to look for the commercial "ASAP", and also that she plans on posting it online.

That's great to hear. I was figuring they were probably working quick to get this one aired, since the next 3 weeks are probably the prime time to ride StR.

After riding StR for the first time yesterday it was just alright to me. The tunnel was my favorite part. The hills were alright. The rockwork looks great! The theming before the 2nd hill was so-so. After Adam said it was something that looked like it came from Disney or Universal I was excited. It was just some sound effects with a bunch of props. I didn't really know what to be looking for. Overall I give it a 6.

I really need to get the internet going at my new house. I would have applied to be in the commercial, if I would have known about it. Sounds like everyone had a blast. :) I cannot wait to get back to the park to ride it.