Shoot the Rapids still not running fully loaded boats

Was at the park yesterday and noticed they are letting boats out with the middle row being empty. It's too bad because the line moves unbelievably slow as it is and on top of that it's a maintenance nightmare.

They should start offering a $0.04 refund because they're not loading those two rows!

+1

Keep the $0.04. Fix the problem.

I went on it on Wednesday and we had a fully loaded boat. There cant be an odd number of people in the boat or else it will throw the boat off balance and it wont run correctly, so if theres an odd number, theyll make single riders wait for a different boat (leaving some seats empty) or pair them with another single rider. Forgive me if this doesnt make sense.

Every boat I saw go today had an empty middle row.

Sound the alarms! Capacity is down by 40 people per hour. I'm sure everyone will be turning around and going straight home when they realize their wait will be 10 minutes longer.

I know this is just my opinion, but isn't it sad that White Water Landing was a much better ride all around than Shoot The Crapids?

Shoot the Rapids is a joke. Cedar Point management should swallow their pride, admit it is a mistake and tear it down before putting any more money into it. Then build a true flume ride like Whitewater Landing or the Mill Race. A family ride where you get a little wet and not soaked.

I agree STR was a failure. I can appreciate what it was meant to do, but unfortunately it did not achieve its goal. I don't think this would happen, but it would be amazing if it was replaced with a traditional log flume. Maverick is great, but White Water Landing just had something special about it. Whenever I go on another log flume at other parks, I always think "What if CP still had one of these..."

Shoot Shoot the Rapids.
Shoot the Intamin.

Still makes me laugh when I think about the monumental build up for that ride.

Bluestreaker said:
Shoot the Rapids is a joke. Cedar Point management should swallow their pride, admit it is a mistake and tear it down before putting any more money into it. Then build a true flume ride like Whitewater Landing or the Mill Race.

Because 10 million dollars means nothing. not to mention the new ride's cost.

I think the ride itself was a failure, but I view it as a Titanic-type disaster. It takes a disaster to make a positive change in the world. Shoot-the-Rapids ended Cedar Fair's relationship with Intamin, and strengthened their relationship with B&M. All for the better in my opinion.

Dvo said:
Sound the alarms! Capacity is down by 40 people per hour. I'm sure everyone will be turning around and going straight home when they realize their wait will be 10 minutes longer.

They have lost 20% of the ride's capacity. While not the end of the world that certainly seems like an issue to me.

I wonder if there were any manufacturers available (or willing) to make a "traditional" log flume due to liability purposes. Nowadays, parks don't trust passengers to stay in their seats and need restraints to hold riders down. I also am curious as to the ongoing maintenance costs of using old-fashioned fiberglass troughs as opposed to solid concrete trenches.

The ride was down in the heat of the day Saturday when we were going to ride it. I don't know what the issue was, how long it was down, and if this happens frequently.

I prefer flumes myself, and if we hadn't have had swimsuits on for it, we probably wouldn't have ridden it. I can't give a valid opinion on STR because I still haven't ridden it. I've seen the POVs, it seems to have some nice theming but also seems like a roller coaster in the water rather than a floating boat ride. It's too bad they couldn't have refurbished White Water Landing, and therefore kept the trees in that area, and somehow put Maverick where STR is today.

3snoH un=l said:
The ride was down in the heat of the day Saturday when we were going to ride it. I don't know what the issue was, how long it was down, and if this happens frequently.

I was there at that time as well, wonder if we walked past each other. I left the park after that. Had plans with the gf, plus not fond of saturday crowds.

I'm curious to what the cost of a traditional flume (WWL size) would've been compared to the "over-engineered" product they purchased.

I miss riding WWL, especially in the evenings. No line, multiple relaxing rides. You could take a 36" child on the ride! They dont even keep the water rides open past 8pm anymore, this was the case as of last year, not sure on this years policy since i havent been this year yet.

Are traditional flumes even being built anymore? Not counting the small portable ones used at fairs.

Traditional flumes can still be purchased, OD Hopkins (http://www.hopkinsrides.com) produces them, there might be others as well.

They are running the water rides on a shortened schedule again this year. A sign by Snake River Falls says the ride will operate from 12:00pm - 8:00pm.

Ok. So, they can be purchased. But, are they? Seems like all we hear about is when another park is getting rid of their traditional flume. I can't remember the last time I heard about a park building one.