Space Spiral Date

Hello, a lot of my family grew up around Cedar Point and of course we were there all the time for many, many years. Long story short I heard about the Space Spiral/Disaster Transport thing and was pretty devastated. Most of us have moved away from the Sandusky/Cleveland area, but I was able to get 4 generations of us together to do one last visit and ride the Space Spiral, all at the same time. Our visit is the week of August 11th to the 15th. I see they have announced the last DT ride date and we will miss that, but no big deal. I do see they are saying sometime around Labor Day for the SS. Anyone have any more specific dates for the Space Spiral? It would just really suck to have put all of this together and have it not be available while we are there. THANKS!

They said around Labor Day. But, with no date set, I wouldn't count on anything specific at this point. It could be before or after that depending on how quick they get rid of Disaster.

Considering how often the ride is down, giving a date would undoubtedly disappoint people. My advice, if you're going to be there most of a week, is to get on it if you see it open, because you might not get another chance.

Good point. It was not running on my last 2 visits.

It was mentioned by someone on here, I believe in the 2013 thread, that the official 2013 announcement would be made August 13th. I'm not sure if that is the real announcement date, but if it is, I would assume that SS would close shortly after that.

My guess is, they'll include Space Spiral's closing plans in the 2013 announcement release.

As I was looking at the top of Space Spirals tower yesterday, I noticed various types of radio antenna mounted around it. Assuming that they are still in use, I wonder if they'll be moved to Windseeker or the water tower or...wishful thinking...a new observation tower.

I visited Friday and fortunately got to ride Space Spiral several times with no wait. You never know which ride will be your last. They did shut it down for quite awhile that day because the cabin temperature was too hot.

It would be nice to have some sort of new observation tower in the park.

I would guess that Space Spiral will be around until Labor Day. My thinking is it wouldn't be a great idea to have a giant crane moving large pieces of steel around while guests were nearby. Once the park is closed during the week, they can begin the removal without the fear of squashing a guest with a falling piece of Spiral!

Thank you everyone for the replies. We will just think positive and keep our fingers crossed! :)

They probably won't have something as a big as what they did for Disaster Transport, but what would be nice is that they would open up the second deck and let people ride up there for the last couple days of its operation.

Considering that the Space Spiral was a signature attraction since it's installation in the early 1960's that they would have some kind of retirement ceremony.

I'm a 1-2 time a year visitor and don't always ride SS when I do. I was there today and, of course, wanted to ride it. Hearing about it leaving was definitely sad for sentimental reasons. However, after riding the tallest oven in Sandusky and barely being able to see out the cloudy windows, I sadly felt better about CPs decision to move on without it. It was fun while it lasted, if not for a thrill...but a skyline staple.

For those who will not be able to get a last ride, here is a video I shot back in 2010 when the windows were pretty clear. In addition, Tony Clark was the narrator for the on ride audio. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdE77LDAMlQ&list=7954719B53F31B85

According to this article, Space Spiral is already closed.

As a result of the new ride for 2013, park officials will also demolish and remove Space Spiral, the park's 330-foot tall rotating observation tower. Zelm says it will be permanently closed shortly after Labor Day.

"The Space Spiral has made its last run," Zelm says. "We cannot reuse it. It would be too expensive. It's just not cost-effective to move it."

I noticed that too. I assumed it was just misquoted or worded badly.

I think that article is referring to the possibility of SS being relocated to a different Cedar Fair park.

How do you interpret "not cost-effective to move" as creating the potential for it to be moved?

I don't think you can. But I am not sure he was saying you could. The question is does what the park rep said mean that SS is closed now (so that its run is over) or is its run as a ride at CP over (but it will remain open for some period of time this season). Its not clear to me. Seems odd to me though that they would announce a specific close date for DT but not for SS if they were about the same time. But maybe something changed.

Sooooo.......I wonder how it will be dismantled? I am hoping for a controlled implosion and having it fall into the parking lot. But that is probably too dangerous because it could fall in the wrong direction and wipe out the Big Wheel, Wicked Twister, any of the games or merchandise buildings, or MaxAir. I am thinking more likely it will be tall cranes taking it down piece by piece from the top down.