#tbt - High resolution aerial image from March 1969

Another weird thing, if you look at Shoot the Rapids, the track seems to split before the final lift hill, with one side going under the lift hill and wrapping around. I dont remember it doing that at all. This would have made the track one long continous track instead of two seperate ones. Am I seeing things?

You are not seeing things. The original Shoot the Rapids had a möbius track, if you left the station on the right side you went down the chutes on the left side. I always thought this was to take the advantage the left track had gained along the way and line the boats up a little better. Later, this track was re-routed, probably so they could run only one track if necessary. I don't remember if in the remodel the tracks still passed under the lift of not, I'm inclined to think they did.

And thank you CPfan1976, I've argued that opening day for CCMR for years. Our family visited the park from Cleveland or then Columbus only once a season and I know when we got there in 1969 the ride was far from ready. (much to our disappointment) We didn't get on it until we visited in 1970.

And many times the year a new attraction was announced was actually the summer it was built. Even thought the park and other sources like to list opening day of the season for the ride's debut that was not the case. Blue Streak, Mill Race, and I think even Space Spiral were "delayed" in opening due to construction not being completed. In this shot the Antiques, also new for that year, are clearly under construction but from March to the end of May was probably sufficient time to get them done.
Remember, back then the season was Memorial Day to Labor Day with no bonus weekends in the fall or Science Days in the spring.

This shot brings back a lot of memories. Visible are the locations of Calypso, Go Karts, Satellite Jets, Trabant, Scamper, Twister, Zugspitz, and the original miniature golf course. Note too the layout for Mill Race, a rather small ride, and Turnpike's original twin tracks.
It's also fun to see how CPLERR has had its track re-routed over the years. It did indeed come all the way to the main midway then, and the Western Cruise station is visible as well. That building eventually became the Paddlewheel Cafe when the new midway was built. Also, Western Cruise and Frontier Lift shared/split a queue area for a brief time until the new midway was built in 1970 to open things up and push things back.

Thanks for the great shot. It would be great to have something like that for every year from, say, 1960 forward, wouldn't it?

Are you absolutely sure that there were no bonus weekends? I seem to remember always having the first two weekends after labor day as bonus weekends. Maybe that was something that started in the 70s however, kind of foggy on that.

Maybe...
If there was it was a weekend or two, certainly not til November 1st like we have now.
I think Halloween hadn't been invented yet. 😊

No certainly not Halloweekends, but I know for a fact each season had two bonus weekends which were the two weekends after labor day weekend. I just don't remember if that was the case all through the 60's or if it started in the 70's.

Yeah, I was with ya there.
I can't find any information, but it seems to me the 60's were void of bonus weekends. Maybe not til the 70's.
Guess I don't know.

One rerouting of the CP&LE RR has already taken place at the time of this photo. The main lines were moved from the south side of the shop by Cedars to the North side for the building of Perimiter Rd. Others after this pic include as mentioned the shorting to its current location. Bumping out for Millineium and Maverick. The removal of the tracks that were left as sidings when the line was shorted. One was used for storage and the other accessed Cedar Jct. The passing siding at Main was removed for park access, and the storage siding in Frontier was removed for Mean Streak. The third trestle was also removed for the building of Snake.

^^ Anyhow, RCMAC, your memory is spot on with the CCMR not being ready with your summer of 69' visit.

Yeah the CC Mine Ride debuted on August 5th,1969. One link you can check is the Plain Dealer newspaper archives whose story of it's opening followed the next day. They also ran a 1/4 page ad about its "grand opening" 10 days later.

If anyone wants to find out more info: check out the PD archives. Yes, it's all there, with a charge of course.

BTW, that May 24th date is a widely misquoted debut date for CCMR on many websites and books.

Thanks for the pic Walt.

Maybe now Jeff won't bust my marbles by pointing out the occasional tree on the main midway when I fret about the chronic decimation of the wooded areas at CP.

No, I'll still find it ridiculous. :)

From what I remember Bonus weekends didn't come into being until after the completion of the Million Dollar Midway, maybe as late as 1972 with the arrival of the Giant Wheel.