The Future: Demon Drop and Big Dipper Connection?

So, I was browsing through Screamscape for fun today, and I stunbled upon someone who "claimed" that something was in store for the Big Dipper.

Now I know that Screamscape is definetly not a reliable source (they are about as reliable as wikipedia while you sit there and edit it so your teacher doesn't yell at you), but they got my gears turning.

I know we are all heartbroken that DD is gone this year, but I believe the general consensus here is that the removal is to make way for bigger and better things.

Reading everyone's comments on the STR speculation thread made me believe that the next coaster will be wooden, mostly because there are only two at CP and the fact that good wooden coasters are hard to come by.

But wouldn't it be economically friendly as well as fan friendly is the Big Dipper was finally relocated to CP? Sure, the track layout would have to change a little, and of course it would need retracked, but in the end it is better to preserve a historic attraction and move it to a place where coaster enthusiasts from around the world can enjoy its glory once again then let it rot at Geauga Lake.

I'm not meaning for this to turn into the next big coaster debate, but what do you guys think of this possibility? Possibly we can have GCI get involved and put some new Millennium Trains on the new and improved Big Dipper. Let me know what you think.

There are at least 2 threads on this. We already know that it is 99% sure that it isn't going to happen.

I think they're getting rid of it because it was just too much of a maintenance nightmare for the park versus the ridership. Does it really need to be anything more than that?

Not to mention Blue Streak is an out and back with a very similar layout to the Big Dipper.

Plus, how many wooden roller coasters have been relocated and placed in a major amusement park? I've got to imagine it's challenging, and the amount of repairs needed would probably make it prohibitive. This coaster has been sitting around with zero care for a couple years now...I wouldn't want to ride it. Plus, if I remember correctly, a part of it (Big Dipper) was damaged while they were removing other attractions.

I know that Big Dipper is loved by its fans and for its historical significance, but it really isn't that great of a ride. I think Blue Streak is better and CP could never really market a "new" old ride that most people would see as very similar to what they already have.

I'd love to see a nice new wooden coaster at CP, but if it comes I would guess it would be a new GCI coaster with a more inspired layout than Big Dipper.

According to Pete:

"CP could never really market a "new" old ride that most people would see as very similar to what they already have"

If they are moving DD to Knotts, where a similar ride was taken down a few years back, and they already have the best drop there already, - how would this be any different?

Taking Avalanch Run, enclosing it, and marketing it as Disaster Transport follows the same logic.

Actually, Cedar Fair has saved a ton of $ by relocating rides from GL already. Six Flags has done the same with their parks (i.e. New Orleans).

In today's corporate spending - you do what you can with what you have. The past few years has plenty of examples of this type of management - especially in the water park and flat ride catagory.

Yes, but moving a wooden coaster is a very different and much more expensive proposition than disassembling/transporting/reassembling a drop tower or erecting a pole barn around a bobsled. That's why it's only been attempted a handful of times.

I would be highly surprised if Cedar Fair hadn't already studied the matter, certainly before they put BD up for auction. Clearly it wasn't a reasonably economically viable route for CF, or they would have done it. For the same reason, Raging Wolf Bobs was left to rot -- which as a smaller and newer coaster than BD ought to be easier to do this sort of thing with. Even Villain, with its metal supports, was economically only good for scrap.

Don't get me wrong. I loves me the Dipper, and find it in some ways more enjoyable than many other out and backs, including Blue Streak. But moving it just isn't in the cards, no matter how much we may want it to happen.

It makes no sense at all to bring AN OLD AND WORN COASTER TO CEDAR POINT. They are not going to put a hand me down into a spot that could be used for a 6.5 million dollar 6000 ft Gravity Group Coaster. There is no sense in moving a average ride to Cedar Point. I thought they might have moved Dominator to Cedar Point. They can not make an old coaster look as good as a kid spin ride.

Net, The Dipper was damaged by Schlitterbahn when they were taking out a pump house. It was repaired within 2 weeks of the damage.

Ensign, Wolfbobs had some structural issues that were found while they tried to repair the damage from the derailment in the summer of 2007. So even if the park was kept open, bobs may have never run again.

I think the biggest mistake by cedar point ( besides closing the park) was not relocating Villian. That was a very nice coaster that would have been cp's best woody.

I like Dipper better than blue streak and I would LOVE to ride it at cedar point, but I am sure they did some research on moving it to cp.

Cp will have something go up where DD was and I am sure it will be interesting.

Even as nasty as the (apparently) structurally related derailment was in 2007, I suspect that a coaster of that size would be much more readily fixable than, say, SOB for instance. I do think that if the park had remained open, RWB could have been made operable again.

The big thing is that the Big Dipper is not owned by Cedar Fair anymore. I doubt Cedar Fair would buy it back but it would be really nice to see done.

I mean one example look at what Six Flags recently done. The purchased the Little Dipper that was at Kiddieland and are moving it to SFGam for 2010. By doing that Six Flags recieved ALOT of good PR from that move. Of course LD is a small coaster and BD is a bigger one but if Cedar Fair would do that I don't think anything bad would come of it. Doubt it will happen but that is just my thoughts.

I think the biggest mistake by cedar point ( besides closing the park) was not relocating Villian. That was a very nice coaster that would have been cp's best woody.

Are you kidding? Villian was a terrible coaster. It was the roughest coaster I had ever been on. It was worse than MS. Firewood was the right thing to do for that one.

Aside from the fact that Villain was a metal structure coaster, with only the track itself being wood, experience with the ride varied over the years. In its first year of operation it wasn't horribly rough. Roughness worsened over the ensuing years, until it became (to me) almost unrideable. But in its last year or two of operation, it was a noticeably smoother ride -- smooth enough to take my then six year old daughter on.

So it's reasonable to assume that had Villain been relocated, the obligatory retracking would have made it a fairly nice ride -- for a while, at least. The layout was certainly fun and interesting. I personally enjoyed it much more than other woodies that others ranked higher -- Ghostrider, for example.

And none of this changes the fact that, no matter what kind of ride it offered, Cedar Fair didn't find it economical to salvage.

I wish people would get over The Big Dipper..

WHY would Cedar Point put it in their park?
Do you see the capacity on that ride? IT SUCKS.

CP is all about new and exciting things. Not so much technology... I go with Disney on that one .. but why would they waste the space and put a 10000 year old raggedy ride in there . come on now

If Cedar Fair were to move an existing coaster to give it new life at Cedar Point, I would think Ozark Wildcat would be a much better choice. The big question is whether Herschend would sell the ride or if they plan on moving it to one of their other parks if they never reopen Celebration City again.

I always liked the Villain. It was one of my favorite coasters. Some people didn't and that's their choice but for me it was a great ride. I feel it could and should have been saved.

The Big Dipper will never come to CP and probably shouldn't unless it was part of a master plan like a historical theme area. I just would like the ride to operate somewhere. I would like to see it stay closeby.

The Villian was a fun coaster! They fixed it up and ran great up until the last day it was open! The Villian was destroyed and it is sad because it only had seven years of operation! Shame! As for the Dipper, it would be nice to see it have a better outcome. Not a scrap yard!

Alright, after seeing some of these opinons, I have some new comments.

Does anyone have a list of the rides that are still intact at Geauga Lake? Does Cedar Fair still own the property and the rides at GL? Is it even possible to "recycle" old wood from an old coaster into even just the supports for the new coaster?

Personally, I am too young to have ever ridden the Dipper, though I made frequent trips to GL in my much younger days. I wasn't much of a coaster guy then, so I didn't really enjoy it.

I'd really like to see a new woodie at the Point in 2011. Don't get me wrong, I love steel coasters, but there's nothing like a good wooden coaster to add to the greatest coaster collection in the world.

The west or 'dry' side of the park is virtually empty. Other than Big Dipper and Raging Wolf Bobs, both of which are damaged and inoperable as is, the last remaining ride was Skyscraper, which was removed for scrap some months ago. Although I understand that some of the in-ground concrete channels for Grizzly Run and the old Turtle Beach are still to be found.

And yes, wood from an old coaster can be recycled to build a new ride. A few older woodies have been relocated over the years, and at least some of the wood has been reused. Though keep in mind that on a coaster of Big Dipper's vintage which was built in the 1920's, probably none of the extant supports -- and certainly none of the track -- is original. BD has had a couple of major restorations and overhauls over the years, not to mention all the wood that got replaced every off-season.

Edit: I should make note that Skyscraper itself hadn't functioned in at least the two final seasons of the park.