Thoughts and observations

nate0902 said:
What do you guys think the other $1 million will be used for at the park? Maybe to fix Shoot the Rapids?

IntaRide has to pay for anything they screwed up on Shoot the Rapids. The $1 million will probably be used to spiff up the Oceana part of the park.

djDaemon said:

Eh, I don't agree that these are "MAJOR" additions, especially in the eyes of the average park guest. Maybe I'm underestimating their draw, but I just don't see this ride garnering attention outside of each park's typical local market.

Really.. I don't think you are far off... it's not even the top story on the blades website (toledo's newspaper if you don't know)

I wonder if this ride will have high ridership after the two years. I know they want this ride to spur season pass sales, but honestly it doesn't add much value to me or motivation to buy a season pass for all the parks when the parks I would visit are getting the exact same ride. I hope this ride doesn't end up like Flight Comander at Kings Island, it sure would be messy if someone found a way to fall out of this ride from that height.

So the only parks left to "announce" new attractions or improvments are Carowinds and Michigan Adventure right?

And kings dominion.

But since they got intimidator 305 this year, I woulden't expect much.

I am really curious to see what Michigans adventure is getting next year. A star flyer would have been a great ride for that park.

Okay so Im trying not to be negative. Forgive me if I sound like I am. Why even go through the bells and whistles of teasing fans with clues if you are installing the same thing that so many other parks are getting? I just dont get it. CP set everyone up for a little disappointment with this. Dont get me wrong I will be excited to ride it and formulate an opinion of the ride, but I cant help but to feel let down in a way. I mean, its the exact same ride as all those other parks? WTF? Tony and Tylers clue BS needs to go, unless there is something major coming.

Ugh..

The ride itself looks pretty cool. I think it'll be a great fit and provide excellent views and pictures.

I just thought, from all the talk from Cedar Point, it'd be something bigger. I'm not necessarily meaning a roller coaster, but something better than this.

And one of my biggest pet peeves [within amusement parks] is the same rides and same names. Each park should have it's own identity. Cedar Fair wasn't much into this anyways until the whole Paramount acquisition had taken place. Paramount had all the same names and looks at each park, and now you see Cedar Fair parks doing that. All the Wind Seekers, Plant Snoopies, Intimidator, etc. It's just stupid.

I think it looks fun. It is odd to see exact carbon copies in both name and color scheme but it doesnt bother me too much. I'll definitely ride.

Personally, I think it kind of sucks - just not as much as STR.

Here's a novel idea - why doesn't CP ask its customers what they want? It wouldn't be very hard to survey your customers (perhaps a handout with each ticket purchased) giving them options over a 3 - 5 year period. Yes, I know they can't afford a new coaster every year, but if the majority of your customers say it's ok to wait 2 - 3 years and get a coaster, then stop dropping money on this carnival stuff. On the other hand, if the majority of the customers want carnival rides, I'll keep my mouth shut. Furthermore, if it is a coaster your customers want, you could further refine the survey to ask if you want tall fast steel, woodie, X2, inversion etc... If you want to keep your plans a secret, there is nothing that says you must reveal the results of the survey until you're ready to announce the new ride. Just a thought from a PAYING customer.

Cedar Point does survey random guests about various topics. Just last Saturday, I spotted an employee asking guests questions about their advertising and TV commercials near the Dippin' Dots sundae shop in Frontier Town.

jkbarnes128 said:
Here's a novel idea - why doesn't CP ask its customers what they want?

They did. They wanted a water ride. So, they put in STR.

People here need to stop pretending they know that the general consensus for the gp is to build a roller coaster all the time. Unless you can back it up with a substantial amount of proof that they do then don't bother claiming they do. It's not about what you and only you want, it's what they want or what might everyone (not just you) might enjoy. I for one am glad this ride is going in. It's low cost, takes up minimal space and is easy to build. Not to mention it'll bring attention to a much needed area of the park AND offer amazing views of the park and area.

A coaster will come but too many people in the enthusiast community lack the patience for one. As soon as Maverick was built it seemed people only cared about what was coming next. Calm down people, there's most likely one in the works.

TTD 120mph said:
I think it looks fun. It is odd to see exact carbon copies in both name and color scheme but it doesnt bother me too much. I'll definitely ride.

I agree it looks fun. The way the seats are suspended looks great, you can't see the supports like the chains on starflyer.
I would guess the color scheming can be changed for the other parks, the animation may have been a one off production and just changed the background.

TTD 120mph said:
People here need to stop pretending they know that the general consensus for the gp is to build a roller coaster all the time. Unless you can back it up with a substantial amount of proof that they do then don't bother claiming they do. It's not about what you and only you want, it's what they want or what might everyone (not just you) might enjoy.

Do you have substantial proof that most people don't want a coaster? If not, don't knock people who may think otherwise weather they are right or wrong.

Just about everyone I know is always asking me what the next coaster is going to be at cedarpoint. I think you underestimate what people want. Cedarpoint backed themselfs into the corner by adding new coasters and not much else for the last 15 years.

With that said, I think this new ride is a great addition. But I do think it's time to start looking for a new coaster as well. If it were about what "I" wanted them to get, I would want a dark ride and then a new coaster. Maybe a dive coaster, or something like X2 or even a coaster like El Toro.

Honeslt, this ride looks awesome. I dont care what park gets what, they all could get the same thing every year, year after year. I go to Cedar Point because i love it, and nothing is going to change it.

Think about this ride for a second...you are going to be 301 feet in the air. Are all of you under estimating the height? If im not mistaken, the webcam mounted on dragster is 3/4 of the way up?? 3/4 of 400 Ft is 300, go look at that webcam and tell me that 300 feet isnt high. now add a 30 mph swing to that The scary silence from being up that high, and the winds rushing in off the lake. Im not even sure motion sickness will be a problem with this ride due to its height. being up that high and not having many objects in front of you to make it seem like your spinning so quickly my reduce the feeling of motion sickness.

This ride will be awesome, and for people to complain about it before even gettin on it is an absolute joke.

If the theme on the animation is correct, I'm just a tiny bit disappointed of it, it's rather plain, it's not much but even the other has a giant K on the top. Obviously it can change, I'm just pointing it out. I do look forward to riding it and seeing it at night.

This also brings new light to the fight with CP and Funtime, clearly they are upset at the amount of money that it would bring in, but something strikes me as odd.. Why would FT talk about the ride being over 400 feet and then Cedar Point have Mondial building 301 feet? Did Mondial say they couldn't build one as big as that, or was this another attempt of Funtime to hurt Cedar Points image with fans thinking they were getting a 400 foot version? I know it's a bit far fetched, but they did contact a reporter who they knew would release the information for the general public to read.

Also, still nothing on the stratosoar sites, and no name given like that to the rides, yet it is trademarked. Did we catch something being trademarked for a future ride, not 2011? Although this brings the original 400 foot post into question again, if they found out that Mondial wouldn't build (or couldn't build) a 400+ foot ride, did they trademark it back when they were in talks with Funtime? Possibly just a pushed "fact" during the reporters story thought.

Anyways, those were my immediate thoughts. It will still be a new experience, it's kinda cooler to me with the seat/arm support being behind you rather than the chains on each corner, it looks more open.

Try Meclizine for motion sickness.You can get it over the counter.

My thoughts:

I was surprised by the height. Not disappointed or anything, but I expected it to be closer to 400 than 300. 301 is still alright. It looks very fun and very intimidating. It will look beautiful, nighttime especially. :)

I'm curious how this ride will work out capacity-wise. The CP website says it'll have a ride time of 3 minutes, and with a capacity of 64 riders I wonder if it'll be compareable to MaXair or Skyhawk in terms of wait time.

I'm really excited to see what they mean by all of the "special lighting features" that this ride's gonna have. There's a lot of potential to really make that ride look spectacular lighting-wise if CP uses the right equipment.

And really, no one can make any accurate predictions on how thrilling this is until it's built. Just because STR didn't turn out the way everyone planned doesn't mean that this will also be a flop. At 300 feet tall it'll be the tallest flat ride at the park by a good 60 feet. (Yes, I'm excluding Space Spiral.)

I've ridden the portable carnival version which is/was somehere around a 100 feet tall, and I do have to say that it was a little intimidating and certainly quite the sensation. I can only imagine what 300 feet is going to be like given the style of ride that it is. I'll be interested to see if they have an led package on the tower itself .. If there is, it will look awesome at night !!

LEDs are typically difficult in long throw applications, which this definitely is. Personally, I think that we can expect a lot of strobes from the top of the tower and the seats, and possibly some movers or LEDs at the base of the ride.

Fortunately, CP's never seemed to have an issue with opening flat rides on schedule, so hopefully this will be operational on opening day.