Thunder Canyon Water...

Anyone else think it's a little gross? I mean I still ride it and love it but it is a little gross. Last time I rode it I came off the ride drenched and noticed later huge dark marks all over my white shirt... It was gross.

Why don't they filter it like they do with SRF and STR?

The water is pumped in on a daily basis from Sandusky Bay. It is filtered for large debris by a rock perimeter. You can see it on the shore when you drive perimeter road. But it is still Bay water. It would be impractical to filter the water considering the amount needed and the foliage around the area. There would be leaves and debris in the pool constantly.

Isn't that the point of filtering? To get the leaves out?

The only water ride that has fish in its splash. ;)

Exactly, filtering would clean the crap out of it. Look at the amount of foliage around the smaller lazy river ( I forget the name, but its not the renegade river one) at Soak City. Its completely covered by trees and the filtering does a good job of keeping it clean.

River Rapids rides pull water from a basin with pumps that pump the water to the top of the ride. When the rides are E-Stopped, drains on the ride are pulled, and all of the water flows out of the trough and back into the basin. Rapids rides that are not located near a water source, have some form of holding pool that holds the water for the ride when the pumps are not running. Here you can see a picture of the basin for the rapids ride at Great Adventure, while other rapids rides incorporate the basins into the ride themselves (note the basin of water down and to the right of the ride).

With Cedar Point being on a lake, it makes perfect sense for the ride's water basin to be the lake itself. It helps to save space, and my guess is, it's also more cost effective. Note that Snake River Falls and STR both have places for the water to go when the ride's pumps are not operating. For this reason, these rides can operate with chlorinated, filtered water. However, as TC's water is coming from the lake, it's simply not cost effective to filter and chlorinate that water each day when it's pumped into the ride.

In regards to the comment by PrawoJazdy comparing it to the lazy river in Soak City... Thunder Canyon isn't a swimming pool, and my guess is the amount of water it uses compared to the lazy river pales in comparison.

Edit: Added a new paragraph for ease of reading. ;)

For reference, you can see the basin very clearly in this aerial image:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qxdjqw83801v&scene=17345470&lvl=1&...nt%2C%20OH

I have no idea where the secondary basin for holding water is. Somewhere in the trees I guess.

Chuck Wagon said:
For reference, you can see the basin very clearly in this aerial image:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qxdjqw83801v&scene=17345470&lvl=1&...nt%2C%20OH

Cool...never realized that's what that was for. Also was neat to see White Water Landing and Maverick appearing and vanishing when you scroll over.

So what do they do with the water in the fall when Halloweekends comes around?

A few quick little off-topic question here, guys.

I work at MiA's Grand Rapids (which uses the basin system described above), and I am really interested in Thunder Canyon and it's goings-on, POV, yadda yadda yadda.

Is it a better ride than GR if you have ridden both? How many waterfalls are there? Is it a decent experience? I guess I'm just wondering about the ride, and it doesn't get much if any "press" on here or at the park, really.

I have never been on Grand Rapids, but I think that Thunder Canyon is a great raft ride. The rock work is cool and the waterfalls and geysers are always working. You travel through woods also.

TC has two waterfalls in one section of the ride and in the other I believe there are 4. From what I have seen TC looks to be a much better ride.

Dispatch Master Transport said:
A few quick little off-topic question here, guys.

I work at MiA's Grand Rapids (which uses the basin system described above), and I am really interested in Thunder Canyon and it's goings-on, POV, yadda yadda yadda.

Is it a better ride than GR if you have ridden both? How many waterfalls are there? Is it a decent experience? I guess I'm just wondering about the ride, and it doesn't get much if any "press" on here or at the park, really.

I've ridden both, so I'd be happy to compare. If you want to ride Thunder Canyon, youtube it.

Cedar Point's Thunder Canyon feels like a much more legit rafting experience...the overall path feels wider and less controlled...and it's an overgrown, natural journey through the woods. I refer to it as Russian roulette, as you either come off it as if you've been swimming in the lake...or come off dry, depending if you hit one of the many massive waterfalls.

Michigan's Adventure's Grand Rapids felt controlled, twisty, and generic, because it's clearly a man-made rocky terrain thrown in the middle of flat, tree-barren land. It's more of a consistent medium wetness from what I remember. That being said, it was a nice, fun ride.

In my opinion, Thunder Canyon is the much better ride of the two for its landscape and larger scope, but I rarely ride it. It's a very fun ride...but it's just too wet for me if you hit the waterfalls. My visits to CP occur in the early and late parts of the season typically, so it's usually too cold to even think about riding it.

About the only comparison you can make between gr and tc is they both have rafts and they both have waterfalls. Gr is very tame very few waterfalls and very few rapids. Its basically the island side of shoot the rapids, very uneventful. The rafts and channel are considerablly smaller. The fact that most soaking you will get on gr is the first waterfall and that is if it is even turned on. Tc is much more unpredictable better experince. You could call gr a kiddie ride. On a scale of 10 I give gr a 4. Tc a 7. I prefer kings islands I give that on an 8. Or popeye's bilge rats at island of adventure a 10+

Shawn Meyer said:
So what do they do with the water in the fall when Halloweekends comes around?

Thunder Canyon is completely emptied each night and refilled the next morning. If you walk back to the ride before 10, you can see the empty trough and watch it fill really fast.

However, the ride doesn't operate at all during Halloweekends, as there has been a maze using TC's queue and parts of the ride for as long as Halloweekends has been around.

EDIT: Just beat Jugga to it. =)

Shawn Meyer said:
So what do they do with the water in the fall when Halloweekends comes around?

It gets pumped back out into the lake, just like it does every night.

During HALLOWEEKENDS it is just Drained. The Lagoon Water is Drain too on the OFF SEASON so it doesn't have ice hurting any rides. Carp can live without water. They just go into land.

The lagoon isn't drained during the off season.

In fact, aside from the section that was drained to facilitate StR construction this offseason, it was as full as it ever was.