CP is a deeply engrained part of growing up in this part of the country. This is true in a way that can not be duplicated or even fully understood by people who have not lived in area. The elusive quality that makes CP such a beloved part of the summer for generations of people here can’t be pinned to any one aspect. CP’s success can’t be duplicated by anything anybody at any other park might try. What makes CP special to so many now, transcends any single era. It is not linked to a ride or rides. CP is special now because it was special to people 10, 20, 80, and 130 years ago. You read about CPs history and you see the exact same smile on the faces of men and women of all ages spanning more than 130 years. You talk to people in their 60s, and they tell you of how they rushed to the first new attraction as they arrived at the park. You talk to people in their 40s, and they tell you about how the excitement built as people drove up the causeway to the park and the rides loomed in the distance. You talk to families of any size, and they tell you about staying in the hotels and swimming near the beach. In short, you share with generations of people, the same experience that endears the place each year to more people. The experience is not really rooted in any ride, they come and go. It isn’t staying in a particular hotel room, they come and go. And the experience is most certainly NOT linked to some brand name or imperialistic rodent-icon-trademark.
The other reasons are obvious. CP has a unique location. It has the best assortment of rides you will ever have. It has history, and that history isn’t what it relies on to draw people in, or what it derives its charm from. CP hasn’t had to turn itself into a museum to survive. It simply kept doing what it was created for, and has outlived its contemporaries and soundly beaten its modern competition.
This is in no what meant to belittle what other parks mean to other people. I only mean to say I don’t think any other park has endeared itself to so many people and deeply as CP, and none has done so in the way CP has.
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www.NathanWLBoyle.com/cedar.htm
WOW! Great post. That should be a candidate for the quote of the moment.
It also doesn't hurt CP that it's been around since 5 years after the Civil War.