WHY? (an editorial with much frustration)
Dan said:
One man's trash is another's treasure.
And profit. You guys talk about people willing to "preserve" stuff and many of you know better than others how willing you are to pay dearly for that "treasure." Some of you have even been burned in eBay auctions by your need to collect this junk. That, my friends, is something I bet the park would rather not see happen, so this stuff isn't released into the public.
And you know what? I'm OK with that. It's one thing for the park to hold on to all of this stuff, and show it for all to enjoy, but quite another for individuals to hoarde it in their private stash. That's no good for any portion of future generations other than the offspring of those who own the objects.
The neighborhood I grew up in, my college, my old house, the places I visited as a kid... these are all different. It's what happens. You can't stop change unless you can freeze time.
What should Cedar Point do? Well, I agree with the above notion that it doesn't make sense to store it and keep it. It does make sense to feature various artifacts, for sure, and I agree that such things should make their way to the museum.
While the physical stuff might be long gone, it is good to see that there is an amazing photographic record of the park for at least the last 30 years, which has seen probably the most drastic change in the last 130. I don't remember when Dan Feicht started as the resident media guy, but he's been there a long time and has captured probably thousands of images on film. My hope is that someone there has thought to preserve all that stuff digitally.
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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
"Climbing as we fall, we dare to hold on to our fate, and steal away our destiny to catch ourselves with quiet grace" - The Stairs, INXS
Here is an idea that might get me spammed right off the site. What if they moved the museum (its contents, not the building) to a new building off-Point? Maybe somewhere near Breakers Express or Radisson.
Over there, it could potentially be open longer than the opearting season (perhaps year 'round) as an amenity for the hotel. Tie a gift shop into it and you have some revenue potential as well.
Ok I would not squawk about an off site scrap parlour. So long as it does not take up valuable ride space
I am very sentimental about certain things; scrap iron is not one of them!
*** This post was edited by kjetski 11/25/2002 2:38:12 PM ***
I realize that Midway Market is the new "in" sit-down place to eat at the Point, but the Chuck Wagon not only serves up nice-sized portions of comfort food, but is also replete with Cedar Point history.
Go inside and look at the signs on the walls. You will find every thing from old ride signs to height requirement signs to menu signs -- all formerly used elsewhere in the park.
My personal favorite in this collection is the painting of a locomotive engine on the back wall. It used to hang in the Silver Dollar Cafe back when the Silver Dollar served breakfast.
At that time, it was tradition for my family to wake up early on Sunday morning and get to the park before the rides opened, and have breakfast at the Silver Dollar.
My (then) toddler daughter was going through a phase where she liked anything having to do with trains. One of my favorite pictures of her is a shot of me holding her in the Silver Dollar and her pointing at that painting.
I saw it again for the first time last summer while we were having lunch at the Chuck Wagon. I pointed the picture out to her and she (now 13 years old) recognized it immediately from our photograph.
So while I might agree to some extent with Jeff that private collectors don't necessarily need to hoard pieces of metal from dismantled attractions, there are certainly pieces that hold special places for some of us that would probably be deemed worthless to 99.9% of the general populace.
If Dan had a Fascination lane, if Jo had a Raptor height sign, or yes, if I had that locomotive painting on the wall, I don't think the world would be any worse off.
It's just that from my standpoint, I know for a fact that one day, I will walk into the Chuck Wagon, and that painting will have been replaced with something else and will likely have been destroyed - and with it an artifact from one of my favorite Cedar Point memories.
I have the photograph. I have the memories. But what I wouldn't give to have that painting on my living room wall as a reminder of a magical moment.
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Duane Cahill
If I had a friend who was really good at juggling swords, I still wouldn't go near him unless I also knew he was good at stopping.
On the plus side, it is one of the few places in the park in which lettuce is served somewhere other than the top of a hamburger.
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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...
...Denial is an ugly thing.
Many of our old favorites wind up somewhere else...this is about the rides that are 'retired' some other way.
-'Playa
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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
We all know what happens to corporations that "diversify". Just look at Lucent. Those idiots spent 52 million on a golf course. What in the world does a golf course have to do with CRM?
CP should stick to what they do well!
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