Will Cedar Point get an 18th coaster to remain the coaster capital?

I really think they need to continue to add coasters on occassion to remain relevent and compete. But who are they competing with? Six Flags is not doing so well and they bought the Paramount Parks. So now they want to compete with more family centered faires.

It does appear they are putting in less new rides since they bought the Paramount Parks. Those parks need the big coasters and it appears they got them for atleast the first couple years. Maybe next year Cedar Fair will spoil it's home park once again, lets hope.

CP_Obsessed_Freak1987 said:
It's very true that every coaster has a greater ROI than park improvements.

It's easily said that adding a coaster usually spikes attendance.

And if you had the most coasters at your park, why wouldn't you be bragging about it?

But lets say you don't add a coaster to CP's lineup for the next 3 years. Other parks like SFMM does. They might have better numbers coming in, but if we keep doing improvements like this, we'll better than in the longer run.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather be at a park with 10 coasters that is clean, has proper signs, is landscaped, nice hotel rooms, rather than going to a park with 18 coasters that have bad cleanliness, puke all over the place, bad hotels, and rusty signs..

Basically, the improvements will inspire people to keep coming. In a nutshell. ;)

You make great points. But the thing is Cedar Fair already has a great reputation for having clean parks. When they took over Kings Island that thing went from a wasteland where you couldn't see a trash can, to a place where from one trashcan you could see at least 3 others. The landscaping is already nice too. Also, the hotels at Cedar Point aren't really all that bad either. Sure I guess they could spruce up the Express, but I don't see people who stay there really looking for the resort experience anyway.

Next year, I would actually just like them to re-paint every ride that needs it. Make everything like new again and it would add a lot to the experience. Then we can think about adding something new in 2011.

Ryan

One word: dark ride.

Intriguing, Ensign Smith. What theme for this dark ride of yours?

File this one in the "who cares" and "seriously, do we need to have this topic every year?" categories.

^^^^That is exactly my point. To say that Cedar Point is dirty, has puke all over the place, rusty signs is totally false. The only way you have seen puke on the midway is if someone got sick right in front of you and they haven't made it there in .5 seconds to clean it up. I mean come on, some of you act like this park is just filthy and disgusting. It is a clean park that has amazing rides (notice speaking in general, not just roller coasters) and has minimal theming. That is the best way to describe it. I have never made the claim that it is the nicest themed park but to say it is dirty, poorly maintained or any of the sort is ridiculous. Cedar Point has a very unique appeal to it unlike any park i have been to. The point is that if they just work on themeing for 2-3 years, in my opinion, the only thing the general public will notice is that there haven't been any new rides in a while. People do not come to CP looking for new lights and water fountains.

I am just saying on years that there aren't any plans for rides put in small things like fountains and LED screens and lights, but do not put off building new attractions to do so.

It's true that most people don't come to CP specifically to look at new lights and water fountains, but it's those little features are what make an amusement park a park... without them you basically have a parking lot with roller coasters. It's those small features that make a guest's day more special and appealing (whether it be consciously subconsciously). And it's those images that stick with the guests as well and hopefully bring them back.

They're not "putting off" building new attractions to install LED screens and lights - just like any park they can't afford to install $20 million attractions every year, and they're not going to do absolutely nothing to the park in the years between new attractions. I for one am so glad and proud to work at a park that puts so much effort into general park improvements every offseason.

^ Ya i agree that these improvements are going to be nice and that this off season they needed to do something since there isn't anything at all new in terms of rides. I didn't mean to sound against these improvements and it will look nice but I hope we get another world class ride in 2010 or 2011.

To be the best amusement park in the world, which CP has been voted for 11 years now, the coaster count is not the only thing they look at when judging for the best park. CP has good quality rides, with an exception for DT. Judging the best goes to the quality, not quantity of super coasters....

I would rather have all the problems in the park fixed before another coaster is added. Maybe put a new coat of paint on some coasters.

I'll have to disagree, OK. Improving the park is one thing. Expecting to fix every little bug or problem before adding an attraction is going a little bit too far the other way, IMO.

Rapids, I don't care what the theme would be. Wild West, haunted house, pirates, space, dinosaurs, Peanuts, I don't care. Just give me a $@!!*&% dark ride. And make it good. :)

It's not that we need a new $20 million coaster every year. But if Cedar Point wants to be the "roller coaster capital of the world", they have to have the most coasters.

What I don't get is why Six Flags is putting money into more coasters when their millions of dollars in the hole. You would think they would try to minimize the debt they're in.

How does this sound?

Every year that we do not add a coaster we do general improvements around the park. Eventually we get to that dark ride that Ensign wants to make him happy. We do things like painting the coasters that need it and put in flat rides and things like that. Even upgrading the children's area every now and then.

Then every three to four years or so we bring in a new coaster. Something that blows everyone away and boosts attendance and keeps Cedar Point as the "rollercoaster capital of the world". Why do I say three to four years? Because if we want a world class ride this is about the amount of time that I could guess would be expected to research what we want to bring in and then where to put it and what the design for everything that goes along with it.

Ryan

And the "research" phase for each coaster is mutually exclusive? I don't think so.

Shawn Meyer said:
What I don't get is why Six Flags is putting money into more coasters when their millions of dollars in the hole.

Because they can always pull their money out of the hole if they need to spend it on coasters! ;)

JuggaLotus said:
And the "research" phase for each coaster is mutually exclusive? I don't think so.

Ok, I know there is a possibility that multiple coasters can be in the design and development phase at the same time. Especially if we have multiple firms competing for the same money at the same time. However looking back through the history we don't have many quality additions back to back or close together. Just look at 1989 we got the amazing ride that is Maggie, then two years later we got the monstrosity that is Mean Streak. I mean I like Mean Streak but obviously not many do.

The point I was trying to make is that what I said is what I consider goes on right now at the park and why can't we just be happy with that.

Sorry if it was kinda lost in translation.

Ryan

Is there any word on whether MM will have to tear down another coaster to make room for these next two? I've never been there, but I hear that they are also limited on room in the park.

SFMM is far from strapped for room, I believe they tore out all of their flat rides a few years back, so there's always those areas. :)

Ah, I see. Who needs flat rides anyway? ;)

The coaster wars are over. Build quality coasters that still excite people 10, 20, 30 years down the road. I could care less about quantity.