2012 Cedar Point Improvements and Changes

I have copied this from Pointbuzz so it can be discussed here. I'm loving all these changes.

From the Pointbuzz twitter,

New Premium Parking
Terror Island moving to Frontier Town (Specifics anyone?)
Returning to Fresh Cut French Fries
New lighting for Millennium Force, Power Tower, and Giant Wheel
New lights and audio on the Main Midway to Corkscrew
Iron Dragon Midway now Celebration Plaza - Home to Luminosity
Luminosity: 25 dancers, 3 drummers, 2 cirque performers, DJ, singers.
Interactive pre-show - Countdown to opening
40 minute show: Land Travel, Sea Travel, Space Travel, Finale. Then fireworks and dance party with DJ
Luminosity stage will be used during the day for new PEANUTS show.

It's refreshing and exciting to see this type of general park improvement going on. Although I wonder where people will stack up for those 5-hour waits for Iron Dragon on HalloSaturdays, now that the excess queues are gone?? ;)

Ut Oh! Will there be even wider paths in Cedar Point's future? How can charm overcome something like that?

I didn't have the courage to ask The Boss if the shortened queue meant that Iron Dragon would be running three trains this year. With three trains, they don't need the big queue block.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I like the sound of that. Maybe they will go back to running as many trains as is needed. Fast-moving lines! That was the Cedar Point culture that I grew up with.

Ahh...the days when getting through the Raptor queue was (nearly) like taking a nice walk...

Not sure if what I heard last year was true or not, but I thought I heard that Iron Dragon's third train is no more. They may be using it for spare parts of the other two trains? Anyone know if there is any truth to that?

I heard the garbage can by Calypso may move. Pretzel guy told me.

Should have seen that one coming

If you think about it though, it could be true. Dragster has 6 trains, but they only run 5. Gemini has 6 trains but they only use 4. Mantis has 3 trains but they only use 2. Mean Streak has 3 trains but last season they only used 2. Corkscrew goes back and forth between 3 and 2 trains... Iron Dragon wouldn't surprise me if it was down to 2.

At least most of our visits last year, Iron Dragon was only running two trains. I'm trying to recall a specific time when it operated with three, but nothing's coming to mind.

I'd be very disappointed if Iron Dragon went down to 2 trains for good. I didn't ride it once this year because the wait is so long when it's only 2 trains. The longest I have ever waited was at the bottom of the stairs, any longer I won't ride.

Just watched the video of the presentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rATb1cjKOrs
Was greatly impressed with Luminosity and can't wait to see how it turns out this year! The stage looks great and I think it will be a much better use of that particular midway.

The main thing that sort of worries me about the new stage is how far into the midway it's being built into. That is one of the most high traffic areas of the park. During the presentation, I got to ask if they were concerned about traffic congestion in that area and they said they would have a walk way similar to what they had for their summer nights show... but I'm just not convinced they've thought very long on that subject. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I am really excited for all these positive changes. CP has needed this small "overhaul" for a while now. Making an explosive end of night for people puts the icing on the cake for many. The "show" they had the past few years was atrocious, to be kind. This will be such a huge upgrade, I really look forward to it.

I wonder who was behind all these new changes, Kinzel or the new Disney guy... Either way I like it.

I just hope that they can fix the terrible early entry this year. Each and every time we went this past year all we did was wait until the rides opened up (beyond 9:30, always). MF and Maverick did not even start testing until after 9:15 or so. Those rides should be READY TO GO by 9am. Give the people the perk they were promised, just my two cents. It is a great perk for platinum and resort guests... Small changes can really make/break a guests day at a park. Start it off RIGHT.

Pictures can be found here...
http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/59757.aspx

More pictures comming soon.

SteveWoA said:

...I wonder who was behind all these new changes, Kinzel or the new Disney guy... Either way I like it....

Don't know about most of the changes...in fact my guess is that the new maintenance people was probably Hildebrandt's doing. But the charge to light up the park and create a reason for people to stay later was credited directly to Ouimet.

Personally, I think this is a good call. It also sounds like they are trying to make Luminosity more than just a nighttime show and instead are trying to give it soft ends...that is, a buildup to a big performance combined with atmosphere on three midways, so it doesn't have a hard cut-off ending that is going to result in 13,000 people all trying to drive down the Causeway at once...as happened with the original Summer Spectacular back in '95...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

My Pictures

DT's interior was much more organized the week before opening day when I got to look around in there. At first I thought it looked like they took out the projector room, but the other pictures of brake 1 (the highest one, right before you drop down to the center alien ship...thing) make me unsure. Certainly nothing lost taking it out since the equipment is probably not in great shape and it seems ready to fall down. I was afraid the thing would collapse after putting one foot onto its floor.

Wish I was sticking around up here through opening weekend to see some of the changes.

In case anyone is interested, someone shot a video from across the bay of the new LED lighting package on the Giant Wheel. I must say, it looks very impressive! I can't wait to see what the new lighting looks like on Power Tower and Millennium Force.