Cedar Point announces animatronic dinosaur attraction, new Soak City slides
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[Ed. note: The following is a press release issued by the park. -J]
Cedar Point has some pretty big plans for next summer. The Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park/resort earlier today announced plans to introduce Dinosaurs Alive! on Adventure Island, a prehistoric themed attraction, for next summer. The new attraction will be located on four acres on the wooded island that is located in the lagoons toward the back of the park.
In addition to Dinosaurs Alive!, Cedar Point will also add a mat-racer slide complex to the Soak City waterpark located adjacent to the park.
Dinosaurs Alive! will cost approximately $1 million to build. The journey into Dinosaurs Alive! will be multi-sensory and interactive. Guests will be able to see approximately 50 life-size animatronic dinosaurs that will roar and move. Each will be handcrafted and covered with skin-like materials that will replicate almost every feature. Four of the dinosaurs will have interactive consoles that will allow guests to guide their movement to create an up-close look at how these dinosaurs moved their arms, tail, eyes and mouth.
“We are extremely excited about introducing Dinosaurs Alive! to our guests next summer,” said John Hildebrandt, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “Our guests will have the opportunity to visit the Jurassic Age up close and see some of the amazing creatures that called it home. Dinosaurs Alive! will be educational but fun, too.”
Overall, Dinosaurs Alive! will feature approximately three dozen types of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs will range in size and height. The largest will be the Ruyangosaurus that will stand nearly 40 feet tall and 72 feet long. The smallest will be an Angustinaripterus that will only be two feet tall and eight feet long.
Other dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive! will include the vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex, Irratator, Baryonyx and Spinosaurus, the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs. A plated Stegosaurus and three-horned Triceratops will also inhabit the island. The half-mile-long path will feature more than a dozen themed exhibits and displays and will veer underneath several of the larger dinosaurs providing a very intimate encounter with the prehistoric beasts.
Guests will enter Dinosaurs Alive! by crossing a bridge near Camp Snoopy. In addition to the dinosaurs, explorers will also encounter an excavation site and paleontological dig. There will also be informational signs for each exhibit and guides and fossil displays that will make Dinosaurs Alive! an entertaining three-dimensional educational tool for school groups as the discovery and identification of new species of dinosaurs increases annually. At the conclusion of the journey, there will be a prehistoric-themed gift shop.
Admission to Dinosaurs Alive! will be $5 per person. Special rates for groups and schools will also be available.
With the addition of Dinosaurs Alive!, the Paddlewheel Excursions boat cruise will be retired from the park. The pioneer-themed boat ride will be in daily operation through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5.
Cedar Point’s newest attraction will be created and produced by Dinosaurs Unearthed, an innovative traveling exhibition company that creates dynamic, multi-sensory experiences about the world of dinosaurs. Since 2005, the Richmond, British Columbia, Canada,-based company has provided multi-faceted exhibitions to museums, science centers and zoos throughout the world.
Next to Cedar Point, the Soak City waterpark will also have a new look for 2012. Next summer it will add a new mat-racer complex that will offer racers a speedy ride through a series of dips and plateaus. Additional information will be available later this year.
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So that's it, no more Paddlewheel boats, that is very sad. I won't even have a chance to make it out to the park before they close.
How busy has the Dino attraction at KI been? I just can't see a lot of family's dropping $5 a person to do this. To me this is the kind of attraction a local Zoo or natural history museum would add. It doesn't seem to match with CP's image.
Actually, the Cleveland Zoo did offer this for the past 2 or 3 summers. And if I remember correctly, it was only $1.
Hello, Hello! (hola!) I rode a ride named Vertigo!-with apologies to U2
If they drop $12 on a sandwich - I think they'll drop $5 on this, but I agree and am sad about the decision.
Gerry, how dare you feel sad about this, when there are much bigger problems in the world???
Edit: ;)
There is no "G" in my name. I am Sad that you thought to try and put one in there. You are not my friend.
There are so few trees on that island - err rather there are so few overgrown shrubs on that island now... Are they doing a re-landscaping?
Please god let there by an extra fee if we want to cut to the front of the line!!! I am sure that is worth an extra $10 per person!!!! Oh and PLEASE sell Dino cookies for $15 bucks a pop, that should be a big hit too!!! lol
Hate to be negative but this is yet another Kinzel blunder. Why would people pay $5 a head when the Cleveland Zoo for YEARS has had something similar??? Seriously, somebody take away Kinzel's pen already!
January 3, 2012 can't get here soon enough.
Exactly... I have been there, done that at the Cleveland Zoo the past few years and it was free with my pass. Most of the kids going through were from infants to what, 7-8 years old? Honestly I don't see to many pre-teens at CP.
How does Kings Island do exactly with their display? Is it busy?
It just seems KI is a bit more family based then CP... So it might do better there. At CP, it seems odd and out of place. I can't see it being popular there. The fact they closing down PW is the biggest bummer though... If they kept that ride I wouldnt be so bitter. I can care less about the dinosaurs, just keep PW :(
This has got to be the worst capital expenditure ever at the Point. Why retire a ride that grandparents, non riders, etc can actually enjoy. Why retire a ride that practically every theme park like Six Flags does not have. I made a speech about two years ago praising Cedar Point for rides that the passive visitor will enjoy, Paddlewheel Excursions, the Sky Ride, the Train, all the stuff on Frontier Trail, the Museum, the car rides, etc. Everyone loves a boat, or at least I thought so.
Thats what makes Cedar Point stand out against Six Flags. They bring the whole family, who pays a gate price, does the above mentioned stuff, see the dolphin show, the IMAX theatre, etc.
Cedar Point had to upcharge the Rolling Stones:Live at the MAX one summer. Didn't go so hot. People at that park do not like to pay for anything once they get in. What happens when the dino island is extinct again? Which GM doesn't answer their phone for a relocation conversation?
2 over priced hypers to the north within 4 years, to the southwest they have 2 coasters on the hit list, and basically, for that same $1 million, they could have replaced the Wildcat with a modern new version that doesn't need stickers on each car saying 'please don't bump car in front of you'.
I'd expect that after 4 years of no new coasters at their signature park, they'd invest in a new ride, especially since they no longer have the biggest coaster count. Seems I'm wrong...
the Paddlewheel Excursions was so fun even for people like me who will ride Top Thrill Dragster and M. Force until i feel sick. It was a park classic and the drivers were always super funny. They need a new coaster or new inovative ride nobody else has not a new theme. They used to be the roller coaster capital of the world... now it sounds like a six flags dark night coaster misfit type of thing. it's an amusement park not a theme park. they spend years claiming titles and now it is waisting away hahahaha. i love cedar point but dinosaurs don't belong there. they should or made a movie cowboys vs. dinosaurs instead. Soak city is a good little water park and the slides will be a nice addition.
Well put Agent Johnson. I don't understand Cedar Fair's decisions lately.
Copied from my post at P-Buzz.
I've had some time to reflect a little bit on a run and spending some time with my daughter. I tried to forget how I felt, and asked her...
"Kylah, would you like to see Dinosaurs at Cedar Point?"
"SUUUUUURE!!!"
Very excited...and then she did a little dance (Dinosaur Train was playing on TV in the background), and went on about T-Rex and made some growling noises.
Then, I asked her...
"Kylah, would you miss the big boat ride with mommy and daddy if it went bye bye?"
"Wellll....maybe it will come back"
"No sweety, it was fun to ride together, but it won't be there next time we go after your birthday"
Tears.
Now mind you, she was excited about it. She's nearly 4, and this was the first year she really "marked" rides that were her favorite, etc. She loved the boat, and loved interacting with the captain, etc...and to be honest, she was so excited to ride something with mommy and daddy beside her. Yes, the old boat from my youth was not there, but she still loved it, and you parents out there know how easy it is to get misty eyed about looking down and seeing your kid smile when you see them enjoying something you did as a little tike. Priceless.
So even my daughter is torn, as am I as I reflect on this.
Part of what I love about Cedar Point is it's constant change. It's always adapting, growing, expanding...changing...and needless to say not all of us agree with some of the changes all the time (this one in particular). This is a tough change for me to swallow, but I will swallow it with one hope in mind...
Ouimet. I hope he's listening to the reaction, and keeping it in mind as he lays down plans for the future. I hope the end of PWE means the beginning of a new chapter in Cedar Point's history as a turn towards a much-needed focus onto high quality family focused attractions for the next decade or so (with maybe 1 record breaking coaster thrown in just for fun of course).
So that's where I stand. Hard to take, but I'll take it, as long as the next few years show me why I took it.
Based on comments from Facebook and other CP fan sites, this is probably going down in history as the worst received new attraction announcement in Cedar Point history. I think I am in shock just how bad things have become under what was arguably one of the most important leadership eras at the Point, Dick Kinzel.
Anyone else think that at minimum the animatronics could be reused to spruce up Shoot the Rapids in order to get more riders on that attraction?
They released the news at 3am. Do you think that was an accident? ;)
You know, I certainly hope they move them to STR.
These will be completely new dinosaurs going to CP. KI will be keeping theirs and hopefully receiving a replacement for the big one that burned in May.
OhioStater said:
Copied from my post at P-Buzz.Ouimet. I hope he's listening to the reaction, and keeping it in mind as he lays down plans for the future. I hope the end of PWE means the beginning of a new chapter in Cedar Point's history as a turn towards a much-needed focus onto high quality family focused attractions for the next decade or so (with maybe 1 record breaking coaster thrown in just for fun of course).
So that's where I stand. Hard to take, but I'll take it, as long as the next few years show me why I took it.
Well said OhioStater. I couldn't agree with you more. My kids LOVED the laughs they recieved from the boat ride. Your entire post should be sent to Cedar Point in the form of a letter. I'll try to do the same. Although CP has never shown that they listen to us...I still have some hope that they may change their minds like Six Flags Great America did with the Whizzer.
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