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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The thing I do not entirely understand about this is why putting dinosaurs on the island requires the removal of the paddle wheel boats. Take a look at Disney. They have an island circled by boats. COuldn't Cedar Point do something similar, with a raft being used to get people over to the island, somewhat adding to the excitement of the dinosaurs by going on a voyage to dino island.
As for the dinosaurs, my daughter has loved them on two visits to zoos that have had them. But, the big but, they were at most a $3.00 upcharge. Given that the zoo ticket was 1/3 of the cost of a Cedar Point ticket, and the upcharge there was about half of what Cedar Point is asking, it seems like it may be hard to justify the charge, especially after the first visit.
Agent Johnson said:
The have not selected a vendor yet. Don't be surprised if they move slides from Geauga Lake.
When they say mat-racer, I picture the side by side slides that people can race down like the old fiberglass giant dry slides. Geauga definitely doesn't have these.
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I didn't say they had a mat racer to move, but they have slides, and Geauga Lake's day sare numbered.
How are GL's days numbered, exactly?
Considering the park is totally packed almost every day. Yesterday, there was barley a chair available come 1 PM... All lines were completely full. I can see if the park was dead, but all year has been the busiest I have ever seen this park.
One busy day, or one week, or what you deem as a 'busy summer' won't extend the life. If they can figure a way to get those people into Soak City, it will happen. tick tick tick.
Agent Johnson said:
I didn't say they had a mat racer to move, but they have slides, and Geauga Lake's day sare numbered.
Ok for the last time I am going to say this, WWK is NOT going anywhere for reasons I have stated before here on Coasterbuzz and reasons I can't publicly say on forums. Everyone can play "spin" games about this but there is ZERO TRUTH to the "immenent closure" of the water park. End of story. Period.
And I think I can safely say publicly that not only is it holding its own, but it is slowly inching to the point of doing as well as the stand alone Soak City parks in Southern CA. If anyone wants to gossip about the park, use this fact as your reference.
Agent,
I have been to the park well over a dozen times this season, most of my visits being during the week. From May until just this past weekend, it has been BUSY. I don't know why you have such a negative outlook for GL, but your assumptions are wrong. It is very common for that place to be quite busy, with lines extending all the way down the steps for the slides and chairs hard to find. It has been very lively, with one dead day this season when we got to marathon the slides a bit due to severe storms rolling through the area. Have you checked the webcam this summer often? The wave pool is often PACKED.
The place is doing great, and not just one day here and there. The entire summer. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday it don't matter. I have been there plenty enough to say if it is or not. I don't know where you get your assumptions from.
In fact, GL just posted this on Facebook:
"We at Wildwater Kingdom are already excited and making plans for the 2012 season!"
Sorry, does not look to be closing. Sorry to disappoint.
You know, I'm kind of starting to like this waterpark. Or even just waterparks in general. So I'm glad it's staying.
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Never saw the webcam, too busy at my park for that. I am saying 2-3 seasons of rain, expect that fiasco to have the plug pulled. Hey, they had a perfectly good tradional park that could have been re-positoned for groups, families, and everything else it was before. Boardwalk Shores was perfect for waterpark fun.
While nobody in the industry ever thinks GL will get any substantial capital, the big question I have, and no one picked up on.......do you think the Soak City Mat Racer were supposed to go to Geauga Lake, and the incoming CEO wanted Cedar Point to have something new other than this dinosaur gig?
Agent Johnson said:
Never saw the webcam, too busy at my park for that. I am saying 2-3 seasons of rain, expect that fiasco to have the plug pulled. Hey, they had a perfectly good tradional park that could have been re-positoned for groups, families, and everything else it was before. Boardwalk Shores was perfect for waterpark fun.While nobody in the industry ever thinks GL will get any substantial capital, the big question I have, and no one picked up on.......do you think the Soak City Mat Racer were supposed to go to Geauga Lake, and the incoming CEO wanted Cedar Point to have something new other than this dinosaur gig?
Your last paragraph is COMPLETELY false. It is so frustrating that individuals with absolutely zero credibility can create such false accusations on subjects they know absolutely nothing about.
Is making up theories as constructive as making up premature reports of the park's demise?
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Don't be silly guys, WWK is/was never going to get any new capital while Kinzel is still around. Mat racers were never meant for Aurora. We can only hope that Ouiment will see the same potential that others around here are observing.
magic mountain is removing a coaster now making the title of roller coaster capital of the world a tie between cedar point and magic mountain so cedar point should be adding a coaster to pass out magic mountain take the opertunity and run with it don't spend money on dinos when we want a new roller coaster!
Yeah I'm pretty pissed. They need to relocate or build this ride to take back the throne. I mean, they are America's Roller Coast!! They should have the most!
~Rob
HeyIsntThatRob? said:
...this ride...
It's a weird splicing of the DNA of a Tiger Terror and the DNA of a Miner Mike.
Damn you, science! Damn you to hell!
Apparently they didn't have a whole lot of DNA from either. Cedar Point is all about breaking at least one record every time they build something. Does this take the record for shortest coaster?
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