Cedar Point announces Shoot The Rapids for 2010

I feel that Cedar Point did a fine job marketing and did not disappoint me one bit. Intamin makes fantastic water rides, and this one will looks to be exceptionally good. This is a great investment for the park. Period.

Before we go guessing what the gp thinks, just read the Cedar Point Facebook wall. They have 250k followers on Facebook.

Here are a few from the wall.

Shoot the rapids looks mega boring. Idk what you guys were thinking. waste of money.

I am also disappointed! We were all hoping for a coaster or at least a ride like skyhawk. Something exciting without all the WET!! When I want to get wet I go to soak city.

Extremely disappointing, might have to wait until 2011 to buy season passes

bummer!!!! But hey, look on the bright side, less people will be in line for the coasters!!!

i hate it, big mistake

Sad to see it seems like it has no theme whatsoever... I thought it would of been clever if they mixed in SOME sort of Sally incorporation.

Go to the Facebook page and read the responses, I am not selectively choosing these. You can't tell me those are all enthusiasts.

No, but facebook is a self-selecting population---the overall demographic on facebook is not at all the same as the overall demographic of CP's visitor/target market.

Naturally, this addition doesn't attract the younger single college and just-post-college crowd in the way a shiny new rolly-coaster would. But, facebook does. While the "parent generation" is growing there, almost 3/4 of facebook users are still 25 or under.

http://www.istrategylabs.com/2009-facebook-demographics-and-statistics-report-276-growth-in-35-54-year-old-users/

Edited to add: and, while I've said it before, I'll say it again. I think this is a *fantastic* addition, and something the park has needed ever since WWL was removed.

My guess here is that the majority of people following CP on Facebook are not the target audience for said attraction.

I wish they would have went the course with a typical log style vehicle.

This would have been better.....

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/56388.aspx?id=786960

Brian, those stats are from 2007 and read what it says.

"Facebook’s 35-54 year old demographic segment not only continued to grow the fastest, but it accelerated to a 276.4% growth rate over the past 6 months. That demo is DOUBLING roughly every two months."

Fast forward 2 years. Just about everyone I know who has kids is on Facebook.

That said, if their target market wasn't Facebook or Twitter users, then why hype the new attraction so heavily to the supposedly younger audience on said platforms. If the target market was elsewhere they should have been marketing elsewhere.

Sorry I forgot Cedar Point can do no wrong.

I cannot believe anyone is citing FB comments as relevant to anything. That's hilarious. What's next? Yahoo! Answers?

That's a cop out and makes no argument. No one said the park can do no wrong, and I doubt you'd find any place that people are more critical of the park than here. You haven't been here long enough to know otherwise.

I love the idiots on Facebook. "I'm not gonna buy a season pass, because it's almost like Millennium Force, Maverick, Raptor, etc. no longer exist." These are kids who can't buy a pass in the first place. Who cares.

Matt summed it up perfectly. Well done.

Unless someone does a survey of the GP we'll never know how many of them actually paid attention to what Cedar Point was doing leading up to the announcement. Pulling stats out of nowhere doesn't back an argument well. Using comments on facebook to guage people's reaction is perfectly accetptable since they marketed the ride there. If people's comments there aren't important then they shouldn't market there.

If you really think FB offers a valid gauge for anything, you don't know what you're talking about. They'll market to whoever will listen.

What evidence of FB not being a valid gauge do you have?

Amnesiac said:
What was the reason for postponing this ride a year?

I see at least 2 possibilities:

1. - The environmental impact study took longer than they thought. (Assuming they had to do one.)

2. - Last year they were dealing with relocating a lot of the Geauga Lake attractions (Planet Snoopy) and either didn't have the time, money or desire to be working on 2 projects at the same time.

This is turning into a very funny conversation.I guess Cedar Points marketing dept accomplished there goal. I don't bother following there feeds, I just wait for the announcement. As far as Cedar Fair they are spending plenty for the 2010 season and I have to say that they do a great job maintaining and keeping there parks up-to-date.

Oh come on, he's not making up numbers. You can see that more than half of Facebook's audience is 24 or under. That's hardly representative of the bodies crossing through the gate. You don't need to be a statistics expert to extrapolate that the Facebook idiots are not the intended market for this ride.

The only thing you've established is that you're sore about reading way too into the Internet nonsense that Tony posted, and you got used.

It's been clear that this kid doesn't know what he's talking about from the start.

I've never said that CP could do no wrong. In fact, I know this to be quite the opposite. That said, however, coaster enthusiasts are the ones who created the false hope on this one, as they usually do.

This is the same scenario we had when people swore they had hyped Maverick to be a record-breaker/500 footer/whatever.

If they aren't the intended market then why did CP spend time marketing it there? Since they did spend time marketing it there and twitter then those people are at least part of the intended audience. Therefore, their comments do matter.

I'm not sore, angry, upset, etc... about the announcement. I'm also fine with the ride too. I just think they went about it wrong.

I'm not a kid either.

I am still trying to find where someone said, "Cedar Point could do know [sic] wrong."

"Facebook’s 35-54 year old demographic segment not only continued to grow the fastest, but it accelerated to a 276.4% growth rate over the past 6 months. That demo is DOUBLING roughly every two months."

That's because the denominator is so damn small. I've got several former students working at 'book now---I'll ask them what the current numbers are. But, if it's not still more than half at 25 or under, I'll eat my (expired) CBuzz membership card.

I see at least 2 possibilities:

1. - The environmental impact study took longer than they thought. (Assuming they had to do one.)

2. - Last year they were dealing with relocating a lot of the Geauga Lake attractions (Planet Snoopy) and either didn't have the time, money or desire to be working on 2 projects at the same time.

3: They didn't need a new attraction last year, because Maverick was still pulling in the bodies.