Cedar Point announces Shoot The Rapids for 2010
Posted
[Ed. note: The following is an unedited press release. -J]
Grab your paddles and climb aboard the newest river-ride adventure this side of the Appalachians! Shoot the Rapids, an all-new family water ride, will rise above Cedar Point’s rustic Frontier Trail when it makes a splash on Opening Day 2010.
During the 2,100-foot-long journey, adventurers will travel through a wooded area and around an illegal still used for brewing sweet-tasting elixir, all while encountering surprise water elements and special effects. Guests will navigate the waters aboard a 10-passenger boat. Riders will be seated in five rows of two and will be secured by individual over-the-head lap bars.
The excitement builds when the boats ascend one of two lift hills. The first and largest hill will be 85 feet tall and will drop riders down onto Millennium Island at a 45-degree angle. The second hill will be 49 feet tall and will end with a dramatic “shoot” through water rapids and rockwork.
Guests on the Frontier Trail can keep their feet planted on dry land and watch as riders complete their wet and wild trek down the final drop.
“Shoot the Rapids will instantly become a family favorite,” said John Hildebrandt, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “Our guests wanted another option to cool off on warm summer days. We listened, and Shoot the Rapids will deliver the perfect combination of refreshment, thrills and new memories at Cedar Point.”
Shoot the Rapids will cost more than $10.5 million to build and will be the most expensive water ride ever built at Cedar Point. It will have a capacity of approximately 1,200 riders per hour. The ride will last three minutes. A rider height requirement has not yet been determined and will be released at a later date. The ride was designed and manufactured by IntaRide LLC of Glen Burnie, Md., the same company that built the Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force roller coasters and the Thunder Canyon river-rafting ride.
Visit the official Cedar Point site.
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BDesvignes said:
I'm not a kid either.
Oh, sorry. I judge everyone by their online persona. I just thought, what, with the constant whining and what seems like foot stomping, that you were 16.
Looks like I'll be having cardstock for lunch:
Now the question is: what's the demographic posting comments?
(Guess: it wasn't women 55 or over.)
The facebook and twitter audience may not be the intended market, but they are probably the people most likely to spread the word about the new ride.
Most businesses use social media because blowhards like Peter Shankman say you should. And in the long run, yes, you should, because tomorrow's adults are today's kids. Rope them in young, get them used to seeing you where they are.
But man, I'm tired of the binary thinking in our culture. If you're marketing on Facebook, it must be the people you want to reach most! If you're this, you can't be that. It annoys the piss out of me how everything is a non-negotiable absolute one or the other. And with kids posting nonsense about how "Ceader Poynt is spozed 2b a coastar parke!!!!!11!" it's only going to worse.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
On that notion of binary thinking:
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that coaster enthusiasts and college kids are going to look at this and go "meh".
But, it also doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you *only* install things for coaster enthusiasts and college kids, then you're missing out on a lot of other people who might come to your park and spend some money.
And, those people are probably going to spend *more* money. Spend a few weeks here on the 'buzz, and you'll realize how hard it is to separate a typical enthusiast from a few bucks. And college students are even worse, because they are practically broke to begin with.
Then we have the newlyweds, who just bought a house, and would rather spend all of their money on decorating, landscaping, remodeling and projects. :)
Oh, wait. That's me.
Dude, do what I do and put off all that stuff.
Honestly, we've been saying "we really ought to paint in here, what color should we go with?" for four years now. I really need someone to kick my butt and just do it, but my wife is as indecisive as I am.
We're about ready to just hire someone to tell us what to do.
BDesvignes said:
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.
It is my understanding that surveying the GP is exactly why this ride got built in the first place.
I don't know how many followed the announcement, but the end result is what they wanted.
In regards to yesterday's announcement, do we know yet any further details on things like: continuously loading/unloading moving plaforms, additional theming/animatronic elements adding to the McGees vs. Canfields story, interaction of the ride elements with PWE, etc???
The video I saw of boats loading on Pilgrims Plunge look like it is a rather "quick" loading process when they are all in full use...and we all know how the general public can be slow as a snail.
Just deleted my last post. I just don't care. I was disappointed by what they presented based on the expectations they put fourth.
Ok, so I'm a marketing director. I can pitch my new product via advertising ($$$), press releases (a dying medium), on my company owned television network ($$$$$$$$$$$$), or I can hang flyers.
Or, there are these "new" media streams out there like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc that I can experiment with. And, gee, those don't cost a dime. Hmmmm....I wonder what I'm going to do?!?!?!
Hey, I'm coming up on 40 years old and I'm on Facebook. My mother (closing in on 60) is on Facebook and my Grandmother (92 1/2 years old) is on Facebook. I have 200+ friends in my network, most of them high school friends or colleagues all my age. You freaking coaster nerds are NOT the only folks Cedar Point was reaching when they were using those "new" media outlets.
I never expected a new coaster this year because it just doesn't make sense. We know Cedar Point is trying to drive the family experience home and they haven't done that well for quite a while. Other park companies are doing the same. Disney just ended there "reunion" marketing where they were trying to drive the entire family to the parks. And, what kind of attractions did they put in to lead up to that? Nemo makeover of the Living Seas, Stunt Show, Nemo Stage show at Animal Kingdom, Toy Story attraction...all family friendly.
You were disappointed because YOUR expectations were out of whack, 8.3.
Brandon | Facebook
You created your own expectations.
884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube
Just deleted my last post. I just don't care. I was disappointed by what they presented based on the expectations they put fourth.
What would it have taken for you to not be disappointed?
You freaking coaster nerds are NOT the only folks Cedar Point was reaching when they were using those "new" media outlets.
That's true, and that's why I wonder if the comments are truly indicative of the effectiveness of using the medium. Anecdotally, my wife and kids were both excited about the addition, and they all watched the animation before I even got home to tell them about it. But, none of them posted on the comment thread---my kids don't have their own facebook accounts, and my wife doesn't post on "write only" threads.
I told everyone this announcement would make a splash in the industry. And now look at the battle of words we're having online!
I'm not very excited by this ride and it has nothing to do with pre-announcement hype because I don't follow Facebook, Twitter, the CP Blog or any the rumors posted here. I like the idea of a new log flume but this layout appears to be really short and most of the ride time is going to be spent climbing up hills. If this is suppose to be a family ride, I would rather see one modest size hill with a lot longer course. Hopefully the actual ride will be better then the renderings make it look.
Also, those boats will not be nearly a fun as the old WWL canoes. Does any manfucature still make a log flume with the old style canoes, or are their too many safety regulations that makes that impractical?
mdb07 back on page 9 wrote a described very well why people's expections were higher than what the park announced. It was CP's marketing that made people expect more. Everyone is entitled to their opions though and there's going to be people who think their marketing was over the top, and there's going to be people who think people convinced themselves it would be something bigger. What's done is done though and hopefully people stop expecting big things leading up to an announcement regardless of what their marketing says. I know I for one won't be paying attention to them anymore.
Da Bears
I can see your deleted post, and you were about to walk into the point I keep making. Even if Facebook et al are ubiquitous, it ignores the fact that different demographics use the medium in different ways. All of the "dying" forms of media may be old, but it's not like the demographics and behavioral aspects go away. Less than 5% of visitors to CoasterBuzz ever post anything, so what do I truly know about what they like? Not much. I also can't make any assumptions about what they do or don't like. It's the same kind of self-selection bias mentioned earlier. Let's face it, we can safely generalize that people don't speak up as often or as loudly as they do when they're dissatisfied.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
eightdotthree said:
Just deleted my last post. I just don't care. I was disappointed by what they presented based on the expectations they put fourth.
They put them fourth? I thought we already determined, if anything, they would have put them third... Just kidding, buddy. :)
The question is not who is using Facebook. The question is how they are using it. My guess would be (based on nothing but the folks in my life) that those older populations are not becoming "fans" of sites.
"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins." --- Benjamin Franklin
I'm a bartender at Cedar Point and I've been working for Cedar Fair since this April. Both sides have their arguments. While Cedar Point never blatantly came out and said it was a coaster, it was hyped like a coaster. The general consensus of employees at the park believed it was going to be a flume early on in the season to replace White Water Landing. As the updates on facebook and Twitter continued people here started believing it was a coaster too. Especially clues such as:
Closed topic.
