Cedar Point announces Siren's Curse tilt roller coaster

I'm going way out on an uninformed limb here, but I'm going to guess that whether or not TT2 being down had a negative impact attendance, it did have a negative impact on season pass renewals. Cedar Point expects to see a certain percentage of pass renewals at this point in the season, and that hasn't happened. Their (hypothetical) data also shows that once a guest decides not to renew a pass, they are unlikely to purchase one again. Whether or not that number of non-renewals is large, it is still significant because that revenue is lost over time: instead of, let's say three to five years of guaranteed income, the park only got one year. Thinking even longer term (and this might be a stretch), parents aren't rearing their children at the park, so the next generation of customers shrinks as well.

Cedar Flags had an inexpensive, third-hand coaster they could plop down anywhere, and they chose to drop it on the Iron Dragon midway at Cedar Point. The corporate number-crunchers determined that a cheap new coaster could keep pass renewals from dropping too far, so the cost of a rushed installation would be worth it over time.

I've always wanted to ride a tilt coaster, and for the past couple of years I've wanted to experience the new generation of Vekomas, so I'm really happy with this addition. Compared to the park's additions since Maverick, the apparent lack of placemaking is disappointing, the name and logo are meh, and the color scheme is boring. Will all that matter to the general public and the bottom line? I'd say that as long as this kind of addition is just a blip and doesn't become standard operating procedure, then not at all. Nobody but us will notice a one-off, off-brand coaster. The park just needed to stop the bleeding from TT2 and can continue to add more thoughtful attractions in the future.

The amount of Kremlinology going on in this thread is mind-boggling.

First, I want to say this looks like a fun ride. But, this ride does look to be very atypical for Cedar Point. I can't remember Cedar Point putting in a major coaster that wasn't a custom design. (For the purposes of this, I don't consider Wild Mouse or Woodstock Express to be a "major coaster.") I also can't remember a time when Cedar Point didn't plan to have the new attraction ready for opening day. Yes, delays have happened, but the announcement would always indicate that it would open with the park.

My guess as to what happened is that after the merger, they saw this ride sitting idle in Mexico. They have had too much difficulty getting the permitting to open the ride in the Mexico park, so they decided to scrap putting it there. They went to look for where else they could put it. Cedar Point had a vacant plot of land that was very close to the right size and shape to install it, even if the midway wasn't in the ideal spot. So, they chose to put it in at Cedar Point.

Either that, or the executives decided that they want one of the Cedar Fair legacy parks to hold the "most coasters in the world" title. A title that, say, 0.01% of the guests in the park cares about.

TylerWS:

I'm going to guess that whether or not TT2 being down had a negative impact attendance, it did have a negative impact on season pass renewals.

Because people were instead compelled to buy passes to...? I'll assert that the percentage of guests even willing to ride TT2 in the first place was not high, as was the case with its predecessor.

Wasn't Six Flags Mexico's Superman hyper supposedly designed for the Sea World side of SFWoA? If I remember correctly, the ride was to start behind the dolphin/whale stadium, jump the entrance drive and skirt the parking lot- which that layout does follow.

That said, it's ironic that Northern Ohio is taking a coaster designed (sort of) for them.

Also, King's Island stole X-Flight from SFWoA (Geauga Lake) and painted it grey with red track from green and blue. It's all starting to add up...

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Elliot Gould, and a number of unidetified individuals were rumored to be nearby.

From what I'm reading on Facebook comments...

Purple and green trains resemble a joker theme. Red and gray track could resemble a Harley Quinn Theme. This coaster came from SF Mexico. Cedar Point needed something quickly to make up for the loss TT2's closure has caused.Painting it might have been considered, but it's cheaper, and faster, not to.

Take it with a grain of salt, but this is what I believe. It just seems so obvious.

And I'll speculate that Siren's Curse interrupted the long-term plans that included removing Snake River. They still had to remove Snake this season, so both timelines crossed over each other, and that's why everyone was so surprised when Siren's Curse announcement didn't end up being on the Snake River site.

It all adds up.

About complaining about colors...

I'm not complaining. I'm pointing it out. Some people with an artistic eye might not understand that there are other reasons beside art design as to why this coaster has a red track. This was not originally it's intended theme.

We are also assuming SRF was removed for a new attraction in the next year or two. It could have been due to high maintenance cost or it had just reached its end of life. That land could sit empty until the right attraction comes along.

It's exciting that the US is getting some of these new era Vekoma models - they're phenomenal rides and I suspect this is the start of a vast number of them. It's curious that those going in at the moment are largely a product of someone else buying them and not installing them.

(For example) something like Patriot going into WoF back in the day was illiterate from a financial perspective - Kinzel said so himself, but a combination of being owned by a big organisation and there being few mid-market alternatives ... meant that B&M got the gig. Vekoma can now fill that space with a comfortable, exciting ride using a reliable platform at an affordable cost.

There will be many more. Calling it now.

0g:

But, this ride does look to be very atypical for Cedar Point. I can't remember Cedar Point putting in a major coaster that wasn't a custom design.

Outside of the enthusiast community does this really matter? If my research on rcdb is correct there is currently one tilt coaster currently operating in the world, in Taiwan. Almost nobody who visits Cedar Point in 2025 will have ridden a tilt coaster. It's custom enough to them.

GoBucks89:

Will most customers even know (much less care) about the corny theme and backstory?

There happened to be an interesting post this week on "America's Disneylands" about this topic. The author, a professor named Barry Hill, had talked to the designer of the Hanger Bar at Walt Disney World. The summary is

the effect of creating a harmonious environment in terms of the architecture, detail ... puts people at ease, they feel safe, less anxious. A well-implemented story achieves this. Guests typically don’t know why, or even that they’re responding to the environment. But they know, down inside. Making the effort to create a world—a cohesive experience—makes a difference.

That makes sense to me. It has to be done well, of course, and I'm not sure Cedar Point is doing that. But I can see how coming up with a backstory helps in the design process.

99er:

That land could sit empty until the right attraction comes along.

Can't help but hear it.

Mulfinator:

0g:

But, this ride does look to be very atypical for Cedar Point. I can't remember Cedar Point putting in a major coaster that wasn't a custom design.

Outside of the enthusiast community does this really matter? If my research on rcdb is correct there is currently one tilt coaster currently operating in the world, in Taiwan. Almost nobody who visits Cedar Point in 2025 will have ridden a tilt coaster. It's custom enough to them.

If it's the first tilt-coaster to open with this layout. It's custom to everyone. It's not a clone until someone else builds one.

I think the discussion about this not being a custom design started because of the way it fits into the space. If it were a unique layout, it would have been much different because of the space available to put it in.

An off-the-shelf model is not necessarily a bad thing. It's just not something Cedar Point usually buys. It's obviously the reason the design has inconsistencies with the theme.

So is this the “Six Flagsification” of Cedar Point since it’s an off the shelf model and not custom?

It’s sort of used too.

TylerWS:

TT2 being down had a negative impact attendance, it did have a negative impact on season pass renewals.

Is it that or is it that an ever increasing number of people are going to the park and just not having as good of a time as they once did? Whether it's the slow operations, increased downtime, slashed live E, etc, there are a lot of factors beyond the struggles of a single ride.

I don't know that they're not hitting their numbers for next year. They often extend their $99 price until the end of the season and raise if $5 or $10 at that point, but this year they did raise it when they said they would to $125. Still too cheap in my opinion, but raising prices early isn't a sign of weak sales.

That makes sense to me. It has to be done well, of course, and I'm not sure Cedar Point is doing that. But I can see how coming up with a backstory helps in the design process.

I agree with that if its well done. Potter Land at Universal is a good example of that. I took my family there on 2 different trips and collectively, one of us (my daughter) had seen one Harry Potter movie (none of us had read any of the books). But we enjoyed Potter Land even beyond the rides themselves. We couldn't appreciate much detail that a Harry Potter fan could but it didn't prevent us from enjoying the visit.

Cedar Point doesn't really do theming/backstories well. Though not only don't I expect them to, but I don't want them to either. But ultimately from what I have seen, they don't appear to spend a lot of time/money on the backstory or implementing/maintaining it. At this point, apparently they think they cannot just announce a new ride. They think they need to include some type of story with it. Allows the enthusiasts to argue about it I suppose (whether there is one at all, does it make sense, are the colors right, etc.). But I think the vast majority of people heard "Cedar Point is opening a new ride next season."

Siren’s curse looks to be a great addition. After talking to all my gp friends (none of them got to ride TT2) they are all excited to have TWO new coasters in 2025. It’s funny though, because they’re all debating which is scarier, the 420ft strata coaster or the 148ft tilt coaster.

About complaining about colors...

The problem isn’t even SC, its that the supports on Iron Dragon are still orange w red track…