Cedar Point announces Skyhawk

I'm sure this is going to be a fun ride, but I can't believe they had to take out White Water Landing for it.... They could have found something "less generic" for the name, too.

I am disappointed that they couldn't have found someplace else for it. I could think of several things I would have rather seen torn down other than WWL. It's always great to have challenging-looking "flat rides" in a park, and this one looks impressive, but to take out a signature ride like WWL for anything other than a coaster is rather, well.... unfortunate.

It definitely won't propel me to visit next year. I probably will anyhow, though.

They didn't remove WWL for it. It occupies none of the land that WWL stands (stood?) on.

They just happen to be removing WWL the same year they're adding this. :)

Yes, Gonch; they are doing the same thing with White Water Landing that Kings Island did with Flying Eagles.

As for the location of the new ride...

Yesterday, right smack in the middle of the Snake River Falls entrance path, was scribed a great big "X" marking the ride center-point. I'm talking about ten feet from the entrance, right in the middle of the entrance path, directly across from the lockers.

Two additional markings and four stakes indicated the ride centerline, meaning the center of the beam. The centerline runs from the corner of the midway fence to the left of the Snake River Falls maintenance gate, straight across towards the gap between the Cedar Creek Mine Ride station and transfer track/storage track/workshop.

On the ground in that gap, clearly visible from Mine Ride, is spray painted the words, "RIDE CONTROLS".

Pity that is appears that Cedar Point is removing twice as many rides as it is adding for next year. :(

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Largest of its kind? Valleyfair!'s Xtreme Swing is the exact same ride, in all dimensions, is it not? (S&S Screaming Swing 40)

Even if 100 parks got the same exact ride, wouldn't that still make it the largest of it's kind? Heck they could all make that claim in that no other Screaming Swing is larger.

Marketing is the fine art of pointing out technicalities. :)

CP's site says 103' tall and Valleyfair's says 100'.

I don't think this is a very good addition, kids.

Perhaps there will be something else next year, but Im not sure this is going to bring people through the gates, if thats what they are planning.

Don't get me wrong, I am very much looking forward to ths, but the ride alone just doesn't seem like enough to bring in a family of four or a repeat visit.

TTD's downtime has been hurting them the last few years, I hope this is reliable.

That's an interesting point. Does a new ride have to equal an attendance boast to be successful? I think the price drop will do more for that - and, really, that may be the bigger news here.

I'm sticking by what I said about the new Hershey dark ride.

Does a ride really have to drive attendance to be considered a 'good' addition?

I think no.

Not every new ride can be a 'marquee' ride. This simply rounds out the collection a bit and adds something to do for people who do visit. It's not about getting people through the gate, it's about making the experience better for those who already visit.

I don't know, Lord G., why spend so much money AND drop the gate price to recap it slower? Losing WWL really seems to hurt the well-roundedness.

I can't wait to ride this, and you WILL see me in line for it, but I think they should have re-arranged their priorities on new additions.

Other than the Snoopy Show, what really was the LAST true "family" experience? Force, WT, TTD and Max all have such high height restrictions that it makes it hard for a whole family to experience it. Im not saying build a kiddie ride, but put in a family playground with a BALANCE of family and mildly thrilling rides.

The Dollywood Carnival was a great idea this year, I think that might have worked better. Camp Snoopy was a great example, sinc it was for kids, but the parents could enjoy it, too.

But I don't work in the industry, I guess I should keep my mouth shut.

Gonchar has got it down... this isn't a ride ment to be a "marquee" ride. It isn't meant to bring in a whole new crowd. It's meant to help that area of the park... There isn't really a "thrill ride" in the entire back half of the park... from the space between the railroad crossing by the Gemini all the way around to Millenium Force there is nothing but water rides, CCMR and MS, Cadillac Cars, Swings and the CPLE RR station. But he has it wrong about it rounding out the collection. Whatever is going in where WWL was is going to round out the collection... this is simply a moderate addition to a whole new Frontier Land. As an enthuisiast I am happy as hell that this swing isn't taking up any of the WWL space... I still can't wait to ride it, but I can't wait to see what they are going to do the WWL space. We can all still have our hopes up for a new coaster! Be thankful for that at the least.

I am really curious what they have in store for WWL's area in the future years, and what it will look like there in the meantime.

This ride is a cool addition, one more thing to ride! There has been talk here that CP needs to add more flat rides to become a more complete park, and they are doing that. My only dissapointment with the ride comes from Kennywood getting the same thing next year. The two parks I visit the most are getting the same ride!

The placement makes more sense now after seeing those photos. Thanks.

They are 2 diffrent rides no matter how you look at it. Yes they are both swinging gondalas but you dont spin on the screamin swing. Plus you always look up, or down. No sideways. Plus with the lapbar "only" restraint and single row seating it could prove rather interesting.

YAY!!!

"Keith Wrote: 10/31/05 - 1:29 pm"

Wow! I am so excited for Cedar Point next year! And I'm glad that you are lowering the admission price! See you next year Tony and Tyler!

From Tony & Tyler:
Yay Keith! We're excited too! See you in May"

YAY! I got a comment... YES!

I rode Knott's Screamin Swing, and loved it. I've been wanting more ever since I got off the ride. I hope this has a longer cycle. I also hope I actually get to ride it in teh next couple years :).

Wow.... this was, umm, not what I was expecting.

Before I get too far, let me say that I am a very loyal fan of Cedar Point and I definetely do not take what they have to offer for granted.

That said, I thought the annoucement was kind of a let down. With all the ado that WWL received and the 'hype' on the Point Blog, it seemed like something huge was in the works for this year. I'm sure this ride is going to be awesome and I'm definetely going to ride it, but I'm not as giddy as I thought I'd be.

-Jess

At least they are adding something this year and not sticking to big additions every 2 years thing. We are gonna have to wait another season to see what the next big thing is, so what.

This ride gives a reason to walk all the way to the back of the park now. The removal of WWL was probably more of a logistical and mechanical issue of thinking ahead. With whatever attraction that will go there deep in the planning phases I bet they realized that if they are going to build big, their gonna have to clear that land quickly so they will have plenty of time to work before the winter months come in and really slow work down.

I thought MaxAir and Delirium had different "sensations" and I am sure this Swing will "feel"different from the one I rode at Knott's. Similar but different. No two rides feel the same, well, except all Togo's. One just hurts more than the other. ;-)

I look forward to the longer ride cycles. That's the only gripe I had about the one at Knott's.

Skyhawk looks amazing!

Now why didn't we have these kind of swings in the playgrounds in grade school? ;-)

-Tina

Jess, I agree with you - it's a letdown of sorts.

Lord Gonchar, I guess I feel better (?) knowing that this new ride isn't going in on any of the WWL property. Come to think of it, I wondered why they showed a picture of the Fronteir Lift when I checked the construction site yesterday on the website.

So what IS going on with the WWL site, then? Why tear it down if you're not going to put anything on it for next year? Have I missed something? I need some sedatives to get through this.......

One more point to add in regard to the "similarities" between maXair and Skyhawk...

maXair's height requirement is 52 inches versus Skyhawk's 48". That's a huge difference when it comes to families. Not to mention with 10 riders on each side of the arm, families can actually ride together in closer proximity to each other.