Cedar Point Removing WildCat

According to the article:

"WildCat will be removed from the park prior to Opening Day and the materials will be sent to a recycling facility."

I wont be surprised in the least if sometime in the near future that the employee housing opposite of Cedar Point Drive/Perimeter Drive from Wildcat gets razed to make room for an expansion of the park. If they do that I also would not be surprised to see Cedar Point Drive/Perimeter Drive rerouted closer to the Marina area in order to facilitate this expansion. In all honesty I am shocked that Wildcat lasted this long even though I did enjoy riding it. Last time I went to Cedar Point it was broken down so I didnt get my last ride on it. Sorry to see it go but the possibilities of what could happen (not that they will happen) may be interesting.

It's an easily disassembled/reassembled coaster, and has a small footprint. That plus the fact that it's being scrapped instead of moved or sold I think backs up Walt's conjecture.

I'd bet that there were "issues", and the fact that it's right in the heart of Luminosity just gives them an excuse to not replace it with anything else.

That's too bad. I always enjoyed the WildCat and rode it every time we visited. I guess it took me back to my childhood. Even though I no longer visit CP, I will miss the WildCat. Too bad a smaller park doesn't pick it up.

Gromithere: You do realize that Wildcat generates the highest sustained +Gz force of any coaster at Cedar Point? Even though it's all slender steel construction and knockdown bents and it looks kind of like a Galaxi or a Zyklon, it has pretty much nothing in common with those smaller, crappier portable rides.

Wildcat is one of the best portable rides available (second, perhaps, to a Doppel Looping), and Cedar Point's is probably the best looking, best running, and best maintained of all the Wildcats still out there. Even if there isn't a place for it in Cedar Point's future, it would be a terrible shame for them to scrap it!

As for rides I'd rather see them take out? How about one of the ones I can't ride, like Mantis:TCFKAB or Wicked Twister?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

This is the first coaster removal at Cedar Point during my lifetime (25 years). I was always hoping the park eyesore Disaster Transport would be removed first to free up views of Lake Erie but I believe we can count on that within a few years.

I wonder if there is time to move the control both to the back of the new open area. Right now if you want to see the show from that area you have this two story building right in front of you. If they could move it back I think they could make a really nice elevated VIP area.

DejaVuNitro said:

This is the first coaster removal at Cedar Point during my lifetime (25 years).

And to me that's a problem with how CP was run in the last 25 years. The top down mandate to never remove a coaster because they were worried about some arbitrary record (that doesn't really mean much anymore) is not a way to run an amusement company. But that's my opinion and I know many others don't share it. Personally I am still REALLY excited for Cedar Fair's future and can't wait to see what happens in Sandusky the next few years!

RideMan said:

Gromithere: You do realize that Wildcat generates the highest sustained +Gz force of any coaster at Cedar Point? Even though it's all slender steel construction and knockdown bents and it looks kind of like a Galaxi or a Zyklon, it has pretty much nothing in common with those smaller, crappier portable rides.

Nope...definitely didn't know that. As I said, it was many years ago that I rode it. I definitely would have loved to see it moved to another park if it were feasible. Obviously it wasn't cost effective for one reason or another. Selfishly, I'd say CGA would have been a good place for it. ;-) The Invertigo area is still looking awfully bare.

Pagoda Gift Shop said:
Seems too close to the start of the season for news like this. Think this just got decided in the past few weeks?

Considering they were testing the coaster as recently as a few days ago, I would saywast wa decided within the last few days.

mlnem4s said:
I was eating lunch and thought to myself parks like Kennywood, Knoebels, etc. must get a nice chuckle out of the "end of service life" excuses corporate parks always use.

Knoebels used that "excuse" for High speed thrill coaster, Kennywood used it for Pit Fall. Rides ware out.

Walt S said:

There is another possibility here in that maybe something catastrophic happened with WIldcat while testing. For example, maybe the ride was testing this spring for an intended opening and something beyond normal repair to the ride failed (or maybe something was discovered in testing, such as metal fatigue, etc.). This problem may have prevented the ride from passing annual inspection, and therefore, being able to operate. It is an older ride, and parts may not readily be available for this type of ride.

Thinking about the TIMING of this announcement, this sounds like the most reasonable explanation. Coaster removal announcements are usually nearer to the end of the operating season...give people one last opportunity to ride, announce in conjunction with next year's addition (replacement), etc. Just seems incredibly strange to announce it now, in this way...

Then add in the "sent to recycling" mention, and I can't see how CP was *not* planning to operate WildCat for this (final?) season...only to have the plan short-circuited.

I agree that it sounds like something surfaced during testing. Don't like that Wildcat is going away but understand why.

The long gone Wildcat at Riverside, now SFNE, was one of the first rides that really started my current love of coasters. We'd ride it over and over. The drops seemed steep, and the Gs made it exciting and intense. It left Riverside when I was around 10, but the newly opened Cyclone filled the void nicely. RCDB doesn't indicate it but remember being told by an employee that the ride had gone to Rocky Point.

The Rocky Point Wildcat is currently operating at Sandspit in Price Edward Island. Was able to ride it a couple of years ago and while doing a few laps shared a ride with two excited 9 year olds that asked for the front seat. One turned around and said "We've been on it over ten times, we love it so much!!". I knew EXACTLY what they were talking about and saw them run down the exit ramp and get right back in line. It was a very cool flashback.

Big Bummer :( Of course it is understandable that it is at the end of it's life-span. Wildcat (for me, and some others I know) was easily the *most fun* out of all Cedar Point's roller coasters. I checked last summer, and sure nuff, still the most fun.

But !!! - they could get a new one - or just make it 2! Double the capacity...

Gerstlauer operates out of the old Schwarzkopf factory and I'm sure has access to prints. Build brand new, and put in a modern lift hill and modern brakes. Leave everything else exact! Voila! Dreaming is free of course, but you never know.

Actually, RCDB indicates that the Wildcat model is technically still in production, although I don't expect Weiland has built one yet.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I absolutely loved Wildcat, and I am very upset to see it go, however, I always took issue with the rides capacity, and always thought that the park outgrew having a ride with such a limited capacity.

I'll just go ahead and assume that Wildcat couldn't be saved, and that Cedar Point made the best decision that they could. The ride could easily be moved somewhere else in the park if making room for the new show was the main issue.

I am surprised at this news. Very unexpected.

Cedar Point is really changing. No more log flume. No more Paddlewheel. No more Wildcat. Newly added giant dinosaurs not included in the admission price. Pay-to-cut. One train operations. I might not even recognize the park next time I visit. :)

Like others on here, I can't buy in to the theory that Wildcat was removed due to inadequate space for Luminosity. Granted, removing it will certainly help, I can't believe planning & design would sign off on a new midway project without knowing exactly how it would affect traffic.

Jeff said:

mlnem4s said:

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know the plaza was WAY too small for this type of show that, my understanding is, was never intended to be as big as it has become today.

Really? Have you stood on that midway since they poured the stage and moved the control booths? I have, and I think it was adequate. The shape of the stage is such that you don't need to be in front of it to see it. The bypass along the back, under the control booth, was just as wide as the bypass for the old light shows on the Iron Dragon side.

Funny thing is Jeff, I don't "have" to be at CP to know what is going on when I simply can have a conversation while out on the town as took place this past weekend....and "adequate" isn't necessarily good enough for a $6 million (and growing) investment.

I've already posted my dramatic thoughts on Point Buzz, but I still think we're losing WC because of Luminosity, which changes my overwhelmingly positive thoughts I had for CP's opening day and the new management.

While I questioned the front-center space on that midway for VIP seating, etc. well before this announcement, I don't think that's the only Luminosity issue that could have surfaced. There may have been some building regulations that the Luminosity towers / control booths were too close to Wild Cat, or some kind of technical issue for the show that required Wild Cat's space. Considering that Luminosity is a $6 million investment, of course Wild Cat is going to come second to anything in the way of getting this show up and running.

Anyway, this was a major loss for Cedar Point in my opinion. It was on my must-ride list every trip, and just simply fun! It's going to be sorely missed, and this really makes me question Cedar Point's planning and decisions.

It would be nice if they could save the cars. I am sure another Wildcat park would find interest in them.

So now, Magic Mt will be able to reclaim the title of most coasters.

I'd love to see CP do something in the Wild Mouse category. Maybe a mega spinner mouse, or something like no one else has. Can you imagine doing hairpin turns 200ft in the air?

While the timing is bad, the Wildcat's nine lives were up. No reloaction. They got their monies worth. Expect to see something better. I am sorry I did not ride it last September, but that damn line.

Strange enough, I would say the same thing when I worked at CP in 1990. They will get a better compact ride soon. Very soon.