CF Hates Log Flumes - Carowinds Latest Victim

It's something that the whole family can enjoy.

Agreed. We were pretty sad when CP took theirs out. The other nice thing about a flume is that you can get "a little wet" on it pretty reliably. The rapids rafts or shoot-the-chutes will get you a lot wet. And, sometimes, that's just not what you want.

I'll take a flume over a rapids ride or shoot-the-chutes for that reason pretty much any day of the week. As much as I love wet rides, going on them basically means wearing a bathing suit and sandals to a park, otherwise you spend the majority of the day with soggy boxers and socks. Flumes are usually long rides where getting damp is only part of the overall experience. Each time I go to a park, flumes seem very popular so I can't imagine why parks are so quick to remove them. If money is put into wood coaster reprofilings and carousel restorations, why isn't money put into rebuilding flumes? Isn't that called maintenance?

Depending upon the area, water consumption could be an issue. In certain areas in the South and West the non essential use of this scarce resource has beome a hot topic. While they don't need to be completely filled every day, the amount of water needed to make up whats lost in evaporation and "splash" can be substantial.

VF took theirs out for a stupid wave pool. I wouldn't feel so bad if it was replaced by a B&M. Fingers crossed for 2010.

I will never ride the one at MOA because I don't want to walk around in the mall with soaked shoes again. As far as I know the retheming is supposed to be some kind of "Barn yard party" I'm assuming it is a Nickelodeon cartoon.

That "stupid wave pool" you bemoan is going to result in a larger attendence increase than any new coaster (B&M or otherwise) would. And what do you think is going to help pay for your next shiney new coaster? Yep...all those additional paid admissions.

By the way, at Knott's when they did the major rehab on the log ride about a year ago, they fixed up a lot of it - but as well ended up stripping the entire inside of the dark "cave" drop element section of the ride.

At the time when it re-opened, I was thinking that they might possibly re-add the cave element back in at a later time since they had tried to open it up quickly to take advantage of the Halloween season - but so far that hasn't happened.

That spot looks so weird now with just the huge bare girders visible instead of the cool multi dimensional rock formations that used to cover the entire area. That was one of my favorite parts of the ride and now it's just this big empty space. It looks completely unfinished ... but then I'm used to what it had been like all of those years before.

That being said, even though it's gone, the ride is still amazing.

Maybe CF should take a tip from Hersheypark. They know the Coal Cracker is a popular ride, and they refurbish it in sections. This past season they refurbed the final drop.

Yes they tore out the Rapids(good one at that) ride to build a wave pool and lazy river. Maybe not a good model to follow!?! ;)

bunchastuf: Are there pictures of how it looks now? Or is it only visible from on the ride?

I'm glad Dorney's flume is terrain based so it would be difficult to put a ride in that spot, and hope they keep it.

rollergator said:
Since it got mentioned in the other thread, a quick shout-out to Buffalo Bill's interactive flume...maybe that kind of "upgrade" (a la X2, Medusa, RoS) could get flume rides back into the mix? I know capacity is often an issue, as is maintenance, but flumes ARE the kind of "all ages" attractions needed in the Shapiro era... ;)

That's why I wasn't expecting them to get rid of the 2nd flume at Great Adventure and to have a kiddie area replace it made it worse (3 kiddie areas wasn't enough?). Combined with the removal of Movietown Water Effect (splashdown boat), the park went from having 4 water rides to 2 water rides in only 2 seasons.

Soggy: It is only visible on the ride. At one point the ride takes you into a dark cave that proceeds to have a nice size drop in semi darkness. It is after you drop that you see the gutted out area. If your eyes aren't used to the dark because it's sunny outside, it's a even a little difficult to make out because it's so dim in there. At night it is quite easy to see though since you are not coming in from daylight and there are huge girders now visible that you could never see before.

As I said before though, it used to be fully covered with the rock formations around you and the dimensional quality was amazing. Also in that area must be some sort of water collection for the ride, because if you look way down below from where you are traveling there is a huge area of moving water.

I'm pretty sure Dorney still has theres.

bunchastuf: thanks, that's what I was thinking. I was there this past summer and rode it, but I didn't remember a "gutted" section. But I did think I could see around a bit more after that drop. It was daytime do, like you mention, it was harder for my eyes to adjust. Maybe they figure it's dark enough in there that few people would notice?

coasterqueenTRN said:I would agree with you, Rob. It's something that the whole family can enjoy. While I am not a log flume fan, I can see where they would be missed. -Tina

You will be :)

Crashmando said:I'm pretty sure Dorney still has theres.

It was severely modified but its still there. I remembered it being much longer in 97 than it was last year.

Soggy: I'm assuming that is what they must be thinking if it stays that way. To bad because it was a part I always thought was very cool looking. I'm pretty sure I'll live though.

Dorney's Flume is awesome. I rode it several times this year. Worlds of Fun still has their flume, as do Kings Island, Great America and Kings Dominion.

Dorney's is a good one. I don't think Cedar Fair would get rid of theirs considering most of the troughs are concrete, and cheaper to maintain. I like the drop is different then most logs flumes. Fun ride.