Kinzel hints at 2011 ride in Sandusky Register

Raven-Phile said:
I hope the line is short, so I can do it again.

If it isn't, use the single rider line.

LostKause said:
StR is not a "flume", and that why I complain about it. Now that they built it, will they ever really replace WWL? Probably not, and that's even more reason to complain about it.

The worst part is that you're dead serious...on all accounts.

Flume

I tuned in a bit late to this thread here, but given that water-parks are doing well and to my knowledge, Soak City hasn't got anything new for a long time. Perhaps a few new and upadated attrations here would be in order.

Oh, and bring back the dancing lady trabant (Swabinchin!).

These days they're getting rid of all the boobs at the Point. Schwabinchen, Ocean Motion, Kinz....er, um, never mind. ;)

Gonch, I know it's that third definition that applies here, but perhaps Travis is more interested in the first definition, in that Shoot the Rapids has "defiled" the island... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

"an amusement park ride in which passengers are carried in a boatlike or loglike conveyance through a narrow, water-filled chute or over a water slide."

I bet a non-enthusiast wrote that. ;)

Okay, you're right. StR is a "flume". I expected them to build another "traditional flume" to replace it, I suppose.

With that definition, Mountain Slidewinder at Dollywood is a flume.

Dollywood's traditional flume, by the way, is fantastic! Cedar Point should have built something like that instead.

Is anyone still builfing traditional flumes? Did OD Hopkins leave/sell his business to someone before he died?

By the way, it just happened to appear on my comprooder's screen saver, and I thought I'd upload it. It's the Ocean Motion skeleton, new and old, in April of last year. If I'm remembering correctly, it wasn't totally new, but one they found in good shape in Europe.

Sweet

Didn't the Columbus Zoo recently build a new traditional flume?

Oh! Look what I found here. Intamin apparently builds flumes too.

:)

So, which of those is what you wanted. Because, I don't see a traditional flume among those.

Hafema, Mack and Intamin still make flumes.

Hafema are the guys who did the Columbus Zoo flume. They've been selling like crazy their rapids in Europe and Asia and only Wild Adventures bought one.

Mack and Intamin recent installations are all pretty fun and surprise filled! The Intamin Reversing Boat Ride lone installation in the US is at SFA. After that problematic prototype, they got the bugs out of it and the new ones work perfectly. Valhalla at Blackpool is an indoor model and its amazing! The final drop is 71 feet tall with an airtime hill at the bottom.

The 2003 Mack flume at Toverland in the Netherland is an indoor-outdoor installation and it features a backward drop and a large forward drop. After the backward drop, it engage the large lift hill and on it is a turntable to flip the boat around.

I know CP love their flashy installations, but when your preferred ride supplier (Intamin) already has a ride that would make it a north american exclusive, why not build a Reversing Boat Ride instead of yet another prototype?

Funny thing is, if Cedar Point had built a "traditional log flume" people would complain that is wasn't cutting-edge or exciting enough.

I don't get it. CP Took out a water ride to put in an incredible new coaster that many really like. The put in a new water ride that has the same basic elements that the last one did, and issues aside, once it's running properly, should be decent on capacity, and people want something else.

I understand differing opinions, but I really don't get it with this one. I'd be happy if they'd replace the 2 water rides Carowinds lost with something like this.

A number of people have posted what seem (to me, anyway) like reasonable objections to StR, compared to the experience WWL offered. Perhaps you haven't read them?

No, I've read them, and like I said, I understand differing opinions. But where did they have the real estate to put a sprawling log flume like WWL? I know that CP isn't necessarily 'running out of room', but they don't an an infinite amount to expand.

They took a water ride out, they put a similar one back in. This one is shorter, true, but since the beginning of the ride opening it's been "I thought it would be better", and I just simply don't understand that. It's one thing to be anticipointed with a new coaster that looks cooler, but this is 2 drops and meandering around in a trough.

At least thats what it looks like to me, and that's what I expect it to be.

IIRC, one of the main complaints about StR is that CP has no water rides that don't totally drench the riders, and in turn require riders to either remain soaked for hours, or lug around a change of clothes.

I think it's a fair complaint, and doesn't mean people who don't like it are whiners who wouldn't be satisfied with anything.

But maybe that's a business decision. How many of those dryer things have been popping up in parks all over? A ton.

RatherGoodBear said:
one of the main complaints about StR is that CP has no water rides that don't totally drench the riders

And having ridden it myself, I can say that unless your sitting in the front row, you won't get drenched. Thunder and SnaRF get you a lot more wet.

That may be true, but in reality, I have seen nothing but people laughing and in very good spirits after getting off the ride.

Not to mention the 90 minute plus wait time it has been lately.

I would say it's a hit.

I don't think their intention was to recreate the experience of WWL precisely; it's all a matter of opinion, but I would take STR over WWL any day, and I was around to ride WWL when it had all of it's theming. The whole canoe/log ride ran its course; much like arrow-loopers, stand-ups, and suspended coasters.

Granted, there is a time and a place for these rides, it's just not Cedar Point. For the past 10-15 years, CP has been about cutting edge; not nostalgia...there is a reason the graveyard is so full of rides we all used to love during Halloweekends. I am not saying this is a good or bad thing (I actually think CP needs a great dark ride in the worst way).

Now when DK leaves, perhaps this will change, but all of CP's additions have been about showing the public what is new, bigger, and faster...not what was there when everyone had Pepsi Chill cards.