Kinzel hints at 2011 ride in Sandusky Register

Jason Hammond said:

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's a problem with the ride as well. Being that I am tall, they MADE me sit in the front seat all 4 times I rode it. I did not have the choice of sitting in the not as wet back rows.

I'm not sure how often they are actually doing that. I'm usually the largest rider among those in any particular boat. And, I haven't been asked to sit in the front yet. In fact, during onr of my rides, there were 2 kids (less than 100lbs) sitting in the front row. Did you tell them you'd rather not sit in front? What I have seen more of is the balancing left to right, not front to back.

I'm 6-2 (usually the tallest)...and 175..., and I have been asked to be in the back each time. If I ask, however, I can sit where I want. I believe Jason is correct..or at least, no one is asking.

Yes.

We had asked to sit in a row other than the front, and were told no, because they need to balance the boat. The first time we went on, we switched rows with someone that wanted to ride in the front, and we were yelled at(by a rude employie btw).

The 3rd time we went on, they actualy broke us up. I was not happy about that eather.

Every time we went on, we asked for a row other than the front, and were denied.:(

This is some kind of bizarro, upside-down world where people get ordered to the front seat of a ride and they don't want to go...

Very strange. During the taping of the commercial they wanted all the bigger people in the back of the boat. Hope we didn't break anything. :)

OhioStater said:
For the past 10-15 years, CP has been about cutting edge

And yet they still don't have a FoL pass...

...I should have been more specific...

cutting edge rides, and sub-par people services. :)

OK...so Intamin didn't deliver the best ride. Still, how is Shoot-the-Rapids anything less than the park said it would be?

It gets you too wet? I dunno. I don't get the complaining about the overhype. It could be worse, it could have been Thir13en...(or so I hear)

Regardless, over-hyping has been a staple marketing scheme for eons. People still complain about it? I remember hearing Hershey radio commercials in the early 90s advertising its new coaster as flipping riders upside-down 6 times. I expected to see something along the lines of KI's Vortex, but all I saw when I got to the park was a Boomerang.

StR is another story, though...I don't think it was over-hyped in any sense.

crazy horse said:
That's a problem with the ride as well. Being that I am tall, they MADE me sit in the front seat all 4 times I rode it. I did not have the choice of sitting in the not as wet back rows.

Thankfully (presumably?), this is an issue that will be corrected for next season, or perhaps sooner. At that point, I fail to see how StR is anything but an excellent addition to the park's lineup, especially with regard to the thematic improvement/addition to the area.

As far as hype... I'll never believe there is such a thing as being "over" hyped. That's like being "over" profitable or "over" efficient or something.

Well said.

Semantics, but I get your point. Feel free to mentally remove the words 'over-' in my post.

So... hyped "too much"? Extra-hyped? Hype surplus? Hyperhyped? ;)

Regardless of the term used, the suggestion is still the same - that a company can do such a thing as to draw too much attention to a product or service or whatever. As I see it, they really can't. Hell, even bad press is still good press (in most cases) because if people know that your product/service exists, you're more than halfway there.

Good hype will get you to try out a new product, service, ride, what-have-you. Delivering something that meets or exceeeds high expectations gets you word-of-mouth advertising and repeat customers. Failing to deliver on that means you still got one sale, purchase, or admission.

In short, I agtree that there is no such thing as too much hype - this is esp. true in the UK. Th13teen did something never done before, and AT has always been known as a park that marketed in extreme terms.

Yeah, I don't think you can 'overhype' anything, because hype, in and of it's nature, is, well, just that.

But still, I don't think that CP over promised and underdelivered this ride. It's pretty accurately depicted in Keith's animation, and, well, it is what it is. Granted, I haven't ridden it, but it looks like what it is to me personally.

djDaemon said:

Regardless of the term used, the suggestion is still the same - that a company can do such a thing as to draw too much attention to a product or service or whatever. As I see it, they really can't. Hell, even bad press is still good press (in most cases) because if people know that your product/service exists, you're more than halfway there.

I'm in full agreement with you. From a business perspective, it's exactly what you'd want. But 'hype' isn't synonymous with 'drawing too much attention to,' and that's not at all what I was inferring.

Well then...I suggest everyone set their expectations low for 2011. No matter how much hype CP's team puts out you read it here first: it's a flat ride.

Given the rate at which "flat" rides seem to be leaving the park, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

I will say that I am not entirely convinced that Cedar Point didn't over-promise and under-deliver with Shoot the Rapids, though. Yesterday it seemed that they were running 8 boats, and able to load and dispatch two or three with passengers, then cycle 10 boats empty, then load three more, then cycle 8 empties, load two more, cycle 12 empty, load four more...I don't get it at all.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.