Ocean Motion's New Home

Cedar Point just annouced on Facebook where Ocean Motion is headed...

...to Demon Drop's old site.

Fans of Ocean Motion, your ship has come in…well actually it never left...but Ocean Motion will be setting sail from a new port in 2011. Look for it near the front of the park close to the former site of the Demon Drop.

I have to wonder if this was the plan all along - and they just wanted to increase traffic?

But... What about the inverted, stand up, hydraulic, 1700 foot wooden coaster with a dive under the lake?

That was supposed to go in Demon Drop's spot.

Works for me. I was a little disheartened that they were removing a pretty family-friendly ride for something that will scare the bejeezus out of a lot of people. I'm glad no one bit on the sale.

No, it was for sale, for real. I heard from a number of people who were not optimistic about it getting sold.

Maybe when CF found out they wouldn't get the price they wanted, they decided it was better to keep the ride operating - it might get increased ridership over in the DD spot.

It's not like there's a huge market for a ride that's really kinda outdated (at least here in the US). I mean, it is a good fun ride, esp. for the in-between demographic - too big for kiddie rides, too small for the BIG rides.

I think moving it is the greatest thing that could ever have happened to it. Mark my words... triple ridership or better over this year.

The burning question is, do they John Ashcroft the boobage during the transfer or keep 'em? I vote "keep 'em"...

I'm with Jeff. Dramatically increased ridership in the new location, and I further predict that it will sustain the higher numbers going forward.

What remains to be seen is what kind of numbers Windseeker is going to get; will it suffer from the same "donniker effect" as Wicked Twister and Ocean Motion? Honestly, I don't think they are going to get the kind of traffic back there to those rides that they might expect until they take out the stadium.

Note that I don't say to take out the All Wheels Extreme show; I say they need to take out the stadium.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Increased ridership in Demon Drop's spot? I always found that area to be totally dead. No one seemed to go passed the Space Spiral area. The food stalls were all dead back there as well. I would think a drop ride would pull more guests away from the midway than a swinging ship and I never saw much of a line for DD. To me it seems like they are going from one dead spot to another.

DD's location is (was) right up front, practically the first thing after the carousel to be seen upon walking in the park. The site really has nothing to do with Space Spiral, or any of the attractions tucked away by Disaster Transport. Those have always required much walking of the roundabout variety to get to them.

^ I think the Windseeker ride will prosper in any location (at least for the first few seasons) for two reasons.

a) It's new.
b) It's big, you're not going to miss it.

c) protein shower roulette!

Jeff and Dave have the right idea---putting it right out front will really increase ridership over the backwater corner it was in. On the other hand, as Rick points out, windseeker is going to be umpty-bazillion feet tall. People will find it.

People will find it, but will they go out of their way to ride it more than once?

And we really have no answer to that question right now. That said, I happen to think that the Star Flyer, which is probably the closest thing to Windseeker that we can compare it to, is an excellent ride, and very repeatable.

Ocean Motion appears to be going into a location that on certain days of the season can be *PACKED* with people, most of them waiting for a bus. It really would have been the perfect spot for the now-donnikered Three Point Challenge game, but as a ride fanatic I would rather see Ocean Motion there.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Does anyone go to the front of the park during the day? Other than entering the park in the morning and leaving at the end of the day my family never goes up that way. There is nothing to draw us there. I don't see Ocean Motion drawing people. I would suspect it will be very busy in the morning (people used to line up of Demon Drop before it was open) and will pick up some more people as they leave the park. But in the middle of the day I would think it will see even fewer riders than what it had in its original location.

As a career Soak City lot parker, I almost never go up there, but when I do, there are always people around in fairly significant numbers.

I don't think it will see fewer riders than its current location during the day. There was nothing around it and the beach gate is by far the least used gate. You can't even see it while you're on the Wicked Twister midway. Up front there are restaurants and people coming in and going out all day.

Now the Cadillac Cars and Calypso will have the title of most hidden ride in the park.

Jeff said:
I think moving it is the greatest thing that could ever have happened to it. Mark my words... triple ridership or better over this year.

Totally agree that the ridership for Ocean Motion will be the highest it's seen in twenty years. It was in a worst spot in the park. I used to always ride it before I went to the bar at Friday's, and there was never a lot of traffic back there. Wind Seeker will be a big hit over there, but after the novelty wears off the area will die down again. Oceana stadium being taken would help, but it won't be a total solution. The back of the ballroom is a major reason why there is so little traffic there.

Chicken or egg? Do you put a ride in a location to draw people there? Or do you have to have a location that already draws people in order to place a ride?

I wonder how many people will think this is a totally new ride for 2011?