Remember the Pirate Ride at Cedar Point???

Out of boredom was browsing thru parks in North America on www.rcdb.com , and was looking at Centreville Amusement Park in Toronto. Upon browsing through the ride selection I saw something interesting. http://tinyurl.com/2rq6ky At the very bottom is the Haunted Barrel Works, which, in the picture, looks like a part of the old Pirate Ride @ CP. My question is this... were these standard flat ride options for this type of ride and were found frequently at different parks? or....could the components of the Pirate Ride sold off to a park such as this???

...were these standard flat ride options for this type of ride and were found frequently at different parks?

It makes sense that dark ride companies would offer a selection of "prefab" themes, as well as a selection of stunts. There might be more info at www.dafe.org

Not only can you remember the Pirate Ride, you can still look at it.

Well, part of it.

Great thing to see as a long-time guest...the inability to finish cleaning up a mess.

I still miss the earthquake ride, where Snoopy Boutique is now.

I loved the Pirate Ride and Earthquake. To think we'd wait in line 30 minutes for those.

Me too. Not just CP, but many parks, including SF parks used to have lots of rides for non-coaster people. I remember as a kid my mom who didn't docoasters riding a dozen or more things at CP. It's a shame that the divide between super thrill rides and kiddie rides is huge and there's not must in-between for adults.

Shoot...I remember at SFSTL as a kid a dark ride or 2, a jungle cruise ride, a paddlewheel boat, etc. Not much like that now!

I remeber riding it in 1980, and 1984. When I worked there in 1990, I think it was removed. The arcade was lame.

It was a great compliment on the Blue Streak mini-midway, with the Calypso, the Streak, the Rockets, and the turnpike cars. Something for everyone.

I think a lot of parks have "lost their way" in that regard. There was a time when the most successful parks were the ones that had something for everything. I suppose the demands of the guests has changed throughout the years, but I also suspect guests no longer expect to find a huge variety of flats and darkrides because the parks have more or less told them that they shouldn't expect them.

I wish I had visited Cedar Point about 30 years ago, back when it was transitioning from the traditional park it was to the hybrid amusement/theme giant it is today. Sounds as though a lot of cool rides were lost, including one of the darkrides from Freedomland. Thanks to the Great Escape, Tornado is gone too.

I liked both of them,they were kinda "Bill Tracy" like...

Hard to believe the Pirate Ride has been gone for 10 years. It's last season was 1996. I would love to see a dark ride at CP, very soon.

~Rob Willi

I'd love to see a dark ride at CP as well as all the CF parks. The parks that stand out to me as parks that should have one is Valleyfair, CP, MIA, and possibly KD.

I think a good dark ride can be done on a non-Disney budget. I for one thought Phantom Theater at PKI was the finest non-Disney Dark Ride ever.

I have a lot of love for most Sally dark rides. There's pretty not a park out there that wouldn't be better with one of those, IMO.

The Upsidedown House. That was fun! Especially the old lady in the rocking chair on the "ceiling" and the slide ending. =)

The Pirate Ride, San Francisco Earthquake and Millrace (the flume, not the person who posts here) were my favorite attractions @ CP when I went there in the 60s.

My first trip ever to CP was in 1996, I feel very thankful.

OMG I forgot about the Mill Race, which became my first experience with corporate sponsoring, the Nestea Plunge!

Hey guys. I've been a long time reader, but this is my first post. Mill Race and Pirate Ride were easily two of my favorites at CP when I was younger. Whenever speculating CP's next move with one of my friends, I always insist that a Sally dark ride and a new flume would be about the two best things they could add in the immediate future since the removal of White Water Landing. And Peabody, I couldn't agree with you more about Phantom Theater at PKI. As much as I love the Sally rides, I can never fully enjoy Scooby Doo as I always just keep thinking that the creepy looking phantom dude was way cooler. I really loved that ride.

CP should add a super Sally Interactive ride like the Minotaur or King Tut rides in Europe. This ride could have variable endings depending upon how good of score the riders have.

CP is worried about attendance being flat so why not add some big attractions for the non-coaster crowd.

Shapiro wants a more family oriented Six Flags and adding darkrides would be a good thing to do there as well.

In have to give a lot of credit to parks such as KW, IB, HW, KG, and LC for having something for everyone, not to mention the destination parks. Cedar Fair and Six Flags need to do more of this. At least Shapiro sees this need. Now is the time for him to act on this.

I remember back in the early 80s when SFOG was a nice, well-balanced park, sort of a bigger version of today's Lake Compounce but with more theming (and without the waterpark -- waterparks hadn't become a big thing yet.).

In those days, Kings Island shared attributes with both Disneyland and traditional parks. I do remember that the Schotts advised Disney on matters involving Disneyland and they later were to incorporate some of the Disney ideas into their theme park.

I loved Pirate Ride! Even though I grew up in NJ, we went to Cedar Point almost every year on our way to visit my grandmother in Iowa. I didn't ride coasters when I was younger but I loved Cedar Point because of all the neat non-coaster rides they had. Everybody had to get their picture taken up on the deck of that big boat that stuck out into the midway.

I was pretty young when they killed off Earthquake but I remember being heartbroken when I found out it wasn't there anymore. I looked forward to that ride the entire drive, and I was angry when I saw that stupid indoor Berenstain Bears playground in its place (in retrospect, it was better than the Snoopy giftshop).

Millrace was the first "big" ride I ever rode at Cedar Point. I was not happy to see it gone. I've never been a fan of Raptor so in my opinion, the trade was not worthwhile. My favorite part was the water falling across the trough right where it went through the mill building. The water would shut off as the log approached. It was fun to see everybody duck.

Now I live about 2 hours from Cedar Point and I hardly ever visit. It isn't the same park I used to love. Most of the additions from the past 10 years really don't interest me. Some coaster enthusiast I am. :)

It's really too bad that CP has chosen the "nothing but coasters and thrill rides" path because the park has the potential to be something truly exceptional. Great lakeside setting, lots of room (no, I don't believe the place has a space problem) and plenty of coasters are already there, so why not add some family-oriented things like a log flume, darkride and some modern flats? If attendance is flat, could it be possible that the current direction isn't necessarily the right one?