The end of Paddlewheel at Cedar Point

Oy (facepalm)

Stater, you had me ROFLing with that... :)

Pete said:

RideMan said:
Now that I think about it, didn't the Western Cruise go *clockwise* around the lagoon?

Yes, sure did Dave, and Western Cruise was twice as long as PWE. Western Cruise was one of the most popular rides at CP. Back in the day, it was so popular they actually had the queue line split into two separate lines and the doc was big enough to load one boat while another was unloading behind it. The trip was around 15 to 20 min. or so in length and really made you feel like you were in the wilderness, especially at night. What a great ride that was.

All of this hoopla has made me think back to the AWESOMENESS that once was the Western Cruise. I vividly remember the queue house with its 2 long lines, the multiple boats that were always filled to capacity, the long relaxing ride, the great stories and jokes from the all-male crew, all the WORKING animatronic scenes....it really was the closest thing to Disney/Universal in theme quality that we proudly had right in Ohio.

As much as I love rollercoasters, it wouldn't disappoint me one bit to see the lagoons restored to their original formation and this amazing attraction brought back to life.

Glad to hear it Ensign. :) This is KevinJ from over at Pointbuzz by the way. I have no forum-name consistency.

Well, no wonder I like both of your senses of humor. :)

OhioStater - you're going to have a hard time "building the brand" using multiple SNs. Just sayin'... ;)

RPM said:
How long do you think it will be before they completely drain and fill in the lagoon's?

My understanding is that it would be expensive and they'd have to do new wetlands somewhere else. I believe when they put in Dragster they had to do that.

Also, I believe it's a 2:1 ratio. For every acre they develop, they have to preserve or enhance 2 acres somewhere else.

Wouldn't it be awesome if that rule applied to attractions as well? For every one new ride or attraction they build, they would have to preserve or enhance two others?

:D

LostKause said:
Wouldn't it be awesome if that rule applied to attractions as well? For every one new ride or attraction they build, they would have to preserve or enhance two others?

:D

That goes entirely against what the tree huggers want I'm afraid..

^^^ Define "enhance".

Hadn't considered the "branding" issue before. I think it's too late to go back now.

You know, enhance, like adding scenery to a Paddlewheel ride (and not removing it every chance they get), or painting a fading roller coaster or building. ...Or even refurbishing some of the effects on their only dark ride, which also happens to be a bobsled coaster as well. Enhance. :)

The tree huggers would love the part about preserving. I wonder, when was the last time Cedar Point planted a new tree? Even after MF was built, the island was pretty secluded. Now you can easily see from one side of the park to the other.

Even though adding new a attraction is exciting, the old attractions need some attention sometimes too. I think that was my point, mostly.

Though to be fair, they did put a lot of extra attention into the two woodies. Not to mention the new lighting package for GL. So they are on the right track; they merely need to do a lot more of it.

All this talk about the old Western Cruise made me think that somewhere in our family, someone has film footage from Cedar Point around 1966-67, and I'm almost positive it would include footage from that ride (double ferris wheel too, but that's another topic). Now I have to go hunting for it in my "spare" time.

Let me save you that time.

Ensign Smith said:
Though to be fair, they did put a lot of extra attention into the two woodies. Not to mention the new lighting package for GL. So they are on the right track; they merely need to do a lot more of it.

Wait a sec. What new lighting package is this? To follow this conversation I need disambiguation and/or acronym expansion.

Speaking of attention given to woodies...the rain washed off the water-based track lubricant so it was squealing, scraping and bouncing like crazy. But because of those factors and others conspiring to slow it down, I got a ride on Mean Streak today with the first drop trims off. It is amazing how much better the first half of that ride is when it goes just a little bit faster! in particular that long drop after the cruise around the lift hill, just inboard of the third drop...that thing hides some serious airtime!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah, If the back seat is open. LOL

RideMan said:
I got a ride on Mean Streak today with the first drop trims off.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I thought the conclusion was that this wasn't possible unless the train was empty. So, if we want a ride with no trims, we should try ridding it after a few days of rain?

It's a mystery. Although, there is no denying MS becomes a great ride with no first-drop trims.

Well, I would said "fairly decent" instead of "great", but that's just me. It's still a Dinn-Summers meandering wood coaster.