dylanreich Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I agree with almost everything that's been posted. Sure it was a good ride, but it didn't have that long of a queue lately and it was rapidly approaching the end of its life. The only bummer here is that it will give SFMM something else to gloat over even though they have no right to! While obviously (and IDK who would refute this) Cedar Point is the better park, why shouldn't SFMM be able to advertise this? I would say that even though it comes at the cost of everything else there (and I'd rather have the rest of the park improved before a new coaster), they did earn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelTheFORCE Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Apparently the Travel Channel shoot that was supposed to happen on Millennium Force Saturday Morning was moved to Monday. I wonder if Wildcat being in such close proximity was the reason? I hope Millennium will be ready for when the park opens on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I can't really believe that's why the shoot was moved. Seems like a coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildMouse Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Darn thing (Wildcat) was closed when I visited CP in 08 (due to the accident). Hoped to tick it off the list during my return visit next month. Ain't going to happen now. Hey ho. Life goes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awclark Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Not surprising. The ride has been around for 30+ years. Got my credit on it back in '05 so whatevs. I'm always open up for change... even when it comes to the event of removing a major attraction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 In the name of our Lord and Saviour, Anton Schwarzkopf, Amen. Praise be to Anton. Cedar Point, you just F*&%ed up royally- especially from my point of view. You have made some monumental blunders in your history, but this takes the award. Congratulations for 'restoring' Blue Streak, and for adding such reliable rides like Shoot The Rapids and TTD; but restoring a coaster such as WildCat is out of the question. Let's take a look here: Oh, wait! An Older JetStar II was just renovated by Gerstlauer. OH YEAH... HersheyPark just restored their sooperdooperLooper- with new trains, too! But wait! Gerstlauer is renovating other Schwarzkopf rides, too! Ouimet, if you read this and I hope you do, you need to go and shoot the current GM of Cedar Point. This is a huge mistake all over to not keep a family classic, or even attempt to restore it- as other parks have (AND ARE) doing. May your park be permanently cursed with rides that run as smooth as a TOGO and as reliably as a Yugo. Anton will have His revenge on you- and it will NOT be pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slither37 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Aww, I always counted on that sudden stop at the end to put my cervical spine back in place after I rode mean streak (which should also be scrapped). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Let's be real though. Cedar Point has always focused on bigger rides. Why would they invest in a ride that sounds like a trash can, has had multiple news-worthy incidents in just a few years' time, fails to draw much of a line, and just generally looks old? I don't particularly advocate for rides to be removed, but there's no economic benefit in Cedar Point maintaining this ride anymore, and I don't think that anyone can blame them for making the decision to nix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Curt Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 In the name of our Lord and Saviour, Anton Schwarzkopf, Amen. Praise be to Anton. Cedar Point, you just F*&%ed up royally- especially from my point of view. You have made some monumental blunders in your history, but this takes the award. Congratulations for 'restoring' Blue Streak, and for adding such reliable rides like Shoot The Rapids and TTD; but restoring a coaster such as WildCat is out of the question. Let's take a look here: Oh, wait! An Older JetStar II was just renovated by Gerstlauer. OH YEAH... HersheyPark just restored their sooperdooperLooper- with new trains, too! But wait! Gerstlauer is renovating other Schwarzkopf rides, too! Ouimet, if you read this and I hope you do, you need to go and shoot the current GM of Cedar Point. This is a huge mistake all over to not keep a family classic, or even attempt to restore it- as other parks have (AND ARE) doing. May your park be permanently cursed with rides that run as smooth as a TOGO and as reliably as a Yugo. Anton will have His revenge on you- and it will NOT be pretty. Why on earth would a company continue to throw cash at a ride that is clearly past it's prime? What does it really matter that other parks are putting money into old rides like the Wildcat, Cedar Point has chosen no too, so get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Why on earth would a company continue to throw cash at a ride that is clearly past it's prime? What does it really matter that other parks are putting money into old rides like the Wildcat, Cedar Point has chosen no too, so get over it. Why did they invest in restoring Blue Streak? Why bother retracking Mean Streak? What's the point in trying to preserve a coaster anywhere then? Let's just rip them down when they get old! Yay! Good idea! That way people don't get to ride classic coasters. That's why it's a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 ^Because WildCat isn't really a popular ride. Why spend money on a ride that doesn't draw anyone to the park? People still like wooden coasters, so obviously the park is going to invest in keeping theirs in working order. I'm all for renovating old Schwarkopf rides, like SDL, or what SFOT has been doing with Shock Wave... but lets be honest, WildCat is nowhere near that caliber of ride. For a park like Cedar Point, investing in keeping it around any longer doesn't make a ton of sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Retracking wooden roller coasters is annual maintenance that any decent park is essentially agreeing to complete when they purchase a wooden roller coaster. Blue Streak carries with it a local legacy of sorts, being named after the local high schools and at one point being an ACE Coaster Classic. You're honestly overreacting because you're a Schwarzkopf fanboy. Which I don't blame you for - he's one of the people I most idolize in roller coaster design. But you probably won't find many people who would tell you that this ride is a "classic" like Blue Streak, SDL, Shockwave, the Coney Island Cyclone, or the majority of other older roller coasters that do get preserved for future generations to experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Retracking wooden roller coasters is annual maintenance that any decent park is essentially agreeing to complete when they purchase a wooden roller coaster. Blue Streak carries with it a local legacy of sorts, being named after the local high schools and at one point being an ACE Coaster Classic. You're honestly overreacting because you're a Schwarzkopf fanboy. Which I don't blame you for - he's one of the people I most idolize in roller coaster design. But you probably won't find many people who would tell you that this ride is a "classic" like Blue Streak, or the majority of other older roller coasters that do get preserved for future generations to experience. OK: Let me rephrase this a notch: Instead of scrapping a ride, the ride could have lived on in many ways: Cars, for example, can be restored and used on other Wildcats. Gerstlauer not only markets restored models, but also new ones- depending on the park. The track, I'm sure, is still in good shape. For the most part, steel coasters, including Schwarzkopf models, does not have the same general wear-and-tear that a wooden track does. Gerstlauer has already restored an older (And with greater mileage on it) JetStar II, and sold it to a park in Sweden- with restored trains no less. I think this is a case of "Penny wise and pound foolish" instead of actually the ride being something 'classic.' I'll agree, it isn't like a, say, Mindbender or a sooperdooperlooper, but it IS still a good ride- and one that still delivers a decent, consistent ride at that. I think the cop-out of "Scrapping it" is Cedar Point's cheapness showing, and not necessarily in a good way. Preservation doesn't necessarily need be confined to wooden coasters anymore- as if we don't start to keep an eye out on steel coasters, we will lose those as well. The reasons behind removal can be numerous; but in this case, I think it comes down to cheapness all over. I'm sure that anybody would have loved to see a Wildcat pop up at Great America, or Gilroy Gardens, where it would have fit nicely instead of seeing it head to the scrap heap. Any loss of a coaster, whether a Dragon wagon, or Big Bad Wolf, or Wildcat is a bad thing- and not something to look at as "oh well!" Cedar Point is going the cheap route without thinking it out, I think. The only reason I can logically think they'd scrap it is if there were substantial faults with the ride (Cracks, fundamental warping, etc.). If that were the case, why were they not maintaining the ride properly in the first place? Wildcats are well-built rides all over, and others operating in worse conditions, harsher weather, etc. are still operating with gusto. Portable models still spring up at fairs and carnivals to this day. Why is this model more in need of scrapping? There's a ton of questions I have- and hopefully Cedar Point will give us some answers sooner rather than later, as I don't think they're telling us the whole story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) ^Oh for sure, I would definitely agree with you in hoping that the cars and parts and so forth are donated to keeping other models running. I hate when rides get purely scrapped, it's really just a huge waste. I'm sure we'll see those cars go somewhere, leftover trains and cars almost always end up running the circuit at some other park! I do think that, other than the park's being 'cheap' in making the decision to remove the ride, the decision also could've come from their current rebranding-of-sorts of that entire area. With the removal of the large projection screen and the construction of a stage, this might have been in the cards for a little while now. That, or they're just using the "we're expanding the plaza!" excuse to cover a last-minute decision. But we'll probably never know. Edited May 2, 2012 by coasterfreak101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBrown Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Well if it does come down to maintenance or lack of for that matter I doubt they will be sharing that information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I really enjoyed Wildcat and sincerely thought it was one of the better coasters at Cedar Point. I'm sad to see it go. I'm puzzled as to why they aren't selling the ride on the secondary market, but maybe the scrap value exceeds what they could out of selling it as a ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownStreak Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 ^Scrap is VERY valuable right now which is one of the factors pushing the cost of used cars upwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Peck Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Yes, scrap is very, very valuable. I also don't think the park wants the headache of selling it. Sadly, Wildcat was one of my guilty pleasures in the park. I always hopped aboard it when I was there, and I will miss it. One of my favorites. But here is the thing, Matt Ouimet said in a recent interview that a few of the Cedar Fair parks were "at the brink" (or something like that) of having way too much and he says where there will always be new rides, they will have to remove older rides, and it sometimes will be somebody's favorite. Nothing personal, just business. So treasure what you have now, these big machines only last so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarienLaker Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Yes, scrap is very, very valuable. I also don't think the park wants the headache of selling it. Sadly, Wildcat was one of my guilty pleasures in the park. I always hopped aboard it when I was there, and I will miss it. One of my favorites. But here is the thing, Matt Ouimet said in a recent interview that a few of the Cedar Fair parks were "at the brink" (or something like that) of having way too much and he says where there will always be new rides, they will have to remove older rides, and it sometimes will be somebody's favorite. Nothing personal, just business. So treasure what you have now, these big machines only last so long. The next thing you know CP is going to remove Disaster Transport, Iron Dragon, and then Mean Streak! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fooz Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 This doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Curt Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 All I am saying is that there is more than likely a major problem that surfaced in the last couple days, one that will cost a bunch of cash to fix. I am sure there are people at the park that can call other parks saying a a coaster is for sale, but I imagine the first question that was asked by the person getting called is......"What is wrong with it?" Once hearing what is wrong with it and the cost of fixing the problem they respectfully decline purchasing the coaster. Therefore as the phone calls go and the answer is the same from all the other parks it just becomes an issue of how much the park can get in scrap money for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XYZ Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Well, that means SFMM is now holds the coaster crown again. I can see Cedar Point fanboys crying, knowing that Cedar Point no longer has the most coasters in the Cedar Fair chain, it's tied with CW. Honestly, I thought it was nice to see the Schwarzkopf at CP, but it was "ovedue" for the removal of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invertalon Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Do people actually still care what park has the most coasters? I mean, really... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 The next thing you know CP is going to remove Disaster Transport, Iron Dragon, and then Mean Streak! You've got that in the wrong order. Just reverse it Mean Streak, Iron Dragon, Disaster Transport. Mean Streak must go!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarienLaker Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 ^ What I said was just a wild guess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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