Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[dippindotsguy8]

^Wow, Mantis/Rougarou looks better, now if only they can repaint Iron Dragon with colors to match Rougarou or at least give a fresh coat of gold and red paint.

 

Or just get rid of it...

As long as they replace it with an amazing GCI (Gold Striker style), GG woodie (Ravine Flyer/Voyage mix) or Intamin woodie

 

I still vote no! That's what Mean Streak's plot is for.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

^Wow, Mantis/Rougarou looks better, now if only they can repaint Iron Dragon with colors to match Rougarou or at least give a fresh coat of gold and red paint.

 

Or just get rid of it...

As long as they replace it with an amazing GCI (Gold Striker style), GG woodie (Ravine Flyer/Voyage mix) or Intamin woodie

 

I still vote no! That's what Mean Streak's plot is for.

[JonnyRCT3]

^Wow, Mantis/Rougarou looks better, now if only they can repaint Iron Dragon with colors to match Rougarou or at least give a fresh coat of gold and red paint.

 

Or just get rid of it...

As long as they replace it with an amazing GCI (Gold Striker style), GG woodie (Ravine Flyer/Voyage mix) or Intamin woodie

 

 

I think the park has plenty of airtime filled coasters. Something more "unique" would be better suited for CP.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Keep Iron Dragon, just RMC it

Ironer Dragon

[DoinItForTheFame]

Keep Iron Dragon, just RMC it

Ironer Dragon

I vote yes for this idea.

 

On a separate note Manti... I mean Rougarou is starting to look really good! I can not wait to see the new trains! I WISH the new floorless trains would have the Banshee style restraints. Regardless it will still be 100% better than the standup trains.

[MagnumFreak25]

Something seems to be going on over at Breakers

 

[coasterbill]

People (on the last page) still want to get rid of Iron Dragon, one of the most popular rides in the entire park just because enthusiasts don't like it?

 

Read it and weep...

 

Iron Dragon is one of the most popular rides in the park and does more guests than Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster. Is capacity a big reason why? Sure... but Iron Dragon's line is almost always spilling out the entrance of the queue despite that capacity and it has mass appeal. I don't see this ride going anywhere in the near future.

[tarheel1231]

The only thing that needs to be done to Iron Dragon is lowering the height requirement. Now let's change the subject before the thread turns into an argument about whether Iron Dragon is good or not.

[DarienLaker]

^I think that Cedar Fair needs to lower the height requirement to 46" on all of t!heir Arrow suspended coasters, not just Iron Dragon!

[detigerfan]

^I think that Cedar Fair needs to lower the height requirement to 46" on all of t!heir Arrow suspended coasters, not just Iron Dragon!

I completely agree to this, but what about The Bat and Vortex? Those are definitely more thrilling coasters rather than Iron Dragon which is a family coaster.

[GCI Wooden]

^I think that Cedar Fair needs to lower the height requirement to 46" on all of t!heir Arrow suspended coasters, not just Iron Dragon!

I completely agree to this, but what about The Bat and Vortex? Those are definitely more thrilling coasters rather than Iron Dragon which is a family coaster.

Most parks NEED thrilling coasters for people under 48 inches.

[rcoaster10]

On 10/3/2014 I went to Cedar Point for my first ever Halloweekends experience. For some reason I had never gone before this year and I decided I finally needed to go. I was a little worried about the weather since it had been raining all day, but by the time we got to the park, it had stopped. I went with my dad and we arrived at 4:55, just in time for early entry. We got in the park right at 5:00 and headed to GateKeeper. They hadn’t started testing it yet but we figured we’d wait for a little bit. After 15 minutes, still no activity, so we went over to Millennium Force. The park was dead and it was quite strange visiting with cool weather. I love the fall atmosphere at the park.

 

Once we got to Millennium, we rode that once with no wait. We went over to Maverick after that and rode also with no wait. There were actually empty seats on our train. It started to rain again so Maverick closed. I met up with another member, Ride On_17, and his mom, aka “Millennium Force Mama” and us 4 stayed together the rest of the night. It was still raining a little but Millennium was still running so we decided to ride that twice. No wait for either time.

 

It was still sprinkling a little but we went over towards the front of the park and rode Wicked Twister. No wait. Then we took a ride on GateKeeper which actually had a line, about 15 minutes. It was a lot smoother than previous rides on it earlier this year. I still don’t know if I like sitting in the very front where you hang over the drop or the very back where you get whipped over the drop.

 

After GateKeeper, the rain became downpour so we got under a covering and waited it out. I was getting kind of hungry and none of the rides were open so we ate at Pinks while it rained. It was just about 8:00 when we finished, which is when the haunts started.

We first went to Zombie High and waited about 15 minutes. Barely any of the rides were open that night so the lines for the haunts increased. Zombie High was cool. It was a ton of activity: loud booming music, tons of bangs on walls, tons of strobes. It was fun, but not necessarily scary. It got me really disoriented as well.

 

After Zombie High, we went to Hexed, which had the longest wait of the night of about 20 minutes. I liked this one more than Zombie High. It had a ton of theming and the screamsters were very good. It was a lot more interactive than Zombie High was which primarily had just loud noises.

 

Eerie Estate was next on our list, and it only had about a 5 minute wait. This was by far the best of the night. What I loved about this one is that it felt so much more personal. There were times where it was dead silent and just dim lights, which was very creepy. You have a lot more suspense when there’s no distracting noises or lights, and this is why this one made me jump a lot more. I loved it.

 

We saw Dragster running earlier when we were in line for Hexed so we had hoped to get on that since 1) It’s my all-time favorite and 2) It was closed the last time I was there (Coastermania). We headed over to Dragster but unfortunately it had closed again and didn’t look like it would be opening up again that night, which it didn’t. We did Blood on the Bayou which was the best scare zone in my opinion. It was really long and tons of theming and screamsters who were really interactive.

 

We took a ride on Magnum and it was amazing. For some reason, all of my rides on this have been amazing this year. We then went through CarnEvil which was neat. It wasn’t scary at all but it was cool. We also went through Tombstone Terror-tory which wasn’t really a scare zone, just a themed area with screamsters. There was a short line for Maverick so we decided to ride. It was only about 10 min. It was awesome riding it with all of the lights from Cut Throat Cove below.

 

The next haunt we did was Eden Musee which was actually really cool. We waited about 10 min. It was so cool being surrounded by Mean Streak. It may not be a great ride but it is a beautiful structure. This haunt was pretty much a whole game of “is it real or not” which is fun and very startling. We went through Cut Throat Cove right after that and I was disappointed. It was the worst scare zone, as it barely had any screamsters and the ones that were in there didn’t even do anything. The theming you couldn’t even see as the entire path is just one blinder after another.

 

We had one last haunt, Eternity Infirmary, so we did that. There was no wait. It was the worst haunt of the night, as there was a lack of theming and screamsters. The quality and detail of it is nothing compared to Eerie Estate and Hexed, which I think had fantastic theming. I did love the rotating tunnel and drop panel though. I was hoping to see both at least in one haunt that night and I’m glad that this one had them.

 

We were going to do Cornstalkers but it was closed due to flooding. We went through Screamworks which was just okay. There was one screamster in there who just stood there and said “boo! I’m scary!” which everyone thought was hilarious. I think it’s really important for a good haunt to not only scare people but just make them have a good time.

 

We had done all of the haunts and scare zones at this time so we decided to end the night with 5 rides on Millennium Force, which was a great way to end the night. It was a fantastic day and I overall loved the CP Halloweekends experience. If I had to rank the haunts, it would be these:

1. Eerie Estate

2. Hexed

3. Eden Musee

4. Zombie High

5. Eternity Infirmary

 

 

We came back on Saturday since we have Platinum Passes and I still needed to get my last ride in on Mantis and I really had hoped to get on Dragster since it was closed the day before. The weather was a lot colder than the day before and a lot windier, which made it feel even colder. We got to the park at 10:00 for early entry but almost everything was closed due to wind. We rode Iron Dragon with no wait, then went to Maverick and waited about 30 minutes on early entry. Skyhawk had no line so we rode that.

 

Dragster still had no signs of opening so we rode Mantis. We waited an hour total for it, which I never ever would have done given other circumstances, but since nothing else was open and I needed to get my last ride in, we decided to wait it out. It was actually a good last ride. We stood in the very front and it was very smooth. No B&M rattle, no headbanging, (except in the corkscrew), and no leg pain. For some reason it got me kind of nauseous which is strange because it never did before. Anyway, it was a good way to say goodbye. I really hope the floorless trains don’t have the B&M rattle. If it is as smooth as the stand up trains, it will actually be a fantastic ride.

 

We continued to walk around the park to see if anything else was open. Magnum had just opened when we walked by so we rode that with about a 15 min wait. Fun as usual. We went around to the back of the park to see what was open. Mean Streak was open, walk on, while Maverick had an hour and a half wait. I wonder if that’s next. We rode Mean Streak front row and it wasn’t rough at all actually, just boring.

 

This was our last ride of the day since we really had no desire to ride anything else since there were only limited rides open and the lines were long, plus it was still really cold. Overall, the trip was really fun. The weather on Friday scared people away which let us have minimum lines which was really nice. Saturday got me my last ride on Mantis. Unfortunately I never got on Dragster, but hopefully I can get on it when I go back next weekend. (10/25)

 

Roubantis is looking beautiful. I've always wanted a giant orange loop

Roubantis is an confused state of being right now

Such a beautiful park

Such a beautiful structure

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Mean Streak is a beautiful structure

Fire is a beautiful thing

It's a perfect match!

[SFOGdude25]

I gotta say, Mantigarou's paint job is growing on me. That orange really pops!

[coasterlover420]

People (on the last page) still want to get rid of Iron Dragon, one of the most popular rides in the entire park just because enthusiasts don't like it?

 

Read it and weep...

 

Iron Dragon is one of the most popular rides in the park and does more guests than Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster. Is capacity a big reason why? Sure... but Iron Dragon's line is almost always spilling out the entrance of the queue despite that capacity and it has mass appeal. I don't see this ride going anywhere in the near future.

This is because it has almost no queue at all. It basically goes right from the midway up to the station.

 

No, the "should they get rid of it" argument is not about capacity, but those numbers absolutely are. If a ride is actually popular, people get in line for it even if they see a 2 hour line. Sometimes not. They will float toward rides with high capacity, because the wait is less. The one ride in the entire park that demonstrates an anomaly is Gemini. The ride has a capacity of over 2000/hr which is insane (aside from the fact that there are two sides). The thing is, it doesn't beat every other ride in numbers (both sides combined) because it IS unpopular. Those numbers also don't account for average wait times, because whether the line is a steady 20 minutes all day or the line is 3 hours long, the numbers will be exactly the same at the end of the night...which tells whether people are actually willing to wait in a longer line to ride, or if they steadily join that line just because it is short. These numbers also don't account for downtime. Iron Dragon is a coaster that runs pretty steadily through various types of weather, but you see Dragster, Gatekeeper, and Raptor up in that range of 1,000,000+ despite heaping loads of downtime from something as simple as wind, not including all of the downtime you see for mechanical issues.

 

My point being that numbers do not have anything to do with a ride's popularity. Simple as that.

 

My own personal stance on this is that I don't really see it going anywhere just because of the low thrill rating. Enthusiasts always think taking out lame coasters and putting in great ones is the answer, but I can't even imagine how much money they would lose by taking out all of the easy rides and putting in extreme ones. They aim to please EVERY guest, not just the ones who are fearless. This also has to do with image. We see guests all the time who are terrified of Millennium Force even though most enthusiasts know it's one of the easier coasters at the park, just because it is huge. Iron Dragon is a small easy ride that everyone can look at and say they will ride. If they took it out for some other coaster, say a B&M dive coaster or something, a lot of guests coming in to the park would not want to ride and the park would receive an escalating amount of guest complaints about how the park is not family friendly.

 

Just my own personal view on the matter.

 

Also, for those who are wondering if they are removing the Mantis trims:

They're getting paint.

[TM3988]

I gotta say, Mantigarou's paint job is growing on me. That orange really pops!

 

I agree! At first I didn't like it but now I really do.

[Vonni]

I like the paint job too, I just would have preferred colors that didn't resemble so many of SF Coasters. But it's no biggie.

[Tmcdllr]

Mean Streak is a beautiful structure

Fire is a beautiful thing

It's a perfect match!

 

Now if only one would engulf the other.

[rcjp]

I gotta say, Mantigarou's paint job is growing on me. That orange really pops!

 

I agree! At first I didn't like it but now I really do.

Same here.

Also, for those who are wondering if they are removing the Mantis trims:

[attachment=0]IMG_20141010_152839_193.jpg[/attachment]

They're getting paint.

Noooo.....

[coasterbill]

I'm going to have to disagree with some of your points...

 

If a ride is actually popular, people get in line for it even if they see a 2 hour line. Sometimes not. They will float toward rides with high capacity, because the wait is less. The one ride in the entire park that demonstrates an anomaly is Gemini. The ride has a capacity of over 2000/hr which is insane (aside from the fact that there are two sides). The thing is, it doesn't beat every other ride in numbers (both sides combined) because it IS unpopular.

 

As I said in my original post capacity played a major role. Iron Dragon crushed Dragster and Maverick and I know reliability, capacity and up-time are the major reasons why but at the same time you can't fault the ride for being reliable and having a high capacity because even with the capacity being what it is the ride still always has a line and always fills it's trains which is not the case with rides like Gemeni, Corkscrew or even Magnum. If you go to the park right at opening Magnum will often have an entire car roped off and still won't be filling the rest of the rows despite being right next to the resort gate, Corkscrew won't be filling it's trains, Gemeni will be running one side and still not filling the trains and Iron Dragon will be filling it's trains and have a full queue line spilling out the entrance already despite having a really high capacity that should mean it could eat through that line in no time at all.

 

Those numbers also don't account for average wait times, because whether the line is a steady 20 minutes all day or the line is 3 hours long, the numbers will be exactly the same at the end of the night...which tells whether people are actually willing to wait in a longer line to ride, or if they steadily join that line just because it is short.

 

You're sort of right, but then again you're sort of not. Let's say it's a little after 10:00 one night and Iron Dragon has a 10 minute wait and Top Thrill Dragster has a 3 hour wait. That would mean that at 10:20 (given the grace period) Iron Dragon wouldn't be running and Dragster wouldn't finish running the line through until 1:20 AM. That's an extreme example but you can't ignore the fact that the parks run the lines out so that does give those coasters a little help in catching rides like Iron Dragon.

 

These numbers also don't account for downtime. Iron Dragon is a coaster that runs pretty steadily through various types of weather, but you see Dragster, Gatekeeper, and Raptor up in that range of 1,000,000+ despite heaping loads of downtime from something as simple as wind, not including all of the downtime you see for mechanical issues.

 

You're absolutely right... and the fact that Iron Dragon is more reliable and able to operate more often than those coasters is all the more reason why the park shouldn't remove it (which is a point you agree with but for different reasons). It's not fair to count the coaster's reliability and capacity against it.

 

My point being that numbers do not have anything to do with a ride's popularity. Simple as that.

 

Numbers aren't 100% based on popularity but it plays a huge, huge role. If Corkscrew had a capacity of 10,000 people per hour it's ridership numbers probably wouldn't go up much because people don't like it and don't want to ride it. It's already pretty much a walk on all the time. People do like Iron Dragon which is why it always has a line. It probably appeals to more people than any other coaster in the park if you think about it. It's small enough that it won't intimidate riders with a fear of coasters but it's large enough that thrill seekers still ride it. Unlike other rides that appeal to families like Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Corkscrew the trains are large so it can fit pretty much everyone (not the case with CCMR) AND it's really smooth and comfortable. It also doesn't go upsidedown which might scare some people away from Corkscrew. So yes... I think popularity does play a big role in those numbers. It doesn't tell the whole story but it plays a big role.

[RyanTPM]

That first picture is great. They've done a really good job with the colors,and painted it surprisingly fast!

[loop-de-loop]

The only reason I could see them removing Iron Dragon is if parts become rare to find. I think of the three suspended coasters in the chain, Iron Dragon would be first to go. (I used to think it would be Flight Deck until The Bat conversion.)

[Yamez]

Not sure if anyone saw this, it was posted yesterday:

 

https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/Hotel-Breakers-Progress

 

 

Looks like its going to be an entirely new hotel by the time they're done with it!

[thesman]

^^^ Wow they really ripped and gutted the whole hotel. When they said make over I was really on expecting new paint, carpet and furniture. Maybe they will finally get rid of the 90's tv's at all of the hotels

[Geauga Dog]

The only reason I could see them removing Iron Dragon is if parts become rare to find. I think of the three suspended coasters in the chain, Iron Dragon would be first to go. (I used to think it would be Flight Deck until The Bat conversion.)

 

As long as there is Vortex and Bat parts won't be hard to find. I would think Vortex or Bat would go before Iron Dragon as they are bigger, faster, and probably have a lot more stress on the track and supports than Iron Dragon. Isn't that part of what killed BBW?