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Big Dipper ( Geauga Lake ) to get the Axe.


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I know fans of ACE have been trying hard to get Big Dipper moved since Geauga Lake closed it's doors in 2007, but after 5 years of sitting there rotting, I think it was a good move on Cedar Fair's part to have it demolished. I hate to say it, but I saw it coming. I hope that one day, Cedar Fair can announce that they'll rebuild a replica of the Big Dipper in one of their parks across the country. If I had to choose a park for that replica, I would say put it in Dorney Park. In my opinion, that would be ideal.

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I know there are many, including myself would have liked to see a new life for the Big Dipper. I think Coney Island would have made a great home for the classic coaster. They could rename the Big Dipper, "Sky Rocket". which was the original name of the Big Dipper and the name of a coaster that was once graced the Coney Island skyline.

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You assume:

a. The blueprints exist.

b. Cedar Fair would sell them.

c. The ride could be rebuilt without extensive changes in today's regulatory and legal environment.

d. There is room for that coaster at Coney Island of Ohio.

At least one of those is highly unlikely.

I would say two, Carowinds went looking for Thunder Road's blueprints before they tore her down; they couldn't find them right away. A friend of mine was going to the build a large model of Thunder Road for the park using the blueprints. I suspect PTC may keep blueprints of all their coasters either for display or if questions come up later. There again I could be wrong.

However I just realized that Big Dipper might not be a PTC....

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It's always sad to see a classic coaster fade away and demolished. It was a true gem in it's operating years. I absolutely loved the ride and thought it was probably the best coaster they had at the time. Between this one and The Screechin Eagle, we've lost two really great classic wooden coasters.

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No. What needed to be done by a company like Cedar Fair was to preserve the ride and move it elsewhere...like Valleyfair!

The only things you could reuse would be motors and the chain for the lift. The best thing to do is hire someone to draw up blueprints and rebuild it some where else.

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I follow a few pages on Facebook dedicated to Geauga Lake.

Some claim the ride could be dismantled and stored until someone bought it to rebuild.

Would it even be worth the cost to dismantle and store? Would the ride be in well enough shape to do so?

Side note, some reports coming in that the ride has started to be demolished.

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Now, yes.

When Cedar Fair closed the park, no.

And for reasons previously alluded to, rebuilding it exactly somewhere else is almost certainly not an option. John Miller woodies aren't design compliant with modern day standards for newly built rides.

Terp how much of the original ride (roughly) has to be moved to not need to follow current standards?

Also when they move a wooden coaster how do they do it?

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Not terp, but I believe that if you modify 'anything' you can no longer grandfather code to it. Moving to a new location strikes me as a scenario that fits that.

That said, I doubt that any of the original structure is salvageable to rebuild after sitting/rotting for 9 years.

Let my fact-checking begin.

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And, as has been said numerous times here by individual(s) quite knowledgeable in the facts of ride relocation/recreation, it CAN not and WILL not be the same ride, no matter where it would be installed in the US.  If that ride were built in any US park today, in compliance with current safety regulations, it would be as much the Big Dipper as Banshee is.  The things that made that ride good, buzz bars being one of them, would not exist on any recreation.  Had DK not been a jerk (My opinion, no one will ever change it so dont try), that ride could/would have been relocated in its existing form someplace like Valleyfair as Terp mentioned, or WoF where I wanted it.  As much as I Love the history of the ride, and wish the non-Dick move would have been made back when it could have, the unfortunate reality is that its better off being dismantled at this point.

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The parabolic negative airtime hills would not be recreated in the USA in today's climate.

A rebuilt Big Dipper would resemble the original as much as Kings Dominion's Grizzly does Coney Island of Ohio's Wildcat or Canada's Wonderland's Mighty Canadian Minebuster does Coney Island of Ohio's Shooting Star--which is to say almost not at all.

Geauga Lake itself had the prime exemplar. The Raging Wolf Bobs was made of wood and had coaster trains that ran on steel wheels on wood track. Otherwise....the Riverview Bobs recreated? No. Just no.

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The only way I could see the Big Dipper get rebuilt with the current layout would be to use Iron Horse Track. That would make it a steal coaster with steal coaster trains. I am just taking a guess I don't know all the rules on building coasters.

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