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I've been gone, so i've just been kind of glaring over these posts. Whatever they do, I just hope it's good. And a merry Christmas to everybody!

There's two big flaws in people's logic in this thread. 1) The obsession over theming. I think it has been made pretty clear that this is not Cedar Fair's forte, aim or overall goal. We are talking about a seasonal amusement park chain. Cedar Fair's parks, while different, overall do not target the same market that the year-round, immersive larger corporate parks attract. See a certain CEO's theory on how the "great recession" was going to make people visit their regional parks more and the tourism based parks less. While Cedar Fair doesn't release attendance numbers, the Disney's and Universal's were happy to and didn't seem to experience any significant drop offs. Don't misunderstand me, I certainly understand people's respect and desire to see highly themed rides especially when most of us can remember a time when the park was owned by a company who sought out such projects. I rode Tomb Raider: The Ride its opening day. Fantastic experience. Did it hold up? No. I don't need to beat that dead horse, but it has been made pretty clear that a regional, seasonal park isn't the best place for such an expensive attraction. Not to mention, people keep ignoring the facts that you don't have to be some industry insider with a crystal ball to know. I keep seeing Cedar Fair vilified in this thread for the current state of The Crypt, but does anyone remember when the ride was still Tomb Raider? How many seasons in a row did it close down pre-maturely before the rest of the park closed? And when it was open, how many times do you remember standing in line only to have the ride close down? It DIDN'T WORK WELL as Tomb Raider: The Ride. They tried something else then abruptly after one season and a few months into the next made it a dumbed down ferris wheel. It didn't work well then and now we have the current Crypt. It's not going back to Tomb Raider or anything more intense than what it currently is. Get over it. 2) That somehow we have to have a certain number of flats. We're not in a competition with Cedar Point. This isn't Roller Coaster Tycoon where we need to build up a "Thrill Rating of 600 or more" in order to pass the level. Posting a few pictures of other top spins with few riders is not an accurate way to judge the ridership of those attractions with pictures taken out of context. Just as saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "I've seen mostly full cycles on The Crypt" or "People ALWAYS RODE Son of Beast" are not accurate ways to judge those rides popularity based on your visits and limited perception. CoastersRZ made the best point - the park is going to make the best business interest that is cost-effective to them. If they believe enough people ride the ride compared to how much it's costing them - they'll keep it. If they look at their data which none of us have and decide otherwise, they'll remove it. And if they do, who cares? It's never going to be as great as it was or much better than it is now. And if they keep it, then those who do enjoy riding it can keep on enjoying it and you may see another attraction take its place.

Plus, have all these people who consistantly ask for a wild mouse coaster ever ridden one? Ricochet at Kings Dominion, anyone? Goofy's Sky School? The cartoon dinosaur one at Animal Kingdom? These rides are not exactly reknowned for their comfort, fun, or themeing. Especially if you place one indoors, expect people to line up just to see what it is (see, Tomb Raider, The Dark Knight Coaster), thereby making its poor throughput really shine!

Thanks again, J.D. for the wonderful thread and many never before seen historical pictures I always enjoy seeing the way the park was in its earlier days before I was born. I definitely enjoyed seeing this topic and all the wonderful comparisons you did. I`ve thought about doing something similar for Coney Island, just haven`t had the time to take the present day shots. Maybe this upcoming season, I will make it a point to do the comparisons. This is such a wonderful topic. Too bad it has to end now! Again, thanks for all of your hard work in this thread!

I too miss that tunneled walkway. Strangely as a child that was the thing I thought of first when thinking about the park.