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Shoot The Rapids, Now Open (June 26)


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Premier is going to be the one to watch going forward... they have some truly great concepts and seem to have the drive to get them installed. If some of the plans Premier has for the Busch parks ever come to fruition (they were paused during the sale), I think we're all in for a treat. If the Tampa park's 2011 project ends up being Premier (which I think it may - based on the groundplan, looks to me like a darkride / coaster), things could really get interesting. The work I've seen that was done for the SeaWorld darkride/coaster was simply incredible.

Edit: For the record, my screenname has nothing to do with Premier rides, rather, I'm a huge fan of England's PREMiER Drum and Percussion company.

I definitely agree. I've always been incredibly impressed with the ride system found in Revenge of the Mummy....and riding it on a regular basis you learn that its actually pretty darn reliable. Honestly, I have no issue with the Italian Job coasters....fine little rides they are. Too bad their respective parks let them go to hell. I was so excited about the Sea World San Diego project. While it is NOT happening in 2011 to the best of my knowledge, lets keep our fingers crossed that its back on the books. Next year's big capital goes to Discovery Cove, Tampa, Williamsburg and Aquatica....though Aquatica may be pushed back a year. FYI, regarding Tampa's project, it appears to be an Intamin....someone discovered it on the blueprints and the Intamin name has been circulating for several months prior to construction beginning. Either way, solid looking ride!

- Todd

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"Basically, we had trouble with the boats," Kinzel said Monday. "It's more of an engineering problem than a safety problem."

"The manufacturer made the flume, and he contracted out the boats," Kinzel said. "When the boats came together, the boats didn't fit the flumes."

I'm guessing Kinzel is more of a safety guy than an engineering guy so it's no surprise he's blaming the engineering :P.

Seriously though, while I don't think this is worth getting all worked up over, at some point you've got to believe that this Intamin does not want to continue to build a reputation of a company unable to engineer correctly, deliver on time, etc...

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's awesome it's 42". I'm very excited about this ride... not that I want to ride it that bad just because I think it's the perfect adsdition to CP.

Terpy, you gave me the best laugh of the day with the footers comment!

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I would be happy with a park full of B&M's.

My entire top ten favorite steel coasters are B&M's.

I disagree about B&M hypers being "same ole same ole"

I have ridden Diamondback a lot, and it never get's boring. I think it get's better every time I ride it. Apollo's Chariot has a unique layout and is surrounded by foliage. It is better every time I ride it. Dominator, Kumba, Montu, SheiKra, Griffon, Alpie, all get better every time I ride them.

Thing about B&M is, if they say it will work the first time, it WILL. No need to do a pull through. That must mean you aren't to convinced your creation will work right.

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For some. Others claim it is blah (like, for instance, at least one guy down Florida way).

Your mileage may vary.

And remember, old Terp adores Rolling Thunder. So what does he know?

Others believe Goliath to be the best of its kind.

And old Terp has never, ever compared the one in New Jersey to the one in Mason, Ohio, despite requests from, among others, people who used to head a company that numbers its flags...

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Cedar Point IMO is going down. I heard it's not very clean - unless I've heard wrong. Demon Drop is gone. Their rides are always late. I wouldn't be surprised to see its attendance go down.

From what I gather, you have yet to visit CP, so I wouldn't make that assumption. I have a friend that works there that is ATL of sweeps, and he will be happy to show you how clean CP is.

I'm a loyal visitor to this astounding park and I will tell you that on a busy day: Maverick, Millie, Dragster, and Raptor will have a 2 hour wait, small coasters and big flats will have a 1 hour wait. People travel for miles or even fly from overseas to come to Cedar Fair's flagship park. CP has been around for 140 years.. I doubt it's going anywhere.

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Listen, Cedar Point, we need to have a talk.

I know you guys are doing great. That's wonderful, I'm happy for you. But we have to talk about your addiction. Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about, you know darn well what it is. You're on Inta-Crack. It's an Intamin addiction.

There is nothing wrong with Inta-Crack! Intamins rock! :lol:

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I had a spectactular first trip of the year on Sun. Millie went down when I was in line and TTD was down most of the day and I didn't care at all. We had tons of trimless rides on Maggie and Raptor, the park looked fantastic and the ride ops were in great spirits.

I saw great enforcement of rules. My friend and I (after about 4 laps) were cutting through the tables on our way back to Maggies line and decided to jump a rail. I know, never done it before but no one was in the cue and we would have waited for anyone that was. Honestly just trying to save a long walk. We got to the platform and the ride op (a small bodied female) politely told us that we would have to go to the entrance. We did and thanked her graciously when we left and when we returned. Then proceeded to another fantastic trimless ride in the middle seat of the 3rd car.

Unfortunately I saw a very rude smoker who waited for the guard to leave and then lit up and walked down the main midway. The expression on his face was FU, I'll do what I want.

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If that is true it will really suck. We are going up Monday and I was hoping to ride it. I will still take some swim trunks along in the hope that it is open. I learned last weekend that getting really wet (WWC) and walking around the park left me chaffed.

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Bad news for those visit the park this weekend...

From the official Cedar Point Facebook page...:

"Cedar Point has an official update on Shoot the Rapids. The ride will not open this weekend as planned. Our preopening procedures are taking longer than expected, but we anticipate it will open soon. We apologize for the delay, and we'll let you know as soon as it's open."

http://www.facebook.com/cedarpoint

It kind of sucks that they waited until the last minute to announce it. Hopefully it's because they were trying to get everything done in time but didn't quite get it...

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I don't think in any way you can blame weather. Most of the companies that know they have a shot designing something for Cedar Point will learn to cope with it. Last I checked, Mantis and Raptor opened without a hitch, and aside from a few incidents of Raptor valleying, they're relatively unphased by downtime. Magnum opened on time and was a huge leap from former coaster designs. Intamin and Cedar Point should have learned to adapt on the 5th ride in.

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And as far as I know, STR isn't really the first of its kind, either. Based on what the park has said, the delays have stemmed from the boats not fitting properly on the track...A ridiculous mistake when you think of all the planning that goes into the rides!

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The page says:

RIDE OPENING UPDATE: Shoot the Rapids will not open Memorial Day Weekend, but we anticipate it will open soon. Please check back for updates.

People over at pointbuzz are discussing seeing the boats stuck in the turn out of the station. Others report that it looked like workers were pushing the boats as if they were stuck on the turns, and even that they believe some boat was filled with water. All are unverified, of course. The ride looks nice, but from the whispers I heard when standing near the ride yesterday, people are starting to think it's more trouble than it worth...

I do feel a bit disappointed - the rockwork, water falls, and fog machines around the splashdown look beautiful, but how long will they last? The ride appears from my point of view to be little more than our own log ride - meandering through large areas of emptiness and then a big hill (or two). Wasn't this ride $10.5 million? Where are the animatronics? The hidden coaster drops? The special effects? The things that will set this apart from any other log ride? It looks nice, but a lot of work for a small payoff - that's how it seems so far at least. What do I know?

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