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DA at Cedar Point in 2012


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ANNOUNCING NEW in 2012: Cedar Point's Dinosaurs Alive! Millennium Island will be transformed into the prehistoric Adventure Island filled with animatronic dinosaurs. Don't miss out on this great adventure - more details coming soon!

Announced on CP's Facebook page at 3am.

:huh: ... That is all

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First WindSeeker and now Dinosaurs Alive. Welcome to Kings Island North. :)

Of course this was expected and not a surprise at all.

We went through KI's DA once and enjoyed it, but I doubt we do it again. Adding back the missing Dino won't make it worth another trip either. I never see us going though the one at CP. Been there, done that, then went and rode a coaster.

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Yes, PWE is gone. I am quite ticked, actually. I am happy that KI seems happy with DA, but IMO they have no place at CP, and removing a quality family ride (which CP is already lacking) to put this in its place is a near-sighted move.

If you can't tell, CP is my home park.

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When the rumors started to fly over a month ago that PWE was to be retired, I was rather upset by the news.

I was also upset when the news broke years ago about WWL being removed, only to be delighted after riding Maverick.

Adding DA to CP combined with the removal of PWE does raise the question: Is there something else planned for 2013 (or beyond) for Millenium Island that would necessitate the removal of PWE anyway?

Rumors have swarmed for years about using MI for another coaster, this could just be the beginning.

This also raises the question, will DA be at KI in 2012? Those animatronic dinos are not cheap to rent/ purchase.

Press release:

Sandusky, Ohio -- A lagoon on the edge of Lake Erie will be inhabited by looming Jurassic Park creatures next summer when Cedar Point opens its new attraction for the 2012 season.

The Sandusky amusement park said that an exhibit with about 50 roaring, moving dinosaurs is slated for a four-acre site on the wooded island toward the back of the park.

The "Dinosaurs Alive! on Adventure Island" exhibit will be multi-sensory and interactive, parent company Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. announced this morning.

Cedar Point also will add a mat-racer slide complex to the Soak City waterpark next to the park.

The prehistoric-themed exhibit will have life-sized dinosaurs covered with skin-like material that replicates almost every feature of the ancient creatures. Four dinosaurs will have interactive consoles allowing visitors to guide their movements in order to see how they moved their limbs, tail, eyes and mouth.

Design of the $1 million exhibit is by a British Columbia company, Dinosaurs Unearthed, that has created dinosaur exhibits for museums, science centers and zoos worldwide since 2005.

The exhibit will have about 36 different dinosaur species, ranging from a Ruyangosaurus that stands almost 40 feet tall and 72 feet long, to an Angustinaripterus that is two feet high and eight feet long.

Inhabitants will include the vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus, the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs. Irratator, Baryonyx, a plated Stegosaurus and three-horned Triceratops are also arriving.

The half-mile-long path will have more than a dozen themed exhibits and displays and will veer underneath several of the larger beasts, providing a very intimate encounter with the prehistoric beasts, Cedar Fair said.

Guests will enter the dinosaur area by crossing a bridge near Camp Snoopy. An excavation site and paleontological dig, plus information signs and fossil displays, are all part of an exhibit that Cedar Fair hopes will appeal to school groups as well as general park visitors.

Of course, there will also be a prehistoric-themed gift shop.

Admission to Dinosaurs Alive! will be $5 per person, with special rates available for groups and schools.

With the addition ofthe dinosaur exhibit, Cedar Point will retire the pioneer-themed Paddlewheel Excursions boat cruise after Labor Day this year.

Next to Cedar Point, the Soak City waterpark will have a new look for 2012. It will add a mat-racer complex that gives racers a speedy ride through a series of dips and plateaus. More information on that will be available later this year, the company said.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/cedar_point_to_open_dinosaur_e.html

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^There is currently a good amount of room on the island, but much less than KI's version of DA.

If you can imagine StR in this pic: http://pointbuzz.com...to.aspx?id=1965

KI's DA has 60 dinos (56 animatronic) on 12.5 acres vs. CP's that will have (about) 36 dinos on 4 acres.

I would like to point out the lagoons around the island have significantly decreased over the years due to expansion. At one time the whole area (from Frontier Town clock near SRF to the "y" seperating ID midway & TTD midway) resembled many acres of wetlands.

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I've had some time to reflect a little bit on a run and spending some time with my daughter. I tried to forget how I felt, and asked her...

"Kylah, would you like to see Dinosaurs at Cedar Point?"

"SUUUUUURE!!!"

Very excited...and then she did a little dance (Dinosaur Train was playing on TV in the background), and went on about T-Rex and made some growling noises.

Then, I asked her...

"Kylah, would you miss the big boat ride with mommy and daddy if it went bye bye?"

"Wellll....maybe it will come back"

"No sweety, it was fun to ride together, but it won't be there next time we go after your birthday"

Tears.

Now mind you, she was excited about it. She's nearly 4, and this was the first year she really "marked" rides that were her favorite, etc. She loved the boat, and loved interacting with the captain, etc...and to be honest, she was so excited to ride something with mommy and daddy beside her. Yes, the old boat from my youth was not there, but she still loved it, and you parents out there know how easy it is to get misty eyed about looking down and seeing your kid smile when you see them enjoying something you did as a little tike. Priceless.

So even my daughter is torn, as am I as I reflect on this.

Part of what I love about Cedar Point is it's constant change. It's always adapting, growing, expanding...changing...and needless to say not all of us agree with some of the changes all the time (this one in particular). This is a tough change for me to swallow, but I will swallow it with one hope in mind...

Ouimet. I hope he's listening to the reaction, and keeping it in mind as he lays down plans for the future. I hope the end of PWE means the beginning of a new chapter in Cedar Point's history as a turn towards a much-needed focus onto high quality family focused attractions for the next decade or so (with maybe 1 record breaking coaster thrown in just for fun of course). smile.gif

So that's where I stand. Hard to take, but I'll take it, as long as the next few years show me why I took it.

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