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Cedar Point | The Boardwalk | Wild Mouse and Ride Relocation | 2023

TPoseOnTantrum

Giga Poster
I can say with confidence that it will NOT be a T-rex (unless the plot of land sits empty for a few years) - RMC can hardly get their second generation raptors working properly (which is supposed to be much more in line with what T-rex should be once RMC scales up), so T-rex isn't even an option in the moment.
I did hear some talk a while back that the T-Rex concept is on hold for the time being... there wasn't enough interest from potential clients to get it off the paper for the time being. Plus of course they've got their hands full with the raptors and there is demand for them.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
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I personally don't think Wicked Twister will be relocated - if a park like Cedar Point doesn't want to pay the maintenance and operating costs for this ride, why would it get relocated somewhere that draws much less revenue...
On the contrary, I think you could make the case that Wicked Twister could be better used in a park where it doesn't "disappear" in the crowd of coasters. At Cedar Point, Wicked Twister is just another coaster among many, and the others have a bigger draw and command more attention. As a result, it does little to help draw people to the park, and it doesn't even see a lot of traffic from the people who go there. It's a +1 for Cedar Point, serving mainly to inflate the number of coasters, and for that role it is quite expensive.

But in a smaller park, Wicked Twister could be the biggest and fastest ride around, a real landmark attraction. After all, it remains the second tallest and fastest inverted coaster ever built (behind its nephew in China that opened a year or so ago), so it could potentially be a headliner attraction in a smaller park.

It's the whole "smallest fish in the big pond, biggest fish in the small pond" concept at work.

Plus, it's a practically free ride to put in one of their smaller, neglected parks. Granted, the most obvious candidates already have their own Impulse coasters, and the remaining ones may be too small to justify the operating costs, but still, there's a possibility.
 

RcTmix

Mega Poster
I agree Cedar Point Boardwalk seems like a quite likely option from a marketing standpoint as well. My enthusiast goggles see the size of the plot of land from Wicked Twister, the stadium, the giant wheel, MaxAir, and maybe even part of Kiddie Kingdom and I think "500 foot Trex!!!" But that seems like it's mostly a pipedream.

Just to clarify, I don't seriously think a Trex is a real possibility, and didn't mean to start any speculation. It was mostly just a reference to the winter chillout gag.

That being said I don't think we can rule out SOME type of big impressive coaster in this plot, even though it might not be the most likely scenario.
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
I did hear some talk a while back that the T-Rex concept is on hold for the time being... there wasn't enough interest from potential clients to get it off the paper for the time being. Plus of course they've got their hands full with the raptors and there is demand for them.
It's on hold, but not due to lack of interest. T-Rex is intended to be a product of massive scale - massive enough that physical development is a challenge. RMC's workaround is to leverage Raptor as a small scale test bed, as much of the technology between the two products will essentially be the same. Although Raptor is its own product, these rides provide a convenient opportunity for RMC to iterate their designs as Raptors proliferate throughout parks. Gen II Raptors may look almost identical to gen I Raptors, but they've basically been completely redesigned based on lessons learned from Wonder Woman and Railblazer, and based on Stunt Pilot's current performance, there's plenty of design work ahead of them. Aside from design readiness, T-Rex also isn't feasible to manufacture as of last summer. RMC's Iron Horse track and Raptor track is small enough where each plate can be hand twisted into position while framing each track section. T-Rex's track will be big enough that RMC needs to concoct some sort of machine bending process to frame the track. Granted, it's been over a year now since I talked with their director of design and manufacturing, and investigating manufacturing techniques is something that could have been done since then. The best way to think about it is like a concept car at an auto show. The big track segment that @ECG helped reveal a number of years ago now was just that - a concept. They do intend to bring it to production - it's just not quite ready yet.


On the contrary, I think you could make the case that Wicked Twister could be better used in a park where it doesn't "disappear" in the crowd of coasters. At Cedar Point, Wicked Twister is just another coaster among many, and the others have a bigger draw and command more attention. As a result, it does little to help draw people to the park, and it doesn't even see a lot of traffic from the people who go there. It's a +1 for Cedar Point, serving mainly to inflate the number of coasters, and for that role it is quite expensive.

But in a smaller park, Wicked Twister could be the biggest and fastest ride around, a real landmark attraction. After all, it remains the second tallest and fastest inverted coaster ever built (behind its nephew in China that opened a year or so ago), so it could potentially be a headliner attraction in a smaller park.

It's the whole "smallest fish in the big pond, biggest fish in the small pond" concept at work.

Plus, it's a practically free ride to put in one of their smaller, neglected parks. Granted, the most obvious candidates already have their own Impulse coasters, and the remaining ones may be too small to justify the operating costs, but still, there's a possibility.
At this point, it's all conjecture since neither one of us has the data in front of us. It'd completely depend on relocation costs, operating costs, and attendance projections for whatever park it'd get relocated to. I wouldn't think Wicked Twister would stand out at either Worlds of Fun or California's Great America, but I very well could be wrong. I'm still banking on (much) lower revenue at a different park vs operating costs, but time will certainly tell!
 

Steely Dan

Mega Poster
So long Wicked Twister.

Hopefully it lands somewhere else where it isn't relegated to only being the 4th best Intamin in the park. ;)

Something like WT would REALLY shine at Michigan's Adventure. Just saying.......
 

RcTmix

Mega Poster
^And as one of the nearest Cedar Fair properties it would probably be logistically/economically simplest to move it there. On top of that, considering the only new coasters built at Michigan's Adventure in this century were a Kiddie coaster and an SLC, a hand-me-down Intamin for the forgotten middle child of the chain would be a major upgrade.

Edit: Woodstock Express/Big Dipper was 1999, so just an SLC that was a hand-me-down from Geauga Lake.
 
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Hyde

Matt SR
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I will only consider that a boardwalk if Cedar Point at the bare minimum adds some sort of bar / restaurant on it.

But yeah we went through this on the discord. I'm hoping Cedar Point does something with it.
There’s been a Beach cantina and numerous restaurants in the Hotel breakers for years along the boardwalk. 😉

RIP Wicked Twister. I was able to hop a ride in its last two weeks of operation - it’s definitely wild to see it meet such a quicker end. But more broadly, that entire midway has completely transformed (almost two whole iterations at this point) over the last 20-odd years.

Roll the clocks back to 1999, and the Midway was mostly comprised of Cedar Point’s aquatic attractions between Oceania and the indoor aquarium, skirted an assortment of rides (Ocean Motion, Swabinchen, Kid Arthur’s Court Playground, Space Spiral, and Disaster Transport). The upheaval of the following three years saw massive relocation of rides (Giant Wheel relocated to make room for MF, Troika and Chaos relocated for TTD, Kid Arthur’s Court and Aquarium removed for WT), further eclipsed by Windseeker (2011) and Gatekeeper (2014) additions, further shaking up the roster. I guess I just never saw Wicked Twister being apart of that chop block. And in turn, more of that midway now becomes open space… for what, lord only knows.
 

Skyye

Mega Poster
I'm not sure what could fit in the space around WT though, other than maybe a raptor if you include the kiddie section next to planet snoopy (originally taylor's idea). is that stage between windseeker and WT still there? All of that area would make for a pretty cool custom layout for a raptor probably. just a thought though.

now that I think about it I'm not sure how much of this is original and how much is from the bybee but yknow
 

Hyde

Matt SR
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I'm not sure what could fit in the space around WT though, other than maybe a raptor if you include the kiddie section next to planet snoopy (originally taylor's idea). is that stage between windseeker and WT still there? All of that area would make for a pretty cool custom layout for a raptor probably. just a thought though.

now that I think about it I'm not sure how much of this is original and how much is from the bybee but yknow
The stage was only ever temporary - the former stadium plot remains a literal open lot, that is only being lightly used as open space for “fun” activities, such as a kiddie obstacle course they run for Halloweekends.

And you’re also right in recollection; WT sits on literal sand, and always had a rather small footprint. Anything could go in within reason really.
 

Skyye

Mega Poster
Honestly, I dont see CP putting something on WT's plot of land soon. Even if they used the stage area, its not a huge plot of land, plus the sand. In order to use the kiddie area, they might have to relocate three different flat rides in order to fit cranes in (I haven't been in a while so I don't remember their names lol, but its the ferris wheel and the two right next to it), plus it would also be right next to gatekeeper, so....
(edit: kiddy kingdom lol, man I really need to revisit soon)
 

Hyde

Matt SR
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Honestly, I dont see CP putting something on WT's plot of land soon. Even if they used the stage area, its not a huge plot of land, plus the sand. In order to use the kiddie area, they might have to relocate three different flat rides in order to fit cranes in (I haven't been in a while so I don't remember their names lol, but its the ferris wheel and the two right next to it), plus it would also be right next to gatekeeper, so....
(edit: kiddy kingdom lol, man I really need to revisit soon)
Overall agreed. If I could choose, I'd honestly shoot for something comparable to Knott's Boardwalk section, a simple-themed selection of smaller coaster and flat rides (even Hangtime, a legit Gerstlauer, doesn't have a hugely "commanding" presence along the midway versus the wild mouse and other rides); but the original intent of removing the stadium was to create easier venue space for larger gatherings/concert features that don't take up valuable Soak City parking space (which yes, is the default concert venue lol). Covid threw a screwdriver into the entire plan for larger, close contact gatherings; but wouldn't be surprised to see CP reorient that way headed into the 2022 season.

TL;DR move along, nothing much to see in this plot for the time being.
 

Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
It's been a while, hasn't it?
Well...This ride is the reason why. Since early June 2021, I have had the honor of operating Wicked Twister in it's closing season; I even operated it on the last day.
I never really had respect for this ride until this year. Whether it was operating the ride, riding the ride (15-2, if you know you know), or hanging out with the friends I made working at the ride, it's been emotional.
It really sucked how they handled it, too. We had no warning beforehand, only hints some of the ride ops recognized as a possibility that the ride could come down this year. And then it was announced. People were working, finding out about the announcement in real time, having to work the rest of the day knowing that the ride would be done for in a month (thankfully I was only in the Topgolf bathroom when it happened, but still...it was really sad). It was such a fun ride to operate, and I really hope that the future of the ride is a positive one.

RIP Wicked Twister 5/5/2002-9/6/2021
 

Hyde

Matt SR
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Cedar Fair is also notorious for scrapping rides for parts if they have other editions in service. Demon Drop only lives on at Dorney as it still benefits from scrap parts salvaged from Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall at Geauga Lake.
 
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