Cedar Point announces two new family rides for 2014

August 27, 2013 at 5:35 PM · Thanks for the update, James. I'm pleased to hear that the Breakers will be receiving a major renovation in the near future -- it sure is in need of modern updates; however, I have to say that I'm rather disappointed with the news for the park. The two new rides look too uneventful and underwhelming for my liking. I realize that CP can't add major attractions on a yearly basis, but I'm just not very impressed with the selections.

Is the dark ride rumor out? I heard a lot of speculation about a family-friendly dark ride taking over the historic arcade building on the midway... Has that ship sailed?

August 28, 2013 at 1:12 AM · Melissa, to be honest, the rumor has been around for several years that CP would be adding a major coaster this year (Gatekeeper) and a smaller family coaster next year (Pipe Scream). It looks like that rumor is coming true. As far as the dark ride going into the arcade on the ground floor of the Colesium, I asked John Hildebrandt (General Manager of CP)that question one day and he said that the cost of the infrastructure renovations of such an addition would be cost-prohibitive. If you think about it, the ceilings in the arcade are not very high, and there are those large support columns throughout the space. He did say that we should not be surprised to see a dark ride in the near future, but as every Cleveland sports fan is used to saying, "There's always next year." If I were to put my money on a dark ride location that would reuse an existing space, I would bet on the old Pirate Ride building, but frankly I would be more likely to lean towards a new purpose-built structure someplace. I have heard creditable rumors that they are taking out an ancient dorm building near the Breakers Hotel (the wooden three-story dorm next to Corkscrew) and that the old Cedars Hotel (next to the Marina) will also be coming down). That will free up quite a bit of land for a new attraction of some kind. Use of the Cedars site would require either relocating the perimeter road to allow direct connection to the park or over-the-road structural connection to any attraction located there. That being said, that is strictly conjecture on my part- I do love spending Cedar Fair's money! I guess we'll just have to wait for next year to find out.

August 28, 2013 at 6:48 AM · I think this is a pretty reasonable addition following an expensive coaster installation in 2013. The Gemeni Midway was looking pretty neglected, and I did find it odd that there were kiddie rides outside of Planet Snoopy that were devoid of theme. However, it's pretty sad that the bumper boats are going away. There aren't too many attractions like that left in the world.

The current thinking is that Cedar Fair will debut a dark ride in another park in 2014 as a prototype, and then install a bigger/better version in Cedar Point in 2015. Considering that is what Cedar Fair has done in the past with newer technology (i.e. Xcellerator and TTD), it's not too far-fetched. It's just a matter of which park will get the prototype, and if it will actually get done in 2014 or if Cedar Point will have to wait until 2016 for this new dark ride.