In the Dark

They seem to have a relationship going with Garner Holt Productions, so there is a glimmer of hope that something of substance will come to Cedar Point and/or the other Cedar Fair parks. I suppose we'll have to see what happens at Knott's Berry Farm with the rumored Broadwalk attraction.

I was just at Knotts yesterday, and rode the recently refurbished Calico Mine Ride. It is as good if not better than what Disney has put in down the road in recent years. The Log Ride (refurbished last year)is also very good. My money is on a new dark ride designed and built for Garner Holt next season at the Point, 2016 at the latest.

I hadn't thought about them for a dark ride, but it had crossed my mind that maybe they could come in and add some "magic" to our own Mine Ride...but I could not argue with this thinking. Calico MR looks wonderful.

^ I would be in favor of doing away with Mine Ride completely and having Garner Holt/Vekoma build us a Mine Ride that has a low height requirement and has a light storyline. Any ideas of what a ride like that would cost in today's world. In my opinion a ride like that is trams-generational and timeless. Easily worth a $20 million investment.

I say forget the video/gamer dark ride and get something back like Pirate Ride. If they resurrected Shoot the Rapids (sorta) they should have no problem bringing back an enhanced Pirate Ride adventure. Really, it was done pretty well for its sort, even the ship and pond out front with the sound effects. Everybody loves that kind of stuff, especially kids. I'd prefer themes not be cartoon character based, I think it has more general appeal, too. I think general themes stimulate kids imagination more, like pirates, frontier, jungle.

Other than the question I have about Mine Ride sinking in the helix, I agree they can enhance this ride with additional theming and modify the restraints so younger kids can ride it. Then they can promote it as something new for families. They need to revisit the Iron Dragon decision, too.

I haven't been but have come across Silver Dollar City's offerings. I'm not buying any more excuses why Cedar Point can't put in something of that caliber. In their current state I would consider them very much strictly a power park and not a family destination.

If you have not yet either been on it or watched it, just google the Calico Mine Ride in its new updated form.

If you ever post something like "Well, Cedar Fair can't do that...", you'll see just how wrong you are.

Cedar Fair can. Cedar Point could.

I think they should.

I'd take Calico Mine Ride in either the before or after, very cool and the refurbishment looks fantastic. And this is a Cedar Fair park.

I never did buy the excuses, even getting rid of things like Pirate Ride because of "high maintenance". Other parks keep these things going. Knoebels even picked up Black Diamond from another park.

I really think they thought these kind of rides didn't matter anymore in the coaster world but I don't think the appeal ever went away.

I am also going to add you can't replicate the real animatronics of the Calico Mine Ride on a movie screen!

I agree about not wanting the themed dark ride but it's been almost 20 years since anything of this nature has been at CP so I'll take what I can get at this point, haha. (please don't say DT). I'll take a modern version of Pirate Ride or Earthquake any day. I think the latter would appear to today's kids.
As for the Calico Mine Ride, it bums me to hear and see pics of it (yes, it looks great) because I was supposed to ride it out in Buena Vista last week but my summer vacation to LA got cut short by a family emergency. Oh well, maybe next year...

I think a dark ride should be themed but preferably not cartoon specific. It's too kiddified for general audience, and I don't think children can grow with it either. Older kids would consider it too babyish.

I went to Knott's recently and unfortunately Calico Mine Ride wasn't open yet, but I rode Timber Mountain. Cedar Fair had no excuse as to why they can't do theming. They CAN do theming and they can make it amazing. Garner Holt has done an amazing job on Timber Mountain, and from the looks of the pics and videos of Calico Mine ride, they did even better.

As stated earlier, a renovation on CCMR would be awesome. The queue and station could become fully enclosed as well as the prelift and 1st lift, with some Garner Holt props added. I personally think that having the queue and station enclosed makes such a different experience. It emerges you into a different place. You can escape from the park into a small little world for a little bit. That's one thing I loved about Disaster Transport. New trains would also be awesome with individual lap bars and a really low height requirement. It would be cool to see seomthing like this for its 50th anniversary, which is going to be in 2019. Just a thought.

A revival of the Pirate Ride with theming by Garner Holt would be absolutely amazing as well. Something with no interaction, just a basic, traditional dark ride that the whole family could enjoy and share the same experience together. Cedar Fair CAN do it. They really are capable of it, so when people say Cedar Fair can't do theming, they really can. There's 2 amazing examples over at Knott's.

Although I haven't gone on Wonder Mountain's Guardian, it looks disappointing. The theming looks very minimal and it's pretty much a giant video game. It's just my prefrence, but I really hope Cedar Point doesn't get something like this. Maybe somewhere down the road CP could get one, but I'd really prefer the park to get a traditional dark ride first.

Even though it wouldn't technically be a dark ride, a dark family coaster with some awesome elements would be an AMAZING fit for the park as well. Something with a really low height requirement, a small dark ride section, some launches, an outdoor coaster section, an indoor coaster section, a freefall track finale, on ride audio, some spooky/western Garner Holt theming, while still keeping it family friendly, would be a perfect addition that CP is currently really lacking. It could be something that the whole family could enjoy together. It wouldn't be too boring for the thrill seekers, but not too intense for the young ones. Think Mystery Mine meets Verbolten meets Firechaser Express.

Right now, the only coaster that everyone can ride with a height requirement less than 48" is Woodstock Express. With Disaster Transport and the height requirement increase on Iron Dragon, we're left with one coaster that really the whole family can ride together. This is a huge gap at CP and hopefully will continue to be fixed. Pipe Scream and Lake Erie Eagles is a good start though.

Well, at this point I am praying for an indoor attraction. Whether it is a dark ride or a roller coaster, it is the one thing I always felt was missing from Cedar Point.

^ Agreed, it's the one thing missing currently from the park. I just went on two different dark rides last week. I checked out Earthquake the Ride (in Gatlinburg,TN) and Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (@ Kings Island in Cincinnati,OH). There is still demand for these rides as the latter had a 45 minute wait in the queue line!
I did like the simulator experience of the first one but while the scenery kept constantly changing, the overall ride & track length was very short.
As for Boo Blasters, I'm tired of the shooting/target experience but did enjoy some of the scenery, especially the army of skeletons. It would be nice to combine these two WITHOUT the shooting aspect, you know kind of like modern versions of what we used to have at CP.

I wouldn't count on Garner Holt at any of the other Cedar Fair parks anytime soon. I know I'm beating a dead horse with this but Knott's is a theme park, Cedar Point isn't. Knott's competes with other theme parks, Cedar Point doesn't. Knott's is an hour down the road from Garner Holt, Cedar Point is across the country. Knott's had an existing relationship with Garner Holt (they added animatronics to Calico Mine ride back in the 90s), Cedar point doesn't. Knott's has existing dark rides, Cedar Point doesn't. Knott's has an amazing in-house design / scenic team (just look at Knott's Scarry Farm), the rest of Cedar Fair...well, hard to say.

If anything, Cedar Fair will take baby steps with the prospect of a dark ride at Cedar Point and make a cheap addition, like TrioTech.

Believe me, I'm not holding my breath for anything like what Knotts or (god forbid) Disney has in their lineup. I just like reminding people that it's possible.

Knott's being (ostensibly) a theme park has what to do with any park having a dark ride?

Knott's is an hour away from Garner.... can't Garner afford a plane ticket or two?

Cedar Fair -- the company that pays the bills -- has an existing relationship with Garner.

Cedar Point had dark rides. Several other CF parks have or had dark rides. And?

Cedar Fair has an amazing design/scenic team at one of its amusement parks.

Cedar Fair has an abundance of resources available if the company wants to add dark rides, like those at one of its parks (KBF), to one or more of its other parks.

noggin said:
Knott's being (ostensibly) a theme park has what to do with any park having a dark ride?

Theme parks have different priorities than amusement parks and invest accordingly. Stop acting like this is news to you

noggin said:
Knott's is an hour away from Garner.... can't Garner afford a plane ticket or two?

Of course they can but would Cedar Fair's other parks be willing to pay for that plane ticket? The answer is no, as their priorities are elsewhere.

noggin said:
Cedar Point had dark rides. Several other CF parks have or had dark rides. And?

Do they still exist? No. Maybe this quote will sound familiar to you:

"I suspect that Knott's Berry Farm would not have a "high quality traditional dark ride" had that ride not already existed"

noggin said:
Cedar Fair has an abundance of resources available if the company wants to add dark rides, like those at one of its parks (KBF), to one or more of its other parks.

Their resources aren't whats at question here, it's their priorities and whether or not they want to make those kinds of investments at their seasonal AMUSEMENT PARKS that don't have to contend with the likes of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Carsland.

Look, I'd love to see Cedar Fair take the plunge and make some investments like that at Cedar Point and Co but I just don't see it happening.

Sorry to revive this zombie thread...but I just had to do it after returning from Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure (FL) this week.

Does anyone that lives nearby these parks (maybe Jeff?) or someone who has ridden them know the manufacturer of the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey or Escape from Gringott's Dark rides at these parks? Curious to know if anyone here has ridden these ? CP needs to get something like these ASAP!!

Also I just rode the just opened King Kong: Reign of Skull Island (?) dark ride (at Islands of Adventure) and it's my new # 2 dark ride!!! Just incredible stuff. The entire ride experience and 360 degree surround technology just blew me away, seriously!! Highly recommend to everyone even if you haven't been a fan of dark rides in the past.

I have to honestly say the HP:FJ is honestly the best dark ride experience I've ever had. Truly impressive. Combine your best dark ride experience w/the old IMAX theater experience at CP. That's all I will say for now. I honestly think that CP could duplicate this technology at their park for a fraction of the cost (not having to build the outer castle buildings and themeing inside of the Universal park rides ), but just to focus on the ride and technology itself.

Which lends to my next point. It was interesting to me that the crowds that the Universal Parks consistently get are drawn to a resort that has about 85% dark ride and simulator-type experience rides. No joke. There is definitely a demand for these. I never saw a line under a 130 minute wait (in 3 days of going to these parks) for the Transformers 3-d ride. And neither park has that many coasters!!

Another point, the "shoot em up" dark ride experience is something I can know say I definitely DON'T want after riding Men In Black with the aliens with the targets that you shoot at. If CP gets one of these type of rides, I think it would be lame and fail pretty quickly in a few years.

CP, please look into the company that does the Harry Potter rides for your next dark ride experience!!! Now as far as the themeing? I don't know. Maybe a Red Baron 360 degree simulator where you fly in the sky or a Wild West theme where you ride horseback, or inside a stagecoach, down a dusty trail, through ghost towns, and have skeletons chasing you. This is probably the tricky part for CP to come up if they are considering a dark ride for the future.

Any thoughts about what YOU would like to see with CP's future with dark rides / anyone ride the Universal rides on here?

CPfan1976 said:
Also I just rode the just opened King Kong: Reign of Skull Island (?) dark ride (at Islands of Adventure) and it's my new # 2 dark ride!!! Just incredible stuff. The entire ride experience and 360 degree surround technology just blew me away, seriously!!

Really? This is the first good review I've heard of the ride. Most everyone I've talked to said it was very underwhelming. I stopped by the other day to try and ride but didn't feel like waiting for it to open. I'll go once it officially opens.

It will be interesting to see what Cedar Fair does going forward with future dark ride attractions. This year focused on theater-based experiences instead of ride-based offerings from Triotech. I wonder if they will work with Triotech again or instead stick with the video-game-oriented attractions like what was introduced at Carowinds and California's Great America.

I wasn't sure about Voyage of the Iron Reef in concept but it works surprisingly well in person. It certainly feels like a "budget" dark ride but the execution is reasonably solid, all things considered.

I sadly haven't had a chance to experience VofTIR but I did get to Universal to try out HPFJ and thought is was an awesome experience. And I hate to say it but I usually don't care for some of the dark ride experiences as I am more of coaster junkie that prefers adrenaline. If CP is eventually getting a dark ride, which probably will happen at some point since CF has had so many Triotech installs lately, I hope it is better than WMG. I agree about not needeing an interactive experience like shooting at targets to be a great dark ride. If the theming and story are immersive we don't need a gimmick to distract us.