Snake River Expedition Closing?

It appears Snake River may be dead again. If you attempt to go to it’s URL it redirects you to the rides and experiences pages and appears to have been removed from the site.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/...expedition

It also is no longer listed in the app or the interactive app map.

After the big deal they made in 2020/2021 about building the new boats and designing this experience, it's disappointing (while also not being surprising given the current state of things as far as Live-E budget cuts) to see that just three years later the ride is likely to be mothballed indefinitely.

My family enjoyed the original version the couple times we rode it. It was so satisfying to be at Cedar Point and be riding something so immersive. Kids getting picked to be part of the show helped, but it would have been fun regardless. There was some great talent in Cedar Point's lineup at FF and, subsequently, Snake River Expedition.

I get what they were trying to do post-Forbidden-Frontier, but whatever Paddlewheel boat captain culture existed back in the day was just non-existent. And without the storyline driving the experience, the animatronics were just goofy. We rode it once sans-actors, and that most likely would have been our last ride anyway.

That said, it seemed to still be popular last season, and I bet little ones still liked it and it served to help fill that family-attraction hole.

Interesting that this phrase on the home page was changed from “It's home to 70 amazing rides” to “It's home to 68 amazing rides“. This makes me wonder was the count wrong before, or is something else gone as well?

Edit: Looks like it was a typo before, other areas on the site had it listed as 69.

I guess it’s time to watch Millenium Island as closely as possible this season for clues. Forbidden Frontier closes last year and now Snake River appears to be mothballed. Feels like indications are pointing to it being the most obvious area to develop. Putting a permanent bridge from Camp Snoopy to the Island would necessitate killing boats again. 👀👀

The continued decimation of live E is worrying, to say the least. Seems like a continued race for the bottom.

And would it kill them to reuse or relocate the Highground play structure? That thing was a lot of fun for us and our kids to enjoy together, and was reminiscent of Kid Arthur's Court from my childhood.

This after a very boisterous meeting of the black-shirt higher-ups where one side of the table tried to convince the other side that converting the boats to EV's (or would that be EB's) would be the future goal, and any other decision would be ignorant and close-minded. Other side argued that re-charging the boats would be too time consuming. Others stated Millenium Isle should become a solar farm. One suggested a fact-finding trip to Norway to investigate the issue.

Never mind, wrong topic.

Does anyone even ride that anymore? I think it would be better int he water park, I know I do not like being soaking wet walking around the park all day long.

It's interesting that they would close it before the season starts instead of at the end. I suppose it's possible they have some big plans for the lagoon/island that need the time to get started early. I'd guess it's more likely the ridership was bad last season and they didn't want to pay for the staff/maintenance again.

Wonder if they'll repurpose the boats somehow, or move them to another park. Maybe they could move some of the animatronics near the train tracks. My inner pessimist says it's all just going to sit there for years.

I'm all for moving the animatronics to the train ride. Its pretty bare bones over there.

I'm in agreement that this was a really fast fall from grace, if indeed SRE has been kicked to the curb. I enjoyed PWE when it was a thing, and enjoyed SRE during its first year. I rode again last year and agree that the latest iteration was pretty poor. It felt like they were trying to do too much. It seems like if they got rid of the pre-show and just had the hokey dad jokes that they used back in the PWE days, it'd be just fine again.

Cousin Eddy:

know I do not like being soaking wet walking around the park all day long.

Wrong ride! You’re think Snake River Falls back by Maverick. This post is about Snake River Expedition the paddle boat ride that leaves from Camp Snoopy!

SpeedDemon:

Wrong ride! You’re think Snake River Falls back by Maverick. This post is about Snake River Expedition the paddle boat ride that leaves from Camp Snoopy!

Damn, I am tired this morning, my bad!!!

djDaemon:

And would it kill them to reuse or relocate the Highground play structure?

This could be relocated to Camper Village, out by the old Sandcastle site. Would be a nice touch for campers and easily themed to the campground.

In the past, Snake River Expedition didn’t open for the season until Memorial Day Week, and if memory serves me, only operated u til Labor Day Weekend or the one directly after that. So that’s probably why it’s not listed on the rides page yet. Plus if they still have the boats, they’re probably storing them in the marina garage anyway like when they first came, but just a guess.

Jake10, I think you're misunderstanding what happened. It's not that people noticed that it's missing, it's that people noticed it was removed from the website entirely. Thunder Canyon doesn't open on opening day, yet they don't remove that from the website every year.

Our family really missed having Forbidden Frontier last season, and while the "expedition" was lack luster last year, our family still rode most trips. It sucks when family things are removed, because this is still a category I think Cedar Point can improve on. Sure, there's lots of rides for small kids, and there's lots of rides for adults, but how many rides are there that everyone can enjoy? Yes, there's the train, but Snake River Expedition, Forbidden Frontier, Live E shows, and the Frontier Festival were all things an entire family could enjoy.

Jake10:

In the past, Snake River Expedition didn’t open for the season until Memorial Day Week...

I was thinking that too, but I don't have any recollection of it not being listed on the attractions list despite the late opening.

Yeah it wasn’t completely removed from the site, app and map in the past. IIRC it was always listed with a note of its opening window for the season. It’s been completely wiped from existence now though. (Except for Google where the URL and blurb show up but if you actually attempt to follow the link it kicks you to the general rides page)