From Cedar Point’s Facebook…
Cedar Point has an official update on Shoot the Rapids. The ride will not open this weekend as planned. Our preopening procedures are taking longer than expected, but we anticipate it will open soon. We apologize for the delay, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s open.
From the Sandusky Register…
SANDUSKY
Colby Waldroup left his house near Pittsburgh at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning to witness Cedar Point open its gates for its 141st season.
By 9 a.m., the 17-year-old and a pack of his friends waited behind a gold ribbon at the park entrance, eager to be unleashed for a day roller coaster bliss.
Waldroup and his friend Brandon Christie, 18, said they planned to zip over to the Millennium Force as soon as the ribbon dropped.
Many other park patrons had the same idea.
Hundreds of people stampeded into the park to their favorite rides after a short opening ceremony. Platinum pass holders entered immediately after remarks from park officials to ride a special selection of open rides. Folks with regular tickets enjoyed a serenade by The Ohio State University Marching Band while waiting for the park to open to the general public at 10 a.m.
By late morning, families bobbing through the midway enjoyed the scent of the season’s first Cedar Point French fries.
Children scampered ahead of their parents, urging the adults to hurry to the next ride. Some park patrons lounged under shade trees to watch the hustle and bustle.
Park spokesman Robin Innes said the weather, sunny with temperatures in the 70s, was perfect for the occasion and the turnout looked good.
He said the people who come for the opening ceremonies usually zero in on a certain ride to initiate the season.
The debut ride this year — the flume ride Shoot the Rapids — won’t be ready until May 29 while engineers resolve a problem with the boats not fitting in the water flume, but there were plenty of the old standbys ready for riders.
“People will head to Millennium, they’ll stop to go to Raptor here on the left,” Innes said. “The little ones will go to Planet Snoopy.”
Jodie Gambill and her son Wesley, 4, Dayton, got to Snoopy’s Deep Sea Diver ride early enough for Wesley to grab a solo voyage.
“This is the first time we’ve ever been here,” she said, watching her son grin through spins in the yellow submarine.
When asked if there were any rides she aimed to tackle, Gambill said, “I’m just going to enjoy the day.”
The Sanner family from Meyersdale, Pa., said being there for opening day was just a happy accident.
“It was just a good weekend,” Bill Sanner said. “It worked with the school schedule.”
His son, Brody Sanner, 9, and family friend Devin Kretchman, 8, fidgeted with anticipation as Bill and Missy Sanner got their bearings at the park entrance.
Brody held nothing back when asked what he was excited to ride Saturday.
“Everything,” he said with enthusiasm.
From the Sandusky Register…
SANDUSKY
Cedar Point is still opening Saturday, but its new Shoot the Rapids attraction won’t be along for the ride.
Engineering problems with the ride — the boats the passengers ride in were too long and didn’t fit the flume — forced the park to delay the ride’s debut by two weeks.
Cedar Point had planned to launch the ride on the park’s opening day. The new target date is two weeks later, on May 29, said Dick Kinzel, president, chairman and CEO of Cedar Fair, Cedar Point’s parent company.
He said he believes May 29 is a firm date.
Kinzel and other Cedar Point executives made the decision to delay the ride’s launch on Sunday, after a series of weekend meetings. A planned media day to show off the ride to reporters on Friday morning was axed and won’t be rescheduled.
Delays in launching a new ride at Cedar Point are unusual but are not unprecedented, said Robin Innes, Cedar Point’s main spokesman. The last delay was with Maverick in 2007, he said.
Cedar Point had planned to launch Maverick on May 12, 2007, but the opening was delayed until May 26. Three sections of track were removed after tests revealed an excessive amount of stress.
Shoot the Rapids also has been delayed because of an engineering problem.
“Basically, we had trouble with the boats,” Kinzel said Monday. “It’s more of an engineering problem than a safety problem.”
“The manufacturer made the flume, and he contracted out the boats,” Kinzel said. “When the boats came together, the boats didn’t fit the flumes.”
Kinzel said workers have been busy all week trying to modify the boats, which were too long and didn’t go over the top of the hill properly. That can destroy the flume, he said.
By Sunday, only two of the boats had been retrofitted. The ride uses four boats.
“We can run two or three boats, but that’s not what you want to do,” he said.
The struggle to get the ride to work right cut training time, so executives decided on the delay to give the ride crew time to prepare, Kinzel said.
Kinzel said the park has had a long relationship with the manufacturer, Intamin Worldwide of Switzerland, which made Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force and Maverick rides. Cedar Fair will work the problem out with the company, Kinzel said.
“We’re not going to bring our lawyers into it,” Kinzel said.
The delay also has postponed the auction that the Firelands Chapter of the American Red Cross is conducting for who gets to be first to try out the water ride. The cutoff for bidding is now 8:30 a.m. May 26, said Ron Rude, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter.
“I think it may work to our advantage,” Rude said. “We always like to complete things on schedule, but it will give us more time to hopefully gain more bidders.”
Cedar Point Press Release
SANDUSKY, Ohio – Cedar Point announced today that the opening of Shoot the Rapids, the park’s new water ride, will be delayed until Saturday, May 29 to complete construction of the ride and to conduct final testing and inspection of the ride’s operating systems.
The Media Preview of Shoot the Rapids scheduled for Friday, May 14 has been cancelled. The ride will not be in operation on Opening Day, Saturday, May 15.
The decision to delay the opening of Shoot the Rapids was based on the need to complete a number of commissioning procedures and pre-opening tests prior to opening the ride.
“We are disappointed Shoot the Rapids will not be in operation on Opening Day,” said John Hildebrandt, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “But we are committed to opening a ride that is ready to thrill and delight our guests.”
The commissioning and testing process is already underway and the ride is expected to be in operation for the Memorial Day Weekend beginning on Saturday, May 29.
Cedar Point will be open daily Saturday, May 15 through Labor Day, Sept. 6. It will reopen on Sunday, Sept. 12 and for HalloWeekends on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 17-19 through Oct. 29-31.