WindSeeker

By: Chris

             August 24^th, 2010 was a day for Cedar Fair’s 2011 season announcement. As we all know by now, Cedar Point and Kings Island, as well as Knott’s Berry Farm and Canada’s Wonderland, are getting the WindSeeker ride.  All versions will be 301 feet tall, with a 110’ diameter and a capacity of 1,200 persons per hour. WindSeeker is a prototype ride by Mondial. The ride will take 64 riders in pairs in 32 rows up the 301 foot tower. While ascending the tower the riders will rotate at 45 degrees up to the speed of 30 miles per hour. Total cost for the ride is $5 million dollars. Cedar Point has confirmed a light package with their WindSeeker and it has been rumored that the other park’s WindSeekers will have a light package.

             There was a buzz started around July about a new ride at Cedar Point when they posted on the now obsolete blog on CP’s website, a picture of a stake in the sand. Mid-July buzz had grown when Cedar Fair trademarked the name Stratosoar. Nearly a month later, Mondial announced a new ride under the name WindSeeker. Rumors started to grow that WindSeeker or Stratosoar would replace Ocean Motion (Cedar Point’s Swinging Ship). Things only started to get heated when ride manufacturer Funtime Group, spilled the beans about Cedar Point’s new ride when they entered a patent war.

             In short, Funtime has fought with Mondial over a patent for Starflyer, a more simplistic version on the WindSeeker. Funtime was angry with Cedar Fair after executives visited a park to look at a Starflyer for a possible ride in 2011. Cedar Fair neither confirmed nor denied that they were going to go with Starflyer for the ride in 2011. Funtime then learned that Cedar Fair was buying a similar ride from Mondial.

             Following that leak of the new ride, Cedar Point announced that they would be building the Mondial WindSeeker for the 2011 season, ditching the Stratosoar name. On the same day as mentioned before 3 other Cedar Fair parks, Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland and Knott’s Berry Farm announced that they would also be receiving identical WindSeeker. Rumors were proved somewhat true at the beginning of the off season when Cedar Point posted a picture on their Facebook page that Ocean Motion was being torn down as well the Windseeker Cam being placed online at www.cedarpoint.com showing the dismantling of Ocean Motion. Ocean Motion is being moved to a different area of the park. Since Ocean Motion has been brought down temporarily there has been little development on the site.  The area has been smoothened out and now is currently covered by snow. Recently in the web cam we have seen a trailer and a crane come to the site. Maybe we’ll see more in the near future. I honestly believe that this site, which Cedar Point has stated is around the original area of a ride similar to WindSeeker, that would raise riders above the water and dip them in the water as well, is a good area for the ride. I think that the addition of the WindSeeker will add a new life to that area as well as enhance it.

            Kings Island’s WindSeeker has also went through the same sort of rumor mill, however there wasn’t much outside “knowledge” about the ride, mainly rumors were fueled through enthusiasts and those who worked at the park. Once the park made the announcement on August 24^th, they stated that WindSeeker would be located in Coney Mall. The exact location was yet to be determined and often rumored about. Would it go at the former Flight Commander area? Would it go in the woods by Vortex? Once the offseason started, Kings Island posted pictures via their Facebook and Twitter of construction at the end of Coney Mall near Vortex, the Racer and Action Theater in preparation for WindSeeker. I heard through an unconfirmed source the original placement for WindSeeker was going to be around the area of the previous Laser Tag Hut and the Coney bathrooms, but the soil sample failed the test that showed the ride would be supported by the soil quality. Due to the failed test, the ride was moved to its current position after the soil quality test was passed for that area.

            There hasn’t been an exact confirmation of the WindSeeker location, however there have been pictures posted from Kings Island that have suggested where it is, including this one.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150145626333368&set=a.226729858367.174830.155893938367

            The picture can be a little bit deceiving due to perspective. However, most have concluded that it is located at the exit of Action Theater. Thus, rumors were created that Windseeker will be replacing Action Theater. Kings Island verified on a comment on their Facebook Kings Island Facebook that “no rides or attractions are being removed to make room for WindSeeker.”

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs195.ash2/45867_488526383367_155893938367_6842243_6616321_n.jpg

            I am excited to see what the WindSeeker will do for these two parks. I do share fear with some enthusiasts that since this ride is a prototype that there will be tons of down time and that if one WindSeeker goes down for a while, the others will as well. It is my hope that they do not have a ton of down time and that they will be able to give some amazing rides for the 2011 season and many seasons after that!  I do know that with WindSeeker coming to Kings Island has led way for an overhaul of Coney Mall. I’m quite excited for that as well. I cannot wait to see these machines in person!

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs195.ash2/45867_488526388367_155893938367_6842244_2752447_n.jpg

Check out this video of local Cincinnati media coverage of WindSeeker.

Leave a comment below about your opinions on WindSeeker and any of the background information above.

Remember you do not have to be a member of Blogger or any other sites to comment. All you have to do is click the link at the bottom of the blog that mentions comments. Once you click this fill out the comment box, click the drop down menu and select Name/URL, anonymous, LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, or OpenID, then hit submit! We are looking forward to hearing about your highlights and any other comments you may have!

Sources: http://www.sanduskyregister.com/sandusky/2010/aug/19/ride-wars-cedar-point

http://www.screamscape.com/html/cedar_point.htm

Review of the 2010 Season

By: Chris

            Imagine walking up to the gates, getting your pass checked, walking through to see International Street. You see multiple employees inside the park, those wearing the yellow jump suits, those wearing red shirts and khaki shorts as well as the friends of and the Peanuts characters. This was the sight I saw as I walked into the park on Opening Day for the 2010 season. Opening day was by far one of the most fun days at the park that I had! I had the chance to check out the newly renovated Kid’s Area, Planet Snoopy. The transition to Planet Snoopy was great! I was happy that the park continuously updated Facebook to show the changes being made to that area. So walking into that area of the park was even sweeter because I was able to see it in real life! Of course as soon as my viewing of Planet Snoopy was over, I went straight to my favorite coaster in the park, Diamondback. Throughout opening day I visited all the areas of the park, got a chance to ride each of my favorite rides, on multiple occasions. I was happy to see friends throughout the park that day!

            2010 at Kings Island turned out being a wonderful time for me. There are several memories that stick out in my mind of this past season. One memory was visiting the park when I wasn’t even planning to. I had just got off of work in the Mason area and a friend had locked his keys in the car in the Kings Island parking lot. So my carpool, Beth, and I went over to help him out, with our pass we got into where he was parked. He called triple a. Once triple a got his keys out, we decided to head into the park. We had the chance to sit and watch “Don’t Stop The Music” for the first time. It was pretty good! Then we headed to ride some rides. Of course we hit up Diamondback. My favorite ride memory of this visit to the park was riding Vortex. I have been on Vortex countless number of times so I thought I’d have some fun! My friends and I sat behind these two teenaged girls. As we approached the lift hill, I winked at Beth…and asked out loud if this ride went upside down, she said no and I acted all cool! We went down the first hill and I did the normal “Whooaaaaa”. We then approached the turn before the double loop.

I started my fake cry and screamed “you told me this didn’t go upside down.” She just laughed and I continued to cry! As we approached the corkscrew ending I asked if we were done going upside down, Beth replied yes and I we went through the corkscrews….I continued my fake cry! The girls in front of us the whole time were seriously scared for me because I was freaking out. We got to the holding breaks before the station and I continued to “cry”. The girls turned around and they asked if I was okay….I sniffed a bit and said yeah! I’ve ridden this a ton of times! J

            Another wonderful memory was getting my 300^th ride on Diamondback. One Sunday morning I went in for ERT. I went to ride Beast first, then spent most of the day at Diamondback. It was a hot July day….so I took breaks often. That morning before I started riding Diamondback, I had 245 rides prior. Some of you may not believe me, but I got 56 rides in that day. I constantly went through the Single Rider Line. At the time of the 300^th ride, I found my pal Gary Coleman (yes there is a guy named Gary Coleman), the guy who has had over 3,000some rides on Diamondback, and waited through the regular line with him. We road in the front row for the train…we had a wonderful ride! It by far felt so free! We walked through the store to look at our picture. Once I had a look at it, I started walking out and Gary called me over, he purchased the picture for me! That was amazing time for me and something I will always remember!

            I got to see some cool things for the 2010 season at Kings Island. Saw the launch of Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular. I got to see the park raise tons of money for cancer research. I got to see the announcement for Windseeker. Only saw the park close early once due to weather. I got to see a wonderful Haunt season. Haunt was a lot of fun as well. I got to go in several Haunts that I previously had not been in. They were a lot of fun. The fog was great this year and the atmosphere was wonderful! This haunt was a lot better than the ones I previously been to.

            I also only got to Cedar Point once during the 2010 season. However, that one trip was amazing and worth it. We left around 6 am to head up to Cedar Point. I hadn’t been to the park since I was in 8^th grade. I was really intimidated by the size of some of the rides. In 8^th grade, I only got a chance to ride a few rides but the only two coasters I rode were Raptor and Mantis. Back to 2010, we met up with some friends from the park and instantly went to Millennium Force. I was pretty scared. We rode and I became hooked. We went throughout the park, rode every coaster we could. Maverick and Millennium Force became my absolute favorite coasters at the park. We didn’t ride Mean Streak or Blue Streak. We rode Maverick several times…our friends got stuck at the bottom of the first lift. It was quite fun having a conversation back and forth from the ground to the track. We road the Antique Cars…how I missed those, I wish that Kings Island would still have had those. The biggest intimidation factor for me was waiting in line for Top Thrill Dragster. I was shaking in line! I did get calmed down, when I saw three people from my High School in line! That was a pleasant surprise! Finally getting to board the train, my friend Caitlin sitting next to me who had never rode before was telling me she was afraid. I said I was too. We pulled out of the station and I said “Here we go!” Caitlin replied “Shh, don’t talk,” the countdown started and she yelled “OH MY GOD!!! HERE WE GO!!!!” That was an amazing 17 second ride! Yeah, 17 seconds don’t really seem worth it, but it totally was. We closed the day out with a night ride, last ride, on Millennium Force. What a great way to close my trip to Cedar Point with.

            The 2010 season was a wonderful season for me. In other words, I’m totally pleased with the 2010 season.

Leave us some comments about the highlights to your 2010 season. Remember you do not have to be a member of Blogger or any other sites to comment. All you have to do is click the link at the bottom of the blog that mentions comments. Once you click this fill out the comment box, click the drop down menu and select Name/URL, anonymous, LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, or OpenID, then hit submit! We are looking forward to hearing about your highlights and any other comments you may have!

Make sure to check back later this week for an update from Alyssa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnyspXM67ko

Welcome!

By: Chris

What a great adventure Alyssa and I have found ourselves on! We would formally like to welcome you to The G-Force Blog! We’re extremely excited about this opportunity to serve the amusement park fans of Kings Island, Cedar Point, those who are amusement park enthusiasts and those who just visit parks every so often. We also are excited for the chance of having our blogs possibly turning just a general park visitor into an enthusiast. Our goal is to get excitement, talk and information out there for these two wonderful parks. As stated on our page, “Our purpose is to provide accurate and informative information to those who visit. Our purpose is to also inspire, inform and encourage enthusiasts, general park visitors and those who are interested in Kings Island and Cedar Point to expand their views on the parks. We hope to help turn normal park guests into enthusiasts. In doing all of this we will do this in a positive light.”

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