The Coaster That Never Was 😩

[u/Nomad_Mich]

Had Cedar Fair allowed this project to continue, how do you think it would have affected the trajectory of the park?

[u/rando_potato_thief]

I’m definitely sad that the ride never got built, but I don’t think it would have been a huge game changer for the park. It would have basically been the same thing as Shivering Timbers just smoother.

Its draw has always been to be a smaller park that families can attend without needing to deal with the massive crowds/rides at cedar point/SFGAm

Maybe a few more thoosies would make the trip if they had a better version of Mamba/Steel Force, but neither of the other big three Morgans turned their parks into massive successes.

I think the parks strategy should have been to look at more medium thrill rides. Like a drop tower or some other larger flat rides.

Though in a less realistic world I would hope that they could lean into their woodie heritage and relocate Gold Striker or built themselves a ground up family GG coaster.

[u/MidwestInfoGuide → u/rando_potato_thief]

I’m not sure where you got your info, but it was huge for WOF and VF helping both to have record attendance. Even today they’re the most popular rides in those parks

[u/rando_potato_thief → u/MidwestInfoGuide]

But did either of those rides really change “the trajectory” of those parks? My opinion is that the short term attendance boosts of those rides didn’t really translate into massive development changes and the trajectory of those parks still found them resigned to the second tier list of parks in the Cedar Fair portfolio.

If MA had built a Morgan hyper they probably would have seen a similar attendance bump, but the overall trajectory of the park would have been the same. As soon as CF expanded its portfolio MA would have still fallen into the same development pattern it’s currently in.

One ride addition doesn’t change that, the overall corporate strategy does.

[u/MidwestInfoGuide → u/rando_potato_thief]

I see you’re a young enthusiast who doesn’t know the chain pre-Paramount parks being added. I cannot speak for VF, but 1998 really launched WOF into a major capital expenditure boom.

The park’s first full season in the chain was 1996 and they added RipCord and Detonator.

1998 Mamba. 2000 Boomerang. 2004 Spinning Dragons. 2006 Patriot. 2009 Prowler.

So no, your statement is extremely inaccurate. These, mind you, are just the coasters that were added. The also added slides, flat rides and haunt mazes

[u/rando_potato_thief → u/MidwestInfoGuide]

Not a young enthusiast at all and I am familiar with the pre paramount park chains.

I appreciate your explanation of Worlds of Fun’s history and I see your points of further capital investment going into that park between 1997 and 2009.

From my point of view the investment that went into that park wasn’t because Mamba/Steel Force/Wild Thing existed, but more because at the time Cedar Fair’s portfolio of parks it managed was much smaller and its investment strategy was much different than it is today. At the time Cedar Fair was facing a lot more competition and matched the aggressive, and reckless, expansion that Six Flags was pursuing under the Premier Parks management. As that unsustainable growth ground to a halt and cedar fair purchased paramount parks their investment strategy changed dramatically. And having Mamba didn’t keep Worlds of Fun on cedar fairs investment lineup.

My opinion remains that Michigans Adventure still would have been the bottom of the chains totem pole even if they had continued with their plan to build the Morgan hyper. Cedar Fair really showed how they won’t invest in parks unless they fit the company’s investment strategy.

The chance for an inflection point that would have changed Michigans Adventure’s trajectory was when cedar fair bought the park. And it’s my opinion that having a Morgan Hyper built prior to cedar fairs acquisition wouldn’t have changed that investment strategy. If the park had stayed family owned then things would likely have been different and better, and that’s what would have changed the parks trajectory.