SANDUSKY — Riders will reach for the sky — literally — when they step on board the park’s newest ride next summer.
The 30-story WindSeeker swing ride will spin riders at 25 to 30 mph as it flares out some 112 feet or 45 degrees from a 301-foot-tall tower to rise near the Lake Erie shoreline on the spot now occupied by the park’s Ocean Motion swinging boat ride.
Projected to cost roughly $5 million, the new ride is considerably less expensive than the $25 million spent for the 93-mph Millennium Force and 120-mph Top Thrill Dragster roller coasters, which set records and grabbed worldwide attention when they opened in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
Details of the ride were released Tuesday by Cedar Point officials for the first time on the website Facebook, but they proved to be a poorly kept secret, according to park spokesman Robin Innes, who acknowledged it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep the wraps on what the park is up to.
“It is absolutely so difficult to keep a secret these days, and every year it gets tougher,” Innes said. “Parts of this got out real quick this year.”
Innes added that “with everybody speculating, and people getting a little bit of information and liking to share it, it’s so easy to share it with the world now.”
Amusement park fan groups and industry watchers either knew details of the new ride, or were well aware of the pending news, a few weeks ago.
“The most common rumor going around is that the new attraction may be some type of circular swing ride,” Howard Gillooly, preservation director of American Coaster Enthusiasts said Aug. 11.
To be built by Mondial, a Dutch-based ride manufacturer, WindSeeker will stand just a few feet shorter than the 310-foot Millennium Force but nearly two stories higher than the circular passenger cabin on the Space Spiral observation ride that rises 285 feet near the front of the park.
Innes said the new ride, and its cost, were more a response to offering a variety of attractions to visitors than the economy, which has seen attendance and revenue at amusement parks large and small fall in recent years.
“Our goal is to make sure we have enough different attractions to offer different ride experiences for everyone,” Innes said.
Windseeker will have overhead lap bars with interlocking seat belts in the ride’s 32 two-passenger seats. Construction on the new ride won’t begin until the current season ends at the end of October. The Ocean Motion ride will be dismantled and put up for sale, according to Innes.
For the first time in the park’s history, three identical WindSeeker-style rides were announced Tuesday for Cedar Fair-owned parks — Kings Island near Cincinnati, Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto and Knott’s Berry Farm in California.
Even as officials were making their big announcement, websites were buzzing over an apparent patent dispute involving Funtime Group, an Australian ride builder that said it was going to have an agreement with the park to build a similar swinging ride it markets under the name StarFlyer.
The company further threatened legal action if Cedar Point built its own version of the ride, according to published reports.
“We talk to lots of companies about rides including them, but there was never any type of contract between Cedar Fair and Funtime for a similar ride,” Innes said. “There was never any agreement offered. Mondial is the company we are buying our ride from. They are an established and reputable manufacturer. Their U.S. patent counsel researched the issue and concluded there is no merit to Funtime’s claim.”
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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