Mill Race (log flume)

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Mill Race
Cedar Point Mill Race in 1963.jpg
Mill Race in the mid 1960s
Cedar Point
StatusRemoved
Cost$300,000
Opening date1963 (1963)
Closing date1993 (1993)
Replaced by Raptor
General statistics
Type Log flume
Manufacturer Arrow Development
Height28 ft (8.5 m)
Length1,230 ft (370 m)

Mill Race was a log flume ride that operated between 1963 [1] and 1993 [2] at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Contents

Opened in 1963, just months after El Aserradero [The Sawmill] at Six Flags Over Texas, [3] it was the world's second log flume ride. [1] In 1993, it was dismantled to make room for the Raptor roller coaster. [2]

History

Park souvenir with an illustration of Mill Race Mill Race Cedar Point drawing cropped.png
Park souvenir with an illustration of Mill Race

Built for about $300,000 ($2,985,652 today [4] ), [1] Mill Race opened during a period of transition at Cedar Point. [5] In 1963, when Mill Race opened, Cedar Point had no operating roller coasters besides smaller wild mouse style roller coasters. [5] Mill Race opened near the entrance of the park on the main midway [6] and it proved to be one of the most popular rides in the entire park. [7] The number of Cedar Point visitors rose following the installation of Mill Race. [5]

Although Mill Race was popular, the log flume was ultimately removed in 1993 to prepare for the addition of the inverted steel roller coaster Raptor. [2] A second log flume ride, White Water Landing, had also been built at Cedar Point in 1982. At 50 feet (15 m) in height, [6] White Water Landing dwarfed the 28 feet (8.5 m) tall Mill Race. [1] Snake River Falls, a third flume, opened in Mill Race's last year of operation. [6] In the year following Mill Race's removal and Raptor's installation, Cedar Point admissions went from hundreds of thousands of visitor admissions to over two million visitor admissions in a single season. [2]

Layout and ride experience

Mill Race had a simple layout, only having a single lift hill of 28 feet (8.5 m) in height. [1] Mill Race had been selected as a top Cedar Point attraction in multiple years of the 1960s. [7] [8]

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References

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