Snake River Falls

Snake River Falls
1993
30th Anniversary Edition

Snake River Falls is Cedar Point's tallest water ride. Snake River Falls opened in 1993 in Frontier Town. Riders are sure to get a splash on this ride!

In the 1980's Cedar Point began adding bigger and better rides that would get the attention of the world. In 1985, Avalanche Run was added that gave Cedar Point a unique thrill. Thunder Canyon and its river adventure arrived on Frontier Trail in 1986. The suspended style Iron Dragon began slaying its riders in 1987. Soak City Waterpark opened in 1988. Magnum XL-200 became the world's tallest roller coaster and the first roller coaster over 200 feet. Magnum XL-200 was such a great ride that Cedar Point was looking for a different thrill to follow up the ride. Avalanche Run was enclosed to become Disaster Transport in 1990. Mean Streak became the world's tallest wooden roller coaster in 1991. Challenge Park opened in 1992. With all of these great new additions, Cedar Point would add something cool for 1993.

On September 9, 1992, Cedar Point announced it would build Snake River Falls for the 1993 season. The ride would be the tallest of its kind. Snake River Falls was built on land in Frontiertown that was mostly a lagoon.

Snake River Falls was built over the winter of 1992 and the spring of 1993.

Snake River Falls is located in Frontier Town. The ride is located between Maverick and Skyhawk.

Snake River Falls opened on May 8, 1993, as the tallest and fastest water ride in the world!

Snake River Falls Ride Facts:
Height: 82 feet
Type: Shoot the Chute
Drop: 82 feet
Speed: 40 MPH
Manufacture: Arrow Dynamices
Opened: May 8, 1993
Ride Time: 2:20

Snake River Falls was built by Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield Utah. Arrow Dynamics had built several other of Cedar Point's rides including: Caddallic Cars (1958), Turnpike Cars (1959-2014), Mill Race (1963-1993), Earthquake (1965-1985), Pirate Ride (1966-1996), Shoot-the-rapids (1967-1981), Cedar Creek Mine Ride (1969), Antique Cars (1969), Corkscrew (1976), Gemini (1978), White Water Landing (1982-2005), Iron Dragon (1987) and Magnum XL-200 (1989). Arrow Dynamics was an innovating American amusement ride design company that pushed the boundaries of ride design. Cedar Point holds the largest collection of Arrow Dynamics roller coasters. Snake River Falls would be the last Arrow Dynamics ride built at Cedar Point. Arrow Dynamics went out of business in 2002.

Ride Experience

The ride experience on Snake River Falls begins with guest going thru the rides entrance and most of the time going to the station to board the ride.

Snake River Falls is themed as being a wood packing company. The station was given a cool and unique look to fit in with Frontier Town.

Riders are loaded into boats that can hold up to 20 people each. The boats are bench style and there is just a lap bar holding you in.

Snake River Falls lifts its riders 82 feet in the air. Going up the lift, riders get a great view of Frontier Trail. It takes about a minute for the ride to get to the top.

Once the boat gets to the top of the lift it enters a tunnel. The tunnel was added to help keep the noise level down.

The tunnel functions as a turnaround point for the ride. Riders float around while the boat travels the channel.

At the very end of the tunnel, the boat gets ready to drop. Before the ride drops, riders are lifted back up a few feet on a conveyor belt. This extra lift is used so that the ride could run more boats.

Snake River Falls drops it's riders 82 feet at a 50-degree angle. In 1993, this drop on Snake River Falls was the steepest and longest drop on any water ride in the world.

Riders are dropped into a huge pond of water. The drop on Snake River Falls is really cool. Riders experience airtime as the drop goes on.

When the boat hits the bottom it sends a water flying into the air creating a wall of water that splashes the boat and everyone standing on the exit bridge. The ride sure does make a HUGE splash!

After the drop, the ride then floats back to the station.

The boats do have a path to follow in the pond but they are not on a track. The path takes the boats back into the station.

Riders exit the station by getting off on the opposite side they entered.

When exiting the ride riders over over this bridge that just happens to be under the rides splash. If you didn't get soaked enough on the ride you will surely get soaked here!

Snake River Fall Makes An Impact on Cedar Point

The summer of 1993 ended up being a very hot summer, so naturally, Snake River Falls ended up being a big hit for Cedar Point. The ride had very long lines and was a popular addition for Cedar Point.

Snake River Falls became a guest favorite. It would go on to be the last ride built at Cedar Point by Arrow Dynamics. Arrow was a huge manufacture for Cedar Point. They helped Cedar Point become what it is today.

In the years following the opening of Snake River Falls, Cedar Point turned its focus into adding roller coasters and rides that would better help its line up. In the past 25 years, Cedar Point added 14 roller coasters. The park would grow adding: Raptor (1994), Mantis (1996-2014), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021) maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot The Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), Dinosaur's Alive (2012), GateKeeper (2013), Pipe Scream (2014), Wilderness Run (2014), Rougarou (2015), Valravn (2016), Cedar Point Shores Waterpark (2017) Steel Vengeance (2018), Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island (2019), Cedar Point's 150 Anniversary Celebration (2021), and The Boardwalk (2023). All of these new attractions have brought something unique to Cedar Point.