Though the 2011 season is not over yet, Cedar Point has made some big plans for next summer.

The Sandusky amusement park/resort has announced plans to introduce Dinosaurs Alive! on Adventure Island, a prehistoric themed attraction, for next summer. The new attraction, which will cost approximately $1 million to build, will be located on four acres on the wooded island that is located in the lagoons toward the back of the park. With the addition of Dinosaurs Alive!, the Paddlewheel Excursions boat cruise will be retired from the park.

The journey into Dinosaurs Alive! will be multi-sensory and interactive. Guests will be able to see approximately 50 life-size animatronic dinosaurs that will roar and move. Each will be handcrafted and covered with skin-like materials that will replicate almost every feature. Four of the dinosaurs will have interactive consoles that will allow guests to guide their movement to create an up-close look at how these dinosaurs moved their arms, tail, eyes and mouth.

“We are extremely excited about introducing Dinosaurs Alive! to our guests next summer,” said John Hildebrandt, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “Our guests will have the opportunity to visit the Jurassic Age up close and see some of the amazing creatures that called it home. Dinosaurs Alive! will be educational but fun, too.”

Overall, Dinosaurs Alive! will feature approximately three dozen types of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs will range in size and height from the smallest – an Angustinaripterus that will only be two feet tall and eight feet long – to the Ruyangosaurus, which will stand nearly 40 feet tall and 72 feet long.

Other dinos will include the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Irratator, Baryonyx and Spinosaurus, the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs. A plated Stegosaurus and three-horned Triceratops will also inhabit the island. The half-mile-long path will feature more than a dozen themed exhibits and displays and will veer underneath several of the larger dinosaurs providing a very intimate encounter with the prehistoric beasts.

Guests will enter Dinosaurs Alive! by crossing a bridge near Camp Snoopy. In addition to the dinosaurs, explorers will also encounter an excavation site and paleontological dig. There will also be informational signs for each exhibit and guides and fossil displays that will make Dinosaurs Alive! an entertaining three-dimensional educational tool for school groups as the discovery and identification of new species of dinosaurs increases annually.

The attraction will be created and produced by Dinosaurs Unearthed, a traveling exhibition company that creates dynamic, multi-sensory experiences about the world of dinosaurs.

Next to Cedar Point, the Soak City waterpark will also have a new look for 2012. Next summer it will add a new mat-racer complex that will offer racers a speedy ride through a series of dips and plateaus.

Cedar Point visitors will have the opportunity to experience the Jurassic Age up close at the new Dinosaurs Alive! on Adventure Island, set to open in the 2012 season. (Photo courtesy of Cedar Point)

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