SANDUSKY — Cedar Point will expand and rebrand its Soak City water park for 2017 and will add hotel rooms over the next two years, the Sandusky amusement park announced Thursday.

The rebranded Cedar Point Shores water park will expand the 16-acre Soak City by two acres and add three water attractions, a restaurant, and enhanced recreational amenities on the one-mile long Lake Erie beach area of Cedar Point, the company said.

The 111-year old Hotel Breakers will receive a new tower with 158 guest rooms, and the Breakers Express hotel will be renamed and expanded by 69 rooms.

Park officials declined to disclose the cost of the expansions and improvements.

“There’s so much more to Cedar Point than most realize,” Jason McClure, Cedar Point’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement. “No other amusement park can claim a mile-long beach and fresh water lake just steps away from the largest collection of rides on Earth.”

The capital spending follows the year after Cedar Point’s new dive coaster, the Valravn, which analysts peg at $20 million to $25 million.

New attractions at the expanded water park will include Point Plummet, a six-story-tall, four-person drop slide that simultaneously sends four riders on a near-vertical free fall along separate 400-foot-long slides; Starboard Surge & Portside Plunge, which is two, five-story tube slides, and Lakeslide Landing, a family area with 12 child-sized water slides and nearby shade structures, a lounge, and sundeck where parents can watch children.

Cedar Point said the water park’s existing slides and attractions will get new names and makeovers.

Improvements at Cedar Point Shores include a Crystal Rock Cafe restaurant, a new main entrance, a poolside bar, new family changing/​showering areas, updated cabanas on the sides of the 500,000-gallon wave pool, and free Wi-Fi and electronic device charging stations.

To make way for the expansion, Cedar Point has removed some pay attractions adjacent to Soak City, which made its debut in 1988 and has a separate $36 admission charge from the main park. 

Challenge Racing was removed this year to provide space for Point Plummet. Challenge Golf will be removed to accommodate the new Hotel Breakers Tower. The RipCord ride also will be removed.

The historic Hotel Breakers, fresh off a $50 million upgrade in 2015, will add a six-story tower for lodging. It is to open in 2018. Many of the new rooms will be set up as family suites. An outdoor pool will be added.

Construction will begin after Labor Day and continue through 2017. With the new tower, total rooms at the hotel will be 669.

Cedar Point’s second hotel property, the Breakers Express which is located west of the park, will be expanded and renamed Cedar Point’s Express Hotel. Besides adding rooms, the hotel will get a new splash pad and an outdoor courtyard. Construction has begun and finished for the 2017 season.

Cedar Point also announced that its 2017 platinum season passes will be available for purchase starting Saturday.

The park’s parent company, Cedar Fair LP, also based in Sandusky, announced Thursday added rides and improvements at its Carowinds park near Charlotte and at its Donrey Park in Allentown, Pa.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

First Published August 19, 2016, 4:00 a.m.