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Here are some of the coasters, and what
we think of them, at Cedar Point.
 - This is
a nice coaster. It's a typical wooden coaster built by The Philadelphia
Toboggan Company in 1964, with a first drop of 72 feet and an out-and-back
design. It has a fairly smooth ride and a few thrilling hills.
- The Raptor is a Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) steel inverted coaster
that is similar to one of our favorites: Batman
- The Ride. But the Raptor is not quite as intense. Although it's a
little bigger and longer than Batman, it contains about the same number of
exciting elements, so there is more breathing time between each. We prefer the
non-stop action of the original inverted coaster.
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- The Corkscrew points out one of the disappointments we had with Cedar Point.
Although the park has many coasters and many kinds of coasters, it often has
early versions of new coaster technology. As a result, the novelty 
factor is high, but the excitement wears off quickly.
The Corkscrew's out-and-back layout consists of a vertical loop on the way out,
and then after the turnaround, a double kind of barrel-roll helix (like a
corkscrew). When it was built (in 1976, by Arrow Dynamics), it was the first
ride with three inversions like this. Over thiry years later, however, turning
upside-down 3 times in a coaster is hardly unprecedented. Worse, the coaster
has gotten rough, so that it bangs you around pretty hard. But it sure looks
great when the train passes through the corkscrew right over your head. This
picture was taken from the midway, looking straight up at the upside-down
riders.
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- It's just plain big! The Magnum is a hyper-coaster, a title it earns because
its lift hill is over 200 feet tall! This kind of size allow the Magnum to
offer high speed (over 70 mph), a third hill that's higher than the first hill
on the Blue Streak, and a total track length just short of a mile.
The Magnum is nearly identical to Dorney Park's
Steel Force, but is not quite as smooth. A nice feature of the Magnum,
though, is the way its layout takes advantage of the park's neighbor, Lake
Erie. As you come up the second hill, you see, directly in front of you, the
open water. You seem to be hurtling right into the lake. It's only after you
crest the second hill (at 157 feet) that the track, at the last moment, veers
to the left to stay on dry land.
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When Cedar Point opened Magnum XL-200 in 1989, they stunned the world with the
first roller coaster to break the 200 foot barrier. So for 2000, Cedar Point
(literally) raised the bar by giving us Millennium Force, with a first drop of
300 feet pitched at an amazing 80 degrees! Although this ride has some heavily
banked curves, there are no actual inversions on this monster. This
one-and-a-quarter mile long coaster is all about speed.
It starts with the very fast lift hill that practically throws you over the top
and down into the enormous first drop. Through tunnels and ground-hugging
turns, this ride zooms over The Point with occasional hills full of that
fabulous Intamin ejector air, reminiscent of their
Superman: Ride Of Steel coaster at Six Flags New Englad. This is
definitely a fun ride and the best coaster in the park.
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A brief history of height:
Wooden coasters ruled for 100 years, yet were rarely built much above 100 feet
tall. The age of the steel coaster allowed impressive increases in coaster
size, and these growth spurts have been coming more and more quickly. Cedar
Point has often led the way. For example, in 1978, they opened Gemini.
At that time, Gemini was the world's tallest coaster, standing an impressive
125 feet tall. Over the next decade, coasters grew bigger until, in 1989, Cedar
Point create the hypercoaster category by building Magnum XL-200
to a height of 205 feet. Another decade, another barrier: In 2000, Cedar Point
opened the 300 foot tall Millennium Force. What will
another decade bring?
Who knows. Cedar Point didn't wait that long. Just three years after The Force,
Cedar Point unveiled the 420 foot tall Top Thrill Dragster.
Not only tall, but fast. Starting on horizontal track, the train accelerates to
120 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds. That's a lot of fun. A quick shot up a
vertical tower, the train quickly crests the single hill. Alas, there's no time
to enjoy the view, as you immediately spiral back down (vertically, again) and
then hit the brakes. It's over in about fifteen seconds. Although it's an
enjoyable ride, it's not really worth a long wait.
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- Mean is right. This giant twisted woodie is sometimes so rough, it hurts.
Granted, we're no spring chickens, but when we got off this ride the first
time, our backs hurt. The kidney rattling track had the same affect on other
riders we saw who limped off the platform with us. While this coaster is huge
and fast with a great layout, it's usually just too uncomfortable to be
enjoyable.
But each visit might be different. On
our most recent visit to the park, the first half of this coaster was pretty
good. It was smooth and fast, with some air and nice laterals. But then the
midcourse brakes slowed down the train so much that the rest of the ride was
slow and boring. But at least it wasn't painful.
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Like all runaway mine car themed rides, this coaster doesn't have big hills and
steep drops. But it does have sharp turns, spirals, and sudden twists. It's a
fine ride for the younger set, but is fun enough for the experienced coaster
rider. It's almost cute. And being a steel track, it's also a smooth ride.
- The Gemini coaster is a "racing" coaster, but it doesn't go very fast. It has
a wooden structure, but the track is steel, so it's a very smooth ride. But
after each hill, the trains rise to the top of the next hill and slowly curve
around before dropping down the other side. When the two trains are side by
side on these slow curves, riders in each train often reach out and try to
touch the hands of riders in the other train. While this is kind of fun, it
can't be very safe.
- Mantis is ridden while standing, which provides a whole new set of
sensations. The first drop, of 137 feet, is incredible. You feel the same
sinking, falling feeling like you do on other coasters' first drops, but in a
whole new way. It's not just as if your chair were rolling; you're whole body
is floating down the slope. It's almost like flying. Although this is another
coaster by B&M, unfortunately it is not nearly as smooth as their other
creations such as Batman or Raptor, or even another of their stand up coasters,
Riddler's Revenge. The rest of this ride bangs your head and neck into
the harness. In fact, on our most recent visit to the park, we found this ride
too painful to enjoy. Here, you can see the train at the top of the first loop.
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- Like the Corkscrew, the Iron Dragon is another
ground-breaking innovation that does not stand the test of time. This coaster
is a suspended coaster, with seats in cars that are suspended below the track.
But the ride itself is rather dull. In fact, one of its nicknames is "Draggin'
Iron." Speeds are low throughout the entire ride, and the cars never really
move fast enough to swing from their supports. This ride is also unusual in
that it has two lift hills; one at the beginning and one in the middle of the
ride. This further serves to slow down the pace of the ride. On the positive
side, the track does snake through trees and floats over the river, giving some
very pleasant views during the trip.
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 - The WildCat is a
compact steel coaster of the "Wild Mouse" variety: it has no giant lift hill,
no inversions, or other unusual features. What it does have is single-car
trains that carry up to four people around a quick series of drops, dips,
hills, and sharp curves that makes this an exciting high-speed ride.
- Wot the?!
Disaster Transport is supposed to be much more than a roller coaster, but it
falls short. It is a heavily themed ride that is supposed to be more of an
adventure than a thrill ride. It's a bobsled-type coaster that has wheeled
vehicles in a trough, rather than trains riding on rails. And it's entirely
indoors. Before we got on the ride, the signs and announcements in the station
indicated that we were about to rescue (or escape from, we're not sure which)
an Alaskan science post. But once the ride started, a few poorly lit props and
unrecognizable wrecks blurred by us. We've only ridden this ride once on each
park visit, and we're still not sure what the story is with this ride.
Wicked Twister is an Inverted Impulse coaster that shoots riders in ski-lift
style chairs back and forth through the station and up 200 foot tall, vertical,
twisting spires at each end. It's similar to rides like Geauga's
Superman: Ultimate Escape. But because Twister doesn't have any
straight spikes, it's not quite as much fun since there's no opportunity for
airtime.
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