Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[I Like Theme Parks.]

Very cool but the font used for the year is awful. Looks like 2011.

Or 2077, which would look even weirder.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Guys, be careful. You'll let out the secret that Sky Ride is a time machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops.

[larrygator]

After reading two previous personal Magnum stories, I'll share mine.

 

During the summer of 1989, I was working in NYC and the NY Times ran an article about roller coasters featuring Magnum XL-200. At the time my girlfriend was intern for the summer at Columbia University and looking into Graduate School opportunities. She really wanted to go to Bowling Green which had a great reputation for her field, but didn't feel comfortable applying without visiting first. She also didn't have the funds to fly to Ohio and didn't want to drive by herself.

 

I "agreed" to drive with her if she agreed to visit Cedar Point. I showed her the article I had saved and she thought it was a great idea. We also agreed to visit a mutual friend in Cincinnati on the trip and thus my first road trip was born visiting both Cedar Point and Kings Island. I had always heard good things about the Beast back in those days.

 

Cedar Point was not nearly the coaster mecca that it is today but there was still that tingly feeling when first seeing the park skyline and the causeway. Those rides on Magnum were incredible. It was easily the best coaster in the park and to that point in my life the best steel coaster. It wasn't until my fourth trip to the park (after Millennium Force was built) that I felt there was a steel coaster comparable to Magnum, but I still love those movements of airtime, the turn around and the tunnel on Magnum.

 

For years, when rating coasters I was probably guilty of over rating Magnum, but that coaster means so much in getting me hooked on coasters.

Edited March 16, 2017 by larrygator

[boldikus]

These Magnum stories are exactly the kind of thing I LOVE about this place.

[The Great Zo]

Magnum was a frequent topic of discussion in elementary school in metro-Detroit in the early '90s. Who rode it, who claimed to ride it but lied, who was too chicken to get on (me), and so on. It was feared and respected. It had status. It was the scariest, the biggest, the baddest.

 

It's far from my favorite, and it's certainly been overshadowed since, but it's impossible to measure the word of mouth success that thing had, especially during its first half-decade in existence.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

My turn I guess.

 

It all began as far back as I remember.

Back in '10, I visited Cedar Point for the very first time. After watching tens of videos online, my desire for Cedar Point was quite high. It just so happened that my mom knew another mom who lived near Pittsburgh.

 

So we make it to Cedar Point and I get my 48" body on whatever I could. After riding Gemini for the first time, which was my highest roller coaster at that moment, it became a favorite. I loved it so much that it became the only thing we rode more than once that day-twice in fact.

 

So night came. We rode Space Spiral and had time for one more ride. This is where Gemini #2 came in. We chose the red train instead of the blue train but still lost again. The line went quicker than we expected, so we exited the ride with about 10 minutes left in park operation. As we were walking through the Gemini midway, we noticed Magnum XL-200.

 

"So that's where that ride is!" I thought. The layout of the park was still coming together. After riding a 125 foot roller coaster twice, I thought nothing could go unconquered.

 

And so we get in line.

 

The line took a while.

 

And then we get in the station. A little backstory. Even further back in '06, I rode Phoenix at Knoebels. Airtime wasn't my favorite thing back then, especially when I was small enough to fly all over the place.

I wanted to sit in the front. However comma, with such a large jump in height, my mom suggested a few seats back, noting that the front may be scarier. So we go back. Two rows back. The line was short, so we quickly got on the ride in the third row of the first car.

 

The ride begins and we enter the lift. Close to a minute later, we were nearing the top. To get a sense of height, I looked towards Gemini. To my surprise, Gemini was far below us. I then took a double take and began thinking of every bad word I knew. It went something like this:

"Oh heck"

The drop begun. I was ready to get off and the drop wasn't even over yet. We reached the first hill following the drop. The airtime on that hill was about enough for me.

Oh boy.

We fall into the first tunnel. The second hill was even worse. I was too busy comprehending what just happened to relax in the turnaround.

Then the 'fun' begins.

Hill after hill, my stomach kept taking the place of a Saturn V. The final tunnel was even worse. I couldn't see when we were about to hit a peak. Luckily, the brake run followed. The riders in front of me asked if I was ok. If I wasn't traumatized I would have said no.

 

Many years pass

 

I finally make it back to Cedar Point and ride Magnum XL-200 again. The line was shortest in the back, so we went there. I took note of the relative lack of airtime.

Then I find this website some time after and notice my fatal mistake a few years prior.

[storms555]

^ Thats an interesting point. I read somewhere waaaay back in the day when Riverview park in Chicago was still around it was a status to ride the Bobs. So I guess you were like considered the cool kid once you tried out these coasters.However nowadays I highly doubt a coaster like the Bobs or heck even Magnum would be considered they "cool kid milestone status" coaster. Its interesting what was considered "big and bad" way back in the day and how tame said coasters would be today. Come to think of it...do kids still brag about big bad coasters? Well I'm sure they post it on a social media site rather.

Oh I also read somewhere the Cyclone coaster at Cedar Point even far more back in the day was one of those status coasters! Not even just for the grade school kids but even teenagers! I imagine todays teens would find that coaster very tame compare to teens back in the day...

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I'm loving all of these Magnum stories. Thanks for sharing! I'm one of those kids who doesn't remember a world without hypercoasters (Magnum opened when I was five), so it's cool to hear the stories and imagine just how jaw dropping it was. I mean, it was a jaw dropping experience for me when I first rode it last year, and that was after riding Millennium Force, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, and Raptor that same day. But when that was the tallest and fastest not only in the park but anywhere, ever--that must have really been something.

[Steely Dan]

But when that was the tallest and fastest not only in the park but anywhere, ever--that must have really been something.

It really was.

 

Back in '89, Magnum was a sensation, an inspiration, a revelation, just an all-out grand-slam smash-hit triumph!

 

As I said in my post that kicked off all of this Magnum nostalgia, the energy surrounding the ride when it first opened was unreal.

 

With one fell swoop, Cedar Point had completely changed the game forever; the roller coaster world would never again be the same.

 

If you were gonna name the 10 most important roller coasters in the entire history of roller coasters, Magnum XL-200 would firmly be included on that list, possibly somewhere near the top.

[dreynolds1982]

Booked my trip to CP the other day! May 13-16. Staying at Breakers Express (renovated rooms look pretty nice and most importantly it was affordable!). Ticket package booked through room got me a 2-day ticket that includes parking vouchers for each day and some beverage wrist bands or something that get unlimited fountain drinks anywhere in the park each day? Seemed like a pretty good deal though and definitely cheaper than booking everything all separate.

 

Now just have to wait 2 months until I can go!

 

Thanks everyone for all your planning suggestions earlier this month!

[pryonisys]

Adding my quick story of Magnum to the collection.

 

I believe that my first trip to Cedar Point was in 1992, I was 6 years old (it may have been 93,, which would have made me 7 and made this whole thing more likely, but whatever) and Magnum was the biggest and best that I had ever heard of to that point. The only steel coasters I had ever ridden before that trip were kiddie coasters and I was convinced that on our way there I would be able to see Magnum from Cleveland.

We made it to the park and my older siblings and I were running all over the park getting on every coaster we possibly could (the corkscrew doesn't seem nearly as bad when you're a lot younger). We finally made it on Magnum after a very long wait and I still couldn't believe at the time that any coaster could be that tall. I can't tell you what seat I rode in or what side (I have a picture somewhere but it doesn't really matter) but the fact that I had ridden that coaster gave me huge bragging rights for the next few years at school.

Amazing how much times change and now Magnum doesn't seem all that big in comparison to even other coasters in the park.

 

Another short story from that trip, after waiting in line for quite awhile (everything seems longer when you're young though) for Mean Streak with my fearless older sister we finally made it to the station and without saying much at all she got intimidated by the structure and just walked right through the train and right out the exit. (once again, how things change in terms of a coaster being thought of as intimidating)

[SbSteveZ]

In the spirit of all these fun Magnum stories I'll add my own!

 

Magnum XL-200 was actually the very first coaster I have ever ridden at Cedar Point. When I visited the park for my first time a mere 6 years ago, we parked out by Gemini and walked in through the Soak City entrance, which required walking under Magnum itself. I remember being flabbergasted because up until that moment I had never seen a roller coaster in person that was over 200' or so, and suddenly I was walking under one to get into the roller coaster mecca that is Cedar Point! the park had just opened and I wanted to ride something that I would be a little more comfortable with - and being that my "favorite" coaster at the time was Ride of Steel at Darien Lake, which is only a few feet taller than Magnum, I felt it was the perfect place to start! Our motto that day was "Backseat is best!" for all coasters where we were given a choice to pick our seats, and Magnum was no exception! Now prior to contrary belief this is where I feel my story differs from a lot of other people on this thread; being in the last row of the last car for my first ride on Magnum was one of my all time favorite roller coaster experiences ever. I was used to the hyper-coaster back home that was computer designed and manufactured with 100% precision, where there was a gradual speed increase when you crested the hill and you were eased into the 70MPH drop, on Magnum, everything was different. I still remember like it was yesterday how we whipped over the crest of the hill. We went from the speed of the lift to Magnum's top speed in what felt like no time at all! It was fantastic! Each hill was bumpy, each turn was jerky, the pretzel turnaround was awkward, and the hills were dark and muggy inside, but regardless from start to stop, I loved that ride. To this day I am still proud to say that Magnum is one of my all time favorite roller coasters. I love the bumps and shakes and jerks, but little did I know that when the coaster was ridden a little more defensively, the ride got so much better!

 

I hope they keep Magnum the way it is for as long as they possibly can because sometimes you just cant beat the classics, and I firmly believe Magnum XL-200 proves that better than anything.

[prozach626]

Man. I'm completely skipping over these Magnum personal stories quicker than I skip over posts from Storms.

[Ape]

Time for my story...

 

It was fun 8 out of 10, would ride again.

[prozach626]

It was fun 8 out of 10, would ride again.

^winner!

[djackson]

Man. I'm completely skipping over these Magnum personal stories quicker than I skip over posts from Storms.

[SteelForceless]

Man. I'm completely skipping over these Magnum personal stories quicker than I skip over posts from Storms.

 

Now, for my Magnum XL-200 story.

 

The last time I was at Cedar Point, I was 3 years old, and as a result have no memory of Magnum XL-200 whatsoever.

[storms555]

Man. I'm completely skipping over these Magnum personal stories quicker than I skip over posts from Storms.

 

Hey you know what??? Go f*ck yourself! You dont read my posts fine but why do you need to announce it? Again go f*ck yourself! Im sick of the egotistic people on this site. No what I dont need this sh*t. F*ck this sh*t.

[Ape]

you shouldn't rage quit because one person on the internet doesn't like your posts, just ignore it and move on.

[coasterbill]

Well then...

[Snovi]

Seriously people? We're all here to have fun discussing the hobby we all love for fucksake. Why can't people just be nice, and if you can't at least do that, keep your mouth shut and move on?

Edited March 16, 2017 by Snovi

[djackson]

you shouldn't rage quit because one person on the internet doesn't like your posts, just ignore it and move on.

 

I'm sure he's not the only one but he was the only one Savage enough to say it.

[Snovi]

Double post

[chickenbowl]

Man. I'm completely skipping over these Magnum personal stories quicker than I skip over posts from Storms.

 

For future reference, some roller coaster enthusiasts that browse and post on this site have varying forms of Autism/Aspergers/etc. This developmental disorder can often be characterized by difficulty in social interactions (including forum posts). These people have the right to post on a forum without being made fun of and demeaned by people like you.

 

This is just a suggestion - I'm not trying to moderate, I'm just encouraging positivity... Maybe a cop like yourself can practice empathy a little more?

[michaellynn4]