Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[cparkes92]

Also what someone said about Wisconsin Dells...in a way it kind of reminded me a little of Wisconsin Dells too....I guess thats a strange mix...Discount Wisconsin Dells meets Florida Town meets Detroit(the part i didnt see but Ill mention since people mentioned the rough areas empty lots etc). Now thats are weird combo!

You have described the city of Sandusky to a T, especially if you come in via OH 4 and 1st St (there are parts of 1st St that have seen better days). It's not nearly as bad as the worst parts of Detroit, Flint, or Chicago (I don't think violent crime is a major issue in Sandusky)

[DirkFunk]

Oh see,yea,I was mostly in the hotels and "tourist-y" areas not so much the residential or industrial areas. Probably because when we went it was only for CP mostly. We took one day off to do other things but that was just going to a park to hang out,to the beach,then to a petting zoo near by. All which if I remember wasnt in bad areas either. But then again i was only there for 4 or 5 days and mostly doing stuff so I didnt notice all that. Also what someone said about Wisconsin Dells...in a way it kind of reminded me a little of Wisconsin Dells too....I guess thats a strange mix...Discount Wisconsin Dells meets Florida Town meets Detroit(the part i didnt see but Ill mention since people mentioned the rough areas empty lots etc). Now thats are weird combo!

 

Sandusky is a resort town by default because industry left long ago. There's a defunct crayon/pencil factory not far from downtown. The car part plant closed after last year (it wasn't far from the Toft's factory). Big freighters pass right by the park and occasionally offload coal or ore from up north in Michigan/Ontario/Minnesota into rail cars. But most of the stuff from when it wasn't all about cheap tourism is vacant or razed.

[thepoint4life23]

The down town over by the Jet express is nice. Some small little restaurants, and also a brewery is going in.

[ElectricUncleSam]

Also what someone said about Wisconsin Dells...in a way it kind of reminded me a little of Wisconsin Dells too....I guess thats a strange mix...Discount Wisconsin Dells meets Florida Town meets Detroit(the part i didnt see but Ill mention since people mentioned the rough areas empty lots etc). Now thats are weird combo!

You have described the city of Sandusky to a T, especially if you come in via OH 4 and 1st St (there are parts of 1st St that have seen better days). It's not nearly as bad as the worst parts of Detroit, Flint, or Chicago (I don't think violent crime is a major issue in Sandusky)

Because everybody's too damn old to rob anyone there.

[coasterbill]

Since we're on the subject of weird sh*t in the Sandusky area, what's the deal with that Nasa Plum Brook station? I'm sort of confused as to what it is, from what I gather it was the only nuclear power plant ever built by NASA which was decomissioned in the 70's and partially demolished in 2012, but now they use it for full scale testing of upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines. That seems like an odd combination / transformation. Apparently it's the world’s largest and most powerful space environment simulation facility. Looking at it on Google Maps is pretty interesting since it seems to feature street after street lined entirely with what appears to be nuclear fallout shelters. It's on the left when you get off the turnpike and it's a huge facility.

Edited March 8, 2017 by coasterbill

[boldikus]

Looking at it on Google Maps is pretty interesting since it seems to feature street after street lined entirely with what appears to be nuclear fallout shelters.

 

Whoa. Creepy.

[DirkFunk]

Since we're on the subject of weird sh*t in the Sandusky area, what's the deal with that Nasa Plum Brook station? I'm sort of confused as to what it is, from what I gather it was the only nuclear power plant ever built by NASA which was decomissioned in the 70's and partially demolished in 2012, but now they use it for full scale testing of upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines. That seems like an odd combination / transformation. Apparently it's the world’s largest and most powerful space environment simulation facility. Looking at it on Google Maps is pretty interesting since it seems to feature street after street lined entirely with what appears to be nuclear fallout shelters. It's on the left when you get off the turnpike and it's a huge facility.

 

They usually do public days where you can visit once a year. I only found out about it driving around the area and stumbling across the signs guiding to there randomly. Here's the info about it from last year:

 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-glenn-s-plum-brook-station-invites-the-public-to-visit

[Ape]

I am not sure if it is in the same place but recently i read about a room they call hell on earth. It's a room they super heat to what they believe is the temps on Venus to see how long various metals and components for robots could last. The most recent thing I had read said the longest test to date was 90 days.

[defrocker]

I am not sure if it is in the same place but recently i read about a room they call hell on earth.

 

Interesting, that's also what my dad calls being married to my step-mom...

[BigDipper 80]

Speaking of other weird Ohio-related NASA stuff that's tangentially related to theme parks, NASA Glenn over in Cleveland has a 510 foot deep hole in the ground that they throw stuff into to study weightlessness. Imagine if they put a seat and a shoulder harness on THAT! It's usually possible for the public to see it and some other parts of the facility once a year.

[prozach626]

Maybe defrocker's Dad can throw his Step-Mother into that hole?

[storms555]

Speaking of other weird Ohio-related NASA stuff that's tangentially related to theme parks, NASA Glenn over in Cleveland has a 510 foot deep hole in the ground that they throw stuff into to study weightlessness. Imagine if they put a seat and a shoulder harness on THAT! It's usually possible for the public to see it and some other parts of the facility once a year.

 

I think a 510 foot coaster or drop tower in general would be awesome! I hope we get a coaster and/or drop towers that tall some time in the future. It may be some what unthinkable to many people now but then again a lot of the mega coasters we have now Im sure were unimaginable at some point. Im sure in lets say the 60s a coaster like Magnum probably was probably not thought to be possible and was only part of a kids imagination or something.

[Steely Dan]

Im sure in lets say the 60s a coaster like Magnum probably was probably not thought to be possible and was only part of a kids imagination or something.

hell, even well into the '80s, any coaster that stood 100' or taller was considered a "really big coaster".

 

it seems a quaint notion today.

 

magnum changed a lot of things.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Steely Dan

[prozach626]

Magnum changed a lot of things, but I also feel it was inevitable around that time frame. If Cedar Point hadn't been smart and pulled the trigger someone else would have. How true it is I am not certain, but from a documentary I watched recently, Arrow was the one who brought up the idea of making Magnum 200 feet tall to Cedar Point.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Hadn't Arrow just done a coaster in Japan that was a lot like Magnum but smaller? I think I remember something about a Japanese coaster being the inspiration.

[Steely Dan]

Magnum changed a lot of things, but I also feel it was inevitable around that time frame. If Cedar Point hadn't been smart and pulled the trigger someone else would have.

Oh, for sure. Over the course of the 80s, Arrow kept pushing higher and higher with each successive big multi-looper.

 

Breaking the 200' barrier was only a matter of time, but what a revelation it was to have the first 200+ footer obliterate the firmly entrenched multi-looper paradigm.

 

Magnum could have happened anywhere, but it actually did happen at CP. Reason #4,568 for why CP is special.

 

 

Hadn't Arrow just done a coaster in Japan that was a lot like Magnum but smaller? I think I remember something about a Japanese coaster being the inspiration.

You're thinking of Togo's Bandit, which allegedly was a big inspiration for magnum.

 

Here's the story, according to wikipedia:

 

"In 1988, Kinzel saw a report on CNN about the opening of a new coaster in Japan called Bandit at Yomiuriland that emphasized height and speed but had no inversions. Kinzel wanted to introduce a similar coaster that emphasized steep drops and negative g-forces over inversions and spins, which were common at the time. It had been 10 years since the last major addition, Gemini, was introduced. Cedar Point asked for proposals from TOGO, Dinn Corporation, Intamin and Arrow Dynamics to build a roller coaster without inversions or over-the-shoulder restraints. They chose Arrow, which proposed a 187 feet (57 m)-tall coaster. That got Cedar Point's management interested in breaking the 200-foot (61 m) barrier, partly because of the publicity to be gained from building the first roller coaster to do so. The name Magnum XL-200 was chosen because Magnum, P.I. was popular at the time and Cedar Point's management wanted to incorporate the height into the name. The original proposal was to cost $7.5 million, but was raised to $8 million after the height was extended to 200 feet (61 m).

Opening."

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_XL-200

 

 

So I guess we can thank CNN for the existence of Magnum? I mean, how would things have turned out if Dick had never seen that CNN segment?

Edited March 8, 2017 by Steely Dan

[cparkes92]

Hadn't Arrow just done a coaster in Japan that was a lot like Magnum but smaller? I think I remember something about a Japanese coaster being the inspiration.

Not sure about Arrow doing a Japanese coaster just prior to Magnum, but Togo did open Bandit (167 feet tall and over 5,000 feet long) in the spring of 1988. However, Bandit and Magnum don't have much in common besides both being tall and long

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Bandit is probably what I'm thinking of then. Leave it to nerds to turn half-remembered trivia into facts!

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

[coasterbill]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

 

No

[WolfBobs]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

 

One could argue Mean Streak is what Dinn offered. It was only built a two years later.

[Ed Farmer]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

The Togo Proposal sounds like the name of a movie I wouldn't want to see.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

Nope, I love what Arrow did, and seeing how Morgan tried to replicate that and couldn't, I'm pretty content to just ride Magnum as is.

[boldikus]

Is anyone else curious as to what TOGO or Dinn could have created if they were given the job?

The Togo Proposal sounds like the name of a movie I wouldn't want to see.

 

 

This board has been slow but there has been some quality posting going on this week, guys.

[storms555]

I read somewhere in the Michigan Adventures thread that someone believed they would get rid of Magnum and give it to MA. I thought that was such a weird thing to say....Its such a classic awesome coaster why would CP even think to get rid of it?? Or replace it with something as mundane as a bigger wave pool.....Wave pools are cool and all but they will never replace the awesomeness of a roller coaster! That would be a dumb move for any amusement park to remove their classic coaster/s and put it in second or third rate amusement parks....(unless of course said park has closed for good)