Magnum’s new sign at Cedar Point!

[coolhandluke]

Now if only The Beast would get a new sign...

 

Would that be some sarcasm, perhaps?

[sros1fan]

I think the main reason it gets so much love is because its the only coaster in the park with airtime! Personally the best coaster in the park is Raptor IMO.

You been on Maverick? With that 95 degree drop and the second hill that gives amazing air? CP has good airtime without Magnum.

 

Yes i have ridden maverick several times and i was not impressed by it at all. It gave my shoulders bruises from the pos OTSR. Another overrated coaster IMO. To be honest i enjoyed Ferenheit at hershey better. My home parks are SFNE and Lake Compounce so i am spoiled to the #1 steel coaster and Boulderdash, not to mention Eltoro just 2hrs 45mins away. So if a coaster is to impress me it better be better than any of those.

[Philrad71]

To "get" Magnum you kind of had to be there 20 years ago. There was nothing like it that I had ever been on. At 10 years old that thing scared me to death. I had ridden other costers at KI, BGE, GL, and WDW. That 200 foot tall hill was the tallest in the world it did make you "gasp"

 

I fully agree. I rode Magnum in in it's inaugural year in 1989 and have ridden it about every year since. I must say as we were climbing that first lift, it was quite menacing! Once you got over the queasiness of climbing the slow lift to the top, it was like the most exhilarating drop on Earth! No other coaster came close to that feeling back in '89-94! Desperado was my second mega-coaster experience, but I still did not think that it was better than Magnum at the time.

 

 

Now HERE's where we can agree. No matter how many coasters they add to CP, Gemini will always be at the top for me. When I was younger, my family always went to that coaster first

 

Have you ridden it in the last couple of years? I always had a soft spot for Gemini too - with the first hill and the awesome head chopper. But last year, I thought that the helix at the end was going to rearrange my spine - ouch!

 

I worked at the Point in '89 when Magnum debuted. It was smooth, fast, and ALWAYS had an hour wait every single day. I rode it as much as I could, but always had to have at least an hour to wait.

 

Yep - Magnum ALWAYS had the longest line at the park for six years until '94 when Raptor came to town. Even after Raptor and Mantis, it was still common for a one hour wait. Notice I made no mention of Mean Streak even though it did kick-ass for it's inaugural year. It was never any match for Magnum.

 

I think that one of the reasons they never had a permanent sign was because they always had to move the queue entrance depending on how busy it was. I remember a 1-3/4 hour wait with temporary queue switchbacks running behind the bathrooms and all the way back to Corkscrew!

 

The crowd used to get into the DJ and they would have the mist machines going and beach balls flying - half the fun was waiting in line sometimes! I do remember a Storm-Trooper looking dude with a sign for the height requirement at the entrance, but do not have a pic of it.

 

So in a nutshell, Magnum is not what it used to be. I find it rough and painful now, but will always take a ride in the back if there is no line. I don't quite see it as an over-rated ride as it seems to have quietly slipped in people's rankings over the years...other than lame Travel Channel and Discovery specials that might re-run similar or the same specials every year and praise it's awesomeness.

 

It is not really fair for people to compare El Toro, SROS, Apollo's Chariot and other newer, smoother coasters to Magnum. While it might not rank in my top 10 coaster list, it was a great coaster back in the day that gave one hell of a good ride in the back seat (especially at night)!

 

 

PS - Best TPR quote I have seen in a while:

 

If anything, MF is over rated. That ride does nothing for me not even the drop. I hade more fun on Iron Dragon!

 

Classic stuff, man!!! Classic!!!!

[Carnage]

I do remember a Storm-Trooper looking dude with a sign for the height requirement at the entrance, but do not have a pic of it.

 

I remember that as well. If I remember correctly it looked alot like an old school Cylon.

[dandaman]

^Pointbuzz used to have pictures of the old cartoon signs, but my search has been fruitless.

 

Also, Cedar Fair has declared that any negative comments toward the Sign is unconstitutional and punishable by Son of Beast marathon.

[netdvn]

Gemini is really the unsung hero of CP, the more I think about it. If it weren't for that coaster, there probably wouldn't have been a Magnum, MF, TTD, or Maverick. It's become even more of a gem hidden in a mountain of hype, IMO.

This comment is a bit old, but what about Corkscrew? Yes Gemini was CP's first height/speed record breaker, but Corkscrew had the most inversions in the world when it first opened. On top of that, it opened the same year Revolution opened at SFMM, so it was probably overshadowed by Revolution's "revolutionary" vertical loop...

[coolhandluke]

^I'd say a huge part of it is that Gemini has held its fanbase much better than Corkscrew has over the years. Not too many people find fault with Gemini. The same cannot be said for Corky.

[slither37]

I still like Magnum, I think it is a fun ride. I do have to be careful to watch the lap bar over the bunny hops or suffer damage to the package. Yet Magnum is still less painful than Corkscrew and MS.

 

I rode this the year it opened and I remember thinking how cool it was.

[Hockeydad]

For a coaster that meant so much to the industry when it opened, and has held it's fanbase so well over these past two decades...Magnum deserves it! Corkscrew on the other hand, I'll probably only ride it two more times, and that is so my kids can get their credits...then...I'm done with that coaster.

[dandaman]

[Corkscrew] opened the same year Revolution opened at SFMM, so it was probably overshadowed by Revolution's "revolutionary" vertical loop...

 

Corkscrew has a vertical loop as well... or am I missing something here?

[netdvn]

^ I've always wondered that myself. Why does Revolution get all the credit for having the world's first successful vertical loop when Corkscrew opened the exact same year and also had a vertical loop?

 

Maybe its something technical like Revolution opened a few days/weeks before Corkscrew opened. I guess CP and MM were competing for recognition long before the 90s-00s.

[jmicha]

^That's exactly it. Revolution opened first, therefore it was the first modern day coaster with a vertical loop.

[Hockeydad]

It was also featured in a Hollywood blockbuster called "Rollercoaster" with George Segal and Timothy Bottoms who played the mad bomber of roller coasters nationwide, (and who did look a lot like a young George W. Bush!).