Cedar Point 2013

So am I now hearing that we have to wait until Christmas Eve (and maybe until Christmas Day) to find out what the twist was? Beyond cruel.

I'd like to hit the like button on all the posts simply praising the new ride. I agree....it looks to be a very nice addition and improvement to the park. Another element that looks amazing is the 1/2 to 1 second where the first couple rows is inverted, face down, just prior to descending down the first hill. First couple seats of any coaster has that hanging feeling, only this one you're facing down. Can't wait to try it and find out.

I am quite happy with the ride. Wing Coasters are few and far between, and Cedar Point looks to have the best one so far. The one knock I have against CP is that, while it has many coasters, many are just meh, but replacing the Disaster Transport with GateKeeper looks to remedy that. This past year I got the experience of studying in the UK, and of course I hit up Thorpe Park. I rode their new wing coaster--The Swarm--and it was quite good, though extremely short. The load/unload times weren't terribly fast as well, but I couldn't tell whether or not it was a park issue or a ride issue.

I will voice my disappointment with the color scheme. Cedar Point will have 16 coasters next year; over half of them are either blue (Jr. Gemini, GateKeeper, Blue Streak, Corkscrew, Millennium Force) or red (Top Thrill Dragster, Magnum, Maverick, Iron Dragon). Cedar Point had the chance to introduce something really different color-wise. Purple or black would be a great addition, but instead CP went with a bit of a boring blue. I'm sure it will look nice, but the park is sorely needing in variety in a number of ways.

I really hope I can ride this, without losing a limb (decapitation would be okay, I don't use my head much). I'm somewhere between 6'4" 6'5" depending on the day.

^^Purple or black are not colors you want at the front entrance. You want bright and inviting colors.

Pertaining to the ride location.. I'm actually pumped. It looks like the newest/biggest (probably most popular too) roller coasters are at different locations of the park.

Millenium Force
Top Thrill Dragster
Maverick
Gatekeeper

I haven't been able to make it to Cedar Point in years but it will be interesting to see how the crowds pan out.

firewalk13 said:
i've been out of the loop for a bit, but didn't the official video rendering show the ride going through both keyholes right after the giant cork screw? However, the engineer at the press announcement, said it will go through one at a time. Anyone else pick up on that? sorry if this is a redo. new poster, what can i say...

I spoke with Monte afterward about that and he admitted he was mistaken. The video and photos are correct.

I'm somewhere between 6'4" 6'5" depending on the day.

Please, expand on this thought. :)
We're not headed back to the Point until October, and it just dawned on me...I will never, ever have to look at Disaster Transport again. Love it.

Cue happy music.

Tell me about it. Just the little bit of lake Erie peeking out from behind the building right now if a breath of fresh air. I love it.

I am truly surprised some people are so down on this ride.

Since 1987 Cedar Point has added Iron Dragon, Magnum, Mean Streak, Raptor, Mantis, Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, TTD, and Maverick. Arguably all of these rides with the exception of one or two opened as and remain world class rides. My point is, when does Cedar Point/Fair disappoint, especially on projects this big?

Second, how are people seriously judging a ride based on a picture and a computer animation? This is similar to sports talk personalities in Cleveland who are already judging the Browns 2012 season based on a schedule and one preseason game!

It's new, it's a B&M, it's Cedar Point. Let's reserve judgement until we ride!

There's something related to gravity, forget what it's called, basically from being on our feet all day we become shorter and then while sleeping we stretch back out to our normal height. Given that I'm right in the middle of the two and have a horrible sleep schedule (sometimes up for 2 days straight, others, I sleep 16 hours) is why I say depending on the day.

::plays "Amazing Grace" for Kevinj:: It's a fitting song that it was originally celebratory of the writer finding his faith, but is also played at funerals and viewed as sad. I will miss Disaster Transport (at least for a little bit)

^As a life long Browns fan, it is the Browns and it is fair to judge them based on their terrible body of work since 1999.

But I digress....

I agree with you that it is unfair to judge the ride until you ride it. If you get off the ride and did not enjoy it, so be it. But wait until then please

BleauxJays said:
Tell me about it. Just the little bit of lake Erie peeking out from behind the building right now if a breath of fresh air. I love it.

I agree. I can't wait for the view once the whole building is gone. I've even thought about what it would look like with the trees by the beach gone (gasp!...here we go...) and a boardwalk type observation point built. Could be a good place to watch/snap pictures of Gatekeeper's first drop.....

I've been thinking that as well. I love walking down the beach to watch WT. I really like the idea of a boardwalk down past it far enough that you can get a good view of GateKeeper as well.

I too am surprised at all the negative opinions. Wasn't Raptor one of B&Ms first five inverted coasters, and didn't it rank as world class ride for over a decade? I think it's a great addition to the park. I love the name, layout, and theme.

At least the majority is happy. Now with nearly a million views, you can see the "Like/dislike" ratio, and it looks pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqhApNBjes&list=FL109unpsafwYvrsqv5...plpp_video

What I'm curious about is how the "draining" effect will work on GK throughout the day. I'm sure that in the early afternoon/midday, this thing will be beyond packed. I wonder how much the wait will decrease throughout the day (like what we see happen to Raptor)?

It'd be great to have a shorter wait time for it in the late afternoon, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

I would expect the wait times to be long all day for at least a couple years. Then I would say it is likely to see a trend similar to Raptor. It is only natural given its location in the front of the park.

I think the big winner here is Millennium Force. If MF, GK, and Maverick are open for early ride time, it should really divide up the crowd pretty well. Here's hoping with get to the 10 minute waits for MF that Magnum finally had in the early 2000s.

I'm planning a 2 day trip next year....if GK is part of early entry, you can bet I will be at front gate or beach gate one or both of those days....that seems to be the best bet for all of 2013 season.

I'm also curious as to how this possibly lower the wait times for MF, Dragster, and Maverick throughout the regular day. I usually go to the park on Wednesdays during June, July, and August. Before Maverick was built, I remember seeing MF's average wait time to be around 2 and 1/2 hours. After Maverick, I rarely see the wait times that long on. Yes, there still are some days that it will be well over two hours, but not nearly as many as I used to see.

I'm hoping this new coaster could bring down the wait times about 15-30 minutes for Maverick, MF, and Dragster.

Maverick has a long line all day. I hope that line gets shorter. Ttd I would love to get shorter too. I really hope wicked twister doesn't get longer, but it probably will. Its such a great ride and the line is so short.