Raptor Construction

This upcoming season marks the 30th anniversary of Raptor. Here's some construction footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qHtP4nK-5I

Time lapse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5rM7s2PuEc

Media coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_CVg8HdaXk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdGf8Kr03I4

I did not realize that Janice was there back then. I haven't seen her in years. I wonder if she's still in Sandusky or in Charlotte (she married the CFO, though I think he was a finance director at the park back then).

It's weird to think when Millennium Force opened, I thought that Magnum was "old" at 12. Now MF is 24, Raptor is 30. Heck, even Gatekeeper is a decade in.

And it's crazy how Blue Streak turned 30 years old when Raptor first opened.

Alright kylepark, I was fine until you said that.

So many CP classics are at the age where "end of lifespan" has hit other similar rides. Here's to hoping long off seasons and good preventative maintenance keep rides like Raptor rolling for a long time.

Jordan_Vanichek:

Alright kylepark, I was fine until you said that.

Time flies when you're having fun.

1994 was my first summer at Cedar Point and I was offered Full Time at the end of the season. I was working in the hotels and missed media day but I was at Raptor on Opening Day and a buddy of mine and I got the first "public ride" (front row) after the charity riders got their laps. The cheering and excitement from returning riders was insane, and a stark contrast to my last opening day...which was 1987 for Iron Dragon. I don't think the term had been invented yet, but there was a collective "meh" as riders came back on those early laps.

I vividly remember the first test run of Raptor. I didn't see it, but I heard it. I was inside Breakers and the "B&M" roar was unmistakable when they sent it on it's first test lap.

Janice was a sweet gal. Janice Lifke...if memory serves, and she married Brian Witherow.

I worked at CP the year Gemini was built. But the lines were so long, I worked long hours, and there were so many other activities that I never rode it that year. But it will always be special to me, and I always make sure I ride it when I visit. I hope it stays around for the rest of my coaster-riding years. But, as I see more and more of my favorite memory spots go away, and not just at amusement parks, I feel less and less hopeful.
I also have a great memory of riding Raptor with my dad when he was retired and getting up in years. It’s always been a favorite of mine, although it can be a head banger.

I like that the time lapse says 1.5 Million Tons of steel which would make it probably the heaviest structure ever built by an enormous margin.