To people across America, Cedar Point is an amusement park that is synonymous with one thing: roller coasters! I had the chance to visit this park this past summer, and it was a truly amazing experience for a roller coaster lover like me.
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| Millennium Force (blue track) and Rougarou |
Although coasters are the park's specialty, (there are 17!) there are a few other attractions of historical note. One of these is the unique Derby Racer carousel, relocated from Euclid Beach Park.
For those who don't know, a Derby Racer is basically a super-charged carousel. The platform spins around at an alarming rate, and the horses "jockey" forwards and backward. There are only three of these rides left in the world, and it's great that Cedar Point has one!
Steel Vengeance is the world's tallest hybrid (wood structure, steel track) roller coaster in the world, and it gets this park a huge amount of attention. On my visit, I was able to ride three times, and it is incredibly intense and fast-paced.
The park only has one all-wooden coaster, the 1964 Blue Streak, which is a shame for a park with such a sheer amount of roller coasters, in my opinion. The Blue Streak is also the park's oldest coaster (but the park opened in 1870!). I found Blue Streak to be a fun ride, but nothing more than that.
A Sky Ride typifies a classic theme park, and the Cedar Point version travels directly over the main midway, providing nice views of the park's coasters and Lake Erie, which is the body of water that surrounds the Cedar Point peninsula.
We'll close with this shot of Corkscrew, which was the first-ever roller coaster to go upside down three times when it opened in 1976.
Thanks for visiting Cedar Point!
9 comments:
Oooooh! I would love to try out that Derby Racer! I have a couple of friends (who are older than me), who grew up in Euclid, Ohio and went to Euclid Beach Park regularly. They have described many of the rides to me, in detail and I even have one of the books which were published, after the park was demolished. I was glad to hear that some of the rides were able to go on and have a life elsewhere!
That Corkscrew track looks awfully close to the ground in that last photo. I'm assuming it's just an illusion, otherwise it would be fenced off so that guests couldn't walk underneath it!
Great post, Andrew! Thanks for sharing your Cedar Point visit with us!
TokyoMagic, this winter, I really want to go up to Cleveland and see the old site of Euclid Beach. The old carousel is also in a museum and still operating, from what I understand. I too wish that I could have visited!
The Corkscrew track doesn't go too low to the ground, but it's still really cool to walk underneath that inversion and see a train spiraling through it above you. I can imagine that it was an even crazier sight to see in 1976! Thanks for reading!
Wow! You got to ride "Steel Vengeance". You lucky guy. It looks like an incredible coaster. All The RMC coasters look so cool and yet I haven't ridden one yet. There are two near me.
I always feel a little sad when I see an aerial Sky Ride. They used to be a staple at almost every theme park, but now are a rare sight. The log flume is another attraction that seems to be disappearing from the parks.
Thanks for sharing with us, Andrew. Glad to see you updating your blog from time to time as I always find something interesting to read about and enjoyh the pics.
Thank you for reading and commenting, K. Martinez! I'm hoping to update my blog every other week. I'd bet that you'd really like a RMC coaster. I've been on two (Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion being the other) and I enjoy how smooth they are while still feeling out of control. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the company converting old wooden rides; I guess as long as they weren't too old and rode really rough, I'm okay with it.
I also keep an eye out for Sky Rides - Busch Gardens Williamsburg still has a unique one with three stations. Log flumes are a ton of fun, and I know that Cedar Point got rid of theirs over ten years ago. And of course, my home park, Kennywood, removed their flume two years ago.
I have no problem with RCM converting some older coasters. From my age and perspective, the coasters they've been converting aren't all that old or classic. RMC is improving on what were mostly unremarkable and/or flawed coasters to begin with. I'm all for RMC doing more work as long as it's not changing truly great and classic coasters. For example, Magic Mountain's Colossus was considered a semi-classic, but I always hated it for being so rough and jarring. I can only imagine that RMC's Twisted Colossus is a vast improvement.
We lost two log fumes here in California (Six Flags Magic Mountain and California's Great America). Actually when California's Great America was Marriott's Great America it had two water flumes (Yankee Clipper and Loggers Run). Both are gone. Luckily there is still Logger's Revenge in my own backyard at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Oh, and California's Great America still has their Von Roll Skyway (The Delta Flyer/Eagle's Flight).
Andrew, Cedar Point is the closest amusement park to where my grandparents lived and where my parents now live in NW Ohio, and it will always have a special place in my heart, although I lament the loss of so many of the quieter and more scenic parts of the park over the years in favor of more coasters.
I remember the first time the family rode Cedar Downs (their name for their Derby racer). I think I was probably 9 years old, and my dad and I had no idea of the racing angle of the ride, only that it was a faster carrousel than most. I can still remember the wide-eyed, surprised look on my dad's face when the horses suddenly started moving forwards and backwards in their slots, jockeying for position. Then all four of us got into it and really were competing to be first. It became a family tradition to earn bragging rights for "winning" the race.
Cedar Point used to have two different Sky Rides - the one down the Funway and another one that ran from the end of the Funway across the lagoons to Frontier Town. That ride was much higher and much longer than the surviving example; it was particularly fun to ride at night because it was quiet and caught a nice breeze from off the lake.
I remember when I was very small being afraid of the Funway Sky Ride because if you fell out you'd land on hard pavement and break your bones. If you fell out of the Frontier Town Sky Ride, you'd land on soft grass, water, or trees. Such is the logic of a four-year-old.
TM!, the Corkscrew screaming overhead is a really neat experience. When it was first built, one or two of the corkscrews ran over Jungle Larry's Safari Island (although I think by that time the surrounding water had been filled in and it wasn't really an island anymore). It was kind of odd seeing the coaster go screaming by animal pens, and I wondered when I first saw it in '78 if that was good for the animals who lived in what had previously been a quiet corner of the park.
Ken, that Yankee Clipper/Logger's Run faceoff was one of my favorite features of Marriott's circa 1976. What I loved about it was how each ride had a different theme and "sailed" from a different themed area of the park, yet both converged together at one place. Glad I got to see it in the pre-Paramount/Six Flags era.
Thanks again, Andrew. Keep up the great work!
Chuck, I recalled your mentions of Cedar Point on GDB, so I was hoping that you'd find this post! Your memories of the park are very detailed and entertaining, and I always like seeing peoples' memories of things that have changed at amusement parks. If you were often in northern Ohio, did you ever visit Geauga Lake? That park was closer to me than Cedar Point, but it closed in 2007.
I was surprised as well when the horses on Cedar Downs started moving back and forth with such force. From what I understand, this Derby Racer is the only of the remaining three to maintain that feature. I knew that it was going to be wild, but my mom had no idea! If you ever watch the documentary "Great Old Amusement Parks," there's some great footage of an employee at the Rye Playland version "working" the edge of the platform - you have to see it!
I wish that they still used the name "Funway" in directional signage! The “Million Dollar Midway” is another one that I heard about.
Before visiting, I read the book Always Cedar Point, which was written by one of the park’s former GMs and described the Frontier Lift and Jungle Larry’s in detail. It might be worth a read for you! I for one am glad that you never fell out of the Sky Ride like hundreds do every year. That’s probably why they closed the second one.
I think it's funny of how Cedar Point specializes in a great quantity of attractions: 2 Sky Rides, 17 roller coasters, 2 carousels, 3 kiddielands... and from what I've read, there used to be multiple log flumes, Calypsos, and Trabants, as well! (Out of all of this, why can't there be one stellar wooden coaster?!?)
I think that Six Flags Great America still has both of its flumes, but I doubt that they retain their theming. Both Great America parks had dual Sky Rides at one point, too, didn't they?
Thanks again for sharing such an awesome comment! I can't believe that you typed this all up just for this comments section!
Chuck, I loved Great America in it's Marriott days best and visited the Santa Clara theme park its opening week in March of 1976. It was brand new and exciting and it was great to finally get a major theme park in the Bay Area.
Andrew,
Marriott's Great America in Gurnee, Illinois had two sky rides which were "The Delta Flyer/Eagles Flight" and "The Southern Cross".
Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara, California only had one sky ride which was "The Delta Flyer/Eagles Flight".
Not sure if you know all the history of the Great America parks, but "The Delta Flyer/Eagle's Flight" was one sky ride with two names. If you boarded it in Orleans Place it was called "The Delta Flyer". If you boarded it in Midwest County Fair it was called "Eagle's Flight".
Andrew, I never did visit Geauga Lake or Sea World Ohio, although I tried. When I was in college, I dated a girl from southwest of Akron for a while, and we tried to go to Geauga Lake one evening after she got off work and take advantage of their "after 5" discount admission.
Unfortunately, rather than follow the map, her stepfather insisted we follow his directions, which got us really turned around. By the time we found the park, it was too late for us to get our money's worth, so we didn't go in. It looked pretty neat from the road, though.
And really, it's my pleasure to share memories with people who share my interests...and are too polite to tell me to shut up. :-)
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