Cedar Point - Maverick - 5/28/07

I had a little time to sneak up to Cedar Point this morning to get a couple of spins on Maverick. I sure have been a geek the last few days, but I'm told that's OK.

I got to ride with a bunch of employees who were there to beat the Joe Cool rush, and rush it was. After my two rides, the line wrapped around Frontier Town to the Wave Swinger. Keep in mind the general public wasn't even in the park yet. This was all Joe Cool and resort guests! In fact, when I walked up toward the front of the park immediately after, Dragster only had a couple dozen people lined up prior to opening the queue. Clearly Maverick has captured a lot of attention.

In any case, first time out, I got in the front seat. My second lap was in the back. It was a beautiful morning. The crew seemed really on top of things. The trains are shiny, and station is really quite beautiful. The exit offers a nice view of the ride. The kickers pushed the train out, and the LSM's grabbed and very quickly moved the train up the hill.

It's certainly not the tallest drop, but it's such a strange feeling to go through that tilt beyond vertical. Before you know it, you're off racing through the course. The first two turn transitions are a little quick, which isn't a great thing for those restraints, but it's not a deal breaker. I found on my second ride that simply pushing your head back prevents any discomfort.

After the quick turns, up you go over that giant airtime hill. Holy crap! This is ejector style air, and it's even more intense in the back seat. Very nice. It was at the top of this that I realized I could hear the conversations of everyone on the train, because it's so quiet. They were all very excited to ride and enjoyed every minute of it.

Next was the twisted horseshoe roll, as they call it. While the marketing folk have made much hype of it, I really never bought into it. Here's what we didn't know: These things are perfect airtime hills, only inverted. While we're used to most inversions of this kind pushing you up into the seat, these things perfectly float you through them! I didn't get pressed into the seat, and I didn't drop into the restraint. Well done! They really nailed these things.

Then comes the "great great tunnel." The lighting package is interesting enough, paired with some thundering bass noise. I'm not sure how it fits into the theme exactly, other than to say that the lights at the start of the tunnel look a little like lanterns. Still, it's pretty cool, and I really look forward to some night rides when there's no light leaking into the end.

The launch is very smooth, and very steady. I think they found a sweet spot where it certainly has some intensity, but it doesn't stress you out either. Loved it. At the top of the hill, you barely notice the slight trims, and you get a slight pop of air before you dive down over the old Swan Boat pond.

And at the bottom of the dive comes the notorious "S-curve" where the heart line roll used to be. You know what? I can't imagine taking that roll at that speed. No good could have come of that. Even the quick direction change here is pretty aggressive, and that's only 90 degrees or so of rotation. I don't think anything is lost here.

After the dive over the tunnel, you do that other weird not quite an inversion thing, then another smaller airtime hill, and finally the brakes.

I think that this is the ride that the amusement park-going public has been waiting for, for, like, forever (not ages ;)). It's not too intense, it's mostly comfortable to ride, and you can ride it over and over without feeling like someone beat the crap out of you. And who knew the thing would be an airtime machine? I mean, airtime in the inversions... that's not something I expected at all.

I'm very impressed. I think Cedar Point has an insanely good winner on its hands.

Instead of creating yet another thread about CP's Maverick, I figured I would add my experience to this thread, seeing as how I won't be able to describe the ride in as much detail as some of you absolute diehards.

Went there on Sat 5-26, the 1st day it opened. Got there before the park opened as me and my GF agreed we wanted to ride it and also try to get the free t-shirts. at 10am we participated in the "running of the bulls" which I always wanted to do. (unfortunately we arent joe cool club members). We rushed as fast as we could to the maverick, running maybe half the time. We finally made it there at the back of frontiertown and felt that for sure there was no way we'd get one of those shirts, but got in line anyway. We waited something like 1-1/2 to 2 hrs before we got on (not sure of the exact time), mostly in the rain. The line was moving pretty decent, and it appeared they were using all the trains. It took us maybe 30 minutes to get to the official sign in front of the ride, as there was a brief 15-minute period where the line wasnt moving much at all, but after we got past the official entrance it just kept moving faster and faster.

but anyway, the ride is AWESOME and definitely qualifies for one of my favorite rides in the park. (probably my 2nd favorite behind Magnum). There was a lot of twists and smooth changes in direction, and weightlessness and its just a really fast fun ride. I've seen quite a few ppl on here and other coaster forums complaining about the fact that they replaced the heartline roll, but without it the ride is still great. The rotations are great, done very smoothly and leave you feeling like free-falling and vulnerable at certain moments. Going up the first hill at like 40mph and then falling steeper than straight down at 60 is a neat thrill. The 2nd acceleration in the dark tunnel that takes you up to 70mph in a few seconds is a nice touch, although like some of you I also agree they could use a different look in that tunnel. The end is awesome with an insane rotation into a free-fall that catches you at what seems the last second. We lucked out and got to sit in the front of our car. The only thing that sucked about that was the "water bombs" that hit us in the face, hardest during one of the vertical twists in the 2nd half of the ride (the one that comes right before the ride takes your picture). I ended up holding my face in pain at the exact moment it snapped my picture. I was cussing from the pain and laughing at the same time. Fun ride!

As a seasoned CP vet, I feel this will be on the top 3 list of favorite rides for many CP regulars once they get a chance to ride it. Its just different than anything they've ever done before. its perfect for those coaster fans who can't handle the extra speed and height of millennium force or top thrill. it has many nice features from start to finish. I agree with jeff and others here, it is a winner. Unfortunately I only rode it once (my GF loves coasters but doesnt like to get back in huge lines). Will definately ride it more as soon as I can.

and as a nice side note from my trip:
were getting off maverick and this lady hands us something..... a voucher for a FREE-TSHIRT!!!!!!!!!! We thought for sure we were SOL, but we were wrong. Not only did we both get the cool shirts, but at the time we got ours, they still had over a thousand left! wow. If i knew how that all would have gone down i wouldnt have ever ran. but hey, it was some cool exercise. *** Edited 5/29/2007 4:15:52 AM UTC by BuckeyeCoasterFreak***

Jeff
I like your feedback of Maverick the ride for these simple reasons. Your specific details of the ride from beggining to end is considerably straight forward. Your description of the pro's and con's will eliminate a large amount of arguements and bashful comments to come, and above all, you have now made myself and scores of others seek out this new attraction with open arms. I have no negative thoughts from you post. Well Done! :)

A dissapointing few weeks redeemed only by an outstanding report.

Nice TR, Jeff... Looking forward to hitting it this Thursday for myself. I could tell that there was going to be some good airtime on it, and I was wondering what those horseshoe inversions would be like. Sounds sweet!

Gonch I know you took all those pics. Where is your Trip report? ;)

^I'm reading review after review on Maverick, and I've yet to read a review that is overall negative. That's great, Cedar Point hit a homerun with their newest creation!!

I agree with pretty much everything Jeff said.

Biggest surprise to me is that I didn't expect this to be an airtime coaster and it certainly is.

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CoasterDiscern said:
Jeff
I like your feedback of Maverick the ride for these simple reasons....you have now made myself and scores of others seek out this new attraction with open arms. :)

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CD, you wont be disappointed.

I am going to say that this thing was built to be a number one coaster, I know I said it before but I think that over time this thing will be rated one of the highest. I havent ridden it but, I wasnt the biggest fan of SROS or MF just because I am more of a B&M guy, but that is my opinion.

Also Jeff awsome trip report, I liked the way how you went from element to element describing everything and I cant wait to ride this thing.

Here's me gushing on NPR yesterday...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10498878

Jeff, this seems like the first season Coasterbuzz has had this much attention. Congrats. You sounded great on NPR.

Not really... LA Times, USA Today, The Motley Fool, Stuff, ABC Radio, ABCnews.com, Fox News and countless local papers and TV stations. We get around a lot. :)

Wow Jeff, what's up with you becoming Mr. Mass Media lately? How cool is that!

Yes Maverick is a really fun ride. My 10 yr old daughter rode it and it was her first 'real' coaster to ride and loved it. I do agree about the water bombs. My first ride was front seat and we got smacked right in the face with it. This ride was Saturday afternoon. Now we rode again Sunday and I covered my face when we rode early in the day but did not get any water on me. Suspect maybe the bombs were turned off??

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Audioslaved said:
I am going to say that this thing was built to be a number one coaster, I know I said it before but I think that over time this thing will be rated one of the highest. I havent ridden it but, I wasnt the biggest fan of SROS or MF just because I am more of a B&M guy, but that is my opinion.

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Rumor is that after this season CP will have the greatest coaster in the world. Maverick will become the finale to MF. Both coasters combined!

If only I didn't just make all of that up lol.

Thats better then the doozie I heard from multiple people at KI yesterday: ready for this? TTD is going to be moved and/or cloned to KI.

That's pretty easy...just build some tall steel track, and close the entry the gates, and viola....they'll have their clone!!

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Jeff said:

It was at the top of this that I realized I could hear the conversations of everyone on the train, because it's so quiet.

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We were at the park the first Tuesday the park was open, and we watched them cycle trains for several minutes. We were standing near the entrance and we couldn't believe how quiet the ride was -- it was like someone "muted" the ride! I swear if I closed my eyes I wouldn't have been able to tell they were even running trains.

Nice ride review, it's nice to hear so many positive reports. Can't wait 'til I can try it out!

- Aaron K

TTD to PKI is the best rumor I have ever heard...

No I heard MIA.

Gotta love the GP peeps ;).