Cedar Point Education

I was in awe of the skyline in 1990. Magnum looked very grand back then.

Actually, 1996 was about the time I stopped making visits to Cedar Point! I used to go every summer on my way between my home in New Jersey and my grandmother's house in Iowa. My fondest memories of the park are from the 1980s.

Interestingly, I've since moved to Ohio and I've gone to Cedar Point exactly twice over the past 5 years. I have very specific tastes in amusement parks and the post-1996 park isn't really what I crave anymore. There are so many places I haven't gone that I put more energy into visiting things I haven't seen before.

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SFoGswim said:
One coaster (Magnum) does not a great park make.

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I'd like to make it a point that I totally disagree with this. You know, subjectively.

Firstly, Cedar Point would still be one of my favorite parks in the world if you removed every coaster they built after 1989, that would still leave me with Blue Streak, Gemini, Wildcat, Mine Ride, what would have then been Avalanche, Iron Dragon, and Corkscrew, all of which I really like a lot. And then of course Magnum which is still my favorite steel coaster. And then of course that still leaves everything else at the park besides coasters.

CP's coaster collection even in the early 90's was completely staggering by the standards of back then.

Also, Holiday World was like my favoritest place ever back when the Raven was the only coaster there, and I'm sure Knoebels would have been the same way for me when they only had Phoenix.

So yeah maybe we just have vastly different ideas of what a "great" park is. I mean I think EPCOT is "great" with no coasters at all.

Anyway if we're talking about CP in 1989 you really have to compare it to the rest of the coaster world in 1989. It was definitely one of the "must do" parks even back then. *** Edited 4/6/2007 2:39:45 AM UTC by matt.***

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matt. said:
I mean I think EPCOT is "great" with no coasters at all.

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I think EPCOT is a very nice park, too. However, it's not an I-must-visit-before-death park for a roller coaster enthusiast... which is what this topic is about, no?

I'm going to have to go with Magnum. When Magnum opened, it upped the bar for coasters more than any other ride in recent history, if ever. I believe that Magnum is credited with starting the recent coaster wars.

When Magnum opened, there were a lot of good coasters. (Magnum, Gemini, Corkscrew, Blue Streak,...) True, today Gemini, Corkscrew and Blue Streak seem like small coasters, when compared to rides like Millennium Force and Dragster, but those coasters were there at the time to de-sensitize the smaller rides.

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SFoGswim said:
I think EPCOT is a very nice park, too. However, it's not an I-must-visit-before-death park for a roller coaster enthusiast... which is what this topic is about, no?

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Well, I was just using EPCOT as an example.

From what I took, you said "One coaster doesn't do it" and I said "Well, I don't see why."

And even in 1989 it wasn't just Magnum at CP. You have all of those supporting coasters that I guess you could discount in 2007 (but really, you shouldn't, they're still great) but in 1989 were a lot more prominent.

I'm looking on RCDB, by my count CP had 9 coasters in 1989, is there another park that came close to that collection back then?

Now that some of you have mentioned it...

Before I became an enthusiast, I remember hearing the news of Magnum opening. And that is when I first heard of Cedar Point.

I guess without that event I wouldn't learn about CP and, by any stretch of imagination, VF would not have the Morgan.

Thank you Ceader Point.

I'd say the Cockscrew and Gemini era.
I remember back when: Hey, Cedar Points got a coaster that inverts you! wooohooo gotta ride that. (we waited two hours for that).

It was much the same for Gemini.

Jeff's right though, when you grow up in Cleveland, it is part of your summer.

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matt. said:
I'm looking on RCDB, by my count CP had 9 coasters in 1989

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Many lame coasters does not a great park make.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

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Coasterphan said:
How many people here ever experienced CP on a record setting day, other than myself, and my father?

Of those who can answer yes, how many of you enjoyed your day, waiting for 2 hours for every ride in the park?

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I can say I've been at the park for at least 3 record setting days (the last one being the halloweekend when they closed the causeway and traffic was backed up on 250 to the turnpike), and I enjoyed myself immensely, without standing in long lines. We avoided the large coasters and, instead, rode the flats, walked through the museum, visited the shops, watched shows and generally hung out with friends.

I think Magnum was likely the most instrumental coaster as far as bringing people from out of the region to the park. But I also remember waiting in a 90 minute line to ride Corkscrew when it first opened, and at least that long for Gemini the year it opened.

I recall the park began getting much busier the year they extended the midway (the Million Dollar Midway and Centennial/IMAX theater) in 1970.

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SFoGswim said:
Sorry, couldn't resist.

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I figured. We just have very different definitions of "lame" I figure.

Yeah, a lot of people would consider one of the world's best hypers, one of the world's best inverts, an above-average stand-up, a classic arrow looper, one of only 4 remaining suspendeds in North America, the world's best steel coaster, a racing steel coaster, a classic above average arrow mine ride, a classic PTC woodie, a top-10 former record-breaking woodie, one of the few remaining bobsled coasters, a couple decent kiddie coasters, a record breaking double-twisting impulse, the 2nd fastest and tallest steel coaster, and a brand-spanking well-themed intamin a pretty "lame" collection.

This coming from someone with Six Flags in their name.

Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

^Lets not get too sentimental here, while I agree with your premise here youre taking it a little far. "Yeah, a lot of people would consider one of the world's best hypers," agree. "One of the world's best inverts," agree. "An above-average stand-up," agree. "A classic arrow looper," if by classic you mean cookie cutter, short and boring but makes a pretty picture sure. "one of only 4 remaining suspendeds in North America," and the worst of the bunch. "the world's best steel coaster," huh? What ride is this, MF? Not around in 1996, and you allready called out Magnum. "A racing steel coaster," add fantastic. "A classic above average arrow mine ride," meh, above average length but I can name quite a few mine coasters off the top of my head that are better. "A classic PTC woodie," which has aged very well. "a top-10 former record-breaking woodie," come on now, top ten according to whom, the world federation of trim breakers union? "one of the few remaining bobsled coasters, a couple decent kiddie coasters," ok and no comment (havent ridden them.) "A record breaking double-twisting impulse, the 2nd fastest and tallest steel coaster," again not there in 1996. "And a brand-spanking well-themed intamin," lets not comment on rides not even opened yet.

The question at hand was at what point did CP become the coaster enthusiast's Mecca. You seem to be argueing weither it is one today, which is not going to be a very fruitful arguement since all are going to agree with you. Going back to pre Maverick, TTD, WT, Woodstock, and MF I think their line up was still the best in the country.

Oh come on TD, just having a little fun. I already gave a non-sarcastic response on Page 1.

That being said, I would personally give the nod to Kings Island in the time-period you are referring to. That being said, I was a kid living in NW Ohio, so my exposure to amusement parks consisted of CP and KI.