Cedar Point, May 2022

We just got back from CP over a mostly 3-day period. From around noon on Saturday till around 2 pm on Monday.

I was super impressed by the ride operations. Most of the heavy hitters were all being efficiently run. Steel Vengeance Maverick, Millenium Force, Gatekeeper, Valraven, Raptor, and Rougarou all had really great workers that shuffled people through the lines at an alarming rate. The CP app said that Maverick had a 60-minute wait, but we were only in line for 40 minutes... very similar for the Steel Vengeance wait as well.

We got lucky with Millenium Force. Some poor souls got stuck on top of the first hill for almost an hour one day, so the line was short when it opened back up. My daughter and I had similar luck with Valraven being down for a bit on Monday morning and as we walked up, they had just dropped the chain, so we walked right onto the first row which was great.

A few rides went up and down over the time period, we were on Corkscrew and it couldn't leave the station because the train in front of us had someone pull out their phone, so they stopped the ride. Blue Streak was stopped because some guy was trying to vape on the way up!

Very short waits all weekend for Gatekeeper and Rougarou as well.

All in all, we hit every coaster in the park over the weekend as well as multiple rides on quite a few. We even did a little detour through the water park for about 3 hours on Sunday. Forgot how fun Gemini was and was painfully sorry that I forgot how rough Magnum is anymore.

That's a radically different experience than the one I had.

Me too, and the last time I was there was Monday…

That's crazy... after reading this, I was a little worried about going but was surprised at how well everything was operating over the weekend.

Maybe I just struck gold and hit the right time.

I’m gonna say that sounds like half my experience. And my trouble on a weekday wasn’t operations or throughput so much, but availability. Once the rides opened it was all good.

Serious question (as a life-long Magnum fan boy and defender)- but how does a steel coaster get substantially rougher? I venture to say that it’s certainly less the case than with wooden track and structures. I hear a lot of complaining (not just here) that Magnum has gotten too rough.Even cries that it should be overhauled or worse yet removed. I tend to think it’s more a case of it being the same as I always remembered and there’s a subconscious comparison to much smoother coasters that have been built since 1989. I was there the first day and every season since and to me it’s the same thrilling, rollicking ride it always was.

(I guess I’m aware that portions of the ride’s track have been replaced over time- I still don’t see much difference.)

Does it involve the wheels and/or bogies?

Parts of Magnum have been retracked with new rails, and I'm sure that will continue if it's to keep on. But it's also prone to roughness from bad wheels.

To answer RCMAC:

I don't know how it can get rougher. I rode it 2 years ago and certainly don't remember it being that bad. This is the first time in years that I left a ride with a headache from the vibrations that lasted a couple of hours.

20 years ago I remember riding it multiple times in a day with no issues, so I know it's gotten rougher. I don't think it should go away, I love how it travels through the waterpark and back again, but it does need something for sure.

To be fair, you and the ride are 20 years older. 🙂

And plenty of other factors could contribute to a headache: Hydration, salts, temperature, amount of direct sunlight, number of trips on other rides throughout the day, etc.

Jeff took the words right out of my mouth. Nobody’s getting any younger, and I feel every inch of Magnum in my old bones. But I still have to question how much the ride’s changed over time compared to advances in technology that have made steel coasters more comfortable.
Back in ‘89 Arrow was the forerunner in steel roller coasters, and as we all know they used maybe 5 or so plug-n-play track configurations. Straight, curved, dipped, and banked. Now we have the likes of RMC, Intamin, and Gerstlauer that can make custom configurations that are immensely better than the transitions of the past. IMO Magnum is a great ride. But riders who spend the day experiencing the profiles of Millennium Force, Gatekeeper, and Maverick may naturally be in for a shock when they sit down to the coat hanger transitions of yesteryear.
Anyway, I still think Magnum’s increase in roughness is for the most part merely perceived. Fight me, lol.

Well, the last thing I will say on the matter, is you are right, I am older, but my 10-year-old daughter left with the same opinion of the ride... way too rough.

I've been riding Magnum since '98 and it feels about the same to me as it always has. Maybe in another 10 years, it will feel rough to me, but I'd say it's more a perception thing. Many of our bodies are getting older and at the same time newer, smoother rides have come along making it SEEM like Magnum has changed when in reality, it was never really that smooth. I will say that your seat choice does make a big difference, but if you think Magnum is painful, try riding in like car 6 row 2 or car 5 row 2. Try to avoid the third row of any car unless you are looking for punishing airtime in which case go for row 3 of car 1 (the ejector seat).

Some of us like it rough. (Cue the memes.)

It’s all about the middle rows and a tight seat belt. I think it’s probably similar to how it’s always been with a bit of age thrown in. It’s still one of the most fun rides with a group of friends. It was my Halloweekends group’s first ride on Friday nights after drinking at our cabin.

Yep, middle row is the way to go, and giving the seatbelt a good tug before going into the bunny hops. I just rode in the 2nd-to-last row during CoasterMania, and it pretty much felt the way I remember it being the last 10+ years.

Magnum is still my all time # 1, and I feel like it still runs virtually the same as it did when I first rode it in the 90s. It is 100% dependent on the seat. If you ride on the third row of any of the cars you are guaranteed to have a rough and uncomfortable ride. But that's no different than when it first opened.