On this date, May 15, 1976, Corkscrew opened to an excited and anxious public waiting to ride the world's first triple looping rollercoaster at Cedar Point. Designed by Arrow Development and legendary engineer Ron Toomer, the ride cost $1.75 million dollars and was part of $4.5 million spent that season to expand the park midway along with adding Troika. Themed to America's bicentennial, the ride featured red, white, and blue trains that barreled through Arrow's first designed loop element and then the iconic corkscrew element over the park midway, a feature that could be seen all the way to the main entrance of Cedar Point and easily could be called the most photographed rollercoaster moment ever.
Robert L. Munger had just taken over as President of Cedar Point in 1975 so this would have been his first of several major attractions to debut. First riders included well known management figures including George Roose (at 81 years old), Dick Kinzel, Arrow Development employees and construction workers. They knew they had a hit on their hands.
Corkscrew is historical in a far greater sense than just her construction and the marvel of a rollercoaster going upside-down. That season, Cedar Point attendance increased by 500,000 guests and put Cedar Point in the 3+ million yearly attendance club for the first time. Corkscrew was a people eating machine with her 3 trains and efficient operations by her all-female crew, yet lines would quickly fill her queue and snake down the midway, past Jungle Larry's African Safari and all the way to the corkscrew element. Corkscrew represents a time when amusement park executives saw the power of what a rollercoaster can do, both from a guest experience perspective as well as a financial one. In my opinion, it was Corkscrew who gave us the following decades of "coaster wars" to come.
Those of us at a certain age can fondly look back and remember that Summer of 76. It was a time of celebration, pop culture, and excitement about the future as the country slowly recovered from difficult economic years. Corkscrew, in all her glory, combined those themes into an experience that shaped what was about to come for the future of Cedar Point: bigger-taller-faster rollercoasters, emerging new executives focused on park operation excellence for the masses, and making Cedar Point an icon in the industry that everyone else was challenged to live up to. Corkscrew did that, and so much more.
There may be no big celebration this summer (a huge missed opportunity, IMO) and there doesn't seem to be much recognition from the coaster enthusiast clubs but many of us remember what was started on May 15, 1976 and what it meant for the industry, for Cedar Point, and for tourism in Sandusky, OH. I dare say that for some, it changed the trajectory of their professional lives and/or hobbies and interests, eventually giving us clubs like American Coaster Enthusiasts and sites like CoasterBuzz, all because of a rollercoaster named Corkscrew.
Happy 50th Birthday Corkscrew, and thanks for all you have done that gave us the amusement park industry we all know and love today!
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