Magnum Opening Year

As much as I love magnum to this day I can't imagine it wasn't a hundred times better the year it opened. Not just due to the fact that it was a brand new coaster, but also cause of the trees and atmosphere around the ride which is now a waterpark (not quite as pleasant).

My first ride was long after its opening and I would be interested in your impressions its opening year.

Actually, from what I know (I was born only like 5 days before maggie opened) that it was even MORE painful then than now.

There weren't any seatpads, just the hard plastic, as well as no pad on the lapbar. And you know how violent those bunny hops are. And there weren't any upstop wheels, just upstop bars, or metal clamps, or whatever, that used to spark over the tops of the hills.

No, it wasn't more painful, at least to my memory. I remember no pain at all. What I do remember (I rode a few weeks after opening) is the incredible party atmosphere in the queue, and how every train load would come back cheering after the brakes.

http://www.acegreatlakes.org/may_1989.htm

My first ride was in 1996 so I can't speak first hand but if you go to those pics you can see the drop before the turnaround and how its different from today.

There's so many good stories about the first years of Magnum. I'm not sure if this is just an urban legend but back when there was still fog and lasers in the tunnels, boaters out on the water would call 911 because it looked like Magnum was "on fire." I'd give anything to go back and time and ride back when all the effects were working.

IMO, Magnum used to be much better than now (after some of the short-term fixes like padding, etc).

Maybe I've been spoiled by Millie, but I recall a smoothness that seems to have dimished over the last several years....

As you mentioned, it also benefitted from having not quite so much "stuff" around it, a bit more of a through-the-trees ride. But the fog and lasers never did much for me...

100 times better? Not even close. Somewhat better? Sure.

What Doug Rowe said about the smoothness factor as compared with MF! But then again, different company, a lot older and blah blah blah. Magnum isn't quite as "scary" either comapred with MF. ;)

I rode the forst week it was open. Those effects were great. The music coming from the tunnel after the park closed made us wonder if we'd be able to sleep in the Breakers.

It was also cool bieng able to learn new ways to ride. Try hands up feet back and eyes closed.

No it wasn't as smooth last year at the ACE con as it was when it opened but there's still no better way to wake up in the morning.

The ride was always a parking lot coaster. There was hardly any "trees and atmosphere" and the water park was there, just on one side. I dont think the atmosphere of the ride has changed muh.

My memories of the ride back then are positive, I remember it being huge, scarey, fast and fun. And a much longer wait!

That queue sure was one big party. And that was before there was ever a D.J.

I can remember the people would toss around beachballs and whatever else they could find to stay entertained. The CP police would do their best to discourage the fun, but once a beachball was confiscated the crowd would boo and another ball or stuffed animal would soon be back in the air.

That summer I witnessed many Domino's Pizza Noids (remember avoid the Noid) meet thier doom.

Who has ever waited all the way through the overflow que? I had to once.

I hated Magnum the year it opened, not only was it painful it was actually injuring people. As Ride of Steel mentioned there were no upstop wheels, just upstop pads (they never sparked). As the train hit the top of each hill the upstop pads would contact the track and slow the train just momentarily, but enough that all the riders were lurched forward. Those who had their hands up were often bent in half, sometimes hitting the person in front of them (I got hit from behind more than once). But more seriously, some people in the front of each car would come all the way down and hit their face or nose on the grab bar on the front of the train. Sometimes they would come back with a bloody nose. A well-known ACEer at the time shattered his glasses when his face hit the grab bar. Cedar Fair responded by adding padding to the bars midway through the season. The third hill was much more intense, instead of a nice float it was more of and up then slam down into the unpadded fiberglass seat (padding was added later). Sometime during the season they also added a trim brake on the third hill, so that wonderful float you now get on third hill didn't exist, instead you hit a trim brake.

By the following season the climb out of the third hill into the pretzel was reprofiled and the trim brake was moved to where it is now. The upstop pads were replaced with wheels.

Since then I've loved it, and still do.

I had a spin the week it opened. Scared the crap out of me. Being a couple months short of 16, and not an enthusiast, I remember it being kind of violent, probably at the bottom of the third hill in particular.

I think Magnum is 100% better today. Sure, you still get off rides now and then where you end up over a bad wheel, but I couldn't help noticing all through 2004 that it was running the best it ever had.

And a safety tip... Don't be an enthuiass. Pull the seatbelt as tight as possible. It'll be super comfortable, you'll get tons of air, and it will be a lot more pleasant because a belt is flexible, the bar is not.

Unfortunately I barely remember the effects in the tunnels because they were almost nearly gone when I was tall enough to ride it. I do remember that the smoke in the 3rd tunnel was a riot back in 1999. I thought that the ride ops could control when it is and isn't on, but after working the ride last year I found out that's not true. It just spontaneously kicks on every once in a while.

There was one time last year when the smoke was going ridiculously strong and it created a cool explosive quality everytime a train shot out of the tunnel. I hadn't seem the fog that dense since 99.

One of my fondest memories was waiting for Maggie just before dusk and the queue was a party. The DJ was spinning some great tunes and someone brought a beach ball to toss around. People were dancing and the atmosphere was something I've only seen while waiting for the last night ride on Raptor in '97 and MF early in the 2000 season.

That's the 2nd to last time I've ever seen Magnum's like completely full, and it seemed to go surprisingly quick. The queue's atmosphere has never been quite the same since MF was built, unfortunately.

As for the ride, I feel that it gets better with every year of operation. I especially like it whenever I get a ride with a little (or a lot ;)) or room between me and the lapbar. I have a knack for getting monster airtime without getting beat up and not having my seatbelt really tight. If you ride in the last seat and you get a trimmed ride I recommend looking behind you on the return hills for a cool ride. If you ever have an untrimmed ride though, get ready for an ass-kicking! :)

*** Edited 2/17/2005 6:15:45 PM UTC by CPgenius***

I didn't ride it until 1991, but I remember the (foul-smelling) fog and lights in the tunnels. I like it more now than I did back then.

That ACE link is really cool. I like the line, "I can't imagine coasters getting any bigger than this." LOL. *** Edited 2/17/2005 7:44:06 PM UTC by Den***

Upstop PADS huh? Sounds pretty bad. Very interesting pics and opinions though, thanks. My first ride was in 97 or 98 (my first hypercoaster), and it was incredible. There was, as someone originally put it, a certain party atmosphere in the queue I had never experienced until a night visit in raptor's line. And why did they take the fog machine down? I love effects like that, even though it always made me choke a little.

I rode it the first summer it was open. Around July. That line was horr-freakin'-endous.

Also being 16 and not the afficianado I am nowadays, I remember getting off and asking my mom "Why didn't it have any loops?"

Of course, Marriott's Demon was my favorite coaster back then, so what do I know anyway?

I rode Magnum during its first year of operation. I fell in love with the ride and roller coasters right then and there. I loved the effects in the tunnel with all the lazer and fog. I never thought the ride was rough nor painful. The best part of the view was and still is the beach near the pretzel. The atmosphere was more of a party atmosphere, but the wait was extreme. Yes, I waited all the overflow queues and then some. The entrance was the other side of the bathroom then. I still consider Magnum as my favorite. I rode Magnum about 150 times last year.

I used to enjoy the chasing lights on the lift at night, and couldn’t believe how small Gemini looked in comparison. That commercial where the train is making the 205 ft ascend (POV) also comes to mind. Wasn't it was something like, "Well, well, well. Look who's riding Magnum....”?

A portion of Camper Village used to extend adjacent to Magnum. I remember camping in that area and hearing the train and screams roar by. I thought, and still to this day, the design of the trains was so cool. :)

Up until Magnum (maybe even Mean Streak) each coaster at CP had its own dominating terroritory in the park, if you can understand that thought. It was very unique. Now of days there are multiple coasters occupying each of these “territories.”

I actually remember coming over the causeway thinking I was going to see this gigantic coaster towering over the park. I was dissapointed...until I rode it. :)

From what I understand, First year it had upstop skids and not upstop wheels and was much slower on the return run.