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CEDAR POINT
Sandusky, Ohio (Abbreviation: CP)
Cedar Fair Entertainment
 Park News - (5/13/13) It was an interesting weekend of Cedar Point it seems. Gatekeeper opened to huge crowds and is said to be an incredible coaster… and Blue Streak was repaired and opened as well. Things got tricky on Sunday however when high winds blew into the area that not only shut down most of the park’s major coasters, but also caused both Millennium Force, Maverick and even Woodstock Express to valley trains in mid-course. Pictures of MF stuck and crews pulling a Maverick train through the course with a cable winch can be found at AllAmericanThrills.
(5/11/13) Quick update from The Point... whatever damage done to Blue Streak has apparently been repaired. I don’t know for sure if the coaster is running today or not, but it was seen making test runs over the last two days during the media and private events in the park.
(4/29/13) In an interesting story from Cedar Point, it seems a dump truck driver wasn’t paying close attention and apparently ran into the Blue Streak, causing damage to the support structure. Cedar Point says they are working to repair the damage and hope to have it fixed in time for opening day.
In other news I’ve received several reports that Windseeker has been seen testing lately. I know the Carowinds’ version of the ride has opened for park guests already there, so things are looking good for Windseeker to open at The Point with the rest of the park.
Now that your ready to plan your trip to The Point, it may also be a good time to check out the 2013 Cedar Point Crowd Expectation Calendar posted by The Point Online.
(3/28/13) The new Fast Lane and Fast Lane Plus system is now official at Cedar Point, along with even higher prices than the rest of the parks in the chain. Fast Lane tickets will start at $50 while Fast Lane Plus will start at $65 as the only way to get front of line access on Top Thrill Dragster and GateKeeper.
(3/25/13) The local news reports that Cedar Point has donated pieces of the removed Wildcat and Disaster Transport coasters to the National Roller Coaster Museum project.
In other news, I’ve been told that there will be a change to Fast Lane at Cedar Point in 2013. Instead of one Fast Land system for everyone, they will now offer Fast Lane and Fast Lane Plus, a premium version that will cost an additional $15 per person, but will also add in Dragster and Gatekeeper access. The regular Fast Lane program will not have access to these two attractions in 2013.
(3/11/13) Source tell me that every Cedar Fair park with a Windseeker ride have also taken delivery of one of the same new Evac Platform contraptions that we saw pictures of at Knott’s Berry Farm last week. The new Cedar Fair policy on this is that the park’s can not run their Windseeker rides unless they have an Evac Platform in working order and ready to go. (For example, I’m told that Kings Dominion already has their platform and is keeping it stored nearby in the old Hypersonic station area.) With the platforms in place, we should seen the Windseekers ready to run on opening day at most Cedar Fair parks. (Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion and Kings Island).
(12/3/12) Cedar Point confirmed that they will spent around $60 million over the next three years to update, improve and restore the park’s on site hotel properties in an effort to lure more guests into multi-day stays at The Point as a destination resort location. Much like his experience with Disney, Matt Ouimet reported that they would be looking at offering a similar “Good, Better, Best” level of resort offerings to cater to families with different budgets.
2013 - GateKeeper - (5/13/13) CoasterForce has posted a great interview with Cedar Fair’s CEO Matt Ouimet done at the Gatekeeper media day event. Speaking of Gatekeeper, check out this great Flickr photo gallery one of our readers sent in that shows off the new coaster from almost every conceivable angle that are quite stunning, including awesome close-ups of riders during the various inversions.
It is also worth mentioning that Gatekeeper may be the first B&M Wing Rider to offer ‘Big Boy’ seats. According to the Cedar Point Blog the seats in Row 4 have been modified to be a little more accommodating for some larger riders who may not fit in the regular restraints.
(5/11/13) A local area reader who attended the media event for Gatekeeper at Cedar Point for their local news station sent us a link to their report, which also includes some great video of Gatekeeper in action.
So far the fan reports flooding in are all gushing over Gatekeeper, so it’s good to know that it seems to live up to the hype. Of course this is Cedar Point we’re talking about, where true criticism is often hard to find from the coaster boys who crowd the midways, but damn if Gatekeeper doesn’t look like a stellar new addition to the park. In a few years, I don’t think many will lament the demolition of Disaster Transport or the Space Spiral… if they remember them at all.
(5/7/13) Cedar Point has posted the first official POV videos for Gatekeeper, showing off both the left and right hand side ride experiences. I’ve embedded them both below. I only watched each one once, but I’m inclined to say that I liked some of the visual head/feet chopper moments a little better on the right side. What do you think?
(5/3/13) Good news from Cedar Point…. It seems they opened up Gatekeeper to the park staff earlier today for some test runs and the reports in so far say it is as wonderful as it looks. The keyhole elements are nice and apparently you get some airtime as well on the “twists”. Good Morning America was on site as well filming footage of Gatekeeper in action for a future segment rumored to air on Monday morning.
(4/15/13) Cedar Point has finally posted a video showing off GateKeeper making test runs, as well as interviews with the park staff as they make the final preparations to get GateKeeper ready for the park’s opening day of the season. It is interesting to note that in the footage, GateKeeper is not running at full speed yet. They have installed some softer wheels on the trains that create more friction and allow it to run at a slower speed for testing. As they get ready to open it, they will replace these with the harder wheels (less friction) so they can start full speed testing.
(4/12/13) What to get in on the auction to be on the first riders on Gatekeeper? Click here for all the details.
(3/4/13) Cedar Point has posted the first look at the new Gatekeeper trains on their website. You can also see a new construction update of the Gatekeeper site posted to the CP Rundown Facebook page.
(2/4/13) An on-site construction report on Gatekeeper was posted to YouTube by CP Rundown. Check it out below.
(1/29/13) An interesting time-lapse video showing off the construction of Gatekeeper over the past week was posted to YouTube, made a little more interesting as winter storms dropped snow on The Point.
(1/21/13) A new look at the Gatekeeper construction site has been posted to Facebook here.
(1/4/13) CoasterForce was able to tour the Gatekeeper construction site this week. Check out their incredible close-up photos of The Point’s newest coaster, in contrast to the white snow landscape around it.
(12/11/12) I’ve got a couple more GateKeeper construction videos to share today, starting out with another on-site tour from this past week that also includes a tour and explanation of how the new main entrance will be laid out by Bryan Edwards and Ed Dangler.
Meanwhile a couple of neat time-lapse videos have also made their way online here and here. And finally, an in-depth interview with CP’s Annie Zelm about GateKeeper and the park’s off season projects has been posted to CPFansite.
(12/10/12) A video showing off the construction progress on GateKeeper at Cedar Point was posted to YouTube this week, shot during a special tour of the site for the Great Ohio Coaster Club.
(12/3/12) Pictures and some notes from a Gatekeeper construction tour over the weekend were posted to ThemeParkReview, which also included a look at some of the off-season maintenance projects going on as well.
(11/7/12) A reader has sent in a picture of a second or two of Gatekeeper
track now vertical at The Point along the shoreline.
(10/24/12) The local news reports that the track pieces for Gatekeeper have begun to arrive at Cedar Point. You can find track pictures as well as construction site pics here.
(10/11/12) Pictures of some of the Gatekeeper track and supports can be found over at ThemeParkOverload this week.
(10/10/12) For those waiting to catch a look at Gatekeeper track, I’m told that the first painted pieces are sitting outside the track fabrication plant. I’m sure we’ll have pictures of these soon enough. In other news, check out this fun time-lapse video showing off the demolition of Disaster Transport.
(9/11/12) Check out these new photos taken at Cedar Point over the weekend showing off how different the park future Gatekeeper site looks now without the massive Disaster Transport building sitting there. So strange to see the site cleared out, with the exception of Space Spiral.
(9/3/12) CoasterForce dropped into The Point this week to check in on the early progress of Gatekeeper, and realizing for the first time just what a huge footprint Disaster Transport really had on the midway. It’s strange to see just how open and empty the horizon looks now with the massive ride building now gone.
(8/22/12) Cedar Point has mentioned on their Blog that Gatekeeper is expected to offer the tallest inversion in the world with the roll-over at the top of the lift hill that will invert you 170 feet in the air. This will beat the current tallest inversion record set by Kings Dominion’s Volcano where you would invert out the top of the Volcano launch 155 feet in the air. This record could be short lived however, as some rumors surrounding the new coaster on the way for Six Flags Magic Mountain in 2013, also speculate that it could be building something with the tallest inversion as well.
(8/15/12) As rumored, Cedar Point’s new B&M Wing Coaster is coming for 2013 and will be name GateKeeper. Also as rumored, the new coaster will soar right over a new main gate area, twisting through two key-hole elements along the way. GateKeeper will be 4164 feet long and feature a 164 foot first drop that starts things off with a twisting dive element that will rise up into an Immelman, an air-time hill, a huge flat spin, the Zero-G-Roll, Incline Dive Loop, In-Line Roll and more. All said and done, I believe there are six inversions to be had on GateKeeper, which represents a $30 million investment for The Point. Check out the videos below!
(8/9/12) After all the fuss and thoughts about different possible names for Cedar Point’s 2013 coaster, the one that keeps coming back again and again is Gate Keeper. The latest development on the Gate Keeper theme will see the coaster actually soar over a new main entrance to the park twice, and be themed to a sort of Gargoyle guardian character. I’ve also been told to expect to see Gate Keeper perform two “key hole” inversions stunts along the route.
(5/31/12) The Sandusky Register posted a very interesting news item earlier today, claiming to have seen an internal memo from Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet dated Feb. 15th regarding the 2013 attraction coming to Cedar Point, codenamed, “CP Alt.Winged”. According to comments in the memo, the new coaster is believed to be the rumored B&M Wing Coaster we’ve been talking about, and is said to feature the “longest drop, run, the fastest and be the longest ride” of its kind.
The Wing Coaster will showcase the entire front gate area, with the project cost set at $25 million, which will include the removal of two old park attractions: the Space Spiral tower and the Disaster Transport coaster. This matches up with the latest rumors about the desmise of Disaster Transport as well as the survey markings spotted in the same area. The new coaster will feature a 170 foot lift hill and will fly over the guests as they enter the park.
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