The Roller Coaster Report Pt.1

It's no real secret that I've been a roller coaster fan since I rode the Blue Streak as an impressionable 12 year old and it scared the crap totally out of me. I certainly don't get to ride them as much as I wish, but we certainly did it up well this last week. We spent two and a half days at Cedar Point in Sanduskey, Ohio. It is where you find the largest concentration of great 'coasters on Planet Earth. Some other place in the universe might have more great ones, but no place you and I can travel. Pictured are Garrett, Nicole, Me, Harry, and Hannah - The C.P. crew 2009.

This is the first hill on The Mellennium Force. This bad boy is so big, high and fast that they made up a new name - gigacoaster - and plunked it in a class of it's own. It broke almost all Roller Coaster records when it opened in 2000. That hill is 310' tall, the drop is 93 MPH at an 80* angle. It's totally smooth, has three rolling curves (overbanked turns that turn you almost but not quite upside down.), two tunnels, and three air hills. The cars rock, since you are only strapped in from the waist down, and there is no sightline restrictions, and total freedom of upper-body movement. 2minutes and 20 seconds of total, hands up, yelling all the way, awsomeness. It's still my very favorite ever. Rode it 6 times.

This is the Maverick. It's the new kid on the block, and since it knew it couldn't out speed, or out hight the Mellennium Force, it's claim to fame is it's double-linear moter launching systems, and the first drop of more than 90* - Yup, for a split second, that track actually curves under. This one flips and banks like a fighter jet, and adds extra breaks and accellerations just when you don't expect them. The thing about this 'coaster is that it never slows down. The 60MPH you reach flying over the first hill is maintained throughout the first half of the ride, then the second launch - at about 70 mph - lasts for the second half of the heart-pounding 2 minutes 3o seconds. This experienced rider learned to hold on tight to the bars near my neck throughout the whole ride. I think we managed 5 trips on this one.


More later ~M.E.