Cedar Point gets a Wing Rider

lol Disaster Transport sounds like tools in a dryer when you ride it. It's so loud and clangy, it's hilarious. The ride had character though, so I will kinda miss it but not really. Still a pointless ride, more so in today's time.

July 29th will be DT's last day. This was an official announcement at the Coastermania lunch.

Originally posted by yoshifreak

Originally posted by bandman232

2 old rides for a wing rider... What a waste...

Don't know how you could say that if you've been to Cedar Point in the past few years. Both rides were in a state of disrepair. Space Spiral is barely open anymore and the cabin has been in need of repaired a/c and new windows for years. Disaster transport is a shadow of what it once was. Now it's basically a tame tube slide with seats and damaged theming. Not to mention the crappy building it's housed in is an eyesore. I'm glad to see them go.

Well, when I went the Space Spiral was fine. And had the park actually maintained these two rides, they probably wouldn't be taken down. DT would still have it's effect, though I never rode it with them on.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't planned for at least three years. They've been moving things around in that area for quite a bit and Windseeker is very close by Space Spiral regardless. I haven't been on Windseeker at all but the ferris wheel is nicknamed "air conditioner" by my dad so I'd imagine Windseeker does that even better.

Also as far as Disaster Transport goes, the building it's in is incredibly ugly so I think getting rid of it would really help the park. Perhaps I'd feel differently if it had a more normal color scheme.

Also if I was running a park and knew a ride with effects was going in the next two years, I wouldn't pay to fix the effects either.

Honestly, I would enjoy disaster transport more if it were outdoor. The inside is basically pitch black, and has been for a number of years in my experiences, which I think renders it useless. The halfpipe track looks cool, and I think the ride experience is greatly enhanced when one can see where they are going.

Anyway, that Banchee idea is neat, but that blog post comment could be a planned one from the park to give a false clue. It's so Cedar Fair to do this; I wish they'd just come forward with it or be silent until press release day.

This area of the park has needed a massive overhaul for quite some time now. Honestly, the writing has been on the wall and while these rides might have a hint of nostalgia, they probably aren't worth the upkeep anymore.

If it is in fact a "Wing Coaster", I sure hope they go the route of X-Flight/Swarm and design something that could pass as Wing-Coaster material. If they go the Wild Eagle route, then they are better off with something else.

Funny, Wild Eagle actually looked like it had the best layout to me.

The thing with Wild Eagle is that many said it felt exactly like a floorless. In order to make a wing rider truly work they need to make it different and unique. They need to make it awesome with an X-Flight style keyhole or something special that makes it stand out. The floorless trains wouldn't have nearly the effect the wing rider trains do on that element.

Wild Eagle has the layout most reminiscent of a more standard sitdown or floorless looper, frankly I wish it made better use of its terrain (but to be fair I theorize it was designed as it was to minimize the steel used in the lift structure). I really feel X-Flight has a markedly better layout than The Swarm, despite their similarities. X-Flight's Immelmann, zero-g rolls and final helix definitely seem stronger than an oblique loop, oversized cork and slow 180????????? turn into final brakes.

I'm cautiously optimistic that this Cedar Point edition will be what Raptor was for the invert, except more forceful than what came before it and not less. Time will tell...and I won't hold my breath, but I will likely find my way to Cedar Point in 2013 to ride it.

If this is a Wingrider, I hope this ends up the way Tatsu did for the Flying Coaster, maximizing the capabilities of its ride type to its full potential.

^Bingo. Tatsu and Manta are two of my favorite coasters. Tatsu skims over trees and what not to really earn the title of a flying coaster and Manta has the water element and the near miss with the rocks and waterfall at the end. In order for a wing rider to work I really think they need to have multiple of those near miss/keyhole elements that we saw on X-Flight, Swarm, and Raptor and not so much of on Eagle.

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I'm hoping that it's more like X-flight but better and whatnot. Cedar Point has managed to screw new additions up in the past with rides like MF (forceless) and TTD (broken), where they were the prototypes and could have used more experience, but I hope they've got a great ride right off the bat with for this one (like they did with Maverick).

MF isn't forceless at all, a lot of people actually grey out on the first overbank and the last camelback gives great airtime. Maverick is also broken just as much as Top Thrill Dragster.

MF isn't forceless, it just focuses more on speed than ridiculous airtime which is sort of what we have seen the other two NA gigas do as well. I305 has ALOT of track close to the ground and Leviathan has a little bit more off the ground but still is speed focused.

On the note of the wing rider, I find it somewhat funny that many people are saying they would rather have Disaster Transport over a wing rider. It's not just people here either. For years everyone has said that oh they need to trash Disaster Transport it doesn't work and is boring. Now that they are taking it out everyone wants it (which I guess happens alot). But c'mon, a new shiny B&M or an old, run-down bobsled with no special effect?

CP has at least 4, maybe 5 rides that people would make special trips to ride if they were laying out in an open field by themselves, and rides that all enthusiasts here stories about before they go there (MF, TTD, Magnum, Maverick, maybe Raptor). If CP does this right, it could give them yet another ride like this.

lol Leviathan isn't in the US, it's in Canada.

DAMN AMERICANS

'MERICA, FUUUU YEAH

^Give him a break, he meant to say 'North American.' Also, I have a hard time believing it's a common occurrence for anyone to be greying out at any point on Millennium Force. It's an enjoyable ride but not Top 10 for me - I have yet to experience any of these forces people speak of. The most force I've felt whilst riding is the force of a dozen or so muffleheads exploding into pieces against my poor, innocent face.

Yea I meant it North America sorry about that. I'm so close to Canada while at college that it doesn't even seem like a different state let alone a different country, so my bad there. Essentially I meant those three to not include Steel Dragon 2000 because that is just basically an extra sized Steel Force of sorts.

The point is that Intamin's hypers are pretty much all airtime focused and most of them are of an out-and-back sort much like B&M. Intamin's gigas are a bit different with not too much resemblance of out-and-back types. B&M kinda stuck with the out-and-back thing with Leviathan but also made it more speed focused like Intamin's than their hypers are, really with only two distinct airtime hills, three if you count the small speed hill. MF had three and I305 really only has three distinct airtime hills as well. That's the point I was trying to make.

Originally posted by A.S.C.

MF isn't forceless at all, a lot of people actually grey out on the first overbank and the last camelback gives great airtime. Maverick is also broken just as much as Top Thrill Dragster.

I do every time from the base of the drop into the tunnel, more blacking out completely than greying out, if there's a difference. I do on Mantis as well, but not as consistently.

I found this potential layout over at CoasterForum. I don't know how true this picture is but it looks possible.



And I just read on Screamscape that the coaster name may be GateKeeper. I hope not, that's a horrible name

Looks like something B&M might do. I think the giant heart shaped drop element looks odd though. But it does seem to accent the park entrance and the name would go along with that. But I agree that the name would be kinda awful.

I'm pretty sure that was just a TPR member's concept art.

Yea it was. I would think they would have something more than just the station where DT was.

Originally posted by disaster249

Originally posted by A.S.C.

MF isn't forceless at all, a lot of people actually grey out on the first overbank and the last camelback gives great airtime. Maverick is also broken just as much as Top Thrill Dragster.

I do every time from the base of the drop into the tunnel, more blacking out completely than greying out, if there's a difference. I do on Mantis as well, but not as consistently.

I start to get a little bit of tunnel vision on that section of it. Nothing even close to what I felt on I305 (or even skyrush, for that matter) but it definitely sustains several G's for 5-6 seconds.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Originally posted by Predhockey33

I found this potential layout over at CoasterForum. I don't know how true this picture is but it looks possible.



And I just read on Screamscape that the coaster name may be GateKeeper. I hope not, that's a horrible name

Probably a fake since it doesn't include any red. Also I don't see them doing two zero G rolls in a row among other things.