Cedar Point gets a Wing Rider

I wonder when they're gonna release a pov

Tony posted a pic about 2 hours ago with a camera on a harness. So maybe soon?

I really wish I could upload pictures/video but I love my job... The ride looks amazing!! I was there this past weekend for training (Back at school, damn finals) and I can't get over how awesome the area and ride looks.
If you're going to Media Day (Thursday May 9th) let me know! I should be operating around 11am to end of operation.

POVs are up:
https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article ... Keeper-POV

the only thing I would change on this is having the drop twist towards the lake, but thats soo minor. looks like a fun ride

Had better break in A LOT, or it looks like a total dud to me. Pacing is....snoooze

^ What? The pacing doesn't seem that much different compared to other B&M Wing Riders. Only towards the end does it appear to be slightly slower paced compared to other rides (to me), but still.

it looks pretty much like the other wingriders to me, I have no real complaints only that they missed a chance of a million dollar view imo

This was taken a few weeks ago. I can say by watching this past weekend that there have been modifications (as every new ride) and it's running faster.

Looks boring as hell.

It looked slow and boring to me too. Coasterdave says it's running faster now, so that's good. I think it'll be slightly faster even with people fully loading it.

^^ I agree with that Jake everything after the corkscrew looks petty lame, even the Jr. Dive Loop and second roll looked boring which I thought looked like the coolest parts. The zero g roll serms so slow. I think the rest of the wing riders have pretty speedy zero gs because they are early in most of the layouts. But I guess they wanted to cram in as much rotation as possible and that might be a disadvantage. I think it will still be fun and awesome to ride but I hope it goes a little faster.

I'm not sure what I can and can't give away so i'll keep my mouth shut (But they added things to the trains). Come make your own opinion. I'm gonna ride on media day finally. I couldn't this past weekend due to some more safety testings... But I did get to run it and it's the fastest operating coaster in the park. I'm anxious and excited to she how everything will work with guests.

Well I know from Pointcast #2 that they've been screwing with the wheels, maybe they put a lot more of the faster wheels on it since this video was taken.

If you want a good b&m looper these days you have to buy a mid 90's one used. The new ones they build are all forceless and boring.

I have to say I agree with you^... I understand why they didn't, but if they had retained those styles up until now, the custom layouts with the classic technique would be biiiitchinnn'.

[hyyyper]

What's with the oversized sign? Totally ruins the view of the double rolls.

Looks like the picture was taken relatively close to the sign. Guessing if you're farther away you should have a nice unimpeded view of the rolls.

[yoshifreak]

Well I just got back from Gatekeeper's media day and I've got some pictures for you guys. I'm not a photographer by any means, but until someone (Real) posts better photos these should be interesting.

As for the ride itself, it's not bad. I got about 15 rides in different spots. Front, Middle, Back, Inner, Outer, Left, and Right I think I covered most of the seats. The outer back seats are by far the best, as you really get pulled through almost every element. You really get some strong positives in the front and back, much stronger than I was expecting. There are a few good moments of airtime, specifically on the first drop in the back, as well as the airtime hill and leaving the mcbr. There's some rotational airtime too which is definitely interesting. The Keyholes are nice and seemed a lot closer than they look in pictures, and the rotation seemed really fast in the flatspin and the first zero-g roll.

Although the pacing does slow a bit towards the end of the ride, it really isn't all that bad. You get some nice hangtime through the second roll, and although the helix is slow at the top, the bottom is pretty tight with some good positive forces, and as I mentioned in the back you get a nice pop of air leaving the mcbr.

Pacing really picked up later in the day once it got warmer, and you could really feel the difference in the dive loop, which has some strong positives on the pull out.

Overall, it's certainly not as intense as Raptor, but for what it is, it's definitely worth a repeat ride. It's really fun and there's a lot of different experiences depending on where you sit. Now for some pictures.


Overview of the drop and Immelmann.


Close-up of the diving drop.


The sign at sunrise.


The station area and lift provide some nice looks.


Close up of the sign.


Shot of a train heading up the lift. It's actually quite quick.


Slob Alvey at his best. I thought this man was annoying in his videos, but when you share a train with him, it's on a whole new level.


You can really see the banking changes of the helix in this shot.


The Diveloop really hauls the back half of the train through.


Giant Flatspin.


There's good hangtime combined with head/footchoppers here.


The sign isn't too big, no worries.


Profile of the diveloop.


Everything through the flatspin.

Some action shots:











Since no one stopped me from walking behind the scenes, here's some closeup shots from under the brake run.















I've got a few videos I might upload to youtube, and if I do, I'll post some links in this thread.

Edit:

Did you ride after we reopened at 3:30?

[yoshifreak]

I rode it once after then to get the free onride picture since it was down earlier in the day, it was next in line at the time when the "guest illness" took the ride down for about 15 min.

I may have seen you, I was at Entrance from 3:50ish-5... Then controls and platform for the rest of the night

So having ridden it so many times, would you be able to say if back-left or back-right is better? Or both essentially equally good? Looking for a good one-time experience on my first ride in case my first trip there throws a 2 to 3 hour line at me.