Two parks on opposite ends of the United States are in the business of giving the public something to scream about again and again. This season, Six Flags Magic Mountain in California and Cedar Point in Ohio both debuted coasters that give sheer terror a new meaning. By Frank Elliott When Cedar Point opened Millennium Force in 2000, it basked in the publicity of being the first park in the world with a traditional roller coaster taller than 300 feet. But while others in the industry were dwelling on this accomplishment, the folks at Cedar Point were already committing themselves to something even bigger: Top Thrill Dragster, which debuted May 1 as the tallest (420 feet) and fastest (120 mph) roller coaster in the world. In 2000, the final dimensions of the ride were not yet determined, says Dick Kinzel, the president of Cedar Point’s parent company, Cedar Fair, L.P. “That proposal [to go above 400 feet] was made to us by Intamin, and we bought into it. We just told them that if it was going to be something of that magnitude, it had to be a world record.” About the same time, Six Flags Magic Mountain was well on its way to developing X, the world’s first and only “4th dimension” coaster, it unleashed last year. Six Flags Magic Mountain was not content to rest on its laurels, either. This year, it opened Scream, an aptly name floorless coaster that drops, spins, loops, and corkscrews riders for three relentless minutes. Together, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point are a study in contrasts. One has roots back to the earliest days of the industry; the other is a relative newcomer. One is an amusement park; the other is a theme park. One is a Midwestern icon on a flat spit of land on Lake Erie; the other is built on a hillside on the outskirts of trendy Los Angeles. But they share one over-arching trait, says Robert Coker, the author of Roller Coasters: The Thrill-Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines. “When it comes to building rides for thrill seekers, neither of them spares any expense.” The Evolution of Cedar Point Cedar Point’s experience with roller coasters dates back to 1892, when it opened an attraction called Switchback Railroad. In the words of Cedar Point literature, “The coaster’s impressive height of 25 feet mesmerized awe-struck on-lookers.” Cedar Point would build six more roller coasters throughout the next 37 years, culminating with the 72-foot high Cyclone, built in 1929. The ride was designed by Harry Traver, who also created the legendary Cyclone at Coney Island. Traver is one of the most controversial coaster designers in history—some describe him as a creative genius who conjured up thrilling rides; others maintain that Traver was a designer who did nothing more than use riders as guinea pigs to see what they could tolerate. In either case, the Cyclone was a milestone for the park. But months later, the stock market crashed. The world was plunged into the Great Depression, followed by World War II. During the economic crisis, Cedar Point stayed open, barely, only to nearly succumb to the post-war building boom. Two businessmen bought the financially ailing park in 1956 with plans to turn it into a housing development. However, the park still had three years remaining on its lease. During that time, with new management, the park showed potential for a revival. The housing plans were sent aside and Cedar Point began making a comeback. After adding a kiddie coaster and two wild mouse coasters, the park built Blue Streak in 1964, its first major coaster in 35 years and, now, Cedar Point’s oldest existing roller coaster. More followed: Cedar Creek Mine Ride in 1969, Wildcat in 1970, and Corkscrew in 1976. In 1978, Cedar Point opened its first world-record holder, Gemini. At 125 feet high, it was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world. Cedar Point would continue to reach the finish line first: notably with Magnum XL-200 in 1989, the first coaster to top 200 feet; Millennium Force in 2000, the first to top 300 feet; and now Top Thrill Dragster, the current record holder at 420 feet. Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster have little in common other than pushing coasters to new heights. Millennium Force, designed by Intamin, is every bit a traditional coaster, from its trains to its track layout. “The height combined with the steepness of that first drop make it completely exhilarating,” Coker says. “It’s so smooth and the rest of the ride is tons of speed and graceful turns and rapid hills. If I can convince people that the first drop is not as bad as it looks, it’s a ride they love.” Top Thrill Dragster, on the other hand, is an exercise in intensity. The launch hurls riders from zero to 120 mph in a face-flattening four seconds, followed by a vertical ascent to 420 feet up a U-shaped track. Once over the crest, riders plunge straight down, spiraling 270 degrees as they plummet. The whole ride takes 20 seconds from launch to full stop. Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster both cost about $25 million to build, tying as the largest ride investments at Cedar Point. This illustrates one of the distinguishing characteristics of Cedar Point, says Jim Futrell, historian for the National Amusement Park Historical Association. “That park, more than any other, embodies the concept that you have to spend money to make money.” Reinventing Magic Six Flags Magic Mountain was just “Magic Mountain” when it opened in 1971 on a hillside 25 miles north of Los Angeles. “I was there the first year it opened, when the major ride was the Gold Rusher mine train.” Coker says. “Watching it grow since then has been incredible.” It didn’t take long for the park to start breaking new ground with roller coasters. Its second coaster, Revolution, opened in 1976 as the world’s first giant looping coaster. Next came Colossus, a dual-track wooden coaster that opened in 1978 as the largest woodie in the West. The park became part of the Six Flags chain in 1979, but it would be 11 years before it built another roller coaster as the park tried to find its new identity as part of the Six Flags machine. In 1990, the park opened the Viper—with three vertical loops, it was the world’s tallest at 140 feet. The next year Six Flags Magic Mountain opened Psyclone, another woodie, which is a replica of the legendary 1927 Coney Island roller coaster, Cyclone. New theming opportunities came when Time Warner bought Six Flags. Soon, new coasters were added that capitalized on popular Warner Bros. movies. Batman The Ride opened in 1994, followed by Superman The Escape in 1997. Superman broke the mold. It used a revolutionary electromagnetic propulsion system to blast riders out of the station at 100 miles per hour in just seven seconds, then up a vertical track to an unheard-of height of 415 feet, only to free-fall in reverse back into the station. It was a ride unlike any other. “The first time I rode it,” says Coker, “it was a religious experience.” In the late 1990s, the Six Flags chain was acquired by Premier Parks, which catapulted Magic Mountain into the ranks of the world’s leading thrill parks with the opening of Goliath, at 235 feet. It was the world’s tallest coaster with a continuous track when it opened in February 2000, followed by Déjà Vu in 2001, the tallest suspended boomerang coaster. That year also saw Six Flags Magic Mountain reclassify itself as “The Xtreme Park” in recognition not only of Déjà Vu, but another truly revolutionary coaster that it was building for 2002: X. X is unlike any other roller coaster on the planet. It uses specialized cars and track to spin riders forward and backward during the ride. “It was the first coaster where I truly had no idea what was happening to me,” Coker says. “With the revolutionary design of the train that allows the rotating seats, it creates a sense of movement that had never been experienced on a roller coaster. The fact that someone thought to do it, and then figured out how to do it, is amazing.” As an encore, Six Flags Magic Mountain opened Scream in April. The park’s first floorless coaster, Scream drops riders 150 feet down into a 128-foot-high loop, followed by six more inversions in the course of three minutes of non-stop coaster action. Size Matters Given the heated competition as parks compete for thrill-ride preeminence, it’s hard to believe that at one point big coasters were considered passé. But there was such a time, says Futrell, back in the late 1960s when mine rides were the rage. “The thought was the American public had outgrown thrill rides and was interested in more sophisticated attractions,” he says. This perception changed with the success of Racer at Paramount’s Kings Island in 1972, starting the first phase of what Futrell calls the roller coaster “arms race.” Cedar Point with Gemini and Magic Mountain with Colossus jumped into the race in 1978. Both rides were 125-foot-tall dual-track coasters, and both were at the higher end of the speed range,” Futrell says. “I’m not sure which one opened first and got into Guinness Book of World Records, which seems to be what they’re striving for, because then you’re known around the world as having the biggest roller coaster.” Afterwards, the coaster wars ceased until 1988 when Six Flags Great America built Shock Wave. “Cedar Point built Magnum the next year, and we’ve had an unabated arms race up to this point,” Futrell says. “We keep talking about the tallest and fastest roller coasters, and it wasn’t until the 1990s that parks started talking about having the most roller coasters. I think it was when Cedar Point opened Mean Streak, and that gave them 10 roller coasters. It was the first time anyone had double digits in roller coasters and that’s when parks started to promote that.” With 16 roller coasters each, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point share the distinction of having the most roller coasters of any amusement park in the world. It’s a distinction that is important to both of them. Most major parks try to add a major new ride every three years or so. Between them, Cedar Point and Magic Mountain have added eight since 2000. Tim Burkhart, the director of operations, maintenance, and construction at Six Flags Magic Mountain, has this explanation for building Scream just a year after opening X: “Since we got our hands on the record for the most roller coasters, we have to hold on to it. We are now the extreme park; we need to continue to add to our coasters to maintain our reputation as providing the best roller coasters and thrill rides in the country.” Likewise, says Kinzel, “Cedar Point is dedicated to being the premier roller coaster capital of the world. It’s very important to us.” For Kinzel, spending $59 million over three years to add three coasters, including two record-holders, is “not an ego thing; it’s a business decision. Cedar Point is 50 miles from Toledo, 60 miles from Cleveland, and 150 miles from Detroit. We have to have a reason to get people to drive to us. Roller coasters seem to be the magnet that brings people in.” Even with 16, Kinzel admits that there are gaps in Cedar Point’s lineup of coasters. “We don’t have a flying coaster, we don’t have a floorless coaster; most of our coasters don’t have a lot of inversions. We have to come up with something different. We’re already talking about it. We have to stay ahead of the curve.” Burkhart says that his park has gaps as well, such as a flying coaster “and whatever else the manufacturers are dreaming up for us. There’s always going to be a demand for the latest and greatest in roller coasters.” One advantage of having so many roller coasters, both men say, is that it provides coasters for every age, size, and taste, which broadens their parks’ appeal to families. The coaster count obviously assists in marketing their parks to the general public. But to die-hard roller coaster enthusiasts, the count is beside the point. “If the park has four really good roller coasters, I am going to prefer that to a park that has 15 mediocre roller coasters,” Futrell says. Adds Carole Sanderson, the president of American Coaster Enthusiasts, “If you have a one-hour wait for each ride you couldn’t ride every ride, and even then you would not get to do anything else in the park.” “The good news,” says Coker, “is both Cedar Point and Magic Mountain just don’t build quantities of rides. They build really amazing roller coasters. That’s not to say that every roller coaster at both parks is among the best in the world, but a lot of them are.”
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