Cedar Point accolades continue rolling in
Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram
Cedar Point is stockpiling more awards and top rankings as it prepares to open its doors for another summer.
The latest kudos come from the National Amusement Park Historical Association, an Illinois-based organization whose 500-plus members voted two of Cedar Point’s renowned roller coasters in the top four steel roller coasters in the U.S. and overseas.
Just-released results of the organization’s 22nd annual survey — said to be the oldest of its type covering the amusement park business — ranked the 310-foot, 93-mph Millennium Force the No. 1 “Favorite Steel Coaster,” with the 205-foot, 72-mph Magnum XL-200 ranked third.
Cedar Point spokesman Bryan Edwards said the park’s consistently high rankings in fan-based polls only reinforce the continuing popularity of its best-known rides.
“The measure of a good coaster is in seeing which rides people are running to and lining up for when the gates open,” Edwards said.
Those lines, some of which remain long for hours, usually form every day for Millennium Force, Magnum XL-200, Top Thrill Dragster, and Maverick, the latter rated “Best New Attraction” by the association’s newest poll.
Since the 2000 season, when Millennium Force premiered, it and Magnum XL-200 have traded the top two spots for “Favorite Steel Coaster.” That was before this year when the 208-foot, 77-mph Superman Ride of Steel at Massachusetts’ Six Flags New England was voted into second place. That ride has scored in the top four “Favorite Steel Coaster” category every year since it debuted in 2000.
The 2008 NAPHA survey ranked Cedar Point fifth among “Favorite Traditional Parks.” The park has been voted into the top five more than 15 years.
“Other polls tend to be more focused on roller coasters and thrill rides,” said Marlowe McClasky Futrell, a spokesman for the group and coordinator of the annual survey.
Kennywood and Knoebels Amusement Resort, two Pennsylvania parks known for their nostalgic atmosphere and preservation of traditional rides, grabbed the top two spots among “Favorite Traditional Parks.”
Despite the fact it will be 20 years old in 2009, Magnum XL-200 has not lost its allure for roller coaster buffs. “It still has that ‘wow’ factor,” Edwards said. “Magnum put us on the world map as a coaster lover’s nirvana.”
The mania for record-breaking rides has cooled somewhat in the past few years, as evidenced by the fact the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster — the 456-foot, 128-mph Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey — debuted in 2005.
Futrell surmised the state of the economy has had a lot to do with the slowdown.
Bowing in 2007, the $21 million western-themed Maverick roller coaster in the park’s re-energized Frontier Town drops riders at a 95-degree angle down a 100-foot lift hill. The ride features a continuous series of twists and turns and a 400-foot tunnel from which trains emerge at 70-mph.
“There was a popular misconception that you had to be taller and faster to be better,” Edwards said. “Maverick validated our point that you don’t have to be the tallest or fastest to be a great roller coaster.”
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram April 30th, 2008 in Top Stories. Popularity: 5% |
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