The History of Cedar Point and The World's First Hypercoaster Magnum XL-200 | Expedition Cedar Point

2020 will mark 150 years of the Cedar Point Amusement Park during that time roller coaster records have been no stranger to Sandusky Ohio opened in 1870 the park is the second oldest operates in amusement park in the United States now with 17 roller coasters of all sizes heights and speeds including the world's first hyper coaster Magnum XL 200 welcome to expeditions Cedar Point [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] prior to 1870 the Cedar Point Peninsula was mainly used for fishing and hunting that however changed when a local newspaper in 1867 called for some enterprising person to utilize the Magnificent Beach on the lake side of Cedar Point in the summer of 1872 businessman Lewis Sisto opened a small beer garden bathhouse and dance floor on the land he would bring guests over on his steamboat young reindeer to experience the lush beaches and entertainment within ten years visiting the peninsula had become all of the rage for locals are more and more continued to be added to keep guests entertained bath houses and dance halls along with live performances continued to be added in 1888 a Grand Pavilion was added with bowling alleys and dining facilities to expand the offerings even more the park would at its first roller coaster the Switchback railway 22 years later in 1892 inspired by the hit Coney Island attraction is sent riders down 600 feet of track from a height of 25 feet reaching speeds are 6 to 10 miles per hour the new addition was hugely popular and more and more continue to again be added to the peninsula to entertain the increase in amount of visitors the novelty began to wear off and the park began to struggle until in 1897 George bachlin would purchase the park for 250,000 dollars George operated and owned one of the steamers that would transport guests to Cedar Point he will become credited as the man who had set Cedar Point on its path to become a nationally recognized amusement park and Rizal estimation ahead of his time he realized the potential of offering a varied experience along with hotel resorts to get guests to stay longer he would dedicate his lifetime to making that happen with new hotels opening including the historic hotel breakers more and more coasters will be added to the park we've leaped the dips in 1912 and the cyclone in 1929 among others two years after the cyclone opened in 1931 George passed away while here paved the way for the Cedar Point of today he had always marketed it as a bathing resort complete with shows exhibits and other forms of entertainment never fully emphasized in the parks rides Cedar Point though was well on its way to becoming a fully fledged amusement park after his death little investment was put into the resort with multiple rides being demolished the resort only managed to operate through the depression due to the ballroom hosting some of the us's top big bands by the end of the war Cedar Point was in need of drastic financial how the cyclone was rotten and the board walls cracked in 1951 the cyclone was demolished due to its poor condition and for the first time in many years the park was without a roller coaster in 1956 the park was purchased by two land developers hoping to construct a housing development eventually they decided to keep the park and try and make it into the Disneyland of the Midwest numerous improvements were made and over 1.2 million dollars were invested in the site in 1964 the current oldest operating rollercoaster in the park the Blue Streak opened the investments continue to come with brand new roller coasters and attractions in 1972 dick Kinsel sent two resumes out one to Cedar Point's food department the other to the new Walt Disney World in Florida Disney officials responded telling him they did not have a position Cedar Point however liked what they saw and offered him a role paying $14,000 a year he accepted in the debt kins will join the Cedar Park company in food services in 1972 when the park was 102 years old starting out as the assistant manager of food services just a few years later he was the vp of all Cedar Point food services at the time huge amounts of people were leaving to work at Mario dick foul it was time for something different and applied for a job within operations in his new role the first coaster he purchased was the record-breaking corkscrew both dick and the park's VP of planning and design had visited Opryland theme park and liked what they saw built by Aero development the ride had premiered in 1975 at both Opryland and Knott's Berry Farm Aero president and chief ride designer Ron tumor was contracted and given one instruction to add another element to make it bigger and better than the two that already existed a loop was added and the 1.75 million coaster opened in 1976 an instant success Cedar Point's attendance topped worth 3 million visit to mark for the first time ever to try and continue this success dick immediately started shopping for another record-breaking coaster he found a twin Racing coaster and once again called Ron tumor this time premiering in 1978 it was buried alive in ice and snow but Gemini was too mean to die it's snowing you would return finally spring came to Cedar Point I've done anger and rage Gemini's cold heart began to pound will rust you it's icy veins catch him and I was free German arrows twin tract Racing coaster named Gemini premiered as the tallest and fastest roller coaster of any time ever bill costing three point four million dollars the ride was huge compared to the other coasters in the park with a 125 foot lift hill and a 118-foot drop the park reached another attendance record the only issue with this ride though was it wasn't actually the tallest or fastest coaster of any kind bill a few weeks earlier the Loch Ness monster had opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg which had a taller height even though the drop was slightly smaller than Gemini two years earlier at Six Flags st. Louis screamin eagle had opened which was two miles per hour faster than Gemini [Music] [Music] due to these successes dick who had just one year of college and six years in Park experience was asked ahead a new part in the cedar family Valley Fair he took the job but it was not easy with the park CFO criticizing him for his lack of knowledge of running a park that CFO was quickly fired dick built himself a strong team and got to work on the park during his time in charge the new park increased attendance from less than 800,000 to more than a million dick had used the same formula that had worked at Cedar Point and soon installed in our a corkscrew learning hands-on at Valley Fair had taught him not only to run a park but the whole company while also taking night classes to expand that knowledge to continue learning he would visit other parks during the winter months most notably the Walt Disney Resort in Florida even taken the Disney approached a people management seminar to understand the Disney way he knew that the Cedar parks could never compete with them as far as capital but he also knew that he could try and match them in quality and service dick knew that the Cena parts weren't about themed experiences but was more of a pure newsmen Park that didn't stop him trying to femur right though one that was a disaster literally the parts plan to take the company private to stop all hostile takeover all quests the new company would include both parts and what become Cedar Fair a mixture of Cedar Point and Valley Fair one of the new eleven owners will be dick Kings all him South dick Kings all were take over as president and CEO in 1986 Cedar Fair at the time was a 100 million dollar company with two parts and a hotel his return to the Cedar Point Park kickstart a new era of investment great work ethic and respect someone who knew and loved the parks terror pounds in your heart as you're throwing over the ends of Gemini cedar boy school twists your body to its old here explosion your brain as diamond drop crashes shoot world Cedar Point [Music] in 1987 now Cedar Point stop man he knew once again he would use the formula that had been so successful in his past going big and fast would pack the park and bring people in it had now been 11 years since Gemini had opened and Cedar Point would aim to break the height and speed records this time for real crates in a new class of roller coaster the hyper coaster in 1987 he had seen video clips of an upcoming ride called band air a 167 foot tool coaster that opened in Japan by Togo he had no loops or court screws not even in helixes it was just a smooth fast tour right while arrows Ron tumor was already in the park building the suspended Iron Dragon he was asked about the tallest coaster the world it was currently going to be the 170 foot tall multi element shockwave that he was building for Six Flags Great America asked if he could top that he said yes with no hesitation Cedar Point also talked with togo's the Japanese based company that built band air but due to the weakness of the dollar at the time the price was too much arrow could make the tallest ride in the world for seven million dollars over double what the park had paid for Gemini the ride had to be approved by the board and when proposed a 187 foot tool one of them asked why not go over 200 the additional height wouldn't cost too much extra at all the first hyper coaster had to go ahead in 1989 Cedar Point would debut the world's tallest roller coaster and the first over 200 feet tall with a final cost of 8 million dollars dozens of roller coaster enthusiasts are streaming into Cedar Point today to take on their latest challenge the tallest and fastest Warwick rather more excitement is at fever pitch [Applause] the new coaster will be called Magnum XL 200 the XL was for extra long and the 200 to show that it hops 200 feet at the time the tallest fastest roller coaster ever bell standing at 205 feet tall reaching 72 miles per hour of 5,000 106 feet of track the ride was officially announced in August 1988 one week before opening trains had still not been tested completes in a full circuit dick walked up just as the first full circuit test was about to begin after one full successful test dick and a few maintenance workers were riding that very first ride to trim brakes didn't work before the final turn and the trains flew round the final bend at breakneck speed everyone was safe but it offered a once-in-a-lifetime scary right after less than one week of testing the ride opened on May 7 1989 [Applause] when you are blown up [Applause] you're ready for the Magnum classified as the first hypercoaster and an Altima back coaster the ride travels along the shores of the peninsula after the drop featuring a mixture of hills and turns the first at 157 feet the 2nd ATV and a smaller third hill along with multiple airtime Hills and a tunnel the journey would take just over two minutes unlike most modern coasters the ride was not designed on a computer but bent by eye and hand welded on site by an engineer which explains that sometimes rough a ride there more recently designed coasters the older designs such as Magnum and the rides that came before it weren't computer designed they were hand bent if you will and eyeball been so it took a craftsmen to build this kind of rollercoaster somebody who really knew what they were doing with vending machines the ride was a huge success and set another new record year for the park making back its cost in just one season topping the three million guests mark for the fifth time in a row with 3.2 million guests coming through the gate for the first year in the right lines reached over three hours long well let the riders tell you what it's like the right did have some troubles after opening the trains originally had pads under the rouse instead of up stop wheels which resulted in a spark vest at night along with one of the hills being so rough it had to be repro files lightly fastest steepest roller coaster in the world where it broke yesterday now no one was injured but the roller coaster is still out of service right now and tonight at 6 o'clock we'll tell you what happened after Cedar Point showcases the world's steepest highest and fastest roller coaster the Magnum XL 200 grinds to a halt emits multiple stools and down times I don't think that it's really in a tarnished Cedar Point's image we handle it very professionally no one was hurt today Magnum still runs as one of the best rides in the park over 30 years after it opened it would begin the coaster Wars of the 1990s and create a new term hyper coaster for full circuit right over 200 feet the ride will remain the tallest ride in the world until 1994 when it was taken by the Pepsi Max big one a Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK while the speed height and records may have all been broken over the years Magnum XL 200 marked a major turning point for roller coasters and is an important milestone for not only Cedar Point for the whole roller coaster industry paving the way for bigger and smoother rides in 2004 it was awarded the ACE roller coaster landmark award and has remained in the top 20 steel roller coasters at the golden ticket Awards ever since Cedar Point has always been known as the coaster capital of the world with seventeen coasters and more rise in any other Park in the world over his time as CEO and president of Cena fan multiple record-breaking thrillin and some of the best coasters ever created will be added to the pop topping not only the 300 feet coaster mark but also the 400 feet by the time dick retired in 2011 Cedar Fair was a billion dollar company with 11 parks five hotels seven water and a marina he had been responsible for 37 coasters among those parts was seven over 200 feet three over 300 feet and one over 400 along with increasing the company's profits by 29% Magnum XL 200 will be an inspiration for dozens of similar rights all over the world and will be the first ever hyper coaster thank you so much for watching this episode of expedition Cedar Point if you enjoyed it make sure you subscribe to join the expedition over the next few episodes we're taking a look there a handful of iconic you need or just full-on weird hyper coasters so let me know which ones you would like to see covered in the comments below follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates on upcoming episodes and a special thank you to our patrons for supporting the channel we will see you next time [Music] Boynton America's one at least one and only one with every kind of silver fun [Music]

Channel: Expedition Theme Park

Views: 179,950

Keywords: expedition theme park, expedition cedar point, cedar point, rollercoaster, roller, coaster, theme, park, history, magnum xl 200, magnum, hyper coaster, tallest rollercoaster, worlds tallest, steel vengeance cedar point, cedar point 2020, top thrill dragster, big one, pepsi max, giga coaster, strata coaster, diaster transport, corkscrew, arrow, arrow development, cedar fair, valleyfair, 200 feet, tallest, fastest, drop, magnum xl-200, orion

Id: YxvW30aJIr0

Length: 18min 20sec (1100 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019