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*»rfins R«U«*
As the car pulled around the corner. I could see
past the trees and telephone poles to the jumble of
roller coaster track that was Cedar Point — the roller
coaster capital of the world Last Christmas I went to
Busch Gardens in Tampa to ride Kumba. After my first
ride on this "mega-coaster,' I made my mom promise
to take me to Cedar Point, which is the home of two
more "mega-coasters' designed by the Swiss design
ers who built Kumba. So far, we had driven a total of
about 12 hours to get to 'Americas Roller Coast.’ This
is Cedar Point’s nickname, because the park is located
on the shore of Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio.
Well, now I was here, and my heart was thumping
four times its normal speed at the sight of the roller
coaster horizon
We parked and walkec. paid S64, and then we
were inside I headed straight for Raptor — the larg
est inverted coaster in the world. Raptor was designed
by Bolliger and Mabillard of Switzerland — the same
people who designed the first mega-coaster I ever
rode, Kumba
Raptor cost $12 million to build, and took six
months to erect It has a lift length of 330 feet and lift
height of 130 feet There is a 104-foot loop, a 40-foot-
long camelback, and the first ever cobra roll used on
an inverted coaster. An inverted coaster is one in which
the cars hang below the track and your feet hang
below you as if you were on an oversized ski-lift.
The line wasn't too long, so I really didn't have
much time to think about what I was about to do. Ev
ery few minutes, the cars would rush past me, creat
ing a large gust of wind. When I finally made it to the
boarding platform, I untied and tightened my shoe
laces. I stepped into my seat and pulled the neon
green shoulder harness over my head. I looked down
and noticed an extra cloth seat belt. What was that
for? Before I had lime to think further, the controller
said into a microphone, “Now ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready to rock? 'Cause we're ready to roll ya,
not once, not twice, but six times. Now we're gonna'
send you on your 3,887 foot ad- enture to see why
Raptor ru lrr - •, sky! Watch that floor, 'cause once it
sinks, you sail! Enjoy your ride on the Raptor!”
Now that the ride had been hyped, I was ready. I
looked do’vn to watch the floor drop, leaving my feet
dangling in thin air. We pulled out of the station, swiftly
glided around a small curve, and hooked onto the
chain lift that started our ascent to a 132-foot drop
At the top of the hill I squinted to see my mom.
As I finally caught sight of her and started to wave, I
was thrust forward and around a sideways slant. I hung
over the first drop thinking “That's a big hill!’ and lis
tened to the sound of the cars unhooking from the
chain lift.
As the last car unhooked, we began our descent,
or should I say free fall. The trains began to gain speed
about a fourth of the way down, and the roar of the
wheels got louder and louder. We were approaching
the 60 mph. point, and I realized new that I had left my
stomach behind as the earth lurched closer and closer.
A! the bottom of the hill I looked down at my feet,
which were rushing past the ground, and before I knew it.
they were against the sky as I went into my first loop of the
day. We whooshed back down over crowds of people
trying to grab our feet Back up again into a three-second
weightlessness period, and as we came back down, about
50 strobe lights practically blinded me
Up again and a jerk to the left, then a jerk to the
right and back down to the freshly mowed grass be
low I had jus! experienced the cobra roll, a maneuver
that creates 3.75 times the force of gravity, and flips
you upside -down twice in a boomerang-type effect.
Smocthly the cars weaved in and out of the large green
supports, some of which seemed too close to my feet
for comfort. We now slowly pulled into a check brake
about 50 feet off the ground. The check brake is there
so the computer can “check’ where the trains are.
There's no way for this computer to know where the
trains are while they are riding the circuit, so when
the trains pass through, the brakes sense it
and then the computer knows it is safe to
send another train out of the station.
Crashes could occur if a computer went
haywire and forgot everything it knew,
letting cars leave too early a not at all.
We dived out of the check brake, then
the train turned sharply and slanted down
into a corkscrew — the fifth time they'd
rolled me so far, and by now I sure was
rockin'. Over more people, and down
into the place where the cars create a
fake windstorm. I could see everyone's
hair fly up as we passed. Around an
other curve, past the camera, and it
was over WOW!
I wanted to do it again, but the
ranks of people in line now encouraged
me to move on to Mantis, Cedar Point s
second coaster by Bolliger and
Mabillard. On Mantis, instead of sitting
down or having your feet hang below you, you stand
up! I was a little nervous about boarding. Every seat
sort of bounces up and down, and while boarding you
stand up straight and the seat is locked to your height.
I was thinking that I would get in, and they'd Ixk the
seats before I had a chance to get ready, and the
train would leave with me just standing on top with
nothing to hold me in, and I would fall out on the first
loop. But of course that didn’t happen. I had plenty of
time to prepare. For the seat, that is, not for the ride
Mantis is about 20 feet higher than Raptor, but
with only four inversions The ride to the top was sur
prisingly short, probably because the chain pulls the
nine-ton trains up the hill at an incredible 11 feet per
second As we rushed down the first hiii and into the
loop, the G-femes pushed down on the blood in my
legs. Now into a diving loop, and down, down, down,
skimming over the lake. We sped around a 360° turn
around and down into another vertical loop, only this
one was slanted at a 45° angle. This was where my
legs really started to hurt. Now we were flung up a
steep sloping hill and into a check brake. I could barely
hear the people screaming next to me over the loud
roar of the polyurethane wheels rushing over the metal
rails. Our legs suffered through a figure eight finale,
and finally it
was over. I
liked
Raptor much better, because it didn’t cripple your legs
for the five minutes directly after you'd ridden.
Next on the list was Magnum-XL200. This coaster
is 205 feet tall, and my mom says, “Magnum looks
like its only business is to drop you. No loops or any
thing, just that one, huge hill.’
I got on. Of course I had to ride in the front seat,
and as we were leaving, I heard over the megaphones:
"We're gonna' take you up 205 feet, drop ya' 192... “
By that time, the ride was underway. We were climbing
up the lift hill. I looked to my right and saw my mother
taking pictures of me. The top seemed miles away, and
it took about five minutes finally to reach the top.
As we came over the highest track piece, I pushed
my hands down into my lap. I did not want to hold
them up. It's simply not the natural thing to do when
you're sitting on the top of a 205-foot-high structure
and knowing you're about to plummet to the bottom.
But the kid sitting next to me threw his hands into the
air. and I guess I didn't want him to think I was chicken,
so I did the same.
As we plummeted to the cement, I flew out of my
seat, weighing about negative 200 pounds. I could
feel the pressure on my lap restraint. We reached the
bottom and started to pull back up. I had done it. I
guess I was so focused on the first drop that I forgot
about the second, which is jusi barely shorter — it's
still pretty high. We slid down and into a tunnel that
completely disoriented me. As the trains rushed out
of the tunnel, I noticed we were riding right along the
shore of Lake Erie.
(I know my mom would love this if she could some
how get on without having to drop the 205 feet).
Around a pretzel loop and into another tunnel. We
flew past the water park and careened down into yet
another tunnel, one with strobe lights. On our journey
back to the station, I rode right over my mom, who
was shouting “How was it?’ I didn't have time to reply
Lucause we were pulled through the trees and back
to tue station, where I was able to see myself at the
bottom of the big drop from the camera that had al
most hit my arm.
From Magnum, I moved on to Corkscrew, the first
coaster in the world ever to go upside down three
times, it was pretty mxh a bust.
There is nothing special to teli about it, and I only
rode it to say I rode every roller coaster at the Roller
Coaster Capitol of the World.
Gemini was next. This coaster was designed by
Ron Toomer, the same man who designed Magnum
this CVi*\mas... 1
al^-a^s manned
*458 &AST CUV/TON ST
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