Announcing CoasterCritics’ Picks: Our Top 10 Roller Coasters List
Given the growing team and community here at CoasterCritic, I thought it’d be fun to launch a critic-driven Top 10 that would become the site’s official list of the top roller coasters. In order to incorporate new rides, the list will be refreshed annually. Our first annual Top 10 Roller Coasters List combines the lists from the writers for CoasterCritic (Joel, John, Bobbie, and Jon), ...[Read More]
Cedar Point’s New Steel Vengeance Roller Coaster
Today, Cedar Point finally released details around their new long-awaited 2018 roller coaster. Steel Vengeance will be a record-breaker in many ways for the type of hybrid roller coaster that it will be. Riders will be blown away by the ride’s loops, speed, extreme angles and steepness. It will be replacing their massive wooden coaster Mean Streak, that has been slowly undergoing a transform...[Read More]
The 10 Most Intense Roller Coasters I’ve Ridden
Although my coaster count is quite modest compared with Joel’s, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of the 10 most intense coasters I’ve ridden and explain why I found them unusually forceful. I’ve ridden a number of incredible coasters so this was a challenge involving some tough choices. The top 2 picks were givens and didn’t require any thought but the others had me pondering over m...[Read More]
Euclid Beach Park: From Glory to Condemnation – Part 1
In the late nineteenth century, the City of Cleveland was one of growth and prosperity. Founded in 1796 and established as a city by the very young State of Ohio’s legislature in 1836, in just around 100 years its population went from a few dozen to more than 261,000 as of 1890. Recreation was limited in those earliest of the pioneer days in what was formerly called the Western Reserve. Truly a fr...[Read More]
May Not Accommodate Larger Guests
When theme park and amusement park fans begin to plan their dream trip or their first regular visit to their home park, some people have the basics down. They save up to buy tickets or season passes, make overnight accommodations, pack a bag with sun block, sunglasses, comfortable clothes, swimwear, maybe a poncho. They may have carefully researched travel times, hotel reviews, available discounts...[Read More]
Cedar Point Trip Report Pt 2 – Frontier Fling & Park Experience Changes
Animals, Melted Cheese, a Wacky Professor, and New Hotel Options Cedar Point guests may have been surprised by some of the changes they saw throughout last year with the removal of the Intamin-manufactured Shoot the Rapids ride and the dismantling of the former Challenge Park. Gone were the mini-golf, go-kart track, and Skyscraper ride, making way for Cedar Park Shores. Professor Delbert’s F...[Read More]
Cedar Point Trip Report Pt 1 – Mean Streak Update & Cedar Point Shores
What’s New at Cedar Point in 2017? Another winter off-season has passed in Sandusky, Ohio and Cedar Fair’s flagship park, located on a scenic peninsula surrounded by Lake Erie, has finally woken up. So what can visitors to Cedar Point expect to see that’s new in the park this year? The big news is the new water park, Cedar Point Shores, which opens Saturday, May 27th. That’s the big news, at...[Read More]
Kyle Lindner’s Otherworldly Roller Coaster Artwork
Kyle Lindner writes at Coaster101 and is also a graphic designer and photographer. He’s put a neat twist on roller coaster and theme park photography with his chromoskedasic prints. As you’ll see the pictures have a really unique look with a style that goes way beyond your typical roller coaster photos. Kyle explained to me how these prints are made: They’re called chromoskedasic...[Read More]
Kings Dominion’s Hurler Getting an RMC Upgrade for 2018
UPDATE 8/16: Kings Dominion has announced details about the new roller coaster that will replace Hurler, read about the new Twisted Timbers roller coaster. Kings Dominion’s wooden roller coaster Hurler has been closed since the end of the 2015 season. Now enthusiasts are seeing signs of a rebirth. In the Loop recently posted a video giving us a peek at the ride’s track removal a...[Read More]
Cedar Point’s New Valravn Dive Roller Coaster
Cedar Point announced their 18th roller coaster in Valravn yesterday. Many of the details were already known, but here they are in cased you missed it. With a layout similar to popular dive coasters, Griffon and SheiKra, Valravn will start with a climb to a 200+ foot height (223 feet). Then riders will creep up to the 90-degree drop and will be held at the edge for four seconds. They’ll take...[Read More]
Man Dies After Being Hit by Roller Coaster at Cedar Point
On Thursday evening a man died after he was struck by a roller coaster at Cedar Point. After riding the Raptor, James Young, jumped over a fence to retrieve his cell phone. Here are details from the park and police, via CNN: Young, a 45-year-old special-education teacher, had been at the park with friends when he hopped on the Raptor around 5 p.m., Sandusky Assistant Police Chief Phil Frost told r...[Read More]
What is a Giga Coaster?
With all of the buzz around Fury 325, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the World’s Tallest and Fastest Giga Coaster. Many have asked exactly what the “giga” refers to. What is a giga coaster? A giga coaster is a roller coaster that’s between 300 and 399 feet tall and completes a full circuit. The first giga coaster was Millennium Force which opened at Cedar ...[Read More]