Good afternoon, everyone. I want to introduce a new series of posts on here. The purpose of this series is to highlight certain roller coasters that I have ridden in my life at various theme/amusement parks. This first post will be about the coaster that got me obsessed with going to Cedar Point (located in Sandusky, Ohio) in the first place. I am talking about the legendary Magnum XL-200. When it opened on May 6, 1989, Magnum was the world’s first hyper coaster (a coaster that is at least 200 feet tall). It debuted as the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster at 205 feet high and 72 miles per hour. It is nearly a mile long at 5,106 feet. Before I go over the experience, I want to tell you how I got introduced to this coaster.
In 2001, I watched a trio of roller coaster/thrill ride focused shows on Discovery Channel during their “Thrills, Chills, and Spills” event. The second show of that trio was “Top Ten Coasters”. The show focused on the top 5 steel and wood coasters that were voted via Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards. 3 steel coasters from Cedar Point were featured. Raptor was number 5, and Millennium Force was number 2 (I’ll go over these two coasters in future posts). At number one was Magnum XL-200. On the Discovery Channel website, POV videos were available for each of the coasters featured on the show. I watched those videos a lot, especially the ones from Cedar Point. Over the next 5 years, I was obsessed with going to Cedar Point in person to experience the coasters for real. In 2006, after I was confirmed at my church, I got my wish. During that trip, I went on Magnum 11 times in the front row, giving me plenty of chances to experience the extreme ejector airtime (Magnum was built by Arrow Dynamics before computer coaster building was a common thing). 15 years later, I got back to Cedar Point and rode Magnum 6 more times. With all of that out of the way, let’s go over the layout of Magnum XL-200.
After the train dispatches from the station, it enters a straight section of track. A small dip down and a right turn follows that. The train climbs the 205 foot tall lift hill, which has the classic Arrow chain lift sound that is music to my ears. The overall climb takes over a minute to make, increasing the anticipation for the first drop. That first drop is 194 feet high at a 60 degree angle (at the time, the steepest drop on any roller coaster in the world). Immediately after the first drop, the train then goes up a 157 foot tall hill that drops and curves to the left to the first of three tunnels. Another fun fact is that this drop is right next to Lake Erie. After the tunnel, the train goes up and down over an 80 foot high camelback hill that is the first instance of ejector airtime. On each ride, I felt a couple of seconds of airtime off of my seat. That drop leads to the pretzel turnaround that is very photogenic. It is also an intense element in terms of the turn. After the turnaround, the train then goes up to the second tunnel. In the tunnel, the riders experience airtime in the dark. They then exit the tunnel and get another 2 pops of air (with the second of those hills curving to the right) before the grand finale. That finale is 5 straight pops of ejector airtime. Let me remind you that this was before computers helped make airtime hills more floater-like. As a result, riders are popped off their seats on each one. Thank goodness for the seatbelt and lap bar. The final bunny hill is in the third tunnel, which got some lighting upgrades a couple of years ago. The train then exits the tunnel into the brake run. After a couple of turns, the train comes back to the station, ending the ride.
(Here is a POV video of Magnum, provided by Cedar Point’s official YouTube page.)
Even though it is not my number one coaster anymore, I still love Magnum XL-200. The airtime is so intense that it makes me laugh a lot after it’s over. The views of the park and Lake Erie are great on Magnum as well (I could say this for almost every coaster at Cedar Point). It is rough in a few places, but that’s part of the charm of Magnum. Over the 17 rides on Magnum, what I appreciate the most is the history that this coaster has. It was the world’s first hyper coaster and it was given a coaster landmark status in 2004 by the organization known as American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE). Magnum XL-200 was also responsible for kickstarting the “Coaster Wars” of the 1990s and 2000s. During this period, various amusement parks (mostly Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks) made efforts to build taller and faster roller coasters to varying degrees of success. While it’s no longer the tallest and fastest hyper coaster, it will always be the first one.
While Magnum XL-200 is no longer my number one coaster, it will always have a special place in my heart as the coaster that got me obsessed with going to Cedar Point to experience it in person. I will be going over other coasters at Cedar Point and other parks in future posts. Have a great day, everyone.
(Here are some pictures that I have taken of Magnum XL-200.)
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