The Park Announces Details of Its 17th Coaster
Cedar Point, the self-proclaimed Coaster Capital of the World, has been working on a new coaster for 2007. The park has a track record of erecting jaw-dropping, record breakers. It’s been home to the speed and height world record holders four times. In 1989 with Magnum XL-200, in 1991 with Mean Streak, in 2000 with Millennium Force, and again in 2003 with Top Thrill Dragster, the park boasted the king of steel or wooden coasters. It’s safe to say that Cedar Point has been pushing the envelope in coaster design for years.
Throngs of coaster enthusiasts have been salivating as construction photos began appearing in the Frontier section of the park. Cedar Point has kept all of the details under wraps until today. This morning Cedar Point released the details on its 17th coaster. Maverick will be a steel launch coaster with speeds of 70 mph, three inversions (loops), and a drop at a staggering 95 degrees.
Not a Record Breaker
I will go ahead and state the obvious. Maverick will not be a record breaker. Earlier this year, Cedar Point’s blog On Point hinted that the park may not build another height monster for its next coaster. In my opinion, this is a smart move. Is going 500 feet into the air really that much more thrilling than going up 400 feet as Top Thrill Dragster already does? I’m sure they’ll return to the coaster arms race at a later date because that seems to be the park’s bread and butter. It is nice to see them switching it up.
A Neo Mine Train Coaster
Maverick will be located in the Frontier section next to Mean Streak. From looking at the ride animation, the layout will be interesting with lots of theming and faux rock terrain. Via linear synchronous motors riders will be launched up an incline and immediately sent down a 100 feet drop. 100 foot drops are a dime a dozen these days, but this one is at 95 degrees. I still doubt seasoned veterans like me will be blown away by the drop, but at least they’re trying. I’m more interested in the 4,450 foot long course that will twist and turn through the rocky terrain while staying low to the ground. Maverick will also feature eight airtime hills and three inversions. One of the inversions will be a one-of-a-kind twisted horseshoe roll. At one point the train will slow to only 5 mph before riders will be launched to 70 mph through a 400-foot tunnel. That sounds cool, but with two launch sections, I have to think that this coaster will have some down time.
Similar Coasters
There aren’t many coasters being built these days that look exactly like Maverick. This could be another chance for Cedar Point to start a trend like they did with Magnum XL-200 and hyper coasters. It appears Maverick will offer theming similar to a mine train coaster. It will be close to the ground and is more of a family attraction like mine train coasters. Built by Intamin, it may have similar trains, track, and the same overall feel of Stormrunner at Hershey. It will also boast an inversion that may be comparable to Stormrunner’s unique and disorienting flying snake dive. Lastly, it will use the same propulsion system that the Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster at MGM Studios and Superman The Escape at Magic Mountain use.
While Maverick won’t blast riders into the stratosphere it may go down as one of the park’s most complete coasters. Other than Magnum XL-200, I wasn’t blown away by the park’s selection of coasters. Some were sub par, others were okay, and a few were good, but didn’t have the complete package. If Cedar Point can actually pull off all of the purported elements of Maverick they could have a coaster loved by hard core coaster enthusiasts, families, and those not under its spell. I’m in that last group if you couldn’t tell.
What do you think about Maverick? Leave a comment below.
September 28, 2008 at 03:52
Maverick might look like it could be a family coaster, but this ride is wild. You feel like you're going to get thrown into downtown Sandusky when you're going down the first drop, and the corkscrews and stengel dives are some of the wildest elements I've ever experienced a coaster anywhere. It's also cool going up the first hill because you're launched up at a speed of about 23mph. Maverick is a strong addition to a great park.
October 11, 2008 at 14:55
this ride has good thought put into it for the sake of thrill.DO NOT BE MISLEAD!!!its dangerous!i have been treated for whiplash for 6 months now and have headaches every day!the headache started about 45 minutes after i got off of this ride.I DO NOT recommend this to anyone EXCEPT an ENEMY!!!
August 5, 2009 at 14:26
You have compared the maverick to mine rides. You were greatly misleaded.
Maverick is realy a wild thing. I'd rather compare it to the El Toro. Except for the stop-and-launch, the layout is in a similar style, with ultra-intense curves, drops, airtime, and closeness from the ground/theming/structure.
The 95 degree drop itself was not a big deal for me, but after riding Magnum, Millenium Force, Top Thrill Dragster than Maverick, it was kind of the logical conclusion. Still, beeing tracted at that speed to a hill that speed was pretty "oh my fucking god wer'e all gonna die". Pretty much like the hill after El Toro's first drop.
The big turn after the first drop is a little disapointing, like Millenium's overbanked turn. I find pretty annoying that immediatly after the big drop, while there is more speed, they put a curve… After that I don't remember the order of the elements, only the elements themeselves. There is a huge bunny hill, which provides a coolish airtime, really nice when all we know is the inversion-after-inversion style of BM. The place where we run between rocks is verry intense. The stegnel dive over the wooden building is really impressive. I had the feeling that this element could just not be smooth and fluid, but no, near flawless. The balance between sheer intensity and incredible smoothness is really amazing on this ride. Even if it is far from beeing super-fast, I could feel speed through me. Incredible. Seeing the elements coming in front of us, I swore every time that they could not be smooth, but each time, they are.
The stop-and-launch is cool, too. It is a verry valid variation to BM's block brakes. It preserves safety while maintaining momentum.
Amazing ride.