Today, Cedar Point is scheduled to announce their new 2013 thrill ride, GateKeeper. It will be a B&M wing roller coaster similar to Six Flags Great America’s X-Flight and Dollywood’s Wild Eagle. Over the weekend someone found a link to a page with information about the ride that the park had accidently made public. It has since been taken down, but we should get an official announcement later today. I’ll update this post with the full details about the ride then.
For now, we do have a few images of the ride to drool over. As the leaked memo suggested, GateKeeper will make a: “Front Gate Statement— a roller coaster that flies overhead, rolls and flies back— highly visible above guests entering the park.” The light blue wing coaster will feature two keyhole cut-outs like the one that X-Flight spins through.
GateKeeper’s Layout
True to its name, GateKeeper will be an integral part of the revitalization of Cedar Point’s main gate. Guests arriving at the park will be welcomed by this massive wing roller coaster flying overhead. The layout begins in the area of the park that was formerly home to Disaster Transport and the Space Spiral. The 170-foot tall lift features a wing over drop that’ll invert riders 180 degrees before dropping them. After that, there’s an enormous-looking Immelmann loop, a 105-foot camelback airtime hill, and then a giant flat spin (similar to a corkscrew).
Next, riders will navigate a zero-g roll while spiraling through the two new support towers above Cedar Point’s main entrance. An inclined dive loop is the far turnaround point of the layout. It’s followed by an in-line roll that’ll provide another near-miss with the support towers once more. GateKeeper will finish with a brake run that’s follow by a drop and helix.
My Take – The Sleeping Giant Awakens
Many of us knew about GateKeeper’s details for a few months now. Just as I said then, Cedar Point’s 2013 coaster is much-needed now that it’s been five years since Maverick, the park’s last new roller coaster. I have to say that this looks like a really cool addition. I expected the World’s largest wing coaster stats and distinction, but I didn’t expect the cool support tower fly-throughs. Those near-misses and the ride’s location (that’ll cause jaws to drop before guests are even in the park) make it a smart addition.
The other elements that look interesting are the airtime hill and that inclined dive loop at the far end of the layout. After riding Wild Eagle, I can see how an airtime hill could be fun, but can’t imagine it’ll be as powerful as a hyper coaster’s airtime. Overall, GateKeeper will easily be one of the most anticipated new rides of 2013.
Here’s a video of Cedar Point’s GateKeeper:
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 Full Throttle at Six Flags Magic Mountain |
August 13, 2012 at 08:22
That is one good lookin coastah!
August 13, 2012 at 09:21
This coaster is going to change Cedar Point's landscape a lot just like Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland! And Cedar Point did a good job creating the logo!
October 10, 2012 at 16:05
One of the best logo's ever.
August 13, 2012 at 09:26
I think that this is great, I love wing coasters and Cedar Point's addition will be better than Magic Mountain's Full Throttle. And best of all more records broke.
August 13, 2012 at 11:02
i thought that Outlaw Run was going to nave it easy as my top pick but this is now an incredibly close second, but the lack of near-misses does dissapoint me, but it does make X-Flight look like an even biggier pile of crap in my opinion and makes me question why Six Flags Great America removed Iron Wolf and didn't expand the waterpark when they could have had a show stopping ride like this,
August 13, 2012 at 12:30
Holy crap this coaster is better than I imagined. It has all I wanted in a winged coaster, near misses and a inverted first drop. But another blue coster, come on cedar point.
August 13, 2012 at 19:03
Hey, Blue is pretty popular for coasters these days. Besides, Only Corkscrew and Millennium have blue paint, and it's a much darker shade. At least it's not red. (Maverick, Top Thrill, Magnum, Iron dragon)
August 14, 2012 at 01:32
Weelll…Wicked Twister is blue-ish, too. And yellow.
I'm so excited for this ride. Cedar Point is a pretty difficult drive for me for its length, so it requires an overnight stay, and only two of their rides crack my top 20. However, with this new ride, perhaps next year I will drive out, ride the new coaster, and hit up Kings Island as well (since I've never been).
August 14, 2012 at 19:27
Supports are teal for wicked twister. But I consider it yellow. You remember the yellow more than the blue. You don't call millennium or corkscrew white because of their supports.
August 15, 2012 at 12:22
Don't forget Blue Streak and Jr. Gemini.
August 15, 2012 at 14:53
I saw the other day that they even seem to be painting the old Canobie Corkscrew at Canobie Lake blue and teal (it used to be yellow with black supports and scary rust spots). Blue must be the color of the year.
It's running with the new paint job about half-done, and the combination of the two clashing color schemes looks impressively hideous. Not as ugly, I'll admit, as the plan they seemed to be mulling over a while ago, when they speculatively painted a small section bright green with a fluorescent pink support.
August 13, 2012 at 12:30
What a great idea in terms of design and layout to incorporate this coaster into the park's front gate. I can't think of a more perfect way to enter the coaster capital of the world than to be greeted by a roller coaster zooming overhead.
August 13, 2012 at 14:15
I like a lot of things about this coaster already; the length, the near misses, that insane looking immelman after the first drop… but I'm shocked that I actually like the name! This looks like a great addition for Cedar Point, and is certainly a step above Disaster Transport.
August 13, 2012 at 20:54
Do you think this is the best wing coaster on earth coastercritic?
August 14, 2012 at 20:28
It certainly looks like it could be, but there's no way to know if it'll be better than the other wing coasters until we ride it.
October 10, 2012 at 16:00
That is the most true and positive thing i've heard all day!!! week even!!!
August 13, 2012 at 22:17
This will for sure be the 1# new coaster this is one of a kind
August 14, 2012 at 07:28
Well… 2013 definitely seems like the time to go to Cedar Point!
August 14, 2012 at 15:30
I picked the wrong year to go. I still say that Disaster Transport goes to WOF
August 14, 2012 at 16:03
A friend and colleague of mine was able to go to the press announcement per invitation, i would have been able to go too had I not had work elsewhere in the state. Even though it was leaked, i was still very excited but had to catch everything/whole video rending, hours later. Not sure I'm going to make it to the point soon but next year it's a definite. works sucks sometimes, can i retire now?
August 14, 2012 at 20:31
Retiring would be great. Or you could switch to one of these jobs:
"Best Day Jobs for Coaster Enthusiasts" http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2011/01/top-3-day…
August 14, 2012 at 21:23
now you're talking!
August 14, 2012 at 21:16
Do you think that Cedar Point or magic mountain is the roller coaster capital of the world now including GateKeeper CoasterCritic?
August 14, 2012 at 23:49
That's a tough question. The number of coasters is one thing, but the title could be subjective. I wonder if it'd be fair to do a roller coaster showdown post pitting the two lineups against each other before anyone's ridden Gatekeeper or Full Throttle. Hmmm….
August 15, 2012 at 12:21
it's Cedar Point because they trademarked it in 2008.
http://www.trademarkia.com/the-roller-coaster-cap…
But Six Flags MM trademarked Thrill Capital of the World
November 26, 2012 at 11:08
Cedar Point has the highest average roller coaster height at 146.5 feet tall. That makes it the roller coaster capital of the world. But I would like to see how your showdown turns out.
August 15, 2012 at 20:32
work for cedar point great idea CEDAR POINT
August 18, 2012 at 11:49
Thought you guys n girls might like to see what I scored from the media announcement, my friend/colleague got to go but I wasn't able. She scored these for me though!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/firewalk13/…
August 19, 2012 at 13:54
Pretty cool! Thanks for sharing. I wonder which weekend in May they're targeting. Things can always change as they have a lot construction ahead, but I'd like to know.
August 19, 2012 at 16:10
I will let you know if I can get an early tip off, i've set a tracker to remind me to start checking a couple months out. cheers!
August 25, 2012 at 06:28
makes all other wing riders look outdated- incredible
August 28, 2012 at 16:26
Wow! After seeing the animated POV, I DEFINITELY picked the wrong year to go to Cedar Point. I'm absolutely stoked for this ride. The opening inverted drop right into an Immelmann looks sick in tandem. The pairing reminds me of Farenheit's Norwegian Loop. And that zero-g roll through TWO keyholes looks like it could be the best inversion of all time. One of the best inversion-types paired with two near-misses? Sign me up. Plus I love the GateKeeper motif. Legendary beast protecting the entrance to the mecca of roller coaster enthusiasts? Can't wait to see this open up!
October 20, 2012 at 00:12
Always go the Cedar Point if GateKeeper or not. It is the best amusment park.
December 1, 2012 at 12:25
Coaster Critic, will you consider going to Cedar Point again in 2013 so you could ride Top Thrill Dragster and GateKeeper and maybe ride Millennium Froce again and see how you like it? Please, you would just try to go?
December 4, 2012 at 22:18
I do need to return to CP, but I'm not sure it'll be in 2013. I've still got a number of new parks to visit. Anything's possible though.
December 5, 2012 at 14:47
I'm biased but you should totally visit CP next summer. With all the Arrow removal rumors and the dwindling number arrow suspended coasters, you should get a jump on a ride on Corkscrew and Iron Dragon
I don't think Gemini's going anywhere anytime soon though.
December 7, 2012 at 13:57
Yeah
March 4, 2013 at 22:30
Full Throttle looks better in my opinion. Nothin beats three 70 mph launches, 160 foot loop, a special effects tunnel, and a top hat over the vertical loop. You can brag about how Cedar Point is better, which it is not! Oh Hail, the roller coaster capitol of the world, Six Flags Magic Mountain! Once again they are about to hit 18 roller coasters again!
March 4, 2013 at 22:32
No matter if you like it or not. Six Flags Magic Mountain will be the roller coaster capitol the world again! 18 roller coasters, vs Cedar Point's 17. Gatekeeper is a stupid name! Full Throttle is a awesome name!
March 7, 2013 at 09:35
Gatekeeper reminds me to two things. A old hip hop group called the Gravediggaz and Ghostbusters! I actually like the name though because it got to the front of the park or to the gate so it is the “Gatekeeper.” Pretty cool!