May 24, 2013

Cedar Point’s Gatekeeper Coaster: Our Ride Review

May 24, 2013. Yesterday we went to Cedar Point and rode the new coaster, Gatekeeper. It was an intense ride. We were lucky enough to have only a fifteen minute wait. The ride was closed most of the day, due to high winds. It happened to open shortly after 7:00PM as we were leaving. We hightailed it over, along with many others, and jumped into line. You will need to choose the left or right side of the train/car when you are in the line before going up the stairs. We chose the left side. We heard that the riders on the outside seats receive a more intense ride and that proved to be true for us. I sat in the inside seat and found the ride to be very smooth and wasn’t bumped around too much. On the other hand, my son sat in the outside seat and was bumped around a bit more. At one point, his legs got sore when the coaster spun, and they were sore after the ride. All in all, it was a fun roller-coaster, but it couldn’t replace my favorite coaster at Cedar Point, which is the Millennium Force.

The old Disaster Transport coaster was torn down to make room for the Gatekeeper. In the last few years, the Wildcat and the Demon Drop were also torn down at Cedar Point.

The Gatekeeper was made by the same company that made the Raptor. I could definitely see a resemblance between the two coasters. They are both pretty smooth rides. The coaster is located at the front of the park, but you need to get to it in a roundabout way. Even though the coaster goes out into the parking lot, you need to walk down the midway then take a left after the games, before you get to the kiddie fountain on your right.

Features

The ride layout is specially designed for Cedar Point, featuring a track that dramatically flies above the main entrance of the park, passing over arriving guests with rolling flyover maneuvers – twice, sliding by buildings and narrowly slotting through new front gate portals for near miss excitement. Elements of the ride include:

Wing Over Drop – once riders crest the top of the lift hill, the coaster train will rotate 180 degrees to the right, turning riders upside down before plummeting toward the ground at speeds of more than 65 mph!
Immelmann – a maneuver where riders enter a half loop, go through a half twist and curve out in the opposite direction from which they came.
Camelback – riders will fly over a giant, 105-foot-tall camelback hill that will be filled with “airtime!”
Giant Flat Spin – a hair-raising 360-degree flip that will provide two different ride experiences for guests on each side of the train.
Zero-G-Roll – a flying element that takes riders through two support towers that will dominate Cedar Point’s new Main Entrance.
Inclined Dive Loop – a tight, 180-degree turnaround pushes riders through an overbanked turn and rockets them back towards the station.
360° In-Line-Roll – an element that will take riders extremely close to the new massive support towers while flying over guests entering the park below.
Camelback Drop – a quick drop that will help propel the train and its guests through the rides final thrilling element, the spiral.
Spiral – GateKeeper’s track rotates a wicked 360 degrees before bringing the coasters train back to the ride station.

Vehicles

Trains: Three (3) 32-passenger trains
Coaches: Eight coaches, with four seats per coach, per train
Design: Fiberglass and steel coaches with over-the-shoulder restraints and interlocking seat belts