GateKeeper (Cedar Point)

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GateKeeper
A train in the exit of the keyhole element

A train in the exit of the keyhole element

Data
Location Cedar Point
( Sandusky , Ohio , USA )
Type Steel - seated
model Wing Coaster
Drive type Chain lift hill
Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard
costs $ 25 million
opening May 11th, 2013
length 1269 m
height 52 m
Departure 50 m
Max. speed 108 km / h
Max. acceleration 4 g
Travel time 2:40 min
capacity 1710 people per hour
Trains 3 trains, 8 cars / train, 1 row of seats / car, 4 seats / row of seats
elements Dive drop

Immelmann

Corkscrew

Zero-g-roll

Inclined dive loop

Inline twist

Keyhole elements
Inversions 6th
Theming no

GateKeeper ( English for gatekeeper ) in the American amusement park Cedar Point ( Sandusky , Ohio ) is a steel roller coaster model Wing Coaster from the manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard , which opened on May 11, 2013. The 1269 meter long and $ 25 million roller coaster reaches a height of 52 meters from which the trains are accelerated to a top speed of 108 km / h, and has five other inversions and a 52 meter high dive drop , the highest inversion a roller coaster worldwide, and an eponymous keyhole element ("keyhole" element) that leads through two steel-concrete structures directly over the newly designed park entrance for the railway and is intended to give passengers the feeling of an approaching collision.

Construction began in September 2012 and lasted over eight months. GateKeeper was built on the original site of Disaster Transport and Space Spiral , both of which were demolished in the summer of 2012. The roller coaster broke several records when it opened: it was the fastest, longest and tallest wing coaster as well as the one with the most inversions. With GateKeeper , the number of roller coasters at Cedar Point has been increased back to 16. It was the first new roller coaster in the park since Maverick opened in 2007, and the third roller coaster by Bolliger & Mabillard after Raptor (1994) and Mantis (1996).

history

Planning and marketing

The two-year planning for GateKeeper began under the leadership of former CEO Dick Kinzel, who entrusted the project to his successor Matt Oumit. According to Rob Decker, Vice President of Planning & Design at Cedar Fair , the concept for the facility was developed during the 2011 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions exhibition . On April 24, 2012, Ouimet said at a meeting of the Lake Erie Chamber of Commerce , that for the year 2013 expenses of 25 million US dollars are planned. He gave indications that the new attraction would be built along the beach. On May 30, 2012, the Sandusky Register reported a short notice that Ouimet had written on February 15, 2012 to the Board of Directors of the Cedar Fair Group. It proves that in 2013 a wing coaster with the code name “CP Alt. Winged ”, which would set new records for altitude, speed and length. The announcement also states that the roller coaster will dominate the main entrance. The train will fly over the heads of the visitors, roll over and fly back - unmistakable for guests entering the park. The route will run through the main entrance and partly through the parking lot. The facility will be 52 meters high and Disaster Transport and Space Spiral will have to be demolished to build it.

On July 13, 2012, Cedar Point announced the closure of the Disaster Transport bobsleigh steel roller coaster and the Space Spiral observation tower . Disaster Transport was closed on July 29, 2012. The demolition began on August 6th at the rear of the building. On September 12, 2012, Space Spiral was demolished by blowing up the lower part of the tower.

As part of the marketing strategy for GateKeeper, Cedar Point published various teasers on the OnPoint blog. In the area around the park and on the website, posters were published with slogans such as “How do you get out of this catastrophe?”, “ Wildcat does not fit this creature” and “Not even a jumbo jet rises that high”. Each of these posters had a black background with five blue wings as a nod to the roller coaster logo. Park spokeswoman Annie Zelm later admitted that some of the hints on the website were intended only to mislead the reader. On August 3, 2012, Cedar Point started a countdown on its Facebook page until the official announcement of the railway. The side read: "We can no longer keep it a secret ... Meet us on August 13th at 3:30 pm at the main entrance, where we will reveal everything that we have kept secret so far!" On August 13, 2012, GateKeeper became official announced as a 52 meter high wing coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. During the announcement, a creepy-disguised park employee spoke to visitors from the roof of the main entrance. A trademark application for the name GateKeeper was also filed that day. Rob Decker said that “GateKeeper is truly a thrill innovation. Every twist and turn and every near miss element was designed exclusively for Cedar Point. "

The plastic of the logo on the square in front of the track
A pull in the corkscrew.
The lift hill can be seen in the background.
A train goes through the inclined dive loop .
A train in the exit of the corkscrew
The first section of the route: Dive-Drop and Immelmann
The lift hill at night
GateKeeper
Panoramic view of the square in front of GateKeeper
The first section of the route: Dive-Drop and Immelmann
The station building

Construction, test drives and opening

The construction of GateKeeper started in mid-September. The first of the 200 piles, each 1.8 meters long, for the foundations were driven into the ground on October 2nd. On October 23, the first rail parts were delivered in the order in which they would later be installed. The rails and supports of the station area were installed from November 5th. The lift hill was completed on November 30th. According to an interim report on construction progress on January 7, 2013, around 40% of the route had been completed by that time - including the Dive Drop, Immelmann and Camelback. On January 23, the first components for the keyhole elements were delivered. The first of the two elements was completed on January 29th. On February 27, 2013 at around 2 p.m., GateKeeper closed the rails - two weeks ahead of schedule.

Construction took over eight months and over 100 workers from five construction companies were involved in the project. The Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown , praised Cedar Point for the decision to engage local companies. AA Boos & Sons carried out the earthworks. Tony Ravagnani Architects designed, developed and built the two keyhole elements. Fireland Electric was responsible for the electrics . The station building with the souvenir shop was built by Bert Witte Contractors , SA Comunal installed the sanitary and air-conditioning technology and Lew's Construction was responsible for the new entrance area. In total, over 5400 tons of concrete were used.

On April 4, 2013, the trains completed the entire route for the first time. The park conducted hundreds of tests before it was released for regular operation. On April 10, Cedar Point started an auction at which the first 64 seats of the premiere ride on May 11, 2013 were auctioned to the highest bidders for the benefit of the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital and the United Way Organization of Lake Erie. The auction ended on May 6th. A press conference was held on May 9th and GateKeeper opened to the public on May 11th .

On July 17, 2013, Cedar Point registered the railroad's millionth passenger. He was given a US $ 500 voucher, a VIP tour of the park and exclusive access to GateKeeper for the remainder of the 2013 season. Park spokesman Bryan Edwards said: “We transport approximately 1,600 people an hour. It was sure to be a huge success for the park. Our visitors love GateKeepers. "

The keyhole element

journey

The place with the entrance to GateKeeper is along the beach near the tower of the Wicked Twister roller coaster . There is a plastic with the GateKeeper logo on it . The waiting area runs parallel to the beach, under the lift hill to the station building. In the station, passengers can decide which side of the train they want to travel on. The Cedar Fair Group's Fast Lane Plus system is used on the railways : visitors can purchase a bracelet that allows them to queue up in a separate queue and thus shorten the waiting time.

Since GateKeeper is a wing coaster , the specialty of the ride is that, in contrast to classic trains, the seats are arranged next to the rails. Therefore, the passenger feels eponymous, as if on the wings (Wings) would ride.

After the train has left the station and passed the 40 ° steep lift hill , it first goes through a dive drop and then an Immelmann . This is followed by a 30 meter high camelback and an elongated corkscrew . The highlight of the run is then a zero-g-roll , which leads through a keyhole element in the form of two concrete segments directly above the entrance to the park. The name of the railway, which translates as gatekeeper in German, is derived from this element. As a turn, to finally return to the station, the train goes through an inclined dive loop , followed by an inline twist . After the train has reached the first block brake, there is another helix inclined to the left before the train enters the final brake. The entire facility extends over an area of ​​1.42 hectares.

technology

Close-ups of the trains

rail

GateKeeper's steel rail is approximately 1,269 meters long and at its highest point, the top of the lift hill, reaches a height of 52 meters. The rail is in the colors light and dark blue; the supports are white. Each of the 102 rail sections weighs around 3.4 tons. In contrast to the Raptor and Mantis , the GateKeeper rail is filled with sand to achieve noise reduction. Bolliger & Mabillard had the rail parts and supports manufactured by Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia in the southwest of Ohio.

Clermont also supplied four steel girders that were built into the keyhole elements. Each of the two is 30 meters high. The first seven meters of each element are made of concrete, the remaining 23 meters are made of steel. Each of the two elements weighs over 29 tons.

Trains

With Gatekeeper three from coming fiberglass crafted and steel cables used. Each of them has eight carriages with four seats per row, two of which are on the left and right of the rail. One train therefore holds 32 passengers. The capacity is 1710 people per hour. The passengers must be between 1.30 meters and 2 meters tall. Flexible shoulder straps are used as a restraint system. In addition, the passengers are held in their seats by a seat belt. The seats in the fourth row of each train also allow taller people to travel with special seats. Since the seats are to the side of the rail, they are also supported by a cantilever beam . The park gives the color of the trains as Sunset Gold with Zenith , Meteor and Orion Gold . At the front of the train is the head of a griffin . In the eyes of the mythical creature and on the outer seats in each row, for the first time in Cedar Point, there are LEDs as a special effect , the batteries of which are recharged when they stop in the station building.

Records

GateKeeper broke several world records. When it opened it was the longest, fastest and highest wing coaster, as well as the one with the most inversions. In addition, with its dive drop, the facility has the highest inversion of a roller coaster worldwide, displacing Volcano, The Blast Coaster in Kings Dominion, which is also part of the Cedar Fair group, in second place.

It is the third system from the manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard in Cedar Point. The other two tracks are the Inverted Coaster Raptor and the Stand-Up Coaster Mantis . GateKeeper is the fifth Wing Coaster built worldwide and the third in the United States - the other runways on US soil are X-Flight in Six Flags Great America and Wild Eagle in Dollywood .

reception

GateKeeper has been largely positively received by the media and passengers. It has been criticized that the shoulder straps are sometimes too tight for tall people. Some passengers praise the keyhole elements. One woman said enthusiastically: "It feels as if your knees and head are being chopped off." Many passengers also praise the smooth running of the train and the attractive redesign of the entrance area. On the opening weekend, Cedar Point recorded the most visitors to an opening weekend in the company's history.

Web links

Commons : GateKeeper (Cedar Point)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

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  3. Jeff Putz: Where The Roller Coasters Come From. PointBuzz.com, accessed September 2, 2013 .
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  11. Ryan Haidet: Cedar Point teases about new attraction, 2013. (No longer available online.) Wkyc.com, July 17, 2012, archived from the original on April 1, 2013 ; accessed on September 2, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wkyc.com
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  18. a b Melissa Topey: Recap of Cedar Point's GateKeeper announcement. Sandusky Register, August 14, 2012, accessed August 28, 2013 .
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  24. Opening Day 2012. Cedar Point, November 5, 2012, accessed September 4, 2013 .
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  26. a b c d e Ryan Haidet: Cedar Point: Crews top off GateKeeper's lift hill. (No longer available online.) Wkyc.com, November 30, 2012, archived from the original on February 9, 2013 ; accessed on August 28, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wkyc.com
  27. Jen Steer: 65,000-pound steel beam makes cross-state trip to Cedar Point for new coaster. (No longer available online.) Newsnet5.com, January 23, 2013, archived from the original on September 23, 2013 ; accessed on September 4, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.newsnet5.com
  28. ^ Jason Werling: Entrance keyhole constructed for Cedar Point's GateKeeper. Sandusky Register, January 29, 2013, accessed September 4, 2013 .
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  30. Cedar Point: GateKeeper Final Track Piece. Video on YouTube, February 27, 2013, accessed September 4, 2013 .
  31. James Proffitt: Video: Inside look at new Cedar Point coaster with Sherrod Brown. (No longer available online.) CoshoctonTribune.com, March 27, 2013, archived from the original on November 12, 2013 ; accessed on September 4, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.coshoctontribune.com
  32. Melissa Topey: Made in Ohio. Sandusky Register, March 27, 2013, accessed September 4, 2013 .
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This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 22, 2013 .

Coordinates: 41 ° 28 ′ 50.1 "  N , 82 ° 40 ′ 44.4"  W.