SANDUSKY, Ohio — Editor's note: Video in the player above features a front-seat ride from the Wicked Twister roller coaster, which has been demolished at Cedar Point.
A new mystery is brewing at Cedar Point thanks to a construction project that’s underway where the Wicked Twister roller coaster once stood.
The work, which is happening behind a fenced-off area along the Lake Erie shoreline, is gaining some attention as pictures of the project have popped up on social media.
CP Rundown shared a series of photos on their Facebook page (see below) that offer a peek at the construction site. The images also show markings on the ground in the immediate area surrounding the construction zone from maXair to the restrooms near the GateKeeper ride exit plaza.
So what is the project? What changes are coming? While Cedar Point has not yet confirmed what’s actually happening with the land, speculation is already running wild with some expecting a new restaurant while others are hoping for a ride.
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“Information on future park improvements will be released at a later date, but guests will be able to witness a few ‘changes’ to the boardwalk as the season moves along,” Cedar Point spokesperson Tony Clark previously told 3News in an e-mail.
Late last year, Clark said Wicked Twister’s removal was being done as “that area of the park is being prepared for future development.”
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous Cedar Point story on April 8, 2022.
Its ride structure was completely removed in early February and 1,000 pieces of the track were put up for sale -- quickly selling out for $215 per piece. Wicked Twister gave its final rides on Labor Day 2021.
So what could be filling that space in the park? Keep watch in that area along the Cedar Point beach throughout the 2022 season to see any new developments.
Feeling nostalgic? Here’s a look back at the press release from Cedar Point when the park first announced the Wicked Twister roller coaster in November of 2001:
Named Wicked Twister, the 215-foot-tall, 72-mph steel roller coaster will launch riders into a new dimension of thrills and will be Cedar Point’s 15th roller coaster, enabling the park to break its own world record for having more coasters than anywhere on Earth.
A “double-twisting” impulse roller coaster, Wicked Twister will use the advanced technology of linear induction motors (LIM) to rocket riders out of the coaster’s station – at a maximum speed of 72 mph in 2.5 seconds! – propelling forward and backward and up and down a U-shaped track with spiraling 450-degree corkscrews atop each vertical 215-foot-tall tower. With “twists” on both towers – instead of just one – Wicked Twister will be the first and only coaster of its kind anywhere in the world.
With its train suspended from below its track, Wicked Twister will challenge passengers immediately by launching halfway up the first 90-degree 215-foot-tall tower before briefly pausing, reversing direction and accelerating into the station where it will be thrust nearly all the way up the second 90-degree 215-foot-tall tower. The coaster will be launched out of the station five times – three forward and two backward – while reaching the apex of each tower on the U-shaped track as it picks up speed through the LIM propulsion system. Riders will face the sky while rotating up the twisting towers and will face the ground while rotating backward in the opposite direction, creating a unique visual illusion of the ground rotating below.
With the addition of Wicked Twister, Cedar Point will be the only amusement park in the world to stake claim to having three roller coasters above 200 feet tall: the 205-foot-tall Magnum XL-200 (1989); the 310-foot-tall Millennium Force (2000) and now the 215-foot-tall Wicked Twister. This twisted scream machine will also be the eighth world-record-breaking ride Cedar Point has introduced since debuting the world-renowned Magnum XL-200 roller coaster in 1989. Plus, Wicked Twister will be the eighth roller coaster the park has added during this same time period.
Located on the east side of the Cedar Point Peninsula, along the park’s historic beach and stretching on both sides of the Giant Wheel, Wicked Twister will have a two-tone structure, blending a sunburst yellow track with bright teal columns. Wicked Twister’s train will be a mixture of blue, magenta, teal and yellow. The ride will use a 32-person train consisting of eight four-passenger cars and will have a ride capacity of approximately 1,000 riders per hour. Each seat will have an individual shoulder restraint and restraining belt.
The roller coaster engineering and manufacturing firm, Intamin, headquartered in Wollerau, Switzerland, is the creator of the “double-twisting” impulse coaster concept. Guests will be able to take their first Wicked Twister ride when Cedar Point opens for the 2002 season in May.