SANDUSKY, Ohio — Editor's note: Video in the player at the top of this story features a front-seat ride on the Wicked Twister roller coaster.
Cedar Point’s skyline will never be the same.
Crews have completed the removal of the Wicked Twister roller coaster's ride structure along the Lake Erie shoreline, park spokesperson Tony Clark confirmed to 3News early Wednesday morning.
Clark declared the Wicked Twister’s “time of departure” happened at 12:28 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8. His tweet about the moment features a glimpse of the snowy space that was once occupied by the roller coaster since it debuted in 2002.
This comes just a few weeks after Clark posted video that showed one of the ride’s 215-foot towers crashing down during the demolition process.
Clark also previously teased fans that pieces of the ride would be going up for sale.
“Own a twisted piece of history,” Clark wrote on Jan. 14. ‘Find out how when the dust settles…”
So what’s next for the newly empty space in the park?
"Nothing more to share right now," Clark told 3News on Wednesday.
While not offering any additional details, Clark did tease what's to come in this previous comment: “That area of the park is being prepared for future development,” Clark wrote in a blog post last November. “No, I will not tell you what that development is. More to come on all that.”
Wicked Twister gave its final rides on Monday, Sept. 6.
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.
TAKE A VIRTUAL RIDE
Steel Vengeance:
Maverick:
Magnum XL-200:
Corkscrew: