Fastest, Tallest, Biggest!

We woke up early Sunday morning and drove 3 hours to Cedar Point, Ohio - a roller coaster and amusement park. The park has 17 roller coasters, including the worlds fastest, tallest and biggest roller coaster in the world - all rolled into one (The Dragster)!

An overall shot of the park - the tall ride you can see is the Dragster

We started off on a coaster called Mantis - one of the tallest and fastest stand up roller coasters in the world, sending us around 4 loops at about 60mph (nearly 97kph). It was a good ride to start off the day.

Next up was Mean Streak - one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world. With heights of 161 feet (50 meters), speeds of 65mph and almost a 1 mile track, it was a rough ride. Being all wood, it was rickety and threw us around big time. It done some damage to Ryan's shoulder and bruised Kristy's back and shin. We couldn't wait for this one to be over.

We hit a couple more coasters, working our courage up for the Dragster. As we got closer, we both got a little more nervous. Here are some facts about the Dragster:

Length: 2800 feet (853m)

Height: 420 feet (128m or 42 stories high)

Angle of lift: 90 degrees

Vertical drop: 400 feet (122m)

Angle of decent: 90 degrees

Launch Speed: 120mph in under 4 seconds (193kph)

Angle of twist on decent: 270 degrees

Drop speed: 120mph (193 kph)

This is the Dragster - you get at a 90 degree angle at 120mph up the LHS, go over the top, and come down at 120mph, at a 90 degree angle, twisting 270 degrees. All over in 16 seconds!

It was finally our turn, and the ride was really good, and no where near as bad as we thought it was going to be. Although we only had a lap belt holding us in, we felt very secure, and because you were going so fast, you didn't really have time to worry anyway! It was an awesome rush!

After a bite to eat, it was time to hit some water rides to cool down. We then lined up for the parks brand new ride - the Maverick. Maverick had only opened a matter of weeks before we arrived and we had to line up for 1.5 hours just to have a ride that lasted barely 2 minutes! Once again, we were locked in so tight and felt so secure that we were ready for anything. This ride topped all the other rides in the park - loops, twists, turns - it wasn't dull for one second! There was even a drop that actually inverted and was at an angle of 95 degrees sending us at speeds of 75mph! We absolutely loved it, and it has definitely cured Ryan's fear of roller coasters!

Click on the the link below to watch the actual ride! Its good.

http://maverick.cedarpoint.com/ride/video/?video_id=16

We went on one more coaster, then called it quits, leaving the park bruised and battered, but we still had a great time!