Cedar Point's Magnum XL-200 coaster made amusement park history

SANDUSKY — Retired Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel thought he was thinking big when he persuaded his board to let him build a roller coaster that would cost millions of dollars.Kinzel, who had taken over as the top executive in 1986, was asking his board to spend more than $7 million for a new roller coaster. By comparison, the Gemini — the park's previous big coaster — had cost $3.4 million back in 1978.At 187 feet, the expensive new ride would be the tallest roller coaster ever built."I just wanted the highest coaster in the world," Kinzel recalled last week.But a board member asked Kinzel, how much would it cost to break the 200 foot barrier?As it turned out, not much more money. And so Utah-based roller coaster manufacturer Arrow Dynamics did a redesign, and Cedar Point opened its legendary Magnum XL-200 coaster in 1989 as a ride that was about 205 feet tall.The coaster, still considered a thrilling ride, is credited with launching the "coaster wars," a battle among amusement parks to create the tallest, fastest rides. Magnum is known as the world's first "hypercoaster." The ride is featured in the historic front page reprinted in Monday's newspaper."I honestly think it was the best decision the park ever made," Kinzel said.The park had a rule that once a person got into line for a coaster he or she got to ride it, even if the park had closed. On some Saturday nights, Kinzel recalls, ride workers had to keep working at Magnum XL until about 1 a.m., so that riders who had gotten in line about three hours before, at closing time, could claim their two minute, 45 second thrill ride.Not that it wasn't worth it. Kinzel used to enjoy hanging out by the ride, listening to what riders had to say."People would actually say it was worth the price of admission alone," Kinzel said.Magnum XL-200's name was engineered almost as carefully as the 72 mph ride.The "magnum" part, from a word in Latin for "largest," also was suggested by the TV show "Magnum, P.I." which Kinzel loved.The XL part, for "extra long," and the "200," was designed to remind everyone that Cedar Point's new ride was the biggest, baddest roller coaster around, at 205 feet tall and 5,106 feet long.John Hildebrandt, retired as Cedar Point's general manager, was Kinzel's marketing director."It was a dream job," Hildebrandt said.After all, Cedar Point was promoting a roller coaster that was the tallest, fastest and steepest ever built.But being the first to break the 200-foot barrier was particularly important."That made a big difference. That really got a lot of attention," Hildebrandt said.He said Cedar Point produced a powerful radio commercial to hype the ride."We interviewed people as they were coming off the ride — in essence, a testimonial," he said. "People were so excited."Cedar Point veterans recall seeing people bat beach balls around as they waited in line in the summer of 1989."All summer long, it was like a rock concert out there," Hildebrandt said. When the roller coaster pulled in, people would cheer, he said.Roller coaster buffs across the U.S. hailed Magnum, too. For three years in a row — 1998 to 2000 — Amusement Today gave Magnum its "Best Steel Roller Coaster" Golden Ticket Award.Kinzel said modern rides are tested for weeks before people are put on them. Not so with Magnum."We actually never ran that coaster until the Saturday before the park opened," he said.Testing Magnum without riders didn't last very long."We ran it around one time. Somebody said 'let's go,' and we all hopped in," Kinzel said. "Now they run it for a month at a time before they put any people on it."The trim brakes weren't hooked up yet, so the ride ran a little hotter returning to station than it was supposed to, he said."We knew it was a great ride," he said. "We just worked all week to get it perfected."Magnum may have become a lasting success, but the company that built it wasn't so lucky.Arrow Dynamics, the company that built Magnum XL, built other famous amusement park rides, such as Cedar Point's Corkscrew back in 1976. Despite its many successes, it could not survive the tough competition in the industry. It filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and its remaining assets were sold in 2002.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.Cedar Point's Magnum XL-200 roller coaster. A train on the Magnum XL-200 roller coaster. The sign for the Magnum XL-200 roller coaster.