Cedar Point 2016: New Dive Coaster Coming?

Hmmmm……When memos and rumors start flying about a new coaster as Cedar Point, there’s always a big spotlight on those possibilities. The 145 year old park (who doesn’t look a day over 70) made announcements last year about the closing of Good Times Theatre, which had an IMAX screen and housed family friendly shows for decades and led to speculation of the use of the space. Truthfully, Cedar Point poured a lot of devotion and time to premiere park show talent to the Luminosity showcase that happens in the Midway where the Wildcat was removed after the 2011 season. Like the Berenstain Bears’ era and Schwabinchen (the ride with the Lady in Red in the middle), all good things must come to an end.

Rumors are swirling of the park getting an all new dive coaster for the 2016 season. So how did the dive coaster speculation come into play? According to Sandusky Register’s article last month, they received a memo from Bolliger & Mabillard which provides details of a $15 million dollar coaster “The Dive Coaster” that’s coming to the Point in 2016.

For those unfamiliar with a dive coaster, it is usually a floorless train design that takes riders to the top of the lift hill, then stalls for a few seconds before dropping riders straight down at 90 degrees. The speculated CP dive coaster would have three trains which carry 24 passengers each and has eight people seated to a row; each rider would be secured by a shoulder harness. Below is what a dive coaster looks like. The one in the photo is a train with 10 seats across opposed to the eight rumored to be installed at Cedar Point.

Griffon – Busch Gardens, VA

The memo didn’t stop there….it gave details of the rumored dive coaster’s specs!

• Cost – $15 million
• Lift height – 223 feet
• Track length – 3,625 feet
• Speed – 80 mph
• Inversions – 4
• Ride features – 270-degree roll, banked curve,  Immelman with a half-roll exit, second 90 degree drop, camel back
• Ride time – 195 seconds (including time for loading and unloading guests)

These are all important metrics to coaster crazies when a new one is built with the OGs already in the coaster neighborhood.

For many years Busch Gardens had an exclusive contract with coaster builders B&M that kept B&M from building any other dive coasters in the United States. With that contract expiring, that opens the gates for an all new dive machine to land at Cedar Point.

Below is a POV video of a Dive Coaster to get the perspective of what we are talking about.

All of this fun does come at a certain price. There is indication that more of the beloved rides in the midway could be leaving the park such as the Turnpike Cars and the Cadillac Cars. Although there is a chance they could be relocated within the park, there’s only so much space within the park and Cedar Point’s visits and revenue count on feeding coaster cravings. With that part of the midway giving great views out to Lake Erie and the park when it stalls at the top, the dive coaster being situated there would be a nice upgrade in the Thrillville. Cedar Point is smart to have the latest and greatest coaster installed hot on the heels of the exclusivity rights expiring and so soon after GateKeeper opened. Between the Rougarou upgrades to the Mantis and the suspected dive coaster in 2016, it’s a new coaster party for two straight years!

With all that said, Cedar Point is known to release hints to media and coaster enthusiasts to throw off what is really going on with the parks new rides, but sometimes the hints and rumors are true. Coaster fan sites and Cedar Point fan boys eat this kind of news up and that may have been the plan all along from the park. Do you think this is truly leaked information, or do you think this was a leak posted as a marketing ploy by the park to gain exposure? let us know in the comments below or on social media. We want to know what everyone thinks!

For tickets and more information, visit the official Cedar Point website here.

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