Related: Castles N' Coasters / Carowinds / Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari / Thundering Surf Water Park
Cedar Point is an amusement park located on a peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio right on the shoreline of Lake Erie.
It is one of the oldest amusement parks in North America with a history that dates back to 1870.
The amusement park began when a local newspaper called upon some ‘enterprising person’ to come forward with a plan to use the outstanding beach on the lake side of Cedar Point and a local businessman, Louis Zistel, stepped forward and proceeded to open a dance floor, a public swimming baths and a small beer garden. To encourage guests, he would bring them over on his own steamboat and this soon became a very popular attraction.
Thrill rides were introduced to the amusement park as early as 1892 with its own rollercoaster and numerous businessmen over the next century followed Zistel’s footsteps and have had the vision to keep the amusement park at the forefront with the latest developments within the industry. So much so, that the amusement park can today boast of attracting over 3 million visitors every summer.
Since the turn of the millennium, new developments at the amusement park have continued apace.
In 2000, the amusement park opened the tallest and fastest rollercoaster of its time. At 310 feet tall and travelling at a speed of over 90 mph, the Millennium Force amazed the entire rollercoaster industry at the time. The amusement park even surpassed this achievement in 2003 with its new Top Thrill Dragster – a 420 foot tall coaster, travelling at 120 mph.
In 2004, its owners, the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, put almost $10 million into new developments at the amusement park when it introduced its Soak City waterpark and expanded its luxury camping facility, Lighthouse Point.
A dedicated kids’ area called Planet Snoopy was opened at the amusement park in 2008 which even included a kids only restaurant called the Joe Cool Cafe.
A unique ‘night time’ amusement park attraction costing $1 million opened in 2009. Called the Starlight Experience, it features an LED extravaganza which floats to a theme of the four seasons.
The amusement park’s latest attraction, a flume ride called Shoot the Rapids opened in 2010.
Cedar Point amusement park has always pioneered the latest technologies within the amusement park industry as a whole which is why it can stand proud in calling itself ‘The Roller Coaster Capital of the World’.