there's a world apart a place in your
heart can she be recalled summer never
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recorder position coordinates x7
disaster transport it'll take you out of
this world but it may not get you back
new this summer at Cedar Point
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hello my name is Kevin perjurer and
welcome to another edition in defunk
time for background slash context on
this series please visit the function
comm with the link below today we will
be attempting to resurrect the extinct
indoor rollercoaster disaster transport
I decided to make this to appease all of
these wonderful coaster fans Lake Erie
Cedar Point Peninsula located in
Sandusky Ohio first opened in 1870 as a
recreation center for Lake goers the
peninsula named after its large
population of cedar trees was mainly
used for fishing until 1870 when ferries
began to shuttle people to Cedar Point
usually for picnics and other summer
activities 12 years later Cedar Point
debuted its first roller coaster the
Switchback railway 20 years after that a
second roller coaster was built than a
third in 1908 and a fourth and 1912 and
more and more throughout the years until
today when they now call themselves the
roller coaster capital of the world but
they weren't void of missteps and this
is the story of one of their most
infamous the years 1985 Careless Whisper
by Wham is topping the charts Back to
the Future is about to be released in
theaters and Michael Eisner is taking a
shot at running the Walt Disney Company
in Ohio Cedar Point CEO Robert L Munger
jr. has found the recipe for his park
success while previous administrations
had attempted to copy Disney successes
in theming Munger found that
record-breaking and unique thrill rides
best fit Cedar Point the park was
pumping out coasters as fast as possible
on May 11 at the 1985 one of these new
coasters Avalanche Run opened at Cedar
Point in the spot previously occupied by
another coaster jumbo jet the Avalanche
run was a bobsled coaster which meant
there were no rails and the ride car
would move freely down a two propelled
by gravity alone with a build cost of
3.4 million dollars the coaster had a
two-and-a-half minute run time with the
lift hill taking up over half of that
reached a top speed of 40 miles per hour
and a top height of 63 feet the ride was
cute and a hit with families due to its
gentle speed and quick turns it had its
issues though mainly its location near
the coast of Lake Erie which allowed
gusts of wind to blow large amounts of
sand into the track when this happened
it would have to be cleaned out which
was costly to maintenance and lost
ridership just one year after the
opening of avalanche run in 1986
monger stepped down a CEO of the new
organize Cedar Fair Richard dick Kinsel
who at the time was the general manager
of Cedar Fair's only other Park
Minnesota's Valley Fair was appointed to
CEO his plans for the company were
ambitious and he would go on to acquire
literally all of Cedar Fair Sparks
besides the original two in his long
tenure when he first took over however
his focus was on Cedar Point Kinsel had
been keeping a close eye on Disney
during his time the Valley Fair and the
year he took over Cedar Fair was the
same year that star tours opened at
Disneyland
drawing huge audiences of media
attention Kinsel saw the benefits to
theming attractions if he could combine
the intricate theming and story of Star
Tours and redress one of his already
existing coasters as a space mountain
type ride perhaps he could push Cedar
Point into a new direction the
Disneyland of the Midwest the coaster to
be redressed couldn't be too big for
obvious cost and logistics reasons and
they just happened to have one that both
fifties parameters and even needed the
ride building to protect it from the
loads of sand that kept blowing into its
tubes Cedar Point is now the most
visited seasonal amusement park in the
United States and it like many other
seasonal parks closes during the winter
or longer when Disney or universal
renovates a ride there's a massive
amount of attention on its progress when
Cedar point or another seasonal park
renovates a ride during the offseason it
just opens it isn't there on closing day
and it is on opening day the next year
so when guests entered Cedar Point in
1990 avalanche Run was gone seemingly
replaced by a new enclosed attraction
with the mysterious name disaster
transport
next time you get bored with life on
earth disaster transport this summer at
Cedar Point the conversion costs an
additional four million dollars in
building costs theming and the addition
of two animatronics the new building and
special effects were made by ite see
productions a small company out of
Orlando Florida the new ride building
was awkwardly shaped as I was trying to
conform to the track of avalanche run it
prominently displayed 12 E in large
letters some thoughts of the stood for
the 12th coaster that was build at Cedar
Point
but Avalanche Run was the seventh and
disaster transport was the ninth the
actual origins came from an IT EC
employee named Eric disaster transport
was the 12th ride that he had designed
hence the 12 e guests flocked towards
the new building wondering what
mysteries were waiting for them inside
mysteries is exactly what they got and
they didn't get much else guests were
confused at what exactly the story
behind the ride was this is what could
be pieced together through the cue and
ride experience gues entered the first
room nicknamed admission control this
completely black lit section featured
posters of vacation packages a diagram
of the ride vehicle videos of space
pilots talking about their trip and an
animatronic trying to sell you travel
destinations in future years guests also
had the option of buying a pair of
chromatic glasses these were used
commonly in amusement parks and live
attractions to enhance practical effects
after exiting Mission Control guest
entered a hallway with murals of cargo
boxes and glowing hand prints with the
chroma depth glasses these appeared to
stick out and move his guests walked by
next was the biggest room of the queue
line the repair Bay this room featured
industrial equipment in over hanging
basket with lost luggage and replacement
parts a robotic arm working on a rocket
sled a sci-fi generator thing and a
security camera that would reject guests
after observing them at the exit of this
area there was a logo of the transport
company featured on the wall dispatch
master transport but it was subtly
broken to indicate the rides actual name
finally the station was called the
launch Bay new trains come from behind a
curtain eerily with no passengers in
them
guests board the train then the lift
Hill just as slow and long as avalanche
run but now with flashing lights lining
the side
in audio clip emission control would
attempt to dispatch master transport
only for them to lose control and guess
would begin their descent a projector
displayed a brilliant star field and as
guests began to pick up speed
they would see a similar rocket to their
own explode with their sled moving to
avoid the debris next guests would fly
past glowing planets around a large
spaceship over the surface of Mars and
then it was over
guess exit the bobsled in the show
building and encounter a peculiar sign
that reads welcome to Alaska if you're
confused welcome to the club this ride
has basically two narratives one is the
Star Tours knock off space
transportation vacation story I guess
the funny part is that you go all the
way to space just to end up in Alaska
the other is the cargo transportation
story in which something goes wrong
whether it be a malfunction or space
pirates neither was fully realized and
resulted in a weird random space
adventure some claim that there were
more effects present on opening day than
I just described such as the voices
heard being from the in-flight computer
named Dave while others think that dave
was the robot at the beginning is very
difficult to back these claims with the
lack of evidence and the fact that the
ride opened 27 years ago so it isn't
fresh in anyone's memories when the ride
first opened lines would reach upwards
of 90 minutes Cedar Point seemed to have
successfully renovated a Blanche run but
this was just the beginning of the true
disaster the attractions animatronics
and decorations immediately began to
break down but instead of fixing or
replacing parts Kinsel refused to have
any work done the most that was done was
the removal of some of the effects such
as Dave eventually riders would find
themselves in complete darkness where
there was once projections and lights in
1997 a section of the queue line was
removed to make room for Cedar Point's
Halloween event have a weekends as
Kindles rain at Cedar Fair continued and
he began his long string of acquisitions
of parks such as Knott's Berry Farm
disaster transport sat as an
embarrassment to his original ambition
for the parks Cedar Fair was not Disney
and it would never again tried to be
disaster transport was an embarrassment
to the park but instead of destroying it
Kinsel decided to milk it dry this is
when Cedar Point began selling the
chrome adept 3d glasses for $1 as well
as glow sticks and other toys in the
rides queue if you remember the defunct
line on sunna beast you know that in
2006 Kinsel and Cedar Fair acquired
paramount parks these parks had
extensive theming using paramount
licensed properties instead of redeeming
the rides Cedar Fair simply ripped off
their labels turning them into generic
thrill rides proving once again how much
disaster Transport scared Cedar Fair
away from anything out of the ordinary
in 2009 another section of the queue was
acquired for a Halloweekend haunted
house happy jacks tie factory which
moved the main entrance to an emergency
exit leading directly into the repair
Bay the multiple acquisitions and
construction of new attractions during
the recession put Cedar Fair and huge
amounts of debt seeing that his tenure
was almost over Kinsel attempted to
create a 20 million dollar golden
parachute for himself by selling the
company in refinancing their debt this
failed and on January 2nd 2012 Matt
women took over as CEO of Cedar Fair we
met was the former president of
Disneyland so he had some experience
cleaning up after CEOs failures but
where's disaster transport six months
after women took over Cedar Point would
closed the attraction after 22 years of
operation the final dispatch event was
held on July 29th 2012 raising money for
charity
soon after both disaster transport and
its neighbors space spiral came down in
his place came a new coaster gatekeeper
bringing the outdated and decane
entrance new life as well as telling all
those who entered that they were in the
roller coaster kingdom so wide a
disaster transport closed besides you
know duh disaster Transport had many
unmentioned issues that added to its
demise firstly avalanche run itself had
many mechanical problems with its air
brake systems these failures would cause
sudden emergency stops and extensive
downtime secondly the ride building
itself wasn't watertight in the event of
any rain water would pool inside the
track areas and would need to be shut
down guests were not happy that an
indoor attraction couldn't remain open
during a slight downpour but the main
reason for his closure was the
newly-appointed we met his plans for
bringing Cedar Point back to life
included promoting the Lake Erie beach
front turning the park into a summertime
resort disaster transport was an ugly
square industrial building sitting on
the edge of the beautiful beach so it
made sense to destroy the ride there is
a tribute to disaster transport in howl
weekends with one of the bobsleds filled
with skeletons and the old exit sign
with every attraction there comes a
certain amount of nostalgia even the
biggest disasters hold a place in the
hearts of park goers while the majority
of guests might not miss disaster
transport there
few that were devastated by its closure
and even today yearn to go back on their
trip to Alaska
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some things
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