Wicked Twister Closing at Cedar Point

I won't be sad to see these coasters go. One-trick ponies with low capacity that are never worth the wait unless you have a skip-the-line pass.

Maybe its just because I was used to the standard impulses but I really liked Wicked Twister in the back row. Sadly it was closed on my last visit so I haven't ridden it in over 10 years, but i'm going to miss seeing those big spikes right on the beach, it looked great. I'm assuming that whole area is getting a refresh as the stadium next to it closed as well, maybe another beach front hotel. Hopefully they move it to a park that badly needs a big new coaster like MIA or WOF.

On a side note I remember when Wicked Twister was announced, that was like the height of the coaster wars when every park was trying to outdo each other. Six Flags Ohio, Great America, and Marine World had just built their impulses so it was obvious CP was going to build one bigger a year or two later because that's just what always happens so the announcement did not surprise anyone. And in a 3 year span CP got Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, and Dragster, 3 coasters over 200 feet tall. And in that same time SFMM got Goliath, X, DejaVu, Scream, and then a couple years later got Tatsu (and just a couple years before Goliath they got Superman). And of course in 2000 Kings Island got Son of Beast. Massive coasters were popping up all over the country.

i have only ridden 2 of these (WT and VV at SFGA), and i love these rides. hopefully CF will hand it down to one of their neglected parks. i am sure the folks in Kansas City could give it some major love.

this makes me feel old

Somehow never been a fan of this coaster type, I know some are but I like ones more a "journey" then back and forth up a tower.

I guess it's a good thing we grabbed a ride on this when we were at Cedar Point last week. With the demise of this coaster, Alpengeist will reclaim its record of tallest inverted roller coaster in North America. I liked Wicked Twister because of the twists on both spikes and was best enjoyed in the back row. V2/Flash at SFDK was my second favorite of the Intamin Impulses with its 45-degree twisting spike forced because of local height restrictions.

My guess is that Cedar Point is planning something pretty big in this area, because with Wicked Twister gone, MaxAir being down all season suggesting a similar demise, idling of the outdoor theater, and the ease with which Tiki Twirl can be moved (has already moved twice in the past 20 years), they have a pretty sizable chunk of L-shaped real estate that could accommodate a pretty big coaster (even more if they move the Ferris Wheel). However, it's also possible that they just install an S&S 4-D free-spin coaster that would take up almost the exact same footprint as Wicked Twister. Kings Dominion is rumored to be getting one (was actually supposed to be installed last year for a debut in Spring 2021), so Cedar Point getting one would be logical from a financial perspective, though it would be an odd choice to install one steps away from Gatekeeper. If not an S&S 4-D Free Spin, I'm not sure what Cedar Point would add coaster-wise. They have virtually every major type of roller coaster available, so aside from a single-rail RMC Raptor (would also fit nicely into Wicked Twister's spot), there aren't a lot of revolutionary designs floating out there that would work at Cedar Point. There's always the chance that the long-rumored dark ride could be a possibility, but I have a hard time believing that Cedar Point would remove a roller coaster (increasing the gap between itself and SFMM, which is rumored to be getting another coaster for 2022), and not replace it with another coaster.

As far as Wicked Twister going somewhere else, I wouldn't be so sure about that. These Intamin Impulse coasters are extremely expensive to operate because of the power requirements, and with Volcano scrapped at KD (though it was a full circuit launching invert) it would make sense for Cedar Fair to gradually retire these coasters as they reach the end of their useful life instead of moving them to another park.

20 years is a good, long life for a coaster that got as many cycles (and expensive ones at that — as Russell points out. I think he's onto something regarding the RMC Raptor. I'd say capacity worries me at a park as vast as Cedar Point (it's an awesome fit at their smaller, regional parks like Great America) but maybe with a portfolio as wide and diverse as theirs, it's not as big a problem as I think. I love the style of coaster, so the more the merrier.

For those interested, I looked it up: Of the nearly 600 roller coasters operating at their original park in the United States (597 according to our friends at RCDb ), we're just about split on which side of the Wicked Twister Curtain they fall on. Thought that was interesting — 20 years is about the right age for the investment into a ride like this (and probably any ride, frankly). At this point, you're either looking at a refresh/refurb/rebrand or reinvestment. Would be curious to hear what The Better Read And Traveled Among Us think.