Have you been keyholed yet? America’s Roller Coast, Cedar Point wants to keyhole you! The all new metal monster, Gatekeeper brings the term “keyhole” to a whole new meaning, as it threads it’s way across the front gate of the coaster mecca, and through two giant keyholes, unlocking the adventure held within the park. The coaster is manufactured by Swiss coaster manufacturer Bolliger&Mabillard (B&M) and is the tallest, fastest and longest coaster of it’s kind in the world. Of course, there’s only four currently open around the world, so it makes Gatekeeper that much more unique.
Gatekeeper is the first thing that guests see when they walk through the gates at Cedar Point, they walk right under it as the coaster soars over head. The coaster truly soars. It’s a huge beast standing at 170 feet tall, and a 164 foot first drop. While that’s not exactly huge by Cedar Point standards, it’s certainly unique in that as soon as you’re off the lift, you’re upside down and going into that first drop. The coaster reaches speeds of around 67 mph, and goes through 6 inversions. With the unique wing design, you have no track above you or below you, only sky…and ground.
Being a B&M coaster, it has the signature roar as the coaster glides, almost glass-like over the rails. As you get deeper into the coaster, you go through two huge steel keyholes that stretch right over the front gate, like a giant eagle unlocking your adventure.
Check out video of the amazing Gatekeeper:
So how does it compare to the other coasters in the park? It doesn’t, Gatekeeper is a flat out unique experience to Cedar Point, and the rest of the country. No where else can you experience this type of ride on a wing rider coaster. In order to make room for Gatekeeper the park had to remove three rides, including the legendary Disaster Transport. While that took the number of coasters down for the title of biggest coaster collection, it doesn’t seem to bother park officials, or even Cedar Fair CEO, Matt Ouimet.
Watch the entire opening ceremony, including words from Matt Ouimet:
While the ride needs to be experienced to get the full feeling, check out our full onride video of the all new coaster:
Planning a trip to Cedar Point to ride Gatekeeper? Here’s some things you should know:
- The ride is brand new, and on opening day wait times went over four hours. Expect to wait, or get to the park early and get Fast Lane Plus to skip the lines
- Height Requirement is 52″ inches
- Not a bad seat on the entire coaster. The front is of course the most thrilling, however the back, on the right hand side (looking towards the front of the coaster) is insanely smooth and gives you a great look at the rest of the train. It also gives you a great sensation as the whole train pulls your back seat with it
- Stay until dark, the coaster has great lighting effects, and the keyholes are just simply amazing
Gatekeeper is certainly one coaster to add to your list, and it makes our list of the MUST SEE new attractions of this summer.
Check out even more pictures from Gatekeeper:
