Cedar Point Announces Closure of Wicked Twister Coaster - Coaster101 (original) (raw)

Today, Cedar Point announced they will be closing their Wicked Twister roller coaster on Monday, September 6th, 2021. Since it opened on May 5, 2002, Wicked Twister has given more than 16 million rides. The Intamin inverted coaster launches riders back-and-forth five times using linear induction motors (LIMs).

Copyright CedarPoint

Announced in November 2001, Wicked Twister was the first impulse coaster to twist on both ends as the prior versions had a straight spike on one side. Wicked Twisted is one of only seven Intamin impulse coasters operating today. In 2021, Intamin opened Legendary Twin Dragon at Chongqing Sunac Land in China, a taller, faster version of the double twisting impulse coaster that uses a more modern LSM launch system.

When Wicked Twister opened, Cedar Point was the only amusement park in the world to stake claim to having three roller coasters above 200 feet tall: the 205-foot-tall Magnum XL-200 (1989); the 310-foot-tall Millennium Force (2000) and the 215-foot-tall Wicked Twister. The park has since built 200+ foot tall coasters Valravn and Steel Vengeance meaning even without Wicked Twister Cedar Point still has more coasters over 200 feet tall then any other park.

Cedar Point also said, “There are more fun details to share about Wicked Twister’s last day – we’ll reveal those later.” Watch the Wicked Twister closing announcement from Cedar Point below:

Cedar Point’s Future Plans

What will replace Wicked Twister is not known at this time, the park simply stating the coaster was being removed “as we prepare for future park improvements.” The coaster’s footprint itself is quite small. However, if more rides nearby are closed or relocated it could open up a nice area for reimagining right along the beach. If Cedar Point’s future plans include a new roller coaster for this area, I’m thinking it would be 2023 at the earliest. Construction for a major coaster would have started by now if the intention was to have it open by the beginning of the next season.

Could Wicked Twister Be Relocated?

Cedar Point did not clarify if the ride was being completely scrapped or will be relocated to another park in or outside the chain. Other Cedar Fair properties, Dorney Park and Valleyfair, already have their own impulse coasters (with Dorney’s having been relocated from Geauga Lake). In 2017, Wicked Twister seemed destined to be moved to California’s Great America. However, that now seems an unlikely landing spot due to the strict building codes that already caused their planned hyper coaster project to be moved to Kings Island.

Many believe (myself included) the most likely candidate in the Cedar Fair chain would be Worlds of Fun, a park that hasn’t added a roller coaster since Prowler in 2009. Worlds of Fun does not currently have a launch coaster so it would complement their coaster collection nicely. Either way, we hope we’re able to ride this fun and unique coaster again soon.

What are your thoughts? Are you sad to see Wicked Twister go? Do you think it will be relocated to another Cedar Fair park? Let us know in the comments below!

Tags: cedar pointintamin