The Lost Rides of Cedar Point

An iconic amusement park’s long-lost (but not forgotten) gems

Cedar Point is a favorite amusement park to coaster lovers around the world, and also to just about anyone that grew up in northern Ohio or the southeast end of Michigan. Located in Sandusky, Ohio, Cedar Point has been thrilling parkgoers since 1870 (although it was more of a picnic ground at first). Like virtually any amusement park, the goal at Cedar Point over the last generation or so has been to make everything h̵a̵r̵d̵e̵r̵,̵ ̵b̵e̵t̵t̵e̵r̵,̵ ̵f̵a̵s̵t̵e̵r̵,̵ ̵s̵t̵r̵o̵n̵g̵e̵r ̵ taller, better, faster, wilder. Since this park sits on a peninsula, there’s only so many new rides that can go up before others come down, so those that usually don’t make the cut are the ones that don’t generate hour-long lines, such as the indoor or so-called “dark” rides. In this case, two of the gems from my 70s and 80s childhood are Earthquake and the Pirate Ride, both of which involved riding around on a roller-coaster style cart on a track through a bunch of funky scenery, encountering mechanical characters and loads of near-miss elements, such as falling parts of buildings or pirates shooting cannons over your head.

Earthquake was a favorite because it was weird and based on the infamous San Francisco earthquake that hit more than 100 years ago. Hidden blacklights within this indoor ride gave certain areas a weird glow…