Disaster Transport
1990 - 2012

Disaster Transport was Cedar Point's indoor roller coaster. The ride was built in 1985 as Avalanche Run. In 1990, the ride was enclosed, themed and renamed Disaster Transport. The ride was removed in 2012 to make room for GateKeeper.

Disaster Transport was a great family roller coaster. It wasn't too high and it wasn't the fastest either. It was a great starter ride. Disaster Transport was many people's first big roller coaster.

The 1980s was a huge decade of growth for Cedar Point. Ocean Motion started sailing the high seas in 1981. In 1982, guests were treated to Cedar Point's newest log flume technology with White Water Landing. In 1983, Demon Drop began dropping riders from its 131-foot tall tower. Avalanche Run opened in 1985 as the first bobsled roller coaster in the Midwest. In 1986 Thunder Canyon treated guests to a true river rafting experience. Iron Dragon was the first successful suspended roller coaster in the region When it opened in 1987, Guests began to be soaked daily at Soak City Water Park in 1988. In 1989 Magnum XL-200 became the tallest, fastest, and steepest roller coaster in the world. With all these new and big improvements, the best was yet to come.

Disaster Transport's story beings in the fall of 1984 when the park was planning for the 1985 season. 

When Cedar Point had closed for the 1984 season it began to clear up room for its new roller coaster for 1985! the WildCat roller coaster was moved to the Million Dollar Midway. It would finally be removed from the park in May 2012. Matterhorn was moved to its current location replacing Tiki Twirl.

Schwabichen was moved to the Beach Midway replacing the Rotor and the Baryon Curve. was retired. WildCat would be moved to the former site of Schwabichen and Baryon Curve. With the park moving all of these ride around, they would have room on the beach for a really unique ride for the 1985 season. 

The new roller coaster built on the beach for 1985 is Avalanche Run. Avalanche Run was a bobsled roller coaster that was built by Intamin from Switzerland!

Avalanche Run opened in the Spring of 1985 to very long rides. The ride was advertised to be more exciting the Gemini! 


Avalanche Run wasn't as popular as Cedar Point wanted, so 1989 was its final season!

For the 1990 season, Cedar Point hired the company ITEC Productions, Inc. to renovate, enclose and re-theme the roller coaster! The ride would now be called Disaster Transport!

Disaster Transport was a very heavily themed roller coaster. On the ride you were on a space mission. Half way thru the trip something goes wrong and the space ship has to made a landing. At the exit station the ride operator would say ''Welcome to Alaska, how was your ride?''

On top of the roller coasters 63 foot tall lift hill, the numbers and Letter 12 E was on the building.  For years people guests what the 12 E meant. In 2005, Cedar Point revealed that the the guy that designed Disaster Transports name was Eric. Disaster Transport was the 12th roller coaster he designed. 

In 2012, I got to work at Cedar Point. It had been my dream to work at Cedar Point since I was little. My family's favorite ride was Disaster Transport.  They came up to Cedar Point one day so I had decided to go up to Cedar Creek Trading Company and I made our own Disaster Transport shirts!

Disaster Transport was more popular then Avalanche Run was. Disaster Transport had a height requirement of 46 inches, making it one of the first big roller coasters that families could ride together. 

One of the cool things about Disaster Transport was that while you waited in line the ride was air conditioned! 

Height -                      63 Feet
Drop -                         50 Feet
Speed-                       40 MPH
Length -                     1,932 Feet
Hills -                           0
Inversions  -                0
Type -                          Bobsled
Designer -                   ITEC Productions
​Company -                  Intamin
Capacity -                   UNKNOAN
Year Opened -           1990
Coaster number at Cedar Point when opened -     9       

Disaster Transport had a space themed line. The line featured things that moved and glowed. 

Disaster Transport was notable for being the only bobsled that had side by side seating and the only bobsled roller coaster in the world to be indoors!

Soon after the ride opened, Theming items started to break. Some of it was fixed, some of it wasn't. Broken stuff just disappeared and wasn't replaced. After a few years the ride was basically a Bobsled Roller Coaster in the dark. 

The roof started to leak and wasn't able to be fixed. The ride would have to close when it rained because water would fill inside the rides track.

In 2008, Cedar Point moved Disaster Transport's entrance from under the 12E to under the lift hill.

After Disaster Transport opened Cedar Point continued to add roller coasters. Over the next 22 years Cedar Point added 8 roller coasters and things that would balance out what the park had to offer. Cedar Point added: Mean Streak (1991-2016, Challenge Park (1991-2016), Snake River Falls (1993-2024), Raptor (1994), Cedar Point's 125th anniversary celebration (1995), Mantis (1996-2014), Chaos (1997-2010), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot the Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011) and Dinosaurs Alive! (2012).

​With all these new additions to the park, Disaster Transport started to become a second rated ride. It wasn't the ride that you went to the park to ride. 

On July 12, 2012, During lunch at Coaster Marina, Cedar Point announced to its enthusiast that Disaster Transport and Space Spiral would be removed from the park and replaced with bigger and better things. 

Disaster Transport was closed on July 29th 2012. Disaster Transport and Avalanche Run had thrilled riders for 27 years on the shores of Lake Erie at the World's Best Amusement Park! 


Soon after the ride closed, Disaster Transport was walled off from the rest of the park. 

Demolition 

Shortly after the ride closed a construction fence was put up that blocked the ride from the public. Demolition began on the ride. 

On August 13, 2012, Cedar Point announced Disaster Transport and Space Spiral were being replaced with the record-breaking GateKeeper. 

August 13, 2012 was also the day Space Spiral gave its last ride. 

On August 13, 2012, the construction was was extended blocking Space Spiral and Troika from the park. 

Demolition of the ride continued into late August. 

As the ride was taken down, guest were able to watch it come down. Construction crews removed the ride during the day when the park was open. 

Disaster Transport was completely removed from the park before Halloweeknds began. On September 12, 2012, Space Spiral was removed from Cedar Point!

Once Disaster Transport and Space Spiral were out of the way, Cedar Point began building GateKeeper. 

While Disaster Transport wasn't the biggest roller coaster in the world, it was a fun ride. It was a great ride for guest who didn't want to ride Jr. Gemini but wen't tall enough for the park's bigger rides like Top Thrill Dragster or Raptor.

Overall, Disaster Transport was a great family ride. It didn't have the biggest drops, fastest turns, or loops like the other rides, but it was just fun.
​
​When Disaster Transport left Cedar Point a big hole was created in its line up. Disaster Transport was Cedar Point's only true family roller coaster. Blue Streak, Mine Ride, Gemini and Corkscrew were never meant to be family rides. Over time, coaster standards have changed so they are now considered to be on the family level.

As the ride aged, it did fall apart. The ride became more expensive to fix than it was worth. The ride also blocked the view of Lake Erie from the park. 

GateKeeper would use Disaster Transport's site to continue Cedar point's roller coaster legacy. 

In May 2013, Cedar Point opened the new 35 million dollar GateKeeper Winged Coaster in the place of Disaster Transport and Space Spiral!

Photos by Jake Hamons, Andrew Borgen, COASTER-net, Russ Haudan, The Lost Coaster, Joel Rodgers and Cedar Point

Last Updated: 05/01/2025

This page is Dedicated to my Mom!