Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling

RipCord
1996-2016

In the 1990's Cedar Point was all wrapped up in the roller coaster wars. The decade was very good for the park. Soak City began soaking guest daily in 1988. The roller coaster wars were launched by Cedar Point in 1989 with the opening of Magnum XL-200. In 1990 Cedar Point decided to go in a different direction and enclose its Avalanche Run into Disaster Transport. Mean Streak became the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster on earth in 1991. In 1992 Challenge Park opened. Snake River Fallsbecame the tallest water ride on earth when it opened in 1993. Raptor began to invert riders 137 feet above the Main Midway when it opened in 1994. In 1995 Cedar Point celebrated its 125th anniversary. All these additions were great! Cedar Point would have even more up their sleaves for the 1996 season.

RipCord was Cedar Point's sky coaster. The ride was built in the spring of 1996.

RipCord opened in Challenge Park in 1996 as part of an expansion to the area.

RipCord was located between the parking lot and Challenge Racing.

RipCord was a 152-foot-tall sky coaster that was built by Sky Fun 1 Inc.

RipCord was very popular when the ride first opened. however as the uniqueness wore off, the popularity of Challenge Park plummeted.

After adding RipCord in 1996, Cedar Point would go on to add: Chaos (1997-2011), Swan Boats (1997-2003), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Lighthouse Point (2001), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Good Time Theatre (2002-2014), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), Castaway Bay Resort (2004), maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot the Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), Dinosaurs Alive! On Adventure Island (2012-2018), GateKeeper (2013), New Gemini Midway (2014), Rougarou (2015), and Valravn (2016), All of these additions gave Cedar Point new experiences that would better round out the offerings in the park.

RipCord was a very thrilling ride. It was considered the most terrifying ride at Cedar Point by many people.

After years of declining ridership, Challenge Park was becoming a ghost town. On Labor Day 2015, Challenge Racing gave its last ride. Skyscraper was closed when the park closed on November 1, 2015

On August 18, 2016, Cedar Point announced that Soak City would be renamed and rebranded as Cedar Point Shores Waterpark. As a result, the waterpark would be expanded into the Challenge Park space. It was also announced that RipCord would soon close so it could be relocated to a new space inside Cedar Point.

RipCord's last day of operation in Challenge Park was September 5, 2016.

RipCord was taken down after labor day. the Ride was laid in the former Challenge Racing site.

While RipCord's new location was being prepared for the ride to be moved their the ride received a new coat of paint to make it stand out.

In Late December 2016, RipCord had been rebuilt in its new location.

On January 9, 2017, Cedar Point announced RipCord was relocated to the former Shoot the Rapids site and that the ride would be rethemed and renamed to become Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling.

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling
2017-2024

Professor Delbert was the scientist from Paddlewheel Excursions who was always trying to find someway to fly. After 50 years Paddlewheel Excursions was retired in 2011 to be replaced by Dinosaurs Alive!.

After Paddlewheel Excursions closed, Delbert became part of a scare zone for Halloweekends. Over the next few ways he kept thinking of ways to get to fly..... Then one day he found is way to fly.

He would use RipCord as his way to fly.

Professor Delbert was moved to become the permanent mascot and ride signage for the new Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling!

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling is a 173-foot-tall Sky Coaster that was built by Skycoaster. The ride is basically a giant swing.

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling
Ride Facts
Manufacturer: Sky Fun 1 Inc.
Built: 1996
Location: 1996-2016 Challenge Park
2017-2024 Frontier Trail
Height of Tower: 152 feet
Height of Arch: 173 feet
Top Speed: 65 MPH
Year moved: 2017
Closed: 2024

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling was located on Frontier Trail between Snake River Falls and Millennium Force's second hill.

The ride was finally in a place in the park where it could get attention from people walking down a busy midway.

Ride Experience

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling began with guests buying their tickets in the rides plaza. They then walked to the entrance and put their flight suits on.

Riders were hooked up to the flight cable, and they layed on their stomachs.

Riders were lifted up 152 feet into the sky on a launch tower. Riders got a great view of the Frontier Trail and Millennium Force while going up the tower.

Riders dangled at the top for about a minute or so. After ride operators made sure everything was ready and safe, riders could pull the cord when they heard Your flight line is clear, 3, 2,1 fly!

Riders were dropped into a free fall from 152 feet, in the air, and swung around back and forth for about 2 minutes at 65 MPH!

After swinging around, riders were caught and unloaded so they could get off the ride. They then exit the flight area and head to the gift shop.

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling was a high-thrill attraction. It was considered one of the most thrilling rides in the park by many guests.

Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling was a huge improvement on the ride. It was given a cool theme and put in a much better location in the park.

Due to the ride's extremely low capacity, Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling was designated as an ''extra-charge'' attraction.

Riders loved Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling!

After adding Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling in 2017, Cedar Point contiuned to add more additions to the park. Over the years it would add: Steel Vengeance (2018), Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island (2019), Cedar Point's 150th Anniversary Celebration (2021), Snake River Expedition (2021-2023), and The Boardwalk (2023) and Top Thrill 2 (2024).

On July 1, 2024, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and Six Flags merged to form a new company called Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.

On August 2, 2024, Cedar Point announced that it was going to remove Snake River Falls. The ride closed on Monday, September 2, 2024.

During the off season, it was revealed that Six Flags had removed many rides from several parks with no announcements of the removals. Some of these removals included Kingda Ka, Anaconda, Night Hawk, Green Lantern, and several flat rides throughout the company.