Witches’ Wheel
1977 - 2018
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Witches' Wheel opened in 1977 as an expansion of the Corkscrew Midway. Witches' Wheel was a classic Enterprise ride.
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In the 1960's Cedar Point was expanding rapidly. In 1967, Frontier Town was added to the top of the Cedar Point peninsula. In 1968 and 1969 Frontier Town was expanded. In 1969 Cedar Creek Mine Ride was added to Frontier Town. In 1970 Cedar Point celebrated its 100th anniversary with an expanded midway and a new roller coaster named Wildcat (1970 - 1978). In 1971 Frontier Trail became the first path to connect Frontier Town to the main park. Giant Wheel was added to Cedar Point in 1972. In 1975 Cedar Point Cinema (1975-2001) became Cedar Point's large-scale theater. In 1976 Corkscrew became the first roller coaster in the world to flip riders upside down 3 times!
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In 1976, Cedar Point built Corkscrew. Along with Corkscrew came the newly expanded midway. The new Corkscrew midway was very popular. In 1977, the Corkscrew midway would be expanded.
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In 1977, Corkscrew midway was expanded to include Dodgem 1 (1977-2001), Witches' Wheel and the new resort gate. The area gave some new and exciting rides for guest to experience.
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Witches' Wheel opened on May 14, 1977, to huge audiences. When the ride opened it was a major thrill ride.
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Witches' Wheel was built by HUSS Park Attractions. HUSS later built 2 other rides for Cedar Point, Ocean Motion (1981) and maXair (2005).
Witches' Wheel is an enterprise ride. The enterprise ride was developed in the early 1970's. The first ride opened in 1972. Witches' Wheel was a permanent park model. |
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Witches' Wheel Ride Facts
Opened: 1977 Manufacture: Huss Type: Enterprise Cars: 20 Closed: September 3, 2018 |
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Witches' Wheel was a great thrilling ride. The ride took guest upside down more than any other ride at Cedar Point.
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Ride Experience
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The Witches' Wheel experience began with guest entering the line located off the midway from Magnum XL-200.
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Riders are then sent to their assigned seats. The cars on Witches' Wheel were space themed cars.
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The ride began spinning around in a circle. The spinning starts out fast and gets faster.
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As the ride spins, the cars would turn on their sides in a vertical position.
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As the cars spins, the arm began to lift the ride into a Ferris wheel style position.
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As the ride goes up, the wheel reaches 87 degrees. The ride almost stood straight up and down.
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As riders would spin around on the ride, they would be kept in their seats by gravity. The ride had no seat belts and no lap bars.
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After spinning at the top for over 1 minute, Witches' Wheel began to lower itself to the ground.
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After returning to the ground, Witches' Wheel would spin slower and slower until the ride would stop.
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Witches' Wheel's Impact on Cedar Point
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Witches' Wheel drew good crowds in the rides first few decades of operation.
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As with all rides. Witches' Wheel's ridership would decline over time.
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The last 10 years Witches' Wheel would become a victim of a ton of downtime. In the 1990's the enterprise ride would be removed from dozens of parks.
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In the years following the opening of Witches' Wheel, Cedar Point would add attractions that would balance out the park. Over the next 41 years, Cedar Point would add 20 roller coasters, 4 children's areas, 2 water parks and much more. After Witches' Wheel, Cedar Point added: Gemini (1978), Jr. Gemini (1979),Oceanea (1980-1997), Ocean Motion (1981), White Water Landing (1982-2005), Demon Drop (1983-2009), Avalanche Run (1985-1989), Thunder Canyon (1986), Iron Dragon (1987), Soak City Water Park (1988-2016), Magnum XL-200 (1989), Disaster Transport (1990-2012), Mean Streak (1991 - 2016), Challenge Park (1992-2016), Snake River Falls (1993), Raptor (1994), Mantis (1996-2014), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), maXair (2005), Sky Hawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot The Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), GateKeeper (2013), Pipe Scream (2014), Wilderness Run (2014), Rougarou (2015), Valravn (2016), Cedar Point Shores Water Park (2017), and Steel Vengeance (2018). All of these new attractions have brought Cedar Point new innovation and new technology that have made Cedar Point the Roller Coaster Capital of the World!
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On August 1, 2018, Cedar Point announced Witches' Wheel would be removed from Cedar Point on September 3, 2018, to make way for park expansion.
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Over 41 years more than 24 million people rode Witches' Wheel.
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Witches' Wheel faded way into history on September 3, 2018, when the ride closed. The last ride took place just before the park was closed for the day. The ride closed a few minutes early that day due to incoming weather.
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Witches' Wheel was removed during Halloweekends. It took a few weeks for the ride to be removed, but each week guest of the park was able to check out the progress.
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Starting with Halloweekends in 2018, Witches' Wheel is remembered with a stone in the grave yard for Halloweekends.
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On Friday, February 22, 2019 Cedar Point announced it was building BackBeatQue for the 2019 season.
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BackBeatQue openened in Witches' Wheel's location in May 2019. While BackBeatQue is a nice addition to the park, it is no Witches' Wheel. Witches' Wheel is really missed by its biggest fans.
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Photos by: Mike Metzger, Cedar Point, Russ Haudan, and Jake Hamons
Last Updated: 01/19/2023
