Cedar Point’s Gatekeeper is set to open up this Spring, and crews are toiling away on bringing this huge winged beast to life. Besides the huge amounts of track, other structures will play a huge part in the way that Gatekeeper comes to life. This includes the construction of two huge “keyholes” that will stand 100 feet when completed. Getting the pieces to the park and in place is no easy task. Cedar Point has sent along some pictures to show just what is happening with the massive coaster.
It’s amazing the lengths that parks have to go through in order to make things like this happen. Each piece was about 75 feet long, which will make the entire structure about 100 feet tall once it’s installed on top of Gatekeeper’s concrete foundations. Each piece weighs in at around 65,000 pounds. The pieces were solid steel and were made at Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia, Ohio. The pieces were brought in on flatbed trucks and required special permits to move. Could any park besides Cedar Point pull this off?
Gatekeeper will slide through each keyhole, narrowly making it as the Wing Rider coaster maneuvers through. Cedar Point will have the designation of having the biggest, longest and fastest Wing Rider coaster in the country.
Check out our gallery of all the Gatekeeper construction, and be sure to stay tuned as we bring you more in the coming weeks.
Gatekeeper is about 50% complete and set to open on Cedar Point’s opening day, May 11th 2013.
