It's a bird, It's a Plane, No it's a Roller coaster

By: Chris

           When you talk to guests and coaster enthusiasts about Cedar Point and ask them about the coasters that have dominated the park, they'll more than likely talk about Millennium Force, Maverick, Mantis, Raptor, Disaster Transport, Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, Mean Streak, Blue Streak, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Gemini, Iron Dragon, Gemini Jr., Magnum, Wildcat, or Woodstock Express. When you ask them about past rides they will mention things like Demon Drop, White Water Landing, Mill Race, 
Shoot the Rapids (Prior to 2010), Earthquake, Pirate Ride, The Double Ferris Wheel, Rotor, and Frontier Lift. But most people will not mention the now defunct roller coaster, Jumbo Jet.

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          Jumbo Jet was a pre-fab coaster that was listed as a coaster in the line up of rides at Cedar Point from 1972 until 1978. Jumbo Jet was one of the first coasters in the world to use a lift system that was an electrical one that was going up in a spiral. The trains would make their way up the very low grade spiraling helix before getting to the first drop. The helix had small wheel motors all the way up the incline that helped propel the train. The trains would have 2 cars, in which riders were in 6 rows per train, allowing for 12 riders per train. Jumbo Jet was classified as a steel coaster until later when it was distinguished as it's own type of coaster due to the size of the pipes. The coaster featured 70 degree banked turns and reached speeds up to 60 miles per hour. The track was 2,845 feet long, however the coaster itself was 108 feet long, 194 feet wide and 56 feet high. The coaster was located in the same beach front location where another defunct coaster, Cyclone, once stood and where Disaster Transport is now located. In 1979 Jumbo Jet was replaced by Wild Cat was moved from a previous location to the location of Jumbo Jet and then moved to its current spot. 

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          This coaster was brought to my attention by stumbling upon a blog entitled The Lost Coaster. I had no idea about this coaster even being a coaster until I saw The Lost Coaster. To my knowledge their site is one that is trying to locate Cedar Point's pre-fab coaster since it had the ability to be moved and it wasn't destroyed after leaving Cedar Point. I don't have much to say about this coaster since there isn't a whole lot of information out there about it. As you can guess, I'd love to ride this coaster as well. I had found out that there were several duplicates of this coaster made and many of the "Jumbo Jets" are still in operation...now if I could find one! Check out the video below, it is about Cedar Point in 1972 and has a feature of Jumbo Jet. 

 Sources: 
http://rollercoasterfreak.com/Cedar_Point/History.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo_Jet_(Cedar_Point)
http://www.rcdb.com/355.htm
http://thelostcoaster.wordpress.com/

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