From the Sandusky Register…
SANDUKSY
A Six Flags park in California is the new roller coaster champion, but Cedar Point officials say the rival park wears a tarnished crown.
Cedar Point says the park’s Superman: Escape from Krypton ride isn’t a roller coaster, and it shouldn’t be counted as such.
The Sandusky Register interviewed three roller coaster buffs, all of whom disagree with Cedar Point — they say Escape from Krypton is a legitimate roller coaster.
Last month Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles announced that with the opening of its newest ride, Green Lantern: First Flight, the park now has 18 roller coasters.
That surpasses Cedar Point’s 17.
But Cedar Point spokesman Robin Innes says Six Flags is stretching the definition of “roller coaster” when it includes Superman: Escape from Krypton.
According to the ride’s official website, Escape from Krypton blasts riders along an L-shaped track that extends 415 feet into the air, giving them 6.5 seconds of weightlessness and plummeting them back to earth in a free fall.
It describes the ride as a “dual-track coaster.”
But the ride resembles Cedar Point’s Power Tower, Innes said, which lifts riders straight into the air.
Cedar Point does not include Power Tower among its official list of 17 coasters.Escape from Krypton also resembles Demon Drop, a former Cedar Point ride. Referring to Six Flags’ Escape from Krypton, Innes said, “We would call it a free-fall ride.”
Innes also said the quality of Cedar Point’s coasters is second to none.
Six Flags, meanwhile, isn’t jumping into the fray.A spokeswoman for Six Flags Magic Mountain, Sue Carpenter, did not return phone messages a Register reporter left Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Still, roller coaster enthusiasts and people unaffiliated with the theme parks say it’s reasonable to classify Superman: Escape from Krypton as a roller coaster.
