Though riders may have boarded Cedar Point’s Magnum XL 200 roller coaster in search of a thrilling high-speed ride, they found themselves in for a long, slow descent, forcibly evacuating down 200 feet of stairs after the attraction broke down on Monday.
The coaster’s malfunction, according to a spokesperson for the Sandusky, Ohio theme park, was a “standard ride stoppage,” with a “check engine light” preventing the vehicles from immediately racing down the track again, per Fox News.
Yet this incident is likely not surprising to roller coaster aficionados. Over the years, several Redditors have taken to r/rollercoasters to share their concerns surrounding the ride, which once held the superlatives of being the world’s steepest, tallest and fastest roller coaster of its kind.
“People actually enjoy [Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point]?” asked u/gamecity360 in a viral post from earlier this year, one that started a fiery debate surrounding whether or not the controversial coaster, which opened in 1989, is worth it.
While several commenters slammed young people for their disdain of the ride —“You younginz are spoiled with your smooth as glass steel coasters,” wrote u/Goccvp1 — the consensus was the coaster was “janky” but “a fun kind of janky,” as u/Uppercrowd09 put it.
“I like Magnum, but it’s terrifying in the back row,” explained u/nohotshot, noting that “the airtime feels like it’s trying to kill you.”
This is far from the only time the attraction has served as fodder for debating Redditors. Last October, u/VVHYY took to the subreddit with a bold proclamation, denouncing the roller coaster as being “designed by and for lunatics.”
“Finally rode Magnum XL-200 this weekend. Car 1 row 3. When it slammed to a halt my son and I couldn't stop laughing. Just sat there on the brake run laughing and saying ‘What the hell was that?’” They recalled in their viral post.
Though they later admitted they’d give the ride another chance down the line, they still held concerns about its makeup.
“What a crazy coaster,” they continued. “Looks like an 80s kids construction toy and feels like a ‘hitting speedbumps with no shock absorbers at top speed’ simulator. Rode it immediately after Corkscrew and I can't think of a bigger 1-2 punch of jankiness,” they added, likening it to another older ride at Cedar Point.
Hey, sometimes the danger of actually dying on a roller coaster only adds to the thrill.
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