Ohio State Day at Cedar Point gives alumni a head-start on amusement park season

Alice Bacani
Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:54:40 +0000
Campus

Courtesy of MCT

Cedar Point is opening its doors a day early to the Ohio State alumni community, giving OSU graduates and guests the chance to be the first to ride the amusement park’s newest roller coaster.

OSU Day at Cedar Point is on May 10 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It was organized through a partnership with the OSU Alumni Association.

Cedar Point opens up to the public for its regular 2013 season on May 11.

Cedar Point’s newest attraction, the GateKeeper, will be open on OSU Day.

Bryan Edwards, marketing programs manager at Cedar Point, said the new wing roller coaster is “going to break multiple world records.”

“It will be the fastest, the longest and it will also feature the longest drop on a wing coaster in the world,” Edwards said.

The GateKeeper has a maximum speed of about 67 mph, a vertical drop of 164 feet and is 4,164 feet long.

Josh Harraman, the director of Student and Young Alumni Programs, said OSU Day has various events scheduled throughout the day as well.

“We’re going to do a Buckeye Bash, which is like a giant pep rally,” Harraman said. “We will also have the band up there to kick things off that morning and special performances throughout the day.”

A visit from Brutus and the cheerleaders is also on the agenda, in addition to several giveaways throughout the day.

The OSU Theme Park Engineering Group had the chance to get a special look at the GateKeepe when it visited the GateKeeper site in December and again recently, giving the group the chance to see the behind the scenes of the construction.

“It’s a great opportunity to see how the construction process has progressed from beginning to end,” Joshua Pritchard, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and president of the Theme Park Engineering Group, said.

This is the first time Cedar Point has collaborated with the OSU Alumni Association, but the association has held previous OSU days at sporting events such as Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians games.

Tickets are available at the Ohio Union and online. Tickets cost $25 for those between the ages of 3 and 61 who are less than 48 inches tall or anyone over the age of 62. Regular admission tickets are $35.