Peterson

2. Magnum XL 200 The Magnum XL-200 is what you think of when seeing the quintessential stock photo image of everything a roller coaster should be. Its hills jackknifed through the sunset. Blood on the tracks. A threaded red edging the delicate wiry truss. The horizon only a massive expanse of lake water beyond. That e(E)rie shoreline a negative zone beyond the second drop. The ride dipped out of the station and made a hard right toward the lift. While Magnum was no longer the tallest in the park, it was still the tallest that provided the traditional slow chain-pull experience. Which meant the long climb to the top was as excruciatingly dramatic as you could get, want, or need at the entire park. Being towed skyward over a water park that had closed for the day and was therefore completely silent heightened the experience of detachment from the functioning planet. The Magnum was an out-and-back coaster. It started in the corner of the park, ran over the teeny Soak City and barreled toward the water. Looking out from the front seat, I saw that infamous crest of the second hill and nothing but the lake and purple sky beyond. The train crept over the summit of the lift and hung. Dramatically stalled in space. Pitching for the ground. The hang time was exceptional as the front of the train was momentarily counterweighted by the still-chain-attached rear. Then that remainder toppled over the apex. All hell broke loose. The drop was visceral. A gravitational pull with all the grit of a machine designed in a pre-computer world. It bottomed out with a heavy tug. All mass shoved forward. A rush through the valley. A brief chlorination. Then immediately the second hill and its sleight of hand. The run up was a straight pull. A continuation in this plane would have set you well into Erie. Fortunately, since their shuttle loop, Arrow had perfected banking. The top of the second hill. Floating air overtook to force reconciliation between the conflicting sensations of zero gravity and heavy laterals. The track below pitched hard to the left. Avoiding the lake and introducing a third axis into the momentum. Magnum yanked us back to terra. Away from the sand into the darkness of the first tunnel. Past this hinge, it was extreme floating airtime over a shallower camelback crested with speed. A runout along the shore to the remote corner of the peninsula. Home of the Sandcastle. I saw a glimpse of my hotel from an angle I had not previously crossed. Looking down upon its pink metal roofs. Positive forces took over again in the double spiral. A pretzel loop, the turnaround was marketed. The set of trim brakes did nothing to tame the train. Were they even on? What would the ride feel like if they were not? Then the vicious return run where the ride seriously cut loose. A series of small bunny hills on the “and back” portion of the coaster did not visually compare to the profile of the initial run. Though these hills did not burn off then re-collect speed. The train barreled through them. This is where the Magnum got serious and won me over. Hill after hill of extreme airtime. Two more tunnels. Replete with their own turbulent dips and dives hidden in the dark. Movement deafeningly amplified by the corrugated enclosures. Each protuberance of the bunny hops rekindled zero gravity. Every crest pronounced sharper. Then, as my body and mind could not sustain the limits, out of the third and final tunnel, it abruptly ceded. The train slowly rolled back around to the station with a full panorama of the course taken burned against the last vestiges of a fiery Lake Erie sunset. Perfectly timed Zen contemplation at the holding brake. The lap bars popped up and I glided, dazed, to the exit ramp. Staring at the dramatic profile running the horizon. “This is my new favorite roller coaster,” I avowed. -Summer’s Reach (2020) Okay, reading back that was dramatically verbose. If you need something more scientific check out Dr. @tpaz198 analytic dissertation on the best seat. Cheers to all my Magnum posse that played along for a hundred laps. Let’s fill up a train soon. Why is this #2?! Well, I walked across the midway and I didn’t go back....