Disaster Transport
The outside of Disaster Transport
Location	Cedar Point
Type	Steel - Bobsled - Enclosed
Status	Open
Opened	May 11, 1985
Manufacturer	Intamin AG
Model	Bobsled
Lift/launch system	Chain Lift
Height	63 feet (19.2 m)
Length	1,932 feet (588.9 m)
Max speed	40 miles per hour (64.4 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	2 minutes 32 seconds
Capacity	1023 riders per hour
Cost	$3,400,000 USD to build (1985); $4,000,000 USD to renovate (1990)
Height Restriction	46 inches (116.8 cm)
Disaster Transport at RCDB
Pictures of Disaster Transport at RCDB

Disaster Transport is a steel enclosed roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It originally opened in 1985 as Avalanche Run, a bobsled roller coaster that was entirely outdoors. In 1990, ITEC Productions was called in to renovate the ride, completely enclosing it in what is now known as the "12 E" building (so marked because it was the 12th design of an ITEC employee named Eric).^[1] The renovation included the addition of a space-themed queue and ride along with special effect lighting and sound. The renovation came at a cost of $4 million, the original ride only cost $3.4 million USD. Unfortunately, not long after the initial changes to the ride in 1990, the special effects were not maintained and began to deteriorate. Most of the effects today are not active, or have been covered up. Blacklight reactant paint lines the walls, mostly in the form of handprints or outlines of scenes. These give a 3-D appearance when the rider wears special glasses purchased at the beginning of the queue. Image File history File links Disaster_Transport_Cedar_Point. ... Cedar Point is a 364 acre (1. ... The Dueling Dragons, the worlds only Dueling Steel-Inverted roller coaster located at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida. ... A Bobsled roller coaster is the generic name given to any roller coaster that uses a track design that is essentially the steel pipe with the top half removed and has individual cars that are sent down this pipe in a freewheeling mode. ... An enclosed roller coaster is a roller coaster built inside a structure intended solely for the ride. ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Expedition GeForce Intamin AG is a designing and manufacturing company in Wollerau, Switzerland. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ... Kilometres per hour (American spelling: kilometers per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A centimetre (American spelling centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length that is equal to one hundredth of a metre, the current SI base unit of length. ... The Dueling Dragons, the worlds only Dueling Steel-Inverted roller coaster located at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida. ... An enclosed roller coaster is a roller coaster built inside a structure intended solely for the ride. ... A typical roller coaster The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. ... Cedar Point is a 364 acre (1. ... Muddy brown water fills Sandusky Bay, just south of Lake Erie in this astronaut photograph. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ...

The roller coaster is of the bobsled design, meaning the wheels are not attached to a track like a conventional roller coaster. Rather, the cars -- resembling bobsleds -- operate within a steel trough, on which they are allowed to operate freely. This allows the ride to swing from side to side when turning sharp corners, just like on an actual bobsledding course. Bobsleigh is a winter sport in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked purpose-built iced tracks in a gravity-powered, steerable sled. ...

Building

The building is used also used as a storage facility for the park. Additionally, during Halloweekends much of the queue is used to house the attraction, Pharoah's Secret haunted house.

Ironically, during any kind of rain, the ride shuts down due to leaks within the structure. The bobsled nature of the ride does not permit water on the track, therefore warranting a shutdown.

Disaster Transport's trains were built by Giovanola. The name of the ride stems from "Dispatch Master Transport," which is from the ride's preshow theme. Giovanola is one of the prominent thrill ride manufacturers in the world. ...

On the November 4, 2005 NPR Motley Fool show, Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel called Disaster Transport one of the the "worst business decisions" he ever made, with the best decision being the Magnum XL-200. Second to Disaster Transport he rated the Top Thrill Dragster as being an awful business decision.^[2] NPR logo For other meanings of NPR see NPR (disambiguation) National Public Radio (NPR) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that sells programming to member radio stations; together they are a loosely organized public radio network in the United States. ... The Motley Fool is a website about stocks, investing, and personal finance. ... The Magnum XL-200 was the worlds first hyper coaster. ... Top Thrill Dragster is a steel, hydraulically-launched roller coaster known as a Stratacoaster located at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. ...

References

1. ^ OnPoint! The Official Cedar Point Blog [1]
2. ^ NPR Motley Fool interview with CEO Dick Kinzel [2]

External links

• Disaster Transport's page on the offical Cedar Point website