Scott And Carol Present - A Gatekeeper Construction Update

Cedar Point and the Great Ohio Coaster Club sponsored a construction tour in conjunction with their winter Christmas Christmas Party.

It wasn't exactly the most photogenic day for a construction tour, but the upside is these photos will be very different from what is already available. In this view from the midway you can see the construction fence but it looks almost like a dream farther beyond. 

The front picnic pavilion has been removed, and a few lonely footers are already poured. On top of the turn around, riders on Gatekeeper will have a gulls eye view of Blue Streak, the oldest roller coaster at Cedar Point.

Here is a close up of that footer, with the old fence in the background.

The Season Pass processing center building is scheduled to remain, but it will be greatly expanded, a welcome relief for those who have experienced long lines processing their season pass. With Gatekeeper coming online for 2013, there will be a lot of people in that line to get some fresh B & M goodness next spring.

The base of the second tower will be located here, excavation was scheduled to start Monday, 12/10/2012. This floating footer will be massive and it will need lots of concrete will be used to anchor this tower. There will be twin towers, with one located on each side of the entrance gate. They will be keyholes in each tower.

The  loop will be the largest at Cedar Point and riders will approach nearly 65 mph at the exit.

All of these rollers will be used for the transfer track. Many times this section of the coaster is the last to be built because it leaves a large hole for equipment to move inside and outside the layout. Gatekeepers construction plan follows a different path.

We wondered where this fork lift was going, and it wasn't long until we found out, while we were walking along the shore of Lake Erie. 

It's hard to see it in this photo, but the American flag from the topping off ceremony still flys in the breeze. No high winds were expected, so the crane was still in the air. 

This view from the beach shows the rollover into the inverted first drop. The evacuation stairs are on each side of the track but the railings have not been installed. At the very top, only the supports for the walkway are in place, the next step is the stairs. 

Here a worker on top of the Hi-lift is finishing some minor  items.

Just as we were preparing to leave, we found out where the yellow fork lift was going. It was needed to bring a support from the staging area to get it in place for Monday. According to the park, everything is right on schedule to make the 5/11/2013 Opening Day.  Luckily, it is already almost the middle December, so just 6 months need to pass for our first rides on Gatekeeper.