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Amusement parks are constantly changing every year with new rides, shows, and attractions. The park you visit today was more than likely a very different place even twenty years ago. While thrilling rides and cutting edge technology have been a staple of the industry for longer than twenty years, they were not always the main focus at parks. Many relied on natural features like gardens or beaches as a major attraction, while others featured shows and other art as the main draw. So what was a park like twenty years ago, and what changed between now and then?

The best place that I can think of to explore the changing face of the amusement industry is Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The park originally opened as a beer garden and later a beach destination, and by 1989 was a well-known park with outstanding attractions. In fact, it was sometimes called the Disneyland of the Midwest; a popular family getaway with spectacular landscaping, tasty food, extravagant entertainment, and some thrilling rides. You could enjoy a relaxing cruise around the park's large lagoons on the Western Cruise, or enjoy a live show in one of the many theaters around the park. You could also ride some thrilling and not so thrilling rides, but they were not always the focus of the park. But what Cedar Point unveiled in 1989 would start the industry in a new direction that would continue until 2005.

Cedar Point was already known for some of the best thrill rides in the country, but no one expected what they were about to see and experience. The Magnum XL-200 not only shattered the world records for tallest (205 ft.) and fastest (72 mph) roller coaster when it was built, but also started an industry trend often called the "coaster wars." The building of Magnum marked a new philosophy for amusement park rides, it took the industry completely by storm and got guests hooked on the idea of "higher, faster, steeper." Guests started expecting taller and faster rides after parks took notice of Magnum's popularity at Cedar Point and started chasing the records.

As more parks pushed for more intense rides than anyone else, designers of these high tech thrill rides were practically forced to create new technology to handle more extreme rides. Soon rides were not just going up, down, and upside down once or twice, but five or more times! Then people were being launched over 300 feet up into the air by electrical and magnetic power, something that was very cutting edge technology and caused a lot of

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