Disaster Transport was an enclosed steel bobsled roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It began life as Avalanche Run, an outdoor Intamin bobsled coaster announced in October 1984. Cedar Point had originally targeted Avalanche Run to debut with the park’s May 11, 1985 season opening, but a delay in the arrival of ride parts pushed its actual debut back until later that summer, when it opened as the only ride of its kind in the Midwest. In 1990, Cedar Point and ITEC Productions gave the ride a $4 million transformation, fully enclosing it in a show building and retheming it around a space-disaster storyline, complete with a new queue, lighting, and sound effects.
See where Disaster Transport fits among every coaster Cedar Point has ever run on our Cedar Point roller coaster history timeline.
Riders boarded single-file bobsled-style cars that wound through a pitch-black, effects-laden building rather than following a fixed steel track for much of the layout, a hallmark of Intamin’s bobsled design. For years it remained the only indoor coaster at Cedar Point, but aging show effects and a leak-prone building eventually caught up with it. Cedar Point announced its closure on July 13, 2012, and the ride shut down for good on July 29, 2012, with its footprint cleared to build the GateKeeper roller coaster.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Cedar Point
- Manufacturer: Intamin (Giovanola subcontracted)
- Opened: Summer 1985 (as Avalanche Run, delayed from a planned May 11 debut); renamed Disaster Transport in 1990
- Closed: July 29, 2012
- Height: about 63 ft
- Top speed: about 40 mph
- Length: about 1,932 ft
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
Disaster Transport sent riders through a fully enclosed, darkened building aboard single-car bobsled trains that seated ten in five rows of two. The space-disaster theme played out through fog, strobe lighting, and rumbling sound effects meant to simulate a malfunctioning transport vessel, while the bobsled-style trains slid through banked turns with the loose, swaying sensation characteristic of Intamin’s bobsled coasters. At about 2 minutes and 32 seconds, the ride combined mild thrills with an immersive dark-ride atmosphere unlike anything else at the park.
From Avalanche Run to Closure
Before its 1990 makeover, the coaster operated outdoors as Avalanche Run, letting riders see the bobsled track’s banked curves in daylight. ITEC Productions’ enclosure and retheming turned it into Disaster Transport, Cedar Point’s only indoor coaster and, at the time, the only fully enclosed bobsled coaster in the world. The building’s leaks and rising maintenance costs eventually caught up with the aging ride, and Cedar Point closed it in July 2012, demolishing the structure to make room for the GateKeeper wing coaster that opened in 2013.
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Disaster Transport Photo Archive: 2002
This is an original ThrillZing photo of Disaster Transport at Cedar Point, restored and upscaled from the original camera file. It shows the enclosed Intamin bobsled coaster’s building on the beach side of the midway, years before the ride closed in 2012 to make room for GateKeeper. All photos are free to reuse under a CC BY 4.0 license with credit to ThrillZing and a link to this page.
Over 3,700 pieces, a real vertical loop and a working chain lift. Display it on a shelf in the coaster room.
Rub-on sunscreen that fits in a pocket — reapply in the queue without greasy hands on the lap bar.
Folds into its own pocket. Pop it on when the storm rolls in and the rides reopen to short lines.
Disaster Transport FAQs
When did Disaster Transport open at Cedar Point?
It opened as Avalanche Run in the summer of 1985; a parts delay had pushed it past the park’s planned May 11 season opening. It was enclosed and renamed Disaster Transport for the 1990 season.
Why did Disaster Transport close?
Cedar Point closed the ride on July 29, 2012 due to its aging show building and infrastructure; the site was later used for the GateKeeper roller coaster.
Who manufactured Disaster Transport?
It was built by Intamin, a Swiss ride manufacturer, with Giovanola contracted for construction work.
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Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zac-attack/ / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.