Back in 1992, a company called Bolliger and Mabillard decided to release a coaster that changed history. "Batman: The ride" debuted at Six Flags: Great America. The public went nuts. Here was a ride that not only hung below the track, but was able to do complex maneuvers at a very high speed. The age of the B&M inverted was upon us. Meanwhile... over at "America's Rollercoast", also knows as a little park called Cedar Point, the top executives were thinking up new rides... hm.... what should we build? An arrow looper? Nah... A wooden coaster? Nope.. How about the world's biggest B&M inverted coaster?!? Yeah!

And so, Raptor was born. This $11.5 million dollar ride is still one of the greatest inverted coasters ever made. B&M went all-out on this ride, creating a new element, the "cobra roll". This element turns rides upside-down twice in about 4 seconds. Not only was Raptor going to be the tallest, fastest, and steepest B&M inverted, it was going to fit into an area that was extremely small.

As we approach the Cedar Point midway, one object dominates the immediate skyline. Raptor's loop is gigantic and can be easily spotted. The line for Raptor winds back and forth underneath the station. Guards are on-duty to make sure that line jumpers are caught. Trash is picked up by helping hands that circulate throughout the queue. Of course, a DJ is present after 6:00pm. Raptor has a great line. Finally, we ascend some stairs that take us to our ultimate destination. As I always say, WAIT FOR THE FRONT SEAT. It's simply the best way to experience the awesome ride that awaits us.

We roll out of the station and turn to the left. We start to climb up the lift hill. The chain is barely audible as a clinks above us. We start to get fairly high, the entire Cedar Point midway is visible. Still higher we climb until finally, we hit the 137ft peak. We start to level off... we take a slight dip to get us movin' and vrroooommm! We drop take a sharp turn to the left and zoom down the one of greatest drops of any inverted coaster on the planet.

Back up we fly through Raptor's incredible loop. We catch some fleeting "hangtime" before plummeting back towards the ground.

We soar out of the loop only to rush right into a zero-G roll. We get flipped upside down faster than you can think "whoa, I'm upside down". Still roaring after the zero-G roll, we shoot upwards once again, only this time, we do a flip when we get to the top. Yes, the famous "Cobra Roll". We do second little flip and are falling once again back down.

After navigating a few short turns, we take a sharp, upwards turn to the left and hit Raptor's brake run. This gives you a few seconds to catch your breath and think, "wow, that was awesome!". Awesome as it may have been, we still have plenty left to go!

Immediately out of the breaks, we take a sharp right hand turn that sends us racing back towards our starting point. We're flung up into a corkscrew that inverts us for the fifth time. We continue to race through a few banked turns before taking a sharp turn to the right. That rolls through a zero-G roll for our 6th, and final, inversion.

As we're still recovering from that previous inversion, we come upon the final helix. We're literally pushed against our seats by the the incredibly G-force created by rushing through the tight helix. We fly up and into the station breaks.

"Welcome back Raptor riders. How was your flight?"
Much cheering and applause!

Since its debut in 1994, this ride has lost most of its records. Alpengeist current holds the record for the tallest and longest inverted coaster. Raptor was still the first inverted coaster to go above and beyond. For that, it will always be awesome!