The History of Woodstock Express

Woodstock Express is where a lot of Cedar Point visitors take their very first roller coaster ride. A gentle family coaster in the park's Planet Snoopy section, it has been running since 1999.

A first coaster

Built by the Dutch manufacturer Vekoma, Woodstock Express opened in 1999 as part of a new children's area called Camp Snoopy. It is a junior coaster, a small and gentle ride designed for young guests, with a low first hill, a couple of sweeping downward helices, and no inversions. A single small train carries sixteen riders around a lap that lasts a little over a minute, just enough of a thrill for a first-timer.

A Peanuts name

The ride is named for Woodstock, the little yellow bird who is Snoopy's sidekick in the Peanuts comics, tying it to the surrounding kids' land. When Cedar Point's parent company rebranded its children's areas across all its parks, Camp Snoopy became Planet Snoopy, the section that houses the coaster today. Woodstock Express belongs to a family of Vekoma junior coasters found at parks around the world, many of them carrying the same Peanuts theme.

One thing to know

Woodstock Express does not use a conventional chain to climb its first hill. Instead it is pushed up by a set of spinning drive tires, a small detail unusual enough that it gets noted in the ride's records.

Woodstock Express is one chapter in the history of Cedar Point.

Woodstock Express at a glance