Cedar Point 8/14

[benny1388]

My first trip since I was a kid, everyone else's first ever visit (my wife, youngest stepson, wife's best friend and her daughter).

 

Wife's BFF isn't much on coasters and headed straight to the beech near Wicked Twister. She had water, sand and a Starbucks in the nearby the hotel and was set. She wanted sun, but didn't really mind the overcast skies.

 

First ride was Gatekeeper. We enjoyed the ride. Nothing about it was amazing, but a fun ride (our first wing coaster experience). 

 

Wicked Twister was interesting. I'm kind of a big guy and had to have help getting the belt on the restraint fastened...and unfastened (it jammed, somehow, when I pulled on the latch). Worth riding again if minimal wait.

 

Corkscrew. I rode this for nostalgia and so the kids could experience it. This ride needs major maintenance or removal, IMO. For an advertised 20-30min wait (which seemed reasonable looking at the line), it took the two kids and me well over an hour because they were only running the red train, then added the white train (bonus, I'd never gotten a chance to watch a train transfer). Then had problems with the white train, then problems with the red train. Shortly after our ride, the ride was down (I did see it running again before we left, though). The ride experience felt very much like the Arrow I know best (Vortex). I'm glad my wife decided to sit this one out.

 

We headed to the car for our cooler-packed  lunch. I was told by the person handing out stamps that I had to have my hand stamped even if I had a platinum pass because it would only work on the first scan of the day. Why is this different at KI? I can come and go 20 times per day at KI with my pass. I don't care which way they decide, but it would be nice if CF was consistent about this sort of thing across their parks.

 

Raptor. We waited just over 1hr for this ride and I wasn't impressed. I'm not saying it was a bad coaster, just that the wait wasn't worth it. My wife and her friend's daughter sat on the outside of the row and both complained of their head banging the restraint. My stepson and me in the middle seats didn't seem to experience this. Again would ride again if wait were minimal. Would be nice if the restraints were the style of Valravn, Banshee etc.

 

Top Thrill Dragster was up and down more times that day than I can remember. After waiting in line for 45min (and an estimated hour remaining) the ride went down and we decided to venture elsewhere in the park and come back later (which never happened).

 

Millennium Force  Magnum XL (sorry, I originally wrote this prior to coffee reaching my brain). We sat in the last car, which probably was a bad idea. If we ride this again it will likely be further forward. The 'air time' on this ride would have been great, except the force of our legs against the restraints was borderline painful (my wife was showing the beginnings of bruises). I think this was due to the acceleration while still going uphill the last car experiences more than anything else. Will give it a shot elsewhere in the train if the wait is minimal.

 

Valravn was worth the almost 2hr wait, but not sure it's worth another 2hr wait. Other than the first drop/dive - there's nothing about this ride that makes it worth waiting that long. We ended our day here. We were all tired and frustrated with the long waits and rides going down.

 

I know I mentioned minimal wait times above and many folks might roll their eyes at that. By minimal, I tend to mean 20-30min, not walk on. Some rides, I know, are longer wait due to popularity, capacity, or both. Diamondback and Banshee, for example, I consider 40min 'minimal'. We tend to visit parks on less crowded days. My time in the park is limited and I view it as such especially after (and before) a 2hr drive. If the crowds make wait time such that I will only be able to experience 1/3 of the coasters a park has to offer, I'd rather go another day. I know this past weekend was one of the more crowded days for the park, it's just how our personal schedules worked out. The maintenance on the rides was a frustrating factor, as well. We will return, but hopefully on one of those days where the midway webcam shows 3 people walking around and not 3000.

[Beast Gal]

Great trip report. Sounded like a busy day at CP.

[Hoeter]

Thank you for sharing!

 

I was at the park Friday-Sunday and yesterday was the busiest out of the three days I was there. 

 

Checked the app right before I left yesterday. 60 minutes for Corkscrew, 2 hours for Valravn, 30 minutes for Mean Streak.

 

Friday and Saturday (after it rained) weren't too bad. Waited at most an hour for Maverick on Friday night (went down due to issues on one of the trains)

 

App gave a wait time of 40 minutes after Luminocity for Millennium Force. Waited at most 15 minutes for a ride towards the front.

[homestar92]

You can re-scan your pass to enter Cedar Point. I was there this weekend and one member of my party had their stamp wash off. They were able to reenter without an issue.