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Cedar Point Trip Report July 20th and 21


Cormaster
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Well I just got back home so I figure its time to write a full trip report.

We left Indy between 8 and 9 and got to our hotel a little after 2. After which we went to Subway and had lunch, then it was off to the Park. When we got there, I went straight to Millennium Force, and unfortunately, it was down. Figured it would be a good time to have my wife test the seat, so we went ahead and did it, and unfortunately my wife couldn't buckle the seat belt. She said she didn't expect to fit everything and I didn't want to complain so we skipped it and headed over to Maverick.

The test seat for Maverick wasn't bad at all for my wife and we got in line for the 1:15 minute wait. The line moved pretty quick, and when I got up there I remembered Terpy's advice about "seat 1-1", but seat 1-1 had a long line and I didn't wanna wait for it, so I went to seat 1-2. Maverick was a great way to start the trip! I really loved this coaster, it had everything. Launches, steep hills, inversions, tunnels, etc, and it was completely unpredictable. After we got off we headed over to Mean streak

Mean Streak didn't have much of a wait at all so I went for seat 1-1. I was pretty dissapointed in this coaster, not because of "roughness" complaints but overall it just didn't do much for me. I rode it in the 90's and liked it more back then, but after 15 years its hard to remember my experience of a coaster. In seat 1-1 it wasn't rough at all, but overall I Found the experience boring, and there were some stupid white bugs on it that kept flying into my face.

Next was Gemini, which also had no line, no waiting. I really liked Gemini, I found it loads of fun with high speed and lots of air time.

We then walked over to Magnum which appeared to have a wait so we skipped it and headed for corkscrew. Corkscrew was literally a walk-on and it was a fun little arrow coaster. Not as intense as Vortex obviously, but also a lot smoother than Vortex. While walking by Top Thrill Dragster we overheard the park employees announce to a bunch of disappointed guests waiting in line for it that it was closing for the day due to maintenance. So I guess I would not be riding it that day.

Then came Mantis. 1/2 wait, but not terribly long. Mantis was painful, as everyone says, and not that much fun. I was expecting to enjoy it as I liked Chang and Iron Wolf, but unfortunately didn't.

After Mantis it was 6:30 and we took our first break and went had Pizza and 32 oz soft drinks. Then I headed for the Car to call-in to work (since i couldn't get it off due to inventory)

I came back in and at 7 we got in line for Raptor which had a less than 15 minute wait. Raptor was friggen awesome! True sensation of flying, high speed, and lots of inversions. I really liked this coaster. This was one in which 15 years ago I had to wait 3 1/2 hours to ride, longest wait ever to ride a coaster, it was nice I could nearly walk right on it now.

After Raptor was Blue Streak. Blue Streak was surprisingly a lot of fun, and had lots of air time. To be honest I didn't expect much from it being so old, and kinda smalls in comparison to other CP coasters. After Blue streak we hit up Max Air. I liked Max Air, it seemed a bit more intense than Delirium. Then we rode Disaster Transport, meh is all I can say. Honestly I didn't expect much and it did exceed my expectations in comparison to how much its ripped on, but still Flight of Fear owns all indoor coasters, and Flight of Fear this is not.

At that point it was time for some Wicked Twister. Me and my wife walked up to the test harness and she got in. I had to use some force to push the seatbelt into place. That's when some stupid employee noticed us and came up to us and said "Excuse me, she's going to have to be able to buckle that herself or I'm not going to let her in the ride. That's the park's policy, YOU Have to be able to buckle yourself or you can't ride". Then he walked away, and I was a little bitter and I looked at my wife and said "you know what, lets get inline, screw that dude". IT was from my experience that the Park's employees actually INSIST on buckling you in and securing your harness, and when we got on the ride I actually found that I myself could not get my seat-belt buckled and had to have help! No they didn't kick us off the ride, they did secure both of us in are harnesses and that guy got the nick name of "douche bag" for the rest of the trip. I mean he wasn't even working at the ride, he just happened to be walking by, maybe he should mind his own business! That was the only time i had any trouble with a park employee and other than that Wicked Twister was awesome, def a better Shuttle invert than Invertigo, and very intense.

Afterward we headed for Magnum XL-200 which at this point was no-line-no-waiting, and we sat in the middle of the train. Wow, very nice coaster, but very rough. It was kind of like combining Diamondback with a Mechanical Bull. After the Air time hills it would slam me back into my seat. I was kind of laughing during all of it. Honestly the roughness made it fun and one of a kind. in the end its in my top 5 CP coasters.

At this point it 9:30pm and it was about time to leave but I figured why not lets hit the raptor up one more time. So we did, and then we took off to our hotel to relax and go swimming. Then we called it a night early at 11pm

We got up the next day around 8:00am and went to breakfast. The Continental breakfast sucked, they had waffles but hardly anything else, including juice. Who doesn't serve juice? I've been to some crappy continental breakfast's in my day but they all have had juice, at the very least little 1/2 pint cartons of it! My wife being a Baratric surgery patient, can't eat a lot of bread stuff, and thats all they had. IT was the first disappointment of the day, and the day would see many more, but we chalked it up and went to McDonald where I ordered a LARGE Orange juice with my meal! The McDonalds was kind of cool as it had pictures of CP Coasters through it, including a gigantic wal mural of a train on TTD going through the spiral at the top of the 400 foot drop.

Afterward we went back and got cleaned up, and changed and headed for the park. It took us about a half hour to drive through the opening traffic and we got in there about a quarter after 10. I immediatly headed to Millenium Force. My wife, who couldn't fit the test seat, decided she'd go ahead and wait with me since she knew I wanted to ride it. My jaw dropped when I saw the sign said "1 1/2 hour wait"... seriously at open? I said screw it and got in-line and sure enough it took about an hour and a half. When I was nearing the train, my wife walked through the door of the exit queue and waited for me. I got up there and Seat 1-1 had a line, but once again seat 1-2 had no wait. I got right on on Seat 1-2. It was an awesome ride, no doubt, but honestly it's not much better than Diamondback. NOt saying thats a bad thing, but considering Millie is taller, faster, longer, and more expensive I expected something that would make Diamondback look weak. It was still one of my fav's of the day, and the speed and tunnels were cool.

Afterward we thought about riding Maverick again, but it had a long 1 hour plus wait and we didn't feel like standing in line agian so we hit up Cedar Creek Mine RIde. This ride just flat out sucked. It was lame, boring, and the harnesses were gawd awful. When we were in they had some control that made all 3 rows of bars per car go down to the desired position, and I literally felt stapled in my seat. So pain plus a ride so lame it makes Adventure Express look like Diamondback, and yeah I don't think I'll be riding this one again.

At this point the heat was getting to us and I wanted to cool off before any more extended waits. Shoot the Rapids only had a 1/2 hour wait listed so I said "lets do it". We were disappointed in the fact we had to get a locker, but since all the water rides were together, it worked out fine. However it was at this point when a locker stole one of our Dollar Coins. A park employee came by and my wife asked her "who do we talk to about getting a refund?" and she said "hold on I'll get someone for you". 10 minutes later there was no site of the lady, or another park employee and my patience was wearing thin, so we just put another dollar in the machine, got another dollar coin, and got another locker

We got in line for Shoot the Rapids, which was moving quick, and then all of a sudden it stopped. After 5 minutes of no movement the Ride OP made an annoucement "ladies and gentalmen if I can have your attention, we are going to be experiencing a short delay as we remove one of the boats". At first I said "lets wait it out", after all the line was thinning out from the announcement. However a half hour later it was apparent this was no short delay and the boats were riding empty. I was really starting to get irritated and i was like "Come on Jackie lets give up on it, this is BS" and she wouldn't let me. Finally after an hour the boats started having people on them again. At this point we were right before the railroad tracks... and then I noticed the employee at the entrance switch her sign around to "this ride is currently closed" and boats started riding empty again. At that point my wife finally gave up and we went over and nearly walked right on Thunder Canyon!

I was really riled up and mad at this point, and I had a hard time calming down. I just wanted to get wet so I could cool off, instead I became hotter and more dehydrated waiting for an overhyped log flume, that kept breaking down and MY WIFE WOULDN'T LET ME GET OUT OF LINE! Anyway Thunder Canyon was awesome, really dug the water falls, but the rapids weren't quite as strong as WWC. Anyway my wife decided we might as well get on Snake River Falls since our stuff's in a locker, and we're dressed to get wet.

Snake River Falls had a sign that said "1/2 wait" but it reality it took almost an hour. At this point I was still very irritated and fired up from all the time lost waiting for Shoot the Rapids, and it was getting close to 3, and I ended up arguing with my wife a bit because I was sick of waiting for "stupid water rides" when I could of spent the same amount of time and rode 3 thrill rides! But surprisingly it all worked out for the best because as soon as we got off Snake River Falls the rain came down, and it came down hard. Almost out of nowhere! They shut the whole park down and told everyone to take cover. Had my wife listened to me, we'd probably have ruined our Cell Phones since we would of hit the locker up. I guess everything happens for a reason.

The Rain went away quick however, and at this point it was 3, and I had been at Cedar Point since 10:15 and only gotten 3 rides in. Quite literally the Rain came in and washed away the crappy day I was having there because this was the turn around. We got some lunch, got our stuff out of the locker and decided it was time to get OUT of Frontiertown as it was bringing us down! We were walking by Gemeni and I said "I'm so ready to ride something, lets get on this ride". Then we hit up Magnum, and then I noticed "hey Top Thril Dragster's running". However when I walked up to the queue the sign said "2 hour wait". I said "ah screw it i don't wanna wait 2 hours for a ride that last only 17 seconds" and walked away from it.

We went over and hit up Power Tower, then Iron Dragon, and Finally at that point my concience was bugging me about TTD... I remembered my visit as a teenager to Six Flags Great America in 1993 where I was dying to ride batman the ride (a state of the art coaster at that point of time) and I ended up never doing it because the line was too long. My wife couldn't fit the test seat of Dragster, since its nearly the same as Millie, but she said she knew I was dying to ride it, and she was getting tired anyway so she'd sit in the stands with a big diet Pepsi and watch me.

Suprisingly the 2 hour wait time was WAAAY off... I wasn't even in line for an hour. The line just moved moved moved moved, and then I even got to skip some passengers because I was a Single Rider. I gotta admit I've criticized Top Thrill Dragster for its short ride time and awkward design many a times, but I defintley wanted to give a a try. And i ended up loving it! As soon as the lights turned green, I nearly blacked out from the force, next thing I know I was on top of the hill, and then I just saw the ground a big spiral coming at me. The Adrenaline rush this thing gave me was nuts!

So after meeting back up with my wife at this point we felt pretty accomplished but there was one more thing we wanted to ride: Skyhawk. We went out to the car so I could give ol' lowes another call, and then we headed over to Skyhawk. THis ride is fun, and if Kings Island gets another flat, they need to get one of these. Its like a highly intense version of Viking Fury! That ended up being our last as we wanted to ride Maverick again, but the line was still long, then we got in line for Magnum, and it broke down, and then we hit up a giftshop and Raptor, but Raptor had a 45 minute wait and we didn't feel like waiting. We were tired, achey, and hungry and it was time for some Applebees.

That about sums it up. Theres not much left to report, as after Applebees we called it a night early, got up the next day, checked out, took off, and here I am typing this out on my computer in my apartment back in Indianapolis, IN. All and all the first day was a bit more fun than the second, as the Park was just obviously more busy the second day, but the second day however I got to ride Millie and TTD, 2 rides I've been dying to ride for years! When it was all said and done I rode every "adult" coaster except Wildcat, and honestly I just didn't care to wait for that one as Old Indiana Funpark used to have an IDENTICAL model, and honestly it wasn't that great back then, and I doubt I'd enjoy it anymore now. But I'm sure its better than Ceder crap mine ride! IN fact for comparison:

Montagnes Russes

Wildcat

Meh, screw the stupid fair Coasters. Anyway I had a great time and I will have pictures going up later.

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I'm still not sure its the same hotel Terpy. Is the Huron one the one right off the mulan st, the road that basically if you go straight on it you will drive right into Cedar Point? This Comfort Inn was only a couple blocks from the Sandusky Great Wolf Lodge actually.

Overall I enjoyed my stay at Comfort Inn. The breakfast was a bit disappointing but there was nothing else to complain about. The rooms were clean, the bed was comfortable, and they had an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, and most importantly the prices were right. What more could you ask for?

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You didn't by any chance run into Wanda the desk clerk at the Comfort Inn in Huron did you? For many years, Wanda and I had an ongoing relationship (now, behave!) and always enjoyed our little visits....

*Knock, knock*

"Housekeeping. You need towels?"

smile.gif

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Guest Millennium

Good report! Unfortunately you went on a day that was packed! My favorite rides there are Maverick and Magnum XL-200. I hope soon Magnum can get some work done so it is as smooth as it once was.

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Good report! Unfortunately you went on a day that was packed! My favorite rides there are Maverick and Magnum XL-200. I hope soon Magnum can get some work done so it is as smooth as it once was.

LOL packed? I dunno if I'd call it packed. My last trip in 1995 now that was packed! I was only 15 years old at the time and went with my youth group. Seeing as how it was a youth group trip, the parents decided to schedule it when it would be convenient for them, and we ended up going on a Saturday in July... That was a total nightmare to be exact! It was quite literally so packed that we left an hour before the parked open and we got there at 11... it took us 2 hours to drive through sandusky! Also when we got in it was almost wall to wall people, kind of like being in a "pit" area at a concert. We were there from 11 till close and only got 5 rides in: Corkscrew, Magnum XL-200, Raptor, Gemini, and Mean Streak. Then a hurricane came through... well literally it felt like a hurricane. The rain was hard, the wind was strong, and the park flooded... I remember running with water up to my knees! Honestly it was a big reason it took me so long to go back... the trip was just so bad i was left with a bad taste in my mouth for Cedar Point.

I quite literally remember getting in line for Mean streak and loosing it... "COME ON IS THERE ANYTHING HERE THAT DOESN'T HAVE A FRIGGEN HOUR WAIT?" and then getting into a screaming match with the guys with me. I was patient until that point but the park was literally so packed it wasn't fun. The high point of my day was going to CP's gigantic arcade and discovering Mortal Kombat 3 was out. And I Got to play it for the first time in that arcade and over the next year or so I would spend lots of money playing that game.

The second day was definitley busy. And quite honestly if I lived near Cedar Point, I wouldn't of been able to handle it, but it was still a 100 times better than my 1995 trip. On the positive side of things it taught me a valuable lesson about amusement parks: Never go on a Saturday!

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BTW so Magnum was smoother at one point? I was gonna say I don't remember it being rough in 1995, though in 1995 B&M's were rare, and a majority of the coasters out there were either rough woodies, or rough steel Arrow coasters, so I'm not sure if it got worse, or if I just have a different level of expectation due to today's modern roller coasters.

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BTW so Magnum was smoother at one point?

Magnum is tempermental.

The ride heats up, and cools down fast & frequent because of being on the lake.

That temperature change really beats up the trains, specifically the wheels & berings.

You can have one ride in the morning, and one 2 hours later (in the same exact train/ seat) and have a completely different ride.

Then again, it could be that it is sinking....

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Rides on Magnum XL200 can also be changed based on where you sit. If you sat in 1:2 or 2:2 in 1995, then that would explain why it seems rougher now. 1:3 and 7:3 give the roughest rides (to me at least).

From what I understand, Arrow Coasters have always been rough. Looking at old footage of Arrow Loopers, there was just as much headbanging then as there is now.

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Thats my understanding too. Pretty much if its Arrow I expect a rough ride, with poor transitions. EIther way I'm not complaining about the roughness. It really was like a mechanical bull, I was literally being thrown out of my seat and slamming back down into the train. It had me cracking up.

The whole "mass ejector Airtime" nickname seems to be deserved :)

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Magnum really is how coasters used to be. I'm pretty sure by saying "I remember it being smoother" is the same thing as riding Son of Beast in 2003 and "remembering it being smoother". or Riding T2 at Kentucky Kingdom and complaining about it being kind of weak and lame in comparison to raptor, but rough was something I didn't remember. I think it is just how it used to be. Coasters were rough, and their were more Arrow coasters and rough woodies out there than B&M's or Intamin's. We're all kinda spoiled these days with modern roller coasters and advanced technology. I even notice how much more rough Vortex seems, but I know its always been that way, but in the past it didn't have an ultra smooth modern day steel hypercoaster across from it! Honestly I didn't have much complaints about roughness on it until Diamondback was built.

BTW speaking of B&M I couldn't help but notice something about Mantis and Raptor at Cedar Point...they have a distinctive "Roar" and they are noticeably louder than other coasters. When I thought about it Diamondback has the same Roar to it, but with Beast and Vortex near it which are also equally loud you don't think about it as much. Is this a B&M thing? Something to do with their track?

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Another notable feature of Bolliger and Mabillard roller coasters is that they make use of box-section track. The running rails for the roller coaster are connected to a box-section spine, as opposed to a circular spine used by many other manufacturers. Because of this, when a train travels around the track it creates a distinctive "roar", which is unique to this style of track.[citation needed] However, some B&M roller coasters, such as Talon at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom and Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando, have their track filled with sand to reduce this noise, resulting in an unusually quiet sound

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolliger_%26_Mabillard#Features

Yep, and boy does it sound good.

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yeah I like the Roar. I couldn't help but notice that. You can hear Raptor and Mantis over all the other coasters...well except Top Thrill Dragster, but Top Thrill dragster only runs one train across the course at a time so there are breaks in the sound, while Raptor and Mantis are constant.

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Guest Millennium

Good report! Unfortunately you went on a day that was packed! My favorite rides there are Maverick and Magnum XL-200. I hope soon Magnum can get some work done so it is as smooth as it once was.

LOL packed? I dunno if I'd call it packed. My last trip in 1995 now that was packed! I was only 15 years old at the time and went with my youth group. Seeing as how it was a youth group trip, the parents decided to schedule it when it would be convenient for them, and we ended up going on a Saturday in July... That was a total nightmare to be exact! It was quite literally so packed that we left an hour before the parked open and we got there at 11... it took us 2 hours to drive through sandusky! Also when we got in it was almost wall to wall people, kind of like being in a "pit" area at a concert. We were there from 11 till close and only got 5 rides in: Corkscrew, Magnum XL-200, Raptor, Gemini, and Mean Streak. Then a hurricane came through... well literally it felt like a hurricane. The rain was hard, the wind was strong, and the park flooded... I remember running with water up to my knees! Honestly it was a big reason it took me so long to go back... the trip was just so bad i was left with a bad taste in my mouth for Cedar Point.

I quite literally remember getting in line for Mean streak and loosing it... "COME ON IS THERE ANYTHING HERE THAT DOESN'T HAVE A FRIGGEN HOUR WAIT?" and then getting into a screaming match with the guys with me. I was patient until that point but the park was literally so packed it wasn't fun. The high point of my day was going to CP's gigantic arcade and discovering Mortal Kombat 3 was out. And I Got to play it for the first time in that arcade and over the next year or so I would spend lots of money playing that game.

The second day was definitley busy. And quite honestly if I lived near Cedar Point, I wouldn't of been able to handle it, but it was still a 100 times better than my 1995 trip. On the positive side of things it taught me a valuable lesson about amusement parks: Never go on a Saturday!

Well I'm not sure if you really waited an hour and a half for Millennium Force, but if you did, I would call it packed considering I've been there several times and never waited more than 45 minutes...

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So anyway I have to say I have come back from Cedar Point with little to complain about and the feeling of full satisfaction. I think 3 days might of been overkill and at that point it would just be re-riding and the lines and waiting time would of gotten to me, not to mention nearly 2 days of walking the park really tore up my feet and legs, and I also got mildly sunburnt. I'd like to go back someday, preferably not 15 years later, but later than just next year def. I can't really say if Cedar Point is better than Kings Island, but after 3 years as a season holder at KI, and 0 attendance to any other park's, Cedar Point was AWESOME simply because it was different, and not familiar territory. Kings Island is getting stale to me, and I don't want to wear Cedar Point out the same way, so I don't think it'll even be a yearly tradition for me to go there.

As for Kings Island I'm taking one last trip this summer with my brother on Monday and I think it might be it for me till at least 2012. I gotta give the place a break and make it awesome again... Its kind of like the same thing when you watch your favorite movie so many times it becomes stale...

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Good report! Unfortunately you went on a day that was packed! My favorite rides there are Maverick and Magnum XL-200. I hope soon Magnum can get some work done so it is as smooth as it once was.

LOL packed? I dunno if I'd call it packed. My last trip in 1995 now that was packed! I was only 15 years old at the time and went with my youth group. Seeing as how it was a youth group trip, the parents decided to schedule it when it would be convenient for them, and we ended up going on a Saturday in July... That was a total nightmare to be exact! It was quite literally so packed that we left an hour before the parked open and we got there at 11... it took us 2 hours to drive through sandusky! Also when we got in it was almost wall to wall people, kind of like being in a "pit" area at a concert. We were there from 11 till close and only got 5 rides in: Corkscrew, Magnum XL-200, Raptor, Gemini, and Mean Streak. Then a hurricane came through... well literally it felt like a hurricane. The rain was hard, the wind was strong, and the park flooded... I remember running with water up to my knees! Honestly it was a big reason it took me so long to go back... the trip was just so bad i was left with a bad taste in my mouth for Cedar Point.

I quite literally remember getting in line for Mean streak and loosing it... "COME ON IS THERE ANYTHING HERE THAT DOESN'T HAVE A FRIGGEN HOUR WAIT?" and then getting into a screaming match with the guys with me. I was patient until that point but the park was literally so packed it wasn't fun. The high point of my day was going to CP's gigantic arcade and discovering Mortal Kombat 3 was out. And I Got to play it for the first time in that arcade and over the next year or so I would spend lots of money playing that game.

The second day was definitley busy. And quite honestly if I lived near Cedar Point, I wouldn't of been able to handle it, but it was still a 100 times better than my 1995 trip. On the positive side of things it taught me a valuable lesson about amusement parks: Never go on a Saturday!

Well I'm not sure if you really waited an hour and a half for Millennium Force, but if you did, I would call it packed considering I've been there several times and never waited more than 45 minutes...

I did wait an hour and a 1/2 for Millie, and that was at 10:30. All things considered the park was packed. Just saying it still wasn't as bad as when I went in 1995. The main difference is it wasn't so busy it wasn't fun. However in 1995, it was that busy. I was just miserable. I remember later on that summer I went back to Kings Island and it was like "ahhh home sweet home".

They did have a so-called "2 hour wait" for top thrill dragster. The employee at the entrance kept telling people it was for real, it was really 2 hours. I was skeptical, but I wanted to ride so eventually I gave in and got in-line. Cedar Point's estimation ended up being WAY WAY off. I don't think the line was even an hour! Maybe 2 hours for the front or back seat on the train, but not to ride, not at all.

So from your experience does the park still get that busy? I imagine it's probably a little better since theirs so much more to do. IT was nice this time being able to hop right on Magnum, Raptor, Gemini, Mean Streak, and Corkscrew, the ONLY 5 rides i was able to ride my last trip. Minimum wait was 45 minutes to ride corkscrew, maximum wait was 3 1/2 hours to ride raptor. This time all 5 of those rides were 15 minutes or less.

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Nice TR. I might be going to Cedar Point myself soon if things fall into place, as my sister is going in about two weeks. We are planning on going on a weekday though, and hopefully the local schools will have re-opened. Hopefully the crowds are more like Day 1 and not Day 2 of your TR!

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