gigacoaster2k

I was in line for Dragster this weekend, and I heard a girl in front of me tell her boyfriend that they put the twist in the track to slow it down.

Same here. I've witnessed 2 rollbacks on TTD, one of them being this past weekend, and I tried to get on in the morning when they happen more often, but no. I'm doomed to only watch it happen and never get one.

In that case: 12 days at Kings Island 10 days at Cedar Point 3 wonderful weeks of my life spent riding coasters this year..

Sunday while in line for Millie, I heard a lady behind me tell her daughter that this was the Magnum Force.

I'm 26, and have been 12 times this year, and I ain't done yet! I've already renewed my platinum for next year, and plan on riding coasters every year until I die or am physically unable to. Keep on riding, Jasper! You may be the only person who understands my love for a certain free fall ride! Angie, who raced for the sky 7 times this weekend

I know. It only happened to me once, then I ran back and rode it again.. nothing happened.

Dragster and Millie were the worst for that at CP. It happened a few times on Maggie and Twister too. Groups of people would walk ALMOST to the entrance and suddenly someone would say "I don't know if I want to ride this" so they would just stand there like what are we going to do. I know darn well I'm riding it, I'm not going to stand behind you for 20 minutes while you and your friends debate about who's riding and who's not. I'm going around you and getting in line.

I hate it when groups of people stand there in front of the entrance to the rides and just look at each other.. then when I walk past them into the queue, they give me dirty looks.. you weren't technically in line, so either get in line or get out of the way.

I've thought several times about jumping in there on a blistering hot day, but i don't have the nerve to do something that may get me ejected from the park. There was one time when I went this summer, and it was in the low 90s with no clouds and no breeze. But alas, I didn't have my bikini with me, so no Boomerang Bay for me.

Friday wasn't too bad. I got 9 rides in 6 hours, including front seat on Dragster. Saturday waits were god awful. I'm talking 3/4 hour wait for Corkscrew and Iron Dragon, it was THAT busy. The wait for Dragster was 1 1/2 to 2 hours all day Saturday, and the wait for Maverick was easily 2 hours.

If I can get 15 rides in 14 hours AND a haunt on a sunny, extremely crowded Halloweekends Saturday at Cedar Point (including 3 rides on Dragster!), you can break The Racer record. Anything is possible.

Something I forgot to add: On my first ride on Millie on Sunday, it finally happened. At the bottom of the first hill, I got that light headed feeling, it got more intense, and I was looking at the world through gray-colored glasses for a second.. then I saw white sparkles, and the feeling went away about halfway through the first overbanked turn. It lasted about 2-3 seconds. In the 37 times I've ridden Millie, there have been 2 other times when I've seen little white dots at the bottom of the hill, but that was the first time I've ever grayed out on it.

This weekend was sunny all day, Friday through Sunday. I saw maybe 2 clouds and that was it. BooBuzz was also going on Saturday, plus Sunday the park was open until 10pm instead of the normal 8pm time. The outdoor walk-through attractions, which normally aren't open Sundays, were open on the 12th. So this was a big weekend for CP.

I ate so many mosquitoes on TTD and MF this weekend, after a while I learned to live with it It's pretty much an expected thing up there.. who gives a rip about bugs when you're dropping 300 feet at 80 degrees?

Thank you! I'm always looking for a photo opportunity at a park, I personally love trying to get the trains in the photos. I can't believe I got 2 train shots on Dragster. What I love doing is standing in the Dragster entrance right under the track as it launches. You can feel the ground tremble, and it sounds like a low flying jet racing overhead. Gives me chills every time, no matter how hot it is outside. You think the FOF launch is intense? Double that and race 40 stories straight up in about 2 seconds, with only a lap bar and seat belt to save you. IMO it will be the best 17 seconds of your life. I LOVE DRAGSTER! I'm glad someone agrees with me that Maxair > Delirium. Delirium seems to jerk you as it swings. Maxair is SO SMOOTH and you definitely get more upward swings, not to mention it does swing higher. The website is wrong, they are NOT the same ride. I've ridden both many, many times, and there is a marked difference. Bre is the ride op with straight brown hair. And I really do want to hit SFMM one day, isn't it supposed to be SF's best park?

Skyscraper isn't for the faint of heart, that's for sure. If you hold your legs straight out and then tuck them under really fast and point your arms forward, you can get your seat to flip about 4 times. Anyone looking for an extreme thrill should pay the price and experience it. It's worth every penny.

Sunday: MUCH BETTER day at the Point. I took the advice of many, and drove around to the Soak City lot. I got an amazing photo of Millie.. with the red train stuck on the hill. First drop.. mmhmm, yeah. I was told this pulls 5 Gs.. can anyone clarify this? I arrived in the SC lot to see two familiar faces.. Bre and Bryan! I ran up and introduced myself, as it was likely the only chance I'd see Bre not in the Maggie station, kind of hard to hold a conversation with a ride op for more than 10 seconds. Very friendly, cool, awesome, fun people. I just wish they didn't live so far away, I like actually being able to spend time with people. Maggie's hill, with Ripcord and Skyscraper in the background. Once the SC gate opened, everyone started booking it for Maverick, so I said what the heck and started running. I only ran so far before my lungs started to hurt, and just as I got to the queue, Bryan texted me and said he beat me to Maverick. I got to the station to see him on one of the trains. I got off my first ride on Maverick, and caught up with Bryan. We rode Maverick again, and noticed the line was getting yucky already, so we headed over to what he refers to as "boring hawk." I kind of have to agree, I mean the cycle is like what 45 seconds? We ran over to Maggie to get the first train, and I took a photo of the sign just to prove what is indeed line jumping, since there seems to be a bit of controversy.. if you ask me, the ones starting the controversy are the culprits in the first place.. don't argue, just follow the rules. It's not hard. We rode Maggie twice in the back row.. with the trims off. Now that was good stuff. Bryan wanted the ejector seat but it was closed, and Bre looked at him and said "I would have stapled you." Gotta love that girl. I hit Dragster because I figured since it was morning, I might get a rollback.. nope. I'm doomed to only watch it happen and not get one. I hit the red side of Power Tower because there was virtually no line, and then went to the Sky Ride because by this time, it was getting warm and I was tired of walking, so then I went for Wicked Twister in the cool seat where you get that unobstructed view looking straight down. Another beach view from Twister I was walking toward Millie when I saw Single Rider Guy, so I said "Hey single rider man!" and he smiled and said hi back. I got 2 rides in a row on Millie, the wait was less than 45 minutes. I can't believe I got this amazing shot. I'm running out of captions. You pretty much get the idea, no words are needed. Intamin track, in your face! Another amazing shot. It's only 93 mph, why are you screaming? Yum, airtime. My favorite part. I love this drop so much it almost makes my eyes roll back in my head. I decided to finally overcome my nerves and hit Skyscraper (for those of you who don't know, it's a 150-foot tall propeller with open seats on each side that spin in a full 360 either forward or backward. The tower itself spins at 55 mph). Bre had said it was the most intense thing she's ever experienced, so I decided to give it a shot, I didn't drive 3 hours to chicken out. On my way to Challenge Park, I got some photos of Maverick for you guys to enjoy. Gemini's racing trains! Thrillseekers in training.. look at the little girl on the left throwing her hands up. That was just too cute not to share. Me enjoying a blue Icee. It was getting very hot out by this point. Going up on Maggie! Going down on Dragster! See that yellow tower?? It's time for my *gulp* first ride!! I remember telling myself to keep walking TOWARD this huge yellow tower as I walked through the exit under Maggie and toward Challenge Park. As I was getting very tightly harnessed in on Skyscraper, and told that I could only hold on to my harness, I felt fear strike me hard, but I managed to stay calm. Bryan asked me if I wanted to spin, and I said I didn't know, so he spun my seat and started the ride. My knuckles were white and I remember screaming OH MY (expletive) GOD!! About 5 seconds later I let go of my harness and rode with my hands up. H O L Y C O W. Bre wasn't lying. That thing is totally out of control. I loved every second of it, although I have to admit it's the first thing I've ever ridden that I wished I had a diaper just in case. Very much worth the $20. After that, I headed back to Dragster. I was wondering if any ride in the park would be as thrilling after riding Skyscraper. The wait was only 45 minutes, it was no hour and a half. The signs seemed to be way off all day.. not that I'm complaining. I hit the blue side of Power Tower, nowhere near as thrilling as Skyscraper (can you tell I loved it??). Then it was back to Wicked Twister, for another ride in the cool seat. Twister never fails to make me cuss like a sailor's wife on that second backwards launch, I love it. Another beach photo. Off to Raptor I went, and it was almost my turn to ride when someone got sick in the station. I hate the fact that people laugh and point and describe the chunks, etc. Leave them alone, seriously. Twisted B&M track! Not just ride photos anymore.. I realized that in a few hours, my trip was coming to an end, so I ran for my precious Millie. I was really wanting another ride on Skyscraper, so I ran back to Challenge Park. On the way there, I saw that CornStalkers was just starting. I couldn't see ANYTHING through that fog, and I got the living garbage scared out of me a few times. Now that's what I call a haunt, if you're going to do something like that, you'd better scare me good or I won't come back. I shelled out another $20, and scraped the sky again.. my god.. I can't get enough. I'm telling you, it's worth it. Bryan and the other ride op started joking about holding me upside down, then they took hold of my seat and spun my seat like 6 times.. I remember yelling "(expletive) BRYAN I'M GOING TO (expletive) KILL YOU!!!!!" I didn't actually mean it though, lol. Ben and I met up, and we hit the red side of Power Tower, and then decided to be idiots and scream our heads off on the front seat of Corkscrew. Everyone behind us on the train was laughing. I love doing that. We headed for Dragster for a night ride, and I convinced Ben to ride Skyscraper with me. He works there, yet he's never ridden it. It's $10 a person when 2 people ride, but again, WORTH IT. We got a night ride on this.. unbelievable. Ben looked like he was scared out of his mind, and said he hated me and didn't like me anymore, but he admitted that it was crazy awesome. We headed for one last ride on Wicked Twister, and as we were heading to Millie, I realized that my trip was coming to an end, and that I won't see anyone I met until next spring. I pretty much broke down in tears. Dragster christmas tree One last look.. I'm going to miss you. My last ride at Cedar Point was Millie's last train, in the very back seat. As I headed back to my car, I saw Bre and Bryan leaving, and we said our goodbyes.. and I started the long, lonely, dark drive home. It was about 2:45 am when I got back to my house. What an amazing, unbelievable weekend. Sunday ride count: Millennium Force - 4 Skyscraper - 3 Dragster - 3 Wicked Twister - 3 Power Tower - 3 (2 red, 1 blue) Maverick - 2 Magnum - 2 Raptor - 1 Skyhawk - 1 Corkscrew - 1 Sky Ride - 1 TOTAL RIDES FOR THE WEEKEND: Power Tower - 8 (5 red, 3 blue) Millennium Force - 7 Dragster - 7 Wicked Twister - 6 Magnum - 5 Skyscraper - 3 Maverick - 3 Sky Ride - 2 Raptor - 2 Skyhawk - 1 Corkscrew - 1 Maxair - 1 Iron Dragon - 1 CP/LE Railroad - 1

Saturday: OH MY GOD. I stopped for an iced coffee at McDonalds, then headed over to the park. I was directed to an area by a fence so obscure that I looked to my left and saw Demon Drop and Raptor. This is what I saw at 10:30 when I got to the entrance (park opens at noon to the public, but 11 am for platinum passholders). Not starting off too well. I'm closer than I was before, thank goodness they opened more entrance lanes. I headed straight for Millennium Force again. The wait wasn't bad, about 20 minutes, but it was growing, fast. Millie airtime hills! I walked over to Maverick, and the wait was already 2 hours. I had just gotten to the entrance when they announced that it had broken down. Frustrated, I walked over to Magnum, which wasn't open yet. It was here that I remembered it wasn't only a sunny Halloweekends Saturday, but BooBuzz was going on too.. I realized then that I may not have such a wonderful day. I was waiting to be one of the first to ride Magnum, when I heard the crowd gasping and then cheering extremely loudly behind me. I looked up just in time to see Dragster roll back! I booked it to Dragster, but they were only running half-full trains, and by the time they got to full capacity, it was running just fine. When it was my turn to ride, it hovered at the top of the hill for a second or two, and then went down normally. Dragster queue Not just roller coasters and thrill rides.. anyone up for some Lake Erie water sports? I wanted to ride the turbo drop side of Power Tower, but the line was already back into the queue. So I hit the red side instead. That line was much shorter. I went for Wicked Twister, and the line was half an hour. How about some beach photos? Wicked Twister queue. I can't remember who told me that if you ride the second seat from the back on the right side, you get a completely unobstructed view looking straight down. I rode that seat, and WOW, they were right. There is nothing below you in that seat.. I'm spoiled now. Look! Cedar Point has one of these too, and while I was taking the photo, they were having a screaming contest on it. This one is Ocean Motion. After this, I headed back to Magnum, and got a shot of Corkscrew on the way. This is where my day gets really bad. Magnum was over an hour wait. After Maggie, I went to go ride Dragster.. and changed my mind. At this point, I was trying very hard to stay optimistic. I took a deep breath and headed to Maverick. I took one look at the line, and grabbed some food and water. THE LINE WAS WRAPPED AROUND THE QUEUE, AND BACKED UP ALL THE WAY TO CHICK FIL A. I'm almost to the queue entrance! I managed to get 2 trains in one shot, though. I'm inside, and the line is STILL backed up to Chick Fil A. FINALLY! I decided after all that, that I'd ride in the front seat. Surprisingly enough, I was only 2 trains away when I got to the loading station. That huge wait in line was totally worth the very front seat. Maverick is wicked awesome. After that, I decided to see what the wait was for Millennium. Iron Dragon queue. Millie's queue was full to the switchbacks, and backed up almost to the lockers. I wanted to cry. I hit Magnum, waited about an hour and 15 minutes, saw my friend again, then decided to go ahead and wait the 2 hours for Dragster because I really wanted to ride it. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I was really hyped about riding Dragster this weekend. I couldn't stop watching it. I hit both sides of Power Tower because the lines were short, and then met up with my friend Ben. We went for Wicked Twister, and I let him ride in the "cool" seat. We headed to Iron Dragon, and decided we were going to scream through the whole ride like we were terrified. He was screaming bloody murder, and I was laughing so hard at one point that I couldn't scream anymore. The girls in front of us were like "Are you serious?" It was so funny. I love being stupid sometimes. Ben headed for the Sky Ride because we were tired of walking, and he didn't realize how scared I am of that thing. I do not like the thought of swinging from a bucket on a string that high in the air. I finally just took a deep breath and relaxed, and I was fine. Then it was off to the Cedar Point/Lake Erie Railroad, because he wanted to go to a haunt. I said why not, so we went to CarnEvil.. wow, that was a pointless waste of time. ONE person jumped out and ALMOST scared me. Everyone else was just walking around kind of looking at you. Our last ride of the night was Dragster's last train. We didn't leave the park until 1 am. There was a dragster car outside of Coasters Drive-in that I had to get a picture of. It had a skeleton in the drivers seat, once again, sorry for the bad quality. Saturday ride count: Power Tower - 3 (2 red, 1 blue) Dragster - 3 Magnum - 2 Wicked Twister - 2 Millennium Force - 1 Maverick - 1 Iron Dragon - 1 CP/LE Railroad - 1 Sky Ride - 1 The park was packed, it was hot, and lines were ridiculous, even Corkscrew had a 3/4 hour wait, but I still had a great time. Sunday's PTR will be posted tomorrow afternoon. Thanks everyone for bearing with me.

This is going to take multiple posts, so please bear with me, as I was there for almost 3 days. I left work and headed straight for Cedar Point. I got stuck behind a train on Route 6. Just as I thought that one had passed, here comes another train from the opposite direction.. COME ON!! There are no words to describe the excitement I felt as I passed over the causeway and felt the cool lake air blow through my car windows, and the sounds of seagulls.. like someone else said, it's like driving toward the gates of heaven. By this time I was dancing in my seat, I was so excited. I got to the park around 6:30 pm Friday. Raptor riders screaming past me! You know where I'm headed first! Who would have guessed? As I was in line for Millie, I saw Single Rider Guy in the yellow shirt, he was running back toward the entrance and everyone was yelling GO, GO, GO! Sorry for the blurry photo, I was kind of in a hurry. Zooming overhead at 93 mph! I decided I had to get a ride on Dragster before the night was over, so I headed over there. I hit the slingshot side of Power Tower on my way there, why not ride it if it's on the way? Power Tower is so pretty at night. The turbo drop side.. and the slingshot side. I hit Dragster, and the line was only half an hour. Photos do NOT do justice to this 42-story monster. I ended up talking to a group of 3 people, and the girl that said she wanted to ride with me asked if I wanted to ride in the very front.. you better believe I didn't turn that down. So I got a night ride on Dragster in the front seat. I'm one of those people that throw their hands up at the green light and keep them up until it's back on the brake run. That was wild. Riders getting ready to launch on Dragster! It's only 0-120 mph in 4 seconds, don't look so scared! I headed toward Magnum, I'd never ridden it at night and I wanted to say hi to my friend Bre that works on it. I saw her, and waved, but I don't think she recognized me. Magnum is amazing at night. I headed back toward the front of the park and hit the turbo drop side of Power Tower. After that I got to meet my friend Bryan that works in Challenge Park, but then he had to go back to work. Fog from Iron Dragon and fright zones. I went for Wicked Twister in the very back seat, and said hi to my friend Scott that works on the ride. Wicked Twister looks so evil at night. Not ready for the 209-foot drop and a re-launch? Too bad! I saw Maxair and decided I had to ride it, just to compare it to Delirium. I'm sorry guys, but Maxair is much better. I'm aware that the website says the ride cycle is the same length, but Maxair is smoother. You feel as if you're being tossed gently, not flung around and jerked around, besides, you actually feel as if you're upside down at several points during the ride, and the airtime is unreal. I don't know who agrees with me on this, but with all due respect, Maxair destroys Delirium. I headed for Raptor, not too long of a wait. I made the mistake of riding in the middle, and got jerked around quite a bit. Got some nice photos, though. B&M in your face! Check out my hoodie.. haha my nose and lips are red because it was cold, it was in the mid 50s with a strong breeze off the lake.. wow, that was really, really cold. I headed toward Millennium Force for a night ride, and got a shot of Coasters Drive-in. I love how it looks at night, it's so nostalgic. Cedar Point has a Halloweekends hearse! Millennium Force at night was, as always, AMAZING, and I got on the second to last train. I wanted last train, but that sadly did not happen for me. I left the park around 12:30 am. Friday ride count: Millennium Force - 2 Power Tower - 2 (one red, one blue) Top Thrill Dragster - 1 Magnum - 1 Wicked Twister - 1 Raptor - 1 Maxair - 1 I apologize for the bad quality in some of my photos. Much better ones are coming. Saturday and Sunday still to come!

My last trip there, when I pretty much walked right up to the gate on Drop Tower to see the ride only half full, and the only other living organism in the queue was a cricket. Also when I went with one of my closest friends from work. Though the park was packed, we got severely sunburnt and our ride count was low, we had a great time. We rarely get to catch up at work, so spending the entire day together was really nice.

It can be at any park. Kings Island: The roar of Drop Tower as it comes back down The sound Delirium makes as it swings through the air The launch on FOF when you're in the station Cedar Point: The roar from Raptor and Mantis The sound of the LIM motors mixed with everyone's scream on the first launch on Wicked Twister The cries of the seagulls overhead The roar of Dragster overhead when you're right by the entrance.. and if you stand right under the entrance, you can feel the ground tremble Walking through Frontier Trail and hearing Millennium roar all around you Magnum's lift hill

I love straight drops. That first drop on Millie and the one on Maverick are just amazing. I can't get enough of that stomach-in-your-throat feeling from being thrown straight down like that.. another reason why I love free fall towers.

Unless I fly to one of the year round parks, I won't be able to spend my birthday at an amusement park. That is what stinks about having a birthday in March.

This is the point I have been trying to make throughout the entire post. It's about time someone agrees with me.

I could not have said it better myself, sometimes real life bar scenes are pretty scary too. Especially when a big bar brawl breaks out and everyone scatters, and you're walking around at 2 am in a skirt and heels getting whistled at by cars driving by while you're looking for your friends.