Ride On_17

There was a live video feed of the evacuation. It was pretty crazy to watch.

Here's something I posted over on PointBuzz... To add to the fun speculation, here's just what I personally think will come to the park for 2015. 1. A new pavilion. By now it's pretty obvious that something will be going on with that area (Fear Faire not being listed on the HW site, while the site was still fully accessible), various markings in this area, and the fact that 2 other Cedar Fair parks (Carowinds and California's Great America) have announced new pavilion like structures. I'd even love for something more like Harmony Hall at Carowinds. It would be nice to have a big food court area like that, although maybe the multi use functions of the new pavilion at CGA could be good too. 2. A WMG style dark ride at the site of the old Pirate Ride building. Different layout, different theme, and hopefully an improvement over WMG. I'm sure Cedar Fair has been listening to the feedback from this ride and plans on tweaking the ride experience to make it better. At least I hope this is the case, if the Point gets a dark ride like this. I'd still rather have a traditional, non interactive dark ride but I guess it would be better than nothing. Between Tony's pirate-like tweets, his Canadian tweet (my guess is referencing WMG since it's in Canada), and Jason's picture of the old Pirate Ride building by listing the rides in view and ending with "and" there is plenty of evidence to support this theory. This has no evidence to back it up at all but is more of my own personal wish. I hope that maybe this will also be part of a multi year Blue Streak midway improvement/expansion that will be announced. In addition to the new dark ride, the area immediately around it and near BS will be enhance. 3. A retheme/ravamp of Mantis into Rougarou. At the very least, new paint and new theming to go along with the name change. At the most, a floorless conversion. I'm still not sure if this is even possible, but it sure would be nice. There is the trademarked Rougarou name, the grain-of-salt (yet still interesting) rumor that I have heard of Mantis closing in September, and the visual evidence of new paint on a portion of the ride, it looks as if something will be going on with it. If it wasn't for the paint I'd still be very skeptical of Mantis changing for next year, but I feel like it pretty much validates at least its color scheme will change. Whatever ends up coming next year, I'm sure it will be great. Cedar Point has not been disappointing recently and their most recent additions have been completed with high quality. I can't wait to find out what's in store. Also, I'm sure an announcement date can't be too far off. It's already August and typically announcement are made in the middle of end of the month. Hopefully we'll find out soon!

So I finally got around to making this trip report. Our friend who works at the park once again was able to get us free tickets so we (my parents and I) were very thankful. We decided on this day, Thursday the 10th, since the weather looked decent. It wasn't supposed to be too hot and it was supposed to rain/storm in the morning so we hoped this might hold off some of the crowds like in previous years. We sure were right! It ended up being a perfect day. We arrived at the park a little after opening and headed straight for El Toro. No line at all. I wanted to ride in the back and got right on within a few minutes. It was such a perfect way to start the day, and the coaster was just as crazy intense as I remembered it. There really is no other coaster like it (as far as I've experienced) when it comes to its intensity. It literally leaves you breathless and speechless. I wanted to go on it again, so this time we rode in the front. I definitely like the back a lot better. In the front, there are only a few "OMG!!!" airtime moments, unlike the back where it's like this constantly. Plus the first drop was disappointing. Yes, it's fun just hanging over the crest but you don't get the insane negative Gs like you do in the back. Still fun though. Next it was finally time to try out Zumanjaro! Thankfully it had opened the week before, so I was very excited to ride it. It seemed amazing and I knew I would love it. First off, I love how you can hear the people screaming while you're still pretty far away from it. This section of the park is relatively quiet so you can hear the screaming coming from the ride really well. It adds to the excitement as you make the long trek back to the ride entrance. I do hope the park adds more to this area, since right now there's just Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro, as well as a kids water/spray park thing. For having to walk such a long way to get to either of these 2 rides, it's too bad there isn't more to do. Yet. So finally we made it to the entrance. Then you have to keep on walking a ways until you reach the covered queue area. It was sad walking along where Rolling Thunder used to be. I'm still mad they took it out, especially since it wasn't even immediately replaced with anything. Anyway, in total we waited between 1 to 1 1/2 hours to ride, but it was worth it. There was one girl who passed out in line ahead of us, so that was pretty scary. Even though it wasn't too hot, she just probably wasn't drinking water. I was really impressed with how quickly the park took action. Within several minutes, the park's ambulance/EMT was at the scene. Thankfully the girl was alright but they took her away, probably just to be safe and to let her rest and have her get some water. The park did an amazing job being quick to the scene. It was such a pain how Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka can't run at the same time, since that means lines for both rides would be lengthened substantially. These already poor capacity rides would have even worse capacity. But there's nothing that can be done about it, so you just have to be patient. Kingda Ka runs 2 trains and then Zumanjaro completes a cycle. Repeat. Eventually it was our turn to ride. An employee divides people to go into 3 separate little waiting areas, one for each of the 3 ride cars. We got assigned to the far car (if you're looking at the front of Kingda Ka, the car farthest to the right). And it worked out that I was able to get the far outer end seat! The seats and restraints are very comfortable. Unlike some other Drop Towers, the seats don't tilt forward slightly, although I sort of wish they did. That adds to the thrill. But the restraints give you a lot of freedom and comfort. You start by slowly lifting up out of the load area. You continue on up, gradually increasing height. It was so funny listening to all the others rides. People really start to freak out the higher the ride goes and it's so funny to hear. The suspense keeps building as you climb higher and higher, an amazing view unfolding in front of you. You can see the entire park, as well as the beautiful forests that surround the park. It truly is breathtaking. I also thought it was cool looking to my left and seeing the green track of Kingda Ka. It is very cool being attached to the coaster. Then as you start to reach the top, the ride cars slow down a lot. So much that it feels like you have completely stopped unless you look to your side and see that you are still moving slightly up in relation to the coaster track. This is the point when everyone really freaks out, since by now everyone know we have almost stopped. Unlike the S&S Drop Towers, you don't fall/click into place. You just come to a gentle stop and hang there, waiting. The suspense is amazing, since you are so high up and have time to realize that in a few seconds, you're going to come plummeting back down to the ground. Suddenly your stomach lifts up into your throat as the cars are released and plummet down. You experience true weightlessness and it is such an incredible feeling. Now here is what is so cool about this ride. You continue to gain speed as you descend the tower, and the brakes don't slow you until you are precariously close to the ground. Just when you feel you can't get possibly faster and you're going to crash into the Earth at 90 miles per hour, you are pushed into your seat as the brakes smoothly glide you to a crawl to lower you back into the station. This ride is a pure adrenaline rush and I'd wait hours and hours for it. I think it would be a cool idea if that ride had on-ride video cameras that you could purchase the video, or at least a regular camera. But oh well. The ride experience itself is amazing. I had hoped to ride Kingda Ka next, but unfortunately it was down. So we were starting to get hungry and decided to get something in the food court just outside of the entrance to the Golden Kingdom. We got chicken tenders, fries, and shakes. It felt good to sit down and relax for a little before moving on. Before riding something too crazy yet, we decided to try the Parachute Training Center. We hadn't gone on it before and I wanted to try it. Only waited a few minutes, but my mom and I had to split up since there's a weight limit on the ride, and the 2 of us together exceeded it. It was a nice view from the top but it's such a short ride. Relaxing, though. Plus our ride op was fun. She was happy and gave everyone high fives before they rode. To continue on with the gentler rides, we went to the Big Wheel. The line was pretty slow and we ended up waiting 20-30 minutes for it. But it was nice having a long ride on it to enjoy the view of the park. Following this, I really wanted to try the Dark Knight Coaster. I had never been on it and wanted to experience it. I had heard mixed review about it so I was curious about trying it out for myself. We only waited about 5 minutes outside before going inside for the pre-show. I really enjoyed how it started, and it set up the atmosphere and theme. Why can't Cedar Fair have something as simple as this????? Then for the actual ride itself, I was really impressed. I love indoor coasters, and I'll be honest: I'm jealous Great Adventure has 2. Granted I never liked Disaster Transport at Cedar Point, but since it's my home park, at least it was unique. Indoor coasters are so cool since they can surprise you with twists and hills and are unique to the other rides. Even though the Dark Knight Coaster isn't heavily themed, what it does have is pretty cool. Plus I'm a huge fan of Wild Mouse coasters. Every park should have one (*cough cough* Cedar Point). When we got back into the station, the group from the next pre show hadn't entered yet so instead of running empty trains, the ride ops offered for us to stay on to ride again. So of course we did! It was just as fun the 2nd time and it was awesome to be able to do that. If you get lucky and are able to ride again before the next group enters the station, do it. Next it was time to try Batman: The Ride. I had never been on this coaster either. I know it's a generic clone like some other Six Flags rides but I've heard it's pretty intense and has been described like Raptor in 30 seconds. After waiting 5/10 minutes for the front row, I could see why. It may be short and compact, but it sure does pack a punch. It was fun and pretty intense, and I enjoyed it. I wanted to ride Nitro next, and after a half hour wait we were in the front row. However, while waiting in line under the stairs going up to the station, somebody spit and thankfully most of it missed me, but a little bit landed on my head. I quickly looked up and saw someone pull their head back. That was frustrating. But I love this ride, and the view and experience from the front is great. My favorite part is either the first drop or the 2nd element of the ride, the hill that banks sharply at the top and dives down to the left. There's also a smaller one right before the helix. I love the sensation you get, since it is a combination of laterals and airtime. Then 20 minutes later we were back on it, this time in the back row. I love the airtime you get in the back, especially the first drop. Plus Nitro doesn't have the rattle that so many never B&Ms have, even Diamondback. It's such a smooth coaster. From here we were going to take the cable cars over to Bizarro, but they were down. We walked over and only waited about 5 minutes for the front. This ride was a little bumpier than I remembered but it was still fun. I like floorless coasters and this is a great one. Thankfully I saw that Kingda Ka was running, so we decided to head to it. After the long walk, we made it and it was open! We waited about a half hour and then we were on it in the front row. It definitely rattles more and is rougher than Dragster, plus I hate the OTSRs and how secluded it is. Dragster is still way better, but KK is a fun coaster. Even though it's only 8 mph faster than Dragster, it does feel more intense. It was around 9 pm and was getting dark, so my mom and I decided to quickly head over to El Toro. I wish we could just cut through, since it's a pain walking all the way around to get to it. We waited about 15 minutes and rode in the back. This was my first night ride on El Toro and it was AMAZING. In the day this coaster is incredible. At night (and especially in the back), it's pure insanity. It was 9:30 and we hurried all the way back around to Zumanjaro. So much walking! I had planned all along for us to end the night with this ride, since I knew the view from the top would be awesome at night. So we got in line and only waited about 20 minutes before we were once again waiting to get on the far car. We were going to be on the next ride cycle when the ride went down. The ride ops announced it was down and the people who had just boarded got back off. Some of them came back in line and others decided to leave. I was so disappointed, since I had waited so long to be able to get a night ride on this ride. We decided to wait and hope that it was just a quick fix. After about 15 minutes, they ran 2 tests of it. Then they opened it back up! People got back on it, but we were still in line. Then just as they got checked and the ride was about to start...it went down again. This time I was even more upset since I really didn't think it would ever reopen, especially since it was already after close. But I could tell the staff didn't just want to close the ride and make everyone still in line leave. They kept working on it, and after another 15 minutes they did 2 more tests. Some people in line in front of us had left so if the ride repoened, we would get on it next. So after the test runs, they let us board. We got seated, our restraints were checked, and we were given the clear to go. Then...were started our ascent! The ride worked! It was finally time to get my night ride on Zumanjaro. The climb at night was even freakier than during the day, and it was so cool. The experience is like nothing else. Then you plummet toward the Earth, and all you can see is darkness and the sensation of freefall and speed. The feeling is out of this world, and you don't regain your sanity until you feel the magnetic brakes slow you down. As we exited the ride, I couldn't stop talking about it all the way back to our car. We had an amazing day at the park. Lines weren't bad at all and the weather was great. Six Flags does annoy me with its advertising all throughout the park (especially giant banners in lines, ads covering coaster cars, and a massive "Jersey Boys" banner spread across El Toro's hill). But the coasters and rides at this park are so much fun. Already I'm excited about returning next year!

I'm especially surprised with Magnum. It has been said that it was the coaster that basically started what became the "coaster wars."

Darn Senior Project! Maybe I'll be able to go to this since I'm not entirely sure of my availbility that month, but I sure hope I can!

This article is really interesting, and highlights some of the most influential and important coaster ever created. This includes the origins to the roller coaster and the first "scream machines" that existed! The Beast is one of them, and I'm not surprised at all by this. http://mentalfloss.com/article/58035/10-roller-coasters-changed-america

Maybe referring to that the new coaster will be another B&M?

That's so awesome! You're lucky you were filming when that happened. I think we all love you for that!

Wow, that fence got fixed fast.

I'd still rather have a traditional, non shooting dark ride but oh well.

Wow, this is horrible. Now the latest is 2 injuries, with one of them being a broken leg. Apparently riders onboard were freaking out when it happened according to people who were there. Very scary. And that really smashed out that piece of fence...crazy. Thankfully it wasn't during the day since usually a lot of people stand right around that spot, but I'm not sure if there were people hit by flying fence pieces. Thankfully none of the injuries are life threatening. I really love Skyhawk but do you think it could be on its way out due to all its incidents, especially this one?

I love how much time it seems like you spent on it. Great vision and imagination!

To be honest, Gatekeeper actually slipped my mind when creating my list. The back left of that coaster is amazing.

New Jersey's Finest Theme Park!

Knowing Tony he probably did not just randomly do that. Or did he? With him it's nearly impossible to tell what are clues and what aren't. I guess that's part of the fun with Cedar Point speculation.

And it's not a coaster but since Terpy mentioned Demon Drop, I'd have to give an honorable mention to Zumanjaro. The suspense as you ascent... Then slowly crawl to a stop... Giving you several seconds to grip tightly (or in my case, stick your legs out and put your arms out )... And to enjoy the amazing view... Before suddenly plummeting down to the Earth, getting faster and faster the farther you drop... Big Droppy Thing sure is incredible and sure does have an amazing big drop.

I searched and didn't see anything like this so I thought it could be a fun topic. What is everyone's list of favorite roller coaster first drops? Also, be sure to list if it's in a particular seat. And different seats can count as a spot, as seen in mine. I love drops with airtime and weightlessness, so that is mostly how my list is ranked. Feel free to indicate if there's any particular reason you chose that seat/ride. 1. El Toro (Back seat. I've never experienced more intense airtime before) 2. Diamondback (Back seat. All I can say is WOW.) 3. Maverick (Back seat. Extreme ejector air.) 4. Millennium Force (Back seat. Major airtime.) 5. Banshee (Back seat. Not only was I extremely surprised by this airtime, it is super intense.) 6. Diamondback (Front seat. I love how you hang there at the time.) 7. Steel Force (Back seat. Tons of great airtime.) 8. Nitro (Back seat. Great airtime.) 9. Millennium Force (Front seat. It's fun hanging at the top, but I especially love it for the view.) 10. Dragster (Front seat. Can't beat the view. Even though it's short, it's worth it.)

There's a new, very intereresting blog. Lots of pictures, including the old Pirate Ride building, Point Pavilion, the structure by GK (the hew haunt), Mantis, the lagoons near Adventure Island, and Mean Streak. I'm not sure what to believe as diversions or clues. Plus what Tony said at the end is interesting. "We won't make you wait a century... But don't trust the 'Lemon Chill Guy' And maybe, just maybe, don't trust mi?" Yes, he did say "mi." I have no clue what that means though. https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/Thanks-For-The-Fun

I agree, especially for the near miss elements with the barn.

Just the fact that B&M now has a launching coaster has boosted my appreciation of them way up. I can only hope that this will be the first of many. As of right now, that's what I thought what they were lacking the most between them and Intamin. As others have said, Intamin better start watching out. B&Ms suddenly taking huge leaps and bounds in the industry.

This coaster looks so awesome. I'm very impressed, not only with Holiday World adding a (STEEL!!) coaster of this scale, but also for B&M for incorporating a launch. I really need to go to Holiday World even more so than I did before this announcement.

Sorry to bring back this topic, but the required amount of money needed for this is still over twice the amount that has currently been donated. Please spread the word!

There are just so many clues and pieces to this puzzle. Unlike in previous years when a major addition was coming next year, at this point in time I am clueless as to what's coming. And I love that. I can't wait to be surprised, as long as no blueprints or leaked documents (or websites) get out ahead of time.

So the Coaster Campout was being called Camp Rou...any connection to the trademarked name Rougarou? I know originally this was suspected as the name of a new haunt in the building next to The Beast at KI, but PointBuzz member kevinj gave a good point that Cedar Fair never trademarks Haunt names. Even look at the ones Cedar Point just announced for this upcomong HalloWeekends: neither Hexed nor Tombstone Terror-Tory have trademarks. Do some more digging and you'll see there are no Haunt or HalloWeekends trademarks. Using this train of sense, Rougarou will be the name of a new ride. Could "Camp Rou" just be a simple diversion...or a clue as to something coming to the Point next year?

So apparently 2 new haunts were announced at the Coaster Campout. In addition to the Hexed haunted house, another one (presumably an outdoor walkthrough or maze) will be called Tombstone Terror-Tory. But as far as I can tell, the location for that one is still unkown.