Cedar Point Trip- 6/21 and 6/22

[cassie_KY]

On June 20th, six of us packed up and left Charleston, WV for Cedar Point. I was the only one in the bunch who had never attended the park and had been counting the days to the trip. A five hour drive up 77 and we were there. We stayed off-site because the idea of paying so much to be “closer to the action” just wasn’t worth it. We are season passholders and already got the free parking and one hour ERT.

DAY ONE

Saturday morning, we were walking through the front entrance a little after nine. I was very surprised that there aren’t any metal detectors there or anyone checking bags. Later conversations in the day had us guessing just what type of items came into the park each day that would be illegal at King’s Island or other parks that check guest belongings.

We headed straight back to Maverick. Since it was the newest coaster, we wanted to hit that before the crowds got huge. It was a half hour wait. I thought the western-themed music was entertaining and did my best rendition of “Rawhide” when it played. When we got to the top of the stairs, one of the ride-ops came back and asked for two riders. I stuck my hand up and she waved us up. I couldn’t believe it, there were two back seats open! We strapped in and were ready. I really like that they cue up two trains at a time. The launch up the hill was great and the location by the water was gorgeous. Then, first drop and I lost my seat! This ride is great. Not rough, no shaking, no head-banging and much longer than I thought it was. A+

Walking back towards the front, we walked onto Gemini (blue train). It is a racing coaster and the ride had turned 30 on June 17th. Fun ride, but I would like to have had a little more cushioning in the seats because it jarred my back a little. The helix at the end was unexpected, but good! Nice ride that still has it.

It was time to hit another of the big coasters. We headed over to Magnum. I am the first to admit that I don’t like heights, but I wanted to see what these big coasters are all about. The wait was about ten minutes and we were ready to go. I admit, about half-way up the lift hill, I quit looking around! The drop is fun and a good smooth ride. Not as scary as I thought it was going to be. The tunnels were fun and the smoke was a nice effect.

We decided to head back toward Millennium Force and, on the way, we passed the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. With no wait, we decided to try it out. OK, for all grown-ups, when they put the lap bar down, do not keep your legs at normal position. The bars all ratchet together and there is no adjusting. I am 5’8” and Nathan is 6’2”. We were talking and getting ready for the ride to start when PAIN. The bar came down and mashed the daylights out of your thighs. To relieve it, we rode with our ankles crossed and legs lowered as much as we could. It’s a fun little ride, that puts you in mind of Adventure Express, but I don’t think I will be riding it again unless I ride by myself so I have a place to stretch my legs out.

We walked up part of Frontier Trail and stopped at the petting zoo (complete with one “I am ready to blow this joint” turkey) and checked out the Fort and the grist mill they have on display. By then, our group caught up with us and we thought we’d do a couple rides together. We headed over to the Skycoaster. I immediately saw it failed my “non-dangly feet” requirement and chose to sit it out. Another person in our group was the same way. We found a bench and watched the rest head over. They had about a fifteen minute wait. They have these benches set up that when you look up, you are eye-to-eye with the people on the ride when it is at it’s fullest swing. I am just glad that nothing came down on us! Our group mates said it was a fun ride and was like a huge swing, but it was a little nerve-wracking when the ride got to the top and hung there for a moment.

On to Millennium Force! I had been eyeing that blue coaster all day. The wait was pretty long at nearly an hour and a half. Most of the queue line is covered and the misting fans felt pretty good. We get to the station and start to buckle in. One of our friends was unable to get the seatbelt to close and he had to sit it out. He had ridden it before and had not changed size, the seatbelts were smaller. As he would have been sitting directly in front of me, I didn’t have any distractions in front of me. The trip up the lift hill is very fast and we were off. This ride is much longer than I thought it was. Very fast and unnervingly quiet for something that big. I am undecided if I liked it. We did not get a chance to ride it again that weekend. Will have to report back when I try it out again. Nathan said it is a tie with Volcano for being his favorite steel coaster due to the height and speed that it travels.

Afterwards, we were all starving and it was time to grab lunch. Nathan and I usually go the Subway route, but we chose to eat with the group and tried Johnny Rockets. Two drinks, two burgers, and an order of fries came to $26.00 with a tip. I didn’t think the food was that great, but we were starving and I would have considered catching and cooking one of the seagulls by then (which, judging by their shadows, could pass for pterodactyls if history was different).

The group wanted to head over to TTD and give it a spin. Nathan and I decided to sit that out as lunch was not feeling good in our stomachs. We walked around for a time and watched the trains launch from TTD. We decided to hit up the other side of Gemini (red car). I know they are duplicates, but I thought the red side ran smoother and had more speed and force going into the helix at the end. This would be one that would be fun to marathon a few times.

From there, we decided to head to the back of the park again and do Mean Streak. That coaster is pretty impressive looking with it’s sheer size. I had read many times that it was not all that good, but we wanted to try it anyway. We get in line and we were the next car to load when we heard thunder. At that point, all the ride-ops told everyone to back up in the queue lines and exited the people who were getting ready to go. Then, they ran the empty car out and brought in the next car that was full of people. They repeated that for the last car that was out on the track. Kudos to the ride-ops for getting the people off the train before the weather got there. It was unsettling to be standing right next to the water and watch the storm roll in. I would not have wanted to be sitting in a car with the thunder rolling all over.

We decided to see what the weather would do. It started to drizzle and only seemed to be getting worse. What could we do to kill some time and not be standing in the weather. The train! We hurried over to the station and got on. Boneyville is a hoot! Nothing spectacular, but entertaining. We rode the train a couple times and saw something different each time.

At that point, the skies decided to open up. Yup, it started to pour! I had a hooded sweater and yanked that on and we went to find the rest of the group. After collecting everyone, we huddled under an umbrella and waited for the rain to let up a little so we could hustle to the van. At that point, we were all wet and it looked like the rain was going to hang out for a while, so we decided to go back to the hotel, change clothes, and see what the weather forecast was going to do. We didn’t have to wait long. Radar proved the storm was heading out. Clean, dry clothes, dry shoes, and we headed back to the park.

Nathan had been to Cedar Point ten years ago for his senior trip and he raved about Raptor. Again, I am not a fan of the dangly feet and knew it was not going to be for me this trip. I didn’t want him to miss it so I hung out on a bench and waited until they were done.

After that, our group split in two. Three headed back to TTD (they were two trains away when it started to rain) and the rest of us decided to try some of the smaller coasters. We headed over to Disaster Transport. I have seen this thing has received some mixed reviews. We got in line and waited about twenty minutes. The black lights, strobes, and flashing lights are a little intense. On the lift hill, I had to close my eyes because they were making me dizzy. The ride was fun. Nothing in the neighborhood of thrilling, but what I call a “Whee!” ride and everyone needs a few of those.

We trucked to the back of the park and tried Mean Streak again. Our third person chose to sit this one out. We waited one car and were on. It was absolutely gorgeous going up the lift hill with the sun setting and the water all around. I guess I have a different definition of rough than most people. Yes, the ride tosses you around a little. (It is made out of wood folks! It is not going to feel like a steel coaster.) It’s plenty tall and fast when they let it. The brake down the first drop was an eye-brow raiser and I didn’t like the feeling in my stomach when the train nearly stopped in the steep-banked curves. With the car tipped and looking down, it gave the feeling like you were going to roll on over. I did like how the coaster kept going through it’s structure and the sharp curves with the amount of speed through them was different. I’d give it a solid B.

We walked up the midway and saw the pyro effects going off. We had seen in the brochure that there is a choreographed music, pyro, and fireworks demonstration at night. It was pretty impressive. There is a huge board that reminds you of a drive-in movie screen where they play music and there are lights, fire, and fireworks, to go with the changing songs. Then, the music changed to college football. Several teams were shown. I know next to nothing about football, but our friend coaches football and he was really getting into it and thought it was a definite trip highlight. The show culminated with “God Bless the USA.” I thought that was a thoughtful tip of the hat for patriotism. It was quite long at nearly a half an hour.

From there, we headed over to Blue Streak. This coaster is very pretty with a bright coat of white paint and blue track. Nathan and I hopped on and were prepared for a ride much like The Racers. This was an excellent ride. It was apparent maintenance had given this coaster some love. We had several moments we came out of our seats and this ride was smooth and just fun. We pulled back in the station and rode again. The sign stated it was the oldest of Cedar Point’s coasters and is a not to be missed in my book just because it is the Cedar Point that was.

After that, we headed over to Corkscrew. This was a walk-on. Several seats were chained off. Fun ride and I thought it was smooth enough. Fast enough through the inversions that I didn’t have the “I am going to fall out” feeling. I just wish it had been longer.

After that, the park was closing down. It was close to 11:30. We headed out to the car to get ready for the next day.

DAY TWO

We got to the park a little before nine. After the National Anthem, we headed back to Maverick. It was a twenty minute wait. The coaster was as fun as yesterday and the ride-ops were cracking jokes with the guests and were obviously having a good time as well.

We started to work our way back to the front of the park. We hit up Gemini. This may sound nerdy, but I thought it was pretty cool. We were the only people in the station. We hopped on the front seat of the red car. The ride-op comes up and jokes with us that Nathan had rented out the whole coaster so we could have a private ride. It was pretty corny, but I thought it was funny and sweet that the ride-op took the time to talk with us instead of just checking our belts and sending us on our way. It was pretty fun to ride around and only have one car going. Where we were the only people on the train, it traveled differently than yesterday and seemed to be faster with some more “umph.”

From there, we took another turn on Corkscrew. It is a unique perspective to look down on the midway as you go through the loops. Just wish there had been some people we knew to yell “Hi” to as we went by.

We stopped next at the Giant Himalaya. I’d never been on one and it was a fun little flat. The ride-op was from Morehead State which was where I went to school.

Next, we wanted to hit up Iron Dragon and Mantis, however, as we came around the corner, we saw that Wildcat was running. It had been testing the day before, but we never saw people on it who weren’t park staff. We got in line to try it out just in case it went down again. They weren’t loading the cars with two rows of people and that made it a longer line than it should have been and we waited about twenty-five minutes. It really surprised me. It was a fun ride with some good speed as we went careening around the track.

Iron Dragon was next. This ride is fun. Like Flight Deck, without the speed and longer. The mist affect they have is pretty nice. Instead of a smoke machine, it is a mist and feels really good to go through on a hot day. Even if I didn’t like the ride, I’d want to ride it to get the cooling off effect it delivers. It also doesn’t make all the loud noises that Flight Deck makes and that was nicer. The whole ride is over the water and lended a different feel to the ride.

Next, we headed to the very colorful stand-up coaster that was Mantis. This was my second stand-up after Shockwave. The walked right up to the station and were ready to go. The ride-op said the first loop was the third largest loop in the world and the coaster reached speeds of 60mph. This was a very nice coaster. It didn’t hurt my legs, I thought it was plenty smooth and there was a lot packed into the ride. Nathan did report he had the pants of his jeans bunch up and experienced some discomfort, but nothing terrible.

It was getting close to lunchtime. We took a turn on Calypso which reminds me of a Scrambler type ride. We also did two rounds on the Blue Streak with one of them in the front seat.

Subway was calling and we had that along with some Hawaiian Punch that we had brought the little packets into the park with us. As we ate, we watched people taking a turn on Cedar Downs carousel. It looked fun, so we decided to try it out. Those horses get some speed to them. Unfortunately, I lost the race.

It was time for some park sight-seeing. We tried out the Giant Wheel. It was pretty novel to be nearly face-to-face with Wicked Twister as it ran. We watched all the boats and people playing on the sand.

After the Ferris Wheel, I wanted to check out the Space Spiral. Way too short, but it provided some nice scenery.

Demon Drop was next. The ride up the elevator was fast and before we knew it, we were at the top. Then, the drop! I am pretty sure I was heard throughout the park. I don’t do many drop rides, but this once was pretty neat. The ride-op was from Poland and she was very friendly and asked how our day was and what we had ridden. That was nice because she did not have to do that.

We walked back through the park and took a spin on the Matterhorn. It was a fun little flat ride.

By this time, the skies looked a little dark. We had caught up with our group and headed back to take a trip on Iron Dragon. Then, we headed over to Mantis. As we got in line, a ride-op came over the intercom and stated that the ride would be down due to inclement weather. It was getting late and we decided to cut out and start the five-hour trip home. We stopped at the gift store for a magnet and it was time to hit the road.

Thanks for reading!

[TOPGUN1993]

Great TR, I enjoyed reading it

[Kawana]

That sucks about your friend on MF. I'm eager to find out exactly what happened to make CF freak out so much about MF to shorten the belts like that. I am generally like you all in that I like to ride nearly everything at a park and not just crush the "biggies." Thanks for the TR.

[trint2004]

Sounds Like a great trip. I cant wait to go this next weekend.

[The Interpreter]

That sucks about your friend on MF. I'm eager to find out exactly what happened to make CF freak out so much about MF to shorten the belts like that. I am generally like you all in that I like to ride nearly everything at a park and not just crush the "biggies." Thanks for the TR.

Nothing happened on Millennium Force, the incidents were on the Superman: Rides of Steel at Six Flags New England and what is now Darien Lake. Also on a Perilous Plunge boat ride at Knott's Berry Farm. The manufacturer, INTAMIN, made recommendations about modifying restraints. And Cedar Point, being based in Ohio, must follow those recommendations...which also affected Top Thrill Dragster.

[cassie_KY]

Nothing happened on Millennium Force, the incidents were on the Superman: Rides of Steel at Six Flags New England and what is now Darien Lake. Also on a Perilous Plunge boat ride at Knott's Berry Farm. The manufacturer, INTAMIN, made recommendations about modifying restraints. And Cedar Point, being based in Ohio, must follow those recommendations...which also affected Top Thrill Dragster.

I don't think I put it in, but our buddy could not fit on Dragster either. He had been able to in the past. He was not a happy camper and I'd say it was embarassing.