Random Cedar Point PTR May 23, 2009

[gigacoaster2k]

So yesterday I woke up at 4 am, wide awake. After a few minutes, I thought to myself.. I'm going to Cedar Point. So I threw some stuff in a bag, grabbed a Mountain Dew from the fridge, and I was off to America's Roller Coast.

I will fully admit to speeding on the way there most of the time. This morning, however, was not the case. Sheriffs and state highway patrol were out in full force yesterday morning.

I got to the parking lot around 8:15-8:20 am, and there were already a few rows of cars, but it wasn't bad. I walked around to the marina entrance so I could hit Millie first. When I did get there, there were only 8 people there. Millie was testing, and the red train was sticking on the hill again. The girl behind me was making fun of her boyfriend because he wouldn't ride Raptor: "You'll run into a burning building, but you won't ride a coaster that goes upside down?" Then she started telling him about Millie and Maggie, and getting every fact wrong. Even telling people the park was open until midnight. Then this guy comes up with his 2 kids to the color coded height measurement thing, and he says to his son: "You're tall enough to ride that Top Drag Racer!" At that point I just stayed silent.

The people behind me were asking how to get to "that big blue one" over there. So I told them just follow me if you can keep up. After they scanned my pass, I started off in a jog to Millie and cut behind the Dodgems. I was to the railroad tracks, and turned around to see absolutely no one behind me. So I kept jogging, and made it to the station. I was 1 out of maybe 10 people waiting for the first train. They were still unloading the water dummies when I got there. I chose the back of the train, of course.

After that, I ran back for another ride to see the line to the bottom of the ramp. I ran back for a third ride, and the first queue house was already half full. It didn't help that they were stacking trains. I was trying to call my friend Ben that works there so he could meet up and ride with me before he went to work, but he wasn't answering his phone.

I decided at this point that I would take some time and make a circle around the park. I wanted to hit Raptor and maXair, but I saw on the way that the Space Shot side of Power Tower was walk on, so I went for it. As I was entering the queue, two kids cut in line. One ride operator saw them, and told them to go to the back of the line or they were getting kicked out of the park. They rolled their eyes at her and kept walking. She angrily grabbed the phone and dialed a number, and a few minutes later, security was taking them out of the line toward the front of the park.

I went over to maXair, which already had a bit of a wait, but I didn't mind. We had just started swinging, when I felt a jerk on the down swing and the ride promptly ground to a halt. A few minutes later as we started up again, the ride op loudly repeated the spiel about loose articles. When I looked over at him, he had a camera in his hand.

I was going to ride Wicked Twister but the queue was full and the line was out onto the midway. I was shocked.. Wicked is almost always a walk on. The park was really starting to fill up, and it was a gorgeous cloudless day. I took this opportunity to snap a few photos.

I really like these America's Roller Coast flags combined with the CP flags.

I grabbed some cheese fries and a free ice water, and hit Raptor, partially because I love Raptor and partially because I wanted to say hi to my friend Schuyler. The wait read 1 hour 45 minutes, but I only waited an hour and a half. They were throwing trains out left and right, and the queue never stopped moving. In this line, we saw a man jump with his son from the first part of the queue to the back part of the queue. Someone on the exit ramp saw him, and pointed him out to a ride op in the station. There was an uproar in the queue about "that line jumper." A few minutes later, security showed up and removed him and his son from the line as people were clapping and cheering. Someone on the train behind me lost their glasses to the first loop, even with a glasses strap. Raptor is one of those rides where you are guaranteed to lose your loose articles.

I wanted to hit Magnum and Skyscraper, so I went that way and hit the Space Shot side of Power Tower again. As I was exiting from my ride, I saw a group of preteens jump from the blue queue to the red queue. A ride op saw them, and threatened to throw them out of the park if they didn't go to the back of the line. They didn't listen (in fact a couple of them laughed!), so once again, security showed up and escorted them toward the front of the park.

I hit Magnum partially to check if Skyscraper was running, and the ride was horribly rough and jerky for some reason. It didn't help that the trims were on. But I still enjoyed it.

I headed to Challenge Park and got a ticket for Skyscraper. It's now $10 a person as opposed to last year's $20. I was chatting with the ride ops, and told them to crank that bad boy up to Mach 4.. boy, did they listen. I'm surprised I still had my contacts in my eyes when that ride was done. That is by far the best flat ride I've been on to date.. it makes Slingshot look like a kiddy ride.

I checked Dragster's wait, and it was showing at 1 hour 45 minutes.. I skipped that one. I headed back over to Millie, and the wait was showing at an hour and a half, but I only waited 45 minutes in line.

I headed over to Mantis so I could say hi to my friend Tony that works the ride. The wait was showing at an hour, but I waited anyway. When we finally got to the station, I didn't see him. I asked where he was, and he had gotten assigned to another ride for the day. The ride op told us "Enjoy your wickedly twisted ride on the big bad bug".. I didn't. It was worse than I remembered. Rough and shaky, it beats the living crap out of your ears. So I pretty much waited an hour in line for a coaster I didn't even like just to say hi to someone that wasn't working after all.

I went over to Sweet Tooth to visit my friend Ben, and grabbed some chocolate Dippin Dots for my wait in Maverick's 1 and a half hour line. My ear got bitten by one of the restraints, but it was still a fun ride.

I wanted another ride on Skyscraper, so I headed back over to Challenge Park. I can't get enough of that ride. It's extreme and very intense. Once again, I got a ride at a speed that was likely to break the sound barrier. I thanked them for the ride, and stumbled out of Challenge Park.

At this point, I was getting a bad headache and wanted to chill out, so I headed for a leisurely spin on the Giant Wheel. I got 3 full cycles. If you have not been on the Giant Wheel, I insist that you do, even if you are a thrillseeker or a ride warrior. The view was so breathtaking and beautiful. The sun was starting to set behind the peninsula, and it cast a golden shine on Millie, Magnum, Dragster, and Power Tower. The lake sparkled as gulls floated over and sailboats lazily drifted across the water. I was completely in awe at the view. I wish you all could have seen it.

I did take some photos from the Wheel.

My baby looks so beautiful at sunset.

I was freezing when I exited the Wheel, so I went out to my car to get my hoodie. I got another stamp added to the mess that was already on my right arm.

I wanted to end my night properly, so I went for Millie. I got 2 rides in, and decided I was getting on last train. This girl was cussing at the ride op because she was politely told to get a locker for her backpack. I turned around and told the girl not to yell at the ride op for doing her job.

When the queue closed, I walked to the back of the line for my third and final ride of the day. I got last train of the night in the very rear seat. So I started my day with 3 rides on Millie including first train, and ended my night with 3 rides on Millie including last train.

Aside from the park being busy, I had a great time at the Point.. and I am so proud of Cedar Point for cracking down on line jumpers like they did yesterday. It was one of the things that made the trip totally worthwhile.

Ride count:

Millennium Force - 7

Skyscraper - 2

Magnum - 2

Power Tower Space Shot - 2

Raptor - 1

maXair - 1

Maverick - 1

Giant Wheel - 1

Mantis - 1

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Wow, they were really on the line jumpers up north. From what I'm hearing from KI trips (haven't seen it myself yet) line jumpers are running wild like mad dogs. Glad you had a good time.

[TheCryptRaider]

They need to deal with line jumping like this at Kings Island. I can't stand it. People don't respect KI's rules because nobody enforces the rules.

[The Interpreter]

And in each and every case in Giga's trip report, when a linejumper was spotted or reported, immediate, swift and certain action was taken. Imagine that.

[TheCryptRaider]

And in each and every case in Giga's trip report, when a linejumper was spotted or reported, immediate, swift and certain action was taken. Imagine that.

That sounds like heaven to me.

[rotag]

when you talk about the point it sound really good and makes me think about getting a platinum pass

rotag, who has never been there, nor done that...

[The Interpreter]

If you haven't been to Cedar Point, you owe it to yourself to get there if you at all can. It's best to go some other day than Saturday (duh!) It's truly a grand park, and a coaster lover's paradise.

[cedarAfairs]

Nice trip report! Your pictures from the Giant Wheel are wonderful. Reading this has moved my Cedar Point trip up to possibly this weekend!