AgentSoB's 5-31 CP PTR

[AgentSoB]

Earlier this week my girlfriend and I decided it was time to hit CP for the first time this year. So, we all hit the bed early saturday night for the trip up there Sunday. I watched the weather closely and Sunday turned out to be beautiful. As a plus, I got my first credit as driving to the point. I'm 21 and have had my liscense for a while, but never drove on the interstate until recently.

We arrived at the point at about 9:45 which was about half hour later than I expected due to a trip through McD's drive thru and several very slow sunday drivers. I still had time to try to at least get one ERT ride so we hurried to the gate. Our KI platinum passes scanned fine. However, the person at the gate literally inspected us before he granted us entrance. He looked me up and down, and asked my girlfriend to remove her glasses as he leaned in to stare at her. I had to kind of chuckle at that. Are they having problems with people abusing the passes?

I wasn't sure how to get in for ERT so I asked an employee. Once he saw my pass he stated that he wasn't sure if the KI pass was valid for it. He read the back of the pass for a moment and then let us in. We hit Raptor in the front seat at 9:58.

After the trip we realized that the day was going to be pretty good because the parking lot was empty and the toll booths were almost vacant from cars. The Raptor queue barely filled up even with people entering as we sat in the brakes for a second.

After hitting Blue Streak, my thoughts were all but confirmed. I sat in the very back by myself along with the only other two people in the train being in the front car. Great air, but I think I'll stick to the front of BS from now on. It was funny because the train dispatched in front of us as well as the train we got off of were dispatched empty.

We came to Iron Dragon next to find that it was down. It would stay this way until about 4 when I noticed they were testing the ride. We instead headed to Mantis to find an almost empty station. I am a Mantis fan and had a great ride. The loop on that thing is insane. It gets me every time.

I was pumped and MF was still down (expected this) So, we decided to head for our biggest wait of the day, Maverick. I knew this was going to be our biggest wait. What was should of been a 45 minute wait turned into an hour and a half. I have never been more dissapointed in the Maverick crew. Usually they are top notch, but they were hardly that sunday. First off, they had all of the fans on in the queue house. It was a cold day on Erie so they were in no way necessary. We noticed that the line quit moving several times. Once it stopped completely for about 10 minutes all the while we were under a fan blowing like crazy.

Finally the line started to move and we made our way through the remaining queues that were open. Once up the steps I somewhat realized why the line was halting at times. There was no one sorting seats and the station was packed. I have never once seen this on Maverick. We took a row and then I realized what the 10 min wait had been. They had transfered off the gunmetal train and an official was working on it on the transfer track. Well when we got up to the gates with only two rides in front of us they decided to put the train back on. So we waited for that, and then several moments after that we were on the ride. As we got on, I noticed that an employee had finally put a measuring stick in the way to block more people from pouring in the station. Meanwhile there is not and has not been a person talking on the ride, so there was lots of confusion on where to put your things. The lady that checked my seat was pretty rude to the guest in front of me about his glasses. However, I still said thanks as she checked my belt. Finally I got to ride. It was great as usual until I got an extended ride with a 15 minute sit on the brake run. They had decided to take that train off again. No one once communicated to us what was going on, for all we know we could have been about to fall off the track. Although highly unlikely, someone telling us what was going on would have been nice.

The rest of the day was not as eventful, however it was fun. Kudos to the Magnum crew as they were great and were pumping out trains like crazy. The ride is insane and is one of my favorites. I would take it over MF any day because of it massive amounts of air through the bunny hops.

Mean Streak was surprisingly a few train wait, When I got to the gates they annouced a delay as they were changing trains out. They switched red out for green and the ride quickly began operation. They annouced it several times about the slight delay. I thought this was nice. I still like the ride and love the way it snakes through itself. I can tell a difference but even in the second seat it was still kind of rib, rib, kidney if ya know what I mean.

Corkscrew was also an interesting experience during our trip. The crew was obviously having a good time joking several times over mics. This was in addition to being serious about their jobs. One thing I have to mention though is the joke they were playing on us riders. The person on the mic mentioned to make sure we placed articles in the White bin even though they weren't using that train. When the first person went to lift the lid and put thier stuff in they jumped back. An op had stowed away in the bin and was providing some extra laughs. Although this would probably be frowned on I thought it was a nice touch.

Overall, we got in all the rides we wanted too including rerides on Mantis (front seat) and Magnum. This was in addition to relaxing several times and riding a few flats. We got in Ocean Motion, Scrambler, and Tilt a Whirl (my favorite flat)

As far as food goes, I spent quite a few nickles. We decided to take someones advice and try Game Day Grill. I wasn't sure on its location and didn't have a map. I happened to see an employee on the midway and see stated she had never heard of it. So I stepped into a nearby shop to get the same answer from another employee. Luckily the supervisor was stocking the shop and overheard my question. He quickly came over and gave me specific directions on how to get there. I know its early, but how are people supposed to spend money on food in the park when employees don't even know of certain locations? The service at the restaurant was good and the people were friendly. However, the food took a while to get there as a party of like 15 ordered right before us. I thought my food was very good and so did my girlfriends friend. However, my girlfriend wasn't impressed as her club sandwich had a few stale pieces of bread along with not stale bread. The price was not bad though and rivaled many sit down places I've been. The drinks were outragous though.

We also, had some very delicious and not that steeply priced chili cheese fries from Happy Friar and some frozen custard from the main midway. The custard was so good, I had another cone later in the day before we left.

I'm going to take time now for my main complaint of the day, which was downtime. I know it is early in the season, but I saw several instances where things were down as we walked by. As stated Iron Dragon didn't open till way late. Raptor went down for a while and was cycling empty trains while we ate. Also, Mantis was down for a few moments. Maxair and Witches Wheel (Which they were lubing i guess because there were barrel label lube sitting in the queue) went down for a few hours. Then there was the whole Maverick fiasco along with a few more instances that slip my mind. I know that it is early, but I think when downtime happens it makes the park look bad especially with one of its star attractions out of action. It also kind of bugged me that a few times when I went to do something it was down.

Also, I want to note that I think Mine Ride may be on it's way out. There were orange flag markers underneath the queue and station as well as in some other spots. It looks like this ride has seen better days. When I rode it was quite funny though as some one was humming very loudly the Indiana Jones theme in the station.

All in all though I had a great day and can't complain about the amount of fun I had. I even got to take strolls on the Skyride, Paddlewheel Excursions, and the train which was nice.

Now for the pics

Mine Ride with Mean Streak in the background.

we were in the middle of a fued on Paddlewheel Excursions

More PE theme

Least we know it's safe if we sink

I call this the money shot... even if I've only experienced the ride once

Beautiful day for dragster to dominate the sky

My favorite flat ride that always offers a different experience

My girlfriends dad would love this in his yard

Gemini peaking above the trees. It's hiding because it is ashamed of one side operation

Me on Raptor kicking the sky during ERT

In good KIC nature i had to post a pic of food. These fries are one of the greatest CP food offerings.

Mantis about to pray on some riders, wait i'm on here too.

Even though it came out dark, I like the effect

The only ones enjoying the cold sand and water were the seagulls

Everything looked to be back to normal

These people are crazy

Same with these ones...

I love the way the wheel towers over you

New sign heading towards Maverick, adds a nice touch

[AgentSoB]

More Photos from my previous post

looks like they were having a good deal on the family dryer model

Mine Ride through the trees...

and into the station...

The ride that ate my day...

Who says Cedar Point doesn't have charm?

Ditto

I kept trying to get both arms in the picture, but I kept missing...

Got it... opps nope darn

Ahh I found more charm... and a few trees. I think I might be on to something.

Another picture of Mantis from PE consisting of some seriously twisted steel

Although not a great shot, it was of a great ride so why not...

We came... we saw...we had fun

That's it until next time I guess

[TheCryptRaider]

I love this! I can't wait for my first CP trip! Great Pictures. I'm glad Millie's looking back to normal.

[gigacoaster2k]

Sorry to hear of all the downtime! Did you hear or see anything going on with my precious Millie?

Those cheese fries are the bomb. I had some on my last trip, I devoured them after one bite.. they are messy as all get out, but man are they good.

I do agree that CP definitely has charm, there is landscaping in spots that is just beautiful. It's not entirely a concrete jungle like some say it is.. they just don't take the time to look for it. I've stopped at some points in the park and seen some colorful flowers and interesting plants. There is a feeling of magic and excitement when you walk down the midway too.

[AgentSoB]

I didn't hear anything about what was going on all day. However, on Paddlewheel Excursions the captain stated, "we are currently crossing under Millennium Force; It's big, it's blue, and it's broken." I gave a little bit of a chuckle to that. I actually thought about you Giga when I saw it was looking put back together. I said to myself Giga will be happy to know they have worked this fast on it.

[KIfan1980]

I'm not sure if I should say thanks for the Trip Report or not - seeing this and others is making me want to plan a trip to Cedar Point again. I haven't been in many years (2001) but am reminded again what it has to offer!

Although, I'm a little afraid of not being able to fit the restraints on some of the rides that I've heard are on the tight side (MF, TTD, Maverick) which I'd really want to ride, but there are so many other things to do that I know this shouldn't stop me.

[AgentSoB]

I'm not sure about MF or TTD, but I find Maverick to be pretty roomy. The over the shoulder part does not rest on my shoulders like most of the other styles. Also, like Diamondback I think it is mostly in the thighs with Maverick, unless you are extremely barrel chested. A few people I know that can't fit on most B&M's fit on Maverick.

[The Interpreter]

Maverick has the same restraint system as Kingda Ka....

[AgentSoB]

This is why several of the people I know that can't fit on dragster want to go have a great adventure. However I wouldn't mind having a great adventure either, even after riding dragster.

[The Interpreter]

I highly, highly, highly recommend the front seats of cars on that...uh....beast. The back seats are rather jolty...at least in my experience.

[cholderfield]

I went the same day (Sunday, May 31) with my girlfriend, father, and sister. As AgentSOB stated, it was a very slow day at the park (the slowest I've ever seen). We arrived at 9am for ERT, and rode Raptor and TTD before park opening. We then headed back to Maverick and rode that shortly after park opening. We rode every roller coaster in the park (well all the adult-sized ones any way ). We rode Iron Dragon at around 5:30-6pm, like stated earlier it was closed for most of the day until sometime after 4pm. Iwanted to ride maxair, but by the time I made it over there it was closed for maintanence and it never did open back up for the evening (at least not that I saw).

The longest I waited for a ride was Maverick (about 20-25 minutes). Even that early in the morning (9:45ish) the line was moving slower than usual. Most rides were anywhere from a walk on to waiting a couple cycles. This really was the best day I've had at CP.