CoasterMania! 2009

[Beast1979]

Hey everyone! Welcome to my Photo Trip Report of the CoasterMania event at Cedar Point, July 5 and 6 2009.

Yes, I know it is extremely late, but there’s a good reason. Sorta. A few weeks ago, I had my trip report ready, but my computer went crazy on me and I lost it. Ever since then I have been to lazy to rewrite it. But, finally, it is rewritten.

CoasterMania was a great event, well put together and plenty of fun. I had an awesome time hanging out with my friends and riding rides together. I can't wait until CoasterMania 2010!

Enough Jab, let's get to the photos.

DAY 1. June 5, 2009

Unlike last time I went, it was a clear and sunny day in Ohio.

While Trooper Mom was working half a day in Dayton, I was back home packing.

We left the house around 2PM. The earliest festivities didn't start for about 4 hours, so we took our time.

It was weird driving past one amusement park to get to another.

Every time at Kings Island when I hear "Kings Island, Where Else?" I say to myself, "Uh, Cedar Point?" It felt great to finally be going there.

We passed the Beach too, which even though I love it, I wasn't exactly pumped to go swimming. It was about 75 degrees outside, and there was riding to be done.

We passed over the Little Miami river. Isn't it cool to think this same river passes behind Kings Island? This same valley creates the terrain The Beast uses? I think it's kinda cool.

Of course if we drove 4 hours from Cincinnati to Sandusky without entertainment we would go insane. In the car we listened to this audio book of Jennifer Government, which is about capitalism taken too far. It was a good read (or listen) if you have nothing better to do.

I got bored, so I took a picture of the speedometer and edited it to have the speeds of all the major rides on it. Woo! Cedar Point!

I spy a city!

Did you know there's a river up here? Until recently, I didn't.

By the time we got to Columbus I was going crazy. It's one thing to drive through Ohio to see your grandma or something, quite another to get to the roller coaster capital of the world. We were only at Columbus, not even halfway there. I was gonna explode.

We did a quick stop at a rest stop north at Columbus to get some food.

Trooper Mom was gonna be up all weekend, so she needed some caffeine.

I got a Reeses pack.

While we were there I stopped to look at the map.

Our destination.

Our remaining trip. We got a long way to go.

This is our basic 2nd half of the trip in a nutshell. Tiny little nowhere town,

Farms.

Tiny little nowhere town,

Foresty area.

Eventually we made the turn onto the Cedar Point road. But wait, where's the big sign and all?

Where's the causeway?

Apparently our Garmin GPS told us to go onto Cedar Point road, not Cedar Point drive. That took us on a small road sandwiched between some houses and Lake Erie.

It did look very pretty though.

At the end of this road we passed by this facility, which judging by the US Navy sign out front we guessed was some sort of navy installation. Afterwards, we finally reached Cedar Point. Brace yourself, Roller Coaster pictures come next!

YAY!!!!! Cedar Point!!!!

We somehow made it. I cropped a picture down to go in this banner form. Feel free for signatures.

Unlike with Kings Island and Beast, Cedar Point went all out for Magnum XL-200's 20th anniversary.

To get to our hotel, you have to drive along Perimeter Road, which is known to be an extremely photogenic drive.

To the left of the road is Lake Erie. To the right is Cedar Point. Put them together and what do you have? Awesomeness.

From the road you get great views of rides. This isn't a great one, but still. It has a B&M Invert in it so it's automatically good.

Top Thrill Dragster dominates the skyline.

Wildcat, or as Terpy likes it, "The Kitty", is right along the road too.

But most importantly, Millennium Force runs right along the road.

For those who have not seen it in person, Millennium Force is tall. Very Tall. 310 feet tall. It. Is. Tall.

The 300 foot first drop (One of the best in the world) is immediately followed by an overbank turn at 122 degrees, the world's steepest non inverted turn when it was built. It's a wicked awesome element. (tee hee)

After driving past Millennium Force there's a break in the coasters. I took this opportunity to snap a shot of the pretty Lake Erie.

Then comes Maverick.

Maverick, again, runs up along the road and Lake Erie. The location of these rides, along the lake, make for a beautiful backdrop for the roller coasters.

Uhhh ohhh

It's Mean Streak. A pretty ride, but known to be a pain. Literally.

After a while we spotted the birthday boy.

Magnum XL-200 runs between Hotel Breakers and the Gemini Parking Lot. The Gemini Parking lot is next to Gemini, in the pocket of the Magnum Dogleg. Soak City and Challenge Park are all up near Magnum. Soak City, Challenge Park, Hotel Breakers, and the Gemini Parking Lot all empty into the Magnum Entrance to the park. Sounds complicated, but it's for the most part the most complex part of the park.

Rip Cord is one of the pay attractions in Challenge Park. Challenge Park is separate admission and includes pay rides such as Rip Cord, Skyscraper, and the go karts.

Magnum flies over all of this and looks beautiful doing it.

Upon finding a parking spot in the Hotel Breakers lot we entered the century old hotel.

This is the lobby of the hotel, with check in counters, gift shops, restaurants and more.

The Breakers is just one of the many on site hotels and resorts that Cedar Point owns.

[Beast1979]

We were disappointed with our room. It was small, but we were expecting that. It had no microwave oven, which was promised. The TV also gave us some trouble. But, we would be spending little time in our room.

This was our view.

Part tree, part bug, all sad.

We watched Cash Cab while we ate dinner. We did not want to do the Magnum 20th q&a or whatever. I wanted to ride.

So we left the hotel around 7. After some texting, I met up with Adam (pkiboy) to ride.

When entering the park through the Magnum Entrance you come in right next to Top Thrill Dragster's super structure.

So forgive me when I take a ton of pictures of TTD.

The look of it is just amazing

When Adam and I were deciding what to ride first the choice was obvious.

We took a ride on Magnum XL-200.

After a quick spin on Maggie, we headed out through the park

Waiting on the rest of our rag tag team to arrive, we wandered past Gemini, not riding it

Eventually we found our way into Frontier Town.

To whoever says Cedar Point doesn't have beauty. Yea, right.

Maverick, the park's newest roller coaster, is tucked back in the corner of Frontier Town.

The ride comes close to the midway on a few occasions. This swooping turn over the lake is one of them.

I know it's a pretty overused picture, but it's a good one.

Snake River Falls is the water ride in Frontier Town, and has, along with Cedar Creek Mine Ride, been rumored for demolition.

Millennium Force provides this fantastic view from Frontier Town.

Leaving Frontier Town you enter Frontier Trail.

This midway has countless shops and attractions, from glassblowing to feeding the ducks.

What's truly amazing is that Millennium Force, the 310 foot giga coaster, runs right along and over Frontier Trail, yet you could hardly notice when there. It's hidden by trees and is quiet in that area.

Every now and again though the Force will show it's face to the occasional passerby.

Getting to the end of Frontier Trail, you now enter the Hot Summer Lights midway. This midway has on the right, Mantis and Iron Dragon. On the Left, Wildcat, Millennium Force and the Cedar Point Lake Erie Railroad. In the front, the big Hot Summer Lights billboard. In the back, the projectors for Hot Summer Lights.

Mantis is an extremely loud coaster. It has the B&M Roar and little there to muffle it. It's loud enough that you can hear it hit the trim from quite a distance away!

Adam and I, still waiting for the rest of our group, hopped into a 45 minute wait for the best ride in the park.

Millennium Force. There is a reason this is the second best roller coaster I've ridden. It is smooth. It is fast. It is tall. It is long. It does not NEED airtime to be great, yet it still has it anyway in the last bunny hill. Plus, it is very cool to photograph.

As much as the good looks of Mantis lured me, we did not ride because we used our heads. If Mantis were a normal sit down or a floorless, it would be one of the best rides in the park. However, it's stand up train configuration, while it's "bring people in" gimmick, is also it's curse. It makes for horrible load and unload time (which = bad capacity), hurts a ton, and, well, just, hurts a ton. Ride it for the credits. Then never again.

You can see here how they have sectioned off part of the midway for Hot Summer Lights, which happens before the park closes.

This is actually where one of the original webcams once was. The webcam was moved this year, and is now the "Pagoda cam", located at the building in this picture.

Another famous shot is Top Thrill Dragster through Power Tower. Some would comment on the beauty of getting the two rides in one shot as such, others would comment on the gross sexuality of it, others, would just not comment at all. I think it looks cool.

At Cedar Point you can walk directly under the last two inversions of Corkscrew, without a net. Hold up a bucket and hope for loose change!

This is the spot where the two midways, one on one side of TTD, one on the other, come together about halfway through the penninsula. The lagoon to the left of TTD comes down and sets the location for Iron Dragon's second half. It looks very nice, but is in fact rather boring.

Power Tower is in the middle of Corkscrew, which goes over the midway, which goes near the lake. Park Geography.

The sun started to set as we went back to the Magnum Entrance.

We picked up the rest of our group. From left to right is Tom Young (Tom76257), Kat (violakat03), and Angie (gigacoaster2k). Tom was hypnotized by the beauty of the park for his first trip, Kat was bubbly, and Angie was ready to ride.

Before ERT struck, we went to get some rides in.

First, was Power Tower. Kat saw Trooper Mom, we didn't.

We decided to do Space shot. You can see Angie ready to launch, Tom ready to poop his pants, Kat ready to launch, and Adam and I looking at corkscrew.

Space Shot is a great ride. It is better then Turbo Drop, which is better then Drop Tower. But I won't compare Space Shot to Drop Tower, because they are two very different rides.

We took a spin on Millennium Force (Angie couldn't be happier) then night fell.

Sorry my camera doesn't take good night photos. We all rode Magnum XL-200 for ERT twice. The first ride it ran as normal. The second, they turned the trims off. While that sounds fun, they are there for a reason! The Bunny hills at the end were blindingly intense, and the pretzel turn was taken at mach 1. It was actually the first (And so far the only) time I've gone into coaster blackout on a ride. By the end of the turn, my vision was fading, I lost my peripheral vision, and colors were dissapearing. I was like, woa.

After riding Magnum twice Angie was having some troubles. She, Kat, and Adam stayed behind while Tom and I headed for ERT on Maverick. I was extremely looking forward to this, as Maverick always had a long line and I've never ridden it at night. Tom and I got in line, and it was ridiculous. The line was longer, yes, LONGER then it was during the day. It was moving extremely slowly and took us about 45 minutes to get to the station. Halfway through our wait we saw Angie, Adam, and Kat. Somehow, we all got on the same train. Now, Maverick would be my favorite steel coaster, but the restraints kill it. I have trouble believing the ride requires all of that garbage around your body. A Thick lap bar, Un padded OTSRs, and a seatbelt. Why not just put us in cocoons? The ride is fantastic, but the restraints make the ride very painful, so it is my #4 steel. Kat came off the ride holding her ear. She would not take her hand off because of a fear of blood. Apparently on the first drop Maverick stole her .5 carat ear ring. She was in a lot of pain, and her riding was over for the night. We all decided it was a good time to hit the hay anyway, so we headed back to our hotels.

Easier said then done, however. People really underestimate the size of Cedar Point. It is huge. From the main gates to the tip of Mean Streak it has got to be at least a mile or two long. Somehow, in some way, we made it back to our room by around 12:20. We crashed. In total, we got about 5 hours of sleep.

DAY 2. June 6, 2009.

We woke up bright and early at around 5:30 am for Morning ERT

Entering the park so early is very odd. It's peaceful and quiet, yet you know in 4 hours it's going to be mass hysteria.

The Geese are not localized to Kings Island. I found them hanging out near Top Thrill Dragster.

We slowly made our way to Millennium Force for ERT.

While the line may seem long, this is because they did not open the queue for a while. The line was about 15-20 minutes long.

They laid out a buffet of Coffee, OJ, and some morning pastries. I turned it down. There was riding to do.

I ended up riding Millennium Force twice. I love the ride, love it.

[Beast1979]

I also had the pleasure of riding with Single Rider Bob! He is a very nice man who very much loves Millennium Force. Luckily for him, I rode in the back seat. It was nice to ride with him.

After riding the Force twice I headed over to where the rest of our group was: Top Thrill Dragster.

While at Top Thrill Dragster there was a mix and match of KICers. Here is Jesse in the front on your right.

Eventually I found Tom, Kat, and Angie.

How fast does Top Thrill Dragster go? FAST. As Angie said, "Who needs caffeine when we have Top Thrill Dragster?"

Here is Shawn (Indianapolisman) and Zach (unrealsk8er) in the front seat, ready to ride.

As much as people like to call it boring or a one trick pony, it is very fun and popular. Plenty of re-rides happen because it is short and you want more. Trust me, it is Crack Thrill Dragster as far as addictiveness goes. A lot of the coaster enthusiast crowd loves it.

Here's Adam, ready to ride. We have got to get all of these KICers on one train.

Here you and see Nick (Dare-to-fly) and behind someone else is Nick's brother.

One interesting thing Trooper Mom noticed. With the GP, they sit there with a terrified look on their face waiting to be launched. With the coaster enthusiasts, they converse normally and act as if nothing is wrong. When the skids release and the train falls back a bit, the enthusiasts put their hands level with their chest. They will not launch you if your hands are up, so they keep them halfway up until the lights go off. Once they go off, the enthusiasts throw their hands in the air and enjoy.

We finally squeezed all of the KIC gang onto one train. In this picture is everyone I had previously mentioned.

Here is a great shot of all of us with our hands in the air.

Now we were all supposed to look up and wave in this shot, but some of us didn't get the memo.

We migrated to the winners circle featuring this drag racer to take a group photo.

Here is our group photo. From left to right:

Top: Nick's Brother, Nick (Dare to Fly), Tom (Tom76257), Me (Me), Jesse (Avatar), Zach (unrealsk8er) Shawn (Indianapolisman)

Bottom: Adam (pkiboy), Angie (gigacoaster2k), Kat (violakat03)

From TTD you get a good view of Iron Dragon. The intervals bring the two trains right by each other after the lifts. If you're really lucky, you can get a Mantis Train in there too.

Next Up, Power Tower.

We Decided to do the Turbo Drop Side this time. Here's a cool shot of all of us looking up!

Here's me and Nick. We got the good view, the one of the penninsula.

Jesse, Kat, and Nick's brother

Tom, Angie, and Adam.

Zach and Shawn

How was the ride? Fun, better then Drop Tower. Why? Because it actually is TURBO Drop. It's not a freefall, it launches you down. Plus, you do several bunny hops afterwards. And it's Cedar Point. Everything (except Diamondback) is better at Cedar Point.

We then progressed down the midway for one of the few rides open before the park.

RAPTOR.

We walked onto Raptor. Worth the wait!

Adam, Tom, Kat and I waited for the front seat. It is so much better then any other seat.

Angie, Nick, Jesse, and Nick's Brother took the second row.

Zach and Shawn took row 3

How was the ride? Smiles Here

And here. Some of us rode Raptor twice. It is just a great ride. I want one at KI. Badly.

We all stopped for a breakfast of French Fries on Adam. Thank You Adam!

So for 20 minutes we sat, ate, and watched Raptor.

Because Raptor is very easy to watch.

Angie made her Ride Warrior Pose every time she heard a train fly by. She is hardcore enthusiast.

A lot of people must be wondering, "What does Trooper Mom do while we're off riding or doing stuff?" She's reading stuff for work, or doing puzzles.

We walked back to Blue Streak. Time for some Raptor beauty.

Here is one of the seagulls in this infamous section of Cedar Point. These guys are responsible for the white paint job of Raptor, which I believe they recently cleaned off.

Time for an old classic woodie.

Blue Streak is the oldest Coaster in Ohio. Quietly celebrating 45 years this year, It is still yet to be trimmed, and is still full of airtime

How was that ride? Our group (now lacking the Indianapolis gang of Jesse, Shawn and Zach) seemed to love it.

While some of us chose to sit out this ride, those who wanted to rode Calypso. I found it very fun. I'm sorry some of you guys can't ride it.

As we progressed over to the "Twisted Wicker" midway, we saw the Ohio State Band march by.

This seems to be, when I go here, one of the most derelict sections of Cedar Point.

Our first ride? maXair.

It looks like Angie is more then ready.

After riding it, I agree. maXair is better then Delirium. It is taller, faster, has a longer ride cycle, and spins more.

[Coaster Kid]

Awsome pics I will be takening alot of Pics of DollyWoods adventures that I wll be haveing.

[Beast1979]

Right next to the Wicked Twister midway is the Kiddie Kingdom. From the maXair queue you get a nice view of these bumper boats.

After this we had 3 rides we wanted to ride. Wicked Twister? Giant Wheel? Disaster Transport?

Wicked Twister it is.

I didn't get on Giant Wheel, and I have still yet to ride it.

So we walked on to Wicked Twister. I don't see why the lines are usually so short, the ride is very fun and extremely enjoyable.

Ohhh....mechanical stuff.

We all agreed. Cedar Point Beach would be a great beach if A) It wasn't littered with trash B.) the water was warmer and C) if there was a bit more surf.

I wish I would have ridden Chaos while I was there

I was on back to get this shot.

Time for Disaster Transport

Feel free to use this as an avatar.

They changed the queue system this year so a lot of it was taken out.

Mechanic props

Car Props

There's a story behind this. Kat told Angie that they put her name up there on the lights. She turned around and it said "Reject" on it. They burst out laughing. Kat and Angie are known to get along....uhh....oddly.....

So Disaster Transport. It's an ok ride. It's not meant to be big or thrilling, but it satisfies as the park's enclosed ride. While the darkness is cool, it also defeats the purpose of it being a bobsled.

At this point we were beat. We all headed back to our individual hotels to nap.

Trooper Mom and I chose the scenic route to the Breakers, along the beach.

I like this view of Wicked Twister

Trooper Mom and I napped for an hour and a half. We all agreed to meet up at 2:30 at the Point Pavilion.

We re-entered the park refreshed and ready to go.

I'm sorry for all the Top Thrill Dragster Photos, the ride's just so awesome.

I like this view of Mantis' circular loop.

Corkscrew flies over the midway!

As it turns out, Point Pavilion is way back near Blue Streak. So it took us quite a while to get there

Cool view of the new fountains and Raptor.

We finally made it.

Being that this is a coaster event and ACE is involved in said event, one of the most important parts of the day is the buffet.

In true KIC tradition, here is the food.

We were all hoping this guy was announcing the make up for last night's ERT disaster. But, he was just announcing the winners of the games.

The bugs were in full force today, which is odd for this time of year.

I love the view of raptor you get from here

We left for a bit to go find my Aunt, Aunt Amy.

American Watering Places? What?!?

We found my Aunt Amy at the main gate. I introduced her to our group, which since my previous group wouldn't show was now Jesse, Shawn, and Zach.

We decided to go and take the sky ride.

That is a "Support our troops" banner on the car.

This was my first ride on any ride like this. Shawn and I were spying each other

Time for some Raptor and Park photos

Getting off I took this one of Corkscrew

Next we did Iron Dragon

Iron Dragon takes place on the south end of the lagoon, which is a huge water body that stretches from Frontier Town to Corkscrew

Above

[Beast1979]

Below

Iron Dragon is a very mild ride. The top speed is slower then you go on a secondary street, and the layout is rather uninteresting. Trooper Mom even rode it, it was so tame!

Mantis over Iron Dragon. Two bad rides.

You know us coaster enthusiasts, we just keep on going.

We headed right on over to Wildcat next

Cool shot of the transfer track

This is 4 layers of track staked on top of each other. This is not a figure 8, or a double 8, it's a triple 8!

Here's a shot of our group in line.

Wildcat was my 46th coaster and my first Shwarzkopf (sp?) how was it? Fantastic. Lots of fun turns and airtime and all that great stuff in such a small footprint.

This is the only negative part. The ride op actually screams "Hold on!" because it hits the brakes hard!

Rides shot

More rides

Mantis' huge loop

We were headed through Frontier Trail but we were stopped by this train

Aunt Amy and I took a ride on Millennium Force while I was there

It was awesome as always

Our group split up so it was just me, Trooper Mom, and Aunt Amy. We window shopped in Frontier Town

We also fed the geese. Look at that guy eat!

Now this is a through the trees shot!

I like this shot. It is very symbolic of how Ohio is for Coasters.

I love looking at this overbank.

After a while we re-entered Frontier Town.

More Millennium Force awesomeness

I had planned to get Aunt Amy on Maverick, but it was closed (Intamin shock!)

We rode Gemini then. After riding it I developed a sore area on my neck, and whenever it got jostled around it hurt.

Cedar Point is so big that some rides don't even have established names or themes or anything. Like this ride. It doesn't even have a sign or anything. It's just there.

This is where I heard something I'll never forget. In this particular part of the park, Magnum XL-200, Top Thrill Dragster, Gemini, Millennium Force, and Mean Streak are all visible. A mom with a kid was walking by and the mom, sounding extremely surprised, pointed and said, "Look, a roller coaster!"

Snoopy really needs to whip out the bug spray cause he's got mufflehead mania.

After a ride on Magnum it was time to take Aunt Amy on a ride she'd never been on before.

Top Thrill Dragster

Obviously I enjoyed it. Aunt Amy was glad she got it over with.

After finally meeting up with my old group (Adam, Kat, Angie) we rode Iron Dragon and Wildcat together.

Then Kat and Adam had to go for some reason. Angie and I rode Millennium Force and Power Tower.

Angie went to go with Kat for some reason, so Aunt Amy, Trooper Mom and I were on our own again. What is up with this add btw? Ride the big Green Monster. Please.

We went back to our room to eat dinner

Re-entering the park we had no idea what we wanted to do. So, we wondered

Ha ha! I finally got a Mantis and 2 Iron Dragon trains in one shot!

Before long Nightfall struck

So the 3 of us headed to Starlight Experience.

At first I thought "Oooo wow. New for 2009: Some lights"

But after going in it my opinion changed.

The place is very pretty and very well done.

There were multiple sections for each holiday

For example, here's Snoopy and Christmas

Even the tunnel was decorated

Before leaving Trooper Mom finally got what she always wanted. Salt water Taffy from Cedar Point. Isn't Lake Erie freshwater?

Then we watched Hot Summer Lights. Normally the midway is pitch black like this

But every now and again a burst of fire comes along and makes the midway look like daytime (sorry for the finger in the shot) Overall I liked Hot Summer Lights. It's more of a show then just fireworks or anything, but it's very well done. Another reason to love Cedar Point.

Aunt Amy sat this one out because she rode it earlier. Trooper Mom and I rode Cedar Downs. I love this ride. It's extremely fun to race, even if you have no control over it, and I love the feel of it. It's so much more then a normal carousel.

As the night got deeper we rode Cadillac Cars. For the sake of humor they let me drive. As it turns out, I'm a pretty darn good driver when I'm not being distracted by a B&M Invert cobra roll!

[Beast1979]

I got a txt from Zach saying Top Thrill Dragster was a station wait. So I sprinted. From Cadillac Cars. To Top Thrill Dragster. At night. With my sweater on. And you know what? It was worth it. A station wait for Top Thrill Dragster at night? YESSS!!!!! I was gonna get my first ride in the front row on it, but there were so few people they were dividing up people throughout the train. If it weren't for that I would have gotten a front seat rollback because there were so few people. I almost rolled back on my second TTD ride.

After 2 TTD rides we (I grouped up with Jesse Shawn and Zach) rode maXair once, then Blue Streak once, then Raptor once. After that, we were pooped.

We went back to our room and got in bed by 12:30. We slept in late, and needed every second of it.

CoasterMania was an amazing event. Take 15 of your friends + Cedar Point + ERT and you have a recipe for the best two days ever. EVER. It was so fun a day doesn't go by wishing I wasn't still there. I can't wait for CoasterMania 2010. See you all there!

That's all! Thanks for reading!

[DiamondbackLover]

Nice Trip Report. I'm guessing trooper mom is your mom? haha. Cedar Point is an amazing park. Raptor, TTD, MILLENIUM FORCE, Wicked Twister, Maverick. I was also at Coaster Mania btw. I might've seen you there.

[The Interpreter]

Great PTR, as always! Your pictures make Cedar Point look so grand...then again, it is!

And trimless Magnum rides are certainly treasures to behold!

[DaveStroem]

Nice TR Jackson. If you shot one of the TTD trains before the shot of Jessie, you would have had me in the pic.

BTW, in your first line you have the dates at July 5 & 6 instead of June.

[KI Kevin]

Nice PTR. Good pictures. I guess Kat should have seen the "don't wear your earrings" sign. I love Maverick. #1 Steel coaster for me.

[IslandAddict]

Wow. My eyes hurt.

[TheCryptRaider]

Wow. Absolutely amazing. I can't wait for CoasterMania! next year, I'll tooootally be there.

[Dbfan]

First post here

I recently went to Cedar Point last weekend, was not that crowded for a sunday, but Monday was packed. The bugs were worse than what your picture showed, I was spitting them out and picking them off my hands after Top Thrill dragster at night.

[dragsterfan420]

Great PTR. I haven't been to Cedar Point since CoasterMania '07 and I desperately miss its. It's helps to see pictures, good ones at that. The bugs do suck. They're mayflies. They come from the lake that's why their's so many of 'em. They're the worst on Mean Streak and Millennium Force. Hopefully I'll be able to join any KICer's who go to CoasterMania next year.

[The Interpreter]

And, oh....Jackson, here's a bit of information for you:

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/...tering%20Places

http://www.amazon.com/Cedar-Point-American...5091&sr=8-1

[Beast1979]

Nice Trip Report. I'm guessing trooper mom is your mom? haha. Cedar Point is an amazing park. Raptor, TTD, MILLENIUM FORCE, Wicked Twister, Maverick. I was also at Coaster Mania btw. I might've seen you there.

Thank you. Yes, Trooper Mom is my mom. If I saw you there I sure didn't recognize you.

Great PTR, as always! Your pictures make Cedar Point look so grand...then again, it is!

And trimless Magnum rides are certainly treasures to behold!

Thanks. Yes, they're treasures to behold, as long as your not in pain afterwords!

Nice TR Jackson. If you shot one of the TTD trains before the shot of Jessie, you would have had me in the pic.

BTW, in your first line you have the dates at July 5 & 6 instead of June.

Well it was nice to almost photograph you then. Whoops, I'll fix that. Thanks!

Nice PTR. Good pictures. I guess Kat should have seen the "don't wear your earrings" sign. I love Maverick. #1 Steel coaster for me.

Usually the earrings don't bother her on rides. This was a surprise I guess.

Wow. Absolutely amazing. I can't wait for CoasterMania! next year, I'll tooootally be there.

Well then, see you there!

Great PTR. I haven't been to Cedar Point since CoasterMania '07 and I desperately miss its. It's helps to see pictures, good ones at that. The bugs do suck. They're mayflies. They come from the lake that's why their's so many of 'em. They're the worst on Mean Streak and Millennium Force. Hopefully I'll be able to join any KICer's who go to CoasterMania next year.

I thought they were muffle heads....ohh well.

And, oh....Jackson, here's a bit of information for you:

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/...tering%20Places

http://www.amazon.com/Cedar-Point-American...5091&sr=8-1

So Cedar Point was a classic watering place before an amusement park......weird.

[violakat03]

^ There are mayflies, and there are muffleheads. The muffleheads (non-biting mosquitos) are what show up en masse around May and June and then go away.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2...ront/294219.txt

As for the earring, I've actually never once seen the sign that says to take them out, but wouldn't have even if I had. I've worn my earrings on every coaster I've ever ridden (even Ninja at SFOG!!) and never had them bother me. If they were hoops, yes, I'd take them out. Small studs, no. Plus, they were safer in my ears than in my pockets or in a purse.

[DiamondbackLover]

Yes, I was there. I was there for all of the ERT. MF and TTD, Maverick and Magnum, Raptor and Blue Streak...

[dragsterfan420]

^ There are mayflies, and there are muffleheads. The muffleheads (non-biting mosquitos) are what show up en masse around May and June and then go away.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2...ront/294219.txt

I retract my statement that the bugs were may flies. You all were right they are muffle heads.

[brick52]

I loved the pictures this makes me sad though because I can't go to CP this summer.

[indianapolisman]

Great PTR Jackson. Brings back some fun memories. BTW it's Sean don't feel bad happens daily.

I-spy

[Beast1979]

Sorry Sean. Nice pic of us!

[Kawana]

Excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and looking. Thanks much for sharing.

I love the fact that your mom goes with you. Some of my favorite memories are from times at KI with my dad.

[tigellinus]

First off, awesome PTR!! I finally got to see it! I've been doing hella flying this summer, and your PTR's have been a sweet time passer for me!

Just a few personal comments...first, I'm sad I'm only (barely) in one of your pics! Second, I honestly think the better strategy was just to do the 2 hour nap and break after the lunch for queue optimization. Also, having stayed at all the major resorts this year, everything on property in my opinion is breathtakingly overrated while Breakers Express is very underrated. Lastly, as someone who pretty much only rides the 7 or so big one's at CP and not much else (I could never be Terpy's son with that mentality!!), I do get a kick out of seeing parts of CP I normally don't! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just really dig the way you capture an amusement park from both a tourists' and enthusiasts' POV at the same time...mad skillz!!