A Giga and 76257 Cedar Point Adventure

[gigacoaster2k]

Tom(76257) and I met up at my house a little after 5 am yesterday. I'd been given the day off and didn't have to work the day after, so I figured hey, let's go to Cedar Point! We packed food in coolers to save money.

We got to the park around 8:15 am to see the lots almost completely empty. We drove around to the Soak City lot as we wanted to hit Maverick first, and stopped to chat with Single Rider Bob on the way.

I was hopeful for a good day because the previous day had been Cleveland Clinic day, and I had heard that there was a 3 hour wait for Millennium Force all day, and that the overflow lots were full. Rumors on a CP fansite told me that some, if not most of, the crowd MAY still be there Sunday.

We walked over to the Soak City entrance to see that there were not very many people there. As the 40 minutes slowly went by, more and more people were coming to the entrance. By the time the national anthem was being played, the crowd of people at the gate was halfway to the tunnel.

We jogged with the rest of the ROTB. Neither one of us stopped until we hit Maverick. We made it almost to the station before we stopped. Both of us wanted very front seat, and the line for the first train was ridiculous, so we opted for the second train's line, which was a bit shorter (Mav has a dual loading station).

One of the ride ops was going on about how you were not allowed to wear glasses on this ride unless they have an athletic strap or secured in a button or zipper pocket.. and then "YOUR CLEAVAGE IS NOT A POCKET!!" Tom and I almost died laughing.

The ride was great as always.. until during the second half of the ride, a gull flew very close to the right side of the train! It seriously almost hit us.. I screamed! Tom commented after the ride that it was the first time he'd heard me scream on a coaster.

We looked down at the line to see that it was already getting long, so we opted for Millie. The wait was already posted at a half hour, but we wanted to ride so we got in line. The ride ops in the station were saying "VROOM!" as the train left the station, and asking each other what part of Millennium Force would they be.

I insisted that we ride seat 2:1, the ejector seat. Yes, Millie has an ejector seat, and it's amazing. In fact, Tom commented to me after the ride in that seat that it shot up to his #1 steel coaster and was a better ride than Maverick.

We both wanted a ride on Raptor, so we headed that way. The 10 am ROTB from the front gate was a stampede straight from hell. I don't remember what Raptor was posted at (I think it was half an hour), but we got in line because we love Raptor. I saw my friend Schuyler and laughed at the sudden smile of recognition on his face, he totally didn't expect me to be there. We rode in the very rear seat, as we always try to do. I love Raptor.

We headed over to Wicked Twister to see that there was no line whatsoever, and rode in the second seats from the back.

We wanted a ride on maXair, so we headed there and rode it. I really do like it a lot better than Delirium. Tom said it's more relaxing than thrilling.. I agree.

We headed to Blue Streak partially because we wanted to ride and partially so I could see my friend Scott. I have never been able to sneak up on him like I do with all my other friends that work at Cedar Point. Old Blue had a half hour wait. We rode in the second seat from the back, and as I passed Scott in controls, I screamed bloody murder and covered my face like I was terrified. He got a big kick out of it.

Walking toward the back of the park, we hit Space Shot side of Power Tower on the way. I knew it was going to be a crowded day when I saw that both sides had a line. I looked over to see that Corkscrew was stuck on the lift hill.

We checked the wait for Dragster.. HOUR AND A HALF. We said no way, and headed for Magnum instead.

While in line for Magnum, this guy tried to shove in front of us. When Tom blocked him, told him no and that it was line jumping, he ducked under the rails. As we walked by, I told him it was line jumping and that I was reporting him.. his response was "Are you serious?" I think that because he had a Marines shirt on, that he thought he could do whatever he wanted.. haha, not happening with me. So when we got to the station, I informed a ride op, and they removed him from the line. Tom walked up and thanked her afterward.

At CP, you don't need two groups to say someone was line jumping. They have a zero tolerance policy and they WILL kick someone out for it.

I wanted to spin, so we hit Witches Wheel. I wasn't feeling too hot after the ride, but it's fun and I really didn't care.

We chose to walk toward the very back of the park, and rode Cedar Creek Mine Ride so Tom could get his credit. He is now one coaster ahead of me.. see, I can be nice once in a while.

We rode Skyhawk, his favorite flat ride, and then realized we were both getting pretty hungry, so we headed out to the car for the food in the coolers. On the way out, I bought our Skyscraper tickets. I have a buy one get one free coupon that I got with my platinum pass, so I took advantage of that.

We'd packed sandwiches, water, Powerade, Mountain Dew, Pringles, and trail mix bars.. ate about half of that, and then went back into the park.

My friend Bre that works Magnum said she'd be there today, and so did my friend James. I wanted to see them both, and Tom wanted to meet them, so we headed that way. The wait was posted at half an hour, but we waited about 15 minutes.

I saw Bre checking restraints, but no sign of James. I yelled and waved at her, but she was totally not paying attention.

We checked Dragster's wait and the line was almost back to the entrance.. we said forget it, and went to ride Wicked Twister.

Even Twister had a half hour wait, which was odd since it's usually a walk on. The ride broke down for about 45 minutes, and we just decided to sit it out and wait. The line jumpers in this queue were downright ridiculous, one right after the other.

I started going off about how I was going to start taking pictures of line jumpers and show them to park security, and how much I hated the heat and the crowds. Tom had to reassure me that it would be ok, and I was fine afterward. I don't know what happened there.. I guess I hit a point where I was just tired of everything going on today, I also felt bad for taking him to CP on a hot crowded day that was full of line jumpers.

I was tired of waiting in huge lines, and wanted a big thrill, so we headed for Tom's first ride on Skyscraper. He loved it but thought it would be more intense. The trick is helping the other person flip the cage.. the flips are much better that way.

I needed a break, and we sat down by Magnum's entrance with some water. I said something about how I was disappointed that Bre didn't see me on Magnum.. strangely enough, I saw her walking out of Magnum's queue, so I got her attention and she came over. She told me to come back later when she was in controls, and that she'd give us a trimless ride (I asked her if posting this was ok, and she said she didn't care). I was ecstatic.

We wanted another ride on Raptor, so we headed that way. Then we discovered that we were again hungry, so we went back out to the car and destroyed the other half of our food.

We checked Dragster's line again on the way back to the front of the park, and it was still hideous. It went down from an hour and a half to an hour, which was still a no. We really wanted to ride, but that line was outrageous.. so was every other line we checked. Tom then said he'd never been up in Space Spiral, so we got on. It was probably the only walk on in the park at that point.

I took a photo of CP's main lot from the Spiral just to show you guys how packed it was.

..yeah.

I checked my phone to see a text from Bre: "Come ride. I'm in controls." We hurried over to Magnum from the front of the park, and got rickrolled in the queue. We got to the station, and we were both waving our arms and yelling but she didn't see us. We went through the ride, and sure enough, SSHHHHCRACK, there was the trim going into the pretzel.

As we pulled into the station, Bre walked over to me and I made a pouty face at her.. the first thing she said was "I can explain." Turns out they did a switch as soon as I left the station, so she said we should go ride again. We got back in line, and I texted her and told her which seat we were riding in so she would see us. I saw James, and caught up with him as I haven't seen him in a while. Bre did see us, and yay, TRIMLESS RIDE!! That thing FLIES through the second half without the trim! As we exited, we blew kisses at Bre and told her she was awesome LOL and she blew a kiss back. I love that girl to death.

I wanted another ride on Raptor before the trip was over, and we were stunned to see it at a 15 MINUTE WAIT! No way were we passing this up. We got two rides in on that, said bye to Schuyler, and then headed for a night ride on maXair because there are motion-activated strobes at the bottom that go crazy when the frisbee swings over it.. it looks so cool.

We went to see what was going on with Dragster, and there were 3 maintenance workers on the part of the track above the entrance. We were both kind of disappointed that we didn't get to ride today, but excited for our last ride of the night, at night.. Millennium Force.

We still had some time before the queue closed, so I grabbed some mint chocolate Dippin Dots (they were out of chocolate so I was nice and got Tom's favorite flavor). We pretty much destroyed that cup of ice cream, and got in line for Millie.. which was posted at an hour wait. The line was back behind the soda machines.. I can only remember one other time I've seen the line that long. At the same time, I was impressed that this coaster draws crowds like that even in its 10th operating season.

I was getting bitten by tons of mosquitoes, and laughed about having a coating of bugs after the ride. We went for seat 2:1 again, and were on the second to last train of the night. Strangely enough, I did not get hit with one bug on this ride.

We left the park around 11:30, and we had barely left Sandusky when Tom started dozing off and I got road hypnosis. We pulled off at a gas station and slept for a couple of hours, bought some snacks, then got back on the road. I did not get home until almost 5:30 this morning.

Aside from the heat, the crowds, and the line jumpers, it was a pretty amazing and eventful day.

Ride count:

Raptor - 4

Magnum - 4

Millennium Force - 2

maXair - 2

Power Tower Space Shot - 2 (I missed one in my TR somewhere)

Wicked Twister - 2

Skyscraper - 1

Maverick - 1

Skyhawk - 1

Cedar Creek Mine Ride - 1

Witches Wheel - 1

Blue Streak - 1

Space Spiral - 1

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for the TR Angie, sounds like you guys had a good time!

[Diamondback FOF]

Nice loooooong trip report! I'm sorry that it was so hot, crowded, and so many line jumpers, but it counds like you guys still had a good time, so that good . I can't believe you'd been up since before 5 yesterday morning, went to CP for the day, slept for a couple hours, got home, and still decided to write a trip report right now instead of sleeping half the day .

[gigacoaster2k]

Nice loooooong trip report! I'm sorry that it was so hot, crowded, and so many line jumpers, but it counds like you guys still had a good time, so that good . I can't believe you'd been up since before 5 yesterday morning, went to CP for the day, slept for a couple hours, got home, and still decided to write a trip report right now instead of sleeping half the day .

LOL. I try to remember as many details as possible instead of just listing what I rode. I can also survive on very little sleep.. being a college student will do that to you!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Nice loooooong trip report! I'm sorry that it was so hot, crowded, and so many line jumpers, but it counds like you guys still had a good time, so that good . I can't believe you'd been up since before 5 yesterday morning, went to CP for the day, slept for a couple hours, got home, and still decided to write a trip report right now instead of sleeping half the day .

LOL. I try to remember as many details as possible instead of just listing what I rode. I can also survive on very little sleep.. being a college student will do that to you!

Are you still on some of those energy pills?

[74Gibson]

Thanks for the great TR Angie!

I'm making my second CP trip of the year on Thur. Last one was so crowded we just gave up on riding and enjoyed the park, some restaurants and shops in Sandusky and left early evening. It was a great day though.

[kjkjkj]

Great TR Angie! Glad you and Tom had so much fun! The crowds and the heat sound about as bad as when Ashley and I went last year. We waited 2 hours + fot TTD! I need to try Skyscraper next time I go, it looks really cool!

[DaveStroem]

Nice TR. I was at CP today with similar very crowded conditions. I guess I just got spoiled by our May-June trips.

[Tom76257]

Nice TR, Angie! It was a great day at my favorite park even with the heat, line jumpers, and it being a crowded Sunday (oxymoron?). Next time, though, I'm thinking Top Thrill Dragster should be hit RIGHT AT 10:00. Why the world's 2nd tallest and 2nd fastest coaster isn't an ERT ride and Iron Dragon is I'll never know.

It also amazed me what a trimless ride on Magnum can do to your top 10 list. I'm not sure where to put it, but it's in there.

One last thing, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Angie for showing me that seat on Millennium Force! For those of you who don't know, I wasn't that impressed with the 4 rides I got at CoasterMania! on Millie. It is now my #1 steel coaster and I understand why it has never been below the #2 steel roller coaster in the world since its debut. For those of you who don't think that Millie has airtime RIDE IN THE FIRST ROW OF THE SECOND CAR! When you lean forward because of the amount of airtime you get, you know it's GREAT!

[The Interpreter]

Perhaps Iron Dragon is an ERT ride because it almost always operates....

[Tom76257]

VERY true, Terpy. I've found that Arrow coasters are A LOT more reliable than most Intamin coasters.

[violakat03]

They have a hard enough time opening Dragster on time at 10:00 .. I can imagine that it'd be many times worse trying to open it an hour earlier.

[The Interpreter]

Not to mention that it usually only operates with about half of the seats in its trains occupied for the first half hour or so until the entire system warms up. Not ideal for morning ERT, to put it mildly...

[DaveStroem]

I seem to remember riding TTD with full trains at 7:00 am. We were all hoping for rollbacks, but none were to be given out that day.

[KI Kevin]

Perhaps Iron Dragon is an ERT ride because it almost always operates....

I've

[KI Kevin]

Perhaps Iron Dragon is an ERT ride because it almost always operates....

I've had different experiences. Both times I went up to the Point this year ID has been closed for at least a day. Oh well, doesn't bother me. I got my credit in 2005. Chances are I won't be riding that any time soon.

[violakat03]

I seem to remember riding TTD with full trains at 7:00 am. We were all hoping for rollbacks, but none were to be given out that day.

We were VERY lucky. I'm betting they were running the standard morning tests at 4 or 5 a.m. Or maybe they didn't let it cool down the night before. I don't think they could pull off such a feat on a daily basis. When I was there last week it opened an hour late because one of the brake fins in the launch area wasn't coming up.

[Ki Man]

^^ Iron Dragon was down all day yesterday.

[violakat03]

Wow. I'm really surprised that ID has so much down time. It broke while I was there a week ago and it was down for the rest of the day. Maybe something major broke and it's still down?

[StalkerChick]

Awww... Angie no mention of the roadtrip you took friday!? I'm hurt Ok I'm putting my foot down. Who wants to go to CP sometime during the week (as I don't work mon, tues, or weds) I haven't gone in like 5 or 6 years, and its my home freaking park for crying out loud. I can get there 45 minutes faster than I can to KI >.< I know I know. But I'm glad you had fun! You deserved it

[rotag]

Awww... Angie no mention of the roadtrip you took friday!? I'm hurt Ok I'm putting my foot down. Who wants to go to CP sometime during the week (as I don't work mon, tues, or weds) I haven't gone in like 5 or 6 years, and its my home freaking park for crying out loud. I can get there 45 minutes faster than I can to KI >.< I know I know. But I'm glad you had fun! You deserved it

where were you a few days ago . i so couldve used your help.

[Tom76257]

Um, Rachel, if I had a job I'd be in! You still have to ride my now second favorite steel coaster, Maverick! Skyhawk is also a must because it's my favorite flat ride anywhere.

[StalkerChick]

Awww... Angie no mention of the roadtrip you took friday!? I'm hurt Ok I'm putting my foot down. Who wants to go to CP sometime during the week (as I don't work mon, tues, or weds) I haven't gone in like 5 or 6 years, and its my home freaking park for crying out loud. I can get there 45 minutes faster than I can to KI >.< I know I know. But I'm glad you had fun! You deserved it

where were you a few days ago . i so couldve used your help.

LOL no i mean i live 45 minutes closer to CP than i do to KI. It takes me a little over 2 hours to get to KI. If i take the back way to CP and actually shoot out to the east and swing in 3 blocks from the causeway, i can get there in an hour and half max depending on the lights

[violakat03]

I'm going on August 26th! But I'll be spending most of the day on Gemini.

[rotag]

Awww... Angie no mention of the roadtrip you took friday!? I'm hurt Ok I'm putting my foot down. Who wants to go to CP sometime during the week (as I don't work mon, tues, or weds) I haven't gone in like 5 or 6 years, and its my home freaking park for crying out loud. I can get there 45 minutes faster than I can to KI >.< I know I know. But I'm glad you had fun! You deserved it

where were you a few days ago . i so couldve used your help.

LOL no i mean i live 45 minutes closer to CP than i do to KI. It takes me a little over 2 hours to get to KI. If i take the back way to CP and actually shoot out to the east and swing in 3 blocks from the causeway, i can get there in an hour and half max depending on the lights

no, i was @ cp on 8/4 & 8/5, you silly.