Cedar Point TR 8-26-10

[shark6495]

Yes 15 years.... I have not been to CP since 95, and I was well 10 years old at the time. But not today. Today I felt like a 10 year old. And what an awesome trip...

Day 1:

The fiance and I left weds at 11 and had our blood drawn (blood drive) and got our free CP tickets. Hey they are free why not? By 2 pm we were on the road and making our way to Sandusky OH for a mini 2 day vacation. We arrived at our motel around 4:30 or so. And now I remember why I do not like the drive to Sandusky, and that area, there is no direct route from Columbus. Bummer. But we stayed at the Plantation Motel, just outside of Huron. Very clean but slightly old. But it did have a brand new flat screen tv on the wall with extended cable coverage, and was located a stones throw from the water. I would rate the Hotel a 3 out of 5. The only negatives were the shower, way too small, and the room felt like it was straight out of the 70s or early 80s.

After looking our place to stay we decided to trot our way into Sandusky, Port Clinton, and Marblehead. Sadly most of the little shops were closed by the time we started our little afternoon trek (5:30ish) but we did not let that sway us. First we went to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton. It seemed like a total boor but in reality it was the complete opposite. Our motel offered us a free admission so we payed the 18 bucks for the other admission and drove through the park. Yes its a drive through park. We had Emus, deer, buffalo, big cows, and some other deer like animals press their faces to our cars windows. We were able to feed them carrots and some sort of corn meal. We also fed giraffes straight from our car windows and saw Zebra and Elk. Awesome little side trip. Plus, it made the fiance uber happy, so it was a win-win. African Safari Wildlife Park gets 4 out of 5, the only negative was the price, 18 bucks per person and "food" for the animals that ranged from 2 - 8 bucks.

Then it was time for our dinner so we went to Bootleggers in Port Clinton. A nice little bar and grill located right on the water front. Good food, good atmosphere but the prices, ouch. Between the fiance and I we had a burger, Walleye fish, Coke and water and the bill was 35 plus tip. The Walleye was good, the burger was good but not sure it was 35 good. However we saw many boats pass by us as we ate and even had a fellow eater pull his boat up to the dock, tie off, then sit down and order. Awesome I want to do that. The waitress was not great, when asking her what the best thing on the menu was she said "Well what do you like?" Blah... I just wanted to know her personal favorite, or something to avoid. But cant complain. Bootleggers gets 4 out 5, again the prices are steep and the waitress left a sad taste in the mouth. But the food was good.

We then patrolled around the peninsula for a while and came across Marblehead Lighthouse. Its a light house. Fun to walk around and get so close to the water. Sadly the sun was setting on the other side so we didnt see much but we saw across the bay and saw CP light up the night sky. Awesome evening to the day so the lighthouse gets 5 out of 5 romantic points.

The night was almost done it ended with Toft's Ice Cream in Sandusky. The fiance and I shared a small, Mackinac Island Fudge Brownie, ice cream in a dish. What huge servings. The ice cream was great and the price was low. Toft's is just as good, in a different way, than Greaters. 5 out of 5 on this one.

We make it back to the motel to crash and get ready for day 2.

Day 2:

We wake early, around 8 am, to get showered eat and make our way to CP. The day starts off well as we eat at Beradi's and huge portions for reasonable prices. I say it was a must eat at if you are in the Huron Area. 5 out of 5.

We then drive over to the park and get a close parking spot (row 3). We enter the park around 10:45 and we have to wait around till 11 since we did not have ERT, but no worries here.

As God Bless America played most were respectful but a few of the youngins I wanted to teach them a thing or two about respect, but whatever. Some even chanted USA USA, annoying but I blame their parents.

Based on your helpful hints my fiance and I avoided the main rides at first and went around the right side of the park. We walked onto Disaster Transport (a sign of things to come). Disaster Transport seemed like a nice ride but it was 1. way to quick and 2. way to dark. I am not sure if it was a ride or what happened. But it was a good ride to get the heart pumping and there was no wait. Disaster Transport gets 3 out of 5.

Walked over to Wicked Twister and walked onto the second row of the train. Fun little ride but left more to be wanted. Not my type of ride. But it was near the lake which was awesome. I just personally dont like rides that dangle you for long periods of time. (same thing with face-off). Wicked Twister earned 4 out of 5.

The fiance and I walked over to the midway, cutting next to the employee cafeteria. We were going to see what sort of wait there was for TTD. On the way there we saw Power Tower but didnt want to ride it. The fiance and I both agree roller coasters are good but some flats (the spinning or the dropping ones) are not our style. So we walked onto Corkscrew. A nice fun little ride. Somewhat rough but good over all. It earned 3 out of 5 from us. The time was about 11:30 or so.

We then continued our walk and made our entrance to Magnum XL and with no wait jumped on the ride. Just as scary as I remember it. The airtime hills had me out of my seat. The ride op who did the announcing at this ride was the best we have ever seen. Magnum gets 5 out of 5.

We continue our walk around the park and hop on Gemini encountering our first wait of the day. 15 minutes. The ride was a nice little ride. The crew was not awesome but did their job well. But we did not race anyone. Only the blue side was running. 3 out of 5.

We then hit up Mean Streak, with no wait. What a nice woody but it reminds me of why they call wooden rides back breakers. Fun but caused a good headache. Mean Streak earned 4 out of 5 for the trip. The fiance however gave it a 2 out of 5.

Needing a rest we hit up the train while regaining our wits. The skeleton scenes actually added to the ride and blew KIs out of the water. Train gets awesome cred for this and earns the 4 out 5 ranking just for that. So by 1 pm we had ridden 6 coasters and the train.

We then hit up Maverick which was only a 35-40 minute wait. That first hill is amazing. Totally surprising and caught us off guard. The ride was smooth and enjoyable the whole way through. Mav gets 5 out of 5 wild horses.

Strolling through Frontier Town, grabbing a hot pretzel we make our way to Raptor. No wait but a station one. The ride was fun and intense. The only negative was the person losing her lunch next to us. 5 out of 5. The coaster count continues and its only 2:30.

We then make out way to Top Thrill Dragster and experience only a 15 min wait so we decide to get in line for the very front row. This added another 30 mins to our wait but it was well worth it. The fiance and I never rode it before and had no clue what to expect. We even gained some cred from the ride op when he asked who had first rides and was surprised to see us in the first row. The ride? AWESOME. AMAZING. HOLY SH..... Worth the wait and more. new favorite ride? check. On ride photo? check. Memories? Check.

After that awesomeness we hit another lap on raptor and called it a day. We skipped out on Blue Streak and Millenium but managed double digit rides in less than 5 hours....

Overall CP gets 4 out of 5 for being a park that I had not experienced in over 10 years....

[gigacoaster2k]

I am glad you enjoyed Magnum, Maverick, and TTD! I absolutely love the Magnum crew too! TTD in the front row is absolutely mind blowing, I'm glad you got to experience it.. with as many times as I've been to CP, that launch still blows me away!

But you skipped out on Millennium Force?.. I'm sad. I was curious to read your review of the coaster that was a turning point in my life as a coaster lover..

[Cormaster]

WOW it was dead when you went! I am honestly jealous! Just like you my first trip since 1995 happened in July, and yeah I waited about an hour to ride Maverick, an hour 1/2 to ride Millie, and an hour to ride TTD! The rest of the waits weren't bad.

I need to go back in August next year. So how come you skipped out on Millie and Blue Streak?

BTW I agree with you on Top Thrill Dragster. The best way to describe the coaster is "its kind of like 17 seconds of living an action scene from an 80's action movie".

[shark6495]

it really was dead. The only reason we skipped out on Millie was because by the time we both talked ourselves into riding it we were dead tired and were all shaken up on the inside. I had not rode that many coasters in that short of time in a long time. So sadly Blue Streak, Mantis, and Millie were on the short stick of the day. Plus since we got tickets for free we figured hey why not leave when we want to, so as to make it feel like fun and not a job to ride every ride....

the only disappointing part about CP were most of the shows were closed. The park was ramping up for halloweekend and there were some cool stuff to look at but just no real shows to go and sit inside to re-catch your bearings.... oh well

[shark6495]

I am glad you enjoyed Magnum, Maverick, and TTD! I absolutely love the Magnum crew too! TTD in the front row is absolutely mind blowing, I'm glad you got to experience it.. with as many times as I've been to CP, that launch still blows me away!

But you skipped out on Millennium Force?.. I'm sad. I was curious to read your review of the coaster that was a turning point in my life as a coaster lover..

the magnum crew was awesome. If there was a wait for the ride I would not have been sad about having to hear them talk and have fun... oh and that launch holy cow.... i bought the on ride photo cause the fiance's hair went straight up and my face looks all weird from the wind..... yea we skipped Millie... the fiance had rode it before but by the time of the day we were at it was just about over in our heads.... next time.... keeps us coming back ya know?