My Annual Trip to Cedar Point-PTR-9/09/2012

[VortexBFForever]

Sorry that this TR is so late, but my PC crashed soon after the trip and it took a few weeks to get it fixed. Plus it took me even more time to upload all my photos to Flickr…

On Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 9:15am, I left for the Point, and arrived three and a half hours later at 12:45pm. Clutching my E-Ticket in my hand, I exited the car and stepped onto the asphalt known as “Cedar Point’s parking lot.”

One of the first things I saw on the park’s skyline was none other than Space Spiral. Noticing how Disaster Transport was completely gone, yet all of the Spiral was still intact, my wild and creative imagination came up with this practically unreasonable thought, “Maybe it’s open.” (I hadn’t been in the loop lately, especially concerning the DT and SS deconstruction…) I knew in my right mind that the ride was closed and its time to leave Cedar Point was really soon, like maybe in 3 days (hint, hint). Anxious to get a closer look at Space Spiral, along with getting my yearly fix of Cedar Point rides, I proceeded directly to the park’s Main Gate. My ticket was scanned, and I had officially entered “the Best Amusement Park in the World!”

This trip, I wanted to ride some of the rides I didn’t get to riding last year, on August 4, 2011. One of them rules the sky, and also got to be my first ride of the day. Yep, it was Raptor!

The wait for this bird of prey was about 15-20 minutes. I would later know that it was the longest I’d ever wait for a ride on this trip (every other ride would be only 5, if not, 10 minutes).

When my turn came, I was on Train #1, in Row #4 on the far left seat.

For a ride ruling the sky, it offered a pretty nice flight. The first drop was a good start, and I loved the inversions (like on any invert, my favorite parts are the zero-g rolls). I also liked the cobra roll and the loop. Quite exciting.

After exiting Raptor, I headed across the midway to where I grabbed these two shots:

I turned around, and then I came face-to-face with…..Space Spiral!...and a wooden fence, separating the ride from any guest wanting to get close(er) to it, along with metal bars blocking the stairs. I knew that I was too late to reach new heights in fun (particularly on the Spiral ). At the moment

popped into my head.

I studied Space Spiral for at least 3 minutes, then I joined maXair’s extraordinarily short line (in ’11 it had an almost-extraordinarily LONG line) and walked right on to the next cycle. I got Seat #47 (which was the same number as one of the seats I got on one of my three WindSeeker rides on my 9/03/12 KI trip!)

Note: you can see Wicked Twister’s train in the background.

maXair was fun, and really intense! I did notice that the duration of the cycle was a little longer than Delirium’s. I loved it, especially when it swings to its highest and you’re facing the sky. Those negative Gs you get are just amazing!

I took one last close look at Space Spiral before moving on to Wicked Twister, which also had a very short wait of about 2 minutes. I took Row #8, near the back.

When the ops said “Clear; Launching in 3…2…1…” I thought “Don’t expect very much…” I guess it was because I was sitting near the back of the train, because the launch really caught me off guard! I was screaming until the train started ascending the front spike, before descending back to the station and being launched backwards up the other spike. In general, the Twister was a fun ride in itself.

Part 2 coming up shortly!

Edited October 26, 2012 by VortexBFForever

[VortexBFForever]

I SO knew what I was going to ride next: the Point’s newest tower ride (along with a touch of elegance)…WindSeeker!! The ride was in the middle of a cycle when I entered the queue, but 1-2 minutes later, I was walking to my assigned row, row #21. I chose the outside seat.


The first few minutes of

served as the soundtrack for my WindSeeker flight as I and the other riders aboard soared 301 feet above the rest of the Point, (including Space Spiral and what was left of the rubble that was once Disaster Transport), the beach, Castaway Bay, Soak City, and the ever-so-vast Lake Erie. I could easily see the causeway and Route 2 as well, along with the rest of Sandusky. Pleasant flight as always, and I loved it, especially with a familiar soundtrack narrating the whole ride cycle, and especially when I was waving to Space Spiral for a moment during every rotation spent uptop. I also saw Corkscrew’s white train stopped on the lift hill, and a ride op walking to and from the train, probably retreiving a loose article or something.
As WindSeeker descended and finally landed, I noticed that here at Cedar Point they let the whole soundtrack play, up until it’s time for the next cycle to begin, whereas at Kings Island they stop playing the soundtrack when its WindSeeker is just about to land (about 30-40 feet in the air still).
I enjoyed getting great views of the (de)construction site, thanks to maXair and WindSeeker.

As I journeyed to Power Tower for a ride, I used the “Continuous Shooting” mode on my camera to capture these shots of Corkscrew:




^I was lucky to also catch Iron Dragon and Millennium Force in this last one!

Finally, I reached Power Tower. Since I rode the “Shot” side last time, I decided to ride the “Drop” side this time.

It was also a walk on. I got Seat #6.

I liked the quick ascent to the top. Unlike Drop Tower, I had no idea when it would actually drop. But I was still prepared. Top Thrill Dragster was right in front of me, so I just stared straight ahead at it until the ride then made its sudden descent.
[Also] unlike Drop Tower, which freefalls until the magnetic brakes do their job, Power Tower only freefalled for a split second before gradually slowing down so it could go up again. It went up and down once or twice more before it finally descended back to the station. I thought the ride was pretty nice.

Next was Corkscrew, which is like half the size of KI’s Vortex, but it still packs a punch.


Part 3 coming shortly!

[The Interpreter]

Incredible pictures. Fantastic detail.

Thanks!

[VortexBFForever]

There was a small line for the front row, but I just went ahead and walked right into row 2-1 on the White Train with another group of 3. I took the seat on the right.

This is actually one of the rides where I like to (at least try to) put my hands up. The airtime hill and the loop are my favorite parts. I found out that on rides like this where it gets a little bumpy, if you try to keep your head back, your head might get bumped forward a little and then hit the headrest, which if done enough will cause a headache. (That’s why I always keep my head FORWARD! ) Overall it was fun, especially for a smaller Arrow.

I got in line again. This time I went for row 6-1, in the last car. I was on the Red Train. I got what I expected: ejector air on the first drop and airtime hill! Liked the intensity of being pulled through the inversions, just like in row 7-1 on Vortex. When the train arrived back, I made it a double ride by re-riding in row 5-1. It was great as 6-1 was, with just a teeny bit less ejector air. Impressive.

Now it was time to ride my favorite Arrow, Magnum XL-200! Yay!!

Magnum had a station wait of 5-7 minutes. I boarded row 6-1 on Train #1.

And Magnum was off, down, around the corner and up the 205-foot tall lift hill, the hill which made it the world’s first hypercoaster! I looked down at Soak City, which had already closed for the season (I mean, who wants to go to a waterpark when it’s 60-70 degrees out? Brrrrrr!!). The train crested before swiftly gliding down the first drop, over the hills, through the tunnels, around the pretzel turn, and over the bunny hop hills. Those hills are my favorite part, along with the first drop. I love the last hill especially. Since it’s in a tunnel, you have no idea when you’re going down, which adds to the thrill of the ride.

One thing I don’t like is that the entrance and exit are SOOO far apart from each other. At least it gives you time to take in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the particular section of the park before re-entering the line.

To my surprise, the line had grown a little since my last ride. It was now on the staircase just outside the station, but the wait was still 7 minutes, which was good. (Go high capacity!) This time I was on Train #2, in row 6-1 again. It was pretty much the same as the last ride experience, with all the airtime and fun that you get for riding the world’s first hypercoaster.

After taking a long walk from Magnum’s exit to entrance AGAIN, I entered the queue only to find that the line had shortened back to its original length. I boarded Train #3 and I was once again in row 6-1. (I think it’s becoming a favorite…). Very very fun ride like the last two were, except this time I knew that if I always rode in the back, the dense lap bar would eventually wreak havoc on my thighs cause it goes down pretty far. I’m not hating on the ride, (like I’d EVER do that to an Arrow! ) I just learned something new just by riding it!!

Anyway, when #3 arrived at the station, my eyes searched around for any empty rows. I found no one waiting for 3-1; so I got a double on Magnum, too, by re-riding! In fact, 3-1 was where I took one of my Magnum rides on 8/04/11! Fun ride. At the beginning of the ride, I heard

playing on the walkway below.

Next was the adrenaline rush known as Top Thrill Dragster! Compared to the 40 minute wait during my 2011 trip, it only had a 10 minute station wait, which was only a fourth of its 2011 wait time! This enabled me with the option of riding it more than once in this single CP trip.

My first TTD ride for the trip was in Row 6 on the Blue Train. My wait time for that particular ride was cut short a few minutes because the ops were looking for a single rider to fill an empty seat, and I was that single rider…

It’s always very nerve-wracking right before the launch, knowing that the Christmas tree lights would light up at any moment, especially after the copper fin brakes retract and the train rolls back a little. During the launch I closed my eyes a little, feeling the acceleration like I’ve never felt it before. Suddenly the train goes straight up to the top of the tower, clears it, then twists all the way back down to the finish line. The adrenaline is only 17 seconds long, but it’s probably worth even a 40 minute wait. I exited, walked past the “Winner’s Circle,” then walked back and re-entered the queue, taking advantage of the shorter line on this cool September day.

After another 10 minutes, I rode in row 8 on the Red Train.

My mom took a video of this ride with her digital camera. I’m the one who throws my hands up right before the train launches! This time I kept my eyes open for all of the launch. Meanwhile, I discovered the true thrill of zipping straight over the ground at 120 mph.

Here’s the link:

http://www.flickr.co...N03/8063707582/

Part 4 is coming shortly!

[Original]

Wow! Great TR cant wait to read part 4. You are so lucky that you got to ride WindSeeker at CP! Last time I went I said I wanted to ride it, I was really excited to becasued it was at night (I wanted to ride it to get the great view of lake Erie).. but NOOOO! We just HAD to Ride Mean Streak, which I didnt ride because, well, ... its an ironic story .TheCrypt is still taunting me with it Then CP closed, and I was going to ride it next time I went, but now all the WindSeekers are closed right now. Dang it.

I know how much work it is to type all that. Much appriciated!

[VortexBFForever]

As I strolled down the midway on my way past the Luminosity stage and to my next ride, Iron Dragon, I took some time to grab these shots of Iron Dragon and Corkscrew:

Iron Dragon was also a walk on, if not, a short station wait. I rode it four times, but I only had to go through the queue once since those four rides were CONSECUTIVE. That explains the fact that only Train #3 took me on all four rides.

I started out in row 2-1, to get back the feel of flying through the woods like a dragon, barely missing trees and swooping over the lagoon.

The first part of the ride was like a scenic flight through a forest of a variety of trees. The part after the second lift hill, right before the train descends over the lagoon, is my favorite part.

I also rode in 7-1 (twice) along with 6-1. Iron Dragon is a nice ride to take through the woods and get a brief close-up with nature, and how it can really intermingle with the more synthetic/mechanical environment of an amusement park.

Next up was the standup: Mantis!

Since this ride also occupied part of the lagoon, it neighbored Iron Dragon at a fairly close proximity. As I made my way through the empty queue up to the nearly empty station, a few fish swam up to say hello.

I boarded the very last row on Train #1. As you can tell in the pic below, I was on the far right.

In my opinion, the experience was “next to mediocre.” I didn’t mind the inversions or the first drop, but in general the ride was a bit more forceful than thrilling. I did my usual riding method of relaxing, and in this case, I also put my head forward of the harness so it wouldn’t bang while I was getting thrown from side to side. The ride still was fun, but not as “balanced” in thrills and forces as it was on even the Corkscrew. (remember: I only like some rides better than others, and for me there’s no such thing as actually “hating” a ride. )

Part 5 coming soon!

[TombRaiderFTW]

I love your photos! Very fun, and very interesting. The one of Corkscrew at the beginning of part 4, in particular, is awesome. Can't wait to read more!

[VortexBFForever]

After Mantis, I rode the ride that was my first gigacoaster—Millennium Force, where the future is riding on it.

Last year, the wait for the Force was an hour. This time it was a sixth of that—only 10 minutes!

I rode the Red Train in row 5-1, near the back. I greatly savored the airtime on the 300-foot drop! But as the train swooped up into the first overbanked turn, I started to gray out. I guess the lack of consistence in my drinking of water was starting to take its toll. The greying lasted for about 5-10 seconds; I could tell this was a symptom of dehydration. I tested myself by asking, “Where am I?” Opening my eyes, I saw the blue track and gray supports whizzing around me as the train wound its way through the course. I immediately responded, “Hey! I’m on the Millennium Force!” I felt well again, so I got even more happy as I greatly continued to savor the moments of the train going over the many more hills, through the last tunnels, and the last overbanked turn. A very interesting ride, indeed.

As soon as I got off, I located the nearest water fountain and replenished myself with as many gulps of nice, cool water as I could drink in one sitting. Now that I was sufficiently hydrated again, I could continue on my annual journey through the Cedar Point amusement park.

The next ride, with a delicate design, beautiful paintings and all, was Wave Swinger.

I don’t remember exactly what color seat I rode in, but this cycle was interesting. First, all the other riders were either at or below my age, and second, we were all on one half of the ride! So one half of the seats on the whole ride were empty, while the other riders and I filled up the other half. It was interesting “having Wave Swinger all to ourselves.”

As I walked closer to Cedar Creek Mine Ride (which I unfortunately bypassed) and Maverick, I saw more and more of the Western/Frontier style theming. I got to Maverick’s entrance, only to find out the ride had just gone down with a technical delay. In fact, it had been off and on all day since the park opened at noon.

Ten minutes later, they started running empty test trains. It was cool to see the ride transition through the inversions very intricately and smoothly. I guess that’s an Intamin ride’s definition of “elegant.” 5 minutes after, they started letting riders on, but a few minutes later more empty trains were run and then the ride was down again.

By this time, it had been 20 minutes since Maverick went down. The line that was forming outside the entrance had grown quite a bit, and I wanted to ride Maverick really bad, so there was no way I was forfeiting my spot!

Finally, 5 minutes later, they ran more test trains; eventually, riders were let on again--and the ride was back up! We were let into the queue. The total elapsed time had been 30 minutes.

I was greeted with a station wait of another 5 minutes.

I ended up in row 1-2 on the bronze-colored train. In this pic I am in the seat on the left side of the train:

Maverick is a really fun ride. Definitely one of my favorite looping coasters. The transitions to, from, and through the various inversions and elements were performed very smoothly and swiftly. The negative Gs were abundant on the 95-degree drop and airtime hill, and the 70 mph acceleration in the launch tunnel was nice. I wanted to ride again but the line had grown at such a ridiculous rate that it was just outside the ride entrance! I decided to move on.

My mom had bought some potato fries with ketchup while I was riding Maverick, so we enjoyed this nice hot snack together. Then I noticed….Gemini. I hadn’t gotten around to it yet, and it was already the time that we had initially agreed on to leave the park for the 3 and a half hour drive home. But she still let me ride Gemini!

Only the red side was running. practically because of fewer people being at the park, which made for a very short line, even with just one side open (Of course, Gemini is a high capacity ride.). Red Train #1 was waiting for me when I boarded in row 2-1. The station was so empty, in fact, that two of the five cars had been blocked off, leaving the first two and the last cars on the train open to those who wanted to ride. Therefore, the trains were running at at just-less-than-two-thirds capacity, or sometimes even less than that.

Anyway, the ride was great. Since I had lowered my expectations of it due to when I greatly overestimated the outcome of the ride experience on the previous CP trip in 2011, I wasn’t expecting very much. But this ride sure packed a punch. The drops and the hills were pretty fun, along with the straightaway and the upward helix at the end. When the train arrived back, barely anyone was waiting for a seat in the last car. I headed back to row 5-1, which had no one waiting for it, and did a re-ride. I got a little airtime on the drops, especially the first one, which I really enjoyed. I decided to try the very back, row 5-3. I got my wish, as there was no one waiting for 5-3 when the train got back to the station. When I had buckled the seatbelt and pulled the lap bar down for the third time, I realized I had the entire last car to myself, let alone THE WHOLE BACK PART OF THE TRAIN!! During the ride several of the riders in the front glanced back at me, also realizing that I was the only one in the back of this particular Gemini train! I got a bit more airtime (and a bit more bumpiness ), making for a one-of-a-kind back seat ride. Upon re-entering the station, I finished my (mini)marathon back in row 5-1. This time I had a few more fellow riders riding in the last car along with me. Fun ride like the last three were!

I wanted to ride Magnum again, but it was too late. We had to leave soon, since I had school the next day. Now I have to wait till 2013.

Part 6 is on its way! (with a whole lotta photos! )

[VortexBFForever]

Finally, it came time to cap off my annual trip to the Point by doing my tradition of riding Sky Ride back to the area near the park entrance and riding the Midway Carousel. According to the picture above (taken while I was next in line) I rode Sky Ride in a purple car--Car #32.

I took a few pics of the park from above, including the one right above this sentence.

After touching back down onto solid ground (hey, it kinda rhymes!) I proceeded to the last CP ride I’d ride before 2013: the Midway Carousel. If I’m not mistaken, this particular carousel has a working band organ, which is pretty nice.I thought there was a working organ, but those recorded tracks sure fooled me!

When I exited the gates and walked out into the parking lot, I was surprised to see a Revolution 3 Triathlon running race still going (It was also going on in the morning!). On the way to CP this morning I saw that not only part of the course was in Sandusky, but also up and down the causeway and through Cedar Point’s parking lot. After crossing the course, I grabbed my last skyline shots, knowing I would never see Space Spiral in person ever again.

As the car drove away from the Point, I looked back at the whole park, Space Spiral and all, while going down the causeway back to Sandusky, then heading south. Once the park disappeared from view, I whispered to my self, “Goodbye, Space Spiral. Hope you have fun in the big amusement park in the sky!

Also, bye to Cedar Point. I’ll be back next year, in 2013, to ride Gatekeeper and of course, all my other favorites…”

Raptor: 1

maXair:1

Wicked Twister: 1 Overall: 2

WindSeeker: 1 Overall: 2

Power Tower: 1 (Drop) Overall: 2 (Drop: 1; Shot: 1)

Corkscrew: 3 Overall: 5

Magnum XL-200: 4 Overall: 6

Top Thrill Dragster: 2 Overall: 3

Iron Dragon: 4 Overall: 5

Mantis: 1 Overall: 2

Millennium Force: 1 Overall: 2

Wave Swinger: 1

Maverick: 1

Gemini: 4 Overall: 5

Sky Ride: 1 Overall: 2

Midway Carousel: 1 Overall: 2

Edited October 22, 2012 by VortexBFForever

[malem]

Finally, it came time to cap off my annual trip to the Point by doing my tradition of riding Sky Ride back to the area near the park entrance and riding the Midway Carousel. According to the picture above (taken while I was next in line) I rode Sky Ride in a purple car--Car #32.

I took a few pics of the park from above, including the one right above this sentence.

For future reference, using cameras on Sky Ride isn't allowed. The only ride this is allowed on at CP is CP&LE RR. (And formerly Space Spiral.)

[Original]

Nice. Well done. I was at the point today, wait, its 3 a.m.....

EDIT: I was at CP yesterday. Haahha nice

[PhantomTheater]

After touching back down onto solid ground (hey, it kinda rhymes!) I proceeded to the last CP ride I’d ride before 2013: the Midway Carousel. If I’m not mistaken, this particular carousel has a working band organ, which is pretty nice.

No the organ does not work, its just a speaker playing a short loop tape .

[VortexBFForever]

After touching back down onto solid ground (hey, it kinda rhymes!) I proceeded to the last CP ride I’d ride before 2013: the Midway Carousel. If I’m not mistaken, this particular carousel has a working band organ, which is pretty nice.

No the organ does not work, its just a speaker playing a short loop tape .

Awww MAN! I thought there actually was one! Gosh, it sure fooled me!

[The Interpreter]

Yes, once upon a time there was one. Just like once upon a time, Kings Island's carousel also had a working organ.