2013 Trip Report, Part I (Cedar Point, Kings Dominion)

[zombieninja]

2013 Trip Report, Part I (Cedar Point, Kings Dominion)

Cedar Point: May 15th - 16th, 2013

The new front gate at Cedar Point doesn't just look nice, but feels less congested, too.Park crowds were light to moderate but many of the rides were closed until the early afternoon due to the wind. The Gatekeeper construction looked to be about more than the rollercoaster, as the whole plaza area is beautiful to look at and recovered a lot of the beachfront view. It gives that section of the park a boardwalk feel. The lines were short to none on all rides except my favorite rollercoaster Maverick, which you would have sworn just opened from the gathered crowds. Thanks to Gatekeeper, even Top Thrill Dragster was a relatively short wait and a Fast Pass wasn't really needed.

Gatekeeper is a fun rollercoaster, but it wasn't an intense ride and I'm perfectly happy we have Diamondback instead of this to be honest. I did find the seats and harnesses very comfortable. I think anyone who complains about them needs to give Mantis a re-ride.

We ate at the buffet the first day and the food was disgusting. After this and the gross Philly cheese steak from Kings Dominion, my girlfriend and I promised that we would be sticking to hot dogs, fries, and pretzels from here on out at Cedar Fair parks.

Gatekeeper's signature first drop. My favorite part of the ride.

Gatekeeper really completes the landscape.

Magnum has to be the most under-appreciated ride in the park. No lines, yet WAY better than Millenium Force.

Kings Dominion: June 4th - 5th, 2013

Kings Dominion is something of an oddity to me. It's like a small poorly reproduced version of Kings Island, with wonderful landscaping and a giga-coaster shoved into it. Plus the attractions only branch off to one side of the main strip. You immediately want to explore in the other direction, but there's nothing there!

The first ride of the day was the Berserker, which should be called Head Exploder. I decided to write about this ride because, like me, many of you probably at one time said, "Dude, it would be so awesome if the Viking Fury at Kings Island went upside-down!" I can can tell you now. It's not awesome. It hurts. Painfully. The restraints look like they came from a primitive torture device designed by a third world country with surplus steel tubing and foam rubber. Each gruesomely slow inversion left me hanging in such a way that all my blood was was being forced into my head. I was seeing stars. I was so relieved when the ride was over and immediately teased my girlfriend by asking her if she wanted to ride again.

What I do like about Head Exploder is it makes for great video opportunities!

Dominator was a fun rollercoaster best experienced from the front seat. It's also nowhere near as intense as it looks. It seemed to take the staff forever to load it. Staff as a whole throughout the park seemed unattentive and acted like they didn't want to be there. I was very glad crowds were light today.

All of the rides in the park were walk-ons that day except Volcano, which turned out to be an over-hyped letdown. You launch into an inversion, then its just twist, turn, twist, turn..... Boring! I had much more fun on The Crypt (with the original Tomb Raider-ish theming and music still intact ) in front of it. I wish Cedar Fair would have done something with The Crypt at Kings Island.

Finding Intimidator 305 was difficult! That side of the park was so confusing to navigate we had to keep our nose buried in the map to get to it. But if you want to ride a rollercoaster with strong g-forces, this is your ride. The seats were very comfortable and helped make this extreme ride enjoyable. The cable lift whisks you up the hill so fast you almost have no time to look around. The first turn is very hard. I grayed out the first time I rode it, but vision immediately recovered at the airtime hill. The rest of the ride was a blur of twists and short airtime. I can now forget all negative assumptions I have about giga-coasters since riding the high speed tour of Dinosaurs Alive known as Millenium Force.

Kings Dominion's wooden coasters are absolutely terrible! You really appreciate The Beast and The Racer after coming here. I cannot believe how neglected they are by the park. They could all be good rollercoasters if someone put some TLC into them, but judging from how the park swept Grizzly behind Dinosaurs Alive, that may never happen.

We ended our day on their version of the Flying Ace, which was a wonderful ride that's like a cross between a mini WindSeeker and a flying scooter ride. Their new kids area looks great. Kings Dominion wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. The only reason I would return is because we have platinum passes.

Part II with Busch Gardens and Holiday World & Splashin' Safari will be coming soon!

Dominator is an impressive ride, but one of my pet peeves is when a ride is put next to a parking lot.

The Head Exploder!

I would have been perfectly happy with something like this still standing at Kings Island.

Intimidator 305 looks very... intimidating!

[The Interpreter]

Very nice trip report. Can't agree about Volcano, but that's fine.

I look forward to the next segment. I love BGW, and find going there from DC far more alluring than KD.

As for Cedar Point park food, I recommend Pink's and pizza. The latter is awesome, if it is fresh and hot.

[Hoeter]

Thanks for the trip report and I look forward to the next part. I've never been to KD but hope to at least check it out sometime.

I'm on the fence next year about finally getting a Platinum Pass. I'm really wanting to go up to Cedar Point for the first time.

[zombiejane]

That was our 2nd time eating at the buffet. The first time, last year, was pretty good. But this time it was disgusting.

The meal we had at KD was nauseating...thankfully we ate towards the end of the day, because I was kind of done after that..

We'll be heading to Cedar Point one more time this year, so we'll have to hit those places up

[The Interpreter]

The only thing I've found to eat at Kings Dominion that i can recommend is the pizza. It's far more expensive than at Kings Island, though, and the slices are VERY small.

[TheBEASTunchained]

Nice trip report, and I couldn't agree more about Magnum XL-200 being better than Millenium Force! Although MF is a great ride, I enjoy Magnum a lot better.

Kings Dominions wooden coasters are terrible? I must disagree and say that they are far from terrible, but that's just my opinion!

Can't wait to hear the Holiday World and BGW trip report.

[zombieninja]

Thanks, I'll keep the pizza in mind!

The Hurler, Grizzly, and Rebel Yell may be in rough shape right now, but if anyone has had a better experience on them, I am jealous.

Part II will be ready later this week.

[The Interpreter]

All three were in much better condition many years ago. Hurler opened as an airtime fest in every seat, glass smooth. It didn't stay that way long.

[TheCrypt]

Great trip report. Glad you enjoyed Intimidator and The Crypt. I love the KD version, but I'd rather have KI's (just a matter of preference--they were both great rides in my perspective but for different reasons).

Can't wait for Part II!