Cedar Point 6/11/15

[VekomaRulz]

After out day at Kings Island and driving near Cedar Point, we left our hotel about 25 minutes from the park and got to Sandusky. When we saw the Welcome To Cedar Point sign and the skyline of all the coasters it was exciting. I was finally getting to Cedar Point and try the coasters I have seen so many reports and pictures of in the past 10 years.

Even though it was a Thursday in June, there were a lot of people entering the park right after the normal opening time and I knew to skip the coasters in the front of the park. Raptor had a 45 minute wait and I didn't even bother to check out Gatekeeper's line.

 

Blue Streak had a 2 train wait so that ended up being my first coaster at Cedar Point. It was good for an olden wooden coaster and better than other similar sized wooden coasters that I have tried such as Thunderhawk and Rolling Thunder.

 

We stopped at the Cadillac Cars next with about a 10 minute wait. Unlike the tracks at Hershey and Dorney, it was much better with some theming and the track had a cloverleaf design which made it a longer ride time.

 

Iron Dragon had about a 20 minute wait. It was tamer than Bat but still a lot of fun. I liked the final section with the mist over the water.

 

Surprisingly for a "new coaster" Rougaru only had a 15 minute wait. Since the first half of the ride is a mirror image of Green Lantern, it felt a little strange to be going through the ride and feeling like you have ridden the same type of ride before but much better with the floorless trains. I liked the second half two with just the 1 corkscrew and lots of turns. It was much better than Green Lantern and if Great Adventure didn't already have Bizarro, I would hope they would also convert Green Lantern to a floorless coaster. Operations were fast with 3 trains running and little to no stacking. I heard Mantis was rough and Rougaru seemed smooth with the floorless trains. It was a great idea to convert it from a standup to a floorless.

 

Top Thrill Dragster had been closed and when we walked around to the midway with it, it had just reopened. The sign said it was an hour wait but the greeter said it was really only 15 minutes. The line was just at the ramps right after the Fast Lane merge point and was just under 15 minutes. Ever since Kingda Ka opened, people who have ridden both Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster have said Dragster is better. I knew the lap bars were supposed to make the ride better but I didn't mind the OTSR's that much on Kingda Ka and I like the air time hill at the end of the ride. After riding Top Thrill Dragster, I now understand why it is the preferred ride. The lap bars made the ride a lot better and it was nice for the ride to have a more open feeling because of it. Kingda Ka has also been running so rough this year that I have skipped it on most trips to the park this year. Top Thrill Dragster was much smoother and a much better ride overall. It wasn't my favorite ride at the park but it was still a great coaster and I was glad I had a chance to try it. They had a lot of switchbacks in the middle of the ride area and would hate to wait through a full queue for the coaster. Many of the coasters had queues that looked like they could hold hours worth of waiting riders.

 

I was going to try Corkscrew but it had a 30 minute wait with 2 trains running. I skipped it for now and planned to return to it later in the day when hopefully the line was shorter. It was cool to see the corkscrews go right over the midway,

Power Tower had a posted 15 minute wait for the turbo drop side and no wait for the space shot side so I went to the space shot. It was fun and better than Dominator at Dorney but I think it will be difficult to find a better ride than Zumanjaro.

After Power Tower it was time for one of the coasters I have been wanted to try ever since I first saw it and what might be the signature coaster for Cedar Point, Millennium Force. 3 trains were running and it took about 45 minutes. Like Top Thrill Dragster, the restraints were very comfortable and I liked the design of the trains. It was cool to try another cable lift ride besides El Toro and the train was at the top of the lifthill. The first drop was awesome with the height and angle and the ride hit the top speed and didn't let up. The overbank turns were a lot of fun and I liked how in between the high speed turns and overbanks there were some good airtime hills as well. The final overbank that goes near the queue area was a great finish to a great ride. This was my favorite coaster at Cedar Point and probably my favorite coaster of the entire trip.

 

Next we walked over to the train entrance and took a lap around the park. The skeleton town was cool and it was a good way to get some different views of the park.

 

We walked into Frontier Town and skipped Thunder Canyon because it looked like you got soaked with waterfalls that can't be avoided unlike Congo Rapids at Great Adventure where it's random if you get soaked or not. It was the same with Snake River Falls that I have ridden the clone of at Dorney many times and Shoot The Rapids. It's too bad Cedar Point didn't keep White Water Landing since traditional log flumes are always fun and a great way to get cooled off but not soaked.

 

The Antique Cars were next with about a 10 minute wait. The ride was good but the Cadillac Cars track was better.

 

We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. The food wasn't that overpriced compared to the rest of the park with a chicken sandwich $4.29 and fries $2.59.

 

After lunch it was time for another coaster I had wanted to try since I first saw the animated POV before the ride was built Maverick. It was about an hour wait. The new restraints are great and much more comfortable than the older restraint type used on Kingda Ka, Storm Runner, Fahrenheit and other rides. The fast lift to the beyond vertical drop was fun and the twisted horseshoe rolls were great. Then the launch after that in the shed was great as well, add in the fast small overbanks and it was yet another great coaster. Before this trip I wasn't that much of a fan of Intamin steel coasters (I liked Cheetah Hunt and thought Fahrenheit and Storm Runner very good but not as good as some B&M coasters I have ridden) but after riding Millennium Force and Maverick, I can understand why their rides are so highly regarded. And of course El Toro is excellent as well.

 

I noticed that the posted Fast Lane Plus wait time for Maverick was 30 minutes. I had considered Fast Lane Plus and wanted to see if I could get away without it. It was $85 the day I was there and I see it goes up to $115 on peak days. On a Thursday in June if the Fast Lane Plus line was 30 minutes which is bad enough in itself but only half the wait of the regular line, it seems like they are selling too many of them when they are charging up to the equivalent or more than Platinum Flash Pass prices when Platinum Flash Pass almost instantly gets you in the Flash Pass ride and gives you 2 rides in a row on most rides.

 

Cedar Creek Mine Ride was next with a 15 minute wait. After Runaway Mine Train and Trailblazer got new individual restraints and Adventure Express already having individual restraints, I forgot how bad the shared lap bar with it lowering with the entire 3 rows of the car was. It was not good for taller riders and I had to cross my legs to get them under the lap bar and even then it was uncomfortable. The track layout itself was not bad for a mine train but even if it was a walk on, I wouldn't want to have ridden the coaster more than once.

 

Gemini had a posted 5 minute wait with 2 switchbacks full. I thought there was no way that it was really 5 minutes but with both sides open and 4 trains running, I almost never stopped walking through the queue and was in the station in a few minutes. I went to the first open row I saw which was the 3rd row of the first car on the blue side. I didn't realize there was a raised section of the floor in the 3rd row. The ride was fun with the racing but a little more jolting (not really rough but not smooth either) than I was expecting. I decided against riding again to ride the red side.

 

I had missed the turn to Mean Streak so we had to back track a little to get to the ride entrance. It was around 15 minutes with 3 trains running. With 2 bench cars, there was no way to avoid a wheel seat and although the trim brake on the first drop ruins part of the drop, I can't imagine how brutal the ride would be without it. It was shuffling and rough the entire ride. It wasn't as bad as Hercules of Gwazi but was easily the 3rd worst wooden coaster I have ridden and the only bad coaster of the entire trip.

 

After Mean Streak it was time for the world's first hyper coaster Magnum XL-200. I really liked the station design and the front of the trains. It was a 10 minute wait and I went for row 1-3 since I had heard there is a lot of air time in that row. The ride reminded me of Steel Force but more intense and after the pretzel turnaround, the air time on the hills was really good.

Corkscrew now had a mostly empty station and I went to the first row of the last car. The ride wasn't rough for an Arrow looper and the corkscrews over the midway were cool. I can see how this ride must have been amazing when it first opened and although it was ok, it would have been better if there were some more elements like a helix at the end of the ride.

The Sky Ride had about a 5 minute wait and it was amazing how many cars they were running and how fast they were loading them. Although it doesn't travel very far unlike Great Adventure's Skyway, it was still fun.

Blue Streak had no wait so I stopped there for another ride and then went to Raptor which was now a 1 train wait except for the front. Riding Banshee the day before and now Raptor it's difficult to say which coaster I liked more since they were both excellent. The layout was really good and it was nice to try another B&M invert with a cobra roll and I liked how hit had a good mix of inversions and turns rather than just inversion after inversion. I walked around for another ride taking advantage of the ride having no wait.

 

I didn't check out Gatekeeper's line earlier in the day thinking it would have a long wait like Raptor and now the line was just past the stairs. I chose the left side and thought it was going to be around 15 minutes but the line moved extremely fast and I was boarding the 7th row in just over 5 minutes. It was amazing to see how fast they were dispatching the trains here as well with the ride ops literally running. The dive drop was something different and the keyholes were cool giving the illusion you might hit them even though you knew it wasn't going to happen. I also liked how the track goes right over the park entrance. The ride was very good but for some reason I expected it to be better. It might have been because I had already ridden so many amazing coasters in the past 2 days but I thought it was going to be one of my top coasters at the park and was probably my 5th favorite. I should have tried the right side as well just to see if it was different.

I wanted to see if they had any baseballs to add to my collection along with the Banshee baseball I had gotten at King's Island and they didn't have any. I ended up getting Millennium Force and Raptor golf balls instead that I'll display next to a Cheetah Hunt golf ball.

 

Cedar Point was amazing and probably has my favorite coaster collection of any park I have been to. Rides like Millennium Force and Maverick lived up to the hype and combined with all the other coasters I could spend a few days at a time at the park and not get bored. I hope to return sometime again, hopefully in less than 10 years.

[PhantomTheater]

We stopped at the Cadillac Cars next with about a 10 minute wait. Unlike the tracks at Hershey and Dorney, it was much better with some theming and the track had a cloverleaf design which made it a longer ride time.

Often overlooked, Cadillac and Antique cars do have some nice thematic elements. Too bad you dint get to CP sooner, Turnpike cars had the best layout and landscaping of all the car rides.

 

 

They had a lot of switchbacks in the middle of the ride area and would hate to wait through a full queue for the coaster. Many of the coasters had queues that looked like they could hold hours worth of waiting riders.

As someone who has waited most of the queues at CP, indeed some can last hours, some up to 3. Millie and Magnum has had their overflow queues removed as Mean Streak lost most of it's queue for the haunted house.

 

 

Gemini had a posted 5 minute wait with 2 switchbacks full. I thought there was no way that it was really 5 minutes but with both sides open and 4 trains running, I almost never stopped walking through the queue and was in the station in a few minutes. I went to the first open row I saw which was the 3rd row of the first car on the blue side. I didn't realize there was a raised section of the floor in the 3rd row. The ride was fun with the racing but a little more jolting (not really rough but not smooth either) than I was expecting. I decided against riding again to ride the red side.

You should have ridden red or blue again, but in a row 1 or 2 of car, much smoother. The raised section of floor is the wheel, thus a much bumpier ride in a row 3. Also if you thought that line was fast, you should have seen it in 6 train operation!

 

 

The Sky Ride had about a 5 minute wait and it was amazing how many cars they were running and how fast they were loading them. Although it doesn't travel very far unlike Great Adventure's Skyway, it was still fun.

Skyride has 38 buckets, and when it runs all 38 it dispatches every 9.5 seconds. The reason it isn't very long is because when the ride was built the park ended just after the second station.

 

 

Good to see a first timer enjoy themselves at the Point, hopefully you can go back sometime and ride things you missed, like Twister, Skyhawk, and Cedar Downs.

[VekomaRulz]

I looked up a video of Turnpike cars and it does look nice, a lot better than Road Rally at Dorney that I had heard half the Turnpike cars had gone to years ago. Road Rally has basically no theming and a very short track.

 

Next time, I'll ride both sides of Gemini and go for a non wheel seat. I did ride Cedar Downs but forgot to mention it in the report. It was a lot better than a regular carousel and the racing of the horses was fun.

 

9.5 seconds for dispatches at the Sky Ride is really fast. At Great Adventure it takes at least 30 seconds for each dispatch sometimes because they are waiting for another car to enter the station with a lot less cars running compared to Cedar Point.