Cedar Point 9/12 - 9/13 with Tasting Card

[VortexJD]

Took the opportunity to visit CP last weekend with just the wife (left the kids at home this time).  Weather turned out nearly perfect, mid 70s with sun during the day.  Was a little breezy which may or may not have been the reason Sky Ride and WindSeeker never opened.  Fast Lane feels like cheating at CP this year, since they aren't selling them to the GP.  Also, lets us bypass the whole access pass thing.  I get why they do access passes, but it's so much added stress to the day, I really dislike them.

 

Sat 9/12 - Crowds were about average Sat.  Food stalls seemed busier than normal.  Employees were talking about how busy they were all day Saturday.  Thankfully the rain held off until after midnight.

12:00pm - Entered.  Picked up Fast Lane and got lunch at Hugo's Italian Kitchen.  They had a ton of food out and ready at noon and wasn't all hot.  We shared a pizza.  Was OK.  Garlic Knots were already cold and stiff.

12:30pm - WindSeeker.  Rode big boy seat in a middle-ish row.  Didn't benefit much from Fast Lane here, the line was pretty short.  Ended up on the right side.  Left side best side.  Still enjoyed it.  Walked through the kid section in the front and soaked in all the decorations.  Love the look of the park this time of year.

1:00 pm - Magnum.  Rode very front seat.  Quite rough as usual.  Hadn't ridden this yet this year, so wanted to get it checked off my list.  Got my fill for a while.

1:15 pm - Gemini.  Forgot just how smooth this ride is, especially compared to other Arrow coasters from the same era.  They were running both trains together which is just so much fun!  Rode blue and won.

1:30 pm - Maverick.  I've ridden this plenty of times, but still kind of surprised me on this ride.  Rode in the very back seat.  Convinced the back is more intense.  Love this ride.

2:00 pm - Ate at Chik-fil-a.  Thankfully, the line wasn't bad when we checked.  The line is the worst thing about this place.  Well, that and not being open on Sunday!  Standard Chicken Sandwich and fries were delicious.

2:30 pm - Threw our stuff in a locker so we could ride Steel Vengeance x2.  I put on a few pounds since last year (working from home is hard on my diet!) and I was no longer "comfortable" in the restraints.  Love the ride, but Steve is rough on my shins.

3:00 pm - Left the park to go swim a bit.  Came back mostly just for dinner.

6:30 pm - Ate at BackBeatQue.  Watched them slicing some brisket and wife decided it looked good.  Was very tasty.  Mac n Chz there was really creamy and good too.  They had a show on the patio, You're too old to trick or treat, I think.  Was a Price is Right style game show.  Was fun to watch while eating.

7:15 pm - Hopped on the CP Railroad for a circuit around the park.  Didn't realize they have 2 variants of passenger cars.  These were the plastic/wood seats without padding, but were a little more roomy than the other train.  Was very comfortable.

8:00 pm - Called it a night and headed to the Boardwalk for some evening beach visits.  After watching fireworks at KI this year, really miss having night rides at CP.  Hopefully next year!

 

Sun 9/13 - Crowds were below avg today.  Rain stopped by 8am and the clouds were gone by 11am.  Turned out to be another beautiful day.

11:30pm - Entered.  Picked up Fast Lane again and bought a Tasting Card.  Some of the food on the Tricks or Treats menu sounded good and we wanted to make a thing of walking around trying some different foods.

12:00pm - Ate lunch at Coasters Drive-In.  Wife got a cheeseburger basket and I used my Tasting card for a Zombie Burger.  Both burgers were hot and juicy.  The additional toppings on the zombie burger were good.  Feel like it was light on toppings and light on flavor though.  Still a thumbs up for being unique.

12:30pm - Valravn.  Rode in front right.  Love hanging in the front seat on the first hill.  This ride may not be crazy intense, and it's incredibly short, but it's still just a fun ride.  Smooth, floaty fun.  I love it!

12:45pm - Cedar Downs Racing Derby.  I'm not a big carousel person but man this ride delivers.  This is a MUST RIDE for my family on ANY CP visit.

1:00 pm - Used Tasting card to pickup a Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake at French Quarter Confections.  This was one of the items I was most interested in and it surely delivered.  Wasn't a huge portion, but was perfect for wife and myself.  I think this was a standard funnel cake with some pumpkin/cream cheese drizzle.  Yum!

1:30 pm - Giant Wheel.  Not many Ferris wheels around anymore.  I do try to ride this whenever I come to CP.  Unfortunately, they've only been loading 2 cars on 2 sides for most of this year so lines have been abysmal.  Today they were running 4 and 4 most of the day so it was a little better.

2:00 pm - Sat and watched the Witch shows back in Fort Sandusky in the Frontierland area.  They were entertaining.  Fun watching them interact with the kids.  They had a main show starting on the hour followed by some games with the kids and a mad-libs type storytelling show.

3:00 pm - Skyhawk.  By far my most favorite flat ride at Cedar Point.  Wish we had something like this at Kings Island!

3:15 pm - Used Tasting card at Wagon Wheel Pizza for a Fire Toasted Dessert Pizza.  OH MY this turned out to be the treat of our day (why is this a TRICK?).  The service here wasn't great, but the employees seemed to be trying and the dessert pizza was AMAZING.

3:45 pm - Maverick.  Got a front row seat this time and Maverick treated us a little better.  This was definitely a MUCH more enjoyable ride for me and my wife.  One of my favorite coasters for sure.

4:15 pm - Gemini again.  Had so much fun the first time we did it again.  Did not disappoint.  Blue side again, but lost this time.

4:45 pm - Used Tasting Card at the Corral for some Fall Mac & Cheese.  Was tasty, but nothing too unique (very similar to the Mac & Cheese at BackBeatQue).

5:15 pm - Used Tasting Card at the Hot Potato for some Frankenstein's Fries.  Got a terribly small portion of fries, probably for the best though.  The pork they added must not have been drained at all as the fries were wet and soggy.  I still liked it, but the pork juices made this a no-go for my wife.

5:45 pm - Tried to ride the CP Railroad in the back of the park, but the line was too long and there weren't enough open seats for everyone.

6:00 pm - Used Tasting Card for the 6th treat, getting another Fire Roasted Dessert Pizza from Wagon Wheel Pizza.  They just had a large group of people order these and there was a bit of a wait.  The employee gave us a free drink because of our wait and apologized, but the pizza was fresh and AMAZING again.  We will be getting this again at KI in the coming weeks!

6:30 pm - Caught the train at the CP Railroad by Millennium Force.  Road the train with the padded seats which had no real room for my long legs.  Liked the other train better!  Was going to ride a full circuit but when we got to the rear station, they announced there would be a 15 minute delay while they pulled off the other train at the front station.  We opted to exit.

7:00 pm - Having used up our Tasting Card and feeling our trip fulfilled (and after walking about 24 miles over 2.5 days, our feet hurt!) we headed out for one last walk up and down the Boardwalk.  The resorts close at noon on Sunday so we were nearly alone.  Was beautiful outside at this time.

 

The Tasting Card was a fun thing to mess with, although depending on your tastes, there may not be enough to warrant it.  I also wanted to take home the lanyard/card combo so worth it for me.  All of the items on the Trick or Treat menu can be purchased a la carte for around $7 each.  If you intend to get more than 3 definitely get the card!  Looking forward to checking out some of the unique foods at KI too.

Unfortunately, I gained enough weight to not fit on MF and TTD this trip.  Will be focusing on losing the weight I gained this year so that next year I can get back on those rides again!  Thanks for reading.  Hopefully someone found the insight on the Tasting Card useful as I've not seen a lot of people post about their experiences.