Trip Report Cedar Point 6/21-6/23

[medford]

Figured there may be some useful information in here for silver2005s trip report where he was asking questions about Cedar Point

Wife plus 3 kids (14 today, 10 and 6) headed up to CP last week.  When I booked this trip, I never thought about the Junetenth holiday and how that might affect things (it was Monday, so we were not there that day but was concerned larger crowds might slip into Tuesday with people off work that Monday)

anyhoo, drove up Tuesday morning early and got to the park around 11:30.  Was hoping to get there around 10:30 but we were a little slow getting out.  Tuesday was planned to be a water park day.  Water park was fairly crowded.  When we went last year they were still doing the "have to have a reservation thing" for the water park (or perhaps it ended after we had booked our reservation).  Anyhoo, it was definitely more crowded at the WP (though also warmer so may have attracted more locals for the day.  After 2 trips to their water park over the last year, I've decided I'm really not a huge fan.  I'm not a huge water park guy to begin with, but I don't like the way CP's is laid out, the slide lines are long.  My kids loved the non slide stuff last year, so it was worth trying again, but it seems an extra year of maturation has soured them on the non slide stuff a bit.  We stuck around until 4 then left to check into our Cabins.

If you haven't stayed in their cabins, they are tiny, but give you everything you need.  We had a deluxe cabin, that could easily sleep 6 or more.  Not much head room in the upper loft, but works well for young kids (or adults willing to crawl around up there.  A mini fridge and freezer allows you to store some items from home, the convenience store at the check in isn't too terribly over priced, so we brought some cereal and purchased some milk for breakfast.

After checking in, changing and relaxing for a min, we headed over to the dry park for dinner and a few rides.  To be honest, I was expecting the park to be slammed (or at least at levels similar to last year when we went mid week around the same time frame) however it appeared to be fairly dead. After a quick spin on Gemini;  Steel Vengance was a 20 min wait, so my wife and oldest hopped on that while i took the other 2 on the mine ride.  My 6 year old must be a coaster snob now that he's reached 48"+, cause as soon as we got to the top of the hill, he proclaimed "boring".  I can't argue with that, and my recollection of the ride is similar to last year, AE is so much better with more comfortable trains.  Now that the youngest is big enough to ride it on his own, I'll probably never step foot on it again.  From there, we ate at the new dining place.  Everything was delicious, I had the chicken legs with fries, tried some of the corn things which was unique and delicious.  My oldest son's steak seemed a little skimpy on the serving size, but he gets the extra fries that I didn't eat so he had plenty.  Other 2 kids had chicken tenders, didn't try them but seemed like your average tender.  From there Maverick had just opened back up, so my wife who didn't get to ride it last year headed there with my oldest son while i took the 2 youngest around the park.  the 6 year old wasn't 48" last year, so he had a lot of new things opened up to him.  We eventually worked our way over to Iron Dragon, which both of the 2 youngest loved (first time for both, my daughter is a little bit of a coaster chicken, but just starting to expand things a bit).   Add in a few flats and my wife and oldest were done with Maverick and meet us over by Millie.  My wife had ridden it years and years ago, but none of the rest of us got to ride it last year.  With the 6 year old tall enough now, we jumped on.  My daughter chickened out and waited in the exit once we got to the station (5-10 min wait at most).  It was fun watching my youngest's reaction to the ride.  As we got to the top and started going down he had a "holy bleep" look on his face as he raced down the hill.  By about half way thru the ride he was all smiles and loving every second of Millie.  As a first timer myself, this easily shoots up near the top of my favorite rides.  Steel Vengeance is still the best ride in the park, but Millie is easily the 2nd best (never been on TTD FWIW).  After Millie, my daughter and youngest wanted to do Blue Streak, while my oldest wanted to do Valraven.  My wife and son did Valraven last year, but this was my first experience (plus first dive coaster).  I get why dive coasters are GP favs.  It was butter smooth and a lot of fun.  Add in the station wait and what is not to enjoy.  No, its not the most forecful coaster, but its a fun experience for sure.  I've never been really good at riding multiple coaster in a row w/o getting motion sickness, plus it was late so I sat our blue streak as my kids and wife rode it twice in a row to close out the evening.

Wednesday had been planned as our "get fast passes and spend the day at the park day" but with the short wait times the day before, I was kind of hopeful that fast passes were not going to be needed.  SV and Maverick had 45 min waits around 10:30, but that was as long as any line would get with SV shortening up to a 20 min at times during the day.  Last year I waited 2 hours for Steel Vengance, and was prepared to drop $600 on fast passes; my wallet thanks me that I didn't have to.  I tried to get my daughter on Maverick, but after waiting 45 min in line, she chickened out, and I rode by myself while she waited.  As always, a really fun ride.  My wife and the boys went on Steel Hawk.  All 3 agreed it scared the crap out of them and "never again".   I think they did the mine ride as well as some flats in the area while I was on Maverick.  From there we grabbed some pizza for lunch (nothing special) and plotted out what was next.  Kids and wife rode their version of Surf Dog and some other flats along the way to Snake River Expedition.  The wait was longer than advertised (15 min) as I think there was some sort of snafu waiting for our boat.  A fun story and a decent escape from the typical park rides.  I wouldn't wait an hour for it, but I'd gladly wait 15-30 min next time I'm up there.  My youngest had never been upside down before and he had been begging to go on cork screw the prior day.  We worked our way over there and my Wife and 2 boys rode that.  My daughter wasn't feeling her best and decided to sit it out until later so i skipped as well.  Arrow loopers have a tendancy to kick my butt.  I loved Vortex, but it was an end of the day, once a year ride for me cause I'd be left feeling sick.  From there the 2 boys rode Magnum and we headed back to the cabin for a few hours of rest.  Came back to the park around 6:00 and now my daughter rested up was ready for ready to jump on corkscrew.  I had promised that I would ride it once for either of the kids 1st ever ride on cork screw and that was the only reason I would ride it.  My daughter said she hated the way it banged her head and I told her I fully understood.  From there we walked over to Johnny Rockets, had about a 15 min wait to get a table, so my oldest son and I jumped on Gate Keeper (no wait).  GK was down when we were in the park last year, so this was my first ride.  I had been on Wild Eagle at Dollywood a few years ago with my oldest son as well, we both enjoyed it.  Sat on the left (lake) side and really enjoyed the flip over the top to start the ride.  Smooth as expected, no strong forces, but lots of fun.  I get why coaster geeks call it gate sleeper and while the GP enjoys it.  Ate dinner then my 2 youngest wanted to do the dodgems, troika and tiki twirl while my wife and oldest wanted to get on Gate Keeper.  Did I mention how Arrow loopers kick my butt?  I was starting to feel the affects and while sitting on a bench while my youngest did the flats, I thought for sure I was going to explode.  Even walked over to a mulched area so I wouldn't happen in a place where many walked around, but eventually fought it off.  It was around 9:00 at this point, and despite feeling a little "better" I was "done" and walked back to the cabin early.  My wife and other kids stuck around and did a few flats, maybe Iron Dragon and a night ride on Millie.

Thursday was checkout day and a planned half day at the park before driving home.  Got packed up and to the park around 11:20ish.  Lines were definitely longer, not as bad as last year, but more crowded than the day prior.  Maverick was listed at 60 min, SV at 80, Valraven at 45 and Millie around 20-30 min.  We rode Gemini and pipe scream to start, then worked our way over to Chickie & Pete's for lunch.  My 3 kids all hopped on Corkscrew along the way.  After lunch my wife and oldest got on Raptor (45 min wait) while I took the 2 youngest on Cedar Downs (always fun) and the caddilac cars.  The kids wanted to do Blue Streak again, so we all rode it once, then the kids rode again.  From there, we had promised our youngest a Millie t-shirt once he rode it.  So we worked our way back there to get the t-shirt plus one last ride on Millie.  This time, my youngest son on his 3rd Millie voyage was hands up the entire way.  he still claims cork screw as his favorite for now, but Millie was a close 2nd.  We found him a shirt and got some pictures of him near the entry sign.  Then began to work our way back to the exit.  the 2 youngest wanted to do the ferris wheel, so my wife and oldest got on gate keeper again, then the kids all did cork screw one last time then since we were at Magnum, I hoped on with my 2 boys.  They had both ridden it several times this trip, but I hadn't been on Magnum in 15 years.  It wasn't as fun as I remembered.  The drop isn't as fun, the 2nd hill doesn't give you as much floater as I remember and the ejector air at the end was painful.  I'd reride it again next year, but I'm not in a rush.

All in all, a fun trip.  Every coaster except the floorless was ridden by someone.  I missed out on SV this year.  Should have taken advantage of the short wait, but its location in the far back of the park wasn't always convenient.  Still my favorite and glad my wife and oldest got a ride in.  Next year I'll get my daughter on Maverick (I know she will love it once she rides) and maybe my 6 year old will reach 52" and expand open a few more rides for him as well.  I know he'd love GK and I think Valraven might be 52" as well.