Cedar Point -- first time in over a decade

[cdubbs727]

I've lived in the Detroit area all my life, but Kings Island has always been our go-to park. Growing up, we went there because of the kids' area. In my teens and twenties, I was more of a Cedar Point fan because of the roller coasters, and I'd head down to KI ever few years for a concert or a weekend getaway. When our son was old enough in 2015, we started making Kings Island our annual family vacation because, again, the kids' area is so good, and it was a better-paced park for our family (nostalgia didn't hurt). The last time I had went to Cedar Point was back in 2012 to celebrate my wife's 31st birthday. I didn't intend to take a long break, but I also didn't mind because as fun as the coasters are, CP was always the lesser park in my opinion. The food options weren't nearly as good, the park wasn't as nice, and there was a trashiness to it that I didn't pick up from Kings Island. 

But last year, we got Gold Passes, figuring that our family is old enough (son's 14, daughter's 10) for us to enjoy Kings Island but also start giving Cedar Point another try. So, this past weekend we drove on down for two days. We knew it would be busy, so we splurged and got Fast Lane Plus for Friday. Throughout the weekend, we were able to get on all the big rides and do a few, like Steel Vengeance, twice. 

In the 14 years I'd been away, Cedar Point has really upped its game. I love the new boardwalk area. Last time I was there, they were just tearing down Disaster Transport and the Space Spiral, and the addition of GateKeeper, Wild Mouse and the Grand Pavilion really make that area special. I especially loved the food options at the Grand Pavilion and the chance to enjoy a meal overlooking Lake Erie (the weather was sunny and 75 all weekend; perfect). I also think their Frontiertown reminds me of what Rivertown at Kings Island used to be. I would never wish to get rid of Mystic Timbers or Diamondback, but I feel like Rivertown is a bit smaller than it used to be. It feels like a quick jaunt from Camp Snoopy to the White Water Canyon station, where the theming starts to peter out. But Cedar Point's Frontierland stretches for so long. I love that they have the shaded stretch with the forts and shops (and live music) still maintained without big rides cutting in. Then you get to the more Western-themed section and you get the two best rides in the park. I loved Cedar Farms as a dining option, and Backbeat BBQ looked like a lot of fun, too. Just such a nice section, especially on our second day, when we wanted to slow the pace down and take it easy. 

The coaster lineup is second to none, of course. Steel Vengeance is possibly the best coaster I've ever ridden -- Maverick is pretty great as well. The Raptor still holds up, and Siren's Curse has the single most terrifying element I've experienced on a coaster with that tilt, followed by a ride that is just so much fun. I think Valravyn and GateKeeper kind of struggle to be more than their gimmicks, but they're fun. The kids rode everything they were tall enough for -- Raptor and Rougarou's restraints meant they were the only things my daughter couldn't ride. She was a little daredevil; Siren's Curse was her favorite. We closed out with a ride on TT2, which might have been her limit ... she was in tears when it ended. I'll admit that while I had no problem with the original Dragster, that spike element might have been a bit much for me. 

I still think there are some things Kings Island does better than CP. The people ops at Kings Island are so much better; all the Cedar Point ops seemed stressed out, and in some cases were yelling at people to get on rides more quickly in a way that felt very rude. Kings Island seems to have loading and unloading down to a science, where it seemed the Cedar Point teams were struggling a bit. And all the big rides went down at least once over our time there -- Maverick, Steel Vengeance and Millennium Force were closed for several hours. And while I think Cedar Point has a much better Frontierland/Rivertown area, Kings Island is still the cleaner and better-designed park...that circular structure really makes it easy to navigate from one area to the next. We met up with our church youth group the second day and trying to check in was a chore because there's not really an easy way to get from one end of the park to the next. Also, I'm not sure if this is a Six Flags-wide change this year or specific to CP only, but the meal plans were wonky. The entrees and sides were self-explanatory, but the included snacks were pretty much non-existent. You could get Dippin' Dots and...that was about it. I seem to remember at KI last year being able to get the Oreo churros, Aunt Annie's, and a few other snack items throughout the park, but none of that was included in our meal plan. 

But still, a great trip. We'll be back!