I drove almost the same length as the Daytona 500, twice in the span of 3 days.
The trip to Cedar Point:
Other than the enduring trip across pennsylvania and the car stalling out by hershey at a rest stop; the trip was rather uneventful. We went through the apps, 4 tunnels, and 5 construction sites. We left at 6:30 am and got there at 7:30 pm. The car had to be towed due to a "fuel" issue causing it to stall out, but the mechanic didn't find anything wrong.
Lodging:
We stayed at the Knight's Inn about a mile from the causeway entrance to Cedar Point. Before you say anything, the hotel got the highest ratings for off-site hotels in the area (beat castaway bay and breakers express, surprisingly). They had a pool, a hot-tub, and an exceptional continental breakfast.
Cedar Point (day 1):
We arrived at the park 15 minutes before official opening. there were 5 things we noticed off the bat:
1) there's no preferred parking
2) coolers of any size are permitted
3) no security checks
4) the park is HUGE
5) the loud-speakers sound like the people at the other end of the phone from all the peanuts. You know, the "whom-Whom-WhomWHOMwhomWhom" (lol)
Every ride I rode will be in order,
Top Thrill had a line outside going in front of the station, even though the line starts at the end of the launch track. I skipped it for later.
Magnum had no body in line, so I decided to sit in seat 1-3 because of the rumored air time. There was air time, but I didn't expect ejector air. It was awesome either way.
Gemini also had no one in line and both sides were open. The ride was smooth and did offer some good air time in areas. I also liked that the trains stayed fairly close to each other providing a very good racing experience, which all the kids on the trains loved.
Mean Streak looked a lot like the pictures of Texas Giant post remodeling. I sat in the second row and expected it to be a not too rough ride. It was bearable until the MCBR, where the second the train pasted the brake I started getting jackhammered. I thought J2 was the roughest woodie ever, I was
way wrong.
Maverick had a 1 1/2 hour wait, too long for my standards. So I skipped it for Millennium Force.
Shoot the Rapids was running, but they said it was closed due to "testing." I did hear though that it's not a ride for those who expect to get SOAKED.
Millennium Force had a long line but I decided to stick it out. The line never stopped and I was rather surprised that it was an actual line eater! I was chatting with some locals and the trademarked loud speakers sounded off, the only two words I heard were "force" and "difficulties." It turned out to be a sensor tripping and only took 15 minutes. Right before I got on the ride I noticed I guy sitting on the exit platform showing major signs of heat exhaustion, it was hot that day. I thought that this ride had so much wasted potential with its layout, but the back row made up for it. I felt I never went slower than 60 through the whole ride, which is what I thought set up the whole ride. I waited no more than 45 minutes w/ the breakdown.
Mantis was the big drama for me. I was hoping that it didn't cause me much harm,. I instead blacked out, scraped my right leg, and ended up sitting on a bench upside down to get the blood out of my legs amid lots of onlookers.
Next was Iron Dragon, Big Bad Wolf's little cousin. One of the ride-ops told me that both the intimidators sucked and I share the same feeling for Iron Dragon. The ride didn't have good pacing and I didn't feel the G's in the turns like BBW.
on the way down to the front of the park I noticed the cedar downs. because Wow mentioned it, I had to ride it. Cedar downs was actually pretty cool because unlike regular merry-go-rounds, the horses actually move forwards and backwards giving a racing feel to the experience. Definitely worth it.
Blue Streak was barren, nobody was any where near the ride. calypso was the same thing. While on the way up the ride stopped and we had a ride-op come and tell us something broke (NSS!). after a few minutes on my first breakdown ride, the train started moving and I finally got to ride. It had a bit of a cyclone feeling as you had the excitement, a resting U-turn, and then the return trip. It was much better than Pain Streak.
We stopped for lunch in the Midway Market Buffet. $12.99 ea. seemed expensive for two but finding out that it was help yourself to everything, and dessert plus the bottomless word that I love too dearly made it all worth it. I had my helping of salad, pizza, pasta, fried chicken and massive amounts of corn and garden veggies. My mom complained that they used the kraft "easy mash" instant mashed potatoes; she can taste the slightest difference in anything, btw. My dessert consisted of vanilla ice cream, a brownie, reese's, and M&M's (mmmm).
Raptor was the next stop, knowing my way around a B&M invert I knew there would be a whiplash somewhere in the ride. The layout was expected with a large loop followed by a zero-G roll (batman clone much?), then a cobra roll (alpie), then the MCBR (no whiplash(not alpie)), a corkscrew, a flat run, another corkscrew, then a falling helix (all sound like the batmen inverts), finally followed by the trademarked whiplash in the brake run (batman style). Other than the noticeable similarities to the Batman family, it was very decent and much different than all of it's cousins.
Disaster Transport. Two words, AIR CONDITIONING!!!! My second bobsled (I LOVE bobsleds). The line moved quickly and we (the only ride my mom rode) waited no more than 7 minutes. The ride was quick with little light but did offer the excitement of not expecting any of the turns or drops. Enjoyable, would be the word I would use for it. Exciting would be for the kids.
Next was Wicked Twister. The ride-op handling the mic was great, he had a lot of variety in what he said and he always gave the riders a surprise (5-4-launch, for example). Awesome floater air but the ride did feel like it was too quick.
passing through planet snoopy, the only thing I noticed was dog biscuits on the pizza hut menu.
Corkscrew was boring, I'm sorry I'm saying that because the double cork was actually pretty good.
TTD still had a line too long for my liking
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Cedar Creek looked pleasant and otherwise calm, a lot like Runaway train. I met a small group from the German boy scouts, they did a trade with a nearby town's scouts for the week and today they were all in Cedar Point. I had a good time talking to one of them while his friends and everyone else had fun screaming for the entire ride for giggles.
After noticing maverick's line was shorter I decided to wait. After waiting an hour I noticed a single riders line (JACKPOT!), saving me 30 minutes. The layout, and the entire ride was exceptional. the first drop had air-time, the popper before the wraparound double cork had air time, the hill after the launch had air time, and the mini popper had air time. I wish that they could build one in GA.
Now night's starting to set in and we started moving towards the front of the park. one of two rides left for me was MaxAir. The ride had something break and they had the mechanics on the top of the ride trying to find out what. After about 30 minutes of waiting and speculating the prognosis was that ride could survive until closing. It had a lot of float in it and was otherwise thrilling being a test dummy
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this is day one, I'll post day 2 and the trip back tomorrow.