Cedar Point May 30th & 31st Long

[RBull4life]

The video for the Kings Island trip is now up in that trip report, towards the bottom of the first post.


After we checked out of Castaway Bay, we all hopped into the car for the grueling 10-minute trip up to Cedar Point. After we paid our $9.00 parking (which we would get back once we checked in), we drove around the parameter of the park towards our hotel of choice, Hotel Breakers. As I parked the car to go and check in, a bellboy greeted me, and asked if we were staying at the hotel. I replied, “Why yes we are”, which he then said, “Great, may I take your bags up to your room for you?” Well of course I said yes, and proceeded to check in. As I walked through the hallway to the front counter, I could only imagine what this hotel was like 100 years ago when it opened. Once again, a flawless check-in and I was set. The man behind the desk gave me my package book, which contained:
2 Starlight Admission tickets
2 Funday admissions tickets
4 Challenge City tickets
2 – Buy one get one free coupons for Soak City
$30 in Munch money
A coupon good for 10% off just about anything you bought on the property.

The bellboy was right behind us with our luggage was we entered our room. After tipping him, I walked over to our balcony, slid the door open, and gazed out. To my left was the beach and Lake Eerie, and to the right was wonderful Cedar Point. We had a clean view from the front of the park, all the up too Power Tower. Ahhhh nothing like it.

Since it was only 1:00 or so, we had time to kill before we could use our starlight tickets to enter the park at 5:00, so we decided to go play a round of miniature golf. My son found it more amusing to throw the ball into the water than to actually hit it, which lead to an early 7th hole departure for him and I. We would have continued on with the game, but with people playing behind us I thought the wiser choice would be just to get out of the way, and let my wife and daughter finish their game. I let my son run amok outside until the girls were done with their golf game. By now it was only 2:00. Damn, I want to get into the park. Hearing Magnum’s lift is driving me crazy. So we went back up to the room, changed into our swimwear, and headed out to the beach. My daughter was excited to jump in until she saw a dead fish. After that it was a no deal, and we went to Breakers outdoor pool instead. After about am 1 ½ hr swim, it was time to go get a bite to eat before we headed off to the park. Where did we go you ask? We went to TGIF’s. One at Castaway Bay, and one at Hotel Breakers. How convenient. We sat down and ate outdoors so we could look at the beach while we ate. Don’t ask me why, my wife just wanted to. We scarfed down our food, paid the bill, and I pushed the family out to the park.

We had to get a ticket for my daughter, and for $9.99, you can’t go wrong. It was at this time I looked up and saw something not good. Dark clouds. The son of the woman in front of me came out to say that they were closing down the rides due to the forthcoming weather front. We finally got inside just as the wind really started to pick up. I’m not talking about a stiff breeze here; the wind was blowing pretty damn good, with strong gusts. We made it to Camp Snoopy, and made a beeline towards cover of the paddleboats station. Just as we got in the station, it started to come down hard. Loud thunder, and even some pretty good lighting bolts darted across the sky. I thought this night was going to be ruined. After about 30 minutes of torrential rain, I looked over to the West and saw that it was clearing up. Sure enough, after about another 10 minutes of rain, it stopped. The coasters still were not open, as well as most of the rides, so we took a walk around, and walked through the Town Hall museum. Once out of there we saw that the Antique Cars had opened up, so we took a ride on that. My first ride of this Cedar Point trip. As we got off of the cars, I saw that they were testing Sky Hawk. With not many people lining up to ride it, I jumped into line.

Sky Hawk:

The ride-ops were sort of slow with this ride. It took them awhile to go through to see if everybody was latched in fine. After that, it was another 5minutes before the ride started. Once it did, we were slowly picking up speed as the cars swung back and forth. Higher, and higher each trip took us, and then before you knew it, it was over. I thought to myself, that was it? As I got off, I noticed that there was still not much of a line for it, so I rode it again expecting to get more of a thrill out of it. Well I didn’t. It was a cool ride, but it is a ride that I would not wait longer than 30 minutes to ride again. A nice thrill ride to add to ‘The Points’ collection. While it was fun while it lasted, Sky Hawk gets a meager 6/10.

As I looked around I still did not see any of the coasters running, so why not let the kids have some fun, and walk over to Camp Snoopy to see if anything is open there. Sure enough, rides were running as we entered. With only about 6 people in the entire section, we had the place just about to ourselves. I took the kids and jumped aboard Tilt-a-Whirl. As the cars stopped spinning, the kids yelled, “again”. So we took another ride on it without getting off. Another trip, they yelled, “again.” So yet again, we took another spin. After about the 6th straight ride without ever having to get up, my body basically told me, “Ok pal, that’s enough.” As I stumbled out of the ride, and down the stairs, I heard that magical sound of Dragster racing up the tower. Instantly my wife told me to go ahead, and she would go on some rides with the kids. I raced on over to Dragster to see if it was open.

Top Thrill Dragster:

As I made my way towards Dragster I noticed that park was just about empty. I lined up at the entrance of TTD, and waited as everybody was checked to see if they were carrying any backpacks, purses, or any other items that they would have to leave in a locker before they got in line. For me, all I had was my trusty Chicago Wolves hat, and I walked right in. I made it all the way up to the stairway that leads to the station, and after about a 20-minute wait I was on the train. “Blue train, are you ready?” asked the ride-op. With a resounding yes, we moved forward and with the help of three maintenance workers, who pushed us up into position, we were ready. The anticipation of the launch is what gets me every time. Finally the lights counted down, 4,3,2,1, and we were gone. Before I knew it, I was heading up the spiral track. Once at the top, I took a quick look down, and around, and started the trip downwards, finally hitting the break run. What a rush. Dragster, I don’t think I will ever get tired of riding you. 10/10.

Now that I was pumped with adrenaline, I went back to Camp Snoopy, and the family. To my surprise, they were not there. They had moved over to the other small kids section by Gemini. After learning that the kids had taken multiple rides on everything in Camp Snoopy, I found my son, and daughter riding Frog Hopper for the 5th time in a row. It was at this point; I observed that the midway by Gemini was deserted. I saw that Gemini was running and told my wife this observation. With a roll of her eyes she said, “Go ahead.” and off I went.

Gemini:

With an empty station, and only the first two cars, and last car of the train opened, I hopped on for my ride. Gemini is a smooth ride throughout, but that helix at the end really smashes you to the side. One of the guys in front of me said jokingly as we hit the helix, “Oh crap, I think I dislocated my shoulder!” Yeah, that’s what I thought too. We didn’t race anybody since they only had one side open. Gemini is a cool coaster, but one not to get too excited about. Gemini gets a 7/10.

After Gemini, I walked by my wife and told her that I was heading over to Magnum, which was almost right around the corner. She said ok, as my son, and daughter was on there 3rd trip on Jr. Gemini.

Magnum:

After a brief walk through the queue, I made my way up the stairs, and into another empty station. This time, only the middle cars of the train were closed, but it didn’t matter, it was a walk on. After cramming myself into the seat, we were heading up the lift hill. I love the sound of Magnums lift hill, and it seemed to go on forever. Once we were going through the course, this is where Magnum losses some of its points. The bottom of the hills was rough, and it felt as though we were running over nails throughout the ride. The turnaround felt like I was riding a wooden coaster, and not a steel one. Do I personally think that Magnum deserves to be in the top 5 of Steel coasters? No, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deliver a great ride. If Magnum was B&M smooth, it would have gotten a perfect 10/10, but instead it is going to have to settle on an 8/10.

By this time, my son wanted to ride the train. I wouldn’t argue with that since it would give me the perfect chance to look at the construction site. As we walked around to the train the kids wanted to ride the Cedar Points equivalent to the Hometown Fun Machine. After two straight trips on that, we boarded the train. We made our way around to the construction site, but by now it was getting dark, and any attempt at pictures would have been fruitless, plus I figured there are sites out there that will give you far better photos than the one I could have taken. One thing I did take away from looking at the site was how small it looked. It looks like it is going to be pretty packed as far as coaster track goes.

As we got off in Frontier Town, I felt like screaming “Hellooooo, anybody here?” We were the only ones that got off the train at the station, and as we walked, Frontier Town might as well have been called Ghost Town. The rain had driven just about everybody out of the park, and plus by now it was around 9:00. We wound up back by Sky Hawk, and with about 10 people in line I rode it again. We were going to call it a night. My son had already fallen asleep, and my daughter was on the verge, so I thought why not take a ride on the next coaster.

Cedar Creek Mine Train:

Again I walked right into a completely empty station. By now it was completely dark, so I rode in the middle of the train so I wouldn’t see any hills coming. It did have a surprise factor at night, but I didn’t get a high thrill factor out of it. A decent mine train coaster with some rough transitions. 6/10.

That was it for the night. We made our way back to the resort entrance of the park, and went back to our room. My daughter, who had not fallen asleep, yet was hungry so we ordered a small pizza from Pizza Hut. After a few bites, she was out like a light, and the wife and I watched an episode of Family Guy, and then crashed.

What a little rain can do to make you stay at an amusement park more fun. When the sky opened its floodgates for the rain, the park opened up its floodgates for the exit. I must say that the game vendors are a lot more aggressive in trying to get guests to play games than they are at Great America. We didn’t play any because my daughters room is filled with stuffed animals she has won at Great America.
After a few trips to GA this year, the lack of any characters made a difference. Sure you might see Snoopy, but it was very few, and far between. Overall it was a great night, and a perfect chance to get some rides on coasters without having to wait, since I knew that tomorrow all of that would come to and.

Total ride count for the night:

SkyHawk – 3
Dragster – 2
Magnum –3
Cedar Creek Mine Train – 2
Gemini – 3
Train – 1
Scrambler - 2

For the kids, as far as I know:

Tilt-a-Whirl – 9
Frog Hopper – 11
Jr Gemini – 7
Peanut Racers – 5
Woodstock Express - 3
And that is without ever having to get off of the ride.

Various other rides – God only knows, but I am sure it was a lot.


We started the next day off with some breakfast. For some reason, my son was in a very foul mood. Not a good way to start the day, but hopefully it would change once we got into the park. The good thing about staying at a Cedar Point resort is that you get to enter the park and 1hr before anybody else does. This can be a good, and bad thing. The bad thing is, most of the rides are not open yet. The good thing is that Raptor was.

Raptor:

Ah yes the mighty Raptor. Just like the previous night, it was a straight shot right into the station, and on the train. The helix at the end is awesome, but for some strange reason, I prefer Batman’s shorter, faster, and more intense ride than Raptors. Then again, I am not one to complain on a ride on a damn good inverted, so I got off, and went right back into line. I love inverted coasters, and if I could I would ride nothing but them all day. Raptor, you green monster, you get a 9/10, only because I prefer Batman to you.

As I exited off of Raptor, I witnessed something that I have read about, but never saw. The running of the bulls. They had just opened up the front gates, and a tidal wave of people came charging past me. I thought it would be best just to get out of their way, and wait for the wave to pass. Once it did, we took a ride on the carousel a few times, and then took a spin on the giant Ferris wheel. At this time, the rides in the kiddie section were not open yet, but Wicked Twister was. The wife took the kids up in the observation tower, and I walked over to Wicked Twister.

Wicked Twister:

What can you say about this coaster? It’s bigger, faster, and has a twist at the back tower instead of a holding break. Other than that, its V2’s bigger brother. For me, after have ridden V2 so many times, the only way to ride WT is either in the front, or back seat, so I decided to ride in the front. The feel of coming only a few feet from the top of the tower is awesome, but this is where I prefer V2 over WT: the back tower. I much rather be stopped for a few seconds staring at the ground than spinning upwards.
Sorry Wicked Twister, but your little brother beats you, but don’t worry, you still get an 8/10.

By now the kids section is open. The wife wanted to ride the only coaster she will ride at Cedar Point. Disaster Transport. So I told her to go ahead, and I will watch the kids. She went off on rode it two times in a row, while I babysat the kids, and watched them go on rides. Speaking off the kiddie section, this is where Cedar Point really falters. I would say about 80% of the ride-ops of the kids rides looked like they would much rather be somewhere else. Some of them looked like death worn over. In fact, one of them looked like she could have fallen asleep at any moment. The other 20% were having a great time with my kids, and everybody else’s. It really makes a difference. Granted, I am sure that would much rather be working Raptor, or Magnum, but Jesus, the kids are there to have fun too.
After the wife took her trips on Disaster Transport, we walked over to the other side of the park that we missed last night. Along the way, my wife wanted to ride Derby Racing, another ride she has to ride when we come to the park. We stopped at a refreshment stand to fill our souvenir cup with an Icee. I asked the kid behind the counter to fill it up, and in a very impolite way he said “No.” Not an “I am sorry sir, we can’t do that,” or, “we are not allowed to,” it was just “no” I didn’t understand why, so I asked him. He told me that they couldn’t put an Icee in a souvenir cup. I wanted to know why, but the only answer he could give me was that they can’t. After that magnificent exchange, I told him just to give me an ice tea. Wow, only two hours into our day, and Cedar Point already has two strikes against it.
We made out way over to Mantis, where at this time, my son saw the train sitting at the station. “Choo, Choo,” he exclaimed. My wife asked me if I wanted to go Mantis, while she took the kids on the train ride. Sure why not I thought. After they left on the train, I remembered my complete dislike of stand-up coasters, so I passed on Mantis. I had ridden it before, so to me it was no big deal that I didn’t ride it. I did take a ride on…..

Iron Dragon:

What can I say about Iron Dragon? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 4/10, only because I got the chance to get off of my feet for a couple of minutes.

With the train not back yet, I thought why not take a ride on the next coaster I saw

Wildcat:

I always make a point to ride this coaster when I come the park. As I call Ragin Cajun the giggle coaster, this one falls into the same category. You laugh your entire trip through the ride. Good steep drops, fast turns, and a good pace makes Wildcat one of the most underrated coasters at Cedar Point. 9/10.

When I got back to the train station, the train was just pulling in. My son was back to being crabby which meant it was time to take a nap. With it getting very hot, we decided to go back to the room, let him sleep an hour our two, give me a chance to relax, and let my daughter go swimming with my wife. After a nice two hour layover in a nice air conditioned room, we headed back into the park.
By now it must to have been around 3:00, and we were getting hungry, so we made our way over to Macaroni’s. Using our $30 munch money, our $45 bill only came to $15. Refreshed, our stomachs full, we ventured back into the park. The one thing that caught my attention was the lack of sun. It had been sunny all day, and now it was cloudy. Not only that, but the wind was starting to pick, much like it did last night. Well, this could turn out to be a good thing like it was last night. We walked out into the midway, and I noticed that Dragster was not running. This could mean two things. 1) It is down, or 2) they shut it down due to incoming weather conditions. As I looked out to the West, I immediately knew that was #2, and it was, because none of the other coasters with the exception of Corkscrew, was running. We made the trek back over to Camp Snoopy, and sure enough, as we made it to the Woodstock Express, it turned nasty. We took shelter under the photo booth, and waited until it passed over. After about 20 minutes, it stopped. The kids rides started to open up, and since Dragster was not testing, we took the kids on, you guessed it, Tilt-a-Whirl. Yes, another 6 straight trips on the Tilt-a-Whirl left my body in a spin. I took a rest while my wife took the kids on various others rides, and their overly enthusiastic ride-ops.
We left Camp Snoopy, and made our way onto the now nearly deserted midway. This couldn’t get any better. Just like the night before, the rain had driven just about everybody out of the park, and on top of that, I saw Dragster testing. We rode various other rides in the area, and once I saw people on TTD, I was over there as fast as I could. Jumped on for my final ride on Dragster until next year.
After my Dragster ride, we headed back to the front of the park. My wife took another ride on Disaster Transport while the kids went on kiddie rides. As the night came to a close, it was time for just one more trip on Raptor. Now it was time to leave. On our way back to the resort entrance, the luring Magnum taunted me in the face. My wife, and kids went off to the Gemini kids area, while I got in line, and rode Magnum another 2 times before the visit came to an end.

Ride count:

Wild Mouse - 1
Iron Dragon – 1
Raptor – 3
Wicked Twister – 2
Dragster – 1
Magnum –2

The next morning we packed up our stuff, and were ready to head home. My daughter was balling her eyes out because she didn’t want to go home, and in a way, I didn’t want to either, but all good things must come to an end. I think we have found our summer vacation trip every year. Hotel Breakers is a wonderful place to, and if you get the right room, has a great view out of the balcony. As for the park itself, it’s Cedar f’n Point. Great ride-ops that love doing their job, and really gets you in the mood for some serious coaster riding, but not everything is all that rosy at Cedar Point. As I mentioned before, the lack of any kind of enthusiasm at any of the kids rides was really disappointing. Sure they may have a great selection of kid rides, but there is more to it than that. At least let the kids see that you enjoy doing your job, just like you would if you were a ride-op at a big coaster. It is starting to become clear to me that Cedar Point is moving away from rides that the entire family can enjoy, and focusing on having the biggest, and fastest ride in the world. When was the last time they installed a ride that a family can enjoy? I can only hope that Cedar Fair does nothing to damage the fantastic work Kings Island has put into their Nick Universe. If they did, it would be a crime.
Despite that one flaw, there is not another park in the world like Cedar Point. The staff is friendly, and is always the first to say hello to you, as you walk past them. Castaway Bay, and Hotel Breakers are first class in everything that they do.
The resorts get a high 10/10, while the park itself loses one point do to my above comments. Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH gets a 9/10.

A few interesting side notes. Millennium Force was down both days we were there. The gentleman working the Frog Hopper, when asked what kind of coaster was being installed, simply stated that it would be a flying coaster of some type. I found that to be interesting because on another site, a guy claimed to have heard the same thing from a ride-op on Mean Streak. Whether it was the same ride-op I don’t know. I don’t really believe it, but just thought you guys would like to know.

[SFGAmfreak4life]

Your trip report makes me want to go back to Cedar Point even more.

[Ilovthevu']

You say that there is a Wild Mouse coaster. Do you mean Wildcat, or is there some other coaster that you are talking about? When it rains I'm sure that you could get on Disaster Transport because it's indoors. Right???

I do agree that I like Vertical Velocity much better than Wicked Twister because you do get stopped. If they could somehow stop you on this ride on the spiral, this ride would probably beat Vertical Velocity. Is Chaos still there? This is in the same area right next to Max Air and Wicked Twister. Most companies including carnivals started selling all of these off as that SF doesn't have any, anymore.

[RBull4life]

You say that there is a Wild Mouse coaster. Do you mean Wildcat

Yes, you are correct, it is called Wildcat. Had a brain cramp there. I will make the change.

When it rains I'm sure that you could get on Disaster Transport because it's indoors. Right???

Yes it is indoors, but we were nowhere close to Disaster Transport.

Is Chaos still there?

Yeap. I took a ride on it after my Wicked Twister spin.