6/22 and 6/23

Last weekend I took a terrific trip to CP with just my fiance and I. We had a great time at the park. I'd like to thank those of you who suggested the Maples Motel to me. We had a nice time staying at the hotel. It is nothing fancy, but at $55 a night, the room was clean and comfortable. It is right next to the back entrance to Cedar Point. Staying there makes you feel like you are away from everything, but with a short drive to the park (with no traffic) you are actually very close to all of the action. I loved taking the back entrance into the park. It makes you feel like you are in on a secret while everyone else goes over the Causeway. The only downside to the hotel was the frequent train passing by. The train didn't bother me or my fiance, so there was no problem there.

We arrived at the park at 12:00 PM on Friday. We decided to park at Soak City since the parking lot is so much smaller and easier to access the back of the park from. We headed right into an almost walk on at Magnum. The line was moving fast and it is nice to see that they already got the three trains back on track. We sat in the very back seat (my favorite spot). It was a great ride. The trims were used, but certainly did not take away from the great bunny hops on the return trip.

From there, we took a spin on Gemini. She rode red and I rode blue. It is nice to see that they were making an attempt to actually race the trains (something they weren't doint when I was there last year.) Again the ride was fun and was almost a walk on. A side Gemini note is that it is fun going around the final helix without them putting on the trim brakes. I have noticed that the lack of trims there is an up side to only running four trains on the ride.

We followed that with a ride on Sky Hawk which was just as fun as I remember. We both really enjoy that ride. Although those lap bar retraints always make me a little bit nervous on those highest swings. I said that Jennifer that you have to put an awful lot of faith in that bar staying securely on your lap.

I made a quick trip over to Maverick and tried the test seat. Very comfortable and accomodating. Yeah, I would be able to ride this roller coaster after all. We decided to come back to Maverick later, so we headed to Mantis.

Mantis was the only down side of the trip. I had not been on it in several years (I never tried getting in line after they added the seat belts) I tend to have trouble with these over the shoulder restraints when I need to get the seat belt buckled. Since Maverick was an easy fit for me and I had lost fouty pounds since my visit last year, I figured I'd check. There is no test seat so I asked the operator at the front of the line about whether or not I might be able to fit. He barely spoke English and didn't understand what I was saying. I asked him about going up the exit (in retrospect, I should have just done that) to check the restraints, but I waited in line. Man, that line really does move slow these days. It felt like the longest fifteen minute wait ever. When I got up to the ride, I found out that I couldn't get the belt buckled, so I had wasted my time. I had also wasted Jennifer's time since she didn't want to ride in the first place and was waiting for me at the exit. Oh well. It wasn't totally unexpected, but it could have been avoided by a more English speaking person at the entrance to the ride or by a test seat. Also, since I rode Mantis before the seat belts and when I weighed more, I have to wonder why the seat belts were made so short. No big deal though, there was still plenty for me to do at the park.

Next we took a ride on Iron Dragon. I no that many of you hate this ride, but I find it to be great relaxing fun. We had a good time and then headed to Power Tower.

I had never ridden on the shoot down side for Power Tower and Jennifer had never ridden it at all. The line was short so we got in line for the shoot down side. The line wasn't long and within a couple of rides we were on. I'm scared of heights and therefore this particular side of Power Tower takes some real courage for me. I concentrated on the beautiful scenery on the way up. Then it held us up there for what seemed like an eternity. The shot down and bounces were great. We got back in line and went for the up side. This line wasn't long either even though only one tower was working. After the ride we both decided that we definately do prefer the shooting down side.

Alright, I have to go now so I'll come back and finish this later. Sorry for the rambling, I could probably cut out some of my words but I don't have time for proof reading at the moment. *** Edited 6/27/2007 2:55:38 PM UTC by Natas***