8/27/01 (Vertigo and other stuff)

Last park on a five-park trip through four states, this one closer to home. Steph had her grad school orientation, so I was going solo. On the agenda was VertiGo, the new up-charge S&S Absolutely Insane, and a few rides with Ultimate Rollercoaster's Eric Gieszl who was in from SoCal (a Cedar Point virgin).

We arrived at CLE from BWI at 8 a.m., so you can bet I wasn't in any hurry to spend an entire day at Cedar Point. Fortunately, it looked crowded, but it wasn't.

I arrived at the park around 12:30, and jumped on Magnum for a quickie before heading to my VertiGo appointment. With the sore thighs from Hypersonic the day before, I was a little apprehensive, but a strong wind was keeping the ride in check. It felt nice to be home.
From there I headed over to VertiGo. I'll post photos and a review and such at some point. I did the standard "hot rocket" since I didn't know what to expect. A harness that looks like a big jock strap goes on your chest with four pins at the end of straps. The pins attach to points around the seat where they can't be released without applying air pressure to the vehicle from an external hose.
Once strapped in, the vehicle rises about five feet off of the ground as you prepare for launch. A relatively quiet noise and the vehicle is launched straight up. The acceleration is fairly light but the speed is constant. I think the point of the ride is really the open feeling, not the launch. It really is a pretty amazing, free feeling. Is it worth $10? I don't know... I'll have to ride it again.
After my ride, I hooked up with Eric from URC. Eric had never been to Cedar Point, which surprised the heck out of me because the dude has been running his site for years. In any case, I rode Magnum (again) with him, as well as Corkscrew, Power Tower (turbo drop), Disaster Transport and Raptor. Of course, I got him in the Raptor money seat, back right. After that, I had to split because I was fried and wanted to get stuff ready for Steph before she got home.
Overall, it was a nice ending to a long trip. We walked on everything at The Point, which made life easier considering the fatigue. It was also nice to meet a guy I had been talking to via e-mail for years.
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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
Watch my grass grow: http://www.sillynonsense.com/subdivision/

Aw Jeff, you can't appreciate VertiGo for what it's worth until you try Big Bang/Big Bang Plus.  Cosmic Flip, IMO, isn't as good as the Big Bangs, but it still blows away Hot Rocket.  Hot Rocket seems like PT just with more open seats.  BB, BB+, and CF give the ride a completely different feel.  Nice that you had all walk ons.

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Steuks!!
VertiGo flights: 4
MF: 28