9/28/08 - Sunday at the Point

Got to the Point yesterday, Sunday 9/28! This trip was much different than every previous trip for me, as instead of just going with my wife to get many coaster laps in, I went with my four year old daughter and six year old son (and other assorted uncles, aunts, nephews , nieces). I got to experience what the Point had for the little ones, and I must say I was pretty impressed.

We got there at 10:30 and had to wait for the gates inside the gates to open – I chuckled as I witnessed in person the running of the bulls for the first time.

Throughout the day, I did manage to rotate kid duty with family members to ride quite a few big coasters. The park was not too crowded as throughout the day as I waited approx 5 -10 min or less for Raptor, 20 min for Millennium Force, less than 5 min for Sykhawk, less than 5 for Wicked Twister, 15 – 20 min for Dragster, and 45 min for Maverick. Not incredible, but certainly pretty good. Nothing remarkable to report, everything I rode was running well, operations were good, and rides were in good shape. One shout out to the Dragster crew – launches were more frequent than I ever remember.

The big thing for the day for me was my son going full tilt for 9 full hours and desperately wanting to ride anything and everything he was tall enough for – which included all rides in Kiddie Kingdom, Planet Snoopy, Camp Snoopy, plus Troika, Matterhorn, Scrambler, Giant Wheel, etc. He had an absolute blast - his favorite turned out to be Troika! The lowlight of my day was riding Woodstock Express with him, which I had thought would be a highlight. Cycle time was horrible, the one person operating it was slow, the layout was weak, and throughput beyond terrible. In all aspects, the Zierer Tivoli coaster that was at Geauga Lake leaves this coaster in the dust. After the day was done, I marveled at the sheer number of kids rides that I never really explored – Cedar Fair has done an excellent job in my opinion to provide kids’ options and areas.

Last thing I must mention (even though it’s been covered on this site ad naseum) – food prices were beyond insulting. I suspect that like most people, I try to limit my in-park food and drink purchases as much as possible. But my one weakness to date has been the fresh-cut fries that previously were a small ripoff but incredibly tasty. I got some for my family only to discover the prices were now almost 5 bucks for a SMALLER tray of fries that in any previous year. Note to Cedar Fair: that’s it, I’m done. I’ll never again spend another dollar to purchase food in your park, regardless of situation.

Overall, pretty good day. Maybe next year my son will hit the magic 48” height minimum to get him on a lot of the big coasters.

I was also there this past Sunday. It was amazing.

The longest I waited was 35 min for a dragster front seat.

Raptor, Mantis, Mean Streak, Crokscrew, and Iron Dragon were walkons

Millennium 15 min tops

Maverick 25 min with early entry

Wicked Twister 5 min

MaxAir 3 cycle wait

$5 for a Johnsonville, chips and a drink. Good job CP

and to top it off, Graveyard Shift was one of the best shows at ANY park, ANY time of a season.