August 5, 2005

So I went to the Point on Friday, August 5, 2005 to meet up with my friend Ben and be there for Tony's 1,000th ride on Millennium Force. I got there right at 10:00, and headed over to Millennium Force for the Tony's 1,000th. They would only let Tony take 2 other people with him on it without waiting in line, so I wasn't on it, but it was no big deal to me - I came to get a day away and have some fun anyways.

The train before Tony's got stuck on the lift hill because the power went out on Millennium Force, Mantis, and at the Commons all at the same time. When it came back on about 30 minutes later, Mantis got going right away, but it took a while for them to get Force going. I think Tony had finally gotten his 1,000th ride by like 12:45PM. At this point, we all got freeway stamps for Millennium Force for 8-9PM.

After this, my friend Ben had gotten no sleep at all the night before and was dead tired, so he needed to take a nap. He left to do so (although he got very little sleep), so I was in the park on my own. We decided to meet back at Millennium Force at 8:00PM. I decided to attempt what I had always referred to as the CP Challenge - All the Adult Roller Coasters plus the two major Thrill Rides (MaxAir and Power Tower) all in one day.

I got in my first line at about 1:15PM - a late start. It was Gemini. I got on my first ride of the day at 1:30PM, Blue Train. I rode Blue Train front seat, then got off, went back around, and rode Red Train front seat (about another 15 minute wait).

After this, I was originally going to go over to Magnum, but I new there was actually a decent line for it, which I didn't want to wait in at the time, so I decided to hit up the rest of the back side of the park. I rode the Cedar Creek Mine Ride front seat(less than a 15 minute wait), followed by Mean Streak front seat (a walk on plus a few minutes for front seat). I won’t ride any seat in Mean Streak besides front because I get a big enough headache from riding front seat in it. I had now completed the back part of the park – 3 rides/4 physical rides.

I then went up to the Top Thrill Dragster Midway. I was going to ride Magnum next, but it still had a decent line, so I went and rode Corkscrew front seat, which wouldn’t have been bad, except for the part right at the beginning of the ride where it bangs your head into the headrest really hard. I waited less than 5 minutes for this honor. I then proceeded on to Top Thrill Dragster. I had a Freeway ticket for it from when I had waited in line for 3 hours one time and it went down for a mechanical and they decided to close the ride for the day. I used this, and got on and rode it in less than 10 minutes, 2nd row. I then proceeded to Magnum XL 200, and decided to ride it this time because the wait had shortened to 15 minutes. I rode this, ejector seat (front car, 3rd row), which has always been my favorite seat to ride it in. I had now completed the middle part of the park, 3 rides this section, 6 rides/7 physical rides total. I did not do Power Tower at this time.

I then moved over to the east side of the park and rode Wicked Twister. It was about a 15 minute wait, and I rode the 2nd to last row, right seat. Following this, I moved on to Disaster transport, which actually had a wait that turned out to be about 20-25 minutes. I rode this, and was disappointed as usual. I then went on to MaxAir. The line for this looked long, but it only took about 15-20 minutes to get on the ride. I rode this in seat #20 (which strangely enough I think was the seat I was assigned to the last time I rode it). I had now completed the east side of the park, 3 rides this section, 9 rides/10 physical rides total.

Next, I was going to ride Blue Streak and possibly Raptor after that, but Blue Streak was down for a mechanical issue, so I moved on to Iron Dragon. I rode this back seat with a walk on, plus a few minutes to wait for back seat. I then moved on to Wildcat, which took 20-25 minutes to wait for. While waiting for it, I watched 2 empty cars bump into each other right before the loading area because an operator wasn’t paying attention. After I rode this (front seat), I moved on to Mantis, which strangely enough turned out to be the longest wait of the day at 58 minutes. Luckily I had grabbed a couple free waters before getting in line, and I bought some Reese’s Pieces from a vending machine, the first food which I had had since my McDonald’s breakfast on the drive up. I rode Mantis in the 2nd row, far left seat, and got my head beat up by it, reminding me why no one I’m ever with ever wants to ride it. I had completed the west part of the park, minus Millennium Force, and did 3 rides in this section, bringing the total to 12 rides/13 physical rides.

It was now 7:00PM. I had an hour until I had to meet Tony and Ben at Millennium Force. I went and walked on to Blue Streak, riding it front seat. This reminded me of why this is still considered such a great coaster – because it is great. I then rode Raptor, which I had to wait 20 minutes to get on. I was in the middle of the train, in a middle seat. I should have been in the left outside seat, but a bratty kid took my seat when I was putting my sandals in the bin, so I got stuck in a middle seat. Completing the front section added 2 rides, bringing the total to 14 rides/15 physical rides. By the time I had completed this section, it was 7:55PM, so I headed straight over to Millennium Force, meeting up with Tony, and waiting for Ben and the others.

We then rode Millennium Force, which I rode with Tony on (his 1,002nd) ride. It was Blue Train, and he rode seat 5-1 and I rode seat 5-2. After this, everyone was pretty hungry, so we took the train (the choo choo type) up to the area of Mean Streak and walked down to the Happy Friar so that Ben and Tony could get their beloved Cheese-on-a-Stick. On the way there, I grabbed an elephant ear for $3.59. It was pretty good. On the train, Tony pointed out that the train can be the best ride in the park because you get a roll-back every time it stops and you can get repeat rides on it. Despite this, I am not counting it as a ride for my totaling purposes. Millennium Force added 1, bringing it to 15 rides/16 physical rides.

Ben and the others went off to get some sleep before Ben had to drive back that night, and Tony and I went and rode Power Tower. We rode the Northeast Shot Tower (walk-on), seats 11-12, giving us a good view of the dark lake and the Giant Wheel. After this, we rode the Southwest Drop Tower (5 minute wait), seats 11-12, giving us a good view of the Laser Show and Millennium Force. This completed the CP Challenge with 1 ride/2 physical rides, bringing the day’s total to 16 rides/18 physical rides. Here is a quick summary of the ride order from the day:

1/1: Gemini (Blue Train)
1/2: Gemini (Red Train)
2/3: Cedar Creek Mine Ride
3/4: Mean Streak
4/5: Corkscrew
5/6: Top Thrill Dragster
6/7: Magnum XL 200
7/8: Wicked Twister
8/9: Disaster Transport
9/10: MaxAir
10/11: Iron Dragon
11/12: Wildcat
12/13: Mantis
13/14: Blue Streak
14/15: Raptor
15/16: Millennium Force
16/17: Power Tower (shot side)
16/18: Power Tower (drop side)

After this we were going to go ride Raptor, but the line was even longer now, we guessed about 30-45 minutes, and we didn’t want to wait. Tony and I talked for a little while, and I headed back to my car to start the drive back to Columbus. Tony headed off to Millennium Force to get the last ride of the night, which would bring his total to 1,003. I was out of the parking lot just before 11:00, and got back to Columbus around 1:15AM. All in all, it was a great day, especially considering that I was alone for most of it. It definitely was the most riding I had done in a day (not counting late night Magnum marathons when you can walk on it, of course).

That's it,
~Brian

Now there's a coaster count... Glad you had a good time.

Yeah, sorry about that whole not having any sleep thing. Riding alone, however, is some of my best memories at Cedar Point. For how crowded the park was, you did pretty well.

Next time I'll be more up for riding! :)