Cedar Point 8/15: Seagull Crap, Front of the Line Passes, and More!

I had to play with the other marching band Section and Squad leaders at freshmen orientation in the morning, and then had to stay for a short meeting with the director immediately after. By then it was around 9 in the morning, and I headed home to get changed and pack some sandwiches. Previously my mom and I had planned to go the park once I was finished with what I needed to do, so once we were packed and changed we left for the park. My dad had to work so it was just the two of us (I've said it before, but I'm so glad to have a mom who loves to ride coasters.) We arrived around 11:45 and were greeted with blue, sunny skies, temperatures in the low 70s, and a light cool breeze. Perfect amusement park weather.

1st ride of the day was Millennium. Waited about 45 minutes and then waited just a little more for the front row, which is the best place to ride it (except at night--bugs!). I really don't get how people can call this coaster forceless. At the bottom of the first drop I sometimes gray out. This is such an awesome ride. I never get tired of going on it.

Next we decided to hit up Magnum since we haven't gone on it our last few trips. While we were walking over my mom felt a splat on her shoulder, and it turned out that she got crapped on by a seagull. Luckily it was just a small amount, so she easily cleaned it off. But it was still funny and we both laughed about it. Once we got to Magnum we were surprised to see that it had a 1/2 wait, but it was nice to see a classic coaster getting some love. We just picked a random row toward the back and had fun. It's a little rough and jerky but I still love it. The ejector airtime is so much fun.

After this we went to Dragster, which had the same wait time as Magnum (hard to believe you could wait the same length for these rides). But we waited in line for the front row so the total wait was a little longer for us, but the front row is the best place to ride on it and is totally worth it. Hands up the whole time! (as always on coasters). Since the line was pretty short compared to some days, we got back in line and rode it again, except this time in a random row toward the back. I forgot how much airtime you can get over the top of the hill when sitting in the back. What a great ride, and it will always be better than Kingda Ka, IMO.

By then we were getting hungry and all morning we were smelling Panda Express, so that's where we had a late lunch. The food there is really good, and I'd recommend it if you've never been there before. It was nice just sitting down, relaxing, people watching, and watching all the birds eat crumbs.

We then walked back up toward the front of the park and after an unusually long line for Dodgems (almost a 1/2 hour, but there was only 1 employee at this ride), and a fun ride on Cedar Downs, we went over to GateKeeper since by now the line should have died down. When we got over there we discovered that it was down with an empty train partway up the lift. We waited in the growing line forming outside the entrance, but soon a worker told everyone that it would be a while before it would be running again. She really stressed the words "a while" and advised people to leave and ride other things.

So my mom and I went over to Raptor, and 15 minutes later we were riding in the front row. The front is the best place to ride on this coaster, too. Now I really can't wait for KI to get Banshee, since if it's anything like Raptor this is gonna be an awesome new ride. It will not only be a new experience to the park, but will be a ride that will please guests for years to come. I can only hope it's just as intense as Raptor, which it looks to be, however I do love corkscrews/flat spins on inverts but the heartline roll looks promising on Banshee.

Even though hardly any time had past since we were last over there, we decided just to check out GateKeeper one more time before moving on since we saw it testing empty trains. Lucky for us as soon as we walked into the plaza, they opened the line back up. So much for the ride being down for "a while." So we got right in line and 5-10 minutes later were in my favorite seat, the back left. Then we went on it again with only a lightly longer line and rode the front right. Had great rides as usual. I really do love this new coaster. Now I've been on it I think 12 times so far this year and I still enjoy it as much as the 1st time. Then we got a quick ride on good 'ole Blue Streak before moving on.

After this we went to Power Tower and noticed that all the midges and bugs were starting to come out. We rode the drop side, since I prefer it out of the 2 sides. We got lucky and got seats 11 and 12, which are the seats facing toward the midway and the rest of the park. The view from the top is awesome, and it's just a fun ride in general.

It was around 8:30, and we wanted to make Millennium our last ride of the day like we always like to do. So we just wanted to have a low key end to our day and leisurely strolled from Power Tower, back around into Frontier Town, and went through Frontier Trail and admired the Starlight Experience. Even though it's not officially called this anymore, I still do. People are mesmerized by it, and I hear tons of people saying how cool it is. It's not as good as when it was the official Starlight Experience, but it's still really nice.

Just as we were about to walk into the line for Millennium, a man got our attention and did something extremely kind. He offered to give us a Front of the Line Pass valid for 2 people that he had won at the Plinko game set up right outside the ride's entrance. He was with his family and told us they had already been on the ride and were done for the day. We were very lucky, since if we would have been there even 30 seconds later he could have already given it to someone else. We were very thankful and told him how kind he was and how much it meant. So we headed back to the exit. It felt really weird walking up through the exit, especially when getting strange looks by people walking past us getting off the ride. Once at the top, we gave the coupon to a ride op, and he opened a gate to the line and we got in line right at the station. Since the front row is horrible at night due to bugs, we rode in the last row. We had an incredible ride, and at night you feel like you're going even faster than you already are. This ride is always a perfect way to end a day at the Point.

We were planning on leaving, but while making our way toward the front of the park we realized Luminosity was about to start, and since this would be our last opportunity to watch it before it was done for the season, we decided to at least stay and watch some of it. Even though we've already seen it before, it's a fun show and is a nice way to end the night. We ended up staying for the entire show, and even stayed for the entire dance party after. There was a group of incredible dancers, and everyone formed a circle around them. The performers from Luminosity even went over to them, shook their hands, applauded them, and one of the performers even got on his knees and bowed to them. Seriously, they were that good. I think they and the performers even exchanged numbers or something.

Overall we had an awesome visit to the park. It was my last CP trip of Summer Vacation, since I'll be in school the next time we head out. Other than GateKeeper being down for a short while, there were really no problems we encountered. All other rides seemed like they ran great. And we still can't believe how we were given front of the line passes, it really made our day.

EDIT: While riding Dodgems we saw the Segway man and he pulled up behind the ride, got off the Segway, and just watched for the ride cycle I was on. Once it was over, he left. Then while in line for Cedar Downs I saw him again, except this time he was just riding down the midway.