Merry Christmas fellow Guide to the Pointers!
No, I have not gone to Cedar Point recently, but this trip report was my last of the season, and I decided to use it as a present for the off-season. So sit back, have a cup of hot chocolate, and enjoy!
On August 21, my friend and I went to Cedar Point with a church group. I found out during the trip over that one of the people going was not only a Cedar Point virgin, but a roller coaster virgin as well.
We met at 6:30. But we didn’t leave until 7:30. By the time we were in Sandusky, it was 10:30, unfortunately, because of the traffic, it took us another hour to reach the peninsula.
My friend and I headed straight for Millennium Force, and I had to inform him of the new system the park had implemented. He was bummed about having to wait before we actually waited to ride, and so was I, but I was already expecting it. By the time we reached the front of the queue, we figured out it was a very, VERY crowded day—especially for a Monday.
When we were almost to the end of the Ticket to Ride line, we heard people screaming and yelling on our hand-held radios. I could tell by the sound that whoever was broadcasting it, was on Raptor. It took about 20 minutes to get through the TTR line, and we ended up with a 1:00-2:00 ticket.
Like I said before, it was extremely crowded, and the line for Mantis was spilling into the midway. It was the first time I’d ever seen it all the way full. Even in the first year, I never saw it that full. We got into the line anyway, and as we made our way through the first queue block, we heard another "Coaster Broadcast." This time it was of Mantis. We could tell, because as the train came roaring through the diving loop, we saw a guy holding out his own little radio.
After the train stopped on the brake-run, I asked, "Will the person who just broadcast a ride on Mantis please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?" He started laughing, and we struck up a conversation. We talked for a couple of minutes due to the stacking.
After that, I started surfing through the radio channels trying to get people to have "Waaassuuuppp-ing" contests with me. I got a few people to answer, and that got me through the 1:45 minute wait. We got into the line for the front and after a couple of trains, it was our turn. The ride was fast and very fun.
After our ride on Mantis, it was time for us to use our TTR pass for MF. When we got in the line, the ride ops were already turning person after person away from riding since they had already run out of tickets. The wait inside the queue would have only been 5 minutes, but the ride broke down because something was wrong with the end of the brake-run. It only took about 10-15 minutes for them to get it back up and running. When they did, the first train got stuck at the top of the lift for about a minute. I started really freaking out some girls behind us because I told them that the only thing keeping the train from rolling back was a few pieces of flimsy metal. After it started back up, I told the girls that I was just kidding, and that the mechanism to prevent a roll-back was a very complicated magnetic system.
After they got the ride going again, they let the people that were stuck in the train in the loading station go twice! I was surprised that they didn’t let the people who got stuck on the lift another ride. After we got into the station, I tried to get 5-1, but it was taken, so I had to settle for 5-2.
The last time I rode MF was in June, and I had heard that since that time it had "grown rocket boosters." I thought people were somehow making it up, but boy were they right! The lift was as fast as usual, but the rest of the ride was just extreme! The drop was faster than normal, and the 2nd hill was just a blur. The 3rd hill had some "ejector" air along with the "floater" air. Instead of it just creeping over the hill like in June, it shot over. The swooping turn was fast and so was the island over-bank. The returning lagoon hill added some more floater airtime, and the bunny hill gave some awesome ejector air. The train went screaming through the last over-bank so fast that it barely slowed down through the magnetic brakes.
Once we got off the ride, we made our way over to the picture station. The funny thing to me was that I saw people were already forming a line for when it opened up to the public. I thought to myself, "You’d think Kinzel would get a clue since people are lining up 3 hours early for this monster."
After such an exhilarating ride, my friend and I headed back into the Frontier Trail. We met up with my friends cousin (otherwise known as the coaster virgin). He had gone on DT and Iron Dragon. He said he liked them, but he there was no way he was going onto any of the big rides. We also met up with one of our chaperones, and we decided to go on Gemini.
This was probably the best ride I’d ever had on Gemini, because the trains were so close that on every turn, we could slap hands with the whole other train. My friends cousin liked it too. After Gemini, we tried to coax him into riding Mean Streak.
Once we were at the entrance, he just shut down and backed up, so we tried to see if we’d have any luck on Magnum. Thank goodness for the "enclosed" queue. If it wasn’t for this queue set-up, we could have never even gotten him into the queue. My friend and I tried to direct as much attention away from the big tall orange thing past the station, because if he knew it was the ride he was waiting for, he would have left immediately. Once we got up to where you could see the hill, he wanted to know if that was the ride. We said, "No, Magnum is a blue ride. That orange one is a different ride." Through a little deception, we made it into the station without him freaking out. But once I got in line for the ejector seat and they got into the line for the seats behind me, he started looking around all scared. We kept saying things to him to calm him down and my friend had to get into the car first so his cousin would run. Once the train left, he closed his eyes and just said, "Tell me when it’s over," again and again.
He went through the whole ride like that. It was a good ride, but it was semi-rough since the trains were having axle problems. After the ride we told him that he wouldn’t have to ride any other coasters since he disliked Magnum so much.
Since it was a couple hours since we had to leave, we headed back over to MF. We told our "(no longer)coaster virgin" that since it was a 2 hour wait, he’d have to stay in the line with us, but that he wouldn’t have to ride. He was fine with this, and my friend and I thought there might be a slight chance of getting him on the ride.
We spent the next couple of hours in a "no Brittany, Backdoor, or N’stink" song-fest. In about an hour, we hadn’t even talked about coaxing the "3rd wheel" into riding, but every time a train flew by, he just watched in excitement and anticipation. Once we got past the "chicken run" (area where you can leave the queue) we asked him if he wanted to ride. It surprised me that he said he didn’t know.
Once we got to the station, the excitement and anticipation must have gotten to him, because he wasn’t as reluctant to get on as he was Magnum. What made it even better was that we stopped right at the turn-style. I got up front while my friend and his cousin got in 1-2. I yelled to the people coming in that if anybody wanted the front seat they’d better hurry.
A teenager came running over and was as pumped as I was. We boarded the train, and after the ops said clear, I knew this ride would last through the off-season. If anything, this ride was better than first. My friends cousin was surprised with the fast ascent. He closed his eyes again, but when the train sped up and was about to get launched, he opened his eyes. He held on as tight as possible the whole ride, but when we reached the returning lagoon hill, he put his hands up too.
After the ride he said if we had the time, he’d ride it again. Instead, he headed over to Gemini. It was a nice hand-slapping good ride, and after that, it was time to head home.
Not a very high coaster count, but one helluva day at that. Definitely enough to get me through the off-season. For some reason my off-season’s going much faster than last year. Perhaps it’s the fact that by this time last I was waiting for a 310 footer for 5 months already. Once again, Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! and whatever else there is!
CP_bound
Thanks for the present.:)
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MF Count: 11
Good Trip Report!
I left Cedar Point on the 21st and on the 20th while I was in the park, it wasn't too crowded. When we left about 10 or so on the 21st the line for MF and Blue Streak was already full and also all through Sandusky there was
a lot of lined up traffic everywhere in Sandusky. It must of been a really busy day. How was the waits that day?
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~Eric L.~
www.theamazementpark.com AOL Name: Eric24G
The waits were:
1/4 and 2 hours for MF
1/2 for Gemini
1 1/4 for Mantis
3/4-1 hour for Magnum