Coasting For Kids 2009: 8/26 at Cedar Point

If you've got a big heart and a stomach for riding all day, please join us for Coasting For Kids at Cedar Point on August 26. Check out this link for all of the details.

And yes, you read that right about the prize for the person who raisedthe most... a VIP tour for four. That's pretty much the ultimate ERT!

So far we've got about half a train filled up... we'd like to have two!

I have a few questions Jeff.

Are we going to be riding gemini from 9-5 without getting out? Or do we have to run around and get in line?

What is the itinerary?

Can I donate the $50 myself?

Good luck, guys. I hope they raise some good money on this. And be sure to pick a good seat... I think after a while of marathoning Gemini, one could develop some serious bruises if sitting in a rough seat.

It starts at 7am... not 9, and you'll be able to just park yourself in the train. Of course there will be potty breaks and food and what not, so you'll be as hardcore as you want to be.

And of course you can start with the $50 yourself. That's what most people are doing. If you don't raise another dime beyond that, that's OK, but I'd encourage you to pass around your giving page link to friends and family anyway.

This is an awesome idea! I really hope a great amount is achieved and everyone has a great time. I would love to do this but I am out of Ohio for the whole month of August. Hopefully it works out that you can do this again next season because I would really enjoy participating, Jeff.

Its gonna be a great event and raise a lot of money for Give Kids the World. If anyone wants to donate go to my page http://www.firstgiving.com/jeffmccabe

-Jeff M.

If I had any vacation time at all from work, I would definitely be there. Good luck to those who are participating. I hope this event raises a lot of money.

It's too bad my son will be in school. I think he could probably ride Gemini all day. His old man, though, would last two circuits, tops ... at least without an IV of Dramamine. :)

I feel your pain, Walt. My son and I took advantage of ERT on Diamondback with our Platinum Passes in June. It was a Saturday, which meant an entire hour of Diamondback with no waiting. After an hour, I wasn't feeling so great. My son, however, was unaffected. The spirit is willing, but the body is . . ., well, you know.

Is there anyone who wanted to stay in Sandusky tonight but never got a room. I have one with 2 beds at the Sandusky Inn & Suites. They have free internet. With taxes it's $46.06 I'd be happy to split a room with anyone who's interested. Just send me a PM.

Best of luck tomorrow! I donated to one of the riders because I wasn't able to make it down. Great cause!

I'm really looking forward to hearing how this event goes. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. I wish I could be there myself.

It was a blast. Though, I am pretty sore today. The few who stayed on the entire time managed to get 129 laps. I kept track on a tally counters. It was funny, every few laps someone would ask me where we were at. I think the people who took a few breaks knew how many laps they missed and kept track by simply knowing how far behind they were. I think there were at least 3 people including myself who stayed on the whole time.

In the morning, they had some very good pastries, coffee and juice. The cinnamon roll was almost the size of a pillow. ;) It was very good. Eventually, they had some boxed lunches for us. Some people utilized that opportunity to take a break, get some food and use the bathroom.

A little while after we started, everyone got off the ride for a group photo. We were all riding on the red side in the morning. We got 50 laps in before they asked us to move to the Blue side. They wanted us on that side once the park was open. They had us exit and go around to get to the Blue side. I used this opportunity to very quickly take a bathroom break. I made it back an on with about a minute to spare. The only other time we had to get off was shortly after the public started riding. The Blue train had a limiter problem. We were down for 20 or 30 minutes. I took that opportunity to grab one of the boxed lunches. Unfortunately for the train behind us, they sat in the break run through the entire down time and didn't really get a break.

Throughout the day we got several funny looks from guests. Many people asked us what we were doing. Many people wanted to know why they couldn't ride on the Blue side. So, I think the knowledge of "Give Kids the World" was significantly spread throughout the day. Many people cheered us on as the Excellent Gemini crew posted updates on our progress fairly regularly. With all of us being on blue and the GP all being on red, I think I would be accurate in saying that this was probably one of the most interactive days in a long time for Gemini. We had almost everyone slapping hands on every run. Lots of Taunting back and forth. It was a blast.

During one of the runs, the crew posted a challenge to see which made the trains run faster, rowing or the head fins. It was the GP's responsibility to Row while it was our job to do the head fins. Our entire train kept their fins up for the entire ride, save for a few hand slapping opportunities. The GP only had a few people rowing. Regardless, we were on blue with ZERO TRIMS ALL DAY. So suffice it to say, we won about 95% of the time or better. The crew had been releasing our breaks anywhere from 3 to 6 seconds later than the GP to try and time the turn arounds better and give the GP a shot at winning.

At the end of the day we all got together on one train with all the people from GKTW and had one final run. We took another group photo and headed off the ride. They gave us all a certificate, a bag and a pin. I might be forgetting something. That was pretty much it. The GKTW people were very thankful to CoasterBuzz and Cedar Point. GKTW expressed a great interest in expanding this next year to other Cedar Fair properties. I'm sure other people will have more to add. But, I'm tired and I really should be trying to catch up at work right now. :)

To quote the Gemini crew, "Red only wins when Chuck Norris crys. And, Chuck Norris never crys."

Sounds like a great day. Really upset I couldn't make it.

Hello everyone. I actually came across the site by chance when I was looking for information on Whyte Lightning and 2010 at Cedar Point. I just joined 5 minutes ago because I wanted to make a few comments, specifically regarding this thread.

I went to the park yesterday for the $30 Wednesday special they were running. It was the only time this year I have made it but I am determined to buy the platinum pass next year and be a frequent visitor. I live in Lakewood so its only about a 45 minute drive and it is always well worth it.

So to get to my point, I was part of the "general public" that rode on the red train on Gemini yesterday. As Jason stated quite a few people were confused with what was going on over on the blue train. The ride staff informed everyone that the blue train is being used exclusively for a "very special charity". I sat about 2/3 of the way back in the red train and slapped hands with the CFK guys that were on the train with more people on it. We thought we heard someone on the blue train say that they were on run 123 about just before we got on which would make sense as it was very late in the afternoon at that point. When we got off the Gemini we headed down to the table to see what the charity was and what it was all about. I would like to applaud all of you who donated and took part in the CFK event. We stopped on our way back from riding Maverick and saw a little bit of the ceremony where people were receiving bags and other things and clapped for a bit before continuing on our way.

I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who is very blessed to be in perfect health. She is the entire world to me and if anything were to ever happen to her I would be devastated. It warms my heart to see many people take part in something to benefit children who are not as lucky as my daughter and myself.

I'll try to keep track of this site and possibly take part in future events such as this on in the future. Congratulations to you all and best wishes.

Welcome to PointBuzz tbusic11. That was one of the best first posts I've seen in a very long time. I hope you stick around and have some fun. Any events going on at Cedar Point are inevitably talked about here.

The train with more people in it was the train I was on. It might have been me stating it was the 123rd ride, though a couple other people usually knew what ride it was as well.

Regarding Whyte Lightning, I nearly forgot. It was pretty funny actually. One of the ride ops (I won't mention his name) was doing an excellent job ad-libbing the spiel. Every once in a while, he'd say, "Thank you for riding Whyte Lightning" or "Enjoy your ride on Whyte Lightning." He'd immediately follow it up with, "Oops, I've already said too much." It was pretty amusing. I'm sure it generated a few conversations among the general public.

Thanks Jason. I usually lurk on forums because I'm more interested in what other people have to say than adding my own views. My name is Terry but I've gone by tbusic11 for 15 years so I usually just default to that name.

I just remembered that when we were in the station house the ride op was giving some people a hard time about their colleges over the PA. He asked someone who they rooted for and when they said "Michigan!!!" he said, "Michigan? Who do they get beat by every year? Oh yea, thats OHIO STATE!" It made me laugh a little. Then the next train some people started chanting "Go Green! Go White! Go Green! Go White!". Everyone was definitely having fun on the Gemini. I also do remember when our train was pulling out on the track one of the female ride ops said to the other ops "I got some great news, we don't have to sand bag tomorrow". We couldn't figure out what that meant.

I've never seen so much speculation regarding a new ride at CP before. The public is definitely building this one up like never before. Its a lot of fun following along though!

In the morning the ride-ops put a sand bag into each seat of the train to simulate body weight for when they do their morning testing. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have to do it today. Maybe that crew has the day off. I believe one of the ride-ops said it was his last day until halloweekends. Maybe that was true for all of them.

I posted a handful of photos on FB.