Driving East on the turnpike, the sky behind us was beautifully clear and sunny. The weather in front of us was dark and stormy. We could see the rain falling out of the clouds and even drove through some torrential rains as we made our way east into Sandusky. I figured the nice weather that was behind us would make its way east into Sandusky in a few hours, giving us most of the day sunny. The heavy rain we drove through on our way into the park seemed to break up and the sun came out right about the time we got to the park.
We arrived at the park at about one PM. Driving in on the causway, they had a lot of signs up warning us of the evil that lie ahead. We figured that we didn’t drive two hours to let some old, rotting wooden signs scare us away. Diving in on the causeway, I didn’t see Dragster launch once. While we were getting our stuff together in the parking lot, we saw Dragster launch once, and roll back. Should we have considered this a bad omen? Walking into the park, I could feel a stiff wind. At the front of the park, they had some people in costume, I think they were telling everyone about the added halloweened attractions they had in the park.
Since I was with a CP newbie, who was a little nervous about riding roller coasters, we started off with Disaster Transport, as it is one of the most tame roller coasters in the park, and it is near the front.
After that, I figured we should go to Pharaoh’s Secret, since it is right under Disaster Transport and we were already right there. When I got in line, I really had no idea what that attraction was like. If I were to try and guess from what I saw outside the line, I would have guessed that it was a funhouse type ride. Upon entering the line, they had some techno-rock music playing and a mummy at the Disaster Transport control booth. I guess he was supposed to be the DJ or something. As we got closer to the front of the line, we could hear lots of banging noises, so I figured it must be more of a haunted house than a funhouse. We were right at the front of the line when they stopped us to go in the next group, so I chatted for a minute with the line guy. Overall, I’d say that it was a fairly good attraction. My favorite part was the monster who jumped out and instead of just screaming, said “I’m a scary monster!” I had to laugh at that. If I hadn’t been at Cedar Point, I think that would almost have been enough to make my day. Kudos to whoever that was. I had never been on Disaster Transport before they blocked off a large part of the line for the funhouse, so I never got to see how big the line area was, if you ever could. In other words, the ride was longer than I expected.
Next we went off to get a freeway stamp for Millennium Force. Since I hadn’t seen Dragster fire off since the rollback right after arriving at the park, I figured it would be a waste of time to walk over to the freeway stand there, so I grabbed a stamp for Mantis instead.
I thought I would try taking him on Iron Dragon next, since it is probably the next most mild roller coaster in the park (excluding jr. Gemini and Woodstock Express.) However, it was down for some reason. I figured it must be because of the wind, but I think someone may have said that it wasn’t. With Iron Dragon down, I figured I’d try Magnum next.
On the way back to ride Magnum, I figured we should try Power Tower. The Space Shot side of Power Tower I would say is a good ride for people who are a little afraid of big rides. It isn’t as intense as some of the other rides are. As I indicated above, we choose to go on the Space Shot side of the ride. When we launched, the pop of air at the top didn’t seem quite as powerful or as long as I seem to remember it being. After the initial launch, as we bounced down, I felt just how strong the wind was that day, and the fact that Dragster rolled back didn’t surprise me at all. The wind was blowing in a direction such that Dragster would get the wind head on as it went over the crest of the hill. After feeling the wind on the top of Power Tower, I think I would be surprised if Dragster COULD have made it over the top.
Next on to Magnum. The ride seemed to be running about as good as normal, not too rough and air over ever hill. After Magnum, we went over to the Gemini midway to ride Gemini and get some of Cedar Point’s world famous French fries. Unfortunately, Gemini was also closed due to the weather. I would have gotten the mini-corn dogs/French fries combo, but they didn’t have any of the mini corn dogs, so I just got the fires. The fries were good as usual. The service was also pretty quick. I guess serving only fries keeps the speed up.
We next went back to Mean Streak. The line was a little too long to fit just on the strait shot path, so we had to walk the long way around the entire queue. As we got closer to the station, I could feel the wind get stronger and stronger. The wind was also quite strong in the station. The lights hanging from the ceiling were blowing quite a bit away from vertical. Once in the station, I opted for the back seat of the ride because it wasn’t any longer than any other seat. The ride seemed to be running on the rough side. I guess that was because I was in the back seat.
I wanted to go on the swings next, but they too were closed due to the wind. We went on White Water Landing next. I don’t think I have ever gotten as wet on that ride as I did this time. It had nothing to do with how the ride was running and everything to do with how the wind was blowing. The wind would just pick up any water that it could and blow it all over the place, including right at us. During the ride I got pelted with a twig that got blown off a tree somewhere.
We had a few minutes before our freeway time, so we slowly make our way to Millennium Force for our freeway time. Making our way up the frontier trail, there were lots of good decorations that they put around the park. I also took a few pictures of Millennium Force on our way to the ride. At one spot that I was taking a picture, while I was waiting for the train to come into view, a branch from one of the trees fell right at my feet. The branch was maybe a foot long and an inch wide. Not too big, but enough that it would have hurt if I had been standing 6 inches farther right for it to hit me on the head, instead of right at my feet.
Millennium Force was a good ride as always, but it seemed like it was running a little slow. The air over the return hill just wasn’t as forceful as it usually is. I guess that is due to the strong winds. After Millennium Force, we went to ride Mantis, as our freeway time stamps were during the same hour period. I have a hard time figuring out why, but I just don’t seem to like riding Mantis anymore. When the ride was new, I thought it was great, it was one of my favorites. Now, I can hardly stand to ride it, no pun intended.
I thought that I would ride Twister next. When we got over to it, we saw that it was an hour wait, and decided that we didn’t want to wait for the ride, so we went on Chaos. This particular ride that I had was a good one, as we got lots of flips on it. The way that ride creaks and groans as you flip around I always find to be a little unnerving. Next we decided that we decided to go off point for some dinner. On our way out, we could see that Raptor was closed due to the wind.
Driving out on the midway, most of the restaurants near Cedar Point seemed to be closed, so we went to US 250 to see what food was out there. We ate at Steak and Shake. Anyway, after eating there, we decided that as tired as we were, that we would go back for a little bit, try and get a night ride on Millennium Force. For a long time, I have wanted to try and take some pictures after dark in the park, so I took a camera with me. Walking through the parking lot toward the park, I could hear Raptor running, and thought that I might be able to get a ride on it, but the line was a little longer than I cared to wait in. I guess the lines slowly grew in length all day rather than getting really long first thing in the day, and slowly dwindling as closing time approaches. The temperature definitely dropped quite a bit from earlier in the day. The wind had a bit of a nip to it at this point in the day. I took a few pictures of Raptor, then thought that I would try to take some of Millennium Force. However, I couldn’t really get a good vantage point on the ride. The spot that I wanted to use was too close to the Fright Zone and thus too many people were there. As long as I was right there, I thought I should check it out and see what the fright zone was all about. Somehow, I managed to trip over one of the benches that they had over near the Force. Fortunately I didn’t fall on the ground, but I did hit my shins enough that they hurt. I don’t know what I did to upset all the wood at Cedar Point, but that was the third time I was attacked that day.
After fumbling for a few minutes to get my backpack into a locker, so I wouldn’t have to carry it with me, we headed off.
The head guy at the Millennium Force entrance to the Fright Zone seemed to be quite entertaining. He had a small crowd just watching him. I would have been interested to see what he had to say, but we just went in. The tunnel was extremely foggy as we went in, but once in the Fright Zone, the fog was quite a bit thinner. It was quite difficult for them to maintain a think fog with all the wind there was that day. The screamsters in there seemed to be doing a good job. It was kina fun to watch some of the other people jump. As well as I know the park layout in the day, it’s an odd feeling to not know where you are. With the fog and darkness in the fright zone, I got a little disoriented, and not know exactly where I was. Coming out of the other end of the Fright Zone, I could see the skull wall. Apparently there was someone providing a voice to interact with the crowd, but I didn’t hang out long enough to find out what was being said. I’ll have to see what the people working the entrances have to say next time I go there.
Once at the other end of the Fright Zone, I thought it might be worth trying Werewolf Canyon. We jumped in line for the ride and my disorientation was even worse than in the Fright Zone. I had no clue where that line was. I could see the Wave Swinger across a small lake, but that still didn’t help me to know where I was. I guess that was due to the fact that I had never been on Thunder Canyon, as I think that was the queue for Thunder Canyon that we were in. While we were waiting for the ride, I started chatting with the guy standing in line behind us. He said that he lived 20 minutes from the park and his friends thought he looked like Harry Potter, but in the dark line it was hard to tell what he looked like. Meeting and chatting with people always makes the wait go by faster, so even thought the wait was about an hour, it sure didn’t seem that long. While waiting in the line, I glanced ahead of me, and was surprised when I saw one of the werewolves working the line about one person ahead of me. I guess he must have started at the front of the line, but I didn’t see him until he was almost on top of us. I suspect he got more scares than anyone in the actual ride, because people have the guard down while they are in line, and aren’t expecting someone to jump out at them. While waiting in line, I wondered if the wolves could sense who the weak one in the crowd was, because after tripping on the bench, that would definitely have been me. (Note: this is supposed to be humorous)
Eventually we reached the front of the line, and we were the last people they let into the group. I kina missed half of the speal the “Ranger” at the start of the ride gave, because he started giving them before we got up on the starting platform. The fog in the actual canyon wasn’t too terribly thick, or at least not as thick as it would have been if there hadn’t been the incredibly strong winds that day. Overall, I think the ride was right about as I expected it to be. Although I couldn’t figure out what the point of the butcher shop at the end of the ride was for. I have to say I think this is a very good use of the Thunder Canyon ride. I suspect there would be very few people riding in October. The ride also has a very good concept that was executed fairly well. There were quite a few of the wolves in the canyon, more than I expected to be there. The only complaint I really have about the ride is that it seemed to be too short. Having the outdoor haunted houses can have a different atmosphere than the indoor ones. Overall, I think this was a very good ride, attraction, and would like to do it again in the future.
After that, we decided it was time to make our way back to the front of the park and head on home. At the front of the park we stopped for an elephant ear to get some deep fried grease. The speed of the service here was slower than at the fries stand. I don’t know if it was the crew being slow, or the fact that it was 11:00 and everyone in the park was heading toward the front of the park decided to get an elephant ear.
We went over to a bench near the gate and while eating the grease, the midway monsters were out and about. It got kina interesting when the two headless monsters started fighting over the plastic pumpkin. The headless monster with the hat tried to take the headless monster with out a hat’s pumpkin. Then the hatless monster started chasing the monster with the hat. That was a good laugh.
After finishing the food, it was time to head on out of the park and thus ended my 2004 Cedar Point season.
In summery:
The High Points:
Being at Cedar Point!
The “I’m a scary monster” guy
The Fright Zone & Werewolf Canyon
Riding the coasters
Meeting new people in line (The Harry Potter guy)
The Low Points:
Dragster closed ………….. again. At least it was the weather and not mechanical
Lines that were a little longer than expected *** Edited 11/8/2004 2:16:28 PM UTC by 0g***
Hey Og, if you can edit your post and turn it into several paragraphs and not one giant one, that would make it a lot easier to read. Thanks.
Dan
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