July 2nd & 4th - So Much Fun It Hurt!

Friday July 2nd was an amazing night to be at Cedar Point. We arrived at about 7:15, to discover the park full of walk-on rides! It was mid 70's, dry humidity, and sky as far as you could see. We met a fair sized group of members of my family, and then we all sort of went separate ways to ride things we liked. I ended up with my 2nd grade nephew who is getting into coasters big time.

We started with 2 rides on the Corkscrew. I can ride this one just fine in the front seat of the front car. I stretched my legs all the way down the nose, and scrunched down in the seat. That kept my head back on the headrest through the whole ride after the 1st hill. I was getting cool airtime with my legs drifting up and down freely in the nose of the train. The sun was starting to set, and the park was lighting up.

After the Corkscrew, it was down to the Magnum. Waited 1 dispatch, then boarded. During the evening Magnum was running a bit slower than I have seen in the past. But the view of the lake and the sky to the west was not to be missed. After the 1st ride, Zack & I picked up my daughter, and we proceeded to continue what would be 11 rides for the evening on the Magnum. On ride number 6, Katie dropped off and we picked up my older brother, and on that ride we discovered to our delight that the trims were off! We got one ride, then they closed the ride, to take a train off, we later discovered.

Since we were in a riding mood, there was a bit more committee work, and my brother Bob & I went toward Gemini, for 3 trims-off rides, 1 blue, 2 red. The red helix was really wicked, and it was to give me grief the next day! The middle sections on both trains were closed. Why do they do that?

After the Gemini, we found Katie again, and went back to the Magnum, as it was wonderfully dark by then. The full moon was a great Halloweekends-orange, and streaked by wispy clouds. More good rides on the Magnum, never waiting more than 1 or 2 trains, and sometimes only because we wanted front car or back car, because the middle was a walk-on. As it approached 11pm, the trims were turned off again, and our last 2 rides of the night were wild, insanely high speed trips in the July moonlight, thundering through the tunnels and flying out of our seats.

Friday night was sixteen major coaster rides in less than 3 hours. It was probably the greatest fun I've ever had at Cedar Point. The next day, unfortunately, came around with charley horses, sore muscles, and bruised lump on my leg the size of a softball. Since it was doubtless caused by all the Magnum airtime, and slamming against the bars in the red-train helix on the Gemini, I decided to stay off coasters when we went on the 4th. :( I'm just not a kid anymore.

On the 4th, we went to Soak City. It was OK, since all the coasters opened very late due to a stiff wind. Magnum never topped the 1st hill before 10:30. That empty train stopped a lot on the lift hill. We start out with the Zoom-Flume. Great ride. I love that big raft. Then they talked me onto Eerie Falls. I was going to back out, because it made me nervous, I stiffened up and did it. Down into the blackness on the inner-tube I went. It was a lot of fun, twisting and turning in the darkness. Unfortunately, somewhere, somehow in the blackness, I whacked my head, really hard, against the side of the tube. My daughter, waiting for me to come out, claims she heard me screaming, having a good time, then a thunk! and then silence. I came off the raft and rolled over, face down, feet first. I made 1 turn in the dark, slid a while, and then made another turn, after which I saw a bright light. The raft came shooting out of the tube, and I washed out, mostly concious, still face down, about 10 seconds later.

I managed to stand up, and heard the lifeguard saying "Sir? Sir? Are you OK, sir?". I told her I was Ok for the moment, but it was definitely time to sit down. So, I sat with an ice pack on my head to control the huge lump rising there. My jaws and teeth actually hurt from the impact. After a while with the ice pack, I decided I'd had enough fun for one weekend, and got dry clothes on, just in time to be monsooned on by a typical Ohio summer thunderstorm. Since we had other places to go anyway, we packed it up after the storm. That ended a very eventful weekend in Sandusky. When we got back to Sunbury, I felt like I'd lost a butt-kicking contest, and looked like I belonged in a hospital. I guess that means I had a great time!

I was amazed at how quiet the 2nd was. I got there around 10:30, and the lines seemed to only get shorter as the day went on---and that was with Dragster down for a significant chunk of the afternoon!