June 4; me, my dad, and 2,000+ junior high kids

The day started as it usually does for a CP trip. Get up at around 600-630, grab some breakfast, hop in the car and get going by 700. Unfortuanitly(sp?) we left a little late, about 715, and got caught in rush hour while trying to go through Detroit. But once we got through we made good time, even through the I-280 construction, and got to CP at a little after 1000. Once we got past the toll booths we headed for the Soak City parking lot. However, on the way around we noticed an unusual number of busses, both school and charter, parked in and around the normal bus parking area. We also saw a good many going back across the causeway while we were waiting to get to the toll booths. The first thing I thought was 8th grade CP trips, and I was right on the money.

But continuing on; after parking we made our way into the park and immeadiatly hopped onto Magnum with about a 5 minute wait. After a slower than usual ride, it was in the early morning, we headed of to TTD with the intention of getting some Freeway passes for later. But just to make certain that I could ride I checked the test seat first, I don't know if they moved the seat belts on both TTD and MF but I didn't want to take a chance of wasting a perfectly good Freeway stamp. To make a long story short, I had no problem with the seat and noticing a short line we jumped in and enjoyed a quick ride on TTD. Side note: This was the first time my dad rode TTD, it was closed the one time he went last year, and he enjoyed it very much. At this time it was about 1130 so we started heading to the front of the park thinking that we could hop on WT and Raptor before lunch. We did get on WT, with about a 25 minute wait, but did not go on Raptor at the time. This was mostly due to a 1.5 hour wait and we were hungry so we ate instead. I was interested in trying the Game Day Grill so we went there and enjoyed some good food with excelent service. Definitly a place to go on future trips.

After a filling lunch we headed back towards the train and rode around to Frontier Town where we grabed a show schedule at the Palace Theatre. Being that we were there and didn't feel like walking up to the Red Garter, we decided to see the Twistin to the 60's show that started at 1400, thats 2:00 PM for those that don't know. This decision occured at about 1305 so we had time to spare. We spent it on the Gemini and browsing through shops looking for something to take home. At 1350 we took a seat in the Palace Theatre and enjoyed a half-hour show of dancing to the oldies.

Afterwards we went back to the car to grab some warm clothes. Although the forcast said partly cloudy with little wind, it turned out to be mostly cloudy with a good wind off the lake. Once we got back in the park we hit up Magnum again due to a light line, only 15 minutes this time. We then headed for MF where after about a 2 hour wait total we hoped in the front seat and enjoyed a great ride. This of course led to many 'I told you so's' on my part as my dad did not think that the front would be that great and was not worth the wait. He changed his mind quickly after that ride. At this time, about 1700 by my watch, we headed towards the front to get that ride on Raptor in. After a much shorter 30 minuted wait we had our fix and started heading towards the back again. We didn't get very far, just past the weight game to be exact, when we decided to grab some dinner. Upon hearing good things about Famous Dave's, and telling my dad about them, we decided that this would be a good place to go. So we headed over.

When we got there the door was opened and we were warmly welcomed into the restauraunt. However, my dad was looking at the sail boats on the opposite pier so we told them we would be right back and continued on to the end of the pier talking about sailing, amoung other things. We finally got back tot he restauraunt and once again were welcomed. We got some seats, ordered our drinks, and started looking at the menu. After a quick explanation of the menu by our server, never had that happen to me before, we took little time in deciding what we wanted. After ordering our order came quickly and we enjoyed a small feast, not the feast-for-2, of good BBQ. I tried all the sauces with my entree, which was the catfish by the way, and enjoyed them all. However my main favorite would have to be the Devil's Spit followed closely by a 2-to-1 mix of Sweet and Zesty and Georgia Mustard. Good stuff all around and good prices to boot. With the main entree, a sandwich, 1 beer and an iced tea we only spent $30.00 total, which was only $10 more than lunch. An excelent value for any Cedar Point restauraunt. Definitly a place to return to. Ohh, for those of you that may be wondering, we did fill out the comments card and put Sweet Potatoe Fries as the menu item to add. Yes, I miss them too.

After dinner we meandered for awhile making our way around the back of the park via the TTD/Magnum/Gemini midway, enduring some old jokes on the cruise boats, and than back to the front via the Frontier Trail. Seeing a short line for Mantis we jumped in real quick and after a good 30 minute wait we got a good, albeit slightly head-banging, ride. Right after this, about 2030 on the watch, we decided that it was almost time to go home, we set 2130 as the goal. So we headed for a few last rides. These included in order the Big Wheel, Sky Ride, and Magnum. Magnum was by far the best of these, did you think I was going to say the Big Wheel, as we sat in the jump seats. Being that it was near the end of the day Magnum ran fast and hard, even with the trims on. It was by far one of the better rides that I had ever experienced on Magnum. Unfortuanitly(sp?) my dad was only good for one of these rides, it was also a little rough, so I agreed that I could live with only one last ride, even though it was only 2105 and there was only about a 10 minute wait. But anyho, we got in the car and headed home at about 2115 expecting to be there at about 2430, that's half-past midnight. That ends our day at the park, but not the entire day. Oh before I forget, the thing about the junior high kids is true. There were probably 40-60 buses total of 8th grade kids at their end of year CP trip. Luckly this did not crowd the park as much as I thought it would due to a serious lack of what I would consider the "normal crowd", this would be a normal mix of families and the like on any standard no-school summer day.

As for the rest of the day, namly the ride home, this is worthy of its own paragraph. It starts rather simply, me driving out of Sandusky and onto the turnpike via US 250. As per our normal route we got off the turnpike at I-280 to take it to I-75. Unfortuanitly for us once we got onto I-280 we discovered that it was closed after rt2 due to construction on the new bridge. Now mabey we missed it, but usually there is some singage on the turnpike about this. However we saw none at all. So we took the detour posted and wound up at the aforementioned gas station just before getting to I-75. At this point my dad took over the driveing. We got throught Toledo fine and with no further incidents, contruction related or otherwise. Now as is usuall, or at least it seems common to me, once Michigan drivers get into Michigan on I-75 they speed up by a good 10-15 MPH to about 75 MPH. However, my dad goes all the way to 85 MPH and keeps this speed all the way until Detroit. On top of this we had some other people passing us at probably 95 MPH some times. Now, I make no excuses for my dads driving but I do feel safe with him driving as he is a police officer. However I did wonder how he would explain the speeding if he got pulled over. Besides the high speed transit we came across one very big problem. I-94 at Moross road in Detroit was completely closed at this time of night. On most nights this wouldn't cause too big a problem. But on this night just about everyone seemed to be out driving so this one closure caused a good 2 mile backup and what was probably a 45 minute wait for those that got stuck in it. However my dad took a shortcut around the backup and the closure only increased our trip time by 10 minutes. Not bad all things considered. At any rate we did make it home safe and sound, and without any tickets, at the ETA of 2430.

All in all this was a good trip. The crowd was small to medium, even with all the school trips, and the weather was decent. I got to ride the best coasters and had some great food at Famous Dave's. We, me and my dad, had a good time and enjoyed just about everything, except the walking due to a slightly pulled muscle on my part and a hurt foot on my dads part. Hoped you enjoyed reading my trip report as much as I enjoyed my trip. *** Edited 6/5/2004 5:59:19 AM UTC by Monster Ride Op***

Good Tr. Off topic but are you in the military. I ask this because you were using military time( 2300 hours) in your TR.

Screamster 08,09,10,11
Soak city 10,11
Castaway Bay 10,11

** Worst screen name ever**

Not yet, although I am planning to join the Navy soon. I just use it because it is easier to work with.
I was there too with about 150 Jr. High kids on 6.5 It was a great day...

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