October 16, 2010: The Busiest Day I Have Ever Seen

Here are pictures to go with this report:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunnyhugger/sets/72157625224652774/

I used to do a Halloweekends trip every year with my then-husband, usually arriving on Friday evening in mid to late October, doing Friday and Saturday, then leaving Sunday without going into the park (instead we visited the Merry-Go-Round Museum). In later years when we were strapped for money, we only stayed one night, but Saturday would always be our main day in the park. We did this every year from 2000-2007. During that time, Halloweekends went from being "our little secret" -- a magical time when Cedar Point was full of atmosphere but very light on crowds -- to being as busy as a summer weekend.

In late 2007 my husband and I separated and eventually divorced. I'm sure PointBuzz readers won't be surprised to hear that along with all the other miseries that the breakup entailed, I was very worried about not having anyone to go to amusement parks with. Fortunately I did find a local friend who would go on coaster trips with me, but my frequency of going to amusement parks did go down. In 2008 I made it to Cedar Point only once, and not during Halloweekends.

In 2009, my new coastering buddy and I, along with his wife and friend, did a Halloweekends trip. We arrived Saturday afternoon, did starlight in the park, and then stayed all day Sunday. That was a revelation to me. Saturday was as crowded as I had feared, but Sunday was like the Halloweekends of old, with light crowds and short lines! The down side was that (at the time) none of the haunted houses were open Sunday, and the park closed at 8, so there was little time to enjoy the night-time atmosphere with the decorations. The up side is that we got through the Maverick line twice during early admission, and waited no more than half an hour for anything else that day. I couldn't believe I had never thought to make Sunday my main day in the park for Halloweekends!

Around the beginning of October, I was trying to figure out if I would get a trip to Cedar Point in this year. My new coastering buddy had moved away (though we had a great trip to Holiwood Nights together in June) and I couldn't figure out who would be willing to fork out for an overnight trip to Cedar Point with me, since most of the locals do it as a day trip, something I think I'm just too old for anymore (too many incidents of starting to drift onto the shoulder during the drive home have convinced me of that). I was chatting online with my friend Skyler from California, and he mentioned having vacation days he needed to use up or lose them, so I floated the idea of flying out here for a Halloweekends trip. He likes roller coasters but has trouble finding people locally to ride with him.

So Skyler and I headed to Cedar Point October 16 and 17. I chose the dates because every other weekend in October I had something planned, and also because I knew from last year that Sunday is the best day to go. I figured we could do the Merry-Go-Round Museum on Saturday (which I had missed going to in '08 and '09), get starlight admission for the evening just for the atmosphere because I knew the crowds would be intense, and then have our real day at the park Sunday.

We had a great trip to the Museum, and I bought my usual dozen raffle tickets (I haven't won yet but hope springs eternal), then we headed to the park. I warned Skyler that Saturday would be crazy. I didn't realize how crazy. It turned out to be the most crowded day I've ever seen in 30 years of going to Cedar Point. The first sign of trouble was the cars parked on the grass. The second was being stopped by an employee as we approached the Breakers and told, "There may not be parking at the Breakers, but you're free to drive around and look." Fortunately, we did find a spot.

We checked in and headed into the park at about 5:30 p.m. I had braced myself for craziness, but I still wasn't quite prepared. Lines for haunted houses stretched down the midways; chaotic mobs gathered in front of food stands without any clear delineation of lines. We walked around marveling at the signboards. An hour wait for the Mine Ride. An hour and a quarter for Corkscrew. An hour for Iron Dragon. Wildcat didn't even have a sign out but it looked dire. We kept looking at the waits for things and deciding to try something else, and so we walked around for quite a while without riding anything. We wandered back to Corkscrew... the wait was up to 2 hours. Skyler said, "we should go over to Top Thrill Dragster and see what the wait time is, so we can laugh if people are waiting as long for Corkscrew as for Dragster." That's just what we did, and he was right: the posted time for TTD was 2 hours. I have photos time-stamped a minute apart proving it.

Eventually we gave up on riding anything and started trying to find a place to eat, but that was also fruitless. Skyler wasn't keen on eating "park food" for dinner (I'm not quite as picky and probably would have just eaten a slice of lousy pizza if I'd been on my own) but all the more full-featured eateries were packed. We ended up walking back to the hotel without having ridden anything, and eating at Perkins. As we headed toward the Resort Gate, I said to Skyler, "here's what I'm going to do when we get back to the hotel..." A woman walking in front of us turned around and said, "Hey now, I don't want to hear that." At first I was being slow and didn't know what she was talking about, but then when she and Skyler started laughing I caught on. I said, "we're just friends." She said "suuuuuuure," but then she said she was sorry and everyone had a laugh. Actually, what I was going to say was "...I'm going to call the Bay Harbor and make a reservation for tomorrow night."

While we waited for a table I ran upstairs to the hotel room (we were on the third floor of Breakers Main) and dropped my camera and made a reservation at the Bay Harbor. The wait wasn't too long -- maybe half an hour -- and so we had some dinner. It was nice to sit down because I had suffered a sprained foot a week or two before, and it was still pretty sore.

We went back into the park and ended up getting three coasters in plus Cedar Downs. We rode Corkscrew (now down to about 45 minutes' wait), and somehow it seemed much more fun than I remembered. I guess waiting for something makes you appreciate it more. Then we did Disaster Transport (30 minutes or less) and Blue Streak, which I think was posted as a 45 minute wait but when we got to the station it suffered a short breakdown (a restraint problem) and a bunch of people ahead of us bailed out although it was fixed about five minutes later.

The park was about to close, so we walked back to the hotel and crashed. And that was the busiest day I've ever seen.

Sunday was fine. We rode Maverick during early entry and through the course of the day rode (not necessarily in this order) TTD (which Skyler was really nervous about and then very proud of himself for riding, as he should be, I know I sure was the first time), Millennium Force (which I almost couldn't get the seatbelt closed on when I normally don't have a problem -- I must have gotten one of the infamous "short belts"), Gemini (they took off the red train just before I got to the front, which really frustrated me because I can't remember the last time I've actually gotten to ride Gemini when it was racing), Wildcat, and Iron Dragon.

We also rode the Kiddie Carousel, which was my favorite carousel ever when I was a kid (my carousel enthusiasm goes back to childhood), and I was dismayed once again by how desperately it needs restoration. It looks all right from a distance, but up close it looks downright shabby. Cedar Point likes to make a show of being proud of their historic carousels, but they don't always take good care of them. I still remember when the band organs worked. A carousel without a band organ is like a sandwich with no condiments, and recorded music just doesn't cut it.

Skyler suffered from motion sickness off and on all day, despite getting some meclizine from First Aid. During one of those spells I rode the Mine Ride without him, and I ended up in line behind another single rider who invited me to ride with him so I did. He was friendly, and must have been a coaster fan because he was explaining to the girls in the seats in front of us how the anti-rollback device works, because they were commenting on how noisy the train was as it went up the lift hill.

We also took time out at 6 p.m. and went to the Bay Harbor for dinner. My big disappointment of the day is that I didn't manage to get any cheese on a stick. (We tried to get some at the place across from Disaster Transport but it was closed.)

Near the end of the day I noticed that Mantis looked deserted, so we got on. I actually do not like Mantis at all, because it gives me painful pins and needles in my feet and legs. (This may be related to my having poor circulation; I get it a little on Raptor too but not as bad.) But it had been years since I rode it last so I thought I'd give it another try. It was a walk-on, so I didn't have to wait long to discover... yes, it still hurts! I think I might be done riding Mantis for good, unless I'm with a friend who really, really wants to.

We headed for the front of the park with the intention of riding the Midway Carousel as our last ride, and saw that Raptor had only a 15 minute wait. I wanted to ride but Skyler was too sick after Mantis, so he waited for me and I rode solo. It was a really good ride. Raptor is always even better than I remember.

We rode the Midway Carousel and that was the end of the night. We walked back to our car (still parked at the Breakers, but now almost alone in the lot) and started the three hour drive home.

Next year I think I will do the same again, but if I can afford it, I'll stay both Friday and Saturday. I'll go Friday night, do early admission on Saturday, then take part of the day Saturday for the Merry-Go-Round Museum, go back in Saturday night just to watch the mayhem, then go in all day Sunday for the real riding time. If I can't afford two nights, I'll do the same as this time.

If you made it this far -- thanks for reading this long-winded report! I also have pictures from the Merry-Go-Round Museum if anyone is interested in that:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunnyhugger/sets/72157625224684330/

That was really long! Anyways, great photos; I especially like the Carousal Museum ones! :)

Long, but not as long as the line for Corkscrew. Thanks for the compliment on my photos!

I wasn't there, but today looked like it was gawdawful busy too. The parking lot looked like it was full or virtually full, and the line for TTD was stretched back around to the station again. Management must be tickled with this Halloweekends season. Their bottom line sure has to have received a little extra padding in the last month.

Ensign Smith said:
Management must be tickled with this Halloweekends season. Their bottom line sure has to have received a little extra padding in the last month.

I think their big focus on social networking this year had a lot to do with it. They are able to run promos far quicker, far cheaper, and far more reaching than ever before. Out of the 20ish times I've gone this season, I've noticed that the days with the lowest marketing on Facebook are the lowest crowds. Season Pass Appreciation Day was nearly empty, and I seem to remember they didn't even start advertising it until that Friday (the day was on Sunday).

Sat the 23rd was busier than the 16th!!!

Is that actually possible?! I insist on photographic proof of a 2-and-a-quarter hour Corkscrew line.

Insist away - I don't have one - but the Queue was extended to the midway for Cscrew - which in your picture it isn't.

I can vouch for that!

Yea me too every single ride on the 23rd was stretched way into the midway, Gemini was way past that energy drink stand they have. Disaster transports line stretched to the entrance of the toy factory haunt, it was quite a scene, it was pretty much chaos everywhere. It was difficult to walk anywhere.Still had fun though.

I believe you, Jay, I was just kidding. Guess I should throw smileys around more! I will say that I believe that the line for Corkscrew was extending into the midway on my visit, I think you just cannot tell from my photo because of the angle and the closeup on the sign.