Opening Day 2004-- "How did you get the day off?"

One of the great things about attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland is its proximity to Cedar Point. Yesterday, I made my 12th trip to the Po!nt from campus, and since I'm graduating next weekend, it may have been my last.

I traveled (as usual, when coming from Cleveland) with Avalanche Sam, who now works at Geauga Lake on the Head Spin, Steel Venom, and monorail. By some miracle, he was able to take the day off from work and get to the Po!nt, to the surprise of many (including Mr. Kinzel himself).

We entered through the back and started our day by power-riding the Magnum XL-200. We sat in the back row on the first train of the season and then moved up towards our favorite seat, 1-3. After a half dozen rides, we ventured to the back of the park to ride Gemini, Mean Streak (which was hauling with no trims, in all her back-breaking glory), and the Mine Ride. It was then about noon, so we took the Frontier Trail to get FreeWay stamps for Millennium Force (8-9) and Mantis (6-7), which were only running 2 and 1 trains respectively. We then rode Iron Dragon and Corkscrew, so we went on every Arrow coaster before riding a single Intamin or B&M.

On the main midway, we saw The Best Damn Band in the Land march and perform "I Wanna Go Back to Ohio State"; fitting, since that's what I'm doing this summer. In June, I start in the Ph. D. program in math at OSU. The trip from there to the Po!nt will be longer, but still short enough that I can come there often.

After a ride on Demon Drop, and a break involving a round of DDR and a donut from Donut Time (I think Sam was trying to refund his season pass, which he bought before being hired at GL, at this point), we stayed around the front of the park, getting rides on Blue Streak, Raptor, and Wicked Twister (which we noticed was down most of the day with electrical trouble). We got to the WT entrance at the right time, just before it was about to open for a while.

Around 4:00, we we thinking of going to the new Game Day Grille, but instead settled on our old standby, Johnny Rockets. I know a lot of the people there were working for the first time, but the service was so slow that the employees danced five times before we got our food. I'm sure it will improve as the season goes on.

By then, it was time for the GTTP meeting at Raptor, so we rode that again, then headed to Mantis, which was a 30-minute wait even with FreeWay. I went back to the car to get my jacket, then we rode Magnum and Corkscrew again on the way to MilF for that FreeWay. We then closed the day with some more (trimless) Magnum rides and a launch on the Dragster, which took a while to get running but seemed to run very smoothly from the afternoon on.

During the day, we saw Dan, Tank, Tim, Kelly, Robert, OldCPer, and many more (I apologize for leaving you out and/or forgetting your name). I'd also like to give thanks to the Magnum crew, for dealing with a vomit situation while we were waiting on the platform-- you're one of my favorite ride crews in the park and I'm sure I'll see you all a lot over the course of the season.

On the changes to the park: Dodgem's sign looks slick, but Iron Dragon's paint job looks out of place (just like WildCat's). Donut Time is a great addition, and I like how it advertises "Magnum Muffins" :). I'm not sure about replacing the Silver Dollar, but I'll have to eat at the Game Day Grille before making a decision. At least I won't have to wonder all day how the Buckeyes did when I come on a HalloWeekend Saturday (yes, I know the park experimented with the sports bar theme at the end of last year, but now it has bigger TVs). And the TTD now has FreeWay and looks like it won't break down as often.

I'll try to come back later in the week, and if not, I do have a season pass, so when I get a break from class, I'll get to the Po!nt.

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XL89: You conquered the Magnum, now capture the moment!

2004 Stats
Visits: 1
Magnum: 10 MilF: 1 Dragster: 1 Raptor: 2 -- Total rides: 24

Nice TR. You were behind me in line for Mantis right?

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The Point of Cedars
www.thepointofcedars.tk

Yes, we were the ones behind you in the Mantis line.

And Mr. Magnum, you seem to have forgotten to mention my running into Mike Mason almost everywhere we went the first half of the day. Was his sole job that day making sure I was happy with the food?

Fun day, followed by a fun day working at the Lake. I'll hopefully head up to the Point a lot in May, since GL is only open on weekends until June.

-Sam

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Avalanche Run - My first Roller Coaster.
Magnum XL-200 - The BEST Roller Coaster!

Well, it turns out that I was able to squeeze in another trip before I graduate. Rather than start another thread, I thought I'd reply to my original one.

Avalanche Sam had another day off (since GL was closed), and I'm free until mid-June, so we made our second trip of the year today. The crowds were very sparse, just what you'd expect for a weekday in May. I only noticed one or two school groups on physics trips.

We abandoned our normal opening routine and started the day at Donut Time, and ran with the rest of the bulls to Millennium Force to ride in the front seat. We then proceeded to Mantis and WildCat and effectively took care of some of the slowest-moving lines early in the day.

Other highlights include: Riding Gemini when only the blue side was running (I thought they only ran red if they needed one side), using FreeWay on Top Thrill Dragster for the first time ever, checking out all the shops along the Frontier Trail, and never waiting more than 20 minutes to ride anything.

We also broke our personal record with 34 total rides (including 28 coaster rides) in a single day. I know this pales in comparison to people who have spent a day power-riding a single coaster, but we spread our rides out all across the park. We rode all 14 big coasters at least once, including 8 rides on Magnum, 3 each on Raptor and Wicked Twister, and even 2 on Mean Streak (which we never ride more than once) in all her trimless glory. We also did both sides of Power Tower plus the Demon Drop, and two wet rides (White Water Landing and Snake River Falls, where we saw Kelly working at the top of the hill). We could have gotten even more rides in if Sam didn't stop to talk to everyone, but that adds to the whole experience.

Many coasters had some downtime at different parts of the day, but none were significant enough to hinder our plan. Often we would get in line right after a ride re-opened. My only problem was that the DDR machine wasn't working! ;)

TTD, I remember seeing you in the Mantis queue on Saturday, but I forgot what your handle here was. Nice job with the Opening Day pictures.

I may possibly return to the Po!nt next week, or some other times between now and the start of the summer quarter at OSU.