Planning a 2007 Trip, Memorial Day Weekend

Hello everony. This is (as you've likely noticed) my first post here.

My name is Heather, and I am a Cedar Point fanatic. I live up in Michigan, and we used to go every summer as a kid, and even more so when I was a teen.

After getting married, I converted my husband. See, he had only been to CP once, and all he did the entire day was play games in the arcades, and ride Gemini once. It actually wasn't too hard to convert him. After our first trip with friends right before we were married, he fell in love with CP as well.

To get to the point (pun not intended), I'm planning our first -family- trip. See, we have 3 kids (11, 8, 5), and we've never done the trip with anyone other than just the oldest (she went at 5 & again at 9).

Our youngest is not coming along this time. We started planning this trip half heartedly about 2 months ago. Right now, my husband is looking at a new job, and with the new job, we get a pay raise, plus he gets his job based retirement fund money back. Cheers!

Normally, we could afford a 1 day trip, no bells and whistles, eating out of the back of the car, driving stright through there and back home. Not bad, and hey, I'll sacrafice for the Point. ;)

Well, when we started looking at the trip, it was a "If I get the job" kind of thing. But, I decided, screw that. I started putting away my own money (which isn't much- I'm a stay at home mom currently) by saving all our change and dollar bills. 2 weeks ago, I opened a Cedar Point fund savings account with what I had saved over a 1 month period- $220.

After hubby saw how serious I was, he set aside another $500 from our taxes. Since then, I've added another $47 in $1's & change. Tomorrow, I get to deposit some online earnings, which total $165, and another $20 in $1's.

I've got the trip planned down to gas money, grocery money, resort money (we're staying at the Lighthouse Point cabins), even spending money for each kid, and game money for each kid.

After tomorrow's deposit, I'll be at $952 in the account. My tenative budget requires at least $1200 to cover everything and leave wiggle room for "just in case" things.

However, Hubby's last interview is this week, and according to people who work there, he's a shoo-in. That means we can safely set aside more than just the $1200.

My ultimate goal is to have at least $1500 to travel down with. We're heading out mid-morning on Friday. We have a 6 hour drive, so we should arrive around 4-5pm on Friday. I plan to go that night with Starlight tickets, then again all day Saturday, then we're going to head home on Sunday.

It's our son's first trip to the point, but last year, we took him to Michigan's Adventure. He was exactly 48" tall, and he rode every coaster in the park, hands in the air, screaming for more. I have no doubt he'll have a blast there. As for our daughter, well, she's a bit more... well, she's a coaster weenie.

Now, on our last trip down with her 2 years ago, we managed to coerce her onto Iron Dragon (twice), Wild Cat, Cedar Creek Mine Ride (twice), Gemini, Jr. Gemini, & Woodstock Express. While she complained the whole time on Gemini, the first thing out of her mouth the instant we left the park was, "My favorite ride was Gemini!"

Any tips or tricks with 2 kids instead of just 1? My son has severe adhd, so trust me when I say, energy is NOT an issue. And he is NOT a kiddie ride kinda kid.

Anyway, that's my trip in a nutshell. ;) I can't WAIT to go. I've already been dreaming about it. We didn't get to see Skyhawk yet, and the lines were insane on MaXair when we went, so we didn't ride that. We skipped any coasters our daughter was too small for (she was only barely 48" at the time, she's -way- short for her age), so our last trip was not as intense as some others.

Ok, I'll also admit that I -am- a bit of a wuss. I hated coasters as a kid, but started to get over it when I was 15 and my 7 year old sister dragged me on ID & CCMR. It seems like I try a new one just about each trip.

I've never gone on MF, Magnum, TTD, WT, or Mantis. My goal this year is to add WT & Mantis to my list, as well as Maverick. I'm still not really up to the other two.

Oh, and power tower. I do want to try that one. :) Did I mention we're brining my aunt along? Cause, she's a TOTAL wimp, so she's willing to take the kids on lighter rides while we hit a few of the bigger ones.

Also, anyone who has actually been there on Memorial Day Weekend- is it packed? How are lines? I know the attendance page says moderate, but I don't know how to take that. I've been there on the "light" days, and the park is pretty dead, with most smaller coasters and ground rides being a walk on. Are we looking at 2 hour waits for Raptor? 15 minute waits? Somewhere in between?

Anyway, great site! I've lurked for quite a while. Love the pictures section. :)

http://pointbuzz.com/faq3.htm

Hope you have a good trip!

6 hours to drive from Mount Pleasant?? Even google maps, which I've found over estimates the times severely, says 3:56.

Anyway, too much of the crowds that weekend depends on weather. If we get a cold snap, it won't be as crowded. If we get July weather with nary a cloud in the sky, it will be busy. Not July busy, but not Wednesday in May dead either. Your best bet is to be hoping for rainy mornings clearing in the afternoon.

I hope you guys have fun that weekend though, should be a blast for the kids.

6 hours including rest stops, and gas, and what not. And actually, I did over estimate it. For some reason, that was the number in my head, but it IS more of a 4 & 1/2 hour trip after we do a few short rest stops for the kids to run around in.

That sounds a little more reasonable (even with kids). We do the trip from Grand Rapids in about 3.5 - 4.

Wow, now that's planning!:) I've gone as far as to start saving my weekly $20 from dog sitting my dad's friend's dog. I should have around $240 by opening day strictly for gas.

Good luck though with the trip and I hope you have a great time!:)

*** Edited 3/27/2007 8:01:43 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

What the heck are you driving down? A hummer with a hole in the gas tank?

So far, I have $965 set aside for the trip, with another $50ish in change & dollars, and I'll have another $100 to deposit in Mid-April. :)

I've got $150 set aside for gas money, but I don't think I'll need that much. It's more of an "in case" situation. And actually, $45 of it's on a gift card right now that I'm saving for the trip.

Also, I found that Sandcastle Suites is $100 cheaper, so that's more money off the amount I'll need to save.

Thats great that you're planning that trip for your family. I'm sure none of you will be dissapointed after it. We will most likely be there the Saturday before Memorial Day. I just have to say that if you're going all out for this trip and all that you must get yourself to ride MF and TTD. You know that if you don't, you will regret it when you get home...lol Hope you have a great trip and all goes well.

Go with Lighthouse Point. It may be 100 bucks more, but it'll be more than worth it in the end.

Plus, with the grill outside, you can save some money on food by taking some burgers and hot dogs for that after closing snack before bed.

Unless it's super windy outside. Then you have to bring your own propane powered grill and a cardboard box. :)

You can pick up a cheapie LP grill at nearly any discount store for under $50. BTW, Gilly, I hope your hubby DOES get the job. If you can live comfortably on what you have now, put the extra away for the next trip or a "Rainy Day"

Thanks, Hopman. We should hear the final word this week. It's been a long drawn out 6 month process. We're ready for it to be DONE! ;)

I've actually got myself half talked into TTD. I figure it's a 30 second ride, or there abouts, not counting the sitting there waiting for it to happen. If it's not busy in that line, I do want to try and hit it.

If I manage that one, then I figure I can do MF. My only thing is I don't really love just lap bars. I'm a shoulder harness kinda gal. i feel more secure. Anyway, I am REALLY hoping that my pre-season excitement will turn into actual, real, live braveness come time to launch. If not, well, I can scream my head off, and puke afterwards. I've never actually puked after a ride, but if anything will do it, the 400 footer will. ;)

^Its actually more like 17 seconds......:)

JuggaLotus said:
What the heck are you driving down? A hummer with a hole in the gas tank?

lol I meant for the whole season....not just for opening day.:)

*** Edited 3/27/2007 11:35:30 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

Ok, so see, over 17 seconds, I can live. I can't even get in a good scream in 17 seconds. Course, I'll have to remember that once I'm down there.

Go with LHP. It's the best and cheapest way to go (if you use the grill and bring an elelctic griddle).

MrScott

That's the beauty of Dragster. You'll get off wanting more.:)

You may want to consider season passes and make a second trip later in the season. Season Passes cost a little more than 2 all day tickets, but a great value. Halloweekends are a great time to visit.

We did actually consider seasonpasses for me and my husband, because we -want- to do a trip later in the summer with just the two of us.

Trouble is, if he's starting a new job, he won't have a ton of vacation tip saved up. We already know if we go back, it won't be with the kids, and we are only actually doing 1 regular full day ticket for 3 people of our 5 people party (2 come with the package).

If he has the job, and I can convince him to come back or at least go to Michigan's Adventure once or twice for a weekend day (no hotel- it's 40 minutes from where my parents live, less gas money, etc), then I might be able to convince him. ;)

HE GOT THE JOB!!!!

We will be relocating to Okemos or Lansing this summer, but he starts the job in 2 weeks. It came with a 2.5k/yr increase in pay, plus he'll get all of his vacation & personal time paid off for his current job (which comes out to almost $1,200), plus his job based retirement fund, which is another $8k.

Let's just say... Cedar Point is going to ROCK this year with like little or no budget to speak of. ;)