My husband and I went to Cedar Point with two high school aged friends of ours this past weekend. One of them had never been before, and had never really been on a coaster before either.
We left Flint Friday afternoon, and arrived at the Holiday Inn Express right at 250 and 2 in Sandusky. I really like this hotel, they have a free trolley to the park (which saved us $20 for parking) and free breakfast which is actually quite extensive (warm cinnamon rolls, bagel, yogurt, fruit, hardbolied eggs, cereal, etc.). ALSO, you get the use of the Holidome accross the parking lot at the more expensive Holiday Inn (yeah, free putt-putt and indoor pool).
So Friday night we basically relaxed at the hotel, putt-putted, swam, and went to Chet and Matt's for dinner (very good pizza, highly recommend it).
The trolley dropped us off at the front gate at 11:30ish on Saturday, and we tooled around some of the shops in the front until they let us in the rest of the park. I thought they were discounting admission for Michigan residents $10 still, but apparently not anymore (oh well). After the chains were removed, we went over to MaXair, and were waiting for the ride to finish it's cycle when some girl puked all over half the ride (the ride ops were impressed with the puke coverage, but irritated that they had to get the hose out). Rode that, pretty fun. It seemed ALOT longer than the last time I rode it.
Next hit up Disaster Transport, so we could break in our non-coaster rider in gently. He HATED it. Great. Walked toward the back of the park and saw Millennium didn't have much of a line, so waited about 10-15 minutes for that, and our friend waited in line with us and then walked down the exit ramp as we got on. Great ride, my favorite in the park.
Since our friend didn't like DT, we figured we would try something smaller, and waited for Woodstock Express. This was the longest wait of the day, probably about 15-20 minutes. Our friend did not like it.
Next went around to Skyhawk and Mine Ride, our friend did not want to ride. Okay, so we do Mine Ride without him. Went into UR Dade, and that was a blast. The tunnel park is awesome.
Walked towards the front of the park, our friend would not ride Gemini or Magnum. Or Iron Dragon. SIGH. So the three of us did some rides and had some fun. Felt bad for our non-rider friend. I figured once we got him on the smaller rides, we could gradually work him up to the bigger ones...but no go. He hated the small rides. :(
I guess maybe he thought we were getting irriated with him, because when we got on Raptor, he actually rode it with us (I was very impressed)...and he didn't like it.
The rest of the day we walked through the fright zones and enjoyed the Halloweekend sights and sounds. The monsters dancing in front of the arcade were cool. I really enjoyed the fright zone on frontier trail, that was the best, probably followed by CarnEvil. We did not see the monster with the trash can, which was disappoining.
Went back to the hotel via our handy trolley, went to bed at 12:00.
Next morning, our friend says that he definately wants to ride more rides today. Ok, fine (I was skeptical). So, we walked around the park, and notice that Millennium has no line, total walk on. So, our friend gets on. I figured it was going to hate it, but whatever. My husband told him to keep his eyes open the whole time (I guess on EVERY other ride he was clsing his eyes??). Well, we go up the hill, and our friend is kind of curled up into this fetal position over the lap bar (oh great, he is going to hate it). We crest the hill and go through the ride. Our friend is just kind of sitting there with his eyes wide during the whole ride. The ride ends, he slowly gets our out of his seat, and starts dancing all over the exit platform. He loved it. We bought him the picture of his HUGE accomplishment, and ended up taking him on pretty much all of the rides (which was good, because there were no lines for any of them on Sunday, for the most part).
He rode Mine Ride, Raptor (twice), Millenium Force (twice), Magnum (twice), Iron Dragon (twice, he LOVED this ride), Skyhawk (the falling out of your seat feeling at the top of the swing was a little much for him), Gemini, Mine Ride, and Wildcat. He saved Dragster for next year.
I guess the problem the whole time was having his eyes closed. Once he rode the rides with his eyes open, he had a blast (thank goodness, I didn't want him to have spent $65 for two rides he hated). We will be taking him back next year for Maverick, which he was excited about when we walked by.
Other things....
They had some special grilling station outside of Good Time Theatre that was selling 1/4lb hotdogs, chips, and a 12oz Pepsi for $5.00, pretty good deal. Best hotdogs in the park too. Yummy.
When we rode Gemini, none of the ride-ops came by to check our restraints, that was odd to me.
I did not see the "Thing" hand that comes out of the little box and sells you popcorn balls. He was there a few years ago at a satnd on the main midway, but I did not go to Halloweekends last year, so not sure if he was a one time thing or what.
Saw the Eternal Jamnation show, that was AWESOME. My husband and our two friends are all big music guys, so they really enjoyed the show. The Evanescence part was great. Get there at least 1/2 hour early to get a good seat. The park wasn't very crowded at all (especially for Halloweekends), and the place was filled 20 minutes before the show started.
Maverick is looking great, I am really excited about next May.
The trolley service from the hotel was great, we should have used the service before (we stay at HI-Express several times a year). The drivers were always really nice and talked to us about what rides rode and whatnot, and we were always happy to tip them a few bucks for their service.
Overall, one of the best times I have ever had at CP. Great Halloweekend atmosphere, low crowds, great weather (a slight chill, overcast, and a tiny bit of rain to keep the crowds away), and going with someone who had never been before. Priceless. :) *** Edited 9/25/2006 3:35:26 PM UTC by laura2000mi***
Sounds like the weekend got better as you went. Way to go converting your friend. :)
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Your friend sounds a little bit like me. I needed friends to help me and I also had the closed eyes problem. I'll be thanking my friend Joe forever for making me ride. I'm sure you're friend will feel the same.
Yeah, I am really glad he warmed up on the second day. There is a fine line between encouraging someone to ride, and pressuring them to ride. Hopefully I stayed on the encouraging end of the spectrum.
Yes, we went through Fear Faire. It was pretty cool in certain spots, but it seemed like there were not enough decoations to fill it out nicely. It was a pretty big area, so maybe if it was smaller it would have been enough props. They had some little Rennaisance style stands here and there, but there didn't seem to be any lights on them to light them up, so they weren't really that noticable.
You walk through some of the picnic pavillions that are kind of cordoned off with camoflage leaf type netting. There is fog, but when I went through it was windy so most of it was blowing away.
If they made it a little shorter, or had a few more props, it would have been really good. CarnEvil was better, in my opinion. Still worth it though.
You didnt take him on wicked twister?
Yea sounds like an awesome day!! I didnt even think it was possible to get a walk on for MF:) Good job on converting your friend btw!
*** Edited 9/27/2006 9:00:36 PM UTC by coasterguy77***
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