September 2-3, first ever Cedar Point visit!

Hi all,

I've been dreaming of going to Cedar Point ever since the 90's, when I would watch shows on the Travel Channel about top 10 amusement parks/rides, and CP would be all over them. I've made numerous plans, including one as part of a coast-to-coast US-6 road trip, but was never able to get anything to materialize. This summer, I was determined once and for all to get there, especially since one of my friends lives in the area and has a Platinum Pass. Once I saw that Weird Al would be performing in Cleveland on the 3rd, and that my company's big summer project would be finishing up that week, I knew when and where I was going to take my vacation! I took Amtrak out on Wednesday night, got picked up by Kyland early Thursday morning in Cleveland, and we headed west on I-90 (along with Kyland's friend Rich, who hadn't been to the park since Disaster was still an outdoor ride), arriving around 11:30AM. We took the road that loops around the park, giving me a preview tour, and parked near Challenge Park.

#1 11:27 Corkscrew - I insisted on making Corkscrew my first ride there. I grew up near Rocky Point Amusement Park in Rhode Island, which had a replica of this coaster (also called the Corkscrew), so the Corkscrew was the ride I grew up on, and the one that first made me a coaster fan, so I wanted to start with the nostalgia factor. We headed right for the front row, with no wait at all. Sure enough, aside from the different paint scheme, it was exactly like the Rocky Point version. I was surprised how fast and tall it actually was (as Kyland would say over and over, I haven't seen NOTHING yet.), and it was a great way to start off the tour.

#2 11:40 Woodstock Express - my plan for the morning was to hit all of the pre-Magnum coasters first, so that their experiences wouldn't be ruined by being compared to the big ones. We were gonna go around the park counter-clockwise, stopping at each of the old ones as we pass them. Woodstock is a newer ride, but it's also a "kiddie-coaster" so I was counting it among the old school ones. For being a kid's ride, it was surprisingly decent (although keep in mind I only had Corkscrew to compare it to so far). I got front row (we each took our own row), which has a visual impairment, since the front view is blocked by the smokestack. The ride gets some decent speed, and has some nice angled curves. I'd recommend it to any adult early in the day if there's no line.

#2x 11:48 Jr Gemini - This is another kiddie ride, except it has a restriction that adults can only ride it with their children. We tried to ride anyway - since CP considers it one of their 17, I wanted to do all 17. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us ride, so we had to move on....unlike Woodstock, it doesn't look like we missed much

#3 11:51 Gemini - Instead we went across to Big Gemini. We got on front row of the blue train (the red train wouldn't run at all during my 2 day visit, unfortunately) with no wait at all. This ride had a humorous operator who described it as taking us "4000 feet into the air, with a drop 7000 feet at a 200° angle, across 17 miles of track. So hold on!" A couple things I realized about Gemini - for being a wooden coaster, it's a VERY smooth ride. None of that bumpiness or getting punched in the stomach by the lapbar which most wooden coasters have. It also has some great drops and great speeds, and a VERY nice track layout which doesn't waste ANY time once you get to the top of the first hill. Even without the dueling aspect, it holds its own as one of the best coasters in the park. My biggest disappointment was that I didn't get to ride the red side, and race.

#4 12:04 Mine Creek - This one isn't classified as a kiddie-ride, but it SHOULD be. It was by far the most dull coaster in the entire park. It felt like we spent the entire ride going UPHILL - it even has a SECOND chain lift. Part of the problem might have been that I wanted to go for back row, but the back half of the train was closed off, so I had to jump in the middle. The one redeeming factor is the scenery, and I was happy to see that the kids really seemed to like it, but I declared I would never ride this one again.

#5 12:18 Sky Hawk - after my first disappointing ride, I wanted to redeem myself with something GOOD. I was recommended the nearby Sky Hawk, the first non-coaster of the day. This ride was incredible. I can see why lots of people are scared of it, but I had a great time. Kyland & Rich apparently had some problems getting locked in, and were genuinely scared that their lapbar was going to drop them to the concrete. It was too late before I realized that you can take your shoes off for this ride.

#6 12:33 Wildcat - this was the longest downtime of the day, since it was a pretty long walk to get from Mine Creek to Wildcat in order to keep the old school streak going. Rocky Point had a ride similar to this, but I was never much of a fan of it. This was also the first ride where there was any type of line (due to only 4 people being able to load at a time), but we were on in about 10 minutes. The ride itself is pretty good, with some nice drops, but it never got fast enough to really be thrilling. I found it amusing how one of the attendants is at the finish line just to warn you about the whiplash stop.

After this ride, we realized that we've covered 5 coasters in under an hour! Kyland told me how this is the emptiest he's EVER seen the park, outside of October, and we would be able to do whatever we wanted today. I decided I still wanted to finish off the old school coasters, which we'd have done in another hour, and then would have all afternoon and evening to do the new ones.

#7 12:45 Iron Dragon - I was really curious to see what my reaction would be on this one, since when I was in CA in 2002 I rode Ninja, and it ended up being my favorite ride at Magic Mountain and I rode it over and over. I got front row and while it was a nice ride, it didn't hold up to Ninja. The first half was too slow, and it finally picked up a bit on the second half. However, without Iron Dragon (the first hanging coaster), Ninja wouldn't have been possible.

#8 1:03 Disaster Transport - CP's version of Space Mountain, another coaster I grew up riding. I couldn't stop laughing at how extremely ghetto the whole building was - everything was either not working, or looked run down. There was no line AT ALL, but as soon as we got to the loading area, we were told that the ride was down while they were trying to find somebody's lost glasses. We waited about 5 minutes and they got it going. While the presentation is nowhere close to Space Mountain, it's a much wilder ride, much better than I expected. Also, the air conditioning is just what we needed.

#9 1:20 Max Air - Kyland lied to us and told us it was much tamer than Sky Hawk. Once we were strapped into our seats, he told me that Max Air was actually the scariest ride in the entire park and goes even faster and higher. It was true - I was never SCARED (I have enough faith to know that rides aren't built to kill people) but the G Forces totally messed up my face, and it would take a while for the numbing feeling on my whole right side to go away. I was told that lots of people go on Max Air and then Wicked Twister, and then have to stop for the day.

#10 1:33 Blue Streak - This ride doesn't look like much, and it literally just goes in a circle with nothing but right turns, but considering that it is the oldest ride in the park, I was giving it a chance. And it didn't disappoint - this was the first ride to have some really great air time - I leaned forward and was practically standing the whole time.

#11 1:40 Raptor - this ride broke our streak, but we did it because we wouldn't be at this part of the park again that day, and was assured that Raptor wasn't worth backtracking for later. He was right - we rode in the back row, which Kyland had never done before, but I read that back row beats front row on this one. Compared to Great Adventure's Batman, and Island of Adventure's Dueling Dragons, this ride was dull, and more bumpy than a right like this should be. I was told that back IS better, but still nothing special.

#12 2:01 Power Tower - Walked right onto this one. I tried the penny in palm trick, but the wind grabbed it on the way up. Dr Doom at Islands of Adventure beats this one.

#12 2:13 Top Thrill Dragster - We saw on the Power Tower that there was almost NO line for Dragster, so we went straight on. It took about 10 minutes from the entrance to our seats, the shortest wait Kyland's ever seen. Man, this ride was incredible. There's nothing like that 0 to 120 mph take off. I was too busy trying to make a crazy face for the photo that I was actually sort of distracted and didn't really get the right ride experience, but I knew I'd be back.

#13 2:44 Magnum XL200 - This is a great coaster. I rode in the second row. I was prepared for the 4 bunny hops in a row so they didn't mangle me too bad. This ride has even better airtime than the Blue Streak. Takes forever to get up that first hill though....Kyland truthfully joked that the first drop and curve when you leave the station is better than the entire Mine Creek.

#14 3:01 Millennium Force - The first ride of the day that had a real line. We waited for the front row, so it took about a half hour from entrance to our seats. There is NOTHING, *NOTHING* like that first 300 ft drop. An amazing coaster, and I can see why it gets consistently voted best rollercoaster in the world.

#15 3:37 Shoot the Rapids - By this point, I was really sweaty and starting to get sunburned, so I demanded that we hit the water rides, even though I was being told that Rapids sucks. He was wrong - they rebalanced the ride so that the middle row is kept empty, so now EVERYBODY on the boat gets soaked. You will not get off this ride without feeling like you just jumped in a pool. The chlorine was burning the skin on my legs. But at least I felt much better cooled down. At exactly 6 minutes long, it's also the longest ride in the park.

We wanted to do Thunder Canyon next (as long as we're wet, might as well check out the other water rides) but it was closed.

#16 3:52 Sky Hawk (repeat) - did it mainly to help dry off, and because I wanted to do it with my shoes off. After we got off, we were dry enough that we decided not to do Snake River Falls.

#17 4:06 Maverick - This ride had a bit of a line too, but we got into our front row seats (you HAVE to do front row on this one, I've been told) in about 20 minutes. This is Kyland's favorite ride, and now it's my favorite too! Out of all the the rides, this one has the best feel of flying through air. The mid-ride tunnel launch TOTALLY caught me by surprise. I thought we were back at the station, and I asked Kyland "that's it?" and he yelled GET YOUR HEAD BACK and I did just in time for the second launch. The ride broke down right when we were past the break pad. Rich was on the coaster before us, and was able to get off before it broke down. We were stuck up there for about a half hour. There was a kid behind us who kept yelling WHOOO over and over and over and over and if we weren't strapped in (although I did Houdini one arm out) all of the riders were ready to punch that kid in the face.

#18 4:58 Maverick (repeat) - When we got out of seats on the first ride, it was still marked as closed, so there was almost NO line. We had to run through the turnstile again, but made it straight to the last staircase. We were NEXT to board the front row (this time, Rich & I were going first, just incase the same thing happened again we could go ride the Mean Streak while Kyland was stuck), and sure enough, it broke down RIGHT before it was time to board, so we had another 20 minute wait. Turns out it was the automatic opening gates which were malfunctioning and triggering the emergency mode. We finally got our second ride in, which was much better, because this time I knew to hold onto the shoulder bars, and to lean into every curve.

#19 5:45 Mean Streak - Out of all the rides here, this one seems to have the biggest negative reputation. I've been told over and over to NEVER ride this one, and that most people get off the ride not wanting to ride anything else. That's why I left this and Mantis (which has a similar reputation) for last. Kyland refused to ride at all, but Rich & I were up to the challenge. There was absolutely NO WAIT at all, even for the front row, which we got. The seats for this are especially narrow, and I barely fit in. The advice I read on this one is get front row, lean forward the entire time, and hold on tight whenever you see a brakepad coming. I followed all of the advice, and it was actually a VERY GOOD ride. The Coney Island Cyclone hurts a lot more than this one does. I got off ready to ride for a second time, and Rich & I tried to drag Kyland back on with us, but he wouldn't budge. Wuss.

#19 6:02 CP Railroad - At 5mph, the slowest ride at the park. We boarded mainly because it was right there, and we had to get over to Mantis, the only coaster left. They actually have a bunch of decorations (mostly cowboy skeletons) along the ride, which makes it worth a ride.

#20 6:10 Mantis - Another one Kyland refused to ever ride again. Rich & I were up for it. First of all, Mantis has a GREAT track layout, but it gets ruined with the stupid stand-up cars. The standing aspect adds NOTHING to the ride, and makes it uncomfortable to ride. This is another coaster I'll never ride again, until it gets regular sit down cars.

#21 6:18 Millennium Force - We couldn't be back here and NOT ride it again. We got second row this time (didn't want to wait another 10-15 min for front row), which was just as good as front row. Maverick has a lot more going on, but MF gets a close second as my favorite.

#21 6:41 Dodge-Em - The bumper cars, with a very attractive attendant (I think her name was Alicia --- I noticed that just about all of the attendants working at CP were foreign with foreign accents). Bumper cars are a classic for me, so I had to get some in. Rather than having a forward and reverse pedals, you reversed with the steering wheel, so it took a minute to get used to it.

#22 6:57 Disaster Transport (repeat) - Was ready for some more AC, before stopping by Wicked. This time, the ride was PITCH BLACK, and most of the effects in the ride were off. This ride deserves more credit than it gets.

#23 7:05 Wicked Twister - We purposely put this one off until the sun started to go down, because I've been told that having the sun in your eyes ruins the ride. We walked right onto the middle, and I took my shoes off. This one is a lot better than what I expected, although I wouldn't really call it a roller-coaster....

We wanted to do another Dragster ride, but it was broken down. By this point, we were getting pretty tired. We conquered all 16 coasters, and we wanted to give Gemini Jr one more attempt, but they still had the same attendants, so we finished the day with one more Gemini Sr ride. This one definitely holds its own against the newer coasters.

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I wasn't even sure if we NEEDED to return for a second day, but since I already bought the 2 for $64 ticket, I didn't really have a choice. For Friday 9/3, Kyland & I returned with his friend Tom, who is also a Platinum Pass holder. We got back at 9AM, and Tom went in early while Kyland & I played the Golf course. We were the only ones on the course, so I was hoping the park would be as empty as yesterday. Around the 4th hole, it started to rain. It started off hard, but slowed down 5 minutes later, and was sprinkling the rest of the course. I saw the Dragster do a rollback during a test launch.

After we finished the golf course, we went over to MF to meet Tom. By the time we got over there, the rain picked up again, and it rained hard until about 11:30. We just held our line spots, and when they finally got the line going again, we were into the front row 10 minutes later. This time, front row HURT, with all of the extreme wind hitting us. By the time we were off the ride, the sun was out and the park was operating as usual.

I didn't keep as detailed a record as yesterday, but we focused mainly on reriding the coasters I liked yesterday, and getting in a couple rides on the newer ones. We did corkscrew again (this time, it was HORRIBLE - tiny and slow), and then I tried Gemini in the back row, which was a huge let down - boring and slow, a completely different ride). We met this woman in line at Magnum who said she comes here for 11 days every year, has ridden Magnum at least 1000 times, and has gotten about 30 rollbacks on Dragster. We knew she was full of crap when she said she rode Dragster 14 times yesterday, when we knew it was broke down most of that day. By 1PM, the park was filling up, and every ride was getting lines. It was business as usual that day (still wasn't running dueling Geminis though). We didn't do Disaster after we saw that the line for that one reached downstairs, but then did an incredible walk-on-and-ride on Wicked. I wanted to try Iron Dragon one more time, but it had a 45 minute wait. We did a 30 and a 20 minute wait for Dragster, which was much more enjoyable this day. I also tried Millennium from the back row, which makes it a TOTALLY different ride - still very enjoyable, but the physics are completely different. The only new ride I did on day 2 was the Witch's Wheel, which rides like a very watered-down (but fortunately pain-free) Max Air. We were starting to run out of time, and we HAD to get a Maverick ride in, so we sucked up the 45 minute wait for it. I then took Tom on Mean Streak (he also avoids that one like the plague), and he followed my advice and agreed with me that it was a decent ride. We wanted to try doing Mean Streak from the BACK row at the end of the day, but after we got the piss kicked out of us when we tried Blue Streak from the back, we knew it would be 100x worse, so we backed down. We wanted to finish the day with a Magnum ride, but even that one had pretty bad lines, so we called it a day.

By far the best amusement park I've ever been to. I will return!!

Nice report, glad to hear you enjoyed the park. That lady could have been telling the truth. If you were to marathon Dragster with a short wait day, like the one you experienced, then it's entirely possible to get over 20 rides in 3 hours. So could very well have had 14 times when you talked to her. I've done 25 in under 4 hours and 42 in one day.

Someday, on a really slow day, I'd like to do an alphabetical marathon. Try and hit every (adult-rideable) ride in the park in A-Z order. Could it possibly be done? I haven't even looked at the map to see -- such a ridiculous idea would probably involve ten miles of hiking. But it's fun to think about nevertheless....