Surprising My Daughter 8-17-11

Warning, this trip report is not in order: If it sounds like we ran back and forth across the park, we didn't. It's just the way that I thought of things as I was typing.

My wife and I decided on a whim to make a trip to Cedar Point part of a week of visiting my family in the Flint Area of Michigan. We weren't sure if the trip was going to work out so we decided not to mention it to my nine year old daughter. Then we decided that we would just make the trip a surprise.

We left my parent's house on Tuesday and made the drive to Port Clinton, OH. My daughter knew that we were going on a trip somewhere but we wouldn't tell her where. My wife and I laughed because my daughter was preoccupied with watching a movie in the back of the van and wasn't paying attention to any signs. She missed the welcome to Ohio sign and many billboards for Cedar Point.

Our first stop was the African Safari Drive Through in Port Clinton. We had a great time driving through and feeding the animals and cheering on our pathetic pig in the pig race. After our time at the safari I admitted that we were staying at a hotel, but didn't tell her what one.

We headed for the Maples Hotel in Sandusky (our favorite place to stay)and my daughter instantly recognized the hotel next to Cedar Point. We covered by telling her that we had chosen this hotel because of the price and the pool and that we were only staying one night. Luckily, my daughter didn't catch the front desk clerk saying two nights when we checked in.

My daughter and I went swimming and my wife went to Subway to get dinner. We swam for a couple of hours and had a great time. My daughter was kind of disappointed that we couldn't go to Cedar Point, but she didn't complain and was a very nice about it. (We are so mean)

On Wednesday, we woke up and my wife suggested that my daughter wear her swim suit (for the water rides). That's when she knew something was up and we finally told her that we had tickets to Cedar Point.

We parked at the Soak City lot and entered the park at 10:00 AM. Our first ride was Witches Wheel. Or at least it was mine. I tried to get my daughter to ride, but she wouldn't go on it without seeing what it did so she opted to watch me ride it. I was the first rider of the day on the ride and the only rider on the cycle. It felt very funny to know that I was the only person. I also felt a little bad that I made the ride attendant close all those doors just for me. Fun ride as always. Then my daughter and I rode the Monster which was also fun (my wife doesn't do spinning rides).

Then off to my daughter's favorite roller coaster from last year, the Gemini! The ride wasn't racing yet, but it was fun as ever and we were well on our way to a terrific trip. We then rode Woodstock Express, the Tilt a Whirl and the Paddle Wheel boat. They really need to keep this ride even with the dinosaurs.

Shoot the Rapids and Thunder Canyon were both big hits with my daughter. I liked both too but it was disappointing to see how slowly Shoot the Rapids loads. We were in our boat, locked in and waiting for what seemed like several minutes before we got to start our ride. Other than that the ride was fun and the laughter from my daughter showed me what a nice addition to the park it was. I'm convinced that she would have liked White Water Landing better, but oh well.

My daughter wouldn't ride Snake River Falls but she wanted to see me ride it and I obliged. I think it is only the second time that I've ridden it and I have to admit that it is pretty darn fun. Especially when you are already soaked from Thunder Canyon and Shoot the Rapids anyway.

We rode Disaster Transport and all had a great time. It seems like the light show inside is different every time I go on it. I rode Windseeker and thought it was a very nice scenic ride. I will probably ride each time I visit. My daughter and wife opted out. The former because of 301' and the latter because of spinning. We rode the Cedar Downs and my daughter barely beat me. I'll get her next time. The Scrambler and Matterhorn were next. My wife even opted to ride Matterhorn. She was a little white afterward but recovered fairly quickly.

We rode the Ferris Wheel and the Skyride. Both were nice relaxing family rides as always. I love the fact that rides like that give you a chance to sit across from each other and talk while enjoying the ride.

We rode Wild Cat. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed it. We rode the train both ways and saved our feet a little when going back to Maverick. I rode Mean Streak and enjoyed my brutal but fun ride as always (I really wonder how the Texas Giant Treatment would change that ride if ever done.) We lined up for Skyhawk and my wife rode, but I ended up standing in the exit with my daughter because she was too scared to ride. We rode the Mine Ride and all had a good timing laughing and the not too intense ride.

My daughter and I rode the Antique Cars and I think that they were the biggest disappointment of the trip. Cars were breaking down left and right and the line moved really slow because of it. I honestly think that there were more cars sitting in the infield waiting for repair than there were on the ride. When we did ride we had to stop because of another broken down car in front of us.

At 8:30 PM we lined up for Maverick. The line said and hour and a half, but it was more like 45 minutes. I was one car before my wife and daughter and as I flew around the course I thought to myself that my daughter was probably terrified. It turns out that she loved it and it is now tied with Gemini for favorite ride and is just ahead of Shoot the Rapids for second favorite ride. I bought the picture of my wife and daughter because it was exciting that she had conquered her first "big" coaster.

Our last ride of the day was Magnum. I asked my daughter how she enjoyed the ride and she said, "I'm okay with it and I would go on it again if you and mommy needed me to. It was kind of fun, but I'm not a big fan." She also said that she should call it the bunny hop. She'll definitely ride it more times because my wife and I both adore both it and Magnum.

We left tired, having missed many things, but thoroughly enjoying everything that we did.

I still love Cedar Point, however I do have a concern. First of all, why are so many roller coasters now operating with only two trains. Mantis, Corkscrew, Mine Ride, Gemini (two per side) and Iron Dragon are all now just using two. Iron Dragon is my biggest concern. This is the first time that I have been to the park and opted not to ride it because of the line. My wife, daughter and I all enjoy Iron Dragon so it was a shame. I'm concerned about this pattern of spreading two train operation. I hope that it doesn't continue to spread to more and more rides since capacity has always been one of Cedar Point's biggest assets.

Very nice to hear that you had a fun trip.

They have only been running two trains on those rides all season so far. Some of the rides you mentioned above do not need to run all trains. Gemini is one of them. I Gemini doesn't really have a long line to begin with. So that might be a reason that they only need to use two trains.

I do think that all trains need to be used on Iron dragon and Mantis.

Mantis and Corkscrew can actually run more efficiently with 2 trains rather than 3. Since train 3 used to stack on both rides, it doesn't make any sense to keep it running.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride can't really run 3 trains because the station parking and restraints take to long. If the restraints were upgraded to individual lap bars, and the braking system got an overhaul, 3 trains would probably be easy to run.

They were running three trains not that many years ago. I believe there were at least three, maybe more seasons, between the installation of seat belts and switching down to two-train operation. (Somebody correct me if necessary.)

I don't think this is a stacking issue. It seems to me the park demonstrated it was capable of running three trains and not stacking, even in the age of seat belts, as long as they kept the station fully staffed. I suspect management believes that two-train operation is now adequate for the ride, whatever the crowd size.

You are right that some of the rides I mentioned didn't have long lines and did not need all trains running when I was there. However, Mantis' line has taken forever ever since they made the change to two trains. Also, Iron Dragon is a long enough ride that it should definitely be running with all three trains. My point was that there seems to be a pattern of running rides at lower capacity and I hope that it doesn't continue to spread. I also really hope that they will at least go back to three train operation on Iron Dragon. It may not be a thrilling ride, but it is fun and it is a great family ride with it's height requirement only being 46".

Iron Dragon definitively needs 3 train operation. But Mantis always stacked when running 3 trains; the ride still stacks with 2 trains. Maybe you rode Mantis before there were seat-belts?