Cedar Point, here I come...

[Bud Parsley]

Heading to Cedar Point (and possibly Geagua Lake) this week. At Cedar Point I'll be doing the special ACE event where you can ride Millenium Force and Dragster for 2 hours of ERT in the morning, and then Magnum, Raptor, and a few others for 4 hours of ERT at night. It all happens Friday!!!

I'm going to be so exhausted on the plane trip home Saturday but who cares...it will be so worth it!!! My first time to Cedar Point and I'm totally excited!!!

[65skylark]

Awsome. I really need to get to CP but there are so many other parks I want to do also.

If only I had more time and money.

[skinnyguy]

65skylark said:

If only I had more time and money.

....don't we all wish for this....

I'm excited to hear your report as well...hope you had a good trip!

[Bud Parsley]

Alright, so time for my Ohio TR. This is going to be a long one, so please bear with me:

My wife and I hopped a plane on Wednesday at 6 a.m. PST to Cleveland. Got there at about 3 p.m. local time and stayed the first night in downtown. Went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is worth a visit for anyone interested in rock music. Ate at a farily good steakhouse. Watched an incredible midwest thunderstorm roll right through Cleveland that night. Amazing.

Thursday we got up and headed to Geauga Lake (formerly Six Flags Worlds of Adventure). Clouds loomed but the park was open. We hit X-Flight (Vekoma flyer) first and I really enjoyed this ride. Wished it did a bit more, but a good ride.

Next up was Steel Venom, and Intamin Impulse. Very fun. Back seat was cool but front seat was flat out SCARY as you propeled your way toward the end of the twisted spike.

Other notables at this park were Villain, which was a huge Wooden Track, Steel Framed coaster with a great long ride to it, Dominator which was a B&M floorless that mirrors Scream at SFMM - not as good as Medusa, but still fun and a cool view on the lake, Raging Wolf Bobs which was an old woodie that I found to be a gentle, enjoyable ride, and Thunderhawk, a Vekoma SLC which I LOVED (surprised me because Konga at SFMW is such a painful attraction and this is the exact same ride).

There were a few other coasters but none really worth writing home about. The park was very empty. Thunderstorms shut the rides down for 30 minutes but after that it was all good. Every ride except the flyer was basically a walk on. They also have a really cool water park with a Proslide Tornado that I could watch all day. If I had my swimsuit I would have given it a try. Those things look sweet.

Overall Geauga Lake was a "city" park with that typical urban feel to it: rough crowds, operators that didn't care much, mediocre food, and the lingering Six Flags feel. Maybe now that Cedar Fair owns the place again it will take a turn for the better.

Now, on to the REAL reason I went to Ohio...

After Geauga Lake we drove to Sandusky (about 1 hour) and checked into our hotel. We had to figure out exactly where Cedar Point was so we drove out to the park. Let me tell you, words can't describe this place.

Ever see National Lampoon's Vacation where they pull into Wally World and the backdrop is just this ridiculous pile of coasters that looks unreal? That is what Cedar Point looks like. A peninsula jutting out into Lake Erie that is covered with trees, surrounded by beach, and poking out of the trees in every possible inch are giant coasters EVERYWHERE. It was hard to believe the place was real.

We went to sleep and woke up at 5 a.m. (yes, that would be 2 a.m. PST) and went to the park. There were about 1500 for the Coaster Mania event. As we entered the park we walked through and saw that Raptor (B&M inverted) was operating, as was Dragster. These were the two ERT rides in the morning.

Dragster was first. Just watching the ride would have been enough to satisfy my coaster appetite. But four rides later, I found myself thinking this was my new #1 coaster - even beating out Xcelerator. Yes Xcel is a better overall ride, but Dragster wins on pure adrenalyne and intensity. You probably wouldn't want to ride a coaster much faster than this. It was so amazing, and the simple lap bar was so nice. Many we spoke with who have also ridden Kingda Ka said Dragster wins just for the lack of OTSR's.

Next we went to Raptor and got in a few rides. Best B&M inverted I've ever been on. Long, smooth, and very fun. Great elements and a wild ride. Loved it.

As the park begain to open at 10, we started hitting all the other coasters. Cedar Point has the best I've ever seen. They only have 3 of their 16 with OTSR's which makes for some serious re-rideability vs. SFMM. The only ride that Cedar Point has that is painful is Mantis (B&M standup) and make no mistake, it is painful, but that is the only flaw at this park.

We rode their mine train, which I'll give as a tie between SFMM's gold rusher. We rode Gemini - a dual track steel coaster built on a wooden frame which was very fun. Magnum speaks for itself. Great ride with amazing views. Iron Dragon (arrow suspended) was fun but is no Ninja. Wildcat was great - those are always fun. Blue Streak is a good old woodie. Mean Streak is a long, fun newer woodie. Wicked Twister (intamin impulse) was fun and had a killer view, but I prefered Steel Venom at Geauga Lake.

I have to take a bit of time to speak about Disaster Transport. This was a very cool ride. Indoor bobsled coaster themed somewhat like Space Mountain. Now, this park isn't Disney, so I wasn't expecting much, but the ride was a lot of fun! Too short, but very cool...bobsled coasters are great!

On to the luncheon which was provided by the park. Good food and great to hear from the park management. New coaster going in which they wouldn't talk much about. All we know is that it's Intamin. Now, the entire day (and the preceding weeks) Millennium Force was closed. But we could see that they had been working hard on it all day. The GM of Cedar Point told our group that they flew someone in from Intamin that day to try to get it up for evening ERT. And lo and behold, at about 5 p.m., MF was running. That right there shows you how much this park cares.

We headed straight for the front seat. We boarded the beautiful trains and eyeballed the way-too-steep lift hill. And then, we were on our way up the very fast climb to the top. About 4 minutes later, I realized I had found my new #1 coaster of all time (of the 100+ I've now ridden). MF is the perfect balance of speed, length, airtime, comfort, scenery, and that first drop? INCREDIBLE. Needless to say that the evening ERT was filled with re-rides on MF alone, though other coasters also were running.

We left the park at about 11:30 p.m. - almost 18 hours after first arriving. We were exhausted, worn out, tired, beat, whatever you want to call it. But never happier.

CP is now (aside from Disneyland, which has far too much nostalgia to ever be replaced) my favorite park of all time. The coaster selection is one thing, but there are so many other factors. Cleanliness, great food, the friendliest non-Disney staff I've ever seen, comfort of the rides, and the care they showed to our group...all of these things made for one amazing experience.

Saturday we spent the day returning home. I can't remember ever being much more tired than I was that day, but at the same time I'll never forget how amazing this park is. I was very, VERY impressed, and the park is now home of my top 2 coasters of all time (MF and Dragster, respectively) For those who have never been, I have just one piece of advise: find some way to get there because it will be worth every single penny you spend.

[65skylark]

Excellent TR! Sounds like a blast! I can't wait to get out there myself.

[skinnyguy]

^....I can only repeat what Skylark said here....can't wait to get there myself sometime....when I have enough money to go there...which won't be for a very long time....