BooBuzz : With Three Generations of Fun!

It’s really hard to think of an enthusiast event to be something that the whole family can do. Usually it consists of power riding, hanging out with your friends, and of course FOOD! Well why not try it? I had found out my parents would be staying at Sandcastle Suites for the weekend and decided that my wife Cindy and I would invite them along to see what these events are all about. We also took our 20-month old son Jacob along for the ride.

There’s no other way to put it. The ‘E’ was definitely put in the ERT. There was probably about 50 or 60 people there for the morning ERT total. I started off by sitting out and letting Cindy ride with my parents. Unfortunately my mom’s back isn’t what it used to be and she has a hard time going up a set of stairs so she managed two rides on Maverick. This also limits what rides she can actually do. Anything rough like wooden coasters or even Magnum in some seats wouldn’t be a good thing for her as far as pain is concerned. Cindy and I got to ride together before she had to bow out and make it to Strongsville to work at noon. She looked great though, don’t you think? ;) My dad managed to grab three rides on Maverick, something that he was excited about. He’s only gone to Cedar Point and wait in long lines. So it was to his surprise that he was able to just ride Maverick as much as he wanted. I breifly saw Jeff, Diana, Jeff Young, Jamie (do you have a screen name?), Draegs (do you even post anymore?), Raptor Jo (my mom thought your tatoos were cool BTW), and pretty much a bunch of other people I haven’t really seen in a long time.

Halfway through the ERT it was time to head over to Skyhawk. This is my son’s favorite ride to watch. Especially at night! We traded off riding and even managed a few rides with OldCPer, and Neuski. By 11, it was time for the park to open to the public so we headed up to Millennium Force for my parents to grab a walk-on ride. My mom then traded off (why didn’t we use parent swap?) and I got to ride with my dad after a 20 minute wait.

We were getting a little hungry so we stopped at Panda Express and got the $7 bowl of rice and whatever entrée you want (it wasn’t Panda :( ). In this case I got the Orange Chicken. What a deal! I’ll have to come back here again. Why can’t the rest of the park have decently priced food that is served QUICK?

After eating we saw that the park was filling up so we decided to get Parent Swap and measure Jacob to see if he can finally ride Jr. Gemini and Woodstock Express. Unfortunately that will need to wait until next year as he’s just 1/4” shy. Bummer. Anyways we used parent swap on Raptor before the park got mobbed then headed over to Wicked Twister. At my advice mom didn’t ride and it was my chance to break in dad with the best seat on the ride. He couldn’t believe the view from the top of the back spike! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, second to last row, right hand side is THE seat on the ride. They should paint that seat gold or something! Seeing the park filling up more we did smaller rides that Jacob could do like the Cadillac Cars and the rides in Kiddie Land. We stopped at the arcade and played the old school mechanical pinball machines then went over to the boardwalk, it was time for food! I wish we could have seen the parade, but the park was getting full, we were tired, and decided to wait out on the boardwalk before eating.

The food was excellent and a great break from the crowds that seemed to keep coming in more and more. Jacob mowed down two hot dogs, a cookie, half a cup of ice cream and a cup full of water. He’s even starting to eat like an enthusiast! After some words from OnPointTony, it was time for the costume shop tour.

The tour was good. I couldn’t hear anything said by John Taylor, which was okay as I was too busy watching the monsters being created. Quite amazing what they go through each and every Friday and Saturday night to create the monsters you see on the midway. Halloweekends is our favorite time of the year to visit and Cedar Point is doing a great job of adding more each year.

After that it was pretty much time for me to go. My parents were going to Game Day Grill to watch the Indians game. I was ready to head home since we were at the park the previous night until midnight. We said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. It was really great for us to experience the park together, at an enthusiast event of all things! It was nice to see everyone there; hopefully Jacob didn’t get on your nerves too much ;)

~Rob Willi

Yikes! What happened to my paragraphs? *** Edited 10/21/2007 7:20:54 PM UTC by HeyIsntThatRob?***

Sounds like a ton of fun! How was Sandcastle Suites?

My parents stayed at the Sandcastle Suites, we camped at Bay Shore Campground. From what they had to say about the suites, it was really nice. They noticed that the rooms had been renovated since they had last been there. For the most part they just liked the convienence of being on Point.

~Rob Willi

Was nice to see you guys :)

HeyIsn't - - - > It's nice to read a trip report about an event from a family point of view. Sounds like all involved had a blast. My dad, (now 78) was usually a non rider except for flumes, Ferris Wheels, level train rides and sky rides.

Aside from your children who will grow into (though not as fast as you'd like), it's nice that you can still do some of this with your parents too!

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HeyIsntThatRob? said:
We also took our 20-month old son Jacob along for the ride.

Raptor Jo (my mom thought your tatoos were cool BTW)

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Jacob was the cutest little guy ever! My hubby and I were having a blast watching you play with him before and after lunch! :)

Thanks for the compliment about my tattoos-my latest one has really made quite a hit, especially since I added the space spiral and a train on Raptor! :)
Should have done that tat LONG ago! :)

Have a great off season and Im sure we'll see you guys again! :)

Jo

It was great to see/meet your entire clan.