#brewsbarbequesandrougarous Cedar Point Part 2

We got up early and after some motel issues we were off to the park. After stopping for some breakfast at McDonalds, we headed down the causeway. After parking back by Gemini we headed into the park which wasn’t actually open yet except to platinum passholders and hotel guests. Walking down a mostly empty Gemini Midway in the early beautiful morning was nice. And we had a great day ahead of us with Fast Lane. We headed over to Maverick to see about getting in line once the park opened, but because I had a Platinum Pass, they let us both get in line for the ride.

…Or Maverick-The wait was maybe 15 minutes. I’d never had a front seat ride on Maverick that I could remember, so we got in line for the front. First the obvious, the new restrains are really comfy. My love for Maverick never waivers. That first drop really is great and the airtime is amazing. I felt the ride was running a bit slow this trip, but that’s okay. I miss the lights in the tunnel launch. But it’s still such a well rounded ride and I wish there were more rides like this in the states. It seems like if parks aren’t interested in Intamin that Mack can make something just as good…

Next we were going to keep the magic going by heading to Millennium Force, but it was stuck on the lift for quite a while. We have Fast Lane, so we knew we could come back. Instead, we headed up to the front of the park so that Doug could see the rest of the massive place by way of the Sky Ride. There were tons of school bands in the park, which was nice too.

We took pictures and then headed out the front gate for more pictures. There is such a shift in people flow now that the front gate has been redone, and it is so much better, and way more photogenic. Next we headed back in and used Fast Lane for Gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper-Most people are very ‘meh’ on Gatekeeper, but I like it. There’s amazing hangtime on the first drop/inversion, and airtime on that hill heading to the front gate. And the 0g roll is really great. The other roll is great as well. I like Gatekeeper. I think Wild Eagle is better, and X Flight was really good too. I’d probably rank Gatekeeper 3 of the wing riders. It’s a fun ride.

I still really like the plaza around Gatekeeper. It’s really well done and I love the sign and how you face out into the lake. Since we were already close by, we decided to take a chance on Wicked Twister. I’d never had a problem with the ride before, but when I went to Coastermania a couple years ago, the ride op was rude and didn’t even let me try and fit before he threw me and another person off for not fitting. This time, though, I had no issues.

Wicked Twister-These rides still kind of scare me. I love them, but they scare me. I always feel like we’re going to go off the tracks going forward, and then you never know when you’re going to stop going backwards. But it’s all great fun. I wish more of these had been built.

We headed over to MaxAir next. Again, score one for Fastlane. Didn’t take but one cycle to get on, and I really love these rides. Carowinds NEEDS a pendulum ride of some sort. Then we headed over to ride Millennium Force.

Millennium Force-We opted to sit in the second row since there was little to no wait. One thing I do like about the Intamin giga coasters is the quickness to the top. That first drop is still amazing. I really like MF, even if many people think it’s overhyped. But I like speed, and there is airtime on the hills, even the small one by the station.

After MF we walked around to the park’s classic Blue Streak. Man, I know they’re building new stuff in that area, but that particular dead end needs opened up. Hopefully it will be opened soon.

Blue Streak-My first time riding Blue Streak I thought it was okay, but after they did some work to it a few years ago, it’s been running amazingly well ever since. Blue Streak was running very well. Every hill had good airtime, and the turn around throws you around a bit. The return leg is just a tad rough, but really aggressive in a good way.

Apparently everyone with a Fast Lane headed to Raptor next. The line for Fast Lane wasn’t obnoxiously long, but still longer than I’d imagined. World Famous Coaster Enthusiast Josh Wozny was also in the park and I saw this on my Instagram account while waiting for Raptor, so we planned to meet up after.

Raptor-This ride has always been good stuff. It’s no Afterburn or Montu. I even like Silver Bullet and Talon better, but it’s a very solid ride. I love the mostly straight drop. The sequence of inversions and lack of stopping on the mid course makes the ending really intense, but in a good way.

We walked back to Frontier Trail to meet up with Josh, Amber, and the kids. They were sipping moonshine, but instead of getting some drinks we discussed food. We were going to go to Chet & Matts since I’ve heard so much, but then we decided that since I, and of course Doug, hadn’t seen the Breakers renovation yet, we’d head over to there. We walked back to leave out the Magnum gate and around to Breakers. I’d never actually been over by the hotel before, so this was all new to me. I’d seen photos, and obviously wanted to see the renovations.

Wow. I can’t even tell you how beautiful it is. I’ve only heard about what it was and should have been, but seeing what it is now is amazing. First, I love the boardwalk area leading up into the hotel area. Then you get to the grand entrance of the hotel facing the beach. The fire pits with the carousel horses are amazing. Walking in, it looks so charming. A true seaside resort, but very modern and well done. I love the rotunda. It’s just amazing. We explored the inside all the way thru to the car entrance in the front. That’s where we found out for sure that Thunder Road at Carowinds was going bye-bye, so I’ll always remember that. Then we went to eat at Tomo, which was fantastic.

After being entertained at Tomo, we walked over to the new bar, which was nice. I had an Oldfashioned. It was very good, and then I think I may have had another drink, but I don’t really remember, as we sat and talked at the bar and then outside. They’ve really made a nice gathering area outside. Someone in charge finally knows how to bring in guests for long stays, it would seem. #goodriddancedick

We headed back in the gate by the new beautiful picnic pavilion. They were setting up for Brew & BBQ, which I’ll get into in a bit.

We walked over to Windseeker next, which was very cold at the top. Then Josh took me up to the top of the Coliseum, which I’ve always wanted to see, and never knew it was open. I took a few pictures and then off we were. My phone was starting to die at this point, and I considered going back now to charge it. Josh and clan went to ride Blue Streak after we stopped for a bathroom break, and Doug and I went to the Ferris Wheel for a quick spin.

Then it was time to go to the Brew & BBQ festival. This was exceptionally nice and the new pavilion looks great. There were 146 beers to try, and I tried many of them, as well as almost all of the different food (I didn’t try the catfish). Although the meats I had were good, as were the sides, the BBQ sauces all seemed to be out of a bottle. My only other complaint is the lack of knowledge about the beer that the people handing out samples had. A little training would have went a long way here, but otherwise, it was great fun, and we spent quite a bit of time trying different stuff.

We left from there and went to put our phones in the car to charge. When we got back into the park, I headed to Dinosaurs Alive, not so much to see Dinosaurs, but to get some pictures of MF since I’d never been on the island before. It took me just a few minutes to go thru and shoot pictures while Doug when to ride the kiddy coaster.

After we finished up with that, Doug still needed his Corkscrew credit, so I waited on him to ride. Then we decided to Fast Lane our way on to TTD. Another thrill, but man is it just not much of a coaster. You do get to see a great view at the top though. After that we headed back over to finish up drinking and eating at the Brew & BBQ. I met a nice guy that worked at CP that had a Fury 325 shirt on, someone from the park had picked it up for him whilst in Charlotte for Media day for that.

We left the Brew & BBQ and walked over to the Derby Racer. It’s such a fun ride, I really want to do the one in New York some time. After that we took a stroll back to Maverick for a night time ride. And of course, it delivered once again. I will comment here on the state of Cedar Point’s operations. Big difference from the past. And not in a good way.

There’s the familiar scanning and ‘all clear’ junk from Six Flags, and it wasn’t needed at Cedar Point, a park that I felt had capacity and operations down to as much of a science as (almost) Disney. It’s ridiculous. They were so slow loading Maverick that, even with a Fast Lane, it felt like they were loading soooo…slow. It was way too slow compared to how safely and efficiently they used to do it. So because of that, we stood and waited and waited and waited before they let people in to ride. It was annoying. Plus, I really wanted a nite ride on Millennium Force, which would have been way easy to do seeing as how we got in line (with Fast Lane) for Maverick 30 minutes before the park closed.

So we got our nite time Maverick ride, which was great (but it’d be better with tunnel lights…), then we got off and started huffing it with 5 minutes to close over to Millennium Force. I didn’t know if we’d make it, but I’d never had a nite ride and really, REALLY wanted one. So I power walked while Doug kind of scurried behind me. I was sweating and kind of ticked off that we were having to do this when in the past it wouldn’t be a problem. Thankfully, we made it just in time.

Millennium Force at nite was really very different. It was nice and cool, and, much like Magnum, there’s so much darkness when looking out at the top. After we got our nite ride in, Doug and I slowly meandered back to the Magnum gate to close out the nite. We headed to the motel that I’ll never stay at again and went to sleep. The Brew & BBQ festival was a great success, and the park wasn’t that busy. Having said that, had they not decided to get their operations in line with the industry standard that Six Flags has in place, I think things would have been better, especially having a Fast Lane. But we got a decent amount in.

I love Cedar Point, have since my first visit. I didn’t expect to get back up there again so soon, but the possibility of not having to stand up and ride Mantis, while having a more comfy Maverick ride was too good to pass up. Next time, though, I may have to stay a nite or two at the Hotel Breakers.

I don't know about *world* famous, but I'm certainly well known in my office. :)

Great TR. Makes me a little sad we didn't get passes this year.

Not much to comment on but I'll add this: It seems that row 1-2 of MF is the best kept secret in the park. The line for the front is so long, and the station really crowds up around the 3rd car and back, so no one pushes forward to the front 2 cars. Always shorter lines there.

Did you make it to Chet and Matts? That's good stuff. I've lived in Ohio for 16 years now (ugh) and I only learned of that place 2 years ago, from CB.