Cedar Point (5/13/08) The Day Of (Break)Downs...

Cedar Point - May, 13th, 2008
By: Shaun Rajewski (rctycoon2k)

Featuring: Today's Inactive (and Delayed) List:

1. maXair
   Still hasn't opened for the season.
   
2. Wicked Twister
   Down from my first glance, although I did see it testing prior to entering the park. Did open around 1p.
   
3. Raptor
   Opened with the park, but had downtime from 11a-12p, round-abouts.
   
4. Top Thrill Dragster
   Mechanics working on it early, then no where to be seen for a while. Opened around 6:30p.
   
5. Power Tower
   Not really downtime, in a true sense, but only one of the launch towers was loading, and the second drop tower stopped running around 3p.
   
6. Mantis
   Had downtime throughout the day, mostly in the morning, opened fully around 12p or so.
   
7. Corkscrew
   Down as of public opening, Opened around 11:30p.
   
8. Maverick
   Down as of public opening. Opened around 4p.
   
9. SkyHawk
   Went down as of 4p'ish, do not believe it ever reopened.

Ride waits, reviews, and interesting tid-bits... In order of riding:

• Magnum XL-200
  ( Wait: 10 minutes | Rating: 4/5 )
  First ride of the day, after noticing the plethora of downed rides. Felt like I was walking through an Intamin Steel Playground of Downtime. The ride seemed better this time that it has in previous years to me. Maybe I am finally learning to love the essence of Magnum.
  
• Mean Streak
  ( Wait: 15 minutes | Rating: 2/5 )
  After venturing back to the back of the park to ride Maverick, which to no ones surprise was playing the role of the Giant Lawn Ornament for most of the day, we strolled back for a ride on the "NEW" Mean Streak, now with retractable belts, and even more back-breaking, neck-snapping, wooden fury from hell. The coaster hurt, but not the worst hurt I've had on the coaster. Due to this fact, it still receives a 2, for generousity on my part.
  
• Power Tower (SpaceShot)
  ( Wait: 15 minutes | Rating: 3/5)
  After seeing, well, more downed rides, we figure why not take a shot... upwards. Jumped on Power Tower for a quick ride, only to notice the slow as well... slow. Realizing that if downtime consistantly plays a part, the day is a waste, but none-the-less, we board and ride. I like the shot side, but it just doesn't much thrill to it anymore... acclumation I guess.
  
• Raptor
  ( Wait: 5 minutes | Rating: 4/5 )
  After Power Tower, we hopped onto the Sky Ride to head up front for some good, tasty treats, when we notice Raptor start testing again (which we noticed was down from the Power Tower queue). We jogged from the Sky Ride over to the Raptor line and got let in about a minute later, leading directly up the station stairs. The ride is awesome, I truely love this invert. One of the few rides in the park I won't mind waiting to ride again for a second time, even on a busy day.

-- Johnny Rockets Break --
Always a have to while I am at the Point... it's just tradition. An expensive, overpaying tradition.

• Disaster Transport
  ( Wait: Walk-on | Rating: 3/5 )
  After we stocked up on some goodies, we decided to hit up Dispatch Master Transport. We passed the Giant TeePee of Nothingness (maXair) in disgust and walked into the ride building, right through the queue, and right up to the loading bay. We got on the next car, front seat, and we're off. I love bobsleds, I don't know if its the "free wheelin'" feeling, or just the smooth back and forth rock of banking... I like it. Nothing spectacular though, and still just as short as ever, only deserving of a 3.
  
• Wicked Twister
  ( Wait: 5-10 minutes | Rating: 3/5 )
  Following that majestic bobsled like voyage, we made our way over to Wicked Twister, with a short line like pretty much always. We sat near the front (second car, first row, I believe). The ride is fun, but rather bland... still good for some kicks. She gets a 3.
  
• Millennium Force
  ( Wait: 45 minutes | Rating: 4/5 )
  After meeting up with some friends we unexpectantly ran into, we decided we might as well wait for Millennium Force, as nothing else seemed to be opening up that we cared about. Throughout the line, I noticed more and more line jumpers, 6 of which cut an entire queue box full of people. This really pisses me off. Regardless, we sat about 3rd car, back row, and the ride actually produced more airtime than I remember it producing, as of late. I was impressed. Break out the 4/5 stamp.
  
• Maverick
  ( Wait: 35 minutes | Rating: 5/5 )
  When we got to the top of Millennium Force's lift hill we noticed that Maverick had movement for the first time since the park had opened. Following the Force, we gathered our gear and quickly made our way back to Maverick. The coaster ran through 12-13 test runs before anyone was let into the queue. Ended up going straight through to the old White Water Landing station queue area. Maverick still holds my number one spot for coasters at Cedar Point.
  
• Cedar Creak Mine Ride
  ( Wait: Walk-on | Rating: 2.125/5 )
  A small break in the long walk between the backend of Frontier Town and the rest of the TTD midway. The ride still is a kick, for a smaller, poorly banked coaster that the family can ride. Why not, lets give this a 2.125.
  
• Gemini
  ( Wait: 10 minutes | Rating: 3/5 )
  After the Mine Ride, we decided to head up by Power Tower on our way back over towards Top Thrill Dragster and the other rides over there. The ride was running 2 trains, red side only. The coaster itself seemed to be running pretty well, even with the extremely catchy trims throughout. Still fun after 30 years. Chalk up a 3.
  
• Power Tower (Turbo Drop)
  ( Wait: 15 minutes | Rating: 4.5/5)
  Back for one more round, I wanted to drop this time, rather than the Power Shot. The line seemed to crawl this time, as previously, both drop towers were running, and now only one was, at really large intervals. Wait time or not, I still love the drop towers, especially 3-4-5-6 seats on the northern tower, facing Top Thrill Dragster. The drop towers are still my favorite flat ride in the park.
  
• Top Thrill Dragster
  ( Wait: 15 minutes | Rating: 4.5/5 )
  As we began to rise up on Power Tower we noticed movement around Top Thrill Dragster. When we reached the top, the first test runs were made. We immediately ran over to the coaster and were around the first 30 to get in line. After 20 minutes of waiting outside the queue, and numorous sucessful test runs, they opened the queue at 6:30ish, when the park was scheduled to close at 7p. We wound up waiting 15 minutes for front seat (also, they were only allowing the first 3 rows of every train, creating a huge wait time for the hundreds that flocked). I still love the ride, dispite the 18 second ride time, and in the front seat, the speed is unbelievable. 4.5 for this phallic status symbol.
  
• Raptor (Round Two)
  ( Wait: Walk-on | Rating: 4.5/5 )
  You physically cannot beat a walk on. On the way out of the park, we noticed no one even out on the stairs of Raptor, and very few in the station, so we decided to make Raptor the final ride of the night. The coaster flew through the course, and the trim barely shaved any speed at the MCBR. Even better than the first time, and the best way to end a nice spring at at the Point.

Rides decided to skip:

Wildcat = I still see no point in waiting.
Iron Dragon = Draggin' Iron, need I say more?
Blue Streak = I like the ride, however my riding partners for the day don't. Go figure.
Corkscrew = I can do without the headbanging, thank you very much.
Mantis = Still maintaining that I would like to have kids in the future and a non-hemoraging brain to raise them.

Criticisms and Notes:

- Regardless of attendance, which wasn't that poor today, I believe Gemini should run both sides, or else the entire intention of the ride is ruined.
- Power Tower needs to open both towers on sides where the queue extends past 45minutes, it can get kind of rediculous.
- The commerical shoot was today for Planet Snoopy. Well, that was a fun 6 hours of filming dancing mascots.
- While it looked like no work was being done to maXair, is the opening planned soon?
- What is with the downtime? We got lucky to hit everything we wanted today...

This concludes my extensive waste of your time... criticize or comment if you wish. *** Edited 5/14/2008 5:01:14 AM UTC by Rctycoon2k***

How was the weather yesterday?

Also, are you going back again today, or was yesterday your only trip?

Wow, it really seems like Cedar Point is having a bad start to the season which is surprising. Also, the two days I was there last year, I didn't see Maverick down once. Does it usually have a lot of issues? Hopefully they get these issues worked out before Memorial Day Weekend and the summer season.

The three days we were there last year, on Mavericks opening day, the ride barely opened by noon. Day three I believe it opened around 2pm. It never opened in time for the get in the park early deal. I think their biggest problem is the computer system. And whatever problems they have with the block sections off final.

That's a shame about TTD. Usually if it isn't open by midway through the day it won't open. I guess you guys lucked out! Maybe they saw the large amount of people standing in line and felt bad?

We had the smoothest Mean Streak ride on day two of last years trip. The ride seemed really slow, so maybe we were hitting the trims a lot. I don't really remember because I was looking at all the different things they have in storage inside the ride.

Hope you had fun!

The weather yesterday was beautiful. Blue skies and 65-70 degrees. We were only there for yesterday, but will be back soon, now that we have our Platinum Passes.

The only time I have ever had an enjoyable smooth ride on Mean Streak was riding front seat, but the wait was too long for it yesterday, not worth an extra ten minutes.

Top Thrill Dragster I was really surprised about, because like you said, if it doesn't open by midday it doesn't usually open. I am not sure their reasoning for opening it so late, as there was almost nobody standing in line outside the ride when they announced that they were hoping to get it up and running tonight and would start testing soon.

Who knows. :)