Cedar Point 6/21/18

Haven't been to the park since Gatekeeper opened so was excited to ride Valravn and SV. Brought my 15 year old son with me since he's the only one in the family that will ride coasters. Bought fave lane plus early before we got to the park. Didn't need it for most rides but glad we had it.

Weather was perfect. Partly cloudy and mid 70's. Crowds were might lighter than I had imagined. More on that later.

First ride: Valravyn. First of three rides for the day. In the front row and while I liked the ride. It really seemed to be a one trick pony. The first drop is very cool and the anticipation while you are hanging in awesome, but after that...except for maybe the last loop, it felt to me a lot like the feeling I get when riding Gatekeeper. There was no wait in the fast lane line which I thought was odd but it kind of paints a picture for the rest of the day.

Next up TTD: the last time we went to CP my youngest wouldn't go on it. 4 years later he was more than game. Once again...no one in the fast lane line. The anticipation for this ride has always been almost as exciting as the ride itself. I love the sense of speed on the takeoff. The ride happens so quick and it's hard to take in everything for the second you have on top. I wish there was a way for them to keep you on top for like 5 seconds. Not sure how or even if they could but that would be amazing. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE the ride, but I liked it a lot more because we didn't have to wait long for it. I remember how disappointed I was when I waited 4 hrs for it the first year it was open. There's definately a correlation for me between the length of time I wait and my overall enjoyment of the ride. We rode it 3 more times throughout the day and never had to wait until we got to the station.

Walked back to steel vengeance but it wasn't running, no empties. Nothing.

Maverick was next. The line for maverick was probably and hr plus long but the fast lane line was maybe 10 min max. Before today it was my favorite coaster I the park. I like the way that it just keeps going and has so many elements. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to have gotten a little more rough in the last 4 years. Maybe it was where I sat, maybe I'm imagining it, I don't know. We rode it twice. Still love the ride, but it's not my favorite any more.

Walked around to MF. MAYBE a 5-10 min fast lane wait. Still a great coaster. Always will be. The first hill is absolutely amazing. I love to just look around while going up. Such great views.

Gatekeeper: no wait. Not just fast lane....just no wait. We actually went in the regular entrance because there was NO line coming out of the station. I rode it the year it opened and thought is was ok. Now after riding it again. A couple times. I can see why there was no line. It doesn't look like one, it doesn't sound like one.....but it's a starter coaster. There is nothing overly exciting about it. There is not one element within it that made me want to deride it (we did anyway). My son renamed it a floater coaster. He just felt like he was floating along. He thought it was kind of boring. I kinda have to agree with him.

RAPTOR IS sooooo loud. the raptor roar is out of control. Still a fun ride though. Def. showing its age though. It opened the first year I worked at CP so it will always hold a special place w me

Waited 45 min and an hr to ride steel vengeance twice. best coaster in the park. Hands down. It's crazy how they were able to take such a bad/mediocre coaster and turn it into a masterpiece. Maybe my favorite coaster ever. Genius...absolute genius.

I think Raptor is running as good as it was the first time I rode in 1998.

I agree with *most* of your opinion on Gatekeeper. But the front, right side slow rollover into the first drop is one of my favorite coaster moments anywhere.

I don't consider Gatekeeper a starter coaster in the way I do Iron Dragon, Mine Ride, Corkscrew, or even Gemini. But it doesn't give a ride nearly as intimidating as it looks.

It does, however make me queasy.

I reckon Gatekeeper is thrilling enough, it has its moments. It’s a little tight for me, so the enduring discomfort isn’t all that great. And it suffers from B&M syndrome where, like so many, the very last part of it sucks.
I don’t know many that would consider it a starter coaster. Maybe for an enthusiast on their first visit to CP, but from appearance there’s a certain intimidation factor there. I usually ride it once when the line is short. Which it, after morning, usually is.

I thought that Fast Lane access had been restored to Steel Vengeance but if you had to wait 45 minutes and an hour, evidently not. I haven't been to Cedar Point since Gatekeeper opened; going back in July. As to Gatekeeper, I remember thinking that it was a good ride but nothing to write home about. When it comes to floating, the wing coaster that comes to mind is Wild Eagle; it's what I rode when I needed a nice, relaxing ride. I've ridden only 4 wing riders and would rank them in this order: X-Flight, The Swarm, Gatekeeper and Wild Eagle. X-Flight has a greater thrill factor than the others and The Swarm has much better theming than Gatekeeper as well as a number of cool maneuvers such as swooping under the wing of a crashed airplane, very close to the ground. I still have the Gatekeeper jacket I got at Coastermania; nice jacket but by the time I got to the front of the queue the only size left was an extra large so I paid a tailor $50 to have it altered and now I've gotten too fat to wear it, lol.

Fastlane+ is back on Steel Vengeance. But if you hit it wrong, you still could end up waiting 30-45 minutes, even with FL. Take comfort in knowing that if FL is that long, standby is probably pushing 3 hours.