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Finally, I managed to get away from work to make our first trip to CP this year! The wife and I left Pontiac MI at about 8am, and made it to the park around 10:30. Thanks to J. Spartan for the Route 2 info on his site, we always hated going via the Turnpike. Gotta watch out for those speed traps in Oregon though, yikes!!!
We parked right under the 23a sign, which from my memory in reading CP parking posts, meant that the park was not that crowded yet, so I was elated. Sure enough, one of the ride jocks told us that the count for the day was around 12000, which seemed good to me considering they said Saturday was packed-ola. Wicked Twister was down for the day as well, so no luck getting on that. One of the ride jocks did state they have been having mechanical problems with it for a few days now, and also said there was some sort of electrical problem/fire, though I don't know how true that was. I did see a post where someone had mentioned they overheard the maint. crew on a scanner, saying they had smoke coming out so who knows.
We started off with a 20 min wait on Raptor, which never fails to amaze me at how awesome this ride really is. After that, it was off to Magnum with a 2 train wait. Seemed to me that it was a little rougher than I remembered from the past, but still an awesome ride nonetheless. My wife always freaks out on the lift hill on that one, and I had to convince her that she had to remain in her seat and NOT get off if we stopped on the lift hill for some reason. (She saw it stopped last time we went, and it took me forever to convince her it was really safe to ride!)
Then it was off to Gemini where they had just started racing, so we hopped on the Blue train. The bummer of it was that the Blue side got nailed with trims each time we rode it, letting the Red side zip on ahead to victory with NO trims! Grrr, lol.
Then it was off to Mean Streak for a ride (walk-on), which wasn't squealing like it was last year. I can see what people mean about the trims on the drop hill! I thought we were gonna stop on the 2nd drop and rollback, but no such luck. Though the ride was rough still, I think it is still a kick @ss coaster, though the 1st time I ever rode it was back in 1996, so I could never really compare it to when it first opened. :-(
Walked around to MF which seemed to have the only wait in the whole park. Got a Freeway for 8-9 and decided to just wait till then to ride. Hit Wildcat a few times, which to me seems like the offical 'babysitter' ride. Parents really need to get a grip on their kids, as we had more than a few trying to line jump all day on that ride. Wife decided she had to ride Iron Dragon for old times sake, so we took a walk on spin on that. After it was over, we both agreed that while it is a cool little ride, we would never waste our time riding again unless we were taking a young one on it. Just doesn't do anything for us but waste time.
We skipped Corkscrew, and hit Raptor 3 more times, all front seaters. Gotta love that front seat! Then we rode on Blue Streak for a ride back in time, which was the first time either of us had rode it. I myself was impressed with it! For being an older coaster, it sure zips right along that track! After that, we hit Power Tower for a few upshots. Skipped out on the downshot as the wife didn't think she could take it, and I didn't want to lessen her fun by waiting in line with me to not ride.
Rode Disaster Transport to see the new theming, which wasn't much to speak of, but made me long for the 60's. :-D Was really hot and humid inside, so I was glad to finally get out of there.
The rest of day till our MF ride was spent going back and forth between Raptor, Gemini, Magnum, and Mean Streak, all with 1-2 train waits. Rode the Giant Wheel for the first time ever, to get some pix of the park.
Around 8, we headed over to MF for our first ride on it ever as well. The line was upto 1.25 hour waits by then, so I was glad to have the freeway pass. I must admit, I felt a little trepidation looking up that hill, and the lift up was truly awesome. Sitting on the left side looking down at the lake was so fricking awesome! Then hitting that first drop was probably the most intense thing I've ever done since I went skydiving one summer. That ride is the most smoothest, fastest, most awesome ride I have ever rode. Period.
After our MF ride, we did a few more laps on Raptor, and a quick ride on the Space Tower or whatever it's called for some last minute pix of the park at sundown. We felt really bad for the ops as they were SWARMED with those flys, (Muffleheads), and it was funny how the bugs followed us up the tower in swarms trying to hit the lights.
I would also like to give compliments to all the staff at the park. Having worked as a ride foreman in the Carnival industy for 9 years, I know how exasperating it can be to deal with guests all day. Not once, ever, did I see a single staff member be rude, smart @ssed, or unfriendly. Some even took the time to chat about the park, their jobs, and where they came from. (Mostly food staff and sweepers, didn't want to bother the ride jocks.)
So thanks Cedar Point for another great visit this year. I've been to a few parks in my lifetime, but I can honestly say that Cedar Point is tops in my book!
Mick and Tracy
(Edit type="whoops")Edited to correct visit date, lol, otherwise it would be one old TR 'eh? Orig Subject title was 'Cedar Point 6/9/2000'(/Edit)
Good to hear you had a great trip. The weather was perfect! What other parks have you hit or are going to hit this year?
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