Cedar Point 7/5/04 (part 3 of 3 part trip)

After visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio, it was a short hour and a half drive to Sandusky. We stayed in the Ramada, just like last year. Its a pretty decent hotel, and we got our room for like 60 bucks I believe, which is very good I think.

Got to CP at around 9:50 and they were allready letting people in, so we thought it would probably be crowded today, it basically being a monday holiday(and it was crowded) so we went straight to Dragster and were in line by 10. It seemed to be running fine until after waiting in line for probably 30-45 minutes, it broke down. Now I know this ride is so advanced and all, but I honestley dont care. They have had so much time to get it up and running, why does it still break down like this? Its unexcusable in my book, and definatley puts a damper on my day, I dont care how long the breakdown actually ends up being. This time it ended up being about an Hour, and I seirously thought about exiting the line several times through that hour, because I only had one day at CP this year. But we stuck it out and eventually got on, after waiting 2 hours total. In short, Dragster isnt worth the wait. Not even a top 20 coaster in my book. I mean sure it gives you quite a quick little rush, but its just not the complete package like Storm Runner is. Storm Runner is the better ride, period, one Id rather wait for( and I wont have to wait as long for) So in short Im satisfied with my total of 2 rides on Dragster, because it just dosent really do it for me. After Dragster, my brother and I got a quick ride on Corckscrew, back seat. You get some nice air on a couple of those hills, and its not really that rough, had aged pretty well I think.

Magnum was next, with a 25 minute wait. I love the Queue for Magnum because its pretty much all shade, surrounded by tree's, it just seems like a nice place to wait for any ride. Just as awsome as I remembered, very nice air and a pretty smooth ride overall. Mean Streak didnt seem quite as rough as I remembered, still slow and no air whatsoever, but not all that bad. A 10 minute wait for it. Millenium Force had an hour and 20 minute wait, but still totally worth the wait. Still my favorite coaster overall, its just got everything, and its an awsome ride from any seat. Gemini is great as well, some nice air on a few drops, and people were hand slapping on it thankfully, unlike Kennywood a few days before. Waited way too long for the Cedar Creek Mine ride, because it took them 20 minutes to get a 3rd car on the track. I appreciate the effort in trying to make the line shorter, but did it have to be while I was in line for it? Waited over 30 minutes, and its one of the lamer mine rides out there.

Raptor was a 25 minute wait, and I enjoyed the ride. Not my favorite Invert, but still good, to be honest I havent found an invert out there I actually dislike. Wicked Twister has got to be the most underrated ride in the whole park. Its an amazing ride, especially from the front or back. Going up and down those twists, going weightless and seeing the shoreline down below you is a feeling not quite like anything else. Waited probably 25 minutes for it, well worth it. I also love the last part of the queue for it, how it hugs the beach. Blue Streak was a 5 minute wait, and it deliveres some pretty nice air, definatley a decent ride. Disaster Transport was a 40 minute wait, normally I would say thats too long, but it wasnt so bad this time because this was in the middle of the Afternoon and it was starting to get pretty hot outside, and there were a few guys a few people behind us in line that were entertaining everyone around them by talking back and forth to each other in a comedic manner in english accents. They were just commenting on pretty random things, they talked about the theming in the line, talked about how the red JuJubees are going extince, ECT. They were pretty funny, almost like they had everything rehersed. They did it in very loud voices, if you were anywhere near them you could hear exactly what was going on. Anyways it made for the line to seem shorter than it actually was. As for the ride itself, the theming still makes no sense whatsoever, but its a pretty fun ride, ive always liked rides in the dark.

Iron Dragon was a 10 minute wait, and I liked it more than I remembered I did. Ate supper at Johnny Rockets, which was great. Food was good and the atmosphere was great. And I couldnt believe how quick they were. They said it would be a 20 minute wait for our table, ended up being 10 minutes, got served and our food came in another 10 minutes, and we were in and out of there in 30 minutes. I was very impressed, because It was well past 7 now and I still wanted to do several things. Got in line again for Magnum, and it broke down. Dissapointing, but I didnt really have time to wait, so we didnt. Got over to MF which still had that hour and 20 minute wait, which ended up being even longer than that because apparently someone threw up and it took probably 20 minutes for them to get it going again, but waited it out and had an awsome night ride. Got off and made our way over near Wicked Twister, and got on 2 quick rides with no wait before leaving at about 10:45. Overall had an awsome day, it was pretty crowded I thought, but I guess thats to be expected considering the date. Still got in pretty much everything I wanted to. Its dissapointing that I didnt get another ride on Magnum, and also that Dragster is still so unreliable. I just dont understand why, especially since theyve been fighting these breakdown for so long now, why cant they give you any timeframe as to how long its going to be down? I cant believe that they still at this point have no clue whatsoever as to how long it will take to get back up and running again. Makes for some very hard decisions for people, because you just know right when you exit the line they are going to open it up again. Its just frustrating, thats all. Anyways it was a pretty good ending to the trip, overall I was most impressed with HersheyPark out of the 3 I visited in pretty much every category. Made the 7 hour drive home to Illinois on Tuesday. And that ends my 3 part trip, If you havent allready, you should read parts 1 and 2, Kennywood and Hersheypark.

Kennywood: http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=38688

Hersheypark: http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=38703

*** Edited 7/10/2004 10:21:45 PM UTC by stljason1*** *** Edited 7/10/2004 10:22:26 PM UTC by stljason1***

I agree that Dragster is an adrenaline rush and way to short, but I don't agree that with your opinion that CP is not doing anything about its downtime. I always see them TRY to fix it (unlike SF, STE has been down due to weather for how long now)?

Theremore MF is the best IMO.... Great drop, length, speed, g's, floater air, it has it all..

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Ride of Steel said:
I agree that Dragster is an adrenaline rush and way to short, but I don't agree that with your opinion that CP is not doing anything about its downtime. I always see them TRY to fix it (unlike SF, STE has been down due to weather for how long now)?

Theremore MF is the best IMO.... Great drop, length, speed, g's, floater air, it has it all..

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I didnt really say they arent doing anything about its downtime. Its just dissapointing I guess. There's really no one to blame for it directly...

Great TR! I totally agree with you that WT is so under-rated. The ride never has a line and it's got so much to offer. I totally think they got the better deal with WT than TTD for sure. CP got stuck real hard when they bought Dragster IMO. It's a neat ride don't get me wrong, but I just think that a bunch of super sized flat rides in that area would have been a much better choice. (again, that's my personal opinion) Good to hear you had a fun time at the park on your only visit this year. I hope that I can get up there during closing weekend this year for my one and only visit. :)

Great TR. I agree with you that it would be nice if CP could tell everyone how long TTD would be down, but could you imagine how many people would be PO'd if what CP mechanics thought would be a 15 min. fix turned into a two- three hour fix. I hate to leave a line too, especially if I have already invested quite a bit of time, but I don't really think that it is practical to give out time-frames for repairs. It would result in more problems than they have now. I used to get real upset about TTD's downtime but I don't any more. I know that it is easy for me to say because I visit the park several times a year, but I have learned to just go and enjoy the park and if I happen to get a lap or two in on TTD, well then it made my day just that much better.

Thats one way to put it, but another is this:

They advertise it as being up and running, we paid our money, its suppoused to be up and running. Thats just plain bad busniess when its not and it makes CP look bad.

You would think that, after having a season under it's belt and the entire off-season to work out the bugs, it would be more reliable by now.

That said, I wouldn't return to CP just to ride dragster. If I get a ride when I visit again, great. But I think MF is by far the best ride in the park, followed by Magnum.

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micrip said:
You would think that, after having a season under it's belt and the entire off-season to work out the bugs, it would be more reliable by now.

That said, I wouldn't return to CP just to ride dragster. If I get a ride when I visit again, great. But I think MF is by far the best ride in the park, followed by Magnum.

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I would agree that MF is the best ride in the park, but you go there expecting to ride the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world, and when you dont get to...well, its a big let down, I dont care how many other great rides they have.

Deciding between Dragster and MF is tough. Although MF is intense throughout the entire ride, I have to go with Dragster. The initial rush during the launch is just too good. TTD - best ride in the park.

I understand that Dragster being down alot is disappointing, but you have to give Cedar Point and their maintenance crew alot of credit for getting the ride up and running as much as they do. Imagine Dragster in a Six Flags park ;)

Speaking of Six Flags, actually X is up and running quite reliably this year. So far TTD is not, and from the looks of the latest news it won't be anytime soon unfortunately.