Cedar Point Friday, June 7th, 2013 Coastermania Event

The day had finally arrived. Coastermania day! This was my fourth time coming to this event and I was very much looking forward to it. My wife and I arrived at Cedar Point around 7:30am to check in for the event. There were a lot of people checking in but we made it into the park fairly quickly. To summarize as best I can here is what we did during the day.

Rides Ridden:
ERT - 7:30am - went over to GateKeeper and saw a decent sized line so skipped it
3x Millennium Force - first ever front row ride
3x Maverick - pretty much a walk on at this point

Park Opens - 10am
2x Power Tower - once down, once up
2x Magnum - trim was off on the first ride and it was glorious
2x Gemini - most surprised with this ride
Mean Streak - not as good as my rides back in 2011

Food: Pretzel - very good

Sky Ride - classic ride and I enjoy it every time I ride it
Blue Streak - ride was a little bumpier then when I rode it in 2011

Lunch - great as it always is every year with lots of food to choose from

4x Blue Streak - kept riding because there wasn’t a line
2x Iron Dragon - enjoyed the ride ops spiel on this ride something to the effect of going through the forest over a moat and so forth and then upon return said something to the effect of slaying the dragon
2x Top Thrill Dragster - rode this twice in less than an hour
2x Magnum - talked/rode with a guy who had never ridden the ride before and he did enjoy it
Cedar Creek Mine Ride - enjoy the drop over the lake and finishing helix
Mean Streak - maybe they should rename the ride Tame Streak?

Food: Elephant Ear - yes it was delicious

Millennium Force - one last ride and still my favorite in the park
2x Iron Dragon - don’t know why but I seemed to enjoy this ride more this year than in years past
Sky Ride - great transportation back to the front when you are tired
GateKeeper - 15 minute wait
Wicked Twister - great ride
2x GateKeeper - 10 minute waits running three trains, still an impressive new ride for CP

ERT - 10:30pm
2x Top Thrill Dragster - love this ride
Magnum - great night ride
Gemini - another solid ride on our way back to Maverick
3x Maverick - hardly any wait during ERT
12:10am - Start to leave the park back by Maverick - long walk!
12:30am - we get in the car and leave, what a day!

My favorite ride at Cedar Point: Millennium Force - I still love everything about this ride. The location of lift hill off the lake, 300 foot 80 degree drop, constant speed, tunnels, smoothness, and three airtime hills.

Ride that most surprised me: Gemini - I really enjoyed this ride a lot on this visit more than my previous visits and moved it up my ranked coasters list. I loved the drop after the second turnaround.

Ride that most impressed me: GateKeeper - Great to look at. Transformed the front entrance of Cedar Point to the best I’ve ever seen. Great location right on the lake. The view from the top is awesome. Fun and smooth ride with great inversions and speed.

Ride I wish I had rode more of: Raptor - I only got in one ride on this in the two days I was at Cedar Point. I know shame on me.

Rides I didn’t even bother riding: Corkscrew and Mantis - I knew what I would be getting myself into. =)

Area of the park that has most improved: This should be easy. The area where GateKeeper was built and everything over there including Wicked Twister, Ferris Wheel, MaXair, and Windseeker. Amazing to see all of those tall rides in that one area as well as the lights on them at night.

Things I enjoy most about Cedar Point other than their stellar rides: The Employees. I was very impressed at how nice and energetic all of the employees were. As cheesy as it may sound I really appreciated the “my pleasure” comments after I said “thank-you” when receiving food and drinks at the food stands around the park. I also got into a couple minutes worth of conversation in with a manager at the food stand over by Raptor. It was nice that he took the time to talk to me about GateKeeper and how he hadn’t even rode it yet but was looking forward to.

Other things I enjoy most about Cedar Point: Ride Operators. They are very fast and efficient in what they do. They deserve all the thanks in the world for the job they do in moving coaster trains quickly and safely. I love the spieling even if it’s repeated over and over again. Along with the, “how was your ride?” as you enter the station. It brings a smile to my face.

Items received at the event: Lanyard with CM Itinerary, soda wristband, Coastermania 2013 Pin, and GateKeeper Fleece zip up jackets. (These were very much appreciated as it was cool throughout most of the event). They were also very nice and comfortable.

Rides I rode most in the two days: 8x GateKeeper, 8x Gemini, 7x MF, 6x Maverick, 5x Magnum, 5x Blue Streak, 4x Top Thrill Dragster, 4x Iron Dragon, 3x Wicked Twister, 2x Mean Streak, 2x Power Tower, 2x Sky Ride, 1x Raptor (sad), 1x Cedar Creek Mine Ride

Total Rides in the two days: 58

Total Hours in the park: 22 Hours

Total Steps according to my wife’s pedometer: 40,000

Final remarks: I absolutely love Cedar Point. I have no problems driving the 11+ hours from Birmingham, AL to visit. I can ride most of their roller coasters over and over and over again and they are among some of the best I have ever ridden. The location of the park is beautiful as are the early June temperatures. My wife and I were worn out after spending two days there but it was well worth it.