Associated parks:
None
I've always been a fan of taking spontaneous one day road trips when it comes to amusement parks. So knowing I had off Sunday the 3rd the door was open for opportunity. Saturday was one of those sleepless nights for me as I've been jonsin to go to the park terribly since the past weekend with maverick opening and being all hyped from seeing the pictures, videos and reading the reviews. I had originally planned to go opening weekend but with the ride not being open at the time I scratched those plans.
So early Sunday morning I awake at 5am fill up on some breakfast and head out to the McKinley mall where I was meeting up with my friends who I rounded up earlier in the week to come with actually 2 of the 3 had never been to cedar point before and the other was last there back in 2001. So I knew the day would hold some excitement for sure.
So 6am rolls around and we hit the road. We arrive outside cedar point drive at 9:50am. Not to shabby for making good time. We head straight for the park. One thing I absolutely love about cedar point is the drive down to the park, no matter how many times I go that drive down the peninsula is always a blast seeing the park off in the distance talk about some killer anticipation. We make our way through the tolls and up into the parking lot we were only 4 rows away from the bus lot to the right in front of blue streak. For being 10óclock on a beautiful Sunday morning I was unsure of how the day was going to turn out crowd wise. Though I had a feeling it would be an average day if anything. Well, this day certainly turned out to be nothing like that. Heres the break down.
From 10am - 11am.
We were able to hit up maXair(1 ride wait), Power Tower(1 ride wait), , Magnum(walk on), Gemeni(walk on). So not to shabby for kicking off our first hour. After Gemeni already being that far back in the park I was antsy to get over to Maverick so we made our way to frontier town. I couldn't tell you the excitement I had in myself as we approached the midway around the new shoot out game and you can see a train flying into the brake run and first corkscrew starring you down. I started to run towards the ride like a fool. We get closer and notice the que is only filled in the old WWL station and the sign was only showing about a 45 minute wait. So we hoped in. Not more than 5 minutes into waiting we felt rain drops start to come down luckily we made it into the WWL que house and the gods said let there be RAIN, talk about a downpour. As you could guess Mavy closed down and it looked as if the wave swinger had closed as well I wouldn't be surprised if every ride in the park had closed for that period of time. As many people began to filter out most stuck around but when it rains as hard as it was and as long as it did where in the hell do you go at least you could have stayed dry. But an hour rolls along and the rain is not stopping enough for the ride to reopen. I'm always one to stick it out but I gave in this time around we hoped out of the que and decided to take off for an early dinner. So being at the very back of the park and having to run all the way to the front lot in light rain was quite the trip. By the time we made it up near demon drop we were soaked from head to toe. So we took advantage of the mind blowing powerful hand dryers and dried our hair shirt, shoes & shocks, lol and it actually worked out pretty well, well at least better than we were moments ago.
For dinner we picked out that East of Chicago Buffet which it outside of the park across the street from mc donalds on the drive. Not that bad of a place if your looking for some cheap food not to forget its a buffet. They had endless pizzas pasta & salads, the joint was a little questionable as it seemed to attract some weird people. But the food was decent and that's all that mattered. So after we finished eating the time was rolling on about 1:30, the rain had finally completely stopped which was a great sign.
From 1pm - 6pm.
The rain had clearly scared people away at this point rides were back open so with the mindset that if the rain comes back again we better go hit up some good rides so we don't get screwed later on if the rain winds up coming back our way. We make our way to Millennium Force stood in a 15 minute or less line. Got out seen the line was even shorter than it was when we first rode minutes ago so we took advantage and hoped in for a second ride. Again no more than a 15 minute wait.
After that we were able to hit up Mantis, Skyhawk, Mean Streak, We made our second attempt at Maverick however before we even entered the line she broke down, so we made our way to the front for WT, DT, Raptor. We began to make our way to dragster just as we approached the entrance they announce the ride is down due to weather. So with that now in mind and the clouds rolling in yet again. We had to make a game plan know how it had rained earlier in the afternoon It was probably going to be the same thing again.
From 6pm-9pm
We called home to the main midway arcade. Talk about a major bummer I was really upset and down in the dumps, being I only wanted to come make this random trip for maverick even though I'll have plenty more chances through the summer to ride it. It would have been fun to get my first ride but things just were not playing in my favor. I also felt bad for my friend and his brother since we didn't even get one ride in on dragster and maverick with this visit being there first and probably only time ever to go to the point. We had managed to pretty much make the best of the day and hit up everything except for those two rides. The rain did not let up enough for those 3 hours for any coasters to open. We did manage to catch a ride on the cedar points in some light spots of the rain as it seemed to be the only ride that was open that I could see.
So 9pm rolls along after blowing off money that we really didn't need to be spending to pass time along. I finally see the rain has stopped at this point its about 5minutes after. We were ready to go hit the road but hell I didn't care sticking around one extra hour as long as I was not getting soaked. By now the park is almost an absolute ghost town guest wise. We slowly start to make our way towards Dragster with the mindset of "hey maybe they'll open it back up" but with only an hour left in the day It seemed very unlikely and there indeed was no ride ops to be seen at the ride. So it looked as if we were going to miss out on a Dragster ride for the day. So with Dragster out of the question I was really curious to see if maybe there was a chance that Maverick would be open ?. On our way back passing Magnum the ride op who would normally check the heights asked us if we were leaving?. I shook my head no, and he says "well were going to be opening back up in 10 minutes or so." Talk about a boost of confidence in my system. We said we'd check back but then darted to Maverick even before we crossed the train tracks I thought I heard the rumble of the launch? Sure enough as we came closer I see a train flying down the brake run! HOLY CRAP how lucky are we, now. Its 9:15pm there less than 15 people riding the ride, the que is completely empty right up and even into the station there are like 6 people. Words could not describe how excited I was, darting through an entire empty que up into an empty station right into the first row! when not minutes ago did I think we were about to head back to the car and head home. This was the perfect way to end the night!. Overall we caught 4 rides right in a row granted we had to run down the exit and back through the entrance again but 4 rides. I'm defiantly going to jump on the band wagon when saying where the barrel roll used to be, I'm not to sure I would have wanted to experience that full force, this that s-curve is one wicked maneuver with the force it gives you. Hands down in my opinion maverick is simply the funniest ride there is in the park. The lsm hill was exhilarating I couldn't believe what I was experiencing going up and from the drop on, nothing but pure speed no let up at all. The launch has to be my 2nd favorite part of the ride especially being at night. To finally see what everyone had been talking about in person that launch possibly is the best I've ever ridden. My absolute favorite moment of the ride is the stengel dive, this is an element you have to experience and giving the speed your going at that time is just unbelievable and so much fun.
So its about 9:45 as were getting off our last maverick ride while in the brake run we see Dragster running, we have 15 minutes to get there. We ran our legs off to make it in time and were able to catch 2 rides in a row, one of the two being a first row ride. So in the end talk about a picture perfect way to end the day. This trip to cedar point could very well rank as #1 in my book so far, just because of how everything fell into place in the end. We hit up every ride & coaster except for Blue Streak, Iron Dragon & Corkscrew.
This is the reaction I have when I find myself in an empty station of a new coaster thats a walk on, haha.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c185/SFDLdan/060307_21231.jpg
Blue Streak was one of the superior coasters at Cedar Point on my trip. It beat out a lot of Bigger Coasters, especially Mean Streak though.
A ride on Maverick and a less than 15 minute wait on MF would definitely be worth the trip alone for me.
Great TR, by the way. I need to get back there, just for Maverick at least.
So you look about the same height and build as me, so what did you think of the OTSR restraints on Maverick? Especially in the corkscrews and s-curve. I ask because I find the similar restraints on Stormrunner to be somewhat uncomfortable.
-TwiSter
1. Dont put your hands up, this makes you shoulders hurt.
2. Do not "brace" your head by moving it to a side as you enter a turn/inversion. If you just relax, enjoy and keep your head up straight you will not have any problems, if you move your head, it will cause some "neck snapage" that might leave your neck a little sore.
I think that the people who have complained about Maverick being "rough" did either of these two things, which we enthusiasts are usually pre programed to do by this point, as hard as it may be just relax and enjoy the ride and you will not have any problems.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
My first ride was probably the worst of the 4 because I was bracing myself way to much and kinda didn't know how to handle the ride because everything we happening so quickly. For me one of the more uncomfortable moments of the ride, I found were right at the end of the S-Curve heading back over the launch tunnel. I did notice monday morning I had a bruise on my uper right inside shoulder from whaling my hands up in the air. But in the end I'm the kind of rider that won't complain a whole lot about rough rides or this or that at least compared to others. I'll go on any ride through and through with a smile on my face.
Unless its Predator at Darien Lake, haha.
You must be logged in to post