CP Virgin!

Hello,

I’m from the UK and myself, my wife and two friends are off to Cedar Point for the week commencing 24/5. I’ve never been before and being a coaster nut this place to me is like the Holy Grail. I know all the rides there so I’ve got a good idea what to expect. But will it be warm? Weather looks quite good for that time of year and what will the queues be like, impossible to tell I know, but I’m thinking that the first weekend we arrive will be Memorial Weekend, however according to the CP website it isn’t necessarily the case?

Also, we are staying at the Breakers Express hotel (on a budget), I can’t get much info on the place, it looks OK, and I’ve heard it has a nice pool and whirlpool area, any info?

Finally, what’s the general area like, any nice bars/restaurants to recommend of an evening? Put in Bay looks nice, anyone been there?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Best wishes

Miles

Miles,

I know you and your wife and friends will be delightfully overwhelmed, especially once you drive onto the causeway the first time. :-) I would highly recommend you get to Dragster as soon as possible since the lines obviously get to be a 2-3 hour wait pretty quickly. I am not sure if Memorial Day weekend will be crowded or not, but you can expect crowds in any case. The weather should be very warm this time of year, even though the winds coming off of Lake Erie will seem very chilly, especially at evening.

Breakers Express is a great choice. I have never stayed there myself but I have heard nothing but positive reviews about it.

Sandusky has about any restuarant imaginable, however I am not too familiar with the "nightlife" in the area. Personally I would recommend Dominic's by Breakers. Friday's is always a good place to hang. Off the property I would recommend the Steak N Shake.....just something about them I love. :-)A quick search of Sandusky, Put In Bay, and Port Clinton, among other, will give you some ideas. A good place to start would be www.buckeyenorth.com. You may also want to check out the Merry-Go-Round museum, just down the road from CP........pretty cool!

If you have time, you may want to visit Cleveland (and stop by SFWOA and the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, if you are into that).

Hope this helps! Have fun. :-)

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Feel The DragsterGasm....
www.intenserides.com

Thanks Coasterqueen, very useful information. I am beyond excited about going, it's a dream come true!

Best wishes

Miles

Also, once you'rew in the park, can you leave as many times as you like, I mean can you go out of the park for lunch (I've heard that the CP restaurants are a bit of a rip off) and come back again, or pop back to the hotel for a shower or a little sleep?

We're staying at Breakers Express, I understand you cannot walk to CP from there, so we'll have to drive. Is is cheaper to get a taxi, there will be 4 of us?

Thanks

Miles

You can exit the park and re-enter as many times as you like during the day. You just need to get your hand stamped as you leave. Not sure how parking works. Some parks only let you park, leave and come back once per day.......

Eric
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"I'm hoping to see if any dead people will be my friends." - SS

Thanks Eric

Miles

Eric's right. CP lets you leave the lot once. They take a stub off of your daily parking pass as you leave.

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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

Can you walk from CP to any of the restaurants off site, or is it a drive?

You are not allowed to walk along the causeway that connects CP to the "mainland". So, no, you cannot.

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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

The restaurant thing can be "not unreasonable". Midway market has an all you can eat buffet; pricing has been $10 lunch/$13 dinner, though that may change as the season winds up. Better food than most other places in the park, and plenty of it. If you plan to hit that in mid-afternoon (between the lunch and dinner rushes) you can probably get by with just that, eating breakfast before you come to the park, and dinner after you leave.

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http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/

Thanks everyone.

Miles

I've stayed at Breakers Express on three occasions...each time it's been a nice experience. Quality-wise it's about on-par with a Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express.

mOOSH

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"I don't like poop singers." Peabody, discussing American Idol.

..........AND if you want, you can join us for our first day of CCC on Tuesday, that is, if you want to ride Dragster first thing in the morning. ;) I will be staying at Breakers Express as well on Monday night. Feel free to drop me an e-mail.
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Holy crapola! Sony might be the ultimate destination!

miles your not the only one going to cp for the first time. me and my fiancee is honeymooning their aug 17 to 23. and i dont know what to expect.i went to kings island before. i live in indiana. i go to sfgam ll the time.we are staying ateconamylodge. it has a kitchen.

Cedar Point also has a few nice restaurants on the peninsula that aren't in the park for example TGI Friday's is in the Breakers Hotel. Also there is the Bay Harbor Inn which is good and there is a restaurant in the Sandcastle Hotel.

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Mike
Favorite Wood: Viper at SFGAM,Shivering Timbers
Favorite Steel: Magnum and Raging Bull

Miles

If you have a car, spend the fifty dollars and buy a season parking pass

It is well worth it in that you can leave the lot and come back as many times as you want

We stayed at Breakers Express and it is well worth the money

miles,

i have visited cp during the 2000, 2001, and 2002 on memorial day sunday. every year park attendance has been fairly standard for the spring season when i have visited. not extra large crowds. pretty standard. mf was a 2 hour wait in the morning. raptor was an hour most of the day. magnum was 30-45 minutes. it was actually an extremely nice weekend to be there.

make sure to bring jackets and comfortable pants with you because often memorial day weekend is still very cold on the peninsula...one year actually in the 40-50's

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seek first to understand
then to be understood

Thanks everyone, really useful information.

I hope it's not too cold! I keep hearing mixed reports about the weather some say warm others say chilly, I guess it's all subjective/relative.

Full report on my return.

Miles

There is an old joke here in Nebraska where I am from about the weather

If you do not like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change. Ohio is much the same weather wise

I went to Cedar Point last year, and I must say it gets chilly. I went in the middle of July and again in September, both times at night it got cold due to the wind off the lake. Bring some comfortable clothes for sure!

If I was you, I would try hitting TTD and MF as soon as you can, because the lines fill up really quick.

The food at Cedar Point isn't really that overpriced. They have some good deals, you just can't jump at the first thing you find.

Good luck with the trip, and I hope your wife, you, and the two friends have the best of times at CP, America's Rockin Roller Coast! :)

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Addicted and I LOVE IT!