Ohio Labor Day Weekend - Part 1 - CP

Me and the sig other, Shannon, decided to head out to Ohio for Labor Day weekend and get away from the pressures of work and general life. Shannon isn't much of a roller coaster person but still loves going to parks. She especially loves Cedar Point. Anyways, after having terrible experiences at all the hotels we stayed at in Sandusky, we decided to try one of the Cedar Point resorts. We chose Breakers Express, well, because it was cheapest. We flew out to Cleveland on Friday morning and rented a car for the short drive to the Point. Now, a lot of people are probably asking, why fly when it's only an eight hour drive from Wisconsin. Number one, I didnt want to deal with Chicago traffic on Labor Day weekend with all the friggen construction going on down there. The other reason was, that through her cousin, who works for Midwest Connect, we got our airfare for 40 bucks for the both of us, round trip. Throw in a rental and we were paying about the same amount for gas, tolls, and the extra aggrivation of driving all the way.

Anyways, our original intent was to do CP for a couple days, drive out to Kennywood one day (seeing we weren't making the long drive, we figured a three hour drive wouldn't have been too bad) and doing Geauga Lake before heading home on Monday. Things didnt work out quite like that, however. Friday and Saturday were spent at the Point like planned. Problem was that we were too wiped out after Saturday to think about waking up super early and driving out to Pittsburgh. We ended up driving to Geauga Lake instead and doing a half day at Cedar Point on Labor Day before heading out to the airport.

Anyways, I was really put off with the fact that I had to go to Guest Services in order to use my season pass from Valleyfair. That was until I actually did it. First of all, they just write your number down on the pass and let you right into the park from the office. No waiting in line with everyone else. All three times we did it we were right in the park. In fact, on the two days we did early entry, we were among the very first in the park. The other nice thing was it was right next to the hotel reservations office, which on a whim I visited on Friday, seeing if I could check in to my hotel room from there. Not only could I do that, but I got to check in earlier than the three o-clock I was advised by the hotel when I made my reservation. I got my room key, got my early entry card, and everything else settled before walking into the park. Totally awesome.

Anyways, other than that, we had great customer service throughout our CP visit. There are some complaints I have about carry on policies, but I will go over those in the Geauga Lake trip report section, even though many of the comments have to do with CP too.

Crowds were very thin the entire trip. Even on Saturday, which you would expect to be a bad day to visit, the park was relatively dead. The longest I waited for anything on the entire trip was one hour and that was for Millenium Force on Friday and for Dragster on Saturday. Other than that, most everything was a walk on all three days of our visit. If you have to visit Cedar Point on a weekend like we did (my work schedule isn't really allowing me to take extended weeklong vacations right now), then Labor Day weekend might be your best bet. We had beautiful weather the entire time, yet the park was still dead.

Anyways, enough of the non-ride details. Here are some of the ride details and other observations...

Millenium Force: gets better every time I visit the park. I visited once in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Had some nice ejector pops sitting in the second row of the front car. While I don't know if it's number one coaster material like the Golden Tix folks would have you believe, I think it's definately top five in my book. Lots of fun, except for getting into the ride if you are my size. ;)

Dragster: Got three rides on it, once every day we were there. The first time was outstanding. I was literally shaking with fear as I boarded the train. The adrenaline high afterwards lasted for nearly two hours. Subsequent rides, however, didn't give me an adrenaline high. I already knew what to expect, and knew that it wasn't as scary as it looks. Because of that, I think the ride is fun, but it's essentially a one trick pony. Launch-tophat-brakes is good for a quick thrill, but it needs more. It should be interesting to see how this ride stands the test of time, especially with rocket coasters being built with more interesting layouts, ala Hershey Park.

Magnum: After my 2002 visit, I was praising Magnum to the highest. The coaster had awesome airtime and a fun ride. This time I found Magnum to be extremely rough. The airtime was still there but it was extremely painful airtime. The pretzel turnaround was painful all around. I got three rides in on this beast this time around and was thoroughly disappointed. Definately not my idea of a number three steel coaster in the world.

Wicked Twister: For those of you that have followed my Wicked Twister diets, I made it! I barely fit in, however, and thats after fitting comfortably on V2 at Great America with a lot of slack left over. The ride was well worth the diet. I am now torn as to whether the holding brake or the screw in the rear is better. For me, I guess it's a tie. I know that Wicked Twister is taller than V2, but it really SEEMS higher too, even though they don't launch the trains that high on the spikes.

Raptor: Got several rides on Raptor. This was one of the few coasters that Shannon did ride. She doesn't like huge drops so she wouldn't ride Magnum or even Gemini, but she happily got on Raptor. Go figure. I'll never figure her out. Anyways, I always forget how wonderful this ride is. I got to the point that I was really loving Batman: The Ride at Great America and thinking that it was better than Raptor. One ride on Raptor and my mindset was again changed. Brakes on midcourse were practically off, something I dont remember from previous rides. Those last helixes were very intense. This is now Shannon's favorite coaster, replacing, of all things, Draggin Iron.

Iron Dragon: Got quite a few rides on this to humor Shannon. We both hate the new paint scheme. The ride seemed rougher to me this year. Maybe it's just the fact that I want to hate the ride so bad.

Wildcat: Another crappy paint scheme. Definately a fun ride though. Anton really makes a classic. Kicking myself for not riding it in 2002.

Mantis: Skipped in 2002. Should have skipped in 2004. God, I hate standups.

Blue Streak: This was another coaster I came back from 2002's trip praising. The airtime that year was just sweet. It's still there, except only on the first half. It's completely gone on the second half with strong braking on the turnaround. Boo hiss. Shannon rode this and hated it. She said the drop was too big. Go figure.

Corkscrew: Shannon loved Corkscrew at Valleyfair! but this one was way too rough for her tastes. After both of us leaving with headaches, we both vowed never to ride it again.

Disaster Transport: Rode for Shannon's sake. It was okay. Nothing great. Definately better than Corkscrew. :)

Mean Streak: Another ride I skipped in 2002. I remember this coaster being unbearably rough. Instead, I found it to be one of the smoothest woodies I have ever ridden. Granted, the over braking on this ride kills any excitement, but it isn't rough. I actually found the ride to be fun, even if it lacked airtime. Enough fun that I actually rode Mean Streak several times during the trip.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride: Another coaster I rode with Shannon to keep her happy. We both got off and vowed never to ride again. Once again, too rough.

Gemini: One of my favorites from my last visit, wasn't as fun this time around because there wasnt enough people to fill up the trains so hand slapping in the turns wasn't happening. Oh well.

Woodstock Express: Haven't ridden before because there was always long lines for it and I didn't want to deny a kid a ride on it just to whore a credit. No line, whored my credit.

Power Tower: Just got into drop rides last year, so this was my first time riding it. I only managed to do Space Shot, don't ask me why I never did Power Drop. Anyways, I have ridden the Power Tower at VF and the Space Shot on this blows away VF's. A lot more pop of airtime at the top. Lots of fun.

Giant Ferris Wheel: Not exactly sure of the name. One of Shannon's favorite rides. I'm absolutely terrified of ferris wheels and this thing is the absolute summary of all those fears. This is one big mutha. Ended up hanging on for dear life the entire time while Shannon is laughing at me and my antics.

CP&LE Train: Believe it or not, never rode the train at CP. Took it several times during the trip and found it quite enjoyable. The no photography thing was kind of annoying, though, as it has some great views of Millenium Force.

Johnny Rockets: Haven't eaten at Rockets on previous visits. It's an oversight that won't happen again. Shannon is really into 50's and 60's music. She was in her glory. The dancing by the waiters and waitresses was awesome. Employees were all super friendly. Had two of them come up to me and talk about my Xcelerator shirt I was wearing. Really had a great time.

Anyways, thats about it. Next will be a trip report on Geauga Lake.