The 60 Minute Corkscrew and Castaway Bay Sept 16-18

Arrived Friday night, checking in to Castaway Bay. This is my first time staying there, and it was pretty decent. We first went to the waterpark for about an hour, hitting the wave pool, the water coaster, and the hot tub. Then we hit Cedar Point for the final 2 hours.

Club Blood and Fear Faire, no wait, decent. 7/10. Raptor was a walk on for last row 8/10. Windseeker was a walk on. I must admit, its pretty high. I see a big future in sales of clean boxer shorts at the exit line. This ride looks amazing with the LED package. I love the barnstormer tune they played rising in the air. But, the ride is somewhat boring. Lots of noises like a Huss Condor rising and looking straight down is just crazy. However, its not a 'must do' if the wait is long. 7/10. I am wondering if the Space Spiral was really closed down, or what?

The best walk through was the Eerie Estate. 10/10. M-Force, 5 train wait, running 3 trains. 9/10. It just took time to get to the station. Had a Pink's hot dog, and called it a night after a 9hr drive.

After the Castaway Buffet, entered the park early. They had a packed midway waiting behind the ropes. I guess the hotel gig was worth it. Made my way back to Maverick, replacing WWL, where I worked 21 years ago. Not worth the replacment. it still took 25 min to load, the longest of the day. Its a fun and long ride, but those check brakes are putting a hurting on the trains, and making some rough spots for riders. 7/10.

After a full circuit train ride, off to the Mine Ride. Always nice for families. I love how they kept this ride as-is, not building a hyper coaster overtop. Its still on unspolied land. 8/10. Then to Gemini, one of my favorites. Only the Blue side was running. Not sure why. 8/10. Between the train ride and Gemini, everything fell apart, so to say. Maverick broke down, Mean Streak was closed, an MF went to one train.

After Gemini, Mean Streak re-opened, and it was a 2 train wait. There are some heavy pot holes on the second drop, and the coaster needs work, but the ride wasn't as bad as expected. 7.5/10. By then, Maverick re-opened, and MF was now full tilt. Had some cheese on a stick, 9/10, and we made our way up front. Magnum was half Q, and about 25 minutes, but it ran like 1990 time. I was able to get the second row, 10/10. Intense, and ran like new.

We took a break, and headed back to Castaway Bay. The night before, I was able to park in the front row. By now, they had a full lot and a full park. Did all the slides, the water coaster again, and more hot tub time, and dinner at Fridays. I like the waterpark, and its great for younger kids, especially the wave pool. If I came back in the winter, I would try Khalahari or Great Wolf with my peeps. Castaway Bay gets a 7.5/10. Good stuff, decent food, its a tight place.

Back to the Point. We hit the Skyway, Cedar Downs, Cadillac Cars, and Antique Cars. I skipped the Corkscrew, as it had a 60 minutes wait. As for the haunts, we did them all. Happy Jack's a good place to go as the sun sets, and it had those life sized prizes chasing people, and the peeing babies. We did hit Disaster Transport after, 7/10. Then to CarnEvil, Terror Island, and the new scare, Blood on the Bayou. Thats quite a walk over the lagoon on the service roads, and pretty long. Combined, 9/10.

Back to Eternity Infirmary, and Cornstalkers. They both had some lines, and Cornstalkers was sort of short. Combined, 7/10. Walked back up front through Screamworks, 7/10, and onto Iron Dragon. 2 train wait. 7/10. I miss the Big Bad Wolf. Finished the night with a ride on the Blue Streak in the last seat. 9/10.

So it was a total 1,100 mile round trip, and my first visit since 2005. Well worth the drive, with great weather. 10 coasters, 5 rides, 10 haunts, and the waterpark. Overall trip, 9/10. Get to the Point!

I can't believe someone would drive 1100 miles round trip for a weekend trip. I'm sitting here at Breakers Express on a Sat. morning after a late check in on Friday night, 11:00 pm. My round trip will only be 825 miles AND we'll only have today and several hours on Sunday.

With only one night at the park I'm sure we'll have to pick and choose which haunted attractions to see. Your post was certainly most helpful, I'll have to make sure the rest of my party reads it so we can make some informed choices.

This is about my 7th trip out here from Central Pa. and always at Halloweekends but it's been several years. I don't see the Tell Tale Heart show on the brochure and that's disappointing. The first time we saw that was with a small, intimate group in the glass blowers building and the way the actor make eye contact with everyone was very disconcerting. Made sure to see it every time we came.

It was calling for rain this weekend but looks like it will be beautiful. Hope we can get some ride waits like you had. Thanks for the report.

Yeah, it wasn't easy at times. My park is open for Halloween this year, so we are rotating weekends off now. I had Friday and Sunday off, so I had the driving time to spare this time. Plus, they had a great package at Castaway Bay, and I haven't spent any real time at an indoor waterpark.

I wanted to see the haunts, and my timing paid off somehow. I skipped TTD, Mantis, WT, and few others, as I have ridden them before. 5pm, houses open. 8pm, outdoor haunts open. Gotta be there before the lines start massing.

Well we had beautiful weather this past weekend and as we left the park Sat. around 10 pm the parking lot was still full almost the whole way. I would imagine if it wasn't for the Halloween attractions that the ride waits would be brutal. Overall it wasn't too bad. We got 5 haunts in Sat. and after rereading your report made sure we hit Erie Estate on the way out Sunday.

Stayed on site so we could do early entry and that brisk walk to the back to Maverick is more like a workout. Too bad they didn't station someone around MF to tell you there is no need to walk back any further since Maverick is down. We didn't get all the way back there as we asked the guests coming back if Maverick was open and they responded in the negative.

We did get Maverick first thing Sunday morning and we really enjoyed it. I never really knew what to expect of it but it was fun. That second launch is really sweet. My nephew & I walked right around to get back on and as we walked right up to the gates waiting for the train that was loaded to leave they announced a problem and were having the guests on the train exit. We bolted so we could get over to MF before early entry was over. And then the kids took their first ever stand up coaster ride, on Mantis. Ouch & bad idea were the general comments. I told them I'm not a huge fan, just always seemed gimmicky to me. There not even making stand ups anymore are they?

The four of us had done BGW Hall-O-Scream 2 yrs. ago and as nice as it was we all felt the haunts are better at CP. We had a great time.