So, I'd been wanting to go to Cedar Point for six - SIX! - years. Some friends of my family recently moved to Ohio, outside of Cleveland, so my friend Josh had this brilliant idea that I could come out to visit them and we could go to the park together. YES!!!
So, we left the house around 8:45 which landed us at the park 15 minutes after opening. We paid to park and went on in.
(BTW, I'll be comparing SFGAm and CP a LOT, so bear with me.
)At first, I was so overwhelmed by everything. I couldn't believe I was finally there! Josh wanted to hit Raptor but I have a tendency to black out on inversions, so I wanted to warm up to the bigger rides. But as we were passing Mantis, the line was non-existent and it didn't look too intense so we got on, 2 minute wait, 3rd (or 2nd?) row. It was fun!! Totally better than Iron Wolf, of course. I did black out on almost every inversion, though, and it did hurt *down there.* I shouted to Josh that I was glad I'm not a guy.
We passed Millenium Force, which looked like it had a good 2 hour wait, but I just wasn't ready to tackle it yet. Skyhawk looked pretty neat on the website and as we passed it we saw that again, the line was non-existent. Josh hadn't been on it yet, (he's been to the park a couple of times and knows his way around, so that was nice) so we tried it out and I had a blast! Not extremely thrilling, just a really great time, and a perfect warm-up ride. We decided to go again on the other side - I liked looking upside-down at MF when we swung all the way up.
I was ready for Maverick, but Josh convinced me that the 2 hour line would die down later in the day, so we headed for Gemini as I wanted to try at least one woodie at the park. We waited about half an hour and went second to back. Loved it! Wasn't a huge fan of the steel track, though - why make a woodie not FEEL like a woodie?? Oh well. Good drops and airtime, especially on the bunny hills on the way back. I still like our woodie racer better, but I did prefer Gemini's racing aspect to the Eagle. The ride ops made an effort to have almost every train race, and the riders were much more competitive. It made the ride that much more fun.
I wanted to go to Magnum next, since I'd heard from a number of people on here how underrated it was and wanted to check it out. It was closed, sadly. So was Dragster, which was the one ride at CP that Josh chickened out on. I swore to him that I'd make him go on it but so far, it looked like it wasn't happening.
So next, we headed to Windseeker. This seemed like such a weird ride to me. It's not super thrilling, and yet it's freaking HIGH! It wouldn't appeal to kids but isn't super thrilling for a coaster lover either. Just...different. I don't know. We waited about 20 minutes for that. I liked it! It was fun going next to the lake and being able to see far off without a humungous drop looming ahead.
It seemed sort of wrong that we'd circled the entire park without going on any major rides yet, so we decided to brave the line for MF, and but got lunch right beforehand at Dragon's Inn. We had bought meal vouchers online and got the $5 unlimited drink band. Not too bad of a price, and the meal was decent. But then again, nothing ever tastes that good to me when I'm at an amusement park. I have no idea why, but I eat practically nothing whenever I'm at SFGAm or anywhere similiar. I managed to eat 1 chicken strip and a few fries and let Josh have the rest.
Alright so, don't get me wrong here. We went to the restroom RIGHT before getting in MF's line, and all I had to drink was half a bottle of water. For the first hour of the line, I felt pretty awful. I was hot, dehydrated and tired. Fortunately, I started to feel better, but then I had to go to the bathroom like nobody's business. We still had an hour and had already waited an hour and I didn't want to go anywhere, but it was clear that this wasn't a good situation. Again, please don't get me wrong, because I know it's wrong to leave the line and come back and I completely agree. But I'd waited 6 years for this! Finally, I saw a ride op at the station after almost an hour of this and begged him to let go and come back. He was nice about it, but firm and said no. At this point, I was shaking and my abs hurt from holding it in (TMI? Sorry...) and finally, the ride op looked over and saw I was clearly in distress, motioned for me to come over, smiled and said "quickly."
I could've kissed him right then and there.
Don't judge me!! It was a one-time situation. I really don't condone it at all. I went back in the line where I had been before, not where I would've been, so I didn't line jump. I still felt some guilt, though. But finally, the wait was over and I'll admit I was pretty dang nervous. I LOVE that the lift hill is fast because it makes it so much less nervewracking.
So, we went over the crest and I closed my eyes and it was INCREDIBLE!! Best drop I've ever been on, period. I felt like I was going to hammer into the ground. It's only 100 feet taller than RB, but it felt way longer! So, I've heard people say how boring the second half of the ride is. I didn't find it to be super thrilling, but still a ton of fun and the adrenaline from the first drop made it seem all the more intense. It became my favorite roller coaster at that point.
After MF we realized how cautious we needed to be with water intake, bathroom breaks and long lines. I've never been to SFGAm with such long lines so this was new. As we were going up the lift, we felt little raindrops and the weather had predicted a thunderstorm possibly in the later afternoon. I felt a little dread and regretted all the "warming up" I'd done earlier. We headed to Maverick, closed. Magnum, closed. There was a small line building outside of it though, so I thought why not? The rain will stop eventually and then we'll be the first ones on! 45 minutes came and went and Josh kept wanting to leave the line and look for something else, but I convinced him that all the other rides were closed anyway and Magnum would open up when they did. So we waited, and I felt horrible for Arik (the really awesome Polish ride op with the fantastic accent outside of the line) who had to deal with 50+ people asking "why is this closed?" "when will it be open?" "is it because of the rain?" The rain. I don't know. YES. It got annoying even to listen to.
But then, Arik answered the ringing ride op phone, turned to the gate, and opened it! We cheered and ran straight to front row and waited 4 cycles, with only one train (understandably). The ride was fun! I guess I'd say it is underrated, but probably more so because it's under so many big shadows. The roughness made the ride more fun, actually, and the bunny hills coming back (especially that last one in the tunnel!) were great! Worth the wait, and I was glad we stuck it out in the rain. All the other rides were slowly opening up now, and that was encouraging.
We intended to go on Raptor next, but I saw MaxAir and wanted to try it out. Half hour wait, and it wasn't quite worth it, but still fun. As big as it is compared to our Huss, I much prefer Revolution. At this point, it was getting kind of chilly, so we headed back to the car to grab our hoodies. Oh my gosh, we couldn't find the stupid thing. I was an idiot for not remembering the number on the pole, it's just that I was too excited to get into the park to pay attention.
It ended up taking 20 precious line waiting/riding times. Oh well, my mistake.It was starting to get a little late at that point, and I knew our time was limited and I so desperately wanted to make it onto the big three. We already had MF but Dragster had been closed all stinking day and I was really starting to lose hope. Maverick it was. After circling the park twice, our feet were starting to hurt so we took the train. After getting in the line, we remembered that we'd wanted to get some Chick-Fil-A (I'd never tried it before but had always wanted to) so we had dinner in line to save a little time. It turned out to be a good decision. Now, as we were in line, I looked over and guess what I saw? Dragster's car running with a bunch of hands sticking out. FINALLY! We still had a good hour for the rest of the line, but kept our hopes up that it'd stay open. The line took an hour and a half and we went in the middle.
Holy cow, what a GREAT ride! Totally better than it looks. Smooth, yet intense, thrilling, but not rough. The launch in the pitch black tunnel - um, wow. I felt like I was in some space movie. Loved the wild west theme, the "bucking horse" nature of the ride, and the awesome little bunny hills dotted around. Excellent ride.
We got off and Dragster? As dead as before. It was 8:30 and we were getting tired. Josh suggested we get a night ride on Windseeker, get some hot cocoa and leave. We were walking past Dragster..dejectedly...with a bunch of other hopeful riders around us. Then, I heard it..."vroooom....vroooooooooom....." and a train full of screaming people raced by. The entire group of people, including me and Josh, SHRIEKED and raced for the line. Oh, of course, my purse had to go in the locker, what a time waster, but I should've known better anyway. We got in line and were shocked to see at least an hour's worth of line. People were seriously desperate for this! I loved it, though. Totally pumped me up.
So, fast forward almost two hours later, and Josh and I are literally NEXT in line. Then, they took the other trains back slowly and announced the ride was down. Oh. my. gosh. It was almost 11:00 at this point, an hour past closing time. We had a 1.5 hour drive back but I didn't freaking care. 20 minutes later and that waiting paid off. They were GONE! And we were next. In all honesty, I was terrified. (So was Josh - he'd never been and chickened out before on this!) This was more than TWICE the size of any ride I'd ever been on.
Best, ride, ever. The launch was incredible, like just incredible. I felt like I was being blown off the face of the planet. Then you're looking at the night sky, and then you're being whipped over, then you're plummeting downward, spinning, and then - it's over. What a freaking rush!
The day ended with a shirt from the gift shop and some hot cocoa at the McD's outside of the park. It was definitely one of the best days I've ever had and as soon as I can get back to the park, I will!
Ride count:
Mantis - 1
Skyhawk - 2
Gemini - 1
Windseeker - 1
Millenium Force - 1
Magnum - 1
MaxAir - 1
Maverick - 1
Top Thrill Dragster - 1
Cedar Point Pros:
-Friendly service for the most part.
-Decent food.
-The "Wild West Town" was gorgeous.
-The park handled the crowds well without too much chaos.
-I LOVED the locking cubbies for all of the coasters except MF and TTD. It's hard for a girl like me to not have a bag in the park and I felt so much better about leaving it.
Cedar Point Cons:
-Ride ops weren't as fun (making jokes, rhymes, etc.) like they are at SFGAm.
-The amount of obscene/revealing clothes people had without any accountability from the family-friendly park. Call me traditional or whatever, but... There were two girls wearing bras and booty shorts in the MF line, a guy wearing a shirt saying "High As F***" in the TTD line, and more. If I was a parent I wouldn't want my kids seeing that; heck, I don't like seeing that. :/
-The ride breakdowns. The rides I saw closed were Mean Streak, Dragster, and Magnum, all from opening until the rain (around 3:30) and for some time after that (except Magnum of course). Oh well, Mean Streak is known for being terrible, right?
