I made my second trip to CP last weekend with my wife, my sister and my new brother-in-law. It was my second trip to the Point in two months and we had a good time.

We live in SW MO so the trek to OH is quite the journey. We woke up on Friday to the sound of rain. I am not a morning person, but knowing that I will be at CP by 6:00 that day, I happily jumped out of bed at 4:00am! We drove through the rain to St. Louis to catch a 10:00 plane to Detroit. We then fly through the rain to Detroit where we rent a car and drive through some more rain to Sandusky. We stayed at the Breakers Express and purchased the Halloweekends package, which included our hotel room for 3 nights, 8 tix for Fri night and 4 tix for Sat (We had two rooms so it was actually 4 tix per room for Fri. and 2 tix per room for Sat.) Still, a good value. At the hotel I took a nap in hopes that the rain would stop when I woke up. I got up a little before 7:00pm and it was still raining, but we decided to go to CP anyway. We drive up the causeway to CP and are so excited. The park is open to midnight and our plan is to buy ponchos and wait out the rain in hopes that it will stop before closing. There is NO ONE there! The place is EMPTY! We go to the turnstiles and give the man our tix.

Since two of the haunted houses are near the front, we do those two 1st. Our 1st stop is the Toxic Tunnel of Terror, which is at the very front of the park on the Raptor side. Of course there is no wait and our group of 4 goes in at once. The monsters inside were pretty good. I was surprised a few times. The highlight of the house was a room that was painted entirely black and had small dots painted all over the walls that glowed under the black light. What made the room cool was that you walked on a stationery bridge while the walls spun around you. It was very disorienting and was the best part of the house.

The 2nd haunted house was at DT and was called the Pharos’s Something. I don't remember. Anyway, you can buy 3D glasses for a buck at the beginning of this queue. There was no wait once again and it was just our group of four. This house was AWESOME! The walls are painted with 3D paint and it is amazing. It looks like you can reach out through the walls. You spend so much time looking at the paintings that you forget the monsters. Lots of surprises in this one! No spinning bridges though!

There were no rides to be had on Raptor or DT. Cedar Downs was going, but I couldn't talk anyone in to riding it. My wife and I like to ride and wager on whose horse is going to win. It usually ends in an argument, but a fun one!

We skip the downs and head to Power Tower on which we see some cars going up and down. It has been raining the whole time and we are getting wet. Not only is it raining, it is pretty cold! We choose the down side per my persuading and it is great. There was only a small wait for the car to finish its current ride. My Sis and her hubby loved the ride. It was fun to listen to the newbies on their first CP ride. We rode again on the up side and had another good ride. Of course no wait because there wasn't anyone there. Only a handful of crazies including us!!

While on PT, we see a train on Iron Dragon so we head that way. My wife and I choose the first seat and there is a wait of only one train. They were running two trains so the wait was nil on this ride as well. I had a small conversation with a little boy who was getting out of the seat I was about to take. He told me he didn't scream at all and that the hail really hurt! That was nice, but it was just raining... no hail. I just marked him off as a stupid little boy and we climbed the lift hill. I remembered my first ride on MF. It was in a light rain. It was my first trip to CP and we had to buy ponchos then b/c of the rain. The ride was great except the rain felt like straight pins stabbing your face over and over. I had my hands up until my face hurt, then I would cover my face with my hands until they hurt. It was that repetition over and over until the ride was over. I thought that a little rain couldn't hurt on ID.

I was the stupid one! We roll down the first hill and the rain is hitting our faces and it does feel like hail! That little boy was quite right in his forecast. The rain sucked! Not only were we pelted, we were soaked by the time we were off of the ride!

We walked around by MF so Sis could get a good look at it. Then we walked through the Fright Zone, which was dark and empty. (The fright zone is in the little frontier land area.) There is a sign that says the Fright Zone is not for little ones, which confused us since it is nothing special at all. It is just very dark and empty. The next night, we walked back through the Fright Zone and found out what it really was. There were people everywhere. This section of the path was packed with guests. In the middle of the crowds were monsters. You couldn't see them because it was dark and they blend in really well. Then they jump out at people and scare them. What a riot! I love watching the stupid little kids scream and holler! I hope they have nightmares. It is theme park payback for having to put up with them in the queues and on rides. I was tempted to scare a few myself, but I held it in and took my enjoyment in watching the scared youth!

The third haunted house was Undertaker U. On our way there we heard an announcement over the parks PA, but we couldn't hear it. When we get the house, the attendant tells us that they are closing at 9:00 instead of 12:00! What a bummer. All of this travelling for only an hour and a half of CP, a couple rides on PT and a painful ID? Oh well. The third house was pretty much like the other two. Nothing really special except another spinning bridge.

We took in a couple more rides on PT and headed back to the hotel. We were soaked to the core, but we did have a fun 90 minutes!

Sat. was much better. It was sunny and all the rain had dried! The temp was in the 40s and it was windy. Nice and cold just the way I like it! We met up with a friend this day, which made our quartet a quintet.

There were a lot of breakdowns. Raptor was down all morning long and it didn't open until late afternoon. While we heading to MF, Mantis broke down and everyone left the line. A short while after that, while we were in line for MF, a train was stuck on the lift hill of ID. The ID train was not stuck for long and Mantis opened later that day as well.

Millennium Force
The longest we waited all day was an hour at the maxim. We rode it four times. Two during the day and two at night. Riding this sucker at night is the best. It is so smooth!

Mantis
It is a good stand up. I prefer Riddler's Revenge at SFMM. That is significant since that is the only thing I prefer at SFMM. I will not get into that since that is meant for another post.

Raptor
We were finishing up Blue Streak when Raptor opened. We ran off of the ride and ran over to Raptor like, I hate to say it, stupid little kids! There was no wait for Raptor and it was smooth as silk.

Magnum
This ride was fairly bumpy compared to other times I had been on it. It is great that you are actually on the beach for half of this ride. There is no better theming than to be on a coaster maybe 20 feet away from the waves slapping the shore. Sis and her hubby were not thrilled with Magnum and they wouldn't let me re-ride.

Gemini
This is probably one of my least favorite CP rides. It isn't that bad until the final whiplash spiral. They need to modify that a bit.

Mean Streak
This is my second favorite ride at CP, but only under certain conditions. It has to be night, it has to be cold and I have to be in the front seat. Under those conditions, this coaster is amazing. Sure there are breaks and you get all shook up, but I could ride it all night long. I love the sound of the train as it screeches around the curves. I love cold wind at my face. It is great. Unfortunately, several people in my group suffer from pussitis and all that Mean Streak gave to them was a headache so I only got one ride.

Corkscrew
We had to ride this ride so Sis and hubby could say they rode all of the rides at CP. Enough said.

Disaster Transport
We rode in the front seat. As I type this, I realize that I wasn't a very good host as Dana and I rode in the front on almost every ride and Sis and hubby got stuck somewhere else! Oops!Anyway, I really like DT. The front is much better than anywhere else is. You go up the lift, then down the first hill. You then get an out of control feeling for a second and then the ride is over! The ride could be lengthened to make this ride great. It is over way too soon.

Wildcat
I rode this for only my second time. I was very surprised that both my wife's and my fat butt fit in the car! With room to spare! This is a classic. Without Wildcat, there would be no MF or Raptor or Mantis...

We skipped Iron Dragon that day and we also skipped the Mine Ride. If anything should be replaced, it is the mine ride. I do not ride spin and spews. It is a big no- no with me. As I began to "fill-out" (that is how my Grandma puts it), my stomach has become more sensitive to those types of rides. I was convinced however to ride Chaos. This is a spin and spew that is similar to an Enterprise in RCT. There is this big circle on an arm. You sit in groups of twos around the outside of the circle and you face outwards. The ride spins around in circles and the arm lifts off of the ground. I don't think you ever get perpendicular to the ground. As the arm raises and you spin more and more, you can rock your chairs back and forth until you flip over like a somersault! I really liked this ride! I wasn't even sick!

We had an awesome trip! I can't wait to go back next year!

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