Cedar Point- The Return! (will be 3 posts long)

Sir Willow · #1 06-05-2002, 06:09 PM

This is park number 1 of 7 on my recent trip.
This is an abbreviated version of my report to my email list. Please read all 3 posts before replying. Oh, and if you don't want to read about the coasters, then at least catch the end of the report for the overall stuff. But CP worshipers, please read the whole thing first. thanks.

Wednesday, May 29th
Weather- partially cloudy for most of the day, though we did have a few brief showers. Nothing bad though.
Crowds- very light. Almost everything was a walk on.
Scoring- I'm going to use a 1-10 scale with 0's being really bad and negatives meaning "taer is down now!"

I arrived on a red eye flight at Cleveland at about 7am, where Brian picked me up from the airport. By the end of the day I had reached close to 40 hours without sleeping, but was still going strong, surprisingly enough.
we packed up and headed out to Sandusky, arriving shortly after the park was opened. Paid our $8 parking (not far off of Six Flags prices, and more than at some of them), flashed our passes at the gates and walked on in for my return to CP and see if it's really what people said it is and if they could make up for my "lovely experience" last October.

Our first stop was Wicked Twister where we took a couple of rides. This was my first impulse (S:UE would have been but I got bumped on my planned flight the night before) and it was a great, fun ride. Going up and looking down at the beach spinning below you was a neat sensation. However I do think that my lack of sleep affected me some as I didn't find it as thrilling as I thought I would, and actually felt like I enjoyed the straight climbs on the other 2 impulses that I rode later on in the trip. But based on how I was feeling at the time I rode it would get a score of around 7. Who knows, if a chance for a reride ever comes up that might climb, but for now...

From there we walked next door to Disaster Transport, which as luck would have it turned out to be coaster number 100 for me. Josh loaned me a pair of the 3d glasses that he had found, which did make the empty queue more interesting to see. We got up to the front and hoped right on to a sled waiting for us and took off for the trip. The glasses came off shortly after the first hill and I didn't' wear them the rest of the way, but they did make for some interesting visuals. I never did hear the "welcome to Alaska" spiel that is supposedly part of the ride, but it sure wouldn't have made sense as it feels much more like a space themed ride. In any case, CP obviously has some learning to do on how to theme a ride. DT is a moderately fun ride, but seemed very short. It also didn't seem to have the fun that I recall having on the other 2 bobsled rides I've been on. While it's not a bad ride by any means, I wouldn't call is a great one either, so it hit a nice solid 5.

We took a quick ride on the Schwabinchen (trabant) Corkscrew was next, and is a typical Arrow loopscrew with one loop. Short, to the point. There was a little banging, but not a lot, and nowhere near the complaints that I hear so many give (something I found true of almost every arrow on the trip, with one notable exception at PKI). But once again a middle of the roader- nothing bad, but nothing great either. So another 5. We then took a break at the troika (another of my favorite flats from when I was a kid) and headed to the next coaster.

Next up was the big mama Arrow, also known as Magnum, and that somehow made it's way on the Discovery top 10 (I don't know how except for the CP'ers that can't think). For all those with strong views about Maggie, I'm not in either camp- I neither hate it nor love it. You could tell that when it opened it was one awesome coaster. But you could also tell that it has deteriorated some (maybe it's due to that sinking. ;-) ) The airtime hills on the return run did hurt, but not as bad as some say. But the description of them being shaped like /\ /\ /\ is pretty appropriate. But once again Maggie managed to hit a solid 5 for me (anyone seeing a pattern here yet)

Next we popped our way over to Gemini, where they were only running one side all day. Being a racer, it would have been nice if they had been racing. Let's see, hows that line go- "If you're going to build a racing coaster Six Flags, then stinking race it!" Oh, whoops, wait. It's not Six Flags. My bad. :-)

Anyways, Gemini is a fun coaster with a couple of great drops mixed in with some very boring track moments that would be much more fun with a train next to you racing along. While I'm sure it would get higher ratings if it was racing, there was enough bumping and boredom to place Gemini with a solid... can you guess.... wait for it.... 5!

After this we took our break from Arrowdom with a quick trip on the woodstock express, a custom Vekoma roller skater that while longer still rides like a typical skater. A great ride for the kids, and one that my kids would love (you knew that was coming!) but for me gets a big fat 4.

Then it was back to Arrow once again for the Cedar Creek Mine ride. I didn't realize that it used to be blocked for 6 trains, but now only runs 3 (nudge), but it's pretty typical of an Arrow mine train. It delivered a performance pretty equal with that of it's counterpart in CA in terms of ride thrills, but without the landscaping you see around the hills of SFMM. And with a lot more trims. But once again CP pulled out all the stops and scored a 5.

However, after this it was finally time for CP to break out of it's scoring slump and we headed over to that bid pile of wood nearby known as Mean Squeak, er, Streak. MS was squeaking away real bad, and it's real obvious where it gets its nickname from. We hopped on and proceeded to head up the lift hill and started down it only to encounter a trim right on the drop. Now if you know me, trims on drops are one of my biggest beefs, and CP and Dorney are the only parks I've encountered that. Not a points winner in my book. We then proceeded to slam, bang, jackhammer, and squeak our way through the course and several more trims. When I say this coaster is a pile, I mean pretty much that. It scores a big 0 from me (for those interested, Psyclone out west is a -1, yes it was that close) Or in RRC terms, taer it down! ugggggg.

Part 2 on it's way

Sir Willow · #2 06-05-2002, 06:11 PM

At this point we were gettting pretty hungry, and I was hoping for something beside mediocrity, so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Looking at the map we decided to try Dastardly Dan's with it's BBQ ribs, chicken and Pulled Pork. Closed. Well, forget the pulled pork then. Instead we headed out to the Midway Market where we ate at the buffet for $10 each. With a big selection on the buffet (tacos, burgers, pasta, pizza, ice cream, CHEESECAKE, and a lot more, and all of it tasting good, I can say that it was definately in teh good park food category there. So score one for CP in the food department.

Next up was one of those coasters that everyone talks about- Raptor! We took a few rides on it, since the lines were low. Raptor has some great spots, with the drop off the midcourse being one of my favorites along with a great helix. But it has one major problem that just kills this ride- the snapping brake turn into the final breaks. If it didn't knock you out during the ride, it sure tries to physically knock you out here. It would be a great coaster without that neck snapping, head smashing moment. But because of it it drops down a bunch in my book. Additionally, even as good as the rest is, even if they fixed that spot I don't think I'd enjoy it as well at Batman: The Ride. Without that horrible brake it'd probably be an 8. With it I'm not sure whether to put it in the 4 or 5 range. To put it simply, that brake stunk.

So we decided to try to rest my head and hit up what may have actually turned out to be one of my favorite 2 coasters in the park: Blue Streak. We were Schmecking all over this John Allen coaster (meaning we rode in seat 1.3) and I absolutely loved all it's great moments of airtime, including a couple of great big shots on the return trip. We got in a bunch of rides here in two different shifts and I just loved this old piece of wood. Definately one of the highlights and one earning a 9.

From here we hit up Wildcat, which is a pretty typical model, running well, and fun, but with a hard shot in the brakes at the end. If they would extend the braking and let you get off in the same spot where you get on instead of having an "unload" area, it would probably help it a lot. But as it is, it scores a 4

Finally we made it around for the one that everyone talks about, and my 110'th coaster- Millenium Force. Throughout the day we managed to get 3 rides on MF, including one using their new Freeway system (which works exactly like Disney's Fastpass except that they stamp your hands instead of giving you a piece of paper). With 2 rides in back and one ride in the second row, I can say that MF is one great coaster. It's got a great pullover in the back that gives you a big pop coming down if you pull your feet up as you get to it, and after that it's all speed. In fact that's pretty much all that MF is, is speed. There's one little speedbump by the queue line that gives you a brief burst of air, but that's about all that it does. Ideally, being the airtime monger that I am, I would have liked a lot more air on it. Perhaps if they'd extended the end of the coaster enough to put in an airtime shot or two before the brakes? If you're looking to go fast, MF is your coaster, but if you're looking for something else, you probably won't find it here. As it is, it still gets a 9 just for being the awesome piece that it is. But in the grand scheme of things (since people will ask), I rate it about the same as Goliath since they are such different beats (Goliath is all about smooth G's as opposed to just being as fast as it can).

The last coaster we hit was one right accross the way- Mantis. My first problem here was with the operator who was busy gabbing away on his microphone (shut up already!). My normal routine on standups is to put my toes on the lip of the car so I have room to move without being emasculated. However that wasn't good for the op who had me move my feet back. Ok, not a problem and I stood up in a normal fashion for him. Not good enough. He wants my feet so far back that I'm falling forward and keeps waving at them (actually hitting my leg a couple of times) until I finally growl at him that if they go any further back I'm going to fall over. So then he pulls up on the seat. Great, thanks. Good think I already have kids. He was the only employee I had any problems with at all during the day though.

Anyways, back to the ride. Having now been on at least 6 stand up coasters, I can easily say that Mantis is far and away the worst of them. From the lousy trim on teh drop to headbanging that is far worse than any Arrow I've ever been on (shame B&M), Mantis is from begining to end one of the biggest piles I've ever been on. It easily earned the dubious -1 and falls pretty easily among the worst coasters I've ever riden. Just ask the sore head and neck I had afterwards. ouch.

We walked around some more, checked out the museum, and closed out the night with another ride on MF before heading out. We didn't ride Iron Dragon or Power Tower since I caught them on my last visit back in Oct. (don't leave, I'm not done yet. now comes the important part!)

Sir Willow · #3 06-05-2002, 06:15 PM

Last post of the three, and possibly the most important part:

OTHER THOUGHTS, CONCLUSIONS, ETC.

Things I liked:
The food. Chost (cheese on a stick) was good, well at least when it didn't take them 4 tries to cook it right. :-)
The park has a great selection of flat rides and things to see and do. Very easy to keep entertained.
PEPSI instead of that blasted coke-a-cola pop.
Clean park with efficient staff. They weren't the incredible outstanding people that some make them out to be, but there certainly wasn't anything wrong here either. Not outstanding in any way- good or bad- which is still good.

Things I didn't like:
That stupid op on Mantis.

The headsets that they've got someone yakking away into on almost every coaster. At first it was kinda neat to hear someone describing the coaster. But most of the time they're reciting facts that would fit just as well on a plaque somewhere, and they do it non-stop. I don't need to hear on every ride how they're going to "send you up to a height of ** then zooming down at a speed of ** while you experience a thrilling ** G's on your way thorugh a course that is ** feet long" Blah blah blah, non-stop. I honestly wondered if they could breathe. It would be ok I guess if they could show a little originality in what they said and maybe interact with people in line, but as it was it just got real old real stinking quick.

Speaking of interaction, do they really have to scream at the end of so many coasters, "how did you like your ride?" Especially the crappy ones. Yep, always nice to hear people get off of Magnum and respond with, "uggg, I didn't".

Oh, and Cedar Points peevishness with not crossing yellow lines, even where there are loading gates, was really kinda silly. Magnum has loading gates, but you can't cross the yellow line that's 3 feet behind the gate either. Isn't that a bit ridiculous?
Not a big beef, but I'm not to keen on how often they assign seats and don't let you line up for a specific seat other than the front and back. I understand that it helps keep the station from being congested, but I like feeling like I have a choice of seats, not that I'm being herded like cattle.

And since so many will want to know, how does it compare vs. SFMM?
Here I would call it a tie.
SFMM has more outstanding coasters than CP does. CP has a huge edge on mediocre ones though. :-)
But on flats CP wins there hands down (even though they run their Chaos at the slowest speed I think I've ever seen).
Staffing and cleanliness I would call it dead even. Though CP does have a little edge in food selection to.
I would love to be able to compare shows, but didn't have time to catch any of CP's.

Oh, and did I feel like it made up for them ripping me for my admission money last October? Yes. I did feel like this was much more typical of CP, but still wondering why they let that aberation of poor service get through last October. But this trip was good enough to put CP in my top 5 big parks (along with SFMM, SFGrAm, PKI, and Disneyland)

So that's my report. Thanks for reading this big long monster. Looking forward to your input as I start to work on the reports for the other parks. And getting ready for the flames from those who worship the ground the CP is built on and are unable to handle any criticism of the park.

mrk468zz · #4 06-05-2002, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sir Willow

Oh, and did I feel like it made up for them ripping me for my admission money last October? Yes. I did feel like this was much more typical of CP, but still wondering why they let that aberation of poor service get through last October. But this trip was good enough to put CP in my top 5 big parks (along with SFMM, SFGrAm, PKI, and Disneyland)

Good report. I am glad you decided to return to the point, especially after October. And I'm glad you had a good time of course.

Overall, I agree with most of your report, and I think its a fair assessment of CP (which is impressive of you, especially after your October fiasco

). My only disagreement is with some of the coaster ratings, which IMHO were harsh at a few points (Gemini, mainly). However, its nice to see someone giving Blue Streak the recognition it deserves!

Also, I agree about CP's staff. They're certainly competent and satisfactory (they seem to do a great job and are friendly, to boot), but I don't think they deserve the holier-than-thou status some people instill.

Anyways, great report! Can't wait to hear the rest of your series of reports!

canadian_thrill · #5 06-05-2002, 11:09 PM

I went to Cedar Point in May for the first time and your description of Mantis is 100% of what I experienced. 10 bucks says that I had the exact same ride op as you too. That guy was really ticking me off. He put the seat so high. I kept lowering it, but the guy just kept coming back to fix it. I was going to shoot him.

And someone control me because I was dying to rip out the battery on those headsets. Most of the ops with them I didn't mind, but I encountered one who was so sarcastic I was going to shoot him too...

And the ironic thing is... THEY WERE BOTH ON MANTIS!!!

And the award for the worst crew that I have ever encountered at an amusement park goes to... (DRUM ROLL) MANTIS AT CEDAR POINT, AMERICA'S ROLLER COAST!!!

Other than that, loved Cedar Point!!!

Sir Willow · #6 06-06-2002, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mrk468zz

Overall, I agree with most of your report, and I think its a fair assessment of CP (which is impressive of you, especially after your October fiasco ). My only disagreement is with some of the coaster ratings, which IMHO were harsh at a few points (Gemini, mainly). However, its nice to see someone giving Blue Streak the recognition it deserves!

Anyways, great report! Can't wait to hear the rest of your series of reports!

I really try to be fair. If you ever see me spouting off, like I did about the October trip, then it's a pretty good chance that it was a major mess up job on the part of whoever I'm spouting about. But I'll still usually give them a chance to make up for it. But I'll almost never go to a place looking for what they do wrong, but rather what they do right.

Honestly there wasn't anything wrong with Gemini. But running by itself there wasn't anything great about it either. I'm quite sure that if it were racing it would have gotten a higher mark, but since it wasn't I can't say for sure. But without the racing it was a middle of the road coaster. hence the 5. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get to see what it can do with another train running next to it adn with the hand slapping.

And I've got one other TR up at this point (PKI), and hopefully will have SFKK and SRM/HW done tomorrow.

thanks for the compliments.

Smoky · #7 06-06-2002, 03:38 AM

Glad to hear that Mantis (Yatta the ride) is stiill running as wonderful as when I experienced it earlier this month (as well as last year.) I think its the ghosts of former TOGO coasters that have possessed the coaster (and the station crew) to make what once was a good ride one of the worst coasters in existence. With the recent argument of converting some B & M stand-ups to sitdowns, this is one case where I'm inclined to agree, even if it wasn't designed for sit-down trains, it probably would work better with those than with the awful stand-ups. I know they won't convert it, but still. When memories of waiting slouched uncomfortably on King Cobra's brake run at PKI are fonder than those turns on Mantis, you know something is wrong.

Myself I don't mind the ride spiel so much (although I know it can get corny, obvious, and obnoxious after 2 rides.) Some ops will get creative with it; during Halloweekends I rode CCMR and the op said "Welcome to Mr. Toads Wild Ride! (after some stuff) I hope you folks are afraid of the dark, cause thats all there really is on this ride." For fun they should send some of those people who wear the head-sets to "Cattle Auctionneers Speech Academy" so they can deliver the whole ride spiel in less than 1.5 seconds

Still it beats listening to WDW's plain recorded speeches "The Red Zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no stopping in the white zone." "No the white zone is for loading and unloading, there is no stopping in a red zone!"

As for Gemini, it is a great ride, but the best time to experience it is on a hot summer night, with all 6 trains running, and the smell of burning coal, oil, hot dogs, funnel cakes, and fries is in the air and your train is neck and neck with the other one. Then the ride is a blast! (Now I'm hungry writing this

)

I do agree with your assesment of Chaos though, why CP rates this as an agressive (type 5) thrill ride is beyond me, it seems awfully tame; the Troika and the Schwabinchen were scarier.

coasterlove · #8 06-09-2002, 12:47 AM

Sir Willow, I find it funny that you list CP in your top 5... not that i disagree with that (it's my #1 park) but that you list it that high since with the exception of MF and Blue Streak, everything got 5 or lower. One coaster... Raptor is listed as so many poeple's favorite inverted coaster and as a great coaster overall, but you give it a 5! Now I do realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I won't critisize your's but isn't it a little unfair to lower the score that you said you would have given it (8) to a 5 becuase of the brakes? I could go on, but my point is I can't see how you are even a coaster fan giving so many coasters such low scores and then listing the park as one of your favorites. It just doesn't add up to me.

**Andrew P** · #9 06-09-2002, 01:36 AM

Sounds like you had a good trip and good weather. Good TR as I also noticed you hit the Mine Ride and WildCat as those are some of the overlooked coasters.

Tip on your next visit...bring earplugs. That might dull them out a bit more. Any ride op catch phrase gets annoying after the first 10 times.

cp_kw_pki_and_woa_fan · #10 06-09-2002, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Smoky
With the recent argument of converting some B & M stand-ups to sitdowns, this is one case where I'm inclined to agree, even if it wasn't designed for sit-down trains, it probably would work better with those than with the awful stand-ups. I know they won't convert it, but still. When memories of waiting slouched uncomfortably on King Cobra's brake run at PKI are fonder than those turns on Mantis, you know something is wrong.

I think it would be great if CP turned Mantis into a floorless. This way they could get rid of the brakes on the first drop. A lot of people have said that CP needs a floorless. It would be the perfect solution!

Sir Willow · #11 06-09-2002, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by coasterlove
Sir Willow, I find it funny that you list CP in your top 5... not that i disagree with that (it's my #1 park) but that you list it that high since with the exception of MF and Blue Streak, everything got 5 or lower. One coaster... Raptor is listed as so many poeple's favorite inverted coaster and as a great coaster overall, but you give it a 5! Now I do realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I won't critisize your's but isn't it a little unfair to lower the score that you said you would have given it (8) to a 5 becuase of the brakes? I could go on, but my point is I can't see how you are even a coaster fan giving so many coasters such low scores and then listing the park as one of your favorites. It just doesn't add up to me.

Nice flame couched in there. I'll never understand why when someone has a different opinion that means that one of them isn't "even a coaster fan" ** shakes head**

But in response to your question, you missed the fact that WT was also well over a 5, and that I mentioned that if they actually raced Gemini it would also easily place over that.

Raptor is a great coaster with the only exception being that of the brakes. It's an 8 without that lousy stop, which also says a lot. And it seems that not everyone gets nailed by it. So it's a great coaster up to that point. Would it be my favorite inverted without that slamming brake? No, I still prefer B:TR, but that brake really knocked it down for me. Unfair to knock it down because of that though? Definately not since those brakes most definately affected how I feel overall about the ride.

What good is a ride if it's awesome all the way through and then splatters your brain all over at the end. Doesn't do you any good if you enjoyed it all the way through if you're dead afterwards and can't remember what you enjoyed.

There's also a ton more to the park besides coasters (flat rides galore, scenery, museum, shows), and since I go to parks for a lot more reasons than just coasters, that plays into it. (sorry, but I'm just not that narrow in focus as SOME people around here apparently)

**Andrew P** · #12 06-09-2002, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cp_kw_pki_and_woa_fan

I think it would be great if CP turned Mantis into a floorless. This way they could get rid of the brakes on the first drop. A lot of people have said that CP needs a floorless. It would be the perfect solution!

Yeah, but wouldn't that mean some tweaks into the design of Mantis, plus also a station change?? The coaster just wouldn't be the same. If CP wants/wanted a floorless they would have one put in.

coasterlove · #13 06-12-2002, 06:50 PM

Let me say that I was not trying to flame someone by my post, if you read my post(s), you'll see that I almost have never flamed anyone on this forum. I was respecting your opinion and just stating mine, if you were offended, than I am sorry about that. I meant no harm, I just couldn't see how you only gave a few coasters high scores (I forgot that you also gave WT a good score) and still listed the park so high.