Trip Report: Cedar Point and Kings Island 6/27-6/30

[Drewbie]

After 10 years of trying to find the right time, I finally did my dream trip to Cedar Point and King's Island. I have the opportunity to travel to Cleveland for work now so I decided to combine a work trip with a vacation with my wife. We offloaded the kids with my mom and went on our merry way.

We landed in Cleveland early afternoon on the 27th and I had a couple of calls to make before we left Cleveland. I was able to wrap up early and we headed towards Cedar Point and the All American Inn in Norwalk for our stay for the night. It was cheap and Priceline hooked us up for about $50 a night. We got in at 4:45 and decided to take advantage of our platinum pass and head to the park for a bit that night.

We got there and parked pretty close to the entrance. This was my first time at the park and we had no real plan for what we'd do since we didn't plan to get there til the next morning. We decided to just head to the left and got in line for Raptor since the queue was closest to the front from what we could tell. There was a bit of a maintenance issue and the 30 minute line emptied a bit since no one knew how long it would be. Well, after an empty car went, a full one followed and full capacity operation continued. We waited about 30 minutes and got on. I'd been on an inverted before, but I was surprised how rough it was. Not a bad ride, but still rougher than I'd have liked.

Then off to Blue Streak. It reminded me a great deal of High Roller at Valleyfair minus the trim brakes on the back half. A very nice little woodie that rode very nicely. Walked right on.

We then decided to give one of the little car rides a try. We both crammed into one little car and immediately regretted the decision. We also got unlucky about getting a car that was nearly dead and ended up with 3 cars right behind us waiting for us to wrap it up. Still, quite funny.

From there we made our way to Iron Dragon. This was my first ever suspended coaster and I was excited to give it a try. Sadly, I left the ride disappointed. The speed was pretty slow throughout and there really wasn't any point where I thought it was any real fun. The positive side was that we walked right on the ride.

Next came Mantis. I'd been on Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America so I knew what I was getting, but Mantis managed to smash my naughty bits despite my best efforts. It was a nice coaster and good ride, but I was uncomfortable the whole time and couldn't get past that. Why do they have to spring load the seats so harshly? Walk-on.

Millennium Force was right around the corner. I was very excited to finally ride this beast. We got in what was supposed to be an hour long line and it ended up being pretty accurate. It was the longest line we waited in all night long, but once we finally rode it, I nearly turned around and got right back in line. Easily the best rollercoaster I've ever ridden and worth the trip all by itself. So tall! So smooth! So much airtime! Just awesome!

After my euphoria wore off a bit, we walked deeper into the park. It was getting late and the water rides in the next area were closed, which was fine by me. Maverick was next and the line was roughly 45 minutes. We waited and took the opportunity to do the single rider line as soon as we could. We were getting tired by then and didn't care if we rode together as long as we knocked out a few more coasters. Finally we each got on separate trains. My wife went first. I finally went on. Awesome ride, but it was dark and the bugs were horrible. The quick turns were startling and it was a fast ride, but the bugs to the face and the inability to see where we were going so I could brace myself meant that I got off with a very sore back. Good ride, but I wouldn't do it again at night.

On to Mean Streak. I like a big wooden coaster and this looked very impressive. Reminded me of Viper at Great America as we walked through the empty queue line. We literally walked all the way through the line and right into the front row. As the park was nearly closing, those riding were just changing from seat to seat without having to walk back through the queue. After we were in our seats, my wife leaned forward enough to see the front of the car and it's solid bugs. She looked at me and said, "I think we made a horrible mistake." She was right. As we went up the lift, we didn't see any bugs. We thought, maybe this won't be so bad after all. Then we got to the top of the hill. Sold bugs. And that was how it was the rest of the ride. I got a solid face full of bugs and didn't really get to appreciate the ride. Seemed smooth and pretty fun though.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride is next and we do it quickly. It's a small, old, mine train coaster. Lots of bugs and a pretty rough ride. Not much else to say about it.

And then the park closed. I figured it was worth the effort to walk by Dragster to see if we can't maybe still get in line. The wife agrees. We get there and see a small line of people by the queue, but not going in. I decide to check it out. Turns out it was the ride of the night for extra ride hours for platinum pass holders. We happen to be them. We ended up getting two rides on Dragster with absolutely no wait. To be honest, it's the only way I'd do that ride. It's a hell of a launch and quite a thrill, but I wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for that one trick pony. So happy we did it when we did.

Then we went back to the hotel. We found out our passes got us in at 9 the next morning so aimed to get back by then.

We arrived about 9:15 the next day and parked in almost exactly the same spot. Very handy for trying to find a rental car later in the day.

We headed in and went straight to MF for another ride. Damn do I love that coaster.

After that, we circled around to the Extreme Swing. My wife had never ridden the one at Valleyfair so we hopped on that when the park opened at 10. She did not so much enjoy it. I had a grand time enjoying her torture.

From there it was on to Gemini. It was running only 1 train, but we were in the front row of the first train of the day. Not a bad way to go, but a rather uneventful coaster. Not too rough, but not all that exciting either.

Next was Magnum. I knew that it'd be a bit rough since it was an old Arrow, but even I wasn't prepared for the beating we had in store. The camera on the ride was perfectly placed to capture the racking my balls took on the back half of the coaster. It was quite funny to see all the photos of guys nearly breaking into tears.

Next we road Corkscrew. Not a great deal different than the one at VF, but quite a bit smoother.

We hopped on PowerTower just for fun, then made our way over to Windseeker. My wife wasn't excited about it after the swings, but gave it a try. Aside from the high winds at the top, it was very relaxing given the height.

Wicked Twister was busted, but since I have Steel Venom here, I didn't feel too bad about that.

I rode MaxAir while my wife watched as she was still smarting from the earlier swings. She made the right call. She'd have hated it. I thought it was great.

Finally, we ended our day with Disaster Transport. Pretty lame in my opinion. The ride didn't offer much and the set pieces had more cobwebs than anything else. The only saving grace were the young urban fellows right in front of us that provided a very funny commentary.

Then we left. It was only noon, but we had done everything we wanted to do and didn't feel like we missed anything. We had a 2.5 hour drive to Fort Wayne and both of us were sore and wanted to sleep.

I'll cover our trip to King's Island in another post.

[Chip]

I'm glad you finally made it to Cedar Point, Drewbie! Nice report. Too bad about Raptor's shaking. Where did you ride? The third train's the rough one, so you might have been on that. Then again, I've been on Raptor so many times, I only notice unusual smells on the ride anymore; the slight shaking doesn't even register with me.