From Sandusky, With Love

The Beginning

 

Way back in the year 2000, I moved from Southern California to Sandusky, Ohio, to work at Cedar Point for the summer, and to be a part of the opening crew for what-was-then by far the tallest and fastest roller coaster ever built, Millennium Force.

 

 

They say that the friends you make working at Cedar Point last a lifetime. And, in my case, that certainly seems to be true. That year, I met Seth and Natalie (and they met each other). And this year, I traveled back to Sandusky to be the best man at their wedding. (Two other MF opening crew members were part of the wedding party, as well.)

 

 

Of course, since we were in Sandusky anyway, we also went to Cedar Point.

 

 

This was Misty and I's first visit to Cedar Point's HalloWeekends event, and let me tell you, watching a bunch of cartoon monsters do the chicken dance is pretty scary.

 

 

Ah, but there's more in Sandusky than just Cedar Point!

 

 

There's also really good ice cream!

 

 

And, yes, even mini-golf. (Unfortunately, Wizard's Journey at "Ghostly Manor" was the only one that was actually open this late in the season.)

 

 

It wasn't bad, though. And they had a cool dragon out front. I just wanted more places to be open.

 

 

Sandusky also has a pretty nice "historic" downtown area...

 

 

...the, um, "Boy with the Boot." (Don't ask.) ...

 

 

...and fishing, probably.

 

 

Plus, a Merry-Go-Round Museum! (Even if the sign on top does say, "United States Post Office.")

 

 

Complete with real working carousel!

 

 

And angry circus animals!

 

 

That has kind of a nice ring to it, I think.

 

 

This lighthouse is rubbish. And not even actually in Sandusky.

 

 

But you can see Sandusky from there.

 

 

Be careful....

 

Whew, I'm glad they put a sign on that one slippery one.

 

Oh, right, we have a wedding to go to!

 

 

Groomsman Rich makes some final adjustments to Seth's homemade photo booth, while I annoy him by taking pictures of it.

 

 

I also provided the wacky props.

 

 

I should have said, "Misty and I provided the wacky props." Sorry, I'm distracted by my fatness.

 

 

Luckily, DJ was there to make me feel better.

 

 

The traditional, "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer one of these women?" photo.

 

 

Or, if you're really freaking out, you can just walk out into the sea.

 

No, you're good?

 

Okay, then: Dancing.

 

 

Hey, guys, what's your favorite ride at Cedar Point?

 

 

Yes, I agree. Millennium Force. Not that any of us are biased or anything.

 

 

Although, I must say, I'm also really fond of their SLC.

 

 

Only Cedar Point would put a show underneath the outside of an empty theater.

 

 

On the question of whether CP's HalloWeekends is adult-scary or kid-cutesy, the answer is that it's both, more or less evenly divided.

 

 

With some things being for the little ones...

 

 

...and some things so horrific that even adults know better than to brave them.

 

 

Alright, let's try some houses.

 

 

Honestly, while they weren't quite up to California/Florida standards, they're definitely trying.

 

 

Um...or maybe not.

 

 

That's almost as bad as the view from our hotel room.

 

 

Other scary things at Cedar Point include this guy...

 

 

...Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds...

 

 

...constantly shifting terrain...

 

 

...cookies you can't actually eat...

 

 

...D-I-Y murals...

 

 

...undead former-Disney execs...

 

 

...rather painful-looking shoes...

 

 

...and penis-shaped Peanuts characters laughing hysterically.

 

 

We liked this display of rides past.

 

 

I didn't see this one, though.

 

 

Smisty finally got her WildCat credit.

 

 

And she discovered the awesomeness that is Troika.

 

 

We all got to check out WindSeeker.

 

 

Which, I hate to say, is rather dull. Weirdly, I think it's less scary than a StarFlyer, possibly because it feels so much more secure.

 

On the other hand, we got to witness Cedar Point employees keep a guest trapped in his restraints until he deleted photos off his camera that he'd taken "illegally." So that was interesting.

 

 

Oh well, there's still Millennium!

 

 

And the thing that used to be where it is. (That sentence makes sense, I insist.)

 

 

He looks like the life of the party.

 

 

But we've already got a hat.

 

 

There was a special "kid friendly" house, but we weren't allowed to go in it because we didn't have a child with us. There was no one else in the area, so it certainly wasn't a capacity thing. Oh, right, we're at Cedar Point. And there's nothing in this world that Cedar Point likes more than slavish devotion to bizarre rules.

 

Yeah, I'm a little bitter.

 

 

We didn't even try to do the kid's maze. I'm sure they would have spit on us.

 

 

Let's check out "Club Blood" instead.

 

 

Oh, cool, a dragon!

 

 

I can't say that I think much of CP's maintenance department these day, either....

 

 

This ride is already Halloween themed.

 

 

I really wanted to do this one (as it goes through Thunder Canyon's ride trough), but it was closed due to "weather." Which started a heated argument between me and Seth--with my belief being that the "weather" in question was that it had been too dry for the corn to properly grow, and Seth's position being that it only operated after sundown, with daylight qualifying as a weather condition. Only Cedar Point knows for sure.

 

 

To anyone who says that Cedar Point doesn't "get it," I say, look at this thing! It's got a big gear for an eye!

 

 

All of the water rides were closed for the season, including Shoot the Rapids. But that's okay; We wouldn't have ridden it anyway.

 

 

After all, we got plenty wet that week elsewhere....

 

Oh, was that a Meijer??

 

Best. Store. Ever. And here's why....

 

 

I guess Sandusky isn't so bad.

 

 

It's got some great people...

 

 

...and the only museum dedicated to Merry-Go-Rounds in the existence! (Note: Please do not Google "carousel" museum.)

 

 

In all seriousness, the Merry-Go-Round Museum is absolutely, 100% Erik & Smisty approved, and we highly recommend that you go there the next time you're in Sandusky for whatever reason.

 

 

Sandusky also has Chet and Matt's Pizza. Which is certainly the only place I've ever seen chili cheese fry pizza.

 

 

And, of course, there's an amusement park.

 

 

It's not the best amusement park, mind you, but it does have lots of really cool old-school pinball machines...

 

 

...and the best roller coaster that will ever exist. A ride so good that it makes people fall in love, heals minor injuries, and makes kittens fart rainbows.

 

 

Of course, your mileage may vary. But it will always be special to us.

 

Thanks for reading what I daresay has got to be the weirdest trip report I've ever posted. (And this from the guy who normally posts this kind of crap.)

 

You may also want to check out our completely wedding-free Cedar Point Trip Report from two years ago.

 

But, even if you don't, I applaud you for getting this far.

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

See, Rich? I told you I could make an Oddventure out of Seth's wedding.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Electerik

There's a B&M hyper in the CP SLC collage too

All the haunted walk-throughs open at 8:00pm, so that's why CornStalkers wasn't open yet. All the 'Ride Closed' signs say 'Due to Weather Conditions' on it which I really don't know why. So even if the reason for the ride being closed isn't because of the weather, about 50% of the time (in this case it wasn't), it says because of the weather. It is rather misleading.

 

As for all the water rides being closed for the season, I know they don't operate Thunder Canyon during Halloweekends because of CornStalkers and who would want to get completely soaked on Snake River Falls in October?! As for Shoot the Rapids, my friends and I went on Shoot the Rapids last year on the second last Saturday of the season (Oct. 23rd); it suprisingly wasn't too cold of a day. So this year I don't know if they plan on keeping the ride closed for the rest of the season or if you just caught it at an off time. I will say that I've been to Halloweekends every Saturday so far this year and every time that I've passed Shoot the Rapids (which hasn't been too often) I don't remember seeing it open (maybe once but I can't remember for sure).

That trip report just made my afternoon, amazing.

 

"Millennium Force makes kittens fart rainbows"

The fact that the awesome flat ride was called Razzle Dazzle just made it that much more cool if even possible!

 

I would love to see a park setup (with a very lengthy legal waiver of course) with all of those old school rides.

 

Thanks Erik!

Holy Shnikes Rich and DJ!

I love how a coaster brought two people together!

"Millennium Force makes kittens fart rainbows"

 

Thus, Nyan Cat was born in 2000!

Loved the TR, as always! I've been to Sandusky and CP an uncountable amount of times, and I had NO idea there was a Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky. I'll definitely have to check it out!

All the haunted walk-throughs open at 8:00pm, so that's why CornStalkers wasn't open yet.

 

Fairly certain there was sarcasm in that one hahahahaha

 

Great TR. Did you do any of the outdoor walkthroughs? Just like feedback tis' all!

 

Enjoyed reading thanks for posting!

I love how a coaster brought two people together!

 

This. Congratulations to those people!

 

Also, I didn't think that was quite as strange as your closing comments would lead most to believe. I've been reading TPR TRs for close to a year, have I become desensitized to the weird? Anyway, nice TR, mostly due to the fact that there are so many Cedar Point TRs; it's nice to see one glued together with other cool things in the area.

Did you do any of the outdoor walkthroughs? Just like feedback tis' all!

 

You mean, like, scare zones? If so, no.

 

The houses we did weren't bad, with Eerie Estates being the one we liked best. Most of the houses seemed to suffer from the same design problem: large, mostly empty rooms with no clear path or exit. And while that may sound scary, in practice, it's just confusing and awkward--and ultimately results in a scare-actor having to give directions: "Go that way! Booga-booga-booga! Past the lamp!"

 

There were also lots of instances of scare-actors who would jump out to scare you, but then just sort of have to stand there while you filed past, because they didn't really have anywhere to retreat to. Which, again, seems like a house design flaw.

 

But, considering that these things were put together by Cedar Point (who, let us face it, are not exactly kings of theming) and not, say, Universal, I thought they were pretty well done. But, yeah, there is still some room for improvement.

You know, I'd give anything to have been in the design meeting for this one.

^I imagine it went something like this: "So, BGT has one peeing baby doll in their toy factory maze, eh? Dammit, then, we'll have 20 peeing babies! CP for the win!"

Do you remember what the epitaph of Matt Ouimet said?

-I love when parks put up epitaphs like that, its a great and funny tribute.

 

The Carousel museum looks really interesting! I don't recall that I've ever seen a Sandusky Ohio trip report that had a picture of anything outside of Cedar Point. Its good to know that there is also some cool attractions in the vicinity of the actual park.

 

Great Trip Report!

^Ouimet's says something about taking off the "ears" and coming over to the "best". Gotta love them jokes.

 

 

Hopefully Merlin shared the urine scent for that Doll room.

Nice TR!

 

That "Razzle Dazzle" remind sme of a ride I have been on at an old waterpark we used to go to when I was little. It had a circular ring attached to chain around a center post. Everybody would get off and “wind up” the riding ring on the center pole. Once it was all wound up, everybody would jump on and take it for a ride. It was built over sand so if you flew off you would not be seriously injured, but it was a blast to say the least. There would be 20 people at least riding it at one time. Was so much fun!

I must admit that I rather do enjoy Halloweekends. Fall is my favorite time to visit any park, for that matter. I remember the last time I was at the Merry-go-Round Museum there was an employee restoring/carving a carousel horse for all to see, which was actually pretty cool.

Do you remember what the epitaph of Matt Ouimet said?

 

What, you can't read that?

 

Kudos to Mr. Ouimet as he begins a new chapter

As president of Cedar Fair, our business he will look after

He took off the ears and tried all the rest

Welcome Matt to the BEST!!

Ahhhh those peeing dolls. I'm still having nightmares thanks to those demons!

...and the best roller coaster that will ever exist. A ride so good that it makes people fall in love, heals minor injuries, and makes kittens fart rainbows.

 

I was following right along with you until you started talking about Prowler. At what point, did you end up at Worlds of Fun???

NIce. I love Cedar Point and the peeing dolls.

You had me at "chili cheese fry pizza."

Fairly certain there was sarcasm in that one hahahahaha

 

Not necessarily; I was just stating a fact. haha

Fun post,

 

Any more details on the visitor held hostage until he deleted the photos?