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^That could be it. I think we were placed in row 3 both times. If I'm going to be drinking throughout a large portion of the day, I have to keep it lighter or I'll feel miserable. I left out the huge pile of wings and two large tall Yuenglings at Roosters. By the time I had that blueberry deliciousness, I was stuffed. Damn it was good though. I would have liked to had more. The color was crazy. Basically, my excuse is covering up the fact that I'm a midwesterner. Let's face it. A six pack of Coors Light and a gas station pizza is a good Saturday night. (God, I wish I were joking.)

Vests or no vests, Thunderbird is always worth it. Calling the B&M wing rider uncomfortable while in the company of Voyage, wouldn't be logical. --------- Emily and I went to the park this weekend. I'm sorry for not inviting anyone to meet up. We don't get much alone time anymore, and this was our first normal park trip since 2019. Orion is a fantastic coaster. WTF is wrong with people? It's a front row coaster for us, hands down. I felt like my eyelids were peeling back. Outside of 2 SFSTL rides on Screamin Eagle and one on American Thunder, front row on Orion was our first coaster since our one and only 2020 park, SDC (neutered operations). You can imagine how that felt. I liked the themeing. The Orion nightclub/party thing, after 9pm, is entertaining, if not hilarious. It made for a cool vibe, and a miraculous find of the last beer man open, after all hopes were lost. I was also really impressed with Orion's lighting package. Orion is a win, and it beat the pants off of Leviathan, as far as I'm concerned. It immediately dethroned Mystic Timbers as Emily's favorite ride. The park looked great. All of the paint seemed either fresh, or still in good shape. The beer man was prevalent everywhere. Shoutout to the one Blue Ice Cream beer on tap, which was delicious. One heavy beer is enough for me. The midway looks superb at night. Basically, the whole area glows with LED's. The foliage around the Antique Cars is coming in and makes the ride feel more complete. I almost didn't remember Vortex existed, until heading toward the lift on The Beast. No big loss for us. Emily didn't even remember what it looked like. Drop Tower (name?), Windseeker, and the Eiffel Tower were closed. Snoopy wasn't spitting water on the flume, which would have only made our ride more regretful. This flume already has an unacceptable amount of wetness along with it's WTF name. The Beast is getting rough. That included our ride in the middle of the train on non-wheel seats. We wanted to ride it at night, but it closed at 10 for Fireworks. After waiting for it to start back up 10-15 minutes post-fireworks, we left. Why does it take so long?? I was disappointed, but Graeters by our hotel was more of a priority for Emily and the clock was ticking. I try to be a good husband. My fear of a Giga making Diamondback less relevant came true, which is why I was almost wishing for something else when KI was breaking ground. 2nd row is great. Our second ride was in the second to last car. It rattles badly. I'm sorry. I'm waiting for the day Emily says she doesn't want to ride it anymore. She hated Behemoth for that reason. I don't blame her. It's still hard to find the kind of sustained floater air Diamondback delivers. I don't think it ever got the praise it deserved until the last couple years when Orion started pulling people to the park. I loved Diamondback before it was cool to love Diamondback...... Still #1 Hyper for me. Mystic Timbers is still Mystic Timbers, which means it's great. The only thing I noticed is there's no Hall and Oates or other cheesy music that plays. Spooky music played for us until the train was ready to pull into the station for the final scene. It took away some character. Banshee is still a front row ride for us. I wouldn't care for it any other way. Emily says it rattles. Whether tolerable for you or not, it does. Again, same with Diamondback. Our big focus was relaxing and spending time together. We love KI and it's usually an annual park for us. That means no pressure to go crazy, so we didn't ride too much: Orion x4 Diamondback x2 Mystic Timbers x2 Banshee x1 Beast x1 Antique Cars, Snoopy FML flume, Choo Choo, and Dodgems. Beer count: 2 Yuenglings, 1 Ice Cream Beer, and one Bud Light. FL+ is still great. I'll never go without it. Our longest coaster wait was probably Banshee, at 15 minutes or less. Everything else was 5-10. I still hold some of the best wings are 10-20 minutes away at BC Roosters. That, and the second best Yuengling we've had on tap. Pottsville, PA takes the cake. Lastly, shout out to the employee standing in the middle of a grassy field when the train passed, holding a broom and just looking at us. I laughed all day about the kid who yelled, "Good job cleaning the grass!"

Jeeze where's all this Yuengling disrespect coming from all the sudden? I mean I know it's not top tier beer or anything but come on for widely distributed cheap commercial beer it's about the best there is. If a concert/theme park/sporting etc. event has Coors, Bud, Miller and Yuengling I'm taking the Yuengling every day and twice on Sunday's (where available, after 1 pm).

Depending on who you ask, the best row is either 1, 3, or 12. Personally, I find the front row is the most consistently great, but others disagree, and YMMV

Updates: ------------------ Cedar Point Day One - Coasters, coasters and more coasters Cedar Point Day Two - Snake River Expedition, coasters & merch Kennywood - Coasters, classic rides and lots of history Hershey Day One - Chocolate World, Hersheypark and lots of food! Hershey Day Two - Chocolatetown, Cupfusion and even more food! ------------------- Original Post: After 14 months of no travel as a result of COVID-19's impact around the world, it was finally time a few weeks ago to get back out there and leave Orlando for a spell. My last trip was in April of 2020 and consisted of a cold birthday weekend in New York City. I planned a long weekend with a few friends, neither of which had been to Cedar Point before (my first visit was three years ago for the opening of Steel Vengeance)--and we figured since we were already making the trek, we'd visit a few more parks along the way, adding Kennywood and Hersheypark to our itinerary. For our first day we had the Fast Lane Plus as well as the All Day Dining and All Day Drink packages. Compared to my last visit where Steel Vengeance was running one train, during this visit we had all three trains running. With the Fast Lane Plus access, we never waited more than a half hour to ride--and at opening we waited only 10 minutes from entering the queue to when we were seated. Fast Lane was more effective with some coasters (Steel Vengeance, Top Thrill Dragster, Maverick and Magnum) than it was for others (Millennium Force, Wicked Twister and Rougarou) but still absolutely worth the money. We visited on a Thursday and Friday and both days were very busy--I could only imagine what Saturday or Sunday would have been like. It was nice to be on a plane again... Our first day at Cedar Point started with early access thanks to our stay at the Express Hotel at Cedar Point. The morning fog eerily masked several of the rides for the first few hours of the park operation. Raptor is still a ridiculously good B&M inverted coaster! Slurm or Fanta Lime? Either way, it was delicious and I could have as much as I wanted of it thanks to the All Day Drink Package that came with our hotel package. The package works on any open location that has a soda fountain (including Coca-Cola Freestyle machines). What a roll! Valravn diving from the fog... In case you were wondering about the legend of Valravn... Of the three B&M dive machines I've been on, Valravn continues to be my least favorite. Despite the extra height and inversions, I think Sheikra has the best layout and Griffon has the best (wide) trains. "Do a Cobra Roll!" Looking down the midway... Dive! Dive! Dive! The fog certainly adds something to the visual buildup of Millennium Force as you approach. Honestly didn't surprise me as much this time around but still a very fun coaster. Lots going on in this view... I love that you can walk under Corkscrew with no nets! As the fog cleared, Top Thrill Dragster revealed its massive height. I'd love to experience a rollback... Gemini was running really well during our visit! Time for the good stuff! What an absolute beast! The money shot! This outward-banked airtime hill always gets me! Steel Vengeance is an absolutely relentless coaster. Not a single moment to breath throughout. And the second half inside of the coaster's wooden structure gives you moments where you can barely tell what is the right side up. The initial 90 degree drop is unreal. We rode twice during this day but we would be back for more the next day. Amazing! Time for the truly wildest ride in the wilderness! I adore everything about Maverick. If it weren't for Steel Vengeance, Maverick would be my favorite coaster in the park. Such a unique layout and the way the trains move across it... I'm always amazed at how much this ride throws you around. Heading into one of my favorite elements... Living it up! We hopped over to Top Thrill Dragster to have our wind-blown faces launched into the sky. Millennium Force towers over the Frontier section of the park. We had lunch at the new BackBeatQue venue using our All Day Dining plan... The brisket looked amazing! Sadly the portion size for the brisket platter was underwhelming, but the food itself was really good for quick service dining plan food! The half chicken platter was a more hearty portion... As was the pulled pork platter... The back patio for BackBeatQue provided outdoor seating with a live band performing folksy versions of classic rock songs. Back to the coasters... Ready to race! We ran out of time to experience the Cedar Creek Mine Ride during this trip... Sadly the Town Hall Museum was closed during our visit (likely due to COVID) but Pig-Pen was out front taking distanced photos with guests. Another ride on Maverick? Don't mind if I do! Skyhawk is so fun! There was additional entertainment in the Frontier section of the park for the Cedar Point Frontier Festival, which was the park's food and wine festival-style event. Corkscrew is a pretty solid, classic Arrow coaster. It doesn't get a lot of recognition compared to the newer coasters that surround it, but Corkscrew is a really fun, well maintained ride. And again, nothing beats the unique experience of walking under this element as the train works through the namesake maneuver. Magnum was way better than I remembered from my last trip... And yes, that is a tube of sunscreen flying at me from someone's pocket on the train sitting ahead of me. Blue Streak is a classic wooden coaster.... And a pretty wild ride at that. I'm always surprised by just how much you feel the PTCs bending around you as they move along the track. Iron Dragon exists... It is a fun ride but definitely the most tame of the Arrow suspended coasters I've experienced. In my opinion, Millennium Force's speed is its greatest element. Zoom, zoom, zoom! I do like how this overbanked turn traces the queue... Millennium Force does has some really solid airtime too. I never had the chance to experience this coaster when it was Mantis... But this is not a regret of mine. This is an underated B&M maneuver right here. I do love the visual layering of coasters you find at different angles throughout the park. Since my last visit, dual sided lockers have been added to the Steel Vengeance queue... You can pay to use the lockers outside of the queue opposite the entrance of the attraction, or you can stand in line (standby or Fast Lane) towards the end of the queue, you'll reach a set of metal detectors and ride attendants who ask you to empty your pockets to put your belongings in these free lockers. You step out of the line to put your things in a locker, and then you wait in a small line to re-enter the main line to go through the metal detectors and up towards the station. Once you exit the ride, you go back through the entrance of the attraction to access the opposite side of these lockers to unlock yours and collect your belongings. It is a messy process, but it gets the job done I guess. Glorious. Oh-hi-yo-Millennium Force! Wicked Twister was a pleasant surprise for me to experience during my last visit so I made sure to try it again this time around. Gatekeeper is still one of my favorite coasters in the park. For Larry. Loving every second of this fantastic ride! I'm so glad I rode Wicked Twister again during this visit--it was even better than I remembered! Back for more! With the 150th anniversary celebration going on, there was a lot of neat park merchandise available to purchase. Ride themed Squishmallows. Kind of brilliant. I think it is pretty neat that CoasterDynamix is selling nanocasters versions of classic/extinct coasters from parks' past. These Coaster Cutouts were a newer concept to me but pretty cool. The French Quarter Confections is a newer addition to the entrance plaza in Cedar Point. ...Or at least my life does. All too easy. Artsy fartsy. What a skyline! We ended our evening at Twin Oast Brewing about 20 minutes away from the park... Great food and fantastic beer... With a truly picturesque setting to enjoy while you're eating and drinking... Next up: Day 2 at Cedar Point!

Hey, what can I say? I live in the heart of a major, east coast, extremely craft beer-centric city. Add to that that Yuengling is local to us and a beer we "grew up" drinking. It absolutely sucks. You know why I even had that swill yesterday? I was having a very stressful end-of-day at the office, and in a moment of weakness recalled there were beers left from our first post-mask-mandate team meeting we had a few weeks ago. I shot up and breezed into the kitchen to rip open the fridge and... all that was left (read: what no one wanted to drink at the office shindig)? You guessed it. There is still half a case there. It won't be easy, but I'll slowly chip away at it whenever I don't feel like trudging two blocks down to the bottle shop.

Figured I should post some photos from that 6/17/21 visit! Obligatory X2 shot from parking queue. It was genius of the park to put his here, it's massive, imposing, and the only ride you can get a super good luck at while waiting. Was surreal to see this view for the first time, and it's a great one at that. Really liked how this pic of Viper turned out, taken from outside the front gates. Tatsu is huge! These two compliment the front plaza view so well. The trees here make it hard to believe you're in SoCal, but the heat didn't let me forget. Talk about imposing! Really like how the station looks. I didn't realize beforehand that X2 has its own big dead-end walkway to it. Provided this great view! Really BIG loop. Really TALL loop. Heck of a diving left-hand drop! It's hard to get good views of X2 from its area, but the trade-off is fantastic views of Viper! Giant flyer! Great pretzel loop shot from Tatsu's exit. This is where you really see that 170ft height! Only photo of Ninja, its views can be a bit blocked by WCR at the base of the hill. Speaking of.. WCR! The Underground is a neat-looking area, but hoping they'll find a way to add more shade to all that blacktop. Great view from Superman's entrance. I once read that Superman sounded like a fighter jet flying overhead, and with my house in CO being in the path of regular jet routes from Buckley AFB, can confirm this is pretty similar in sound AND volume! Well it's certainly 'Goliath' in size.. Between Riddler's and S:EFK, this area of the park can get ridiculously loud. I originally didn't like the switch to yellow paint on the supports, but it's actually grown on me a lot. Hard to tell from here, but the fresh blue paint looks very nice. You can get very up close and personal with Scream's loop. I think the paint/colors of the ride look great, but if the park really cared they could dump some dirt down and maybe a little bit of xeriscape.. probably not gonna happen now that it's been 18 years. ____ Unfortunately didn't take the time to get any good photos of Twisted Colossus or X2 from inside the park, but most everything else was captured here! Hope you liked.

Fixed that for you. That being said, I love Steel Vengeance, too. Great report, Adam.

I would actually be super disappointed if knotts got a boring B&M as the ride they possibly snake around the park. Give me a Mack or Intamin instead!

^ Nope. I didn't know there was this GI-normous article written up! Thanks for finding it and posting the link for all to get to! <sighs> At this time in my life ... I really doubt this is ever going to come to fruition in my life time. It's just sad truth. But for now, we still got Coaster!

I'm stoked to tell all of my friends I rode the tallest, longest, and fastest compact triple launch coaster.

Man, I had a Yuengling today for the first time in ages, simply out of desperation and... it was a nice reminder of what absolute trash it is. Anyways, glad you had fun, Zach.

So... one Kidding, lol. Glad you had fun. I'm on a bit of a terrible piss beer kick right now myself, hot weather does that to me.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/exciting-park-news?fbclid=IwAR16g7hQqKdY5KmT12BmBsIV2ny1WIcZdBsAA7z6rm13HuD8teX_wTGCsco Reservations will no longer be required to visit Cedar Point effective July 1. Also the park will now be open daily through Labor Day (it was previously mid-August).