AmyUD06

My report, posted within the past few pages, answers every one of your questions in detail.

I guess I have the exact opposite opinion - Overwhelming. It consists almost entirely of hery-jerky bucking bronco intensity. It's so much that it's not very fun for us. Have you been on Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion? That ride gives that exact feeling you describe...I didn't get very much of that on SV at all. It's a gem, isn't it? I even got to watch some shady drug deals in the parking lot for entertainment. God I love that place... Yeah, it was awesome. I wish I had gone there my first night and didn't need to duck out early on my third night to hit the road early.

Bah-dah-ting. LOL.

Sure, and that's fine. All I was saying with my post is place the blame on amusement park mask policies where they are due - the government and/or the populace, not the parks' management.

Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, #150 for me. Didn't plan it, just kinda worked out that way.

Honestly, here's how I'd tackle it if you've only got one day, a 10:30 reservation, and aren't buying Fast Lane. Note that this is based on my preference of rides. -Go straight to Orion at opening and wait for them to hand our access passes. If you are quick enough, you may be able to get in the standby line and ignore the whole access pass situation all together. If you can do this, do it. Otherwise, grab your access pass. The time you receive will determine the rest of the course of action for the day. -If your pass is for noon-1:00, hop on Flight of Fear. If that somehow takes less than a half-hour, go grab Racer next. Return to Orion and get your ride in there. Then continue with the below. -If your access pass is for later in the day, go to Beast and then start working the park in a clockwise loop, so Diamondback next, then Mystic Timbers. Skip the kiddie coasters (Flying Ace Aerial Chase and Woodstock Express) if you want or if the lines are long (for FAAC, it's long if you can see the back of it from the midway). Cross International Street into Action Zone, and grab Banshee and Bat (skip Invertigo if it has any kind of line). Adventure Express next, then Racer, then finally back into Area 72 for Flight of Fear. Backlot is skippable for me since I have one in my home park, but you can work that in whenever you're in the area. Whenever your Access Pass time is for Orion, deviate from the above plan and go get that done, and then grab Flight of Fear afterwards and then continue where ever you left off on the plan. In using an access pass, I found it best to be there 15-20 minutes BEFORE the hour its due so you can line up, or in the last 15 minutes of the hour so most of the other passes will have gone through already. Even with half the seats blocked off, Orion is still a people-eater. I was there on a Saturday and didn't have any issue with crowds, so being there on a Wednesday you should be fine. Worst case scenario is you have to buy a Fast Lane, which wasn't even available during my trip.

And now, for some of the finer details from Orion's queue: The inside of the pre-queue building, including an easily bypassed green-screen photo-taking of unknown purpose. It's the little things to appreciate... Some signage L0ckers in the non-air-conditioned, gonna-get-super-hot-with-the-sun-beating-on-it metal building in the middle of the queue. More l0ckers. Each of these contained some throwback tidbits to earlier rides or Orion stuff. Screens showing the thematic preview. Bulletin boards listing out various KI attractions, some still existent. Bulletin board 1 closeup Bulletin board 2 closeup Bulletin board 3 closeup Station, with banners overhead. Cool throwback in the station.

As promised, here are my pics of the Area 72 region: Crossing under the Racer drop... Old school Volvo wagon decked out in conspiracy theorist decorations, quite fitting. The front side. Some signage More signage The new restaurant Their menu. Not really anything up my alley, but more places to refill the season drink plan is always a plus. Some theming added to the front of Flight of Fear. New "Flight of Fear" sign to fit in with the rest of the new Theming Additional decoration Orion's pre-queue building, including a photo-op. New locker area. Boo. Nice overview Orion's ride photo booth A closer overview A view of the queue from outside it Finally, what I believe to be a new sign when entering the Flight of Fear queue, which may actually be old.

The question wasn't being asked of me, but yes, that is the case if this kid with asthma's breathing is so negatively affected by a piece of cloth over his face that he absolutely cannot wear one. I would argue that if a kid has asthma that badly, he probably shouldn't be going on any amusement rides which increase your heart and breathing rates, but that's neither here nor there. Hint: bandanas wrapped around your nose that do not restrict your mouth or airflow to your nose DO count as a "face covering" for these parks' requirements. It sucks for that kid, but better for it to suck for that kid than not have the parks open at all, which given certain state governors' decrees and popular opinion that masks will save us all, that is what it comes down. If they allowed non-maskers to be non-masked for any reason, even a "legitimate"/"medical" reason, that would defeat the entire mask system and no one should be required to wear a mask. I don't personally buy into the "masks will save us all" theory, but for it to work, you need 100% compliance. Don't be mad at Kennywood for following the mandates of their dictatorial governor's orders that says if you're in a public gathering you have to wear a mask - be mad at Governor Wolf for making that rule. Don't be mad at Cedar Fair for requiring masks at their Ohio parks even though their counties/state aren't requiring it - be mad at your fellow human beings for believing that masks are the be-all, end-all in fighting this "horrible pandemic."

Well, if the HS and college kids are all home from school, they'll have no trouble finding staffing.

Whatever, so long as they don't remove Avalanche to put it in, it's something else to draw crowds away from Twisted Timbers.

Very nice. How's the weather holding out? I was considering staying an extra day but saw 50+% chance of thunderstorms all day and didn't bother.

May the odds be forever in your favor.

That is great news, it puts you a lot closer to Frontier Town and probably saves you 15-20 minutes walking from the main gate. Note that all of the other auxiliary gates are closed, and that you'll need a wristband from Express to get in through the Magnum/Resort gate.

They started giving out the Steel Vengeance passes at like 10:50-10:55 each of the three days I was there. Maverick was 10:55-11:00. Millennium, I'm not sure since I was never around that area when they started giving them out. Entering the park at 10:00 as soon as they rolled up the gates, walking at a normal pace (I'm too old for the running of the bulls haha), I made it to be in the first 50-75 SV passes on the first two days and amongst the first 20-30 Maverick passes today. That said, by 11:00, the SV pass line extended all the way to the train crossing on each of these three days. Maverick's line was almost as long on Monday, but more reasonable yesterday and today. If your reservation/arrival time is after 11:00, you're probably out of luck for the initial issue. Note that Tony Clark did post a blog entry today saying that all reservations at 10:00, 10:30, or 11:00 would be allowed to enter the park with the gate-roll-up at 10:00. Don't forget to allow 15-30 minutes to get through the health screening line before you even get to the gate, and note that they didn't even open the health screening process until 9:45 these three days. If Dragster is open, that will probably bleed off a good chunk of people that would be otherwise going for one of the three big rides' passes, so maybe that will help. I do know that if you're going to shoot for a 3:30 issuance, you probably want to line up around 2:30. Especially now that they've published on that blog entry that there will be a second issuance at that time...before it was kinda a "had to be there to be told that by an employee" kinda thing.

Thanks! Glad to know that they're appreciated.

No, if you want SV go there first. There's a good chance they'll be gone by the time you make it there after waiting in line for MF and Mavericks passes. Likewise MF might be gone if you do the reverse... I found that adding the long walks from Frontier Town to MF gives both MFs and Mavericks lines time to die down so you don't end up standing in line while passes disappear. Note that they have said Dragster, if opening, will be an access pass ride too. I have no idea how to make it work if you wanted to grab all four from one pass issuance session.

Alright, I'm back at my hotel after Day 3 of CP, just relaxing and packing for the drive home tomorrow before another trip to the Thirsty Pony, so here goes the rest of the TR: Cedar Point Day 2 - July 14th So, my game plan going into today was similar to my plan for yesterday - snag all three access passes first thing, then schedule the rest of the day around that. Using the same route (Steel Vengeance line before they start handing out the passes, then down to Millennium Force and then finally back to Maverick), I got 12:00, 1:00, and 3:00 times respectively. Again, as with day one, by the time I was done grabbing passes, people just started lining up for the 12:00 SV entry, so I grabbed my spot in line (3rd) and once again walked right up to the platform. One train later, and I was on, this time in the back row. While it is a better ride in the back than the front (dat airtime), I stand by my original assessment - underwhelming. After having some great rides on Gatekeeper later in the trip, SV is, for me, a solid #6 at Cedar Point and #2 RMC behind Twisted Timbers. Sorry not sorry. I grabbed a slice of Pizza from Wagon Wheel again, then completed my MF time slot (front row, 40 minutes in line plus 15 before they would let the 1:00s in) and then had some time to kill, so I walked around checking ride times (all too long) and finally went to Melt and had their cheeseburger, which was awesome as expected. Surprised though that the burger was just a regular circular patty and didn't take up the entirety of the bread. Made it back to Maverick at around 3:15 (my access pass was for 3:00-4:00) and saw most of the outdoor queue filled up, so I decided to find a shady bench to lay down on until 3:50, when I entered the queue and walked right up to the second-from-front line of the out door area. Oh well...57 minutes for the back row, and awesome as always. From there, my goal was to blitz all of the remaining operating coasters, lines be dammned. That went as follows: -Cedar Creek Mine Ride, 27 minutes for row 3 (didn't have the choice to a non-wheel seat) -Magnum XL-200, 27 minutes for row 13 (same thing here, was only running two trains) -Iron Dragon, 27 minutes for last row (I could've sworn there was padding on these seats in the past, but not anymore) -Gatekeeper, 28 minutes for last row right side (greyed out a little bit on the bottom of the drop loop, which was cool) -Raptor, 55 minutes for row 7 (largely delayed on the brake run due to a protien spill on the train ahead of me). No, I did not make up those times...I ran the stopwatch on my phone on each, and all of them except for Raptor were 27 or 28 minutes and some seconds. Freaky. Anyway, this proves that it is possible to ride all operating coasters in a normal COVID-shortened day without Fast Lane. You just need a plan, plenty of stamina, and a little luck. So, all I had left at this point was Valravn, which had I gotten off of Raptor at a reasonable time, I could have made it in line before 8:00 for. Sadly, I walked out of Raptors exit ramp at 8:06, and then walked against the entire flow of traffic over to Valravn just to confirm that it was closed. Oh well, that's why I have a Day 3. Notably, during my travels of the coaster blitz, I saw Dragster cycling...a lot. Basically chruning empty trains out like nobody's business. I swung by the station, and there was a white-shirt supervisor (not sure the difference between them and the green-shirt supervisors) standing near the edge, overlooking the midway, so I asked him if there was any chance of it opening today. He said no, but "fingers crossed maybe tomorrow evening." He explained that they were running cycles for the state inspection process, which requires them to do X amount of runs without an issue before each season before the ride will be certified by the state to operate to the public. Either way, it gave me hope. Got back to the hotel and took a cool shower, and then it was off for my first trip ever to the Thirsty Pony. Wow. Awesome place, reasonable prices, DELICIOUS food - I got a Goopy Burger - a regular hamburger dripping with Cheez-Whiz. For someone who routinely takes his cheeseteaks in Philly as "american and whiz, wit-out," it was glorious. Sat around there shooting the shit with a couple from western New York (about a 3 hour drive from CP) and a guy from Indiana about coasters, COVID, life, all while downing some yummy adult beverages. Ended up closing them out (which was at midnight, reasonable for a Tuesday I supposed), stumbled back to my hotel and off to bed for Day 3.... Cedar Point Day 3 - July 15th Starting this day out, I only had 3 goals: 1. Get on Valravn 2. Get a second ride on Raptor and Gatekeeper 3. Try to get on Dragster So, with this in mind, today was a lot more laid back. I didn't bother with SV or MF access passes, only getting one for Maverick. After I grabbed the pass, I shot down to Valravn and got in line. 52 minutes later, and I was complete with my back row ride. This was more out of completionism than anything else, I've never been a fan of B&M dive coasters...the two that I've been on (this and Griffon at BGW) just don't do enough with their layouts. Back up to Maverick for my access pass usage, which I walked right up to the indoor queue area. This took a total of an hour and 28 minutes for front row start to finish. Probably 30+ minutes of that was a shutdown while I was in the queue (at least in the shade), during which they had to do an evac from the brake run. But, I stuck it out (what else would I do?) and eventually got on the front row, which is awsome. Not as great as the back row, but I already had two rides there this trip, so I figured I'd sample the other flavor. Back to Melt for another grilled cheese/mac&cheese combo, then off to Raptor. On and off in 29 minutes in row 3. From there it was onto Gatekeeper, where I walked right up to the platform, but sadly they had just started their cleaning cycle. So, it took 21 minutes, again for the back row right side. Again, greyed out a little at the bottom of the initial drop loop. All this time, I was watching Dragster like a hawk. I had even saved my Exit Pass that I got on Day 1 just for that ride. Sadly, though it was cycling earlier in the day, now it was quiet. I walked by the station and asked the employees if there was any chance of it opening today, to which they replied no but they were hoping for tomorrow. Bummer. Or maybe that's just a line they're told to say? Either way, I was hot, and tired, and had accomplished everything I set out to with this Cedar Point trip, so it was time to call it a day. I hoofed it back up to the SV gift shop to buy the shot glass for my collection, then tried to take the train to save my legs some of the walk back, but after waiting 10 minutes and the train arriving, it was full by the time I got to the front of the line. Oh well....made the long walk back to the front of the park, every now and then glancing at Dragster, hoping for some signs of life, to no avail. Back to my car, and to my hotel, and typed this up. I didn't take that many pictures at Cedar Point, but what I did take I'll post early next week when I'm home and recovered. All in all, despite the first day feeling like a disaster at the start, once I tempered my expectations and came to realize that there's no way they would be operating at the same level that Kings Island was, I had a great time. Three rides on Maverick, two on Steel Vengeace, Millennium, Raptor, and Gatekeeper, and at least one lap on every other adult coaster that was operating is nothing to be sad about. Really the only closed coasters I truly missed being able to ride were Dragster, Gemini, and Rougarou (Blue Streak and Wicked Twister are meh and Corkscrew can die in a fire). Apparently more rides will be opening as they complete inspections and get more staffing, so it sounds like the situation there is improving week by week. And at the end of the day, I still got to go to two amusement parks and ride 7 of my top 25 coasters in the span of a week in the middle of a "devastating pandemic." Not bad, not bad at all.

SEAS has to actually pay for these new rides before they can operate. Don't hold your breath.

Thirsty Pony review: Awesome. That is all. Day 2 of CP review will come at some time in the future. I am feeling to good in an adult way to type it out now.

That is awesome to hear. I guess I wasn't too far off when I suggested they do that yesterday. I'm glad to hear the park has a plan to address their staffing issues. I also heard from a bartender at the Frontier Trail bar today that they somehow have some internationals ready to go, they just have to clear quarantine. On another note, so far the Thrirsty Pony seems like an awesome place.

Since we're playing the ranking game, and I now have recent rides on most of the coasters on this list, I can clearly say: 1. Maverick (back) 2. Millennium Force (front) 3. Raptor (back) 4. Top Thrill Dragster (front) 5. Gatekeeper (back) 6. Steel Vengeance (back) 7. Iron Dragon (back) {substantial drop) 8. Magnum XL-200 (front or any non-wheel seat) 9. Rougarou (back) 10. Valravn (front) 11. Gemini (any non-wheel seat) 12. Cedar Creek Mine Ride (any non-wheel seat) {substantial drop} 13. Wicked Twister (front) 14. Blue Streak (any non-wheel seat) 15. Corkscrew (die in a fire) Not ranked: Kiddie Coasters since they're kiddie coasters and Pipe Scream because its not a coaster, and defunct coasters. Stay tuned, my day 2 report is coming later today! Preview: MUCH better day than yesterday; got on every operating coaster except Valravn. Gotta check out this "Thirsty Pony" that everyone raves about.

The "best beer man" for you is the Biergarten and not Miami River Brewhouse, which is air conditioned and you can actually get a variety of food at? Talk about disregarding the opinions of those who do not extol the virtues of and glory that is the NA Miata.

Man, Zach, what have we been talking about in PMs? Just gotta let it all roll off your back. We will never be understood for not buying in to the "sky is falling" hype. Get yourself to KI on a weekday and get some rides in...operations are great and it feels like normal times except the mask and actual space around you in lines. You'll feel better, I promise.

Unpadded metal. It's painful. Trust me you want the seat belt as tight as possible and like at least 3 inches between the bar and your thighs. I kinda lift my legs and scooch forward when they're checking the restraints, then on the lift slide back and tighten the hell out of the belt.