firewalk13

Thanks for posting the updates! Looks like such a good time!! I really like that floorless...

3 weeks ago my last ride was Maverick. I've been positively itching to get back... soon...

eeeeeek! yeah, I can only manage the first generation Intamin freefalls, no turbo drops. I'd have to be sedated, nope you'll never get me on it. Looks amazing though, I have no doubt it will turn many undies brown.

I've been a couple times, skyhawk was down opening day and to my knowledge is still kaputt. Re: Maverick, ride ops have been great!

Great photos, looks like a F'ing blast!

Aha, I thought I saw a skate ramp in Oceana while on the Giant Wheel on Wednesday! [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Maverick does indeed haul... I have to say, I've gotten a few bruises from it, on my shoulders and most recently one on the bottom left side of my skull, but I absolutely love it anyways. I was there this past Wednesday and by the evening it was a walk on. Best ride of the day other than any on Maverick though was on Gemini. They had the trim brakes off (or open, as the old indicator lights above the ride ops on both sides) and we had a front row blue vs. red battle. Our group of four had lots of airtime and indeed the helixes are pretty intense with the bit of extra speed. There was also the usual smack-talking and rowing to make the trains go faster. I also was able to get my friends to try out Magnum's best seat imo, 1st car row 3. This was also a walk on so we got to do a lot of front row vs. everywhere else comparisons. My one friend was assaulted by her boobs and cursed herself for not wearing a sports bra as she was rocketed up over and over again in 1-3. I still do not find the lapbars at all painful. We also had a lot of fun on Iron Dragon, definitely awesome to have people only sit on only one side of the cars, it actually made the last few turns exciting and quite enjoyable. My friends enjoyed their rides on GateKeeper (I'm still too fat to ride (TFTR) ) and loved the close calls with the keyholes and the overall smoothness of the ride. They wanted to ride it first in case of bad weather which turned out to be wise as it was closed most of the day after that. While they waited for some keyholing (for about 90 mins due to the ride shutting down for 15-20 mins due to some brief 35 mph winds) I took a few spins on Troika which is great, the Giant Wheel, and one on Mine Ride (ow, definitely not getting on that lil bastard till next season). Can't wait to get back soon, hopefully with a few less pounds

You can process your pass at Kings Island.

I rode Maverick at CP half a dozen times in the rain last weekend. The rain was a bit brutal on the face but I have glasses so I didn't have to squint. It was pretty wild, definitely made it pretty interesting. I recommend goggles.....

thanks man! One could definitely do worse than the Mine Ride.

My Trip report from Media Day and Opening Day @ the point! So I arrived at Cedar Point right at 6am Thursday Morning. After a very brief check in at guest services I headed over to GateKeeper and grabbed a fuzzy bunny. Next I headed straight to the test seat because I had a feeling it would be close and..... a no go. I could not get the darned thing buckled. I queued for about 5 minutes and went up to try the 4th row which has the slightly longer seat belts and ended up doing the walk of shame. So I was pretty bummed but I wasn't completely surprised as I'm a big guy. I was very excited to just see the darned thing anyways and had a great time meeting TPR members and taking pics. Cedar Point was very generous and provided food and drink for all. They were also so nice as to warm up and open Raptor and Millennium Force for a few hours each in the afternoon. Sadly, my gut wasn't fitting on those guys either. MF didn't have a seat belt on its test seat so I had to do the walk of shame there too (maybe an inch more and I would have made it!) So who needs a diet? This guy!! Anyways, I stuck around the park all day and enjoyed the laid back attitude the park had with fans and media wondering around and taking it all in meanwhile there employees were very busy getting the park ready for opening (and Ohio State day the next day). GateKeeper and the front entrance really make a statement and it was still enjoyable to watch it cruise endlessly through its track. Had I been able to fit I could have gotten 20+ rides easy but it was not to be. The next day was Ohio State Day and I am an Ohio University grad so I had to stick that one out. I opted for sleeping in late at the motel and hanging out in Sandusky that day. My plan was to get to bed early and not to drink too many beers from the cooler. I found a nice family restaurant in town for a late lunch, early dinner (dunch/linner??) and then had several porch beers at the motel, watching the trains mostly. Next morning, I arrived in time for the Opening Ceremony and GateKeeper ribbon-cutting. Attending as a representative for an elected official, I was wearing my suit coat and tie. Once the ceremony was over I was free to roam the park and ride whatever. Still wearing my work clothes, people kept asking me questions as if I worked there. I helped them if I could but it was mostly, which way's Iron Dragon? & Where's the entrance for GateKeeper? Any real question I would've referred them to an actual employee. In my formal clothes I rode the sky ride several times, Witches Wheel, Ocean Motion twice, and Cedar Downs Racing Derby which was a laugh. People also kept telling me I needed to ride GateKeeper while dressed up. I stayed in those duds until after lunch, changed, and went straight to the coasters. My mission was to determine what exactly I could ride, then ride the F out of them. That's exactly what I did. I'd checked the test seats on MaxAir (ok not a coaster) Dragster, and Mantis on Media Day so I knew those were out and wasted no time there. Being rather piggish and wanting to take advantage of my ride time as best I could, I'd purchased Fast Lane and skipped Corkscrew and Iron Dragon (though they've been favorites of mine since I was a kid) and hung out by Gemini which was still testing though seemingly about to open. I observed them pushing the red & blue trains out of the station several times as they did not have enough weight along with the slight incline of the station to get them going. They announced shortly after that it wasn't opening for another 30 minutes or so. Wanting to ride Maverick (and not having been able to try the test seat on Media Day) I kept heading towards Frontier Town. So, what was my first coaster of the season? Mine Ride (insert slightly sad trumpet noise). It was along the way to Maverick with only a 15 minute wait so I figure'd why not. It was ok as I remembered it but really not fat guy friendly at all. I think riding it more than once might have resulted in death (damn that thing is jerky and the lap bar felt fused to my pelvis). The little drop over the water is still fun though and I'm happy it's still giving tons of rides to folks. I walked past Shoot the Rapids which had one person on it who'd been reportedly marathoning it by himself for quite a while and looked quite sodden. Snake River Falls wasn't open yet nor was Thunder Canyon not surprisingly. I stopped at SkyHawk to try the test seat and it was a fit! Another score for the fat guy friendly rides! Sadly, the ride was down all day and until closing. At this time Maverick had broken down but I stopped at the test seat and it was a go! So I decided to wait it out by getting a few rides on Mean Streak. Mean Streak was a squeeze which made it extra brutal but I enjoyed my first ride in the very back best. Somehow, the shuffling, slamming against the seat-back, and being rag-dolled around actually seemed to help provide a better experience in the rear than up front where my knees took a punshing. After 3 rides in succession I had to stop and get a beer. Right after I got my beer Maverick was up again and so after finishing I headed straight for the Fast Lane entrance. Honestly, the fast lane + maverick alone made it worth the extra $. That was my longest wait of the day for Maverick at 15 minutes. I was hooked, it's like crack. My favorite parts are the first drop, both zero G rolls, and the 2nd airtime hill. I'm not so much of a fan of the twists due to my shoulders hitting the restraints (more on that later). After 3 rides on Maverick I was ready for a break and another beer. Next I was off to Gemini and Magnum. Gemini was running great by this time and I enjoyed several races and the friendly combativeness between the red & blue train. I had such a good time I ended up riding both sides 4 and 3 times each. I was thinking about heading back to Maverick rather than Magnum but I'd seen it was down again on my last run on the blue train so Magnum it was. Fast lane was awesome here too as it made Magnum a walk on. I went straight for the first train's 3rd row seat which is my favorite. It was running great and I got lots of airtime, even some floatiness at the peak of the second hill which I didn't remember. The turn-around trims were on so that was a bummer but not surprising. At this point I needed to hit up the fuzzy bunny I'd rented to ditch my camera because I was too busy riding to use it. From there I stopped by Blue Streak which was wonderful as always. I couldn't spot the damage at all and it certainly was running great. Again, fast lane allowed me to get several rides quickly and it was glorious. After beer number 3 & 4 and a just ok brat, I was eager to get back to Maverick. As it was getting colder and later in the day with clouds moving in, a lot of people had begun to leave so lines were getting much shorter. After one more fantastic ride on Maverick, it started pouring while I was up in the station. About 10 minutes went by and they announced they were taking 2 of the trains off and it wasn't too long before they were running it again, this time in the rain. Holy hell, I am glad I wear glasses because it was wicked, and exfoliating. I could not stop riding it though and got rides in the 2nd row and back rows, left & right, and many in the middle. I must've ridden it 8 more times at which point the park was near closing and my inner arms & shoulders were killing me. Being a fat guy with a lot of inertia really added to that I'm sure. This is also to why I wasn't so much a fan of the s-bends and the overbanks. It was now 20 minutes till closing so I headed to Magnum for my last few rides of the night. It must've been 20 years since I had a night ride on it and they were fantastic! The trims before the turn-around were off so it was giving an extra speedy ride back. I got to ride twice in a row without getting off then my last ride of the night was back in the ejector seat (1/3) and it was a beaut. They were raging rides and the airtime through the pitch blackness of the tunnels was fantastic. The park was now closed so I made my way out to my car at the front entrance and had plenty of time to reflect on a great visit and mini-vacation. Several moments stuck with me such as my first ride of the day while still wearing a tie (on the Witches Wheel), watching dragster roll back 3 times in a row then finally making it with a huge applause from the crowd, and hearing several lovely GP stories about someone being scalped on Gemini, and dumb rumors about its sadly NOT lit up “Trims Brakes Open” signs in the station. Best of all, FINALLY getting to ride Maverick (including the rainy/exfoliating runs) made me so happy. Now for some pictures. I apologize for their crappiness and for the lack of them from Opening Day, but I hope you’ll enjoy them nonetheless. Cheers! PS This is my first trip report so I apologize if I should've put this elsewhere! The first glimpse! Mmm, blurry lighting package... My favorite visual element of GK. Yay!!! need better camera... I love the sound GK made going up the hill, quiet but distinct. Not much of a line. Some media tent action I thought the station looked nice, bit of a throwback design if you ask me. Bonus coaster! The evil insect testing This station could use some some love. A little roofing work and some paint and it'll look good again. more GateKeeper! (and reported non-floatiness) head to the wingover! or the helix... crappy shot looks like a close call time for some motion in your ocean... Headed over to Millennium Force, they were still installing the lockers. I really have to give Matt Ouimet and Cedar Point credit, they were very patient and welcoming to have so many people in there park while they were still getting ready to open officially. They even threw in a 300 foot tall Intamin a bird of prey for the fans and media! Everyone knows that the fuzzy fuzzy bunnies run on and are stuffed, with lemonade! mmm, millennial testing Evil insect testing. I think this was right around the time Iron Dragon sadly ground to a halt (though it was running endlessly opening day). Meine Liebe don't touch! Yeah, that's not much of a wait! Mmm, ice sculpture. Now a few opening day shots. Who wants to ride the first Intamin roller coaster? and I leave ya with a nice large gull. GateKeeper opening day line, oy... I see a couple of volunteers there's going to be sooo many pictures of the new front gate...

I was there on Thursday and Saturday and had a chance to meet Annie Zeller and Rob Decker, thanked them profusely for Media day event and congratulated Rob on a beautiful job with GateKeeper and the front entrance redo. I thought the operations on Saturday were fine. The main entrance of the park was very nicely done. Was awesome getting to meet Robb and lots of TPR members. Overall, I had a great time. Working on a brief TR.

Thanks for that, great footage and nice editing imo.

wow dude, just wow, great photos!!

Wonderful TR and excellent pics! I got chills a bit looking at some of the namtab photos. I imagine getting whipped around more... Looks like a nice park with a good coaster lineup as you said.

Really great trip report! Having lived only a couple hours away I'm ashamed to say I've never made it there before. No longer! This summer I'll be there...

i'll sit on either side, looks great!!

Great video!! You struck gold!

For me it was a ride on the Magnum at Cedar Point on our 8th grade trip. My friend and I waited for the front car and we were both really excited. As we're going up, my friend tells me she's never been on anything bigger than a loop screw and as we start the first drop she screamed in my ear and buried her head somewhat painfully into my side. It startled me then cracked me up because I was nervous being on the left-hand side with no scaffold as we ascended and I'm not a huge fan of heights. It broke the ice and I definitely wasn't scared anymore after that.

Just went and got my first ever season pass processed. They're doing the processing out of Castaway Bay, it took exactly 1 minute and it was nice to see them already working on them before 3pm (I arrived 15 mins early). Whoot!! Regular season pass center opens on May 1st I think. Also, Gatekeeper looks amazing!! I cannot bleeping wait...

I think the color sensitivity and picture are good, I was a little put off by the slight fisheye feel to the lens but not bad at all.

I used to think as a kid that Arrow should have made a suspended standup coaster. I even drew a picture of it, I called it the Devil's Eye.

Looks fantastic, thanks for the update! Now thinking I really need to visit my cousin in LA this summer.....

Wow, that looks awesome, I want one here!! The food looked damned tasty too. Private party with it's own lanes and an outdoor patio? YES, throw in some bottle service and have a great party you won't remember lol.

Really interesting question! I'd say that if I had to bet that time machine is probably most likely to bite the dust. It's the outlier though. If Time machine had been in continuous operation or if it were to be rescued soon, then I'd think the first B&M to get scrapped would be Vortex. Ditto!