etr102

I'm trying to make a trip to Cedar Point before the weather gets too hot but due to my work schedule, it's looking like it may have to be a dreaded Saturday that I make the trip. Not wanting to spend the entire day waiting in line, I'm thinking of going with the fastlane pass. On a typical busy Saturday, does the fastlane pass still take upwards of an hour in line? Just trying to gauge if it's worth the extra money to get the fast lane pass or if I should just wait until the summer when I can book a Wednesday or something off work.

Any idea why Millennium Force's train is being completely rebuilt? Is this just routine maintenance or are they doing something to improve it? I know some people don't like the current restraint system.

Curious about the rain policy. I know that they generally don't offer refunds for bad weather (the website essentially says to check the weather forecast ahead of time) which is perfectly fair, but what about online advance ticket Sales? For example, lets say I purchased 2 single day passes and two Fast Lane passes for a day 3 months in the future. Now, 3 days before my visit, I see that the weather conditions will be unfavorable so I decide to cancel my trip ahead of time. Is there any refund available? Or are all online sales final? Can't find anywhere on the site clarifying this.

Hey everyone, just curious what the worst parks, and the best parks are for plus sized guests. I often hear that Cedar Point is the least accommodating for larger people, and often hear that most of the Disney parks are the most accommodating. How true are these statements? What other parks are good/bad for large guests?

Are the Cedar Point camp sites suitable for tent camping? Or is having a trailer or RV pretty much a requirement?

I'm 34 and my first roller coaster was the Sky Streak at Boblo Island. As far as I know it was the only Sansei Yusoki manufactured roller coaster in the USA/Canada. In 1993 when the park closed, this roller coaster moved to Selva Mágica in Mexico. This coaster might not look like much by todays standards but believe me, the air time on this thing was excellent.

Does Cedar Point have any special 'late arrival' rate? Obviously if I don't get to the park until 6pm I won't get nearly the amount of use out of it that somebody who arrives at 9am would get, so one would think there might be some kind of price break.

Those of you paying attention probably remember me starting a thread a couple weeks ago about me not 'getting' TTD and Kingda Ka and why their layout is so short. You all did a great job explaining this to me and I now fully understand why they were designed the way they are. So now, the next task for you fine folks is to explain to me the appeal of stand up coasters. I'll admit that Mantis is the only one I've ever ridden. It was by far the most painful amusement park experience I've ever had and about as much fun as going to the dentist. Both the head banging and leg pain were torture. Maybe other stand ups aren't this bad. Thinking about Mantis got me thinking, whoever thought that riding a roller coaster while standing up would be a good idea? Seems like a silly gimmick to me. I can understand the appeal of just about every other style of roller coaster I've ever seen, but riding a coaster standing up? The only word that pops into my head is "Why?" Just because it's a different experience? Once again, I also want to comment on how much I love this site. So much information and the discussion here is great. Keep up the great work.

I know I'm in the minority on this but I don't share the Mean Streak hate. Maybe I'm just not well traveled enough to have experienced better wooden coasters located elsewhere but I like Mean Streak for a few reasons. Generally there's not much of a lineup (even on days where the 'good' coasters have a 2 hour wait, Mean Streak seems to be 20 minutes or less) and while the ride isn't overly thrilling, it's still fun. And of course the structure is beautiful. However I absolutely HATE Mantis. I mean there's some coasters where my head bangs around a bit, but the kind of abuse the body/head take on Mantis is just brutal. I doubt it gets replaced anytime soon since it's only of mid-late 90s vintage. I think it's actually newer than the Raptor (which is an outstanding smooth ride). For some ungodly reason, Mantis seems to get long lineups still. Maybe some people like the abuse. For that reason, the park probably has no reason to get rid of it. A few pages ago, somebody mentioned modifying Mantis as a traditional sit down roller coaster. I'd definitely be up for that idea. I think only the train would need to be replaced right, and maybe the station to facilitate climbing in. Would any other modifications be necessary? I don't dislike the layout, just the pain. Of course since the ride is still busy, the park has no reason to invest the money to make this change.

My apologies for that. Being the noob and starting multiple threads is probably frowned upon. I guess my best answer is that I'm in my very early stages of planning my summer trip and I'm weighing all the options. Not only am I new to this board but I'm new to the hobby as well. As mentioned, I've been to CP many times, but other than 1 trip to Canada's Wonderland about 12 years ago, I've never really traveled to the rest of the great theme parks we have in the Midwest/East Coast. I guess when it comes down to it, I really don't know a whole lot about the various parks within reasonable driving distance, so I'm trying to learn/research as much as I can. I'll most likely do the 'Cedar Fair Parks' trip that I mentioned in the other thread, but I'm just trying to decide if I want to spend a little more and stray outside of the CF chain. I must say though the members of this board are easily the friendliest of any online community I've encountered. I'm a member of many baseball/hockey message boards and when somebody presents an opposing opinion they are jumped all over. This board, everybody seems to be very happy to listen to and discuss everyone else's opinions and ideas. I notice that coaster enthusiasts have a language all of their own with many acronyms. I'm able to pick up on much of it based on the context, but if I could make one suggestion, it would be a sticky thread that serves as a glossary of all the terms and acronyms used regularly on here.

Additionally, I'm curious how the lines are at Hersheypark, again using CP as a point of reference.

I appreciate the info and suggestion. Just curious, how do the lines at a park such as Six Flags: Great Adventure compare to Cedar Point? Roughly the same, or is one typically worse than the other?

Sounds like my kind of place in that regard. How is the selection of roller coasters? I'm guessing it's not quite CP, but is it pretty good as far as selection goes?

Very good info. Kings Dominion is one of the parks I'm most interested in. Intimidator 305 and Volcano are precisely the types of rides I'm looking for. 3 Train wait for Volcano? Thats amazing. When I've visited CP in the past, I typically go on a weekday (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) in the month of May. My reasoning is that all the kids are still in school, the park should be less busy. My choice invariably ends up being dead wrong and there's many many bus loads of kids on hand making the average wait time 1.5-2 hours for most rides. So obviously May isn't the right choice. Is August a better month than May across the board?

I appreciate the reply and info. CGA is pretty far out of my way and extremely doubtful for this trip but how were the lines at KI, KD and DP? Did you get Fast Lane for any of them? How do the (non fast lane) lines compare to CP?

Hey, everybody. This summer I'm planning an amusement park road trip. To maximize bang for buck, my plan is to get a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass so that I pay once for admission to all the parks. With that in mind, I likely won't be visiting any non-Cedar Fair owned parks on this trip. Is the Platinum Pass a good idea for such a road trip? I live in Windsor, ON (right across the river from Detroit) and have been to Cedar Point many times. I love the park, but hate the long lineups. Since Cedar Point is the park I'm most used to, please use it as a point of reference when comparing the lineups of these other parks. I'm most interested in high thrill roller coasters. How do each these parks compare in terms of roller coasters? How do they compare in terms of lines? Do the rest of these parks typically have longer or shorter lineups than Cedar Point? Which parks would you guys recommend the Fast Lane pass? How do these parks compare in terms of 'other' stuff to do? With the purchase of a 'Platinum Pass', is there any price break on getting a Fast Lane? Here's the list of potential stops: Michigan's Adventure Cedar Point King's Island Carowinds Dorney Park King's Dominion Worlds Of Fun (unlikely to visit unless enough of you highly recommend it) I won't have time to do them all, so I'm just looking for info so that I can decide which ones I should prioritize when deciding where to stop. If I've left any good ones in the area out, please let me know.

I'm new round these parts, so I'm sorry if this topic has been beaten to death already. First of all, I've never actually been on Kingda Ka, but I've been on Top Thrill Dragster. While I love the launch, and the trip down the 400+ft hill, it just seems silly that a ride with that much hype is pretty much over before it begins. I believe this is why you guys call them one trick ponies. Is there a reason why these Intamin 'Giga Costers' don't have any more to the course? With the amount of inertia built up from that drop, a pretty good course could be built with several 200-300ft hills, and whatever else. A nice 1.5-2 minute course would be awesome. Do the builders/designers assume that the great launch by itself is enough to draw the crowds that they don't need to have anything else to the ride?

Hey Everybody, I'm from the Detroit/Windsor area, so Cedar Point is pretty much the only major amusement park I've visited (unless you count Boblo Island which closed about 20 years ago). I love the selection of roller coasters at Cedar Point but I really hate spending the day waiting in line. I haven't gone since Maverick or Gatekeeper were added, but the last time I went, 2 hour waits for Millennium Force, Raptor and Mantis were the norm. Top Thrill Dragster typically approached 3 hours. This was generally in mid May on a weekday. I plan to visit again this year but will for sure purchase a Fast Lane pass. Most of you guys have obviously been to far more parks than I have, so I'm just curious how the lines compare at other major theme parks. I'm mainly interested in parks that have a large variety of roller coasters. Take the 6 Flags properties for example. How do their lineups compare to Cedar Point? What about Canada's Wonderland? I guess my question is, are Ceder Points lines the norm at just about any theme park, or do most other parks have better lines? I'm just wondering if I should plan on booking a trip elsewhere this year or if I should stick to Cedar Point.