diamondzznspurs

I enjoy meeting up with people when it works out, and it seems like KI is the place I've done that mostly, lately! Years ago I met a bunch of people at CP from a site I frequented at the time (now defunct), and many of them are still close friends! However, I also have met people, particularly from one site and club which shall not be named, who were A-holes, for the most part (ironically, at a KI event), and then of course there's the ones you always hear about who frequent Enthusiast events, that are... shall we say, socially challenged. I have to jump in here....I know this was posted a while ago but wow someone that actually feels the way I do. I consider myself an enthusiast and my homepark is KI. I've been thrilled with the announcement of Orion and feel VERY lucky to have so many good coasters in one park. Granted CP is my favorite and only 5 hours away, but I don't get there as often. I don't understand how people are complaining and judging when the coaster hasn't been built yet. I was at the announcement and even though we knew what was coming it was still really exciting. I have had issues w a certain group/person in another group that went as far as to try to get me kicked out of ACE and KI. I couldn't believe when I got a call from ACE saying so and so says you're threatening him. Smh He kicked me out of his group because I had an opinion, every park has their strengths and weaknesses but in his group you don't dare ever say anything negative. Sadly, he has the backing of KI even though numerous people have all complained about how nasty he is. This all happened right before Coasterstock in May and it was really uncomfortable running into him and his cronies. I absolutely love KI and love meeting new people in our travels. If people are so upset about this coaster than that's just less people waiting when I get in line! I've lurked in this group for quite a long time but have rarely commented, maybe I should have more, you guys seem to be of the same mindset as I am. I'm glad I started looking around again.

My one question, does everyone think the best row is row 1? I used to think that until someone told me to try a magical row towards the back, now I won't ride any other row!! My husband still likes one but I head towards the back. We got our shirts as well, also waited in the rain and were drenched, we got lucky though as we were train 3 after 10, it was quite the experience.

Have to chime in as well, we were lucky enough to attend Media day and quite honestly we were blown away. We've only been to the park once and it wasn't a good representation as it was during the state fair and a lot was closed. The food spread was so awesome and everything I tried was so good. I was not expecting much from the coaster as it was advertised as a family coaster, boy was I wrong. If I was young I would have been terrified of this coaster. It doesn't look like a whole lot but oh my was it fun. The only negative I would say is I wish it was longer. I rode three time, front, second and last row, my preference is front. We really didn't have any plans of going back but after riding this coaster and the great event KK put on we will definitely be visiting this summer.

I just did my RSVP for my husband and I! Wish we could do CP but this is close to us! We've never been to the park yet so we can't wait to see it.

Here you go

JJ it sounds like you and I need to do Cedar Point the right way! Lol I was shocked that my friend was blaming the park for her not fitting in the seats, granted she did not try the test seat on MF, but did on Dragster and the most puzzling of all was the night before she didn't fit on Wicked Twister but was fine about that. I'm not small by any means and I understand its embarrassing but come on its not the parks fault, my husband didn't fit on WT that time either and I fit only after having to change seats, it is what it is. Her theory was Disney and Universal obviously make rides with bigger restraints and like I've said, a whole other ball game when you're comparing dragster to splash mountain. The funniest part of all this was we did have a very bad experience at breakers express but I kept quiet and waited until I was home and NICELY called to let them know the problem we had, never expecting anything and they ended up comping us an entire weekend, which was way beyond what they should have. She got so mad and said well that's great for you, they could have paid for my air fare, I was stunned and didn't know what to say! Man I like the antique cars but 3 times? Oh my! Sorry but Cedar Point is for the thrills, but to each his own.

Oh I forgot, she doesn't even live in the Orlando area, she lives in Delray Beach so I'm not sure why she has that obnoxious fanboy attitude.

No thank goodness she was not a part of our wedding, we just did it at the local court house. Her behavior has taught me who I will and will not be around. Its almost like she feels entitled because of living in Florida. I know Disney is a whole other level that's hard to compare to but honestly given the choice I would take Cedar Point over Disney any day, but that's because my husband and I are roller coaster fanatics. We were lucky enough to go back for Halloweekends ALONE and had the most wonderful time, all I kept thinking was she would have been complaining the entire time because it was the last weekend of the season and packed. Makes me very thankful for the person that I am and that I don't walk around miserable like she is. Rob, when I read your first post here I just had to share with everyone my story and how not to act!

Omg, I haven't read this entire thread but wow the first thing I thought of was a friend I have in Florida. She came up to Kentucky to visit and I went on and on about how awesome Cedar Point is. I grew up in Detroit and went every year and after I got married I took my husband for the first time and he became hooked as well. So I had this great trip planned, everything was ok Saturday night when we arrived, we hit a couple rides and saw a show but didn't plan on really hitting the park until the next day. When we were leaving the park it was kind of odd that there were food stands and restrooms closed but I didn't think much about. Well before going to bed I had jumped on a cedar point forum and found out there was a water main break and it was sketchy on whether the park would even open. Well that immediately got my friend going and she started complaining that it better be fixed blah, blah, blah. We were staying at the budge property on site since we didn't have season passes and wanted the benefit of early entry, etc. Well during the night a letter was left for everyone that stated the park would be opening but no early entry, she hit the roof that we paid all this money, in my head I'm thinking like they really planned this. I knew it was going to be a horrible experience just by her attitude, well we got to the park and she immediately went to guest services complaining that she wanted money back because she couldn't get in early, it was so embarrassing. They finally gave her some front of the line passes just to shut her up and assured her almost everything was running except the water park and a few stands. Well of course she's upset about the water park but I just ignored it. We did one ride, Valravyn, which she was happy about but then it all went downhill. We went to dragster, it was down so she started complaining, I told her this happens and we will just come back. So we headed to Millennium force, big problem, she couldn't fit in the seat, she started that she wasn't any bigger than my husband and how this is so wrong, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die, but instead rode with my husband and left her there. Once we got off she was in fine form, so we headed back to dragster but I knew in my head there was no way she was going to fit and of course she didn't. Well she started how the parks in Florida are not like this and how wrong it is, tried to tell her its for safety but she would have none of it. We then wanted to wait to get a spot for iron dragon virtual reality, when they were not there right at noon I thought she was going to blow a gasket, I said well I'm thirsty so let's get something to drink, omg, wrong thing to say, 2 stands aren't open and she went balistic, so she went to guest services and started complaining how this is the worst park ever and they aren't running the way they should and never should have even opened, I was completely mortified, the kicker was she decided we would leave and get a full refund. I was beyond upset as this was my one vacation, we don't have a car so we had to rent one and I knew we would not get another chance to cone back. She wanted to just drive back to Kentucky but I was like no I want to ride roller coasters so I said we are going to kings island. The car ride was pure hell, my poor husband had to use the restroom and she wouldn't stop. We finally got to our hotel and I said we are going out for dinner, I was not about to stay in the hotel all night, so we went to a Japanese hibachi restaurant, omg horrible, she claimed to have a migraine and all she did was sit w her head on the table never acknowledging the staff and ate 2 bites of dinner. By the time we got back I was furious as she started that we weren't going to purchase tickets for the park til the next morning as she didn't know how she was going to feel. I told my husband we are going, I don't care if she has to sit in the hotel all day. Well she was fine by morning, but I was a little leary as I didn't know if this park would be any better in her eyes, well she liked it somewhat better and fit on the rides, but in the afternoon we decided to go to the water park, she goes in the restroom and puts her bathing suit on and is walking around kings island like this, she was pissed that people were looking at her, well I wonder why, maybe because you are not supposed to walk around that park on swimwear! So after all this she decides she has to change clothes, well the restroom was busy and she went on and on about how dirty it was and this would never happen at Disney or universal, no the bathroom was not dirty. But the complaining was not done yet...the fsmikt6dryer she spent money on didn't dry her off to her liking, by this time i was ready to just go home and get her on a plane back to Florida! You would think we would have learned our lesson to never travel with her again but oh no we didnt, she came back for a visit last month and the first night we were going to Waverly Hills Sanatorium, well she was the obnoxious one in the group, loud mouth, talking above the tour guide and taking pictures when we were not allowed to. The next day we were going to Corbin, KY for a Brantley Gilbert concert. We had paid $189 a ticket for VIP tickets that included a private acoustic performance and q&a w Brantley. My husband and I were beyond excited as this is our favorite artist, well again she started at the hotel because the rooms weren't ready yet. Then it was she didn't have a privacy sign for her room. We get to the concert venue and I could tell she was pissed off, well during the q&a my husband who is a recovering addict gave Brantley a special token he had received as Brantley is also in recovery, it was a really big deal to my husband and he got attention from Brantley which pissed her off. We got to our seats and she sat thru the entire show, looking completely miserable and having no fun. After we had a meet and greet pass, she got mad at how long the line was and then because Brantley wouldn't give her a hug, out of respect for his wife. We have now definitely learned our lesson and will never travel with her again, so I can really emphasize with people that have had to put up with unacceptable behavior. I wish so bad my husband and I could afford to do your U.S. tour but we just can't, but I can tell you if we were ever lucky enough to attend a tour we certainly would never display the type of behavior we've been witness to!

Thanks for the tip. We are going to wait to see what the weather is like since we are going the last weekend. I know we are going to buy the passes so we can get in the skeleton key rooms, just will not pay for that on Saturday, hoping for Fri night, I know we will purchase online before we get to the park because it is cheaper.

I've never thought the food was very good at CP compared to Kings Island but wow what a difference just having gone to Busch Gardens Tampa, that food was amazing and the meal plan was a better value. I know when we go for Halloweekends in a couple weeks the food won't be any where near as good but I won't complain as it's on the park free this time due to some bad customer service issues we had in July, but I also tell myself I'm there for the coasters which are unlike any other park in my opinion.

Unfortunately that was the one coaster I didn't get to ride. We never made it over there during the day and at night it was down, although I kept seeing wait times for it, so I'm not sure if our tour guide had wrong information or what. But I had such a wonderful time that I have to bring my husband back, maybe next Halloween.

I think best seats are pretty subjective, I am a front row person as I like my rides smooth. What I did notice was just how smooth the coasters were compared to my home parks of Kings Island and Cedar Point. It occurred to me that the difference is probably the cold weather we experience up here compared to Florida. I heard the same thing about HHN, I would be pissed to be rushed thru a house. I have to say that I had scares numerous times and I don't scare easily but we were allowed to walk at our own pace and the scares were plenty, at least with my group they held people back to create gaps. I did like going in first as opposed to last in the group as you see the scares in the back more. As for Cedar Point we are mainly going for the coasters. We had gone in July when they had a water main break that was a disaster, so we are going back on the park. We will probably buy front of the line passes for the houses either Friday night or Sunday. We have fast lane passes to use one day which will probably be Saturday and early admission for 2 days so I'm expecting a pretty good trip, the Halloween part is just an added bonus.

I went last Friday for the first time and wow I absolutely loved Howl O Scream! The weather did not cooperate but I didn't let that stop me from having a great time. I was really bummed that my first time going to Florida in October and I wasn't able to go to Universal HHN, but this event was soooo good. The crowds were not bad but I also did the 5 hour mega tour which gave us a tour guide, front of the line for the houses and rides, drinks, reserved seating at Fiends and a photo. Now that I've been spoiled by this I will never want to do it any other way. My favorite house was Motel Hell and outdoor area was the playground. Busch Gardens really did a class act with this event. Our tour guide told us that Gwazi was not going to be taken down as it would cost more to do that than just leave it standing. She said there was talk of a new coaster in 2018 but I take that with a grain of salt. My husband and I are doing Halloweekends at Cedar Point the end of the month but after this event I doubt it will compare.

HTF, THANK YOU so much for all the advice. I am a HUGE horror plan and my dream has always been to hit HHN, ever since I was a travel agent way back in the late 90s. I got to tour IOA before it opened to the public and that's when I learned about HHN. This is actually a delayed honeymoon, we are celebrating our 1 year anniversary Saturday and have had to wait to take a proper honeymoon. I really do want to stay at Cabana Bay, it's only about $20 more a night than Doubletree, but I will also check the Hyatt. Your recommendation for during the day is excellent, I really didn't think we needed to do the express passes. The only reason we were going to do the VIP tour is because our friend is doing it, but you are right, it's like $140 per person not including the price of admission. The only thing she said was that to go through the houses they are not that scary as there is a constant stream of people going in so you see the scares ahead of time where you don't with the tour. Do you know if this is true? I love the idea of the frequent fear pass since we will be there any way. I know the crowds can get crazy and I do not want to miss anything. We are truly going for HHN and the parks, as my husband has never been to FL. I have to plan this carefully as my husband is a recovering alcoholic, so I'm trying to stay away from Citywalk except for maybe to go to dinner or something. My friend on the other hand drinks A LOT, so I know evenings we will be pretty much on our own except for the night of HHN, but now you really have me thinking that we should just not do that VIP tour and just spend more time at the event instead. I know with it being the 25th anniversary it's going to be big and we are so excited, just seems pretty overwhelming right now trying to work this on a budget. Luckily I have found cheap air fare which will help a great deal. Any other ideas I welcome hearing from you, thanks so much!

I'm a little curious and I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I have not been down to Orlando in a very long time and really want to get the most out of it. We are going for our honeymoon to do Halloween Horror Nights and our friend down there is insisting we have to get express passes for during the day. She is staying onsite at the Lowes Pacific but we cannot afford that and are looking at either Cabana Bay (which does not have the express passes) or Doubletree across from Universal. We are going October 15-19, so we have plenty of time I'm thinking and plan on doing HHN on Sunday the 18th, purchasing the VIP tour. I would think that we should be able to do all the attractions in a decent amount of time if we stay away from Saturday. The only other plans we have is to do Sea World, which our friend is not doing. We are on a pretty limited budget and just want to be able to go and have the best time we can. Any suggestions for us? I know at night my husband and I will be on our own as our friend is with her boyfriend and they drink pretty heavily and we don't drink at all, so we will go our separate ways except for HHN.

Maybe in general Super 8 and Motel 6 is worth staying away from, but since my husband and I actually stayed at Motel 6 Huron in May, I can tell you it is definitely CLEAN, I will not stay in a rat trap or somewhere dirty. As for helpfulness, they went above and beyond. On our last morning there we came out to our car battery dead, the manager got his jumper cables and actually gave us a jump. If not for him we really would have been screwed as we had borrowed a friend's car so we could not call insurance, etc. Being a former travel agent, one of the best resources on the web is tripadvisor.com, they are real reviews from real people and you can pick out what reviews are just BS.

You definitely need to watch what motels you stay in. On our last trip we stayed at the Motel 6 Huron, which is about 15 minutes from the park, it was such a great stay and where we will stay on all future trips. We went during the week so the rate was $49, I know weekends are more but for the money you cannot beat it. The rooms are clean and comfortable and the drive to Cedar Point is easy except there is a bunch of construction. The only down side is they do not offer any breakfast but for us the money we saved staying there more than made up for it. As most people have said, the biggest tip for getting in the rides is work from the back of the park forward and try to hit Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster early. Every time we hit Dragster it ALWAYS goes down at some point. A lot of people will leave the line but we have always stuck it out and ended up on it within an hour. It sucks to wait but with the unpredictability you really need to. Do not attempt to hit Raptor, Wicked Twister and Gatekeeper in the morning, the lines are always long, as for Fast Lane Plus not sure about those lines. We have platinum passes so we just take advantage of the early entry.

1. Top Thrill Dragster 2. Millennium Force Not sure how high some of them are in Florida, we are planning our delayed honeymoon for October to go to Halloween Horror Nights and hoping to hit Sea World and Busch Gardens, trying to get in some new coasters we've never done before.

I was going to take my husband for his first time this Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm sort of glad we moved it to May 28-29, I'm really hoping they will have all the kinks out by then. I will be so bummed if Wicked Twister isn't running, for some reason to me that is the scariest coaster I've ridden, not sure why but I really want my husband to experience it. I've really been talking up CP since the only park he's ever been to is Kings Island, which he loved, but I told him CP is 10 times better, probably cause I grew up going there every summer as a kid and I love that it's on the water and all the coasters they have. I will be keeping an eye on which coasters might not still be running and keeping my fingers crossed that they will be by the time we go.

My husband and I are going to CP May 28th and 29th. We living in Kentucky and are planning that it will be a 5-6 hour drive, so we are leaving very early on the 28th. We have platinum passes as we are close to Kings Island, so the early entry is a saver for us. We do not have the money to spend on fast lane tickets but with early entry I doubt it will be a big deal. CP was my park growing up but I haven't been back since before Maverick was put in, so things have changed quite a bit. My husband has never been there so he's really excited about it. We figured going during the week before school gets out could save us hopefully. Last time I was there it was Memorial Day weekend and I'm not sure about the weekend but on actual Memorial Day it was not busy at all. I saw a post that someone will be there on the 29th as well. If you want to get together let us know, we love being with other enthusiasts. I cannot wait as we were supposed to go last year and never were able to make it.

True, I just wasn't sure if there would be a whole lot left by the time we get there. I've never done an event like this and have no idea what to expect. We already have our season passes so it really isn't that much but we are trying to stretch every penny unfortunately. I think as long as tickets are still available when we get paid on the 23rd we will do it, seems like it is really going to be a blast.

So I have a question....we have decided we are leaving right after our ceremony at 1pm, it takes two hours to get to Kings Island so I'm assuming we will be there by about 3:30p. would it be worth it to still get the Banshee Bash tickets? I'm just wondering how much we would be able to participate in comes afternoon, we really want to do this!

When we were there last month we stayed at the Red Roof Inn Blue Ash, it was $59 a night and was quite clean and comfortable and was about 7 miles from the park. Unfortunately it really does depend on when you are going, we are going back the 25th and most everything is sold out, I ended up getting a Motel 6 Franklin which is a bit further away but at $69 for the night I couldn't pass it up, I would rather drive a few extra miles and have that saved money for the park. I'm still on the fence about this one as this is our wedding night but we are on such a tight budget we just cannot afford something nicer.

Am I correct in understanding that if you don't have Fastlane you could be in for long waits? I have platinum passes so we will at least get in the hour early but being this is our honeymoon we do not have the money to purchase Fastlane, we are going the end of the month on a Sunday and Monday and were hoping to be able to get in everything we want if planned accordingly.