cparkes92

Sent to the scrap heap Disaster Transport (Cedar Point) Incredible Hulk (original) (Islands of Adventure) WildCat (Cedar Point) Converted or in the conversion process Mantis (Cedar Point) Mean Streak (Cedar Point) Gone from the park I rode it at, but active at another park Deja Vu (Six Flags Great America) [now at Silverwood] Iron Wolf (Six Flags Great America) [now at Six Flags America]

GCI: Never ridden one Intamin: American Eagle B&M: Iron Wolf (by far)

1. Millennium Force (6,595 ft) 2. Mean Streak (5,427 ft) 3. Shivering Timers (5,383 ft) 4. Magnum XL-200 (5,106 ft) 5. Raging Bull (5,057 ft) 6. American Eagle (4,650 ft) 7. Maverick (4,450 ft) 8. Kraken (4,177 ft) 9. GateKeeper (4,164 ft) 10. Banshee (4,124 ft)

Haven't ridden either, but Mine Blower looks better. Lightning Rod or RMC Mean Streak?

If you ever get to Founders during the summer season, Shivering Timbers is only an hour (or less) away!

ACErs?

Worst part of your "joke" is, you're probably right If MiA gets the Boomerang, I hope it comes with the new Vekoma trains and a repaint. I would also love for Richard Michael Crosby to pay a visit to do his magic on Wolverine Wildcat, but that will never happen.

When I went to KI, I noticed how much greenery that park has (even though it was as hot as Hades on the day I was there)

Which ride at the Point had a longer FL line than standby line? Speaking of Cedar Point, FL+ is worth it for Valravn and Maverick alone (using FL+ on those two rides alone took 2.5 hours off queuing time). It also helps on Millennium, especially if the regular line is over 30 minutes

After reading this report, I decided that I had to ride Cedar Downs on my last trip to the Point. I finally rode it (first thing; I had FL+ so it wasn't a priority to hit the coasters first) and it's a very fun ride. It spins at a decent speed, but not as fast as many other spinning rides (I don't do spinning rides well).

It will likely either be Kings Island (redemption from my protein spill) or Cedar Point

Honestly despite having a better ride lineup than KI, I prefer KI over CP. KI to me has a much better atmosphere around the entire park, wheras CP felt a bit more cluttered/cramped. I guess that's a sacrifice you've gotta make if you're striving to have the most coasters at one park though Both are fantastic parks nonetheless. I kind of agree with you. Kings Island seems to have more mature trees spread throughout the park while most of CP's mature trees are in the Frontier Trail area. I will try very hard to get back to KI this season and get on the coasters I missed (mostly Diamondback, Beast, and Mystic Timbers).

Cedar Point 6/25/2017 Today I went to Cedar Point for the first time this season. My grandma gave me two tickets (with FL+ included) that can be used on any day (except Saturday) before Labor Day, so I decided to use one of them today after looking at the weather forecast, which was MUCH more favorable than my ill-fated trip to Kings Island two weeks ago. The day started early again, and I had breakfast at the same Waffle House I stopped at on the way to Kings Island. This time, I didn’t have as big of a breakfast (I had basically a breakfast grilled cheese with bacon and egg along with a hashbrown on the side). After breakfast, I headed over to Cedar Point. I took the scenic way from Toledo, taking OH 795 to OH 51 to OH 163 to OH 2 through the beautiful small towns of Genoa and Oak Harbor. That way, although taking longer, is much prettier than the Ohio Turnpike. Once I got into Sandusky, I planned on taking the $10 passenger ferry from downtown to Cedar Point. However, as I pulled into the parking lot at the ferry docks, the ferry was pulling out, so I ended up driving to the Point and paying the $20 to park. The good news about getting to the park at 9:15am is that I had a very good parking spot (third row back from handicapped parking). Once I was parked, I applied sunscreen (which is very useful for me as I am a redhead) before going into the front area of the park. The nice thing about Cedar Point is that before the park officially opens, they open the front gates and let people go as far as where the path to GateKeeper splits off. This is likely done so there isn’t as much of a queue at the turnstiles and security booths. Once the barricades were removed, I saw people literally running to Valravn and toward the back of the park (Millennium Force and Maverick most likely). With my FL+ wristband, I decided to take it a little easy and ride Cedar Downs first thing. I had passed by it many times, and after seeing how much Bert loved it when he went to the Point for the first time, I decided to ride it. I thought Cedar Downs was quite good and a ride that I will likely reride on future Cedar Point visits. The hardest part was trying to get my leg over to the other side. After Cedar Downs, I went to Iron Dragon, which doesn’t have Fast Lane, but was nearly a walk-on in the morning. (The line got longer in the afternoon, and I left before the VR started.) The next coaster on the agenda was Millennium Force, which was a fairly short line (FL+ didn’t really make a difference at this point). Millie is still my favorite ride at the park and my #1 coaster. I like how almost everyone rides the entire thing hands up. After Millennium Force, I hopped on Rougarou, which was a walk-on and is much better as a floorless than as a stand-up. I didn’t know this until after I got off, but the people in the row in front of me were from Traverse City, which is about 60 miles from my hometown of Manistee. Once I found that out, I had to talk to them for a little bit and I even got a selfie with one of the people in the group! I then headed back to Millennium for another ride. Millennium is one of those coasters I could ride all day if I wanted to! After Millie, I headed toward the back of the park. First, I took a break to have some Dippin’ Dots, which were good as usual. Next, I started heading back toward Maverick, but before I rode that, a group of young women wanted to ride Wave Swinger and they needed some people to ride with them, so I was a nice guy and volunteered to ride with them. I had never ridden a Wave Swinger ride before, but I found this one to be fun. I rode twice, the second time also with some of that aforementioned group. Now I finally hit Maverick, which was a near walk-on for Fast Lane users but an hour wait for regular customers (the first ride where FL+ came in handy). I feel that Maverick is a much better ride after the restraint change with much less head banging. After Maverick, I took some pictures of the RMC Mean Streak construction site before heading off to Cedar Creek Mine Ride, which had a very short wait. The Wave Swinger group was in the train before mine, so I waved at them as they went off. CCMR is a much better mine train than Adventure Express IMO despite CCMR being 22 years older! Next on the agenda was Gemini. Remember the girls from the Wave Swinger? They were getting in line for Gemini (which was a station wait), so I joined them for Gemini. The group had seven, so I evened them out as four went on blue and four went on red. I was on the red side for this ride. On this ride, the blue side very narrowly won. After this, I said thank you to that group for letting me ride with them and I went back in line to ride the blue side. This time, the blue side won handily. It’s impressive that in 1978, Gemini was the tallest coaster in the world and in 2018 it will be the tenth tallest coaster at Cedar Point. That shows how far coaster technology has come since them. By this time, it was only 1pm and I had already gotten in 11 rides (!!). At this time, I took a decent length break to sit in the shade and drink a bottle of water. After this break, I walked through Camp Snoopy and half thought about riding Woodstock Express (I already have this credit, so I decided not to). Then I decided to ride Pipe Scream, which I had never ridden before. Pipe Scream is not a coaster, but I think it’s a fun flat ride. After Pipe Scream, I headed to Magnum, where I sat with a family of three which included one of the kid’s first ride on a major coaster (she had just hit 48”). Magnum was actually riding decent today as it wasn’t super rough. Magnum likely has the most airtime of any coaster in the park for now (Alan Schilke’s new masterpiece may take the cake when it opens next year). Next, I headed toward the front of the park, and while on the way there, I decided to ride Corkscrew (a walk-on for FL) and Power Tower (shooting down side). Corkscrew is a ride that I will likely not ride again until next year. It looks super nice, but it’s rough (but not as bad as Michigan’s Adventure’s Corkscrew) and the trains are very hard to get in and out for someone tall. Power Tower was fun, as I was sitting on the side facing the front entrance. After Power Tower, I took another break for a water and a pretzel. After the break, I had my biggest FL+ win as I was able to skip a nearly 2 hour line for Valravn. With FL+, I was on Valravn in less than 10 minutes (!!!!). Valravn is a good ride, but not as good as the two Intamins on the left hand side of the park. The drop is kind of scary, especially when they hold you at the top for a few seconds before releasing. Next up was Blue Streak, which was a near walk-on with both FL+ and regular. Blue Streak is quite rough, so it’s another coaster I probably will skip on future visits this year. Next was a trip back to Millennium Force for my third Millie ride of the day. This time, FL+ was a help, as it shortened an hour wait to a 15 minute wait. I noticed Wicked Twister was running after being down most of the day, so I headed there after Millie. I almost got walk of shamed (I have a large chest), but the ride op was able to get the belt to click to the restraint. WT is kind of disorienting with the twists on both sides, but it is a fun ride. It would have been a little more fun if the restraints weren’t so tight. The last ride of the day as GateKeeper, which had about a 10-15 minute wait with FL+. It is a fun ride, however, I was stapled so I felt like I couldn’t breathe while on the brake run. After this, I left the park and headed into Sandusky for dinner at Cameo Pizza, which is a locals place near downtown Sandusky. I had a pizza with pepperoni and bacon along with breadsticks. I ordered enough so that I could take some home and have it for dinner the next two nights at work (I work second shift). Cameo Pizza is very good. It’s kind of like an old school sports bar in the middle of town. After dinner, I had an uneventful drive home. It was still light when I got home. I was able to get on every operating major coaster at least once as well as four non-coasters in my seven hours at the Point today. Also, I didn’t spill any protein and I never really felt like I was going to vomit at all (the cooler weather definitely helped). Side note: Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, Skyride, Lake Erie Eagles, and WindSeeker were closed all day when I was there due to high winds (Raptor may have been mechanical as the sign didn’t mention high winds as it did at TTD and the other rides; some of these may have opened after I left). Also, Wicked Twister was down mechanical at points today, but I was able to get on it eventually. Final Scorecard Millennium Force 3x Wave Swinger 2x Blue Streak Cedar Creek Mine Ride Cedar Downs Corkscrew GateKeeper Gemini (Blue) Gemini (Red) Iron Dragon Magnum XL-200 Maverick Pipe Scream Power Tower (Shoot Down) Rougarou Valravn Wicked Twister Saw this rainbow on my way to Cedar Point, not far from my place. The front entrance. Charlie Brown and Snoopy are hanging out with the band! The band! Cedar Downs. A fun ride that I rode for the first time today. I will likely be riding it on future visits. Crowds were light in the morning, but picked up later in the day. How many coasters do I see in this shot? At least six (Valravn, Iron Dragon, Rougarou, Millennium Force, Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster). RMC Streak may be visible as well. Iron Dragon was a near walk-on in the morning, but got up to 30-45 minutes later in the day (before the VR started). Fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo. At this time, Millie had a somewhat short wait for regular. Rougarou: Much better as a floorless than a stand-up. Selfie with a fellow Northern Michigan native! "Excuse me, but do you know any stats for RMC Mean Streak?" Wave Swinger is a fun little ride. Werner Stengel rules!! Maverick did win the Golden Ticket for Best New Ride for 2007. Valravn should have won in 2016 (Lightning Rod should've been ineligible for 2016) RMC Mean Streak (or whatever it will be called) is looking impressive!!! All hail Alan Schilke! (This will be Schilke's first ride at the Point as the five Arrows were all Ron Toomer designs) Cedar Creek Mine Ride: We're Better Than Adventure Express, Corkscrew, and Blue Streak! CCMR is in decent shape for a nearly 50 year old ride. Can't wait for this to open on May 5, 2018 (yes, I just looked up the date for the first Saturday in May as that has been CP's opening day for the past several years) ACE picked a very good spot to put this plaque honoring Toomer, as five of his rides are at Cedar Point and this was their first record-breaking coaster. Snoopy picture! (Yes, I booped him in the nose before this picture) Probably the best themed frog hopper I've ever seen! Hard to believe that at one time, Gemini was the tallest coaster in the world and had queue lines measured in hours! In 2018, Gemini will be the 10th tallest coaster at Cedar Point Pipe Scream: Not a credit, but a fun ride. Magnum was the first coaster over 200' tall. Look how things have changed since then! It's likely in 2018 that Magnum will be the sixth tallest coaster at Cedar Point (depending on how tall RMC Streak is) Magnum has to have the longest lift hill of any coaster I've been on. Cedar Point Shores still had some people in it despite the weather conditions. Corkscrew is a bad ride, but looks really good! No signs of life at TTD all day. Valravn records sheet. Fast Lane Plus allowed me to skip the 105 minute line for Valravn and get on in about 10 minutes. Raptor didn't run all day while I was there, but I did notice people were lining up outside the entrance waiting to see if it would open up. Blue Streak is a historical coaster, but it has not aged well. I feel sorry for the people that had to wait in that long line for Valravn. Coaster's Drive-In looks very nice! Wicked Twister was down for a portion of the day, but it ended up running before I left, so I got a ride on it. Almost got walk of shamed, however. I was surprised to see that many people on the beach when it was about 70-75 degrees with a steady breeze. In fact, I saw a few brave souls go into Lake Erie.

GateKeeper at Cedar Point

Enthusiasts all over the world would be so happy if Lightning Rod even got eventually up to TTD/KK reliability levels (then again, LR shouldn't be affected as much by high winds as the Intamin rockets)

My drinks were Diet Coke. Kind of a not so good decision in hindsight. The weather for tomorrow at Cedar Point looks very good for coasters! High in the low 70s with a slight chance of showers late in the day. *cue Chuck Mangione's song "Feels So Good"*

Heading to Cedar Point tomorrow, so expect a TR to be posted sometime next week

Wow! I didn't realize you hadn't gotten on one before! Awesome that you've now been born again in the waters of the RMC magic! Maybe you can start a new sister-cult now! It can be called "The Church of Alan Schilke"!!!

Chattanooga looks like a very nice city! I've driven through it three times on I-24 and the most experience I've had off the freeway was stopping at a gas station right next to a pay-by-the-hour motel because its gas prices were 20+ cents cheaper per gallon than any other station near I-24.

Yeah, that IS a great collection of parks to all have within 3 and a half hours of you! I think it's funny that even though you live in the same state as CP, you are a half-hour farther away from it than I am in Michigan! Ohio is a BIG state! Not sure about your drive, but beside Ohio being a long drive, it is also an extremely boring drive. Flat, cornfield's and tree's. There isn't much to see. Makes for an even longer drive. I hear you regarding the drive! As much as I love Kings Island, I HATE making that long drive down there, because not only is it 4 and a half hours, you're right... it's SO boring!!! It does make it feel even longer than it would otherwise. As for going to CP, it's not quite as bad... The stretch in Ohio on the Turnpike is pretty boring, and always filled with construction, but all in all, it's not a terrible drive to make. KI is only 3 and a half hours for me, but I remember the drive being somewhat boring. At least there are gas stations and fast food at what seems like every exit. Also, the random speed limit drops (Findlay (complete with a lane closed NB with no construction for "traffic enforcement") and the whole Dayton to Cincy stretch) make it worse. At least it's not as bad as the Turnpike, which has a speed limit of 50 (!!) in a construction zone when two of three lanes are open [there was one short zone on 75 (near Lima) with no speed limit drop despite it being down to one lane for a few hundred feet]. However, KI is somewhat easy to get to from 75 as Exit 22 takes you right to Kings Island's entrance (via a few miles of suburbia)

You know about Lagoon, right? Also, CGA, SFMM, and USH (and maybe KBF, Elitch Gardens, and Lakeside) would be closer than Disneyland

The Bat at Kings Island

That now is what I am thinking. The dude probably thought it was 47 mph all the way to the top (like Hulk). If LR was going 47 mph all the way up, the top speed would probably be 80 or more.

I'm thinking about doing Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom on the same day (KK first then HW). Would that be possible? (I'm not a big water park person)

The next installment is not coaster-related, but it is to a place with a Ferris wheel and a carousel. Detroit Tigers game 6/17/2017 On Saturday, my father and I went to a Tigers game. Their home field, Comerica Park, has a Ferris wheel and a carousel behind the seats. My father had a meeting in Flint on Monday, so he decided to drive down to my apartment and spend the weekend with me. He arrived at my apartment around 1pm on Saturday. When he arrived, we sat around figuring out what to do. He had the idea to go to the Tigers game, which started at 4pm. He bought the tickets, which ended up quite decent (4th row behind home plate), from his phone. With those tickets bought, we hit the road for the short drive to Comerica Park. The drive was uneventful, except for me struggling to download the Stubhub app in order for the tickets to be scanned. I eventually got the app downloaded on both my phone and my dad’s phone, but it took a while to get it downloaded. Once we got downtown, we parked the car at a lot about three blocks west of Comerica Park, which was $10 to park (cheaper than amusement parks!) although the lot itself was gravel. We got to the park about an hour early, so we killed time by staying cool in the concourse. About 15 minutes before first pitch, we went down to take our seats, which were in the fourth row behind home plate. We were supposed to be in seats 5 and 6, but the people in seats 1 through 4 didn’t show up, so we were able to spread out so we weren’t on top of each other. The game itself was relatively uneventful, except for a brief rain shower in the second inning that did not last long enough to warrant a rain delay. During that shower, we went up to the concourse and got ice cream. By the time we got our ice cream, the rain had stopped and we returned to our seats. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning, when both teams scored in their half of the inning. The game was tied at 1 in the bottom of the 6th when Miguel Cabrera hit a home run to right field to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. However, the Rays would score twice in the top of the 7th inning to take a 3-2 lead, which they would hold. Even though the Tigers lost, my dad and I still had fun. Three hours before the game started, I had no idea I would be going to the game. I’m glad we decided to go to the game. A big tire along the side of I-94 in Dearborn. Jimmy Smokes! (Jim Leyland, a fan favorite manager who used to smoke in the clubhouse) View of the field. Leyland! The fans love him! Leyland with the kid throwing out the first pitch. Game time temperature (warm, but still cooler than my Kings Island day last week) Umpires. View from my seats. I didn't know players could use the number 0 in baseball! Miggy! JD! (JD-Mart is doing much better than K-Mart) The in-seat menu. (we didn't take advantage of it) The other side of the in-seat menu. J-Up! Shout out to GVSU! (My alma mater has a building in view of Comerica Park) Andrew Romine at bat (my sister loves him) Miggy's up to bat! In case you didn't know, Miguel Cabrera won the triple crown in 2012 (he led the AL in batting average, home runs, and RBI). Coincidentally, this was the at-bat in which he hit a home run. The scoreboard is very nice! 1. Probably the first #0 I've seen in baseball. 2. I feel old that players younger than me are in the majors! Retired numbers. Jumbo Diaz pitching. He is the heaviest player in baseball (listed at 280 lbs, but likely weighs closer to 320 lbs) This dude was MASSIVE! (He is 6'4") K-Rod (Francisco Rodriguez) tasked to keep the deficit at one. He managed to do so, despite struggling mightily at points of this season.