SimpsonTide985

Random question: Does anyone have any advice on best places to go to use the restroom BEFORE you get to Cedar Point? Like, in the Sandusky area? The last time I tried a local gas station, the restrooms were suspiciously closed...

I think you're misunderstanding my point. My point was never about getting on Steel Vengeance in 10 minutes. I made that clear right off the bat. I also talked about how uncommon and hard to predict that can be. My post was specifically about getting on the first train without having Fast Lane. Let me make it more clear. First off, there are only a handful of rides (specifically coasters) that open at 9am during certain days: Maverick, Millennium Force, Valravn, Raptor, and Magnum XL-200. I think sometimes Top Thrill Dragster and Gatekeeper runs early but I've never seen those two operating at any point earlier than 11am due to the many test trains. Those are the ONLY rides (coasters) you can get on during the 9am-10am period, so you're exaggerating the "riding other things open during early morning hours". Also, in my experience, what usually happens is that around 9am during park opening, the only ride(s) that will be successfully or continuously operating throughout the 9am-10am early entry period will be Magnum XL-200 and/or Valravn. Most often, Raptor and Millennium Force will always be down early in the morning. Maverick tends to run a few loaded trains early too but they've been prone to go down a lot early in the morning. I think you might be able to ride two of these and get off by 9:15am if you're moving fast enough. Here's the trade-off that you're completely missing, which is the point I was trying to make: Fast Lanes don't even go into effect until after 10am. If you try to spend too much time on ANY of the early entry rides aside from MAYBE Magnum XL-200, what will happen is that while you're getting onto other rides, ostensibly while waiting for Steel Vengeance to open, that by the time you DO get into the Steel Vengeance line(s), the line would have exponentially grown anyway. If you don't have FL+ and you eventually get back to Steel Vengeance later after 10am, the line would've grown much more longer than at any point if you weren't already in line. . Here's what you'll like and probably the only point of yours that I partially agree on: is that if you're quick enough, when the park opens at 9am, you may have enough time to get on TWO early entry rides such as Valravn and Magnum XL-200, which usually don't have too terrible of lines at 9am and STILL make it to the first or second Steel Vengeance train of the day in the general entry line on a busy weekend. However, if you're interested in getting on Maverick early as well, the Maverick line between 9am-10am I've seen can easily grow to around 200 people deep before 9:30am. So, you're still going to pay for that whenever you've tried to go back to Steel Vengeance at any other point in the day. I get it. Everyone is gonna value their Early Entry, Fast Lane, their time, and prioritize riding certain rides differently. My example and tips were for a very specific objective and probably won't apply to a lot of people.

It's not a lot of work. I just like writing out the details. Also I will partially disagree in that saying "1pm with Fast Lane" isn't really reliable enough day-to-day. Sometimes you might get lucky but it's hard to really account for some abnormalities that could occur throughout that lunch period. There could always be a random flood of FL+ people choking up the line at any moment. I do agree that 1pm is still a decent time since most people will start looking to get lunch. I only recommended the $2 lockers first only because there seems to be no consistency in terms of how the line operators will merge you back into the best line and at the right time and I can't guess that everyone will be as fast through the inside lockers as you or I might be.

In what I've seen in the last 3 times I've been to CP, it's very random and hard to predict the best time you'll want to get onto SV, regardless of if you have FL+ or not. For me, if you don't have Early Entry or FL+, you absolutely need to go as early as you can in the morning, preferably in the Magnum gate entrance. OR you'll want to go early in the afternoon--maybe around lunch time 12-2pm. If you can get in line early enough in the day, you might be able to get a 20 min wait as long as you put your stuff in the $2 lockers BEFORE you get in the line and if the folks in front of you are moving fast enough in the regular line. Otherwise, it's completely unpredictable as you never know how many FL+ park riders are going to flood into Steel Vengeance all at once. I'd say 80% of all FL+ riders will only use it for Steel Vengeance and Maverick so there's always a chance that the FL+ lines are going to still be incredibly long, especially during midday peak (2pm-4pm).

I just got attacked on Monday by a bird on the back of my neck. I just assumed my sunglasses retainer looked like a worm??

If you're curious, I got on the first train of the day on Steel Vengeance on this past Sunday WITHOUT even using Fast Lane. It's the only way I know of getting onto the ride, particularly on the first train, without Fast Lane and in well under an hour, specifically on a weekend. Protips on how to do this: 1. You MUST have Gold/Platinum/Early Entry AND you must enter in through the Main Gate. This is the only way you can get in at the earliest times. They usually open the main gate around 8:45am so you want to already parked and be in the security line by 8:30am-ish. 2. Also, obviously, you have to go straight back to Steel Vengeance right away using the Gemini Midway. I DO recommend using the restrooms near Top Thrill or the ones near Gemini on the way to the back unless you're in a group. You might have a little bit of time to hop on Magnum XL-200 on the way since it usually opens at 9am sharp, but you can skip it. By the time you get to Steel Vengeance, there should be less than a dozen people sitting around waiting if you've been a fast walker. NOTE: If you're NOT a season passholder, I recommend going in through the Park's Magnum entrance (via the Resort Drive) on the northeast end of the park and get in that gate's line by 9:15am. They usually will open the Magnum gate at around 9:45am-ish. You obviously won't get the first Steel Vengeance train, and there'll probably still be about 150+ people already in the line before you get there, BUT it'll be better using this entrance versus the Main Entrance that the majority of the people will use at 10am. 3. Now, the trick is, knowing that the Fast Lane Plus lanes and the Steel Vengeance ride itself doesn't even open until 10am (actually more like 10:15am due to the early testing runs). So, you really want to stay right there in line as soon as you can, no matter if some rides like Maverick, Raptor, Magnum, and Valravn are running early as early as 9am. This is because the big line for Steel Vengeance will start around 9:30am and if you don't get in line right then, there will easily be 400+ people in line by 10:15am when they start letting everyone in. So, even if you have to wait at the Steel Vengeance entrance at 9:15am, a 45 min wait is worth it versus the 2 hour wait if you leave to ride something else first and come back later after 10am. 4. Also, they will open both the general line AND the Fast Lane Plus line at the same time as well. At a certain point inside the queue, these two lines merge into one. However, the general line has a much longer walk path before it gets to the merged line, so I'd recommend running not walking through the general line path. If you're quick enough, you can actually BEAT the Fast Lane Plus crowd to the front of the train line! 5. Also, if you get there early enough at 9am, you'll be able to sit down and wait on the raised concrete just to the side of the entrance. No having to stand up for hours waiting! 6. Lastly, USE-THE-OUTSIDE-LOCKERS. At around 9:45am, while you're waiting for Steel Vengeance to open, have someone save your spot in line and go use the $2 lockers across from the entrance and put everything in your pockets inside (including glasses, hats, etc.). Trust me, 8 or 9 times out of 10, you WILL lose your spot in line if you use the free lockers inside. Enjoy!