Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread

[royalvile]

^^You'll be there for 3 days so you'll be able to have a few stress free days without rushing around. Will you be there for Early Entry (either by staying at the park or by having a Platinum Pass)?

 

Yeah that's true. Early entry, yes (staying at the park)

 

And I'll keep all of that in mind coasterkid

 

You have a few options.

..

Have fun at Cedar Point!

 

Not going to quote your entire post but many thanks for this write up, just what I needed.

 

Thank you as well, should be fun!

[MillenniumFangirl]

Going to CP on a Wednesday in early June. How have the Valravn wait times been?

[nicman]

*ROASTED*

 

Even CP agrees.

Just a joke

[Labarr]

^ This

 

Early entry includes Valravn, Millennium Force, Maverick, Gatekeeper, Tiki Twirl, Cadillac Cars, Dodgem, Cedar Downs, Midway Carousel and Kiddie Kingdom. I would either enter from the Marina gate and go to Valravn (long walk from Breakers) or the resort gate and go to Maverick. Either way try to throw in Millennium Force right before 10am and beat some crowds.

 

The only coaster that comes to mind as being a tight fit is Wicked Twister but there may be more.

 

A few other tips:

- You can ride Gatekeeper during early entry but once 10 AM hits avoid Gatekeeper, Raptor and Valravn for a few hours unless you have Fastlane.

- On Friday Gemeni will probably only be running one side. Wait until Saturday to ride it as it's much more fun that way.

- Of course the obligatory "Ride Mean Streak in row 1 and lean foward keeping your back completely off the seat back" and "Tighten the seatbelts as much as possible to avoid thigh crushing on Magnum" tips. Also ride the Sky Ride frequently. The line isn't as long as it looks and I can confirm that the ride is both "amaze-balls" and "the bomb dot com".

- Since you mentioned that you haven't ridden Rougarou, try it near the back. It's very forceful (as floorless coasters go) back there.

- When you come back be sure to write a trip report!

- In that trip report please for the love of god don't talk about Valravn or Millennium Force rattling. lol

 

Welcome to TPR and have fun at Cedar Point!

 

Thank you coasterbill!

I also got my dates messed up. We will be at the park Saturday night (4pm) and all day SUNDAY. Which I hope will actually work out in our favor. We are not doing the Fastlane passes.. I can't seem to get the others to fork out the $80 :/

Anyway, Saturday we plan on hitting whatever we can. We will definitely hit the newer rides that night.

Sunday early-access we will be skipping the newer coasters and heading back to MF/Maverick. As far as where we will get a seat on the rides.. The only rides I really will wait (atleast once) for the front row are MF and Dragster.

 

I will come back here after and post a report (And possible pictures... If my phone doesn't die)

[aallenpollreisz]

As mentioned previously, I and three others made it to CP this Saturday. We hit some bad luck.

 

The park was decently crowded, but I think the rain kept a decent number of people away. The spill-over from the Iron Dragon line was perhaps the most-perplexing thing we saw all day.

 

Millennium Force, 15-minute wait: Got there just after the park opened. It's not nearly as smooth as it was five years ago, but it's still tremendously fast and a butt-kicking experience.

Rougarou, 50-minute wait: It should have been a 30-minute wait, but they decided to switch a third train onto the track at around 11 a.m. I'm a big fan of those old B&M stand-ups, but this ride is better with the floorless trains. Smoother, at least.

Mean Streak, left line after 20 minutes: Sounded like they couldn't release the trains from the station.

Gemini, left line after 30 minutes: We were next up, but the ride closed after a block violation. The ride op said it'd probably be an hour wait, so we left.

 

At this point, and quite a bit frustrated, it was lunch time and we decided to get some food.

 

Gatekeeper, 60-minute wait: It should have been a 30-minute wait, but stuck station gates prompted a closure. The rain probably didn't help much, either. Totally worth the wait, though. That wing-over is very intense when you're on the edge. It's paced a little slow, but the integration with the entrance is fantastic, and the keyhole elements were well thought-out. Another B&M masterpiece.

Raptor, 60-minute wait: Crazy wait times for Raptor all day. We, frankly, caught it at a good time. Still one of B&M's best inverted coasters. The helix at the end is a great finish.

Magnum XL-200, 30-minute wait: It's about as rough as it was five years ago, which a complement for those old Arrow hypers. Ride was fine and still features some good ejector air. Looks like they were running at least two trains, possibly all three.

Top Thrill Dragster, 60-minute wait: It's a one-trick pony, but that trick is amazing. It opened mid-afternoon after the rain cleared and the wind died down.

Valravn, 70-minute wait: We thought this would be the last ride of the night, but made it through the line surprisingly quick -- 8 p.m. probably had a lot to do with that. I'll get the bad out of the way now: It really seems like one of B&M's least-inspired dive machine designs. Frankly, it seems like somebody plopped down a pre-fabricated RCT2 design in the space. That aside, it's a fantastic addition and well-worth the wait. The first drop is excellent and I love the immelman. The second drop after the mid-course block is pretty good, too. I have no clue what the ride is like during the daylight hours, but it's fantastic at night with the lights.

Gatekeeper, walk-on: We dashed over to Gatekeeper just before the park closed and caught an unexpected walk-on. Yep, still good.

[coasterbill]

Iron Dragon's queue is ridiculously short so it overflows constantly. It's still a very manageable wait.

[Keetz]

Went to the park this past friday for my only visit this year. Stayed at breakers express for early entry, and also bought fastlane plus. Here are some notes.

 

Early Entry:

In the morning around 9am I didn't see Valravn or MF running, and I didn't wanna chance walking back to Maverick to see it still testing, so we headed to Gatekeeper to got 3 rides back to back. This ride is pure fun in the front rows, a solid 8/10 At this point MF started running, so we headed over there to get a quick ride, and then waited 15 mins for the front. This ride is on the same level as Fury 325 for me, can't pick a favorite. The ride is starting to sound 16 years old, but it didn't have a rattle that made it rough by any means. My current giga coaster ranking is i305>MF=Fury. By this point the park opened so we headed back to Maverick which was having some difficulties opening. We waited 10 mins and it started running around 10:20am. Thanks to fastlane we got 2 quick rides in 10 mins. Maverick is hands down the best coaster in the park. So tiny, agile, and aggressive. A near perfect coaster experience.

 

Surprise of the Day:

After Maverick, we headed to Mean Streak. Call me crazy, but we waited for the front row on Mean Streak and had an absolutely fun and enjoyable ride. So much that I enjoyed it more than Valravn! The speed was fun, and we got bounced around the right amount for a wooden coaster. We had so much fun, and rode into the station with a smile. Perhaps we had such low expectations, ,but we had such a good time that we rode again in the front seat. Sure I would love to see it get the RMC treatment, but in the front seat, this ride is a solid 7.5/10 in my book.

 

Valravn Review:

The ride has quite the presence in the park, and the light theme is good. The ride had a 1+ wait the whole day, and guests seemed to be loving it. I prefer the old style restraints on dive coasters, cause the vests felt more restrictive. The coaster itself rode very smooth, and was very fun, but it just didn't do much for me. FL+ gave us a 15 minute wait, and we got to ride 3x. Two in the back right, and 1 in the front center. Overall, it's a great addition to CP, but not my cup of tea. For me it's the weakest B&M in the park. Still a 7/10. Yea, I'm ranking Mean Streak in front of Valravn.

 

Other notes:

Wicked Twister was having issues all day that prevented us from riding. Magnum was running very well. We had two rides in the front car that blew me away. The airtime was violent and put a smile on my face. Our last ride of the night was MF in the 2nd row. It started drizzling around 9pm, and we rode at 9:20p. By this point it was raining, and it was a painful experience. I had my arms over my face most of the ride, but I still had a smile on.

 

Tally for the day:

Gatekeeper x4

MF x5

Maverick x4

Mean Streak x2

Gemini x1

Magnum x2

TTD x2

Raptor x2

Rougarou x1

Valravn x3

Maxxair

Enterprise

That S&S swing ride

 

Overall we had an amazing day. The fastlane was immensely worth it as we could only be there one day. School groups were there till 8-9pm, and thus regular lines were all 1 hour+. Cedar Point delivered an amazing day.

[coasterbill]

Surprise of the Day:

After Maverick, we headed to Mean Streak. Call me crazy, but we waited for the front row on Mean Streak and had an absolutely fun and enjoyable ride. So much that I enjoyed it more than Valravn! The speed was fun, and we got bounced around the right amount for a wooden coaster. We had so much fun, and rode into the station with a smile. Perhaps we had such low expectations, ,but we had such a good time that we rode again in the front seat.

Do you people believe me yet about row 1? Lol

[WOFanatic]

Surprise of the Day:

After Maverick, we headed to Mean Streak. Call me crazy, but we waited for the front row on Mean Streak and had an absolutely fun and enjoyable ride. So much that I enjoyed it more than Valravn!

You must be on that good sh*t.

[4tide1]

I will be visiting CP for the first time on June 7 or 8. I will be entering the park at the resort entrance. I will not have early entry and assuming I do not have FL passes what are some game plans on what order to ride to try to minimize wait times. I have read that Maverick should probably be my first stop. Any good ideas from the experts on here. Thanks

[coasterbill]

If you don't have Early Entry or Fastlane you're sort of screwed but I'd say Maverick or Dragster first would be a good bet. Avoid the front of the park for the first half of the day.

[Physical]

I'm planning my first trip out to CP June 19th and the 20th. I have a few questions, primarily, what kind of crowds should we expect? I get the impression lines are usually pretty long at CP, so we'll probably spring for fastlane, but I'd prefer not to on money saving basis. Is two days without fastlane enough to get on everything? How about hotels? Which is cheapest in the area?

[coasterbill]

Two days without Fastlane is enough to ride everything. You'll have more fun with fastlane but it's not a requirement.

 

As far as Hotels. If you're going the cheap route Motel 6 Sandusky / Milan is pretty nice by Motel 6 standards.

[Physical]

Two days without Fastlane is enough to ride everything. You'll have more fun with fastlane but it's not a requirement.

 

As far as Hotels. If you're going the cheap route Motel 6 Sandusky / Milan is pretty nice by Motel 6 standards.

 

Fastlane is probably going to be determined at the park once we see how lines are. I /really/ don't like lines, I usually don't wait more than 20 minutes for things unless I won't be going back any time soon. If we end up sitting in 40+ minute queues the whole time we're there we're going to be miserable.

[coasterbill]

Yeah if 20 minutes is your limit you'll need Fastlane. I find I'm more patient than most in regards to queue lines. Anything under an hour is manageable for me, and I'd wait more for rides like Millennium Force and Maverick, especially if I can mix in a few 5 minute waits like Gemeni and Power Tower along the way.

[Brassinthegrass]

To be honest, as a non regular to cedar point I feel like Fast lane is a must here. I hate using it at other parks, but there are just so many featured world class coasters, that the amount of re rides your going to want to get in, it's almost a necessity !!

 

It just allows you to enjoy your day and not feel stressed and run to everything!

[blk_mamba]

Cedar Point is known for its long lines. What I noticed while waiting in lines is that the FP people wait in significantly abbreviated lines but lines none the less which I found odd when compared to other parks line cutting systems. As frustrating as it was waiting in the lines I feel like I would be more upset if I paid the upcharge only to still face the lines.

[Vonni]

^ I really do understand your point, but I'd still rather wait in a shorter line than a huge line.

[coasterbill]

Yeah but the lines are really abbreviated so it's not a big deal. Maverick is the only one where you'll wait more than 15 minutes ever unless of course you decide to wait for row 1 on Millennium Force or Dragster.

[Samuel]

Cedar Point is known for its long lines. What I noticed while waiting in lines is that the FP people wait in significantly abbreviated lines but lines none the less which I found odd when compared to other parks line cutting systems. As frustrating as it was waiting in the lines I feel like I would be more upset if I paid the upcharge only to still face the lines.

 

Having been there, I disagree. I've waited 10-15 minutes for Maverick, Gatekeeper, TTD, & others using Fast Lane on busy days, and in every instance it was still much better than the otherwise 1.5+ hour waits. It's well worth the money on crowded days, or if you're like me & only visit once a once a year. It might be a very mild downer to see that your Fast Lane *only* gets you to a merge point on some of the rides, but in absolutely no instance have I ever felt upset or as though it wasn't a good value.

[Vonni]

I just watched a video showing the current state of Challenge Park and now I'm pretty confident in the prediction that CP will be having a large water park expansion for 2017 similar to, if not bigger than, what Carwinds did this season. It just makes so much sense. Its such a huge plot of land. I doubt we will see another Coaster addition to CP for at least another couple of years.

[DILinator]

I know I'm preaching against the grain, here, but seriously... If you want to enjoy CP immensely, and don't want to get your pocketbook cleared out, you need to come during the week (Not Fridays) in May! Without a Fastpass (which I abhor, for the record), I rode coasters at will, this past Thursday, racking up a crazy number of circuits on the biggest coasters, with very minimal waits! I'm heading out there again tomorrow, so I anticipate more of the same! It won't kill the kids to miss a few days of school, or your job to take a few days off (hopefully!), and experience CP the way it should be experienced: minimal wait times, maximum ride times, and NO stupid upcharge line jumping exploitation!

 

Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled discussion of CP exclusively touting the need to use a FL+ there (which, in all honesty, you probably should if you want to have a good time and insist on going during the Summer, and on Weekends..!)

[Vonni]

^ I understand your point, but from what I understand a lot of the rides and coasters are closed more often in May due to wind or rain. It sucks that a visit to CP can be such a crap shoot.

[williamj2543]

Does anyone else find Magnum absolutely hilariously fun? I went there last week and every single time we came up to those 3 last airtime humps, I was just howling and crying with laughter. Those airtime humps are so forceful and painful that they are just hilarious, makes me laugh every time we go on it, but my thighs aren't laughing, RIP.

 

We have a B&M Hyper at my home park (Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland) and its a great ride and all, but I have MUCH more fun on magnum because of how ridiculous those airtime hills are. The restraints are also great, so nonrestrictive.

 

Other than the stupid ass "pretzel turn" made by Satan (that element is bumpier than mean streak) that ride seriously kicks ass and I'd rather have it than our B&M Hyper.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Does anyone else find Magnum absolutely hilariously fun?...

 

This is one of the reasons I have come to love Magnum. . . It's such a weird, painful, funny ride!