Photo TR: Jahan's Awesome TPR-Midwest Trip Report!

[DBru]

You described MO pretty much like I thought it would be... but how would you compare Hades and Voyage?

[FLIPDUDE]

^I think (almost) everyone who was on the Midwest trip would agree Voyage kicked Hades' ass, at least that seemed to be the consensus on the Vekoma bus and among people I talked to.

At best some may say Hades is a close runner up, but everything that was good about Hades Voyage delivered more times and better, plus Voyage was pretty smooth whereas Hades, while most of the ride was a fun kind of rough(though many people disagree with me on that, saying it was a terrible kind of rough), it's last turn, which has now been retracked, was like having someone take a jackhammer to your skull.

[downunder]

I liked Mt O, I thought it was fun. I have to agree that the ride ops there totally sucked, they were surly, nasty, and disinterested. The people in the shops were much friendlier, though I guess they had motivation to be friendly. Hades and Cyclops were the only coasters that made an impression. The go-karts were fun but not mind blowing.

 

My one night ride on Hades in the back was awesome, though the morning rides the next day were very average. Avalanche was a bit rough, I found the best rides for me were in the front row.

 

Riverview was blah, but it had some OK karting and they let you ride for so long that people got bored and pulled in before the last lap call.

[FLIPDUDE]

I'm surprised to hear everyone's thoughts on Mt. O... My opinions of it are better than other people's, which is suprising seeing how my opinions of it are not that great.

 

Personally I did enjoy Zeus, and for a kiddie coaster Pegasus was alot of fun too.

 

I also don't understand the claim that once youve been on one go kart youve been on them all. I found the go kart tracks at Mt. O to be extremely different expereinces, and completely incomparable ot go karts I've been on at other places. Poseidon being the largest most dominant track, was also the most fun, it had a very interesting layout(was interesting driving a go kart around treetops) etc. There was another one I rode with Elissa, her parents and Ryan, which was more relaxed(thoguh that might be because I accidently picked the slowest car), and was fun, but not that thrilling or unique. Although it's meshing with other rides and elements was cool.

The other track(I think the trojan horse is the only one we didn't ride) was more of a crazy, wacky, stuck-in-a-racing-computer-game track, that even managed to be rough at times.

 

But to each their own I guess. I just find it interesting how the same group of people can ride the same rides and have such different opinions about them.

[arrowfanman]

^ I don't know. I guess not being the biggest fan of go karts, I don't really "feel" different on different versions. Sure, there may be a tunnel, a bridge, an upward spiral, or a Trojan horse--but that isn't a big enough difference to get away from the fact that they're all just some pavement and some karts. Maybe if there was a fire-chamber or something, I'd feel differently.

 

Anyway, moving right along........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Everybody!

 

Ok, so after a decent time on the road, we arrived at Gurnee and checked into the hotel. The plan was to go to the White Castle across the street, but the location was unexpectedly closed, despite their web site saying the location was open 24-hours! WTF?! This being the case, and most of us still being hungry, a lot of us decided to settle for Steak N’ Shake instead.

 

This poor restaurant! Lord knows they were understaffed, and to be bombarded with the number of TPR members as they did!—ouch! I had Steak N’ Shake once a few years back and found it rather mediocre, but this was really just unimpressive! Sorry Lou! Anyway, with half-eaten meals in our stomachs, it was time for bed. We had a big day tomorrow! And here it is!—

 

 

 

 

Day 7: Six Flags Great America

 

 

 

Ok, so I was really looking forward to this day. I had consistently been told by many people that Great America was one of the better run Six Flags parks. The previous night we had stayed at a hotel that was literally like, a walking distance from the park. It was pretty awesome. We showed up nice and early and made our way to the park for some ERT.

 

Just as a quick warning, for whatever reason I don’t have all that many photos from this park! So get ready for an update full of queue entrance signs!

 

 

Rolling up to the park, we’re there before the parking lot opened. I just included this photo because it’s my only S:UF photo.

 

Welcome to Six Flags Geico Great America Comcast!

 

They cycled us through some metal detectors and then escorted us to the back of the park where our ERT was to begin. The group had ERT on Raging Bull, Viper, and as a bonus, ERT on the adjacent Intamin drop tower. First up for me, Raging Bull!

 

Everybody loves photos of the signs in front of a queue! Here’s number one!

 

 

 

Raging Bull was a fun coaster.

 

 

That’s about it. Yes, I’m sure it ran pretty awesomely before they trimmed it as much as they do, but as far as the ride that I got is concerned, the ride sort of just meandered around. It was smooth and fast, but still felt somewhat lackluster. I would never go as far as to say that it was a bad ride, but definitely after two or three rides, I didn’t feel the need to ride anymore!

 

You have to admit, the ride is absolutely gorgeous!

 

I know I’m severely biased, but I personally think Goliath (SFMM) is a better ride than Raging Bull was. Goliath has two great paced halves, split by a pathetic trimming block break. Bull just never seems to have any pacing whatsoever.

 

Look at the back row—if that’s not ERT, I don’t know what is!

 

 

After our few rides, it was time for a ride on Viper.

 

Wait a second—I thought Viper was red, white, and Arrow?! This cant possibly be as good as THAT Viper!

 

…I was wrong.

 

Ok, so Viper. It’s a modified cyclone-clone. I cant say I was entirely expecting to much of the ride. But it was amazing! Like, seriously! Some of the best wood on the whole of the Midwest Trip! It was well paced, exciting, and smooth! If that’s how all cyclones were, I would totally understand why they’re cloned so freakin much! I love Viper!

 

Again, look how awesome this ERT is!

 

“I would be scary, but I’m ssssssssssssssssssssssssssstatic!”

 

 

After several rides on Viper, we lined up to get our Gold Q-Bot Flash Passes. I never did get a chance to ride the Intamin drop ride, but I was somewhat ok with that (drop towers are the few rides that sort of scare me).

 

 

Elissa giving the spiel on how to use the Gold Q-Bots. These were seriously what kept us sane this day.

 

By the time Elissa’s speech was done, the park was open. It was decided that despite having our Flash Passes, it would be wisest to scurry over to Déjà vu before the Illinois-crowds began to filter in and clog the low-capacity ride’s line.

 

Geico Sign

 

 

Dejavu

 

Déjà vu was, well…Déjà vu. What is there to say about it? I mean, it’s gone now! So let’s not dwell on it anymore and move onto a real ride!

 

Next we went on Demon, which was actually really awesome. I love when I don’t have to just *pretend* to like a particular Arrow ride, but I can come off actually liking it!

 

Afterwards, we wanted to continue rounding up the “low capacity” rides, and that wound us up at, well—

 

Stare at this image for 45 minutes and you’ll know how I felt.

 

The Ragin’ Cajun line was pretty killer. We’re talking all of the switchbacks were open when we got there, with an attendant setting up even more! WTF?! This is a freakin’ spinning wild mouse! And just a crappy Zamperela portable model! Where did all of these people come from! The park has seriously been open for like, 30 minutes! What gives?! I would honestly rather queue for something stupid like Peter Pan than this, because at least that has air conditioning!

 

Yes, I may look stupid, but this photo is just pure emotion for me. Taken at about minute 34.

 

You know, I may complain, but I did have a pretty bitchin’ ride on Ragin’ Cajun, thanks in whole to Matt, my “riding buddy”. If I remember correctly, we had just the right amount of combined momentum to spin like mad! I will never look at a spinning wild mouse the same. Thank you Matt—I am a changed man.

 

 

With the Cajun under our belts, we were finally ready to use our Gold Q-Bots.

 

*cue John Williams’ score*

 

 

Superman: Ultimate Flight was an interesting experience for me, to say the least. Was the ride awesome? No. Tatsu is a million times better than this. The ride sort of meandered around and then returned you to the station. So what was awesome about it? One, I got to see exactly how practical the Q-Bot system really is. You really notice how much wait you’re getting to bypass thanks to that little capsule. Second, the operations. I was very impressed by how well the crew was able to crank out trains at S:UF. The trains blocked, yes, just by the nature of the ride. Oh! And the little “be sure to check your legflap” stickers around the dispatch buttons were very cool.

 

I really hope someone can bring the Tatsu dispatches up to that standard!

 

 

 

 

But I digress.

 

After S:UF, I was getting very hungry. To the point I where I was starting to shut down—stop functioning! LOL. But, the goal was to go as long as possible without food in order to beat as many crowds as we could. So we next headed to the American Eagle. It’s the giant racing woodie in the back of the park. It was enjoyable, but nothing special.

 

You guys don’t seem all that very excited!

 

…that’s more like it!

 

 

 

After Screamin’ Eagle, I couldn’t go ANY longer without food. I was about to hurl, and I didn’t even have anything in my stomach! I hate that feeling! But the park was infested with people EVERYWHERE! I mean, it was insane! So a group of us just decided to dig in at a crowded Papa Johns and eat. We waited a good 20 minutes for food, but it was so worth it. I purchased what equated to something like 30 bucks worth of food I was so hungry!

 

It was also here that we learned the source of the crowds—today was the very last day to use the free ticket that comes with the local-area’s reading program. We had the same thing: in elementary school, read a certain number of minutes (300 or 600, I don’t remember), log it, turn it in, and you could earn a free ticket to Magic Mountain. Well, Great America had the same program and all of their free tickets expired the very day we were there! Ugh!

 

After Papa Johns, we sort of walked the park at our own pace on the way to the next credit.

 

OMG…how is their train so awesome! That’s like, 3 time the size of SFMMs!

 

We rode Iron Wolf, which was utter crap. I figured it would be rough as it is the oldest B&M, but I didn’t think it would be as crappy as it actually was! It was also weird how they have a track segment poised to be a mid course or trim—but it’s not. Just a geeky observation of mine.

 

 

 

 

Uh. Yeah. Awkward.

 

 

 

Lets move on.

 

 

 

V2! V2 was only my second impulse coaster ever, after V2 in Discovery Kingdom! Although it was neat to finally ride a proper V2, I preferred the tweaked, diagonally inclined V2 in Discovery Kingdom to this one.

 

Tex and Chris. Such great model poses!

 

 

 

 

The vertical spike was cool, but definitely not as cool as the diagonal one.

 

 

After V2, we were beginning to run out of time but for some reason decided to spend that time at Batman.

 

This is Batman. Only, it’s yellow.

 

The Flashpass queue merged into the sewage tunnel, meaning we still had a decent wait to go. While we were queuing, the crew spieled that due to the weather worsening, there was a chance that they’d have to cease operation. We weren’t really worrying about getting on Batman or not, but rather if we would make it to our final ride—Whizzer. While riding, we could tell that it was sprinkling a little bit, so once exiting, we hurried over as fast as we could.

 

As you can see, as we dashed across the park it was beginning to get wetter.

 

 

 

Regrettably, when we arrived at the Whizzer, the ride shut down. And once it was down, we knew it was for a good while.

 

We met up with the group back where we got our Q-Bot spiel and were ready to leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Flags Great America was a fun park. It's unfortunate that it was soooooooooo crowded, but the Gold QBot was able to help us get around most of that. I think for that reason, combined with the fact that I wasn't really feeling well this day, I need to get back and do the park again, because I think the park is more exciting than the experience I had led me to believe.

 

Bye bye SFGAm!

 

 

After leaving, we were on the road again. Feeling pretty good about the trip thus far. Had Cedar Point (what was sort of the climax) ahead of us. All was well. Until…

 

Phew! Traffic! Thank God! As a Californian, I was beginning to have withdrawals!

 

Once the traffic started, it didn’t stop. In fact, this was probably one of our longest, if not our longest drive! It was REALLY brutal.

 

When we arrived at Cedar Point, we were faced with an interesting dilemma. We couldn’t see anything. ALL power was out. We carefully made our way to the back of the peninsula and arrived at Hotel Breakers. Our night was not over.

 

 

 

To be continued….

 

 

 

Anyway, I’m going to stop it at that and pick it up in the next installment! Thanks for reading guys!

 

 

-Jahan

[mcjaco]

Jahan, my dear boy. It's American Eagle.

 

As for us spinning, I will quote Jahan as we entered the car, "Let's sit on the two outside seats. That will balance our weight out, so we don't spin."

 

Either I'm way fatter than Jahan, or vice versa, because that plan backfired tremendously. It was seriously the most insane ride I've had on Rajun Cajun ever.

[FLIPDUDE]

Yaaaaay! Kickass update, Jahan! I love te "To be continued" on the crazy night at the breakers. Youve inspired me to go and (try) to update my TR

[bspellx5]

The Ragin’ Cajun line was pretty killer. We’re talking all of the switchbacks were open when we got there, with an attendant setting up even more! WTF?! This is a freakin’ spinning wild mouse! And just a crappy Zamperela portable model! Where did all of these people come from! The park has seriously been open for like, 30 minutes! What gives?!

 

That kind of reminds me of the Comet at Hersheypark. Its queue line gets huge really fast and fills most, if not all, of the switchbacks, and stays that way for the entire day, at least everytime I've been there.

[TexTitan01]

dude woah...a good picture of me got in there somewhere

 

I miss my blonde hair...

 

I definately wished SFGAm was better than it was. But with the crowds, rain, and not-so-great-as-I-thought rides, it just wasnt as high a point as I hope it was going to be.

 

Viper and V2 were still awesome, but I just wished the experience was better...oh well

 

great photos, Jahan!

[BeatleBen]

Once the traffic started, it didn’t stop. In fact, this was probably one of our longest, if not our longest drive! It was REALLY brutal.

 

And I think I slept through all of it. Keep 'em comin'!

[downunder]

Another sweet report to make me remenisce.

 

I didn't think much of Great America, I guess being reasonably well travelled I had done a lot of the rides at other parks or in some cases better versions of rides like a B & M hyper for example. I thought Viper was the best coaster in the park, American Eagle wasn't bad better than I thought it would be.

 

I managed to get all the credits including both sides of American Eagle, Viper was the only one worth re-riding which I did in ERT. Whizzer was fun, and unique.

[WildStangAlex]

I'm glad you enjoyed SFGAm! Yup traffic in Chicago sucks, but I can't compare it to CA because the only time I was ever in CA was to go to KBF on a layover to Australia...

[KGA29]

I totally agree with your review about Raging Bull. It was fun, but not anything special or intense. I think it's pretty overrated. I also would agree that Viper was a surprise hit for me. I wish CGA was half as good as SFGAm.

[robbalvey]

I totally agree with your review about Raging Bull. It was fun, but not anything special or intense. I think it's pretty overrated. I also would agree that Viper was a surprise hit for me. I wish CGA was half as good as SFGAm.

I think Raging Bull is only overrated because at one point in it's life it DID live up to the hype. But over the years those trims seem like they have gotten harder and harder. It's a shame really because you get awesome airtime on the first drop, and then the rest of the ride, right when you feel like you're going to get that awesome airtime again, it's taken away from you.

 

There is still some airtime on the rest of the hills, but it's nowhere near what it used to be.

 

I'd still take Bull over SFMM's Titan or Goliath since I'm not a fan of "helixes" making up the majority of the ride and I'd take Bull's multiple floater hills over the Giovanola's single floater hill, but that's just my take on things.

 

Personally, SFGam is one of my favorite Six Flags parks. While it doesn't have quite as good of a coaster selection as Great Adventure or SFOG, it's got one of the nicest themed sections in any Six Flags park, and I find that the operations there (other than Ragin Cajun that day) are better than most other parks in the chain. And also, their Hurricane Harbor is awesome!

 

--Robb

[Sean Menefee]

 

Jahan,

 

Indeed the Dan Ryan sucks, check out the song below:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/9164247ccac986/

 

I actually had someone hit and run our rental car last summer going through the Dan Ryan Expressway. It's funny how the place can make a person long for the crappy drivers of Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Commuter traffic in San Francisco has NOTHING on Chicago.

 

Sean "Won't miss the trek from Gurnee/Chicago to Ohio this year!" Menefee

[Eunuch Provocateur]

You're PTRs are such c-teases. They end with such mystery.

[WildStangAlex]

Raging Bull is still a great coaster. I agree, it isn't overly intense or thrilling, but it is really enjoyable. As far as hypers go, I still think Magnum wins! Hurricane Harbor is infact awesome, it just gets extremely crowded in the summer time. Therefore, we always make it a point of going there if the outdoor temperature is around 65 because then the water park will be empty. I can't wait to expand my Six Flags Repertoire to include Great Adventure this summer!

[the_rock401]

Raging Bull is great fun.

 

However, y'all were going away from Viper as it started to rain, when you should have been going towards it. If there was ever a coaster that liked the rain, it's SFGAm's Viper. I rode it in a downpour back in 2006 and it blew me away.

[Cameron]

Six Flags Great America was a fun park. It's unfortunate that it was soooooooooo crowded, but the Gold QBot was able to help us get around most of that. I think for that reason, combined with the fact that I wasn't really feeling well this day, I need to get back and do the park again

 

There's a very comfortable couch in my apartment that has your name all over it - I'll even throw in Indiana Beach as an added incentive!

 

Great report on the park - and I agree about Bull. It totally and completely blows its wad in on the first drop, and then utterly fails to live up to it. Viper on the other hand, does it right - it's a wonderful ride.

 

Cameron.

[DBru]

SFGAm looks like a lot of fun. Too bad you had to miss Whizzer, always sad to miss a Schwarzkopf classic...

 

How would you compare SFGAm operations to SFKK's?

[65skylark]

Nice pictures Jahan! I totally agree with you about V2 at SFDK being better than the standard versions.

[gotdane]

Viper was amazing. I wish I had taken more than 2 rides on it!

 

Can't wait for your take on Cedar Point!

[Airtime&Gravity]

While the trims on Raging Bull usually kill the ride, if you are lucky to ride when they aren't on(it was like this on 2 of my visits last year), then it is a really good ride. Sure it is no Nitro(trims weren't on when I rode), but it is still a solid ride. I just wish it would run trim-less more often as it is the best ride in the park when they are off. As for Viper, I thought it ran poorly last year, especially later in the season, but it seems as though you rode it on a good day.

 

Great TR Jahan, and I look foreword to the next installment.

[arrowfanman]

Hey Everybody!

 

Thanks for all of the comments! Glad that some of you are enjoying this thing! So now let’s continue!

 

(BTW, unlike the Dells, I’m not splitting our two days at Cedar Point into two PTRs, but rather keeping them as one. Hope everybody’s ok with that. Sorry for more photo load times! )

 

 

 

 

So—we arrived at Hotel Breakers at about one in the morning, with everything pitch black due to the most ill-timed blackout ever! I don’t even remember there being any moonlight. It was that dark. Cedar Point employees came onto our bus with a giant box of flashlights and distributed our keys. We were then escorted to the entrance of the hotel, but then let loose on our own.

 

This was seriously one of the creepiest experiences ever! First of all, Hotel Breakers is like a 100 year old hotel! And here we were, let loose inside of the aging building with a modest flashlight! I don’t believe in ghosts (sorry Jon!), but still—it was pretty creepy! VERY Scooby Doo! Secondly, this is the Midwest. It’s HUMID! And with power off, there is NO air conditioning in the rooms. There was one small conference center that happened to be running on generator power, so once we were done finding our rooms and depositing our luggage, the majority of us headed for shelter (and a/c!) in the conference room. After an hour or so, it was announced that power was finally back on, so we retreated to our rooms. There would be a big day ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 and 9: Cedar Point

 

 

The park opened at 10:00, but we were let in early at 9:00 due to the hotel ERT. Unfortunately I slept in (LOL), but still made it to the Maverick queue by 9:30.

 

Wait…I’m in the line, but the line is outside of the entrance. And hey!—there’s no trains cycling!

 

 

As it would be, the ride was actually closed due to weather, so it wasn’t a big deal that I was late! But where is this bad weather?! It looks fine outside to me!

 

Until we saw it. There it was, on the horizon, moving in very quickly!

 

OMG…It looks like a scene from Independence Day!

 

 

Again, I’m from California! I’ve never seen clouds that literally look like the sky ends!

 

Uh….I don’t think clouds are supposed to look like that!

 

At this point, were all starting to get worried!

 

 

Chuck! How can you possibly joke around at a time like this!

 

 

And then it happened. As if the sky literally opened up and dropped an ocean on top of us. The rain started. I mean, REAL rain. And it didn’t stop.

 

Looks like no one’s getting on Maverick any time soon!

 

 

Sensing defeat, we decided to retreat back into the hotel and dry off for a moment. After changing, we all met at Fridays for some “breakfast” and to re-plan our day at the park.

 

You can sort of tell that this is one of those photos where nobody wanted to pose for the photo, but I sort of made them!

 

So after Fridays, we were ready to head back into the park. The weather seemed a little bit more cooperative, so we figured we’d try to start rounding up some of the credits. Informed that Maverick was still down, we decided to head south instead.

 

The first ride we encountered was Corkscrew. The ride had just opened, so we were able to get to the station without any wait.

 

Yay for some Arrow love! This entire line filled up in the few minutes that we were on the ride.

 

Corkscrew didn’t really have all that much to it, but I really liked it! It was definitely a fun ride! I think it’s because I don’t expect very much from these rides that I like them so much.

 

When we all collected after Corkscrew, many people decided to continue heading south, as we’ve technically had better luck with rides in the lower half of the park rather than the upper. But still, ever-wanting to ride Maverick, the majority of us headed back to the top of the park to check out the status on the ride.

 

There were sooooooooooooooooo many people!

 

As you can see, the line for Maverick hadn’t gotten any shorter, but there was still no sign of the ride reopening. All the forecasts we were getting in warned of a second wave of rain dumping through the park within an hour or so. Instead of waiting for Maverick, we decided to just chill and the Alveys used the time to introduce me to the elephant ear.

 

OMG…these are like the greatest things ever!

 

I honestly had never even heard of or SEEN an elephant ear (unless you count the piece of plastic on X!) let alone eaten one. It was amazing. A party in my mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

As I was downing one of those suckers, we realized that the Cedar Creek Mine Ride was cycling some trains as a part of their block check, so we decided to line up for that, praying that it would open.

 

Please, please, please, please, PLEASE open. We just want to ride SOMETHING!

 

Sure enough after about 10-15 minutes, the ride actually opened! Unfortunately, they were only running one train but eventually, our whole group got on the ride! I’ve only been on two Arrow Mine Trains—this and Goldrusher—and of the two, Goldrusher was definitely superior. This ride was pretty, but really did just sort of meander around and take up space!

 

That being said, we really carpe decoaster on that one, because as soon as we got off it began drizzling again, thus shutting down all of the coasters once again! *sigh* Hoping to pass the storm, we decided to chill under the shelter of a shooting gallery and just hang out.

 

All of the rain makes Chris ANGRY!

 

 

LOL...it’s tubgirl in the shooting gallery.

 

…just not. Thank God!

 

 

 

 

Our hopes for clear skys were soon rained on when it, well—began to rain even more!

 

I think at this point we were all really unimpressed with Cedar Point.

 

 

Don’t worry Cedar Point fanboys! That will change! But for right now, you can fault us for being pretty pissed!

 

I was soooooooo not pleased. And I love how the flash makes me look soooooooooooo tan!

 

 

 

Eventually, the rain would subside, yet again. And this time for good. That being said, Maverick was still not open. Apparently, they have to wait 2 hours after a rain in order for the track to dry or something like that, so they wouldn’t open.

 

It really is a beautiful ride. Do you know what would make this shot even more beautiful? A TRAIN!

 

Much better.

 

 

With Maverick closed, we decided to head back into the depths of the park and find ourselves another major ride. After all—we’re now officially 25% of the way through our Cedar Point visit and only have two minor credits under our belts! And sure enough, we stumbled across just the type of ride we were looking for!

 

 

…and yes, it was open.

 

 

Millennium Force is one of those coasters that I’ve been ogling at ever since I “took up” coaster enthusiasm. If Cedar Point is a crown amusement park, Millennium Force has to be the crown jewel. It’s certainly one of the most amazing coasters in the world, considering its size, shape, and the ride it offers.

 

I remember looking at pictures like this on the internet and drooling. Just imagine how I reacted when I actually TOOK this picture.

 

The line took about 45 minutes, but was constantly moving. I had always heard about the awesome Cedar Point operations and was very pleased to see that the stereotype stood true. That crew could crank out trains so quickly, you would question if they actually checked them!

 

Though we had always been told that the back was better, TJ and I had to ride in the front. You see, a Cedar Point trip was something that he and I have been dreaming of since Jr. High school, and that trip included a front-row ride on Millennium Force. So it was sort of in spirit of that by which we followed through and queued for Row 1.

 

 

I’m pretty sure this is what I’ll look like after sex. Pleased, speechless, and a bit mortified.

 

 

Millennium Force wasn’t the best coaster I’ve ever been on, but it was certainly one of them! It has to be one of the most unique coaster experiences ever, that’s for sure.

 

After Millennium, we decided to ride the coaster that was across the way, Mantis. We were lucky in that there was no queue. I do seem to recall the ride operator harassing one of the guys in my row because he didn’t have the proper posture for a stand up. I mean, this chick was rude! She contorted us into the most uncomfortable position, which was really off-putting for me. I’ve been on stand ups all my life! I've operated one! I don’t need to be coached on how to stand on one!

 

Comfort is just as important to safety as posture is. Bitch.

 

Anyway, Mantis was nice, but coming from the Riddler’s Revenge, it really wasn’t all that exciting to me.

 

Whoever picked these colors needs to be shot.

 

 

After the ride, the group naturally wanted to head back to Maverick and check that out. And sure enough, the ride was open! We even started queuing for it! But about 10 minutes into our wait, with a fair chunk of the queue in front of us, a few of us decided we didn’t really want to wait on account of our hunger. So we left to get food.

 

I know what you’re thinking. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?!?!...You’ve waited ALL DAY for this, and now that you have it, you’re leaving!?!?” The answer is “Yes”. Jahan turns into another creature when he goes long bouts without food. As several other were hungry and unwilling to wait, the decision was made to bail.

 

Funny side story, when we went to get food, Joey had trouble dealing with the cashier (who was an international employee) and before long, Joey’s meal turned into a feast for the entire park!—

 

 

Joey began to suck his thumb and cry when this figure popped up on the cash register!

 

 

 

…luckily for him, we had the purchase voided.

 

 

 

 

Alright guys, you’re going to hate me for this, especially since the point of these narrative-style PTRs is to share the sequence of events—but I honestly don’t remember the order which we attacked the park over the two days we were there! So we’re just going to have to follow along with the photos as they come!

 

Well, I DO remember that we concluded the first day with Maverick. The plan was to hop in line before the park closed, thus giving us a 30 minute wait, which wasn’t bad as the line was constantly moving!

 

Dane-downed a burger quickly in line for Maverick. For some reason, this photo is so much more dramatic sideways!

 

What was funny about the line, was that there had to of been like, 50 trip participants in line all at once! We kept passing each other back and forth! That made me giggle. Oh, and I do seem to remember seeing Ryan and Tomi about 10 minutes ahead of us and guess what?—they had totally picked up some hotties with them and were flirting all throughout the line!

 

How do they do it?!

 

 

Anyway, back on topic. Maverick was insane. I’ve never been on a coaster that was literally engineered to feel as out of control as that ride was! It really threw away the rules in that it didn’t feel designed around ride-elements as much as it was around ride-sensations. Transitions were dramatic. Inversions were unexpected. The ride just really seemed to do what it wanted!

 

It did sort of remind me of California Screamin’. Not just because it has a lift and a launch (that’s right a lift AND a launch), but the way that the ride felt. California Screamin’ is much more graceful, with sweeping turns and smooth transitions. Maverick felt untamed, with sudden turns and abrupt transitions. It was essentially California Screamin’ on drugs. I still cant decide which of the two I like more. I just know that I really like both.

 

 

 

Money shot. I win.

 

 

 

Excited with Maverick under our belts, we were ready to turn in for the night. I think that it’s safe to say that we were all exhausted. Cedar Point had also almost redeemed itself, after the storms. The next day would continue that trend.

 

 

The next day began with a quick stroll along the beach before we turned onto the midway and headed to the south end of the park. As we spent most of yesterday around the top of the park, we decided to start at the bottom and work our way up.

 

Again with the colors!—who gave the permission to paint this sign pink?!

 

 

Raptor was an awesome ride! Probably my favorite B&M invert! I thought it had a great drop and a great placement of elements. It did have a few confusing straight-aways, but still proved to be a great ride!

 

You can just tell from this picture that this is an awesome drop!

 

This was almost the most amazing shot of your lives! Not quite—but almost!

 

For the record, all of these gorgeous shots are provided in part by the bucket ride that is spread along the entrance-midway of the park.

 

…although I’m traditionally afraid of those rides. I don’t know why, I just always picture my bucket being plucked from its wire by gravity.

 

Oh, and one more of Raptor since it was so photogenic!...

 

Later in the day I saw Hanno take this EXACT photo……naturally his turned out better.

 

Next up was Blue Streak, which was really just a filler ride to me. I’m sure it comes from some great wooden coaster heritage but it really just sort of went up and down, back and forth.

 

 

Hehehe….Chris seems to rather be enjoying that!

 

 

Apparently purple-nurples were one of the underground negatives to the Midwest trip. I don’t know, I stayed away from the nipple wars!

 

 

 

 

Now we’ll hop over to the other side of the park. I don’t have any photos of Wicked Twister for some reason, but I recall us riding that first. I really find these Intamin impulses to be fun! I mean, I wouldn’t queue too long for them, but when I can get on without a long wait, I love them! Wicked Twister was a really good one too…probably my second favorite, behind SFDK’s V2, which is unconventional and amazing!

 

After Wicked Twister, we went to the only ride that made sense to go to: Disaster Transport!

 

Only—it didn’t make sense at all!

 

 

 

 

OMG It wishes it were a Starspeeder 3000!

 

This is SO where they’re hiding the Arc of the Lost Covenant!

 

 

 

Disaster Transport was dumb. Some people found that this dumbness is what gave it its charm. I just thought it was dumb.

 

 

Although it was my first bobsled-type coaster, so that was kind of neat.

 

 

Now we’re ready to finish the Arrow run at the park!

 

Why is this my only photo of Magnum?! That’s stupid!

 

Magnum XL200 was a more exciting version of Blue Streak, IMO. It was up. Down. Up. Down. Which would have been cool if there were lots of airtime, but there wasn’t. The only really great part was at the end, when the train rapidly took those triangle-hills.

 

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to sound like I’m hating on an Arrow, which I’m certainly not! I wouldn’t ever do that! I can appreciate the ride for what it represents and what it did for the coaster world. It’s the first hyper and that’s pretty darn cool. But as far as judging the ride as it stands as a ride, it was sort of weak.

 

Oh! And unfortunately I don’t have any photos, but we rode Iron Dragon, or Dragon Iron, or whatever it was called. It was lame. Ninja owns it! Wow, two lame ones in a row!

 

To keep with the Arrows, we’ll finish of Gemeni.

 

In tradition with the “70’s/80’s themeing!

 

You know, I actually enjoyed Gemeni! I mean, it was less “intense” than Magnum, sure, but it was much more “fun”. They were cycling trains really quickly and racing every cycle! Racing coasters are still a new concept to me (I’ve only been on racing-Colossus a few times) and the interactivity of a dueling train is neat! Gemini was smooth, swift, and fun.

 

Oh! And the name escapes me, but we rode the kiddie.

 

How come it looks like it’s in a swamp of bubbling feces?

 

Dear God! There’s so many coasters that the only way to share them is to bullet them out like this! Are we finished with them already?!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh—and this.

 

Mean Streak was ok.

 

Now I know you’re saying, “ok?!?!?! How can you say that?! Mean Streak blows!!!”

 

Yes, it did blow. But people had built it up to be so terrible that it was surprisingly bearable! The trim brake on the first was pretty much what saved the ride, IMO!

 

At this point, we were pretty much finished with the park. I had been on every coaster that I could, except for Jr. Gemini and another little one named Top Thrill Dragster, but the plan was to queue for that at the end of the night when the park closed.

 

So we decided to try some other things and do some re-rides. Throughout our visit, I had a chance to ride a few flats here and there. MaxAir was pretty fun. And the Derby Racer was one of the most unique and fun ride experiences ever! Unlike some old-rides that shouldn’t be brought back (*cough* Golden Zephyr *cough* …. Love you Chuck and Dane!), this was one ride that I wish we could see more of!

 

Finally, we rode SkyHawk.

 

Yay for S&S Swings!

 

I personally am a big fan of the S&S swings, provided I don’t have to queue very long for them (we only waited 15 minutes for it). The problem is that the ride cycles are to short! I believe that there are three full swings before the ride ends. Now, I’d hate to see what the lines would be like if I had to wait with a longer ride cycle, but still! My point still stands. Figure it out, S&S.

 

We also went for one more ride on Millennium Force, because that ride is just freakin awesome!

 

One can never have too many Millennium Force photos!

 

Regrettably, all good things must come to an end and sure enough, the sun set on our second night at Cedar Point. Our trip was coming to an end.

 

*giggle*

 

We made our way through the park, hitting up the last attractions that we could before the night was out. Our timing worked perfectly. There was only one ride left.

 

 

 

 

*cues background music*

 

 

 

 

Top Thrill Dragster wasn’t necessarily an “omg-I HAVE to do this” attraction for me, hence it was saved for last so that our time queuing for it wouldn’t get in the way of any other park time. The downside to that is that we were crossing our fingers the entire time in line, hoping that the ride wouldn’t break down! We made it through the line in less than 45 minutes and were seated, ready to go.

 

Oh! Story!

 

We were literally about two or three trains for boarding when randomly out of the night, this butterfly comes flying out of the sky and lands on Dane’s hand. Everybody was all, “awwwww” and even a ride operator stopped what they were doing to make conversation about the butterfly. So then, Dane bids the bug farewell and it goes flying off. It makes a lap or two around the station and then lands AGAIN on Dane’s hand! That butterfly really liked Dane!

 

 

Anyway, I forgot what happened to the butterfly. What happened Dane? Did you take it on the ride with you?

 

So anyway, we finally got to ride. Yes, 45 minutes it’s probably a disproportionate wait for the ride experience offered, but still—it was a totally fun ride! I don’t have any real complaints.

 

And that would draw the night to a close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cedar Point was a great park! I can’t deny the fact that they have a HORRIBLE rain policy. I mean, I can understand not cycling in torrential downpour, but waiting for tracks to dry?—c’mon. That’s just stupid. We had a good few Nazi ride operators that hassled us as if we’ve never been on a ride before. But other than that, I found the park to be very impressive! I know some of our veteran Cedar Point ride operators claim that ride operations have gone down-hill in recent seasons, but I was still very impressed by the level of synchronism and speed of ride operation.

 

What’s funny is the park reminded me a lot of the current Knott’s Berry Farm. The only exception is that, whatever formula that the two parks operate under seems to work at Cedar Point. It doesn’t at Knott’s!

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that should about do it for this installment! Yes, it was LONG. And yes, I apologize for it being scattered and out of order. But it took me forever to type, so LIKE IT!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-Jahan

[Pelydr]

Fantastic pictures man! I had that same sort of experience on MF when I first went on it about four years ago. I think you described how I felt being sorta new to being a coaster nerd, etc. Keep up the good work with the TR.