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Cedar Point TR and Review


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Note: I didn't take any pictures due to the fact that I'm not really into photography and I thought that it would be unecessary since everyone here has already seen 1000's of pictures of CP.

 

This TR is broken up into 2 parts, the actuall trip report and my own review of Cedar Point based on my experience.

 

Trip Report: First Visit to CP with my dad.

Note: I'm not going to go into too much detail about my opinions of anything since those will be in my review.

 

Days in Park: June 17 - 19

Weather: Highs in the low 70's and thankfully only about 30 minutes of rain on the 18th. This was definetly excellent weather for Cedar Point, and a nice break from my typical Floridian summers of high temps and high humidity.

Lodging: Sand Castle Resort

Total Time in Park: 23 hours, about equivalent to 2 full days

Crowds: Light to Moderate, busiest day was Wednesday, and the slowest was probably Thursday.

Wait Times: Pretty low by CP standards.

Average Line Lengths for Major Rides:

Maverick: 40 minutes - 1 hour

Millenium Force: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Top Thrill Dragster: 25 - 45 minutes

Mantis: 20 - 30 minutes

Raptor: 20 - 35 minutes

Magnum: Less than 10 minutes

Mean Streak: Walk-on

Gemini: Less than 10 minutes

Wicked Twister: Less than 15 minutes (inside station)

Blue Streak: 15 - 20 minutes

MaxAir: 15 minutes

Disaster Transport: 30 - 45 minutes

SkyHawk: Less than 10 minutes

 

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the wait times. Nothing seemed unreasonable, except for the 45 min wait for Disaster Transport at mid-day.

 

Day 1: 3pm - 9pm

Magnum 1x

Mean Streak 1x

Maverick 1x

Millenium Force 1x

Mantis 1x

Raptor 1x

MaxAir 1x

Wicked Twister 1x

TTD 1x

 

Overall the 1st day went really well, but my dad and I were both exhausted by the end of it, so we left the park early to get some sleep. Most the waits that day were a little longer since I insisted on either the front or back rows on most the rides in order to get the full experience. We ate dinner/lunch at the Johny Rockets.

 

Day 2: Full Day 9am - 10:35pm

Maverick 2x

Millenium Force 2x

TTD 4x

Raptor 2x

Wicked Twister 2x

MaxAir 3x

Disaster Transport 1x

Iron Dragon 2x

Magnum 1x

Gemini 1x

SkyHawk 2x

Blue Streak 1x

 

Another great day at the park, with only a little rain at 10am delaying the opening of TTD for 30 minutes as I watched trains roll back. To start the day off, I arrived at the park for 9am ERT and got to participate in my first "running of the bulls" from the Magnum entrance to Maverick (though most people quit running after 5 minutes ). My dad and I ate both lunch and dinner at the Game Day Grill and breakfast at the Break Water Cafe. The only 'interesting' thing that happened that day, was a breakdown at Maverick at 9:30pm when I was 2 trains from riding. By around 10pm they told us that the ride would likely be down the rest of the night, but on the bright side, they left Millenium Force and TTD open for us until 10:30pm, allowing me to score 2 quick night rides on TTD. I would just like to say thanks to CP and the employees who stayed late for handling the situation so well as most places would have just said "sorry" and told us to go home.

 

Day 3: 9am - 2pm

Millenium Force 2x

TTD 1x

Maverick 1x

Raptor 1x

Iron Dragon 1x

Magnum 1x

MaxAir 1x

SkyHawk 1x

Disaster Transport 1x

Gemini 1x

Cedar Creek Mine Train 1x

Wicked Twister 1x

 

For only 5 hours in the park, I was luckily able to ride every single ride I wanted to, including 2 rides on MF during ERT (Maverick was still broken in the morning).

 

Overall, I was very pleased with how much I got out of the 3 days at CP thanks to only moderate crowd levels and excellent weather despite the rather ominous clouds that were continuously rolling off Lake Erie. While I will give my full impressions of the park in the review portion, I will say that CP far exceeded my expectations in nearly every area, from the rides to the top notch ride crews.

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CP Review

Now on to the more interesting portion of my TR, a full review of CP.

 

Rides: (only includes rides that I rode, for obvious reasons )

 

Magnum: 8/10

Magnum lived up to its name of being a true classic. From the spectacular views of the lake, to the insane ejector air on the return run bunny hills, this ride did not disappoint (the fact that it never had more than a station wait helped too). The only thing that keeps this ride from perfection is the fact that it is rather rough due to its classic jolt filled Arrow transitions (including a complete lack of heart-lining in the turns). In addition, the trains were slightly uncomfortable compared to those of your modern Beamer or Intamin.

(BTW, does anyone know why they have the second to last car roped off?)

 

Mean Streak: 4/10

Unfortunately, this ride too lived up to its name. It was sluggish and painfull, with each turn bringing tons of jack-hammering in all directions. A complete lack of redeeming features such as airtime or a general sense of speed didn't help matters either. The sad thing is that I could see this ride being great in its hay day before the momentum killing trims on the first drop. Today, the only thing it is good for is a decorative lawn ornament for CP's skyline. Hopefully CP will decide to replace this ride with something more worthy, like a nice Intamin El-Toro clone .

 

Gemini: 7/10

There’s nothing very interesting to say about this ride. It had some nice airtime at spots, and the racing aspect is cool; but it had some roughness (again coming mostly from the Arrow transitions) and probably isn't worth more than a 10 - 15 minute wait. However, I'd still recommend giving this ride a shot, at least once.

 

Disaster Transport: 6/10

This coaster is pretty fun, and even mildly thrilling thanks to the dark-ride nature of it. Unfortunately, it is only about a minute long, which compared to the 45 minute wait it typically receives, makes this ride a bit of a disappoint, especially when you consider that 45 minutes could get you a ride on TTD or Maverick. Check it out if it’s raining or the line is short, but otherwise, go with something else a little more worthwhile.

 

Mantis: 5/10

Whoever came up with the idea of stand up coasters should be slapped (or kicked in the nuts ). This ride is just plain uncomfortable, and left me with a back ache the rest of the day (and I'm only 18). Surprisingly, the bike seat that you straddle wasn't too rough on certain regions (if you position the restraints correctly, or are a girl), but the ride made up for that lack of pain with probably the most head banging I've ever experienced on a B&M, especially after the MCBR. Overall, ride it if you need the credit, but otherwise, stay away.

 

Iron Dragon: 7/10

I honestly don't know how this ride has gotten such a bad rap. Sure, its not very thrilling compared to something like Big Bad Wolf, but it was fun for a more family oriented coaster and even had some good g's in the final helix. Sure, it's not worth more than a 10 minute wait, but IR is far from a 'bad' coaster.

 

Raptor: 9/10

Wow, how my home park's Montu gets rated higher than this ride, I do not know. Raptor is absolutely insane from start to finish, with some of the best pacing I've ever seen (not to mention the best final helix on a coaster ever). The fact that the MCBR brakes you less than the trims on either Mean Streak or Mantis is a testament to the unrelenting intensity of this coaster. My only complaint is that you experience quite a bit of head-banging if you ride on the left side of the train, even in the front.

Besides the ride experience itself, the line was fast paced too, easily the quickest moving line at all of CP thanks to 3 train operation and a kick ass crew that was dispatching trains every minute or so. Now if I could only convince BGA to start running 3 trains on Montu again. !

 

MaxAir: 9/10

I've never been a big fan of flat rides, but MaxAir is simple incredible. It has great speed as well as air/hang time, and gives riders a truly unique experience thanks to the spinning. Surprisingly, the ride was also very comfortable even with the bulky restraints, so much so that I could easily take a nap on that ride if they let me (perfect combination of relaxation and thrill). Finally, unlike other rides (cough SkyHawk cough), the cycle is more than long enough, completely justifying the only 15-20 minute wait.

 

SkyHawk: 7/10

Essentially this ride is a shorter, slower, less thrilling version of MaxAir that doesn’t spin (though I do prefer the lap bar system compared to MaxAir’s OTSRs). That’s not to say that it’s a bad ride, it just feels kind of pointless when there’s a bigger and better ride that offers the same type of thrills in the same park.

 

Wicked Twister: 9/10

Short but thrilling, especially in the front row. While the launch is not as powerful as the one on TTD, it is still forceful enough to be pretty exciting. Going forward and backwards up the towers is a very cool experience also, but only for the front and back ends of the train. Thankfully, this ride never seems to have anything more than a station wait due to its secluded location (I do find it ironic that DT has a longer line most of the time), which means that even a front row ride is only about a 10-20 minute wait.

 

Cedar Creek Mine Train: 7/10

Not bad for a standard Arrow mine train, with one nice drop and a powerful final helix. It’s a little rough in spots, especially on the back, but nothing compared to most of the larger rides. Even if you’re not a “credit whore” this family ride is still fun enough to check out as long as the line is short.

 

Blue Streak: 7/10

Another great classic coaster with some intense ejector air packed into its short course. Thankfully, despite its age, it’s nowhere near as rough as Mean Streak, and is worth the short wait it usually receives. In terms of operation, this ride was, however, pretty slow loading, but I have a feeling that’s due to the trains and the small station.

 

Millennium Force: 9/10 Back of the Train 8/10 Front of the Train

While this is obviously an exceptional coaster with an incredible first drop, the experience is at least partially determined by where you sit. Although the front row offers a great view of the park and the drop, the airtime is much weaker on the first drop and the two airtime hills compared to the back seat which offers insane out-of-your seat air on the first hill, and great sustained floater air on the “bunny” hills. Now, don’t misunderstand me, this is one incredible ride not matter where you sit, but I thought that the differences were worth mentioning. As far as wait times go, this ride was easily my longest wait at CP, but it was worth it and the music from the DJ in line helped make it more exciting. As a side note, this is the only ride where I ever felt like I was going to black out.

 

Top Thrill Dragster: 10/10

While it can be said that this ride is a “one trick pony,” it has the best trick of any coaster I’ve ever rode. The launch and view from the top are nothing short of breath-taking thanks in part to the open nature of the trains. I do wish that I could have had the opportunity to experience a roll back (apparently the train after me did roll back), but even a “standard” ride on TTD is just incredible. Finally like with most of the rides at CP, ride operations on this coaster stood out, with 5 train operation, and an excellent crew that made sure every seat was filled by taking the time to ask for single riders. However, I do feel a little bad for the ride ops that have to listen to that same song repeating for 8 hours a day .

 

Maverick: 10/10

I don’t know if there can truly be any coaster that is absolutely perfect, but Maverick sure comes close. It has literally every aspect of a great ride (well maybe not height ), including a great first drop, intense airtime, fast pacing, cool inversions, insane twists and dives (Stengal dives must now be a mandatory part of every coaster ), an incredible launch, unbelievable smoothness and flow (the first few turns make you feel as though you are surfing along the track), efficient design, and even great theming. As a coaster enthusiast, I hope we see more rides that are as unique and thrilling as this coaster in the future. Sorry TTD, as awesome as you are, Maverick is now the best coaster in the park, and probably will hold that position for some time.

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CP: Park Review

 

Preface: Before going to the park, I had heard a lot of negative comments about CP, claiming that the park was "in decline" or it didn't deserve all the hype it gets. Well thankfully about the only stereotype that turned out to be true about CP, at least from my visit, was the insane amount of trashcans, but they did serve their job well as most of the park was spotless.

 

Overall, I will say that the park lived up to the hype on my visit. The rides were great, the atmosphere was lively, and the park operations were top notch. The only true negative turned out to be the rain policy, as the only rides that might be genuinely effected by the rain are MF and TTD due to their high speed, and the fact that even a slight drizzle caused TTD to roll back.

 

Rides: A+

About every single type of ride is covered at CP, and there is easily enough variety so that everyone can find something to do. They have at least 6 great coasters (IMO), including TTD, MF, Raptor, WT, Maverick, and Magnum, along with several other smaller rides that are fun for the whole family like Iron Dragon, Gemini, and Cedar Creek Mine Train. Besides the roller coasters, CP has plenty of flat rides with the main attractions being Power Tower, MaxAir, and SkyHawk along with a host of more "carnival" style flat rides like Chaos and a few others that I didn't ride for the sake of my stomach. Really, there is no shortage of exciting rides at CP, and you would have to be a pretty jaded roller coaster enthusiast to be bored by what CP has to offer.

 

Ride Operations: A

Every coaster I saw when I was there was running at max capacity, except for Mantis which looked like it was getting its train repaired at the time. In addition, the ride operators were overall fantastic. They were very efficient and enthusiastic, and actually sounded like they enjoyed their jobs. Sure there's always one or two employees that look like zombies, but the vast majority of ride ops there seemed set on doing an excellent job. The only negative here was that on the third day, TTD and Maverick were down at opening (Maverick broke down the night before), but they seemed to work quickly to get the rides back running as soon as possible. Finally, as much as the rain policy sucks, I can't really fault them for taking every measure to ensure guest safety, especially considering how the simplest case of whip lash can turn into a multi-million dollar lawsuit in America .

 

Food: A

While I only ate at Johnny Rockets and the Game Day Sports Grill, the food and service at these places was certainly above average for an amusement park. The employees were friendly, and despite some crowds, the food always arrived surprisingly quickly. As far as the quality of the food itself, it was "good," not great compared to what you can find offsite, but good in terms of amusement park standards and most importantly reasonably priced.

 

Atmosphere: A

Overall, the atmosphere at CP can best be described as lively. There's not a ton of theming, but at the same time it is an amusement park, not a theme park like Universal or Busch Gardens. To me, it actually felt like I was in a Roller Coaster Tycoon park with all the sounds of the coasters running around you, the smells of the shops, and all the great views of the rides. The only possible complaint, would be that there isn't enough shade in certain areas, mostly around the midway, but the park definitely isn't as barren as some people would have you believe, especially towards the back of the park.

 

Cleanliness: A+

The CP staff does a great job of keeping the park clean (aided by an army of trashcans ). The queues and paths were all kept spotless, and there were no piles of garbage or walls of gum to be seen there, even in Disaster Transport's queue which was just asking for some gum to add to the "theming." Moreover, all of the buildings looked well maintained, along with the stations, and about the only ride that was begging for paint was MF.

 

Guests: A+

This may sound like a strange category to review, but the quality of the guests at CP stood out for me. I don't know if it was just the excellent weather, or the fact that northern people are nicer, but overall the guests there were a lot more pleasant and friendly than those you find at my home parks in Florida. I didn't see anyone attempt to line jump (even in the informal line at the Magnum entrance before opening), or act intentionally obnoxious in the queues (except for maybe a few of the typical young teen crowd, but they're annoying everywhere ). In addition, no one did the very annoying clanking of the seatbelts on the brake runs, and I didn't see any of the typical graffiti/vandalism in the queues, which was probably also thanks to the great park maintenance in general. Overall, everyone just seemed to be looking to have a good time and not cause trouble.

 

Lodging: A

I stayed at the Sand Castle Suites, so I can only comment on that. Overall, the hotel was very nice, with renovated suites (consisting of 3 rooms) and all the modern amenities you could want, including two LCD TVs per room. It is a tad on the expensive side, however, but considering its proximity to the park, and the mornign ERT, it was worth it. The hotel is a little further away from the park than the Hotel Breakers, but if you really don't want to walk, they have a shuttle service. My only complaint would be that, for that price, it would have been nice for them to have a have a continental breakfast of some sort, but at least there was a restaurant onsite (Break Water Cafe) which had pretty good food.

 

Overall Park Grade: A+

I'm a bit of a cynical person at times, but even I couldn't find much, if anything to complain about at Cedar Point. About the only negatives were the rain policy and the ugly trashcans, but otherwise the park and its employees were excellent in every regard.

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I agree this was one of the best trip reports I've seen in a while. I live in Boston and don't get to CP often enough - but do try to get there once a year (thankfully). The vast majority of my visits I've had similar experiences with operations, while I couldn't agree more with all of your ride reviews. The only exception could be Mantis, because on one trip, they weren't using the drop trim and the mid course brake was barely applied. On that day, Mantis was in a league with Raptor. Regarding Mean Streak, I was there opening year and the ride has always sucked - period. It is one of the most beautiful coasters I've ever seen and even as a walk-on I just keep on walking towards Gemeni. IMO, CP should remove MS and put the two GL coasters in the same location.

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This is probably one of the best trip reports I've seen for Cedar point yet and makes me want to visit the park that much more. Unfortunately money is to tight to try and make it there this year for me but I'm making an effort next year.

 

By around 10pm they told us that the ride would likely be down the rest of the night, but on the bright side, they left Millenium Force and TTD open for us until 10:30pm, allowing me to score 2 quick night rides on TTD. I would just like to say thanks to CP and the employees who stayed late for handling the situation so well as most places would have just said "sorry" and told us to go home.

 

I love to hear things like this, it's nice to know parks actually care about the people that visit them. I'm even more shocked that they opened 2 coasters longer for you instead of just one that's great!

 

Again great TR!

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Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

 

Awesome TR, it sounds like Raptor, MF, and Maverick really delivered for you! CP gets such mixed reviews, it seems like it's getting harder and harder to find someone to write a positive review of the place nowadays.

 

^The problem with CP or anything else that recieves so much hype (aka the last Indiana Jones movie or GTAIV) is that it builds up people's expectations so much to the point where if their experience is anything less than perfect, suddenly the place becomes "overhyped." No one should ever expect absolute perfection from anything, especially a place as large as CP that has to deal with so many factors to run smoothly. Adding to the problem is that everyone has different tastes. Some people might find the coaster collections better at SF Great Adventure or SFMM or the atmosphere better at Universal, but that really shouldn't take away anything from the quality of CP or any other amusment park. My advice to anyone visiting CP would be to go there with an open mind and enjoy it for what it is (remember too that all parks have good days and bad days). You'll never have a good time if you walk around all day thinking "meh, Six Flags Great Adventure is better than this place."

 

 

This is probably one of the best trip reports I've seen for Cedar point yet and makes me want to visit the park that much more. Unfortunately money is to tight to try and make it there this year for me but I'm making an effort next year.

 

orangeblue wrote:

By around 10pm they told us that the ride would likely be down the rest of the night, but on the bright side, they left Millenium Force and TTD open for us until 10:30pm, allowing me to score 2 quick night rides on TTD. I would just like to say thanks to CP and the employees who stayed late for handling the situation so well as most places would have just said "sorry" and told us to go home.

 

 

I love to hear things like this, it's nice to know parks actually care about the people that visit them. I'm even more shocked that they opened 2 coasters longer for you instead of just one that's great!

 

Again great TR!

 

^Thanks! Yeh, that impressed me too. They really went out of their way to make sure that no one left the park dissappointed. I honestly didn't expect them to do anything. The line was only about 30 minutes long before the break down so it wasn't as if people had been waiting 2 hours to ride. Also, in addition to leaving the rides open for everyone, for the people that were actually stuck on the ride, they walked them up the exit ramp at TTD to get them on as quickly as possible (though it wasn't as if the line was long at that time of night, but at least it was a nice gesture). I do feel bad however for anyone that missed their only opportunity to ride Maverick, but hey, that's why you get the main rides out of the way first.

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I had a situation at Cedar Point last weekend when I went.

 

After a long day of riding Coasters and such, My friends and I rode Millennium Force around 11:30pm. While waiting in the loading station about to ride, one of the trains went by behind us, and my friend said"it smelled like someone barfed on it." Well he was right and they had to clean barf off of the seats of our train. Once they were done, they only filled the front third of our train.......

 

After riding it, the hill did not give me butterflies or seem extremely intense like it usually does, and the other hills gave me zero airtime.

 

I went away feeling like Maverick was definitely the better ride.

 

Now before all the MF bashers come out of the woodwork, keep in mind that I've been going to Cedar Point once in the summer, and once for Halloweekends every Season for the past six seasons, and have ridden everything every time.....

 

Millennium Force has always been my favorite. When I rode Maverick the first time last summer, I thought that it might be better than MF, but after riding MF again that idea was soon gone. I felt the same way after my fall visit last year. Maverick was very good, but definitely not better than MF in my book...

 

So I guess my questions are:

 

Do you think only having 1/3 of the train full would affect the ride?

 

Do you think riding in the front of the train would make a big difference?

 

I personally think it was a combo of the two

What say ye'?

 

Oh yea and if anybody would like me to do a trip review I will just let me know!

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Me and my boyfriend where there on the 17,18,19 also. When maverick went down, i figured that would be it for the night, even though they left dragster and MF open till 10:30. I figured the lines would be terrible, but i still went by the line for dragster. I couldnt believe it was short, they where popping those trains out so fast , and it made me really happy to get another ride on dragster, especially since we lost out on rides the night before when dragster went down for the platinum pass extended hour of ride. Dragster is my favorite coaster there.

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I had a situation at Cedar Point last weekend when I went.

 

After a long day of riding Coasters and such, My friends and I rode Millennium Force around 11:30pm. While waiting in the loading station about to ride, one of the trains went by behind us, and my friend said"it smelled like someone barfed on it." Well he was right and they had to clean barf off of the seats of our train. Once they were done, they only filled the front third of our train.......

 

After riding it, the hill did not give me butterflies or seem extremely intense like it usually does, and the other hills gave me zero airtime.

 

I went away feeling like Maverick was definitely the better ride.

 

Now before all the MF bashers come out of the woodwork, keep in mind that I've been going to Cedar Point once in the summer, and once for Halloweekends every Season for the past six seasons, and have ridden everything every time.....

 

Millennium Force has always been my favorite. When I rode Maverick the first time last summer, I thought that it might be better than MF, but after riding MF again that idea was soon gone. I felt the same way after my fall visit last year. Maverick was very good, but definitely not better than MF in my book...

 

So I guess my questions are:

 

Do you think only having 1/3 of the train full would affect the ride?

 

Do you think riding in the front of the train would make a big difference?

 

I personally think it was a combo of the two

What say ye'?

 

Oh yea and if anybody would like me to do a trip review I will just let me know!

 

Like I said in my review, I found the front of MF to be pretty lacking in the airtime department. The first drop felt much weaker than in the back, and the two air time hills had almost zero airtime. I definetly prefer the back myself for insane ejector air on the drop and some good floater air over the hills.

 

Now, I really don't know how much the weight in the train affects the ride. I can say that in the morning when I rode it before it warmed up, it was certainly running slower. I imagine that having less momentum due to only 1/3 of the train being full would have a similiar effect.

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Thanks for the great TR. It is obvious that you took a lot of time to put it together. My first visit to CP was last year and my experiences were very similar to yours. Unfortunately I only had one day to visit the park, but I did manage to get all 17 credits in one day. (I was with my son, so that is how I got the kiddie credits!)

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^^^

 

I remember when I was at Heide Park right before closing when it was empty. The rides seems to be bumpier, shaker, and not deliver that same airtime or force it usually does when the train is fuller.

 

I think it does have do to with the trains weight, because remember when the changed the trains on X to X2, the trains where lighter which made the ride smoother. (Or at least, it was supposed to).

 

Now, I'm not sure about the trains on Millinum Force, but I'm sure the ride is faster when the trains are fuller, thus means more 'air time'.

 

--James

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