TR: Cedar Point & King's Island, 7/1-7/3 2008

[AmyUD06]

Who:

Myself, friend Ian

 

Where:

Cedar Point, King’s Island

 

When:

Monday 6/30 – Friday 7/4

 

Day One, Monday:

Day One was originally supposed to be a travel day (9 hour drive) and go to CP to get our Platinum Passes processed at night and maybe hit one or two rides. A delayed start put us in our hotel in central Ohio at 7:30 PM, and with an hour and a half drive to CP we decided it wasn’t worth it that night. The forecast called for perfect weather on Monday and Tuesday with very likely thunderstorms on Thursday. We decided to do CP on Tuesday, KI on Wednesday, and go back to CP on Thursday to finish up other things in case the weather turned out bad.

 

Day Two, Tuesday:

A delayed start due to hitting up a local speakeasy on Day One meant we got to the park at 10:30. Processed our online-purchased passes in literally 5 minutes (by comparison, it took me 45 minutes to process my ’08 SFGA pass at the end of the ’07 season). Got in the park and hit Demon Drop (all ride reviews at the end). Disaster Transport (30 minutes) and Wicked Twister (30 minutes) were next. Stopped in the retro arcade and played some classic (as in mechanical) “video” games. This is one of my favorite parts about this park. On to Corkscrew (<15 minutes for front row) and Magnum (<30 minutes for front row). Gemini had a massive line for that ride so we passed it for the time being, headed to Maverick but it was down. Hit Mean Streak (30 minutes for front row), go back by Maverick; still down. Next was Cedar Creek Mine Ride (<15 minutes for back row). We see Maverick is just about to re-open so we get in the line outside the queue, and once they start filling it we’re right on the lake before you go in to the old log flume station. 1.5 hour wait. Honestly from here I forget the order, but we did Blue Streak (walk on), Raptor (40 minutes), and Millennium Force (<50 minutes) before heading back to Maverick with 10 minutes to closing. We get in line and are about where we were before when the ride breaks down again at 10:12. Knowing we have another day, we set our limit at 10:45. At approximately 10:40 they start walking people off the trains that are on the block brakes before the station, and we call it a night. It amazed me that they were still attempting to fix the ride after “closing” so those in line could ride; not something Six Flags would do. Then again…on the walk out, we see that Millennium has gotten stuck on the lift hill and they’re doing an evacuation using the sliding cart thing. We get near the entrance and I hear some dance music coming from the Picnic area; there’s an employee party going on. Perhaps they the rides with long lines were “breaking” so the crews could go to the party, mm? ::smirk:: Either way, we covered 11 of the 15 non-kiddie coasters, missing only Dragster, Gemini, Iron Dragon, and Wildcat.

 

Day Three, Wednesday:

We got to King’s Island right at opening. Hit the Beastie (or whatever they’re calling it now), walk on for back row. Head to The Beast (1 of 2 reasons for even including this park), and have a 3-train wait for the front row. Continuing around the park in a loop, Vortex is next, 2-train wait for front row. Firehawk (my other reason) was the longest wait of the day at 45 minutes, followed closely by Flight of Fear at about 30 minutes. Racer was a walk on for the back row on the red side. Adventure Express was a 10 minute wait. Son of Beast was about a half an hour and the biggest waste of time of the trip. Top Gun (er…Flight Deck) was a walk-on for back row. Invertigo was a 3-train wait for “back” row. Finally, Italian Job (Back Lot whatever) looked to be a 25 minute wait, but we lucked out when all groups in front of us were 3 or 4 and they needed to, so it ended up being 15 minutes. We did every coaster except for the Vekoma SFC (I think it’s called “Reptar” something or other). We leave the park at 4:30; 11 coasters in 6.5 hours with taking some time to eat and smoke here and there. We would’ve hit the water park but we didn’t expect to do so many coasters in such a small amount of time so didn’t bring the bathing suits and weren’t about to pay park prices for one.

 

Day Four, Thursday:

At the end of Day Two, I checked the forecast on weather.com using my phone and saw that the chance of severe thunderstorms for Sandusky was 60% until noon, so we targeted getting back to Cedar Point then. We arrived at 12:30 and it seemed like everything except the tallest rides were running despite some mild rain. The lot was empty. We walked right up to the entrance gates (for which there were only three open) and as soon as we got in we saw a Dragster train launch. Headed right there, and despite a 10-minute breakdown we were on-and-off in 30 minutes. Since our mission for the day was hit what we missed on Day one, Gemini was next. 2-train wait for front row on the red side. Iron Dragon was a walk on for back row. Wildcat was broken, so we went and hit some other rides again. Maverick was a just under an hour wait for the back row. Mantis was a 3-train wait for the front. Blue Streak was a 1-train wait for the front. Raptor was a 10-minute wait for the back. Headed back to Wildcat which was now open but a 30-minute wait (!!!) so we passed. Went on Cedar Downs and the antique cars, went back to Maverick for a 45 minute wait for the front row. Bought an on-ride photo for the first time in my life and did some more souvenir shopping. Took the train back to the Midway and saw Wildcat was still a 30 minute wait, so passed again. Walked around and took some photos and video, and then took the Skyride back to the front and called it a night.

 

Day Five, Friday:

Left the hotel around 10:00 and made the 9-hour drive back to Delaware, hitting some major traffic where a car had overturned in Maryland, likely due to the heavy rain which was in Ohio the day before. All said and done, an awesome trip. 25 different coasters and several non-coasters in three days, not bat at all.

 

Coaster Reviews:

Cedar Point

 

Blue Streak – Rode both front and back row. Great experience both times, very glad they haven’t trimmed this at all like Dorney has trimmed Thunderhawk.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride – Good classic, kind of rough in some transitions but what do you expect from an near 40-year-old Arrow? Biggest gripe is the one-locking-position lap bars.

Corkscrew – VERY impressed with how smooth this was (front row). It boggles my mind how smooth they can keep this, yet SFGA’s Great American Scream Machine is so rough by comparison.

Disaster Transport – Not a huge fan of the new day-glo decorations, compared to the original themeing, and it seemed that there weren’t as many lights on the scenery inside the ride as I remember, but I love it. Bobsleds are dying off way too quick for me.

Gemini – Good smooth ride on the Red side. The transition into the last helix is very sudden, but good all around.

Iron Dragon – Rough and not all that forceful. Decent enough since it was a near walk-on, but I wouldn’t wait for it.

Jr. Gemini - Not ridden

Magnum XL-200 – Rougher than I remember, but that was over 10 years ago. Still good views and ride.

Mantis – One of my favorites at this park, both back and front row were very smooth and very forceful. No injuries to the important bits, but I know how to adjust the seat properly before taking off. It’s been almost a decade since the last one of these was built, and it’s time for B&M to make another.

Maverick – One word: incredible. Easily the best coaster I’ve ever ridden (front row). This coaster alone was worth the $500 the trip cost me. Only one very minor complaint: the back row is TOO forceful laterally through transitions, and bruised my neck on the OSTRs despite my best efforts to keep my head in the groove.

Mean Streak – Not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but it is rough. Still enjoyable though.

Millennium Force – Good, but overhyped IMHO. Maybe front or back row would make it better, but we rode in the middle and while good it wasn’t really anything too special.

Raptor – I forgot how forceful this was (in a good way). Easily my favorite of all B&M inverts.

Top Thrill Dragster – WOW. Having ridden Kingda Ka I new what to expect for the most part, but this blew it out of the water. The linear launch force and lack of OSTRs ranks this higher thn Ka.

Wicked Twister – Awesome in back row, more entertaining than I thought it would be.

Wildcat – Not ridden.

Woodstock Express – Not ridden

 

King’s Island

Adventure Express – Surprisingly good, great themeing.

Backlot Stunt Coaster/Italian Job Stunt Track – Good themening, seemed like all of the effects were working. The launch in to the first helix was a pleasantly forceful surprise.

Beast – What can be said about this awesome classic that hasn’t been said a million times? Disappointed with the trimming, but is still my favorite wooden coaster (now that Hercules is dead).

Fairly Odd Coaster/Beastie/Scooby Doo – Tight squeeze for two average-build males, but still good with some airtime in the back row.

Firehawk – Very impressive. Much better than Superman at SFGA. This and Beast made the trip to KI worthwhile.

Flight Deck/Top Gun – Second best Arrow Suspended I’ve been on, good forces but a little short.

Flight of Fear/Outer Limits – I love Premier LIM coasters and this is no exception. I was impressed with how much of the theme they kept when losing the Outer Limits license.

Invertigo – Intense and very smooth for a Vekoma.

Little Bill’s Giggle Coaster – Not ridden

Racer – Bring back the reverse-run side! Otherwise, good.

Rugrats Runaway Reptar – Not ridden

Son of Beast – Crap. Worst ride of the trip. The first helix did a number on my entire upper body (literally felt my organs bouncing around), and we were in the front car! Maybe the loop made this worthwhile back when it had it, but it certainly isn’t anymore. It needs some Intamin or GCI trains; maybe that would help.

Vortex – Awesome classic Arrow, again very smooth and makes me wonder how SFGA let GASM fall into the state it is in.

 

Park Reviews:

Cedar Point

Still my favorite park so far. Operations were incredibly smooth even with bins for loose articles; staff was very friendly and helpful throughout the day. Food prices are to be expected from a park, but at least the food was decent. Place was very clean and I didn’t think the trashcans were too numerous (no worse that SFGA with the parade route constantly marked).

 

King’s Island

I remember this place being bigger, but it still has a good collection of coasters and flats and nice atmosphere. Sadly, aside from Beast and now Firehawk, there’s nothing unique or outstanding to necessitate a trip to this park. I hope that Project 2009 will do something about that.

 

Overall

 

Highs

-Smoother operations everywhere (take that, Six Flags’ locker policy!)

-26 coasters in 3 days

-Great weather

 

Lows

<>-Son of Beast

-Driving for several hours through the middle of nowhere

-King’s Island removing King Cobra

 

(Pictures and videos to come if I feel like uploading them and editing language in the videos!)