Semi-Photo TR: An Ohio Vacation

[WayCool64]

I just got to go on my first-time visit to Ohio with a friend of mine on the week of 7/30-8/6. We were able to visit both Cedar Point and Kings Island. Admittedly I didn't take as many pictures as I hoped, but I think I have enough to fit in for a trip report. I'm gonna do something different from the usual. Because I wasn't able to take enough pics, what I'll do is first describe my experience each day at both parks, give my thoughts on some of the rides, and then show the pics. Also as a little warning, I'll probably reference some other parks and rides only for comparison as this was my first visit to a theme park(s) outside of California.

 

Part 1: Cedar Point

Part 2: Kings Island

 

 

Let's start things off with Cedar Point, which was our first destination.

Originally we were supposed to do Kings Island first, but I guess since Sandusky was closer to the Cleveland airport and since we had arrived from a night to morning flight, we went to Cedar Point first. We had stayed in this cheap, but fairly okay motel, not too far from the park.

 

Boy did Cedar Point meet my expectations! It was sure is a damn impressive park with every different kind surprise here and there.

 

On the first day (Thursday) we went to the park, the park seemed pretty filled with guests, but it certainly wasn't crowded. We arrived in the afternoon, so we didn't go on as many rides as we would, but we did some of the coasters (like about 6 out of the 16 they had). We started to learn which place was what and which ride was where

 

The next day (Friday), we made use of the early entry for Platinum Pass users and did more coasters since the day was longer. The crowd on that day was slightly smaller than the previous day. This time, we were able to do all the coasters (with the exception of Wilderness Run for obvious reasons). And since it was pretty hot, we went on all three water rides to cool off more than we needed. When we wern't riding rides, we walked around the park for a while, went inside the Town Hall museum, and did the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit at night (which actually scared my friend in a hilarious way). We also got to see Luminosity, which we both found just okay.

 

The day after (Saturday), it was storming really hard, so instead of going to the park during that time, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy at a nearby movie theater and have lunch at Five Guys. After the thunderstorm was gone, we decided to visit the park for a while, but not as long as our previous visits. Even though there was a small thunderstorm, that didn't prevent the usual weekend crowd. Not only was the place packed, but the Cedar Fair guys were clever at raising the price for their FastLane passes during the weekend (It raised about $10 higher than the usual price). But since we pretty much went on most of the rides and all the coasters without the use of a FastLane during the past two days (in which we used instinct and strategy to get on each ride), we didn't do as much. We visited the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit, played a little mini-golf at Challenge Park, caught a vaudeville act at the Frontier Trail, bought souvenirs, etc.

 

Pros of the park: many things to do (both with the rides and other attractions), lots of great detail, and a huge scale towards everything (seriously, I think it takes more than 5 minutes just to loop around the whole park), when not crowded, the park can be quite peaceful.

Cons: Some rides required to use a locker, some of the rides that had this rule I could understand (ex. MF, StR), but others kind of perplexed me (ex. Gatekeeper). I admit we did get lost a few times, but we soon started learn about the whole park grounds.

 

Here were my thoughts on the rides:

Blue Streak (2x) - We decided to do this first since it was the nearest, it had a slightly shorter wait time, and it was a classic. Pretty mellow, but it was pretty fun.

 

Cedar Creek Mine Train (4x) - Really good ride. Definitely one that was worth riding over and over both during the day and night. I especially love the section over the water.

 

Corkscrew (1x) - A pretty okay ride, though I have been on better Arrow corkscrew coasters. Only problem I had was with the backrest that looked like it was incomplete and hurt my neck/back area.

 

Gatekeeper (2x) - My first B&M wing coaster and I enjoyed it! I even got to go on both sides. I was also able to get a front of the line pass after playing Plinko. I actually didn't mind the forcelessness of the ride (in fact I may even say that it made the ride more enjoyable for me). Though i will admit, I do not like the new B&M restraints. The problem I have with them is that the "vest" part of the new restraints seem to be uncomfortably pressing on my collar bone, like it would crack if the ride was going. But in the end, the ride became one of my favorites at CP.

 

Maverick (1x) - Wow! I can see why the park advertises it as the wildest coaster in the park. There were a helluva lot of G-forces on that thing, which IMO made the ride a bit uncomfortable mostly when going through the turns. Not a bad coaster, just not what I had expected and mostly didn't think it was as great as everyone made it out to be.

 

Magnum XL 200 (2x) - On my first ride, it was a bit uncomfortable on the legs, even when on the supposed "Magic Seat". On my second however, I found a more smooth seat and enjoyed it more. It had great airtime, I loved the sections with the tunnels. To me, it's just good.

 

Millennium Force (2x) - I now see why this was given many Golden Ticket awards for best steel coaster. I had an enjoyable experience on this ride both during the day and night. The first drop is breathtaking, the airtime is spectacular, and it was overall satisfactory.

 

Top Thrill Dragster (2x) - Sometimes there's a difference between seeing a coaster in action and actually riding it, and TTD is no exception. The launch was a lot more forceful than I had ever imagined. On my first ride, I mostly had my eyes closed, and when it was done, I just asked myself, "what just happened?" as if I blacked out while riding. On the second ride, I had my eyes mostly opened this time and experienced the whole thing better. I will say this, it is very intense (probably the most intense launched coaster I've ever been on), yet pretty awesome.

 

Mantis (1x) - I had a surprisingly ironic experience on this ride. After hearing about how it's a painful ride, I had low expectations. I pretty much felt like I was going to have an experience similar to riding Vortex at CGA. But when I actually rode it, not once did I ever bang my head. It's not the smoothest stand-up coaster, but it honestly wasn't as bad as it was said to be. All in all, while Mantis isn't as great as Riddler at SFMM, it is definitely better than Vortex.

 

Mean Streak (1x) - As expected, Mean Streak is a painfully rough ride. However, unlike Ghostrider at Knott's Berry Farm, where on that coaster the rough shakiness nearly suffocated me to death, MS pretty much jacked up my back, and I think I can still feel some of it's effects on me. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they really want to do all the coasters at CP.

 

Gemini (x3) - I had fun with this ride. On the first two times, me and my friend got to race each other (with me being victorious everytime). On the third ride, we went together, though we lost to the other train. The ride may be good if you go by yourself, but it's better when you have someone with to race.

 

Iron Dragon (2x) - Even though I'm a bit tied between this one and Ninja at SFMM, I would say that Iron Dragon is slightly better, especially with the finale over the pond.

 

Wicked Twister (1x) - At first, I was a bit worried since I heard about the whole fitting with the restraints, but when I got on the ride, the restraints did actually fit me perfectly despite my weight being less than 200 lbs. The ride itself is okay, but nothing to write home about.

 

Raptor (1x) - I loved this ride! It's definitely one of my favorite inverted B&Ms. I would say that it reminded me a bit of Silver Bullet at KBF, though it's been a long while since I went on that ride, though personally I think Raptor had the upper hand than SB since Raptor felt longer.

 

Shoot the Rapids (1x) - A pretty relaxing water ride, though IMO it was the least wettest.

 

Snake River Falls (1x) - Even in the back row, I got a face full of water. I will admit, it's pretty soak-filled, probably even more than Jurassic Park. Though it's not the wettest ride I've ben on at CP, that goes to...

 

Thunder Canyon (2x) - This is hands down not just the wettest ride in the park, not just the wettest ride I have ever experienced, but IMO, the wettest ride in any amusement park! Especially with those waterfalls at the end.

 

Windseeker (1x) - An enjoyable flat ride, gives a pretty interesting view of the park. That's pretty much all I can say about. Funny thing while riding, someone on the beach spelled the words "Don't Fall" on the sand.

 

CP&LE Railroad (3x) - The first half is pretty calm since there isn't a lot to see aside from Lake Erie, Millennium Force, and Maverick. The second half on the other hand, caught me off guard a little. When we were going through the Boneville, I almost felt like it was a leftover from a Halloween event and that someone was gonna jump out and scare us. Also the gunshots caught me off guard too.

 

 

But enough about the words, onto the photos!

Cedar Creek Mine was a fun classic ride.

Looks like they were already starting to advertise for Halloweekends (sorry if the pic came out shaky, I didn't realize this until way after I took it).

I was able to get a good shot of TTD in action (If you can look closely). But this pic doesn't do any justice, you need to actually be there to see just how massive this thing is (seriously, I couldn't believe how tall it is IRL)!

Love that finale on Iron Dragon! Especially with the mist on the pond.

Next few pics I took on the Giant Wheel. I think this one looks great with the park in the sunset.

Gatekeeper was definitely a favorite of mine (even if the restraints felt slightly uncomfortable).

I kinda like how in here, these three rides almost looked meshed together.

Since it was a bit easy to get close to Gatekeeper's track, I was able to snap a pic of one of its diving loops.

And so ends our two and a half day trip to Cedar Point.

All in all, Cedar Point was definitely one of the best amusement parks I have ever visited (so far that is). It had something to cater for both coaster fans and non-coaster fans. I can now see why it is rated the Best Amusement Park in the World. This park will definitely be in my top ten list for best parks.

Edited August 19, 2014 by WayCool64

[coasterbill]

I'm not sure why this doesn't have any responses as it's a great report. I'm glad to hear you had fun. Thanks for sharing.

[CJStephens15]

Glad to hear your thoughts on Gatekeeper as they're similar to mine. Thanks for sharing the report!

[Skramp]

Very nice report!!! Although I would have to disagree with Iron Dragon being better than Ninja. Dragon is pretty boring, tame and slow. And while Ninja isn't super fast, the track amongst the trees and layout are so much better. But nice report, looking forward to the KI part.

[bert425]

great report. I've never been to Cedar Point. . did you not ride any flats there? or just didn't mention them?

[kristenstep23]

I thought the same about Maverick my first ride. It honestly gets better and better the more you ride it. You get it later. I think.

[WayCool64]

did you not ride any flats there? or just didn't mention them?

I did go on most of the flat rides such as Cedar Downs, MaXair, Skyhawk (which I was surprised was open given the recent incident that happened), Troika, Monster, pretty much all the car rides, and the list goes on. The only reason I didn't mention them was because there honestly wasn't much to talk about. But I enjoyed all of them. I will say that Cedar Downs was a pretty surprising ride with it's speed (I also loved the music that played when the ride was going. Seriously, I want a copy of that song), and I liked Skyhawk over MaXair.

[WayCool64]

Part 2: Kings Island

 

After our two and a half day visit to Cedar Point, it was time to head to the next park, Kings Island. Given what I had heard about the park and my experience at CP, I had the same expectations for KI as I did with CP. Unfortunately, those expectations didn't hold as well as I thought. I think the problem was that I was a bit spoiled by Cedar Point with its size and seemingly endless things to do. Kings Island genuinely felt more limited. The park felt smaller, and there really wasn't much else to do other than the coasters. Now, that's not to say my experience at Kings Island was bad, me and my friend actually did have fun at the park, it just felt a bit underwhelming compared to Cedar Point.

 

First day (Sunday): Just like our first trip to Cedar Point, we didn't arrive at the park until late afternoon. When we got there, we came across the typical weekend crowd. So we went to the Eiffel Tower first to spot out where to go first. And after some hard thinking, we wen to Planet Snoopy first. After riding a few of the rides there, we decided to play the front of the line pass game in front of Diamondback. We were able to win twice and use one for Diamondback (of course) and Firehawk. Unlike CP where we did some of the coasters on the first day, we did most of the coasters at KI on the first day. We decided to end our day on our first ride on the Beast. But as we got halfway through the line, operations stopped just so they could show their fireworks display, so we had to wait another half hour or so in line. Thankfully we were able to get on soon as operations continued.

 

Something I forgot to mention in my CP report, the new FunTV in the queue was okay, but similar to a problem I had with Six Flags' queue TVs where it was too many commercials and not enough of other stuff, the problem I had with FunTV was that there were too many music videos and not enough of other stuff. I know this is just a nitpick of mine, but whenever I think TVs in the queue line for a theme park ride, my mind does not turn to MTV (or at least MTV back when the actually showed music videos).

 

Second day (Monday): We arrived around 9:30 for the ERT at Action Zone. Of course we wasted no time and immediately headed to Banshee and Flight Deck. Then after the rest of the park opened, we went to Flight of Fear and did pretty much the rest of the rides. However, since the park was starting to fill up more, we had no other choice but to get FastLane wristbands. And I admit, they were well worth the extra hundred bucks we had to shell out. About 3/4 in the day, we were trying to figure out where to go next since we did mostly everything (we even did the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit which felt a lot larger and longer than the one at CP, and apparently they weren't doing the 3D movie in the old Action Theater anymore, but that really didn't bother me since I prefer Action Theaters that still have motion seats (which unfortunately there's only one now, but thankfully it's the one where I live nearby)). As I mentioned before, it felt like there weren't as many rides at KI as there were at CP (or even CGA for that matter). So for the rest of the day, we looked in a few shops, then went on a few more rides. We almost got to do Banshee at night had it not been for a problem with those cursed lockers.

 

Last day (Tuesday): Since we only had half the day, and since we already did pretty much everything, we didn't do as much. We were able to do the ERT again to make up for not getting on Banshee at night. The rest of the day we went on some of our favorite rides, looked into shops and bought souvenirs, and took some more photos (mainly on the Eiffel Tower). We left around 5:30-ish to head back to Cleveland for our flight back home to California the next day.

 

Pros of the park: The "compact" size of the park makes heading to certain rides easier than at CP. GLUTEN-FREE CORN DOGS AND CHICKEN TENDERS!!! Seriously, it was unbelievable to see something like this, especially for one with a severe allergy to gluten. Some pretty awesome rides. Night Rides!

 

Cons: That same locker BS rule. The park seemed smaller than most of the other parks I've been to. Not a lot of rides outside of the roller coasters. Some of the rides felt a bit to shaky, like I was going to crack something when bashing in at a curve (especially with Beast and Racer's PTC cars).

 

Thoughts on Rides:

 

The Beast (5x) - This is hands down not just my favorite ride at KI, not just my favorite coaster during the trip, but my favorite wooden coaster of all time. Yes, I loved it even more than Gold Striker. And yes, Night rides are a must and they are better than day rides, especially when they play that eerie music during the lift hills. I did get our ride photos, but I won't post it now. I'll save it for a bonus later.

 

Banshee (2x) - I kinda felt this was just the Inverted version to Gatekeeper for a few reasons. It felt forceless, compared to other B&M inverted coasters such as Flight Deck @ CGA, Batman, and even Raptor, and I had the same problem with the new restraints (to which the "vest" portion felt like it was squeezing my collar bone). Other than that, it wasn't a bad ride, just not what I had expected.

 

Flight of Fear (3x) - I love this ride for a few reasons. I love the theming within the entire ride (one of the last few rides that still had most of the stuff from the Paramount era). And the ride itself was pretty fun and exciting. I kept anticipating what part of the track we would go to next. I actually didn't find it as shaky/rough as everyone says it is.

 

Diamondback (3x) - I think this ride should be renamed "Maximum Airtime the Ride". Seriously, even though the lapbar was tightly secured, I still felt like the ride wanted to throw me off when going through the hills. On the last ride, we sat in the very back row, and I actually got wet from the splashdown. Other than that, it was a great coaster.

 

The Bat (2x) - Holy crap! This ride is nothing like Iron Dragon nor Ninja! The ride went really fast, and the swinging was really intense and heart-pounding. I kept thinking we were gonna crash into those supports until the last second, which kinda had my eyes closed. Now I know why it was renamed The Bat, because it makes you screaming like one out of Hell.

 

Backlot Stunt Coaster (3x) - This was an interesting ride. I liked how most of the non-tie-in theming was still intact, making it a very unique coaster. And much like the Beast, this coaster is better ridden at night. Oh and let me also say.. FIRE! FIRE!!

 

Vortex (2x) - On my first ride, I didn't like it as much. The reason being there were some points that made me slam my neck into the restraints. Though my opinion slightly changed on the second ride, mainly due to the "magic seat". Honestly, I think this one is tied with Viper @ SFMM.

 

Invertigo (1x) - There are some rides that just don't age very well. This one, especially given it was made by Vekoma, is no exception. Now, I had ridden the CGA version a long time ago, but I only rode it once and now I can barely remember that experience. But I'll never forget the impact this one left one me. Good god, every time I kept banging my head on the restraints, I tried to keep my head outside of them, but when I did so the G-force felt like they were about to snap my neck. So it was either ear torture or possible death, and I went with the ear torture.

 

Woodstock Express (1x) - This was a fun little family woodie, except for the fact that this coaster had some of the most slow as molasses operations I had ever seen. But then again, who am I to nitpick on a coaster that was made for kids.

 

Adventure Express (5x) - Wow! This ride did not cease to amaze me. The theming was interesting, the thrills were punch-packing, and this is one of those rides that are better ridden at night. My one complaint however was that the turns were kind too sharp and rough on me. Fun Fact: Prior to riding, I had known about the ride's "disappointing ending", so I tried to make an exaggeration to my friend that the ending was going to be epic. But after we rode, he actually didn't mind the "disappointing end".

 

Firehawk (1x) - I think it's dawned onto me that I don't like flying coasters. Whether it's facing down like Tatsu, or lying down like this one, I just never felt completely safe. I always felt like the ride was going to break and the train would fall off the track. I remember when riding this I just couldn't stop screaming. Honestly, it was only worth riding once.

 

Racer (4x) - Much like Gemini, me and my friend raced on this ride a lot. Though I think I prefer Gemini over Racer because, this one felt a bit rougher. But it was still fun and it was an honor to ride another legendary coaster.

 

Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (2x) - This was an interesting one here because it's the only dark ride at the park. The ride itself was fun and so were the visuals. The one problem I had was that I had a problem using the blasters. Unlike Ghost Blasters at SCBB, where the blaster guns had a laser pointer that showed where you were shooting, the blaster guns on BB didn't have one. I thought at first that the car was broken, but they were working just fine (even on our second ride it had the same problem). So we just kept shooting blindly, making it harder than playing Duck Hunt on NES (but at least there wasn't any dog that laughed at your misery).

 

White Water Canyon (1x) - While not as wet as Thunder Canyon, we did get mildly soaked on this. I also liked it a bit better than TC because WWC felt longer. Also when we got off, we both got to control two geysers at the same time and "Double Soaked" oncoming riders (I think one time we did that one of the riders cursed at us), that was an awesome experience.

 

Race For Your Life Charlie Brown (1x) - Well what do you know! A Paramount movie-themed ride in a park that isn't Paramount themed anymore! But in all seriousness, this was a fun little log flume ride, and there were some parts that reminded me of the late Log Jammer @ SFMM. And I think it was this ride that I got soaked the most on.

 

Drop Tower (1x) - This one pretty much felt the same as any other drop ride I've been on, though the 360 spin was a nice touch.

 

 

And now for the pics...

Backlot Stunt Coaster, breaking out like a cool coaster should be

Looks like not all of the Drop Zone theming is gone

Banshee as seen from Drop Tower's line

I love the indoor part of FOF's line

Dat old outdated technology!

Banshee sticking out

I found these footers while on the train ride, can anyone tell me if they were from some old ride or something?

more unknown footers

Something strange was going on in the old Crypt building. The day before, all of this wasn't here in the area

The Beast: A coaster to be reckoned with

Couldn't leave without taking a pic of this

I payed my respect to this gone but not forgotten coaster that I never went on

Banshee looked cool by day...

But at night, that's a completely different story

And now, a slideshow of Vortex

Lift hill..

Loop..

Corkscrew..

Batwing roll..

and Batwing roll part II: The Inversion Strikes Back!

Nostalgia Overload!

And for the rest of this photo section, I leave a boatload of Eiffel Tower pics

Let's go inside shall we?

Planet Snoopy

Diamondback

Coney Mall

Banshee

Action Zone

Main Entrance/Fountains/International Street

FIRE! FIRE!!

Last pic of the day.

 

And so ends my trip report on my first ever visit to Ohio. I hope you all enjoyed it. And stay tuned perhaps, I could show off a little memorabilia sometime soon.

Edited August 19, 2014 by WayCool64

[bonsaiisuperstar]

The footers along KI's train ride were not from a ride. It used to have animatronic cowboys and Indians and gunfights. Sadly, they took them all out many years ago. Glad you enjoyed the Beast! It's amazing that it's so old and still one of the best woodies in the world.

Edited August 19, 2014 by bonsaiisuperstar

[WayCool64]

The footers along KI's mine ride were not from a ride. It used to have animatronic cowboys and Indians and gunfights. Sadly, they took them all out many years ago.

If that's the case, then from the looks of it, I imagined there must've been some sort of stage with the animatronics, because I can't imagine animatronics having something like footers (at least not from most of the animatronics that I've seen). Actually, are there any pictures of what it looked like back then?

[jynx242]

Thanks for posting.

 

On our last visit, I re-fell in love with the Beast. I found Banshee to be quite fun, but during ERT my group was mainly found on Diamondback. What great extended floater air on that ride!

 

We were also suprised by how fast and furious the Bat was and ended up riding it three or four times during our visit.

 

What did you find the magic seat to be on Vortex? We tried the usuals, but the only magic seat I can think of is the stretcher on the way to the first aid clinic . Good god that thing was rough.

[WayCool64]

What did you find the magic seat to be on Vortex? We tried the usuals, but the only magic seat I can think of is the stretcher on the way to the first aid clinic . Good god that thing was rough.

 

I just took the usual magic seat on most Arrow loopers (be it Demon or Canyon Blaster), which is mainly the first row of the last car. It was a bit smoother than the row we took on our first ride, and at least I didn't bang my neck on the magic seat.

[firewalk13]

Nice trip report. I'm glad you had a great time in Ohio and hope you come back soon. BTW, I think the footers you saw are actually from the old King Kobra Togo standup. I could be wrong but there you go.

 

Thanks again for report and nice pics!

[WayCool64]

I think the footers you saw are actually from the old King Kobra Togo standup. I could be wrong but there you go.

Nah, I saw those footers on the train, which is in between the Rivertown area and Soak City. From what I understand, King Cobra was in the Action Zone area which is far away from the train station.