DaMarkSta Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) Today I decided to take a quick trip out to my home park of Cedar Point. These past two weeks have been light on the crowds since school is back in session. The main goal of this visit was to marathon Millennium Force my number 1 steel roller coaster. Unfortunately the crowds weren't as light as I had hoped but I still ended up with four rides on Millennium before they shut down for incoming weather. More on that in a sec. In addition to my quest to marathon Millennium Force I figured I'd stop by the Breakers Express on the way in and check on the Valravn track as well as the construction happening in the area. What I ended up with after a quick three hour trip was some of the best photo's I've ever captured due to the storm that came in. The plan was to visit Battery Park (a park in downtown Sandusky) after the park closed and grab some night pictures of the park from across the bay. The incoming storm set up a perfect backdrop and I figured I just had to share this great day with all of you. So on to the pictures! Here's where we begin. These supports are huge up close. More track. Misc supports, station maybe? Tried to get a close up of the sticker... This was as close as I could get. Tires! Alright onto the park! First stop Sky Ride. Here we go. Up up and away. Doesn't seem to be much work over here except for some flags in the area. There's maintenance activity on Gatekeeper. Random close up shot I decided to take. Ah here we go activity. Something over here? Nah just a pile of dirt. More flags and markers. Meanwhile over by the Marina gate... They're everywhere! Some even on the path. A line of them leading to... Will this lamp post be spared? More and more flags and markers. Close up. It's almost like alien symbols. haha Hmm..... Will the butt man be spared? I'm sure you guys haven't seen this before... So first there was Blue Streak and Mine Ride.... and Corkscrew and Gemini.... and then Magnum and Mean Streak... huh? Must be a mistake let's keep going.... Raptor and Woodstock Express.. Millennium Force and Wicked Twister.... Dragster and Maverick.... Gatekeeper and Pipe Scream (ugh)... and then.... Rougarou and then..... Valravn!!! What nope Wilderness Run? huh? New for 2016 Wilderness Run and.... Iron Dragon! New for 2016!!! Yay!!! ok clearly these are way out of order now. Ooops. The front of the butt man statue for anyone interested. The reason why we're here! The future is STILL riding on it! Always a sight to see. The sign all covered in bugs. Rougarou says hey don't forget me. Nothing to see from the bleachers except leftover Luminosity gear. The sun is beginning to set. Heading over to Dinosaurs Alive is a great way to get new angles, especially on Dragster. Millennium roaring out of the trees. Through the trees. As the sun continues to set, it makes some interesting photos. Always fun to get some new angles. My attempt at an artsy first drop shot. Zoom! The lift and drop are so iconic looking it's hard not to take photos of it. Here they go... And here they come.. Shooting from the back of the train never seems to work out well except I do like this photo. The sky makes a great backdrop. Those new angles on Dragster really pay off in this shot. Welcome to the tallest water ride in the world. And now they're soaked. Almost every person has their hands up, I've never seen any other coaster consistently do that. Another shot of the first drop because why not? More of photos of Millennium adventures and the storm that rolled in coming soon! Edited September 4, 2015 by DaMarkSta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMarkSta Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 And we continue... More hands in the air. Red train is my favorite, what's yours? Squirrel! Dragster doing the twist. With the sun at this angle, it was hard not to take this shot. And here's a wide angle of it. After some adventuring on Millennium Island we took the Eagles for a spin. Gemini was not racing today. One mean looking bird. We returned back to Millennium for the last hour and I switched to using my phone. No one has ever taken this picture ever. Climbing the lift. Still one of the best finishes on any coaster. Meanwhile inside the toaster. Ready to roll. JRice92 sighting! As the last 20 minutes of the day approached Millennium Force suddenly went down for weather, along with everything else. Mass exodus of the park comence! It definitely was getting darker. The sky was making some interesting photos. As we approached the front, the warning came over the speakers for everyone to take shelter. Every single ride must be closed now right? Wrong! The Cady's were still open so we went for a spin while the park cleared out. Rounding the turns on the cars. This area is going to look a whole lot different next year. Hmmm.... The storm was also providing the sky some interesting colors. Another look at the area. Looking back on Millennium. Stop! Go no further! The storm was still rolling in as we left. So towards the front of the park there was a great backdrop. A B&M loop is always a great looking loop. Love the sky in these photos. Just a few minutes later and it was getting dark quick. See you later Cedar Point! Thanks for visiting. Sorry for the grainy look in these photos, I was shooting on Auto since I didn't have time to setup a tripod here. Another look back. Not too many cars left in the lot by the time I got to mine. After departing the park I made my way to Battery Park hoping to get some good pictures of the park at night and with the storm rolling in that would be a bonus for shooting. What I got were some incredible shots, still timing wise I missed out on a few but sitting on the edge of the marina watching lightning erupt all around was one of my favorite experiences I've ever done. Definitely felt like once in a lifetime stuff. I'm glad I got a few pictures of it to share with you guys. Enjoy! Incredible. Almost looks like the teaser for Valravn. Not as bright of a strike but some neat colors in this one. Well that's it for the day and a successful day it was. Millennium Force is still my number one roller coaster in the world and I'll be back during Halloweekends with attempts to marathon it and to check out all the fun haunted attractions. Until next time stay classy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) Great photos. That first photo with the lightning is surreal. I'm surprised they haven't done much construction for the new coaster. Edited September 4, 2015 by Mrlittle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Amazing photos!! I loved the sunset and Raptor photos. That first lightning strike photo us breathtaking. Great job!! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ape Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 I love the photos. The second lightning strike is actually my favorite of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMarkSta Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Thanks guys, I really feel like I got lucky with the setup and everything for those lightning pictures. There's a few settings I would change and do differently next time but I'm still pleased with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideofSteel Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Great photos! I love the sunset Raptor shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastercrazi Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 OMG that lightning photo blew my mind! AMAZING! as soon as I saw it I was like...LOL valravn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n1ch0las Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Really great shot of the lighting and the coasters lit up, not an easy shot to take! Must have been a hell of a storm to get 3 shots with cloud to ground bolts! What I'd give to have CP as my home park, you're a lucky person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Coaster Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Just out of curiosity, do you prefer MF in back or front. For me, the front is superior other than the first drop. It's insane in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMarkSta Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 That's a tough call because I think it's an amazing experience in either row. Now if i'm not in the very front or very back I tend to like more towards the back. But you can't really go wrong with very front seat or very back. The airtime is more in the back and floaty, but the views in the very front are just incredible. Generally I ride in the very back more often but that's just because the front always has an enormous line. Though on slow days I sometimes opt for the very front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Zo Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Awesome report Mark. Had a good laugh at the out-of-order coaster signs! The lightning shots are fantastic. You can guess how jealous I am of those. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I must say I never thought of MF's station as a toaster until you said it, and when you posted this photo: Now all I see is a toaster, but instead of bread popping out there is a train full of people popping out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMarkSta Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Haha yup it's most definitely a toaster. Wonder why they choose red for the lights, but they're always red never any other color so yup. Train full of people popping out haha And thanks Andy, yeah I was confused by the out of order signs but they removed part of the fence and I guess decided to place those signs at the end haha. An employee commented on it when we were over there taking pictures. She was like yeah the signs are out of order haha. Yeah definitely felt like I got very lucky with the storm pictures, conditions were just perfect for those shots. And they only stayed that perfect for about 10 minutes before the rain rolled in and made the shots blurry. Going to go back to Battery Park during Halloweekends and see if the fog is visible in the night shots. It's definitely a great place to grab shots of the whole park very relaxing and peaceful too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBpony414 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 LOL at Millennium Force's station being a toaster! I never thought of it like that but it's so accurate. Incredible pics as always but truly those lightning strikes and the ones of Raptor at sunset are phenomenal!!! I don't even know how you'd begin to get a shot at night with lightning striking like that and all the coasters lit up in the distance. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelRush Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah BUTTMAN!!! 3 < I'm very excited (not really) for the announcement tomorrow, though it's really obvious what it is and what it's named... as long as that rename rumor isn't true (which it probably isn't) I'll probably go over to CP next summer, can't wait to ride it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legality Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Great pictures. It was totally worth the scrolling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternate Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Awesome photos! I really want to go there again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaski Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Great Photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefreak Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Thanks for the TR! Love the sunset and lightning photos. Great shots!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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