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Geauga Lake & Cedar Point Akron, Ohio & Sandusky, Ohio Weather: Scattered Thunderstorms, Humid Crowds: Light to Moderate Day One – Saturday May 15th Morning – Geauga Lake We started off with a warm-up at Geauga Lake. As forecasts had predicted, we were looking at a nasty day, low sixties and a persistent drizzle. We arrived in the lot just around 10am. After entering the park (I got some cheap scalped tickets from some Christian Youth Day people), we headed right towards X-Flight. Mind you I’ve never been here before, so I have no reference on the changed themeing, but it was at least funny to see an X-Flight sign that screamed Batman. Wait time was about 5 minutes, just in the station. This is my second flying coaster, so I was eager to compare it to the B&M version. I sure was surprised by this one. It was just as smooth, the restraints were just as comfortable (though a bit more unwieldy), and the ride itself was just more fun. The loop didn’t quite compare to the pretzel on Superman, but unlike Superman, the rest of the ride was great, not a let-down. All considered, I prefer it to Superman, and I’m looking forward to trying out BORG at Carowinds. We strolled over towards a silent Steel Venom, and they gave us an estimate of about 2 hours until it would open, so instead Head Spin was next, being walk on. It’s a Standard Boomerang, not much to say on that one. Big Dipper was also silent, and though the attendant there seemed optimistic, we noticed that it wasn’t even labeled on the park map. Thunderhawk was on the way to Dominator, so we stopped by for a quick SLC spin. Wait time was about 10 minutes. It was pretty smooth, as far as SLCs go, so I was quite happy with it. We headed over to Dominator, with pretty much everyone in the group excited about their first floorless run. I should warn everyone, everything people have been saying about not allowing bags on the ride is true. They will not let you in the line if you have anything in your hands that you can’t put in a pocket. Their stringency is on par with Dragster or Millennium Force (except there are NO lockers near Dominator). The wait was about 5 minutes. As for the ride itself, I was very impressed. It has a lot more going for it than any of the 7-inversion versions. There are a number of great banked curves, a terrific finale, and plenty of airtime pops. This one goes at the top of my floorless list, no question. Now it was time for Villain. I’ve heard plenty of good things about this one, and it did not disappoint. We waited about 5 minutes for this one, and grabbed the back seat. Airtime was plentiful, it’s a great layout, and it seemed to have just the right amount of bumpiness. This one is certainly up there, a Top Ten wooden coaster. Double Loop was nearby, so we gave this aging Arrow a try. It was walk-on, even with one train. It was not bad at all, fun for what it does. It was by no means unpleasant, and at the very least it’s a credit. There was no one over by Bobs, and the Mine Ride was quiet too, so it looked like the only other new coaster we’d hit here would be Steel Venom. After another ride on X-Flight, testing started. We rushed over to the entrance, and not more than 10 minutes later we were enjoying our spin. I prefer the angled spike of Marine World’s, but this one was certainly fun. All told, we got 4 rides on Dominator, 3 on Villain, 2 on X-Flight, and one on the other 4 coasters. We were at the park for about 5 hours, and didn’t wait more than 10 minutes for anything. I was worried about hitting it on a Saturday, but I probably should thank the weather for helping us get through the park pretty quickly. I hated to have to rush through such a historic park so quickly, but when you’ve got tickets for Cedar Point in a couple hours, you leave as early as you have to. We headed out of Aurora towards Sandusky, and made it to the Breakers Express right around 5pm. After check-in, we were on our way towards the peninsula! It’s been 8 years since I saw the skyline last, and I soaked it up on the way, even though I was driving! We pulled through the parking gate, no charge because we’re staying at a CP Hotel. With a late arrival, we were able to find some decent parking, in what we referred to during the entire visit as the Itchy Lot. We had 2 free twilight passes, so the other 3 had to buy passes, and then we were on our way. I wanted to use Saturday night as sort of another warm-up. Only two of us had been here before, and we wanted the others to appreciate how far this park had come. And since the lines were undoubtedly long for the newer coasters, this would work out well. I love just walking into this park. There’s a feeling you get here that I have yet to experience anywhere else. It’s got the sights and sounds and smells of a local traveling carnival, except with so many amazing (and well run) rides. We passed by Raptor, with an hour wait, I figured we could do better on Magnum. We took our time walking the length of the park. I knew I’d be back at work on Wednesday, so I tried to stop time as we strolled down the midway. The highlight of the walk was passing Dragster. The queue was pretty full, and they weren’t running consistently, but when a train launched, there was a collective gasp on the midway. Un-freaking-real. Back at Magnum, we couldn’t believe our eyes. No, I didn’t expect a walk-on, but to see it with a 15 minute wait was just astounding to me. On my first visit, the shortest I ever saw it was at 25. You have to be amazed by a park where such a great ride is so far down on the food chain. I’ve heard some complaints about this one not aging well, probably from people who are spoiled by Millennium Force. I, for one, enjoyed it as much as ever. It was my first hypercoaster, and though I’ve been on a number that are ranked higher, Magnum is still an astoundingly fun ride. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on it. Next on the way up the midway was Gemini. Now I suppose this one is a letdown after Magnum, but I tried to put things in historical perspective. I told the newbies that, like Magnum, Dragster, and Millennium Force, this coaster was the tallest and faster coaster in the world when it was build. I also explained how Mantis, Raptor, and Mean Streak were the tallest and fastest of their type, with Corkscrew being the first coaster in the world with 3 loops. These accomplishments may be lost on someone who is only visiting the park for the first time now, but I wanted to get across what this park has been able to do. Gemini was a hoot, as usual. I noticed they were only running 2 trains on each side, which apparently has been standard procedure for some time now. I don’t think the 5 minute wait really warranted anything additional. It’s a fun racer with a pretty decent first drop. Continuing the streak of lesser rides, we looped around the top of the park and hit the Mine Ride. Not much of a wait here either. We managed a very rowdy ride, despite this coaster’s lack of thrills, thus dubbing it the most sarcastic coaster in America. Hey, as long as you have fun on a ride, right? Continuing back around, we got sick of our streak, so we said the hell with it, and queued up for Millennium Force. Wait time said an hour, but with the frequency of trains whizzing by, I was skeptical. All three trains were running, but they often had the last one stacked outside the unloading station, waiting for the loaded one to dispatch. It was pretty disappointing to see CP having these kinds of issues, but I talked with a ride Op later during breakdown, and it seems they’ve been issued new suggested loading procedures from Intamin, and they just simply take forever. 90 minutes later, we were onboard, and on our way. This was my first new coaster at CP, and what a way to start. It had gotten dark, so the view up the lift was terrific, but we didn’t have much time to enjoy it. This ride is all about speed. The overbanked turns are very fun, but they don’t induce a lot of intense G’s, nor do the hills produce much airtime. The first drop, however, is astounding. I liked this one very much, but will still have to put it behind Superman: Ride of Steel. It was getting close to closing, so we headed towards the gates. I managed to convince everyone for a nightcap on my old buddy Raptor. It had been a long day, but I knew they’d love it. You know what; this is still my favorite ride in the park. The dark ride we had on it was awesome. It wasn’t as bumpy as I’ve heard people complain. It just kicked as much ass as ever. My friends didn’t want to admit it, but I know they were glad I talked them into it. We strolled back to the Hotel, and hit up some Friday’s action over at the Radisson before calling it a night. I really wish that place sold pitchers! Day 2 – Sunday May 16th With our Resort Guest card in hand, we entered the park at 9am, and headed straight for Dragster. Things were already up and running by the time we made it back there, so I stashed my camera in a locker and we entered the queue. About 20 minutes later, we were on the ride in what has to be almost record time. It was still early, and somewhat chilly out, so they had the last 3 rows of each train blocked off. I was in the last open car for my first ride. This is not a one trick pony. The anticipation that builds is more exciting than plenty of coasters I’ve been on. The launch is outstanding, simply nothing like it out there. Superman in LA gets almost the same speed, but at a much slower rate. Xcelerator has the intensity of the launch, but dies out at 80mph. Dragster has both. The G’s on the pull-up are intense, and in no time we were at the top. I tried my best to soak it all in, and then looked downward into the spiral drop. Before you can say ‘sweet merciful crap’, you come to a smooth but quick stop on the brake run. It’s really hard to compare this to other coasters, because it’s more like a complete circuit freefall ride than a coaster. But it matters not; this ride is simply amazing. We knew the short wait wouldn’t last, so we hopped back in line for another ride, and had another great ride in about 45 minutes. I had heard about the whole Freeway system, so we headed over to Millennium Force to pick one up. Our slot was from 2-3, so we had a good 3 hours to run amok until then. Mantis was nearby, and the line looked like a straight shot into the station. We saw the third train wrapped up underneath the brake run as we passed by, and figured, along with CP management, that two trains were enough on this one. The wait was about 10 minutes, and I climbed into the back seat, expecting a much rougher and slower ride than I remember. Keep in mind, Mantis was the New-fer back in ’96, so that’s all I have to compare it to. It’s not quite as intense anymore, and while there isn’t what I would describe as head banging, you’ll certainly get “tapped’ on the ears a few times. Everyone seemed to like it though, so maybe I was just spoiled by rides during its first year. Wildcat had a short wait, 15 minutes, so of course we hit it. Fun, fun, fun. There’s no letdown on a small ride like this. Schwarzkopf was the man. Iron Dragon was running three trains, so we walked on. Not too bad, and all the rookies seemed to enjoy the finale. The new colors are weird, but I’m not one to complain. We worked around back towards Dragster and gave Corkscrew a ride. It was also walk-on with 3 trains. In fact, they had the middle two cars on each train roped off. Still as smooth as I remember, and the airtime on the floater hill remained intact as well. Lunch was at the “concession stand” underneath Dragster’s bleachers. They have pretty decent sandwiches there, and not too expensive at $4.25. Wasting no time, we scarfed down lunch, and continued on to Magnum. The plan was to stay around the back of the park until our MF slot. Another tiny wait, pretty much walked straight to the stairs. We also walked on Gemini on the way to Mean Streak. Mean Streak, now I remember my rides back in ’96, and I haven’t heard much good since then. With that in mind, I was slightly surprised this time around. No, the ride wasn’t really any more fun, but it wasn’t nearly as violent as I remember. That made it a decent ride, as oppose to terrible. The roughness was nothing compared to Hercules, so I figure CP will be sticking with this one for a while. It’s such a beautiful ride, no one will argue that. With 3 trains, our wait was about 15 minutes. After a round of beer, there was another sarcastically enthusiastic ride on Mine Ride in there before we headed towards MF. We walked back the long way, trying to grab a FreeWay pass for Dragster. The booth opened at 2pm, and by the time we arrive at 2:30, they had just run out. They said that they only hand out about 400 stamps, so we figured we’d get there closer to 2pm tomorrow. Oh well, we had already gotten 2 rides in an hour, so we consoled ourselves by skipping the line for MF. As is standard CP visit protocol, we waited for the front seat. The queue time with the FreeWay pass is about 10 minutes, just up the straightway into the station. The front seat wait was about 50 minutes more, increased by a short (15 min) delay because a rider was stuck in his seat. As we were next in line, there was a rather severe seat belt malfunction on the next train, and it couldn’t be unbuckled. They had to wait for a mechanic to come and physically remove the seat beat from the train. That meant only 1 seat for the front on every 3rd ride. I’m just glad I got mine in when we did. What can I say about the front seat? The view is incredible, and that drop just keeps curving in under itself. It’s also very windy. It still doesn’t knock off Raptor or Dragster, but it’s got nothing to be ashamed of being in my Top 10. Time to head to the front, and everyone was looking forward to the infamous Disaster Transport. We took a left towards the old dolphin stadium and enjoyed a lark on Ocean Motion. While enjoying ourselves, we saw Wicked Twister running, so we were sure to head over there. A 20 minute wait for this one, and it was noticeable better than Steel Venom. Call me crazy, but I still prefer the angled spiral of Vertical Velocity at Marine World. For some crazy reason, Disaster Transport had a 45 minute wait! Knowing better, we headed over to Raptor. There was one queue open, so we waited about 20 minutes. Hoping to give DT some more time to cool down, we hit Blue Streak. Running 2 trains, we waited about a cycle. This is definitely the best wooden coaster in the park, though I suppose that’s not saying much. There were some quality airtime moments in the back, and we were all pretty satisfied. Finally, the moment had come for Disaster Transport. The wait had dwindled down to under half an hour, so we saddled up and gave it a shot. Once again, I was not too impressed. Everyone else seemed to like it well enough, but it’s so hard to accept a ride like that at this park. Put it anywhere else and it’s worth a ride, but here it’s almost funny to go on. With the Space Spiral right there, we thought we’d get a nice view of the park. Afterwards, again with my camera in hand, we headed towards the back of the park, and hit a couple non-coaster rides on the way. There was Matterhorn, Power Tower, even the hard to find Tilt-a-whirl in Camp Snoopy. We had about 500 pounds between the 3 of us in our car, so it was quite a ride. Magnum and Gemini were up again, and we rounded out the loop with a run on the Antique Cars and the Wave Swinger in Frontiertown. 8pm was approaching, so we made our way back towards the exit, as I snapped a number of pictures. We took one more spin on Raptor for good measure; this time the queue was barely at the bottom of the stairs. Awesome. Dinner was at East of Chicago, an all you can eat Pizza Buffet place. Now I can’t imagine how crowded this place (and Friday’s) gets in the peak season, but there wasn’t much of a crowd here either. Like I said, the lines were short, but the midways were quite crowded. I have NO idea where everyone went! Day 3 – Ah, our last day. We really had a lot that we still wanted to do, a number of the water rides, and there were still a lot of the other rides to hit. Once again, we started our day with Dragster, except things would not go quite so smoothly this time. We were close to the entrance, right in front of the bleachers waiting inline. They were having problems, so the queue was closed. Every train they launched went over fine; even saw a couple hit 126mph, but apparently getting the trains to launch was an issue. They had to back a few into the pre-launch zone to reset, I suppose. At around 10am, they opened the queue up, and everything went fine. This time we waited for the front seat, seeing as this would probably be our last ride. I made sure to go to the second station, so I could watch the train in front of us launch from the front seat. That adds so much anticipation, I recommend that to everyone. As we pulled up to the launch line, I started cheering like crazy. I had all of the onlookers laughing and pointing; I wanted them to know how excited I was. The crowd and I both let out a big roar as the train took off, and the scream was sucked out of me. I hit the top and bellowed again, and soaked up all 400 feet of that twisting drop in the way back down. Needless to say, I was shaking like crazy as soon as I got off the ride. What a rush. We headed over to MF for a FreeWay stamp, for 4-5, and then took another trip on Mantis. Thanks to the delay on Dragster, the crowd had picked up (much more than I expect for a Monday), so we waited about 25 minutes. Needing a break, we rode the train around the circuit. We wanted to end up in Frontiertown for lunch and some beer, so we made it a loop and a half. Lunch service at the Last Chance Saloon was a bit slow, but we had a few brews to keep us busy. It wasn’t until just before 2 that we were on our way to try again to get a Dragster FreeWay pass, but once again they were all gone. This time our consolation was on Magnum, and since the wait was only in the station the first time, we got right back on again. We stopped by Witches Wheel to wind down a bit, and then there was one more ride on Gemini, this time we split up, fighting for bragging rights. My side won, but I was careful not to rub it in too much. It’s fun to see people still getting into the racing. The riders are actually quite rowdy. We took another trip back towards the front, hoping to grab another ride on Raptor and others before our FreeWay slot. There was a bit of a wait for Raptor (posted at 45 min), but we found no line for Disaster Transport this time (as it should be), so we grabbed a drink, and had a nice sarcastic time on it. I wanted to grab a few shots, so we hit the Big Wheel. We noticed the sky darkening up while we were up there, and even felt a few drops. Things seemed to be fine back on the ground, so we headed up to MF for our free ride. We were just about up to the unload station in the line when they sky opened up; lightning, pounding thunder, and a torrential downpour. There were strikes that seemed like they were INSIDE the park. Everyone but me bailed, I was already soaked, and nothing else was open, so I was going to stick it out. The wind whipped up a bit, and we all started freezing. A little time later, when things started to clear up, I got a call on my phone; my friends were tired of waiting and wanted to go. I got a 15 minute time limit, and things started to look good again. With about 1 minute to go, they seemed close to opening the ride, and then a sudden clap of thunder. I had no choice but to give up. We took our time leaving, stopped by a few shops and picked up souvenir maps and postcards and the like. It was a shame things ended the way they did. I would have liked to get that ride on MF at least, but also another on Raptor, and perhaps have hit the log ride. But in total, I had 5 rides on Magnum (avg.10 minute wait), 4 on Gemini (5 min), 3 on Raptor (15 min) and Dragster (30 min), 2 on Millennium Force (1 hour), Mantis (20 min), Mine Ride (5 min) and Disaster Transport (15 min), and one on all the other coasters. I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining! Though the crowd was quite heavy, the lines were astoundingly short. Aside from Dragster and MF, things were never over 30 minutes, and most of the lesser coasters were walk-ons. I’ll have to make sure I hit this park again at this time of year, I don’t know how much fun it would be in the summer, I can’t imagine waiting 3 hours or more for ANY ride. But I’ll be back to the Point one of these days... Back to Trip Reports
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