Cedar Point July 4th,5th and 6th

[Mrpq]

So finally made it out to the Point after my last trip 10 years ago. Great time and cant wait to get back, when ever that might be.

 

I'm just going to get right to it. Going to do a day by day run down and than a ride review for each ride.

 

We got a 2 day park pass with our plans to go to the park Wed and Thursday. I purchased a Fast Pass Plus for wed, which is a great thing, but Ill get to that later. We arrived to our hotel, right outside the park, on Tuesday July 4th around 2pm. We figured we would hit the park at 4pm since the ticket prices where cheaper just to get some more time on top of the original 2 days. Much to our surprise the park was DEAD. No line was longer than 30 mins, it was great and the weather that night was fantastic, a cool 75. we stayed at the park till closing at 12 pm. Only issue with this day was leaving the park. We had to park in the back and it took about 1.5 to get all the way around. I guess everyone hung around for the fireworks that night.

 

Wed, we where at the park form open to close, 10am-10pm. I had purchased the Fast Pass Plus. A little pricey coming it at $95 each on top of admission but well worth it. Road everything multiple times with time to kill. Park seemed to still be not to crowded that day and weather was again great.

 

Thursday, again in the park 10am-10pm. This was the most crowded day, but still got everything done. Longest line we waited on was Maverick at about 45 mins. Weather this day was also warmer and no breeze so trip hit us by Thursday night.

 

Rides

Millennium Force- prob got 6 or 7 rides over the time we where there. This ride still packs a punch for its age and is still surprisingly smooth. Front row rides like glass, while the back sounds rougher that it actually feels.

 

Maverick- Was closed Tuesday so we had to wait till Wed to get our first rides. Got about 6 or 7 laps in over our trip. Ride is ten years old but it was my first time riding since the last time I was there was the summer right before they built it. Hands down our fav coaster. Riding back for front, you cant go wrong

 

Gemini- very fun, got about 3 laps in over the trip. everyone was reaching for high 5s as the trains passed each other.

 

Magnum XL- only road once after getting off in pain. Road front row and it is an air time monster but to the point the rides throws you up into the lap bars and your thighs take quite the beating.

 

Rugaru- one ride as we didn't like the head banging. All though, MUCH more enjoyable as a sit down vs when I road it as a Stand up.

 

Iron Dragon- Fun ride but only road once as this ride did not take Fast Pass and the lines where close to an hour.

 

Raptor- Front row, only road once. I seem not to be fans of the older inverts as they get me feeling all weird as of the last few years. Not a bad ride though and hardly any head banging.

 

Blue Streak- got about 4 laps in. Great, fun old woodie. Air time monster in the front or back

 

Wickied Twister- Only road once, fun but a little rougher than I would like it to be.

 

Gate Keeper- Got about 4 laps in split between first and the last rows. Its a fun ride, cool concept but I cant say I LOVED it. it was ok. not sure of its the design of the ride or what but the ride was smooth but not smooth at the same time. Not a harsh roughness just "bumpy" Maybe its the way the trains are set up, who knows

 

Valravin- VERY fun. got about 5 laps in 4 in the front 1 in the rear. Front is deff the way to go. Not as forceful as I thought it would be and I thought the drop would feel worse. Very fun ride. I recommend the front and as close to the edges as you can get.

 

Cork Screw- road it once and that was enough lol

 

Top Thrill Dragster- wish I could tell you how much fun I had riding it but this is where we left our trip let down. Tuesday we get there and it closed. Later on around 7pm it opened up so we run over and get in line. Wait 2 hours, get to the platform and it shuts down and ride ops say its down for the rest of the night, great. But hey we got the fast passes for Wed so we figured we are getting on this no prob at some point. Wed, down ALL day, I ask a ride op at the ride early afternoon if it will open and he says HIGHLY unlikely. OK COOL... around 6pm we see go up and over as we stand at the front of the park. We run over, bypass the GAINT line since we had the Fast Passes. Standing in line they are testing, up and over the trains go. They load the first train with riders half full, send it out, goes up and over, every claps and cheers. Why everyone claps and cheers I have no idea as this is what should happen. They announce "next train will go out full" train goes out, launches and DONE. Brake fins never went down, train made it MAYBE 2/4 down the track and the train takes about 15 mins to roll back to the station. CLOSED for the night, greatttt. Later that night we walk by, hydraulic room is open, stinks of hydro fluid and they are in there with fork lifts ripping the motor apart. Thursday it would not open at all and we missed our chance to ride it on this last trip. Only good thing that came from this is we went to customer service and complained and explained what was going on and we got 5 one time use fast pass plus passes each which we used on a bunch of rides on Thursday.

 

Road a bunch of flat rides, all fun and great way to split up time between all the coasters Power tower both sides great time.

 

notes

- LOVE that you can buy beer at MULTIPLE spots in the park and walk around with it. Tavern in the Frontier section is a very cool spot to grab an adult drink sit and relax for a bit.

 

-Cedar Point Famous frys are amazing

 

-Melt, this food spot I HIGHLY recommend. The grilled cheeses are amazing, I got the BBQ one. also FULL of old park photos, maps and rad props

 

Overall it was a great time and hope to make it back soon

 

OH and the RMC make over on Mean Streak is going to be INSANE. Pictures of whats going on do not do it any justice

 

PS- GateKeeper and Valravin where my first ride experiences with B&Ms new vest style harnesses and I must admit, I am not a fan. The top vest half area is fin but the sitting and lap bar area I found to be very uncomfortable. I found that unless you sit in just the ride position you will get locked into a very not fun position for your man parts, if you are a man. Found that the lap bar area would get tighter through out the ride and I am not a fan of that. Once you are locked in the harness should stay in the passion not get tighter as you ride

Edited July 10, 2017 by Mrpq

[Yoshi]

Great report

 

I feel the same way about Gatekeeper. I liked the coaster but was expecting it to be a little better. Maybe because I had already ridden so many excellent coasters that day and stopped at Gatekeeper on the way out of the park and it just isn't going to compare to rides Millennium Force and Maverick?

 

It's a shame to hear about the problems with Top Thrill Dragster. 12 and 14 years later and both Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster are still so unreliable. I wonder if Great Adventure and Cedar Point regret adding the rides between the reliability issues, maintenance costs and operating costs.

[Mrpq]

You know its funny, I was thinking the same thing. I really wanted to see if TTD was smoother than KK. Last time I rode TTD was 10 years ago and was butter smooth from what I remember. KK on the other hand has become almost unridable as I have mentioned in other post. At least Cedar Point keeps up with how their rides look. TTD looks amazing with the recent paint job. I wanna see how long it takes for Six Flags to come to terms that KK along with some other coasters need a coat of paint. I also don't see either being removed form the parks. Its a staple for CP and Six Flags would loose two rides if they took KK down

 

As far as TTD and KK go, I doubt Sif Flags has even thought of this but I wonder if CP has thought about converting the launch to the new LIM style like their new launch coasters have. if either coaster was to be convereted I would have my money on CP getting it done

 

As far as GateKeeper goes, maybe I hyped it up more in my head and expected it to be something different lol

Edited July 10, 2017 by Mrpq