Park Review

Cedar Point Sandusky, Ohio By Andrew August 23 & 24, 2001 I presently live in San Diego and, with my head now bowed in indignation, acknowledge Six Flags Magic Mountain as my home park. Before this trip, I had never been to Ohio. Thus, I hope that I am offering all of you a fresh, unique perspective on the Ohio parks that I visited. I had my Sony CLIE PDA with me for most of my trip and took notes throughout my visit especially between rides and activities at each of the parks I visited. In my report, I have applied overall ratings (from 0 to 5, 0 being the worst and 5 being the best) to the various rides that I experienced. Each rating reflects the overall experience including theming, thrill, fun, etc. The rating for each ride is relative. In other words, a rating of 5/5 for a wooden roller coaster is rating it only against other woodies, not all coasters in general. The categories I rate separately are: flat rides, woodies, steel non-inverting, steel inverting, stand-ups, suspended non-inverting, and suspended inverting (aka SLC). I will rate a B&M floorless coaster, such as Medusa, against all other steel inverting coasters. By the same token, I do not rate shuttle coasters separately. Thus, Raptor and Face/Off, for example, are rated in the same category. I am posting these reports to both RollerCoasterTalk and the message board at Ultimate Rollercoaster. So, for those of you who read from both of these sources, please forgive the duplication. For those of you who like to read TRs (and if you don't, I figured you stopped reading this long before getting to this part), I hope you find it enjoyable reading. My trip was quite exciting with new favorite rides discovered. Ok, without further ado, on to my report. I arrived in Cleveland around 9:00 PM on Wednesday, 8/22, and drove to Sandusky (after making an obligatory stop at White Castle on the way). I stayed at the Breakers Express where I had secured a "package" deal...two-night stay, two Cedar Point admission tickets and $30 in Cedar Point Script for $250 with tax. Not the best deal in the world, but not bad either. On Thursday, 8/23, I arrived at the park at about 9:45 AM. It was a serendipitous day for Cedar Point. If plans at Six Flags were proceeding as scheduled, ACE members would be riding Deja Vu at Six Flags Magic Mountain today for the first time, thus tying Magic Mountain with Cedar Point for the most coasters in the world record. Perhaps, then, it was ironically appropriate that I, with my home park being Magic Mountain, was visiting Cedar Point on this day. It was overcast but there seemed to be no immediate threat of rain. (As it turned out, the weather would not play a major role in my trip until the latter half of it.) As I entered the park, I immediately felt quite comfortable in the pleasant surroundings. It was great seeing a traditional midway for a change As I proceeded around the park throughout the day, I found that the rides were well-staffed with signage consistently noting the approximate wait time for the more popular rides (are you reading this Six Flags?!?!?!) Likewise, I was impressed that CP's staff was consistently checking that guests would be able to participate in the given ride/attraction at the ENTRANCE to the queue, not the end of it (are you reading this Six Flags?!?!?!) I found the ride operators to generally be very enthusiastic about their rides, spouting out ride statistics and even attempting to rile the riders up! There were few pre-corded recordings to be heard (are you reading this Six Flags?!?!?!) I really liked how Cedar Point does their nametags for their staff. Each employee nametag includes their name and where they are from. Very nice touch. Interestingly (at least to me), I found that many of those working at CP were from Poland, of all places. Apparently, Cedar Point participates in some sort of foreign exchange program. Very interesting. I learned from the ride operator announcements that Cedar Point is nicknamed "America's Roller Coast". At first I thought this was kind of corny but the tag quickly grew on me as my time at Cedar Point went by. Some operators choose to call the park "America's Rockin' Roller Coast". Now that's corny! One small complaint that I have is in regards to the park maps that are handed out. I definitely think these maps could use a little more description, especially for the rides. This is one area in which it seems that Six Flags does a much better job. Raptor (rating: 4.5/5) My first ride of the day, thanks to the recommendations of a couple of you, was Raptor. My total wait time for this ride was about 30 minutes. With 3/3 trains operating, even at park opening (are you reading this Six Flags?!?!?!) and a relatively high train capacity (8 rows X 4/row = 32/train), the line moved quickly. As I try to do when I ride all SLCs for the first time, I rode seat 1 on Raptor. I really enjoyed the track design for this ride. While not the smoothest of SLCs I have ridden, the ride was still quite smooth throughout. I liked the slight "twist" going down the first hill. I definitely enjoyed the cobra roll. Overall, the speed of the ride was excellent. Raptor unseated Top Gun at Paramount's Great America as my favorite suspended inverting full-circuit coaster. Blue Streak (rating 3.5/5) I next hit Blue Streak, which is the park's only remaining classic wooden coaster (at least it has one!) My total wait time was 15 minutes with 2/2 trains operating. Again, per suggestions from one of you, I rode seat 1.3. I found the ride to be fun, but short, and it provided good airtime. While I did enjoy this ride, it does not perform as well as classics like Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk's Giant Dipper or Coney Island's Cyclone. Disaster Transport (2.5/5) I next rode Disaster Transport, Cedar Point's dark ride. After a short five-minute queue, I took seat five. The lift was very slow and the ride itself featured very limited, cheesy theming. The ride itself was short and somewhat of a yawn. Thanks in part to the limited theming, though, it was nice and dark. I've definitely been on better dark rides. Space Spiral (3/5) Given that I wanted to take pictures and given where I was in the park, I next took a ride on the Space Spiral. The ride was a practical walk-on. This ride is just like the one at Seaworld San Diego. As it turned out, the cabin moved a bit too quickly for me to snap off more than a few pictures. I was amused by the recording that plays during the ride. It claims that the Space Spiral, at a height of 285 feet, is the tallest ride in the park. I think Intamin would claim otherwise! I think it's high time you updated your recording, CP! Giant Wheel (3/5) Given my dissatisfaction with the rotation speed of the Space Spiral, I proceeded to the Giant Wheel. After a wait of 5 minutes, I took a seat in one of the cars. The ride operator, after spotting my camera, told me I couldn't take pictures on the ride. I laughed slightly but, intelligently, kept my mouth shut. Suffice it say, my camera did get some action on that wheel. :o) I was surprised to see that the cars on the wheel had seat belts. This had to be one of the first times I saw seat belts on a Ferris wheel-type ride. Sky Ride (2/5) In keeping with the theme of tame, height-scaling rides, I next rode the Sky Ride after a wait of about 5 minutes. This is just your run-of-the-mill sky ride except, given the height of some of the newer rides in the park, this one just seems pretty low to the ground. For a sky ride, it's pretty short, too. I would point to the "skyfari" ride at the San Diego Zoo as a better sky ride as it is much taller and a much longer ride. Snack time: Per the suggestion of someone here, I tried of the gourmet pretzels by the scrambler ride. I had the "run-of-the-mill" butter and salt variety, which was quiet good. Given that I tend to drink a lot, I also got a Millennium Force souvenir bottle filled with Pepsi. I kinda' liked the unique dual compartment design of the bottle. Troika (3.5/5) After a wait of about 5 minutes, I tried another one of the park's many flat rides. Troika is a nice 'spider' type ride, with some good centrifugal force effects at the end as it slows down. Paddlewheel Excursion (4/5) Insistent on getting some good quality pictures of the park before my love of roller coasters got the better of me, I proceeded to the Paddlewheel Excursion. After a wait of about five minutes, I climbed aboard. This ride provides a decent view of the park. We happened to luck out with what I thought was a good sarcastic yet, at times, corny operator. I definitely liked his enthusiasm. This made for an overall more pleasurable experience. Gemini (4/5) Well, it was finally time to get back to riding coasters. Continuing to proceed towards the back of the park, I next rode Gemini after a wait of only about ten minutes. They were running two sets of two trains at the time. I sat in seat 5.3. The ride features a great first drop and decent airtime. I liked the nice head chopper towards the middle of the ride. Overall, it was a very good, fun racer. Thanks to Cedar Point for running both tracks and syncing them well. (Are you reading this Six Flags?!?!?!) Mean Streak (3/5) After a 30-minute wait, I next rode Mean Streak. I'm not quite sure where this ride gets such a bad reputation. Sure, it doesn't seem to have much airtime but I'm not real big on airtime, anyway. Perhaps because I have ridden the horrendous Grizzly at Paramount's Great America, I was able to appreciate Mean Streak a bit more. I sat in seat 1.1 and they were running all three trains at the time. Overall, the ride had a decent length and a moderate fun factor, but is definitely not as good as other post-1990 woodies I have been on such as Ghostrider and Roar. Cedar Creek Mine Ride (2/5) After a 15-minute queue, I rode the Cedar Creek Mine Ride in seat 5.3. They were only operating two out of four trains but the line was short, nonetheless. I found the ride to be slow, even for a mine train-type ride, but it did have a nice finale. Since it was nearby, I next visited the Town Hall Museum. It had a nice history of Cedar Point with some great photos. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't show much in terms of coasters. Snack time: I tried a French waffle, something I had never had before. This was a unique, tasty, and cheap treat! I next visited the Cedar Point Theater to see the IMAX movie, Michael Jordan: To The Max. The theater, unfortunately, had a somewhat musky smell. I suppose this is the price of being in such a humid location. The film had a great intro trailer by First Energy "punning" the idea of turning on the power...and the fun at the park. (Why do they call them trailers if they are always at the beginning?). As for the movie itself, even though I'm not much of a basketball fan, I really enjoyed it. I found it to be very inspirational and featured great music. Around 4 pm, the sun finally decided to peek its way through the clouds. Wildcat (3.5/5) Back to coasters once more. After a 15-minute wait, I rode seat one of the Wildcat. There were a total of six cars running at the time. The ride featured fun drops and a good helical finale. One thing that I found pretty interesting was that my lap bar didn't want to stay down! I found this ride to be a slightly better version of the Hurricane at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Iron Dragon (2/5) After a 15-minute wait, I rode seat 1.1 of the Iron Dragon. They had three/? trains running at the time. The two lifts in the ride definitely need some work, especially the first one. It barely moved the train up the hill! I found the ride to be markedly better after the second lift featuring good curves as well as the use of water/smoke effects. The ride also had a decent swinging finale. This ride clearly pales in comparison to other non-inverting suspended coasters that I have ridden such as the Ninja at Magic Mountain and the Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens. Mantis (5/5) Between this ride and Riddler's Revenge, B&M certainly seems to have proven they know how to design a super stand-up. After a wait of approximately 45 minutes with two out of three trains running, I rode in seat one. I was disappointed that Cedar Point was not operating with three trains especially since stand-ups typically have longer load times. The line still moved fairly quickly though. I found that the fans at the top of the larger "tents" to be quite refreshing and commendable. Unfortunately, there was no history video playing, but great music instead. As for the ride itself, I thought it had a great track design featuring outstanding drops and nice, sudden twists. Overall, I found this ride to be fairly smooth with minimal head banging. This ride has become my new favorite stand-up, a nod better than other second generation stand-ups like Riddler's Revenge at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Snack time: I tried a hot dog from Dragon's Inn (the stand between Iron Dragon and Mantis). It was excellent. This was the first time I was ever served sauerkraut in an individual bag. Kudos to CP for actually serving sauerkraut! Power Tower (thrust down) (4/5) The approximately 30 minute queue moved pretty fast. Both towers were operating. I found the ride to have good intensity, about the same as the first generation Drop Zone ride at Paramount's Great America. I actually expected the Power Tower to have more intensity than Drop Zone since it actually forces the car down. Overall, I have to rate this one slightly below Drop Zone. Corkscrew (1.5/5) This ride was walk-on. After riding it, I wasn't surprised! I rode in seat 6.2 with two of three trains operating. Aside from the novelty of the camelback coming BEFORE the loop, I found this ride to be boring and short. Revolution at Magic Mountain is much better as far as 1st generation loopers go. I think Cedar Point really needs to replace Corkscrew with a super steel inverting coaster such as an Arrow design like Viper at Magic Mountain or the Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure. Magnum (4/5) After a wait of 30 minutes, I rode the second tallest coaster at CP, Magnum. Kudos to the 36-passenger train capacity of this ride. I found the entrance to this ride to be quite obscure and thus hard to find. I definitely liked the large fans along the sides of the queues. I give a big thumbs down to the fact that the main queue dumps into complete chaos on the loading platform. This is as bad as Riddler's Revenge at Magic Mountain. The queues really need to be more organized. Why are there signs posted instructing rides to keep their arms down? Thankfully, CP was operating three out of three trains. I rode in seat 1.1. Overall, the ride was good but not as good as other hypercoasters such as Goliath at Magic Mountain. Goliath has more speed, a better first drop and better G forces on the curves. The only area in which I think Magnum excels over Goliath is airtime which, as I stated before, I am no big fan of. Millennium Force (5/5) For my first day at Cedar Point, I saved what I figured would be my favorite ride for last. After a briefer-than-expected 60-minute wait, I got to ride this monster. They were thankfully running three out of three trains. The line moved very quickly. After a brief delay to clean out the puke out of the back of one of the trains, I took seat 9.2. I have to give this ride a slight nudge over Goliath for the somewhat higher intensity factor. The elevator system used for the lift hill is quite impressive. The lift hill is a ride in and of itself! The overbanked curves were awesome. I really enjoyed the high speed of this ride throughout (thanks to the lack of a mid-ride brake run). Great job on this one, Intamin! It was around 8:30 pm by the time I had finished my ride on the tallest coaster in the US, it was time to head back to my hotel, since the park closed at 8 pm. I had dinner at the East of Chicago Pizza Restaurant next to the Breakers Express Hotel. Overall, it was a good dining experience. The buffet (which is what I opted for) was definitely better than the ones I've had at Pizza Hut. The dessert, peanut butter and jelly pizza, was over the top! For my second day at Cedar Point, I arrived once again at about 9:45 AM. The weather was somewhat better this day with the sky only partially covered with clouds. Note: I am only going to apply ratings to rides that I did not go on during my first day at CP. For my first ride of the day I rode Millennium Force. After about a 90-minute wait, I rode seat 1.1. (The wait for the front amounted to a 30-minute wait above and beyond the 60-minute wait it took me to get to the individual train queues.) The ride from the front of an MF train was outstanding, but not quite as invigorating as the back seat. I like the feeling of getting pulled over the main hill when riding in the back. Still, I did like some of the views from the front seat. Snack time: Once again, I had a hot dog w/sauerkraut from the stand between Mantis and Iron Dragon. Once again, it was excellent...definitely one of the best dogs I've ever had at an amusement park. After a 30-minute wait, I then rode Mantis in seat eight. The back of the train was definitely much more bumpy than the front but it was still a great ride. Power Tower (thrust up) (4/5) After a 15-minute wait, I rode the other side of the Power Tower. The ride was fun and featured a nice view. I like the Big Shot at the Stratosphere better simply because the overall height is much higher. (That new roller coaster at the Stratosphere, if it gets built, is certain to be intense!) Incidentally, I think it would be pretty cool if CP synced the two sets of towers at Power Tower (sync the two thrust up towers together/sync the two thrust down towers). That way, one could watch the reaction of people across from you (at least on one side of each tower) kind of like watching people opposite you on Invertigo rides. Snack time: I figured I had to try one of CP's famous elephant ears. I was certainly glad that I did. It was superb! I next rode Gemini once more. This time I had a wait of only about 15 minutes for seat 1.1. I have to affirm that this ride is absolute fun. This is the best steel racer I've ever been on. It has great "hand slapping fun" around the curves. I can barely imagine what it would have been like to ride this coaster after it first opened in 1978. Perhaps to the chagrin of some of you, I chose Mean Streak as another ride to repeat on my second day at CP. This time, I waited about 15 minutes for seat 1.1. Again, this ride is no Ghostrider but it is enjoyable. Wave Swinger (3/5) This is just your typical "swing" ride, nothing special here. The wait was about five minutes for a relatively short ride. It was fun, as this type of ride typically is for me. At this point, it was about 2 pm and it was getting somewhat warm. I thus decided to check out CP's water rides. White Water Landing (3/5) I waited about 30 minutes to ride Cedar Point's log flume (or perhaps I should call it "canoe flume"?) ride. Aside from the boats being shaped as canoes, not logs, I found nothing special about this ride. It's not the best log-type ride I've been on but not the worst either. Thunder Canyon (2/5) This ride was a walk-on which, at first, was surprising to me. Almost always, when I try to ride a raft ride at a park during a warm part of the day, there is a significant wait time. After riding this ride, I then understood why there was no wait. This ride is pretty pathetic as far as raft rides go. There were no waves that rushed into the boat as we went around and there were no "water bomb areas". If it weren't for the numerous waterfalls providing "soak possibilities", this ride would be a "1". What a dog! Cedar Point, you need to work on this one! After riding White Water Landing and Thunder Canyon, I quickly came to the realization that CP is really weak on water rides. Thankfully I didn't come to CP for water rides! Train (5/5) This was, simply put, the best train ride I have ever been on at an amusement park. I was really impressed with how well kept the trains were. Likewise, the fact that CP uses real coal driven steam trains really impressed me! It was really nice to ride a full circuit train around most of the peninsula that provided some great views (especially on the west side of the peninsula). Incidentally, Millennium Force sounds just like a jet airplane when traveling underneath it on the train. I next went back to Gemini to ride it yet again (yeah, if you haven't figured it out yet, I really like this ride!) I waited for 15 minutes to ride seat 1.1 once again. It was great fun every moment of the way once more. Although it didn't impress me that much the first time around, I figured I would ride Magnum again just for kicks. After a nice, brief wait of only 15 minutes, I rode in seat 9.2. Overall, the ride was more fun in the back than the front. I enjoyed the views that this ride gave me of the back of the park. Derby Racer (4/5) I waited about five minutes to ride this classic. I had never ridden a ride like this before, but figured I should ride it a) for the novelty and b) for the historical factor. I actually found it pretty interesting and kinda' fun. Overall, I liked it better than a standard carousel because of the "backwards/forwards motion" it features. Next, I rode Raptor once again in seat eight after a short 15-minute or so wait. It was excellent once again. Lunch time: I had fresh cut fries from the stand by Raptor and a decent charbroiled burger from another stand nearby. The fries were great and the burger was one of the better burgers I've had at an amusement park. Well, I decided to make Millennium Force my last ride of my visit before heading down to Cincinnati. I waited 45 minutes to ride in seat 9.2 once again. What a great way to end my visit to the park! This ride is a pure adrenaline rush. It has a great design dispatch to dispatch. Those magnetic breaks are so smooth and efficient. I only have one complaint to make. In the morning when I had ridden MF, I had my MF souvenir bottle with me. On principle, I refused to pay 75 cents for a locker to store my bottle while I rode this ride. I hid the bottle while I was in the queue and then "stuffed" it between my stomach and the lap restraint while I rode the ride so I could put my hands up during the ride. When I rode it again at the end of the day, one of the ride operators caught me and made me walk through the exit and stow my bottle. He told me to put in a locker and return through the exit. Instead, I just hid the bottle somewhere near the exit and went back to the queue. I realize that CP is concerned about objects falling from the ride and hitting people. I just wish they had a system in place so that people don't have to spend money to store their belongings to ride one ride. Incidentally, this is something I despise about Stealth at PGA as well. On my way out of the park, I bought a frozen custard on the midway. Very appropriately, after seeing all of those nametags say "Poland" throughout my visit, this person's said "San Diego". What a coincidence, huh? When I told the employee that I had come all the way from San Diego to ride MF, she said I was crazy! Oh well, to each their own, huh? Well, that concludes my report from Cedar Point. I have to say, this is the best "amusement" park I have ever been to. It is tremendously well rounded in terms of its coaster rides, flat rides, kiddie rides, shows, and food venues. With the marked exception of its water rides, everything is really top notch. The park really feels like a true amusement park. It is somewhat weak on theming but that is no big deal to me. (I did like the overall theming of Frontier Land though.) I do have to say, though, that Six Flag's Magic Mountain has an edge over Cedar Point when it comes to being a thrill park (or as Six Flags would prefer me to say, "Xtreme" park). Sure, Cedar Point has the tallest roller coaster in the country but Six Flags, with a top notch hypercoaster (Goliath), superb inverting supercoaster (Viper), fun suspended coaster (Ninja), excellent 2G stand-up coaster (Riddler's Revenge), solid performing SLC (Batman), intense LIM coaster (Superman), fun racing woodie (Colossus) and decent 1G looper (Revolution), packs more of a "thrill punch" for me. With Deja Vu now open and X soon to follow, I'm sure this will ever more be true in the future. Andrew The above park review, and all other reviews contained on this site, are property of Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Geocities and their respective owners. 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