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[The Stig]

June 6, 2014 - Cedar Point day one

We woke up bright and early to start our day at the world's largest amusement park. Stigette and I had stayed in Hotel Breakers the night before so we got to get into the park an hour before the GP. We had decided to visit all of the rides that are notorious for their long wait times first. And spend the rest of our day making our way around the park.

First up was Gatekeeper. This was my first wingrider. We rode in the middle on the right. Despite the reputation from what I've read about Gatekeeper, the ride was still loads of fun and a fantastic way to start the day. The layout isn't so intense that it tries to destroy you, but isn't so tame that you would be satisfied with one ride.

Our second ride of the day was Maverick. Maverick sits on the complete opposite side of the park from Gatekeeper, so it was a good opportunity to walk straight up the middle of the park and take in the lovely scenery. I was really excited about Maverick because I've heard nothing but good things about this ride. We rode in the back. From start to finish, this ride was every bit as wild and intense as I had hoped it would be. The airtime on the drop and camelback was the most intense airtime I've ever felt. And all the twisty bits in the second half of the ride were amazing. The thing I liked most about Maverick is that, unlike B&M loopers, it wasn't just an endless string of inversions, Intamin switches it up throughout the layout and even packs in some surprises with hidden turns and wonky transitions. I loved that it wasn't built just to make you dizzy, it provides everything you would want in a coaster. That's why I believe it's Cedar Point's best ride.

The third ride was Millennium Force. The park was open to the public by the time we made it to Millie. So there was a wait. About 30 minutes maybe. I loved that it wasn't raining, so this time my Millie ride would be enjoyable. We rode 4th car, back row. Millie on a clear day is incredible. There is, in fact, airtime in the middle cars. The thing I loved most about Millie is the pacing. It never seems to slow down. And there is one part in particular: the airhill after the first tunnel, where you're floating out of your seat and you can see almost the entire park. It was absolutely beautiful.















After three amazing rides, we decided to try out Mantis. Mantis is an interesting ride, because you don't really see many B&M stand-ups anymore. And after riding, it's not too hard to see why. I'm not saying the ride is terrible. It's not. It's got the only Dive Loop in the park. But Mantis was the ride that made us feel dizzy. We had to sit down for a few minutes after Mantis.

We had to calm it down a bit and take a ride on the railroad and drink a bottle of water. Might I add that Cedar Point has a very nice railroad.

I really wanted to ride Iron Dragon next, because I love Arrow Suspended coasters. We sat in the very back. And despite being such a tame coaster, it was almost enjoyable. Or at least it would have been really fun had the seats been more comfortable? It felt like sitting on plastic. In fact, it probably was.

Our last ride of the morning was Raptor. I've never noticed how 90's Raptor is. Neon pink and green is totally rad. Raptor was the longest wait time of the day. About 45 minutes I think. We rode in the 6th row. Raptor was a lot bumpier than I remember it. But it was still as intense as ever. It really felt like being maimed by a flock of angry birds! I really think I felt airtime just before the helix into the MCBR. And then again leaving the MCBR. Do I even need to mention the transition into the final brakes?





























Lunch was at Johnny Rockets. It was good and expensive.
We didn't want to jump onto anything crazy right away, so we spent a while on the Gatekeeper midway. We rode the Ferris wheel, Windseeker, and watched the All Wheels Extreme show.















At the start of the afternoon, we got to meet up with ZachMan, and his friend who, at the time, I didn't know was Timmeh.
We rode Corkscrew with Zach because Timmeh was making it in K'nex. We rode in the front. And I thought I had lost my phone. But I didn't. It was in my pocket.

We would've rode Top Thrill Dragster, but it was down all day

After Corkscrew we met up with Timmeh and rode Magnum-XL 200. We rode in the middle. Magnum was awesome, as ever. This thing is just an airtime machine. Every single hill is an airtime hill. There's even one in a tunnel, so you get a surprise airtime hill. And that's the best kind of surprise there is.

After Magnum, we rode Gemini. Gemini is probably one of the park's more under-rated rides. Because it's older than Corkscrew and is still a better ride than Mean Streak. They had both trains racing this time. And it was awesome to high five everyone on the train every time we passed each other.

Since we were on such a great Arrow streak, we decided to ride Cedar Creek Mine Ride next. Which in all honesty, was so much more fun than I remember. Even if the transitions are jacked up and the layout makes no sense and the entire structure shakes. It's a true classic, and was probably one of the most memorable rides of the trip.

There weren't anymore Arrows to ride after CCMR, so we did the next best thing. SkyHawk. SkyHawk was my first S&S Screamin Swing. And it was a lot more fun than I would have thought.











We were feeling snacky after SkyHawk, so we ate some frozen strawberry lemonade and looked around inside the Town Hall Museum. To all of our surprise, they had a K'nex Ferris wheel set up, with a butt load of pieces that we all said we'd like to have. They also had some really nice models of Mean Streak, Blue Streak, and the log ride where Maverick is now, along with other old Cedar Point photos and nickel machines and carousel horses. It was a somewhat educational experience.

Our last ride of the day was Mean Streak. I had been avoiding it all day and I figured we might as well. Maybe they fixed it? I was relieved to learn that the green train was the smoothest of the three. Because I would have hated to ride in anything less smooth.











And that was the end of our amazing day at Cedar Point. America's Rockin Roller Coast.

[-=Zach=-]

Sounds like you... Err... Uh, we had fun on that trip
KI next, I can't wait for your review of each ride there.

[JayketheKid]

I liked this report. Was that timmeh with the blond hair.

[Gvus]

Looks like you guys had a great time! Looking forward to the KI part of this trip report.

[The Stig]

June 7th, 2014 - Cedar Point day two.

We slept in a little later, having done Cedar Point all day the day before. Started with a yummy breakfast at Denny's, and took the scenic route into the park. We drove through downtown and looked at the big church, and stopped at a Marina club to take a few pictures of the park from across the bay. The day was absolutely gorgeous. It seemed like nothing could possibly go wrong.

...That is, until we were informed that Cedar Point would be closed today because of a busted water main.
That's right. We were (sort of) there to see history in the making!

It was decided that we would walk around some antique shops until we could think of something else to do for the day. As it turns out, there isn't much else in Sandusky that ISN'T Cedar Point. But luckily, we did find a pretty interesting place that we would never have known about otherwise: The Ghostly Manor.

The Ghostly Manor is a haunted house, mini golf, a 3D movie, and roller skating all in one place. The haunted house was actually pretty scary, and I have (had) the claw marks to prove it. I had a notable horrible time trying to navigate through a crowded room of body bags. And I got to feel an uncomfortably panic-driven feeling of claustrophobia squeezing my way through a crack in a wall. All-in-all, the haunted house was awesome and totally made this place worth it.









This place was a lot like SkyHawk: More fun than I was expecting.
So then we made our way back to the hotel and watched a marathon of Cops and ate Big Boy burgers to finish out the evening.


June 8th, 2014 - Kings Island day one.

KI day started off cold and rainy, and we got to the park a little later than we anticipated. Luckily, the rain wasn't too bad as to keep anyone from riding. We met up with ZachMan once again and headed to the first ride of the day, Banshee.

Okay, remember how last time I did CP & KI, I came back with this amazing story of how I rode Iron Dragon and then later fell in love with The Bat because it was such a tremendous improvement? Well, Banshee did the exact same thing this time around. Because, leading up to the trip, I knew I was going to ride Raptor before Banshee and I would judge Banshee based on my ride on Raptor. And Banshee completely blew me away, the pacing was so precise, so perfect. Every element flowed so well with each other, the difference was staggering. The seats were so comfortable, and the chassis had been completely re-designed so that, instead of the four arms holding the seats of traditional inverts, you had two. This made a nice little window through each row of seats so that, even if you ride in the very back (where we were), you can still see the track through the opening, all the way to the front of the train. Great job, B&M. In fact, it may have been the best ride I've ever been on.

Don't get me wrong, I still loved The Bat. The new colors look amazing, and the ride was just as thrilling and surprisingly better than any other Arrow Suspended I've ever been on. The way it sits so nicely into the terrain, leaving so much of the layout partially hidden, still makes for a great ride. I still can't understand why they don't make these anymore.

















We were off to a great start, and decided to make our way up the midway and ride everything along the way, starting with Adventure Express - the never ending mine train. This wasn't running last time I visited, which is a real shame because it's a lot of fun. Probably the best Arrow Mine Train I've ever been on, along with Gemini.

After Adventure Express, we made our way to The Racer. The racer was a proper classic woodie. And totally made up for not getting to ride Blue Streak.
And might I add, The Racer has the best queue music ever.



We made our way to Flight of Fear. FoF was another ride that wasn't open last time I was here, and I was nervous that it wouldn't be working again due to the number of times it had caught on fire this season. And, unfortunately, my fears came to fruition when FoF was down.

So we skipped FoF for the time being and went to Firehawk. Firehawk was my first Vekoma flying coaster. The rolling horseshoe turns were really bizarre, as with the rest of the ride. It made for a memorable ride experience.

But not as memorable as FoF, which was now open again.
FoF was maybe the funniest rides of the entire trip. The ride makes use of clever theming mixed with a late-90's-esque backstory video worthy of any Sci-Fi original movie from the last decade. On top of all that, throw in a Space Mountain-on-Steroids Premiere coaster in the dark and you've got yourself a Flight of Fear. Emphasis on the fear. I was definitely fearful that I was going to lose an appendage.











(part 2 coming soon)

[-=Zach=-]

Wohoo! Remember how much it was raining when we were in Firehawk's line? Everybody was huddling under every one of the canopy tent things.
I look so weird in that picture. O.O

Edited by -=Zach=-, 28 June 2014 - 01:28 PM.

[The Stig]

(cont'd)

...We were having a terrific morning so we had some lunch at Kings Island SubWay. We got two 6" subs and drinks for something like 30 dollars.
We didn't want to ride anything crazy right away with full bellies. So we took a spin on the carousel, which was nice.

Zach said we had time for one more ride before he left, so we were going to ride Vortex, but I insisted on Diamondback. That was one of the best decisions ever because for those who don't know, Diamondback is amazing.

The line took no time at all to get through, and we sat in the very back. Every. Single. Hill was just beautifully crafted airtime bliss. I was nervous that I would gray out on one of the helixes, because that's what happened on Goliath-SFOG and Titan. But, happily, I held a firm grasp onto consciousness for the entire duration. And the splashdown at the end, a real splashdown, just made an awesome ride into a beautiful work of art. I was thoroughly impressed with Diamondback. Best hyper I've ever been on. I told Zach that it beat the hell out of Goliath, and then we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Stigette still wasn't ready to ride anything too big, so we took a spin on the railroad.

After the ride on the railroad, we headed towards The Beast.The Beast is such an amazing ride. For being as old as it is, I could tell that Kings Island takes really good care of it. It was bumpy, of course, but not so much that it tried to kill you. The ride is just as enjoyable as ever, and offers a ride experience unlike any other. The double helix tunnel finale is still the true awakening of the Beast and is arguably the best part of the ride. Stigette absolutely loved it. Even with the trims.

At this point, we were feeling tired because we had woke up so early.
And since our hotel (might I add, the best hotel of the trip) was right across the street, we went to take a nap.



















We woke up a little after 5:00. The rain had stopped, but it was still chilly outside, so we each grabbed a jacket and we headed back to the park.

The first ride we went to was Backlot Stunt Coaster, because it was right there in the middle. The ride was alright. The best part is the airtime when you least expect it.

After the Italian Backlot Job, we made our way over to Vortex - the giant Arrow looper. Vortex was pretty awesome. I could just imagine this being "the Banshee of the early 90's." And it still looks fantastic from the midway.







Stigette was ready to ride Diamondback now, because I had been ranting all about it since my ride with ZachMan. So we made our way through the queue, which took no time at all again. And we rode in the back row again, brown train. I can't say enough how awesome Diamondback is.

Afterwards, I convinced her that we could ride the log ride because she wouldn't get wet. Which was a mistake on my part, because she got very wet. We rode Woodstock Express because why not? And we rode what I believe used to be a Scooby Doo haunted house attraction. All of which were nice. I can see why Kings Island keeps winning "best kiddie area" every year.

We made our way back across the main midway and rode Face Off Invertigo, and another ride on Banshee. Which is even better when it's kinda dark. And we finished the day with one more ride on The Bat.











This was the end of our epic vacation. And we had such a blast for the entire three days. We got to ride some of the best rides on the planet. We were there when Cedar Point lost water. We had some delicious blueberry ice cream, and even got to meet some SSC members.

But the cherry on top of the sundae was yet to come. To finish off the day in the best way possible, we made our way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks show. The view from the top was amazing. You can see almost everything. This really was the best place to be for that wonderful moment.

[The Stigette]

Stig pretty much covered all the ride information, so my side will be more...tourist-y, I suppose, and just what I enjoyed/remembered the most.

Thursday, June 5th

First of all, let me say I'd NEVER been that far away from home before. We woke up at the crack of 3 AM Thursday morning and made our way to the airport. After two flights and navigating the Dallas/Ft Worth airport, we were exhausted. I was excited to go to the beach, but the water was so cold I couldn't stand to put my feet in. Even the pool was freezing. We relaxed in the hot tub a while and then walked down the beach to get a sneak peek at the rides. It was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we had dinner at Tomo Hibachi inside the Hotel Breakers. Do NOT eat there. The food was horrible and over-priced. At 9:30 PM the sun was still up and we went to bed anyway.

Friday, June 6th

We woke up bright and early to get into Cedar Point before the masses. I was so excited for Gate Keeper! I rode Wild Eagle in Dollywood about two years ago so I had big expectations. It lived up to all the expectations and beyond. It was a wonderful way to start the day. Then we made our way to Maverick, which allowed me to see a lot of the park. Maverick was my favorite ride of the entire trip and how our kitty got his name. Mantis was really bizarre, but I enjoyed it. It left me rather dizzy and sore, though. Later that day we met up with TheZachMan28 and Timmeh. Stig though he lost his phone on Corkscrew, which caused a minor panic until he found it in his pocket. Then it was just plain funny. After more riding and checking out the interesting museum, it was time to head back to the hotel. We had a quick dinner and went to bed. Another exhausting, but wonderful day.

Saturday, June 7

We slept in a little bit and had breakfast at Denny's before making our way to Cedar Point for a second day. We were sitting at a traffic light, bewildered at the amount of cars and the fact that no one was moving. As we crept to the front of the line, a Cedar Point security guard informed us a water main broke and the park was closed that day. History in the making! Instead, we checked out some antique shops and The Ghostly Manor. The haunted house part scared the bejeezus out of me! I clung to Stig's arm and gave him some nasty claw wounds. We skated and min-golfed and saw a 3-D movie-ride-thingy. We went back to the hotel and watched a Cops marathon, then went to bed in anticipation of the long drive in the morning.

Sunday, June 8

We woke up bright and early and started towards King's Island. It was cold and rainy, but we met up with TheZachMan28 once more to ride Banshee. That was one of the BEST, if not the BEST roller coaster I've ever had the pleasure to the ride. The seats were comfortable, the view was amazing, and it was simply perfect. The Bat was pretty fun too, much more exciting (and comfortable) than Iron Dragon. Stig explained more in-depth of what we did/rode the rest of the day, including the stupidly expensive Subway lunch. The hotel was right across the street so we headed over to take a nap and change into some warmer clothes. That hotel was by far the nicest one we stayed at our whole trip. After our nap we went back to KI and rode some more, including another ride on Banshee and The Bat. We ended our trip with to die for blueberry ice cream and an unforgettable view from the Eiffel Tower.

Monday, June 9

The day had come to go back to reality. We got up early once more and dropped off the rental car before catching a shuttle to the airport. We arrived about an hour before our flight to go through security and such, but...turns out our flight was super delayed. We were supposed to be back in New Orleans for 5 PM, but our flight didn't even touch down until 10 PM. Finally at midnight we fell into bed, only to wake up at 5:30 AM for work.

All in all, this was by far the best vacation I've ever been on and I can't wait to go back! But I'm pushing for Philly next summer. ;D

[Rollerfreak987]

Great trip report, guys. It was really cool to see all the pictures and see what I will be experiencing in two years!

When you're in Pennsylvania (maybe ) there's many a park you can visit!

[Gvus]

Very good trip report, I loved every part of it.
I hope to some day make it to Ohio, but until then, I keep dreaming.

[pkiknex25]

Interesting to hear that you enjoyed DBack much better than SFOG-Goliath. It's great to hear that both of you had a great time!

[timtimlaz]

Why would you grey out/faint on the helix's? The forces? I really like DBack as well but I rode in the front so not as much air-time but still a lot. I need to go to King's Island this year to ride Banshee, sounds like an amazing ride! Glad you had fun here in my state!

[BGTKing]

The forces pulling the blood out of your brain will cause it.

[pkiknex25]

DBack's aren't forceful enough to make you grey or black out, which is what Stig said. A few examples of coasters with a grey out helix though are: I305, Goliath (SFOG and SFMM), Titan (SFOT), Nitro (SFGAdv),