Cedar Point Trip Report

Round three begins! Fresh off two amazing days at Kings Island we woke up bright and early and headed north to Sandusky and Cedar Point.

Now in hindsight, this was a mistake. At this point in the trip, the long days of walking around in the sun, relatively late nights, and early mornings were catching up with us. When we left for Cedar Point around 8 am I was pretty dead. Jayme (aka passenger princess) slept most of the way as we journeyed through Columbus and the random rural communities of Central and Northern Ohio. When we got to the park around noon the excitement of getting on some of the world's best coasters was all that was keeping me alive.

This is where things took a turn for the worse. When we went to Cedar Point last year it was in late August which is after the local Ohioians returned to school. Cedar Point is always slammed. Even last year which I later learned is considered somewhat of a dead time was very busy. This time however the park was beyond busy. Like an hour for the freakin Blue Streak busy.

Now with Cedar Point, I decided to splurge and get us a pair of extremely expensive fast lane passes. The thinking was hey it's a Wednesday let’s do one day of fast lane and then see how things go on day two with the crowds. So the park is busy as hell but we have fast lanes so I was thinking we’d still be ok to marathon the best rides. We hadn’t had lunch yet so my thinking was let's snag a quick ride on Maverick, which was a walk with fast lane all last trip, and then grab some lunch at the restaurant nearby.

This is when the train derailed. When we pulled up it was a 45-minute wait with fast lane. This kind of broke my brain. The mix of sleep deprivation with the sting of having to shell out for the fast lanes was too much. Surely the exorbitant cost of fast lanes would offset the number of people willing to buy them right??? No. At this point, I entered a funk. No ride on Maverick was had. Instead, I opted to sulk while devouring chicken tenders, leave the park, and have a nap.

As I mentioned in hindsight I think a later start to the day would have offset some of the tiredness. This is but one of the many learnings from this initial mega trip. Anyway after the nap and some more sulking, we headed back to the park.

Honestly, day one was pretty lackluster. We got some rides on all the favorites but it was super windy which took down Magnum XL-200, Raptor, and literally all the major flats. The number of rides down somewhat compounding the wait times on the rides that were up.

Day two was better. Knowing what to expect going in and more determined to make the most of the trip I yet again shelled out for two more fast lanes. Very painful but despite the long ass waits with the passes it was still infinitely better than waiting for 2-3x in the regular lines. Not as much wind on day two so everything was back up which helped disperse the crowds more evenly.

At the end of day two pretty much all was forgiven from the brief rift with the park and myself. Despite all the expensive passes, overcrowded everything, and the overpriced hotel Cedar Point still has the best collection of coasters I’ve ever experienced. At the end of the day, the reason I come to these parks is for the coasters and if you have the best I’m willing to overlook a lot of the other nonsense.

We came here last year covertly before the wedding so I’m not going to go through each of the coasters. Instead, I just wanted to share some top-of-mind thoughts from our second visit about the rides that stood out the most this time. It's interesting to compare my feelings between our two visits. I’d guess that between those two visits, there are around 70 new coasters. Unsurprising as I get deeper into this hobby of coaster enthusiasm my tastes have somewhat evolved.

Assorted Coaster Thoughts

New Found Appreciation

The two coasters I enjoyed way more this time than last were Maverick and Magnum XL-200.

Maverick I’m not super surprised I liked it more. Last time my feeling was that it was it was fun but borderline too intense. The more coasters I’ve experienced the less intensity affects me to the point where I find myself seeking out and preferring the more intense coasters. So returning this time I just appreciated how damn good this ride is. The inversions are perfection, the second launch is probably my favorite launch on any ride, and goddamn it's got the good whip. Interesting to compare Maverick to VelociCoaster having now done both. Maverick is like the early album from a band you like: gritty, unrefined, raw. VelociCoaster is the album that made the band mainstream successful some of the rough edges have been sanded off but the core of what made you love it in the first place is still there.

Magnum XL-200 is somewhat along a similar thread. Intensity and roughness don’t bother me as much as they did last year. So this year I just enjoyed this ride for what it is: a janky but fun ride with some killer thigh-crushing airtime at the end.

The King is Still the King

Steel Vengeance was my number one going in and this did not change. This ride is truly elite. It has the absolute perfect mix of airtime and inversions all perfectly paced over a long duration. I find it hard to fathom a coater I’d ever enjoy more. I loved this ride last time and I love it even more now.

The World's Largest Lawn Ornament

Top Thrill 2 looks cool at least. I will reserve judgment until I ride it but the park went all in on the ride and the surrounding area. It sucks to have to be out of commission for almost the entire season. They even created a Top Thrill 2-themed beer, come on guys!

What the Heck is Going on with Millie

Millennium Force: still a great ride but seriously what the hell is going on with the operations here? Super slow almost unnecessarily slow. Apparently, there is a problem with the lift motor which is preventing them from dispatching any faster. I hope this is the case because the operations were downright embarrassing otherwise. Sidenote the front row is slightly overrated. Fun but not worth the extra wait in my opinion.

Conclusion

Despite the early hiccups I still had a good time at Cedar Point. I think my main gripe with the park is it is just too damn expensive to have a good time here. Last time that cost felt worth it but this time not so much. This is why in my last report I said I liked Kings Island more. At Kings Island, you show up pay the ticket price, and you're pretty much guaranteed to have an awesome day. You might not be floored by any of the rides but you’ll leave satisfied and not bankrupt. Cedar Point on the other hand you have to carefully plan when you go, pay the crazy price for fast lane, send up a quick prayer to the man upstairs, and then maybe you’ll have as good a time as Kings Island.

Cedar Point is somewhat suffering from its own success. It's just too damn busy. A lot of this is on me you don’t have to pay for the most premium experience. We’re only here once a year and the rides are so damn good that I feel like I need to make the most of our time here. We stayed at Hotel Breaks which is the park-owned hotel on the peninsula and the only hotel you can walk from to the park. I think this is the last time we’ll be staying here. Like a lot of other aspects of Cedar Point, it's just too damn expensive. Essentially you're paying 2x the cost of what I’d expect for the quality of the room just to be near the park. No breakfast here instead you have to eat at the shitty Perkins in the lobby. The ability to walk to the park is put at an extreme premium. While it's super nice to walk back to your room for an afternoon nap I don’t think I can justify that cost anymore.

This trip report was way more of a rant than usual but before we came to Cedar Point I was dead set on making an annual homage to the point. Now I’m questioning if that still makes sense. The rides here are awesome second to none but similar to Disney and Univeral your wallet gets cleaned out. I think where I’ve landed is this. In a year with no mega-trip, it makes sense to go as our non-Wonderland park visit. But in years with lots of other parks, I think we can skip Cedar Point.

Next up Waldameer and home!