Cedar Point Trip Report - Baby I’m Ready to Go!

Our annual pilgrimage to America's Roller Coast took us to Cedar Point early this year. We decided to use the Victoria Day long weekend to head down since we weren't doing anything for the long weekend and it wasn't a holiday for Americans. However, the main reason we wanted to head down was getting a chance to ride Top Thrill 2.

We have been to Cedar Point each of the last two years. The first time, Top Thrill 2 was just announced and still under construction; the top hat was half painted and the back spike was just a single column spurting out from a footer. Last year I dubbed TT2 as the world's largest lawn ornament (just beating out Steel Curtain) as it operated for about a week before going down for the entire season. With the recent implosion of Kingda Ka and Falcon's Flight not yet open, this year presented us with the probably once-in-a-lifetime chance of riding what is currently the world's tallest roller coaster.

I could be just being a little over-cautious, but given all the issues with TT2 last year, there felt a bit of urgency to ride it. I would honestly be surprised if TT2 has a 20-year run like its predecessor did. It just feels to me like this is a ride that could see a relatively short lifespan at the park. My strategy when I go to a new park is: if the best ride is open when the park opens, take that chance to ride it. It may seem tempting to save it for later in the day, but the reality is all rides are susceptible to issues. You don't want to risk the chance that the ride you've been eagerly anticipating goes down and you can't ride it. Especially when you had the chance earlier in the day. For me, the same general sentiment applies to TT2. If I can go to Cedar Point now when I know TT2 is open, I need to take that chance. If I wait till later in the season, there is a non-zero chance I could be in the same situation as last year, staring up at the world's largest lawn ornament.

We didn't want to take any time off of work, and given we have been to Cedar Point the last two years, we decided to head out Saturday morning, waking up early so we'd have about a half day on the Saturday, a full day on Sunday, and then heading back on the Monday. In hindsight, waking up early was a complete waste. The weather was pretty terrible all day, overcast with some scattered showers. But most importantly for this story, when we got to Cedar Point, it was extremely windy. Cedar Point effectively being on a peninsula is both a gift and a curse. When it's a nice day, it's a beautiful setting, maybe one of the best. However, when the weather is bad on the shores of Lake Erie, it is almost assured that things are worse on the peninsula. The high winds shut down about half of the rides for the entire day, including, most importantly, Top Thrill 2. This also had the effect of some eye-watering long wait times for what was open. You know when you open the park app and the wait time for Corkscrew is 2 hours that the whole day is going to end up a total wash. It was a Saturday and the park was absolutely slammed with various school groups and sports teams. It seemed on the level of last year, but it is hard to compare when a lot of people aren't in line for rides. My experience last year somewhat prepared me for this. Cedar Point is a great park but it is a victim of its own success to a certain point. There is definitely a breaking point with crowds where it doesn't matter if you have arguably the greatest coaster collection on the planet; if the park is too busy, it's just hard to have a great time (even if you spend extra to do so). Given the weather, crowds, and just a general tiredness from waking up too early, we walked around a bit and left when we could check in to our hotel having ridden quite literally nothing. Cedar Point giveth, Cedar Point taketh away.

Sunday was a much different story. The weather was much better, still a little cool but sunny all day. Even better, since school was still in session and Monday was not a holiday in America, most of the school groups had headed out. We had early entry since we have the all-park passport option on our season passes. As we entered the park, the mission was clear: ignore what was actually open and immediately get in line for Top Thrill 2. We were not the only ones with this idea as there was already a sizable line for both standby and the Fast Lane queues. Amazingly, the park decided to open the ride at 9:30 despite it not being part of early entry. The stars aligned that day, my friends, and now I can proudly say I've ridden the world's tallest operating roller coaster.

Top Thrill 2

Going in, I had heard nothing but positive things about the ride (when it was open). In fact, most people who rode the initial version and the revision seemed to prefer the new experience. I never rode the original dragster, but I can confirm that Top Thrill 2 is a great ride!

Given its gaudy stats but short duration, it is a bit gimmicky in a sense. But it does what it's trying to do very well. The sense of speed and height is really second to none. The initial launch is pretty meh, but once you start launching backwards, the ride really takes off. For me, the best part is definitely the back spike. The way you float in your seat staring down at the midway 420 ft in the air is really an indescribable feeling. Iron Dragon looks like a nano-coaster all the way up there! The third launch is pretty excellent as well. It doesn't have the kick of some others I've experienced, but as we kept accelerating, I was thinking to myself, how can we go any faster? But then we just kept speeding up until we absolutely blasted up the massive top hat. The spin on the way down was good as well. I think the "incredible" whip others have talked about is a bit overstated, but it's still a fun element. We only ended up getting the one ride on TT2 as it went down later in the day when we tried. But I'm just thankful we got to ride it at all!

Even though the ride is quite daunting, I don't really think it's that scary. Everything happens so fast that by the time you realize you're staring face down at the ground 420 ft in the air, you're already speeding back down. Overall, it's a very good, not great ride, but that's mainly down to duration for me. I would not say it's a very complete ride. Cedar Point has a stacked lineup, so I'd put TT2 fourth, just above Magnum but below Millie. I never rode the original incarnation of dragster, but I suspect I would have preferred it despite the original being an even shorter version of an already very short ride. To me, the best part of a launch coaster is usually the initial launch, and the best launches are the ones from standstill that take your breath away. Storm Runner, Maverick, even the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster are all great examples of this phenomenon. While enjoyable, rolling launches just don't have the same punch to me. Given the old dragster's reputation as having one of the punchiest initial launches in the world, I suspect that one amazing moment would have given Top Thrill Dragster the edge over Top Thrill 2.

The Rest

In general, a pretty great Sunday. We rode all the hits and skipped the crap. By some miracle, we were able to get four (yes, four) consecutive rides on Steel Vengeance first thing in the morning. Still the GOAT ride for me. It really is a masterpiece. Other than that, pretty much business as usual - Maverick is great, Magnum destroys your thighs, Raptor tries to tear your legs off, etc. Unfortunately, the operations on Millennium Force were just as crap as last year. That line continues to be extremely painful. You’d think I’d know better at this point but I skipped breakfast on Sunday. Huge mistake. Even a seasoned coaster rider such as myself was experiencing some minor stomach issues especially after the fourth ride on SteVe. After eating I was never able to chase the stomach issues completely. Lesson learned: you gotta set that base before the day starts.

Food-wise, the first time we went to Cedar Point, I remember thinking the food was total crap. Now a more seasoned veteran of the park, I think it was more an issue of just not knowing where to go. BackBeatQue was excellent as always, and we checked out the new(ish) pavilion for the first time. It's super nice and the nachos I got there were pretty good. The revised Happy Friar is a very nice change this year as well. As with all theme parks, the value is terrible, but at least I can say that there are some tasty options available.

We really did get lucky with how the weather turned out, with our full day being the only nice one. It was a very on-brand trip for Cedar Point in the sense that one day was perfect and the other was a total disaster. Ultimately for me, that's why I still continue to prefer Kings Island. Cedar Point has high highs and low lows, whereas at Kings Island, you're just far more likely to have a great day. You don't need the stars to align to have a great day at Kings Island.

Don't get me wrong, Cedar Point is still great, and given it's the next closest major park to Wonderland, it's always worth a visit at least once a season. We were too early for the Sirens Curse, but I'm looking forward to it next year!