Coaster Community

We flew in to Cleveland after work Thursday evening and arrived at Hotel Breakers right around 11pm.  Our room was in one of the oldest parts of the hotel and this is the last year that they will use this section for guests.  Since there’s little chance of anyone else getting the same room I’ll just leave it at the fact that it wasn’t up the Janessa’s standards (she’s very particular).  We did a bit of exploring before we went to sleep.  I wanted to see what else the hotel had to offer and Janessa wanted to see what the new areas looked like.

Friday morning we got up nice and early and made our way over to the back gate to get in with all of the other resort guests.  We found out that our Maxx Passes got us to the front of the line since we had to go through guest relations.  Five minutes before they release the crowd we were right at the front of the pack and ready to run to Maverick.  Once the gates were down we quickly realized that running is dumb (unless you’re being chased by a carnivorous animal). 

When we walked up to Maverick we found about a 10 minute wait (see how dumb running is).  Our first ride was in the last row and it began with a surprising drop.  We were thrown out of our seats and then a split second later we found ourselves in the high speed turns.  This where I quickly figured out how to manage the restraints and avoid neck whacks.  The bunny hop after the turns is probably my favorite part of the ride.  The air coming off of that hill can only be matched by a handful of other rides out there.  The Horseshoe Roll was smooth and navigated at the perfect speed.  When we got into the launch tunnel I figured that we would come to a stop but we rolled right into the LSM’s and shot through.  The 2^nd half of the ride is where you have to watch the restraints.  The turns are a bit more wicked and the hills have some nasty twists thrown in for good measure.  The last hill before the brakes served up another great dose of airtime and made for a great finish.  Due to down time and crazy lines this was our only ride on Maverick.

Since we still had about 40 minutes of resort ERT we headed for Millennium Force.  The first run had about a 20 minute wait and the second was only 15.  We sat near the back both times. 

Once the park opened we went in search of food and found that Chick Fil A didn’t open until 11.  Since we were back by Dragster we decided to put the food off for a little while and concentrate on riding.  Dragster hadn’t opened quite yet and the line was back to Iron Dragon’s turn around.  Ron and Art opted to stick around and see what happens.  The rest of us went to Power Tower and waited 20 minutes for the drop side.  While heading up to the top of the tower we saw that Dragster had opened and the ques quickly devoured what looked like a long line.  Ron and Art only waited 30 minutes and the rest of us felt dumb for waiting 20 over at Power Tower.  It was my fault. 

Now it was time to eat and we made our way up to the front of the park for a treat at Hot Potato.  The mini-corn dog/fry/cheese bucket is still one of the greatest park snacks anywhere.

The group went right back to Dragster and waited for about 45 minutes this time.  Next was a 15 minute wait for Gemini.  Ben and I score the winning train (blue) and it wasn’t even close.  If you’re ever riding a racer you’re going to want Ben on your team.  His giant noggin adds at least 3 mph to whatever train he’s on. 

It was pretty much 2pm and Ben and I had to ditch the group and head back to the hotel for our gear.  We scored a behind the scenes tour of Millennium Force and Maverick with the park’s PR Manager Bryan Edwards.  Maverick was down as we drove by so we had to cancel that portion of the tour.  Millennium Force was up though and Bryan showed us some great spots to shot the ride from.  As we made our way back to the hotel we stopped and shot a couple of other rides.  While we were working everyone else was chillin’ in the pool.  We met up with the group at Friday’s and re-hydrated.  Everyone was still in break mode except for Ben and I.  We agreed to meet everyone for dinner and then went right back into the park (we RULE!!!). 

Wicked Twister was first on the list and had a 30 minute wait.  maXair was 20 minutes and Blue Streak was only a 5 minute wait.  This put us at Famous Dave’s just in time for dinner.  After the day that we had we were ready to eat a horse.  Lucky for us they had tastier animals on the menu. 

After dinner we dragged ourselves over to Raptor and waited 45 minutes for the back row.  Janessa and I didn’t tell Ben and Sarah about the ending and the look on their faces was priceless. 

With dinner and Raptor behind us it was time for some desert and Ben & Jerry’s was right across the way. 

With dinner, Raptor and ice cream out of the way it was time for Iron Dragon, which had a 10 minute wait.  While riding we saw a fairly short line over at Dragster and quickly made our way over there.  2 break downs put our wait at 30 minutes and once we got on the train another break down got us kicked right back off.  Instead of waiting to see what would happen we hauled butt over to Millennium Force and got in line just at the park was closing. 

After a 30 minute wait Ben and I took the best Millennium Force ride ever.  That ride is turned up to 11 in the dark. 

Saturday started a lot like Friday with a gathering near the back gate.  This time the group split up though. Ben and I went back to Maverick while everyone else went to Millennium Force.  We should have gone with them.  Maverick was down and by the time we got to Millennium Force we found another crazy line.  Raptor was the only logical choice.  It only had a 10 minute wait. 

The park was about to open and a massive crowd was waiting to be released.  Ben chose Mantis and I went to Wildcat.  After a quick 10am ride we met up in front of Iron Dragon and watched the stampede.  Before meeting up with the group we were able to squeeze in a ride on Magnum and only had to wait 10 minutes.  This was my first time riding near the front and I have a new found love for the ride. 

The rest of the team made their way back to us and we all got in line for Dragster again.  This time we waited an hour.  It was close to noon by now and the Chick Fil A craving was still in our heads from the Friday.  I have reasons to believe that they cook their chicken in heroin.  How else could they get that kind of addictive flavoring out of it?  We also scored some tasty frozen custard over at Enginehouse Custard. 

We took a short hike over to Millennium Force and found a full que.  We hopped on the train and headed for the back of the park.  Ben and Sarah were still in need of a few credits and Mean Streak only had 30 minute wait.  The park was getting more and more crowded so we decided to head for Cleveland. 

Overall it was a good trip but it was the busiest we have ever seen Cedar Point.  We had luck in the past with a late August trip but not this time.  We’ve heard that the weekend before Labor Day weekend is a better choice and we missed it by one week.  We’ll plan a little better next time.

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