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The drive into Toledo on Monday was about 14 hours, and we did stop in the Dells to hit up Avalanche, but I didn't get any pictures there, so this is the one Wisconsin picture.
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Here are a few pictures from the entrance to Cedar Point. We got to the park at about 8:30 but weren't quite sure if our employee IDs would get us in for the platinum pass 9:00 open or not. Luckily, we did get in then and made it on both Maverick and Millennium Force before the rest of the park opened at 10:00.
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Maverick is new since I was last at the park in 2004, and it really surprised me. I went in expecting to love it but I was still blown away. It really is the "most" roller coaster I've ever experienced in one ride. Our first ride was in the very back seat, and over the course of the day we got on it three more times, once in the very front, once in the middle, and we ended the night with one last ride in the very back. This thing is easily my number one coaster, wood or steel, and I'm expecting it to sit there for quite a while.
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Just a little late...
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Over the rest of the day, we made it onto all the coasters at least once except for Junior Gemini and Woodstock Express, and fit Demon Drop in while we were back at the front of the park to get Raptor. The lines weren't bad at all except for TTD where we waited about and hour and a half for front seat, and an hour for the back. Mean streak was a new credit and it wasn't actually as bad as I had been expecting, but still wasn't worth riding a second time. Here are some more pictures of the rest of the day:
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I've decided to call this color Cedar Fair Blue, our Corkscrew pond at VF is dyed exactly the same way, weird stuff.
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Wednesday morning we made the drive down to Kings Island, about 4 hours, and got to the park around 11. The first order of business was Diamondback, and we decided to check out the single rider line which only ended up taking about 20 minutes. The line was probably about 40 so we didn't save much time, but oh well. Diamondback was kind of "eh" the first time I rode it (in the 3rd car, back seat) but when we came back later in the night and were able to pick the very back row, I was really impressed. Ejector air over every single hill, even the last one into the water splash. After the back seat ride I would put it pretty high up in my top 10 steel, just behind Maverick, but in the middle/front it wasn't quite as impressive; really fun, just not amazing. Back seat was insane though, definitely my favorite hyper.
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Son of Beast was still closed. I knew it was closed but I hadn't heard why until we were at the park. For anyone that hasn't heard, some woman apparently hit her head on the ride about a month ago but didn't report it to anyone at the park that day, and is still having some problem from it now. Since she didn't report it to the park they have no idea what might have gone wrong and have to do a full investigation before they can open the ride again. Trust me, if you ever get hurt at a park, even just a little, report it when it happens or it just messes things up. I wasn't really excited for this one or anything, but it would have been nice to ride anyway, just to have done it.
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The rest of the day went pretty well, even though it was a little busier than I had expected for a Wednesday. Beast was great, and after the helix I could understand why so many people still rank it as their number one wood.
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One thing that disappointed me a little was Drop Tower (Zone). I have been on Giant Drop at SFGAm and have always loved it better than our S&S Power Tower at VF, but with the sheer size of the car on Drop Tower, you could actually feel the wind resistance on the ride before it even made it to the breaks. The whole fun on Intamin's drop towers to me has been that you keep accelerating the whole way down, but this one felt more like an S&S where the only really scary part is the first half second or so. It was still a fun ride, and it's definitely unnerving to be that high up with nothing around you, but I do wonder if the guys at Intamin had thought about that when they decided to use one huge car instead of separate smaller ones.
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Vortex was really fun too, and it was my first Arrow mega looper. I'd never been on a Premier ride either, and both Flight of Fear and Backlot (The Italian Job) were awesome. Firehawk was my first Vekoma flyer but I think I even liked Superman:UF better, and Tatsu blows it away. The ride wasn't bad, it just wasn't very interesting to me. Anyway, here are pics from the rest of the park just in the order I took them.
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$8.50 for a cheeseburger and fries with a $1 upgrade for onion rings. I wish I'd taken a picture of my $4.89 lunch at Holiday World.
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timing-fail
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It was a little depressing to actually pay to get into a park once we got to Holiday World on Thursday, but after being there for a few hours we realized it had been way worth it to come down there. Between free parking, free pop, a free water park with free sunscreen, free lockers at every ride, and really cheap food, this place has found just about everything that people hate about amusement parks and used it to make theirs awesome.
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First ride of the day was Raven, and while it wasn't amazing, it was a solid ride, and I can understand why it was ranked number 1 in the golden tickets for so long. Compared with stuff that's been built recently though it just can't match up.
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Next up was Legend, which I loved, and really surprised me because it seems I've always heard people say that they like Raven better. To me, Legend was faster, more out of control, has better pacing, and is just a longer ride for its height. I especially loved watching the swooping third turn through the water park; man does this thing move! That drop moves the whole support structure at least two feet, maybe more. It didn't beat Voyage for me, but I put it as my number three wood, just behind Hades.
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Which brings us to Voyage. I kind of wish we had started our trip here so that I hadn't been on Maverick before Voyage. This thing is pretty easily my favorite wood coaster, but the intensity just can't match Maverick. Still, it's one amazing ride, we rode it once in the back, once in the front, and I actually liked the front better, which is unusual for me. All the little pops just seemed more fun through the whole ride in the front, and the air on the first big hills was just as good there as in the back. As good as it was though, I feel like my expectations were just a little too high going in, which I usually try not to do, but I guess I couldn't help it in this case since the ride has been hyped so much over the last couple years. Overall a solid coaster, but not quite enough to make it my number one.
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I realized after we left the park that I didn't get any pictures of Pilgrim's Plunge, but it was a fun ride for sure. One thing I hadn't thought about beforehand was that while you're going up the lift (and waiting to go up the lift) there's a soaking wet boat and platform straight above you, so the ride up is pretty cold and wet which makes things pretty exciting. The drop is nothing special, but it is a long ways down so it's pretty fun anyway. As a family ride this thing is great though, so since that's what they were going for when they built it, I'd say the park did a great job.
After Pilgrim's Plunge we decided to get lunch and head to the water park for a while, since we'd really run out of stuff to do in the park. We got to all the big slides, rode the Plunge again (this time without clothes to get wet) and then changed and did each coaster once more. We left the park at around 5:00 but I really feel like we got our money's worth. It may not be the biggest or best amusement park out there, but for what it is they do a great job. Hope you enjoyed reading if you made it this far, I'll end with my favorite picture of the whole trip. [8D]
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