Cedar Point - Jun 30

I carried along my iPod and while standing in queue wrote up a few notes of each ride so I wouldn't have to remember everything later. Good thing I did, since it's taken me nearly 2 weeks to get around to making this post about it. So these are my immediate impressions of each ride, many of which I've ridden before. Just like King's Island, I think every high schooler in the area was in the park. This was my 3rd visit of what I hope are many more.

One of the things I love about this place is how they've shared space among the people and the rides. There are several places where a coaster dips down to eye level or passes less than 10 feet overhead. The queues often pass underneath the track and sometimes let you see into the engine room, so to speak. This intimacy between rider and ride really does amp up the energy and anticipation. Someone in Cedar Point's history was a genuine coaster junkie and really understood the experience.

Blue Streak: good camel backs, but The Beast has ruined me for all other woodens, for a while anyway.

Mantis: very good stand up coaster, but those have become my second least favorite, being just a step above hanging bucket style.

Power Tower has 2 towers each of different rides: Launch, with a fast ride up, and moderated drop down; and Drop, with a leisurely lift to the very top and a very fast drop.

Launch: Launching up quickly is a thrill from the positive Gs and surprise start but...
Drop: falling is a lot more fun. Rode this one with 3 high school girls, one of whom was crying after the drop. I don't think she cared for the experience.

Corkscrew: does exactly what its name says, but wow is it short. Luckily the line was equally short.

Magnum XL: 20th anniversary this year. Yes it has aged very well. Excellent traditional steel coaster. Great hill at start and super camel backs on the back stretch.

Gemini: it's a steel coaster hiding inside a wooden frame. The track is actually a steel tube and not a railcar track like a real wooden coaster. The curves are too smooth, but it is quick. Very nice sideways curve at the very end that causes some serious lateral Gs.

Cedar Creek Mine Train: another steel tube coaster on a wooden frame and so not very bumpy. I never thought of it before but 6 flags in Georgia may have one of the best mine trains anywhere.

Skyhawk: neat twist on the Flying Dutchman. And very cool. It needs about 10 degrees more arc and to last another half minute or longer. Still, it's the first ride since the Dragster 3 years ago to give me real butterflies.

Maxair: I think this one has a greater arc than delirium at King's Island and thus is better. I don't know why but this type of ride just relaxes me so much. Given the chance I could fall completely asleep on this ride. It's more meditative than thrill ride. But then again I'm weird.

Raptor: excellent inverted coaster. So only the front seats are worth having because of their unobstructed view. Speedy coaster with some real lateral Gs.

Millennium Force: probably the best traditional coaster I've yet ridden. Big, beautiful, ginormous hill at the beginning that gives so much speed it never has to touch a chain again. Stays fast to the very end. Not too smooth or too rough, just an awesome coaster in every way.

Maverick: I'd forgotten how much fun coaster rides are at night. This one had a long line and was the last ride of the night. In any other park this would be the premier coaster. I prefer MF but this is a solid second. Great snap left and right that feel like barrel rolls in a small airplane. Double LIM (magnet launchers) which keeps the speed up. Great way to wrap up tonight.

2nd day
Dragster: OMG what an incredible rush. I'm still shaking. Its a legal high. The only thing I can compare it to is once doing 140 in my car. And this is a whole lot safer.

Mean Streak: CP's only true wooden (flat rail as opposed to steel tube). Only 3 people on the train - 2 in front and me in very back. I suspect that made it even bumpier cause it was a real kidney bruiser. Fun but still no Beast.

Magnum XL again. The lines were getting longer as noon approached, so I picked the rides with the shortest lines to redo. Serious bummer is that Skyhawk is down due to a technical difficulty. Then it was time to get On The Road Again my first time ever into Michigan.