Cedar Point - June 4 and 5, 2023

After two days at smaller regional parks, my wife and I were ready to move on to the "big boy" parks in our trip. The centerpiece of the trip - one of the world's best thrill parks - the second oldest amusement park in America - Cedar Point. We had two days, one very windy and cool, the other calmer and warmer, to experience this gorgeous park in all its glory.

I'll start with the coasters and rides, and address park quality, crowds, food, lodging, etc afterwards. Embedded photos may not be mine.

Cedar Point also has a decent selection of flat rides, although the coasters are obviously the star of the show:

I was also impressed with the park's three large kiddie areas!

Cedar Point is one of a few parks that could be considered meccas for lovers of roller coasters. I was incredibly excited to come here, but I was still unprepared for the magnitude of it all. The skyline that you see on the drive in is absolutely MAGNIFICENT. This park has a vibe and atmosphere unlike any other park - there is almost a "spook" to it that is hard to describe. You get sucked into it the same way the vibes at Disney and Universal suck you in. It's one of the best park vibes I've ever felt.

The lineup of coasters here is ridiculously strong. The rides are generally more intense than their Six Flags or Hershey counterparts. I don't think I've been in a park that had a more complete lineup of coasters ever. It's on a completely different level.

The park itself is also GIGANTIC. I had no idea just how big this place really is. The rides all feel quite separated and far-flung. This gives the park a unique opportunity to create really unique feelings in each section. The boardwalk, various midways and Frontier Town all have noticeably different atmospheres, and it's really very cool. It's hard to believe that something like the area surrounding Maverick and Steel Vengence are contained in the same park as the boardwalk area near GateKeeper.

The park seems to be exceptionally well-maintained and manicured. The landscaping is impressive and everything was squeaky clean. Even the footpaths were bright and fresh looking. No faded or chipped paint to be found, unlike at every Six Flags park I've ever visited.

It was occasionally difficult to find our way around. There aren't many park maps posted up, and there's not really any useful signs either pointing you to a given destination. That would be handy to have. This appears to be a chain-wide issue as we noted the same thing at Kings Island.

The crowds on both of our visits were not bad at all. Unusually, we found the park was less crowded on Sunday than it was on Monday. Either way, we didn't wait long for most rides, with the worst waits being for Maverick and Millie. Some rides, like Steel Vengeance and Magnum, boasted surprisingly short waits every time.

I mentioned a crappy burger before. Sadly the burger I had was pretty bad. Some of the food looked decent, but I was too gun-shy to try the (fantastic smelling) BBQ food. I didn't want to have a stomach ache at the park, you know?

There is something interesting about the B&Ms at this park, and this is something we noticed across the three Cedar Fair parks we visited. My wife and I have visited SFGAdv and Hershey a bunch, and hold B&M in high regard for their reliable and smooth rides. Coasters like Great Bear, Batman GAdv, Batman SFNE, Medusa, etc are all quite smooth and enjoyable experiences. The two rides here that used B&M's older OTSR system were one-and-dones for us due to the untenable amount of headbanging we experienced. We walked off both coasters with splitting headaches, and I found it difficult to ride them defensively. GateKeeper and Valravn used the vest restraints, which were much much more comfortable and obviously eliminated the headbanging. I think putting those restraints on Raptor and Rougarou would go a long way. The roughness we experienced on Cedar Fair's collection of B&Ms (CP, KI, Dorney) makes me wonder if this is why many thoosies are so quick to shit on them! I also wonder if the chain has issues maintaining their B&Ms.

The park's hours I felt were very generous once again. Being able to enter at 9 AM with the Platinum pass was a major plus.

We stayed at a real crappy motel called Cedar Cove directly across the street from the Thirsty Pony bar in Sandusky. It was the cheapest option that wasn't loaded with reviews shouting bedbugs in all caps. I still wouldn't stay there again - too many people loitering outside the room and in the parking lots. Nobody warns you just how sad the town of Sandusky is once you leave the immediate vicinity of Cedar Point. It's a pretty depressed place unless you're right next to the park or the Great Wolf Lodge. Next time I visit CP, I'll probably just bite the bullet and stay at Hotel Breakers or Lighthouse Point. They looked really nice and I love the idea of being RIGHT THERE by the park.

Even though the surrounding town was a bit unusual, we did have a nice few breakfasts and dinners at Dianna's Deli. Friendly staff and good food for cheap!

So in the end, I got to visit the most famous roller coaster park in America for two days. Not even a full year after really getting over my fear in earnest and I dove head-first into the hobby. It felt like I had climbed some kind of Everest.

Oddly enough, though, it wasn't really Cedar Point that inspired this trip... There was a rather unusual woodie that was the foundation for this entire trip. And that's where we went next.

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