Starting out with dinner at Wendy’s (did I mention I LOVE that place), I headed to the park and ran into John Hildebrandt standing out in front of the ticket booths.
I said hi, took a picture with him to add to my staff pictures collection, and talked for a bit. He said that he started working in 1969 on the Frontier Lift. Once in the park, I rode the Blue Streak and then headed over to see The Overlord, but ran into the procession of Screamsters along the way.
Then it was on to the Fright Zone and to check on Shoot the Rapids and found a sign that said “Shoot the Rapids is currently closed due to weather conditions”.
I’m guessing just like everyone else that it was closed for the season and the sign was just a cover up. Moving on, I went through CarnEVIL, Terror Island twice, and Fear Faire.
Then I did Club Blood and Happy Jack’s and got done right around park closing, calling it a night.
Halloweekends trip #2 started with the Halloween Hullabaloo. Compared to last year, it sucked. Not only was it the exact same show, but the cast was horrible, except Kristin, but she was in it last year. There were multiple errors in the show: a few from the cast and the #1 problem with the theater: microphones. Every year there seems to be a problem with them and it’s only this theater. Moving on, I went and saw the parade.
Wonderful as always, but I see the reason Cedar Point only has this once a year. It’s a lot of work to control the crowd. Most of the people come to Cedar Point to ride the baggiest rides around, not stop and watch a parade. Thus they are inconvenienced by it going down some of Cedar Point’s smallest, and most crowded, midways. Next up was Happy Jack’s Toy Factory.
I got in line about a half hour before opening and was in one of the first groups to go in. TIP: Get there early and a half hour will be the shortest wait of the day/night. Basically, it was the same as last year with no new surprises. Then I took some time to do a little shopping before Carnival: A Sideshow of Magic began.
My opinion of this show: it sucked just like Rock Band, and it even used the exact same set and TV screens. Cedar Point really needs to get Chris Linn back. My theory is that they went way over budget with Rock Band and needed a cheap show to fill the Halloweekends gap. After the show I headed back to the car to eat dinner before The Overlord!
Then it was to the Fright Zone for opening, but first I had to check on my rapids. The water effects were on, but the ride had already closed for the Fright Zone.
After opening, I headed to the Garter for The Edge of Madness: Still Crazy.
That is a good show and much improved from last year! Then it was back through the Fright Zone and I headed back to Mean Streak, which had closed already for off-season maintenance.
I got stopped at the train crossing where the worker probably thought I was crazy for two reasons: One was for waving at the train as it went back, required by workers, but not by guests and not many do it on their own. The second was going to take pictures of the sign and new smoking area. But, oh well, that’s the way I am. ;D After a little more shopping, I headed over to CarnEVIL and Terror Island before calling it a night.
On Halloweekends Opening Night I got there just in time to see the Overlord send out the Screamsters.
It’s basically the same performance, but I’m wondering if someone else is in the Overlord custom this year as his hand motions are not the same.
Anyway, next I went to Dr. D. Mented’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Being new this year I figured that it would have a long line, which it kind of did and I ended up waiting a half-hour.
Next I walked over to CarnEVIL and Terror Island and all I can say is that the Terror Island Screamsters love being on videos. They kept coming up to me and made sure that they were in my video. After getting scared, not really, it was time for a real terror Magnum XL-200 and Top Thrill Dragster, both with short lines.
Then seeing that G.A. Bockling’s Eerie Estate had a short line, I decided to wait it out and go through. After that, I headed over to the Blue Streak and The Magical House on Boo Hill. I really don’t see how that can be so enjoyable for little kids. In my opinion, at least add some friendly Halloween characters throughout the house. Next was Raptor and then through Fear Faire. I then rode front row on Iron Dragon, I was very close to riding in my own train, but a few more people came before it left.
Then it was onto the Fright Zone and CornStalkers.
I quickly headed back to the Wave Swinger to ride in the fog, which isn’t as much fun as it looks.
To finish the night, I went with the last group, no wait, through Dr. D’s Asylum.
Ride Count:
Dr. D. Mented’s Asylum for the Criminally Insane x2
Trip #10 was going to be a short trip because rain was forecasted, which happened after I left. The main reason for going was to celebrate Millennium Force’s 10th Anniversary.
Before the celebration began I got to ride Raptor, Millennium Force, and Iron Dragon. The ceremony began and Dick Kinzel (Cedar Fair CEO), John Hildebrandt (General Manager), and Bryan Edwards all talked during the ceremony.
Also Tony Clark was there taking a movie for Cedar Point’s YouTube.
They gave out free cookies during the ceremony like with Snoopy’s Birthday.
After it was all over, I asked to take a picture with Dick Kinzel and of course he said yes. Then I headed to the back of the park to ride the Antique Cars. After exiting the ride, I got a tweet about the next 5 people to show it at Millennium Force’s entrance wins a prize. So I ran all the way from the back of the park to the entrance of Millennium and Tony was there and he gave me a bag filled with Millennium Force things after seeing the tweet. If you’re wondering, inside was a Millennium Force picture frame, keychain, 2 postcards, and a snow globe. Thanks Cedar Point and Tony, I hope they do a twitter contest again!
That was it for the day because it started to look like rain.
This trip, #8 if you’re counting, started off as a get-there-early-to-ride Shoot the Rapids trip. Well being Cedar Point’s newest and most unreliable ride, it was closed for the morning and most of the day. So with my dad and sister off riding Maverick, I was stuck for a short period of time with nothing to ride. Of course that didn’t bother me as I took pictures of Shoot the Rapids, the Frontier Trail, and I also got to see the filling up of Thunder Canyon.
This happens every morning and if you want to know more, Tony and Tyler wrote a blog entry on it.
After that I met up with my dad and sister and we took the train over to the Main Midway where we found Millennium Force with a very full queue line and moved on. We took the train fully around again and then got off and took the Skyride to the other end of the midway and then rode Chaos and Ocean Motion.
I also took pictures of the many construction markings in the area.
I then exited to the Beach and walked the boardwalk to the Hotel Breakers and took my very first peek inside. It’s very cool in there and if it wasn’t so expensive I might look into staying the night.
It was then time for lunch at the car. After lunch I headed to Paddlewheel Excursions for a ride and to take my yearly video of the ride. After that I headed over to Frontier Town to see Grand Ole Country which is an OK show, but nothing special once you have seen Tropical Heat, Island Beat. The audience just seems more into Tropical-Beat then just sitting there at Grand-Country.
There is about a half-hour delay in between shows, so I took this time to stroll through the Town Hall Museum and check on how Shoot the Rapids was doing, still down if you’re wondering.
After Tropical Heat, Island Beat, I headed to the car for a quick snack and then took the longer way around the point by going to Frontier Town to catch the train so I could check on Shoot the Rapids. I was finally open and I met up with my dad and sister and headed over to get in about two rides before it broke down AGAIN! After that I was done with rides for the day because my parents went all crazy about the Snoopy Scavenger hunt and we all ended up going back and forth between all three kids areas.
My day at the point then ended and on the way home we stopped at Costa Azul for dinner. The food there is OK, but I have defiantly had better at my local Mariachi Coco’s.
