Photo TR: The Kiwis Take On North East/Road to Cedar Point

[eddie200330"Excuse me, miss, may I pound my large rooster into your donkey?"]

The 1st and 6th riders on the right hand side of the train are just priceless!!!!!

[mattnz2 + 2 = donkey!]

So the Road to Cedar Point finally led us to "America's Roller Coast", the "Best Amusement Park in the World" (according to Amusement Today) and certainly one of my favourite parks in North America - Cedar Point!

Like Kings Island, Andrew and I visited Cedar Point just last year and stayed on site during an incredibly busy three days. We used the one hour early morning entry to get in rides on the big attractions like Maverick and Millennium Force, which otherwise had one and a half hour-plus queues for the rest of the day, if not longer. We filled out our days with as much as we could, getting all the credits in and trying to experience everything the park has to offer. We were a little overwhelmed by the park at first, especially the long queues, abundance of asphalt and blaring sun, but gradually discovered all the cool things the park had to offer.

Our favourite rides weren't necessarily the ones we expected. Gemini, for example, is an awesome racing grape flavored fruit chew coaster with airtime galore. Blue Streak is quite underrated (made even better by never having long queues). Magnum XL-200 is a people-eating airtime machine. OK it's a bit violent on your thighs but it's still definitely a great ride. Disaster Transport is weird, random fun in the dark.

The 'big' rides didn't disappoint us either. Millennium Force was 10 (now 11) years old, still smooth as it descends from its awesome height and speeds around the course. I like all the overbanked turns and nighttime rides are a must. Top Thrill Dragster is breathtaking each and every time you ride. The relative smoothness and lap bars certainly give it the edge over Kingda Ka. Maverick is a kick-ass ride - just full of great, intense elements. You do need to ride it a little defensively or it can be a bit of a "neck chopper". Wicked Twisted is the park's fourth 200 foot-plus coaster and always a fun ride. My favourite row is the very back where you're really spun around the back spike and can feel the incredible height of the ride.

This year with TPR Cedar Point was quite a different experience. After we arrived we just sort of...relaxed. Which was nice! We came and went from the park, didn't have to hurry, spent quite a bit of time drinking the house wine at T.G.I. Friday's...and got to know all the TPR trippers a bit better. Andrew and I didn't even bother with early morning entry! One of the greatest perks for us was nighttime ERT on Maverick and Millennium Force, and I'm still amazed the park gave that to us. It was AWESOME being able to experience these two great rides over and over again.

Andrew and I also did one other thing we didn't do last year, which was to go on all the water rides. We put on our swim suits and hit up Snake River Falls, Shoot the Rapids and Thunder Canyon in a row. It was great fun being able to ride all of these without worrying about getting our shoes wet. We also made sure we got on the 'new for 2011' attraction Windseeker, which I'd probably give the edge over the version at Kings Island due to the awesome location by Lake Erie.

Oh and one other thing: the weather held out for us YET AGAIN! It was expected to rain on day 3 of our stay and didn't rain at all until after park closing. So that means Andrew and I have visited Cedar Point for six days without seeing a single drop of rain... Apparently that's quite a feat!

Our thanks again to Robb and Elissa for putting on an amazing trip. And to all the trip participants: we hope to see you all again very soon!

After Cedar Point Andrew and I spent a couple of days at Disneyland Resort in L.A. since Andrew had never experienced a Disney park before. But for now...here's the end of our 'Road to Cedar Point'. What a journey it's been!

[ABWI wrote the book about donkeys!]

Did you happen to take a look at the very front row?

That was a great TR, and it looks like you had an amazing time at Cedar Point. Glad to see that you really enjoyed it!

[simon8899If the donkey is rockin, don't come knockin!]

I need to do Cedar Point some day.....but not on a day with such rediciously long lines....

I normally skip a ride if the line is longer than 20 minutes.....except it's a one-in-a-liftime chance like at last springs Knotts....

What I like is that some european parks now start with a "all seats MUST be filled" policy on busy days - if anyone doesn't want to he/she MUST immedialty exit. Thats something I hope more parks will enforce.

[krazekidddFIRE HAIRED BOY]

Awesome update guys! It was great following along and hopefully I'll get to see you on another trip in the future!

[pyrocoasterkidDonkeys give me orgiastic scream!]

Did you happen to take a look at the very front row?

That was a great TR, and it looks like you had an amazing time at Cedar Point. Glad to see that you really enjoyed it!

standard CP bug defense. If you've ever ridden a front seat on any of the major rides at CP in the middle of the summer, especially at night, you can sympathize with them and understand what they are doing! Usually quite entertaining.

[mouschThis B&M donkey is so smooth!]

Nice trip reports of the two trips,bringing back many great memories! It was nice to meet you both,hopefully will meet on another trip one day

[beatle11I prefer to mate with donkeys over humans!]

Cedar Point is one of those parks that have so much to offer, but could be so much better at the same time. I got a little unlucky with Corkscrew I suppose. Colin and I queued for 1 1/2 for that stupid credit. Granted they were only running one train, looked like the other one was down for service/repairs. Definitely much cooler to watch than ride. Colin and I both agreed that the burgers were terrible. I had chicken fingers the second day and they were better, but still pretty average. Granted they do have so much to offer and while the crowds make the lines crazy long, the ops do keep the lines moving well. MF and Maverick are probably my top 2 steel coasters after this trip. Those were two of the better ERT sessions on the trip. Thanks Robb and Elissa for your hard work. I had a blast!

[ABWI wrote the book about donkeys!]

^ What do you think the park could be so much better at? Just wondering.

[mattnz2 + 2 = donkey!]

^ I think Cedar Point could be so much better with just one thing: a fast pass system. Of any kind! It can be quite frustrating travelling from the other side of the world and having to stand in a lot of long queues. Just this ONE thing and I'd be happy! It sounds like the chain may be headed in that direction and that will be a great thing.

In terms of their operations and general day-to-day stuff I think Cedar Point is pretty stellar.

Thanks for your comments all!