Julie's Vacation on a Stick Photo TR - Day 2

All the photos from this day can be seen on my website at:
http://www.fyabulous.com/onastick/cedarpoint3.html

July 11th
Once we were up for the day, I went back to Joan and told her that there was no way that I was putting up with the trains another night and that I wanted a refund for the second night of my stay. She gave me the refund, but did not seem apologetic at all, and made a comment to the effect of that no one had ever complained about the trains! I don't see how every person in that motel did not run to the office to complain! It was absolutely deafening! And went on for hours...not just one or two times...I'm talking at least a dozen trains over the course of the night!

Once that was taken care of, we headed off to another hotel a little closer to the park for breakfast. They had a sign advertising a cheap buffet breakfast, which was what we both wanted. It was basic but good, so we both got a good start to the day. We decided to only take one car to the park, so I parked my car in an undisclosed location, and he drove to the park. We wandered slowly back to Top Thrill Dragster, taking pictures along the way. I'd had to charge my camera battery in the car the night before since we had no power at the hotel, so I had to make up for not having the camera most of the first day!

Once at Top Thrill Dragster, we got in line, figuring that we would never be more ready than we were right then. I was scared...I mean truly scared to ride it. I just kept watching it over and over, and there were times when I was just sure it was going to roll back...and I just got more and more nervous. Trying to laugh off the nerves, we joked that consciousness was all I was aiming for after the ride. So long as I didn't pass out or die, it would be ok hahaha.

We waited about an hour and 15 minutes, which wasn't terrible considering what the lines have been in the past. Once we were actually in our dragster, I seemed to have a mini panic attack...I could barely breathe and was almost crying I was so nervous. It didn't last long though since we didn't sit there very long. As soon as it launched, I remember thinking for a split second that I couldn't believe that it wasn't taking my breath away. I don't remember the climb at all, but do recall my ears popping as we crested the top hat. But I most distinctly remember the visual of being 420 feet up and seeing the track spiraling down straight below me and thinking a stream of expletives. But as soon as I was about halfway down, it was pretty clear that this was one of the best rides I'd ever ridden! Before we were even horizontal again, we were both screaming because we'd loved it so much. I can't even really say what was so great about it...it was just big and fast and intense, yet comfortable and not scary (once it was launched!). Truly a fantastic ride except that it could stand to be five times as long! Y'know, I really wanted to walk away from it saying it was overrated...but I can't! I absolutely loved it and could have ridden it all day had it not been for the long line. Credit #102.

As we came down from our adrenaline rushes, we both stopped for cold treats...me a snow cone in an upside down sombrero, and him some Dippin' Dots. We needed to clean up the last two credits I hadn't gotten, Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Raptor (Wicked Twister was closed both days, and neither of us planned on riding it anyway), so we headed to the back of the park. We ate as we walked, then stopped as we approached Cedar Creek Mine ride to finish up my snow cone. The ride had a very low wait, and this was what I would consider a starter coaster. It was fun, but nothing to write home about. Credit #103.

We walked back through Frontiertown, and made a stop in the Cedar Point museum for a few minutes. It was really interesting, though we both wished that the old arcade games and movie machines actually worked! Those things are so cool when they are working. We did a little browsing through the shops in that area but didn't end up buying anything. Once we got back to the main midway, we stopped in a big gift shop with Snoopy on the front of it and did a little more souvenir buying. We ended up being goofy and taking pictures with lots of the Peanuts props, including my discovery of the Great Pumpkin.

We still had a receipt for the game tickets we'd won playing skee ball yesterday, so we stopped in the main arcade to see what we could get for our 17 tickets. While there we found one of the drum games that Robb and Elissa on TPR talk about so much, so Kevin decided to try it out. I didn't play, but it looked really fun, and not that difficult if you have rhythm. I also decided to play some sort of whack the chicken game, which I assume was malfunctioning since I hit every chicken that lit up, and it still told me I missed over 20 of them! When we were done with our games, we had enough tickets for two mini decks of Cedar Point cards and two Cedar Point heart boxes on strings.

Lunch was next since both of us were quite hungry by then. We'd been joking about going to the "all you can eat hamburger buffet" so we finally decided to try it. We were seated at Midway Market immediately, and there was a huge selection of food on the buffet! We arrived at around 3:30 or so, so we got to pick from the lunch selections as well as dinner! We had pizza, pasta, fried rice, chicken tacos, egg rolls, fried chicken, chicken noodle soup and all the burgers we could eat (which ended up being just one burger each, go figure). There was cheesecake, cookies, ice cream and tons of other choices for dessert also. Man, what a fantastic meal. I wish my tummy had had more room so I could have eaten more.

The last thing left on the agenda was Raptor. We'd kept putting it off because of long lines, but now waiting was unavoidable. We decided to do the sky tower ride so we could get a few more good aerial pictures and to let lunch settle again. It was so hot...dear god, they really need to air condition that thing. We both felt so sorry for the girl who had to ride it up and down with the guests...what a hot and sweaty job. Yuck. It did afford us some nice pictures though.

Finally we headed for Raptor, which had about a 45 minute line. Kevin needed to leave by about 5:00 so he could get home for work the next day, which was just about what time it was when we got in line. The wait was almost completely in full sun, which seemed very unnecessary since you could easily put up some canopies. The ride itself was great though...would turn out to be the smoothest inverted coaster of the trip, by far! Credit #104.

At that point, Kevin had to head for home, so we headed up to the front gate to take a few final photos of us in front of the entrance. As Kevin was taking the picture of me, some guy walked up who seemed really really excited to see us taking pictures! He offered to take a picture of both of us at the entrance, and we are both just laughing at this guy in the picture. It was so random and weird. From there we retrieved Kevin's car, then he drove me back to my car. We said a tearful (or not) goodbye, and he was off on his way back home.

Having cancelled my second night of lodging at Maples Motel, I was suddenly aware that I had no place to sleep that night, so I got on the phone trying to find something. I couldn’t find anything even remotely in my budget anywhere in Sandusky. So finally I called the Holiday Inn in Cleveland where I was staying the next night, and begged them to let me stay that night also for the employee rate I'd gotten for the 12th. They agreed, and I was so extremely grateful that they were willing to do that for me!

With the hotel issue settled, I headed back into the park to finish up taking a few pictures I'd missed the day before. I walked from the entrance, around by the Ferris Wheel, back to Magnum, through Frontiertown, past Millennium Force, then back up the main midway past Top Thrill Dragster, and finally back past the Ferris Wheel again. The only ride I rode by myself was Troika since I'd never ridden one of those rides before. I ended up leaving around 9:00pm, and started out towards my hotel in Cleveland.

On the way I found a Dunkin Donuts, which we don't have in Nashville anymore, so I stopped and got a sesame bagel breakfast sandwich. I ate it while I drove, and talked to Kevin for a bit more as he drove back home. Once I got directions, I found my hotel pretty easily, and it was very nice! I was so tired, that I just collapsed into bed.

I forgot to mention that this was my birthday. I talked to my mom at one point, and she forgot to wish me a happy birthday, so I had to really rag her about it. Also, Kevin got me a huge insulated mug that has a lot of the coaster names on it for my birthday. I mentioned that I could really use that at work since I'm not supposed to leave the hotel desk when I work overnights, so I could fill it with water, and it would last me my entire shift. Such a sweetie. We also ended up with two onride photos...Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster.

Face Book · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:23 am Post subject:

Wow! Great pics and great TR!!!

So a couple of questions....WHAT WAS THAT DRUM GAME?!??!

It looked like a rip-off Taiko No Tatsujin!!! I haven't seen that anywhere!

Was TTD finally running fairly reliable? Hopefully KK will get its bugs worked out after the 1st year.

Thanks for posting all these Photo TRs. Great stuff!

--Robb

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:35 am Post subject:

I love your Photo TR's! Awesome Pics!

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:40 am Post subject:

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:46 am Post subject:

Wow,
great photo TR! I can not wait to take a look at the next one! Wink

--Sören

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject:

Robb, here is a frontal shot of that drum game, including a close up of the URL on the front of it. I can't make out the URL, but maybe it will be familiar to someone.
As for TTD, once it was up, it appeared to stay up all day both days we were there. Right as we got to the station, they didn't launch any trains for a few minutes, and we were both worried that the ride was breaking down after we waited an hour for it!! It got going again after just a few minutes thank heavens!
-Julie

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