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Photo TR: Andy's Texas/Midwest TPR Tour


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I must admit, any TR of our time at Timber Falls is bound to raise at least as many questions for me as it answers.

 

Chance Toboggans are way more effortlessly photogenic than I'd think they deserve to be. Both the amazing TPR memories and the charm of the park make Little Amerricka one of those places I'll always feel hugely nostalgic about.

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So that is what Timber Falls looks like. lol I'm glad you got a shot of me on the coaster for proof I did make it on. You also got me playing mini golf. lol Great pics as always. At this rate you will be done before this year's trip begins

 

See, you had a great day, just needed a little reminder! I'm really going to struggle to get through everything from Cedar Point before mid-July, but I'll give it my best.

 

Little Amerricka was an amazing surprise. Great photos of the park. Thanks for another photo of me on a coaster.

 

Sure! Just got lucky with the timing I guess. Sadly this is the last photo update where I have much in the way of pictures of TPR members, since there wasn't much of an opportunity for that at SFGAm or CP.

 

I remember Neil screamed through the whole ride of Tomber Fall's Log Flume because he was at the front and he got very wet.

 

I didn't ride in the front when I got the flume credit, but from that picture I can tell that it was probably quite a bit more wet up there!

 

Am I the only one who rode everything twice?

 

Maybe so! It would have been hard to get two spins on the Toboggan, but I thought Meteor was most worth the repeat rides.

 

Chance Toboggans are way more effortlessly photogenic than I'd think they deserve to be.

 

Oh yeah, totally agreed. If we had a little more time I would have tried some more different shots of that thing in the dark. It's just striking against the deep blue sky. Nothing else looks like it.

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Day 9 -- Six Flags Great America

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

 

Lesson of the Day: Don't wait for premium seating during ERT. At least, don't do it right at the beginning of an ERT session. The big benefit of ERT is the ability to get on trains quickly, without interruption, which was fairly easy to accomplish at most of TPR's exclusive sessions on the 2013 tour. However, the front and back rows often had people lining up to wait for them. I found that the best strategy was to see if those lines got shorter late in the ERT session, or even to simply hold off and go for the front or back during regular operating hours (perhaps with the aid of the park's line-skipping program).

 

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X-Flight (2012) and igNight (2013) were the featured attractions during our visit to Six Flags Great America. I'm sure the 2014 edition of the park map might have some RMC magic on the front cover. Also pictured -- yet another addition to my collection of TPR-branded park tickets!

Scorecard:

 

Raging Bull (x4)

X-Flight

Ragin' Cajun

Vertical Velocity

Little Dipper

Spacely's Sprocket Rockets

Logger's Run

American Eagle (Blue)

-- Lunch --

Backstage Tour

Superman: Ultimate Flight

Viper (Backwards)

Demon

American Eagle (Red)

-- Enter Hurricane Harbor --

Mega Wedgie

Wipeout

Dive Bomber

Bahama Mama

Wahoo Racer

Surf Rider [FlowRider ERT]

-- Leave Hurricane Harbor --

Roaring Rapids

Yankee Clipper

Batman: The Ride

Whizzer

Giant Drop

The Dark Knight

 

Day 9 -- Six Flags Great America

 

Our long, three-park day in Wisconsin finally came to an end just after 11 PM, as we arrived at our hotel in Gurnee, Illinois. Any plans to quickly get to sleep were scuttled by a fire alarm, which forced everybody outside for a while. Apparently somebody got a little too friendly with one of the washing machines (or dryers), but I don't know that I ever heard the full story.

 

That slight disruption didn't come at a great time, as the upcoming day at Six Flags Great America would prove to be the most challenging and busy of the entire trip, at least for me. That's based solely on my experience as a first-time visitor to a park with a huge amount of attractions, and 14 coaster credits to acquire. In addition to the coasters, I had several other things I wanted to do, not the least of which being TPR's special activities for the day. I figured it would be easier to come back to the park to ride a roller coaster (if necessary) than it would be to take a backstage tour or get ERT on a FlowRider! What I didn't know at the time is that I'd indeed be making plans to revisit SFGAm in 2014 as part of another TPR tour, and I'm certainly looking forward to a slightly more leisurely visit at the end of July.

 

We arrived to the park at about 9:45 AM, making our way first to Raging Bull for about 20-30 minutes of ERT. From there, we were ushered to X-Flight, where we got in line for the first rides of the day. As both of those rides would have some of the longest waits in the park later on, the head start was a big help. After riding X-Flight, TPR was turned loose before noon with Flash Pass Q-Bots in hand. We also received two more pieces of good news. We'd have the ability to add one more X-Flight ride to our Flash Passes, and we'd be given a "really good deal" on wristband Flash Passes for the water park. While my group didn't have time for another run on X-Flight, we did take them up on the water park offer, which was just as awesome as advertised.

 

During the rest of the morning, we worked our way primarily through credits that were not available on the Q-Bot Flash Pass, getting the park's smaller coasters out of the way. One of our longest waits of the day was on Ragin' Cajun, the spinning mouse that has since been relocated to Six Flags America. We waited 30 minutes, but watched in amazement as several groups of park guests used the "single rider line" to skip ahead of everyone else without splitting their party. It was one of the more bizarre loading procedures I've ever seen.

 

The skies briefly began to threaten by about 1:30 PM, as I unwisely skipped a ride on the red side of American Eagle, only to find it not operating later in the day. After that, we headed for our lunch break, and it was one of the best lunch spreads we had on the entire trip! What was that stuff with the beans? It was fantastic. It was a huge improvement from the limited-option vouchers we received at the last two Six Flags parks on the trip. From there, we met up with Brandon Bruce for our backstage tour. Brandon worked in public relations at Six Flags Great America through the 2013 season, and is now the marketing manager at Six Flags Over Georgia. We were led on a tour through several indoor and outdoor storage locations, and passed through the greenhouse area where landscaping work is prepared. We ended the tour along access roads near American Eagle and Raging Bull, obtaining rare views of those two coasters in action.

 

The credit run continued after lunch, and as the park had become rather crowded, our Flash Passes helped avoid hour-long waits on Superman and Viper. Demon had been down for a while, but I noticed it was running while we were riding Viper, so we quickly went there for our next ride. While on Demon, I noticed that American Eagle's red side was running again, so I made a quick departure to pick up that credit (which I had missed earlier in the day).

 

At 5:00 PM, I headed over to Hurricane Harbor, the water park attached to SFGAm. Even with a day as busy as this, I thought it was worth spending about an hour on the wet side of the park -- including the first capsule-drop slides I'd ever been on. Of even greater importance was another round of FlowRider ERT -- our second session on the trip, after Summer Adventures at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. That was too much fun to pass up!

 

Upon leaving Hurricane Harbor, it seemed like a good time to finish off the dry park's water rides, before working through the remaining coasters. We were starting to get pressed for time, but I had no intentions of being denied my goal of finishing the credit run. Along the way, I hit another big milestone I hadn't initially anticipated. I rode my 100th coaster at Six Flags Over Texas (Judge Roy Scream), but calculated that I'd likely come up just short of #150 by the end of the trip. Thanks to our surprise stop at Little Amerricka -- giving me a four-credit boost -- I was able to nail down #150 on Whizzer at SFGAm.

 

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#150!

I made the sign rather hastily at the front desk of our hotel, but it gets the job done! Huge thanks to Andrew Samitz (darque) for the picture!

 

After a ride on the park's 2nd-gen Intamin drop tower (too good to pass up) I was left with one credit to go -- and only 20 minutes with which to obtain it. Thanks to some shuffling of the Q-Bot (in order to get it back to Robb before closure), I was able to get in the short line for The Dark Knight, finishing my day on the park's not-so-good mouse-in-a-box. I got off the ride with four minutes to spare before the park closed, with my biggest goal for the day complete!

 

This is also where I want to give a huge thanks to my Q-Bot group -- Tim, Stacy, and Victor -- as we'd now finished the last of our four Six Flags parks together. Great group of people to spend four days with. An extra thanks to Victor, as without his help, I probably wouldn't have finished off the credits at SFGAm.

 

The park offered night ERT on Viper to TPR and passholders, and by all accounts, this looked like a ton of fun -- a dance-party atmosphere on an above-average wood coaster. I might somewhat regret the decision, but ultimately I decided to skip the ERT and walk back to our hotel area for a decent dinner. I admit that I'm not a huge fan of riding coasters backwards. I was also pretty well exhausted, and ready to turn in for the day.

 

Although I don't feel like I ever had time to truly stop and enjoy my visit at Six Flags Great America, I do think it's a good park, and I'm glad I'll be able to revisit the place next month. Simply put, it's a huge property with a ton of attractions, and just about any guest should be able to find something they enjoy. It's also not a bad-looking place -- still some classic charm, and the main entry plaza is among my favorites from any park I can think of. I was also impressed with the water park, which is pretty large and contains a really strong mix of slide types. The coaster collection was the one place I thought SFGAm was slightly lacking, even with such a large number of credits (14). There are a lot of B-grade coasters in that lineup, and several clones -- good rides, maybe even very good, but the park seemed to be missing that one knockout coaster to put them over the top. I know some people would probably put Raging Bull in that slot, but I don't think it quite rises to that level. In 2014, this may all be a moot point -- Goliath could very well be the A-grade coaster that really tops off the ride collection.

 

The busy schedule meant that outside of the backstage tour, I didn't have much of an opportunity for pictures -- at least not a comprehensive featuring of everything in the park. I even had to skip the observation tower! That's near-blasphemy! That may be priority #1 for this year's trip.

 

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Reviews of the attractions at Six Flags Great America:

 

Raging Bull: We all know about the trim brake, and after riding Raging Bull, I'm just as mystified by it as everyone else. It's not a bad layout -- a combination of hills and twists -- but I had to go to the far back of the train to find any airtime. This is a fun ride, but it promises more than it delivers.

 

X-Flight: I was pretty disappointed by X-Flight. The wing seats just didn't add enough to the experience of what was otherwise a rather plodding and uninspired B&M layout. I just didn't find it to be comfortable enough (or fun enough) to warrant a second ride, and we didn't really end up having time for it anyway.

 

Ragin' Cajun: Our group had the brilliant idea to unbalance our car to maximize the rotation on our second spinning mouse in two days, and we got more than we bargained for. The speed of the spin was almost unbearably quick, to the point of being uncomfortable on the ride, but it was worth the laugh afterwards.

 

Vertical Velocity: Wicked Twister is one of my favorite coasters at Cedar Point, so I was looking forward to V2 at SFGAm. Vertical Velocity felt a little weaker, and without something extra to increase the thrill level on the back spike -- either a holding brake or another twist -- I can't say I enjoyed it as much as its cousin in Ohio.

 

Little Dipper: Little Dipper is an obvious sibling of Meteor at Little Amerricka. The rides are virtually identical, but I have to admit that our exclusive event in Wisconsin made that one a little more fun.

 

Spacely's Sprocket Rockets: It's a kiddie coaster, but an easy credit, with no problem letting adults on the ride.

 

American Eagle: The queue is about ten miles long, but it's worth the trek. American Eagle (either side) was one of my favorite rides of the day. It's kind of big and drawn out, and not particularly intense, but ultimately it's just a fun ride. I also like that the two sides aren't strictly mirror images -- the cross-over just after the helix is an interesting design element.

 

Superman: Ultimate Flight: I found this ride to be significantly more comfortable than Firehawk (Vekoma flyer at Kings Island), giving Superman some easy credit against its closest competitor. The short and mostly-tame layout isn't much to speak of, but the signature element -- the pretzel loop -- is unlike anything else. It's worth the experience by itself. It does increase my interest in riding a better flyer, such as Manta -- hopefully in 2015.

 

Viper: I'm really not a fan of riding coasters while facing the wrong direction, but one of the big marketing items for SFGAm in the summer of 2013 was that Viper would be running backwards. That was disappointing for me, because I actually thought it was a pretty good ride, and quite smooth for a wood coaster with almost 20 years to its credit.

 

Demon: Demon is a not-too-painful Arrow looper, certainly better than the Arrow/Vekoma contraption at Six Flags St. Louis (Ninja). This one has an interesting tunnel after the second vertical loop. The rock work is interesting, as is the corkscrew over the train tracks.

 

Batman: The Ride: Are we done with these? Finally? Batman clones are definitely fun, but after five on the trip, I was ready to move on. To SFGAm's credit, this was probably the best decorated of the three Batman-themed coasters that we rode.

 

Whizzer: This one is a strange classic. It starts with a spiral lift, and heads into a mix of shallow drops and near-ground curves. It probably gets a little bit of the Anton Schwarzkopf popularity boost among enthusiasts, but it's a pretty unique coaster with very few remaining peers in operation.

 

The Dark Knight: A non-spinning mouse in a building with half-effort special effects? Definitely one of the least-impressive coasters at the park.

 

Giant Drop: Giant Drop has been around for over 15 years, but there's still nothing wrong with these Intamin 2nd generation freefall rides, because weightlessness is fun.

 

Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper: SFGAm's two log flumes intertwine across a pond on the east side of the park. Though similar in some ways, there are key differences between the two. Logger's Run uses traditional logs, and the final drop features a double-down. Yankee Clipper uses canoe-shaped boats, and has one long drop with a small hill at the bottom. Both were fun, and a little on the wet side.

 

Roaring Rapids: A feast-or-famine big-raft water ride, I barely got wet at all, but the guy next to me hit the back of every wave. Overall, it's a fairly average rapids ride.

 

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Reviews of the attractions at Hurricane Harbor:

 

Mega Wedgie: It has been years -- maybe a decade -- since an amusement park attraction gave me a feeling of unease. This was my first time experiencing a drop-capsule slide, and it was unnerving! Once the door opened, though, I really enjoyed the feeling of restraintless freefall. There's nothing else quite like it.

 

Dive Bomber: While Mega Wedgie features a straight drop, Dive Bomber goes from a drop capsule into a helix. This one wasn't as fun, primarily thanks to the rough seams on the surface of the slide.

 

Wipeout: This big-raft slide goes through a course of multiple small funnels. I thought it was pretty slow, but not a bad ride for a small group.

 

Bahama Mama: Bahama Mama and Bubba Tubba are the large multi-person raft slides. We rode Bahama Mama, which has a series of curves on the way down (Bubba Tubba is a straight drop). What I remember most from this is being absolutely frigid in the stiff breeze while waiting in line at the top of the tower! Otherwise, this was a fun (if unspectacular) slide.

 

Wahoo Racer: I gained a new appreciation for the classic mat racer during this trip, after riding a couple that provided some decent air time on the final bump. This one behaved just as expected, but has the added bonus of starting off with an enclosed helix.

 

Surf Rider (FlowRider): After starting ERT at Summer Adventures in Dallas as a complete FlowRider novice, I ended our second session in Illinois with a degree of balance and confidence I had not anticipated. No longer struggling just to keep a minimum of control, I had figured out how to kneel, balance without the use of hands, steer, and hop. A couple attempts at more advanced maneuvers (a 360-degree turn, for example) were not successful. I'm hoping for another round or two of FlowRider ERT on this year's trips!

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Pictures from Day 9

 

Additional pictures and bigger versions of these images can be found here.

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The first view upon entering SFGAm is one of my favorite entry plazas at any park I've been to! Flowers, flags, water, and a double-decker carousel.

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Half of TPR with their cameras out. A common scene.

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Lots and lots of flowers, which really add a ton of color -- and nice contrast to the blue water.

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It seems almost unthinkable that I'd skip out on an observation tower, but time just didn't allow it. Sky Trek Tower is thus at the top of my list for next month!

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Raging Bull or Fiesta Fries? Choose wisely.

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Tim K prepares for a bit of Vertical Velocity.

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Coaster wheels in the raw!

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V2 launches forward.

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Twisting into the sun.

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V2's front spike is twisted, while...

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...V2's back spike is straight.

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Logger's Run is one of two intertwined flumes at Six Flags Great America.

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This one features a double-down drop, and a whole lot of that classic seafoam-greenish color that seems to be a requirement of every old log flume.

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As we headed out on our backstage tour, I noticed how long the lines for the flumes and rapids ride had become. Thankfully, all three attractions are available on the Flash Pass.

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Here's a strange floor-level shot from the Roaring Rapids station. Bonus points for the Batman train on the lift.

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Sad raft sits alone in the corner.

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Our backstage tour started along the eastern perimeter of the park, where we passed several outdoor storage areas. This is a strange mix of Halloween props and old cars.

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Nightmare fuel.

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We headed south on the perimeter road, passing more storage, and eventually reaching the park's greenhouses.

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It's hard work to keep up with gardening in such a big park, but they do a pretty good job at SFGAm.

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Who's Jenny?

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A Fire Rescue truck from Area 51, which in October is probably teeming with zombies, or aliens, or zombie aliens.

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Several small stands and kiosks await their next assignment.

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Here's a somewhat-elaborate Looney Tunes prop. I wonder where this came from?

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Train cars...

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...and train wheels.

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We passed by the storage shed for the trains, and one engine was parked inside.

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Our backstage tour continued as we headed for the main storage and maintenance building.

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If you need large pieces of metal, they probably have what you're looking for.

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Honestly, I don't know what half this stuff is, but I'm sure it's important!

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Just in: paper plates and slurpees!

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We didn't go in the Ride Mechanics department, but it probably would have been fun.

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This area might also be of interest.

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This, however, was kind of frightening -- probably six full pallets of Takis, one of Six Flags' most egregious advertisers.

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For all your broken PTC train needs.

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Buffet-lo? Ha ha ha! That's almost as good as Wildebeestro.

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Old advertising and other signs, with a stairway that is assuredly not blocked.

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TPR needs to purchase this booth, since they're heavily invested in the business of wristband distribution.

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Several boats from both flumes found a new home in the back parking lot.

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The "really backstage" portion of our tour was done, and it was time to head west for some rare views of the park's coasters.

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Not everybody gets this kind of view of the final helix on American Eagle.

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We also passed close to the X-Flight station.

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While passing the train tracks, we could see Demon's corkscrew that goes over them in the distance.

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Clearly, though, our best views were of American Eagle. The road we walked down is directly north of the coaster's outbound run, providing several close views.

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One of the blue trains heads down the first drop.

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American Eagle was truly one of my favorite rides in the park, but it was clear that it could use a little bit of work, with paint almost completely disappearing from parts of the structure.

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This didn't look too hot either.

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There were two or three survey marks right next to the ride, which caught my attention once all the "RMC makeover" rumors started coming out before the Goliath announcement.

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Clearly, this flag implies that American Eagle is going to (insert fanboy coaster fantasy here).

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As we moved further west, we got a great view of Raging Bull and Giant Drop.

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Nowhere to go but down.

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Raging Bull is a good ride, but it could have been a great ride.

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The far back is the place to be, especially for the first drop.

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Back to American Eagle, as TPR's photographers prepare for a few shots.

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Here's a full blue train cresting the second hill. Unfortunately, the red side was not running during our tour.

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The blue train heads up the huge hill at the end of the outbound leg.

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Filtered sun shines down on the American Eagle helix.

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We shifted our attention to Raging Bull as the tour continued.

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We were pretty much about to walk under the track and get very close to the ride, which gave us some outstanding views of the coaster in action.

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Danger! Sometimes, life needs a trim brake.

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That's a nice-looking lift hill, but I think I prefer its brand new neighbor at the other side of the park.

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Hands up on the drop out of the station. That's the way to do it.

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The low-to-the-ground turns were a lot of fun, and helped Raging bull /almost/ reach its potential.

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Going down from a height of 202 feet.

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I presume that Raging Bull may have been painted fairly recently. The colors looked great.

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Airtime? Maybe.

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A Yankees fan in Chicago?

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We got pretty close to Viper, which was -- to my dismay -- running backwards.

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We also had a few views into the water park, with its many slide towers...

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...and play structures.

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Raging Bug.

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Another awesome view from a killer angle.

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Dropping down a hill.

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Five empty seats?

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It almost looks so close that you could touch it. I didn't try.

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Raging past the water park.

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Things I've never before seen on a roller coaster: toe touches. Front row, second from the right.

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Fake tuxedo shirt guy is just a little too into it.

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That was the end of our tour, but as we re-entered the park, we walked into quite the battle...

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..with a gun!

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Apparently they were holding up the arcade, or something. I don't really know.

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Alright, that's just cute.

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The igNight stage looks like a bunch of random white blocks with stairs in the daylight.

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The park's tallest attraction is also its biggest flagpole.

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A closer view of the Columbia Carousel, one of the park's signature attractions.

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The Columbia Carousel is a double deck model created by Chance Rides.

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I was pretty excited about Superman: Ultimate Flight, as it was the first time I'd ever been on a B&M flyer.

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It's not a bad ride, and it's quite a bit more comfortable than the Vekoma version.

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The layout wasn't great, with several swooping turns like this one, but it was still fun and worth the ride.

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Time for some quick maintenance on Whizzer, my 150th coaster credit.

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I'm not sure why this Viper has horns or eyebrows or whatever, but I do like the logo. It's certainly reminiscent of the old hockey team logo that I use (in part) as my avatar.

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Who's an animal? Your mother's an animal.

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The Giant Drop had a decent theme going for it, but it's almost impossible to find the ride name on the sign!

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I'm not sure they thought the numbering system all the way through.

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The station platform for Giant Drop.

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Yup, it's a long way up -- and a long way down.

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I snapped this shot of the igNight stage on my way to the last credit of the day. I didn't stick around to see the performance.

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Whizzer's definitely worth another ride or two when I revisit the park.

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To close, one more from the backstage tour. I guess we all had a Six Flags day!

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Day 10 -- Cedar Point (Day One)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

 

Lesson of the Day: Check your camera settings before you shoot. When you've been taking pictures constantly for a week and a half, that's an easy step to forget, but having your camera set up incorrectly can ruin a photo set. It's a mistake I made at the beginning of our first day at Cedar Point, as I had accidentally clicked off the white balance to an improper setting. Though I noticed my shots looked kind of dark and blue, I didn't think much of it, until I realized my mistake about an hour later. Photo editing software can fix things up to a degree, but it still won't be perfect. Just make sure you have it right before beginning a set of pictures.

 

Artifacts:

 

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We received a plethora of items before exiting the buses at Cedar Point. Here's the 2013 Cedar Point park map, and our most important item for the visit: our three-day resort guest tickets. Sadly, no TPR branding on this one.

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We also received our hotel key cards. For as many times as I'd been to Cedar Point, which I consider to be my home park, I've never stayed at Hotel Breakers. This key card is proof that I'd finally arrived.

Along with these, we received several other items. It was a lot to keep track of!

* Fast Lane Plus wristbands for all three days.

* Meal vouchers for all three days.

* Drink wristbands for Friday.

* I think -- someone correct me on this if I'm wrong -- we also got tickets for the final dinner on Friday night.

 

Scorecard:

 

Millennium Island Tour

Wicked Twister

Raptor

Sky Ride (To Back)

Power Tower (Space Shot)

Top Thrill Dragster

Mean Streak (x2)

Maverick (x11)

 

Day 10 -- Cedar Point (Day One)

 

The road to Cedar Point (to steal a phrase from an old TPR trip) began as we left our hotel in Gurnee, Illinois, at about 9 AM on Thursday morning. This was our last big drive, and the start of the final leg of the trip. As we moved east through the farmland of northern Indiana, the bus ride felt a little different than normal. For the first time on the trip, we crossed time zones (Central to Eastern). Several people on the bus had gotten sick, but I thankfully maintained my health. The conversations turned toward topics of the future -- where would TPR be visiting in 2014? Several of the plans changed markedly from the initial proposals, as new ride announcements shifted the focus from the west and south to the midwest and east.

 

Our 1:30 PM lunch stop at a rest area north of Angola, Indiana, was one of the most hectic of the trip -- our group was surprised to find just one restaurant operating at the Indiana Toll Road travel plaza! I have to give them credit -- for suddenly having a line a hundred people in length, they moved us through pretty quickly.

 

As we traveled on on Ohio Route 2 nearing our final park destination, we began to look to the north for our first sight of one of the world's most famous amusement park skylines. I think I was the only one who saw it -- for all of about three seconds between the trees, as my "there it is" statement was quickly followed up by the coasters disappearing, and anyone within earshot probably thinking I'd gone crazy. Our view only got better as we made our way to the causeway, finally entering the park's property and fulfilling the pilgrimage for our international group of coaster enthusiasts. The entire bus was enraptured as we rounded Perimeter Road to the hotel parking lot, taking in the views and trying to stay patient. That test of patience continued as we waited on the buses for nearly an hour, but we all understood, as there was a ton of work to be done to have everything sorted out for our lengthy visit. We received all of our materials for the next few days -- items I described above -- and finally headed into Hotel Breakers to check into our rooms.

 

Do I even need to bother saying that Cedar Point is an awesome place? It's right at the pinnacle of all pure amusement parks (non-theme) on the planet. It's so awesome that Marcel, a first-time visitor, went and got himself a job at the park in 2014! It's a combination of thrill rides and setting that, when taken together, is pretty much impossible to match. I'll save a full review of Cedar Point for my Day 11 post, which was a much more comprehensive day at the park.

 

Our time was limited on Thursday evening, but we made the most of it. At 7:00 PM, we began with an exclusive photo tour through Millennium Island, which provided some outstanding close views of Millennium Force. The tour lasted about 45 minutes, and after that, we were free to explore the property. I took advantage of a station wait at Wicked Twister, hopped on Raptor and Power Tower for some quick rides, and made my way to Top Thrill Dragster for what I still consider to be one of my favorite experiences in the park. With a few rides on my scorecard, night was beginning to fall, and I started to wind my way around to the back side of the park. That offered up some early views of the Luminosity show, and a walk through the well-lit frontier trail. All of TPR had begun to gather near the back of Frontiertown, as we awaited our first Cedar Point ERT session -- one hour on Maverick. To kill time, as we waited for the park to close, a few of us headed over to Mean Streak for the final walk-on rides of the night. As we continued to wait, we had plenty to keep us busy -- the Banshee announcement from Kings Island had just been revealed, and we crowded around smartphones to watch the animated POV of the world's longest inverted coaster.

 

Our ERT session on Maverick lasted from 11PM to midnight, and it was one of the best of the trip. In fact, some TPR veterans described it as one of the best in history! That assessment begins with the crew -- Kyle and his colleagues were boisterously energetic and amazingly efficient, keeping us entertained as we moved quickly through train after train. I got 11 rides in, and I think a few people were up around 15. This was the kind of ERT session that sells a TPR tour. A world-class coaster with a killer team of ride ops, and a group of awesome people having too much fun to even describe. The best part? Getting so many laps in that all the nuances of each seat became obvious -- even the forces in the two inversions of the twisted horseshoe roll, which were different for the right and left sides of the train. The worst part? Waiting to get back into the station for another ride, and trying not to look up at the huge spiders dangling from the overhang. Oh, and the posterboard retheming of the ride to Maveshark? A stroke of absolute genius. None of the excitement from our end-of-the-night group photo was forced. We'd have kept riding if they kept the ride open, but with Thursday now behind us on the clock, it was time to retreat to TGI Friday's to end the night.

 

Though it was a short park day, it was a very good one -- a great photo tour and one of the best ERT sessions of the trip. The best part about it? Our time at Cedar Point had just begun.

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Pictures from Day 10

 

Additional pictures and bigger versions of these images can be found here.

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Our first order of business? A tour of Millennium Island, for some great views of Millennium Force. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the open, my hosed-up white balance settings will render these pictures below my usual quality, though I tried my best to correct them.

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We walked along the train tracks past some of the Boneville buildings. I'm glad this stuff is still there!

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McCoy Dry Goods and a cowboy skeleton.

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The first part of our tour gave us some interesting views of Mantis.

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Red, yellow, and purple. Can't think of any other coaster with that kind of color scheme.

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We passed several props as we ventured to Millennium Island. But that's not why we're here...

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...this is why we're here! Really awesome views of Millennium Force.

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We got some great views of the two hills that bridge the gap between the island and the ride station.

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MF on the lift.

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MF on the lift, a little closer.

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The big hill on the outbound leg to the island doesn't feel that tall on the ride, because it's taken so fast, and the airtime is oh-so-floaty. From below, looking up, it's obvious how big it really is -- almost 200 feet.

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Making the right turn off the hill to the island.

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An arguably-indecent picture looking up at a Millennium Force train.

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Getting dizzy yet?

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Oh, what's this? Moving along...

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I did like the view of Mantis over the water, and the random lighthouse just off to the side.

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I admit, I'm not a big fan of Mantis, but the inclined loop is fun.

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Probably don't want to fall into that water, so let's move along again.

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Back to Millennium Force -- the blue train heads back toward the station.

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A huge group of TPR members prepares their cameras.

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WARNING: Restricted area. Do not enter.

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Did I mention we were able to get up close to the track? Very close!

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It came as no surprise, but Shoot the Rapids was not running during our visit.

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A closer view of the top of the Shoot the Rapids hill.

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Think this guy knows a thing or two about photography? Hint: yes, he does. Second hint: I bet he properly adjusts his white balance!

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Going up...

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...and going down.

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Down the hill.

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This is what happens when a group of several dozen coaster nerds all want a picture.

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Full credit to the Cedar Point ride crews, as usual. They kept the trains moving through, giving us plenty of photo ops.

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Coming down off the third overbank on the way to the hill off the island.

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Get the cameras up.

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Close encounters of the Millennium Force kind.

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Oh look, another Intamin!

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If I recall correctly, Dragster wasn't running while we were on our Millennium Island tour.

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A train climbs the big hill to the island.

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Cresting the hill...

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...and heading into the high-speed turns.

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Those people in the front probably waited a solid two hours to ride (unless they were using Fast Lane).

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I think everyone got one of these "dinosaur eats coaster track" pictures.

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There are just so many interesting photo angles that are completely impossible to get from anywhere else in the park -- like this one from underneath a segment of track.

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One last view of the yellow train crossing over.

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Intamin did well with this one. It's still my #1 favorite roller coaster.

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Now headed back to the front of the park, where MaxAir was down for maintenance. It re-opened on Friday.

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Even on a gloomy, cloudy day, the main midway looked nice.

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The flower displays under the sky ride are always works of art.

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Looking north into the park, as light begins to fade.

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Raptor climbs the lift.

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The view of the front gate (and GateKeeper) from the sky ride station.

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Two of Cedar Point's more famous establishments -- Toft's (which I love) and Pink's (which I don't).

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Raptor was a breath of fresh air after five Batman clones!

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A look at Raptor's track and the marina to the west.

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Off to the east, the Giant Wheel looked spectacular.

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Gatekeeper at dusk. These pictures aren't great in quality, but I was trying to shoot fast enough to freeze the coaster trains, even in the low-light conditions.

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Raptor and Blue Streak, with downtown Sandusky way in the distance.

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The sky ride view to the south...

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...and the view to the north, as Dragster clears the top hat.

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One more view from the sky ride.

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Corkscrew: exactly what it says on the tin.

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Coasters, Iron Dragon, and the new setup for Luminosity. The last time I was at the park, Wildcat was still over there!

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Windseeker peeks out from the trees.

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Dragster's station is one of my favorites in the park. It's an inspired design with a unique look. I also love the flags at the top -- I count seven. Maybe Cedar Point is one better?

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Great theming -- a version of the "christmas tree" used at real drag strips. Green means go...

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...and over the hill at 420 feet in the air!

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After my own ride on Dragster, I got some night shots of the park's tallest coaster. The shadows on the clouds above the tower are awesome.

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Hard not to pick this as one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. The strobe lighting from the camera made for an awesome effect on the Dragster train.

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It's hard to tell, but the train is just coming up to the crest of the top hat.

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More fun with strobe lights (and spider webs).

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Arms down? Not a chance.

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Looking the other way as a train launches from the starting line.

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Streaks of light as Top Thrill Dragster fires off.

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Is that a ghost, or a little bit of mist?

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Power Tower looked great during our visit -- as did most of the tall attractions at Cedar Point. They've done well with their lighting.

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Corkscrew isn't a great coaster, but it's an icon of the park.

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Iron Dragon isn't a great coaster either, but the finale over the lake looks awesome.

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Water adds so much to pictures, and there's no shortage of it at Cedar Point.

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It was just about time for Luminosity to start.

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Fireworks, lights, fire, explosions...

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...and music that maybe all the kids recognized. Also, more fire.

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I'm clearly not Luminosity's target demographic, but it was a spectacle that was a treat to watch, and obviously was a huge success given the monstrous crowds that turned out to watch it. Also, rainbow Millennium Force!

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Coasters at night.

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Luminosity lighting on the midway.

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Glowing under the sky ride.

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I don't remember this part of the park looking nearly this awesome the last time I was at Cedar Point!

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Outside of the Disney parks, I don't know that I've seen a park do as much as Cedar Point with lighting.

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The sky ride station looked fantastic as well.

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Buy neon glowy things!

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...or just take long-exposure pictures of neon glowy things.

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The Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad.

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Mantis at night.

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The Millennium Force sign lit up by something red in the reflection.

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Heading out toward the Frontier Trail, this is one of the best views of the Millennium force lift hill from the park.

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A closer view of the top of the lift.

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Various shops at night.

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The Frontier Trail is also done up in lights, but is much darker and calmer than the rest of the park.

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Here's a view that wasn't there the last time I visited the park -- Shoot the Rapids, Top Thrill Dragster, and the classic Magnum in the back.

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MAVESHARK!

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The bridge under Millennium Force is well lit, and rather patriotic.

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A whole lot of Red, White and Blue.

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Great shots! (despite that small issue)

Waiting to get back into the station for another ride, and trying not to look up at the huge spiders dangling from the overhang

Haha! I'm not a big fan of spiders either and when I was waiting to ride dragster last year (in the front) there were also some massive ones on the station roof.

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Still remember the huge spider hanging on the seat in front of me on Maverick, it's super gross but incredible. The spider sure knows where to live.

I guess if you have to be a spider, you might as well be a spider living on MaveShark.

 

About the lighting: BGW would like to have a word with you

I'll take that as a piece of vacation advice for the future! My only visit to BGW was on a weekday in June, so they closed before sunset. I do recall seeing some great pictures from that park at night.

 

Wait...people got off Maverick during ERT?

There was a slight thinning of the crowd after 20-30 minutes, but otherwise I think it was just people changing seats (as I did).

 

I managed to stay in the same seat without getting off for the whole session. I had one hell of a bruise on my arm afterwards.

Holy heck.

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Day 11 -- Cedar Point (Day Two | First Half)

Friday, August 9, 2013

 

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Cedar Point is getting really good at fast dispatches!

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...or it's just some post-editing photo trickery.

I'm going to save the lengthy full review of Cedar Point for the next post, but I just have too many pictures to get through from August 9, so I need to break it into two parts. So, the Artifacts, Lesson of the Day, and all that other stuff -- should have that done by early next week, as I try to get this whole thing completed before the next TPR trip begins.

 

That's certainly not to sell the first half of Friday short! We started the way with another awesome TPR exclusive event -- a backstage photo tour of GateKeeper. I'll save my thoughts on how the coaster rides for later, but I think the entire enthusiast community is in agreement on how awesome it is to take pictures of. I can think of few coasters as photogenic as this one. Our tour led us around the station and directly under the inverted first drop. We got some awesome views of the coaster's beach-side segment from very close up, and a rare eastern view of the keyhole element, looking nearly straight-on through the opening.

 

The Millennium Force and GateKeeper backstage tours were really great for the photographers of our group. Anyone can take a shot from the midway, but these extra privileges set up through TPR are a huge part of what made the trip worth it!

 

The rest of this photo set contains a small sampling of photos I took from Hotel Breakers in the mid-afternoon. I thought it was important to document the state of the hotel in 2013, because it's going to look completely different by the time I make my next trip to Cedar Point (likely 2015 or 2016). It's a building with a great location and a lot of history, and I'm really happy to see that Cedar Point respects both of those aspects.

 

Not much else to say for this part, as I want to get to the pictures. Stay tuned in a few days for the second half, with a review of -- and I know I'm making up a word here -- the coaster-est day of my life.

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Pictures from Day 11 (first half, part one)

 

Additional pictures and bigger versions of these images can be found here and here.

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How'd you like to wake up in the morning and have this out your window? That was the view from my room at Hotel Breakers!

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Walking the halls of the Hotel Breakers wing.

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Just a short walk to the park through the hotel lot.

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On my way to GateKeeper, I just so happened to find TPR member (and current Cedar Point employee) Marcel taking an early-morning spin on Iron Dragon.

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Now -- at the front of the park, here's a bird contemplating the mess of coaster track in front of him.

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...but how did we get back here behind these walls?

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Backstage photo tour of GateKeeper!

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Keyholing from angles we've never keyholed before.

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The final helix.

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Back to the station.

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We were basically able to get directly underneath the first drop, which was a whole lot of fun to photograph.

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The sky helped too -- broken clouds that scattered out during the tour, giving us an awesome mix of white and blue that meshed awesomely with the same colors on the ride.

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Wing Coaster hairtime.

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GateKeeper shoes.

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Rotating off the lift.

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TPR's got the cameras out and ready to go.

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Pulling out from the Immelmann.

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A full view of the 170-foot lift hill.

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Heading down the 164-foot first drop.

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The trains do look awesome.

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Racing off into the sky.

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A very high inversion.

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Empties in row two!

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Over the "airtime" hill. The sky just looks great here.

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More hairtime down the hill.

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The corkscrew sets up the approach to the front gate.

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In between the keyholes.

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Twisted track.

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A sharp angle.

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We got up close for an awesome view of the keyhole elements from the east side.

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Flipping through the first tower.

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Skimming past the towers on the return pass.

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GateKeeper on the inbound leg.

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Front row guy is feeling the intensity. Second row guy is sleeping.

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All of us wanted shots from this awesome angle.

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Another shot of the hill.

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A view with the rest of the park in the background.

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GateKeeper against the clouds.

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Coming off the brake run.

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Coming off the Immelmann.

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Back over to the first drop for a few more shots.

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The wide trains and twisted track make for an interesting appearance on the track.

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Definitely a strange and awesome angle to shoot from!

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Thanks so much to TPR and Cedar Point for setting up the tour!

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Now back into the park for some more shots from the beach area.

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Wicked Twister has always been one of my favorites.

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It's a ton of fun in the front and back.

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The view of the south spike from the GateKeeper plaza is pretty awesome.

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Speaking of GateKeeper, here's a wide view of the new plaza area.

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The big 12E has finally been retired.

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It's a nice sign, too. Three-dimensional with several layers.

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It was still morning on Friday, and with GateKeeper being brand new and near the front of the park, the long line wasn't a surprise. This was the longest I saw the line all day.

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Sonic the Hedgehog?

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Heading over to the Sky Ride for some more slightly-aerial photography.

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The main midway looked awesome as the clouds continued to dissipate.

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Raptor dives over the midway.

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Cedar Point and Snoopy.

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Big wheel in the southern Sky Ride station.

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This may be the one tiny area of the park that hasn't changed at all -- not just since my last Cedar Point trip a few years ago, but since I first remember coming to the park in the 90s. There's the brand new coaster, front gate and assorted buildings, and the removal of Demon Drop. Yet, here's the front lockers, rentals, and restrooms -- they haven't been touched.

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A view of GateKeeper doing its thing from the Sky Ride station.

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Over the hill and over the trees.

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A closer view of the keyhole...

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...and of the return leg past the towers.

Edited by The Great Zo
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Pictures from Day 11 (first half, part two)

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For the Sky Ride control panel enthusiasts.

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A glance back into the station.

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Up, up, and away.

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Dude's gonna fly now.

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...and there he goes.

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Hitting the vertical loop.

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A view to the south. The parking lot was maybe half-full, but still filling up.

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Blue Streak rises over the marina.

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Blue Streak crests the hill, with downtown Sandusky in the background.

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I've been waiting years to get this shot, and I got it! Now, what are the chances of lining this up with a train on either of the two rides? How about both of the rides? Nearly impossible, I'd guess.

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Another view of the marina, with the Sandusky Bay coal docks in the background.

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Coasters on the west side of the park.

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Several tall towers just to the north.

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A beautiful view over the open waters of Lake Erie.

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Another look over to GateKeeper.

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Raptor and Blue Streak.

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Floral art.

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WindSeeker looks great from up here. Just a little bit of elevation adds so much to a photo like this -- raising the level of the water in the background.

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Another Sky Ride car floats on by.

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I was taking pictures of Power Tower after I got off the Sky Ride, but I noticed something only when reviewing the pictures later. Take a look at where the train is on Dragster...

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...and look at it now! Yup, I'd accidentally taken pictures of a rollback.

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The iconic Cedar Point water tower.

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Corkscrew makes the turn at the far end of the circuit.

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Corkscrew doing what it does best.

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I know it's not a great ride, but it takes up so little space, and you get pictures like this!

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Another view of the corkscrew on Corkscrew.

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Iron Dragon over the lagoon.

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Dragster prepares for a launch.

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Keep arms down, head back, and hold on.

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Dragster wheels.

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Are these guys "ready to go?"

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Dragster? Check. Dragster sign? Check. TPR member taking a picture? Check. Are we ever going to see Bas' pictures? I hope so! Guy's got talent!

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Dragster heads over the top hat.

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This is about as far as I could push it without the zoom lens, which was still sitting in St. Louis back at the City Museum.

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Spiral down.

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Cedar Point's tallest structure -- it's very yellow.

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Now for some history in Hotel Breakers. I love this old-style postcard picture!

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The steamboat A. Wehrle Jr., en route to Cedar Point.

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Oh yeah, try to imagine one of these things getting built today. Maybe in Scandinavia.

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I won't post the whole set, but I thought this timeline of the hotel and the park was really well done. It's an entire history lesson!

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Here's the main lobby of Hotel Breakers.

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Another view of the lobby.

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A chandelier at Hotel Breakers.

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Stained glass of what appears to be Sandusky, Ohio.

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The big rotunda at Hotel Breakers, just a short walk from the lobby.

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Four levels in the rotunda.

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The bottom of the rotunda.

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Heading out to the deck that overlooks the pool and beach.

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A view out to the open waters of Lake Erie.

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A look southeast toward the hot tub. WindSeeker makes an appearance.

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The pool at Hotel Breakers.

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The small protected swimming area on the Lake Erie beach.

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A view out to the Sandusky / Cedar Point Breakwater, and the lighthouse on the end.

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Heading back through the hotel, and coming up on another famous TPR location.

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Where is this?

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Crazy junk on the walls? Cheesy slogans?

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Must be Friday's.

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Can't beat the view, though. Magnum drops just to the north...

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...and WindSeeker flies off to the south.

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Out in front of the pool at Hotel Breakers.

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The main hotel tower is sure to look different whenever I make it back to the park.

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Take a trip out to the beach. You don't even have to be a hotel guest to do it!

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Parasailing over the beach -- I'm sure the view is incredible.

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Fun fact: Lake Erie is the shallowest of the great lakes, and the fourth smallest in surface area (only larger than Lake Ontario).

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Another Cedar Point / Hotel Breakers history lesson. I bet Professor Albert Cook was a huge star.

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Looking south along the beach.

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WindSeeker, Wicked Twister, and an airplane.

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The view off to the north.

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This picture almost looks two-dimensional, like from an old side-scrolling video game.

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WindSeeker down low.

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WindSeeker up high.

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WindSeeker coming back down again.

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Time for our farewell dinner at the Cedar Point Convention Center. Sad? Bittersweet? Perhaps -- but part of another great day on the trip. Check back soon for the full report and the second half of the pictures!

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