Cedar Point
Published on: Jul 22, 2013 @ 21:58 –
So, yesterday we decided to take the kids to Cedar Point. It was for Chris’ birthday back in June, but other things came up, and so did hot, humid weather. We waited to jump on the opportunity when a “cooler” day approached. Well we’ve been having this stupid heat wave for like 3 weeks and finally we got a day where it was “only” supposed to be 81. Well I guess that was mistake #1 because everyone else thought the same thing. The other mistake I should have known but forgot was never go to Cedar Point the year of a new coaster debut. Apparently nobody cared that just 2 days prior 7 people were hurt on Shoot The Rapids when the log rolled backward down the incline and flipped over at Cedar Point, or the fact that the same day that happened a mother was thrown off a Six Flags coaster on the first drop and killed. The freshness of those events naturally hit me when I was strapping Andrew into Cedar Point’s tallest and fastest coaster, Top Thrill Dragster! I would not let an employee buckle my son in, I told the girl I’m paranoid and she was like, “I understand!”. So there is me, strapping Andrew in, who is now 8, with the force that you would typically use to secure a car seat into position. Now, this is where Cedar Point differs, and if that lady that got killed was at an Ohio park, would not have lost her life. Cedar Point has not only typical lap bars and shoulder harnesses for rides, but they are required to have seat belts. They have retrofitted all coasters with coast guard approved seat belts, and the children’s rides all have child safety seatbelts that they cannot unlock themselves.
Anyway, Chris was 8 when he voluntarily went on Top Thrill… the highlight of his life and earned him bragging rights for a couple years. That was 2 years ago. Two years ago I forced my then 6 year old Andrew to conquer Millennium Force. He cried from start to finish then. Surprisingly this time, he only cried a little and stopped crying well before getting on. At least this time I didn’t feel like people were calling me a child abuser because 2 years ago, Andrew sobbed his way into coaster car. Of course, now that I think back to it, he was 6…. Though, I must not have damaged him for life. The boys were all talk of going on it until Andrew saw it in person. It took me 3 adults trips to Cedar Point spread over 6 years before I dared get on that thing. I figured, if I show him he can handle what was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world until 2005, he could handle every other ride in the park. You would think that would be the case. I promised him that i’d only make him cry once, so I wouldn’t make him go on millennium force again 🙂
So, I strap Andrew in to the point of strangulating the top half of his body, and then I buckle in behind them. Naturally the kid I left to buckle himself in, supposedly mature enough to handle this park on his own, COMPLETELY FORGETS to buckle himself in. Thankfully, the girl on the platform noticed. After all, they did just have an accident 2 days prior. Believe it or not, it comforts me a little because if anything having an accident only makes them safer, just glad it wasn’t me on board. Though, I only put my kid on these coasters because there is a backup system called seat belts in case something goes wrong with the lap bar or shoulder harnesses. In reality, that’s the only reason I get on them. I grew up at Cedar Point with no secondary backup system, a system that would have saved the life of that mother killed at Six Flags. I feared coasters more then too. However, when they put seat belts in, that’s when the whole “you’re too fat to ride” policy took effect, and I know why now.
TTD is the most rush your gonna get in such a small period of time. By time you are done you won’t have started to scream yet, and if you tried, you’d of ended up like my Andrew, coughing because you just had the wind knocked out of you. After we got off, we had to chill out in the picture viewing area until the nausea settled down in him, lol. In the end though, he liked it and now Chris can’t shove in his face that he was a chicken and he’s the coaster king. Ha ha though, by the pictures below, the fear is more apparent on Chris’ face, lol. Talk about a priceless pic! So, Top Thrill tops 420ft tall, and goes 120mph. Most people haven’t experienced those speeds in vehicles ever so it’s crazy on the ride out in the open! So, I don’t normally condone the use of cell phone cameras, but I wasn’t taking my huge camera with me yesterday and I barely pulled mine camera phone out because the thing is so big it will slip out of my hands and shatter (Samsung Galaxy Note II).
Anyhow, that was it for thrills for me for the day. The rest of the day for me was snoopy land and kiddie rides while baking and blistering in the hot sun and sweat. Even on a relatively cool day, when the sun is out, crowds all around, it’s miserable. I hate long lines, and it’s beyond me why these parks don’t understand if they would just make the wait more pleasant (shade for example) more people would ride. A simple canopy above the waiting areas. On some rides, they have partial canopies, like Millennium Force, but still don’t try to cover it all. It was cloudy when we got there and naturally they saw me coming and hurried up and cleared out of the way. The average wait for a ride was more than an hour, sometimes 2. I never did make it on the Gatekeeper, which is the new one this year.
I have lots to write about, haven’t had a chance to do it yet. I had a great photography session at night next to the Mackinac Bridge in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. I got the milky way above the bridge and did some good ones there and at Ocqueoc Falls. That was my lightning fast 1 day trip up north. I’ll post those pictures soon.
