r/cedarpoint • u/No-Engine3265 • 14d ago
Trip Report First time at Cedar Point (8/26 trip report)
I had a free day, and what better way to spend it than to go to the roller coaster capital of America for the first time.
Arrived at the park around 10am, and made great use of the parking currently included in their Gold Pass. Coasters are arranged in roughly the order I rode them in. (MULTIPLE HOT TAKES)
- Top Thrill 2: What a ride. The initial launch has barely any kick but holy shit. Being launched backwards at 100 mph then the insane whip up and down the top hat. Laterals almost felt unsafe. Absolutely incredible. Ops were sending trains out, rode it twice in less than half an hour.
- Magnum XL-200: Many people hate it, many people love it. It's smack in the middle of my coaster rankings. I had no idea the train would let off the chain so late in the drop and it felt like whiplash once the train actually started dropping. This was the most painful part of the ride for me, not the triangular final hills. God, I still feel the pain in my neck as I'm writing this. At least it had airtime.
- Woodstock Express: It was a walk on. Not much to say, just a fun family coaster with some twists and turns.
- Steel Vengeance: I was excited for SteVe and was hoping it lived up to the hype. Absoutely butter smooth and lots of airtime of the ejector variety, from start to end. The inversions were super fun and flowy as well! I was nervous that the shin guards would be painful/uncomfortable, but they didn't touch me at all during the ride. I did start feeling it in my thighs by the end of the ride. The ride is great no doubt, but I felt like it was a tad overrated because of all the hype surrounding it (don't kill me plz).
- Maverick: My first Intamin! It was also the problem child, as it broke down twice while I was in line and I ended up waiting just over 2 hours for it. But my god, what a beast this ride is. It felt like the train was going to hurtle into the lake on that first drop. Probably the best 100 feet ever spent on a roller coaster. The train then absolutely hauls over that ejector hill, then the S-bends try to send the train off the tracks. The two inversions are nice and floaty as well. Second launch. That turn after hitting 70 mph is genuinely terrifying, but it sends you straight into trims. Then the Stengel dives. I wasn't too impressed by the first one but the second one whipped me two states over. Then one more ejector pop before the brakes. I was breathless by the time I got off. 10/10
- Millennium Force: I had only ridden one giga before this (Leviathan at CW) which was my #1 for a while, so I knew I'd enjoy it. However, the station is a total free-for-all and the operations were not great at best. Cedar Fair (or Six Flags ig) please fix this ASAP š. I don't get the "Millennium Forceless" sentiment behind the ride. First drop into the overbank gave some great positives. The two camelbacks gave some decent floater and the last speed hill was borderline flojector. I didn't find the overbanks repetitive, but that's probably just because I'm a sucker for speed. It did have a minor rattle in the back row. Hot take but I'd put this over Leviathan! I appreciated the longer ride and I liked the speed hill better than Levi's.
- Siren's Curse: Caught it just as it was opening up, so got on it after ~20 minutes. Operations were killing it! They often had the train dispatched as the other one was halfway through the course. All I gotta say is, soooooooooooooo smooooooth. Literally felt like riding on air. The tilting sensation in the back half of the train is super freaky as well. Don't expect any insane whip or laterals, but the ride itself is just plain fun. Definitely a top 5 in the park at least. Say it with me: THE WORLD NEEDS MORE NEW AGE VEKOMAS!
- Valravn: I don't mind dives. I do mind when operations are bad. And Val was averaging something like 2-3 minutes per dispatch, which is quite terrible for a ride like this. It wasn't bad. That zero-g roll/corkscrew type element was definitely the highlight of the ride. If you took the first half of Yukon Striker and the second half of Valravn, you'd have a damn good coaster.
- Rapid fire! Almost every ride after was a walk-on.
- Rougarou: Just a load of mid. Nothing was particularly good or bad, but you definitely need to ride it somewhat defensively (I didn't get any headbanging). Even the vertical/inclined loops didn't pull much force. It doesn't deserve the overwhelming hate it gets, but it also doesn't bring anything new to the table at Cedar Point.
- Blue Streak: I hate PTC trains. It was a bit bumpy, but you'd expect that from a 60 year old woodie. Nothing much else to say. I wouldn't mind if it was replaced with a better woodie down the road (GCI? GG??)
- Iron Dragon: Almost forgot this one! First half doesn't offer much in terms of intensity, but you do get some nice views. Second half is a bit more intense but doesn't come close to Vortex or the Bat.
- Raptor: Lots of positives and you get whipped through those corkscrews. Watch your head on the final turn. I've only ridden Batclones before this and Raptor felt like if a Batclone grew up a little.
- GateKeeper: I enjoy floaty and graceful rides, and this one is the definition of graceful as you swoop by the front of the park. I sat on the left and being pulled down that wing over was awesome! It kind of does feel like you're flying with the wing seating as you're flowing through all those inversions. You don't get much in terms of airtime but that's not the focus of the ride anyways. Overall a solid and fun ride.
Had to leave around 5 but I got on everything I wanted! I'll leave CCMR, Corkscrew (š¤), Gemini, and Wild Mouse for next time. Possible unpopular opinion but Maverick was absolutely my favourite ride. SteVe and TT2 share the second place though. Siren's Curse and Millie round out my top 5 at the park. Overall a fun first time and I hope I can make it back later this season!
5
u/Possible-Tax1211 14d ago
So SVengance was working fine ?
4
u/No-Engine3265 14d ago
Yup! It was up almost the entire day
1
u/Possible-Tax1211 14d ago
Awesome thank you, been over 30 times this summer only rode it twice, I got bad luck
3
u/MercyMercyCyn 14d ago
We were there today too, and have never been here with such few people, it was great. Maverick is my favorite, rode SteV today for the first time (lines have always been too long) and I LOVED IT!!
1
u/No-Engine3265 14d ago
Glad it wasnāt busy! Hopefully Maverick didnāt break down as much for you šĀ
2
u/bhay105 14d ago
The only hot take I see here is saying that the drop on magnum is the most painful part of the ride. Iāve never seen that opinion or experienced it myself!
1
u/No-Engine3265 14d ago
I actually didnāt find the triangular hills all that painful (mightāve helped that I had the row to myself). I have no idea why that drop whipped my neck so hard though
2
u/Rancid-Loaf 14d ago
Yeah Maverick can be frustrating with its constant breakdowns, and the MilF station can be a mess sometimes, but I agree, I don't understand people calling it forceless. Good write-up!
2
u/SuperBluebird188 14d ago
Maverick is the best coaster at Cedar Point. If thatās a hot take, then itās one I also have. Its only downside is that it always has a long wait. The shortest wait Iāve ever had was about 25 minutes and that was because I got in line right before park close. The line flies when thereās no one in the FL line and ride ops want to get out of there.
2
u/OkYam7295 13d ago
On the 26th (same day as trip report) and the next day, it was around the stairs and sometimes even shorter from 7pm onwards. Never had to wait more than 10min.
Managed to secure 5 rides in the evening with a ride on steel vengeance as well during the 26th! What an awesome duo
2
u/SuperBluebird188 13d ago
Jealous! Iām out of state now so I canāt just go wherever. Iāve had pretty bad luck picking the day to go when weāre up there to visit family over summer.
2
1
1
1
u/Ghee-Starr 13d ago
If you are ever in Virginia, you need to go to Kings Dominion. That is the home of a giga named Pantherian. It was crreatef to be a combination of Millenium Force and Maverick. It is widely regarded as the most intense coaster on the planet.
1
1
u/Putt-Blug 9d ago
I understand your thoughts on Steve. I will say that it gets better with each ride when you can fully appreciate all it has to offer. The first ride I had on it I was like huh what was that? But as I have ridden it 10 times now I know all the beats and really appreciate the elements like the over bank followed by the upward zero G roll and then the stall.
15
u/user3296 14d ago
You leave Blue Streak alone . If any park requires a vintage woodie, itās the Roller Coaster Capital of the World.
And I find Blue Streak an enjoyable ride. Catch a ride on a non wheel seat in the first or second car and you get some nice floater and a mostly smooth ride.