I don't really know what I was expecting, but everything at Cedar Point far exceeded whatever I had in my mind. The park itself is HUGE. Seriously massive. Owsley had a steps tracker and we walked at least 5 miles each day. The food was a lot better than theme park food, the weather was great, and going back to our room with a balcony overlooking Lake Erie made it feel like we are leaving the park and going somewhere else completely different. In fact, as soon as you stepped into the Boardwalk section of the park, you could actually begin to smell the sand in the air.
After three entire days in the park, last night Peppy couldn't remember something basic. I don't even remember what it was, but it was something so easy for him, like our bank pin or something like that. At that same time I also was having trouble putting together my nightly meds as well as my allergy pill and trigimenal neuralgia stuff for the morning, the same combo I've been putting together each evening for over a year now. And it just all escaped me. Too much stimulation I tell you.
Oh, and the park is maybe 1/10 of a mile from the hotel. Literally. I don't know why but that felt luxurious to me. After waiting for Disney busses for over an hour at the end of the day, or even waiting in line to board a water taxi, just being able to step out your back door and right into a theme park is so cool. The first day I needed to go back to the car for my head medicine. No big deal because it took less than five minutes to walk from where we were to out the exit and to the car. Yesterday Peppy wanted to change from jeans to shorts. BAM! He's right back in the room before he even knew it.
Cedar Point really has their game going on in their restaurants. Many of them were done cafeteria style where you went through the line and picked an entree and sides, and they had a constant stream of people in the kitchen bringing out new trays of food so that no one ever had to wait on their food, only moving through the line. It was a very seamless and stress-free experience.
Speaking of stress-free, I made a comment to everyone yesterday that aside from one ear piercing shriek from a toddler when he wasn't tall enough to ride the Wild Mouse, I didn't hear a single child tantrum or even a breakdown from an angry and tired parent. It was a little surreal at a theme park. Universal definitely had less of that than Disney, but there were tons of kids areas here and I didn't hear anyone being negative at all. It was great.
I'm sitting on our balcony watching the sunrise. We are going to head back home today. It has been so much fun riding new rollercoasters and comparing them to our favorites. Owsley and I went in a mirror maze. I had never been in one before and with the lights and music, they really are discombobulating. There is also this carousel on steroids, Cedar Downs, where you ride a racing horse, and I think I had more fun on that than I should have. When you are incapable of feeling absolutely anything, laughing is the best. I had such a great time with my family. It was also great that my brother and sister-in-law had taken them last year. Them being knowledgeable about both the layout and rides came in handy.
We were in the park Tuesday through Thursday, and while it was never busy, the crowds got lighter as the week went on. By last night we were really only having to wait 5 minutes after walking through the queue on most rides. A couple were walk- on, and even our favorites didn't have more than a 15 minute wait. Last night we lucked out and rode our two favorites at the very end of the night, running to our last ride and getting into line 5 minutes before park closing.
This post is going to be picture heavy and probably out of occurring order.
This is Hotel Breakers, and below is how close you are to the hotel from the entrance to the park for hotel guests. I was not exaggerating.
We would open our balcony at night to let in the air and listen to the water roll onto the shore. I don't know we lucked out with a balcony away from the pool, but I was glad that we did. I was able to do my morning bible reading on the balcony and saw the sunrise every morning.
Unfortunately we were unable to ride this original water swing.
Cedar Downs, the racing carousel. There was a racing announcer in the background and four horses in a row that kept bypassing each other, so you didn't know who the winner would be. Gage wouldn't ride this, but the three of us had a lot of fun on this one.
The second day we had brunch in the Grand Pavilion and Peppy happened to notice they were filming a commercial below.
view from a sky bucket.
Owsley is tall, but not that tall. I do think he's about to bypass Gage in height though.
This one was really cool because at one point you couldn't see the tracks and it felt like you were flying over Lake Erie. I think being unable to feel anything I am especially more aware and in awe when I get a new experience. I had never even thought about what it would be like to be in a rollercoaster next to the water, but it was a really neat thing.
This was ValRaven and whenever we were able to ride it on the front row, it was one of my favorites. They basically hold the train at a 90 degree angle for about five seconds and you are just hanging straight down before it begins the descent down the track. It really felt as if the back of the train was about to topple over the front car and start rolling headfirst down the hill. Will I fall out? Won't I fall out? Sure feels like I could. I love it.
There were so many amazing (and long) coasters here. You know, sometimes you go to theme parks and there are two or three good things and lots of filler. Not here. Everything was unique and it was hard to actually put my favorites in order, because a lot of it depends on what row you are in. It is like finding the secret key for each coaster. I think, here goes for me: Millennium Force, Maverick, front row on ValRaven, and then Steve. I know not putting Steve as #1 might feel like sacrilege to some Cedar Park fans. But I have a need for speed, and Millennium Force reminded me of Hagrid's on steroids.
I am super thankful that only one ride was painful and that whatever stiffness I woke up with the next morning went away with just a shower. Maybe it's because I have been riding these things all my life and I know how to tighten up and correctly situate my body in a restraint, but I do know at some point some these coasters become incompatible with your body. I am also thankful that aside from the first day for about an hour, my TN decided to not be a total A-hole. Peppy told me last night that before this trip he had wondered if I had finally reached a point where I would be unable to go open/close at amusement parks, and he was curious if the coasters would make my TN activate, but it didn't seem to have any affect at all. Actually my sinuses have been waaaaay better in Ohio, so that probably has relieved some pressure off my face that could potentially aggravate my trigimenal nerves.
I was the only one that didn't at least partially gray out. I had never in my entire life grayed out on a coaster until after I had covid, and this was the first time since then that I didn't even get a pixelated look in my vision at all.
Ok Deanna, shut up. I'm rambling, but in my defense I am just waiting on everyone else to wake up. No matter where we go, Peppy always likes to drag out the day we leave to go back home and it drives me crazy. On 'go home' day I am ready to pack up.....and go home. I think I get this from my dad. I vividly remember him kissing the pavement (or at least pantomiming it) of the condo parking lot after a particularly stressful beach trip. This trip was not stressful in the slightest though. I am really excited to sleep in my own bed tonight. Not excited to confront this bag of dirty laundry and the fact that our dryer died the night before we left.
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