Visit Date: August 31 & September 2, 2024

When it comes to amusement parks, I can’t handle too much spinning.  And pendulum motions make my stomach lurch.  But if there’s one ride I absolutely love, it’s roller coasters.  There is a unique thrill of excitement, anxiety, and anticipation that comes when you buckle in that seatbelt and lower the lap bar (or shoulder restraints, if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being on a coaster that still uses them).  I get an adrenaline rush from climbing the first lift hill as we prepare to drop.  For me, the more airtime and banks in the track, the better.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, only three hours from Sandusky, Ohio, it might surprise you that I’ve never ventured to Cedar Point, perhaps the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World”.  I took plenty of trips to Kennywood since it was close to home, so I regard coasters like Thunderbolt, Phantom’s Revenge, and Jack Rabbit as some of my favorites.  But outside of this and a couple trips to Walt Disney World, the only other amusement parks I’ve visited have been Waldameer in Erie, PA and Idlewild in Ligonier, PA, and my last visit to each of those was 20 years ago at this point.  There are plenty of reasons I could point to as to why I never went to Cedar Point, but that’s beside the point.  All I can say is that I’ve always dreamed of finally making it there.

Now that I’m married, I’ve found it much easier to turn these dreams into a reality.  It doesn’t hurt that Martha loves to travel and can be easily convinced if I give a strong pitch.  We were exploring our options for where we could go for a Labor Day Weekend trip, and naturally, baseball cities often dominate these conversations as I grow closer to fulfilling my quest of crossing off all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums.  Because of their close proximity to home, we considered both Chicago (for the White Sox) and Detroit.  And since we had gone to Cincinnati the same weekend the year before with three of our friends, we wanted to include them again.  So we ultimately decided on Detroit since it’s within driving distance.

I’m sure it’s crossed your mind that Detroit isn’t the most exciting city to spend a three-day weekend, nor does it have a reputation of being the safest place you’ll ever visit.  To its credit though, neither does Chicago.  But of course, this is an article about Cedar Point, not Detroit.  As Martha and I thought about what we could do in Detroit outside of a visit to Comerica Park for a Tigers game, we realized that Cedar Point is roughly halfway between there and home, making it a perfect location to spend the majority of our weekend.  It didn’t take much to convince our friends either, given that they too love amusement parks and one of them is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox, who the Tigers happened to be playing a series against.  

So it was decided: we would drive up to Cedar Point first thing Saturday morning and spend the whole day in the park, travel to Detroit for a 1:40pm game Sunday and head back to Sandusky for dinner that evening, and then hit up the amusement park again on Labor Day before driving home in the late afternoon.

We opted to stay in a cabin at Lighthouse Point, a campground located on the Cedar Point grounds directly across the road from the Steel Vengeance roller coaster.  They offered a “Cedar Point Ride & Refresh Package”, which included our two-night accommodations, admission tickets for two park days, early park entry, free parking, and free fountain drinks with unlimited refills.  We selected the “Standard Cabin” option since it was supposed to accommodate up to eight guests and included a double bed, two double-sized pull-out couches, and a loft space that fits an air mattress or sleeping bags.  Between the five of us, the total bill came out to $1435, or $287 per person.  I think we all felt like that was a good deal for all that we were getting, but it’s also important to remember that this doesn’t include food.

We felt confident going into the day – cloudy skies would eventually open up to sunshine and a high temperature of 81℉.  The park opened at 10:00 that Saturday, but with our early entry, we were eligible to enter the park at 9.  We did check in to our cabin before then, but by the time we dropped off our bags and made sure we had everything we needed for the day, we walked through the Magnum XL-200 Gate on the western end of the park around 9:40.  The problem was that we didn’t do enough research to know what rides were actually open at this point, and there was no signage clarifying this.  I even stopped to ask an employee, who simply shrugged their shoulders.

We decided to head to the right and ended up at Steel Vengeance, one of the most highly regarded roller coasters at the park with its vertical drop and sharp twists and turns through its wooden frame.  Because we got in line so early in the day before many guests were even allowed in, we only waited around 15 minutes for a ride that saw an average of 55 minutes in 2024, per Queue Times.  We discovered, however, that there are a handful of rides throughout Cedar Point that require your items to be placed in a locker before you could even get in line, which ran us a few dollars each time.  This meant that we had to be strategic about what coasters we went on to limit our locker usage as much as possible.

Unfortunately, despite having my wallet secured in my back pocket, I was not even allowed to bring this onto Steel Vengeance.  I was sent to a separate locker system within the queue (similar to Tron at Disney World) where I had to lock it up.  Besides this minor inconvenience, we were quickly at the front.  I was unprepared for just how intense this ride would be; with a 200 ft drop at a 90 degree angle, a top speed of 74 miles per hour, 30 seconds of airtime, and 4 twisting inversions all within 2.5 minutes, I admittedly was a bit shook up.  As I said at the start, I love coasters, but I tend to struggle with the sensation of going upside down.

With more of the park opening up, we headed across the way to Maverick in the Frontiertown section.  This too is known for its intensity, with a second launch part way through that shoots you 70 mph in 3 seconds after already hurtling through some crazy corkscrew rolls and banked curves.  We were in line for around 20-30 minutes when the ride shut down.  We tried to stick it out another 20 minutes or so as others left the line.  Eventually, though, we realized we were losing valuable park time and elected to return on Monday.

We spent a little more time in the incredibly well-themed Frontiertown, going on the tame Cedar Creek Mine Ride next.  Afterwards, everyone but Martha got in line for the Skyhawk, which is a swinging ride exactly like the Swing Shot at Kennywood.  Having only experienced some minor nausea from this in the past, I decided to go for it.  This ended up being the second biggest mistake of the weekend for me.  For whatever reason, this completely knocked me out, and still so early in the afternoon too. 

I figured that if I wanted to recover, I would need to get something to eat.  Why I thought that their famous cheese on a stick was the right move, I’ll never understand.  I ate that in line for Gemini, a racing wooden coaster.  The level of discomfort I found myself in throughout that entire ride is difficult to put into words.  You see, I pride myself on having last thrown up in 8th grade.  I wasn’t going to let that end here.  But I felt every bump in the track along the way.  It was a rough ride, made even more uncomfortable by the churning of my stomach and the pounding headache I had developed.  As I stumbled down the stairs at the end of the ride, I found that I was not the only one in our group feeling out of sorts.

At that point, I had to force myself to take a dramamine.  I had sworn against them ever since a fateful Myrtle Beach fishing trip with my dad that made me sleep through the 2007 Home Run Derby.  Now that I was no longer 8 years old, I figured that I wouldn’t face the same effects.  Luckily, I was right.  The medicine, along with a solid BBQ lunch at The Farmhouse Kitchen & Grill, helped me feel rejuvenated for the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, one of our group members didn’t hold up so well and ended up spending a few hours recovering back at our cabin.

Not wanting to push myself too quickly, Martha and I did two flat rides to ease back into things after taking the Sky Ride gondolas across the park.  The Cedar Downs Racing Derby and Cadillac Cars ended up being the kind of nostalgic throwbacks that I needed in that moment, not only helping to calm my stomach but also brighten my spirits with some childhood fun.  I felt more confident that I could make it through the rest of the day in good health.

One of the most interesting coasters from the weekend was GateKeeper, a record-setting winged coaster that provides different experiences depending on which side of the track you sit on.  Having done both, the consensus seemed to be a preference for the left side, which lifts you above the track in the initial wing-over drop versus the right side that drops you down.  Not so impressive were Blue Streak and Corkscrew, two of the oldest roller coasters in the park that left me feeling battered and bruised.  These would be good starter coasters for kids because of their relative tameness, but I don’t think I’d ever ride either again.

One of the longest waits we experienced both days was for Valravn, the tallest, fastest, and longest dive coast in the country.  Having never been on a coaster like this before, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It has quickly become one of my favorites!  After a long climb up 223 feet, you are temporarily suspended looking down over the drop before plummeting 90 degrees and into multiple inversions, including a 270 degree roll.  I felt a ton of bugs smacking into me like a car windshield the whole time, but it was totally worth it to me and was one that a few of us prioritized doing again on Monday.

To end the night on Saturday, I finally got to experience Millennium Force, the first 300 ft coaster in the world with a then-record speed of 93 mph.  I had dreamt of this moment for a long time, and there was no question that it would be well worth the wait.  As we climbed the lift hill shortly after sundown with the park beautifully lit for the night and surrounded by Lake Erie, I knew this was going to be the ride of a lifetime.  With the sharp banks and the dark tunnels, I felt such an amazing rush of energy coursing through my body.  It truly is the greatest roller coaster I have ever experienced.  So much so that we were some of the first riders during early entry that Monday!

While that was our last ride on Saturday, Labor Day brought more fun and excitement.  In the morning, we did Iron Dragon, which suspends you under the track over a lagoon and makes you wonder if you’ll crash into the nearby fence.  And we finally went on the exhilarating Maverick too!  Martha and a friend did Rougarou (formerly Mantis) and Wild Mouse and loved those as well.

There was one coaster in particular that absolutely ruined the day for me and even forced me to call off sick from work the next day because I was worried I had whiplash.  That ride was Raptor.  Two friends went on it the prior park day and absolutely loved it, telling Martha and I that it was a lot tamer than it seems.  Having watched the ride-through video and seeing it in person, I had a feeling that it was too many inversions for me, especially since you sit suspended below the track and dangle through it all.  I knew I couldn’t do it.  I trusted my friends.  And they were wrong.  This was it – the biggest mistake of the weekend.  Just take a look at the picture and tell me if it looks like I’m having a good time.  While I took a dramamine after and felt ok for another ride or two, I ultimately had to pull over on the drive home from sudden dizziness, which took me another full day to recover from.

Top Thrill 2, Cedar Point’s 420 ft triple-launch coaster with speeds of 120 mph, had well-documented issues all throughout the 2024 season when it was set to make its triumphant return to the heart of the park.  In the end, I believe it was open for a grand total of eight days all year.  I’ll also need to be back for Magnum XL-200, which we ended up missing out on for a variety of reasons during our visit, including ride maintenance, experiencing long waits elsewhere, and simply needing to drive home a little earlier than originally planned.  I’m incredibly excited to one day experience the first coaster to ever exceed 200 ft and all the airtime that comes with it.

We skipped the large majority of the flat rides in the park, especially because we have equivalent ones back home at Kennywood.  I would have liked to do some of the drop towers since I no longer have the Pitt Fall to experience here in Pittsburgh, but again, roller coasters were the priority on this visit.  Not wanting to get wet, we also avoided the water rides.  Labor Day weekend actually happened to be the last day of operation for one of these, Snake River Falls.  But this opens up a huge plot of land for a potential future roller coaster!

Overall, the free fountain drink pass was one of the best investments we could have made during the course of the weekend.  In general, staying on-site was a huge convenience in a lot of ways besides this.  Because we had free parking, it was easier to zip in and out of the park grounds at any time of the day, bypassing huge lines of cars.  And we could beat a lot of the crowds through the gates due to our proximity.  Speaking of lines, the longest we waited for a ride all weekend was under 90 minutes, so in the end, I was pretty satisfied knowing how bad Cedar Point can get.  The food was perhaps the biggest letdown of the weekend, with some places already closed for the season and high prices that are to be expected at amusement parks.

In the end, I felt that my first visit to Cedar Point was a phenomenal experience despite the couple setbacks that I had.  There are certainly some things I would do differently, namely taking medicine beforehand as a precaution and knowing which rides to avoid.  But there were so many things I loved about it and I can’t wait to ride again.  Yes, it’s a large park with huge crowds.  But there’s a certain quaintness that you feel as you walk around the grounds and see the majesty of these train cars soaring overhead, the serenity of the quiet corners of the park nestled under trees or besides beautiful lagoons, and the families making beautiful memories as you recall your own first roller coaster ride with your own loved ones long ago.  I get this feeling at nearly every amusement park that I visit, but Cedar Point has such a grandness to it that heightens the emotions.  With a breathtaking tilt coaster, Siren’s Curse, on the way in 2025, it’s unlikely to take me another 26 years to find myself back again.  Instead, I’m ready to put plans in motion right away.

WE WANT TOT HEAR FROM YOU:

Thank you for visiting Small World Travel Blog!  We hope you enjoyed reading about our first trip to Cedar Point!  Do you have an experience there that you’d like to share about?  What’s your favorite ride at the park?  Or your favorite roller coaster in the world?  Have any questions for us?  Let us know in the comments!