Cedar Point - the Roller Coaster capital of the world!
Ever since I first heard of an amusement park, called Cedar Point, I wanted to visit it. And the first time I heard of it was when I was still in elementary school. And that is a loooong time ago. You might ask why haven’t I visited earlier if I wanted to go there so much.
This is a very good question, and the answer is very simple - Cedar Point has quite a few extremely intense roller coasters (intense enough for people to black out during the ride) and I was afraid that riding the big roller coasters might scare me and I would be too terrified to ride them for the rest of my life.
Also, at the age of fifteen, travelling to the United states of America was financially impossible for me, and even if I had the money, my parents would definitely not let me go there. So when I got a job in the United states of America, I could not find a better place for it - Cedar Point is situated just a three hour drive away from where I currently live, which makes it possible to go there on a day trip! And in the last season, I have visited Cedar Point eight times!
How to get to Cedar Point?
Cedar Point is situated on the shores of the beautiful Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio. The lake is so big that it literally looks like the ocean, and the views of it are just spectacular from most of the rides.
This is the view of Lake Erie from the ride, called Wicked twister. The lake really looks endless, and you could easily mistake it for an ocean.
Once you get close to Sandusky, you will see signs, directing you to Cedar point, so you will not even need a GPS to get there. And another tip - park at the Breakers hotel parking lot. This means you will have to drive all the way around the park, but it also means you will enter the park through the back entrance, which is much less busy, and all the bigger rides are situated at that end of the park.
The catch here is that you have to tell the employees at the parking lot that are directing cars on where to park, that you are going to the Breakers hotel. They will not ask you for a proof, just do not say that you just want to park at the parking lot in the back.
Cleveland is about an hour drive away from Cedar point, and some companies offer day trips (well, it really is just a bus shuttle with ticket included in the price) to Cedar point from Cleveland. This option is great if you do not want to worry about anything, but these trips usually take place on weekends only, when the park is the busiest.
Where to stay?
There is plenty of accommodation options in the close proximity of Cedar Point. Just next to the park, there are a few hotels that the park owns. If you are staying at one of the hotels that Cedar point owns, you get some cool benefits, including early entry into the park.
So, if the park opens at ten o’clock to general public, you will get to go inside at nine o’clock. For me, staying at the Cedar point hotel was not really worth it since it is quite pricey. It is true that the hotels are situated just next to the park’s back entrance, but, like I said, I simply could not justify paying that much money just to be able to get into the park an hour earlier.
So during my first visit at Cedar Point, I found a place through a site, called AirBnb, which is basically a site where you can rent rooms (or even whole apartments) from locals for a really low price.
My AirBnb home for three days was situated only a ten minute drive away from Cedar Point, and I only paid a fraction of the price that I would pay for a hotel next to the park. So how much did I pay for three nights? Sixty dollars. One night in the hotel next to the park will cost you over one hundred dollars. So if you are looking to save some money, definitely try to find an accommodation with locals.
Best times to visit Cedar Point, admission prices and is the fast pass worth it?
Cedar Point is one of the biggest (and probably the best) amusement parks in the United states of America. Therefore, before I went there for the first time, I automatically assumed that lines are long regardless on when you visit the park. But if you plan your visit well, you will be able to get on every ride with almost no wait.
So what are the days that are not busy? In general, all the days during the period when children are still in schools, are less busy. From my own experience, the most busy day is always a Saturday, and the least busy days are Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. You also have to take into account weather conditions here - on the days when weather is not perfect, there will be less people. But again, some of the bigger rides might close down because of rain.
Warning - do not go to Cedar point on summer weekends - one of my friends went there on a Saturday in July, and she said that the shortest line for anything in the park was two hours - and it was for a kiddie roller coaster!
How about admission prices? Cedar point has several admission options and deals, but I have to tell you one thing at this point. Book your ticket online! If you buy your ticket at the gate, you will pay around twenty dollars more. During my second visit to Cedar point, two of my friends decided to join me, and of course we all tried to buy our tickets online.
Well, one of my friends’ transactions just would not go through, so she decided to simply buy the ticket at the gate the next day. And she was just shocked when she found out that she had to pay nineteen dollars more that she would if she bought her ticket online.
An admission to Cedar point will cost you fifty dollars on most days, and at the beginning of each season, Cedar point has a cool deal, where you can get two tickets to the park, that are valid for any day during the season, for seventy dollars, which is a pretty sweet deal!
If you go to Cedar Point on less busy days, I can guarantee you that you will not need a fast pass at all, because most of the rides will allow you to just walk on with no wait at all, and even for the most popular rides, you will not have to wait in line for more than twenty minutes or so.
And by not buying the fast pass, you will save a lot of money. Just like in almost any other amusement park, the fast pass will cost almost as much (or even more) as a regular ticket! In summer, when all the amusement parks are crowded, getting a fast pass of course makes sense, but during school time, forget about it.
Best rides in Cedar Point
Theming in amusement parks in the United states of America is not nearly as good as theming in amusement parks across Europe. When the park is empty, I do not really care about the theming, but when I have to wait in line for an hour or more, it is a welcome distraction if a roller coaster (or any other ride) is themed well.
But again, since I usually try to visit amusement parks on less busy days, I do not really care about theming in the waiting line, since I usually walk right past it! In this chapter, I am going to describe the rides in a random order, not in the order how they are distributed throughout the park, or which one I like the most. And I will not describe all the rides, just the ones that I have been on.
Top thrill dragster. This is an extremely unique roller coaster and I must say that it is my favourite ride in the world! (Which should speak for itself - I have been on over forty different roller coasters in fifteen different amusement parks so far!) It is basically themed like a drag race, and it can be seen from any point in the park because it is just so tall.
This roller coaster is basically just one big hill, and the train will accelerate from zero to 190 kilometers an hourin three seconds! Well, how else did you expect it to be able to clear that big hill? But seriously, the acceleration is so big that it hurts and your hands will shake like crazy at the end of the ride.
The hill might seem small on this picture, but believe me, when you are seating in the train, waiting to be launched up that same hill, it seems taller than Mount Everest!
So what does this ride experience look like? Once you get to the train, it is time to sit down and fasten the restraints. The scariest part is definitely the fact that this roller coaster only has a bar over your legs, not a full shoulder restraint, which makes it a bit unsettling. The drop on the way down is a ninety percent drop, and just imagine how scary it feels for the first time, knowing that you are only held back by a tiny leg restraint!
Once everyone is seated, the train moves to a launching spot. Since this ride is, as I have mentioned, themed like a drag race, there will be a ‘christmas tree’ - this is how they call the traffic light looking object, which will signal you when it is time for departure, a.k.a. the launch.
The hardest part is definitely the waiting and the anticipation that the waiting creates- you have to wait a fairly long time before you are launched. And just so you are prepared - two orange lights will light up first, and then two green lights will light up, but you will most likely not see them, because you will be surprised by the launch. And trust me, by the time you will realize you were launched, the ride will already be over!
What I like about this ride, is its unpredictability. The launch power is calculated by a computer, and sometimes the computer miscalculates the force, and when the train reaches the top of the hill, it will roll back down to the station. I have experienced this once, and it was not as scary as it sounds, and I basically got to ride the ride twice without having to go in line again!
For me, one of the scariest parts of riding the Top Thrill Dragster (other than the anticipation of the launch) was not the way up, but the way down the hill. You do not really see much on the way up, other than the sky, and once the train reaches the top, you will have a spectacular view of the park and Lake Erie, and then the scariest part comes - the way down.
And why is it so scary? Because of two reasons. The first reason are the leg restraints - you will constantly have the feeling that you are sliding out of your seat. And the second reason is that the train makes a 360 - degree turn on the way down, and you will fell like your head will hit one of the pillars that support the structure.
Once you get off the ride and your legs stop shaking enough that you can walk, do yourself a favour and look at the ride photos. As you can imagine, the faces of the people that rode the Top thrill dragster are hilarious. Most of them look either scared to death or like they are in great pain. My first picture was a mix of both, because I was so unprepared for the launch force, and I just had to buy it. So now, every time I have a bad day, I look at that picture, and a smile immediately lights up my face.
And just a friendly advice - keep your mouth closed if you can, unless you want to choke on small flies like I did during my first time riding that ride. During my first visit of Cedar Point, Top Thrill dragster was constantly down because of mechanical issues. Also keep in mind that this ride will close when it is windy or it rains (even if there is just a few drops of rain).
So if you are only visiting Cedar Point for one day and you really want to ride the Top thrill dragster, this is the best strategy: it will take a while for this ride to start going in the morning. Why? Simply because they have to do multiple test launches before actually accepting people on the ride. Therefore, once you arrive to the park, you can get in line for one of the other rides, and as soon as you see that they began launching the cars at Top thrill dragster, head that way.
If you are visiting the park during one of those days when Top thrill dragster is having a lot of technical difficulties, it is the best to just wait in line - you might lose an hour or so that way, but this is one of a very few rides that I am willing to wait in line over an hour for. If you decide to leave the line, head back to Top thrill dragster as soon as you see they started launching cars again.
Gatekeeper is one of the most unique roller coasters I have ever ridden. And why? Because every seat offers a completely different experience and intensity. The most intense seats are definitely outer seats in the first row and in the back row, but even if you sit in the middle of the train, the experience is intense, and entirely different from front and back rows.
Sounds unbelievable? Yeah, that is what I thought too, before trying different seats myself. And rust me, on this roller coaster, you will actually feel like you are flying. And that is why the ride operators say ‘have a nice flight’ rather that ‘enjoy your ride’, like they do on most of the other rides.
Two of my favourite parts of this ride are definitely the first drop, where you will be twisted upside down, and the drop afterwards will feel oh so good, and the first big loop, where you will feel weightless for a few seconds. One of many things I like about Gatekeeper is how long it actually is, but the main downside of this ride are the long lines, since it is situated right next to the main entrance (hence the name Gatekeeper) and most people of course want to ride it first, since it is the first ride they see.
Valravn is the newest roller coaster in the park, and they advertise it as the dive coaster with the biggest drop in the world. So before I went to Cedar point for the first time, I imagined a drop, almost as tall as the Top thrill dragster’s hill, and I was pretty disappointed when I saw a relatively small drop. Well, it is true that if you sit in the front seats, you will be looking straight down, which is intense, but this ride did not quite exceed my expectations.
The track itself has two vertical drops, and before every drop, the train will stop on the top of the hill for a few seconds before dropping. Other than that, there are a few loops and relatively steep drops, but definitely nothing too jaw dropping. Well, like I said, the ride is good, but it is definitely not worth waiting in line for four hours just to ride it.
Raptor is the first roller coaster I rode in Cedar point, and therefore one of my favourites. Raptor is an older roller coaster, and if you are sitting in the back of the train, your head will be hitting the headrests pretty hard, but this is an extremely fun ride. And the colours are just spectacular - neon green with green and pink trains.
Power tower is actually a group of two drop towers and two space shots. If you do them first thing in the morning, you will feel like they are the most intense ride ever, but if you ride them after going on the Top thrill dragster or basically any other big roller coaster in the park, you will feel absolutely nothing.
The drop tower is actually not your ordinary drop tower. Well, the first part is - you will slooooowly go all the way up, wait for a few seconds, then you will drop, and then the ride will launch you back up and down two more times. Pretty fun, huh?
Same thing happens on the space shot. But the best part of this ride is not the actual shot (although it is pretty exciting as well), but the anticipation before the shot. Some drop towers and space shots will always drop you after a certain number of seconds. Well, not this ride. Sometimes you will have to wait three seconds, sometimes over ten, and the anticipation is what makes this ride extremely fun. And just a little scary.
Maverick is the most underrated roller coaster ever. Situated at the very end of the park, it looks pretty unsuspicious, but it packs a punch. This is, in fact, partly a launched roller coaster, just like the Top thrill dragster.
So when you reach the beginning of the first hill, you will be shot up the hill and then again down the steep drop. Then, a lot of sharp twists and turns will follow, and then you will end up in a very dark tunnel. And this is when you will be launched again, and it will be even more thrilling this time, because you will not know in which direction you are going, since the tunnel is almost completely dark.
Millenium force was rated as the best roller coaster in the world several years in a row. Its track is navy blue and white and it is pretty eye catching. What I especially love about this roller coaster, is that the chain lift for the first hill is super fast, meaning it only takes about ten seconds to reach the top of the hill, as opposed to some smaller roller coasters, where getting to the top of the first hill can literally take longer than a minute.
And then the first drop follows. I once read in a Cedar point forum that the first drop on Millenium force is better than sex, and I have to say they were right. Yeah, I did not believe it either, until I tried it.
Millenium force is fast and just a little bit bumpy - I had a feeling that my eyeballs were vibrating during the entire ride. Yeah, that first drop is definitely the most interesting part of the ride, but other smaller drops and sharp turns will definitely give you an adrenaline rush as well.
Magnum 250xl is the first roller coaster you will see at the back entrance of Cedar point. It is said that, on a clear day, you can see Canadafrom the top of the first hill. This is an older roller coaster, meaning it hurts, but it truly is a must - do ride at Cedar point. What makes it so thrilling, are the steep dives and sharp turns.
The butterfly feeling in your stomach will be there most of the time during the ride. The thing that makes riding the Magnum 250xl so painful, is the fact that the lap bar goes across your thighs and during steep drops, it will be pressing into your flesh and it hurts. I actually had bruises on my thighs after riding Magnum 250xl for a few times in a row.
Magnum 750xl at night. If you can, do all the big rides in the park at night as well. The experience is completely different and even more thrilling than during the day.
Corkscrew is the most boring roller coaster I have ever been on, but it would be a good roller coaster for the kids who eventually want to do some of the bigger rides. To me, Corkscrew offered absolutely zero adrenaline rush. The ride consists of a small hill and a few corkscrew loops, and the whole experience, including going up the hill, lasts less than a minute. But nevertheless, this is still a fun little roller coaster to begin your day at Cedar point.
Tiki twirl is one of those unsuspecting little carnival rides that everybody wants to skip in big amusement park, but this one does not deserve to be skipped. Tiki twirl is one of these spinning rides that will leave you dizzy for quite a few minutes after you will be done riding it. The cars are pretty small so if you are taller, prepare for your knees to hurt a little bit. Yes, on rare occasions like this, I am glad that I am short!
Wicked twister is a very unique roller coaster and it can be seen from almost anywhere in the park. It is not your typical roller coaster that does a circular loop, but it looks more like a half pipe with a loading and unloading station in the middle.
Even though this ride does not look too thrilling, this is in fact a launched roller coaster, meaning you will be experiencing some pretty high g - forces during the ride. The ride experience on Wicked twister looks like this: once your restraints are fastened, you will be launched forward halfway up the track, then you will roll backwards halfway up the second part of the track.
Once you reach the station, you will accelerate again, and this time, you will reach the very top of the track. Once you roll through the station, you will again be launched backwards, until you reach the top of the second half of the track. This is a short, but a very fun ride.
The funny thing about riding the Wicked twister is that the ride operator will warn you before the launch, which kinda takes the fun out of the surprise, but, on the other hand, it is good to know when to expect the launch. The ride operator will say: ‘Three, two, one, launch!’ and next thing you know, you will already be halfway up the track, rolling backwards faster and faster.
The wicked twister does not only have some pretty unusual colour. Its design is even more unusual. I was almost expecting the train not to safely stop at the top of the track!
Rougarou is a fairly new roller coaster. Well, renovated. In the past, it was called Mantis, and it used to be a stand - up roller coaster, which sounds extremely painful and uncomfortable to me. In the present, Rougarou is just your average roller coaster that looks better than it feels. Well, the seats are extremely comfortable, which is rare with roller coasters, but the ride itself offers nothing too exciting. Well, unless you want a break from bigger roller coasters and you would just like to calm down - in that case, Rougarou is a great ride to do so.
Rougarou with the Millenium force in the background.
Windseeker is one of the best rides at Cedar Point in terms of panoramic views of the whole park. Windseeker is basically just a big carousel, but the difference between a regular carousel and the Windseeker is that the Windseeker will take you almost two hundred feet up in the air!
The restraints on this ride are minimal, so the rush is bigger than you might think. The only downside - Windseeker is almost always closed due to the high winds that blow from Lake Erie. I am actually just a little bit surprised that they built such a ride in the area with high winds. I was lucky enough to ride the Windseeker at Cedar point once, and it was absolutely breathtaking.
Witches’ wheel is another unique and interesting ride that Cedar Point has to offer. It is the first ride of its kind that I have ever seen (and experienced). You sit into a tiny cabin with no restraints while the ride will spin 360 degrees multiple times, horizontally and vertically! You will actually do a full loop, and remember, there are no restraints at all, the only thing that will prevent you from slipping out of your seat, are your legs.
Surf dog is another spinning ride, which sort of simulates a boat, fighting big waves. It is a fun ride if you do it the very first thing once you arrive to the park. If you do any other rides before Surf dog, the experience will not be very thrilling.
Iron dragon would be a boring, gondola - style suspended roller coaster, if it did not offer an interesting feature, added only recently: a virtual reality experience! Yes, you will get your own VR goggles, and do not worry, they will not fall off during the ride. Since they added the VR feature last year, riding the Iron Dragon is a must, but unfortunately that also means that the lines can get quite long. The reason for that is simple - VR goggles can take a while to take off and put onto another passenger.
AirMax is one of those rides that you usually see at carnivals, just much bigger. The ride will swing you back and forth, while also spinning around. It is fast, it is thrilling, and it is fun. And it is conveniently located at the part of the park with the biggest concentration of rides - between Gatekeeper, Wicked Twister, Raptor and Rougarou.
Gemini is a classic wooden racing roller coaster. Meaning the ride consists of two parallel tracks, where two trains start the ‘race’ at the same time, and whoever reaches the loading and unloading station, wins. Unfortunately, this is a wooden roller coaster, which means the ride is extremely rough and it will hurt your back. But this is to be expected on almost any wooden roller coaster.
Skyhawk is basically a giant swing, and it is incredibly loud, fun, and you will be strapped into your seat with minimal restraints. This is honestly the only ride in the park that made me think that I will slip out of my seat any second. But do not worry, the ride is intentionally made that way, but try telling that to yourself when you are looking straight down, waiting to be swinged to the other side!
One of the things I like about American amusement parks and I have never encountered in Europe, are the greetings before and after the ride. Before the ride, the employees will wish you a nice ride and possibly make a few jokes, and after the ride, they will always say: Welsome back, riders, how was your ride? And everybody will start screaming and clapping. And I cannot even imagine how many times in a day do you have to repeat these same sentences if you work there. I might do it just to find out!
Cedar point shores water park
If you visit the area in the summer season, you can also visit a cool water park, situated right next to Cedar point, called Cedar point shores. And since this water park is technically a part of Cedar point, you do not need to buy a special ticket for it. If you have a ticket to Cedar point, you can just go to the water park anytime during the day, and return to Cedar point once you refresh in the water park a little bit.
The water park itself is pretty cool, and it has some quite thrilling water slides. But, to be honest, I only went to Cedar point shores water park once, simply because I prefer bigger rides. But I went there because it was an extremely hot day, and I needed to cool down a little bit.
You can also do different water sports on the lake, such as parasailing and jet skiing. Believe me, the views of the park from the lake are spectacular!
Other things to do in Cedar point
In the Frontierland, there is a cool museum, displaying history of Cedar point and the area. In general, Frontierland and Wild west areas are pretty cool for walking around. Wild west even has a little petting zoo.
If you do not feel like walking, you can take the gondola ride, that will take you from one side of the park to the other. The gondola cars are colourful and super pretty, but the ride is sloooooow and you have to pay extra to ride it.
During Halloween time, Cedar point hosts Halloweekends, which offer Halloween parades, longer opening hours (sometimes until one in the morning - riding roller coasters in the dark is absolutely amazing), and some of the best haunted houses and mazes of any amusement parks I have ever visited. Unfortunately, you have to pay extra for some of the mazes, but some of them are free.
Suggestions and strategies to survive a day in the park
First of all, please remember that you are not allowed to jump the line in at any ride, even if a friend is saving the spot for you. I have seen multiple people being removed from the park (not just from the line) for trying to do that. Also, you are not allowed to run through the park, because a same consequence may follow - the security guards will escort you out of the park.
Like I already mentioned, it is completely possible to do all the rides in Cedar point in one day. And not just once, but multiple times. And what is even better, it is possible to do so even without buying the infamous (and expensive) fast pass.
Well, you might not get to ride the Windseeker, since it is almost always closed because of the wind, but the first time I went to the park during the week, I was able to do fifty six rides in one single day! Needless to say that my back was killing me for quite a few days after that, but it was totally worth it.
My favourite strategy so far is to enter the park through the entrance in the back and work your way forward. And why does it work? Simply because most people do not know about the possibility of entering the park through the entrance in the back (now you do, you are welcome), and they always go to the first few rides they see in the front, which are Gatekeeper, Raptor and Valravn, and this is the reason all these rides usually have the longest waiting times.
Also, you will probably reach these busiest rides during lunch time, which means the wait will be much shorter, because a lot of people will be eating lunch.
When you enter the park through the back entrance, you will do the rides in the back first, and you will do them before all these people from the front entrance make their way there. Ride Maverick first, because this ride has small cars and it takes forever to load and unload passengers. Then you can move on to the Millenium force, Magnum, Rougarou, Valravn, Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, the Wicked twister, and finally, the Gatekeeper. And do all the smaller rides after that. Trust me, there will be plenty of time for them.
To make everything easier, download the Cedar point app on your smart phone. Not only it will show you the waiting times for all the rides, it can also navigate you to a desired ride. I found this feature extremely useful during my first visit to Cedar point, because the park is huge and it can be pretty overwhelming and hard to navigate.
Food and drinks
Food in Cedar point is ridiculously expensive, but luckily, you can purchase a dining plan on the website, which will cost you fifteen dollars, and it entitles you to a main dish and a large fountain drink. The main dish is usually a slice of pizza, and as expensive as it might sound, without the dining plan, you would pay twenty dollars for that.
The easiest and cheapest thing to do is to bring your own food and leave it in the car, then just take a break from the rides when you are hungry. Oh, and leave the food in a cooler, because otherwise everything will be too hot to eat and drink.
A must - try food in Cedar point is definitely the frozen custard. Oh, and let’s not forget about the Dipping dots ice cream, preferably with a drizzle of Ghirardelli chocolate sauce on top.
A few words for the end…
If you are a roller coaster fan, you should definitely put Cedar Point on your list of the amusement parks to visit. The park is ranked as one of the best amusement parks worldwide, and I must say I was not disappointed at all. The only downside (other than expensive food, but I feel like this is standard practice in most amusement parks) is that most of the rides will close down if the weather is bad. And by bad, I do not mean a thunderstorm, I mean a few raindrops.
Although I understand - I would rather be safe and wait until the rain stops than risk my life on the ride. The park is not that suitable for families with kids. Well, it has a fairly big kids area, but it is targeted more towards ‘real’ roller coaster enthusiasts. Next season, they are opening a brand new roller coaster, called Steel Vengeance, and I cannot wait to ride it!
