USA Honeymoon Trip

[DelPiero]

My wife and I decided to do a bit of a road trip for our honeymoon. A few nights in New York followed by a couple of days at Cedar Point. We would then drive down to Miami for 2 nights then a final 4 nights in Orlando.
Here's our trip map.

Luckily for me I realized we had an evening free and Hershey Park was added to the itinerary. I was looking at doubling my credit count so knew this was going to be amazing.

Parks visited;
Hershey Park
Cedar Point
Busch Gardens Tampa
Universal Studios/IOA
Fun Spot America
Seaworld

Park 1, Hershey Park

The day started with a drive from New York to Hershey. We picked up this massive beast and got on our way.

It's a lot easier to drive in the states than I thought, after a while anyway, getting out of NYC is not a nice experience.

We arrived at the park a bit behind schedule so at 4:30 we went into the chocolate world as I promised Helen.

We did the tour and had a look in the shop for a bit but i was started to get impatient. Very large, very sexy coasters were calling me, so we left choc world and headed toward the park entrance.

I love the Entrance area to the park, it's like walking through a Park with quaint signs and buildings up to the gates, where you're greeted by possibly the largest flag I've ever seen.

We quickly went to hospitality to nab our snack vouchers and moved swiftly on to our first cred.

I had already seen Skyrush's lift and initial drop from the road and had already got the goosebumps then... but now I was feeling total excitement. As i got in the back right seat i was grinning from ear to ear, Helen gave me a funny look to say "stop acting like a child" but of course, I didn't care, I was in full on goon mode. However, i hadn't given her any idea of what was to come, this was partly to get her on the thing as it's quite daunting. After we got off she told me I was an ass but she enjoyed herself.

The ride op here was fantastic, the bloke asked if i'd been on before and we had a quick chat. He was waiting for me when we got back to the station with a expectant expression of joy, gave me some advice for the rest of the day.
There may have been a danger that I over-hyped this ride and could have set myself up for huge disappointment but no. Absolutely amazing! Loved the speed of the lift hill, loved the airtime of the first drop, loved everything about it.
Both big airtime hills were fantastic, and the way it tried to throw me out on the high speed changes was great. I was speechless when we hit the brake run, just a massive grin. Easily my new number one coaster, I will be back to Hershey just for this.
Bought the tee immediately after.

I was hungry for more action so seeing a 10 min queue for comet decided to get it done. Was a bit rattly but I enjoyed it, we just laughed all the way round. Such a simple woodie but great fun.

After our bumpy ride we went and got ourselves an ice cream with our snack vouchers, mmm, mixed ice cream awesomeness. It was huge, considering it was free and it was a "small" ice cream.



We then took a trip on the slow and relaxing Skyride, this was more to keep Helen happy due to comet's roughness taking its toll.



I quickly walked on Superdooperlooper, madame sat this one out. One loop, mine train type ride, near the bottom of my list, meh. However, I had the pleasure of sitting behind a couple of teenagers, one of which was giving it large; "yeah man, here we go! No backin out now boyzzz, lets do this yeah!!" Quickly followed by the most almighty girl scream as we went towards the loop. Spent most of the ride laughing at the prat.

Started heading towards Stormrunner as we decided to do great bear at the end of the night and came across Trailblazer. 10 min Q and we were on. Quite liked the helix at the end but wouldn't ride it again, it was a bit bland, even for a Mine Train.

At this point I was getting a bit worried. 4 creds down and only 1 was really any good.
This all changed upon Stormrunner. Luckily only a 20/25 min wait and snagged a back row seat with another single rider. Really really liked this, great launch, decent if a little on the short side top hat, followed by the wonderful Cobra Loop. Nice entry speed keeping the adrenaline up followed by the perfect amount of hang-time before righting us and snaking towards the ground.
Then one of the best elements I experienced on my trip, Snake Dive. Just Wow! The heart line roll is just perfect and the twist and dive is so smooth and exhilarating. I think I enjoyed the final twists and airtime more because of the Snake Dive, which gives bonus points for me. Top 5 coaster as combines a great launch with a good top hat and some amazing inversions. Even the otsr's didn't bother me.
I'm back right in the pic, arms up ready to launch.

It was now time for my 50th cred, so I went towards Sidewinder, only my 2nd Boomerang.
Wow! What a load of crap. The initial drop was ok but the loop was rubbish, the cobra roll was painful and the ride was rattly all the way through. Backwards was even worse. I was quite glad to get off, but disappointed that the milestone coaster was so VILE!

We were starting to get hungry, but we saw that Fahrenheit's queue was only 20 mins, so I persuaded Helen to go on it.
This was the 2nd time today that I was blown away by the ride ops. This time it was the dispatcher, gave out some good facts and adapted his intro to all new riders well, probably the best announcer of the trip.
Fahrenheit is great to watch, which usually means (imo) its rubbish to ride, and even though I knew this was one of the most popular rides in the park I was expecting it to be a bit rubbish, I was wrong though. The lift hill seems to go on forever, and the drop was good, decent amount of airtime. It was also surprisingly smooth, however, the cobra roll was jerky on the exit, this was probably due to back seat though. Shame we didn't have time to try another seat.
The Norwegian loop was pretty good though, but the best part of the ride for me were the corkscrews. They were sublime. I really felt the forces whip me through them and they weren't jerky at all. Would re-ride just for these (and hope the cobra roll jerk was just back left).

Time for dinner, so went back to Trailblazer as there was a smokehouse we passed. Got a pit beef sandwich with mac n cheese with our meal deal. The pit beef was tasty, BBQ sauce was tangy and when mixed with the mac n cheese was good enough. No complaints about the food for me. Think the meal deal was about $13 and included a souvenir bottle, considering these were $9 separately I think that's a good deal.

It was now starting to get dark, so I was running out of time and decided to smash through the last creds as quick as possible, forgot to get pics due to running from cred to cred. At this point Helen had had enough of coasters and sat them out, mainly as she's not a wood fan. However she was going to go on Great Bear at the end of the day.

So up next was Wildcat. I was aware this was GCI's first installation and was excited but apprehensive as I've heard bad reviews. It was also my first night ride on he trip. I loved the way it looked in the dark, and it was walk-on.
Went back left as usual and it was a good ride. Bit rough but it wasn't too bad, the twistyness was fun and intense and it felt like it went on for ages, which wasn't a bad thing. Would probably have re ridden if we had more time.

I then raced (muahaha) to Lightning Racer. This was a short wait again, only 5 mins, and I was looking forward to this.
I was right to, got on the Thunder train, in the middle to save time. I was with a elder lady who wasn't a coaster fan, but we both had great fun shouting at the train to hurry up to beat the lightning train. It had some great interaction with the other train, especially the turns towards each other, and some decent airtime (even in the middle). I think this could have been even better had I got a better seat and during the day to see more of the ride. Again, time constraints stopped a re-ride.

So we were into the last 45 mins of the day, 2 creds left to bag, Wild Mouse and Great Bear. Easily doable, until I saw the Mouse queue.
30 Mins!! OUTRAGE!!
Decided to sack it, I know it's a cred, but 20/30 mins for a mouse or the possibility of a night ride on my number 1 coaster. Hard decision right?!

Anyway, sped off to Great Bear, an extra 5 min wait for the back seat knowing this would be a 1 time ride.
I expected more if I'm honest. After seeing this during the day it looked really good, but I'm afraid the curse of the watchable coaster strikes again.
It's not bad, it's just.... Good. I think I subconsciously compare all inverts to Nemesis, which I know I shouldn't. But even judging it alone it meanders through certain points and it dies a death at the end.
I enjoyed the drop into the loop, which was decent and the Immelmann was good, probably my fave element of the coaster, but the zero-g wasn't great, same with the corkscrew. They were both a bit headbangy.
So much so that it put Helen off all inverts for the rest of the trip.
I didn't think it was that bad but it didn't take the invert crown off Nemesis for me.
Got the pic earlier in the day, the best part imo.

It was 9:45 - enough time for a Skyrush re-ride. Decided to wait for front row. Then the inevitable happened.

BREAKDOWN HORROR!

Poor people on the train got stuck 3/4 of the way up the lift hill. I waited 10 mins but they hadn't moved so had to give it up as a lost cause.
Real shame, probably the most disappointing part of the whole trip, in fact, I was still disappointed about it when we got to Cedar Point.

They were still there as we exited the park but it did get going again just before we got into chocolate world to pick up some gifts.

Coaster count;
Wild Mouse - 0
Everything else - 1

All in all I loved Hershey Park, even though it was a flying visit it made my top park so far. A great mix of coasters with 4 excellent ones and only 1 really bad one. Good operations and ride ops, as well as a generally nice vibe in the place. Food is decent, good prices for meal deals and managed to get everything (bar the mouse) done in good time.
If you haven't been, I highly suggest a trip to Pennsylvania.

Next up, Park 2, Cedar Point

 

[furie]

So glad you had a great time at Hershey and managed pretty much everything. I know you were time limited, but it's a shame you didn't manage to grab a full day there as it's a superb park (as you found out), but it's one that keeps on giving beyond the coaster front with some great flats, the water area, the zoo off to the side. Just so much there... Next year eh?

 

[DelPiero]

I honestly thought it would just be a cred run with 2 awesome coasters but it really was so much more than that.
Would love to have spent a whole day there but it was just impossible this time around. I had no idea there was a zoo there too, but did notice they had a couple of water rides and THE CLAW!! that interested me.
Not 2014, have other plans, possibly the year after.

 

[furie]

The Claw is one of the better Afterburners out there, quite enjoyed it. The Flume is great too. There's a massive water park in the middle of the upper section, so you can get your swimming gear on and go and play there too, plus you can ride their "Tidal Wave" in your Speedos!

The Zoo is off to one side, over a bridge across a road. It's an American zoo, so all the animals are native to the US, which isn't special to most 'Mericans I suppose, but it's great to see things like Porcupines and Skunks we don't get over here :lol:

To be honest though, I think we spend an hour just reriding Lightning Racer :lol: There were four of us though, so we paired off and set about just racing time and time again

You know if you're back in the area, Dorney, Knoebels and even SFNE and Lake Compounce are also doable don't you?

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Awesome report! Sounds like you had a good time.

 

[DelPiero]

You know if you're back in the area, Dorney, Knoebels and even SFNE and Lake Compounce are also doable don't you?

We drove past Dorney, Kennywood, Carowinds and the sign for Knoebels during the 2 weeks. It was torture, but I knew I was heading somewhere better.
I've already got confirmation from the Wife that I can take mini Delmonte on a east coast trip when he's older, unfortunately he's not even 3 yet though

We will be doing a Disney trip before I get to ride the east coast.

 

[caffeine_demon]

You know if you're back in the area, Dorney, Knoebels and even SFNE and Lake Compounce are also doable don't you?

We drove past Dorney, Kennywood, Carowinds and the sign for Knoebels during the 2 weeks. It was torture, but I knew I was heading somewhere better.

There aren't many parks better than Knoebels!!

 

[DelPiero]

^better probably being the wrong word.
Substitute it for "higher on my priority list"

 

[tomahawk]

Coaster Honeymoon trip? Good man.

 

[Ian]

I'm a bit jaded about visiting Hersheypark when I next visit the USA. So far I've been to two of the four Herschend parks - Silver Dollar City and Dollywood. Both are fantastic, but I've always view Hershey and Darien Lake with a slight look of contempt. I'm glad to read that Hershey is generally is worth the hype.

I do enjoy reading reports written by first time visitors.

 

[DelPiero]

Coaster Honeymoon trip? Good man.

I specifically said I wanted CP included in the honeymoon, she agreed as she had chosen Miami portion, I just added Hershey and maximized the parks in Orlando.
I think if I had suggested a Six Flags tour I would have been shot down in a heartbeat.

I do enjoy reading reports written by first time visitors.

Luckily for you there are 5 more to come in this one topic!! :drinking:

Still trying to finalize all the pics from CP, going to be one long post.

 

[Hutch]

Great report! Hershey is within driving distance from where I live. Need to get there soon (I dunno about next year, already bugged my parents about making other major trips).

WHY WAS SIDEWINDER YOUR 50TH CRED?! Was it unintentionally (it probably was )?

Can't wait for the rest of the report.

 

[DelPiero]

WHY WAS SIDEWINDER YOUR 50TH CRED?! Was it unintentionally (it probably was )?

Well, I planned it to be Storm Runner, and it was still going to be until the Mrs wussed out of Great Bear, she isn't a huge invert fan and wanted to build up the courage so we decided to do it at the end of the night.
Problem being that I forgot about the milestone so trundled on with SDL, Trailblazer and Storm Runner. I was also in cred hunting mode so was getting everything done as fast as possible and it just happened that VILEWINDER! was number 50.
In hindsight I could have done Fahrenheit instead but I really don't care that much.

More worried about 100 now, only 8 to go, and I would like a good one for triple digits. Funnily enough I'll be on 99 by the end of this year's plans.

 

[caffeine_demon]

a milestone should be cheesy!

Ps - your wife's awesome for allowing you to do theme parks on your honeymoon!!

 

[insanecoastervids]

Great report Hershey looks great

 

[DelPiero]

Park 2- Cedar Point

Sorry for the length.

Day 1

Now for my part of the honeymoon, the roller coaster capital of the world, 16 coasters, no theming, the 2nd tallest coaster in the world, the first Giga and the ride most voted the number 1 steel coaster in the world, the record breaking wing rider through the gates, the Mecca of all enthusiasts, the park I've been longing to go to for years, and, of course, Jr Gemini!!

Cedar Point!

We were ready for 2 days here, Sunday and Monday 1/2 of Sep, of course I had no idea it was Labor Day when I booked it so I expected to find crowds and lots of them on day 1. We did.
I followed you kind people's advice and parked at soak city to use the Magnum entrance as first up was TTD. This is the first pic i took, this thing is huge.

I knew the queues would be massive so we lined up outside the entrance (they were still testing), it seemed like forever before they opened the queue, but it was only about 15 mins. Luckily we were near the front of the queue so we waited another 30 mins to get on. The front line was massive so took a generic spot, 3rd row I believe.

The cars were barely making it over the top hat, a usual occurrence, but we saw the most amazing thing ever.

ROLL BACK AWESOMENESS!!

2 trains in front of us got a roll back, lucky bastards. It scared the crap of of Helen as she was already a bit intimidated by it but I explained that it doesn't usually happen and we would be very lucky to see another one the entire time we were there. I was right, no rollback for us, or anyone else that I saw over the next 2 days.
However, this was the only coaster I was truly apprehensive about during the entire trip. My fear is heights, not going on coasters that are high and plummeting towards the earth at 60-100mph, no no no, love it! I hate looking down, straight down at a height. Windseeker is a no no for me, drop towers scare the bejeezus out of me but I love em. But TTD, stuck at the top for X amount of time. Unbridled horror for me.

So anyway, we got into the 3rd row, and I tried to keep my nerve. Couldn't let the wife see me all scared, she was crapping herself though lol. And we waited, and waited for the fins to drop and the lights to go.
When they finally did it was like nothing I had experienced, the speed of that thing is ridiculous. However, there was zero airtime over the top. I still enjoyed the twist and drop, it was fun, but it was a let down. The acceleration as awesome but it just didn't hit the spot for me. It's top 10 for the launch and twist with just lap bars but overall it's not a top 5 coaster for me.

Time to follow the plan, TTD done, Maverick next.

Once these 2 were out of the way we could enjoy the day without burdonous queues. So we got in line for Mav, it said an hour but was probably only 40 mins. Loved the sound of the tunnel launch while waiting and the queue line was themed ok, one of the better ones.
I was really looking forward to this one, POVs can only tell you so much but this looked like my kind of coaster, I expected it to rival Skyrush for the top spot.

Due to the queue style we decided to wait for front row, only added 5 mins wait time and it was worth it. The launch up the hill was just a faster lift hill but the drop is amazing for such a short drop. The airtime generated at that speed and with the 95 degree drop is fantastic, the first turn into the canyon keeps up the intensity from the drop and I love how close to the ground you are for the majority of the ride.
The twisted horseshoe roll is great, but can bang if not braced properly. The same goes for the over banked turns. But the two airtime hills are just sublime, as is the tunnel launch.

I do have some critiques though. It is rough if not braced correctly. It really banged Helen after the 2nd over bank and it ruined it for her. It didn't bang me and I loved it. However I re-rode this a lot on the 2nd day so look out for Day 2 for my final report on Maverick. After the 1 ride I had on this day it made 2nd spot, just behind Skyrush.

So, the two big ones I was most excited for done, time to relax and check out the top of the park.
Next up was Mean Streak. Helen refused to get on as it looked mean and I'd told her it was a bit rough. Seems even I underestimated this one.

VILE! VILE TO THE CORE OF HELL!!! :redhotevil:

My poor back will never be the same. I had no idea it was this bad, reviews made me expect it to be the roughest ride but seriously. How did this even have a 15 minute queue?!? Are people stupid?! Never again.
Good lift hill, nice view, nice clinking sound of the anti roll back.
Everything else can go to hell.

After I had diced with the devil, lost, had my soul chewed on my a zombified donkey of the apocalypse and somehow made it onto concrete I decided to play it safe with some kiddy rides to ease my broken body back from the dead.

We then went on the cedar creek mine ride, it had a 20 min queue, but everything was starting to back up after our waits for the first 2 so we lined up expecting an ok mine ride.

I didn't think much of this. There are a few good things;
I like the train going through the workshop, bit goony.
You get some decent views of the park.
The final helix is fun.

The rest is a let down, it's slow, jolty, and does nothing interesting until the last 5 seconds. The location is great, shame this coaster is there.

Unfortunately there was a rather long wait (20 and 30 mins) for the Woodstock Express and Jr Gemini so we decided to do them at the end of the day.

Gemini was only a 10 min wait so I got in line, blue train. Winners woot! This was good fun. Really nice interaction with the blue train all the way round. I think this is all about the people riding it, if there's no interaction with the other train then it's a standard coaster. Luckily there was a large group split up so they provided the entertainment while I enjoyed brief pops of airtime and rather uncomfortable seats. Not a bad ride but just a middle of the road coaster.

Magnum and corkscrew had also built up quite a queue, it seemed that the gatekeeper crowds were getting to the middle of the park so we hurried round to Mantis and quickly got in the queue.

This was 30 mins but I knew it would be busy for most of the day so we braved it. It was about 12:30 at this point so I wanted to get a couple more done before heading to the front of the park.
Mantis is a great to watch coaster, most B&Ms are, the inversions look great on this and the roar it makes is fantastic. The riders looked a bit worse for wear though, Helen actually got to the front of the queue then wussed out based on a few people's faces who looked like they were going to puke.
So I was a loner once again.
I can understand the hate for this ride. Even with my expert bracing techniques :wink: I took a bashing. Standups aren't that fun, the drop again was ok but then bash followed by bash. I didn't fancy a re-ride, nothing distracted me from the bashing. It does look great though.

We then decided to grab some lunch. I got a corn dog, the mrs got some mozzarella sticks. They filled a hole, yummy.

It was getting hot, very hot and due to Millennium having a 90 min queue, we decided to take on a water ride or two. Did snap this checking out the Q length, such a great sign.

I heard about shoot the rapid's accident a while back so wasn't surprised to see it was still closed. No water running but couldn't see any work being done on it either. Just SBNO as far as I could see.
So onwards we went to snake river falls.

We got drenched. Absolutely soaked! Not bothered though as we needed cooling off. It felt like the drop went on for ages. Not too impressed with the rest of it though, hill, turn, drop, done.
Got this great pic before running away.

So we were soaked but it was still hot and I wanted to cross off the back of the park for the day, so we went towards the rapids.
Spited.
They theme this for HalloWeekends so was closed for the "Transformation". Not too bothered, so much other stuff to go on.

Wandered back past Maverick and saw the Q was at 2 hours. Glad we did it early. I then got this awesome bit of paper.

The Q's for Jr Gemini and Woodstock were still ridiculous so moved down to the middle of the park, again skipping large queues for Corkscrew and Magnum. My plan was to get down the front and get some of those rides done.

We took the Skyride down to the front of the park and we got our first good look at Gatekeeper.

This thing looks amazing. It's graceful and long... really long. I took a few photos of it while we were there but put it off as I wanted a night ride.

Time for another coaster, I'd skipped loads due to Q's but knew I'd have to wait for anything now. However, Wicked Twister was only 20 minutes! Fab!

This was my first impulse coaster so I wasn't sure what to expect. I love any launch coaster but obviously this is totally different to anything I'd ridden before. Madame wouldn't go on it (backwards is a no go due to motion sickness), so Lone Ranger strikes again.
Queue went quickly and I partnered up 3 rows from the back. I couldn't be arsed with another 15 min wait for back or front to be honest.

I really liked this. Initial launch was pretty good, but the spikes give such a strange feeling, especially backwards. It's a shame I didn't ride it again further back or at the front to experience it more.
I'd definitely re-ride if I went back and would classify it as one of the best of the rest. A really good +1.

Raptor time.

Probably one of the most photogenic coasters at the park. Couldn't stop snapping it. It dominates the west skyline and the constant roaring is a wonderful sound heard all the way up the central midway.

The queue was reasonable (30 mins), so I got in line, Han Solo again, and started writing my Hershey review in the line. Such a great way to spend your time waiting by the way :--D
In no time I was entering the station, and like usual, everyone was lining up for the front so there wasn't much of a line for the back, strolled over and got on the next train with a party of 3, meaning I got back left... YAY!

The first thing I noticed was how high we were climbing, 137 feet may not sound like much compared with 200+ for Magnum/Skyrush or 300+ for the Gigas but this is easily the tallest invert I've ridden. I even mumbled to myself as we were going up "hmm, this is pretty high" before enjoying the great view of the north of the park.

The 2nd thing I noticed was a rather large drop, which was fantastic, even at the back. The loop was nice and forceful and the zero-g was excellent.
Then the problems began, the cobra took me by surprise, due to that, I didn't enjoy it much, and the train started losing speed towards the mcbr. This middle portion of the ride was a bit meh, too slow, rough out of the cobra into the spiral and the corkscrews didn't do anything for me.
The final helix is pure win though, best part of raptor by a mile.

I did re-ride this, see day 2 for final decision, but initially I though it was good, but not great.

I was now getting sick of being a single rider so we agreed to go on some attractions for both of us.

First up was Blue Streak. I'd heard good things about this and the POV looked decent. We did make the GP mistake of trying to enter through the exit though, what a faff.
This was only a 10 min wait for the back row so we jumped on and clunked up the lift hill.
This was very much like comet in the sense that we had a great time bouncing around, it wasn't as rough and gave us some decent airtime throughout. I really enjoyed this coaster and immediately became my fave woodie so far (note that my woodie list isn't great).

Next up were these super cool cars.

I let Helen drive so I could take some random pics, it's got a nice long circuit and gives great views of Raptor's Cobra Roll. Nice relaxing attraction to unwind on.

We then queued for 20 minutes! for bumper cars/dodgems, mainly due to operations as they only had one guy operating it, checking for left articles, checking seat belts etc. Considering the queue of this is was surprised there was only one guy. Anyway, the dodgems were fab, good speed and a large enough area so everyone didn't bunch too much.

At this point we had a break from everything and just wandered around looking in shops and people watching. Everything was really busy so we just sauntered around, got a fab milkshake from Sweet Tooth (i think it's called that) which is just before the tunnel of MF in Frontiertown. Looked at some of the wooden and leather items for sale and watched MF and Maverick do a few laps each. It was a chilled evening.

I then decided to cash in my ticket of Win.

OH YEAH! This was still a 15 min queue even after 8pm so I got in line, Helen took photos, I made friends with kids and their parents, I got to sit at the front next to some random kid. He enjoyed it, I wheee'd and whooo'd to give off the illusion of the coaster being great for his benefit.
I'm glad it's done, it's a great kids coaster. I've kept the yellow ticket, it's got a proud place in front of my ORPs.
Special thanks to 2012Jarrett for pointing me in the right direction for this.

We wandered down to Power Tower. I'm a huge drop tower fan, but not really been on any shooters so I decided to go shot side on PT. Solo again

Got the willies like usual waiting for the shot but it was pleasant, it wasn't good. Just pleasant. It felt like there was no force to it, but hey, they can't all be good. Looks great though.

Twas now getting late so we decided to make Gatekeeper the last ride of the night.

The Queue was a good 45 minutes so we took random night pics, of which none came out very good and I tried to explain about the coaster. Eventually she told me to shut it as she was bored by goonery and I went back to watching it fly through the night.

When we got to the station we went left side and went back row (Front was ridiculously long).
We decided we would go front row the following day to get a better view, so see day 2.
Anyway, I was excited. I really liked Swarm so considering this is taller, faster, longer and goes through a frigging gate!! I was expecting to like it. I knew Helen would as she likes Swarm more than I do and smoothness wins the day with her.

Up the lift hill we went and started the wingover drop, the back left(depending on twist side ofc) on these wingovers always feel a bit strange to me as the hangtime is minimal but you get pulled through the inversion quickly. The drop is excellent though, it's extremely smooth and enjoyable all the way through to the keyhole element.
From the initial keyhole until the MCBR is fantastic. It's not thrilling and forceful but excellent choppers, followed by the turnaroud dive loop. Best bit of the ride for me as there's actually some force when you hit that, then back towards the gate with the inline twist, which is ok, the first is better.
I'm dissapointed at the MCBR here as I don't think it really needs that much slowing down, it picks up a bit of speed through the helix but nothing too forceful. The final hill before the brakes is decent too.

Overall it's easily better than Swarm, a couple of nice inversions, comfortable seats, restraints aren't as bad as people say and it's super smooth. We re-rode during the day the following day. This was Helen's fave coaster of the entire trip.

Ride Count:
TTD - 1
Maverick - 1
Mean Streak - 1
Cedar Creek Mine Ride - 1
Gemini - 1
Mantis - 1
Snake River Falls - 1
Wicked Twister - 1
Raptor - 1
Blue Streak - 1
Turnpike Cars - 1
Dodgems - 1
Jr Gemini - 1
Power Tower (Shot) - 1
Gatekeeper - 1

TLR - Did 11 coasters, had fun.

Day 2 to come, won't be as long, I promise

 

[Hutch]

started writing my Hershey review in the line. Such a great way to spend your time waiting by the way

What a great idea to pass the time! :lol:

I wish I rode Maverick than once. Didn't really like the neck choppers.

I also loved how you wore a Skyrush T-Shirt the entire day there!

 

[DelPiero]

^ Cheers, it just seemed logical to do something I enjoy rather than look at some guy's head for 40 mins.

The neck chopper restraints really can hurt. I got some nasty bruises on my upper arm that day, I'm almost 100% certain it was Mav. As you'll find in the next part, I tried everything as I wanted to love it. It's relentless and wild, but the enjoyment can be enhanced if you find a brace which works for you.

I love my Skyrush tee, wore it everywhere lol.

 

[therick311]

I found that holding on to the shoulder straps at about chest level helped.

 

[DelPiero]

After day 1 had rewarded me with 11 out of the 16 available credits, day 2 was for mopping up the missed ones and re-riding my favourites.
Helen only wanted to ride Gatekeeper again but I was determined to get her on Millennium Force as well.
Because of her lack of wanted to ride anything but those, we decided that, in order to make my day more enjoyable, I would purchase a flash pass!
I had no intention of re-riding TTD, I wanted max time of MF and Maverick, so got the standard pass.

Day 2 began with my first ride on MF.

The Q time was 40 mins so my flash pass reduced this to 15 and I was heading towards the station. Ugly station may I add.

Front row line was too long at this point so I got in line for the back.
Day 2 was where I realised how annoying the "welcome back riders, how was your ride?" spiel is. Very annoying, especially when noone responds and they still say "fantastic, at this time....."

I climbed into back left, enjoyed the comfortable seat and lap bar for a few seconds then the lights above my head turned red. Here we go, 310 feet up into the sky, my highest lift hill to date.

The climb was not as fast as I expected, the POVs look faster than it felt. I had plenty of time to take in the amazing views, and get a bit spooked by the height. For the first time I can remember, I had to hold on to the restraints to reassure myself. This thing is tall, very tall.

Cresting over the top I realised why this is so highly acclaimed, the drop is immense, crashing down at a ridiculous speed towards the ground and hurtling round the first turn is something I won't forget. I could actually feel my neck getting shorter as the G's forced me down in my seat.
The first hill didn't give much airtime but I was expecting this due to reviews suggesting that the drop and speed are the best parts of the ride. So I enjoyed speeding through the tunnel, which gave a great headchopper, and the turnaround was pretty good as it kept the momentum and had decent angles.

What I didn't expect was the fabulous floater airtime over the next hill after the 2nd tunnel. It really was great, and the final hill gave brilliant ejector, not too forceful but it satisfied my craving.

I hit the brakes with a smile on my face, what a great ride.

At this point I ranked MF as 3rd in my top 10, with Maverick 2nd.

Due to having a flash pass I decided to make sure of my rankings.

We went towards the back of the park again, as I still needed the Woodstock cred. I saw the FP lane was empty for Mav so had my second ride of the trip.

I took back seat this time, arms up again, the drop wasn't as good as in the front, and the view was obstructed but the airtime hills come into their own in the back. Such forceful ejector, it's fantastic.

But, the ride was rougher, not too bad but the arms up decision neck chops on the over banks and twisted horseshoe roll. But I was determined that there must be a way to ride this to stop those neck choppers.

Over the course of the day(6 runs on the Monday) I tried a couple of different bracing positions.
1: Arms up wasn't the answer and gives awful bruising at the top if your arms. It is better in the front though.
2: Using the front handles also didn't help and is probably the worst of the positions I tried.
3: However, holding the restraints just below my chin stopped all head banging and stopped any arm bruising but took away from the airtime hills, initial drop and launch.

So, I simply adjusted my bracing during the ride. Arms up during the initial launch and drop until the canyon direction changes, during which i used the restraint brace and switching back to arms up for the airtime hill. Straight to restraint bracing for the horseshoe roll followed by arms up during the 2nd launch and tunnel exit headchopper. Finally bracing during the canyon direction change and keeping the brace all the way through the overbanks until the last airtime hill. Arms up for that and the last turn into the brakes.

It worked perfectly, I had 2 absolutely perfect rides using that method and cemented the ride in my top 3. But, because of the need to specifically brace through the entire ride in order to make it so good, it couldn't take number 1 or 2, and will probably drop down the rankings in the future.

We quickly moved on so i could get the final creds, first up was Woodstock Express.

Nothing to see here, standard Vekoma family coaster. Glad I didn't wait 30 mins the day before.

Next up, Magnum.

I'd heard good things about this, and was looking forward to the return part for the airtime hills. So I got in the back seat, only a 5 min queue.

The first drop was good, as was the 2nd into the tunnel, but the seats weren't very comfortable. The ride was a bit rough, but was ok for an Arrow. The final hills were awesome though!! Literally being flung out of my seat! If the seats were more comfortable I would have ridden this over and over just for those last 4 hills.

I then rode Gemini again as I quite enjoyed the previous run. It was good, but we lost, boo! Decent interaction again with the other train.

Next up - Corkscrew

I wasn't expecting much, but took a seat (first one available) near the front.
The drop and hill were rubbish, really jolty, and I was dreading the corkscrews. They were surprisingly smooth though, quite enjoyed them.
Overall, short and rough in parts. Boring.

Then my best part of Cedar Point.

Best seat in the park. Front left on MF is frigging awesome!!!

As I was still solo at this point a fellow goon asked to ride with me.
He had a MF hat and MF tee on, so I decided he quite liked it. We chatted about the ride and why it wasn't my No.1 coaster.

It was nice to ride with him rather than a random GP, but honestly SJP could have been sitting there and I still would have had one of the best rides of my life.

It's a totally different beast in the front. Such an amazing ride. The drop is ridiculously good, the speed intensifies there all the way round and you still get the airtime from the last 2 hills.

It beat Maverick to my number 2, front seat requires nothing but sitting there with your arms up and is amazing. Well done Intamin, world class.

One more cred to get - Iron Dragon

This actually made me feel a bit ill. The first half was a nice enjoyable ride, much like a skyride. The 2nd half it swings a lot and it made me feel a bit sick. Not overly, and once I got off it passed.

So with all the creds done we moved to the front of the park for another ride on Gatekeeper.

We went on the front this time as the queue was only 20 mins in total. I let Helen have the outside seat as its her No.1. It really is good, the hangtime on front right is great and the views are fantastic.
We had to wait on the brake run for 5 mins while they cleaned up after a puker. The restraints hurt, like hard to breathe easily hurt. They should have a part release like on Skyrush for the brake run in my opinion.

I then re-rode Raptor, this time front seat as the FP saved me 20 mins.
It was much better than my previous ride. The cobra roll was lovely, not rough at all, but I still didn't care for the corkscrews. The helix wasn't as forceful but was still excellent.

Overall it's a good invert, with a great drop and a few excellent elements but its not consistently good.

We then went on this brilliant flat.

This was my first racing carousel and we had so much fun. If only all carousels could be like this.

I named my horse Phil, he was awesome. :--D

The rest of the day was filled with re-rides on Mav and MF, I finally got Helen on MF at the end of the day. She loved it.
I also got on the drop side of power tower, rubbish, 0.2 seconds of thrill followed by a poor weightless feeling, both apocalypse and detonator are better.

Ride count 2nd day.
Millennium force - 4
Corkscrew - 1
Magnum - 1
Woodstock express - 1
Iron dragon - 1
Maverick - 6
Gemini - 1
Gatekeeper - 1
Raptor - 1
Cedar Downs - 1
Power Tower (Drop) - 1

All in all it was a great couple of days. The park has 4 world class coasters, and yes, I do count TTD in there. It does have a lot of meh though, mainly the woodies and kiddy stuff. For such a large park you expect that though.
There are some ok flats but this park is all about the big 4. It also severely lacks themeing, only frontiertown was noticeable.
The food was decent grub, if overpriced for what it is, but the park was clean and the operations were good.

I'd go back just for Millennium Force and Maverick, they are fantastic. I'll be back when my son's tall enough to ride them.

Next up - Busch Gardens Tampa