Cedar Point - Eight is Enough

I pretty much treated the morning like any other work day. I was up at 5:40am. I prepped coffee, exercised, and then walked Ykraps. The weather was cloudy and cool, just as the forecast predicted. I compared our local forecast to that of Sandusky (Cedar Point). They were expecting a 40% chance of rain and a high of 70, a bit worse than ours. Radar didn’t show anything of concern. Mindy asked me to put a pound of maple bacon in the oven before setting out on my run. I followed her directions but also alerted her so that she wouldn’t forget it was in there. I prepped and left for my run at 6:35am. I ran just three miles figuring I’d be getting a good bit of walking in later on at Cedar Point. I was back by 7:05am. Mindy was already out of the shower and blow drying her hair. Mindy advised that everyone was up and preparing to depart. I got showered in a hurry. I decided to go with contacts to avoid having to latch onto my eye glasses while riding on the coasters later. That went easily. I went with a brand new pair, too. Mindy had the scrambled eggs and bacon ready for consumption. It was yummy. We packed a back pack with all sorts of necessities: jackets, tissues, throw up bags, etc. Mindy, Glenn, and Jacob all took Dramamine. We were still awaiting the arrival of Ashley, Lindsey, and Rocky. They arrived around 7:45 – ten minutes late, but no biggie. We made everyone go potty before leaving the house. We left at 8:05am. We took I-270 north to Rt 23N. It was cloudy the entire way and began to rain once we exited onto Rt 4 around Bucyrus. It rained hard for a spell, but not for long. Regardless, it didn’t look or feel like Cedar Point weather. The drive went fast. We made it in just over 2.5 hours. We were in the gate and at the restroom in short order. Happily, the sky looked like it was clearing up. Yippie! We made arrangements for Mindy to take the two little ones, Rocky & Bella to kiddie land while the rest of us, me, Glenn, Jacob, Ashley, and Lindsey headed off to ride coasters. We agreed to meet at restaurant #18 around 1:30pm. It was almost 11am when we split up. The five of us were headed for Millennium Force, the 320 foot – 93 mph steel coaster. Last second we opted to hit the Blue Streak to warm-up. After all, the line was almost non-existent. Jacob had never ridden a roller coaster before thus he had no idea what to expect. He chose to ride with Ashley. The Blue Streak looks tiny these days, but in its day, it was quite the attraction. The ride was fun and rickety, just like you’d expect fro man old wooden coaster. At the rides conclusion Jacob complained of his arm hurting. Seems he left it dangle out of the cart and it subsequently took a real beating. He had minor bruising to show for it. He also declared that he wouldn’t be riding any more coasters even as we made a beeline for Millennium Force. I told him he wouldn’t have to ride if he didn’t want to, but still expected he would after waiting in the line with all of us. The line for Millennium Force was stated to be near 1.25 hours. It took all of that too. Through the mouse maze we went. During our wait, the sky cleared almost completely leaving us basking in warm sunshine. Very nice! I checked with Jacob and time or two measuring his interest. Still the same – no way. He worried how he might escape the ride. I assured him there would be a way to wait for us at the top of the line. Inside, however, I worried that I might have to wait with him given his young age. Oh well. We finally reached the deck. We opted for a mid-cart to expedite our ride. The line for the front car was about 20 patrons deep. I showed Jacob the escape route. He was able to wait just the other side of the front car. I strapped my small digital camera around my wrist and had it in movie mode to hopefully capture the thrilling ride. Last second a worker girl asked me to put it away. Crap! To oblige her, I needed her to release the safety bar. She rolled her eyes making me feel bad. Her idea though. Off we went. Millennium Force launches you up the initial hill with out the assist of the clinking chain most of us are familiar with. The ascent is fast. From high atop the first hill one can see for several miles. Even though it was blue over head, I could see clouds rolling in from Michigan. WOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! The initial descent is nerve racking. It almost seems that it will never end. When you think you’ve had enough you finally hit another incline. WOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Great ride. One of my all-time favorites. We reconnected with Jacob at the rides conclusion. Everyone reported being happy with the thrill component. We offered some sympathy to Jacob for not riding, but he seemed at peace with his decision. We made our way back towards kiddie land to reconnect with Mindy who left me a VM indicating her disappointment with me for not kissing her goodbye when we initially split up. Never crossed my mind. I was eager to ride some coasters. We stopped and rode the bumper cars, Jacob, Glenn, and I. Ashley & Lindsey rode one of the ‘dangly’ coasters. Reported it being lame and over fast. Jacob struggled to get his bumper car moving. I tried giving instructions but he didn’t have time to figure it out. We met up with Mindy and the wee ones in Camp Snoopy. Together, we seemingly walked all over looking for our previously agreed upon lunch location. We finally found the Charlie Brown Grill back by Gemini Jr. Imagine my shock when I learned that a burger, fries, and small drink was $13.xx. Oh hell no! Not me. Mindy ordered food for the kids. I couldn’t get myself to pay the price. There was no way I was going to spend $50 to feed Lindsey, Ashley and I crappy burgers. I was hungry, but not that hungry. After the kids ate, we split up once again. However, this time, Jacob went with Mindy and the wee ones. The rest of us went to ride Top Thrill Dragster. The line was long, stated 1 hour. However, light rain stopped the ride after were stood in line for 45 minutes. If you leave you sacrifice your spot. We waited. The rain stopped after about 15 minutes and they reopened the ride. We finally made it to the ride’s deck and onto a car. We were about 4 or 5 cars backed up. Suddenly, without much warning, they made us exit the car and again stopped the ride, this time due to mechanical problems. Lucky for us, that delay was a quick five minutes. Soon it was out turn to ride. Top Thrill launches you from 0 to 120 mph in less than 4 seconds and then 420 feet straight up, over a hill and then straight down a twisting descent. The ride lasts only 17 seconds but kicks some butt, by far the greatest thrill in the park for my money. We all loved it. After the Top Thrill Dragster, we headed towards Magnum XL 2000, their 20 year old metal coaster. Still a thrill but nothing like the Millennium Force. Afterwards, Ashley & Lindsey took off to smoke. Glenn and I kept moving. We were both really hungry. Glenn opted for garlic fries. Yuck! I broke down and bought a burger combo. I needed something in my stomach. When I got back to Glenn he stated that Lindsey & Ashley went to ride the Raptor. After eating we rode Mean Streak, the huge wooden roller coaster. We sat in the rear car, the car that’s guaranteed to rattle every bone in your body. It shook us so violently that I thought my brain might turn to mush. It gave me a slight headache and left me nauseous. In fact, had it gone on any longer I might’ve tossed my lunch. That might’ve been my last Mean Streak ride ever, if nothing else, my last ride from the rear car. We walked through Frontier Land on our way to the front of the park. The cool weather helped, but still, I couldn’t shake the nausea. I eventually phoned Mindy to let her know that I was headed their way. We met in Camp Snoopy again. I waited/rested on a bench. Blah! Mindy and the kids did the gift shop. Afterwards, Glenn and the kids rode the sky ride while Mindy and I walked towards the exit. We left the park at 630-700pm. It didn’t take long to get to the Honda and on our way home. I took a Tagament about 30 minutes prior to heading home. It was my idea that Mindy bring them along. Good call! I was fine to drive. We talked about possibly hitting Barley’s after dropping Lindsey, Ashley, and Rocky at Kelly’s. Almost everyone napped on the drive home accept for me. We dropped the kids around 9:30pm. Jacob and Mindy were a go for Barley’s, but Bella and I were too tired. Glenn could go either way. We ended up nixing that idea and heading home instead. I still felt nauseous but figured a Jack & Coke might knock the edge off. I made Glenn & I one. One turned into three. I felt a whole lot better afterwards. No more upset stomach. To boot, I popped tow bags of popcorn to snack on. Mindy headed to bed well before me. I joined her 30 minutes later. With a 9:40am tee time, I planned to be up by 6:45am. I headed to bed before 11:30pm.