I’ve never been on roller coasters before. I live in the NW and we just don’t have parks like that, and I’ve never gone to them in other parts of the country.
I don’t want to spend any time describing the coasters there. You’ve either been there or not. The first day…I literally could NOT watch Top Thrill Dragster. It was too scary. The next day, I went on it, and it was awesome, although definitely not my favorite. But it’s my third favorite. I’d have to say my two favorites were Maverick and Millenium force.
Oh, and it was my first trip to the Midwest. I explored Ohio and Indiana. I canoed at Chain O Lakes (Chain O Swamps?). I saw poison ivy for the first time. I saw fireflies. Except they call them lightning bugs. Anyone know why fireflies aren’t found in the West? (Or are they?)
The people in the Midwest were wonderful. I’ve never met friendlier people.
I love rollercoasters, but my wife has never been on one and I think she will refuse to go. I have to get her on a rollercoaster though because I think she will like it. I could care less about the other rides at amusement parks. Those rides are all nausia inducing spin fests.
As a midwesterner that has spent the last 6 years in Eugene, I can honestly say you are right. I have no love for this place. Fortunately for me, I have a month left, then its back to the midwest .
I’ve never been on a roller coaster. Or rather, I’ve never been on a roller coaster intended for anyone over the age of 10.
I don’t like ‘em, y’see. The sensation of freefall whilst locked in a moving vehicle that’s travelling at a high rate of speed makes my brain want to crawl out through my nostrils and strangle me with its ganglia. Oddly enough, if I could overcome my fear of (open) heights and aversion to plummeting thousands of feet to my potential death, I probably wouldn’t be as wigged out by sky diving. Not that plummeting thousands of feet to my potential death isn’t reason enough for me to avoid it entirely, I’m just sayin’. It’s the “I’m trapped in this death car and can’t do a damn thing about it and HOLY SHIT THAT’S A HELL OF A DROP” aspect of roller coasters that gets me all panicky.
My husband and I stopped at Cedar Point on our honeymoon. We read that they have the most roller coasters of any park in the US, so we had to go try them all out. What a blast!
So glad you had a good time in the Great Lakes area! Did you see any lighthouses?
I worked for a ticketing company for a while. One that made systems for parks. I was part of the opening of a park in a country that had no roller coasters. It was so fun to see adults ride their first coaster. They would come back breathless and laughing and try to get me to ride.
Them: “You’ve got to try this!”
Me (smiling politely): Thanks, I’ve ridden one before. (I didn’t tell them that the ones I’ve been on were many times bigger)
They were like little kids. I had a great time at the opening.
I don’t like amusement rides generally. Last time I went on a roller coaster, I had to because they wouldn’t let my son ride alone. I had planned on spending the day at the amusement park sitting under a tree with a coffee, but I ended up going on most of the rides.
Did they scare me? Not as such, but I found them mildly unpleasant, and would much rather have done the shade tree/coffee thing. If I want that frisson of mild fear, I can just go for a ride in my sister’s car, and that’s free. I don’t ever plan on going bungy jumping or skydiving either.
Then again, I’m a curmudgeon. If you enjoy the rides, more power to ya.
Cedar Point is one of the only things I miss about living in Cleveland. None of the amusement parks down here in Florida hold a candle to Cedar Point. Not Busch Gardens, not Disney, not Universal.
Exactly! In fact, that was supposed to be the point of the post. I can’t believe I left that part out.
A few summers ago I went bungee jumping. That awful feeling in my stomach–the free fall feeling–was so unpleasant, I was actually kind of pissed off. I posted about it here. I think I asked if sky divers get that feeling.
So…it’s kind of hard to explain, but I learned how to shut that feeling off. In fact, I was even able to turn it off and on at will…kinda like pinching a garden hose and letting out squirts of water.
Once I was able to get rid of that feeling, it was as if I were simply on a really fast moving, exciting ride. The “scariness” was gone. Ironically, that also took away some of the thrill, but it was replaced by the adventure of the ride that I was missing when all I could concentrate on was keeping my intestines inside my abdominal cavity.
Runs, can I ask you a kind of personal question? How expensive was Cedar Point? My husband and I have a burning desire to go to Sandusky, Ohio, and that would be a good place to visit it seems to me, but if it’s godawful expensive, I’ll just pass. (Seriously. We do. Really really want to go to Sandusky, Ohio. It’s a long story and I won’t bother you with it.)
I [Heart] the Millenium Force. Apparently riding it at night is extra-intense because the tracks are not lit and the first hill is “like dropping into a bottomless pit of nothingness” (exact quote from someone standing on line).
For my money, though, you can’t beat the Raptor, front car, with your shoes off!
I used to live in Ann Arbor and would go about once a year. Cedar Point is just really fun – all the rides and no dumb themes!
Missy2U the official website is: http://www.cedarpoint.com/
Tickets are $42, but if you are a AAA member you can buy the tix through them for $34. There are usually other discount coupons floating around too.
I rode 'em all at night…and my first ride on each one was in the front. I actually preferred MF at night 'cause I couldn’t see, lol.
Missy2U, the first night I had a coupon for 5 p.m. to close…the coupon was in a booklet at The Breakers hotel. It was two for one admission. I had to find someone in line to split it with. That only cost me $13. The next pass I got was a “Ride and Slide.” That let me into the coaster park and the water park for two days, opening to close. I don’t remember the price, but it was around $60 (or 80?) I think for the two days.
Overall, I thought the prices were reasonable. And I ate in restaurants at or near the park, and didn’t think the prices were high at all. The best deal was Johnny Rockets…right in the center of the park, never a line to wait, and the service is fast, friendly, and not expensive.
Also, they have a campground there which would save gobs of money over a hotel.
I wasn’t much of a roller coaster connoisseur. I’d been on the one at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, the one at New York New York in Vegas, the one on the top of the Stratosphere Tower, and the famous one at Coney Island. Kinda the ones that if you are with a bunch of friends and have to do it for the hell of it.
Last summer, Magic Mountain near L.A. was rumored to be closing so I went to check it out. Man, have roller coasters ever changed since I was there in 1974. This was before Colossus, which was the world’s biggest wooden roller coaster at the time of its debut 1n 1978. Christ almighty, roller coasters are a blast. There are some seriously scary ones there. It’s an old and deteriorating place but it still has many top ten record holding coasters, with supposed the second greatest number of roller coasters in a park (15) after Cedar Point. There’s one with 7 loops that is about 10 years old that didn’t have a line, so I went on it 7 times. That’s 49 loops!
So, I’m thinking of going out to the Jersey shore this summer, and I might have to hit Six Flags Great Adventure, home of Kingda Ka!
The best coaster I have ever been on (and I’m a pretty experienced Roller Coaster veteran), has to be California Screamin’ at Disney’s California Adventure. Sure, it may not be the highest, longest, fastest, or the coaster with the most inversions, but everything comes together so damn well, it’s a sheer joy to experience.
I don’t much like wooden coasters. I was terrified to try the steel loopy, speedy, screamy-hang-from-the-top kinds. Yeah, I’m a wuss. But a buncha years ago, while we were still living in FL, we took our daughter to Busch Gardens in Tampa. Montu had just opened. My kid and my husband really wanted to ride it, and I wished them good luck. Well, they didn’t want to leave me, so we all hung together.
During the course of the day, I felt like such a party pooper, so I found a relatively tame coaster that looped and decided I’d give it a try with them. That’s all it took - I was hooked! We spent the rest of the day seeking out coasters with the shortest lines so we could do the most, and we decided we’d do Montu on our way out.
We were able to get the front row, and there we were, hanging under the track, our feet dangling, rising to our inevitable deaths. My logical mind fought with my emotional mind till we reached the top and there was absolutely nothing below.
WHAT A RUSH!!!
I didn’t want it to end - it was great!! If it wasn’t so late and we didn’t have such a long ride home, we might have stood in line for another hour to do it again.
I don’t ever plan on going bungy jumping or skydiving either.