Well, I've been back from Ontario for about two weeks now. So, here's my report.
Day 1: Chambersburg to Cedar PointDriving StatsRoute: US 30 -> I-76 (PA and OH Turnpikes) -> I-80 -> OH 57 -> I-90 -> OH 2 -> US 6 -> Cedar Point Chaussee
Miles "Driven": 334
Time Elapsed: 5:41 (hours:minutes)
5:17 AM -> 10:58 AM
The DriveI got a fair amount of sleep. I slept at 9 PM the previous day and woke up at 2 AM the next day. I gave up on sleeping and decided to wait the 2 hours to wake up my parents, prepare myself, and pack the car. Amazingly, everything fit within two suitcases and five medium sized bags (about the size of tote bags). So, packing didn't take long at all. While waiting around for my parents to drink their coffee, and my mom to get out of the shower, we left at 5:17 AM.
As we drove along US 30, we saw the sun come out of the horizon. That was beautiful, and happened at around 6 AM. Nothing happened for the next hour. We took our first rest stop at the North Midway Service Plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and refueled the car (turns out that my brother had really chewed up fuel the previous night), around 7 AM. Between 7 and 8 AM was passing through beautiful scenery - rolling hills and twisting turns - and going under the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel. Another hour later, we took our second rest stop at the New Stanton Service Plaza, since the next services were 82 miles away (at Mahoning Valley Service Plaza, on the Ohio Turnpike). I still never understood why they took out the Zelienople plazas. Anyways, once I passed west of exit 57, that was my entrance into unexplored territory.
Some interesting sights were crossing the Oakmont Country Club, where the US Open was held a few years ago. There was also the 3rd PA 910 overpass (
GSV here - winner for steepest overpasses?), and the ridiculously low overpass, where trucks were forced to use the left lane. It was under 12 feet, and it was luckily under replacement (they were building a higher overpass nearby). I don't remember where it was, but I think it was west of Butler Valley and east of Beaver Valley.
At 8:50 AM we crossed the Ohio state line, transitioning onto the Ohio Turnpike, and saw absolutely nothing but flat land for the first twenty miles. At 9:00 AM, I found the first mention of I-80, and after crossing exit 218, I entered I-80 for the very first time. 21 miles later, or 17-18 minutes traveling at 80 MPH, we took our third and last rest stop (today) at the Portage Service Plaza. My dad said that he preferred the PA Turnpike's plazas, and I agreed with him. Those plazas look more like a house, and actually have more food options. However, the Ohio Turnpike has a few more services - a small arcade, a trucker's lounge, a little "farmer's market" (really just a few shelves selling snacks and a few freezers) - but I think the PA Turnpike still edges it out. After buying a few bags of beef jerky and two cups of coffee, we powered on towards Sandusky.
Also, looks like the Ohio Turnpike is repaving the far left lane for some reason. I found it closed roughly between mile 207 to 160. That slowed our pace down.
After crossing through my first national park (Cuyahoga Valley), we took exit 145 and exited onto OH 57. EZ-Pass made the toll plazas a breeze, and after two traffic lights, confusion, and dumb drivers, we made our way onto I-90. Seriously though, why do you have to weave across two lanes, with traffic to boot, to go between I-80 and I-90 West? Anyways, after a short mile on I-90, we exited onto OH 2. OH 2 wasn't that interesting, so after another 20 minutes, we hit Sandusky at 10:45 AM. We exited onto Rye Beach Road, traveling my first few miles onto US 6, and five minutes later, we saw the turnoff for the Chaussee...and missed it. We turned around in an
abandoned motel, and successfully made the turnoff this time. Trying to make a left turn on Cleveland Road/Rye Beach Road...near impossible with the fast moving traffic. It's not easy.
Something that irked me off was
this extremely misleading sign telling us to not use the Causeway to Cedar Point. WHY is this here? If I'm coming from the east, which a lot of people are, taking the Chaussee is the quicker route..so why make me needlessly drive the extra mile? Anyways, the Chaussee traveled through a ton of marshland and rich residential houses. It looked like Florida, and if I took a photo I could pass it off as going to Disney World or something. I don't know, I've never been to Florida or Disney World.
Cedar PointAt the end of the Chaussee was a sight to cross off my bucket list. I was now at Cedar Point - the place I've wanted to go for 4 years now. After showing my Platinum Pass (free parking), going through the nightmare of parking, the three of us took a good stretch, and distributed tickets. I was given $20 in cash to do whatever I wanted, and ran over to the entrance of Cedar Point. Security, which was literally a metal detector, a guard, and a plastic box, was a breeze. I entered Cedar Point at 11:15 AM, and after some confusion, also got my parents into the park.
Armed with a wallet containing a Platinum Pass, my cell phone, complete independence to do whatever I wanted, and 10.75 hours of time, I made my way over to Steel Vengeance.
Without a map.
I later learned that Cedar Point's layout is pretty simple - a figure 8 - but half of the time I wandered around and had no idea where I was going. It took me 15 minutes for me to actually get to the back of the park, 5 minutes of me scratching my head of where it even was, and finally, I found the queue. After waiting 40 minutes, THE COASTER BROKE DOWN.
I made sure to stop by a gift shop to pick up a map. Trying to wander around and relying on signs wasn't helping.
By 12:30, things didn't look so good, so I gave up on waiting and decided to check out the east side of the park. Finally, I found Magnum XL-200...which I didn't even have to wait for (well, 2 or 3 trains)! I scored a back seat ride that was rough to say the least. That ride did NOT age well. It's only 29 years old, how can it be this rough? Anyways, on the positive side, it gives damn good airtime, and I like going through its two tunnels at high speed. But I wouldn't want to ride this more than twice.
After riding Magnum, I met up with my parents, who gave me $20 to do whatever I wanted (I used it mostly to buy food). A short walk later, I bought a hot dog (with my parents' money) to tide me over without causing nausea, and then they left me alone. I made my way to Rougarou, and rode it backseat, on the very right. It was glossy smooth, unlike Magnum, and was a little more intense. It gets pretty close to the water on some curves if you sit on the right, for the first half, and moves pretty quick. There's mainly a vertical loop and a dive loop. It's not that spectacular. The second half moves slower, but is much more compact and has a ton of turns and inversions within a small amount of room. I like Rougarou, but it's not something that I had to ride a lot.
By 1:15, I was moving at a pretty fair clip, and my 3rd coaster of the day was Millennium Force. The line moved pretty quickly - only had to wait 15-20 minutes, thanks to its really good capacity (3 trains, 36 riders per train). Millennium Force is my 2nd favorite coaster of all time (but I've only rode 47). Again, backseat ride. More forces, more speed. That's the advantage of riding by yourself - you get to pick where you want to sit, and sometimes you can jump ahead in lines. Anyways, the 310 foot ascent goes pretty fast - it uses a cable instead of a chain. You're up at the top before you know it. While the ascent is somewhat scary, the descent is amazing. The speed, forces, and airtime you experience during the drop and the first hill is great. You go through some banked turns at high speed (the second being enclosed in a tunnel), and the turns are pretty close to the ground. After a turnaround, you go through some more airtime hills, getting decent airtime, another banked turn within a tunnel, a small hill which passes by the station and queue at high speed, and one last banked turn - and then you're in the brakes.
I was surprised at how quick the lines moved - I was expecting hour long waits to ride coasters. I decided to wait for Maverick's line to shorten, so I decided to kill a bit of time and rode Skyhawk. The best way to describe Skyhawk is to take a swing set, and make it 10x higher and faster. The restraints actually have some motion, even when they tighten them. So whenever you hang in the air for a second or two, you're facing the ground and the restraints feel like they're going to come loose. It also comes close to the ground, so it feels like you'll lose your feet. Overall, it's a pretty great ride. It never has a line, so it's also great at killing time.
After how much fun Skyhawk was, I decided to ride Maverick next. It was 2:10 PM, so I was still okay on time. I got in the queue, and the line moved at whirlwind speeds - I only had to wait 20-25 minutes. Maverick doesn't look that tall, but it goes pretty fast. 70 MPH is nothing to laugh at...but a height of 105 feet? Well, I was surprised at how intense it was. The drop is the steepest drop at the park - 95 degrees (it was even the steepest drop in the world for a few months), and the lift hill is more of a launch. After launching you out of the station and going through that intense drop, Maverick twists, turns, rolls, and inverts - in a short amount of time. Sure, there's an airtime hill or two, but it's not about the airtime. The first half is intense - it jerks you from left to right, rolls you around, and travels every which way. Then, the train brakes to enter a tunnel, and then suddenly launches you - in the darkness, mind you - and then does an overbanked turn over a pond, which dives down into a canyon, where there's a quick twist to the left. A few overbanked turns and an airtime hill later, you've reached the brakes. I'd say the first half is better than the second, but the second half is no slouch. Overall, Maverick is my 3rd favorite coaster - which means I love it to death.
Since Steel Vengeance was still down, I decided to walk over to Gemini. Time was still very kind to me - it was only 2:45. The wait was 15 minutes, and moved surprisingly fast. The blue side was down, so they were running 2 trains on the red side. The sign estimated 30-45 minutes, but hey - I guess I'm lucky. Anyways, Gemini was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world back in 1978, and it uses steel track on a wooden structure. It's smoother than most other wooden coaster, but otherwise, Gemini is your typical wooden coaster, just a little taller and faster (125 feet, top speed of 60 MPH). It's great at airtime, and the helix at the end is pretty nice, but I would prefer to see it racing...and I would see it race tomorrow.
I'll split this off into a part 2 - I feel like this post is already long and detail filled.
