I was fortunate enough to ride Millennium force a number of times during a visit to Cedar Point in 2007, we counted about 6 or 7 rides during our visit. After those experiences Millennium force dropped straight in at the number one spot as my favourite coaster.

Millennium force is a favourite of many enthusiasts and since its opening in May 2000 it’s never dropped below the 2nd ranking for the golden ticket awards “top steel roller coaster”.

Millennium force cost Cedar Point 25m USD to build and was built by Intamin AG over the winter of 1999.

Looking up at the lift hill  from the side of the station. Photograph taken on the cedar point railroad.

Looking up from the queueline.

The final banked turn into the station, at this point the trains are still running very quickly.

After the first drop a banked turn

Same view from a different angle

And again, you can see the height more clearly here

A couple for the technical guys. Millennium Force doesnt use a conventional chain lift as other coasters because of the sheer weight of the chain, opting instead for a cable driven system, a catchcar descends down the lift and hitches on underneath the center of the train, this in turn pulls the trains up the 45 degree lift hill to 310ft at which point the catchcar goes over the edge of the hill and disengages the train to start its 93mph ascent to the bottom of the first drop which is 80 degrees and 300ft.

Cable assembly at the bottom of the lift hill.

One of the many tunnels, the trains moved at some speed through these. Top thrill dragster in the background.

A train almost at the top.

Ride station.

Red car, hydraulic lap bars and seatbelt.

Inside the station.

I swear this elbow wasnt in the picture when I took it.

Final blast of airtime coming into the station.

Did i mention the big queues at Cedar Point, this one was about 2 hours.

Related youtube video of Millennium force.

Showing the construction.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Ride video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And finally some facts about Millennium Force.

• Length 6595 ft
• Height 310 ft
• Drop 300 ft
• Top Speed 93 mph
• Duration 2:20
• Max vertical angle 80 degrees

Millennium force operates with 3 trains and has a capacity of 1300 riders per hour – Thanks for http://www.rcdb.com for the stats.

If you would like to use any photographs in this set please contact me using the contact form dont just steal them, if you have any commercial enquires again just use the contact form.

Thanks for reading.

]]> http://www.ridemad.com/millennium-force-at-cedar-point/feed 0 http://www.ridemad.com/nemesis-at-alton-towers-behind-the-scenes http://www.ridemad.com/nemesis-at-alton-towers-behind-the-scenes#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:35:22 +0000 Admin http://ridemad.com/?p=217

opened in 1994 Nemesis at a cost of ten million pounds quickly became a favourite coaster amongst enthusiasts and the public alike.

I dont count coasters or number of rides on a particular coaster but if i were to look back over the years to 1994 my count would be well into the hundreds if not more.

A trip to Alton towers just isnt the same without a ride on Nemesis for me and many other enthusiasts. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Some ride stats.
Height 43ft
Drop 104ft
Length 2,349ft
Max speed 50mph
Inversions 4
Duration 1m 20secs.
Capacity 1,400 riders per hour.

We were fortunate enough to have a behind the scenes tour of the ride in July 2007, this was an organised tour arranged by the park and these are the pictures taken on that event.

Bottom of the Nemesis lift hill looking up.

Bottom of the Nemesis lift hill looking up.

Part way up the Nemesis lift hill.

A picture taken from part way up the Nemesis lift hill.

Looking back near the top of the lift hil..

Just about at the top of the lift hil.

View from the top of the Nemesis lift hill looking down. It was all too much for Andy.

Nemesis loop taken from the top of the lift hill.

Looking at the station from the rear of the ride entrance.

From in front of the control desk looking back.

Something for the wheel geeks.

Nemesis Control panel/ops seat.

Outside the rear of the entrance looking at the train storage/maintenance area.

Ready to go in the maintenance area.

Looking back at the final brakes, notice the track has moved.

Thanks for looking.

The Incredible Hulk was a coaster I was really looking forward to riding in Florida, located on the Marvel Super hero island themed area in Islands of adventure the hulk dominates the skyline, it can also be seen from most other areas of this superbly themed theme park.

Built by B&M in 1999 and with a top speed of 67mph the Hulk is still entertaining thousands of visitors daily.

Huge Cobra roll.

On our visit in February 2008 the park was quite busy so we decided to buy fast pass for all the big attraction to save queuing for most of the day. Our party was 2 adults and 2 children with only 1 adult and 1 child wanting to ride the coasters. The queue lines were showing upwards of 40 minutes for most rides so although costing another 140 dollars the fast pass worked out for us and it saved the good old arguements between the kids about how many rides each of them had.

Like everything at Universal the hulk is brilliantly themed some of it over water and in the evenings Universal take advantage of this and light up the coaster.

For anyone who hasn’t ridden the Hulk its a launched coaster so you don’t have any of the click, click when going up the first hill. The hulk is propelled by tyres up to its max height of 110ft the launch is in a tunnel so you have the feeling of not knowing what is coming next and before you realize it your at the top of the launch hill and daylight is coming fast. One of the great elements of the hulk is at the top of the launch rather unlike a traditional coaster of going down the hulk flips you 360 degrees so your right into the action which continues over the full 3700ft of track.

My daughter who is 11 complained about the ride quality of the hulk and she suffered some quite bad ear bashing to both sides of her head, it was completely opposite for me but i am taller and her ears were right in between the restraints. Its worth bearing this in mind if you havent ridden it before It could put some children off, my daughter is a hardened rider and although she didnt want to ride the hulk again it didnt put her off wanting to try the other coasters.

Heres the pictures.

from a distance.

Bottom of the launch hill.

Another shot of the cobra roll.

And some general shots and a video.

Video i found on youtube. Theres loads of on ride videos but this seem to have the best quality.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Space Invader 2 was originally called space invader when it arrived at the park in 1984, after been refurbished by Kumbak coasters in 2004 it reopened as Space Invader 2.

Anyone that remembers the original Space invader will remember the very uncomfortable and often bumpy ride.

I have memories of the old space invader been a very bumpy ride with some extreme brakes in the dark. As part of this tour we were left to look around the attraction with senior management for about 30 minutes.

It was ideal for most of the group and we just walked around taking photographs and looking at some of the very odd looking space theming most of which you miss whizzing past at 30-40mph.

Some of the 80′s style space 1999 theming.

Some of these spacemen inside the ride are hardly seen when you go past in the cars, they look tacky and believe me they are but that just adds to the attraction in my opinion. I don’t think any of us ride space invader 2 for the fantastic effects.

Some more of the props.

Hanging in the middle of the attraction is a satellite.

This is one odd looking alien.

and a close up of its face.

Some track shots, the ride is 1490ft in length and has a height of 59ft.

This is a pretty good effect when your on the ride in the dark.

Passing through some more space themed artwork.

Mid ride operators console, this isnt manned during normal operational hours.

One of the trains, Pleasure beach staff compared the cost to a Porsche boxster..gulp!!!

Finally the run back into the station. Brakes in the center of the track.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach for arranging this tour and to Keith and his staff at Pleasure Beach Blackpool.

Collection of other behind the scenes tours Behind the scenes.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Knightmare, one of the most anticipated coasters between enthusiasts finally opened this month with an offical media day launch on Friday 27th July. One of my Club pleasure beach friends Chris Hughes took the day off work and spent a few hours taking photographs at Camelot.

Thanks for Chris for the use of his photographs in this article.

King Arthur offically opening the ride.

Knightmare designed by Schwarzkopf and was originally called the Bavarian Mountain railroad before been renamed to BMRX in 1997 when the ride was re-themed.

King Arthur ready to ride.

The ride is from Kobe Portopialand, Japan. Where it had some very elaborate theming, check out the pictures on the RCDB Website.

Some general shots of the media day.

Locals forming an orderley line.

Some stats from courtesy of RCDB Website.

length of 2601ft
height 86ft
max speed 43.5mph
duration 1:56
g-force 5, although this is debatable at the moment as it seems a few people say different levels.

I would like to thank Chris Hughes for the use of his photographs.

Thanks for reading

I’ve been visiting amusement parks/theme parks and fairgrounds for a number of years now and like the majority of coaster/park fans in the UK the American shores have always been a place to look forward to visiting.

Putting aside the obvious Disney and Universal parks second on the list for me has always been Cedar Point, they claim its the “Best amusement park in the world”. Boasting 17 coasters and a wealth of other rides plus of course the sun shine and with the pound/dollar rates in our favour at the moment there has never been a better time to visit.

I’ll do this trip report by covering the rides and park first and then the travel details like Flights, Hotel, Car hire etc later. Most of the details will be aimed at UK visitors planning to take a trip to Cedar Point. All the information listed in the travel options are genuine questions that I had before visiting the park. Hopefully any questions any future visitors have will be answered below, if not register a comment or send me an email and I will update it.

Cedar Point the park.

The first thing you notice about this park is the sheer size of it, the park is huge and is very flat.

The park isnt themed as such, they have tried in a few areas for example Maverick is themed on the wild west and top thrill dragster is themed on a drag racing track complete with Grandstand. The rest of the park is just rides, rides and more rides.

Food/drinks in the park.

Theres pretty much everything you could think of available in the park from sit down diners to hotdogs, burgers. You definately wont go hungry visiting Cedar Point.

Merchandise.

Cedar Point seem to have the right idea when it comes to merchandising. Almost every ride has a t-shirt shop next to it. Most rides are available on t-shirts, fleeces, hoodies, ash trays, cups and basically anything you can stamp an image on. Most standard t-shirts are about $10 a little over £5, hoodies are $30 and Jackets about $30-$40 its extremely good value for money. The park clothes we brought back havent faded and all seem to be decent quality. I also brought back some teddys for the kids, these were about £4 each compared to £12-£13 you would pay at places Alton Towers for a similar size.

Smoking.

Smoking at Cedar Point is allowed in designated smoking areas only, although most of the locals seem to ignore this and it was quite common to see people smoking in queue lines. The park has a handful of designated smoking areas and you can normally smell them before you reach them. They are all covered on the park map and shouldnt be a problem to find.

Park Tickets.

If you book a package through one of the on site hotels two one 2 day tickets and 2 night tickets are included, you can also buy tickets from hotel receptions which are $32 each a saving of about $10 on the gate price. Night tickets allow admission after 5pm.

Early Park Admission.

As a hotel guest you are allowed to enter the park at 9am, the nearest entrance from breakers is about 200 metres, just follow the crowds. Guests typically queue from about 8:30/8:40, once it hits 9am the national anthem plays and the gates are open. During our visit there was a bit of a rush to get over to Maverick, usually dads and kids the mums lag behind carrying the days essentials. For our visit in June about 4 or 5 rides are availalbe for early riding before the parks main entrance opens. If you stay at Breakers a sandwich board displaying the rides open early is located in reception. Even though you get into the park early be prepared for some queues.

Ok lets look at the rides.

Ill start with the coasters, i wont go into any depth anyone who is interested in visiting the park will probably know about these anyway.

Maverick.

The newest of the 17 coasters at Cedar Point. At a cost of 21m USD Maverick was opened in 2007. Built by Intamin Maverick is 4450ft in length, has a 105ft first drop with a 95 degree angle and travels at speeds upto 70mph.

This is a fantastic coaster the launch up the the lift hill isnt as fast as it looks but once at the top the fun really starts.

Dropping down a 95 degree drop into a fast and speedy compact track, hugging the ground. Just when you think the fun is over your enter the tunnel for the second of the launches, its fantastic I dont know what else to say.

Some people complained they were getting battered about in the restraints but I felt fine. Im a short 5ft 4 large built bloke and didn’t have any discomfort.

I cant rave enough about this ride the amount of airtime on the hills and the ground hugging track really go to show you dont have to build the biggest to have a fantastic coaster.

Loading and unloading of trains is done in a really efficient way (2 at a time).

They also have a single rider queue but this doesnt become apparent until you are 20ft from the ride platform.

Top Thrill Dragster.

Built in 2003 by Intamin and costing 25m USD Top Thrill Dragster boasts an impressive 120mph (in 4 seconds) launch speed and a height of 420ft.

it cant fail to impresses. Its quite a comfortable ride and the view from the top of the tower over the park is amazing, the ride literally lasts about 20 seconds from start until finish.

As you go over the top and start down the 400ft drop you really come out of your seat and the ground seems to rush towards you. We rode on most seats and found them all equally as impressive.

Launching.

Over the top.

400ft Drop down.

Back into the station.

When we visited the park they seemed to be running about 5 trains and loading/unloading is done really quickly. Its worth remembering they dont have any bins for storage on this ride as you get off in a different part of the station, the staff encourage people to put hats etc down their tops.

A shot at dusk.

Millennium force.

Built by Intamin at a cost of 25m USD and opened in the year 2000 Millennium force is classed as a Giga coaster as it reaches over 300ft high. The lift hill is 310ft high and the first drop is 300ft at an 80 degree angle, follow this up with a 182ft hill and 169ft hill plus a couple of tunnels and you have one hell of a coaster. The lift itself travels fairly quickly and feels like its getting faster as you approach the crest.

coming back into the station

Ride Car

One for the coaster guys

I found this a fantastic coaster, the amount of airtime over the hills is fabulous and the speed going into tunnels is equally as good. The track is almost 6,660ft in length. The only downside is that during our stay we found the queues quite big and we waited an hour or more on all but one occasion.

Side of the station.

For me this was my favourite coaster at Cedar Point and I cant wait to ride it again. I’m not sure how many times we rode it but we did try allot of seat combinations.

Did I mention the crowds.

Magnum XL-200.

Built by Arrow at a cost of 8m USD and opened in 1989 Magnum is 205ft in height and has a top speed of 72mph. The first drop is 194ft and you get a great view of the lake when your riding, It has a few tunnels and some great bunny hills when going back into the station. I heard allot of stories about this coaster been rough but personally me and the guy I was riding with found it to be a great comfortable ride.

The queues werent too bad either. Loading is a bit of a free for all as people rush into the station but thats the only negative point about the ride I could find.

Raptor.

Built by B&M in 1994 at a cost of 11.5m USD Raptor is a inverted coaster.

I found this similar to Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe minus a couple of elements (Coaster guys please dont email about this ). The ride itself is comfortable and the back seats can become a bit intense on the final elements before coming back into the station. Track length is 3790ft, with a 137ft height and 119ft drop. The rides top speed is 57mph.

This ride offers an on ride video experience via some small cameras bolted in between the seats in front of you. The video quality is pretty good but I didnt stop to buy a video unfortunately.

Mantis.

The parks only standup coaster. Built by B&M in 1996 at a cost of 12m USD.

Mantis is 3900ft in length and has a top speed of 60mph. Mantis has a huge 119ft loop that you enter just after the first drop which is 137ft.

119ft loop

I got knocked about on this a fair bit and had a terribly sore ear that evening from been banged into the restraints.

Diving loop

A shot at dusk

I rode it again a couple more times during our visit and still cant rave about it, the diving loop at 103ft is great though .

Wicked Twister.

Built by Intamin in 2002 Wicked twister is classed by as a twisted impulse coaster. It has a height of 205ft and a top speed of 72mph.

Inside the station.

Close up of the wheels

I found this a great ride and really looked forward to riding it, going backwards at 70mph and up a 200ft hill vertically is pretty cool.

Disaster Transport.

This is a coaster that was once in the open air, but changed to been enclosed into a huge building in 1990. The theme is supposed to me a city in disaster, i found this an awful ride with hardly nothing to see and just spent the 2 minutes looking into the darkness. From what I had read about it I expected lasers, huge screens with projected images and got nothing of that. I was very disappointed with this ride im just glad I didnt have to queue for it. The queue line is the strangest I have ever seen, most of it is dark with luminous writing on walls im sure you could get a headache if you had to queue for any length of time.

Blue Streak.

Blue streak is the parks oldest coaster built in 1964 by PTC. The coaster is a traditional woodie and it over 2500ft in length with a top speed of 40mph. For its age and having ridden other woodies I found this really smooth. It runs along the perimeter of the park and each time we went passed it never had much of a queue.

Mean Streak.

Another of the parks woodies. Mean streak was built in 1991 by the Dinn corporation its 5427ft in length and has a 161ft height.

The coaster boasts a 65mph top speed and a 52 degree first drop. From the outside and in the queue lines this looks one impressive coaster and it was one I was really looking forward to riding.

Its a great ride but really does knock you about a bit.

Gemini.

The parks racing coaster. This is a wooden framed steel roller coaster and one of the smoothest coasters ive ever had the pleasure of riding on, its almost silent as it hurries round the 3935ft of track.

The park has operated Gemini since 1978. Top speed is 60mph and the height is 125ft. Although Gemini will struggle to impress customers as much as Milennium force or top thrill dragster is certainly worth the few minutes queue time. The added element of racing makes this a great ride.

Corkscrew.

Corkscrew has been operating at Cedar point since 1976. Its 2050ft in length has a top speed of 48mph a height of 85ft with two corkscrews and a loop. One suprising element of this coaster is the duel corkscrews.

They go right over the top of peoples heads as they walk underneath. If you stay at Breakers Corkscrew is just across the car park and its quite common to see the trains half full.

Iron Dragon.

Iron Dragon buit in 1987 is one of a few suspended coasters in existance today. length is 2800ft and its top speed is 40mph.

Although this is a coaster Ive seen them referred to as monorails before, this doesn’t go fast, doesn’t have any airtime or fancy elements and well wasn’t that comfortable. It does offer a nice view of the park and this is enhanced by part of the ride been over water.

As you approach the water you go through clouds of mist, this wasn’t a bad and if you have a spare ten minutes to wait in line its worth riding.

Wild Cat.

Located just across from Iron Dragon is Wildcat a Schwarzkopf coaster thats been operating since 1978. I didn’t ride this so cant really comment. The ride trains are themed to look like cars. Wildcat is 50ft high and has a 1837ft length of track.

Cedar Creek mine ride.

The mine ride has been operating since 1969, Built by Arrow with a top speed of 42mph, its more a kiddie coaster than anything else. We rode this one evening when the park was about ready to close and found it pretty smooth without many thrills.

Additionally there are a couple of other coasters aimed mainly at children the Woodstock express and Jnr Gemini. I dont count ride credits and couldnt be bothered with them.

Ok, now for a look at some of the flat rides.

Power Tower.

Power tower is a drop tower built by S&S, the tower is split into 4 colums with each having a ride car on. Two ride cars go up slowly and drop you, the other 2 shoot you up. You decide on the car you want as you enter the ride. Im not a fan of these rides so we didnt ride it. The queues never seemed very large.

Demon Drop.
Text taken from Cedar Point website
Built in 1983, the Demon Drop at Cedar Point simulates a freefall from the top of a 10-story-tall building.

Passengers board four-person cars that move horizontally to the base of the 131-foot-tall tower. The car then ascends to the top of the tower in only six seconds. Once at the top, the car slowly inches forward into the drop area. Riders are suspended there for what seems like an eternity.

Then without warning, they plummet 60 feet in less than two seconds before entering a pull-out curve where a computerized braking system slowly stops the car. If you go around this area its fascinating to watch the trains unload after the drop. I cant explain it go see for yourself.

Maxair.

Max air located near wicked twister is a very impressive frisbee ride manufactured by huss.

it was introduced to the park in 2005

Skyhawk.

Located near Maverick Skyhawk is a swing ride from S&S power, similar to what we have over in the UK with Rush at Thorpe Park.

Chaos.

Introduced in 1997 Chaos manufactured by chance.

Cedar Downs.

Most people just walk past the Derby Racers. Anyone who has visited Blackpool with have no doubt rode these in the past.

The main difference is the Cedar Point ones have the racing element so the horses moved forwards and back as you are riding. I dont ever remember this happening at Blackpool although i have been assured it did.

Carousel.

The Cedar Point midway carousel is a traditional Carousel ride. Built in 1912, the Midway Carousel is one of the few Daniel Muller carousels in existence today. Its long history also makes it the oldest operating ride at Cedar Point.

Sky ride.

The sky ride is located on the midway towards the parks main entrance. This is Cedar Points very own cable car. Its not high or long but does give some impressive views of the park and midway.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie railroad.

The train operates from Mean Streak and does a stop near Milennium force before returning back to Mean Streak.

Dont forget to wave to the driver as he goes past . The track is 2 miles in length and the ride/trip lasts 15 minutes.

Thunder Canyon.

This is the wettest rapids ride I have ever been on (Anyone from the UK think Valhalla but wetter), the ride starts of like any other rapids ride, the occasional bump as one of the riders gets a splash. Then you suddenly enter some cliffs and come up against this waterfall which literally soaks the boats and riders, if your lucky enough to miss the first one a second guarentee’s to cover you. When the boat come back into the station I looked down and the water in the bottom of the boat was already above my ankles. It was a welcome soaking to cool down from the 90 degree heat.

Snake River Falls

Made by Arrow this is a 80+ ft water flume ride. Unfortunately we planned to ride this straight after the rapids one afternoon and due to a technical fault the ride wasnt operating.

Other Rides

Loads of them, I havent included half of whats available at Cedar Point and I havent really covered anything for the younger children either. Regardless of age Cedar Point has something for everyone. For a complete list of attractions check out the Cedar Point website.

How to get to Cedar Point, a Guide for Brits.

Cedar Point is located in Sandusky, Ohio. From the UK there are a number of flight options. I checked out most of these and eventually settled on flying BMI (from Manchester) to Chicago with a change to United Airlines for the short 45 minute flight onto Cleveland (Hopkins) international Airport.

Flying times from the UK are about 8hrs 30minutes but these can be as much as 13 hours depending on how and who you fly with. Our flight was 8 1/2 hours with a 1 hour wait at Chicago for the connecting flight. Flights were booked through expedia and the whole process very straight forward.

These days you are issued with e-tickets. This is basically an email from expedia with your booking reference. Take this and your passport to the check in desk on arrival at the airport.

Flight costs.

Return flights for 2 with a convertible (it was upgraded) car was just under £1300. This was economy seating, which wasnt too bad you can upgrade at the time of booking. To be honest when I go again I probably will. Im only small 5′ 4″ and although I had enough legroom I couldnt really get comfortable in the seats. This was made worse by some inconsiderate passengers in front of us who were determined to get their seats so far back they would staple us in. Food/drink on the flight was as you would expect. Soft drinks were free for the duration although they only come round twice.

Car hire.

We hired a car through Hertz and booked via Expedia back in the UK.

We hired a convertible which was £28 per day on top of the normal car hire charge. To add an additional driver is $10 a day and you are allowed to go to different states. I couldn’t get an answer from Hertz customer services in the UK about driving through different states as some rental companies have this rule. I just mentioned it to Hertz when we arrived and they were happy with this.

All the car rental companies are in the same location at Cleveland, you get a shuttle bus from just outside the airport to the car hire area. Buses run all the time so dont expect to wait more than 5 minutes for one. The waiting areas for buses are clearly sign posted. Once they drop you off you go into a concourse style area and every car hire company has a desk, its quite painless.

From Cleveland its about 1hr in a car to Cedar Point and is quite straight forward to find as its all freeway. We took a sat nav device with us and didnt have a single problem. I’ve heard you can book these as part of a hire car package – it will save you allot of time if you do. If you are bringing your own sat nav from the UK check it covers the US before travelling. I used a tom tom 910 and as like the UK its advisable to remove this from the car when your leaving it for some time.

Visa or not to Visa.

This is a common question when visiting the United States, basically if you have a machine readable password (mine is and was renewed in 2005) then you dont need to get a visa before you travel. Once on the plane you are given two small forms to fill in.

The questions on these forms are typically what you would expect. Have you ever been refused entry to the US before?, do you have any links to terrorist organisations? that type of thing. It takes literally 5 minutes to fill in. Once you land you have to queue to see an immigration officer, this is a very formal chat, reason for entering the US, duration etc.

At this point your finger prints are taken and youre allowed in. One of the forms you fill in has a detachable bottom which is removed and stapled into your passport. This is removed once you go through security on your return flights. Remember to take a pen with you and have details of the hotel name and zip code youre staying at. We stayed in two hotels but they only wanted the details of the first one.

Please check with US immigration before travelling as this is only accurate in June/July 2007.

Hotels.

Theres a number of options outside the resort, most of them offer shuttle buses and discounted park tickets to get into Cedar Point. There’s also a number of options at the resort from Camping to the Hotel Breakers. We stayed in Hotel breakers which is right in the heart of the action and is only a 2 minutes walk to the park entrance. We choose breakers over all the other hotels purely based on location. There is a cheaper Hotel “Breakers express” which is located about 1/2 mile from the park entrance. To see a complete list of hotels in Cedar Point checkout the resort link at the bottom of this post.

Hotel Breakers.

The oldest hotel in the resort. Hotel Breakers is a very comfortable hotel located 2 minutes from the park entrance and 20 seconds from the beach. The hotel has Pizza Hut express, an Italian restaurant and TGI Fridays on site, as well as the usual amenities like pools, spa, general store and clothes shop. Its a very nice hotel with large rooms and a bonus for me was a park view. My room was classed as non view which basically means I dont get to see the lake. Coasters or water hmm let me think

They also have people dressed up as Snoopy in the hotel; they visit at various times during the day. In the evening snoopy comes out in his dressing gown ready for bed which is a nice touch, they also have a TV and some kiddie size chairs in reception playing Snoopy cartons all day long.

If you book a package through the hotel you also get a voucher booklet with 2 fundays admission tickets for the park, 2 starlight (after 5pm) admission tickets, a soak city ticket, a free game of Golf, $30 dollars of food vouchers and a couple of other offers, 2 for 1 etc. The food vouchers can be combined and all used at the same time; we took advantage of this in TGI Fridays and spent the full $60 worth.

As with most hotels coffee making facilities are in the rooms along with air conditioning, bath/shower, all towels and shampoo, soap etc. Both our rooms had 2 double beds. I think they will also supply an additional bed as each room can sleep 5.

Vending and ice machines are available on every floor selling bottles of carbonated drinks, water, crisps and chocolate etc.

Food.

As I mentioned earlier TGI-Fridays an Italian restaurant and pizza hut express are all located inside Breakers. Typical cost for a steak with fries or mash is about $17, approx £8 ish, don’t expect a huge portion though. Steaks are typical 8oz and come with 2 standard size dollops of mash potato flavoured with garlic. Pizza hut express do pizzas up to 16″ and all are available on room service for a small additional charge.

Food doesnt just have to be at the hotel; along the Marina (entrance near Raptor) is Famous Dave’s restaurant. Famous Daveís offer some amazing ribs and meat dishes all freshly cooked in a BBQ pit (I dont know what a bbq pit is). All tables come equipped with 6 different types of sauces and the server will go through each of these and advise which is best with chips (fries) etc. Typical cost for a decent meal for 2 with a couple of drinks is about $50. It really is good value and probably the best meal we had for the duration of the holiday. If you are celebrating whilst on holiday the staff come over and sing you a song – it must be very embarrassing but if this is your thing then go for it. TGI’s do the same.

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Breakfast.

Breakfast is served from about 7:30-10:30 and is buffet style it works out at $8.99 for adults and that includes drinks and refills. If you like tea bring your own tea bags as the US ones arent the best.

You can choose not to have the buffet and instead settle for coffee/muffins etc. Most people have the buffet. The buffet is what you would expect but US style. The sausages are very thin and spicy; the bacon is usually crispy and very, very thin. They also do a scrambled egg with peppers/mushrooms which was very nice. Dont expect baked beans though. Heinz tomato ketchup is available everywhere you go.

Resort Passes.

All resort guests are issued with a pass that your supposed to carry with you all the time you are at the resort, this is never checked though and we were never approached or asked for passes. I think mine spent its life on the table in my room.

Parking.

Parking at Cedar Point is $10, if you are a hotel breakers guest you get a voucher that you show security who wave you in. When you first arrive you need to pay the $10 charge, but if you show the ticket to reception they will reimburse you when you check in.

Cost.

Five nights at Breakers with a park package as described above was just over £500 per room. A $244 deposit was taken at the time of booking and the remainder is cleared when you check out. The online booking system Cedar Point resorts use is a bit poor, I actually phoned them in the end and did everything this way. Check out is 11am.

Finally web access.

For anyone who cant bear to be away from work or wants to send greetings back home, they have wifi access in the hotel lobby, I dont think there is a charge for this as people just turn up with notebooks and login.

Credit/Debit cards, chip and pin.

During our stay (June 2007) nobody had chip and pin, they all seem to operate a machine with a screen that you sign. We didnt have any problems using UK cards at point of purchase or ATM machines.

Staff.

Very helpful, courteous polite and friendly. The ride ops have a great way of jeering up the crowds by talking to the queue lines and people boarding trains. Cries of “how was your ride” and “enjoy the rest of your day at Cedar Point, America’s rockin roller coast” can be heard all over the park. Even though it can get a tad annoying I found this a great touch. Manners and a smile cost nothing but can go a long way in giving you a better visitor experience.

Little things like telling you what bins to put your carry on baggage in are communicated well in advance of you boarding the trains. Before you enter the car you are given clear instructions about how to fasten yourself in. All little things but combined they add up to good customer service. Of course most of the customers dont listen. But thats not the point.

Hotel/Bar Staff
We had no problems with any of the staff, all very courteous and polite. The staff in TGI’s are a credit to the resort, nothing was too much for them.

Conclusion.

Well after spending a few days at Cedar point, does it live it up to their claim “the worlds best amusement park”, personally im struggling to find many faults. Its a fantastic huge park with a brilliant collection of coasters.

On the whole the resort offers the ideal family holiday with Soak city and the lake plus watersports you have everything you could ask for.

One thing which is lacking is a decent dark ride, disaster transport just wasnt up to much. You could do so much more with a building that size. I found the size of queues for some rides annoying but they can quite easily be compared to Alton towers/Thorpe Park on an average day.

The advantage of queues on bigger attractions like Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium force means the queues on smaller coasters are shorter. Fun coasters like Gemini never had a large queue during our visit, even Magnum XL never had a considerable queue.

The park has a mixture of everything for young, old and especially thrillseekers. Camp Snoopy and the attractions for the younger kids will keep them quite happy. Food and drink wise you cant go wrong almost every taste is catered for. The hotel Breakers makes an excellent base and in my mind worth paying that bit extra for. Lets face it if your travelling from the UK your already looking at spending about £1500pp why not pay the bit extra and enjoy breakers.

I’ll definately make a point of visiting Cedar Point again. Any regular readers will know my family usually visit parks with me, but on this occasion the flight times would have been to much for them as well as removing the kids from school for a week. Once the kids are older ill revisit, hopefully by then they may have coaster number 18 or 19.

I did 2 parks during this visit. We made the 3 hour trip to Pittsburgh and spent an additional 2 days at Kennywood. A report on Kennywood will follow in the next few weeks.

Credits.

Photographs – Paul Beesley and Andrew Holmes.

Header Postcard – Cedar Point.

Coaster stats – http://www.rcdb.com

Useful websites.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/ – The offical Cedar Point Website.

http://www.flybmi.com/ – BMI website

http://www.expeida.co.uk/ – Holiday company

http://www.hertz.com/ – Car hire

http://resorts.cedarpoint.com/public/resorts/index.cfm?resort_id=2 – Cedar Point resorts

http://resorts.cedarpoint.com/public/packages.cfm – Package holidays

http://www.famousdaves.com – Famous Daves.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis – US immigration

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/cedarpoint-21 – Amazon books on Cedar point.

http://www.thepointol.com/board/ – Cedar Point Enthusiasts forum. Very helpful with some great posts.

Cedar Point related items on Amazon.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Remember a time when it was cool to have straight hair, stonewashed denim, t-shirts that changed colour when you got hot and spandex shorts. It was a time before B&M coasters graced alton towers and we had rides that were very tame in comparsion to todays launched and suspended coasters.

In 1992 a day at Alton involved long queues for rides like “The Thunder Looper” and “Corkscrew” the towers were open and you could walk around the whole towers getting lost. Here im going to take a trip back to 1992, I dont remember the date but it was sometime in the summer and id just bought my first SLR camera a Canon EOS 1000FN and didnt have a clue how to work it. For the trip id hired a brand new “Ford escort” which cost about £15.

The Thunder looper

One of my all time favourite rides, it was a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop coaster, from memory it was offically opened by Daley Thompson – I was at the park the day it opened and the staff all had a go, as an opening ceremony the track had fireworks/smoke cannisters placed on it and when the train went past it triggered them. It wasnt very effective as it was still light but the smoke could be seen for a couple of hundred metres,

The ride was 722ft in length and had a height of 137ft. The propulsion was a cable which was connected to a huge weight which was enclosed when the 40 ton weight dropped it propelled the train to its top speed of 53mph.

The ride operated at Alton towers from 1990 until 1996

The Corkscrew.
Still opening today the corkscrew come to the park in 1980, one it first offical opening day the local roads were blocked with visitors and the traffic chaos went as far as the M6 motorway, the ride had huge publicity on local and national TV and it was a one of a kind ride in the UK.

The ride was built by Vekoma and is 2400ft in length, I dont ever remember getting my ears hurt so much in 1992, today the pain can be terrible and i almost walk past the ride before nostalgia gets hold and forces me to ride. the one at Flamingo land is allot more comfortable.

Corkscrew is 75ft high has 2 corkscrew inversions and runs at a top speed of 40mph. The park management first rode the ride in Vekomas factory before it was shipped over to the UK.

From memory back in 1992 we queued for about 90 minutes to get on the ride, i think the cars have changed since then but everything else is the same.

The train climbing the hill.

At the top of the hill.

The first drop.

The Congo River Rapids.

I use to love attempt these shots with a slow 1/2 second shutter speed, even after 15 years I still havent perfected it

Nothing much has changed with this ride since it was built, the majority of the theming is still in place.

Ive not seen this jet of water running for some time.

The ride was built by Intamin in 1986 and is 725m in length.

The duration of the ride is about 6 minutes.

Model Railway in the towers.

The railway was broken up after the 92 season.

The daily processions.

When a time that Alton tried to copy the daily procession’s disney style.

The log flume.

Nothing much has changed with this apart from the ride has gained a sponsor and the station has a new roof.

Runaway mine train.

The Swan ride.

The towers and views from the towers.

The Farm before foot and mouth.

The haunted house, before it was ruined with guns and targets.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com or use the contact form im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Having heard nothing but good things about Oakwood we decided to take the 5 hour journey to south wales in the summer of 2006. We visited for the weekend leaving on Friday afternoon with the intention of visiting Oakwood on the Satrurday and Folly Farm on the Sunday. We stayed just outside Tenby in a Travel Lodge which was central to both attractions and cheap.

Unfortunately for us and other visitors to Oakwood this was the wettest day of the year by far and we ended up completely soaked through to the skin within about 1 hour of arriving at the park and we still had another 9 hours until the park was closed.

Location
The park is located a few miles from Tenby just of the a40, its well signposted from Tenby and the M4. its probably no more than 25 minutes from Tenby.

Admission Prices
On the day we visited in the height of summer 2006 standard entry price for over 10′s was £14.75, Junior £13.50 and then various reductions for disabled and family tickets with an after dark (entry after 5:30pm) ticket at £10. The only additional charges in the park are for Vertigo the skycoaster which was about £30 for a single rider. Once you get your tickets you jump on the park train and take this into the park, the train takes about 5 minutes and doesnt really give you a view of anything as most of oakwood is in a valley.

Megafobia
The main reason for my trip to Oakwood was to ride the wooden coaster Megafobia, built by CCI coasters international in 1996 its considered to be the best coaster in the country and always comes out high on the favoured coaster list of many coaster enthusiasts.

From the photo above the lift hill on the right and first drop on the left hand side under the trees. The ride boasts an impressive 2956ft of track with a maximum speed of 48mph and a height of 85ft. This is one of those rides you really have to ride to believe, it is absolutely stunning and a credit to the park. On the day we visited we got to ride it 8 times and its just kept getting better. They also have one of the most entertaining ride ops I have ever met, i didnt catch his name but the guy is nuts.

Speed(new for 2006)
Speed built my Gerstlauer in 2006 is the first ride in the uk to feature a 90 degree lift hill and a 97 degree first drop.

As you can see from the picture above the lift hill is 90 degress and you get the impression you are going to roll back out of your seat as you climb it, in a way you feel like an astronaut in a space shuttle, once at the top of the 115ft tower the car just rolls over the top and you drop. One thing about a coaster with a vertical lift and an over 90 drop is you dont see the track until the last minute, then of course its too late.

This is looking up from the bottom of the first drop. I enjoyed speed this was the first ride on a coaster like this for me and i hope it wont be the last, unfortunately the photographs dont do it justice, the weather was that bad on the day only a couple of speed photographs turned out how I wanted for a more detailed look at speed have a look the 97 degree website

Hydro

Built by Intamin Hydro opened in 2002, its a 121ft plunge ride down a 87 degree drop. According to the offical oakwood website it took 3 weeks to fill the 1 million gallon pool of water at the bottom. Hydro opens at 12:30pm and its the only ride i know which has a changing room you get that wet. I had no intention of riding this but people i know that have ridden it say its some experience, perhaps next year if the weather is a bit better.

Tree Tops Coaster

A family coaster that everyone can enjoy, it doesnt go high and the trip is through a forest.

Spooky 3D

Spooky 3D is a Ghost train type of ride that uses 3D models to enhance the experience, for me this didnt work as you are made to hold the 3d glass up to your eyes for the trip, it would have been allot better if you had goggles like every other 3d ride, but the kids enjoyed it.

The Bounce

The ride starts by shooting you up 160ft, then it bounces about a bit and you drop to the ground, just as you think the ride has stopped you are hoisted up again slowly this time and the ride eventually drops you after a few second wait, I enjoyed this and im normally not a fan.

Vertigo

Vertigo is a sky coaster, you strap yourself into what looks like a sleeping bag, get hoisted backwards and then dropped on cables, it looks great but theres no chance i would do it. Apologies for the picture quality.

Bobsleigh

This was a very enjoyable ride, you sit in a bob that hoisted to the top of a hill on cable and then its freefall down the channelled track until you get back to the ride station, on the day we visited the ride ops were encouraging everyone to use the brakes due to the track been wet as it does pick up speed quickly.

The final straight back into the ride station.

Snake River Falls

This is pretty good, collect your dinghy and choose one of four ways down, two routes are covered. Some of these boats come down really quick and it was quite common for some to stop by hitting the barriers were onlookers were stood, quite funny for the spectators to watch but probably terryfying for the riders.

Waterfall

Another water ride similar to Snake River Falls but more like a huge slide, guaranteed to get you wet.

Pirate Ship

Not much different from any other pirate ship, but i like the idea that every hour or so they run the ride at half height so the younger kids can have a go, this is a really nice touch i wish other parks thought about younger visitors this way. well done Oakwood !!

Brer Rabbit

The Brer Rabbit ride is an enjoyable journey on a train through Brer Rabbits hideaway, its a nice leisurely trip and the youngsters that rode with us really enjoyed it, some of the scenes are quite funny.

Plane Crazy

Oakwoods newest family ride is plane crazy, climb aboard and the ride spins round, you can control the height of the ride using the sail or rudder.

The park also has a mini golf game and a boating lake.

Kidzworld

Kidzworld is an area especially for the younger children, they have about 7 outdoor rides including a ferris wheel, mini coaster, carousel and tractor ride.

Wacky Factory

Also part of kidzworld is Wacky factory, this is a themed ball park that is huge, you can quite easily loose kids for an hour in this place.

I think they have a couple of slides a waterfall and an area set aside for even younger children.

Techniquest

Techniquest is a science discovery attraction also in Kidzworld, it features lots of hands on activities for kids including how to piece together a human body and various puzzles and games, they also have really helpful staff who walk around the area getting involved with the kids.

After Dark

After dark is an event which is run for a month each year, for 2007 the dates are 1st August through to the 31st, this involves the rides staying open later and some entertainment provided in the theatre near Brer Rabbit, the shows are pretty good but dont last that long, by the time you have a pint and your settled its over. I think they do a couple of shows a night up to about 9:45 when everything is then taken outside for a water fountain display, outdoor live show and a firework display. 2006′s firework display was pretty good. They also have Matt the magic man at the park for 2007 i havent seen him so cant comment, for all events take a look at the parks website

Food and Drink

Theres a large cafe just as you get off the train to enter the main body of the park serving meals like fish and chips they also have more healthy foods on offer which are all good quality a meal for 4 with a drink is about £25 which is good value. The park also has various outlets offering fast food and a nice cafe in Kidzworld. If im honest the food as Oakwood was some of the best ive had at a park this year.

Staff

Considering the amount of rain that fell on the day we visited I found all the staff extremely friendly, approachable and happy. It cant be a nice job when its pouring with rain and your having to check restraints on rides over and over again.

Conclusion

Im my opinion one of the best days out of the year, me and my family thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it rained all day and we all ended up soaking wet for most of it, even after a change of clothes at 5pm we were wet again for 7pm.

Ive visted lots of parks in 2006 and if your reading this thinking is it worth a visit the answer is a definate YES. Its an ideal break for a weekend especially if you visit the wonderful indoor fairground at folly farm.

To see the rest of the pictures from this visit, take a look at the ridemad Gallery

If you want to use any pictures in this article or have any comments good or bad please email me on paul@ridemad.com

http://www.ridemad.com is an independant website not affiliated to any theme parks or fairgrounds, the view expressed are my opinions.

Thanks for reading.