Rockin' Roller Coast...

Yesterday was a lovely day with my mom and brother. We went to a local watering hole called Cedar Point. It's been around for a good 130 years now. It started out as a resort village and grew into the "roller coaster capital of the world." Owned by Cedar Fair, LLP it holds some awesome thrill machines totaling 14 monster track courses and 1 more on its way for 2007 as well as 1 kiddy coaster. It's been rated the number one spot as best theme park for 9 years in a row. The price isn't so bad either. It's cheaper than Disney and I believe any Six Flags park and packs more punch. Check it out at www.cedarpoint.com. It was an exhaustingly fun day as we walked all around the huge peninsula putting our bodies through extreme conditions. The only ride I refused to ride was the Mean Streak. It's the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster so far. However, because it's wood, it has a rough and jarring ride. So much so that the last time I rode it, I had aches the rest of the day after the painful ride. They had to add air brakes on the first drop to keep it from reaching top speed. I believe that if it ever reached top speed that some of the riders would have serious injuries on some of those drops and turns. Wood expands and contracts more in the weather conditions here in Ohio and with that the track changes over time. So with that turns become less smooth and even some stretches of straight track become bumpy. The Blue Streak, which we rode in the beginning of the day as a warm up, only goes about 35mph and it still hurts. I believe the Mean Streak can get up to over 60mph and can give you quite a ride. No thanks. Even the little Mine Ride and the large racing Gemini have rough rides with their steel tube tracks and wooden frames. The only ones that are fairly smooth are the all steel ones. I couldn't believe how smooth the Dragster coaster was. It reaches a speed of 120mph to shoot straight up its 420ft climb to go over and come straight down on a twisting track. The launch was the most shocking and fun part. Some ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) members told us that the best thing that could happen is a roll back. It's when the train doesn't quite make it over the top and rolls backwards to the station. In this case, they just slow it down and re-start it. I'm glad it didn't happen to me. The thought of going backwards from 420ft in an unexpected situation is kind of scary. They said it happened several times over the summer though. I didn't see it happen all day. The other extreme rides were the Millennium Force and the Magnum XL 2000. The Millennium Force has a power packed 300ft drop after you climb up on the newest form of lift chains that they use in elevators. The ole Magnum, which was built while I was in high school, has the old style chain that takes you up the 200ft first hill. It was the first hyper coaster of its kind and ACE has deemed the sight a historical landmark. It still gives a great ride despite these coasters reaching higher heights and faster rides. We also took in the loopy ones on the Raptor, Mantis, and the Wicked Twister as well as the calmer (well after such intensity) ones such as the Iron Dragon (first hanging coaster), Wildcat, and Disaster Transport. The 3 of us also powered up on the Power Tower on both sides where you can shoot up 350ft and bounce or shoot down from 350ft. It's very exciting that my mom can still partake in these fabulous thrill rides with no complications. She's in her 50s and can still take the heat. Youth has blessed this family. My brother is a thrill seeker and jumps out of planes. He's now a certified skydiver so some of these machines don't provide much thrill for him. However he was still taken by surprise on the Top Speed Dragster coaster and he still enjoyed all the thrills the park had to offer. We all had a blast and it's good to revisit a place that was so much a part of my childhood and good memories.