I have been wanting to go to Cedar Point for a while and, while there are plenty of organised trips which include the park, they are all about 2 weeks long and it’s day after day of travelling and parks. I wanted something a bit more relaxed so decided to take a solo trip for 6 days – 2 days at Kings Island, 2 days at Cedar Point, and 2 full days for travel to/from Sandusky – and starting/ending at Cincinnati airport.
I planned all park days to include Fast Lane (KI) or Fast Lane Plus (CP) as I hate queueing, especially so if I’m on my own with nobody to talk to. I also bought a Silver/Summer season pass for each park as this included parking and worked out cheaper than 2 day tickets plus parking. This, plus the flights, car hire, hotels and the trains to get to/from Heathrow put the total for the trip at about £2,500.
Kings Island – Tuesday and Wednesday
Starting off at Kings Island – I could probably have done a single day here as the park was fairly quiet both days, especially earlier on in the day the Fast Lane was not really needed at all. I bumped into the RCCGB on the Tuesday here, who were on their 2024 USA trip “Park and Ride”. I thought it was a really nice park with some great rides. I didn’t really go on anything besides the coasters (and one lap on the train), perhaps I should have gone on the water rides as it was very warm and sunny (30C on Tuesday, a little cooler on the Wednesday). Park hours for both days were 10am-10pm, and I got the unlimited drinks refill (just over $20 a day with tax) as this worked out much better value than $6 per drink for bottles, especially in the heat at times I was counting down the 15 minute time out for my next drink.
Top two coasters here for me are:
Diamondback. This is a really good B&M hyper which opened in 2009, running three trains, with plenty of airtime and a splashdown at the end. Despite kicking up a huge amount of water spray, the splashdown doesn’t actually get you wet except for occasionally if you’re on the back row.
Mystic Timbers. This is a GCI wooden coaster which opened in 2017. Very good ride at the back, especially if it’s been raining a bit. It just feels so fast with plenty of airtime and, from a front row view, the first drop is so steep. I felt this is what Wickerman should have been like. There’s a small dark section at the end of the ride, presumably just as a way of running a third train by giving it a block it can sit on for a minute or so before entering the station.
Other highlights include:
The Beast – a crazy woodie, not much airtime in the layout but it’s all about speed.
Banshee – a B&M invert with a decent layout, unfortunately the vest restraints make it a little uncomfortable.
Orion – a second, newer B&M hyper, the layout feels like it’s missing something compared to Diamondback.
Racer – two wooden coasters with a mirror layout which race. Lots of fun.
Cedar Point – Friday and Saturday
Thursday was spent driving from Mason to Sandusky, which took about 4 hours. Unfortunately I fell ill on Thursday so after managing the drive, the rest of the day was spent in bed. I didn’t feel much better on the Friday but I did take a trip to Cedar Point, as I had come this far and already bought all the tickets.
I think a combination of being ill, and having over-hyped Cedar Point before hand, led to me being really disappointed with my visit. I struggle to work out which of the coasters belong in my top 10 due to this. I did manage approx 7 hours in the park, which was open 10-8 on Friday and 10-10 on Saturday. I spent the entirety of Saturday in the hotel hoping I would recover enough for my flight home.
As an Arrow fangirl I was really looking forward to Cedar Point, especially Magnum XL 200. Unfortunately I only got one go as it went down for a few hours, on the third row, and I just found it uncomfortable and the ejector airtime, into one of those lap bars (especially when stapled), was horrible. A real shame and I would probably have had a much better time if I had been feeling well.
Top Thrill 2 was still closed so I didn’t get a chance to ride this. The stand out coasters for me were:
Steel Vengeance – RMC – despite the usual thigh pain from the awfully designed lap bars, not as painful as Untamed and probably a better layout.
Gemini – Arrow twin track racing coaster – a great ride in any seat, with pleasant airtime in places
Maverick – Intamin magnetic launch coaster – a good ride and the softer OTSR are much more pleasant than the type you find on their hydraulic launches e.g. Stealth/Rita
Millennium Force – Intamin giga coaster – an enjoyable layout.
I was very disappointed with Rougarou and Raptor, especially Raptor towards the end of the layout when cornering into a brake run you get a particularly nasty ears-smashed-into-restraint.
Updated top 10s
So after such a trip I need to update my top 10 steel and top 10 wood.
| 1 | Toutatis | Parc Astérix, France |
| 2 | Batman Gotham City Escape | Parque Warner Madrid, Spain |
| 3 | Diamondback | Kings Island, Ohio USA |
| 4 | Steel Vengeance | Cedar Point, Ohio USA |
| 5 | Taron | Phantasialand, Germany |
| 6 | Helix | Liseberg, Sweden |
| 7 | Shambhala | Port Aventura, Spain |
| 8 | Kondaa | Walibi Belgium, Belgium |
| 9 | Untamed | Walibi Holland, Netherlands |
| 10 | Millennium Force | Cedar Point, Ohio USA |
| 1 | Troy | Toverland, Netherlands |
| 2 | Balder | Liseberg, Sweden |
| 3 | Wild Mouse | Blackpool Pleasure Beach, UK |
| 4 | Megafobia | Oakwood, UK |
| 5 | Mystic Timbers | Mason, Ohio USA |
| 6 | Beast | Mason, Ohio USA |
| 7 | Racer (Blue) | Mason, Ohio USA |
| 8 | Racer (Red) | Mason, Ohio USA |
| 9 | Tonnerre 2 Zeus | Parc Astérix, France |
| 10 | Loup-Garou | Walibi Belgium, Belgium |