Cedar Point - an end of summer mini vacation-Updated 9/8 About This Page:

[BelmontBelle]

This is my first attempt at a TR. I will try to keep it short and sweet. I'm also not so sure about how to post pictures in a report, so I will post a link at the end to a photoshow I created.

Date: August 31-September 1, 2006
Cast: Me(Lisa), DH(Jim), DD(Ashley-almost 15), DD(Alyssa-12), Alyssa's BFF(Cloe-12)
Resort: Great Wolf Lodge, Sandusky, OH
Celebration: The last big hurrah before school starts!

Pre-trip
This whole trip started because Ashley had to miss her 8th grade field trip to Cedar Point in May because it was the same day as her dance recital. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img] We promised her that we would make it down there this summer and that she could bring a friend, of course then we had to allow Alyssa to bring a friend as well. Meaning we would need a room to accommodate six people. We decided to go the last week of August since most schools (except Michigan) would have already began. I sort of put it on the back burner for most of the summer, but the plan was to go down on Thursday, stay at Sandcastle Suites on the CP property, do twilight hours at either the park or Soak City the water park. Long about the end of July, my neighbor calls me and asks if we had purchased our tickets yet. When I said no, she told me that her DH could get them for us. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] What?? I was thinking a discounted ticket, but she said no, he could get us free tickets through his work! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] my neighbors! Now that tickets were taken care of, I knew that I needed to make a reservation soon, but for some reason I was hesitant to make it. About the middle of August, I got online [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zputer.gif[/img] ready to make the reservation when suddenly I thought of the Great Wolf Lodge. For those of you not familiar with this chain of resorts, they are themed somewhat like Wilderness Lodge and have an indoor waterpark in the hotel. When I checked on prices, it was the same amount of money to stay in a family suite at Great Wolf as it was at Sandcastle Suites and waterpark passes are included! Well I talked with my DH and DD’s and we all agreed [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] that it would be a great idea as you never know what the weather will be like in late August especially near the lake. The only thing we gave up is early entry into CP, but I didn’t figure it would be too busy on the day we were going. With reservations made and tickets in hand I just had to get my DD’s to pin their friends down on whether or not they could come with us. I had been reminding them periodically all summer, but teen girls seem to have a mind of their own and I kept getting [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] "I already asked and she said she could come.” I wanted a confirmed yes with parental permission!

Coming up: who is coming with us – or not?

[Meggera]

We have a Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. I have never stayed there. I can't wait to hear about your trip and your stay there. Hurry back!

[chezp]

I've heard about the Great Wolf Lodges - and nothing but good things. I can't wait to hear what you think of it! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!! I used to go to Cedar Point as a kid, it's not Disneyworld, but it's still a lot of fun!! Can't wait to hear what you thought about Great Wolf Lodge, we have been wanting to visit there!!

[Huntermom]

My kids are coaster freaks and always wanted to go to Cedar Point. I can't wait to hear your report.

Diane

[Colexis Mom]

Great start [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[BelmontBelle]

About a week before we were scheduled to go, I had a definite confirmation from Alyssa’s friend Cloe. Ashley still hadn’t confirmed with her friend despite the fact that they saw each other 5 days a week through out the month of August during driver’s training and at church! Well, she finally called her on Monday and low and behold, she could not come because she had an obligation that she could not get out of. I really had to bite my tongue not to say, “You should have confirmed 2 months ago!” Then Ashley called another friend and she could not come either. Well, needless to say, Ashley was down in the dumps. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] She has other friends, but didn’t want to invite them because they are not coaster enthusiasts like she is and she didn’t want them to have to wait around on her or for her to miss out because of them. Luckily, she is very resilient and decided to make the most of the trip anyway. We decided that her and Jim would split off from me and the other girls when we arrived at the park and get on the bigger coasters that the younger girls were not so sure about then we would hook up for lunch and take it from there.

Arrival Day
Jim decided to work for half a day on Thursday as it only takes four hours to get to Sandusky. Cloe was dropped off at our house around 10:00am and when Jim got home at 11:00am we were ready to go! We had an uneventful drive down and with only a quick stop for lunch we arrived at the Great Wolf Lodge around 3:45pm. We were really happy that we chose this hotel as the weather was cloudy and in the 60’s. Not a good day for an outdoor waterpark or pool for that matter!

When we first walked in the lobby a big moosehead on the wall started singing, very loudly I might add. The girls were both saying things like…The fireplace at the WL is way bigger, the totem poll at the WL is way bigger, etc… Finally I had to tell them that this is not the WL and we can not compare as nothing compares to Disney. Let’s just enjoy it for what it is. So, we go up to the counter and the girl is practically yelling so I can hear her over the singing moose. We got checked in and found out that our rate would be discounted $15 since we had one less person than we originally had reserved for. Evidently they add the waterpark entrance fee into the room charge when making a reservation. That was OK with me. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] We headed up to the room and were pleasantly surprised. The family suite is basically one large room with a half wall divider between the 2 queens and the sofa bed. The bathroom was very tiny, but there was a sink area outside similar to the Disney resorts. It also had a vaulted ceiling which made it seem all the more spacious. We stepped out onto the balcony which had a lovely view of the ballpark next door and the Sandusky Mall, but off in the distance we could see the coasters at Cedar Point. That got us all excited for our visit the next day! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

Next up we got changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the waterpark. I have to say, it is very cool! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] The girls took off immediately and started going down the slides. They have two large enclosed slides that start inside curve around outside and come back in. You can either ride in a single tube or a double. There are also two medium size slides and two small slides for younger kids. There are basically four play areas, one for toddler/small children, one for early elementary age, a huge area for older and adventuresome young kids and a large pool area. There are also two huge hot tubs, one for all ages and one for ages 21 and over. In the center of the big play area up at the top they have a huge bucket that fills with 1,000 gallons of water and dumps every so often. Surprisingly to me this is what the kids enjoyed most of all, I can’t even count how many times that thing dumped on them. Jim and I found a table and relaxed with a drink [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] while they played. After a while Ashley got a little bored, but I think if her friend had been able to come she would have stayed busy the whole time.

After a couple of hours we took a break for dinner. We were going to go up and get changed then hit one of the restaurants, but decided to place an order to go, then eat it in the room. We decided on the Gitchigoomi Grill. Ashley and I both ordered the pulled pork sandwich. It came with fries and so much pulled pork that we could have easily split one sandwich. They were very [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]. Alyssa and Cloe split a pepperoni pizza and Jim got some specialty pizza that had chicken and Tabasco sauce on it. I can’t remember what it was called, but he said it was fantastic. We had lots of leftovers, so we stuck them in the mini fridge and headed back to the waterpark. The younger girls took off to play while Jim and I entertained Ashley for awhile on the slides and sat with her in the hot tub. Finally, she decided that she wanted to head up and get a shower and the younger girls wanted to play in the arcade for awhile, so we headed back up to the room. Alyssa and Cloe got into their clothes and headed down to the arcade for an hour or so while Ashley got cleaned up. After that we all got ready for bed and settled in by 10:30 or so. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img]

The next morning I was up at 7:00am got my shower, made some [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/coffee.gif[/img] and woke everyone else up. We debated on what to do for breakfast as we didn’t want to waste a lot of time, they all decided that leftover pizza sounded good. I think someone even ate some of the leftover pulled pork. I wasn’t hungry and decided to forgo breakfast and stuck a granola bar in my bag for later. We quickly checked out and were on our way.

My final thoughts on The Great Wolf Lodge… The lobby area is a bit cheesy, but if I had never been to WL, I would probably think that it was really neat. The room was good size, clean and the beds (even the sofa bed) were very comfy. The waterpark area was clean, the water and the air were plenty warm enough (very important to me). There was a lot to do for all ages, although I think that the perfect age child would be mid to late elementary school so they could enjoy all the slides and activities without constant supervision. My middle schoolers also enjoyed it fully whereas my ninth grader got a little bored. We saw lots of little children as well and they really seemed to be having fun. I would definitely stay at another Great Wolf and I would recommend it to others.


Next: A day at "The Point"!

[Chelledun17]

I love the idea of the singing moose head! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great update!! Great Wolf Lodge sounds really nice, well except for the loud moose!! Can't wait to read more!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update! Glad you enjoyed the Lodge [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Meggera]

Glad to know the Great Wolf didn't disappoint. The indoor water park sounds fun, too. More please!

[BelmontBelle]

I was unable to download a park map from the CP website, so we were going into the park blind! Yikes! My DD’s were both making fun of me because I didn’t have a plan. So, with maps in hand we set out to explore the unknown. Jim and Ashley headed directly off for Millennium Force, this coaster is huge! The first hill has a 300 foot, 80 degree vertical drop! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] There are two more hills that are close to 200 foot drops and it travels at 92 miles per hour. It is so spread out that I wasn’t able to get any good pictures, but if you are interested in viewing it, here is the website. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/par...orce/index.cfm
They said that it was phenomenal, the best roller coaster that they have ever been on! I decided to take their word on it, as it’s way to big for me.

While they were off riding MF, the other girls and I set out to find something they would ride. We headed to maXair. It is a huge swinging ride. It has one arm with a round base that spins while it is swinging to great heights. Alyssa took one look at it and decided that she needed to wait until later to ride it. Next we found Chaos, a witch’s wheel type ride, but the seats spin around while the wheel is turning. They did ride this and loved it. After that they got on Ocean Motion, it is one of those swinging ship rides. They quickly rode this and found it a little tame for their liking. We set off to find something a little more thrilling and headed to the Corkscrew which they were on and off in about 15 minutes. They said that it was better than the one at Michigan’s Adventure as it has a complete upside down loop before the corkscrew part which our local one does not have. We passed the Top Thrill Dragster which was not running. None of us had any intention of riding this, but I would have liked to see it in action. I’m not sure why, but it seems to be down a lot. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img] Next we rode the Iron Dragon which is a suspended coaster, perfect for the intermediate coaster rider.

After we got off, we ran into Jim and Ashley and they told us all about MF, they had also ridden Mantis which is a stand up coaster. Cloe really wanted to ride Mantis, but Alyssa wanted to wait a bit longer on that one. She is the type who needs to work her way up to the bigger rides. We all decided to head over to Skyhawk which is CP’s newest ride. Another swinging ride, it claims to be the largest in the world with 2 arms that reach a height of 125 feet and swing at a speed of 60 miles per hour. The wait was 15 minutes so the girls hopped in line. Neither Jim or I like swinging rides, so we sat out. As I sat watching this ride, I began to be terrified for Alyssa. The noise it makes alone is enough to scare a person. Finally, they loaded up and luckily they were facing us, so I got some good pictures. They looked OK so far. Up they went and as I’m watching them, Ashley and Cloe are looking like they are having fun, but Alyssa looked quite frightened. I’m thinking, “Oh no, she’s done for the day,” when all of a sudden I see her smiling and whooping for joy! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] When they got off, her and Cloe decided they loved it so much they wanted to ride it again right away. Ashley wanted more coasters, so she and Jim headed out in search of the Magnum XL-200.

After Alyssa and Cloe exited Skyhawk, we got in line for the Cedar Creek Mine Ride which was right next door. This is a very tame little BTMRR type coaster, although not nearly as fun. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] The next ride we came to was the Gemini, a wooden twin racer style coaster. 20 some years ago when I last visited CP, this was the biggest coaster there and now it is dwarfed by all the mega coasters. It is looking a bit run down too. Anyway, they decided to ride and I sat out as these type coasters really mess with my neck. The wait said 15 minutes, but they were gone close to half an hour. They enjoyed it, but even they said it was kind of rough and probably wouldn’t ride it again today. We then ran into Jim and Ashley again who had just got off the Magnum. They had also ridden the Gemini while they were gone. Ashley was exclaiming over how fun Magnum was and she was just sure that Alyssa and Cloe could handle it just fine. They needed some time to think it over so they rode the Witches’ Wheel and then we all rode the Monster (other parks call this same ride the Spider.) As we were right next to the Magnum, they decided to get in line, Alyssa was a little apprehensive, but went anyway. I sat out again, being the fifth person gave me a good excuse to sit out when I was just plain chicken to go on a ride! I really wanted to get a picture of them on this ride, but when they passed me by, I wasn’t fast enough with the camera. I did get them going up the first hill however and again this ride is so spread out that it is hard to get good pics of it. The first hill is a 195 foot 60 degree drop, second hill is 157 feet and the third 80 feet, it travels at 72 miles per hour. So, while not the MF, it is definitely a big coaster. They all enjoyed it, but Alyssa and Cloe thought it was quite scary and didn’t think they would be getting back on it today. Ashley said the look on Alyssa’s face was pure panic on that first hill. I’m actually glad I couldn’t see it, I have that Mother’s sixth sense and when they are feeling strong emotions, I tend to feel them too! Anybody else feel that way? I was really proud of her for giving it a try. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Next: lunch and will Cloe ever get to ride Mantis and maXair?

[lauren-roxy]

Great update!! Sounds like they are really enjoying the coasters!! Dragster is down quite a lot. one time it stopped right on the hill!! I would have died for sure!! Can't wait for more!!

[Meggera]

Millennium Force sounds wonderful! We are a coaster-loving family. More please!

[BelmontBelle]

We were all pretty [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/hungry.gif[/img] by now, so we set out to get some lunch. The first restaurant we came to was Coasters. It is a 50’s style burger place. That sounded good, so in we went. Now here is my only big complaint about CP, we paid $55 for five burgers, two orders of fries, three shakes and two waters! Our dinner at the Wolf Lodge was less than that! To top it off, while the fries and shakes were good, the burgers were overcooked and very dry. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] I was not impressed at all. I don’t expect high quality food at an amusement park, but for that kind of money they should at least give you a good burger! With our tummies full, we debated on what to do next. It was probably not a good idea to do any spinning rides right away, so we headed over to the Corkscrew which Ashley hadn’t ridden yet and it was near by. After a turn on that, it was off to the Mantis. Alyssa was finally ready to give it a go! Jim sat out with me since he had already been on it and he had a bit of a headache. This ride fits five across, so all the girls could ride together. As I mentioned earlier, this is a stand up coaster which was a new experience for the younger girls, but it was a hit! They really loved it. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]

Now, Cloe had been bugging me all morning to go back and ride maXair, but as it was near the park entrance and we were near the back of the park for quite a while, I kept putting her off. Even without an advance plan for park touring, I was just not going to run clear across the park for one ride! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] Finally, we headed back up to that area, but they decided to ride the Raptor first. This is another suspended coaster, but much larger than the Iron Dragon. This ride was another big hit, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] with Alyssa claiming it to be her favorite of the day! I’m really mad at myself because I did not get a single picture of this ride. It was getting late in the day and I think my mind was getting foggy because I desperately needed a coffee and since I am a coffee snob, I was afraid to try just any old coffee from the park. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/noway.gif[/img] Mind you I don’t drink the fancy coffee drinks, I just like good strong coffee. More on that later. Just across the way was maXair, so over we headed and the younger girls got in line, Ashley had no interest. Here is another ride that I just look at and get butterflies in my stomach. Something about that swinging motion, then add in turning in circles while swinging! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img] However, Alyssa and Cloe thought it was great!

There are many more rides at Cedar Point, but at this point, we had all ridden everything that we had an interest in. It was about 6:00pm and the plan was to leave the park around 8:00pm. We quickly discussed which rides everyone wanted to do again and set off to the back of the park since all the girls wanted to ride Skyhawk again. As we got closer to the ride the crowd started to get bigger. I’m not sure if everyone had finally made it back of the park or if weekend people were arriving and making use of Friday night twilight hours. Anyway, the wait this time said 45 minutes, but the girls decided to wait. Finally they got off and we headed over to the Mantis. As we approached it, we passed the Millennium Force which Cloe had been debating on whether or not to ride. When she saw that the wait time was 1 hour, she decided that she didn’t really want to wait that long. I think she was relieved to have a good reason not to ride. Alyssa and Cloe boarded the Mantis while the rest of us waited. During this time, Ashley was really having a dilemma over whether or not she wanted to wait an hour for MF. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] The line for Mantis ended up being very short and the younger girls returned quickly. Jim and Ashley decided that [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img], they would wait because Ashley really wanted to ride MF one more time. So the rest of us headed over to maXair with a plan for them to us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/phone.gif[/img] when they got done and we would meet at the Raptor for one last ride. The line for maXair was not too bad, but there was a delay getting on because someone had lost their cookies and it had to be cleaned up. Then they test ran the ride twice before letting anyone on. By the time the girls got off, a little over a half hour had passed.

We headed to the Raptor thinking that if the line was short, they could get in a quick ride before meeting up with the others. I think the wait time said half an hour and I figured there would not be enough time before Jim and Ashley came back. We decided to browse in a couple of the shops. Now here is where I get back to the coffee. We turned around from Raptor (which is where we were when I had such a longing for coffee earlier) and what do I see but a sign for Starbucks!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] I guess I wasn’t facing that way earlier. The girls and I high tailed it over there and I finally got my coffee! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] They wanted to get a hot chocolate, but I persuaded them to wait until after the Raptor as I didn’t think they would have enough time to drink it before. There were also some delicious looking donuts and muffins [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] but we passed those by as well. Next, we went into a little shop and just started looking around when my phone rang. It was Jim and they were on there way over, the wait for MF had only been around 40 minutes. After we met up he looked longingly at my [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/coffee.gif[/img] and went to get his own, which I might add was bigger than mine! We sat down to wait on the girls and thoroughly enjoyed our drinks! It was quite chilly by now and I had only a light sweatshirt on, so I was freezing and very ready to leave. When the girls got off the ride, we headed back to the coffee shop for their hot chocolate and donuts, which they promised to save until after we ate some dinner. After a quick bathroom break for everyone we headed out. It was 8:00 on the nose! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

We made a fast food stop at Taco Bell and then hit the road. Alyssa and Cloe fell asleep almost as soon as they finished their food and Ashley lasted about half way home before she crashed too. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/snore.gif[/img] It was a long drive home at that time of night, but we didn’t want to spend another night in Ohio and waste half of Saturday driving home.

We had a great day at Cedar Point and while it is not nearly as nice as WDW, I never expected it to be, so it didn’t bother me at all. If you or your children are coaster enthusiasts, I would really recommend making a visit here. My kids had a blast and are already asking when we can return. And a great thing that came of it is that I know when we return to WDW next year Alyssa will ride all the rides, yea! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/applause.gif[/img] For me, I’m not crazy about the big rides, but I enjoy watching my kids have fun and that is good enough! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] Another thing to note is that our wait times for the rides were great due to the fact that a lot of schools were already back in session. My neighbor went two days after us, which was a weekend and had 1-2 hour waits for all the major rides. They didn't ride anything more than once and never got to ride MF. Thanks for reading my report, it ended up a lot longer than I thought it would, but it’s hard to stop when you get going.

Here is a link to my photo show. While I had good intentions of taking tons of pictures I didn’t get as many as I had planned. Next time I will try to resize and load them into my TR. http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/wd5JF4mg

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/bye.gif[/img]