Category: Festivals and Fairs

Today was the last day Cedar Point is open, and despite early rain (we did not arrive till about 2pm) we made the trek down to Sandusky and had a great time. Our friend Dynamike the Magician joined us and we were surprised how many people at the park recognized Detroit’s Master Magician. The park crowd was mild but increased as the weather improved throughout the afternoon, one of the roller coasters wait was over an hour while others were only 15 minutes. Cedar Point was still decked out in Halloween gear so it was a perfect place to be the day before Halloween.

We saw that Cedar Point had begun tearing down the Mean Streak roller coaster which made for an interesting picture since you don’t see many pics of a roller coaster with part of it missing. Afterwards we finished off the evening at Ryans buffet in Sandusky and felt good that we decided to go rather than watch the Lions loss to Houston, consider this day seized.

When you are ready to leave Cedar Point do so quietly so that you don’t wake the giant Ogre up!

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We had been told by friends in Ohio that Saturdays are not a good day to visit Cedar Point due to the crowd and they were certainly right as this beautiful day in the midwest brought out many more visitors than our visit last Sunday on an equally beautiful day. While the lines were long James managed to hit a few rides and the Gemini roller coaster (which was closed when we first walked by) opened up and James and his dad only had about a twenty minute wait to get on the coaster which was great. We figured this might be our last visit this year so we picked up souvenirs in the form of Cedar Point hoodies for all of us.

Just when you thought it was safe, this rock monster comes to life during Cedar Points Halloweekends.

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When we went to Halloweekends last (over a decade ago) we took pics of the small graveyard that had made for rides that no longer exist at Cedar Point. Well, on our most recent visit that Graveyard has grown much bigger than before and it included the “Mean Streak” Roller Coaster which was closed only a week earlier. Built by Dinn Corporation, Mean Streak was the tallest wooden coaster in the world with the longest drop when it opened to the public on May 11, 1991. It is still standing over in Western town but we assume they will take it down probably over the winter and have something new built there in the future. Lots of wood there, we thought maybe they would saw it up and sell parts of it like they do stadiums and casinos that go to the wrecking ball.

Anyhow it was a nice trip down memory lane and Dad found out that there are more rides in the ride cemetery that he has rode in the past (rotor, needle. pirate ride, wild mouse, funhouse, etc.) than new rides he has gone on in this current version of Cedar Point.

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We don’t remember seeing this graveyard last time we were here in October, but it was fascinating none the less, lots of great entertainers here. One thing we did not understand is why June Carter Cash was here but not Johnny? We’ll have to take a look at these pics again to see if maybe we missed it. Everyone else was there including Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, the Brothers Gibb, Keith Moon, and of course, the day the music died with the Buddy Holly plane crash. A nice little tribute to the rock and roll generation and James’ Mom and Dad both enjoyed visiting this cemetery as James was on a ride.

Very very creative folks these Cedar Point people.

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Well, Mom and Dad got to see a graveyard with many of their favorite rides, and a graveyard with many of their rock and roll heroes. Is there anything else that the folks at Cedar Point can do to make our generation feel a little bit old? How about a parade celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the debut of the Charles Schultz Cartoon “Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”. Yes Dad remembers watching it that fateful day 50 years ago with his Mom in the living room.

Anyhow the parade just seemed to march right in, James and Mom were getting ready to go on the Himalaya ride when this parade came marching toward us. Mom and Dad immediately went to the parade (James went to the ride while all were distracted and picked out a good Himalaya car) and snapped off these pics (and also a video or two).

Below are some video clips of the parade.

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Its been a couple years since we visited the Dinosaur park in Kentucky so we thought it was time to take advantage of the dinosaur exhibit at Cedar Point called Dinosaurs Alive. The major difference between this one and the one in Kentucky is that 50 of the many dinosaurs were animated and 3 were set up so that you could control the animation yourself, thus making it very interactive. Like all kids, James is fascinated by Dinosaurs and really, what kid isn’t? When you think that had it not been for a meteor millions of years ago that they might still be walking on this planet it certainly makes you wonder about cause and effect. James wanted a picture of every dinosaur and every plaque and he and Dad decided that one cold January day in the future, they would look back at all these pictures taken today when it was still warm outside.

Mom said later, “we just brought summer back for a day today” and we could not agree with her more. See the short movie of the dinosaurs below.

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Its been over a decade since we have made it to Cedar Point in October to see the legendary “Hallow Weekends” and truly enjoyed the visit with all the scary attractions. James went on about a half dozen rides as well so his time was very well spent going on rides and watching the Halloween attractions. There had to be thousands of pumpkins in the park and several large animatronics including a rock monster and an ogre. Lots of selfies taken on this vist as there was just so much going on and so much to see. A perfect autumn day in the high sixties!

There were also several graveyards, a parade, and a visit to a dinosaur exhibit which we are going to post here as well, but as there own separate topic. Also of note is that this was the first time ever we have gone to Cedar Point on a Sunday (Friday and part of Saturday was rainy) and after our visit we found out that the Tigers got eliminated from the post season, the Lions lost to the bears, and Tony Stewart was eliminated in the Chase. Sounds like our time was very well spent today.

Below is a video of James on a swing ride this day at Cedar Point.

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