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.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Ride Graveyard 2016” →

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.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Rock Star Graveyard 2016” →

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.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Parade 2016” →

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.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Dinosaurs Alive 2016” →

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.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Sunday 2016” →

This was a very busy day for the entire family as we left early for the annual Haunted Garage sale which took place at a new location in Westland on Cherry Hill near Newburgh. We don’t know if it was the new location or what but the place was packed and seemed to have many more dealers. We bought several signs for .50 cents and a buck and also picked up several items for Jame’s pirate room. We had to hurry through because we had to catch the Michigan game which started at noon. Luckily our neighbor gave us excellent directions on where to park and we made it to the pregame activities in plenty of time. On the way home from the Michigan game we stopped back at the garage sale just before they were closing and picked up a couple other items that the vendors figured was better to sell cheap than not at all. A very bush but wonderful day and a fun time was had by all.

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2016” →

The train ride that takes you to Frontier land has always had one big perk, coming back to the main park you go through Boneville where dozens of skeletons live and as far as Dad can remember they have been there a very long time. Everyone agreed that the best scene was the house fire with the skeletons trying to put out the fire using various methods including a water hose. We rode the train several times to get as many pics as we could because the train is moving and its hard to keep a good focus. Anyhow, this and a movie is what we came up with.

Boneville has been around for decades, evolving with more skeletons until you have something really spectacular. Although these pictures and videos don’t do it justice, they do give you an idea of the effort that went into this little part of what would otherwise be a boring train ride.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Boneville 2016” →

This was a strange year for after Halloween specials because Nov 1st was a Sunday and we really did not know what to expect. For the second year in a row James was with us for the shopping and having more people is always helpful (Mom used to do this all by herself in the past). What we found was not as many great sales – Halloween City and Target only offered 30% off – but you could still find them if you looked (Michaels 80% sale was awesome). Spirit, Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart were all at 50% off so its still the normal percentage discount. Another bit of a surprise was the Christmas Tree Shop and Home Depot were 50% off before Halloween so it could be said Nov 1st no longer has exclusive rights on the Halloween sales. Regardless we did very well and declared Michaels this years winner (CVS was last year with 90% off). Some of the items were not perfect but all are quite fixable, most just needing new batteries or a wire soldered here and there. Once again, today was when Dad got his Christmas gifts which makes this extra special for me.

Continue reading “After Halloween Sale 2015” →

James dressed up as Luigi this year, staying with the Mario Brother theme. James set a new record by trick or treating all the way to Academy (the previous record was Grindley which is one block closer. James favorite candy was nerd candy and sometimes Dad could hear him asking “Do you have any nerds?” as he trick or treated.

Mom handed out candy and dressed up as a pizza this year. Probably an average crowd showed up trick or treating due to the light rain which was more of an irritant than anything else.

Continue reading “Trick or Treat 2015” →

James was given 3 passes to Greenfield Village by one of his friends family (Thanks Ben’s Dad) and when we had a choice of wasting another Sunday on the Lions or visiting Greenfield Village we took the obvious choice. We were hoping to go on Saturday but because of the rain we postponed it till Sunday. James had lots of fun as usual and acted as our tour guide on this visit and used the map he was given to navigate us through the village. Pumpkins were everywhere and it was the perfect combination of Fall, Halloween, and History by the people of Greenfield Village and Ford Motor (James Grandad and Great Grand Dad both retired from Fords). In fact, we even saw Ben’s Dad there driving a horse drawn carriage. Mom’s favorite part was the Robert Frost house while James enjoyed the graveyard. Dad’s favorite was the creepy little forest with the spiders in the tree.

Everytime we go to the village or the museum here we have a great time, why we don’t go more often I will never know.

Continue reading “Halloween at Greenfield Village 2015” →