Cedar Point is in Sandusky, OH, right on Lake Erie, only about an hour and a half from BG. We booked one night in their Hotel Breakers and got a two-day ticket package. Because we were staying at the hotel, we could get into the park an hour early, so that helped us ride some of the popular rides without long waits. We were also there in the middle of the week, and the busy season hadn't really started yet. Overall, it was a good time to visit, and we really enjoyed it!
Here are a few pics of the hotel, which was a very short walk from the park, and had a beautiful view of the lake:
There are over a dozen roller coasters, and we rode most of them (2 we decided to skip, 1 was down for mechanical reasons the whole time we were there). There are also other, smaller scale rides--these reminded me of Cliff's in ABQ. We really enjoyed most of the rides, except for a couple of the roller coasters (too rough or jerky, or just not that exciting). Our favorite ride was the Millennium Force, built in 2000, which has won the best steel roller coaster award several times. I think we rode it four times! (It's the blue track in the pics below.) One of the things that surprised me was how all the roller coaster tracks weave in and out and around, often close to each other and to the walkways.
Besides the rides, there are some shows and entertainment. We went to two shows: the All Wheels Extreme sports show with rollerbladers, extreme bicyclists, gymnasts, etc. and Lusty Lil's Revue, a show with live music, singing, and dancing (and the drum set player is from BGSU!). We also bought the extra ticket to get into the animatronic dinosaur exhibit, which was fun (but not something we'd bother with again). The signs cracked me up.
The food wasn't especially remarkable, but we did enjoy eating at Pink's of Hollywood:
The other restaurant we tried was Joe Cool's cafe, where the food was unimpressive, but the decor was cute:
Of course, having recently been at WDW, we couldn't help comparing the two a bit. Ultimately, we decided that they have different purposes and audiences. Disney is designed for people of all ages, and their claim to fame is storytelling and detailed theming. They have great rides, including some thrill rides, but that's only part of the experience. At Cedar Point, most of the people seemed to be teenagers and young adults, and the park is all about the thrill rides, particularly roller coasters. It seems like almost every roller coaster there broke one or more records when it was built, and they keep striving for bigger, faster, wilder rides. Besides the roller coasters, another thing that makes Cedar Point unique is the location--right on the lake. Almost everywhere you are in the park gives a great view, especially from the top of the rides! I think if we're still in the area next summer, we might go back, but it won't be a destination to return to from afar like WDW is for us.
Here are a few more pics:
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