My first order of business on my first full day of this trip involved ordering a key for my home computer's case online (I have no idea how I managed to lose the original key) and had to do so using my iPhone!  Once that was done, I called Enterprise to have them pick me up for my 1:00pm rental.  They couldn't get someone here until 2pm, so I started writing more of this travelogue and eventually, Enterprise arrived to bring me to their office.  My rental car this year is a 2014 Nissan Altima S.  I had a 2012 Altima on my Christmas Shopping trip from last year so I was very excited to get this car for a rental car since it’s a new body style.  The car definitely has more pickup than the previous one, thanks to what is likely some modifications to the transmission.
  After picking up the car, I drove to a nearby Five Guys restaurant and had an absolutely delicious Bacon Burger and Fries with some Raspberry Coke Zero from the Coke Freestyle machine.  Now you know me (If you’ve read my previous travelogues), I’m very much a Pepsi guy (well, Diet Pepsi specifically) but those machines that let you make up hundreds of different kinds of pop, are really cool!!!  After lunch, I drove across the street to Meijer to get some liquid refreshments (Diet Pepsi and Ice Mountain bottled water), then put gas in the rental car at Sam’s Club where I paid a whopping $3.07 a gallon!  Considering I filled up my tank yesterday in New York for $3.59 a gallon, that’s an incredible price!  After filling up the car, I drove back to the hotel to continue writing this travelogue.
  New for this year at Cedar Point is GateKeeper, a world record-breaking winged coaster that has completely transformed the entire front of the park as it was built over brand new entrance gates constructed while the coaster was being built!  2013 also saw CP celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad (you’re gonna get to know that railroad very well a little later on in the travelogue, as well as the 10th Anniversary of the tallest roller coaster in the park, Top Thrill Dragster!  At 420 feet tall and 120mph, this is serious "High Speed Rail!!!"  For HalloWeekends, new this year is "Zombie High School", and after walking through that haunted house, I've decided I really don’t wanna go back to high school again!!!  Truthfully, that haunted house was excellent, very scary but still fun!  Also new this year is the live show "The Skeleton Crew" at the Celebration Plaza (where the Luminosity show is played during the summer).
  It had been raining through a good part of Friday and my hope of course was that the rain would hold off.  I set a personal goal for myself this year to ride the Magnum XL-200 Roller Coaster 22 times in 3 days.  Now why would I do this?  Because I’m crazy, that’s why (that might be true)!  In all honesty, the reason for subjecting myself to an insane amount of G Forces is quite simple!  The Magnum is my favorite roller coaster on earth and this is my 22nd straight year visiting the park, and I also worked on this coaster when I worked at Cedar Point 12 years ago. So for those reasons, I knew I had to find a way to ride it 22 times!  I started on this trek right away once I got in the park and by the end of the first night, I had rode it 7 times!  After dinner at Panda Express (good Chinese food) I would later do some night photography in the park and after a good evening, I drove back to the hotel and called it a day.
  On Saturday, I headed back to the park and had lunch at Famous Dave’s BBQ with a friend of mine who works for CP before going into the park while it continued to rain!  I bought a rain poncho in the park (best $5.00 I ever spent in the park!) and I would later ride one coaster, Mean Streak, which is a 1991-built wooden coaster. After one ride on Mean Streak, I waited out the rain by visiting the Town Hall Museum, which features lots of historic displays about everything Cedar Point from photos to scale models, to lots of Golden Ticket Awards!!! The rain would eventually end and I went over and rode Magnum again 11 times in a row, then would go ride the new GateKeeper coaster. I had the privilege of attending Media Day for this ride back in May and rode it 7 times during that event, what a rush!!! CP is open until Midnight on Saturdays during HalloWeekends which makes good night photography possible, as well as good coaster riding in the dark! After doing some more night photos, I eventually called it a day...
  Finally on Sunday, I was able to get photos during the day as the weather cooperated long enough for me to do so.  I visited a friend of mine who works in the park then watched the live show "The Skeleton Crew" which is done on the Luminosity Stage at Celebration Plaza.  I also watched the HalloWeekends Parade and then finished riding Magnum another 4 times to complete my goal of riding it a total of 22 times!  I decided to go ride Millennium Force when the rain started again.  Many coasters can operate in the rain but some cannot.  There was a very light crowd in the park on Sunday likely due to bad weather all weekend as I didn’t wait more than 15 minutes to ride Millennium Force.  Once the ride left the loading platform, it was now raining and I ended up riding most of the ride with my eyes closed but when it was over, all of us on the ride were pretty much thinking the same thing, THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!  Riding a roller coaster in the rain is an experience that is nothing like riding one in dry weather!!!  I said "What a way to end a weekend!!!" and decided it was time to go back to the hotel as I walked back out to my car, completely soaked!!!  After getting back to the hotel and switching to some drier clothes, I drove to a nearby Chili’s restaurant for dinner (Those Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers are delicious!!!), then drove to a nearby Coldstone Creamery for ice cream, then headed back to the hotel and eventually called it a day.
  And now, here are 5 sections of photos taken this year at Cedar Point. If you've read my travelogues in the past, you know I cannot get enough of this place. I made a total of three trips this year to the park (two by car and this one by train), and every time one trip ends, I'm already excited about the next one! I love going to Cedar Point as much as I love riding Amtrak, so without further delay, here are some great photos from Cedar Point in 2013!!!