Cedar Point After Dark!

Night photography has become a huge part of my trips over the years mainly because of the unique challenge each photo presents. No two night photos are ever the same, especially when you're going the Manual HDR route like what I do here (taking multiple photos at different exposures and layer-masking in Photoshop to get an overall image that looks more or less the way your eyes would see it in real life, with a little over-saturation of the colors to give it a "postcard" look). The photos you'll see here were taken both on Media Day back in May 2015 for Rougarou and during this big trip in October 2015. Enjoy...

Cedar Point's big sign that welcomes you to the park at the start of Cedar Point Drive all lit up with the Rougarou banners!

Rougarou's sign near the ride's entrance.

Rougarou's impressive first loop. Note the TV camera crews near the Rougarou sign, as this was on Media Day for the ride which actually happened before
sunrise! This was done so TV crews could provide live reports to their stations from the ride for the various TV morning shows.

Utilizing Rougarou's on-ride camera, you can see a "ghost image" of the coaster train. The big blue and grey coaster in the background
is none other than Millennium Force!

Another HDR time exposure showing the coaster train's ghost image by the on-ride camera as well as through the route of the
coaster's track. Did I forget to mention I love night photography???

Rougarou's first loop with the sunrise "dangerously approaching" the horizon on Media Day!!!

GateKeeper greets you at CP's main front entrance gate! This ride opened in 2013 and provides two unique riding experiences since it's a winged
coaster and you can ride on either the left or right side of the coaster train!

Over to CP's beautiful sandy beach I go to get this photo of the newly renovated Hotel Breakers. By the looks of all that lighting, this looks more like
a palace than a hotel! CP did an amazing job on the renovation of this place!

A view of the Breakers from a slightly different angle, including the Breakers Tower section. There was a steady wind on the beach
when I was taking these photos. Thankfully, burying my tripod in the sand a bit helped keep it steady long enough!!!

This area was once considered to be the front of the hotel because when it was built in 1905, most guests came here by ferry boat. This area in more recent
years housed a pool. That was filled in and the entire area converted to a common area outside the hotel featuring tables, umbrellas and fire pits.

One of the new fire pits. These proved to be a great thing on what turned out to be a very cold October night when I took this photo!

Cedar Point bills itself as the "Roller Coaster Capital Of The World" and that name fits the park perfectly! Though my time in the park was somewhat limited during my fall trip due to unusually cold weather, I had visited the park a total of three times in 2015. I am now a Platinum Pass holder which is a season pass that is valid at all of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (CP's parent company) parks and it includes free parking so it was totally worth it to get such a pass as it far more than paid for itself in terms of the number of times I was at the park this year. I'll definitely be back here again in 2016 to ride Valravn for sure! For more information on everything-Cedar Point, check out the link to their official site below. Next up for me, I'll be taking a drive out to nearby Bellevue, OH to visit the Mad River & Nickel Plate Railroad Museum. This place has a great collection of locmotives and rolling stock for both the Nickel Plate fan and railfan in general, click the link below...