Fall Amtrak Vacation Trip 2005: |
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This year’s HalloWeekends events included some familiar favorites such as the ever popular Fright Zone, CarnEvil, a Carnival Sideshow gone horribly bad, along with some great haunted houses such as Undertaker U., Pharaoh’s Secret (This year in 3D!) and Lair of the Vampire. The haunted houses are excellent as always and as CP’s own brochure says, they are not recommended for young children but fear not, CP has them covered as well with Camp Spooky, The Magical House on Boo Hill, as well as the Peanuts Halloween Show among other things. Illusionist Tim Hill was back at the Centennial Theater this year, he put on a very entertaining show with lots of jokes and some great illusions that even left me wondering “how did he do that!”. New for this year is the Creepy Kookie Castle Café which is an All-You-Can-Eat Pizza Buffet restaurant all decked out for Halloween, it is located in the Macaroni’s Restaurant Building near the Peanuts Playground. Below are photos taken from my visit to the park this year. You really have to visit this place to truly appreciate how great of a park it truly is, enjoy... |
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Above Left: MaxAir, CP's new Ride for 2005, sends you up in the air and leaves you to wonder which way is up! Above Right: Wicked Twister, new in 2002, this double-impulse coaster is the largest of its kind in the world! |
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Some of the many creepy displays set up for HalloWeekends along the Main Midway with the Centennial Theater in the background where Illusionist Tim Hill does an excellent magic show during HalloWeekends! |
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Another cool HalloWeekends Display on the Main Midway! |
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Now THAT is a hot rod!!! |
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New for 2005 is the Creepy Kookie Castle Cafe located in the Macaroni's Restaurant Building near the Kiddie Kingdom. This restaurant features an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet! |
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Raptor, new in 1994, and designed by world-reknowned coaster designers Bolliger & Mabillard, this 157ft tall steel monster sends you upside-down 6 times and is still ranked among the top roller coasters in the world! |
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Another view of one of Raptor's 6 inversions, and also if you want a cool hat, the Hattitudes shop has plenty to choose from. Next door to Hattitudes is Hot Potato where you'll find the absolute Best French Fries you'll ever eat at an Amusement Park! |
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Above Left: Demon Drop, a zero-gravity ride built in the 80's gives an awesome feeling of weightlessness. Above Right: Once you've graduated from Demon Drop, and want an ultimate feeling of weightlessness, then Power Tower (new in 1998) is Demon Drop's much bigger brother and lets you choose to either be shot up or dropped down it's enormous 300 foot tower. Don't let this photo fool you, Top Thrill Dragster may appear that it fits inside Power Tower's tower in this photo but truthfully, it's 120 feet taller than the big tower! This is just an example of how I love photography tricks, so here's my best shot! |
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Above Left: Mantis, new in 1996 with one of it's huge 4 inversions sends you flying while standing up, there's nothing quite like it! Above Right: Mantis coming down it's first hill, this is a great coaster, and there's nothing like it anywhere else in the park! |
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Magnum XL-200's lift hill as seen from the Soak City Parking Lot. This will always be my favorite coaster of all time since I worked on it when I worked at CP in 2001. This coaster was the world record holder at 205ft tall when it opened in 1989 and has a very loyal following among coaster buffs. Even today, it is still regarded as one of the top steel coasters in the world! |
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Now just what exactly is this "pile-o-parts"??? Well, when I took this photo, even I didn't know, but since then, CP announced a new ride for 2006 to be called Skyhawk, it will be built in Frontiertown. The ride will send riders swinging through the air and the ride will be 125 feet tall, should be really cool, can't wait to ride it next year!!! |
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Above Left: An additional view of Magnum, this is it's second hill as viewed from just outside Soak City (The Cedar Point of water parks!). Above Right: A view of White Water Landing, this good old fashioned flume ride saw it's final weekend of operation in 2005 as it is being removed to make way for future expansion and to build the new aforementioned Skyhawk ride. I was fortunate to get one last ride on it while I was there this year! |
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Another view of White Water Landing on it's final operating weekend. |
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Built in 1987, Iron Dragon is a smooth steel monster that sends you swinging in all different directions through the fog and woods. The coaster received a new paint job a couple years ago with it's original paint being a red track with silver supports. |
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Finally, the sun goes down in Sandusky, Ohio as viewed from the Cedar Point Marina! |
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Cedar Point once again has lived up to it’s well-earned title of “Best Amusement Park In The World” for an amazing 8 straight years as rated by Amusement Today Magazine. New for 2005 was MaxAir, a flying spinning ride, though it was not running the weekend I was at the park this year so I didn’t get a chance to ride it but I have seen video of this ride and it looks to be another amazing thrill ride at a place that only seems to get better each year in terms of rides and overall fun! As shown in the photos above, 2005 would also mark the end of an Era at CP for one of Frontiertown’s signature rides, the White Water Landing which will be replaced next season by Skyhawk, an enormous new ride that will send you flying through the air. Like everything else at CP, it should be incredible. I took my final ride on White Water Landing on Saturday Night. It will be missed but if you still want to take a good flume ride then CP still has you covered! Snake River Falls, located also in Frontiertown is an 8 story flume ride where “No One Stays Dry” as the saying goes, and it’s so true! CP will always have a special place in my heart having worked there in 200. I just can’t get enough of the place as this trip marked my 14th straight year visiting the park! Among the other things I did while at the park was get the night photo of Millennium Force’s lift hill shown at the top of this page all lit up as well as enjoy a meal at the Midway Market buffet in the park. I will be back at the park again next year as this new attraction going into Frontiertown will be awesome! |
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