Just got back from Cedar Point. What a great place to take the kids. Park is VERY clean, always plenty of TP and paper towels in the restrooms. The Millenium Force is AWESOME. The first hill is something you have to experience to believe. 310 feet almost straight down at 92 MPH. YIKES!!! The frontier section of the park is cool and shady with a row of authentic log cabins housing potters, weavers, woodcarvers, and glass-blowers. The glassblower made a beautiful vase as we watched.
The food is so-so and expensive. We left the park and drove 5 minutes to the East of Chicago Pizza restaurant. $6.99 for all-you-can -eat pizza (decent pizza), subs, and salad bar. $3.99 for kids, and they even make peanut-butter-and-jelly pizza, which is not half bad. Tastes like a warm PBJ sandwich.
The Breakers Express is a brand new hotel just outside the park (and across the street from East of Chicago) owned by Cedar Point. We compared room rates from several hotels and it was the least expensive. Very Clean rooms and a Large (by budget Hotel standards) pool. About $62 a night for 4 people. We will stay there again if we go back, which we probably will. Oh, and if you want to ride all 14 of the roller coasters, bring a kid with you. Adults must be accompanied by a kid under 54" to ride the Gemini Jr. coaster.

Great to hear Cedar Point is still great. It's been about 5 years since my last trip there.

I live near St. Louis so Cedar Point is always considered a little far when you can go to Six Flags (over Mid-America) outside St. Louis. But Cedar Point was always S-O-O much more. Wish more people from around here would give Cedar Point a try.

Sal

Cedar pointe was a lot of fun. We were there on a Thursday in May. However, the lines were much too long. We got there at 9:30 a.m. and left at 7:00. We only rode 8 rides!!!!! The lines are way too long. They obviously do not care. We will not go back unless this changes.

Those lines do sound bad, especially for a Thursday in May! Part of the problem is that being located in Ohio, Cedar Point is very much a seasonal operation. It also has a reputation as the BEST all around park with coasters rated the 1st, 3rd, and 4th in the country (world?). The draw is tremendous. Many people choose to make a multiple-day visit so they have time to work in all of their favorites.

Mike-Hate to tell you this pal, but the lines are bad in all the theme parks and Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are probably your worst days. With your attitude, it's a wonder you had any fun at all....

Agree. Lines are long everywhere, but they really weren't too bad at CP on June 10, 11, &12. We used Starlight passes on Sunday (reduced admission after 5) and the place was almost empty. It may have been that it rained a little earlier, I'm not sure, but the wait for Millenium Force was 40 minutes at 6PM and 30 minutes at 9:30 PM. We easily got on more than 8 rides in just 5 hours and watched the lasar show which was not bad. On Monday and Tuesday the lines were longer, probably because there were a lot of school groups, which may have been the problem when you went, Mike. But we really didn't wait longer than 1.25 hr. for anything, and most lines were about 15-20 min. MF and Raptor had the longest lines but we went on each once per day plus tons of other rides. Bottom line is I've been to 6 Flags in St. Louis and Great America in Illinois and CP blows them both out of the water. I saw very little line jumping (it's rampant at Great America) and only encountered one smoker in line, who immediately put out the cig when asked. A young woman running Disaster Transport (which by the way has a long line all hidden in the building & is not that great of a coaster) stood up to a large group of gang-bangers (the only such group we saw in the park) and had them thrown out of line for chanting obscenities after being asked to stop. It's a family park and they are determined to keep it that way and I appreciated it immensely. We will probably drive the 7 hours to go back next yr. rather than the 2 hours to get to Great America. Oh, and using coupons we got in the guide book they sent us, our total admission cost for 2.5 days was $66 per person. Not too bad as amusemant parks go.

CP is one of the CLEANEST parks in the country. I have been to 6Flags and could not believe the cigarette butts and litter strewn around. CP also has wonderful, customer oriented employees.

Cedar Point is far far better than Great America in Gurnee(?) Il. It was super clean and we saw no rowdy groups of misbehaving kids that are so plentiful at other amusement parks. We went on July 6th and waited less than 30 minutes for most of the roller coasters.

Just came back from Cedar Point as well. We're from Orlando, FL, so what can I say except that it was worth the trip. Have been to many theme parks around the Eastern US as well as the local Disney, Seaworld and Universal, so I can truly comment on this park. If there is a theme park that a person has to go in their lifetime, it's Cedar Point. The Millenium Force is the greatest roller coaster ride. Besides being tall and fast, it's one of the smoothest ride. A lot of the steel roller coaster jerks you around, but this roller coaster makes you feel like you're riding a cadillac versus a Jeep. Anyway, the park has so many things to do, we wish we didn't schedule to go to the other park on this road trip. We were SO disappointed with Kings Island. We paid $9 for parking at PKI and there was not a soul directing us where to park. Everybody was goind in all direction. Then the worse was the number of staff. I feel so sorry for these kids. They had only 1 to 2 people operating the rides. Even the Son of the Beast, their newest ride, only had 3 people. Then half of the ride in the parks are extras, i.e., they will cost you another $10 to $50!!! I used to live in Huntington WV and went there as a child every year. I was so disappointed in how this park has went downhill. I do not recommend anyone going out of their way to visit this park. Go to Cedar Point instead. Even in the most busy day, the line at Cedar Point was no more than an hour for their most popular ride. Go to Disney or Universal and you'll understand what I mean by waiting in line. Good luck and have fun!

We spent last thrusday at Cedar Point and LOVED it, too. THey roller coasters are amazing! The longest wait was one hour for Millenium Force and worth every second. It blew us away.

We were also impressed with the incredible family atmostphere, cleanliness AND the Fridays ON THE BEACH! We didn't stay in The Historic Breakers Inn that is beachfront, but we ate at their Fridays (theres also one on the Bay near the entrance of CP) and it was fun having dinner with a view of Lake Erie. The beach was lily white, clean and wide.

We still love Disney World for fantasy etc. but for a true amusement park experience, with the most and best roller coasters EVER, there is nothing like Cedar Point.

I meant to ask....Anna .....where did you get the CP guide with coupons? Did you call, write, email them? Thanks!

Oh my..... i just re-read my first post....sorry for the typos AND especially......I MEANT the beach's "SAND" was lily white!!!

Sorry for any confusion!! ;-/

I grew up in Michigan and my parents started taking my brother and I to Cedar Point at least once a year from the time I was a toddler.

Back then they could leave us in the kiddie area for an hour or so at a time (longer as we got older) and go do their thing without having to worry about us. Boy times have changed!

Anyway I went every year until I was 21 and moved out of state. I still go every time I get a chance because it is such a one-of-a-kind park and it's always changing and updating.

I would recommend it to anyone. If possible try to go during the week, as stated by others, the weekends are always a mob scene, but there is so much to do, you can always find something besides standing in line. My strategy was to pick the ride I wanted ride the most (usually the newest one), get there when the park opens and go straight for it. At least that way you get in one or two good rides before the masses invade.

Can't wait to go again!

Got to the cedar point website and request a book. I got one one year and used the coupons and they automatically sent book the next year. Didn't use them again, so don't get one anymore.
Was the oldest one in the lines and after 7 straight coasters with almost not waiting I truly scrambled my brains. Way to much fun...

http://local.msn.com/special/amusementparks.asp

Just got back from CA where we went to Disneyland Resort (new name that encompasses both Disneyland and California Adventure) and Six Flags Magic Mountain. We had high hopes for Magic Mountain and were excited about riding their new ride, X. The park was pretty unappealing to all of us--98% teenagers, dirty grounds, poorly run (no signs directing visitors to their most popular ride and when we asked an employee of the park, she told us she had no idea) with the most grueling line wait we've ever experienced (for X, which wasn't all that great--a real slow loader with an incredibly short ride). Would never, ever go back. Cedar Point, however, is one of our favorites--and there is NOTHING that compares with Millenium. It it, hands down, THE BEST amusement ride on the planet. The more parks we visit, the more we appreciate Cedar Point. It's not Disney World, but for a well-run park to ride thrill rides, you probably can't beat it--and that's before you factor in Millenium Force--a ride that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. And, oh yeah, don't pass up the pretzels--they're SO good.

YES YES YES, Millenium Force is the best coaster on the planet for sure! Thanks for the trip report, Patricia! And now I want a pretzel ;-)

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Sazza - 1800 BESTFUN is the #.