Cedar Point 2011 Trip Report
Sept. 1, 2011
And it's over. Or so it appears to the uninitiated. We hit the stables and slow to a trot. And then the horsepower really pours on.
Blasting to 70 miles per hour, this wild stallion bolts back into daylight and makes a few final attempts to toss us clear.
We hammer around a jog to the left, up a slight hill, race through a sweeping curve, toss over to the side...
...and roll through a final inversion. And finally, the beast is tamed.
All in all, it is really breathtaking and so close to being a Top Ten coaster. But this ride cries out, loudly, for the same soft-pad harnesses that Timmy now has. Maverick's high-torque twists are not well served by these current restraints. Make that swap and this Intamin machine could very well become my favorite coaster here.
Since it was nearby, most of the group hopped onto the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. (I stayed behind with the little chilluns; and this shot was taken near sunset on the Paddlewheel boats.) By all accounts, a perfectly serviceable, if not remarkable, mine train.
Ambling back from the far end of the peninsula, we came upon Skyhawk. None of us had been on one of these S&S Screamin' Swings before and Doug, Callie and I opted to try it out. Those two were a little more enthusiastic than I. Because this ride goes pretty damned high up.
Remember when you were a kid at the playground, riding the swings, barking at the adult doing the pushing, "Higher! HIGHER!" And they shoved a bit too hard and you went further up than you'd hoped for? it's like that, but much, much worse.
It only takes a few back-and-forths before you are looking straight down, well over 100 feet above the ground. With just a lap restraint. And at the apex of the swing, it pauses for a second. I screamed a lot up there.
And when we go beyond 90 degrees, so that we need to look "up" to look down? Good grief. Terrifying. But also a total blast. My acrophobia felt a bit less phobic and Skyhawk instantly become one of my favorite flats. (And it's not an upcharge attraction, Knott's Berry Farm... ahem.)
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