Thrill Ride

The last time I went to an amusement park the rides didn't look like this:

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/index.cfm

Instead, they looked more like this:

On Saturday we went to Cedar Point, an amazing amusement park about an hour and a half from us. Anyone who knows anything about roller coasters knows about Cedar Point.

We'd never heard of it.

Which is really funny because Nathan loves to play Roller Coaster Tycoon, and the game is based off of Cedar Point.

It is America's Roller Coast. They have the world's biggest roller coaster collection and a terrifying array of thrill rides, such as this:

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/thrill/index.cfm

which I will be going on next time we go--if I don't pee my pants just looking at it first.

Some time between my last visit to an amusement park and Saturday, these parks adopted a similar rating system to that which ski resorts use for their mountains.

We started off easy with the carousel and roadsters.

Then we decided to be adventurous and went for the

and then finally we dared to embark upon

This pirate ship was a lot of fun. Nathan took Megan on it and then she wanted to ride it again, so I went with her. Jeremy wasn't quite big enough for this one. Next summer, bud! While we were on this one, Megan yelled out, "I felt my tummy being left behind!" Isn't she cute!

The kite eating tree.

The rating system is interesting because most of the kid rides were labeled as 1 or 2.
But this ride:


This ride was labeled a 2. They really need to rethink the label here. The kids went on this one at least four times and at the end of each time, Nathan and I were sick! The kids loved it. Nathan and I were completely dizzy. The hot air balloons can turn around and around as they go around in the larger circle and the kids kept yelling for us to go faster. In my view, it's like the Spinning Tea Cups at Disney World, but on drugs. According it Megan, it simply "tickles my belly."

Here I am getting ready to be sick.


And yes, Emma was with us. See!



I promise it's her behind that blanket.

See?



Nathan and I took turns going on the roller coasters and thrill rides. We actually only got to do two rides each because we wanted the kids to experience the park, not wait for us to get through lines for a 30 second ride. The lines really weren't bad for the rides I picked, but Nathan had a long wait for one of his. The rides were awesome! We did The Wicked Twister, the tallest and fastest double-twisting impulse roller coaster in the world. It's 215 feet tall and goes 72mph. Nathan apparently forgot to breathe while on this one and couldn't understand how everyone else had enough air in their lungs to be screaming. I couldn't get enough air to scream, either, but I can't remember if I was able to breathe or not. I pretty much just had this image stuck in my head the whole time




Then Nathan did The Raptor.

Here's its description from the park's website:

An inverted roller coaster, Raptor has seats similar to ski lift chairs, suspended below its inverted track. Riders see nothing but the sky and track above them, and nothing but their dangling feet below - just a few feet above the ground! Raptor passengers also tumble head over heels six times!

Yeah, he pretty much loved it.

Then the last one I got to do. The Corkscrew.


It was almost 10 PM when I rode this, so it was pretty dark. I was also in the middle, so I couldn't see what was coming up at all. I was so scared! It was a great ride and I'm glad I went on it, but holy cow! Next time in daylight!