Cedar Point (& Kalahari) Trip Report (9-1+9-2-08)

It was exactly a year after our prior attempt at my fiancee and I making peace with the peninsula out on the coast of Lake Erie. Last year, we stayed on property at Breakers in an old room and encountered some crowds. Really big crowds. To summarize, Cedar Point was really busy, not very fun, the amenities lacked, and the room sucked. You’d think this would have sworn us off for life!

Well, c’mon. I’m just a negative a-hole sometimes. We had fun…sitting on benches or when actually on attractions. Just not in line, which is where a way-too-big portion of our day was spent. Fast forward a year. Now we are trying to keep our costs down to some extent and want a trip around Labor Day. Initally, it looks like Knoebel’s along with other stuff. Then it turns out that the Red Roof in Danville ain’t so cheap anymore: It was once a $54 a night max, now running around the $100 a night mark. As an experienced patron, its no $100 a night motel. Nor did the 9 hours of driving, cost of gas, and so on appeal much. Cedar Point, however, had a $25 special for former employees as part of a reunion weekend. Hotel rooms off property were pretty cheap, and for what you get, especially so at the indoor waterpark resorts. The previous concept was tossed out and Cedar Point was in.

TR: Indiana Beach and Fun Spot 8/2 & 8/3/2008

For those unaware, and that’s pretty much everyone, I no longer live in CT. I moved into a house with my fiancee in East Lansing, MI, and that is where I’m likely to be from here on out. Besides the obvious benefits, I get to go to parks I rarely visited on a fairly regular basis. To christen my new home, my first weekend in town was spent out of it and in Indiana. Meredith really wanted her fix of Fascination, and I’m not one to prevent that.

TR: Norwegian Dawn & Albany (4/26-5/4)

Usually, my TRs are based on day to day activities. Cruise ships are not really conducive to that sort of reporting when there’s extended at sea sections and but one real port of call (in this case, Bermuda). The days very much blend together, and seeing as your transportation, accommodations, entertainment venues, casinos, restaurants, and so on are all together in one somewhat compact package, I find it essentially impossible to separate them. Besides, how fun is “eat, sleep, eat, sleep, gamble, gamble, eat, eat, show, sleep,” to read?

Deviating from that, I’ll first review the ship and the ports, then the destination for the cruise (in this case, pseudo-nation state Bermuda), and then Albany. Seems only just.

TR: Las Vegas/Calico Ghost Train/Sunset Strip (2/11-2/13/2008)

This should be longish, but hey, whatever.

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Another night spent at Chris Murray’s house was welcome, but with the rise of the sun came another morning of BK breakfast as we ventured east into the desert. No real plan was in place for the next few days apart from our Tuesday afternoon appointment. The drive through the desert is always a great one: Its big, its beautiful, there’s no civilization for miles, and there’s random shit on the way. We did several geocaches on this drive and had a blast trying to find them. There were also a pair of stops for amusements:

TR: Six Flags Magic Mountain/Legoland (2/10/2008)

Just before getting to the TR, the dude who got us some help at Universal was Matt Nelson. Big ups to him. Say hi at the ticket booth there if you’re ever passing through.

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A good night’s sleep is important before trekking to two parks in a single day, and this was no different. Hotel breakfast at the Country Inn and Suites was pretty tasty and we were on our way. The first stop was going to hopefully be brief: I was betting on 1 hour at most. Legoland was merely 20 minutes away, and after $10 for parking, we were at the gates 30 minutes early. Only issue is the cost. At $59, a one day pass at Legoland is tantamount to rape. We felt burned even before walking in, knowing that even if we rode everything we could, we’d be done in 3 hours. Its not a good feeling to see that kind of coin disappear for a shitty credit stop, and I won’t go back unless I can manage free tickets or if they build something massive.

TR: Mundo Divertido [Tijuana] (2/9/2008)

When in the inital planning stages of the trip, an early version included an insane international segment with a 9 hour+ layover in Mexico City feeding into an assault on both parks there before heading back to the airport to fly onward to Guatemala City in what would be a brilliantly timed run to Xetulul. There was just a couple minor problems with that brilliant idea. First, Xetutul’s new website was still under construction, leaving us with a language barrier, no calendar, no information whatsoever other than rudimentary instructions from the regions website.

Second more pressing issue is placement. Lisa Scheinin is, to my knowledge afterwards, the only person who’s braved the drive to the park, and since I didn’t know if she had or not, I didn’t bother asking her on how insane it was. Enough info on the internet seemed to indicate that while Sean was a veteran now of the roads of Europe, Guatemala, a nation where accidents usually land everyone in jail and so no one ever reports them, would be a very different place. Simply put for the uninitiated, Xetutul is out 200 miles from Guatemala City in a recently constructed resort town in the jungle. The instructions to get there mention that passing trucks carrying sugar cane is a good indicator you’re on the way.

TR: Knotts Berry Farm/Universal Studios Hollywood (2/8/2008)

It was an innocent enough start to trip planning. Skybus announced $20 each way fares for virtually every route it flew in January, and a phone call placed to Sean Flaharty quickly got me a response. 10 minutes later, the flights were booked. Just one problem: There was no itinerary. That we could fix. Over the next 4 weeks, a plan was banged out and I was on my way to Columbus. The flight in was late Thursday the 7th after work, and with a 6AM flight the next morning, I knew sleep was an impossibility. Only 3 hours worth were gained in the overnight, but it was enough to get us to the airport once more and prepare us to take care of business.

The opening portion of the trip was fairly uneventful. Sleep on the plane was nearly impossible, given the lack of legroom. The plane was an hour late to takeoff due to some issue with the cargo netting and then deicing. Once landing in Burbank, the plane slowed to taxi speed, turned right, and then stopped. It was like pulling into a driveway. Probably the shortest taxi time I’ve ever had in my life. The rental car was a bargain at $140 for the week (compared to $310 as the lowest price we could find), but it was made sweeter with the $30 upgrade for the week to a beautiful red Ford Mustang. No, it wasn’t a GT. Yes, it looked bitchin’. Fuck your Malibu rental. Anyhow, after some video was taken at our joy, we loaded up the GPS and were on our way to the first park of the trip.

TR: Universal Studios Orlando/Sea World (1/25-29/2008)

-UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA AND IOA-

Our accomodations for the trip were at the Royal Pacific Resort on property, and thus we got the Express access along with free tickets for the 4 night stay. Totally worth it. Royal Pacific is a really nice hotel and given the passes included and access for line cutting, its well worth it. The rooms aren’t gigantic at 335 square feet, but the views are pretty great (we had pool view) and the extras in the room are pretty decent. Towels are nice, spa quality stuff to use, hell, even a shoe sponge.

The dining options on property are well above average. My girlfriend didn’t have a lot of vegetarian choices at Emeril’s Tschop Chop, but what was there was acceptable for her (mine was pretty good). Citywalk has a ton of options, and the parks each have some fairly acceptable counter service. We went to the lesser loved of the two IOA sitdowns in Confisco Grill, but still found it quite good.