
Life
is a roller coaster, and to some extent, I think I agree. When your mood swings
are as extreme as mine, then every day is one hell of a ride indeed. Highs and
lows aside, though, I think what makes me fond of riding roller coasters is
that it’s one of the few remaining things on this planet that makes me feel alive.
I know that sounded too emo, but that’s just the way it is, nothing but the
truth. Sometimes all it takes is gravity to give you a jolt and remind you
that, wow, you’re not dead yet. You win again, gravity. You win again.
Cedar
Point is dubbed as the Roller Coaster Capital of the World, which is not at all
unfounded given how you can ride around 16 of them at this theme park. That
count comes close to Magic Mountain’s 17 at Six Flags north of Los Angeles.
This is why I decided to go to Sandusky, despite Ohio not being the main
tourist draw in the American Midwest. I just had to see roller coasters, and of
course, ride them all if I could. I ended up on no more than three of them, with two
repeat rides before I went back to my normal zombie state.

The
last thrilling activity I did was jumping off a bridge in Nepal more than a
year ago. It was a bungy jump, not a suicide attempt. You a-hole. I can’t even
remember which, when, and where my last roller coaster ride was. You see, I had
this 30-Before-30 List on which one of the items indicated that I needed to ride 30
roller coasters before I turned 30. I think I ended up with 22 before the
deadline eventually came. But this trip is not connected to that. I just
wanted to ride a roller coaster again. End of story.

There
are no direct flights to Sandusky, which means you have to land in Ohio via
Cleveland, and then take either Amtrak or Greyhound, which sets you
back an hour or so no thanks to travel time. Amtrak leaves Cleveland REALLY
early in the morning, like 4AM-ish. Amtrak trips usually come with a free
one-hour delay, but you have to be at the station an hour before anyway.
Greyhound has two trips a day, with the first one leaving rather late after
lunch. This gives you a scheduling dilemma.

One
possible solution is to stay in Sandusky for a night, except that I didn’t find
any affordable AIRBNB place there, which is why I decided to set up camp in Cleveland.
I chose Amtrak because I wanted to make the most of this trip. I was also
anticipating long lines. This explains the mega zombie mode I was in. Greyhound
would have been the more convenient option, but since the last bus from
Sandusky leaves at 7:30PM, that’s not really a lot of time to spend at Cedar
Point. And so, zombie mode it was.

I
don’t recommend going there early. Sandusky is really small. Sandusky is
suburbia with a good view of the lake separating them from their Canadian neighbors
in Ontario. There isn’t really anything to see aside from the theme park,
unless the prospect of touring residential areas excites you somehow. There is
a waiting room at Amtrak’s station, but it’s really small and the three benches
are made of steel, with no padding whatsoever. I tried to sleep on it but all I
ever got was backache and a sore arm. Hobo feels!

I
decided to take a walk around town for three hours to shake off the sleepiness,
with several stops at 7 Eleven for some hot chocolate and donuts. I reached the
causeway going to the island by quarter past nine, and then it took me forever
to find a way to cross the damn bridge. There is a Cedar Point bus, but it only
takes employees. Everyone else drives their own car. There are no taxis roaming
around the streets. You have to call one. If you are a tourist without a local
sim card, then good luck with that.

I
ended up asking the staff at Hotel Breakers to call one for me. They say it’s
forbidden to walk across the causeway, although I’ve seen dirt paths and no
police patrolling the area. Hey, if you are in for an adventure, then by all
means, have a go at it. Otherwise, take a taxi that will charge you USD10 to
get there. I am so hating on Ohio right now for not having a lot of viable
options for public transportation, but then again, this is not a tourist mecca.
Why should they adjust to you?

Now
with firsthand experience, I can tell you to go to Cedar Point on the last week
of August before Labor Day. August 30 fell on a Tuesday this year. That’s a
simple weekday, and most students have started going back to school the previous week.
This doesn’t mean to say that there will be no queues. All I’m saying is that
you won’t be spending eternity falling in line. I remember going to Fuji-Q in
Yamanashi on a summer and getting to ride only three roller coasters despite
being there the entire day. It wasn’t the case here.

Millennium
Force has been voted as the Best Steel Roller Coaster in the world, but I did
not really enjoy it that much. Huge drops are only scary at the beginning when your paranoia is still high. Once you are done with the first drop, everything else
becomes anti-climactic. Or maybe I just prefer screws and loops because they
always guarantee a good shake? I had to ride the thing twice because my
primadonna Samsung phone’s camera didn’t want to take a video the first time
around. Luckily, the lines were tolerable.
I
only spent half an hour riding Millennium Force twice, lines and all. I can
tell you that that’s a good wait time for such a popular roller coaster. For
Top Thrill Dragster, it was longer but still good, given how it was already
past 12 when I rode it and the crowds were starting to pour in. Again, my phone
camera was acting like a total bitch for the video, which is why I also
had to ride this twice. All in all, it was half an hour for EACH ride, which
meant almost an hour waiting in line for both, which was still not that bad.
The
less popular roller coasters don’t get much attention. For Corkscrew, it only
took 15 minutes to get in line and ride the thing. At first, I didn’t notice
that it had a loop, so that caught me by surprise and I enjoyed it. One thing
to remember about falling in line for Cedar Point’s roller coasters is that they
have separate lines ON the platform for the seats, and the very long ones are
usually for the front row. If you don’t care about sitting in front, your wait
time will be significantly reduced. As for me, I just had to take a video.
Cedar Point has more roller coasters that you shouldn’t miss, but I did anyway
because the ridiculously early departure from Cleveland meant I had to revert
to zombie mode rather early. After my second ride on Top Thrill Dragster, I just
called it a day by using my Panda Express lunch voucher and then finding a
bench to fall asleep on. There are plenty of lockers at the park, charging USD1
hourly and can be paid with credit cards. Restos usually charge north of USD10
for a meal. There’s also a beach if you want to get tanned.
[SANDUSKY] Life Is a Roller Coaster
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