What is Coastermania!? It is a special event created for roller coaster enthusiasts from around the globe (yes people come from all over the USA and different countries to attend this event) so that they can come to Cedar Point and ride their stellar roller coasters for a long period of time. Sounds amazing doesn't it? Oh, it is absolutely fantastic!
Here is what a typical day of Coastermania! entails. You arrive at the park between 6:30 am and 7:00 am. At 7:00 am you register for the event. They will give you your registration materials which usually includes a lanyard (pictured below), meal ticket, and soda wristband for unlimited soda all day (WIN). Once you enter the park they usually have breakfast waiting for you in the form of doughnuts, really good, very tasty doughnuts. I'm not kidding. These things are mouthwatering. They also have coffee, milk, and juices for the group as well.
You will then proceed to choose which coaster you want to ride first, with no general public in the park. This is what enthusiasts call ERT or extra ride time. This means little to no waiting on the incredible roller coasters of Cedar Point. Yes, it is amazing. Depending on the year, in the morning, the park usually has Millennium Force up and going so I will head to that. The ERT starts at 7:30 am and lasts till 9:00 am when resort guests and platinum pass holders can start riding. You can usually get in ten or more rides in on Millennium Force and other coasters during that time frame depending on which ones they have open. That's what I call perfection.
The park officially opens to the public at 10:00 am and that's when the crowds tend to get bigger. The good thing about Coastermania! though is that since it's on a Friday during the first week of June the crowds aren't usually that bad. Also, you get the benefit of it not being in the heat of the summer which gives you some very nice temperatures. I kid you not, last year when Ashley and I went the highs were only in the 60's! It was beautiful and very comfortable walking around a park all day.
After riding whatever rides you feel like for the next few hours Cedar Point serves the Coastermania! group lunch in the picnic pavilion in the front of the park. It's at this point you usually have to wait in the longest line of the day. Coaster enthusiasts love to eat and the line is a direct representation of that. Before you get your food Cedar Point gives everyone in line an event gift (pictured below) which is usually a T-shirt, hooded sweat shirt, long-sleeved shirt, or a fleece jacket. Thank-you Cedar Point you are awesome!
Onto the food. It is wonderful and plentiful. They have a great spread of food (as you will see in the below picture) including bbq, sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta, mac n cheese, potato salad, pork beans, salad, rolls, and plenty of desserts (cookies and ice cream). It always amazes me how they are able to feed so many people and still have so much food. Oh, and did I mention the food is delicious?
After lunch it is time to just enjoy the park. You will have a good eight hours or so till the park closes at 10:00pm and ERT resumes. In years past I would usually use this time to relax and hit some of the water rides the park has to offer. They have three of them located towards the back of the park in Frontiertown. They are pretty fun. After that I like to hit up the water park if it isn't that busy and normally it's not due to the cooler temperatures. In 2010 the temperatures were in the low 70's so I got to go down all the water slides with no wait. That was so fun. However, in 2013 it was way too cool outside to even think about going over to the water park. They also have an adults only (18 years and up) hot tub which is a lifesaver due to all of the walking you do during the event.
It is now 10:00 pm and time for the park to close for the day, but not for crazy coaster enthusiasts like myself. Nope, I just wait for more coasters to open up and marathon them. Again, they usually have four more coasters open from 10:30 pm till 12:30 am! They also open a few of their thrill rides which is a nice change of pace from the coasters. At this point for those enthusiasts who are the really hardcore they have been at the park now for almost 18 hours. Yeah that's right, 18 mind-blowing hours. Let's see, you get there around 6:30 am and now it's 12:30 am the next day!? Yup, that's 18 hours. I am happy to say Ashley and I did this just last year and you know what we had the time of our lives.
Well, that is it. The day is over and you have started a new day by staying in the park so long. I really can't describe how awesome it is to spend that much time at Cedar Point. I have tried through this blog but until you actually do it you may never know. If you remotely enjoy riding roller coasters multiple times with little to no wait this event is for you. I normally keep up with how many rides I ride in a day. Unfortunately I don't have that list with me right now but I know during one of these events in previous years I got over 80 total rides in a day and a half. Yeah pretty spectacular!
The years that I went from 2009-2011 Coastermania! was a two day event starting on Friday night and ending late Saturday night. In 2012 they changed it to just one day but man I tell you it's a remarkable day. You get to do so much and enjoy so much riding, eating, and even relaxing. Today is the day, Coastermania! day. I am sad that I cannot be there at the park today but the memories I have made going to this event will last a lifetime.
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