Road Warriors 2: July 2011

We're on the road again, this time with Christie, Leo and Andrew, the first roadtrip for Christie and AJ. The temperatures are soaring close to triple digits, and the best place for us to park ourselves is at a waterpark. We'll save Great Adventure til tomorrow, and head for Hurricane Harbor to soak for a few hours.

AJ does not look too happy about the shark!

On our second day we hit the amusement park in the morning, then came back to the pool at the campground during the hottest part of the day, and returned to Great Adventure for supper and more rides. Here are some photos of Andrew on the kiddie rides:

Bucket looks a little tilted......

Mr. Goose came to taunt TZ

The boys are tired after a long day

"Louie the Lip"

Green Lantern

Andrew feeding the geese potato chips

Buddies Forever

We're on the road again, this time to take Ariel and Nicole to Sandusky, Ohio, to Cedar Point Amusement Park. This place is like Great Adventure on steroids. There are about 15 roller coasters, live entertainment, a museum, arcades, a beach, hotels and a water park. It's located right on Lake Erie, with an adjacent marina, offering fishing charters. The weather is great and we have three solid days to spend here. Think we'll need every bit of it to see everything.

Our Chef tending to our steaks

There is a vertical ride called The Dragster, which jettisons you to a speed of 120 mph in less than 4 seconds, then ascends 420 feet in 5 seconds, and descends in another 5 seconds. (Great Adventure in NJ has a similar ride called King Da Ka). On our first day here, everyone went on except me (too chicken), but as they waited on line over an hour, I repeatedly watched the ride over and over, and desensitized myself to the absolute horror of it. By the second day, I took my inaugural ride on this nightmare. It's hard to describe, but I'll try: the acceleration is instantaneous, if you can imagine - I mean, think about it......in 5 seconds you're clocked at about 120 mph. 5 seconds!! Then, during the ride up, all you see is sky! Just straight up! You spend about one second at the top, then - whoosh - you drop so fast that your brains are scrambled. And in no time, it's over! People wait in line for HOURS for a 17 second ride. This one is strictly for the thrill-seeker. And often, the operators suspend operations, while the switches cool down, or whatever. This can happen repeatedly throughout the day, adding to your wait. And......once in a while, it gets to the top, only to stop and slip back down .......backwards!! Ah....... I don't think so....once was enough for me, thank you very much. Here are some short videos of The Dragster; Click the arrow below to see the ride:

Click the arrow to see a shot of how fast it takes off from a dead stop:

Click the arrow to see a shot of it passing me at it's top speed before it ascends:

Click to see the ascent:

We took a high speed ferry to nearby South Bass Island, and rented a Golf Cart to check out a few spots.