musings of a different kind

I have been in South Bend for four years and I had never been to Cedar Point. My friends were always saying that Cedar point was world famous and that I should visit it at least once, being only three and a half hours away. Last Saturday, a few of my friends found out that our university was arranging to take a busload of us there, and we decided to join in.

The bus ride from South Bend to Cedar point is nothing to write home about. We were more interested in what lay in store at our destination. My friends had actually researched a few of the rides and made a mental list of the unmissable ones. I was going there for the roller-coasters. I had seen something on the travel channel which mentioned Cedar Point in glowing terms and I wanted to experience it for myself.

As we approached the place, we could see tall steel structures in the distance. Weirdly twisted girders and loops and arches which would be scaled by caterpillar like cars. The closer we got, the more we realized how crowded the place was. It was a Saturday, a day when everyone and their kids seemed to be here to have fun. The serpentine queues were everywhere. We had reached the place at noon and we had till 9 PM to do whatever we wanted.

Our first ride was called power tower. It is the one where they lift you up vertically and then let you free fall for 2/3rds of the way to the ground. It was a brief but nice start to the whole experience. The feeling in the pit of your stomach when you are in free fall is quite weird at first, but the whole thing lasts barely two seconds. It was almost like an appetizer.

Our next ride was the one they called Top Thrill Dragster. This was quite a daunting one to watch even from a distance. The entire ride lasted maybe 7 seconds. We could see that there was one huge upward climb (of 420 feet, although we found out this exact number later) , followed by an immediate vertical drop. The cars would accelerate to an almost bullet like speed of 120 mph in order to climb the ascending part of the ride. If we had given ourselves time to think about it, we might have got cold feet and backed off. However, we decided to leap first and look second, and we have no regrets.

We waited in line for almost an hour to get into the ride. I was seated in the second row with my friend Sunil. I remember my heart pounding from the excitement and the anticipation. Just like a dragster race, they have lights that go from red to orange to green. The few seconds before the ride starts are absolutely pulse pounding.

The initial burst of acceleration is indescribable. Imagine going from 0 to 120 mph in about 3 seconds. You are like a deer in the headlights. If you had the time to collect your thoughts, you would be afraid, but the whole world is such a blur around you that you don't think anything meaningful. You entire body is pinned to the seat by the incredible acceleration and you stare ahead because there is no time for anything else. At the base of the climb, the acceleration eases just in time for you to catch your breath. The vertical climb followed by the vertical drop were a total adrenalin rush and unlike anything we had ever experienced before.

Of course, one might think I'm crazy to rave like this about a 7 second ride, but this was unlike anything I had even been on before. No other roller coaster accelerates like this. All other coasters try to build tension by starting with a slow climb, followed by a steep drop and other twists and turns. The dragster takes you completely by surprise right at the beginning. On a scale of 5, I would rate the dragster a 10 :D

Of course, after such an exciting start, I was afraid the others would be underwhelming, but I was wrong. The next one we went on was the Millenium Force. This is more of a traditional ride, starting with a slow climb and 300 foot drop followed by twists and turns galore. Where the dragster was all speed and power, this one is over two minutes of sustained thrills and spills. This one gets a 5/5 from me.

The wooden roller coaster, aptly named mean streak was also another attraction which promised to be different. By the time we got on this, we were anyway tripping on adrenalin and the smaller roller coasters simply would not be thrilling enough. The ride on this one was unfortunately very bumpy. It was like a horse drawn cart on an Indian gravel road, only ten times more intense. The climbs and drops were not bad, but the roughness of the ride made it less enjoyable. This ride gets a 3/5 from me.

There is a roller coaster called the mantis which is unique in that you are in a standing position all the time. This also has more loops and twists than average and is quite thrilling to ride on. Imagine going through several vertical loops in a standing position and you can see why this one was an instant hit with us. This ride gets a 5/5.

Lastly, we went on the raptor. usually, the raptor is the first one people ride because it is close to the entrance. We unfortunately kept this to the last and we did not feel to excited by it. The other rides were so overwhelming I could have dozed off on the raptor. However, it is still a good ride and I would give it 4/5.

There were a couple of other minor rides we went on, but Cedar point is worth visiting mainly for the roller coasters. I remember falling into a deep sleep that night when we got back home. If I visit Cedar Point again, I'll make it a point to go on some of the other rides for comparison.