Going For A “Perfect Day” At Cedar Point!

Day 68 – Wednesday June 27, 2007 – Sandusky, Ohio

Here I was, standing alone in line, just minutes from completing an achievement I had thought about quite a lot. In fact, I was going to finish two hours early, so we would have time to do other “fun” things. All of a sudden, the clouds rolled in and my “Perfect Day” was in jeopardy. You see, no where else on Earth can someone ride 17 roller coasters in one park, on one day. Cedar Point is the only park in the world with 17 coasters and I was determined to ride them all. At 7pm I had been on 16, with only one to go. By 7:30 I was less than ten minutes from completing my lofty goal. At that moment, the storm clouds rolled in.

Of course, with rain headed our way, they closed the ride. I quickly decided that this closure was not going to get in my way, so I stayed in line. Within minutes, the line of a thousand people was reduced to one hundred. After about 45 minutes our group was down to 50 people. We were all determined to ride this coaster. Jasmine and Shawn Reece weren’t originally with me in line, but with only a handful of crazy people left, they were let inside to wait with me.

By 9pm we were down to 15 people patiently waiting to ride the coaster. If the phone call to reopen didn’t come by 10PM then we were out of luck. Our hours of patience would not have paid off. We continued to sit patiently and at 9:45pm the storm had finally passed. Now, only one question remained. How long would it take them to get the clearance to reopen? By 9:57pm we had all but lost hope. Suddenly, with three minutes to go, the phone call came. They would test the ride and then run two trains of passengers before closing for the night. With the arrival of this wonderful news, all fifteen of us applauded. We were going to get to ride after all!

After five test runs we got into the coaster car. I must now tell you, that this was no ordinary roller coaster by any means. We were riding Millenium Force. Millenium Force is the 2^nd highest non-launching coaster in existence. It has an initial drop of over 300 feet and speeds of 97MPH. This is a beast. Just before we were pulled up the lift hill, I looked over at Shawn Reece and saw a big smile on his face. Soon after, we rode into the darkness of the night before heading back to the hotel. My “perfect” day was over.

In all, I rode 17 coasters, Jasmine rode 16 of them and Shawn Reece rode 12. This is by far the most roller coasters that Shawn Reece had ever been on. Jasmine and I, on a couple of occasions rode 15 at Magic Mountain, but the difference with Cedar Point, was that they were all new to us! Cedar Point is certainly a park that has something for everyone. After seeing it for the first time today, we realized why this great park has been named the number one theme park in the world for the last nine years.

Cedar Point has long been on my list of dream places to visit. On this trip, I have already checked off many of the items on that magical list. In fact, I have seen so many of those long dreamed about places, that I really can’t believe it sometimes. Maybe you read this as a post about roller coasters, but if you look a little closer, I think you will see a post about blessings and dreams. (Actually if you look at all of the posts, they speak to the same themes!) Thanks for being there!

We want to thank everyone for the comments and emails. Your support is truly appreciated and keeps us going.

The Coomer Family