Five Things To Know Before Visiting Cedar Point

As some of you know, my husband and I recently celebrated our 15th anniversary and we decided to do it up right by taking a long weekend to The Roller Coaster Capital of the World, sans kids. It was brilliant and we had an amazing time!

Long weekend with the husband? Packed and ready to go! ??????????

A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 16, 2015 at 9:52am PDT

Cedar Point is located in Sandusky, Ohio right on Lake Erie. It’s the second oldest amusement park in American and home to 17 roller coasters. My husband and I’s mission for the weekend? Ride every single roller coaster they had in the front seat.

First time the husband has ever taken a selfie! Good thing he took it before I spilled my in-flight beverage down the front of my shirt. ???????????? A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 17, 2015 at 7:09am PDT

Did we succeed? Well. We did ride every coaster, but we got impatient on one of them and didn’t wait around for the front seat. We had planned on coming back to it later the next day, but we both felt a little icky after spending two full days in the hot sun, sweating and screaming, and our air conditioned hotel room was calling our name. We debated going back later that night when we were feeling better, but decided it wasn’t worth it. I’m not too upset. We’ll just have to make another trip back soon!

The husband and I have also decided to travel the country visiting theme parks and riding coasters together. The couple that screams together, stays together? Something like that?

Anyway, I now present you:

FIVE THINGS YOU MUST KNOW WHEN VISITING CEDAR POINT!

You ready? Here we go.

1. Get the Fast Lane.

For real, friends. Cedar Point has two Fast Lane options available – The original Fast Lane and the Fast Lane Plus. Both are expensive, there is no denying that. But, this is the rollercoaster capital of the world, guys. You are here to ride coasters and getting a Fast Lane pass will ensure that you have plenty of time to do so!

We knew going into this trip that we wanted to hit every single coaster and we also knew that the only way we’d have a chance at that is if we splurged on the Fast Lane pass.

We bought the original Fast Lane for the first day and we were very happy with it. There were only four coasters that it doesn’t work with – the Gatekeeper, Maverick, Rougarou, and Top Thrill Dragster. Each one of those coasters were on our MUST RIDE list, though.

Our second day we had the Fast Lane Plus, which gave us access to shorter wait times on every single coaster they have plus some other thrill rides.

Zero to 120mph in four seconds. Pray for me. @cedarpoint

A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 17, 2015 at 3:43pm PDT

On some rides, we would still have a thirty to forty-five minute wait to get into the front seat on the coaster (wait times were much shorter if you didn’t hold out for the coveted front seat), but that was our max wait time and we were there on a Friday and Saturday in July. Busy season, guys! We never would have been able to ride all 17 coasters in two days if we hadn’t bought the Fast Lane passes. Never! Some of the Fast Lane lines were so short that we literally had ZERO wait time at all!

2. Ride the Millenium Force, in the front seat, with your hands up the whole way.

I don’t want to be too terribly bossy, but if you’re visiting Cedar Point, you really have to ride Millenium Force. It’s 310 feet high, you go 93mph, and the first hill is an 80 degree drop. When the coaster was first opened in 2000, it broke 13 world records. It’s a beast. And it is scary as anything to stand at the bottom of that track and look up at that drop. Yikes!

310 feet high, 80 degree drop, 93 miles per hour, and over a mile of track. Voted best coaster in the world five years in a row. The husband and I rode the whole thing with our hands up. ???????????????? A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 17, 2015 at 3:06pm PDT

But, hey, you didn’t come to Cedar Point to wuss out, did you? Ride the ride and do it up right. No regrets! You’ll feel pretty accomplished conquering this coaster.

If you followed tip number 1 and have the Fast Lane, waiting an extra 15 minutes for the front seat won’t be so bad at all!

My husband and I have ridden many a roller coaster, but this was our favorite. Ever.

3. Eat at Chickie’s and Pete’s and splurge on the crabfries.

So, it turns out that Chickie’s and Pete’s is a chain restaurant in the Philly area. Who knew? Certainly not me, but when I saw the big sign out front advertising Crabfries, I was lured in. I don’t even eat crab, you guys.

Crabfries don’t have any actual crab meat on them, for those of you not in the know. The story goes that crab was only served in the summer when Chickies’ and Pete’s first opened and Pete needed something to do with the leftover crab seasoning every winter. He started experimenting with different combinations of his special seasoning on french fries. He tested each batch on the patrons day after day until, 2 years later, he declared it perfection.

Today, the crabfries are served with a white cheese sauce in a big bucket. They are delicious, but rather pricey for a large order of french fries. Get them anyway, because they’re divine. And one order is more than enough for 2 or 3 hungry people.

(I wish I had a picture for you, but I didn’t have my camera with me while at this restaurant. Boo!)

4. All Day Drinks!

When you’re purchasing your tickets for Cedar Point, be sure to check for the option that comes with the All-Day Drinks wristband. It’s an amazing value, clocking in around $5 extra dollars per ticket when we visited. It allowed us to get free fountain drinks at most of their restaurants all day long. It is hot in Ohio in the summer. Couple that with all of the screaming you’re sure to be doing, and you’ll be dying for drinks after every ride.

Well, our weekend at @cedarpoint is done. We rode every coaster and all but one of them in the front seat! Can not wait to visit again! #ilovecp

A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 18, 2015 at 4:15pm PDT

One thing to note is that Cedar Point gives out small cups of water for free if you ask for it! I’m not a huge soda drinker (like, at all), so I mostly stuck with the water. But they do have fountain lemonade available with the wristband and I did grab myself a few of those!

5. The medical center is the place to go when you have a headache from clenching your teeth and screaming all at the same time.

This is such a silly thing to add to my list, but it seriously made my trip better, so I’m sharing it. I get headaches pretty easily from riding on roller coasters. All the shaking, coupled with me clenching my teeth (because, dude, I MIGHT DIE AT ANY MINUTE, WHEEEEEEEE!), and the screaming just makes my head pound. I searched a couple of their gift shops in hopes of scoring some Tylenol or aspirin when a helpful worker directed me to their medical center.

Rollercoaster with a view! @cedarpoint A photo posted by Karly Campbell (@bunsinmyoven) on Jul 17, 2015 at 4:35pm PDT

I felt like a total dork walking in there with a little headache, but the lady at the front desk took my name and handed me a little packet of generic Tylenol and offered to let me sit in their air conditioning for as long as I wanted.

Heaven, I tell you.

Ten minutes later and I was back to riding, sans headache, screaming all the way.

What tips would you add?

I’m super hopeful that the husband and I will be visiting Cedar Point again sometime in the not too distant future. It’s a bit of a hike for us – an 8 hour drive or a 2 hour flight – but we really thought it was worth it! I have a feeling that we’ll be visiting every time Cedar Point adds a new coaster. I’d love to hear all of your tips and tricks for getting those most out of a trip to my new favorite theme park!

(Full disclosure: This post and my trip were NOT sponsored in any way by Cedar Point. The husband and I used our own money to visit Ohio. I just wanted to share a little about it with you, because we had such an amazing time!)