After our unfulfilling experience with early admission on Saturday, we didn't bother getting up early on Sunday. We slept in and woke up around 11am and leisurely got dressed and headed to the park a little after noon. The weather report said it was supposed to rain, so the park was much emptier than the day before.
We walked straight onto the Demon Drop, did some smaller things like bumper cars, and then hurried to the Top Thrill Dragster to get another ride in. The wait was only an hour this time, so as we approached the head of the line, Cat suggested we wait for the front seats. That would add another 10 or 15 minutes to the wait, but we'd already waited an hour, so we figured it was worth it.
We were on the platform, about three trains away from getting our turn, when they announced over the loudspeaker that it had begun to sprinkle, and the ride can't run in even the slightest rain. Cat overheard one of the employees mention that any rain would cause it to not make it over the top and fall back to the start. I imagine it's also unpleasant to fly through raindrops at 120mph.
The irony of the situation set in slowly; if we hadn't waited for the front seats, we would have managed to get our ride in before the rain started. They said we were welcome to wait and see if the rain stopped, so we hung out on the ride platform for about half an hour but the rain only got stronger, so finally we gave up and headed off. We ducked into a diner and ate mediocre food, watched the rain continue, and considered going back to the hotel. We had left our jackets/sweatshirts in the hotel, since Saturday had been warm and we hadn't needed them, but Sunday was colder, and the rain didn't help. We had seen some reasonably cool Cedar Point sweatshirts for sale in one of the gift shops, so we headed there. In the gift shop something happened for the first time in my life: I walked by the cooler section and considered buying a bottle of water, and then remembered we were leaving soon and thought, "Nah, why drink water when I can have beer?" Those words have never before passed my lips.
There was only one sweatshirt design that was worth spending $40 on, so Bryan and I both bought the same one and then both looked like That Guy.
We didn't want to give up on the day, so we considered the options available to us. The park has a few indoor features, including one Space Mountain-like indoor rollercoaster, so we went and rode that (the line was much longer than usual, unsurprisingly). When we got out of that, we noticed that the Power Tower seemed to still be running despite the rain (apparently anyone who asks to be fired at the Earth at 55mph is also the type of person who gets a thrill from being wet and uncomfortable), so we did that.
By the time we were done with that, the rain had mostly abated, so we went and got the bags from the lockers to take some pictures. Cat and Bryan rode the maXair and I took pictures from the ground.
After that, there wasn't much of a line for the Corkscrew, which curves around right above people's heads, so I gave Cat my camera and Bryan and I got in line. Unfortunately, it's hard to get the timing right as the coaster shoots past, so we didn't manage to get a good shot.
We then rode the train and took pictures of the skeletons, and then headed for the wooden coasters at the other end of the park. Cat had no interest in riding the Mean Streak, because it's pretty violent, so she held the stuff while Bryan and I rode it. That's a great ride because it's long; it's hard to tell time as you're rocketing around a track and clinging on for dear life, but it felt like it lasted at least two to three minutes. It definitely does beat you up quite a bit, and it's scary because you rocket up towards a crest and are convinced that the cart is just going to fly off into space (on multiple occasions I found myself shrieking and leaning into Bryan to offset the weight), but that was the whole fun of it. I wish they'd make coasters along the lines of the Mean Streak, but with the smoothness of today's metal coasters. I'd gladly trade some of the insane speed of these newer coasters for the longer ride. The Millenium Force is kind of like that; it does do 93mph on the big drop, but unlike the Dragster, it's got more substance after that.
On that note, we headed to the Millenium Force next. That one also curves over the crowd at one point, and it was beautifully lit by the setting sun, so we left Bryan with the camera while Cat and I rode it. Bryan got some great shots, but didn't manage to catch one where Cat and I were visible. This stuff is harder than it looks.
With that done, we were ready to head home (the park was closing in five minutes), but Cat and Bryan insisted that I had to try and ride the maXair if possible, because it was an experience not to be missed. So Bryan and I ran across the park and managed to make it into the line before they cut it off. By the time we got on the ride, Cat had made it there, so she took a picture or two as we rode it. That was definitely a fun ride. As you swing up past horizontal, you're convinced that great arm is going to snap off and you are going to go flying across the park.
Finally sated, we turned in our locker key and headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a pizza buffet place for dinner, and asked for directions to the nearest WalMart-type store to buy a few necessities (among them a mini screwdriver to repair my crushed sunglasses, and alcohol, so we wouldn't need to drive to a bar and have to worry about a designated driver). Google SMS claimed there was a WalMart 4.7 miles away, and the pizza place employees seemed to concur. They gave us what we thought were clearly understood directions, and we got in the car and promptly got lost in downtown Sandusky. Defeated, we drove back to the hotel, parked the car, and walked to the Thirsty Pony, our old friend. Guinness was drunk, and tequila as well, as evidenced by the impressive tab. We walked back to the hotel, slept, and flew home the next morning.
Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado.