Pokematic's 2025 Cedar Point Halloweekends Adventure

Hey everyone, it's halloweekends time again, which means my mom and I were planning our trip to Cedar Point. We aren't fans of the scary (even though we were stuck there once), but halloweekends is great because the temperature is great. This was going to be a great trip since Cedar Point had just opened 2 new rides; Top Thrill 2 and Sirens Curse, which means that all the other rides would be pretty open. Mom and I looked at the different available weekends, and we decided September 12th would be a good day. I bought our tickets, parking, and all day dining tickets some weeks prior, and mom got our hotel. We wanted to get there around opening at 11AM, which meant mom would get to the condo around 9AM. The drive there was pretty simple, and we got there around exactly 11AM. The first thing we did was go to Hugo's Italian Kitchen to start the all day dining, and we split a slice of peperoni pizza and Caesar salad.

First ride was Raptor, a roller coaster that's right close to Hugo's, always a fun start to the day. We kind of normally start with Ocean Motion/Potion since it's the first ride at the main entrance (that isn't the carousel) but we decided to kind of try to move in quickly before scary time. We went over to the boardwalk to do some of those rides and get close to The Pavilion (the big premium food place). We road Maxx Air, a big swinging arm ride that swings you and spins you, another great ride that . After that we road Gatekeepers, a roller coaster that's right on the Lake Erie shore. Here's a funny thing, mom didn't walk through the gate fast enough so I'm like "hey can we get the gate to reopen" and the ride controller was all "no, we'll get you on the next train." After Gatekeepers we saw that Windseekers was working, and after we missed it the one year we went there immediately since we didn't want the winds to pick up and then say "sorry, no rides now." Windseekers is a great ride, it's like amusement park swings, but takes you up like 300 feet and swings you around. You don't really know the thrill until you ride it. While we were in line we started talking with 2 older ladies who were riding everything, and they told us that Top Thrill 2 and Sirens Curse are really smooth (which is my mom's big thing, can't ride the rough rides anymore). After Windseekers we went to The Pavilion and got our steak and lobster bisque. Normally it's a pretty good size portion of steak, but it was pretty small this time, which was kind of lame and definitely not worth the $21 they otherwise charge (but "all day dining" so not too upset). After that meal we road wild mouse, a free spinning roller coaster that's a pretty slow loader and we typically skip, but because the lines weren't long we road it. Mom remembered it from when she was a kid, and it was pretty fun except for one spin that like made my right lung hit my rib cage. I think this was also the time we rode the dodgem bumper cars. I did a lot of bumping and don't remember getting bumped much.

After bumper cars we decided it would be a good idea to make our way to the back to do scary land before it gets scary. We walked through Planet Snoopy and reminisced on how it used to be Berenstain Bear Land. We also walked by Corkscrew, and decided not to since it was pretty rough. We walked by Top Thrill 2 and it looked pretty cool. Mom tested the seat to make sure she could ride it in case we decided to do it later (it was a 2 hour wait at the time, so it wasn't going to be now). The first ride we road was Super Himalaya, a ride that kind of spins you around on a hill. Since the ride rocks back and forth, mom needed some help getting out of it. After that I rode Magnum XL-200, but not mom. It's an older wooden roller coaster, which means it's a bit rough. It was a walk on, which was great. It is a little rough, but it goes right up against the lake which has a cool humidity thing. It's also a really high drop, which gives a good view of the park, and is kind of "fear of heights." I almost lost my phone though (left on the seat), which was bad but the employee noticed and called out "did anyone lose a phone?" After Magnum we went to Backbeat Queue, a barbecue place where we had brisket and baked beans. That was really good.

This was on the boarder of scary land, so that was our time to do that. We went to Camp Snoopy since that was in scary land, no real rides for us but we wanted to remember the old times. Well, there were 2 actually, the tilt-a-whirl (Linus's Beetle Adventure) and The Woodstock Express, a kiddie coaster. As we were looking around we saw Peppermint Patty and Woodstock meet and greet in their Halloween costumes (Patty as a mummy and Woodstock as a pirate). I told Peppermint Patty "that's a good costume sir" in my best Marcy impression, and the character gave a laugh gesture. I also did a Woodstock voice for Woodstock. After the meet and greet my mom rode the tilt-a-whirl by herself since I don't really like it (the spinning is too unpredictable for me). After that we went to the Woodstock Express. We saw adults riding it with their kids, and the line wasn't long, so we decided it was OK to ride it. Well, mom wasn't able to fit in the seat so it was just me. It was a pretty good ride, like one of the drops or turns was "real coaster" fast. That was it for Camp Snoopy, after that area we went to the main walk and rode Pipe Scream, a wave ride that goes up quarter pipes and hills. It's a really fun ride, but has 2 different height requirements; 1 to ride with an adult and 1 to ride alone. There was a group of kids that were riding alone, and the boy was too short to ride alone. The ride operator was in the process of denying him and escorting him to the exit, and my mom and I stood up and said "he can ride with us, we'll be his adults," and the man that was sitting next to us said "if you didn't do that I would have, I was a ride operator and know that the rules can't be bent." Now, "ride with us" isn't "have him sit in our own private car," it was "sit between us in the row with everyone" and right behind his sisters. The mom thanked us from the side of the ride, and he was a bit nervous but all went well. After the pipe scream we road Lake Erie Eagles, another swing ride that you control with the rudders. I've figured out how to do maximum swinging, and was doing that initially, but then I started feeling the food and I'm like "OK bad idea, tone it down." After that I rode the Gemini, a roller coaster that has 2 trains that basically race each other. It's another older wooden coaster so mom sat it out, and it was a walk on (like was basically all of them). Unfortunately they were only running 1 train, so it's kind of like "what's the point," but it was still fun.

After this we went to Frontier Land. There aren't a ton of rides in this section, but they do have some. The first ride was Skyhawk, a giant swing arm ride. This was funny, there were some guys in line with us, I wouldn't say "tough looking," but definitely not "wimpy," and one of the guys was freaking out a little because he didn't like heights and this was a big swing heights ride. It was kind of funny, but he enjoyed himself. After that we rode the Wave Swinger (amusement park swings), and that's always a fun time. After that we rode the train, my brother's favorite ride as a kid, and it's a real coal fired steam engine. We had just missed the train and waited for the next one. This is a fun thing, where they have a little skeleton show thing with different western town settings. It's kind of funny. We rode the whole loop and made it back to frontier land, where we then went to Farmhouse Kitchen where we had barbecue steak and Brussel sprouts. After the meal we went to Maverick, the big new roller coaster from back when I was in highschool, with the 95 degree inverted drop, and a super accelerator. Really fun ride, and like the first time we actually had to wait in line (all others were "wait for the current ride to be over"). After that we walked back to the front, going through the farm area. We stumbled onto a glass blowing show and decided to watch. It was really cool, we saw someone make a pumpkin, and then another person warm up with a flower and then make a ghost. We watched some and then moved on. We went to the petting zoo and I saw a goat that wanted to be friends. After the zoo we went to Panda Express where we got lo mien noodles and beef and broccoli. Good stuff, and now we're out of scary land at like 7PM.

We're now at the location with Millennium Force, Rougaru, and Iron Dragon. We rode Rougaru first, which is a fun ride even if a little jerky in places. Iron Dragon was next, and is a great calm ride. This one is a suspended coaster with a hanging car, and is a fun little thing. I then road Millennium Force, and mom would have rode with me but unfortunately the seat belt was too short on her, so she sat in the Millennium VIP Lounge (which she probably shouldn't have technically been in, but she didn't draw attention to herself so all was OK). It's a really fun ride, really fast, really tall. Normally it's kind of a line, but basically all rides had been walk on and this was no different. We were close to Siren's Curse, but it had a 45 minute wait and mom didn't want to do it and I didn't want to have her wait for me. At this point we said "hey, let's see what the line is like for Top Thrill 2 and if Power Tower is working now" (it wasn't earlier). Power Tower was working, so we rode both drop and shoot, which were walk-ons, and mom commented on how the ride queue used to be full when she was a teen, for this very simple ride. After Power Tower we went to Coasters and got a cheese burger and frings (fries and onion rings). Mmmmm, good amusement park cheese burger.

Now's the question, what about Top Thrill 2? We looked at Top Thrill 2 and it was a 55 minute wait, so we decided to do it. Why is it Top Thrill 2? Because this is the sequel to Top Thrill Dragster, the roller coaster with the highest hill in history that is all about shooting you up the hill (unaided, just kinetic energy going into potential energy), and was a really big deal when I was a kid. We had never ridden it since it was always a long line and prone to breaking down, but this wasn't that long and it was new. Top Thrill 2 is pretty similar to Top Thrill Dragster with "go over the giant hill," but now it shoots you forward some, shoots you back up a hill, and then shoots you over the hill. This is probably better all things considered, instead of "just kinetic turned into potential," this is "kinetic to potential, potential to kinetic with added kinetic, that kinetic into potential, that potential turned into kinetic with added kinetic, all to get you over the giant hill." It was really great. It is one of those "you need to empty your pockets ride and put everything in a locker" rides, so we got a free locker and put all our stuff in there. Afterwards I had some trouble canceling the locker, but then I figured it out so someone else could use it. The next ride was Valraven, a pretty new roller coaster that has a 90 degree drop. Last year it was kind of a long wait, but once again, basically a walk on; I think we had to wait like 4 rides before we could get on. Now for some shows. We watched the Ska-letons, a ska band that plays Halloween music. It was fun, I like ska like most millennials, and after watching the show I was wondering why we never played ska in jazz band in highschool since we'd play band covers of rock songs, but ska is "naturally school band instruments" and not "transcribed versions of rock band instruments to school band instruments." After the band we went to get the fancy nachos at The Pavilion; nacho cheese Doritos, taco meat, lettuce, cheese, and salsa and jalapenos on my side. We then watched the skeleton trampoline show while we ate our nachos. We weren't able to watch all of it, but we saw a lot. Afterwards I told some of the performers how great a job they did and one of them complemented me on my hat (a trilby fedora with some cancer memorial pins and a hand made hair clip with pikachu and gromit). Good stuff.

Time to finish up the day with some of the stuff we missed out earlier. We walked to the front and rode Ocean Motion/Potion. It's a fun "swinging ship" ride that goes back and forth. After that we rode the gondola ride to the center of the park so we could get closer to the midway rides we haven't done yet. First we rode Atomic Scrambler, one of those rides that spins you in one way around a minor axis and then spins you another way around a major axis, and is a good date ride since it throws the girl into your side. Funny story, when mskate and I were just friends we went to Cedar Point for a class trip and she wanted to ride it not really knowing it was a "date ride." She originally wanted to sit on the outside but I said "no I need to sit on the outside, you'll see why soon enough," and it was a bit awkward since she kept getting pushed into my side and "we don't like each other like that." Just a funny memory of our "awkward times." Mom and I each rode our own vehicle, don't need to be pushed against each other and likely hurting the one on the outside. Next we rode Calypso, another spinning ride. Nothing big there, but there was a boy that was in his own car that was having trouble unlocking his car, and we helped him since the ride operator wasn't helping. Third ride was Trokia, another spinning ride. We finished the night with the derby horses, a carousel that moves very fast and is themed after race horses. They kind of got rid of that "show" though, now it was like dance music. Oh well, still fun. I remember when I was a kid and teen this was fun but not exactly thrilling, but now that I'm an adult it's thrilling. I don't know how fast the horses are going exactly, but it's like at least 15 miles per hour in a circle and the only thing keeping you on the horse is your hand grip on the reigns, which when you're a 90 pound kid is not that big of a thing but when you're a 180 pound middle age adult that really is felt. I had to help guide my mom off her horse, which was not exactly easy because she couldn't see where she had to put her feet and she was pretty far off the ground. We finished the night with getting chicken fingers at The Coral Platter, at like 10 minutes before park closing.

After this we went to our hotel. It was a quality inn that was pretty far away from the park. Mom thought it was the quality inn we stayed at before that was pretty close, but it wasn't. No big deal though, just a longer drive at midnight and it ended up being closer to the highway to go home. The drive home was pretty plain, no big story.

In total, we got $160 worth of amusement park food (for $38 with the all day dining), rode 30 rides (including a new one), and saw 3 shows. I think in the future we might try to do this time again since there weren't any crowds. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

Pokematic's 2023 Cedar Point Adventure

Hey everyone, so because I grew up within a reasonable driving distance to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio, and that meant that I went to Cedar Point rather frequently for special events; my mom's side of the family would go once a year with everyone (Aunt, Uncle, Tanman, Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, and VikingPolak), my school would go there for special field trips (I went there with mskate for a physics class trip and I went there with my band class), and some times I went with the boy scouts. Since I was able to get a decent deal on a season pass I decided to get one for the 2023 year and not just for the summer. I'm very glad I did because I was very busy over the summer and only was able to get there at the end of September. I asked my mom if she wanted to go and we went over the weekend. I thought I could get a reduced ticket due to my season pass, but because it's special Halloween Saturday events (called "Halloweekend"), mom had to get a full price ticket, but that was OK because we got a special bundle of "all day dining, ticket, and parking" (my pass already had parking, but it was cheaper to get this bundle than to get the 2 separately, like "all day dining and a day ticket was $110" while "ticket and parking and dining bundle was $100"). Whatever, we were going to have 13 hours in the park for food and fun.

Mom got to our condo so we could get to the park right when it opened, and we got going almost right when she got there. We ended up having a problem because traffic put us like 30 minutes later than expected. That sucked, not just because it was less time for rides but also meant the all day meal was going to be less than we could fully maximize (we can get another meal 90 minutes after the previous meal), and while there is 1 hour of leeway for max use that gets eaten up by the lines. Oh well, we got to the island and scanned my QR code for the parking. We parked at row 33 section C, kind of far from the entrance but it was OK. As we were going in there was a marching band that was parading around the parking lot. It was kind of interesting. As we were going in I saw some people in costumes and I didn't really connect that people were going to be wearing costumes, then mom told me and it made sense.

Once we got in we got some pictures with the 150 year sign and other memories, and I made a dash to the first restaurant, Hugo's Italian Kitchen. I got a slice of pepperoni pizza and cheese bread and we split it. Since this was kind of close to the entrance we'd come in from the Breakers (the on property hotel), our first ride like always was the Ocean Motion (or "Ocean Potion" because it was Halloween themed). This is the ride where you get on a ship and it swings you back and forth. It was a pretty short wait, only had to wait about 10 minutes which was pretty great. The next ride we wanted to go on was the Sky Ride (cable cars), but unfortunately it was closed (get used to this statement). Oh well. After the ride we found our way to what used to be Bearenstain Bear Land and is now Peanuts Land. When I was little this was THE place, and my favorite think was the sandbox backhoe thing (or as we called it, "the digger"). I apparently spent hours playing on it, because I wanted to make as big a hole as possible, and my uncle tried to bribe me to go do something else. Unfortunately the sandbox (or maybe it was a gravel box) wasn't there anymore, so mom and I spent time an appropriate amount of time looking for it but unsuccessfully. We did get to meet Sally from the Peanuts, which was fun.

After the bust with the digger we went over to what is kind of "the pier area," where it has a bunch of rides that are reminiscent of pier rides and carnival games. The funway arcade was in the area and while I didn't have any a lot of desire to spend the day playing arcade games, I might have wanted to play a round of pinball since I love pinball and it's not exactly easy to find anymore, and I remember it having a pretty good selection of games. Unfortunately they downsized A LOT and was more a mirror maze now. Oh well. The main things we did was ride "scrambler type" rides; troika and calypso. Troika is basically the normal scrambler but also goes up in the air in a fun way of the 3rd dimension. Calypso is also like the normal scrambler only it's on an angle and can only hold one person. It's pretty cool. We were going to ride MaxxAir, but unfortunately it was closed. After the rides it was time to eat again, and since we were close to the new Cedar Point Grand Pavilion Restaurant and Bar, and we had unlimited food, we decided to give that a try if we could. It presents itself as a high end restaurant and we were unsure if it was going to work for us, but it did support the meal plan and it was really high quality food. This time we got the steak and lobster bisque; I had the steak and mom had the lobster bisque. It was really good, and not just for amusement park food. We both thought "Gog and Pop (the grandparents on mom's side) would love this place."

Next ride I wanted to do was windseaker; the amusement park swing ride that goes up 300 feet in the air. Like, the amusement park swing ride is kind of "a step up from the carousel" where it lifts you up like 20 feet in the air and swings you around in seats on a chain, and while it's fun it's a very calm ride. Windseaker on the other hand is that, but they strap you in like a thrill ride, then it lifts you up 300 feet and swings you around high above everything else in the park. Like, it's scary because the only thing between you and death is a heavy metal cable. It's not even that fast, it's just "I am actually hanging high above the ground, this isn't an illusion like a roller coaster." Oh well, maybe next time. Since this is Halloweekends and we don't like getting scared, we worked our way to the "scary section" before it got scary. The "scary section" was in the back of the park so we started going back there with the plan that if there was a walk on we would ride it. While walking to the back in true Halloween fashion there was a graveyard decoration set-up, but the headstones were very creative. Instead of puns or famous people, it was rides that are no longer there. I got my picture with my favorite gone ride, the Demon Drop. It's a ride that puts you in a cage, drops you in a free fall that then angles into a slope, and then brings you back. When they were selling it a friend wanted to buy it and put it in his backyard. His backyard was really big (like a triple lot), so it's possible it could have fit, but there were probably zoning laws that would prohibit it, plus, it is probably a major power consumer and expensive. Here's my picture with the tomb stone.

On our way we road Iron Dragon, the smoothest and easiest roller coaster in the park probably. It's a fun hanging boat cart roller coaster, and it didn't take very long for us to get on. After Iron Dragon we found our way into frontier land (the start of the scary part), and while there wasn't much there we did find a fun family joke with pony rides (my my, aunt, and her cousins were at some place with pony rides and my one aunt didn't want to ride the pony, and it's been something everyone has teased her about for 50 years). There was also a peting zoo, and I petted a camel and a llama. One of the llamas had an underbite and I tried to do an impression of it.

We didn't find much else in frontier land, but we did find the wave swinger; the amusement park swings. Sure, it wasn't super great, but it was still a fun little ride. After that it was time to eat again, and we went to the Frontier Inn where we got pizza on a half role and a salad cup of grapes. It was good to have some fruit and split pretty well. After eating we went to the cedar creek mine ride; a mine cart themed roller coaster. It was a 20 or so minute wait, and it's an old ride that didn't really work for "modern American bodies" where we weren't really able to fit (mom couldn't get in and I barely got in and was rather uncomfortable the entire time). Oh well, wouldn't recommend. After that we made our way to the back of the park and there wasn't much for us. There were only 3 rides, Maverick, the train, and Steel Vengeance (Maverick and Steel Vengeance are both roller coasters). Maverick is a pretty new ride (12 years now) and has a 95 degree drop, but the fast pass line was a 45 minute wait and the stand by line was like 2 hours. Uhh no. Then Steel Vengeance was closed, and the train had to wait for the ride to get there and was just a train, so this area was kind of a bust.

We made our way over to the Camp Snoopy area where they have Gemini, Soring Eagles, Monster, and the Happy Fryer. We walked around Camp Snoopy because Camp Snoopy is great, a place for slightly older kids. We almost met Lucy in her witch costume, but it was right as she was leaving. I did get a picture with the therapy desk.

Camp Snoopy is mostly kids rides that we wouldn't be able to get on (camp bus, woodstock express, red baron airplane ride), but then there was Linus's Beetle Bug which is just the tilt-a-whirl. Mom was like "we don't have a kid" and said "it's just the tilt-a-whirl, they'll let us on," and they did let us on. I got kind of dizzy and remembered "I don't really like the tilt-a-whirl." After the ride we went to the Happy Fryer, a restaurant that specializes in French fries and corn dogs. I always wanted to try it since the mascot looks so friendly, but could never justify spending that much on fries. However, since we had the all day meal deal, we got the mini-corn dogs and fries. I'm not a big fan of corn dogs (if I eat a hot dog I want some char), but these were pretty good, and the fries were amazing. We each ate about half of the mini corndogs and half the fries.

After food we went to the pipe scream. It's a ride where it spins you around and goes on a half pipe back and forth. The other time we went on one of these rides was at Universal Studios in the Nickelodeon section. I remember my cousin didn't want to go on it because "it was in the little kid section," but we managed to convince him that it was an actual ride for big kids (because it is). It was quite fun. After that we went to the eagles ride, a kind of swing ride but where you control the beak and control how high and low you go. We were going to go on Gemini but it was closed. While waiting for the eagles we saw them test Gemini, and mom heard someone saying that the Gemini was opening up, and since I wanted to go on it I decided to get out of line and wait for it to open since it would be a walk on. Unfortunately it was just a rumor, and I waited around for about 20 minutes for it to not open. Oh well. After giving up on Gemini it was time to eat again and we went to BackBeatQue, a barbecue place. We got brisket and a salad. While I was getting the food Mom met a nice family and started dancing with them. It was the kind of fun thing that her recently deceased friend would have done, and she made a good temporary friend with the mom. The food was pretty good, a decent "normal restaurant quality." Cedar point is doing REALLY good with the restaurants and having "real food."

With this we're now out of the scary part of the park, back sweet dreams. There were some pretty cool pumpkin art pieces, and no more "scary clowns" things. There wasn't much in terms of rides on our walk for a while, but there was a lot of cool decorations, like the pumpkin art. The first ride we road was another classic, the Corkscrew. It's a really simple roller coaster, a hill and dip, a loop, and a cork screw that goes over the walking path. Can't say for certain, but it was likely one of the earliest looping rides in the park. After the corkscrew we went on the Super Himalaya. It's a ride that spins around going up and down while playing a vintage pop song. Really fun ride. Then we next ride was the Power Tower, a ride that drops you or shoots you up. It's also one of the few rides that can be seen from the Breakers, I remember watching it from our hotel room when I was little. Years ago I did the "shoots you up" one and didn't like it, so we did the "drop you" one. Since mom and I were 2 riders, we got pulled ahead of the line because there was an opening for 2 people. As we were riding it I regretted keeping my crocks on, they didn't fall off and if they did they would just fall down where there weren't any people (because safety zone for falling objects), but they didn't fall off so I was good. After Power Tower we went to Coasters, a diner themed restaurant that sells hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and some other things I don't remember. Mom and I got the cheeseburger and frings (half fries, half onion rings), and a pile of pickles from the condiment bar. Quite good. After dinner we watched a little bit of the live show just to say we did. In the past it was a laser light show and I really enjoyed it, but because Halloween it was a live stage concert. It was pretty good, the music was Halloween themed I think, and if it wasn't the costumes sure were.

Now we made our way over to the first "really big ride" of the day, Valravn. I think the story of this ride is it's like Norse or something, but whatever. It had a posted hour wait, but we were OK with that since we were kind of getting to the end of the rides we haven't done anyway, and the queue line time estimate didn't seem like it was getting updated. The wait was shorter than that, maybe like 45 minutes, so that was a bonus. However, even if it was an hour it was worth it. It's kind of an "open train" ride, where your seat is isn't in a ride car and there isn't much of a floor. But the real thing is that there's a 90 degree drop and multiple spins and loops. REALLY fun. After that I road the Blue Streak, probably the oldest roller coaster in the park and maybe one of the original ones. It's a very basic wooden one, big drop with some bumps and turns, but it's history and I had to ride it. Mom didn't join me though because the old rides hurt her, and I wasn't feeling the best afterwards either, but still fun. Since it was time to eat again we made our way back to Cedar Point Grand Pavilion so Mom could get the funnel cake shrimp, and I got the baked sweet potatoes because I like sweet potatoes some and wanted to see what these were like. They were a nice sweet side, but I'm not sure I'd get them again (texture was kind of weird for me). Once again, real food with the meal plan.

This is when things got pretty lucky. GateKeeper, one of the newer roller coasters which is another "open train" coaster with a left and right view of either Lake Erie or the park depending on which side you're on, had a 5 minute wait. Earlier in the day this had like a 1 hour wait, but now it was basically a walk on. We road on the one side that gave us a view of the park, and then we road on the side that gave us a view of the lake. It was really cool. After that we had maybe 1 ride left in us (it was like 11 PM now), and so we ended the day by riding the Giant Wheel (generic name for Ferris Wheel). Since it's a nice calm ride and everything would be lit up, we wanted to do this as our last event. It ended up being a good way to end the day since we were right, there was a lot to see. Because of science and balance we ended up riding around multiple times, but that was OK, gave us a lot of time to see things. After the wheel we went to wild mouse to see if it was a walk on but it wasn't and we were done. I got one last meal for the night back at the same restaurant we started at, Hugo's Italian Kitchen. I got a pizza pocket thing and a Caesar salad with the intention of eating it the following day. However when we got to our hotel I'm like "I want to see what this is like," and so I ate the pizza pocket thing and it was great, and then after showering I passed out because I was so tired.

The following day we had some continental breakfast and headed home. I was still really sleepy so I mom drove home while I slept. The only thing of interest is we didn't think about checking our gas so we had the fuel light come on and had to find gas quickly. Thankfully there was a gas station within eyeline of where we were and made it. Once we got home we said our goodbyes and went about our Sunday. It was a really fun day trip. We rode a fair amount of rides and gorged ourselves. I kept track of how much we saved using the dining plan, $109. Considering the meal plan was $33, we ate $142 retail worth of amusement park food. Granted, ever meal was like $16.50 or $21, and "not captive customer" prices would probably be $10 or $15 for what we got, but it's still an amazing deal. Multiple times I asked mom "I wonder what the high score is." And the Sunday after our fun I had like 1 actual meal because I was so full. Definitely worth it if you ever go to a Cedar Fair amusement park, but only get 1 band for 2 people. Even if you don't split everything like Mom and I did, alternating works well too. We basically paid for the hotel with what we saved in food, yay. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

My Family's Musgegon Weekend

Hey everyone, it's been close to 10 years since my family had a family vacation with everyone. Sure, there would be trips without my mom or my dad but everyone else, but it's been forever since everyone was together. We realized we never went to Michigan Adventures (a Cedar Fair park, and we really enjoy Cedar Fair parks like Cedar Point, Carowins, and Kings Island), and there happened to be a coast guard fair in on of the close by cities (Grand Haven) that mskate had fond memories of, so we decided that this would be a good trip for us.

The trip started on Thursday. Mskate and I packed up our stuff and headed out. We brought some s'mores ingreedients and supplies since there was going to be a fire pit, but more on that later. We drove for hours and planned to meet my parents at this restaurant that is allergy friendly since mskate has a lot of allergies. We had some trouble finding parking because of the festival, but we found some parking on a side street. It's primarily a breakfast place, so I had eggs and hashbrowns. Mskate had vegan and gluten free French toast, and I don't remember what everyone else had, but they enjoyed it. The restaurant has a retro style, and there was an old TV I had to get a picture with.

I'm kind of a fan of analog TV, and in 2021 when there were still low powered analog stations on the air we took a TV around trying to find them (but no luck). After lunch we walked down main street to all the shops. The first store we went to was a candy and liquor store (strange combination, I know), and one of the things they had was large pickles. I love me my pickles, so I got one. After that we went to another candy story, were we got some discount candy and these whistlers hard candy.

After the candy stores the next stop was the historical museum. This place was really cool. It covered the history of Grand Haven from the 1600s to the 1950s. We saw Native American settlements, pioneer houses, an old time house, a soda shop, fashion through the ages, and a coast guard display. The house was really cool, especially for my mom since my great grandparents had some of the same furniture that was on display. That was cool. Then in the fashion section we saw all these dresses from Victorian to the 80s, and my mom had me take a picture to send to her best friend that does all her shopping and say "look, we found the dress for the wedding." The coast guard thing was cool because it had a flag signal decoder wheel. I thought that was really cool because I remember boys who did the signaling historical merit badge in boy scouts saying the hardest part was memorizing the different signal alphabets. The last big part of the museum was the contest for a give away. It was "what does USCG stand for" and my mom knew the answer. She won a prize of a flower thing, and mom got one that her best friend and shopper would like.

After the historical museum we found a pawn shop. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about it (though they had a decent selection of videogames, but none I needed), but it was cool. The best thing was they had this sign outside.

The pawn shop was at the end of the street, so we walked back on the other side of the street. There was this news stand that was kind of cool, but the main thing was Marushka/Michigan Rag. It's this clothing brand that mskate's grandma and aunt were really into, so mskate got a shirt from them as a memory for her grandma and aunt. There was another candy store we went into, but I don't remember anything really of note from that one (just that we went in). That was pretty much all our shopping, so now it was time to go to the AirBnB.

It's been so long since I've done one of these and neglected to take a bunch of pictures, but lucky for me it's an AirBnB and information is available online. It was really quite nice. There was a good entertaining living room (TV and sectional sofa), 1st floor bedroom with a TV, 2 2nd story story bedrooms with a TV in each, and a basement with an air hockey table, skee-ball table, shuffleboard table, foosball table, darts, and of course, a TV. All the TVs were either smart or had roku's. After unpacking I decided to explore the TVs and see if there were any services that were logged in that we could find a movie to watch, but the only ones we could get to were the free apps (Tubi, Roku Channel, Freevee, and RedBox). I knew some of the apps and found some that could work, but we decided to just play corn hole (because that was something that was included with the AirBnB). That was fun. After corn hole we all just kind of did our own thing. I practiced on skee-ball and found how easy it is to sink the 50 point hole.

OK, now it's Friday, the day we go to Michigan Adventures. Since they open at 11AM we we able to enjoy the morning. We made breakfast and it was good. I made some toast and had bacon. Everyone else made eggs, but I decided I didn't want any. We packed up some snacks and diabetes stuff for mskate. After packing up we got in the car and drove to Michigan Adventures. Well, we started that but then we realized we left the pool bag at the house so we had to turn back and get it. After we got it then we really went to Michigan Adventures.

We got there rather quickly, and were a little interested in the fact that it was basically in the middle of nowhere. When you think about it that does make sense; amusement parks require a lot of land up front, and all the theme parks are kind of "enclosed communities" (they have restaurants, they have bathrooms, they have basic medical care), and places like Orlando were just swampland before Disney started Disney World, and being a smaller park it doesn't draw development so it's going to be still "out in the woods." We got there at opening and it was pretty neat; there was a local marching band playing. After we got in my mom, mskate, and vikingpolak got their meal wrist bands (because my parents got 3 even though mskate and I knew we would only need 2), and after that we got our picture taken for the souvenir picture. We first went to Coasters (the air conditioned restaurant, with a 50s theme that sells chicken tenders, salads, and cheeseburgers. Mskate having to eat gluten, dairy, and egg free due to allergies wanted to get a salad without cheese, but unfortunately they were all premade and we weren't able to pick off the cheese. I got a cheese burger and fries, dad and VP got chicken tenders and fries, and my mom got the salad. I loaded my burger up with pickles and lettuce, because fixings were free. Mskate ate a lot of everyone's fries, but that's OK because she was going to get her main meal at the next place in an hour and a half (because that's how the meal tickets work, eat every 90 minutes).

The first ride we rode was the Corkscrew, a rollercoaster that had 2 corkscrew loops that happened to be right by Coasters. Dad decided he didn't want to sit it out, so he waited at the outside seating while mom, mskate, VP, and I went on it. While we were in line we waved to him twice, and he was able to see us. It was fun, I loke roller coasters as does the others, and it was smoother than the one at Cedar Point (that one really bangs your head around). After the Corkscrew we went on Lakeside Gliders, a ride that swings you around and you have control over a wing that adjusts your trajectory. All 5 of us decided to do this one. Holiday World, an Indiana amusement park we went to all the time when we visited my cousins, also has one of these rides, but the ride carts are bigger and can fit 2 adults, and we assumed these would be the same. We split up according to size; mskate would ride with my dad, I would ride with my mom, and vikingpolak would ride by himself. It turns out they were much smaller than the ones at Holiday World. Mskate being small was able to fit in a cart with dad, but mom and I weren't able to fit in the same cart. At this time I ran to where VP was and tried to climb in with him, but that didn't work either. Since there were no open carts left, he just sat that one out and I rode by myself. I swung it REALLY hard, maximizing the wave I was making. Afterwards I was kind of nauseous because I went so hard. I had to help my mom out and then help my dad out. but it was a really fun ride.

After the Lakeside Gliders we decided with it getting to the heat of the day we should go to the water park. As we went to the water park we walked through Camp Snoopy just for fun (dad really likes Peanuts, and as a Cedar Fair park they have the Peanuts license, so they have Camp Snoopy for the kid's park). VP and I got pictures at the Beagle Scout campfire sitting with the Woodstock bird campers while Snoopy gave a presentation. After we got our picture Dad got his picture with Snoopy doing the same pose. Camp Snoopy has a lot of great kiddie rides, and we were going to ride the Flying Bus ride at the end of the day if time permitted. We found our way to the water park, and passed by an arcade which was cool to see. If there was DDR or pinball I might have had to get a game card and play some games, but unfortunately they didn't have any of that so it was just a shaded passthrough.

Now for some fun with the water park. Since it was food time again we went to the next food place, Beach Bites. I had to use the bathroom so I broke from the group and was going to meet back up with them. Beach Bites wasn't well directed, so I walked around a bit aimlessly looking for it. I eventually asked an employee and he misheard me initially. I asked "where's Beach Bites" and he thought I was saying "Beach Bikes," and said "I don't know if we have those this year, you'll have to ask customer service." When I told him it was a restaurant he pointed me in the general direction but didn't know exactly where it was since he was new. I found everyone eventually, and it was time to eat again. We originally chose this place because of food variety (multiple things mskate could eat), but this is where things went south. We first tried to order a salad and asked if we could get it without cheese, and the cashier said "I would look into that, but we're out of salad." That was a set-back, but still OK because vikingpolak was going to get the turkey and provolone sandwich, but they were out of that too. Turns out the only thing they had was chicken fingers. Because of that we got 2 orders of chicken fingers and fries, and mskate used her premium band to get rainbow dippin dots (because those are dairy free) at the stand not to far away. This was a bit of a mistake since everyone was still pretty full from Coasters, but we ate 1 of the meals and about half of the other. Mskate also got us a powerade to split with her premium food band, which was good with the heat. For fun I decided to choke down a chicken tender (and I say "choke down" because I don't like chicken). It wasn't all that bad because there was a lot of breading and I was able to dip in barbecue sauce. My brother didn't bring a swim suit so he just camped out at the beer garden and watched our stuff.

OK, first we did the lazy river. Nothing super interesting to talk about, it was a lazy river. There were some events of trying to get my parents laying in their tubes, but that was it. That is until we passed by the slide outlet into the lazy river. I've seen this maybe one other time, and it was cool. We knew we would have to do that. We went around again to get to the entrance/exit that would get us to the slide. Mom, mskate, and I decided to go, Dad just went around and waited for us to get out. We took our tubes up the stairs to the only slide in the area, and hoped it would go to the lazy river. The stairs went to multiple slides, and no one had tubes like ours (the park color codes the tubes for what slide they go to). We waited in line like everyone else, but since we were the only ones that were doing this slide when we got close to the top people just let us through right to the slide (no line). The slide was fun, but the exit to the lazy river was the big thing, and it was fun. I waited at the bottom to catch mom and mskate, and we rode together to get to the exit for the next attraction.

That next attraction was the wave pool. Again, nothing super special, it was a wave pool. There was a guy measuring kids to make sure they were tall enough, and since I was after a group of kids I jokingly asked if I was tall enough (I'm taller than the measuring pole). He leaned down and jokingly checked my height and said "yeah I think you're good." But then something interesting happened. You know the life guards, the people that surround the pool in case someone starts drowning but most of the time they don't do much but watch people? Well we saw them save someone, three times. It was pretty crazy. It almost happened 4 times but the kids were able to get to a safer level. I also had some struggles after the waves ended. These were like 3 foot waves, and I was out rather far, and when the waves stopped I couldn't touch and was somewhat tired. Still really fun.

After the wave pool Dad decided to join vikinpolak at the beer garden while Mom, mskate, and I rode a big slide. This slide had the big rubber rafts that could hold probably 6 people but can only safely hold 3 people. These are normally sent up by a conveyor lift but they instead needed the riders to carry them up the stairs. It took all 3 of us to carry it, and we were impressed by the dads that were carrying them by themselves because their kids couldn't help. It was a really fun slide, and the only way it could be improved is if they put in a lift for the rafts. After the slide we got dippin dots to share and it was good, but that along with the fries were too much, and I got nauseas. Mskate kept asking me what's wrong for the rest of the day but just didn't accept "I overate, and now I feel sick."

This was also the end of our water park time, so we got dressed and went back into the ride park. Since thunderhawk was close to the waterpark entrance, we went on it afterwards. Dad and I sat it out though, so I don't know what it was like, but it sure looked like a fun rollercoaster. This was also around where the swan paddle boats were and mskate wanted to do those as well (a fun romantic ride with her husband), but with me overstuffed and her feeling tired it wouldn't have been as romantic as intended, so we skipped it. After the thunderhawk we walked to the midway area with a bunch of carnival like rides (not knocking it, that's just the best way to describe it). There was a petting zoo along the walk and I would have enjoyed it (I love petting zoos, even as a grown adult), but unfortunately it was closed. We were also going to ride the big swings, but that was closed for the season. Oh well.

When we got there the first ride we rode was the trabant, a spinning ride that then lifts you up at an angle, a mix of a centripetal force ride that seems to defy gravity and the scrambler ride that spins the riders into each other, and I barely managed to ride it with my nausea. I had to sit down after that. After this ride we rode the Matterhorn ride (or as they call it Thunderbolt). I liked it but mskate didn't. It was really fun. After the Matterhorn vikingpolak rode Shivering Timbers (a wooden rollercoaster) by himself and everyone else rode the scrambler, while I sat it out. I just needed a break. After that and everyone met back up, mskate, Mom, and I rode the tilt a whirl. I would have gotten sick but I managed to not get sick by just closing my eyes. It was still very fun. Since this was a small park late in the season and everyone was probably still in the water park, there were practically no lines. Yay.

After all the midway fun we went to the Ferris Wheel. The ride was big enough to hold all 5 of us, so that was cool. Mskate and I were sitting next to each other so when we got close to the top we kissed. After we kissed we got my parents to kiss. Since they were sitting on opposite sides to balance out the ride it was a little more difficult, but they managed. After the Ferris Wheel we went to the Viking ship ride. This was quite a risky ride for me. I was still pretty unwell and this rocks you back and forth and causes nausea. Mskate and I rode in the middle since it would be the gentlest, and the rest of the family rode as far back as they could. The fun thing is we sat in front of a family that was easing their kid into bigger rides, so the comments of "it's going to be OK, nothing to worry about" were fun to listen to. Then this also happened. There was a hornet that landed on the plastic part of the ride in front of us and just sat there the entire ride. As a bee-phobe I was rather scared, but she just sat there in one spot the entire ride. Then when it was done, flew away. I think the wasp just wanted to go for a ride.

It's getting close to the end of the day, so time for 1 more meal. We went back to coasters because it was air conditioned and mskate could get a burger without a bun and cheese. Mom and vikingpolak went to a place to get pizza to take home and eat when we got back. It was just half a pizza (2 slices per meal, 4 slices total, plus bosco sticks), but they put it in a pizza box and we carried it out of the park. We got some fun comments from that. Around this time mskate went to the gift shop to get a Michigan Adventure Snoopy. It was a good relaxing time. By the time everyone was ready to leave it was time again to get a snack, and we got a bag of cotton candy. Overall we saved like $120 in food with the all day food passes, but could have saved more if we only got 2 and ate more often. Oh well, there's always next time and we're probably going to go there again (it was a great place and there is still a lot we didn't do, both at Michigan Adventure and in Grand Haven).

After we got home we had a nice relaxing day. I ate the pizza later into the evening as did vikingpolak, and everyone ate other things. Now for the fun thing in the evening. Originally I wanted to watch a movie, but then a new episode of Generation Gap was available on hulu. I knew my family would enjoy this because it's a game show about grandparents and grandkids testing their knowledge of each other's generation for money, normally with hilarious results. I hooked up my laptop to the main TV with my  15 foot HDMI cable (because I carry that in my laptop bag for such an occasion), and we watched an hour of TV together. Everyone really enjoyed it, and it was a nice way to end the day.

OK now it's Saturday, the day for Grand Haven. We woke up and had our breakfast, and generally woke up. Before we went out to the city we went to a candy store that our friend used to go to all the time when she was growing up there. It's called McDonald's Candy, and first we went to the wrong location but then we went to the right location. Mom got this seafoam candy for our friend since that was her favorite growing up, and I got some raspberry cream chocolates and jaw breakers. We also met the owner and name dropped our friend, and she remembered her. really cool. After that we went back to the house to pick up everyone for the day. 

Since it was an event we were able to park at a church and get picked up by a shuttle. When we got to the lot there was 1 parking spot left, and the shuttle was getting ready to go. We made a plan, I would jump out and flag the shuttle to hold them for us to pick up while everyone quickly grabbed the stuff. I was able to hold the shuttle and everyone was able to make it. Once we got to the destination the driver said to make sure you have everything. I patted my pockets and noticed my phone was missing. I went back to the shuttle but it wasn't there either, and so I left it in the car. This would probably be the time I would have take a bunch of pictures, but unfortunately no phone means no picture

The first thing we did was scope out a spot to watch the parade. Since this is a big deal for the community a lot of the good spots were already taken, but we did find a good spot at the credit union drive thru (it was covered and therefore shaded). This happened to be close to the art fair, and we wanted to shop that. We managed to find a vender that made unofficial American Girl Doll accessories. We found Dippin Dots and got them for mskate's dolls. One day it will be part of a cool display. We walked around some more but didn't find anything else. The art fair was also where the food trucks were, and I got chili cheese fries with bacon bits for lunch. About this time we went back to the bank to watch the parade. It was OK, but very long and very spread out. Mskate went to get candy that was being tossed out. She also got a bag, hat, fan, and mini-American flag. We didn't watch the entire parade because it was kind of poorly planned (lots of gaps). One of the fun things we saw was a bagpipe troop. We took a picture and sent it to my uncle who also plays the bagpipes and used to march in parades as well. We also saw a marching band, and I felt bad for the kids. It was hot, and there were parents running around between kids giving them water and spraying them. One of the quad drummers looked like she was about to pass out.

After we were done with the parade we went back to the shopping area. We went to this café and cooled down there while dad ate lunch. While everyone was hanging out there mskate and I went back to Marushka/Michigan Rag and got her aunt a sweat shirt. She likes dogs so we got her a shirt that had 11 dogs on it. After we got the shirt we started our walk to the coast guard ships. Along the way we found a penny press and got one for the coast guard festival. We also walked along the river where they shoot off the fireworks and saw everyone had their blankets out to stake their claim, like 8 hours before the show. I wish I had my phone because I would have taken a picture of this.

The coast guard ships were cool. Before we get on the ship though we had to go through security, and I realized I had my pocket knife on me (because when I'm not at work I pretty much always have my pocket knife on me). I was worried I wouldn't be able to go but they just kept it with the other knives and pepper spray people had and held it until we were done. Now I enjoy touring military ships since they're all self contained mini-cities on top of the necessities for military and sailing. When I was in scouts I had the opportunity to sleep on some decommissioned world war 2 ships and subs, and while there were many similarities between this ship and the old ships I went on in my youth (mostly exposed gauges and pipes, lots of plain metal, and "military look"), the cool thing were all the modern amenities like drinking fountains with filters and coolers, and the officer's quarters with a smart TV. We went to the control deck and it was cool seeing it. I got to sit in the captain's chair, and my mom did as well. It was pretty fun. Then there were a bunch of steep stairs to get to the different levels, and when people were struggling going down I remembered something from when I slept on the submarine in cubscouts; go down the stairs backwards like you would a ladder. I was climbing down the stairs and the sailors looked at me like I kind of knew what I was doing (because I did kind of know what I was doing). One of the other tourists asked me what I was doing and I explained it, and then they started going down stairs backwards. After the tour I picked up my knife without problem.

We were all pretty done with the adventure and ready to go home, so we headed back to the shuttle pickup. This is when mskate and I split from the family. We were going to get a corn dog from the stand that mskate's cousin loves, but that was further away from the river and my family wanted to stay cool with the river temperature. Once we got to the stand though we decided against it; the line was very long. On our way back to the  pickup we went past some more food trucks. I wanted nachos, and I found a place that sold them. Mskate also got a lemonade from them. One of the employees was doing a Micky Mouse voice, and mskate told me to do my Goofy voice. The Micky employee and I started having some fun back and forth. I wonder how many times Micky meets one of his friends. Good times. We got to the pickup place before the rest of the family somehow, so we just sat in some shade and waited. After everyone got there it was time for pickup, and when we got back to the car I confirmed that my phone was in the car.

Once we got back it was time to start our fun dinner and fire. I got the fire started with my year long bucket of prescription labels. After the fire was started I wrapped up the potatoes and put them in the fire pit. Vikingpolak got the grill going and started making the brats. Things were going fine, but as it went on there was a grease fire and he didn't trust whatever was burning and insisted we get new brats. We went back to the grocery store and got new brats (there were 2 other times we went there for supplies we forgot). This time they just cooked the brats in the oven, and by the time the brats were done the potatoes have been in the fire for probably 40 minutes. The fire must have not been very hot though, because even after all this time the potatoes weren't done. We then finished the potatoes in the oven. We also brought a bell pepper and bought an onion from one of our other trips to the grocery store, so we had onions and peppers for the brats. We ate outside at the outside table and it was good. Then when the potatoes were done we had those as well. After dinner we all sat around the fire and I made smores with the stale marshmallows and garham crackers I take camping for s'mores. Only mskate and I partook in the roasted marshmallows on a stick, but mom tried making a s'more thing in tin foil. It apparently was pretty good. After we were done with the fire mskate went to our room to talk with one of her friends while the rest of the family went down to the basement to play the games. The main game we played was skee-ball, with people getting the hang of how to score 50 points the score everyone got was 290 (5 in the 50, 4 in the 10). After the skee-ball we played some foosball, but because VP was in a fraternity in college and they apparently played a lot of foosball his team beat my team pretty quickly. We would have played the bar shuffleboard game, but there wasn't any rossin on the table to make the pucks slide. We also would have played the air hockey but it unfortunately didn't work. Oh well. That was it for Saturday.

Sunday was a pack up day. We gathered up all our stuff, made sure the house was clean, took the bedding off the beds, said our goodbyes, and left. Mskate and I went to mass at one of the local churches, and it was good. The drive back was alright, nothing super special. We each drove about half the distance, and I played Animal Crossing when I wasn't driving. Once we got home I had to empty the car out because I had to turn in my lease the next day. I pulled all the emergency supplies I keep in it out (jumper cables, bungie cables, non-parishable foods, blankets, cotton rope, battery lanterns, etc.), and some other things I just collected over the while and moved it to the vestibule. I cleaned all the garbage out and threw it away. Then with the car mostly empty I took it to the car wash with the free vacuums and floor matt washes. For turn-in I didn't need to get it washed, but the interior had to be clean and there was a lot of sand and twigs and leaves and other crap, so it was worth it to get the $7 car wash to get the free vacuum because I probably would have spent $7 alone on vacuuming and that's not including the matt wash. The matt wash was good, but not good enough for the caked on salt that was on the edge (I have aftermarket rubber matts for the driver and passenger, but they missed the edges), so I just cleaned them at home in my industrial mop bucket. This was my fun weekend. I look forward to the next time we are able to do something like this. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.