Cedar Point

Yesterday we took the office (and related folks) to Cedar Point for the day.

The weather in the morning was iffy, with clouds covering the entire sky and a bit of a chill in the air. Around lunchtime, the sun broke through and the rest of the day was gorgeous. We went in the middle of the week before school was out, so the crowds were light. A few of the most popular rides had waits as long as 45 minutes, which is way better than the mid-summer weekend waits of 2 hours. (On an unrelated note, a high school not too far from us had a Physics Day at Cedar Point, in which the teenagers had a test on the physics behind how the rides work. If my high school had done this, I might have done considerably better in physics.)

We got a bus, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip-- the reaction across the board as we were leaving was "Thank God, normally I have to drive home when I'm dead tired. This is so much better!" Snacks went over well, though as usual I bought too much. Better too much than too little, in my opinion, and I didn't buy anything that wouldn't get eaten in the office later.

Since we made our group reservation with less than 4 weeks notice and Cedar Point is not yet fully staffed for the summer, we couldn't get the buffet lunch. I sort of regret this, as there were several people that we didn't run into at all, and one couple that we only ran into once briefly. Instead, we got lunch vouchers, good at a small subset of restaurants in the park that weren't on the map and a little hard to find. Still, everyone managed eventually, and it accomplished my main goal of making sure that everyone ate at least one meal during the day and didn't pass out or anything stupid.

If you're not into the most intense rides, I highly recommend hanging out with children, as the entertainment value is high (especially if they're not your kids). We spent the entire morning and some of the afternoon with Matt and DJ and their three eldest kids. All of their kids are great, but 6-year-old Abigail is constructed entirely of Pure Awesome. She's got her father's off-the-wall sense of humor but with zero impulse control. She's also nearly fearless, so she was bound and determined to do everything her older siblings did. We played tag off and on throughout the day (with the "off" parts being when I was "It" but too tired to give chase). None of Matt's kids had ever been to a theme park, just to local fairs. We started off with the Iron Dragon as their first "real" ride ever, which is mildly intense and only 47 mph at its peak speed. They loved it and wanted to go on it again immediately. The second time, Abigail and I shared a seat, and on one of the curves near the end she looked out to the park and chirped "Hello, little people!" I cracked up.

Abby bounced around between all the people in our little group, but Shane and I were her favorites (other than her Mom and Dad, but she was perfectly happy to let her siblings pair up with them). Some of her other quips:

Near the top of the first hill of the Magnum (which is 205 ft high): "I can see my house from here!" (We were 3 hours away from home) She also used this 6 hours later at the top of the Ferris wheel.

Nichole, another person who came with us, has repeatedly been mistaken as my sister, even though I'm old enough to be her mother (admittedly, I would have had to have been pregnant at my high school graduation). To annoy her, I wore my "I can't remember if I'm the GOOD sister or the EVIL one" t-shirt. While we were waiting for Shane and Aren to finish a ride (they got the car behind us), Abby studied my t-shirt and said "I know which one you are!" and pointed to "EVIL". ... perceptive kid, as this was maybe an hour into the park.

Near the end of the day as the adults were winding down, the kids were still going strong. Abby got bored and wanted to go on the Himalaya, probably because it was the ride closest to us. The Himalaya is just a bunch of cars that go around in a circle, going fast enough to push everyone to the outer edge of the car. Because of the force, the requirements are that you have to be "52 inches tall or accompanied by a responsible adult." Abby didn't meet the height requirement, so she came bounding over to me and asked brightly "Are you responsible?" ("No, but I can pretend to be.") Her sister Beth joined us for the ride, and while they were being pushed against me Abby asked me in a concerned voice "Are you being squished too much?" I thought it was cute, since the kids are both thin and willowy, and if they weigh 80 pounds put together I'd be surprised. They also both put their hands up in the air like they were on top of a hill of a roller coaster, which was funny as hell.

During a down time, the kids ended up on some of the "kiddie" rides, after having already gone on some grown-up rides. On the Froghopper, which is a mini version of the Power Tower that goes up and down all of 10 feet, Abby loudly declared that the ride was "for dead frogs" and all the kids played dead for the rest of the ride.

Mike won a fuzzy purple stuffed bear at one of the games in the park. On the bus ride home, Abby borrowed it from him for a while. She came over and sat on my lap and played with the bear, making it dance and kick. Then she decided she didn't have enough room for the bear to dance the way she was sitting, and turned so that she was straddling my legs and facing me. As the bear danced and kicked facing me, I saw the glee on her face the moment inspiration struck, and after that the bear danced and kicked on my face and head. We played for quite a bit (and I am glad that years of playing in a similar manner with my nephew and niece have taught me how to protect my face from the accidental wrist-into-nose smash), and to my dismay I discovered that the normal tickle spot on the sides of the stomach do not work on Abby. She discovered that they DO work on me. Eventually I found spots that work on her and then the tickle war wasn't as much fun for her. The bear attacked a few other people on the bus (including once when she asked Shane1 to have it punch Scott in the face, and Shane1 gleefully complied), but with a bus full of people too tired to play, Abby returned to my seat several times.

All in all, an excellent day, enjoyed by everyone.

Cedar Point

Yesterday we took the office (and related folks) to Cedar Point for the day.

The weather in the morning was iffy, with clouds covering the entire sky and a bit of a chill in the air. Around lunchtime, the sun broke through and the rest of the day was gorgeous. We went in the middle of the week before school was out, so the crowds were light. A few of the most popular rides had waits as long as 45 minutes, which is way better than the mid-summer weekend waits of 2 hours. (On an unrelated note, a high school not too far from us had a Physics Day at Cedar Point, in which the teenagers had a test on the physics behind how the rides work. If my high school had done this, I might have done considerably better in physics.)

We got a bus, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip-- the reaction across the board as we were leaving was "Thank God, normally I have to drive home when I'm dead tired. This is so much better!" Snacks went over well, though as usual I bought too much. Better too much than too little, in my opinion, and I didn't buy anything that wouldn't get eaten in the office later.

Since we made our group reservation with less than 4 weeks notice and Cedar Point is not yet fully staffed for the summer, we couldn't get the buffet lunch. I sort of regret this, as there were several people that we didn't run into at all, and one couple that we only ran into once briefly. Instead, we got lunch vouchers, good at a small subset of restaurants in the park that weren't on the map and a little hard to find. Still, everyone managed eventually, and it accomplished my main goal of making sure that everyone ate at least one meal during the day and didn't pass out or anything stupid.

If you're not into the most intense rides, I highly recommend hanging out with children, as the entertainment value is high (especially if they're not your kids). We spent the entire morning and some of the afternoon with Matt and DJ and their three eldest kids. All of their kids are great, but 6-year-old Abigail is constructed entirely of Pure Awesome. She's got her father's off-the-wall sense of humor but with zero impulse control. She's also nearly fearless, so she was bound and determined to do everything her older siblings did. We played tag off and on throughout the day (with the "off" parts being when I was "It" but too tired to give chase). None of Matt's kids had ever been to a theme park, just to local fairs. We started off with the Iron Dragon as their first "real" ride ever, which is mildly intense and only 47 mph at its peak speed. They loved it and wanted to go on it again immediately. The second time, Abigail and I shared a seat, and on one of the curves near the end she looked out to the park and chirped "Hello, little people!" I cracked up.

Abby bounced around between all the people in our little group, but Shane and I were her favorites (other than her Mom and Dad, but she was perfectly happy to let her siblings pair up with them). Some of her other quips:

Near the top of the first hill of the Magnum (which is 205 ft high): "I can see my house from here!" (We were 3 hours away from home) She also used this 6 hours later at the top of the Ferris wheel.

Nichole, another person who came with us, has repeatedly been mistaken as my sister, even though I'm old enough to be her mother (admittedly, I would have had to have been pregnant at my high school graduation). To annoy her, I wore my "I can't remember if I'm the GOOD sister or the EVIL one" t-shirt. While we were waiting for Shane and Aren to finish a ride (they got the car behind us), Abby studied my t-shirt and said "I know which one you are!" and pointed to "EVIL". ... perceptive kid, as this was maybe an hour into the park.

Near the end of the day as the adults were winding down, the kids were still going strong. Abby got bored and wanted to go on the Himalaya, probably because it was the ride closest to us. The Himalaya is just a bunch of cars that go around in a circle, going fast enough to push everyone to the outer edge of the car. Because of the force, the requirements are that you have to be "52 inches tall or accompanied by a responsible adult." Abby didn't meet the height requirement, so she came bounding over to me and asked brightly "Are you responsible?" ("No, but I can pretend to be.") Her sister Beth joined us for the ride, and while they were being pushed against me Abby asked me in a concerned voice "Are you being squished too much?" I thought it was cute, since the kids are both thin and willowy, and if they weigh 80 pounds put together I'd be surprised. They also both put their hands up in the air like they were on top of a hill of a roller coaster, which was funny as hell.

During a down time, the kids ended up on some of the "kiddie" rides, after having already gone on some grown-up rides. On the Froghopper, which is a mini version of the Power Tower that goes up and down all of 10 feet, Abby loudly declared that the ride was "for dead frogs" and all the kids played dead for the rest of the ride.

Mike won a fuzzy purple stuffed bear at one of the games in the park. On the bus ride home, Abby borrowed it from him for a while. She came over and sat on my lap and played with the bear, making it dance and kick. Then she decided she didn't have enough room for the bear to dance the way she was sitting, and turned so that she was straddling my legs and facing me. As the bear danced and kicked facing me, I saw the glee on her face the moment inspiration struck, and after that the bear danced and kicked on my face and head. We played for quite a bit (and I am glad that years of playing in a similar manner with my nephew and niece have taught me how to protect my face from the accidental wrist-into-nose smash), and to my dismay I discovered that the normal tickle spot on the sides of the stomach do not work on Abby. She discovered that they DO work on me. Eventually I found spots that work on her and then the tickle war wasn't as much fun for her. The bear attacked a few other people on the bus (including once when she asked Shane1 to have it punch Scott in the face, and Shane1 gleefully complied), but with a bus full of people too tired to play, Abby returned to my seat several times.

All in all, an excellent day, enjoyed by everyone.