Back to work today after yet another Cedar Point trip. Basically this trip’s sole purpose was to go to HalloWeekends since neither of us have attended before. Also to get out of this shithole of a Valley we live in for a bit. Also it started slightly earlier than planned after I realized I had 5 weeks of vacation time at work… so I took a day.
As mentioned in Plonker’s post written halfway through the trip, we started the day off by skipping the gym but otherwise leaving on time. The plan was to head to Melt Bar and Grilled for me to try the Melt Challenge, and record the process of me making a horrible choice for you all to witness. However, when we were seated it was in one of those weird double tables with a booth wrapped around them… which wouldn’t be bad in itself except there was a guy already sitting there. It.. it was a little uncomfortable to whip out a camera at that time. So we basically ignored him otherwise. It was like having Huell sitting at our table, or those episodes of House when Foreman was in charge of House and sat there keeping an eye on him.
Anyway, I did the challenge but didn’t get video of it. My concerns for it from the beginning were 1) I don’t like cole slaw and 2) I don’t know what kind of cheese is in it. I figured I’d fail the challenge anyway so I held off on cramming the cole slaw down my gullet. And rest assured the sandwich was delicious.
The challenge next to Plonker’s whatever he ordered. He left half the sandwich.
I initially tried to eat the sandwich with a fork as it was sitting in a sea of cheese. I eventually realized the sea would not release the sandwich from it’s cheesy grip, so I had to eat that first. The cheese sea was about 3/8″ – 1/2″ thick I’d say, so it was basically like eating a block of gooey mixed cheeses. Tasty. Once I had that down it was on to the sandwich. The first half wasn’t bad but I started feeling full. Ever the trooper I moved on to the second half where I slowed down even more half way through. I could have stopped there and been completely content, but ever the trooper I marched on. I slowly swallowed the last bit of sandwich. On to the fried. They went down a little easier.. due to the lack I’m cheese I presume, but about halfway through on them I could feel the wall approaching. I want to at least finish the fries. And I did. I didn’t bother attempting the slaw. If I did I know I would have puked.
That was a lot of slaw.
I was a little nervous about the continued trip to Sandusky after lunch. Luckily I didn’t puke in Plonker’s car. It was no less than a minor miracle.
We arrived at the hotel and took a little breather mainly to vacate my digestive tract form both ends (not simultaneously.. this time). Then off to the park!
As stated, we have never been to HalloWeekends and didn’t realize just how busy it got. Friday the park was open 6-Midnight with the Haunt Attractions opening at 8, Saturday 11-Midnight with Haunt opening at 6, and Sunday 11-8 with Haunt opening at 3. Friday I’d say was the perfect balance, at least of this weekend. It was busy, and we only rode Blue Streak due to lines, and we’re line snobs. The screamsters were out and about scaring people (except the internally dead Fujupz crew), fun was had by all. We hit about half the indoor mazes. Figuring we could hit the rides during the day Saturday and hit the rest of the Haunt attractions Saturday night.
Saturday we again skipped the gym, but managed to do to breakfast. There’s a restaurant in Huron we like to eat at after our Memorial Day weekend trip where we rode our bikes to this place and I fell in love with the butter there. After that we went to the park and got a good parking spot. We had renewed our Platinum Passes and a perk was supposed to be a Fast Lane pass for the day, according to what I remembered from my email. We thought Saturday would be the best day to get them. However it turned out that they only do the free ones on Sunday. We walked around for a bit and rode Corkscrew, Gemini, and *sigh* Rougarou, everything else was packed. Again, line snobs. So we said hey, lets leave, catch a movie, come back later, and finish the haunt attractions.
After leaving the parking lot we realized that was probably a pretty bad idea as the entire causeway was filled with traffic. And continued to be after we returned from the theater, to the tune of traffic blocking entrance to the hotel… about 2.4 miles away.
We made it back to the hotel and tried to come up with a game plan. That’s where Plonker left off in his post. We decided to try the other route to the park. It ended up being blocked off so only the causeway could be used. By the time we turned around it appeared the traffic had moved quite a bit so we took at chance. I want to say it took a little over a half hour to move those 2.4 miles to the park. But there were no parking spots. All the lots were filled. We eventually found a spot when we saw someone leave, after losing a potential spot because of another car blocking our path forcing us to reverse more than we should have had to so they could pass us.
Anyway, the park was like a giant sardine can. Packed full. Way too many people. Friday the screamsters had room to work, Saturday no so much. It was more like an unstoppable Zombie hoard. We finished the Haunt attractions by closing time, riding no more rides, but spent another hour and a half in the parking lot trying to leave. After that we hit a 24 hour deli for Breakfast at 3 am.
Sunday morning we hit the same breakfast spot for a second breakfast. Now, one of the attractions at Haunt is a freak show. We went through that Friday, and while in line (the line wrapped around the building) we could hear the Carnival barker calling people to the freak show. Plonker commented on how her voice was annoying, whereas I started to find it pretty enticing. I never did get a good look at the girl but I could still hear her voice. Which takes us back to the Sunday breakfast. The hostess sat us and I swear she sounded like a more muted version of the Carnival barker. I never did ask her if she worked part time afternoons at Cedar Point. But I did stare at the girl at Cedar Point, but with the skull make up on I couldn’t really tell if it were the same person. I mean the odds are slim. And I don’t think it was her. But hey, they were both cute. If either are reading this, hit me up!
Sunday we went back to the park and it wasn’t nearly as busy as Saturday, though busier than out visits in August. We got our Fast Lane passes and hit a few coasters… that didn’t have a wait anyway. We made out way to Maverick, which take a Fast Lane Plus… so we waited in the regular line for an hour and a half. Near the front the ride broke down. Feeling we were so close we could wait it out. And we did! they got it running within an hour. Two away from the front and it broke down again. The people in front of us left. Now we were next in line. It was taking forever and I was about ready to give up but Plonker didn’t want to give up being as we were next in line. Ten minutes later it was up and running again. After about 3.5 hours of waiting we started to notice that people in the Fast Lane Plus lanes has the same color wristbands as us… we actually had the Pluses the whole time. We could have been on and off the ride hours earlier. *womp womp*
We tried to take full advantage of the pass at that point, though Plonker didn’t quite fit in the Millennium Force/Dragster seats again. We did Deprivation a couple times after 3, but we found we preferred it at night and without a group of people. We initially hit that Friday right before closing and no one was in line. We eventually separated and it was just me and the sexy sounding disembodied voice telling me I was going in the wrong direction. Good times.
We left the park to head home, but being that we hadn’t stuffed out faces since the morning we went to the sports bar and ate. I was content after the appetizer but also ate a burger and fries. Plonker did the same. Our waitress can feel free to hit me up too.
Final Thoughts:
If you make a weekend out of HalloWeekends make the most out of Friday. If you go Saturday I’d say get a Fright Lane pass otherwise you’ll spend hours in line for the haunted mazes like we did. Sunday Haunt opens at 3 and you lose the magic of darkness, so plan your trip accordingly.
Until the next time…
