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Rock 'N' Roller Coaster ; Cleveland and Cedar Point Make a Great Weekend Combo for Kids

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

This is a Rock and Roller Coaster Weekend.

First stop is Cleveland, with its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, a little baseball and some other stuff.

Second stop is Cedar Point, a spit of sand above Sandusky: 16 roller coasters, a first-rate water park and a beach.

Take the kids on this one and they'll never whine again. If they do, show them the pictures.

> Cleveland

We are not going to bash Cleveland here. Cleveland has been bashed enough. The river is no longer flammable, the mammoth old baseball stadium (75,000 seats, most of them forever empty unless the Browns were using it and all in need of paint) was flattened in 1996, and these days, downtown looks pretty good if you ignore the "for lease" signs.

Cleveland still has problems, but they're Cleveland's problems, not ours.

We're here for one reason: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Very cool place.

Obligatory question: Why is it in Cleveland? Quick answer: Cleveland really wanted it.

"Our New York office," said spokeswoman Jenny Williams, "went to all the major music cities and said, 'Do you want to show us?'

"Cleveland got the most petitions and raised the most money."

That Cleveland wasn't truly in the top tier of "major music cities" (compared to, say, New York, Philly, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Memphis, Nashville, Lubbock, Surf City and assorted villages, towns and suburbs) doesn't matter, mainly because Alan Freed's existence rationalizes it all.

It was here, before he scrammed to New York and scandal, that the DJ began calling "race music" (that is, African-American music with a certain energy) "rock 'n' roll" and exposing it to white kids, thereby shocking white parents who could handle Pat Boone ("Tutti Frutti") and not Little Richard ("Tutti Frutti!"). There also are lingering questions as to what, for the sake of enshrinement, rock 'n' roll actually is. Pete Seeger (inducted 1996) is a fine artist, but has anyone ever danced to "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy?"

Maybe the answer came at the Hall when, tuning up for a late- afternoon concert, a bassman, guitarist, flute player and saxman jammed on "So What."

"That's Miles," a Davis fan-reporter noted to the bass player. "Is that rock 'n' roll?"

Replied the bassman: "Can be."

So be it.

The Hall is six levels of self-celebration. It is impossible to speed through it because you get sucked into things -- a movie here, a sound station with headphones there, showcases around the corner and delights like entire rooms devoted to legends. Ray Charles has one (several of his tuxes, keyboards and a never-ending video), and Jimi Hendrix (his childhood drawings and, of course, guitars), and more. You can see costumes worn by Britney, Christina, Madonna and singers with last names.

And there are the people. Mary Ann Gill has been at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for six years, swapping tickets for wristbands, and other duties. She can politely be described as, well, grandmotherly.

Gill was, on this day, stationed in the "Tommy" exhibit on Level 6. The Who's rock opera was blaring on the speakers .

"It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy . . ."

Her favorite artists?

"My favorites, or the ones who hugged me?"

Let's go with the latter.

"Les Paul. The Edge, from U2. Oh, yeah, he's a good hugger . . ."

"Gazing at you, I feel the heat . . ."

"They're such really nice, nice people, the entertainers, because they're with other people who enjoy their music and their surroundings. I think they feel at home."

" . . . got such a supple wrist . . ."

What do you think of this stuff?

"You're not going to . . ." And my tape recorder suddenly stopped functioning.

Among the tidbits gleaned from the "Tommy" exhibit (up through next March): Based on a Pete Townshend hand-written original, Tommy's wicked Uncle Ernie (from "Fiddle About") was originally his Uncle Phil.

Sound station sure to keep everyone on headphones: "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll." Just press the screen, and up comes, oh, Fats Domino . . .

Again, this is not a quick-glance museum. Allow as long as you can.

On the other hand, the Great Lakes Science Center, right next door, with its hands-on exhibits illustrating light and sound and bodily functions and the operation of dirigibles, will delight the little ones for several minutes and (with validation) save a quarter off the cost of parking. It also has an Omnimax theater, but so do we.

For anyone who even likes baseball a little, but especially for those with a passion for the game, it's always a kick seeing a ballgame in a foreign stadium. Jacobs Field (familiarly, "The Jake") is one of the more interesting of the post-1990 ballyards, mainly because of the setting (right downtown), scoreboard (massive, though much of the mass is ads) and left-field wall (19 feet).

Unique concession: "Johnny Applestix," a kind of apple-fries that come with choice of dipping sauces. Says co-inventor Tony Dellamano, "It's the only place in the country that has them."

Not exactly being hugged by the Edge, but it's as much pure Cleveland as rock 'n' roll.

Dellamano, of course, is from California.

More to look for, while you're walking between the R&R Hall and Jacobs Field:

"Jurisprudence," an emotional sculpture by Daniel Chester French (he did the sitting Lincoln in the Memorial), outside the federal courthouse; the stunning War Memorial Fountain; the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, maybe the country's finest civic Civil War tribute; and the delightfully whimsical Free Stamp sculpture in Willard Park.

Finally, a happy travel tip: The ramp for the road to Sandusky -- and Cedar Point -- is right behind The Jake.

> Cedar Point

An amusement industry publication has ranked Sandusky's Cedar Point the "Best Amusement Park in the World" for the last seven years.

Is it? Who knows? Who has actually been to them all, ridden every roller coaster, eaten every funnel cake?

But there is a consensus that can be gleaned from Web sites, chat lines, blogs and conversations with people who collect coasters like ball fans collect ballparks.

And here it is: Cedar Point has two steel roller coasters that -- remember, we're talking consensus here -- are as good as any the world has ever seen. The two are Top Thrill Dragster (2003) and Millennium Force (2000).

It has two more that, in any other amusement park, would be enough reason to go. They are Magnum XL-200 (1989) and Raptor (1994).

And at Cedar Point, there are 12 more roller coasters. Sixteen. That's a lot of dips.

Some are break-in coasters, but anyone who has stood through the 2 minutes, 40 seconds of Mantis (1996) will tell you they aren't all trainers.

But the top four, kidderoonies, are really something.

Best of the four? Depends whom you ask.

"Millennium Force is the greatest ride in the world," said Bob Lucente of Atlantic City, a buff, as he waited his next turn on the Dragster. "This is a great ride -- but that's a roller coaster."

The guy with his name atop this story would go the other way: Millennium Force is a great roller coaster -- but the Dragster is a ride.

Naturally, Cedar Point is more than the roller coasters. If there weren't more rides and attractions, the lines for the coasters would reach Pennsylvania. There are kiddieland-level rides, rides that spin and bump, and a new ride -- maXair -- that spins and soars and challenges stomach-retention like no ride since Riverview's Rotor last nauseated thousands at Western and Belmont 38 years ago. There are shows and midway games.

There's also an adjacent water park (with a separate admission), Soak City, that's 18 acres of tubes and splashes and waves for all ages -- but lets get back to the lines.

If Cedar Point has a downside, it's the lines. The waits to ride Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster are routinely more than an hour. Two hours is common. Three hours is not unheard of -- and these are rides that last about as long as it took you to read this paragraph.

Naturally, the lines are longest on weekends, and since this is a series about Classic Weekends, suggesting a midweek visit would sort of be cheating. But it's something to consider.

For those who are taking this series literally, Robin Innes, a park spokesman, is here to help.

"Try to plan your schedule so you're in the park during normal eating hours," he said. "Try to be in the park at noon, while everyone else is breaking for lunch."

Same thing later.

"Have an early dinner or a late dinner and be in the park from 5 to 7 p.m., because there are fewer people there."

If you're at the start of a two-hour line?

"You talk to people or you watch other people," Innes said. "Every time you think you've seen it all, you see something new."

If you're an hour into a two-hour line and nature is making a statement?

"Go to the restroom before you get in line."

And what do you tell people who consider it madness to wait two hours for a two-minute ride?

"I tell them what other people say to me: 'It was worth the wait.' Then they get back in line . . ."

And what should you tell your kids when they whine about the lines, and the heat, and the thirst, and that their feet hurt and they miss their boyfriends?

Don't know. Hey, they're your kids . . .

> If you go

Getting there: Cleveland and Cedar Point are linked by I-90 and Ohio Highway 2, plus tributaries. It's about an hour (65 miles) from Cleveland to Cedar Point.

Staying there: A downtown hotel boom in Cleveland means lots of the big names (Hilton Garden Inn, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Crowne Plaza, Hampton Inn, more) at rates all over the map, depending on what's happening in town. All, theoretically, are within walking distance of the ballpark and the R&R Hall; the longest walk would be the mile (about 20 minutes) from the Hilton -- a routine fly ball from Jacobs Field -- to the Hall. (The Hilton, by the way, has a free shuttle.)

Cedar Point has four hotels affiliated with the amusement park, each offering discount admission tickets. Most convenient is the Hotel Breakers, on the beach and near everything; it's celebrating its centennial -- and some rooms in the original wing look it. Along U.S. Highway 250, starting at the junction with Ohio 2, and 5 miles up to the park's boundaries, are zillions of motels (just about every chain) and restaurants (just about every chain). Two lodgings among those with indoor water parks are Dells veterans: Great Wolf Lodge and a new Kalahari.

Dining there: In Cleveland, the most kid-friendly restaurant near Jacobs Field is Alice Cooper'stown, a branch of the Phoenix favorite that's essentially a combo sports and rock bar (the saloon is semi- separate). A few steps away, families will be welcomed at the New York Spaghetti House, a revived old-Cleveland classic.

A number of bars with sandwiches and wings are scattered near the park, many along Huron Street and most with sidewalk seating. For better or worse, on game days/nights think "Wrigleyville."

For families, best bet near the R&R Hall is the food court in the Galleria at Erieview (McDonald's, Quiznos, Sbarro, more). More choices are in the Tower City Center complex. Pushcart hot dogs are $1.25 and, with kraut, not bad. Trusted friends add two for grownups: the Baricelli Inn, in Little Italy near the city's non- rock museums; and the Blue Point Grille, in the Warehouse District.

At Cedar Point, class of the on-property restaurants is easily Bay Harbor, with its marina ambience and fresh seafood; also here are a Famous Dave's barbecue, a very busy T.G.I. Friday's and other things. Along franchise row: Outback, Olive Garden, Applebee's and the burger/taco joints.

If you could have only one meal: In Cleveland, order the kids a movie and a pizza, leave them in the hotel, bring a credit card to the Warehouse District and try Johnny's Downtown, 1406 W. 6th St., (216) 623-0055, a handy sibling of the venerable Johnny's Bar on Fulton Road. Italian, steaks, surprises, peace.

At Cedar Point, go ahead and have a corn-dog (here, called a "hot dog on a stick"). Just because. $3.20.

Kid-friendliness: Outstanding. It's why we're here. Overall, the basic combo (the Hall, ballgame and Cedar Point) is best for ages 10 through high school. The younger ones will be fine at Cedar Point and at the Great Lakes Science Center, alongside the R&R Hall; at the Hall, they'll fidget and annoy.

You should know: If you fly into Cleveland and just want to see baseball and the R&R Hall, you don't need a car; just take the $1.50 RTA trains right downtown and walk to the attractions.

A caveat: "Easy" walk, heard often here, is relative, especially in hot weather. Wear comfortable shoes.

Time it right: Expect huge crowds at the Hall when a monster rock concert is in town . . . Slick nightlife: The Warehouse District is in; the Flats has faded . . . Discount same-day tickets for some events can be had at the city's three Ctix outlets, including one at Terminal Tower . . . If you like old graveyards, try the Erie Street Cemetery, near the ballpark. Among the graves in the shadow of Tribe symbol Chief Wahoo: Joc-O-Sot, 1810-1844, "a distinguished Sauk chief" and onetime vaudevillian . . . Speaking of the Indians: The days of the Tribe selling out every game ended a couple of years ago. Order tickets in advance at www.indians.com or just show up; you'll get in. There's an especially lively "secondary market" in tickets tolerated on the streets outside the park. At your own risk . . . Cheapest seats: $6. Right field. Bring binocs . . . Combination tickets for the Rock Hall and the Great Lakes Science Center will save you a few bucks.

Cedar Point isn't cheap: All-day tickets for adults and kids taller than 48 inches are $44.95 ($24.95 for wee folks). But day passes are $12 less if you stay in on-property lodgings; other discounts come on specially marked Pepsi cans available in northern Ohio, and on tickets purchased through AAA and at regional Meijers stores . . . A Cedar Point-linked room also gets you into the park a half-hour before the rabble, which is big when you want to ride the must-rides more than once . . . Entry to Soak City, the beachside water park, is extra: $28 if you're taller than 48 inches, $14 if you're not. Combination tickets help . . . Parking is $9, and allow plenty of time to get there, especially on Sundays . . . Patience has its rewards: Cedar Point tickets plummet to $27 after 5 p.m., Soak City to $15.95 . . . Nighttime at Cedar Park, by the way, twinkles.

Information: For Cleveland, try the Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) 321-1004; www.travelcleveland.com. For the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, (888) 764-ROCK; www.rockhall.com. For Cedar Point, it's (800) 237-8386; www.cedarpoint.com.

Source: Buffalo News

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