At the entrance we traded our printed-out tickets for a lanyard, which had the schedule for the eclipse on it, and a nearly correct list of what rides were open, and a pin for the Total Eclipse of the Point. Also a pair of cardboard eclipse glasses that, to our amazement, did dim the sun to the point it was comfortable to look at. We didn't have any issues seeing since then, so Cedar Point must not have gotten counterfeits. (I did have brief worries but figured Cedar Fair would have verified a reasonable sampling, as they'd be quite class-action-suable.) The lanyard would also be a good spot to stow the reentry ticket we got later in the day, when we went out to the car to get the tripod ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger used to take stable photographs.
Music from a DJ played throughout the park. I was surprised that the Midway Carousel, right up front, was not open for it, and wasn't where the DJ and party were hosted from. It was closed off with banners proclaiming the Total Eclipse Of The Point. The park's 150 Year Anniversary sign in front of the carousel was also obscured, hidden behind temporary banners with the Total Eclipse of the Point logo. I knew not much of the park would be open, but I'd assumed the Midway Carousel, as a big and attractive thing right up front, would be one of the rides.
There was some kind of scrum at the Point Plaza, the main gift shop. This was for the Total Eclipse t-shirt they had, which we learned sold out in minutes. We skipped that because we didn't want to deal with mobs of anyone for anything. Later when we came back and discovered what was there, all that were left were a couple of shirts in goofball sizes like children's extra-small or such. I'd have liked one, so, too bad. We were surprised that the park, knowing how many tickets they had sold, wasn't able to match supply to demand better. I assume they underestimated how many people would buy shirts to scalp on eBay.
Everything in the park besides a path to the Boardwalk area was roped off. Well, there was an exception. It turned out that people who bought a VIP package were allowed to go up to the top of the lift hill of the ValRavn roller coaster. I don't know if anyone was up there during the eclipse, but saw them afterwards and learned that this wasn't just park employees doing a something or other. bunnyhugger had never mentioned this as a possibility, and I understand. Besides the expense, she has no desire to be on a roller coaster's lift hill except in the car or being walked down from a stopped coaster. A total eclipse doesn't come close to the list.
While the Midway Carousel, and ValRaven, and such were closed off there were a decent number of rides open. Many were in the Kiddie Kingdom, and we started off with a ride on that. We also noticed the kiddie Whip ride was loading people. I got fascinated by this last year after noticing the worn paths underneath the cars were not circular, even though the ride is, and wanted to know just what happened there. Unfortunately the loading of a couple kids into the ride took longer than our interest held out, especially with a park day of six hours less eclipse time. Sometime this season I'll see it, I swear.
The DJ was set up, with a small and underused dance floor, in front of the Giant Wheel, the Ferris wheel that's now backed by the Boardwalk Pavilion, which would be the only place to get food or drink. Also there was a time capsule, something to be opened in 75 years in the unlikely case that it's not forgotten about entirely. Despite our knowing that nearly all time capsules are lost or forgotten we filled out cards to put in it. I included a little drawing that, in the best possible outcome, will make people wonder what that weird doodle of a long-nosed raccoon? Lemur? Mongoose? is supposed to be. And the rides in the Boardwalk area were open; we could plausibly have ridden everything that was open to us at Cedar Point that day. We fell short of doing that, though.
Looked to be a good day. (Narrator: It was.)
And now --- believe it or not --- the close of my Indiana Beach 2023 photo roll. Guess what pinball tournament or amusement park we get to next!
The Scrambler, on a platform that goes out over the river, scrambling one of its last loads for the night. Note that the flower planters in front are from retired Scrambler cars.
Traditional photograph of the 4 - 28 1955 date inscribed in the concrete 'boardwalk'. Wonder what it signifiers.
I didn't get many pictures of the illuminations along the boardwalk. Here on the center-left is one of I.B.Crow promising there's more than corn in Indiana.
Nice moody-light photograph of the Hoosier Hurricane, near the south end and the bridge for the entrance we always thought was the other way t the park.
The bridge back to the parking lot, and the car, and the end of the day.
One last picture looking back across the water on the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster, with a nice puddle of light in the lower left.
Trivia: White blood cells are ``white'' only in the sense that they are not red; many are colorless, irregularly shaped things. Source: The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Currently Reading: The Diplomacy of the American Revolution, Samuel Flagg Bemis.
