Cedar Point/Kings Island Soak City, Ohio

This is the entrance to Cedar Point’s Soak City Waterpark. Soak City admission is usually purchased separately from admission to Cedar Point itself. This 16 acre waterpark is located within steps of Lake Erie and has waterslides, pools, children’s areas, food, lockers, and showers.

Entrance to Kings Island’s Soak City Waterpark is included with admission to Kings Island itself. This 35 acre waterpark has waterslides, pools, children’s areas, food and showers and has enough fun to fill an entire day. This is the security screening to enter the waterpark, which took 15 minutes.

Four rides are in this image near CP’s Soak City East Entrance. The Magnum roller coaster, on the left, runs through Soak City. Next to it is the Dragster H2O waterslide (42” height requirement). Next is the Tube Slides ride (48” minimum). And in the foreground is the Body Slides ride (48” minimum).

Rendevous Run is located near the main entrance to Soak City. (Visitors can also take a train from the main park into Soak City.) Visitors slide on a mat head-first through an enclosed loop to finish in an open channel. The height requirement is 40”. The run-out at the end is 12 inches deep.

This is one of the children’s areas at Cedar Point Soak City. This attraction is simply called Choo-Choo Lagoon, and is designed for young visitors under 52” tall. Adults must be accompanied by a child. The arch in the background is the RipCord ride, and in the far background is the SlingShot ride.

Lookout Lagoon is one of the children’s areas at Kings Island’s Soak City. The maximum height is 52” and there are five slides plus water cannons on this pretend pirate ship. Aruba Tuba is another fun waterpark attraction for kids, which has inner tubes. The height requirement is 36-52”.

Cedar Point Soak City’s Adventure Cove Lily Pad Walk is designed for people at least 46” tall. Kings Island doesn’t have an attraction like this. The two most similar areas at Kings Island’s Soak City are Castaway Cove and Coconut Cove. Castaway Cove is for children and Coconut Cove is for families.

Cedar Point doesn’t have any anything like the Pipeline Paradise. Onlookers enjoy the Pipeline as much as the surfers. The boy at right was able to stay on his board and rise to his knees. The left was cleared of its rider as he tumbled away. Some riders really hotdog it, which is a thrill for landlubbers.

This black-out waterslide at Cedar Point’s Soak City is called Eerie Falls. These three enclosed slides are not for the faint of heart as it is a highest-intensity thrill ride for people over 48” tall. Though you’d never know it on this ride, the sun barely came out that day, the Sunday before Memorial Day 2016.

Cedar Point doesn’t have anything like the Mondo Monsoon. It is a highest-intensity thrill ride for people over 48” tall.  To ride, four people get into a raft and zoom through an enclosed, rapidly descending slide until they are spit out into the large funnel on the left.

This is Cedar Point Soak City’s Renegade River. (CP has another lazy river, called Main Stream, over by Beach Volleyball.) It is very easy to dodge the waterfalls and geysers at this attraction. Inner tubes for one person or two are available. This ride is most fun when it’s sunny out and at least 80 degrees.

This is Kings Island’s Splash River, with height requirements of 42-48". It is very difficult to dodge the geysers, waterfalls, water cannon, and tilting buckets on this quarter-mile loop. (To the right are the orange tilting buckets.) The top left of this image shows the Tropical Twister waterslide.

Splash Zone, for kids, is one of the first attractions encountered upon entering at CP Soak City’s West gate. A retail shop and a locker stand are also here. From the CP Soak City visitor guide: 40” minimum for tall slides. Must be 36" tall and under 48" for kiddy slides.

Kings Island’s Soak City has Splash Landing, which was added in 2004. This area is located right next to Castaway Cove, Aruba Tuba, and Lookout Lagoon with its Pirate Ship. The minimum height at Splash Landing is 36” and this attraction is rated as a Mild Thrill Ride.

The Breakers Bay Wave Pool has a half-million gallons of fun with waves of three to four feet. Body surfing and use of inner tubes are both okay. This High Thrill Ride (4) requires that people under 48” use a lifejacket (provided) and those under 42” have a supervising companion who is at least 14.

Kings Island also has a Breakers Bay wave pool (the editor’s favorite), but this image here shows Tidal Wave Bay. This attraction is more of a thrill than the gentler Breakers Bay, which doesn’t use inner tubes. Both of these are rated as High Thrill (4). Chairs are hard to get on crowded days.

Cedar Point’s Zoom Flume is a family-style rafting ride where guests need to be 46” tall. (Cedar Fair lifeguards check this on all the attractions at all the parks.) This ride is rated as an Aggressive Thrill Ride (5) but it is not a rocket ride like some of them. This is near Splash Zone.

Kings Island has its own Zoom Flume, and it looks a lot like the one at Cedar Point. But in this image here is the new-for-2016 Tropical Plunge. It’s rated an Aggressive Thrill Ride (5), but it sure had a lot of riders on Sunday, June 12th. Carowinds in North Carolina, among others, has this ride too.

Cedar Point has sand volleyball at Soak City, and it’s pretty nice as there are plenty of chairs and loungers here. It’s also close by to Main Stream lazy river, Tadpole Town, and Raft Slides. In the background is Hotel Breakers, which opens out onto the Cedar Point Beach on Lake Erie.

Volleyball at Kings Island isn’t located near a beach, but the sand on its two courts is better. There’s also a kids’ volleyball area. The netting usually keeps the balls inside the court and out of the lounge area, but not always. Soft drinks and adult beverages can be found down the hill at Coconut Cafe.

Toft’s Ice Cream is delicious, and compares favorably to Graeter’s Ice Cream, which is served at Kings Island. This stand has a lot of flavors and is located by the Choo-Choo Lagoon. Toft’s has a company parlor, which is always, always packed, 15 miles west on Route 6 (3717 Venice Road).

Graeter’s Ice Cream in Cincinnati utilizes the French Pot method, which means it’s delicious. The service here can be slow, and the menu is limited. As with Toft’s, there is a big company parlor close by: five miles south at 5076 Natorp Boulevard. It has a bakery, too.

The Rapid Waves Cafe at Cedar Point’s Soak City has several items on the season-long meal plan, which can be added to a season pass. There is also a beverage station here, where bottles can be refilled for a cost savings. This stand has chocolate and vanilla soft-serve ice cream, which was good.

Lines can be long during hot weekends in Cincinnati, which is much more humid than Sandusky. A season-long meal plan can also be purchased for a season pass, plus refillable bottles. Check the order receipt, because long lines create confused clerks. (It was easy to get a replacement, though.)

Burgers, char-grilled chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders and hot dogs are on the season-long meal plan. The fries here were hot, but the burger was cold. Guests will need to get their own condiments. The food seems to be better not less than a half-hour before closing time.

The Coconut Cove Bar is located to the side of the Coconut Cove Cafe and also near the volleyball courts. There is Yuengling, Stella, and a few others on draft. There are also bar munchies and frozen drinks. One drawback is that the smoking ban is not enforced in the shaded table area.

The Cedar Point Soak City Subway sandwich shop is located near Raging River Refreshments by the Choo-Choo Lagoon. Service was okay. This is one of the healthier meals on the season-long meal plan at CP Soak City. Subway is also part of the meal plan at Kings Island’s Soak City.

The chicken sandwich should have had cheese, and doesn’t look like the item at the web site. Drinks are not included in the meal plan, so it makes sense to buy a refillable bottle. The refill stations run out of ice and beverage syrups and you’ll need wipes and hand sanitizer to clean the tables.