News-Herald sports reporter Theresa Neuhoff Audia is guest blogger with this account of her recent unpleasant experience at the Hotel Breakers during a family visit to Cedar Point.
Janet Podolak

For as long as I can remember, I have been going to Cedar Point on family vacations.

The past seven years, I have gone with my husband and his family.

We have stayed at Cedar Point's Hotel Breakers every year.

After this year's experience, we may never go back.

My in-laws are retired teachers who have been going to Cedar Point for the past 45 years. During that time, they missed two years - when my husband was born and last summer when my husband and I were married.

When I was young and growing up in nearby Vermilion, staying at Hotel Breakers in Sandusky, Ohio was a big treat.

Now it's a chore.

We stayed at Hotel Breakers East which has not been updated since it was renovated in 1995. The cost was over $300 per night (over $400 per night for my in-laws who had a view of Lake Erie).

For a place which is classified as a resort, one could expect such amenities as clean sheets, a flat screen television and newer carpeting.

But none of those luxuries existed.

The stay was a real disappointment.

The sheets were something you'd expect to find at Goodwill.
The television was old and outdated. The room itself seemed dirty.

According to Cedar Point Public Relations Director Robin Innes, the hotel is owned by Cedar Point. He said the park has over 1,600 rooms and can only renovate a portion of those rooms at a time.

This year, Breakers Express was updated. The last two years, Cedar Point has been working on Sandcastle Suites.

That didn't help us.

What is most upsetting is my in-laws paid over $2,000 for three rooms for two nights. For that price, we could have gone to a resort that was actually worth it.

Cedar Point brings back wonderful childhood memories for me.

The park itself is still going strong.
Hotel Breakers is not.

Each year it continues to deteriorate.
Unfortunately, this year, it took away from our family experience.

We will not be going back anytime soon.

-Theresa Neuhoff Audia
(Neuhoff Audia is a sports writer at The News-Herald.)