Before I get to my actual review, I just want to clarify a couple of points that I consistently hear people say. 1. This is not the only hotel within walking distance to the amusement park. Sandcastles Suites is also within walking distance. 2. Breakers Express is a separate hotel. It is less expensive than "standard" Breakers, but is not within walking distance.

I apologize in advance, but it looks like it's going to be another verbose review from me.

If you're not careful when booking this hotel, you may be in for a couple of surprises. First, if you book through the amusement park's site, you're charged the first night's rate as a deposit. Since, as of this post, rooms start around $120 per night, that's a sizable charge that you might not be expecting to see on your credit card bill. Also, just because you're staying on site doesn't mean you're out of the woods in terms of causeway tolls to the peninsula. You still have to spot the toll/parking fee up front (currently $10--I believe cash only) and get a receipt to get reimbursed at the front desk.

One of the best parts of staying at "standard" Breakers or Sandcastles is the drive that you have to take to get to the hotel. Both take you to the back of the park to get to your accommodation and give you a close, stunning view of roller coasters on one side and take you right up to the edge of Lake Erie on the other side. Ok, so there's a break wall of sorts between the road and the lake, but the view is still amazing. Also, to get to the Breaker's, you have to stop at a guard post and verify your reservation. Kind of a kick to be "on the list". :)

Once we got to the front desk, I leaned over to my girlfriend and whispered "Look, the Cedar Point experience has already started." It was only 3 PM and the queue had already overflowed beyond the roped off area. We were in line for probably about 5 minutes before a clerk was available to check us in. She was fairly friendly, but I felt like a number. She clearly just wanted to get us out of the way so that she could get to the next person in line. This became painfully evident when we followed the directions she gave us to get to our room and found taht were completely in the wrong wing of the hotel. Rather than walk the 200 feet or so from the front desk to our room, we were sent out of the main wing and into the Bon Air wing. Quick aside: I've heard the rooms in this part of the hotel weren't anything to write home about, but they truly looked nothing short of homely. Glorified college dorms at best; complete with the box air conditioner units sticking out of the side of the building as if they were an afterthought.

Once we found and got settled into our room, number 1311, we were pretty happy. The windows looked directly out onto one of the three exterior pools. The pool was a whopping 75 feet away from the window, but we just closed the curtains because we were traveling with cameras and such that we didn't really want anyone to see. While I'm talking about the pools, a nice feature at this hotel is that anytime the pool is open, there is at least one lifeguard on duty. Something you don't see too much of anymore. The pools, however, were quite crowded, especially with young children, so we never got a shot at going for a swim.

The bed was average to slightly below average in terms of comfort. The linens seemed to be fairly comfortable. The bathroom was older. A toilet and bath/shower were crammed into the fairly small bathroom with the sink left outside, but that's pretty common at several hotels. There looked to be some mold growing on the top of the plastic shower fixture.

There are four restaurants located at the hotel, including a TGI Friday's, which served food until around midnight, which was a nice stop on the way out of the park at night.

One other feature of staying at a Cedar Point property is the ability to enter the park an hour earlier than the vast majority of the other park customers. There are only a handful of rides that are operating before the park opens to the general public, so you can ride on one or more of those, get an early spot in a line for a ride you want to ride, or both.

To sum up: remember that you are probably not paying so much for a luxurious night as much as you're paying for the privilege of staying very close to the park. If you get tired half way through the day, you can go back to the room for a nap. You don't have to fight traffic in the morning getting to the park, etc.