Gay Day @ CP: 100% perfect

For all of you who cringed at the thought of a Gay Day at CP, I have to say that it is a great day to attend the park. If you can check your homophobia, testosterone, and religious baggage in a locker, you can go and have a great day with a pretty small crowd. Arrived at the park under a gorgeous clear sky, with fluffy "Simpson-esque" clouds floating over head, the temp on the sign read 67: perfect. Went right to Raptor, always do, don't know why. The music playing in the line was what one of my friends calls "c*ck rock", AC/DC, GNR, etc. Basically, any band with really long hair. The testosterone pumping out of the speakers was 1: really freakin' loud, and 2: annoying.
Great ride after about a 20 minute wait. From there we went to TTD and had a great ride. Even my partner (who doesn't do roller coasters too well) enjoyed it and had a good time on the ride. After a short wait, we were zooming to the top of the ride, and loving every minute of it. As for the new restraints on the ride: I have a 40" waist and weigh about 245 lbs. I was able to connect them with room to spare. I was even able to tighten the strap on MF. So those of you worrying about not "fitting" on the rides do yourself a favor and check BEFORE you go on. I saw several dejected larger folks leaving the rides without riding.
The big mistake of the day came when we were able to walk ride on Magnum right after TTD. The ride was VERY ROUGH and not at all like I remembered it. I convinced my partner to ride it, as he had taken some Dramamine. He was ready to toss his cookies after the ride. We had to take a break while he got his color back and stopped threatening to throw up (how embarrassing!)
From there we wandered back to the Frontier area and did a round on the Mine Ride and the swings. I remember when we would wait for HOURS to ride the Mine Ride. 5 minutes and we were on. The ride is still fun, with some great bumps and a nice view of the park. There were a lot of kids riding, and some of them were holding on for dear life. I remember my first ride on a coaster too. By the end of the ride, they were all laughing and having a good time. From there, my buddy Dale and I went to ride Spine Crusher 2000, also known as Mean Streak. Walked on, and had a great ride. The coaster is a piece of art. Beautiful to look at, a blast to ride, and a whole lot of fun, stop with all the coaster-hatin'!
After lunch we moved on to MF and had a great time in line. This was the first time I had seen a live DJ in one of those booths since they had put them up. Usually it is just music playing from a tape. The DJ was doing a great job of working the crowd and playing fun, upbeat music. Not the rabid head-banging stuff that was pumping out of Raptor. He also knew his crowd, and was playing a lot of Gay faves. Songs would come on and a cheer would come up from the line... especially "Super Model" by RuPaul. All we needed were glow sticks and we would have been all set! He was also doing CP trivia and doing his best to keep the crowd in check by reminding them to not sit on the bars, smoke, etc. A great ride on MF as always.
From there we did the train, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why they won't let you take pictures while riding the train. They are down-right emphatic about telling you this 3 or 4 times. What gives? Did some moron fall off while taking a picture?
If you pick up the train by the Wildcat, you get a great view of MF and its machinery. Great stuff for coaster geeks. I wished that I did have my camera! From there we went to Wildcat, its new colors inducing nausea in most of us. Don't know who has selected the new color scheme, but dang, it hurts. Had a fun, but painful ride on Wildcat, as the car jerked violently as it engaged with the chain, snapping my back against the back of the car, causing a great deal of pain. I still love it though, as it reminds me of riding in my '72 VW Beetle. Knees up to my chin, and no room to move at all. I remember riding a Wildcat type coaster somewhere near Myrtle Beach and it was in the dark. Kind of a cheaper version of Space Mountain, and it scared the heck out of me! Anyone know what I am talking about?
From there we strolled across the park, looking wonderful as always and took the long way around to WT. Waited about 15 minutes and had the chance to preview the new diving show in the old dolphin area. Hint: there are a bunch of hotties in Speedos doing all kinds of crazy dives. May have to come back and check it out. Rode in the very last seat, and I have to say it is a toss up between that and the front of the ride. Both are great. I noticed several of the Ride Ops messing around once the ride was dispatched: playing with the phone, pretending to press buttons, etc. At one point, the ride op nearest us in line was leaning over the fence longingly looking out on Lake Erie, totally ignoring the ride. The park has been open a month and a week, and this guy is already suffering from ennui. Maybe a shift in kiddy land will change his mind!
Lost our partners after the ride, as they went for ice cream and over-estimated our wait time on WT. Wandered around the arcade looking for them, and absolutely loved it. To see some of the games that I played when I was a kid still there is wonderful. After we found our partners we headed over to Blue Streak for our final ride of the day. On the way we passed the old Earthquake ride and building where the Pirate Ride was. I miss those fun rides, and wonder where they ended up. I would KILL for the fortune teller at the beginning of the earthquake ride!
Walked right on the Blue Streak, and gleefully undid my seatbelt as we rounded the corner to the lift. I had pushed my legs up so the bar wasn't smashed into my lap, so I had plenty of room to fly as the coaster took off. My buddy Dale stared at me as I did this, concerned about my health and safety. I was more concerned about my fun and air time!
All in all, a great day at the park. Perfect weather, all the rides were working, and it was Gay Day! What more could you want?

No one fell out of MF. They don't let you take pics on the ride because it is unsafe. If I were you I wouldn't tell people you unbuckle your seatbelt so you can get more air time. It could cause trouble in the long run.

I was talking about the CP railway train, the chug-chug, choo-choo kind. I can totally understand why they won't let you take pics on MF or any of the other coasters.

lol

My mistake.

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Tombear said:
I remember riding a Wildcat type coaster somewhere near Myrtle Beach and it was in the dark. Kind of a cheaper version of Space Mountain, and it scared the heck out of me! Anyone know what I am talking about?

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No. And I'm intrigued as to what you might have been talking about. I grew up in MB and I don't remember anything in the dark other than Haunted Hotel (which, of course I never rode) and Mind Scrambler (which was a Scramber indoors in the dark with lights, disco ball, and smoke).

As far as along the lines of Wildcat, the Pavilion had a Galaxi, but it was outdoors. Magic Harbour had a Galaxi called Black Witch where unfortunately a girl was killed on it. The coaster never reopened, but it wasn't housed indoors, so I'm stumped.

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Tombear said: Walked right on the Blue Streak, and gleefully undid my seatbelt as we rounded the corner to the lift. I had pushed my legs up so the bar wasn't smashed into my lap, so I had plenty of room to fly as the coaster took off. My buddy Dale stared at me as I did this, concerned about my health and safety. I was more concerned about my fun and air time!

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I cannot, in good conscience, read the above without commenting.

Removing a seatbelt and propping up a lapbar is reckless, dangerous and illegal. And you just add to your bad behavior by reporting it on this board.

If you insist on tampering with safety restraints, please don't ever visit Holiday World.

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Raven Maven said:

I cannot, in good conscience, read the above without commenting.

Removing a seatbelt and propping up a lapbar is reckless, dangerous and illegal. And you just add to your bad behavior by reporting it on this board.

If you insist on tampering with safety restraints, please don't ever visit Holiday World.

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I don't think this point could have been made any better. *** Edited 6/21/2004 3:43:21 PM UTC by DragonRider***

I agree.

Awesome TR Tombear, but please keep your seatbelt fastened.

The last thing we need is another enthusiast getting into trouble, or hurt for that matter.

-Tina

Taking off your seatbelt to get more airtime? O....K.

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Tombear said:
If you can check your ...religious baggage in a locker, you can go and have a great day with a pretty small crowd.

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I'm sorry, but my beliefs are not "baggage". And they certainly aren't something that I am going to leave at the door for any reason.

Sean

Easy freaky...

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Raven Maven said:
If you insist on tampering with safety restraints, please don't ever visit Holiday World.

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Or any other parks for that matter....not only are you endangering YOURSELF (which apparently is of little or no concern to you), but you're also jeopardizing other riders, patrons on the ground below you, and the park itself.

Stupid and reckless enough to DO this sort of *stuff*, absolutely beyond the limits to go and REPORT about it.

As for the whole "religious baggage" discussion, all I can say is that *perfect* people can begin the stone throwing at THEIR leisure...

I'm glad those who remove their seatbelts are admitting it in public, so we know who to beat down when ALL parks install 5-point racing harnesses on every coaster. Thanks for helping to ruin it for all of us, Tombear.

Taking off your seatbelt WILL NOT get you more air time. Taking off your seatbelt WILL get you in the running for a Darwin award. Coaster designers include these belts for a reason...don't be a "moran" and assume you know more about safety than trained engineers.

I couldn't agree more with the statements about safety and the seatbelts. Never in a thousand years would I think to raise my knees or just undo the belt for the sake of airtime. We could have very well been reading about your death on the front page of this site. Also, I don't really know anyone personally whom posts here, but I do not want to see any of you wind up dead over "air time".

Other than that, I enjoyed the trip report. Sounds like you had a great time. Personally, I don't see the danger in taking pics from the train as long as you are sitting down to do so.

Don't ever show up at a CoasterBuzz event either. In fact, don't ever post on the site again. Any jackass that thinks they know better than the park when it comes to safety has no business here.