A former seasonal's POINT of view (May 6th)

What a difference six months makes. Last October 30th, I was the Assistant Team Leader of Iron Dragon. Now, on May 6th, I have an entirely new perspective as a "guest"! I gotta say, I like it better on this side of the "air gates."

We (Me, my friend Bob who also worked at CP last year, my brother Derek, and my fiancee’s sister Alex) pulled up to the tollbooths at 8:45. Paying $9 sucks after just driving through all last year. After parking, we get in line to buy our season passes, which took about 45 minutes, not horrible all things considered.

First ride of the day was going to be Wicked Twister, but since it wasn’t open yet, we hopped on maXair after a 10 minute wait. Great ride, and they increased the ride time this year to 7 full swings (it helps to know people). By then, Twister was open, so we walked on to the train near the back to get two different rides in less than 10 minutes.

We headed towards the back, walking past Dragster (not even testing yet) and Magnum, which wasn’t open at 10:20. That led us to Gemini, Bob’s ride last year. Can’t ride anything but the back here, and it still delivers buckets of air! Most people were even slapping hands, as was I since I could this year!

After checking out the "Landscaping Project / Rock Garden," we decided to grab a swing on Skyhawk. Full queue, but the wait was only a touch over a half hour, which will only get better with time. Awesome ride, a little on the short side, but definitely a fun, family experience with some good thrill. We grabbed a stick of cotton candy and headed to the Force!

Half-hour wait for the best coaster in the world?! I’ll take it in a second. We filled up the third car and I remembered why I absolutely love every second of this insane ride. They were hitting interval like nobody’s business, and the NEW SEATBELTS may have helped a little bit. It was great to see this doing what it was meant to do again.

After Millennium, we took a spin on my ride, the Iron Dragon! It kind of hit me here that I wasn’t an employee anymore, especially since I knew nobody working on the Dragon. Catching the Skyride back up to the front of the park, Raptor was our next stop! Another half-hour wait for another awesome ride! April was very enthusiastic on the mic, probably just happy to be away from Mantis!

Time to leave the point for lunch. Burger King sounded like a good time, and it was. We even grabbed crowns to wear back at the Point! Our first ride back was Cadillac Cars, where we wore our crowns and had our picture taken by Samantha! Heading back past Dragster (down at that time), Magnum was a 10 minute wait! We said hi to Phil and got one of the better rides on Magnum in a long time sitting in 2.3.

Dragster was spotty, so we rode Power Tower Down. This still is the scariest moment for me in the park, sitting perched up there not knowing when you’re going down! We headed up towards the front to say hi to Kiddy Kingdom TL Megann, who looked frazzled, and I can’t blame her. maXair was down (shocker!), and Disaster (my original ride) had a 45 minute wait, so we grabbed another Twister Spin that took about 20 minutes.

After Twister, we decided to get in line for Dragster and see what happened. Just as we got in line, Dragster started to run, and run well, launching about 1 a minute. We were flying through the 1.25 hour line. After about 25 minutes, I knew something was going on by the way the brake fins on the brake run wouldn’t retract after the train basically stopped. They got it working in 20 minutes, it broke again (same thing), and was spotty for the next hour and a half. Between people leaving and some getting rides, we made it up to the station, where I got to see what exactly was going on. Apparently, one proxy sensor in Unload 1 was giving them problems all day, and according to those working there that I knew, they had replaced it four different times with no results. The launch was fine, brakes were working fine, it was just one stupid proxy sensor. Eventually we got on and the ride still delivers, with the launch as a truly breathtaking experience. We decided that it was time to leave, since we were all spent and had a 3.5 hour drive (well, I did).

Overall, it was a rather positive day. We got to ride everything we wanted to with half-hour waits for the most part. I was rather disappointed with the number of rides that weren’t open on time or were closed for an extended period of time. Also, if Dragster keeps up like this, how much longer are they gonna fight with the headache? It was a flippin’ sensor! Also, I think Skyhawk is a great new addition with a lot of upside and should be very reliable (even though it broke at the end of the day). I also realized I don’t miss working there. It was a great summer, but I don’t think I could do it again. I do wish I lived closer, though.

"Also, if Dragster keeps up like this, how much longer are they gonna fight with the headache? It was a flippin’ sensor!"

Still, could be worse...look at the SFNJ ride...;)

Millie hitting interval has to make up for all downtime everywhere else. They couldn't hit crap last year.

By the way, great report.

Very good to hear MF hitting their interval, the line moves really fast when they do.

Someone on Coasterbuzz always criticizes Intamin's controls for being way too complicated. Rather than move the trains one at a time like everyone else, they move them all at the same time so there are more sensors and more that can go wrong.

All in all, it was one of the better days ride-wise I can remember. TTD was expected in some ways, but even it seemed to be more tamed than usual. It's shutdowns were quickly repaired.

Our track record opening day went like this:

Raptor - 10 min.

Millenium Force - approx. 30 min.

Wicked Twister - 15-20 min.

Disaster Transport - 20 min.

Gemini & Magnum - Walk-on's

Iron Dragon - maybe 5 min.

Skyhawk - 20-25 min. (Which was great to me, considering it was opening day.)

Longest wait had to be Wildcat, (approx. 30-35 min.) but that nothing new to me.

Sounds great! I'll be there in 40 dayss! :)

Floorless Fan, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Dragster seemed tame. Something about it just wasn't as forceful as it used to seem. It could be that I'm used to it, though. No one else seems to notice it.

I'll tell you what though, I went back on Tuesday and I don't know WHAT they did with TTD, but it ran all damn day. It's about time and it was really awesome to see it flying over the tower every 40 seconds or so all day long.

-Josh

"Half-hour wait for the best coaster in the world?! I’ll take it in a second. We filled up the third car and I remembered why I absolutely love every second of this insane ride. They were hitting interval like nobody’s business, and the NEW SEATBELTS may have helped a little bit. It was great to see this doing what it was meant to do again."

Does this mean longer for bigger people, or just new buckles, or something else? This was my first major ride and I would love to ride it again.

I've never had a problem with the seatbelts, so I can't say as to length; but they were definately new buckles and straps. I would assume they are longer since in the 5 or so trains I saw get dispatched not one person "had to walk."