Boobuzz and Cattle prods.......
Associated parks:
None
First off, we went into the park on Friday night, and stayed until 11 giving us enough time to walk back to Breakers to rest our weary bones in a VERY cold hot tub, which prompted us to walk our dripping wet selves OUTSIDE to use the new hot tub.....a VERY CHILLING experience. My husband and I went back to the room for a good night sleep.
On Saturday we woke up to the sounds of TTD tests.....the best alarm clock in the world, got dressed in 3 pairs of pants, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 sweatshirts, and 2 pairs of socks and gloves, put on our winter hats, and strolled outside to await our friends to pick us up and take us to the main gate to get our souvenier cups (which promply went back in the car so that we didn't have to find a place to keep them while on TTD and MF)and meal tickets. Went first to TTD, and was PLEASANTLY surprised to see that you could just walk up the exit. Got in a few rides on that and walked over to MF. That was by far the BEST part of my weekend, I got in 7 rides before the resort guests began to infiltrate our ERT. We had actually left the ride to use the restroom and came back to find that they weren't letting anyone in, but failed to tell us why. Turns out, after some prodding that there was, to quote them "some kind of coaster geek event that gets exclusive rides"....after telling them that YES we were part of the Coaster Buzz event we were let in. Turns out, they were letting the resort people in the park early, and weren't asking anyone at the entrance if they were part of Boobuzz, thankfully Tony Clark was all over it, after noticing too many fresh faces he called down to the ride entrance and told them to make sure that they only let in the Coaster Buzz members. I could have done without the insulting remark, but this was to only be the first of many dissapointing encounters with some Cedar Point staff members.
Then at 11:00 am the relatively warm October sun peeked from the clouds, and it was then I noticed....I could smell them coming, and the ground began to tremble beneath my feet as though a stampede was on it's way. It was going to be a crowded day. We stuck around through the resort early entry, and happened to see the parking lot from the top of Maxair.....and got my first glimpse of what was to come.....it wasn't going to be pretty. It was then that my group decided that noon would be a good time to go back to our hotel and grab a snack, and soak in the hot tub for a bit, thus avoiding the inevitable stampede that was to come. We came back to the park in time for the lunch at Coral Corral, went back into the park. The lines were the most outrageous I had ever seen, so the rest of Saturday for us became carny ride day. We hit all the flat rides, and even got into Disaster Transport, apparently most people didn't know that it was still running, even with the haunted house in the main queues. By 6:00 I had become in favor of smoking sections in the park, even though I am a smoker myself. At least on very crowded days, since not a lot of smokers in the crowd had the consideration NOT to have a flaming object in their hand as they pushed through the crowd. That had resulted in my getting a cigarette burn in my brand new Cedar Point sweatshirt, (had been purchased for that extra layer of clothing I knew I was going to need later). This also leads me to another crowd rant. Why is it that large amusment park crowds just don't seem to get it....that no matter how much you push the person ahead of you, they just can't go any faster because there are at least a hundred other people in front of you? This lead me to an idea.....cattle prods.......Cedar Point would make a fortune selling cattle prods on busy days. For those pesky crowd people who like to just STOP in the middle of the midway when a 1,000 people behind them are still trying to move forward to their destination. Just a little zap from the cattle prod to get them on their way again, or at least prompt them to move off the midway onto the side of the path, out of harms way.
As dusk approached the only thing in the world I wanted was Caramel Apple wedges. So I proceeded to stand in line for 20 mins, a line that SHOULDN'T have been 20 minutes, except that they staff member behind the counter moved slower than my grandmother on a cold January day. He also had a nasty habit of walking away and not telling anyone, "could you hold on a second, I'll be right back", one of the other staff members in their would always come and say "have you been helped yet?" after it was apparent that they had been standing like idiots in front of that window for 5 minutes. Then FINALLY it was our turn to order, and you know what? They were out of Caramel.....which would have been nice to know BEFORE I waited in line for 20 minutes. But oh well, we ended up at Provisions, and got not only my Caramel apple wedges, but also a nice hot cup of Hot Cider to warm my body and hands.
Onto Werewolf canyon........it was quite nice, even though it was crowded, the fog hung in the air from the lack of wind, and since I led the group going through, I was startled EVERYTIME, since there were no silly little girls screaming and running like babies in front of me warning of the fright ahead.
We finally went back to the hotel and crawled into bed by 1:00 am to get a good nights sleep before we went back into the park on Sunday. Ended up waking up late and missing the resort early entry, but since it was CONSIDERABLY less crowded, it was no big deal. We still got on MF 6 times, but no TTD since it was either closed or the trains seemed to be having a bit of difficulty making it over the top. Had it just been rollbacks I would have been the first in line, but it seemed to threaten to stop at the top. Since I am terrified of heights enough that I didn't want to be stuck at 420 feet waiting for the maintenace guys to push me over, I opted against it. Sunday was cold and windy enough to keep the people away, but by late afternoon I was spent. Boobuzz was the HIGHLIGHT of my weekend, without the ERT, I might have felt like I wasted my money. I really hope to do it again next year.
And I'll be sure to bring a cattle prod.
One thing though, if you go to a coaster geek event, don't get offended when you are called a geek. :)
-Tambo
This, I like....a LOT: "Cedar Point would make a fortune selling cattle prods on busy days. For those pesky crowd people who like to just STOP in the middle of the midway when a 1,000 people behind them are still trying to move forward to their destination. Just a little zap from the cattle prod to get them on their way again, or at least prompt them to move off the midway onto the side of the path, out of harms way."
Makes me smile....at least I'm not alone... :)
From years ago we have always called them Disney Walkers because that is where we first observed the practice. Totally oblivious to the fact that they are in a moving path, they stop for any reason, seven accross and chat, or tie their shoe. Now we call them Ds for short. But they can be found in all parks!!
Great TR Shockwavegirl! Those were some pretty harsh crowds on Saturday!
What's even more annoying is when a bunch of people run (not walk) to a ride entrance and STOP, blocking the entrance. I usually means that someone in their party doesn't want to go and they have to stand there and argue about it while being oblivious to people TRYING to enter the queue. I never understood that.
"Geek" doesn't bother me. I have been called worse and it had nothing to do with being a coaster enthusiast! ;)
-Tina
*** Edited 10/26/2006 7:06:46 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***
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