CBCon 2003 from the Webmaster's Wife
Associated parks:
None
Since Jeff could not attend the event, I made arrangements for Nicole, one of my best friends, to come along. She hasn’t ridden a roller coaster or been to an amusement park since Magnum opened at Cedar Point in 1989! She’s also a vegan, which makes eating at the park a somewhat challenging experience.
We arrived in the morning with bellies full of sushi from the previous night’s dinner. I introduced myself to Susie, a public relations bigwig, and headed over to ERT on Superman: Ultimate Flight. Even though I only took two rides, I completely enjoyed the experience. The ride met my expectations and I absolutely adored the comfortable restraints. I tried to coax Nicole on, but I don’t think she was ready to ease back into riding by starting the day off with something so intense. Later that day, she admitted to me (as we saw the three hour wait for the ride) that she regretted not hopping on when she had the chance.
After Superman, we headed over and rode Batman: The Ride together. As Nicole’s first ride in over 10 years, it was probably not the easiest for her, but she enjoyed her encounter with a B & M inverted. I then chatted in line with ‘Buzzers Sarah, Bob and Christen as we waited for V2. Next, Nicole and I headed then headed for a rough ride on Iron Wolf. All three rides totaled about a 10 minute wait. That was uncharacteristic of the rest of the day as the skies brightened, the air warmed up significantly and tons of people flooded into the park.
At this point, I met up with Josh and Greg. Together, we took a spin on the backwards American Eagle. The lines for all of the other rides were outrageously long since the park had tripled in guests by that point. Since my time at the park was limited, we invested in two fastlane passes. I am not an advocate of this system because it normally makes up for poor capacity on rides, long lines due to poor ride operation, and you shouldn’t have to pay for an improvement in capacity. Plus, the pricetag of these things ($12 for four rides) made me reluctant to buy one since similar systems are in place (for free) at other parks, but for me it really served its purpose. Our wait on Raging Bull was cut from over one and a half hours to a little less than 5 minutes. I also used it for both Nicole and I to ride the Whizzer which has a deceptively long wait time. The fastpass is not a bad deal when it is split between multiple people, especially if you are on a restricted time budget and will probably never return to the park. In Southwest Territory, we ate some grub because we were unable to wait for the picnic. We managed to find these enormous veggie fajitas and french fries.
I managed to get on all the major rides with the exception of three. Unfortunately, Déjà Vu was down as usual, I have no children to ride Spacely’s Sprocket Rockets and Viper went down after the picnic as we were getting in line. I would have been able to hit my 100th coaster if it was not for those facts. For all of you who would like to know, my track record now stands at a measly 98. :) I got Nicole onto four of the coasters that day, not bad for someone who hasn’t ridden in a long time.
The picnic went well. There was tons of food (although nothing vegan-friendly except for the chips and pickles) and I got to meet many of the people in attendance. I took some photos of individual attendees before Bugs Bunny showed up for a brief visit. Afterward, I rounded everyone up (with the help of Josh and a microphone) for the group photo.
What a posing nightmare! Not only was there a ton of people, but there was little sun and no area big enough to contain the group. After some tricky table arranging (thanks to my dearest table-moving friend), I managed to squeeze everyone in. Standing on a picnic table, I took a few shots for CoasterBuzz and then fiddled with a million other cameras for the attendees (be on the lookout for the pictures to be posted later in the week). I did my best to be entertaining all the while, so thanks to all for putting up with my wittiness.
For me, the best part of the trip was being able to share the experience with Nicole, although I am sorry that Jeff could not be present. What’s a coaster trip without the biggest coaster lover in my life? Before heading out of the park at 4:30pm, we bought a couple of t-shirts, got a little sunburn, had three punches on my fastpass and could barely carry our exhausted selves to the rental car.
Thanks to all the CoasterBuzzers in attendance, especially Greg, Kara and Josh for being my companion, and making me comfortable throughout the day. Thank you to Jeff for giving me the opportunity to represent the club and for being excited for me even though he could not be there. A big thanks is definitely needed for Nicole who held me stuff while I rode and tolerated spending half of our “vacation” at the park. And finally, thanks to Six Flags for giving us ice cream bars and bomb pops at the picnic. Oh yeah, ERT was cool too. ;)
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-Stephanie
Moderator and wife of the infamous webmaster
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CBClub member #30 and #364 (renewal)
I'm glad you had fun, Steph. It was only my 2nd time there and I can say I had much better rides on this trip than I did after last SRM. I actually *LIKED* Raging Bull this time
I had an awesome time. I like SFGrAm - it's too bad not all SF parks are as cool as SFGrAm <cough>cleveland<cough>.....
-Josh
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Don't...Look....Back
*** This post was edited by Raven-Phile 5/18/2003 10:45:35 PM ***
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Bob Hansen
Resident Airtime Whore
It was really cool seeing you and Nicole for a little bit...glad to hear she did brave a few coasters. You should drag her on Magnum this summer :).
Look forward to checkin out the pics...
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Kara (car-uh)
Magnum Crew '03
1024 Laps on Timbers
621 in '02
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All who think Mean Streak needs a match taken to it say I.
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
Stephanie said:
What a posing nightmare! Not only was there a ton of people, but there was little sun and no area big enough to contain the group. After some tricky table arranging (thanks to my dearest table-moving friend), I managed to squeeze everyone in.
That would have been me, Stephanie... ;)
Steph: "Need to guys to move a table"
Redman gets up...noone else moves a muscle.
Steph: "Move this table over here"
Redman: "Sure"
Steph: "Nope, not far enough..."
Redman: "OK"
Steph: Good, now move the other table over here"
Redman: "Fine"
Steph: "Fetch me a soda"
Redman: "Now you're pushing it... ;) "
Redman heads back to old spot in front row, only to find someone else in it and not moving....ends up in back as a "floating head"... :(
But, nonetheless, thanks to you and Jeff for putting together a wonderful day.
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
*** This post was edited by redman822 5/19/2003 9:48:35 AM ***
I definitely do look forward to meeting with you again....preferably next time I wont steal your spot.
Jeremy
PS: EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS to Susie Story who kindly allowed (and unexpectedly) an extra guest whom we were going to make wait in the car until 10am to join us for ERT.
Also thanks to all whom I met and got to chat with at the park finally putting faces to screen names. And thanks to Stephanie for being there for this event and for putting it together.
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Zero G Thrills - Moved and Improved
*** This post was edited by beast7369 5/19/2003 10:05:04 AM ***
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redman822 said:
That would have been me, Stephanie... ;)
Steph: "Need to guys to move a table"
Redman gets up...noone else moves a muscle.
Steph: "Move this table over here"
Redman: "Sure"
Steph: "Nope, not far enough..."
Redman: "OK"
Steph: Good, now move the other table over here"
Redman: "Fine"
Steph: "Fetch me a soda"
Redman: "Now you're pushing it..." ;)
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I remember myself as being extremely witty and charming throughout the incident....without being quite so bossy. ;) Seriously, thanks for stepping forward and moving all those tables for me. I definitely appreciate it. And for those of you who watched - shame on you for making Redman do all the work!
I enjoyed meeting you too, NoLimitChic. I do look forward to seeing some of you again at BeastBuzz in a few weeks.
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-Stephanie
...still waiting for my soda from Redman.
*** This post was edited by Stephanie 5/19/2003 10:23:00 AM ***
*** This post was edited by Stephanie 5/19/2003 10:23:47 AM ***
Besides, It made me feel like I was at home with my wife... ;) ROFL "Yes, dear...." LOL
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
Kara. I always thought the "ST" in your name stood for "Shivering Timbers" but after meeting you Saturday I now think it might stand for "Super Tall" :) Just messin, and once again it was great meeting some of you.
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
Chitown said: it was great meeting some of you.
Only Some of us?! ;) Even though you didnt realize you met me you did. I am the one you thought was Kick the Sky's (Bob) wife! It was nice meeting you anyways! :)
redman822, sorry I didn't help with the tables. After I hit the ground for the photo, I just couldn't get my "by then very tired legs" to unfold and push my body up. It's not a good excuse, but it's an excuse.
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Goccvp1
SFGAm...When you need a good example of a SF park, this is where you look.
NoLimitChic said:
Chitown said: it was great meeting some of you.Only Some of us?! ;) Even though you didnt realize you met me you did. I am the one you thought was Kick the Sky's (Bob) wife! It was nice meeting you anyways! :)
When I meant "some", I was referring to the people I did meet. I dont know why I thought you were Bob's wife. Of course he corrected me real quick on that. It was great meeting you as well. We have to go beat up Jeff for not putting our screen names on our tags. ;)
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
It was great seeing so many familiar faces, and meeting the people behind the screen.
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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"I can't believe I just left a nuclear weapon in an elevator." -- Farscape
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
GregLeg said:
I dunno, enough people seemed to know I was "GregLeg" for some reason ;)
Gee, could that be due to the fact your name is Greg LEGowski? ROFL.... ;)
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
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