Cedar Point 10/25 and 10/26 The true last ride on
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It rained most of Saturday, but just about everything was running but Dragster. They tried to get TTD up and running later in the day, but it just wasn't working. They opened the line for a while, but rollback after rollback after rollback forced them to close it back up. After waiting for about an hour for them to open it back up, I decided to give up on it.
I seemed to be jinxed. Several times on several rides, I waited in line up to the station or even the train and they would close it. I waited about 4 queue lines up to the steps of Magnum and they closed it. I was in line for Dragster and they closed it. I was in line for Gemini and waited three trains for the blue side, and as I went to step into the train, they closed the blue side. So I turned around and waited for the red side. Three more trains and I was about to get in and they closed the ride. After the Magnum went down, I thought I would walk around to the Fright Zone and that was closed because of the rain, so I walked back to Werewolf Canyon and they had just closed that. So I walked back to MF and got two last ride in that night. The second was the very last train of the night and it was raining fairly hard. OUCH!!! With a capital OUCH!!! The pictures were kinda funny with everyone trying to cover their faces from the rain.
All in all, Saturday wasn't too bad. There were still a lot of people in the park even with the bad weather, but I was able to ride everything that I wanted to except TTD at least once.
I met up with my sister Sunday morning and we entered the park about 9:30. Magnum and TTD were not open, so we headed over to MF for few quick rides. Then over to Mantis for a few quick rides, got our freeway stamp for MF and then headed off to other parts of the park. We took the train back to Frontier town and hit MS and then worked our way back toward the front of the park. Everything was running great. Magnum seemed faster than normal for some reason.
Dragster was now testing, so I got in line. My sister was not quite ready to ride, so she sat in the bleachers with the video camera and taped my front seat ride. The line went real slow at first because they were only running with the first five seats loaded. Then a few launched with 6 filled then seven filled then 8, then finally they were launching full trains. It was all warmed up and running great. I was paired up with a deaf person in the gold train. It was his first time on it. I really feel bad that I wasn't able to communicate with him. The train launched and we went over without a hitch, bummer, I really wanted a rollback. Then the ride broke and we were stuck in the brake run for about 20 min. Ode, the deaf person next to me really enjoyed the ride, but it bummed me out that I could not communicate with him. He could read my lips, but he could not speak much and I do not know sign language. Maybe I will try to learn some this winter. They finally got the ride going again and I met back up with my sister and we headed over to MF just in time to use our freeway pass.
After that, I got some video of the park and then we headed up to the Midway Market. After eating, we hit the Toxic Tunnel. Not too bad, but we got bunched up inside and we knew where all of the guels were. The Mortuary in the back was better because they kept us more spread out and we didn't get bunched up inside.
After the tunnel, we hit more rides. Blue Streak was running fine and gave us plenty of air. Raptor was also running very well. Great job whoever carved the Raptor Pumpkin!
One of my goals was to get the last ride of the night on MF, so we worked our way around the park with that in mind. We got out of the Mortuary at about 7:30 and headed up to MF. When we arrived, there was already about a dozen people there with the same idea. The line was walk on, but I wanted the last ride of the year, so I just waited outside the entrance. Our group slowly grew and we saw several people run past us 2 or 3 times marathoning. The ride op, knowing our intentions, closed the line at about 8:05 and we entered. We had 26 people in our little group to ride the last train of the year. Then, as we neared the station, the ride op started letting more people in. This was a group of ACE members. This is when things got ugly. I talked to the one lady and she basically said that you guys and going to get the last ride. There are too many now and that's Tony back there. Tony had ridden over 500 times, and Terry has ridden over 300 times in one year and we should get the last ride. She acted like a real "female dog." These ACErs were nowhere to be found when the line closed, but they were let in anyway. Than the ride ops in the station catered to them. They made us get into the train in the station, telling us to get in or not ride while the ACErs stood in the back of the station. Everyone in our train was pissed and yelling at the ride ops. I truly believe that there was room for everyone in our train, but they sent our train out with 4 empty rows and saved the last train for the ACErs and two from our group who were CP employes.
That really pissed me of. Just because I'm a working stiff and live 3 hours away from the park and can't rack up 300 rides in a year, I'm a second class customer. I headed right up to park operations and complained. Maybe it sounds petty or stupid, but it really ruined an otherwise good weekend. That is the last time that I ever wait for the last train.
I still didn't meet any coaster buzzers. I looked for Jeff, but did not run into him. Maybe next year I'll meet some fellow Buzzers.
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2003 Parks: Cedar Point, SFWOA, Kennywood, PKI, MIA, SFGAM, SFKK and HW.
Still deciding where to go in 2004.
Yelling and screaming at the ride ops surely couldn't have made things any better.
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From SFKK in April to Dragster's Last Train of the year, thanks everyone for such amazing friendships.
As far as last rides go, I won't be doing it again anytime soon. It's not worth the hassle and embarassment. I have no plans to fight or a last ride on The Beast this upcoming Sunday evening. If there isn't enough people to fill the train, then that's something different, but if there is people fighting over seats, then I am out of there.
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean Flaharty 10/28/2003 9:25:29 PM ***
Like I said before MagnumForce, it may sound stupid, or petty, but we waited for that ride just to be able to say that we had the last ride of the year. We could have marathoned and got in two or three rides, but we wanted "THE LAST RIDE."
It was the first time that I ever waited for the last ride and will be the last time that I waited for the last ride.
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2003 Parks: Cedar Point, SFWOA, Kennywood, PKI, MIA, SFGAM, SFKK and HW.
Still deciding where to go in 2004.
*** This post was edited by CP ismyhome 10/28/2003 10:34:35 PM ***
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I'm highjacking every post! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):);)
-Sean
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2003 Parks: Cedar Point, SFWOA, Kennywood, PKI, MIA, SFGAM, SFKK and HW.
Still deciding where to go in 2004.
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I dont care what anyone says Magnum is better then MF, which is better then TTD!
I would have complained too, especially if the ops were cooperating with these people. Who cares how many rides you had on something in a year, a patch on your (ugly) jacket doesn't mean you should be able to get into line after a bunch of "regular joes" who waited their turn and followed the rules so they could have a thrilling "last ride".
And those of you who keep saying "is it really that big a deal" yes, it is. Don't even begin to tell me that if you were waiting in line for a ride, even mid-season just to say you rode it, and someone with an ACE patch cut in front of you (with the op's permission) then they shut the ride down for whatever reason and you didn't get to ride, you wouldn't be pissed.
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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 10/29/2003 10:06:25 AM ***
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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff
Does that make even the slightest bit of sense?
-CO
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The scholar, the eternal question and a lot of REALLY stupid jokes. Celebrate Pancake Day 10/27. Check local listings for events.
It's what matters to you personally. Maybe you don't care about the last ride, I can't say that I necessarily would (although my last of the season ended up being 7 in a row on WT - I can't think of a better way for me to end) but CPihm wanted his last ride to be MF and his plans were ruined by the a$$holishness of others who felt it was their right to put their plans over his.
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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
Impulse-ive said:
Obviously this group of ACErs have not been paying attention to the warnings and such given out to the community, and their behavior shows exactly why coaster enthusiasm is one of those hobbies that you keep hidden from others (at least for me it is ... )
I think people are missing a very important key here. What if someone from the PARK wanted someone to have the last ride? How is the fan of the ride to blame? Anyone ever thought about that?
I know for the last train of the season on Dragster, a group of us were asked to wait in the station, by someone from the park earlier in the day. Not one person in our group asked a ride operator for the last ride. The crew knew they were about to do something special for someone and they wanted some of us to witness it. That's all. It was given to us.
Now, I don't know about what happend on MF, but if I had to guess, it would be something similar. I just don't see why people became so upset about it. From what I saw first hand, if they wanted the last train, they could have easily just asked for it and the operators would have probably given it to them. After all, the group I was with was there to see someone get a plaque. Not to whore up the last ride (which ended up being a bonus from the crew).
Because of the immature behavior of a few people that thought they "deserved" the last ride, they were asked to ride or leave. If they had been cool about it, they could have stayed but they jumped to conclusions and automatically started making comments to some of us that were very uncalled for, when in fact they didn't know what was going on.
So, the way I look at it, those that were treated by the park to get on that last GP train out didn't make anyone look bad. It was those that were crying and yelling at the ride operators that it wasn't fair.
Back in 1998, I also witnessed a group of enthusiasts arguing over last rides of the year and that is why I decided to never aim for a last ride again. To me, last rides were all about fun and a great way to close out the season. Not about bragging rights.
Sad to say, there are still a group of enthusiasts that still think they deserve stuff. Next time, trying being cool about it and see what happens.
-Sean (proud to be an enthusiast) F.
Nobody got in line after they closed it off - We were all standing there the same time you were (outside of the queue). We just waited for them to cut the line and close the make-shift queue rails outside before we started walking up the entrance. What really was annoying is the CHILDISH way people wouldn't move up the line... It was like it was a witchhunt.. Nobody would move. There was a whole group of people standing where the freeway mergepoint is and they wouldn't move.. Then when they finally did, we made it up the ramp to near the unload platform, and they wouldn't move again.. Finally they told you all to get on the train or you wouldn't get a ride in - I can't blame them. It was childish BS.
For the record, I only saw 1 ACER, but I could also be wrong.
The ride-ops also rode with us, which was a nice touch. Who better to get a last ride than people who ran the ride all year long?
I know I'll probably get flamed for this, but cpimh is just plain wrong - yeah it sucks you missed out on the last ride, but there was not enough open seats. Period. I counted 3 times.
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Wow! Now I can go to Mickey-Dees, get me some Dippin' Dots, close my eyes, and pretend I'm getting ripped off at some amusement park.:) Yeah, that'll get me through the off-season...
It's always sooo very easy to say other people are childish when you're given the 'privilege' to their exclusion.
If it really didn't matter, why didn't you offer them your seat and just watch the plaque presentation in the station? It's because aw-shucks-I'm-just-a-citizen-of-the-world folksiness aside, you wanted it too. Just admit it.
-CO
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The scholar, the eternal question and a lot of REALLY stupid jokes. Celebrate Pancake Day 10/27. Check local listings for events.
*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 10/29/2003 2:47:27 PM ***
CoastaPlaya said:
Sean F: And had you missed the last train and there weren't enough seats, you're telling us you would have felt the same? Exactly the same? No difference?No difference at all Playa. I don't care about things like that. I wouldn't have been upset. I did care to see what was going to happen after the last ride returned though. At two points while I was in the station, I actually considered leaving the station and getting a last ride of the night on another train so I could see what was to happen once the last train arrived at the station. However, one ride operator did ask me to stay. The final ride of the night happend. I didn't plan for it.
"It's always sooo very easy to say other people are childish when you're given the 'privilege' to their exclusion."I totally agree, but they could have easily had that "privilege" had they just shut up and waited maybe 20 seconds. I mean, litterally as they were complaining, the choice was made to load to fully load the last train out but since they were yelling, they missed that announcement. As you said, the privilege was given by someone from the park. It wasn't demanded by anyone on the last train out.
S o, yes, they were being childish about it. I have a funny feeling that even though they would have gotten on that last train out, they would have been yelling at the ride operators to send them around again and refuse to get out of the train. After all, they wouldn't stop smoking when the rider operators asked them to put their cigarettes out, so why should they follow anymore rules?
The park had been planning something special for someone regarding the last ride for a while now. That's why we were asked to stay and watch. It was a big deal to a few of us and to one person in particular. The actual last ride bragging right was nothing that night. There was something deeper that occured that night.
"If it really didn't matter, why didn't you offer them your seat and just watch the plaque presentation in the station?"
I actually considered that but since they were being so rude about it, I wasn't about to offer them something I had no control over. Yes, I could have said, "Please, take my seat so I can watch this," but there was a group of them. One of the things they were whinning about was they were a large group and they wanted enough seats for the entire group. How was I to control who gets my seat out of a group of crybabies?
"It's because aw-shucks-I'm-just-a-citizen-of-the-world folksiness aside, you wanted it too. Just admit it.
That seems like a shallow comment from someone that doesn't know me very well. Ask anyone I was hanging out with that evening. I said many times that night that I specifically didn't want to go through the hassel of fighthing for the last train of the night. I said that in the morning. I said that even in the station before the yelling started. I did want A last ride, but not THE last ride. If I REALLY wanted the true last ride, I would have said so to anyone that evening. Honest. However, I don't expect you to understand as you obviously don't know me very well.
Yes, it's true. I don't care about stuff like that. I am there to have fun and that's that. Anyone that truly knows me understands this. I don't know how I can make this even more clear. The last ride of the season was a bonus from the park. I didn't aim for the last ride of the year. It just happend.
-Sean
*** This post was edited by Sean Flaharty 10/29/2003 3:10:53 PM ***
Closed topic.
