Cedar Point, 5/12/04

Spent just two hours in the park, in part to wish a guy good luck on "his" new park.

Briefly, the park again looked fresh with the new paint here and there. Always looks a little bare that first week or two on the main midway until they can plant the beds.

Raptor was my first ride of the year. Walk-on, three trains, half-empty. Crew is a little inconsistant, but doing OK for being new. Good to see only light trimming again at the mid-course this year. Good times!

Went to Wicked Twister next. They've cut back again on the ride. Second pass in each direction is the full height, but they backed off on the first reverse pass. Bummer. I wonder what their reason for that is. The good news is that the crew had no problem beating the auto-spiel to dispatch.

Passed by Stop Still Dragster twice, both times it was down, though it appeared for short bursts. Bummer. Still only four rides on that damn thing.

On a schedule, I hit Magnum and it delivered. One-train wait with two on. Ran pretty well in the second half, even with the trims on hard.

On my way out, I made the connection that the police seem more visible at the entrances. Saw them out a the marina gate was well.

I was thinking on Saturday how much I'd love to be helping planting those flower beds along the midway.

Stop Still Dragster!! Hahahaha! Jeff, where should I send the royalties for that one cuz I WILL steal that line!!!

Sorry to hear about the cutbacks on WT though. I didn't get to ride it its first year but last year it felt like it could've been so much more... I love the 2 Impulses I've ridden (WT and S:UE, now Steel Venom) but I wonder why it seems they have to alter the ride cycle and modify the supports nearly every year. Oh well...

Because Intamin designed the rides for an ideal condition and not for the winters of northern Ohio? That's my best guess ...

Well the electrical bill has to be outrageous too....so why run it at full speed with minimal crowds and waste a bunch of money....?

Interesting thought, Brett... But would that really make them alter the ride cycle and "neuter" the ride? To me the best part of the Impulses is sitting in the front seat and watching the end of the track come pinwheeling towards you. On S:UE I always freaked out, it got me every time. On WT, I didn't get that feeling at all.

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Kyle Fobe said:
Well the electrical bill has to be outrageous too....so why run it at full speed with minimal crowds and waste a bunch of money....?

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Im SURE CEDAR pOINT has enough maney to pay for the electric bill.

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Impulse-ive said:
Because Intamin designed the rides for an ideal condition and not for the winters of northern Ohio? That's my best guess ...

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What does that have to do with anything?

Well I know they have enough money...but it would just be wasting it. I think you guys wouldn't mind having W.T. run at 3/4ths of speed during spring, if that saves a couple hundred thousand in the electric bill, which might help pay for a new coaster next year.

Dude... you have no idea what you're talking about. Let it go.

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Impulse-ive said:
Because Intamin designed the rides for an ideal condition and not for the winters of northern Ohio? That's my best guess ...

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If that's the case, then Intamin should have taken the conditions into consideration when designing and determining feasibility of building the ride. If your reasoning is correct, then once again Intamin is guilty of shoddy workmanship, in one place or another.

I probably wasn't the first to coin Stop Still Snagster (emphasis on snag!), but the name lives on, unfortunately. Sunday didn't seem to be in Intamin's favor. My poor group had the worst luck with that thing opening weekend, and I wasn't even wearing my Walley World shirt!

I will say that CPLady had us in tears from Dragon's new name: Great Pumpkin. Just wait til Halloween.......I'm making a welcome sign and the whole 9 yards. That park will wish they never touched the brightest crayons in the box. LOL

Magnum is already running like it normally does in the fall, and even Mild Squeak was a good, squeakless ride! Way to go CP.

I got 11 rides on TTD in 4 days - Now Im feeling good having more than jeff. But im not a local so I had to ride it while I could.

Jeff, I didn't think anyone had worse luck with TTD than I did. I only had six rides out of nine visits last year.:( I got two rides in May 10 this year when the park first opened, but it was broke down every time I walked past for the rest of the day. I was hoping that this year would be better, we'll just have to wait and see. If you see my name on the meeting calendar, it probably means TTD will be down that day. ;)

Guess we picked the right day by going on Thursday the 13th. We got 7 rides on Dragster throughout the day. 4 in a half hour in the morning. It had a bad spell in the morning and was down for rain (that's a given) in the afternoon, but other than that seemed to run pretty dern good.

I drove 800 miles and spent 3 days in the park last year and I didn't get to ride it once. :(

pardon me while i have some cheese with my whine.

Um, how about 10 Dragsters in 20 visits for 2003? So far for 2004, I am 3/3!

But many of my trips last year were half days, so I don't think it is too unreasonable to skip certain rides during these trips. Also, my coaster buddy I went with last year was a Guest of Exceptional Size, and couldn't ride the B&Ms and Intamins. Hopefully he can lose some weight by Fall, as I would love it if he got to go on Dragster.

What was this thread about again?

Oh, wait, a May 12, 2004 trip. Great time, and my friend Phil and I beat our record for most rides in one day (34*)

-Sam

*This figure includes multiple laps on the same ride.