Coastermania / Holiwood Nights 2011

Just wanted to post to hear some stories from both. We went to Coastermania this year and had a blast. Great ERT and fun times. The crowd was not too bad and saw lots of new faces so where did you go?

We went to mania as well. Really thought I wouldn't enjoy it but I was wrong. It was really great. The crowds were much lighter than expected. We waited just short of an hour for each Millie, Maverick, and TTD. Other than that it was all just about walk on.We were always out of the park between 2 and 7 so I guess the lines could have been longer then. The night ERT sessions were excellent. Couldn't get up for the mourning one though. The food sessions were some what dissapointing. But that may comparing them to Holiday Worlds which isn't fair. The line up for the friday night dinner was insane. The drink wristband system worked better than I would have thought. It was almost as convenient as HW's. Windseeker was not up the whole weekend. As a sidenote Wonderlands is totally up right now. All of the rides were running really well. Mean Streak was better than expected but still terrible. Shoot the Rapids was really enjoyable... a really nice flume. Mantis is getting really hard to ride more than once. Magnum was killin it on the friday night ERT. I always thing CP has 5 coasters equally good and it just depends on your mood which one is best at the time, and this weekend it was magnum. I didn't overly like millie this weekend until we got back to back night rides which were awesome. Overall it was a really great weekend. I thought this would be my first and last Mania but now I'm not so sure. HWN's is deffinatly next in line though. Looking forward to hearing about hwn's and anyone who went to see Kinzel talk would like to hear what he talked about... I was too busy finishing off the boneless wing, celelry, and meatball buffet ;)

We went to CM this weekend and had a great time, but now I am paying for it and will be taking another nap here shortly.

Went to HWN and it was awesome as usual. Voyage was rougher than it was last year, but still flying during ERT and a great time. Dan Kinzel seems to not like riding coasters so much, but he made is obvious that he was jumping in with both feet to connect with enthusiasts and continue the HW traditions...while taking the corny jokes to new levels. He promised growth, but that HW would retain its big heart. Other members of the family are visibly involved as well. Young Leah Koch had an especially interesting request when she asked for some specific feedback on ideas for a future steel coaster. They specified they would not be buliding one next year and it was not guranteed, but this is something seriously being considered for their 5 and 10 year plans. The survey made it seem like budget was not a huge issue and I voiced my opinion that an Intamin hyper/megalite with excessive negative G's was the way to the top of the steel charts. I got a chance to speak with Leah during ERT and I asked if they go out and ride the best rides to see what to build and she said no. She got some rides on the front of Voyage due to auction results, but said she had not ridden it for a few years. Apparently Dan only rides Voyage once per year and then again during ERT due to auction results again. It seems that those making the huge decisions are not coaster lovers themselves, but they are very enthusiasticly involved and are looking to us for help. Please fill out the survey if you went to HWN; and those with closer ties to the park, let them know you are there for any guidence they need but will not be overbearing. Or maybe a little overbearing. HW can build a number one steel coaster with our help just like they did with wood.

The members of the Koch family that love to pound the rides with us are the tiny granddaughters just tall enough to rides. Those little troopers had their HWN shirts on and were marathoning the rides during ERT along with the rest of us!

I went to CM and it was incredible as always! The ERT sessions were all great. The best moment of the entire event was when they kept MF open until Midnight Saturday night and opened the maintenance gate for quick rerides! I believe they did this because Windseeker wasn't open so they gave everyone MF instead. Kudos to Cedar Point for doing this. The only real con I had from the whole event was waiting over an hour for the food Friday night but in all honesty everything else made up for it completly. I mean they remedied that issue with lunch the next day by opening it up prior to the 2:30pm start time so the lines were very minimal to get food. Again Kudos to CP for making these adjustments.

Dan Kinzel seems to not like riding coasters so much

LOL, are you sure you were really at HWN?

LOL, wups. I meant Dan Koch. Sorry Dan!

Yeah I thought the crowds were light as well and did not see many familiar faces from the Cincy area there. But that is good as we met/saw people from all over. The wrist band was fantastic! We paid ours off about 20x over and hope they keep that around. Do wish they would have picked a lighter color than black and not long sleeve for the t-shirt but as we said, we could have worn it Fri night as it was windy and cool. So I was wondering if there was a big crowd at HWN since we did not see it. Also really wish HWN would move to the second weekend in June so we could attend both. :-( Interesting to hear voyage running rough as I thought they did a lot of maintenence off season this year? Hey how was the rotting corn smell? We hope to be there next year as we seem to be in the Coastermania this year, HWN the next since at the same time. Did anyone attempt to do both?

No smell and the crowd seemed large in the pavillion but lines were short with many reride opportunites except for the money seats on Voyage. Front seat rides were about a 20 minute wait, but worth it. The first car was very smooth and awesome. One of the trains was rougher than the other, and the bottom of the 2nd hill had a very strong rattle. Legend also had one train rougher than the other but was also running very strong. Raven was doing its thing as usual. They offered free cupcakes by Voyage during ERT (Dan's birthday), had laptops set up for the surveys, and gave out E.T.'s favorite candy upon leaving ERT on Saturday night. I guessed wrong but they gave me some anyway. Oh, and the first ever bobblehead of Pat Koch sold for $250. No offense Pat, but that was crazy. Also, Pat popped out of a birthday cake for Dan.

I was at CM and it was awesome as usuall. I got my 2nd rollback on TTD but this time i was in the front seat. The only way i would go to HN over CM is if they add another 14 coasters! lol

Did HWN , Camped, Did fridays ERT but did not go to the park saturday Went to a race in Nearby Haubstadt IN. Race got over at 9pm and I made the last two hours of ERT getting five Voyage. Seven Legend and about ten Raven nights to end the weekend.

Had a great time as always. It was hot. Voyage was and I like agressive coasters . UNRIDABLE In the second and sixth cars. But great in the front or back car. For some reason in them two cars the washboard is intensified by a side to side shake. Seriously. I could only stand one ride the two times I rode in those seats but had four or five consectutive in the front with no problems.

Anyhow. Great time.
Chuck, who thought Raven and Legend were running very well.

Went to my first CM. Took my son and met my brother in law and two nephews there. We all had a great time. Crowds were lighter than I expected (or at least feared they might be). Crowd really thinned out Saturday afternoon/early evening. Brother in law and younger nephew skipped out on ERT Saturday morning and headed to Soak City Saturday afternoon. Son and other nephew got their first rollback on Dragster Friday night. I enjoyed talking with various people waiting in lines, riding rides, eating lunch, etc.

Collin Aynes said:
I went to CM and it was incredible as always! The ERT sessions were all great. The best moment of the entire event was when they kept MF open until Midnight Saturday night and opened the maintenance gate for quick rerides! I believe they did this because Windseeker wasn't open so they gave everyone MF instead. Kudos to Cedar Point for doing this. The only real con I had from the whole event was waiting over an hour for the food Friday night but in all honesty everything else made up for it completly. I mean they remedied that issue with lunch the next day by opening it up prior to the 2:30pm start time so the lines were very minimal to get food. Again Kudos to CP for making these adjustments.

Ouch! I was there and had no idea millie was open for ERT... I was wondering where everyone was.. lol

Still had a great time.. My kids (who usually get sick of coasters wayyyy quicker than I do) and I rode Raptor 10 times in a row without leaving our seats. It was one of those magical moments. Did anyone see the guy go crazy by MF at about 9:45 saturday night. Guy jumped the gate when the ride was down and lost it on the ride op then picked up the phone and screamed at anyone who would listen.. Too funny. We did get two rides on MF after 10 but had no idea it was staying open. OH did anyone see the American Portrait show? Now I am Canadian but I hope there is more to America than Lemonade stands and wars, wars, and more WARS! I was looking for the recruitment officers after the show. Fireworks were really good though.

Random note... Really enjoyed the ride opps for ERTS especially the Tiger Woods look-a-like working TTD on Friday.

DKNY6363 said:
Did anyone see the guy go crazy by MF at about 9:45 saturday night. Guy jumped the gate when the ride was down and lost it on the ride op then picked up the phone and screamed at anyone who would listen..

I didn't see that, but I did see a guy going nuts during lunch (can't imagine what part of a free lunch and free shirt would have set him off so badly) and some regular guest losing it when they were denied access to Raptor at 10:45 Saturday night.

Now I am Canadian but I hope there is more to America than Lemonade stands and wars, wars, and more WARS!

You forgot about the wheat fields. But yah, that about covers the bases.

So were those of you on rollbacks on the one Friday night late before ERT? I was tired so kids stayed and finally got on. Yet there was another rollback during the ERT so they had to wait again for that one....

My son and nephew were on a rollback during ERT on Friday night. I was 2 trains ahead of them. Watching from the exit when the rollback happened, I knew there was a decent chance they were on it. They both got off when the train finally rolled back into the station. They didn't know how long the ride would be down so they wanted to ride other rides. That was our second Dragster ride of ERT and we came back later for the last ride at 1 am.

I didn't see that, but I did see a guy going nuts during lunch (can't imagine what part of a free lunch and free shirt would have set him off so badly) and some regular guest losing it when they were denied access to Raptor at 10:45 Saturday night.

I saw the shirt guy.... This was my take. The night before if you showed up late for the dinner you would know there was like an hour line. So everyone came early for the lunch the next day. This guy came right around 2:30 which was the starting time, but because most people came early some of the shirt sizes were gone. He probably has a CoasterMania shirt collection on the go or something. But yeah long story short he lost it cuz his was too small and his wifes was too big. I didn't even know a shirt was included so I was happy. Decent Shirt too.

I forgot about the wheat fields. lol

They said they ran out of every size of the 1,300 shirts they made up. It was very good attendance this year.

My friend Rob and I did our own little event - it was called an almost-walk-on El Toro. :)

We met up with some other friends out there and did a day and a half-ish at Great Adventure, then went to Knoebels. Along the way, we stopped in Centralia and at Yuengling. On the way out, we saw Three Mile Island.

I'd say we did more non-coaster stuff than coaster stuff, but we balanced it out quite nicely, and got some rides in, too.

I can empathize. I pretty much go into a blind rage any time I don't get free $#!& that I don't need.