CoasterMania and CoasterEXT '07
Associated parks:
None
It just wouldn’t be CoasterMania unless hubby and I got there at the crack of dawn. Actually, it was even before dawn.
Was classic watching the running of the bulls to MF and Maverick while we naturally headed for Raptor. We avoided the front seat for most of the morning due to an abundance of muffleheads. The ride all during morning ERT was pretty much a walk on, I managed 23 rides while my hubby had to sit out a few in between thanks to not eating breakfast. During Joe Cool we went back and rode 5 more times, shortly there after would be one of the longest lines of the day.
Donut Time.
People had started lining up for this long before even 8am. Although prepared, I was still floored when it was almost 14.00 for 2 muffins and 2 coffees.
Having an awesome ERT and Joe Cool, we just enjoyed walking around the park for most of the morning, riding a ride or 2 here and there. I just love SkyHawk and had to be sure it was one of the ones we rode.
The park started to really begin to look crowded by noonish, I wasn’t worried though, noticed most of the crowd were kids coming in buses, from visits past know most of them would be leaving by 8pm.
We went to the Q&A to hear some interesting answers to some of the questions.
We made sure we bought 2 of the “Coaster Odyssey” shirts to be sure we would get ours. Pretty nice shirt I guess but really didn’t explain what it was about really. Had the 3 Ohio parks listed in the back and my ?? is when did Avatar at KI become a coaster???? They were only $15.00 each which was a nice surprise.
2nd longest line of the day?
The Point Pavilion for lunch.
I had overheard someone say that “ACE” also stood for “all you can eat” which I thought was hilarious :)My hubby said the brats were really good, I thought the chicken was pretty good (right Richie? ;)) I didn’t have any of the Italian looking stuff-looked too dry to me (I know Italian!) and hubby said it was too dry. We left shortly after lunch to sneak back to the hotel for a quick nap.
Back to the park around 8ish and saw tons of buses making their way down the causeway-there went most of the crowds.
Hit up Raptor 9 more times - was totally shocked when the crew announced my 1200th ride. Hubby did make that ride with me, but he did have to sit out a couple more of them. Not sure why Raptor was kicking his butt so much this trip.
We headed over to Maverick before the park closed and he actually sat that ride out too. I was in one of the last trains for the night, got seat 2-1. Ride was awesome, no delay in tunnel and train was flying! Later on that evening I would find Maverick bruises in my usual spots on my arms. Maverick wounds!! Awesome!! :)
Once park was closed we headed to Maggie for ERT. Once 11pm rolled around and no one was riding we decided to call it a day. Riding Maggie during ERT has been my tradition for the past 9 years, so it didn’t seem right. Hubby reminded me we have some other CP coaster events coming later this season. Plenty of time for Maggie ERT then.
We went back to the hotel and crashed.
Wake up call for 8am seemed to come 10 minutes after we went to sleep!!
Off to Geauga Lake for CoasterEXT
CoasterEXT! Geauga Lake June 16th
We actually found the hotel without getting lost (gasp!!) We decided not to stay at the Geauga Lake Hotel this CoasterEXT only because frankly it was twice what it was at LaQuinta and wasn’t all that much nicer. Except of course for the breakfast buffet there vs. the continental breakfast at LaQuinta, but even as much as my hubby eats, it wouldn’t justify the difference in prices. Since it was just a place to shower and sleep LaQuinta was wonderful, it was very clean, very reasonable and only 15 minutes from the park.
We headed to the park (without getting lost again!!) OMG the parking lot was PACKED!! In previous trips we usually parked like in the 3rd row or so, we were way back this time. Of course I really wondered how many of those cars were some fellow enthusiasts . I was excited for GL none the less. The sign about X-Flight, Steel Venom and Bellaire Express being gone in plain sight as soon as you got to the ticket booths. The parking lot looked naked without X-Flight. I actually found that part kind of depressing.
My season pass worked, my hubby’s didn’t. His doesn’t work at KI either. There was a blue tag there who took both our passes and had us go thru the gates anyway. He offered help before we even had to. VERY nice guy who went way out of his way for us….I was impressed.
We arrived shortly before the luncheon began. People were looking at their watch and pacing--no lie!!!
There was actually a running of the bulls for the food once they opened the food lines. It was classic!! Same food as CP less the brats--hot dogs instead and I didn’t have to get any extra chicken (right Richie??)
The self serve pop station was open, kind of a Holiday World type of feel less Voyage, Raven and Legend of course ;)
Q&A with Bill Spehn was interesting. We weren’t told anything we all didn’t know already I would guess. Seems that GL is trying to get rid of all their expensive to maintain thrill rides and try to put the emphasis on WWK.
Hubby and I headed to WWK after lunch and again just adored it. We hung out at the wave pool mostly, skipped riding Liquid Lightning and just soaked up the sun, talked and ran into the water now and then to cool off. The wave pool is really nice. Even though WWK was packed it never felt crowded. It was spotless and the employees were all smiles. Seems that everyone was having a great time. One complaint/comment. $6.00 for a locker?? OMG!! Then the interesting thing about that was on our credit card statement it came out as “Six Flags World of Adventure” -- I thought that was rather funny. Granted you could open and reopen the locker as many times as you needed to but $6.00 still seemed kind of steep to me. My hubby just wasn’t comfortable with leaving our stuff under our lounge chairs. I’ve never had anyone steal anything from me at WWK and I had no reason to believe that day would be any different.
I hit up any of the gift shops I saw looking for X-Flight stuff. Found plenty too and bought what I could. My hubby loved X-Flight so he was all about the stuff. I got a couple of really cool shirts too.
PM ERT wasn’t starting until 10:30 so we snuck back to the hotel for a quick nap. We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesdays (blech-horrid menu - food wasn’t that great and the prices were way too much) then went to McD’s for a sundae before heading back to GL.
We jumped on Villain to find despite sitting in the 2nd row it still sucks. Then headed for Double Loop. That ride reminds me so much of Vortex-it’s like it’s baby brother or something. Looks like Vortex and sounds exactly like Vortex.
We waited in front of Dominator for ERT and off we went. We ended up riding 15x straight (yes, rerides were welcomed) before deciding to try Thunderhawk.
I think there was a total of maybe 10 people riding it.. I had forgotten what a head banger the ride was but had also forgotten despite the head banging it was really a lot of fun. The noises of pain being made by my hubby and fellow riders had me in tears I was laughing so hard.
The funniest thing is when you complain and ache when you get back to the station then say “let’s ride again!!!” I think we rode 5 or 6x then called it a night.
We left GL shortly before midnight.
We both had an awesome time at CP and at GL. We plan on visiting GL again real soon cause we really do like WWK (and Dominator of course)
We opted to ditch the CON at KI only because it was so expensive. We can go to KI anytime we want and it just seemed silly of us to spend so much for a week.
My thanks to all my friends who said hi and a special thanks to CP and GL for making the ‘07 CoasterMania and CoasterEXT such fun!!!
Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 1207 :)
'00 '02 '03 '09 Raptor Crew
2018 - present Mako Crew
Avatar doesn't even come close to striking me as a coaster. It's like a Rockin Tug/Disk-O, but whatever they say. ;) I guess I can count it now? :) I really loved that ride. I didn't even know it was there until we happened to walk to it. I kept hearing "Avatar" all day long and didn't know WTF anyone was talking about. ;)
Jo, we were laughing our butts off making the same ACE jokes at the buffet. We got there early (before all the 2 and 3 plate enthusiasts got there. ;) I never saw such a huge line. I liked the bratwurst but later on it wasn't liking me. :( The pasta and chicken were pretty decent. :)
Glad you had a great time! I know we did as well. :)
-Tina
*** Edited 6/19/2007 5:53:34 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***
coasterqueenTRN said:
I liked the bratwurst but later on it wasn't liking me. :( The pasta and chicken were pretty decent. :)
Oh how funny! Steve had the same reaction to the Brats as well! ;)
I'd rather be riding Roller Coasters....or baking.
coasterqueenTRN said:
I liked the bratwurst but later on it wasn't liking me.
____________________________________
coasterlover325 said:
Oh how funny! Steve had the same reaction to the Brats as well!____________________________________
OMG!
Maybe that's why my hubby didn't feel too great towards the rest of the day! He thought it was just left over Raptor quezy from the morning ERT! :)
Guess times like this I'm glad I don't eat beef (no, I don't know what the brats were made out of but wasn't willing to take that chance anyway)
Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 1207 :)
'00 '02 '03 '09 Raptor Crew
2018 - present Mako Crew
884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube
Something like grilled chicken is just as easy to serve under those settings, and provides more options. Still doesn't cover actual vegetarians, though -- their choices are even more limited still.
--Greg
"You seem healthy. So much for voodoo."
It would keep the veggie folks happy, the carb folks happy (happier?), people embarking on Intamin restraint diets happy and seems simple enough to do. At least from this armchair quarterback's POV.
Personally, I'll always manage. Either I'll have my carb-bearing meal at freebie time or I'll have the meat without the bun instead. Apologies to all of you who've had to enjoy THAT magic :)
But in my dreams? Never mind the food. There'd be another diet drink available besides Coke-si. GAH! Or at least caffeine free Coke-si. Why is my only choice a drink that actually dehydrates me further?
-'Playa
NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.
CoastaPlaya said:
I might be way off base here--I've never spent even a day working in food prep anywhere--but I can't see what's so difficult about serving a bit of wholesale shredded lettuce/red cabbage mix from a bag with a couple dozen packets of dressing on the side. Maybe that could be offered in a small bowl to minimize waste.
I totally agree. I know in past coaster events there was salad available. At Holli-wood Nights their salad was awesome, that is what I ate most of.
I would have loved that option at CM or CExt.
Oh yea and brownies (or fudge) would have been awesome too! :)
Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 1207 :)
'00 '02 '03 '09 Raptor Crew
2018 - present Mako Crew
The BEST enthusiast buffet by FAR was Solace 2005....steaks! I think there was salad too. ;)
Actually it was the Radisson's thing, but WOW! Unforgettable!
-Tina
*** Edited 6/21/2007 3:41:08 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***
884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube
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