Compounce 8/13 or "Day I cursed off linecutters"

It was shaping up to be a lovely day in the low 80s, and we were planning a full day (open-close); we being my girlfriend and I. (Note: we've been to the park before). After paying a light $5 for parking, we get through the ticket booths quickly and enter the park. Upon entering, we see that the water park doesn't open until noon, so we got in line for Wildcat.

Wildcat: 1 train, 10 minute wait; A lot of potholes, and nothing particularly fun about this ride, but not bad overall. This would be the only time we rode it today.

We strolled around the park a little, grabbed a free soda, and noticed that the water park was now open, so we changed and entered the water park. We rode everything once, with no waits whatsoever. The lighthouse red slide scared the s*** out of me. After doing everything once, I was freezing, and we hopped into the lake because it was much warmer than the pool water. By 1pm, we had had enough of the waterpark and queued up for some rides.

We see that Boulderdash is only running one train and the queue is almost full, so we decide that we're saving it for nighttime. Onto Thunder 'n' Lightning...

T n L: 1 side operating, 10 minute wait; The cycle is really short, but when you're swinging really high, it's really fun while it lasts. I don't understand why they won't let you pull your restraints down by yourself.

Rapids Ride: 10 minute wait; This is one of the best rapids rides I've ever been on. It seemed to be all about the rapids and rocking up and down. It got us just wet enough to be fun and it was a fairly long ride.

We wanted to do the Ghost Hunt ride, but the queue was full all day... so we got in line for DownTime...

DownTime: 10 minute wait; Pretty decent drop, with no idea when it's coming, but there's no air on the return up the tower

We left the park around 2pm to go check into the hotel, with a stop to McDonald's on the way. Fast forward to 5:30 when we arrive back to the Lake Compounce parking lot and find it almost entirely full. Luckily we found a close spot and people were pouring out of the park as we were going back in.

We rushed to the Sky Ride because we knew it closed at 7pm and we wanted to see the 6:30 showing of Cirque En Vol. While fast-walking to the Sky Ride, we noticed that Boulderdash was now running two trains, much to our delight.

Sky Ride: 15 minute wait; Awesome ride! It stopped an awful lot. I suppose some people had some trouble getting on/off. This is certainly a ride not to be missed.

We got off the Sky Ride at 6:25 and hauled a** to the Cirque En Vol show. We arrived to a pretty full bleacher area. The show was very good overall, if not a little repetitive and short. The performers kept raising their hands and bowing for applause, but they
were hardly getting any. Definitely worth the 15 minutes out of your day to watch this show.

We decided to pass on Zoomerang... been on it before, and been on a dozen boomerangs before. We didn't have time to waste on it. We hit up the Ferris Wheel next...

Ferris Wheel: 5 minute wait; basic ride, good views of the park

By now, it was 8:00 and we decided to hop on the CP Huntington train ride around the lake.

Train: Very nice 15 minute ride around the lake offering great views and a nice serene setting

Our stomachs were rumbling, and the Potato Patch was calling. I knew that these probably wouldn't be as good as the Kennywood Patch, and I was right. $3.71 including tax for an order of fries. Not a bad price at all, especially considering they don't charge a cent for toppings. I couldn't believe that they were pouring cheese onto my fries for FREE.

Darkness was coming and Boulderdash was calling. After hearing a lot of complaints this year about roughness, we were a little worried. We hopped in line at around 8:45 and waited 10 minutes for the front row.

Boulderdash: 2 train op, 10 minute wait; WOW! Still a truly amazing ride from start to finish, and not rough at all... Throughout the rest of the night we rode in several different rows and rows 1-4 are smooth, but any further back is very headache inducing. Stay away from the back.

We couldn't help but get right back in line for a second ride. After this, we checked on the Ghost Hunt line again and it was still long, so we headed to Thunder 'n' Lightning, and it was a walk on. It was even better at night, but still too short of a ride. Back to the Dash for our third ride, and this is where the title of the TR comes into play...

We were in line for the front row, with 4 people in front of us. Out of nowhere, 2 girls cut in front of us. I let it go, assuming that they maybe weren't riding, as they weren't standing directly in front of us. (I just ended 3 sentences in a row with "in front of us" :)) Then, I look towards the back of the line and see 2 girls getting in line, and cutting in front of everybody, until they got all the way up to us and cut in front of us as well. I was fuming at this point and told my girlfriend to watch out because I was gonna flip s***. The girls are around 18 years old, btw. I step up to the 4 girls that had cut in front of us and exclaimed: "What the f*** do you think you're doing?!?!"... to which all of the people around us shut up immediately, and the four girls all became apologetic and they seemed to be really scared of me... they moved out of the way and let us on. As our train rolled out of the station, a couple other people in line nodded their heads at me in approval and praise of what I had done.

After this ride, we see that Ghost Hunt line is pretty small, so we wait it out, and end up waiting 20 minutes. It's a neat little ride, and I'd certainly ride it again. This was my first dark ride that involved 'shooting'. My girlfriend and I tied though. We'll definitely have to ride that next year for a rematch.

It was now 9:45 and we head to Boulderdash and we find a completely EMPTY station. We hopped on the front row and rerode a couple of times. We managed to be on the last train of the night. Boulderdash is a 10/10 in the daytime. Our night rides, on the other hand, were a 10000/10. My girlfriend and I agree that our favorite part is the turnaround that's full of lateral G's, so forceful, yet so comfortable.

Notes:

I wish they'd pave the parking lot.

The park was really really clean.

Free soda is awesome; I just wish iced tea or juice was available as well.

The employees are extremely friendly. I couldn't believe it. Every single one told me to ‘enjoy my ride'. The girl that lets you off of Ghost Hunt at the end of the ride greets you and asks you how your ride was, very enthusiastically. These employees must give Holiday World a run for their money.

I wish the bathrooms had paper towels, because I hate air dryers.

I spotted the GM, Jerry, walking around the park all day, never without his broom and dustpan. He truly cares about his job and his park, and it shows throughout the entire park, in so many ways.

Nice! Linecutters should Hang by their necks!

^Nahh line jumpers should be forced to ride in the back row nonstop on the roughest ride in the park for the rest of the day as punishment for such actions.

Linecutters, should be escorted out...no warnings...no second chances...no excuses. OUT!

Linecutters at PKI should be forced to ride SOB all day, at SFGAdv ride Rolling Thunder all day, and at SFMM, ride Flashback all day ;)

How can they ride flashback when it never runs ;)

I like Richies solution. If enough people can be gotten as proof that said offender cut the line. There's the gates... You're outta here if you want back in pay again. Also they should find a way that if you are a season pass holder you forfiet to it. Maybe ask for ID and the cross check it with the season pass holder information and revoke the season pass?

RE: hanging line cutters by the neck.

A little harsh unless to add extra theming to scary type of dark rides.

Best handling I have seen of line cutters (aside from security swooping down like a hawk on a rabbit) came from the operator of the Flyers at Knoebels.

The line was full and these two teens (or almost teens) decided to just duck in under the rails of the queue and cut in front of the people in the last row of the queue (of which I was one). No one said anything, but we all grumbled. There was about a two cycle wait until the time these two teen line jumpers were getting on. Just as they got to the end of the queue and the entrance to the ride, the op said something like "I saw you two cut... back to the end of the line." They grumbled a bit, but got out of line... though I am not sure if they got back in or not. So... not only did he send them to the back of the line... he let them "waste" their time standing in line for two cycles! It was great.

(edited to correct one of the strangest typos I ever made... "Scary type of dary rides?" Cows with chain saws?) *** Edited 8/22/2006 1:55:57 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

^Well now we know of a way for SF to obtain some decent themeing for fright fest at virtually no cost.