CP - Skyhawk media day - 5/4/06

Just a quick report of today's media event at Cedar Point.

My brother and I got there about 9 a.m., representing the newspaper I work for, but in name only (I wasn't working). We were given very nice jacket/vests with "Skyhawk Media Day" logos, as well as laminated press passes.

We caught a shuttle to the site of the ride, where Stan Checketts was speaking. Surprised to see him there. He seems pretty proud of his ride, and he should be.

We got the second ride of the day after the official opening (though it actually had been running since 5 a.m. for the early broadcasts). The restraints are quite cool. What surprised me the most: NO OTSRs. There's a lap bar that swings down from the side, then presses down into your lap. There's also a giant, yellow, phallic piece of plastic between your legs. A strap connects the lapbar to a steel ring with a carabeiner (sp?).

The ride cycle is very short (at least it was today), only two full swings per ride, and a total of about 10 swings. But it gets going really fast. Even on the small swings, the airtime is amazing. Once you get near the top, you get a good 2-3 seconds of floating air per swing. At the apex, although you're not really fully inverted, you might as well be - it feels like it, anyway. Inverted + floating airtime = a very cool sensation.

Skyhawk could very well be my favorite "flat" ride now. It's 100 times better than the Giant Frisbees.

The ride is VERY LOUD. Standing in line is an ear-piercing experience, as the line is right next to the giant tanks of pressurized air. When the ride is running, it makes a cool sound that sounds like a man with smoker's lung trying to breathe.

We got about 4-5 rides before I started to feel just a little nauseated (only took one ride on the Giant Frisbee for that to happen). We walked over to the land that's cleared near the Wave Swinger, and it's obvious that a small coaster is being built.

Oh, also talked to Sean F. for a minute - always good to see him. Have fun this weekend, dude. Also saw Paul Ruben walking around by himself looking grumpy. And I pissed off some photographer by refusing to give my name for a photo he just took.

CP had free lunch for us - pizza, sandwiches, salad and brownies. The Pepsi machine was squrting out pure syrup, mmmm.

That's pretty much it. Verdict: Skyhawk is a great addition to the park, though they're going to have to run it about three times as fast as they did today to manage 800pph. *** Edited 5/4/2006 9:09:41 PM UTC by Den***

lol Paul Ruben. Sounds very good. I was wondering about the short ride time, Im glas you feel that way. Hopefully I'll be able to get down there this summer. It will be my first visit.

Good lord, Paul Ruben showed up there? He was probably grumpy because he couldn't proclaim it "his new favorite coaster".

I think "grumpy" is just Paul's natural facial expression, poor fellow.

Did Paul Reuben proclaim Skyhawk as his "number 1 flatride!"? Or is Six Flags the sole one that pays him to say those kind of things? ;)

If you watch the video on pointbuzz, the video is only a minute long the ride is supposed to be 2 minutes long so that be good. I was hoping for a long cycle.

Sounds like *exactly* what we were led to believe. A longer ride cycle (as desired by some) will require special installation of super-sized air compressors/tanks. The short cycle Den referred to is precisely the *complaint* with the smaller (earlier) Screamin' Swings...

The intensity, however, it's in there... ;)