CP! ~ 5/21

Went to CP today with a good friend to try and take advantage of our platinum pass by going an hour early (although we did not expect much as far as ride counts), and also hoping crowds would be light due to the chance of rain all day.

We arrived at nine exactly, let into the park and went right over to Millennium Force. They had all three trains on but only using one (for weight), and had us fill every seat until they sent us. So we waited about five minutes and had the back seat for the first ride of the day. Running extremely *slow*, but that is only because it was very chilly and the ride just started for the day... So I didn't expect much other then a good drop ;)

Next we headed over to Maverick. Got to the ride around 9:30 and walked right on row five. Excellent ride and my first time on it this year (opening day was broke down!) and glad to say it is running better then it did at the end of last year. After our first ride, we lapped around and walked on front seat. Did this twice with no wait and finally at around 10 got one last ride before the people arrived and rode the second row. Four laps all together and running well. It was also the first time I ever saw Maverick run ALL six trains. I always saw five run but never six. Made for some interesting stalls in the tunnel below pre-launch waiting for blocks to clear ahead.

Afterwards we rode Mean Streak (walk-on) which was the worst ride I ever had on it. So slow, so uneventful, and such a large waste of space!

Then it was off to Skyhawk for a fun but short ride cycle. I wish they could just compress a bit more air to extent the ride cycle an extra swing or two... If that IS the reason they cannot extent the cycle.

Walked over to Dragster at this point which was down all morning. Saw it test so we decided to try our luck to see if it would open. As it tested it rolled back a few times empty, not long after had train after train clearing the tower. After thirty minutes of straight testing they open it up. First train with riders (only loading first two rows mind you) roll back and we have about a fifteen minute delay. Launches and clears the tower and the next train goes over with ease. The next one not so lucky. We decided to leave the line (on the ramp) due to the four-per-train loading and the fact it's not worth more then a twenty minute wait. I estimated easily an hour at the rate those trains were actually clearing the tower. I don't understand the theory of only loading the front rows first and not filling up the trains completely, as long as it's not back heavy? Do the hydraulic motors need time to "warm up" or what? It just seems a full train would have better odds then a train with four people in it...

After we left that mess we waited five minutes for Magnum which is running pretty good this year. Not as good as opening day (again, temperature is slowing these rides down!) but still decent.

We then decided to get some lunch over at Famous Dave's which incredible of course, but was slightly disappointed at the portion of brisket compared to my local one (As well as being a few bucks cheaper), but regardless, it was fantastic and the best value at the point.

Afterwards we headed up to the front of the park and immediately noticed how LOUD Raptor is running. Equally as loud as Mantis. I am guessing due to low temps they used a higher ratio of Nylon, but it was deafening. Sadly, I did not ride this all day due to the line being longer then I am patient enough to wait :(

So we decided to ride Demon Drop which is always a cheap thrill, then to Disaster Transport where we waited around fifteen minutes. I was really impressed with this ride this year. I noticed more effects then ever before and really was an exciting ride! I really would hate to ever see this ride go. It may not be a crazy thrill ride but it's just good fun.

Took a ride on the sky ride next and then to Millennium Force again with a wait on the ramp. Waited about twenty five minutes or so (for the front seat) and had an amazing ride. Easily the best ride of the day. (Also, as noted before, the belts are much longer this year. I would easily say 3-4 inches gained).

I decided I needed my Mantis fill for the year and regretted it afterwards. Probably the worst ride I have had on it in the past few years. Rough, jarring, and uncomfortable. Maybe Scorcher <3 just spoiled me, and was the last stand-up I rode.

We then took a stroll over to the petting zoo and then to the train for a ride around the park. Noticed the auto-spiel and narrations were already scrapped or just not in use during the week. It was sad because I really enjoy those cheesy spiels.

We then decided to head out around 5pm which was one of the longest amounts of time I spent at the point in years (8 hours!). Was a fantastic day and even a bit interesting as it seemed they had an abundance of special needs people all around the park. I was really impressed with operations and the rides were running great. Much better experience then opening day, with the only major ride down being Wicked Twister.

Crowds were fairly light and the major rides never seemed to have lines over fifteen or twenty minutes, exception being Dragster, but I am sure that even got quite short later on.

Excellent day at the point! :)

Sounds like a great time, I was hopeing to have gone yesterday for the Maverick ERT night, but it just didn't work out. Looks like you didn't even need the ERT.

I too was at the park yesterday. The reason for the abundance of special needs guests was because yesterday was the annual ARC day for the park. Crowds were fairly light, and even without ERT I was able to get 24 rides all around the park. ERT was the only let down. The crowd for ERT was larger than the morning ride time, and even more than last year's Maverick Joe Cool ride night. I attribute this to more Platinum Pass holders this year, and the earlier time since the park closed at 7. Even so, I still got 4 rides in during the hour, and ended up with a park total of 28 rides.

I also noticed what you mentioned about Disaster Transport. There were some colored lights on the screen, and on the satellite "thing" during the turn around. There is a strobe light in the first tunnel, and in the finale section there were some star field effects and flashing lights in the tunnels. Certainly nothing mindblowing, but it was nice to see a little effort put into the ride.

Skyscraper is up, but it looks like it still needs a bit more work... The restraints aren't on the seats yet, and there is still alot of construction stuff sitting around.

maXair had a very rough first full day of "operation". It didn't open until noon, and then went down for a guest illness AND mechanical. After that, we got in our seats, only for it to go down mechanical again before it ran, and two of us ended up getting stuck in the restraints for 15 minutes. After another delay, we finally got in and rode. Still a fun ride, but after we rode it went down again shortly, and didn't reopen.

Several other rides had downtime today (WT, MS, DD, Raptor)

Overall though, it was a great day, I may post a full trip report later.

Hey steveWoa my friend an i were in the last seat on mf for the first ride. The wait was more than five minutes also since there wasnt many people up there yet.

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SteveWoA said:

Afterwards we headed up to the front of the park and immediately noticed how LOUD Raptor is running. Equally as loud as Mantis. I am guessing due to low temps they used a higher ratio of Nylon, but it was deafening. Sadly, I did not ride this all day due to the line being longer then I am patient enough to wait

We then decided to head out around 5pm which was one of the longest amounts of time I spent at the point in years (8 hours!).

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You should have stayed longer as (as always) Raptor's wait was in the single digits in the last hour of the day!! And also, I did see WT run and what looked like with people, but it wasn't up for long if so.

And why you rode MS (when Maverick is right next door!?) is beyond me...I should seriously make a sig, "Friends don't let friends ride Mean Streak!"

WT did run with guests. We got a ride on it around 6:30 PM