CP Monday 5/10 (long)

After years of searching for the perfect day to go to CP, I finally found it. It was a perfect graduation gift. The park was the emptiest I've ever seen it. We arrived at 9:30 and parked in the back. Dragster was testing regularily without any rollbacks. The Joe Cool guests were successfully riding it. After the gates opened, we casually walked to the Dragster entrance and got in line just before the "running of the bulls".

Dragster: we ended up getting a 10 minute ride if you count the time we sat on the train after the ride. No rollbacks, just some other problem prevented us from getting off. No biggie, although we were a little fried in the sun. I only rode once as it broke down alot throughout the day.

Magnum: I fell in love with this ride all over again! Rode it 3 times, and sang the MSU fight song on the last lap. It's great having a train almost completely to yourself.

Gemini: opened late, and only ran the orange side. I think this was the first trip I decided to pass up Gemini.

Mine Ride: We had fun singing the fight song again and entertained a train load of people.

White Water Landing: By this time it was already hot out. We sang MSU alma mater (Shadows) and contemplated how funny it looked with 4 guys in one canoe.

Mean Streak: Get rid of those brakes!!! The first half was awsome, but the brake run killed the second half.

Wildcat: What can I say, other than that I'm still getting used to the paint job.

Iron Dragon: I DISPISE the new paint. I can't say anything good about it. It looks like it's now sponsored by McDonalds. I loved how the brown supports blended in with the tree trunks, adding to the whole dragon in the woods theme. Oh well, the ride was still a fun little romp in the woods...er...yellow supports.

Mantis: Why only one train? Are we at Six Flags? This was the longest wait of the whole day!

Millennium Force: Ran great, the trains were as quiet as the first year it ran. Major stapling though. My boys were not happy. The ride host just kept saying "I'm sorry" as he kept pushing harder.

Raptor: 2:00pm, front car, an entire train to ourselves!!! Amazing!!!

Blue Streak: Same wild ride, great time

Disaster Transport: traveled to Alaska twice. The second time we tried creating our own dialog and storyline for the ride.

Wicked Twister: down all day, ran for 20 minutes around 2:00pm, and finally opened around 6:00pm didn't get to ride.

Corkscrew: Didn't ride. Apparently, I'm the only one out of my friends who actually enjoys this ride., oh well, there's always next time. New paint job looks great!

Minuses: Dragster broke down alot more than I thought it would, the one train thing on Mantis was a little annoying, and I wish I could have ridden Wicked Twister.

Pluses: I rediscovered Magnum, the new Dodgem building looks great, and the Coaster's diner greeter was a very nice touch. Do they always have that?

We left the park around 6:00pm, and drove through some nasty weather on the way back to East Lansing.

Sounds like a fun trip. Thats awsome that you were the only ones on the Raptor train! Can't wait for my trip there!

There are new rules put out by Intamin about the lap bars and seat belts because of the accident on SMROS at SFNE. There is a big discussion over at GTTP. The ride ops also have to be able to pull at least an inch or 1 1/2 inches of slack out of the seat belt or the guest can't ride. There are a few unhappy people. Great TR and glad you had a good day.