CP on Sunday, 9/7
Associated parks:
None
We hit the park at 5:30 pm, and saw that TTD was down, but had hopes it would open later for Catherine's first ride. Instead, we went straight to Wicked Twister. Catherine happily fit into the test seat with no problem so we got into the 20 minute line. The ride op was great as she let a few mor people in ahead of us so we could ride my favorite seat in row 15. I still get a rush on this coaster.
After a 20 minute wait for both Disaster Transport and Raptor , we were going to hit the walk on Blue Streak when Catherine noticed TTD testing. A fast walk back got us in line outside the station just past the grandstands. Within 40 minutes, we were strapped in near the middle of the gold train and on the launch pad. I still have a difficult time putting the experience into words. Having your breath forced out of your body on the launch makes for an intense experience, but the slow crawl over the top followed by the head first spinning drop is what I like best. Again, I was totally cut out of the on-ride photo, so we passed on the purchase.
We had enough time to hit the space shot side of Power Tower before taking the long way around to the resorts entrance, past MF, through the Frontier Trail and back down the Gemini Midway hoping traffic would have cleared by the time we got to the car parked by Gemini. It still took us 30 minutes to hit the causeway with the mass exodus from the park. I can't imagine what it's like during a really busy closing Satuday.
After our check in at the Red Roof, we opted for dinner at Chi Chi's (and an ice cold Corona for me!). We settled down for the night about midnight, only to be kept awake until 2:30 am by partiers in the next room. At one point I heard someone pounding on their door and they were asked to quiet down, but it didn't last for long. 7:30 am came early when one hasn't had a lot of sleep, but the excitement of a full day ahead riding coasters, and a free cup of coffee helped a great deal.
We parked again by Gemini and were in at 9 am with our Joe Cool passes for ERT. Of course, we waited for TTD which had been testing before the gates opened, and after a 9:15 opening, were on the ride by 9:40 am, strapped into the second row. What a way to start the day! We exited the ride, did our little RCT jump, and headed to the photo booth. FINALLY! A photo where I wasn't cut out of the picture! We opted for the keychains.
MF was next, and we were surprised to see the line ended at the end of the ramp. Cool! We got two rides in about 20 minutes, in the blue train and red train, then got a freeway for 2-3 pm.
The rest of the day was filled with perfect weather and short waits for everything. Although we are both on diets, we split some cheese fries for breakfast, and had lunch with our 10% Joe Cool discount at Midway Market. I played a little DDR in the arcade, and let Catherine have a go at it. She decided it's not her thing.
The biggest surprise was seeing Kara at Corkscrew. I also rounded out my coaster pin collection by purchasing pins for some of my older favorites: Blue Streak, Mine Ride, Corkscrew, Wildcat, and grabbed Woodstock Express as well. I still need Disaster Transport and Jr. Gemini, but that only means I'll have to take another trip back to the Point for Halloweekends. Darn!
We rode almost everything twice, hit a lot of flats, and I even did the drop side of PT with some coercion from Catherine, but enjoyed it in the end. My feet hurt and I was totally wiped out after the two hour drive home, but it was worth it. I even lost two more pounds although I cheated on the diet. Can't ask for more than that!!------------------
I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
Linda (CPLady) and I already had a trip planned for Cedar Point for Sunday - because all of my Saturday plans changed, we were able to leave that afternoon and head down to the park. With a little jogging around I-75 because of a detour, our route to America's Rockin' Rollercoast went smoothly. We went straight to the park (instead of to the hotel first) and parked next to Gemini at 5:30. The park was closing at 8 p.m., so we had time to take in a few coasters before closing.
<b>Top Thrill Dragster</b> wasn't running when we first arrived; I was half-convinced that the coaster has something against me. It hadn't run all season when I was there! So, we decided to walk up to <b>Wicked Twister</b>. The park wasn't very busy, partly because of it being after Labor Day but also because it was late in the day anyway. We only had to wait 10-15 minutes to ride. This was my first time on WT in a year. I was thrilled that all my hardwork for weight loss had paid off - I could buckle myself in with no difficulty!!!
We went to <b>Disaster Transport</b> next; it only had a short wait (15 min?). I hadn't been on that at all this year either so I thoroughly enjoyed the new <I>dark</i> interior. It made a much better dark ride than it did with the space theming.
<b>Raptor</b> was our next stop - there too, it was just a short line. We may have waited 20 minutes. I just love Raptor! We sat in the last row. (Again, no problem with the shoulder harness. YAY!)
Leaving Raptor, we thought we'd go take in Blue Streak, but then I noticed they were sending trains up on Dragster. So, we power-walked back to Dragster and got in line. At this point, it was about 7:30 p.m. They were already sending trains up with passengers (not test runs); our wait was a 1/2 hour and we were boarding. This was just a thrill (no pun intended). The ride was finally operating and I'd lost enough weight that I could buckle myself in without needing assistance. Just get in and go! Our yellow train rolled up to the pre-launch area with us sitting at about the center of the train. Linda had warned me, "Take a breath while the countdown is on - if you don't, you won't be able to take one until we're mostly up the hill!" I followed her instructions and <I>zoom!</i> off we were!
There are no words to describe Top Thrill Dragster. I mean, yeah, you can go on about its stats and you can go on about its queue time ;)... but unless you've been on the coaster, there's no way to explain what that feeling is like! It was incredible! Linda and I were so wound up after riding Dragster, we forgot all about our traditional RCT happy-guest jump!
It was 8 p.m. on the dot when we exited Dragster, so we darted over to Power Tower and rode the force-you-up-in-the-sky side. Whee! The queue to Millenium Force had been closed by the time we darted there next, so we took a leisurely walk around Frontiertown to get back to the car. Hotel / dinner @ Chi-Chi's (yum!) and we collapsed after midnight at the hotel.
On Sunday, we arrived at 8:30 a.m., parked next to Gemini again and got in line to enter the park for the Joe Cool Club 9 a.m. entrance. They hung out the sign saying that only Millenium Force and Mantis would have an ERT - we decided to get in line at Dragster regardless, thinking that an hour wait 'til 10 a.m. would be better than a 2 hour wait later in the day. We watched them test-run the coaster, seeing two empty cars not reach the top and come sailing back down the 400-foot hill. The crowd cheered everytime that happened. :) By 9:30, they let everyone move into the queue. Linda and I planned on waiting for the front seat, but already there was quite a line. Decided on the 2nd row instead. The purple train hadn't made it to the top, so we got to watch them reset everything with people onboard. It turned out that the purple train was ours too - we made it over the hill with no problem! Bought the keychain photo as ours had turned out nicely.
We breakfasted on cheese fries, then went to <b>Millenium Force</b>. There was a 10 or so min. wait - we boarded blue train, sitting in the back. I love this coaster - if Magnum didn't have such a high sentimental value to me, I'd be able to say that Millenium Force is my favorite steel coaster. The line was still short when we exited, so we got back in line again - keep in mind that the park was open now to the public and the line was still 15 min. or less (everyone was queueing at Dragster - lol). We got our Freeway stamp after exited the second time and headed over to Mantis.
I was a happy camper at <B>Mantis</b> (which also had no wait!) as I was able to be locked into my seat without it being a big drama of getting the "heavy person" in. Hooray! The ride was also a lot more comfortable -40 pounds. ;) Still, we'd had enough head banging with that and only rode it once for the day. <b>Wildcat</b> came next - we acted like complete lunatics in the back seat of the car, screaming and carrying on (likely much to the embarrassment of the couple in front of us!).
<b>Iron Dragon</b> was a walk-on so we went there next. Its fun and you can see the line growing for Dragster through a couple of the turns.
We went back to the front of the park and rode Wicked Twister again - no more than a 15 minute wait. We sat in the 2nd to last row again for its nice view, staring straight down when you get - to quote Linda - "screwed up the backside." HA! We rode Chaos twice in a row because our first car wouldn't let us flip upside down - the second car was much more flipping friendly. :)
Raptor was again a short wait so we rode it, this time we sat in the first row. Had lunch at the Midway Marketplace - how I love free refills on milk! <b>Blue Streak</b> had no wait time at all so we rode it twice, once in the front, once in the back. We had to laugh as a teenage boy shouted to his family after getting off that he didn't want to ride it anymore.
Our Freeway time for Millenium Force had arrived so we went back there for our third ride. Sat in the back of the train, but not the last seat. We walked through Frontiertown and rode the Cadillac Cars because there was no line. I asked the ride op - seeing all there was was 4 yellow cars in a row - "Don't you have anything in blue?" She just glared at me and said, "No." No sense of humor there! The op when we got off was also a little abrupt and just said, "Get out on the left." That made me laugh too.
Acted like silly fools on <b>Cedar Creek Mine Ride</b> and got the family in the front seat to join in - it was his first time ever at the front of a roller coaster so he enjoyed screaming his head off with us. LOL We had podnered White Water Landing but the line looked just a little too long to wait for it. Instead, <B>Meanstreak</b> had no wait time! We were on the next train through in the second row. The trims - in my opinion - were on too much and it went too slow down the hill. But what are you gonna do? As we pulled into the station, the ride broke down, so it came in a few feet short and they had to release us manually.
<B>Gemini</b> was also a walk-on as we only had to wait because we wanted to sit in the front car (third row). we rode blue and lost... then we rode red in the back and lost again. Poor us!
Kept moving forward and decided to go up toward Power Tower to see how the line was - they were only running one tower for the forced-downward side at that point, so Linda graciously bowed out of standing in that line. ;) We went to <B>Corkscrew</b> instead and -surprise!- found that Kara was still working on weekends. (I had to crawl into my seat as the shoulder horseshoe kept coming down before I was ready. Quite a hilarious look for getting in the coaster - thank goodness no one had a camera on me!) A LOT of airtime on Corkscrew - startled everyone!
No line for <B>Magnum XL200</b> either - got to love Dragster for that! - so we had a great ride, listening to the two girls ahead of us screaming and carrying on.
We still had a good hour or so before we were planning to leave for the day. It was a toss up of whether to wait in line for Dragster or go back and ride others. Dragster's line looked to be an hour to 1.5 hours so I said to skip it. Instead, we got on Power Tower - no line! Poor Linda! We walked back up to the front for Raptor (again, no line) and Cedar Downs. Our final ride was Wicked Twister, riding in the front seats as that was my first time up there.
Oh, neglected to mention that I made an idiot out of myself on DDR, proving that I have <b>no</b> eye-foot coordination! ;) I don't know my right side from behind me evidently. We had a great day at Cedar Point - kudos to my coaster buddy for a great weekend!
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TheRealCP :)
You guys should've been there Saturday morning. Dragster was open at 9 and we got 2 rides in 40 minutes.
It definately was a great weekend at the PO!NT.
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www.RideWorld.com
Lori, I swear you get all the good stuff. Say hey to the hubby for me, and let's hang again soon. :)
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Rob - Jerk/Loser - Standing up for the unfunny and unattractive. - Click here for details
*** This post was edited by loriu 9/11/2003 10:27:54 AM ***
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
Linda, I am so sorry. I wanted to come out there in August, but I just bought a house in Snoqualmie, Wa (Where they filmed Twin Peaks) and so my life has been in a lot of turmoil lately. Heck, I just hooked the computer up just to check CB and email!
I will be coming out to PPP next month at Knoebels. I hope you can make it out for that. I hope this event doesn't get tainted like SRM did, but man what a week that was, eh? :) Here's to next year, if you can't make it, and save me a seat on MF. I will be riding it with you.
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Rob - Jerk/Loser - Standing up for the unfunny and unattractive. - Click here for details
Don't fret Linda, there is nothing on this earth better for breakfast than cheese fries. They *were* chili cheese fries right? ;-)
Glad to hear you guys had an awesome time. I haven't been up there for a few weeks but look forward to many Halloweekends. We will be up there next Friday night. :-)
Catherine, I would be honored to show you my very crappy (but funny) DDR skills. Up for a match? :-)
-Tina
<----still waiting for her very own TTD rollback. :-)
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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!
*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 9/14/2003 8:06:03 AM ***
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