CP Trip Aug. 9th - Part II
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Part II - I'd like mine with a twist please, That cat is wild, Most things are insignificant when compared to the power of the Force and Alaska? What in the world does this have to do with Alaska?
After finishing up our ride on MS, John and I decided to head back toward the front of the park to check out the lines at WT and Raptor. At this point, I must tell you that I had a wonderful experience at a stand near MS in the "frontier" area. this stand sells keychains, pictures etc. based around names. You can search through a book and find a name and it gives you all these cool phrases that describe the person with that name. My wife doesn't ride anything so when I go to any park, I always bring back a small souvenier for her. I picked out her name and chose the keychain. An extremely nice young lady working at the booth helped me fill out the form and explained that I could come back later but that she would have it ready in about 5 minutes so we decided to hang out and wait. Now, I'm not sharing this because I bought something, I just want you all to know that I have been to MANY themeparks and have dealt with MANY young employees working at them and this girl was a class act. She was polite, helpful, enthusiastic. She truly expressed the idea that CP is the greatest themepark on earth. This makes a HUGE difference to me and my overall themepark experience. I fully intend to e-mail cedarfair and let them know about this employee. (I didn't catch her name. but, hopefully by date and time they will have some idea.
After picking up the souvienier, we headed back to the Midway area. We decided to stop at Johnny Rockets and grab some lunch. The food was great and it was funny watching the cooks come out and dance to the music in the Midway. A really fun place.
Disaster Transport was next. We headed to the cue and waited about 10 minutes in the line. Ok, I know there is supposed to be some kind of theme here but, what is it? The gaudy dayglo paint and blacklights were just a bit tacky and the whole, "Repair Bay" thing was a yawn. Then, as we boarded the train, the operators explained we were on a trip to Alaska, Alaska? What does ANY of this have to do with Alaska? It's almost like the entire "theme" is a bad Twilight Zone episode. If anybody can explain it to me, I would really like to know what it all means. Anyway, the ride was a bit lackluster and would have been REALLY bad if it wasn't in the dark. This would have to be my pick as the worst ride in the park. Once again, CP could pick up some real estate here.
After DT, we decided to head for the WildCat. On the way, we stopped for a quick drink and John picked up a souvienier cup with all of the coasters listed on it. We waited in line for WC for about 5 minutes and boarded the car. The ride operator was cool and pointed out that John should hang on to his cup because it was one of only two souvieniers in the entire park that actually listed the WildCat on it. I love Schwartscoff (spelling?) coasters and this little monster is really a cool mini. Good drops, nice pacing.
We headed back toward Raptor and caught a ride on Cedar Downs along the way. A cool old ride and I love the historical value of it. The Raptor line was full so we decided to get the FastPass handstamp and headed over to WT. We waited about 45 minutes and boarded the train. I wasn't sure what to expect from this ride as I had read several different reports and got mixed reviews. While we waited in line we noticed the additional welding work and the towers swaying with the force of the trains. I'm quite sure that WT was not being run full out on its power. The trains seemed to be climbing about 3/4 of the full distance that they should have been. None-the-less, we boarded and kicked out of the station through a fantastic ride. I was VERY surprised at the sensation you get from this ride, it was less intense and more about the speed and the twist on the towers. The feelling of moving backward up the rear tower at 70mph and then pinwheeling out over the beach through the twist was completely unique and exciting. This is a great ride and was good fun. John was especially impresed and insisted that we must ride it a second time before leaving.
We headed over to Raptor and found the line a good bit shorter so we decided to wait and ride it and we figured we could catch another ride later when our FastPass would kick in. Waited about 20 minutes and decided to grab the very back row. I've ridden Raptor at least 10 times but never in the very back. Most people talk about the front seat being a good spot but IMHO the very back of the train is the sweet spot on this one. More intense in every way. You seem to get more of a whip going through the turns and heartlines. A really excellent coaster and the most comfortable in the park, (Thanks B&M).
After Raptor, we headed over for a couple of quick rides on Blue Streak. Once in the front and once in the back. Excellent air-time from this one and a great out and back design. I do wish they would get rid of those seat dividers though, they take alot of the freedom out of the laterals, Still, BS is not to be missed for a coaster enthusiast, truly a classic with punch. From there we grabbed a ride on Iron Dragon after a 5 minute wait. Iron Dragon is a conundrum for me. Should it stay or should it go? It's such a fixture in the park now that I don't know how to approach it. It just seems dated though and I don't understand why these types of coasters never seem to really get any bite going. The mist is great and the helix swings are really good.
After ID we headed back over to Millenium and found the line still at about 1.5 hours so we decided to just wait it out. The DJ was playing some cool music and the misters were on keeping us cool so the wait was actually quite bearable. We boarded about 3 back from the front. Coming up to the station I could clearly see that John's indiferent attitude to Milli's first hill was changing to one of measured concern. "It didn't look that tall from the parking lot" was all he kept saying. I reassured him that when we pulled back into the station he would be insisting we get right back on, and this held out to be the literal truth. I have read that most people do not care for the lift cable because it doesn't give you time to appreciate the hight. I personally love it. I think it's an intense ride to the top and love the way it rolls you over without any hesitation. Down that first drop we went... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! WOW, nothing compares to this monster, nothing. The speed is awesome and the open feeling to Intamin's excellent design on the trains makes you feel like your riding a rocket sled down the rails. Up the second hill and airtime is all over it. Down and into the turn we head out to the turn around section and back down and gaining speed which brings you to the third hill. This is the best hill on any coaster, anywhere period. The airtime and float you get from this hill is simply astounding and makes the entire ride the ultimate experience on a roller coaster. After screaming back into the station John was totally wiped out and was really impressed with Millenium.
At this point we had managed to hit every coaster, (except Junior Gemini of course) and it was only 4pm. We spent the rest of the day REPEATING RIDES ON EVERY COASTER BUT TWO, so we got a double-day out of CP. By 10:30 we were totally exhausted but still managed to grab a last ride on Blue Streak for our sign-off. The rear car hopping and popping down the track, chasing marquee lights flashing... exhausted but loving every second of it. Our day at CP had ended and we headed out to the parking lot still high on adrenaline and knowing we had just had the best day at the greatest rollercoaster park on earth. Cedar Point... I love ya!
*** This post was edited by AMartin777 on 8/14/2002. ***
AMartin,
Can you re-format this into more paragraphs? I stopped reading once I got to the large block of text.
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Hey man. Wanna buy some weed? Crack? Freepass on Millennium Force? I got the hook up...
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