CP Trip on 7/16
Associated parks:
None
We arrived at the park by 8:45 am and met up with them at the Magnum/Resorts entrance in time to enter with our season passes and Joe Cool Club early entry. Our first stop was Dragster, which had been testing. Although it wasn’t opened yet, there were only approximately 40 people in line in front of us. Since my son’s girlfriend, Donna and Michele and her family, husband Pic, son Aaron, daughter Lauren and a couple young friends had not had a chance to ride Dragster before, we opted to "wait it out".
Several trains were launched with half making it over while others, mostly trains without water dummies, rolled back before it was announced that TTD was down for mechanical reasons with no estimated time. Twenty minutes later, more trains launched, both with water dummies and empty, and successfully made it over the top to cheers of the crowds waiting. Unfortunately, a few more trains didn’t make it. I noticed when a train launched, the monitor showed the speed at 125 mph or more, but as the train passed, the monitor showed a slower speed. It seemed the trains were slowing down after the initial launch.
Another announcement was made indicating it could be well over an hour. We were pretty happy sitting in line outside the entrance. It wasn’t too hot, and at least outside the queue, we were able to take turns running for drinks and munchies.
We watched as a mechanic worked on the break fins/sensors for a good 30 minutes. It appeared that a break fin was "sticking" both going up and down. Shortly after he finished work, trains were launched again with several successes before an employee got a ride. The first train crept over the top hat, but the second reached the apex and slowly rolled back. The look on the girl’s face was priceless. I got the feeling it was that ride ops first rollback. After a few more minutes, she was launched again successfully. Once we noticed the ops starting the fans and misters up, we knew we were golden. It was noon when they opened the queue and there were less than 40 people in line in front of us.
Michele and Pic loaded into the second of the first two trains. The first train launched, and theirs moved into the launch position while I boarded the 3rd train. I no sooner fastened my seatbelt when they announced TTD was down again for mechanical reasons. Those of us in trains (including Michele and Pic in the train waiting to launch) sat in anticipation, but within 10 minutes we heard the launch sequence beginning again.
I thought I’d remembered how intense the launch was from opening day and was prepared, but I was not. It’s hard to describe the feeling I get during the launch. It’s almost like the breath is being forced out of my body. I had enough sense this time to look around at the top before we spiraled back down and into the break run.
Michele and Pic, in the train before me were ecstatic. Donna, riding in the train directly behind me, and Lauren and her friend in the train behind them were also sufficiently impressed. There was some disappointment when they realized the photo booth wasn’t working.
After our TTD ride, Michele decided to head back to the cottage to get burgers and hotdogs for lunch cooking on the grill. We had an hour to kill, so Ian, Donna and I made our way to Raptor only to find a 1.5 hour line and opted to check back later. Millennium Force had a 45 minute wait, so we got into line only to hear the DJ announce MF was temporarily down. Hungry, and not having a lot of time, we opted to come back later and made our way to the cottage with a brief stop so Ian and Donna could ride Witches Wheel.
This is the first time I’ve gotten a first hand look at the cottages and I’m very impressed. The bunk beds are an especially great idea, and having a small kitchenette, outdoor grill, and the deck area is very appealing.
After lunch and just plain chilling away from the crowds for a bit, Ian, Donna and I went back into the park. We rode Meanstreak, Gemini, Magnum, Corkscrew, Power Tower space shot, Chaos, Disaster Transport, Raptor and Blue Streak.
Highlights:
Mean Streak was especially anemic on this day. I cherish the times when I catch it running faster, but this day was not one of them.
Ian and Donna wanted to ride Magnum in the back. I opted for the middle seat so as not to sit above wheels. It's very true that you get smoother rides when not sitting above wheels.
I spent a few minutes talking with Kara at Corkscrew who was manning the entrance and dealing very well with guests who were trying to hustle food, drink and large items into the queue. She was happy she got to work Magnum last week! She got to do the lift walk and has pictures to prove it. Again, I'm amazed at how much smoother Corkscrew has been this year.
Although my son dislikes Disaster Transport, his girlfriend wanted to ride it since she hadn't before. She got some history of the ride from me and an older couple behind us who I chatted up. We discussed fond memories of CP in the 60's, including Jumbo Jet. The best part was when my son and his girlfriend began staring at me strangely. It seems that my bi-focal contacts made my eyes glow a weird green color under the black lights. Imagine an animal's eyes glowing in the dark, except not quite as bright. I pulled out a mirror and couldn't believe how freaky it looked!
It was 7 pm and we decided to take another break for dinner at the Midway Market. That’s where I encountered the only irritants of the day.
The first was a man who was very rude to the hostess. The restaurant was pretty full, and she attempted to seat him and his wife at a table near ours. He complained loudly that he’d already spent hours wandering around in the hot sun, the LAST thing he wanted was to sit at a table in the sun. There were no "shaded" tables that were cleaned and available, so she asked if he’d be willing to wait a little bit while she had a table cleared, and he was upset at having to wait any longer. She ended up seating them at a table for 6.
Then, while waiting in line to get a scoop of ice cream, the woman in front of me pointed to a container and said loudly "that one. ONE (holding a finger up) scoop!" As the girl was scooping out her ice cream, the woman turned to me and said "you have to be so careful with these foreign people they have working all over here, they don’t understand a THING." I was so angry I could have burst a blood vessel. After the woman walked away with her ONE scoop, I told the girl working the ice cream counter that I had great respect for employees at CP who had to put up with people like that. Her smile returned and she thanked me.
After dinner we made our way to Wicked Twister. Ian and Donna weren’t interested in riding it earlier, and knowing that Donna wanted to let her dinner settle before going on any intense rides, I suggested they hang out in the shade for 30 minutes while I took a spin. Afterwards, they decided Iron Dragon wouldn’t be intense enough to upset a full stomach, so we took a ride in the last car. The line for MF was 1.5 hours, so we strolled along Frontier Trail instead and visited the Museum.
Although Ian told Donna the most interesting thing inside was the model of Mean Streak, I had to chuckle when they lingered over some of the historical pictures and items that never seemed to interest Ian before.
We realized it was 9:30, and Donna had never seen the Summer Spectacular so we wandered back down the Frontier Trail to the main midway and found a place to sit. Maybe it’s just me, but I preferred the summer spectaculars that were all laser instead of the films they had as part of the show. I grew up with the Peanuts gang and Snoopy, but I feel like they overdid it. Old clips from TV specials filmed up to 35 years ago didn’t really add that much to the show, although the live dancing Snoopy was pretty good. Whoever was in that costume certainly had Joe Cools moves down!
Although Ian and Donna would have liked to grab a ride on MF, the line was still over an hour. It was already 10:30 pm, we had a two hour drive ahead of us, and I had to be up at 6 am for work. It was one night where I was glad I take the Route 2 to 280 to 75 way home. As we were approaching Oregon, we heard a report of a massive accident on 75 near the turnpike involving 14 or more cars that had 75 closed down in both directions. We arrived home a little after 1 am and I crawled, exhausted, into bed.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm
When I was a teenager, it was ME who did the embarassing... piling stacks of Depends in my mom's shopping cart, or "accidentally" tripping in public, etc. :)
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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.
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