GL - Rain, Stuck, Disappointment and Fun

Took off from work a little early today to hit up GL. A friend of mine who goes to school in Erie is home for the summer, and since I hadn't seen her for two years, I invited her along, so she came for the $17.95 twilight deal - not a bad price GL!

We enter and of course find no lines, but then again, it rained like crazy the whole way there, and although it wasn't actively raining, the skies were dark and threatening. They never quit looking like that all night, and it rained off and on the entire time we were there.

Quick spins on Steel Venom and X-Flight make for a good start to the day. Headed over for rides on Villain (which is still awfully rough, so much so that re-rides are nearly impossible) and Double Loop. After coming out of Double Loop and while searching for a bathroom found one of the most exciting "new" (maybe not new, maybe I'm just unobservant) additions to Geauga - a path between Villain's path and the one leading to TCFKARoadrunner!

Since Adrienne and I are always just plain wacky when we're together we decide to hit up what used to be Roadrunner (I can't remember what it's called now). For a kiddie coaster, not a bad ride, but I prefer the kiddie coaster at IoA better for that style of ride. But hey, can't argue with a new credit today!

After that, took a spin on Hay Baler (my first GL/SFWoA flat ride ever!) and headed to Dominator. This one's gotten better, much less shuffling and rattling. Tried to hit up RWB but it was closed and then the fun begins!

We headed over to Thunderhawk after finding RWB down, and of course no line. After an especially painful SLC run, I came to an interesting conclusion: B&M is to blame for the roughness of SLCs! If it weren't for that patent, those springs wouldn't be there, and all SLCs might actually be enjoyable! So, I come up with this great revelation while we're in the brake run ... and notice that we've been sitting here quite a while. Turns out, the stupid thing is broken down, and in fact, most of the park is (more on this later). So, Adrienne and I begin to sing and watch the turtle in the lake below us and generally just enjoyed our time stuck, although we were quite bored. The whole train began shouting to each other and talking, which was funny, and Adrienne and I got the idea into everyone's head that they should owe us free dinners or at least a free pop for being stuck.

After they finally reset the ride (after waiting for 28 minutes - one of the kids on the train timed it) and get us out of the trains (which I find it weird that there's apparently no real evac procedure that's plainly obvious for the holding block of Thunderhawk) they give us what? Exit passes! For a park that has no lines! On a day when it's raining! That aren't good any day but the one we're there for! I'm sorry but that's a really pathetic deal. I'm not all about "I got stuck, so you owe me" but a free drink coupon or a free burger or something wouldn't have killed them and would have been much more appreciated.

After our "ordeal" on Thunderhawk, we got some pretty pathetic and rather expensive food, which we enjoyed feeding to the ducks more than feeding to ourselves. We then headed for re-rides on Steel Venom and X-Flight, both of which are apparently down for the same reason as Thunderhawk and the rest of the coasters. This was another annoying thing: every coaster in the place was back up and running 45 minutes after the "event" on Thunderhawk except these two and they never seemed to make an effort to get them running again. Mega-bummer.

So we left after another ride on Dominator, Villain and a surprisingly smooth, but still uninspiring ride on RWB. A fun three hours, but could have been a lot better.

So, the final point: the cause of the "incident" was supposedly a power spike. Now, it seems to me that GL should have a serious "discussion" with their power supplier because I remember last year there were at least 3 if not more instances where power spikes, not losses, caused most of the park to shut down. It's apparently happening again this year, and I think that there must be something faulty with the electrical supply to the park because it always happens on rainy, but not stormy days (according to personal experience and TRs). I don't know, it seems like a shady deal to me that the electric company's sort of screwing the park, but maybe the park's just too big a draw on the local grid or something - whatever the case, it seems to me that there's something there that could be fixed to alleviate the problem.

So, a fun evening at GL, was great to catch up with an old friend, but GL was just a little off tonite ...