Gold Pass VIP night at PKI - 5/3

To drive, or not to drive? That was the question I asked myself and Rob (Robodud) after hearing about the Gold Pass night at PKI on Friday, May 3, from 5-10 pm. 6 hours of driving for 5 hours of park time? It seemed crazy, but once again, logical thinking took second place to the prospect of coaster riding. The night couldn't have been more perfect: light crowds, walk on coasters, and a glorious night ride on the new-and-improved Beast.

We arrived at the park around 5:30, and by 7:30 we had hit almost every coaster, and Tomb Raider as well. Tomb Raider was running well, and it was obvious that they had done some tweaking to the ride since opening weekend. The line wasn't too bad, it started at the entrance to the second chamber, and in all it was about 20 minutes. We struck up a conversation with a man in line who commented "I haven't been to Cedar Point for a few years..I think Corkscrew was new the year I went." We had a good laugh over that one.

Sonny was a walk on, and for the first time, I really ENJOYED riding it. I was amazed. Sitting in the middle row of a car really does make a world of difference on that thing, it's like a totally different (and much smoother) ride. We got walk-on's on Vortex, Top Gun, Adventure Express, and Racer. I also got my first ride on Runaway Reptar, which was one of the longest lines we waited in all night. Face Off had it's usual "this-line-is-moving-so-slow-I-can-watch-the-grass-growing" scenario.

After a sunset ride on Vortex (aww..how romantic, huh?) we headed off for our last ride of the night on..you guessed it!...The Beast. It was so great I don't even know where to begin. Don't get me wrong, I loved it before the new brake job, but "intense" doesn't even begin to describe it now. It was running beautifully on a 3 train op most of the evening, but unfortunately they cut back to two later on, and the line stretched from a walk-on to a half hour. That last ride of the night, hurtling through the pitch-dark woods at close to 65 mph, was worth the entire drive down there.

I made a few interesting observations during our visit last night:

Most uncomfortable seats on an invert: Runaway Reptar

Only trash can I've ever seen "out of order": Top Gun queue

Queue line most likely to flood: Top Gun

Best quote by a kid on a leash: "Mommy, I'm not a dog!"

-----------------
Get intimate with an Intamin :)

awesome TR kicks...(aka kristin)....i could have told you this since im talking to you online now, hha:) cant wait to make it to PKI this summer!! :)

-----------------
"hi, my name is Tim, and im a coasterholic"...."Hi Tim!!" hehe:)

Great TR! I wonder if PKI will add a big ride to KC's spot in 2003.

-------------
X-Flight World's Only flying coaster!
Batwing World's only flying coaster!
S:UF World's only flying coaster! Don' you love SF ?

I agree that this was probably the best coaster trip that we've done. Heck even the Racer was running both sides at the same time!! Not a single ride was closed from what I could see.

Oh and Congrats to KicksTheSky on her 49th coaster Runway Reptar... looks like Wicky will be your 50th opening day!

-----------------
***Why can't all parks have a Millennium Force ?***

Actually, the third train was on the siding all night. The third train hasn`t ran yet and last weekend only two of the six cars were on the siding. They were working on either taking out or putting in water in the test dummys on the third train at around 5:30. I had an awesome night ride in the front seat at 9:50!

-----------------
I`ve ridden Son of Beast 67 times!