Great Adventure, 9/10/11

This was my first trip to the park since mid June. I have never gone almost 3 months during the season without going to the park but that's the way things worked out this year so I was really looking forward to riding Nitro and hopefully finally getting to try Green Lantern.

I got to the park around 2:00, the lot wasn't that crowded maybe 40% full. I guess the forecast of rain all day and then at the last minute the change to partly cloudy until late afternoon and it being the first weekend after school started kept people away.

The Skyway was running despite being listed on the closed rides board but with only 1 side open, it had an almost full queue. The Big Wheel was also closed with a stage set up over the queue so it looks like it may be done for the season.

I had to go to Nitro first and the line was right before the 60 minute sign. It was a 15 minute wait with all 3 trains running. The line barely stops moving when all 3 trains are running.

I stopped at Batman and then went to the Dark Knight which actually had a small line after the pre-show. Sadly, both hologram projectors are not working now and I didn't see the Bat Signal at the end of the ride working either.

Skull Mountain was next, 1 train wait for the last row. The new additions are really nice. They weren't necessary but the new items make the ride more interesting and I'm glad to see the park add new scenery to the ride. I won't mention what was added in case anyone wants to be surprised.

Blackbeard's looked to have at least a 10 minute wait so I skipped it for now and went to the Boardwalk. I also noticed Tornado was broken with some mechanics working on the ride. Blackbeard's now appears to let people wait in the station at each air gate rather than not letting anyone in the station until the air gates open and then letting people pick any row that is available.

I decided to check out the line for Green Lantern and unlike my 2 other trips to the park since the ride has been open, the ride didn't have a 1 1/2 - 2 hour wait like my first trip or 1 hour wait the last time I was at the park both times with the single rider line closed. Today the line looked to be around 20 minutes with the single rider line open, which meant I had to wait about 30 seconds and got row 7. first time riding a standup coaster and it was strange going up the lift hill without sitting down. I knew the layout of the ride from watching POV's of the coaster as both Chang and Green Lantern but I still surprised by all the directional changes.

I was worried the coaster would be rough based on others reports but it seemed very smooth to me. After the dive loop, I really started to feel the forces in my legs and had to take a break after that ride. The inclined loop was cool and felt more like an inversion than Hydra's inclined dive loop.

The drop after the MCBR was surprisingly steep and caused my keys, wallet and phone to get some airtime. Thankfully, they were in a zippered pocket.

The standing waiting on the brake run for the next train to dispatch was a little uncomfortable after the ride and I kind of just wanted to exit the ride at that point.

After my 1st ride, I thought the coaster was good but preferred Scream Machine more.

I decided to go to Frontier Adventures next and saw the Boardwalk Arcade had a happy hour special, all video games were 1/2 price so I stopped there. With so much of the items in the park overpriced, the arcade games are in line with other arcades at $0.50 for most games, $1.00 for DDR and In The Groove. With the 1/2 price special, the games were actually less than an arcade outside the park. I hope the park continues to offer this deal.

The Saw Mill Log Flume was closed and the trough was drained and didn't look like it would be opening anytime soon.

Runaway Mine Train had a 3 train wait, thankfully I got the non ad train. Dispatches were a little slower than normal but not too bad. Bizarro's line was a little past the stairs, so I stopped there and then went to Plaza Del Carnaval. Rolling Thunder had just the right side open with the line all the way down the stairs up to the Flashpass merge point. I'm not sure if 1 or 2 trains were running but regardless, knowing how slow the dispatches are and that I waited almost 20 minutes earlier in the season with the line not even out of the station, it had to be around 40 minutes which isn't worth it so I skipped it today.

Tango had no wait so I went there next and saw the Parachutes had 2 sides open with at least a 20 minute wait and went back to Green Lantern. The line was even shorter now with it looking to be a little over 10 minutes but I still used the single rider line since I'd rather wait 30 seconds and not choose a row. After 2 more rides, I think I consider Scream Machine and Green Lantern equal and although I miss Scream Machine, I look forward to getting many laps on the park's newest coaster.

I really liked the single rider line and hope that they consider adding it to Superman as well since it can really save a lot of time and it can be frustrating to be in a long line and see many empty seats on a train.

Blackbeard's even had a longer wait than before with 2 switchbacks full so I decided to not bother with it today and went back to Nitro and then Skull Mountain.

Overall it was a great trip to the park, I can now say I have ridden a standup coaster and hope to get to the park at least a few times more before the season ends.

GL was not my first standup coaster, but it was the only one I actually liked. In fact, I loved it. It is one of my favorite rides at the park now, though nothing unseats Toro and Nitro. I'm glad you ignored the critics and checked it out and found it enjoyable. My best ride on it was from the third row, right middle seat.

Was Houdini running?

As a tip: standup coasters exhibit more lateral-G variation than a standard, sitdown coaster between the middle seats and edge seats due to the higher roll axis (/heartline) that the ride is designed around, a difference which is again magnified by moving towards the front or rear of the train. This is because the center of the train is effectively the 'design point'... by riding here, you in a sense get the most 'correct' sensations and forces.

So, if you're looking for a smooth ride on a standup, sit... er... stand as close to the middle of the train as possible, always preferring inside seats to those on the edge.

While it's annoying to have to have a "technique" for riding a coaster, to me it's marginally different than waiting extra long for row 1-3 on Phoenix or Magnum. Totally worth it to. This technique not only saved Mantis for me, it made it one of my favorite rides at CP (an opinion that I don't believe is shared by a majority of fellow enthusiasts).

^^ Houdini was running, it's been open every time I have been at the park this year but I always skip it after trying it 2 years ago and it made me dizzy.

^ Maybe if I can get there when the wait is short and don't need to use the single rider line I can try other spots in the train. After a front row ride, I'll go for the middle of the train.