Rode up to the sandcastle suites @ about 11:15pm on Thursday. The drive up by MS and Millie almost made me pull over and hop the fence, but I maintained my composure. Caught up with Josh and our own GregLeg (my roomies for the weekend) and after a few hours of convo, finally went to sleep.
Woke up with the intention of being at the Main Gate at 6:30am, was pretty close too. On the shuttle over, caught up with loriu. She, her husband (Steve), and their two friends (Joe & Leah) would be our compatriots for the majority of the day. We also picked up wiredog (Vince), Sean F., Mike from CCI, and Gary (our group kept growing and growing...).
Anyway, during the morning ERT, we took a couple of rides on Raptor, a couple on Blue Streak (including a 1.3 ride where BS tried to kill me and Josh :)), and the one obligatory ride on Mantis (did I mention it was raining hard as heck?). As the ERT was ending, we decided to go over to Challenge Park to take advantage of the cheap skycoaster flights, but the Magnum Gate wasnt open so we couldnt get out. As consolation, we snagged the first ride of the day on Maggie. Josh and I took the front seat. It was my first fron seat Maggie ride and I still say that the view from Maggie is one of the best in the business. Also, though it is far from my favorite coaster, I really like Maggie. Josh on the other hand, now refers to it as Steaming Pile of $#!+. That's okay though, I feel about the same about Raptor.
Side note: Throughout the day, Josh and I were going back and forth about how each of us disliked the other ride. Josh is a *little* more animated with his feelings about Magnum, but he rode it about as many times as I rode Raptor, so it must not be *too* bad.
OKAY, after that, we headed over to RipCord, where several *newbie* took their first skycoaster experience (group included: me, Greg, Joe, and Mike). All of us were digging it. Josh wanted a second ride, so while they were doing that, me and Adam (White Knuckler from refreshinglook.com - yes we were still picking up folks) went over to grab another ride on Maggie.
After that, as the rain had let up, we back to the hotel to do a quick gear change. It was about time for the 2nd Q&A session (we missed the first D'OH!) but Adam, Joe, Leah, Steve, loriu, Greg and I said chuck it and kept riding. The others peeled of to talk w/ Intamin.
I'll try and compress the rest of the day, we took yet another spin on Maggie, rode Chaos, Gemini, CCMR, MS (in the backseat there was actually a good drop halfway through the ride) and even Iron Dragon. Also I FINALLY got to ride Cedar Downs and we hit BS one more time as we made our way to Lunch.
Lunch was nothing to speak of so I wont. Anyway, we caught up with all those other folks from earlier and proceeded to hit that big blue bastard. It was the first ride for Joe, Leah, Adam and CCI-Mike (they loved it...I could tell ;)).
We started to tail off a bit here as we were getting tired. On the way to CCMR (hi Nat!) loriu and crew peeled off. On the way to the log flume, greg peeled off and on the way to MS *I* peeled off for a quick nap.
Refreshed (sort of) me greg loriu and crew finished off the park with Woodstock, Corkscrew, Power Tower (UP), DT, and (what is becoming a tradition) a final queing for Raptor (front seat).
During the lull b/w closing and ERT, we seached (to no avail) for a *reasonably priced* hoodie of loriu. Anyway, during ERT we snagged to quick rides on Maggie and then camped out on Millie for the rest of the evening. (Sorry, you'll have to ask Greg for ride counts as I dont too much keep up with those things)
All in all, the day was very fun. It's getting a little weird that people recognize me and stuff (and vice-versa), but weird in a good way. It was a blast talking with loriu and the crew and I'd love to hang out with them again. However, I dont think that I'll be going to many more CoasterManias. The day got a little long for me (and I aint even old yet) and aside from seeing some folks, it didnt really seem that different from any other day at CP (no Raven-esque 'bar-only-has-to-be-past-your-knees' treatment :() and if I can avoid all those damn muffleheads by going a different time of year, that I will do!
lata,
jeremy
---I've got to go poopy...
Jeremy, it was great meeting and hanging with you and the rest of the crew all day. Had a ton of fun. Hope we can do it again sometime. You ain't even old yet, how do you think I feel. Thanks for writing such a great trip report. I didn't bother because I knew you and Greg would do a better job than I could.
-------------
Christ how do you kids do it
