Raptor Jo's 800th+ Raptor flight! 9/26
Associated parks:
None
Friday Sept 26th, 2003
Would Raptor Jo get her 800th Raptor ride?
I was certainly assuming on drive with b/f Eric to CP yesterday it was going to be a better day than last Friday was. I was determined to get my 800th Raptor ride!!!
High Po!nts:
Obviousely spending more time with my b/f is always a high
point to me. Happy to see Raptor had 3 trains on, however, check Low Po!nts to get more technical on THAT. Was great hooking up with some of my CP/GTTP
buds, Matt (Hooper) Dave (DodgeEmDave) and Greg (no screen name) Saw plenty of other Po!nters through out the evening. We saw Mr Skyward in the queue line, (sporting his Halloweekends shirt) imagine how honored he felt
when we were coming down the exit ramp, we screamed out his name, he looked up at us and we all waved at him. It was a blast as always hanging out with all my CP buds, the stories and laughs were a plenty, my b/f fits right in
with all of them!
My goal for the night was to get my 800th Raptor ride...
it took me 3 hours to get a simple 8 rides in. For my 800th ride my b/f and I decided to do the front car, when that train came back into the station the ride op announced to the station that that was my 800th ride. Was that spotlight over yet? Heck no, for when I did my 801st, and 802nd it was announced again. Such the life of a celebrity! So the highest po!nt of my evening ever was getting my 800th+ Raptor ride and despite all the low points still managing to get 11 more flights in before nights end. The crew is wired up about me returning next week and I can't wait to be part
of that crew again either!! Towards nights end Eric and I rode WT, Cedar Downs and even Matterhorn. Getting Eric on Raptor in the rain was great...I purposely let him have an outside seat and he got drenched! Pigging out on funnel cakes and elephant ears was great! Nothing like getting your daily allowence of fried dough! Yummy!
Low Points:
WTH is up with Raptor? Joe Cool Club-great! Get on train-floor drops-no train. Train 3 decides to poop out just when I was ready to ride. Raptor down mechanical. T! No Joe Cool for me I was however the only guest who waited on the platform so got to talk to the crew and had a blast planning my wedding. No further comments there, we were just having fun. Park opens to GP-Raptor
running again.. As the evening progressed, it was 2 trains, 3 trains, back to 2 trains. They actually unloaded one of my trains on the runway and their TL decided to blame ALL of Raptor's woes on ME! Telling me every time I've
ridden the ride had jacked up! I actually started to believe that! It seems to me that this season and last season Raptor so not up to par. Raptor has always been one of the most reliable rides in the park but for the past 2 years maybe it's age is catching up with it, or maybe CP had invested so
much money and effort in TTD the other rides suffer? On the flip side it was a relief to see almost walk ons on Raptor, but pissed me off all the down time. I managed 11 rides but again if it was a TYPICAL Halloweekend
Friday nights I should have easily been able to get 30-40 more flights. 11 flights certainly better than the pathetic 1 flight from last week! There was this smoking chick in thongs, proving what selfish, inconsiderate and immature imbasils some humans can be. I'll let Hooper explain the whole story there since I'm sure the "show" she put on was NOT for me, or ANY female for that matter. There was rain, the good thing was it didnt start till after 10pm-the bad thing was it came down in BUCKETS!! By 10:30 the
lightning started, so much for any more rides. We left park around 11, the drive home was the worst drive EVER for both of us, when I say it POURED I mean it POURED the WHOLE time home. My truck hydroplaned many times, Eric refusing to put on the 4 wheel drive-typical male.
Visability as 0 at times and what is supposed to be a 2.75 hour trip took us 3.5. I was never so happy I wasn't driving! Blech! I know the park appeared to have it a tad more together than last weekend, and that's good news!
Thanks to Eric for making my 800th ride even more fun for me, he is becoming quite the Po!nter and he is making me quite the Buckeye fan
Thanks as always to my CP buds for another great time, put away that pinkie Dave!
Thanks to CP for the Raptor 3 train operation ATTEMPTS! And be prepared for Raptor Jo to bust your chops about getting the Raptor pumpkin IN the control booth where it belongs!!!
Best question of the evening:
"Why does Dorney have the ba**s to tear down
their crap woody and bring on a B&M floorless while we're still looking at MS???"
Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor Crew
Lifetime Raptor flights: 803 :)
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It's all about getting around the barrels or over the fences, right leads, no faults, fastest time and still looking pretty when done. What's so hard about that? :)
*** This post was edited by LuvRaptor 9/27/2003 8:01:41 PM ***
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Rob - Jerk/Loser - Standing up for the unfunny and unattractive. - Click here for details
I always thought they should send it over to CP! Another world record for the park! Largest two wood "need-to-burn" wood piles in the world!
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Coaster Insomniacs
Coasterman Mike - who enjoyed listening to all the GP talking about how crazy a person must be to ride Raptor 800 times
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"Sometimes I just kill myself!" - The Joker
Glad to hear you got #800. I wonder if I've ever even had 50 rides on any coaster.
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-Mike Buscema
'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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Vater said:
Wait a sec...what 'typical male' refuses to use four-wheel-drive? ;)------------------
-Mike BuscemaThe same one who thinks he can handle the truck fine when it's hydroplaning, and swears the heater works better as a defroster than the a/c does! ;)
I must admit his duelly hydroplanes far worse then my 4x4 does, which is why the only time I would drive it in the rain is if we were hauling horses or the trailer somewhere. Without that weight in the back it is a lost cause in the rain and snow.nasai: I would love nothing more than to see MS go bye bye and we get B&M floorless too but doubt that will ever happen. Not to take away from WT and TTD but I am very jealous of Dorney getting Talon and now a new floorless. I would have much preferred B&M compared to Intamin. I just don't see CP knocking down MS and replacing it, they are too hard up on the record count. Sad but true! After riding the Beast 6x this past Sunday I hate MS even more. Even a coaster that old kicks MS' butt, CP should be ashamed-what a waste of space!!! :(
Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor CrewWhat's more exciting? The countdown to working at CP or the Quarter Horse Congress?
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It's all about getting around the barrels or over the fences, right leads, no faults, fastest time and still looking pretty when done. What's so hard about that? :)
By the way, you haven't been experiencing any floaters of flashes of light, have you???? ;)
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"That's DOCTOR Evil. I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mr. Thank You Very Much.'"
LuvRaptor said:
My truck hydroplaned many times, Eric refusing to put on the 4 wheel drive-typical maleAs your CBuzz resident automotive engineer, I must point out that hydroplaning has nothing to do with use of 2WD or 4WD. It's more dependent on depth of tire tread and the tread design's ability to evacuate water away from the contact patch between the tire and the road. If your truck was really hydroplaning a lot, I would highly recommend you check your tires for depth and proper inflation. Here's a handy way to check depth using a penny;
http://www.carcarecouncil.org/Tires_Wheels/tread.shtml
Drive safe!:)
Later,
EV
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"Everybody has desperate days of quiet questioning.
Everybody has times when they feel like they don't fit in."
- Color Theory, So Many Ways, 2001
Congrats on your 800th flight Jo, I saw you sometime over the summer at the Point (as noticed by your jacket) and was impressed by your devotion to the ride! Wish I could say I had a number that high. I was actually thinking back this weekend that I have probably gotten well over 150 rides on Millennium since its opening, but geez, talk about pales in comparison!
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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
I had plans on making 1k flights this season but it appears thanks to way too much down time on Raptor I won't make it. I have the remaining Friday nights to ride but will be working on Raptor every weekend this month, so no riding for me (except for the AM test ride that is) Maybe I'll save 1k till next season, another reason for yet another newspaper story or perhaps a TV special? Oh wait, I'm already going to be on Discovery again next year! ;)
No flashy floaters btw! :).
EchoVictor:
New tires on my truck so they are fine. After talking to my b/f he said my truck wasn't really hydroplaning but the back end was slipping and sliding during the really heavy downpours. So I was wrong, which of course my b/f just adored ;) I use the 4 wheel drive when it rains hard, maybe I don't need to? I should put 5 or 6 bags of grain in the bed for my rides to and from CP this month, that would take care of any sliding issues!
Impulse-ive:
Knowing what happened when CP turned the trim brakes off on Raptor I wonder how long it will be before they have to put them back on MS. I know their head of maintenance on more than one occasion mentioned that MS' downfall it is beating itself up, I'm sure no trims isn't helping! I will ride MS if walk on and just feel there has to be something better. I know riding SOB this past weekend I kept asking myself why MS couldn't be more like that, I really like that ride! :)
Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor Crew
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It's all about getting around the barrels or over the fences, right leads, no faults, fastest time and still looking pretty when done. What's so hard about that? :)
LuvRaptor said:
Not to take away from WT and TTD but I am very jealous of Dorney getting Talon and now a new floorless.This may come out wrong so forgive me, but don't you think you are being a little greedy? Dorney has 8 rollercoasters and one under construction. Cp has 16 including multiple B+Ms and Intamins. Why would you be jealous of Dorney getting any coasters. Helloo, they are kinda lacking in that category so adding some only seems appropriate. It all goes back to the selfish enthusiast thing. Why would you be jealous of Talon, yes it is a great ride but you have an equal if not better invert at your park?
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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003
DorneyDante said:
LuvRaptor said:
Not to take away from WT and TTD but I am very jealous of Dorney getting Talon and now a new floorless.This may come out wrong so forgive me, but don't you think you are being a little greedy? Dorney has 8 rollercoasters and one under construction. Cp has 16 including multiple B+Ms and Intamins. Why would you be jealous of Dorney getting any coasters. Helloo, they are kinda lacking in that category so adding some only seems appropriate. It all goes back to the selfish enthusiast thing. Why would you be jealous of Talon, yes it is a great ride but you have an equal if not better invert at your park?
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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003
Worked at CP all weekend so sorry for the delayed reply. Apparently you misunderstood. I love Dorney and am not being greedy as you put it. I realize CP has tons of coasters. My point to what I said was that I wish CP had the balls to knock down MS and put up another B&M.
Dorney adding yet another kick butt coaster only gives me yet one more reason to go to the park in '04.
As for your "it goes back to the selfish enthusiast thing"
I am NOT a coaster enthusiast so please do not put me near that catagory. I do go to some other parks to ride their coasters and are a member of GOCC but am NOT an enthusiast. I am simply a CP/Raptor freak.Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor Crew
Lifetime Raptor flights: 813 :)
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It's all about getting around the barrels or over the fences, right leads, no faults, fastest time and still looking pretty when done. What's so hard about that? :)
Here are a few facts about this person who so adamantly denies being an enthusiast (I guess it's not the "in" thing)
*Has multiple coaster/park related tatoos
*Wanted to be VP of a coaster club (Great Ohio Coaster Club)
*Wears/owns a multitude coaster apparrel
*Named herself after a coaster
*Appeared in the media representing coasters (newspaper and tv/video)
*Decorates her truck with coaster/park related stuff
*Personalized license plate states CUATCP
*Attends coaster events with a coaster club including Christmas parties
*Keeps track of how many times she rides a coaster
*Knows what a block brake is
The list truly could go on and on. I guess the only reason I'm sharing these
little tidbits is because I can't stand people who are hyprocrites. If it
walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it's a duck.
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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003
*** This post was edited by DorneyDante 10/8/2003 2:45:10 PM ***
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