I had to go somewhere for an opening weekend and I contemplated CP but upon reading the trip reports I'm glad I didn't go there. Anyway,I decided to make a 3 day weekend of it and hit 3 parks and visit a friend. The weekend turned out to be a coaster enthusiasts dream come true in terms of ERT and crowds.May 2: SFKKI only went to get the count on greazzed lightnin(I don't remember how to spell it). So I got there an hour after opening and noticed a pretty lite crowd.I walked through the gate, grabbed a map to make sure I went the right way to GL and off I went. I walked straight to GL, into the station and right onto the front seat. That's about how tough my entire weekend was. Anyway GL was a walk on all afternoon. It appears that it isn't too popular compared to Chang or T2 which both had 20 minute lines on one train ops. GL was my first Schwarzkopf shuttle. I had seen it at SFoG but it didn't run when I was there. I hate to say it, but I wasn't too impressed. It was the weakest of any launched coaster I have been on. I rode it in most every seat and the only thing I liked about it was the negative g's in the loop. It went so slow on the backwards return that you come out of your seat and the lap bar is all that would hold you. So I had my count and I moved on. I walked the park once and got in the obligatory rides.I rode Chang(my favorite stand-up) once. Then I walkedby T2 because it didn't look worth the wait. I hit the Twisted twins and for the first time I noticed signs for Lola and Stella. Have those always been there? Why didn't I notice them before? Well now for the record, Lola is the Pink side and Stella is the Green side. Stella was the only side running and was weak as usual. I then hit Thunder Run and I thought it was running pretty strong. I even hit it a couple more times because it seemed to be the best ride in the park that day. I only spent about 2 hours there and that was it. May 3: Beech Bend I had never been to this park and A friend of mine only lives an hour from it so I decided to visit him and hit the park on Opening day. We got there at opening and as the whole weekend went, only about ten people were there. The park is way out in the country on like a ranch and you think you are lost on somebodies driveway going to it but then you come over a hill and there it is. It is a very clean park with alot of new buildings and a well kept property. The park was fully staffed but nobody was there. The employees was very friendly and helpful in the likes of HW,Adventureland(IA) or Little A-merrick-A, just great home town people. The park has a great selection of flat rides that we sampled by ourselves. They had alot of great spinning rides. They had a Tea Cups ride, a Tornado ride, a Scat2, and a Starship 2000. I had never been in a Starship 2000 and it is cool. You are locked in a spaceship and the ride op sets in the center like Capt.Kirk on the Enterprise. He was encouraging us to turn sideways and upside down. Lots of fun. We hit the 2 coasters. The one was a kiddie one and the other was a Looping Star. I had never been on a Looping Star and it was fun for its size. They also had the normal flats(tiltawhirl, scrambler, bumper cars,swings,etc) The other thing was a Power Surge. These are awesome. My buddy had never been on one and it freaked him out. Anyway, I went to Beech Bend because I had never been there and because I knew I wouldn't make the ACE event after SRM. If you are going to SRM make sure to hit the BB event. It is a nice park. May 5: HW I rolled into the parking lot about 10 minutes before opening and there were about 20 cars in the parking lot. Looked like another easy day. I wanted to go there on a Sunday and on opening weekend because last year it was very crowded on a Saturday in May and I didn't get many coaster rides. I was only there as usual to ride Raven and Legend and let me tell you, It was the perfect day. I was on the first train out for the day on Raven and never stopped riding for 4 hours. I didn't see a full train run when I was there. I could stay on either coaster as long as I liked because hardly anyone was riding. Both rides were really rockin. They were both running very well and very fast. Legend is definitely back to full speed. I got 15 rides on each coaster and then decided to check out the new rides. Hallowswings was fun and the standard swings ride. The powershot ride was also fun and appeared quite popular. It seemed to me to be just like the one at IB but I don't know the stats on each one. As if the weekend couldn't get any better, it then started to drizzle. I suppose most people would say that is bad but not on wood coasters. The best riding I had ever done was on the Legend in the rain and here was my opportunity again. I got 10 more rides on the Legend in the Rain and then got a couple more on Raven in the Rain before I decided to call it an easy weekend and hit the road. These 2 were really flying when the tracks got wet and you can't get any better coasters in the country. I also got to talk to Hammersly while riding the Raven. He takes great pride in the 2 coasters and they were perfect as usual. Nobody take care of their woodies like HW. In all, I got 27 rides on Raven and 25 on Legend in 4 hours along with the 2 new rides. Also, I noticed that they were finishing up the work on Zinga. The funnel part of the ride is HUGE. I not quite sure how it works but it's BIG. My recommendation is to hit HW on opening weekend from now on. As for me, I think I will quit for the season while I'm ahead(just kidding). I only waited one time for 20 minutes for one ride all weekend. It was too easy, But as we all know, what goes around comes around. I figure when I go to CP, I will get my chance to wait for TTD and be introduced back to the real world.
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I can't be bargained with, I can't be reasoned with, I don't feel pity or remorse or fear and I will not stop EVER until I have ridden them all.
