the first day for a new ride

As you all know, Behemoth at PCW is opening soon.
I have some exciting questions to ask.

Will the park let us roam around freely after we enter through the gates, or will there be the mad stampede of guests running to behemoth after the traditional yellow line is dropped?

What have you guys experienced yourself on opening day?

What can I expect in general?

And for you hershey park fans, I hope you guys are excited as much as us up here. I for one am really happy, and feel pretty special to have such a beautiful coaster a short ways away from my backyard. Very Cool.

I am much more excited about your Behemoth than my Fahrenheit, but hopefully both will turn out great.

I would guess there will be a mad rush to the new rides when they open, but don't let that deter you. I've ridden the first public train for a new coaster before (without bidding). It's exciting.

I haven't been to an opening day in close to 10 years, but it was always the same thing, big new ride, big long line. Magnum's line on opening day was ridiculous. They didn't have the extra switchbacks behind the restrooms then and the line was back by the Corkscrew. Even though it was the same ride, just with a retheme, Disaster Transport's line was out into the midway on opening day in 1990 with all rooms queue lines full. Meanstreak in 1991 was stupidly insane. They had only ONE train running, boards lying everywhere, giant extension cords still hanging all over the place, none of the lighting was installed, and we waited 3 hours and 15 minutes from the train tracks through every switchback. Never got to ride Raptor on opening day in 1994, both times we got in line it broke down, it was a walk-on the following Tuesday. :) in 1996 Mantis' line spilled out on to Frontier Trail. Back then the Mantis entrance was off of Frontier trail and actually CROSSED the train tracks, not where it is now before you get to the tracks. As for Kings Island, I couldn't tell you about how the lines were on opening day for any of the new coasters because I always started my ride year with The Beast, no matter what was new. :)

"Walk...I SAID WALK....WAAAALLLLLLK" said the security guard, yeah, that worked real well as all hell broke out and a mad dash towards the entrance ensued. Good times, good times....

Tom

Dorney is the exception to that. I read Hydra's line was 20 minutes on opening day. Should be interesting to see what Voodoo's line will be like since that has a lower capacity, I'm guessing around 45 minutes.

Mean Streak's opening YEAR saw three hour lines with all trains running. It was ridiculous. If I had a season pass I would go to opening day just out of pure joy and excitement. Kennywood has no season pass so I go when its nice out and when we have nothing else going on.

Maverick last year, despite the fact it was in the 50s and raining had a lot of people there. I was at the Magnum gate, so I cant say how bad the main entrance was but lets say that I was towards the front of the line, and got stopped around the y-intersection where the CCMT/Skyhawk/Frontier trail path splits from the Maverick/Mean Streak path. Once the queue opened I was stopped just outside the old Whitewater Landing station.

When I got off the ride the line extended past my point of view down the Frontier Trail. However, when I came back about 2 hours later, it was only 2.25 hr wait and I got a second t-shirt (which means less then 3000 people had ridden it.

I rode Hydra day after opening and it was about 15 minutes. Line just barely down the stairs.

Hu........
Maybe and hopefully the people of Toronto wont all be there for behemoths opening for line wait reasons, but on the other hand I hope its a great success for a park that is already one.

I'm gonna wait until tuesday at eleven a.m. to put my bid in on the first sixty four ridders. I don't want the first place seat and I don't want to spend lots of money. Now what do you guys think will happen in that respect? And, if it was yourself, would you represent a CB t-shirt or sweeter? I'm wondering if us the auctioneers are going to be escorted to the ride ahead of the general public for the first rides. I'm so excited.

I always represent sweeters.

I like sweeters, too.

I've been to many opening days, none of them good. Except Magnum- it was super cold that day and early in the day the line wasn't bad. Mean Streak, three hours- Millenium Force, three hours- Flight of Fear, three hours- Oh, and let's not forget Top Thrill Dragster, where the line on opening day was six and one half hours long. I had a very long face but, needless to say, I waited till later in the week! Geez, we could have driven to Chicago in that kind of time!

So, if there's a lot of local hype, which I'm sure there is, I'd expect a long line after the stampede subsides!

I think the interesting one will be Ravine Flyer. Waldameer ain't all that jammin, usually, so I wonder what kind of a crowd they'll draw. For sure, their attendance figures will be going up, but opening day for the ride...who knows? I'm thinking everyone in Erie can show up and it won't be that bad!

All depends on how many trains they bought.

Two. Red and Blue.

Some rides are interesting on opening day, especially if the public has never seen that type of ride before. A perfect example was Tomb Raider Firefall (now The Crypt at KD).

It took us three tries (because the ride was having issues), but we still got the first opening day ride (Goldpass members rode it the night before). It was more of a spectator event then it was something everyone wanted to ride. I think the ride frankly scared a lot of people.

Drop Zone (now Drop Tower) was another story. We got the second public ride and I seem to remember this ride being more warmly received by the public.

So the question remains, will the height of Behemoth scare enough people initially that you'll have no trouble getting a seat, or will everyone flock to it?