Why does a ride breaking down mean less of a time?

I missed Goliath at SFMM because it was closed. It was especially disappointing because I had already ridden everything else in the park on my last visit, and I would have gone to Knott's had I known Goliath was closed.

What's more, we had a miserable time, because the crowds were unbearable (2 hours plus in line for the log flume).

But I got over it, eventually. It's not the worst thing I missed. I also missed my one chance to see Smashing Pumpkins in 1994 because I almost died in a car accident on the way there. ;)

I've been to SFMM twice and Superman has been down on both occasions. It's annoying, but that's life; I'm unlikely to be back any time soon as it is about five thousand miles from here :)

Hey Den good news... the Billy Corigan announced he's reforming Smashing Pumpkins. No word if it will include any of the original members besides him though.

---

kip099 said:
What if you went to a concert and the headlining band didn't play... Sure, there were other bands to hear, but you missed the big one - the one you went to see.

---

Yes, but that's life. Just take whatever they give you and be happy with it. It doesn't matter what you really wanted, just be happy with whatever you get. That's life afterall. [/sarcasm]

Coaster dependability is just like the weather......you hope for the best but prepare for the worst. You cannot control these issues so there is really no use to stress about it.

I have had as many dissapointments as anyone else. The first one that comes to mind is X. I flew out to California in 2002 to attend the Ace Con. First trip to California. My primary focus was X. Well, it never came to be, but I looked at the this way......I was in a new-to-me park and there were LOTS of other coasters to do, and LOTS of other things to see. I was devastated for about 10 seconds after learning X was NOT going to happen for us. My whole attitude was....."I will catch it next time" which I did this past March ;-)

I traveled to New Jersey a few weeks ago primarily for Ka. For a while I was worried it would not open but I didn't let it ruin my day in the LEAST. I had a blast! Sure I travelled a LONG way but wasn't about to let the possibility of NOT getting Ka ruin my day, since there were lots of OTHER coasters to occupy my time. Thankfully I lucked out and got Ka, but in retrospect it didn't really make much of a difference. I just had FUN with whatever my friend and I did at the park that day.

With any new coaster (including Dragster) I go to the park expecting it to be having trouble/be down. If it is, then my hopes were never up anyway. If it IS running, then it's a nice surprise!

I can understand the dissapointment, especially when people travel a LONG way, but it's not the end of the world.

-Tina

*** Edited 6/24/2005 8:44:06 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Of course it isn't the end of the world...

Expecting a ride to be down and being pleasantly surprised when it is running is a good attitude to have, but a lot of people don't have it... They are going to the park to ride the big, new ride. They'll wait in line for it for 4 hours. Not getting to ride is a huge letdown.

If Chuck E Cheese in Keokuk, IA built a 500' tall coaster, a lot of people would go to ride it. If, when they got there, there was a sign at the gate saying the ride is down, do you think they would be happy just playing in the plastic ball pit? Probably not...

Like I said before - I don't even bother in a ride's 1st year anymore (especially something like Ka)... It costs too much to go somewhere once - let alone having to go back to "catch it next time"

One of my friends from Knoxville was really down about CP, because everytime he and his fiancee came home to visit in Toledo they went to CP. And everytime, TTD was down. This went on, and on, and on, until their seventh visit. Yes, they got on TTD, but really didn't think it was that great. It was fun for them, but fell short of their expectations. I was there with them, and Brett really loves Milly, Raptor, Magnum, and Twister! They made it worth while each time for them.

Spread out your options at parks, ride everything, or at least ride other rides. Don't spend your whole trip waiting in line for one ride. The longer you wait, and wait, and wait, the higher your expectations will get, and the easier you'll be disappointed if everything doesn't go like you think it should.

I learned the hard way, now I don't even ride TTD anymore, except when I'm with somebody who never has ridden it.

I don't remember where I heard this quote but it certainly applies here.

Any day at cedar point is better than being at work.

That's true for all parks any day. Believe me when I say none of you have gone thruough anything worst than what I went through at Cedar point on August 14th 2003. I went to CP from MA and TTD went down. As a matter of fact all coasters broke down in fact half the country shut down! As, what was stated before" it's life". Still I was happier being at CP than I would be at school that day, or even at home where there was power.

Thank God it was a two day visit everything was running the next day.

One thing if you go to ride the new ride I'd allow a minumum of 2 day or more if you think there is a risk of the ride having downtime especially if you travel a LONG way by plane because that would increase your chances of it being opened. Now KK that's a different story. If I go to SFGAd next year it wouldn't matter and I'd buy a SF season pass solely for the trip and plan on spending at least 4-5 days in the park to almost guarenteed hitting ever coaster there but 80-90% of my time would be spent riding Nitro and the new woodie or waiting in line for them and I would probably go during Coaster Celebration and spend anothre 3 days there if I do this trip. Depends if I get this high paying power plant job too! And I would NOT go on a Saturday unless it's part of a coaster event with ERT and multiple train operations. *** Edited 6/25/2005 9:54:30 PM UTC by Pink Floyd Fanatic***

Gigaforce01,

the site for the quote " ANY DAY AT CEDAR POINT IS BETTER THAN BEING AT WORK. "

is on Pointbuzz:

http://www.pointbuzz.com/faq3.htm

Ya, just to let you know.

At least there are plenty of good coasters at SFGadv and CP. I went up to MA in between PKI and CP last august and Shivering Timbers was down and they didn't know when it would be running. There really isn't anything else there worth traveling that far out of my way.

So in a few more years I'll make it back but I was very disappointed. I'm just glad that wasn't the only park I went too.