Kawana

Oh, yeah. I saw Uncle Henry there working at The Beast. All kidding aside, I hope your day was not too bad UH.

Well, it became the group's collective goal to get you to ride, even though you were lured in under false pretenses. I'm happy you broke down and rode with us. "When something is right, people will see that and correct what has been happening." My boss says that all the time and it was proven true last night. Hah. I still dont know how you guys did it.. The entire time i was walking backwards towards Son of Beast and you guys were all still standing there. And then Kat i guess called Angie to get my cell phone number i found out later. haha I'm not entirely sure how it happened. Gator told me that she told you that she was looking for me and someone else and that we were going over to The Beast. I was wondering what would happen when you got over to DB but everything worked out in the end. Kat may be the one to ask about the specifics. Let me know what you find out.

Well, it became the group's collective goal to get you to ride, even though you were lured in under false pretenses. I'm happy you broke down and rode with us. "When something is right, people will see that and correct what has been happening." My boss says that all the time and it was proven true last night.

Since I'll probably be one of the first "boys" as kittenpooh put it to post a TR, I thought I'd fill everyone in on the fantastic, or fangtastic day I just had. Some of the finer details are escaping me at the moment, so I'll let others refresh my memory and we'll fill it in as we go. I arrived at the park at around 9:20 or so and got my customary parking spot in the gold lot. I called XGatorhead to see where he was and who was with him. After leaving a message, I went in and found him standing on the DB porch. Much to my surprise, no one else from the crew was there yet, so we decided to grab some ERT on Diamondback. We had two walk-on rides in row 16 which were my first in that row and were amazing. While we were waiting for our train to arrive we saw pkiboy and Phantom Theater in the station. Just before our third ride, kittenpooh showed up and joined us for a near walk-on once the park was open. From this point (which was about 10:15 or so) 'till about 2:30 or so this would be the crew. From DB, we then hit up The Beast, which was awsome, as usual. Kittenpooh is going to claim that we drug her on that ride, but you shouldn't believe her. A walk-on to BLSC was after that, with a small delay as someone got caught with a camera out during the ride. Next up was Vortex but not in the Terpy seat. Working our way through Coney Mall we got to Firehawk which was sporting a 45 minute wait. After a couple of "mechanical delays" and an hour and some change later we were on. Kittenpooh did the honorable thing and rode "Superman-style" and from what I could tell, loved it. After that we had a near walk-on to FoF. That coaster still surprises me after all these years. The red Racer was next on the menu and this is where kittenpooh showed her sense of humor. As the op was coming down the train before us, she hits us with her idea. "You have to do it, I say." So, as she gets down into her seat, and he's just about to check her restraint, she says "Don't touch me there!" Very funny moment as all three of us burst out laughing and the guy doesn't really know what to think. Racer was only running one side due to what we figured was staffing issues. Never before have I seen security personnel, the sweepers or maintenance running rides. Very interesting to see. Adventure Express was next with a walk on. Around 2:30 violakat called to say that she was at the gate and was coming in. We met her at the Festhaus and from there it was over to FoF where we met up with pkiboy and dare-to-fly. After another near walk-on we all headed back to Diamondback for two more rides with very short waits. I'm starting to forget what we did and in what order, but I think after that we all headed to The Beast, and then after that it was a very short wait on SoB and Invertigo. Feeling hungry, the group which at this point was 8 of us, left the park and grabbed a bite to eat. Pkiboy and his crew left and went back to the park and Kat, Gator, kittenpooh and myself stayed behind for a few minutes. Then the rains came. Once we got back to the park, kittenpooh had to take off. It was nice to meet you and get to hang out with you. If I see you again later this year, I'll say hi. Gator, kat and I decided to wait out the rain in the Festhaus. After about an hour or so, we ventured over to Diamondback to see what was what. Upon our arrival, we met Boddah, keiko_coaster and her friend and Zosobeast. Boddah took off just prior to DB re-opening and Zosobeast was probably in line for Diamondback. We had decided to ride The Beast again and come back to DB later. I chose my usual seat (middle seat of the last car) and The Beast was screaming after the rain. Gator, kat, keiko and her friend all decided to take another spin on The Beast and I was too late in figuring this out and was left out of the second ride. At this point CoastersRZ had met up with us and stayed with us for the rest of the night. After we exited the ride, kat attempted to convince keiko to come and ride DB. I wasn't aware beforehand but keiko had an issue with Diamondback the weekend before and was not very eager to ride DB. She and her friend went over to Action Zone, presumably and we were off to DB again. On the way over Kat and I decided to help keiko out. After a ride or so, she spoke to a DB supervisor, explained the situation, and attempted to get keiko back over to DB so she could ride. Kat then pulled a crafty move to get keiko over to DB to try to get her on. After a few text messages, she was in the area and after some more convincing she decided to try to ride. I know she probably didn't want to, but there were at least 4 of us that were not going to let her get to the station and not get to ride. She rode, and had such a time, presumably, that she just had to buy her ORP. At this time it was about 9:15 and myself and CoastersRZ were absolutely crushing rides on Diamonback. At around 9:50 we thought we'd better try and get one more ride in on DB. It had just started sprinkling and by the time we were on our last ride, it was raining fairly hard. As we're on the ride, rain is just pelting us, but we all wouldn't have not rode. I said "It only hurts when it hits your eyeballs." I couldn't stop laughing on the ride, and seeing everyone's ORPs just made me laugh harder. Kat and gator were covering their faces, and CoastersRZ was trying to but just couldn't get his hands up there, at least that's what it looked like. We still had 2-3 minutes left and after a mad dash over to The Beast, we tried to get one last ride in. While we made it into the line, unfortunately, The Beast had stopped operations due to the weather. Like I said, I had a great time, I enjoyed hanging out with everyone and this day was one of my better visits to the park. I'll say that the front row (row 1) on Diamondback has some great ejector air and is competing for my favorite seat on that ride, although there really isn't a bad seat, in my opinion. Final ride count Beast-3 Vortex-1 BLSC-1 Red Racer-1 FoF-2 Firehawk-1 SoB-1 Invertigo-1 Adventure Express-1 Diamonback-11 Thanks for reading

^^ I thought it made perfect sense to light up the tower like MF is lit up. Kudos to CF. Totally mezmerizing to look at. (for me anyway)

That fan in the queue house is HUGE!!!

I would think we could all take turns being "the odd one out." I mean I certainly don't have a problem with it considering I am going to the park alone.

Will the check in end at some point or will it continue throughout the day for later arrivals? I realize that only the park would really know but I was hoping for someone who has participated in something like this before to throw their two cents in. I'm wondering because the chances of me getting there at 7:30 are slim to none.

Well, that's all I needed to see. I don't think I'll be able to get it in time for RWW, but I'm definintely getting one of the iChase shirts. I proabably would have purchased the LMH shirt but now that there's an option, I'm taking it. I can't swing it right now, but I'll get one soon.

That's what I thought. Man, you have the same setup as me. I have to get out and practice to start getting better shots.

Thank you! I was wondering when someone would notice that. That was actually one of the first things I saw but I was too late to post in the voting topic. I did get to vote though.

Chase, I voted for your design. Loved the shout-out to terpy also. Too bad it didn't win. Kudos to the winner, if it's available in my size, I'll probably get one. EDIT*** I just checked and there is a 3.00$ upcharge for larger sizes and at those prices, I don't really want to pay for speedy shipping. Perhaps I'll get one later in the season.

Great photos. I really enjoyed looking at those. Just out of curiosity, what zoom lens are you using? I thought you said you had a D40 but I wasn't sure. The one you have labeled as "Ska-doosh" is just amazing. Once again, excellent photos.

If it's not too late, Kawana would like to meet up with you all and spend the day of the 1st with some other ride warriors. I'll be there on the 1st, no questions.

Thanks for the trip report. Hanging with you guys sounds like a blast. Any chance you'll be going this Friday?

I never saw a page that showed my registration. All I got was a "Thank you for registering, if you need to buy tickets for a guest, click here." screen.

^^^ Not Yet. I also wonder about what "proof" we'll have to show when we get there. Details on that end are still sketchy.

Oops, I didn't put anything. I just hit the back button and filled in the missing info. I should be ok, right? EDIT*** Also, will we be sent a confirmation of some sort by the park? It would be nice to know for sure that we're on the list.

Who is this clown? At first I thougt it was Charles Gibson from the ABC World News, but it would appear not. I like Vortex as much as the next, but that was a bit much.

Wow, Diamondback until 1 a.m. That should be good for what, 3 rides? All kidding aside, that should be very fun, I can't wait to experience Diamondback in the dark.

^^Honestly the first few times I used them I didn't like them, but the speed with which your hands get dried is remarkable. I'm a believer.

Fricker's has those dryers and while you're using them, you can see your skin ripple. Very strong dryers, and probably the best I've used.

Sorry I misunderstood what you said out in the lot. By that point I was literally running on fumes. Aside from getting to ride Diamondback, that had to be one of my worst visits to the park. It was cool seeing you all and seeing how excited you were. Perhaps one day we'll meet up and I can rival your coaster stamina.

Until they decide to change whatever they just told you in the meantime. I called about the drink wristbands and was told $8.99 and when I got to the park the price had jumped to $9.99.

It was the Statix one (non-moving display-type). I was pretty psyched to see it except that they had the seats going 4 straight across like typical B&M's which was pretty disappointing so I didn't get one. The restraints on the Diamondback statix model move as well.