Just got home from a great day at the park. It was my first time back for my wife and I in about 8 or 9 years, and the first time for my son (6) and daughter (4) who both loved it. It rained ALL DAY but it kept the crowds away. We knew it was going to rain so we kept a positive attitude about it as best we could, and prepared as best we could. We met up with another family we knew and had a blast. My son (48") loved Beast, Drop Tower, Bat, Racers, Adventure Express and Stunt Coaster but didn't care much for Vortex (but rode it). He was very upset he isn't tall enough for Banshee yet, but hopefully next year or the year after he'll be tall enough.
My favorites were Banshee (front seat is amazing) and Diamondback (again, front seat is awesome), and I've always loved Beast and Vortex. Someone asked about the rain, and today they ran everything all day in the rain including FoF (though Firehawk was down most of the day). But a tip for riding in the rain, unless you want to feel like someone is continuously pelting your face with pebbles, don't ride up front. I couldn't keep my eyes open on Banshee in the rain in the front seat from the pain of rain hitting my eyeballs, and my face hurt when riding in the front of Beast and Vortex from the rain. (Luckily I rode Banshee again and also Diamondback both in the front during a short break in the rain.) I rode all of those in the middle as well, and it doesn't hurt near as much when there is a seat in front of you.
I was really surprised that The Bat had a 15 minute wait most of the day, while you could walk on Banshee, Diamondback and Beast almost any time. In fact, Banshee was running lots of empty seats at points during the middle of the day. We didn't get to ride Firehawk as it was down most of the day. When it finally started up, we got to the line with a 30-40 minute wait; after a few minutes we realized we could ride Banshee and Diamondback both several times before we would get on Firehawk and left.
My wife and daughter spent most of their day in Planet Snoopy and my daughter loved it.
Overall, I was able to ride Banshee (x4, including front twice), Diamondback (x3, including front once), Beast (x3, including front once), Vortex (front), Racer, Stunt Coaster (x2, including front once), The Bat, Drop Tower (x2), and White Water Canyon. Not a bad day at the park!
