markr

^But your post came across as offensive at least to me. You state "no offense to anyone." However this came across to me like a person who states "I'm not prejudiced but..."

Never mind-Rumor Smasher, you said what I wanted to say about the obvious bigotry of others.

I am going to try to make it as the proceeds are going to what I believe is one of the most important causes. ( AIDS/HIV research.)

Good for you. For those of you that aren't counting, only have a few because you like to ride lots of other things, or don't even want to ride it - that is your choice and don't let any of us who are counting make you feel bad about it. In my many years riding, I've never counted before but decided to on DB this year after meeting markr one day. I'm glad I did because I find it fun (and I'm doing it for me). I figure that if you are going to ride a ride that much, you might as well count. And it does add to the fun. ( Otherwise I wouldn't do it. ) Great seeing you yesterday, KIfan1980.

I guess this is no weirder than the rubber chicken wedding on the old Paul Dixon Show. ( For those of you like me old enough to remember. )

391. Have fallen way behind in past month as busy taking care of some personal business.

Make sure you ride Raptor, Mantis, Gemini and Skyhawk on your last day. In the future if you are going to CP this long, you would get a much better deal with a Platinum Pass as in two days it pays for itself. Also you get the ERT on Maverick, Millenium Force, Raptor, and Skyhawk at 9a before the GP.

I think The Vortex sinking rumor resulted from the Magnum sinking into Lake Erie rumor.

You can melt steel, can't you? Markr, who couldn't resist.

There has been a lot of discussion that because people express their opinion about SOB by stating things like "Burn it," Tear it down", etc, they are personally attacking the people who love the ride. That is absolutely silly. When all is said and done, we are talking about an inanimate object, an amusement park ride. And please, don't say that I wouldn't like it if people attacked Diamondback. If you wanted to say burn Diamondback, I wouldn't be offended, I would take it like you were expressing an opinion. While I love Diamondback, it is only a silly rollercoaster when all is said and done. Believe you me, I have had more concerns in my life in the past few years than worrying about a rollercoaster. Just expressing my opinion people, nothing personal. Hopefully I maintained my civility. ( P.S. That pic of Reagan stating "Tear down this coaster now" was hysterical.)

If you have a KI Platinum pass, you can upgrade it for about $75. This will upgrade to parking at all the Cedar Fair parks also. The cost to upgrade will depend upon how much you paid for the gold pass. If you are going two days it will more than pay for itself-figure $66 for a 2 day ticket plus 10 per day for parking. If it cost 75 to upgrade that is a $9 savings for 2 days plus you can go as many times as you want the rest of the season.

Very nice PTR. Did you see the dancing candybars on the midway? I'm certainly glad when our group was at Hershey that we packed a picnic lunch in order to save money. I am sure it was more appetizing. Cannot wait to hear your report on Kingda Ka and how you think it compares to TTD.

^I am sure that you have expressed your opinion on SOB many more times than I have. Therefore I find it puzzling for you to say that I am expressing my opininon every 5 minutes. ( I have more important things in my life, believe you me, to deal with. ) I said it once and I will keep saying it: You can express your opinion as many times as you want if you allow me the same privilege. That is the whole point of these forums, to have fun debate. For you to say we should shut up after expressing our opinion just once is totally contrary to this principal.

Good to hear I'm not the only one getting sick of the same people constantly crying about the pain in every SOB thread. I think it funny these people claim they hate the ride, but yet they spend their whole lives talking about how much they hate it. At least you don't hear SOB fans crying to take out their least fav rides, as much as the SOB haters do You complained yesterday on a previous thread how people had no respect for your opinion. That is like calling the kettle black when I see these kinds of personal attacks. If you like SOB, fine, others don't like it. We have the right to express our opinion too. But you don't have to keep saying it over and over and over and over.... Why not? We have as much right to express our opinion over and over as you SOB lovers.

Good to hear I'm not the only one getting sick of the same people constantly crying about the pain in every SOB thread. I think it funny these people claim they hate the ride, but yet they spend their whole lives talking about how much they hate it. At least you don't hear SOB fans crying to take out their least fav rides, as much as the SOB haters do You complained yesterday on a previous thread how people had no respect for your opinion. That is like calling the kettle black when I see these kinds of personal attacks. If you like SOB, fine, others don't like it. We have the right to express our opinion too.

Good point Cat. I agree that if you have a slow ride crew or if they are short on staff or perhaps if they are not running all the trains, that will be a big difference. I still think for the reasons stated in my previous thread that ride waits are often exaggerated-not by you but by young children, people not keeping time properly, etc.

Or as Spongebob says, " Movin on up."

Yes, for Raptor the horizontal switchbacks were open. I am timing from the entrance to the ride without line snaking out onto Midway. And my timing for Beast was also based upon actual waits in line and timing by my watch.

I have been examining some of the threads about past line wait times about CP and KI. Examples: 4-5 hours when ride snaked out from Beast to restrooms by BLSC, 2 hours for racer from the fudge shop,etc. From my past experiences at both KI and CP, I find that waits for rides are highly exaggerated. For example, one time I was at CP waiting for Raptor when the queues were completely full. I had been in line for just 20 minutes and had already gotten through the first set of queues before the line turns to go under the structure. A teenage girl was on her cel phone behind me and said to her friend she had been in line for an hour. Excuse me, how can she have gotten in line at the same time as me and be in line 40 minutes longer? The total wait even with all the full queues was 1 hr 15 minutes. Yet, the girl behind me probably told everyone that Raptor was a 2 hour plus wait. I have also timed the wait for Beast from the rest rooms by the BLSC with full queues. It is approximately 1 and a half hours, not the 2-3 plus hours people will quote. Also I have waited in line for The Racer with full queues and have timed it at 45 minutes. The fudge shop is just across the midway so I would add maybe 5-10 minutes to the wait. Even in the hayday when Vortex was the major anchor ride with Beast and the line was to dodgems, I have never, repeat, never waited longer than 1 hour for that ride. ( A long cry from the 2 hour plus horror stories people tell about that ride. ) Like DB, it was a "people eater", ie, huge capacity. Often people will hear young children tell about how long a line is. Children, God love them, exaggerate horribly. Even a short wait to them is like an eternity. Yet their word gets out to others and it is passed around as the truth. Or people for whatever reason ( like that girl behind me at Raptor ) don't pay proper attention to the time when they are in line. In conclusion, you just cannot rely on hearsay as to how long a line is. You have to actually wait in the ine. Even if you see long lines, don't be intimidated by them. If you have driven a long distance to the park, your choice is to either wait in the lines and ride or don't wait in the lines and not ride. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much shorter the waits are than you think.

And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait. Did you not read mine and rotag TR's? Firehawk was almost under the X-Base sign not it own entrance. Diamondback was all the way to the basketball games and an employee was there saying 90 mins. It about an hour just from the start of the sign about, at least it was on opening day You never specifically stated how far the Firehawk line was, just the FOF line. And you stated DB was all the way to the basketgames across from the trains (see my quote "beginning near the train." I and many others on this thread are just trying to give you helpful information. You complain that KI Central is cliqueish. It is not. KI Central has a wonderful bunch of people whose company and friendship has helped me to get through some very recent difficult times.

I don't see that this is the park's responsibility. And why should they? As Terpie has continuously drilled into us, Cedarfair has taken on huge debt. Of course they are not going to take steps to drive crowds away. At least we have KI open. As Terpie previously stated, would you rather that it go under and close forever? This could conceivably happen considering the recession, the huge debt Cedarfair has undertaken, and the huge financial debacle of SOB. And if you want more big coasters built, how is that going to be done without big crowds? That money doesn't grow on trees. That being said, there are steps you can take on your own if you want to minimize crowds. I find Sundays on weekends are less crowded than Saturdays if you must work during the week. Otherwise, it is always better to go on a weekday although I have noticed this summer that they are getting more crowded on the weekdays. ( Which is good from a financial standpoint.) Call the park ahead of time to see if there are any special events. And even on crowded days, I find that the waits for lines are highly exaggerated. With the high capacity of DB, I would estimate the wait from the beginning near the train would be about an hour which isn't bad for a Saturday. At Firehawk, I have timed the wait from the entrance with both trains running at 1 hr and 15 minutes despite their sign stating 2 hours. If the queues for The Racer were half full, that is still just about a 20 minute wait.

I think the way you are handling it is fine. I was really responding to the suggestion by the poster that you use the "drag on " method. Perhaps it was tongue and cheek but you'd be surprised at some of the actions I have witnessed by parents trying to force their kids on rides they were terrified of.

I am sure you mean well but I think it is wrong to force a child to go on something of which they are absolutely terrified. The chances are greater that they are going to have a horrible experience on the ride and, thus, hate it and other thrill rides for life. When my niece was little, I was open with her. I showed her what the ride did and if it was too scary, I would not force her to ride. As she got older, she would without any pressure from me go on the bigger coasters. Today she loves them. Another suggestion on the coasters with the beginners: Start them at the front of the train ( and on a non-wheel seat if it is a wooden coaster.) Always remember that there are some people who hate thrill rides and will always hate thrill rides. There may be health consequences to them riding such rides ( such as motion sickness, high blood pressure, etc. ) It is essential that people respect their limitations.

You think Mean Streak is too rough but you like Son of Beast? Well, you're entitled to your opinion.

Interestingly Cedar Point would not exist today if the owners in the late 50's had not had a change of heart about closing it down. If I am not mistaken they were going to turn it into a housing development but had a change of heart. It would be nice if Thor ( majority owners of Astroland ) had such a change of heart.