gigacoaster2k

I think this weekend, everyone called everyone they knew and said, "Hey! Let's ALL go to the amusement parks today!" Tom76257 and I were at CP yesterday, and it was packed.. hour to hour and a half wait for Dragster ALL DAY.. ugh.

LOL. I try to remember as many details as possible instead of just listing what I rode. I can also survive on very little sleep.. being a college student will do that to you!

Tom(76257) and I met up at my house a little after 5 am yesterday. I'd been given the day off and didn't have to work the day after, so I figured hey, let's go to Cedar Point! We packed food in coolers to save money. We got to the park around 8:15 am to see the lots almost completely empty. We drove around to the Soak City lot as we wanted to hit Maverick first, and stopped to chat with Single Rider Bob on the way. I was hopeful for a good day because the previous day had been Cleveland Clinic day, and I had heard that there was a 3 hour wait for Millennium Force all day, and that the overflow lots were full. Rumors on a CP fansite told me that some, if not most of, the crowd MAY still be there Sunday. We walked over to the Soak City entrance to see that there were not very many people there. As the 40 minutes slowly went by, more and more people were coming to the entrance. By the time the national anthem was being played, the crowd of people at the gate was halfway to the tunnel. We jogged with the rest of the ROTB. Neither one of us stopped until we hit Maverick. We made it almost to the station before we stopped. Both of us wanted very front seat, and the line for the first train was ridiculous, so we opted for the second train's line, which was a bit shorter (Mav has a dual loading station). One of the ride ops was going on about how you were not allowed to wear glasses on this ride unless they have an athletic strap or secured in a button or zipper pocket.. and then "YOUR CLEAVAGE IS NOT A POCKET!!" Tom and I almost died laughing. The ride was great as always.. until during the second half of the ride, a gull flew very close to the right side of the train! It seriously almost hit us.. I screamed! Tom commented after the ride that it was the first time he'd heard me scream on a coaster. We looked down at the line to see that it was already getting long, so we opted for Millie. The wait was already posted at a half hour, but we wanted to ride so we got in line. The ride ops in the station were saying "VROOM!" as the train left the station, and asking each other what part of Millennium Force would they be. I insisted that we ride seat 2:1, the ejector seat. Yes, Millie has an ejector seat, and it's amazing. In fact, Tom commented to me after the ride in that seat that it shot up to his #1 steel coaster and was a better ride than Maverick. We both wanted a ride on Raptor, so we headed that way. The 10 am ROTB from the front gate was a stampede straight from hell. I don't remember what Raptor was posted at (I think it was half an hour), but we got in line because we love Raptor. I saw my friend Schuyler and laughed at the sudden smile of recognition on his face, he totally didn't expect me to be there. We rode in the very rear seat, as we always try to do. I love Raptor. We headed over to Wicked Twister to see that there was no line whatsoever, and rode in the second seats from the back. We wanted a ride on maXair, so we headed there and rode it. I really do like it a lot better than Delirium. Tom said it's more relaxing than thrilling.. I agree. We headed to Blue Streak partially because we wanted to ride and partially so I could see my friend Scott. I have never been able to sneak up on him like I do with all my other friends that work at Cedar Point. Old Blue had a half hour wait. We rode in the second seat from the back, and as I passed Scott in controls, I screamed bloody murder and covered my face like I was terrified. He got a big kick out of it. Walking toward the back of the park, we hit Space Shot side of Power Tower on the way. I knew it was going to be a crowded day when I saw that both sides had a line. I looked over to see that Corkscrew was stuck on the lift hill. We checked the wait for Dragster.. HOUR AND A HALF. We said no way, and headed for Magnum instead. While in line for Magnum, this guy tried to shove in front of us. When Tom blocked him, told him no and that it was line jumping, he ducked under the rails. As we walked by, I told him it was line jumping and that I was reporting him.. his response was "Are you serious?" I think that because he had a Marines shirt on, that he thought he could do whatever he wanted.. haha, not happening with me. So when we got to the station, I informed a ride op, and they removed him from the line. Tom walked up and thanked her afterward. At CP, you don't need two groups to say someone was line jumping. They have a zero tolerance policy and they WILL kick someone out for it. I wanted to spin, so we hit Witches Wheel. I wasn't feeling too hot after the ride, but it's fun and I really didn't care. We chose to walk toward the very back of the park, and rode Cedar Creek Mine Ride so Tom could get his credit. He is now one coaster ahead of me.. see, I can be nice once in a while. We rode Skyhawk, his favorite flat ride, and then realized we were both getting pretty hungry, so we headed out to the car for the food in the coolers. On the way out, I bought our Skyscraper tickets. I have a buy one get one free coupon that I got with my platinum pass, so I took advantage of that. We'd packed sandwiches, water, Powerade, Mountain Dew, Pringles, and trail mix bars.. ate about half of that, and then went back into the park. My friend Bre that works Magnum said she'd be there today, and so did my friend James. I wanted to see them both, and Tom wanted to meet them, so we headed that way. The wait was posted at half an hour, but we waited about 15 minutes. I saw Bre checking restraints, but no sign of James. I yelled and waved at her, but she was totally not paying attention. We checked Dragster's wait and the line was almost back to the entrance.. we said forget it, and went to ride Wicked Twister. Even Twister had a half hour wait, which was odd since it's usually a walk on. The ride broke down for about 45 minutes, and we just decided to sit it out and wait. The line jumpers in this queue were downright ridiculous, one right after the other. I started going off about how I was going to start taking pictures of line jumpers and show them to park security, and how much I hated the heat and the crowds. Tom had to reassure me that it would be ok, and I was fine afterward. I don't know what happened there.. I guess I hit a point where I was just tired of everything going on today, I also felt bad for taking him to CP on a hot crowded day that was full of line jumpers. I was tired of waiting in huge lines, and wanted a big thrill, so we headed for Tom's first ride on Skyscraper. He loved it but thought it would be more intense. The trick is helping the other person flip the cage.. the flips are much better that way. I needed a break, and we sat down by Magnum's entrance with some water. I said something about how I was disappointed that Bre didn't see me on Magnum.. strangely enough, I saw her walking out of Magnum's queue, so I got her attention and she came over. She told me to come back later when she was in controls, and that she'd give us a trimless ride (I asked her if posting this was ok, and she said she didn't care). I was ecstatic. We wanted another ride on Raptor, so we headed that way. Then we discovered that we were again hungry, so we went back out to the car and destroyed the other half of our food. We checked Dragster's line again on the way back to the front of the park, and it was still hideous. It went down from an hour and a half to an hour, which was still a no. We really wanted to ride, but that line was outrageous.. so was every other line we checked. Tom then said he'd never been up in Space Spiral, so we got on. It was probably the only walk on in the park at that point. I took a photo of CP's main lot from the Spiral just to show you guys how packed it was. ..yeah. I checked my phone to see a text from Bre: "Come ride. I'm in controls." We hurried over to Magnum from the front of the park, and got rickrolled in the queue. We got to the station, and we were both waving our arms and yelling but she didn't see us. We went through the ride, and sure enough, SSHHHHCRACK, there was the trim going into the pretzel. As we pulled into the station, Bre walked over to me and I made a pouty face at her.. the first thing she said was "I can explain." Turns out they did a switch as soon as I left the station, so she said we should go ride again. We got back in line, and I texted her and told her which seat we were riding in so she would see us. I saw James, and caught up with him as I haven't seen him in a while. Bre did see us, and yay, TRIMLESS RIDE!! That thing FLIES through the second half without the trim! As we exited, we blew kisses at Bre and told her she was awesome LOL and she blew a kiss back. I love that girl to death. I wanted another ride on Raptor before the trip was over, and we were stunned to see it at a 15 MINUTE WAIT! No way were we passing this up. We got two rides in on that, said bye to Schuyler, and then headed for a night ride on maXair because there are motion-activated strobes at the bottom that go crazy when the frisbee swings over it.. it looks so cool. We went to see what was going on with Dragster, and there were 3 maintenance workers on the part of the track above the entrance. We were both kind of disappointed that we didn't get to ride today, but excited for our last ride of the night, at night.. Millennium Force. We still had some time before the queue closed, so I grabbed some mint chocolate Dippin Dots (they were out of chocolate so I was nice and got Tom's favorite flavor). We pretty much destroyed that cup of ice cream, and got in line for Millie.. which was posted at an hour wait. The line was back behind the soda machines.. I can only remember one other time I've seen the line that long. At the same time, I was impressed that this coaster draws crowds like that even in its 10th operating season. I was getting bitten by tons of mosquitoes, and laughed about having a coating of bugs after the ride. We went for seat 2:1 again, and were on the second to last train of the night. Strangely enough, I did not get hit with one bug on this ride. We left the park around 11:30, and we had barely left Sandusky when Tom started dozing off and I got road hypnosis. We pulled off at a gas station and slept for a couple of hours, bought some snacks, then got back on the road. I did not get home until almost 5:30 this morning. Aside from the heat, the crowds, and the line jumpers, it was a pretty amazing and eventful day. Ride count: Raptor - 4 Magnum - 4 Millennium Force - 2 maXair - 2 Power Tower Space Shot - 2 (I missed one in my TR somewhere) Wicked Twister - 2 Skyscraper - 1 Maverick - 1 Skyhawk - 1 Cedar Creek Mine Ride - 1 Witches Wheel - 1 Blue Streak - 1 Space Spiral - 1

When it comes to giant spinning rides, such as Slingshot, Skyscraper, maXair, and Delirium, I have no problem. When it comes to spinning carnival flats where the seats do not spin separately from the arms of the ride, such as Wipeout, Himalaya rides, and Witches Wheel/Enterprise rides, I am fine. Now when it comes to spinning carnival flats where the seats spin separately from the arms of the ride, such as Monster, Chaos, Troika/Shake Rattle & Roll, Calypso, I CAN NOT DO THEM. The central spin combined with the spin of the seats makes me severely nauseous. Once I explain this, most people get it and understand what I can and can not ride.

Are you talking to me? I have explained REPEATEDLY why I cannot handle certain spinning rides, and I am about at the end of my rope with these immature little jabs from the kids on here who think this is recess time at school.

Definitely an Enterprise or Himalaya.. I can handle those, SFKK and CP have one of each. KI has no spinny "carnival" flats I can handle. Neither does Holiday World.

This past weekend, I really gave it some thought. I made a top 5 based on flats, woodies, and steelies from all parks I've been to. So here is my combined top 5. 1. Voyage at Holiday World 2. Skyscraper at Cedar Point 3. Diamondback at Kings Island 4. Raptor at Cedar Point 5. Maverick at Cedar Point

This is why we get along so well.. you may be the only one on this board who got the point I am trying to make.

Wow, I am really getting tired of people saying this. Sorry to double post, but once again, MILLIE WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR AIRTIME. That is not what it was designed for. Airtime is not what Millie was designed for. Airtime is not what Millie was designed for. Airtime is not what Millie was designed for. If anyone here doesn't like coasters that lack airtime, then how is it that you enjoy Adventure Express, Beast, Flight Deck, Firehawk, Raptor, and Dragster? NONE of those coasters were designed for airtime.. I am an enthusiast that can appreciate a coaster for what it is, not snub it because it doesn't have ONE element.

This is the hardest decision I have ever had to make!

I have noticed something at KI that I have not noticed at any other park.. some of the ride ops have their facts wrong and it is starting to annoy me and several others. I continue to hear Flight Deck ride ops refer to it as the jet coaster.. no, it is not. The jet coaster is Afterburn at Carowinds, I don't recall ever seeing that ride at Kings Island. I also continue to hear Drop Tower ride ops announce that it's the world's tallest and fastest gyro drop.. no, it is not. Kings Dominion's is not taller, but it is indeed faster. I wonder how long it will be before someone confronts them or even gets attitude with them because they either have their parks confused, want attention so they make stuff up, or just refuse to get facts straight. Maybe the GP doesn't notice misinformed employees, but there are more enthusiasts out there than you think, and yes, we are paying attention.

Ashers and I hit a cloud of gnats earlier this year on SOB.. her comment was "I have a dead carcass in my eye!"

I'm an ACE member and the benefits are amazing. I not only used my membership to go to ACE Winter Soar, RWW, HoliWood Nights and CoasterMania, I also got Tom a discounted ticket to Holiday World, and got a $55 discount on my HW season pass. Go ahead and call me a fanny pack lugging, glasses-strap-wearing coaster nerd (oh by the way, people who generalize and label others just proves your narrow-mindedness and immaturity ).. .. but don't cry and whine to me that your $250 Chanel shades flew off on Behemoth, or that you're jealous next year when I'm Twittering from HoliWood Nights that I just got 3 hours' worth of night rides on Voyage and Legend..

LOL don't go doing that, I'd just feel guilty!

The reason why I got so irritated with you is that when people continuously step on the back of my flip flops, it pulls on the sole of the shoe and alters the shape of them slightly to where it honestly hurts my feet. This is also how people's flip flops get broken or blown out. I have 3 blisters on my feet from yesterday, which is sad since I wear flip flops 90% of the summer.. so pretty please be more careful next time? thank youu

I laughed so hard when we saw that.. there's one less BAP BAP BAP BAP BAP BAP BAP we have to suffer through!

"the Son of The Beast" - Putting a THE where there is no THE is almost as annoying as me hearing some lady tell her daughter in line for MF that it was THE MAGNUM FORCE. If you can't get your facts straight, don't say it at all! I don't see a THE on Diamondback's sign.. stop adding things that aren't there!!

Do what my brother did.. just buy a bike horn and point it out the window. Nice to see you and finally ride with you.. you're hilarious!

I always tell people: If you don't like bugs, don't go to CP in the early summer (mayflies like whoa!), or ride MF at night in the front seat. But people will do it, because CP is well worth the trip and people like me will hardly complain of bugs after riding their excellent selection of amazing, majestic coasters.. Bugs on a lake, especially mosquitoes, are a fact of life. Bring bug spray and/or be prepared to eat some.. those mayflies have a funky taste, so drink plenty of water.

Cedar Point has three carousels. When it comes to historical preservation, you can never have too many of one thing. Kat has gotten me tuned in to the world of carousels, and seeing one scrapped right now would likely break my heart.

Diamondback is curvaceous and sexy. Of course it's a girl.

! For some reason, Voyage's tunnels stunk earlier this year.. smelled a little like a cross between wet wood and dead animals. There was no smell this time. But when they did stink, I always came off with a faint odor from the tunnels, so I'd repeatedly sniff my hands, proudly announcing to my friends that I smelled like Voyage.

I noticed a definite roar when we went Wednesday. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the sinister, throaty rumble-roar of a B&M coaster.. gives me goosebumps every time..

If I could rig the lottery and win it, I'd blow loads and loads of cash at Cedar Point and Kings Island just to save the parks.. reading these things makes me feel ill..