Trip Report 6/1/08 - 6/2/08

[Cormaster]

Well I've been trying to write a TR for my latest trip to KI for a week, but haven't had time. Anyway Me, my wife, my brother, and his friend all headed to KI last sunday, with intentions of spending nearly all day sunday in the GWL. My wife and I, and my brother and his friend had seperate rooms, but we decided to all hang out together most of the trip. We took GWL for all it was worth on sunday, eating at Camp Critter, playing in the arcade, and experiencing every bit of Bear Track Landing. But we eventually got bored and my wife and i headed over to KI at 7:45p.m. It was the first evening at KI i've had in a while! We took it easy, and we rode Son of Beast, Top Gun, and Vortex. Good news was my wife could fit all of the above rides! She lost enough weight to not have to make that walk of shame.

We went back, and crashed for like 10 hours or so. We finally got up Monday morning, had breakfast at the loose moose, then went back and got ready. We finally got to the park around noon. We first went up in the Eiffel Tower, and then spent the next couple hours in Action Zone. My brother's a big guy, and he wasn't able to ride anything, and for the most part jackie knew what she could and couldn't ride, but no one compromised anyone else riding anything they wanted too. We first rode Viking Fury, then Congo Falls, then Invertigo, then Drop Tower, and then we attempted to ride Delerium but it broke down, so we headed over to Coney Mall, where we first hit up The Racer, then we played a couple games, then headed over to Sponge Bob 3D. Rode that, then onto The Vortex, and after that we ATTEMPTED To get on to BLST

Now as far as I know the rule of riding a ride is 2 clicks. I really don't think the chick that was inspecting everyone's seats knew what she was doing. Me and Jackie sat in the front seats of the car, my brother and his friend sat in the back seats of the car. They are going along inspecting to make sure everyone's buckled in and they get to Jackie, and the girl goes "I need this to go down one more time". She pushes it and sure enough the bar goes down one more time. Then the girl is like "I need this to go down one more time" and Jackie's like "It already went down one more time" "well I need to see yellow tape.". Jackie got kinda ****ed and just said "this is as far as its going It shouldn't have to go any farther". So they wouldn't let her ride it. MEANwhile, my brother who was on the left side, didn't even have the bar down as far as Jackie, and the guy let him go on the ride. I really don't think that girl knew what she was doing, the bar probably clicked like 5-6 times or something before it went down on jackie. Maybe on FoF you have to see "yellow tape" but this is a ride that was short and fun last year and we probably rode it like 20 times last year, no one ever kicking Jackie off. I thought about going to guest relations over it, but I decided to just let it go and move on.

We went over to La Rosa Pizza next and had dinner, and then it was on to Rivertown. I went to go attempt to ride The Beast, and to my suprise, it was nearly a walk on! Jackie didn't even attempt to ride it, but my brother SOMEHOW managed to get 2 clicks, I dunno how, after all I can barely get 2 clicks on that ride, but he was able to ride it. I forgot how much I loved The Beast, haven't rode it in a while, but it was so much fun, that while my brother and his friend went to go ride The Crypt, I decided to go ride it again. I then went and sat with Jackie and waited for my brother and his friend. They came out, and told me the disappointing news about how Cedar Fair turned an awesome inovative ride into a pitch black topspin. That ride had like an hour wait or something too, sure glad I didn't wait for it!

After that it was onward to white water canyon! This felt great since at that point the heat was really gettin to all of us. Probably been 10 years since I last rode that ride. From that point it was onward to Nick Universe to get blueberry ice cream, and then back to Action Zone to attempt to ride Delirium again. We were in line for 5 minutes before they announced the ride broke down. At that point there was an hour left till close. My brother wanted to do slingshot, I wanted to go see how bad Firehawk was, Jackie just wanted to relax. So My brother got in line for slingshot, and i ran towards Firehawk. FINALLY only a 20 minute wait! I threw my stuff in a locker, and headed towards the ride. Unfortunatly loading the ride goes really slow so honestly it took longer than 20 minutes, in fact I got in line like at 7:10, and it was 7:50 when I got off. They really need to do something to speed up the load time of that ride. Anyway had a blast on Firehawk, untill I got off. I went to grab my key, and it wasn't there! It flew off on the ride. I ran back up the hallway and talked to one of the employees, who sent me to the girl at the photobooth. I talked to the girl at the photobooth and she tried to send me back up to the employees on the ride. After telling her I just spoke to them and they sent me here, she made a couple phone calls and maintenance came back and unlocked my locker. That was a real scare, really the only bad thing to happen on the trip, other than jackie getting kicked off of BLST.

Anyway after getting my keys back, I was ready to keep going but the park was shutting down, so we headed back home. Thats my trip. Good for the most part but a couple things, a couple questions that are burning in my mind:

#1. Why was that girl so strict on BLST? Is this really the rule? Isn't "2 clicks" the rule?

#2. I rode the crypt back when it was TR:TR. HOnestly I thought it was awesome! The opening story, the water and heat effects in sync with the giant topspin, the narrarating, etc, definitly a unique and inovative ride. I was a bit curious to see what Cedar Fair would do to it. They have a sign up saying "new for 2008, new ride theming and special effects". So why in the hell did they just turn off all the effects and let the topspin move around in the dark? this is a really really cheap move IMO. BTW Tomb Raider is known more as a game, than a movie. Why didn't they just go to Eidos interactive and ask for the rights to keep Tomb Raider on the ride in the first place? which leads me to my next question

#3. Honestly the whole retheming sucks. I'm sorry but it does. "flight deck"? "Drop Tower"? "Back lot stunt track"? I think they came up with all those names in 10 minutes! Honestly IMO the only rides that really needed renaming were Top Gun and Italian job. Why did they rename drop zone and face off? They were named after movies, but they weren't THEMED after the movies at all, and the names made sense. And who honestly cares about a POS Wesley snipes movie that sucked anyway?

#4. Another question thats been eating me alive. Why in gods name won't they let you take stuff on Firehawk? Why do you have to get a locker anyway? Every other FREAKIN ride in the park you can just go empty your stuff into a big metal box, but on Firehawk, "hey lets milk these people for 75 cents a ride!" You know the way the ride is set up, no one else will even be coming in touch with your stuff. You get on the same place you get off, and no other cars well unload before you do. So why can't I just say throw my wallet, cell phone, keys, and glasses into a box?

#5. Why did the park close at 8 in June? I thought in June is when the 10 - 10 hours start!

The verdict IMO is still out on Cedar Fair. They've done things I liked, like add 2 roller coasters, but things I hate, like 10 minute retheming jobs, and making you get lockers to ride rides. BTW anyone notice that now on the cript you have to get a locker? What happend to the vinyl pockets? Sorry to be so harsh on them but I didn't like Cedar Point when I went in 1996. Busy as hell and much higher prices on everything over KI. I know later in that summer I went back to KI and felt relieved to be back there.

Anyway those questions had little to do with my trip report, just really pet peaves.

[The Interpreter]

First congratulations to your wife on her weight loss!

Second, the names? Who cares? Paramount and Viacom, who owned most of the names. They say you can't continue to use them unless you pay for them, Cedar Fair says we ain't payin', so guess what happens! That's the way it works.

Third, you lost your locker key on Firehawk and you wonder why they don't allow loose articles? Think about it! As for leaving your stuff in a box, a lot of that stuff disappears, and people get upset with the parks. The chain that numbers its flags now does a thorough visual search of its customers for loose articles as they enter the queue for major coasters, and demands you use a locker for each ride at 20 nickels a pop or leave articles with a non-rider. Don't be surprised to see this spread to Cedar Fair. That flag places claims it makes loading and dispatching faster.

Fourth, the prices. Mr. Kinzel himself has said the prices only went up by a nickel or so. Surely he wouldn't be wrong. How much was LaRosa's?

[Gordon Bombay]

#1. Why was that girl so strict on BLST? Is this really the rule? Isn't "2 clicks" the rule?

-Not on Premier Rides roller coasters. It is that you have to see the yellow tape. Its a manufacturer's requirement and recommendating, by law the park has to follow those recommendations. The two click rule applies to the PTC wood coasters like Beast and Racer.

#3. Honestly the whole retheming sucks. I'm sorry but it does. "flight deck"? "Drop Tower"? "Back lot stunt track"? I think they came up with all those names in 10 minutes! Honestly IMO the only rides that really needed renaming were Top Gun and Italian job. Why did they rename drop zone and face off? They were named after movies, but they weren't THEMED after the movies at all, and the names made sense. And who honestly cares about a POS Wesley snipes movie that sucked anyway?

-Paramount pictures care, and just cause a ride name changed does not mean the ride does.

#4. Another question thats been eating me alive. Why in gods name won't they let you take stuff on Firehawk? Why do you have to get a locker anyway? Every other FREAKIN ride in the park you can just go empty your stuff into a big metal box, but on Firehawk, "hey lets milk these people for 75 cents a ride!" You know the way the ride is set up, no one else will even be coming in touch with your stuff. You get on the same place you get off, and no other cars well unload before you do. So why can't I just say throw my wallet, cell phone, keys, and glasses into a box?

-Think about it, you lay on your back then the ride flips you around and you lay face down. Spend 75 cents to guarantee you don't lose your keys, or lose your keys?

#5. Why did the park close at 8 in June? I thought in June is when the 10 - 10 hours start!

-Like last year and the past few years, the park doesn't go to 10 o clock weeknight closes until late in June.

The verdict IMO is still out on Cedar Fair. They've done things I liked, like add 2 roller coasters

-Firehawk and?

,

but things I hate, like 10 minute retheming jobs, and making you get lockers to ride rides. BTW anyone notice that now on the cript you have to get a locker? What happend to the vinyl pockets?

-They've ALWAYS recommended a locker, but still have the pockets.

Sorry to be so harsh on them but I didn't like Cedar Point when I went in 1996. Busy as hell and much higher prices on everything over KI. I know later in that summer I went back to KI and felt relieved to be back there.

-MANY things change over a decade...

[Cormaster]

Fourth, the prices. Mr. Kinzel himself has said the prices only went up by a nickel or so. Surely he wouldn't be wrong. How much was LaRosa's?

I couldn't tell yah. I was refferring to 10 year old prices. I was reffering to the reason I was unimpressed with Cedar Fair 10 years ago, not today. Thats the first and last time I went to Cedar Point. I would like to give it another chance, but its so much farther than KI, that you pretty much plan at least a 3 day trip to go there. 1 day to drive there, 1 day to enjoy the park and 1 day to drive back, which is exactly how my last trip was. Can't say I enjoyed the park much. Shortest wait was 1 hour for the corkscrew when I went. I spent about 14 hours at the park, and rode about 8 rides in that time. It was rough. There was no way to get on a ride without waiting. I think my biggest thrill of the trip was going to the arcade and discovering Mortal Kombat 3 had come out. I had more fun playing MK3 for the first time than I did on the rides. Probably an unfair way to judge a park, but first impressions are lasting impressions and everytime I think of Cedar Point now I think of some little island with half the earth's population trying to cram onto it. The place didn't seem near as big as I imagined it either.

LaRosa's wasn't bad, like $20 for the Pizza. Yeah you can get Pizza cheaper outside of the park but for a whole pizza inside an amusement park, not too bad.

BTW I'm not saying Paramount was awesome or anything. After all I know how stupid of a company they are. After all I have to wait until Sept. 2nd now to buy Transformers on Blu-ray because those idiots decided to support HD-DVD exclusively, which was obviously loosing the High definition disc format war at the time of their decision. Anyway I'm not exactly "fuming" those were just a few pet peaves, most of which that have been aggravating me for a while that I decided to get off my chest. Not necessarily caused by the trip.

[Cormaster]

The verdict IMO is still out on Cedar Fair. They've done things I liked, like add 2 roller coasters

-Firehawk and?

We shall see next year. I'm talking about Rumor Coaster 2k9

[italianchef]

Other than using the obsolete names of certain rides, it was a nice trip report. I'm a KI specialist who has been to the park way many times and I've done Great Wolf Lodge 4 times. But I never combined the two. It must be nice. My current budget does not allow me to return to the Great Wolf Lodge, but I hope that will change in the coming weeks or months.

Best regards,

Italian Chef

[WooferBearATL]

Other than using the obsolete names of certain rides, it was a nice trip report. I'm a KI specialist who has been to the park way many times and I've done Great Wolf Lodge 4 times. But I never combined the two. It must be nice. My current budget does not allow me to return to the Great Wolf Lodge, but I hope that will change in the coming weeks or months.

Best regards,

Italian Chef

Specialist?

Oh, you mean like most of the regulars on the board!

Some of the specialists were even familiar with who the Kings of Komedy were/are. <G>

[Cormaster]

Great Wolf Lodge is expensive, but its one of those few times I'll pay alot and not complain because the place is literally worth every penny. Its definilty not exactly your Motel 6

[Browntggrr]

I couldn't tell yah. I was refferring to 10 year old prices. I was reffering to the reason I was unimpressed with Cedar Fair 10 years ago, not today. Thats the first and last time I went to Cedar Point. I would like to give it another chance, but its so much farther than KI, that you pretty much plan at least a 3 day trip to go there. 1 day to drive there, 1 day to enjoy the park and 1 day to drive back, which is exactly how my last trip was. Can't say I enjoyed the park much. Shortest wait was 1 hour for the corkscrew when I went. I spent about 14 hours at the park, and rode about 8 rides in that time. It was rough. There was no way to get on a ride without waiting. I think my biggest thrill of the trip was going to the arcade and discovering Mortal Kombat 3 had come out. I had more fun playing MK3 for the first time than I did on the rides. Probably an unfair way to judge a park, but first impressions are lasting impressions and everytime I think of Cedar Point now I think of some little island with half the earth's population trying to cram onto it. The place didn't seem near as big as I imagined it

You are basing your entire opinion of CP from one Saturday visit 12 years ago? I say Saturday only because of all my trips to CP, I have never seen Corkscrews' line 1 hr+ except on a Saturday.

Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.

Exactly where do you live? The reason why I ask, is that I live in Erie, PA, which is about 5.5 hrs. from KI in traffic. My family will leave Erie at 4:30am and hit KI close to opening, be at the park all day, stay in a hotel overnight and be back in Erie by 4:00pm the next day. We will do this about 5 times a summer and consumes only 2 days.

Also, perhaps playing a video game ate up time (and money ) that you could have been enjoying the rides?

[Cormaster]

I live in Indianapolis which is about 5 hours or so away from Cedar Point. I've been wanting to go back but not only is the trip price high, the gas prices make it even worse to go there. I'm hoping next year to upgrade the gold pass to a platinum pass and finally make it out there.

No the video game didn't ruin the trip. I played it to get away from the long lines. I was a die hard MK fan back then, and I still am to this day. I'm already looking forward to picking up Mortal Kombat vs. DC universe for Playstation 3 when it comes out.

Yes it was a Saturday, didn't have much choice back then. I was only 14 years old and went with a church youth group, so i had to go when it was convenient for them, not for me. And like I said its not right to judge the park for when its busy, but since it was my lone trip to the point, naturally a busy park is what i think of. I've been to Kings Island on pretty busy days too, but I've been to KI probably about 20 or more times in my life, I've been to CP once, so all I have to judge the park by is my bad trip I had when I was 14. To make matters worse that trip, I got severely sunburned in the line for the Raptor, and the day ended with a storm with hurricane like conditions, and literally water up to my knees!

It was a drama free day, but a busy day. Hell even getting to the park was rough! I'm so used to getting off the exit for KI and there it is right there! I Remember riding in a mini-van for 2 hours just to get through Sandusky! I've been to KI on busy days but even on Busy days, getting to the park is still easy!

I guess overall the best way to describe is its picturing something so perfect an awesome in your head and when you get there, it doesn't suck, but its below average. My time at Cedar Point was definetly a sup Par trip.

[The Interpreter]

Oh, man. Raptor is 14 years old. Like I needed to be reminded of that....

Time passages...

[Browntggrr]

^ You think that is bad.

Magnum will be 20 next year.

I can still remember waiting in line for Magnum in '89, through all those extra queue lines behind the crappy little bathroom that sits near the Magnum entrance. It was over a two hour wait.

[Cormaster]

Well anyway I did have a good time on my trip. And BTW I'm not against Cedar Fair completly, afterall if i just hated the company I wouldn't be going to the park. I'm still close enough to make a trip to Great America or Kentucky Kingdom if I just straight hated Cedar Fair. Just a little skeptical. Its kind of like how the bond fans reacted when Danial Craig took over for Pierce Brosnan. I do understand completely the legal issues of the ride names and theming, and I don't really blame them at all for renaming the rides, just think they could of done a better job at naming them. And Paramount bought the Kings Island chain of parks when I was only 12 years old so I'm very used to their ownership and "movie based" theming, so I can't help but be a little skeptical with a new owner. I'd be the same way if Six flags bought them, or any other company for that matter.

And as for BLST I think they should definitly be a bit more forgiving on this ride. Jackie fit on this no better than she did last year, and she for such a tame ride she was a lot more secure than say she was when she rode Invertigo or Vortex. I don't think ride manufacturers should have anything to do with the saftey standards of the ride, its like GM telling me I'm not allowed to drive my cavalier over 55 because it becomes a saftey hazard. Well thats too bad GM because i NOW OWN THE CAR so you have no say in it. Should be no different with the park. I think the park should make the ride standards not the manufacturer. Its obvious that the girl we encountered was the first person to acctually care, since obviously nothing has changed this year in terms of saftey harnesses and we litereally rode this ride 20 times last year without a single complaint from any staff member. And my brother didn't even have the bar down near as far as Jackie, but he was on the opposite side, and had a different employee inspect his harness, and he cleared it and let him go on the ride.

Anyway as far as that stuff goes, I understand that Cedar Fair has no control over it, and can't do anything about it, so I'm more forgiving towards them in those regards. I think that in the long run Cedar Fair will be a better owner than Paramount ever was, but for now I'm keeping my eyes open

[Browntggrr]

I don't think ride manufacturers should have anything to do with the saftey standards of the ride, its like GM telling me I'm not allowed to drive my cavalier over 55 because it becomes a saftey hazard. Well thats too bad GM because i NOW OWN THE CAR so you have no say in it. Should be no different with the park. I think the park should make the ride standards not the manufacturer.

That is not practical though.

First, Ohio mandates that parks must follow manufacturer's guidelines. There is no wiggle room there (no pun intended).

The manufacturer engineered and designed the ride and trains with safety in mind. They are much more qualified to set the safety standards of the ride they designed. No offense to any park, but I feel better that the manufacturer has control of the safety standards and not the park.

In addition, if the park is following they safety standards set by the manufacturer, and there happens to be a terrible accident, the manufacturer and the park will be held liable, not just the park. From the park's insurer standpoint, that is big when it comes down to who is at fault as well as the investigation and future designs of restraints.

[MarketingExpress]

#1. Why was that girl so strict on BLST? Is this really the rule? Isn't "2 clicks" the rule?

As others have already said, the "2 clicks" rule does not apply to this type of restraint system. When boarding there is yellow tape that needs to be showing, even if it's just a little bit. It's hard to explain without actually showing someone.

The girl was actually doing her job and trying to keep everyone safe. As far as her saying that it needed to go down one more click twice, it's hard to judge how many clicks it would take to have the yellow tape show. I made the same mistake the ride's first year and had to turn away some people because the restraint was just too tight to handle for over 2 minutes.

[Cormaster]

Still just don't get why #1. the guy on the other side let my brother ride who didn't even have the bar down as far as jackie, and #2. why is it an issue now after we rode the ride 20 times last year?

[The Interpreter]

Why does this sound so much like the "But my kid rode this last year...why can't he ride now?" line? It doesn't matter how many times you rode it last year, if safety policy says you must see the yellow line to be able to ride, you either can or cannot see it....and that's the way it is. The rules exist for your safety and to protect you and the park...they are not meant to be mean or harassing. The park employee was just doing her job.

[Cormaster]

Well it didn't completly ruin my time. But its still total BS

[Gordon Bombay]

I understand the frustration in not being able to ride something but I wouldn't call a safety measure "total BS."

[Cormaster]

well the thing is the ride is a lot of fun, but its also pretty tame. having the bar down with multiple clicks is plenty safe. this is acctualy one of the few rides I've left my glasses on and they've stayed put! I enjoy the ride, but I probably won't be riding it anymore just because the walk of shame for my wife is apparently a threat now, depending who checks the rides.

[The Interpreter]

So you would prefer the park not follow safety recommendations so long as your wife gets to ride? Are you also one of those people who will tell ride ops their kid rode last year, or just an hour ago, when they are too short?

Ride manufacturers have recommendations for a reason. They KNOW what the forces on a ride are, and they know what is needed to protect riders...even sometimes from their own actions...

[Coasterkidman]

Let it go Cormaster. Saftey is saftey.

[Cormaster]

I don't have kids.