jcgoble3 Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 OK, my first trip report. If you're wondering why the P in PTR is in scare quotes, I'll explain later. I left Xenia around 8:00 and arrived at 8:50 after catching just about every traffic light red. I got parked and got in the metal detector line. Ten minutes later, they opened the park and the scramble was on. I was too far back in line to have any chance at first train, but I ran back to Diamondback, saw that the line there was already spilling out into the midway, and headed for The Beast, where I was able to walk on to the third train of the year. The retracked section of The Beast was significantly smoother, and it was good to be back on a coaster after the long offseason. I then headed to Diamondback, where I had about a 20?-minute wait in the single rider line. On my way up the DB lift hill, I noticed that a Beast train was stuck at the bottom of the first lift hill, and there was a ride op standing beside it. Looks like I was right to hit The Beast first and then Diamondback. After Diamondback, I then headed to the rope past The Beast and waited. After the national anthem played, the rope was dropped and another mad scramble was on. I jogged over to X-Base and got in line for Firehawk. I made in there in time to be third train, but the yellow train broke down while I was waiting. I waited about twenty minutes while they ran some tests on both trains, then they sent me over to the red train. While waiting on it to come back, they announced that the yellow side was operational again, started loading riders onto it, and sent it out, while I was still waiting on the red side—essentially allowing everybody on that train to jump the riders on my train in line. So I ended up with fourth train on Firehawk. After that, I wandered down Coney Mall, looking at the improvements, and wasted $3 at the Speed Pitch game. My first two pitches were 37 and 44 mph, so I guessed 41 and got 36 on my third pitch. I then made my way down to Flight Deck, but it had just broken down, so I bought a ticket for Xtreme Skyflyer while it was still $5. I got in line immediately and surprised myself by being a little scared as they lifted me up. I hadn't had a problem with fear on it last year after my first ride, but apparently I had just gotten used to it and wasn't used to it any more because of the offseason. Once I pulled the ripcord, though, I was fine. I then wandered around for a while before I left for lunch. Last year, I had eaten in the park, but this year, I decided to drive elsewhere. I ended up at the Waffle House nearby, where I had a Texas Bacon Cheesesteak Melt, more hashbrowns than I could possibly eat, and free refills on my pop, all for $8.52—definitely a lot better than eating in the park. I gave my server two fives and told her to keep the change. Upon return to the park, the Gold Pass parking lot was so full that I ended up parking on the other side of the grass divider in the regular parking area. I walked back to Flight Deck, but it was still down, so I dug through my fanny pack, put everything in Ziploc bags, and hit Congo Falls. By this point in the day, all of the other rides had long waits, but Congo Falls was a walk-on, probably because it wasn't that warm yet. I sat in the front row and got absolutely drenched; not only did I get the initial splash, but I got a second dose from the wave bouncing off the bottom of the bridge. After getting off, I stood on the bridge and took one wave in the face, but I was so soaked to begin with that the wave didn't make any difference as to how wet I was. I then walked all the way across the park to White Water Canyon, which was about a 5–10 minute wait. It seemed a little wilder than last year; the first couple of rapids were bigger, and the second one got all of me. By the time I got back to the turntable, everyone in my boat was soaked. On the way out, I pulled out a $5 bill and tried to put it in the change machine so I could shoot some water at riders, but the change machine wasn't working, so I just headed back into the park. I walked back to Flight Deck again to find that it was still down, so I headed for The Racer. Only the blue side was running, and the line spilled all the way out into the midway and past the basketball games, but they only had a couple of switchbacks open in the queue house. I think it ended up being about a 15-minute wait. I actually hadn't ever ridden the blue side, so that ride gave me my last missing credit at KI. Next, I wandered over to the Eiffel Tower, went up, and took a crappy photo of WindSeeker (see below). I then bought a 2011 souvenir cup, which I've decided will be the main item that I collect every year from every park I go to that sells souvenir cups. Next, I walked back to The Vortex area, got as close as security would let me, and took a few photos of WindSeeker. I then walked back to Flight Deck one more time to find that it was still closed. Since practically everything had really long lines by now and I'm not a fan of waiting in long lines, I decided to leave. Out in the parking lot, I snapped a few more pictures before leaving. NOW, for the "P", including the scare quotes. These hardly qualify as "photos" because they're ridiculously low quality; I didn't have my good camera with me, so all I had was the 0.3-megapixel (640x480) camera on my cell phone. On top of that, it turns out that all the zoom function does is make it look worse. So with that, I'll add the disclaimer that these "photos" may hurt your eyes. Out of respect for users with dial-up or very slow broadband connections, rather than embed the photos here, I'll just link to the Flickr set and let you browse them there: click here to view the "photos". Feel free to make fun of the photo quality. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterGeek101 Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Nice report. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muppetfan1999 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 That souvineir cup sure does look cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Nice TR, but if you would have stayed until I guess around 7'ish I think, the lines started to die down a bit, and by die down I mean that they were no longer spilling into the midway, except for The Beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebeau Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Nice report! I'm torn on this year's cup. I have 2 Diamondback cups from 2009 and 2010. They are identical except for color. The WindSeeker cup is very cool, but it is so much smaller than the Diamondback cups I have! With 2 cups already, I really don't need a third for practical reasons. Especially a smaller one. But it is a very cool design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standbyme Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Thanks for taking the time to write up such a long trip report. It sounds like you had a good time. I wouldn't have guessed that White water canyon would be open so early in the year. Also thanks for showing the WindSeeker cup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgoble3 Posted May 1, 2011 Author Share Posted May 1, 2011 Nice report! I'm torn on this year's cup. I have 2 Diamondback cups from 2009 and 2010. They are identical except for color. The WindSeeker cup is very cool, but it is so much smaller than the Diamondback cups I have! With 2 cups already, I really don't need a third for practical reasons. Especially a smaller one. But it is a very cool design. I like the WindSeeker cup also. The photo of it is deceiving in that the WindSeeker cup is actually the same size as last year's Diamondback cup; the WindSeeker cup is thinner, but it's also taller. Here's a photo of them side by side: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebeau Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Nice report! I'm torn on this year's cup. I have 2 Diamondback cups from 2009 and 2010. They are identical except for color. The WindSeeker cup is very cool, but it is so much smaller than the Diamondback cups I have! With 2 cups already, I really don't need a third for practical reasons. Especially a smaller one. But it is a very cool design. I like the WindSeeker cup also. The photo of it is deceiving in that the WindSeeker cup is actually the same size as last year's Diamondback cup; the WindSeeker cup is thinner, but it's also taller. Here's a photo of them side by side: I wondered if that was the case. Thanks for the side-by-side! The WindSeeker cup sure looks neat. I wonder how the tall, thin design works from the standpoint of functionality. I have a feeling I'll shell out for one before the end of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 That cup would certainly be more tippy than the old one...and spilled drinks mean purchased refills, no? Then again, it DOES have a lid.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebeau Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 That cup would certainly be more tippy than the old one...and spilled drinks mean purchased refills, no? Then again, it DOES have a lid.... I had the same thought. But I will say from where I was standing (mostly in Planet Snoopy) the new cups fit very nicely in cup holders in strollers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.