5/4 Report - Smurfed by Storms

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

So Laura (my wife) and I decided to hit the park after she got off work on Friday since we didn't ride a few things on opening night. We got to the park around 6:15-ish and ate our packed dinner in the parking lot. It had been lightening and raining on the drive down, but had stopped a little bit before we got there.

We walked in and went over to Flight Deck first. Parts of the line were slightly flooded, but we made it through. The ride was a walk on, and we had a good ride. As soon as we pulled in the station they announced that the ride was shutting down for bad approaching weather. It didn't look bad from where we were yet. We walked out to Action Zone and then saw the clouds and heard some distant thunder. So we went over to Coney Mall and checked out the shops (we didn't really get to mosey around that area on opening night.) It started to rain, so we went over to the Arcade (which I thought would be a good place to take shelter.)

We checked out the games and then when we went toward the large entrance/exit we saw the downpour, which was epic. Then the wind started blowing the water into the arcade. Then there was an extremely loud crack of thunder that made a lot of people jump and scream (possibly a Drop Tower strike?) There were surprisingly a lot of people running out in the rain even after it had been going for a while. If they ran to the arcade, the ground was very slick and a few slipped onto their backs when they tried to stop. The people working the games right there were yelling at them not to run (but it didn't seem like anyone was listening).

Eventually the rain slowed to a stop and Laura and I walked back out and checked some more sights around Coney Mall and the Dino area. Everything was taking a while to get back and running. We decided to try out Boo Blasters. It was a walk on at this point. The main lobby area was partially flooded (workers were trying to squeegee it out. The ride was fun. The mist was working for the "mist illusion" but the video wasn't playing on it.

Then we got some blue ice cream and waited for Diamondback. It was about a 20 minute wait and the ride was great. It started getting dark so I was ready to hit The Beast. I was excited for it since we didn't ride it opening night and some reports claimed that it was giving great rides. But when we got to it, there was a person out front saying that it was closed for the evening. Crappers!

We walked over to Flight of Fear. Wait was about 20 minutes here. Still a fun ride. The restraints are feeling more and more uncomfortable though. When we walked outside, I could see lightening in the distance, so we booked it to The Racer to get a ride before it closed, but while we were heading up the ramp, people started filing out; so we were just too late.

It was around 9:20 at this point and it looked like the storm was going to be getting there in 15 minutes or so, so we decided to leave so that we wouldn't be stuck in the rain. Plus, I doubted anything would be opening back up for the night. Good thing too. By the time we got to the car, it started raining again.

It was a fun little trip. Disappointed that I haven't ridden The Beast yet after 2 trips to the park. May need to go next weekend now.

I also got a lot of compliments on my shirt. Being "Star Wars day" on May 4th, I decided to wear my new Star Wars roller coaster shirt. I got a lot of "May the 4th be with you" remarks. My wife was wearing a Gargamel shirt, which she thought some people would like. She finally got a compliment on it while we were leaving from one of the girls working at the wood carving shop, so she was happy.

Can't seem to get my pics to upload, so here are the links to the 2 that we took last night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10524916@N08/6998969632 (Snoopy's totally touching my butt in this one)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10524916@N08/7145055893

[beastrider97]

I saw you yesterday when I was at the park! I loved the shirt. Yesterday was fun, although I didn't get on any of my 3 favorite rides at the park. Diamondback, Beast, and Drop Tower were all closed for me.

[BB1]

I never knew what Darth Vader was having a rollercoaster stretch across the Death Star, that would have been fun! Great TR, was thinking about going to KI after my early dinner, but i didnt due to the storms passing through...

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

It's actually on Bespin (Cloud City).

*snorts and pushes up glasses*

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

I guess I should point out that there were a LOT of unsupervised groups of kids (high/middle school) around the park last night (I wasn't aware that it was an "education day" at the time). A lot of the groups were very rowdy and annoying.

I saw a group of maybe 7 kids by The Racer who appeared to be seeing who could spit at a trash can the best? I guess? Nasty.

There were 2 groups in different parts of the line of Diamondback throwing coins at each other. I think an adult nearby got hit by one and that's when it stopped.

Then there were kids slapping each other and pushing around in front of us in line for Flight of Fear. One almost ran into me when he was trying to avoid getting slapped back. I put my hand on his back to let him know that I was right there and then they stopped.

So, I guess if there was any downside to the park last night, it was the rowdy kid groups.

[Outdoor Man]

weren't those "fun" storms yesterday?

I can actually vouch that the storm didn't arrive fully until approx 10:08. and WOW, did it storm!.... again.

[The Interpreter]

weren't those "fun" storms yesterday?....

Were there "six" of them?

[jcgoble3]

I know it's going to be a good TR when I'm laughing at the thread title before I even click on the thread. Nice report.

Awesome shirt, by the way!

[BB1]

It's actually on Bespin (Cloud City).

What was i thinking? The Death Star was the haunted house attraction, whats next Hoth as Winterfest? ! I heard that a certain CF employee was Darth Vader, or was that a Disney Employee.....