Saturday April 26

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Got to the park at around 8:45. My friend still had to buy his season pass so we did that and hopped in line at the metal detectors. Waited five minutes and got through in a breeze. No slow down at all. Then came the wait for the park to open its gates. The park opened at 9:04 today! darn them!

After we got in and passed by all the annoying "Please Stop For A Quick Photo" people we went into Paramounts Theatre to get our passes processed. After that which took less than 3 minutes we headed to out early ride times in Action Zone. Our first two rides of the day took place on Delirium. Both of course walk ons. Then we headed to Face/Off for a quick ride and got yelled at by an small fat Arab woman because she couldn't ride twice in a row because we were waiting in line. So we had a quick ride on Face/Off (by the way my first coaster of the 2003 season.) After that we headed to Son of Beast. Not my best ride, but not my worst. BTW BACK TO TWO TRAIN OPERATION WITH NO RESTRAINT MODIFICATIONS WHATSOEVER. So lets put that aside until it does in fact happen. After SOB we headed to Top Gun for a quick circuit on the train they glued the pieces back together on. The new train looks nice except the last 3 that the paint is fading on since they're part of the old train. Also there was a weird noise throughout the ride. After Top Gun we hit Drop Zone and that marked the opening of the park at 10:00.

Next on the agenda was Coney Mall. The new sign for Racer looks great. We got on the first ride on the backwards side since it had a delayed opening. Next was a walk on to Flight of Fear and that was a fun ride. Seems alot darker and faster. Vortex was the usual. No head banging for me, but I seem to have grown and I was cramped and the hard seats suck! I think I'll bring a pad next time! Let me says Sponge Bob 3D is cute. It's a fun little ride with alot of motion.

Next of course was none other than Rivertown! Our first stop was at Tomb Raider. Oh man were we lucky we decided to go! We got in the last ride at that time because as we were almost to the end the ride just crapped out (sounds like opening day) and we swung for about five minutes and were stuck in an awkward position for the next 25. Then we had people cussing saying they wanted off, and then some kids decided to get a chorus going of Bingo Was His Nameo! After a quick and loud Shut Up from many guests the kids did. A wasted 30 Minutes in my opinion! Next we hit The Beast. Three train operation with little wait. But of course our bad luck in Rivertown continued. We're next to go and they decided "we'll send this train though empty." "Oh thats fine" as it seemed they were very slow and wanted to balance the ride out. Then we were told they were closing down for a while due to a "Mechanical Problem." We decided to wait it out as they send the next trains through empty. After about 20 minutes of waiting (we had nothing better to do) the mechanic shows up and fixes the problem. What was the problem you ask? None other than an unplugged microphone to the intercom system! Wow! After a great ride we hopped right back on as they let us since we waited and took another spin. We then went to check out Scooby Doo, but let me tell you the line was huge! We didn't get a chance to ride because the line always stretched past the exit, of course when it didn't and we hopped in line it was brokedown and they predicted a 30 minute wait until the line moved again. Oh well below is a review of the rides and other things we did today with ratings.

Delirium - 3 Rides - Walk-On, Walk-On, & 5 Minute Waits - 9/10

This ride still amazes me! The G's are amazing and is just an all out fun ride in my opinion. A little short, but I can live with it.

Face/Off - 1 Ride - Walk-On - 8/10

My first coaster of the season. Very fun ride mainly because there was no wait as it was during Action Zone early ride time.

Son of Beast - 1 Ride - Walk-On - 6/10

Still too rough for my long legs. Even tighter fit than last year, but of course I'm still growing. I was excited at first to see a two train operation since I heard about one train ops since the beginning of the year. The first thought that popped into my mind was new restraints! However there were no new/modified restraints.

Top Gun - 2 Rides - Walk-On, 10 Minutes - 7/10

Fun little ride. Liked the look of the rebuilt train because it was all shiny and clean! However the ride is short, but doesn't seem to pack much punch to me. Still fun, but in my opinion shouldn't be rated a 4 on the thrill list!

Drop Zone - 1 Rides - Walk-On - 7/10

The trip up was fun, but did seem a little slower. The drop wasn't a big rush to me as it always has been in the past. That is why it is only a 7 in my book today. Was still very fun.

Backwards Racers - 1 Rides - 5 Minutes - 8/10

A fun ride that was pretty smooth. Great airtime also. The new sign looks great also!

Forwards Racers - 1 Rides - 5 Minutes - 9/10

Same as backwards, just with more airtime.

Flight of Fear - 1 Rides - Walk-On - 9/10

WOW! This was great. The on-ride photo is back and looks cool with the aliens in the backseat. Was a fun ride, very dark. Better than ever!

Vortex - 2 Rides - Walk-On, 15 Minutes - 7/10

Great coaster. No head banging, but I was cramped of leg room. Also I need to grow some fat on my butt, so the seats aren't so hard anymore.

Sponge Bob 3D - 1 Rides - Walk-On - 8/10

A great fun ride. Tons of motion. My only complaint is that the volume was up a little loud.

Tomb Raider - 1 Rides - 5 Minutes - 5/10

Usually a 10/10 in my book. The ride was amazing. At the end when we were being lowered to the unloading position, the ride just crapped out. We swung back and forth for about 5 minutes. then stopped in a awkward position between face down and normal. The Emergency Lights came on, and it WAS cool to see all the things inside the ride. However the annoying announcement "We are having technical difficulties" got annoying. Also when they said we'd be off in a minute and to not be startled by the ride starting up to put us into position. We got that announcement twice before the moving actually got us into the right position. Tom you missed it by the way, you were walking down the exit, while we were walking out.

Beast - 2 Rides - 30 Minutes, Just Stayed On - 9/10

Would get a 10/10, but the intercom system shutting down the whole ride for half an hour lowered it a point. Still a great ride though! Also we need mechanics to respond a little faster.

Bathrooms - 1 Rides - Walk-In - 15/10

Alot cleaner than I expected them to be. Very relieving!

Mandarin Cusine - 12/10

Exceeded my expectations by far. My General Tso's Chicken, Fried Rice, Egg Roll, and Drink only came out to be $9.95 and was less than I expected. I usually paid $13 at Festhaus. The food was MUCH better than I expected it to be. A must visit for any die-hard chinese fan. Very friendly staff also. Oh yeah! Comfortable booths!

PROS:

Park basically empty for the first 4 hours

Very Friendly Staff

Great Food

CONS:

Tomb Raider Crapping Out On Us

Beast Intercom System

Operators Seem To Be Slamming Down Restraints

Hope you liked my novel!

[Scooby_Doo]

Great Review i wanted to go soooo bad today i just wanted to go so i could ride SDATHC and deirium again

[StXBomber]

Yeah, a great review! I probably saw you on FoF (I was working it that morning.) Sorry about the whole slamming on the restraints thing. We are supposed to make it go down very close to the body. What my process is first pull up then push down a bit. If it does not touch body, then push down at least another click (more for those people who only pull the restraint down enough to get the seat belt on). Sometimes this may make a snug fit, but at least this way we wont have the complaints I hear at Vortex alot of "My restraint came up!!!" or the occasional "I'm falling out!!!" I hear while going through the corckscrews. If the just had the restraint down all the way, then you wouldn't fell like you're falling out!!! [/rant]

Sorry about me rambling on, just one of my pet peeves.