***The most important aspect of riding alot at Cp is predicting the flow of the crowd or lack thereof and going against it.**
Although, it's not as urgent to ride as much at one time as a result of my season pass, I still generally follow the following rules which are pretty similar to GTTP.
If you're staying at one of the hotels or entering through the resort entrance, you are in a great position to get some serious mornigng riding under your belt during the week-days. Eat a good breakfast--you wont't be eating until around 2:30.
Magnum is usually up and running fairly early. Grab a few quick walk-ons and head your way up to Gemini, another walk-on. Then off to Mean Streak, (you guessed it) another walk-on, which is a nice time to ride MS. (Although you would love to ride mine Ride, skip it--walks-ons are all day during the week.) Now, hit the train to the main midway. This is were the good folks at CP make it quite interesting. Last year, if you followed this strategy, Mantis was also a walk-on; it definitely will be this year! Forget Draggin' Iron--it will be light all say, especially around sevenish.
Now since the majority of the morning crowd will be making its way to MF, I suspect that Raptor will become a lunchtime walk-on due to the flow of traffic headed to MF. Quickly get on the Sky Ride,a nd head to the front of the park near Raptor. If Raptor HAS formed a loine over 20 minutes, skip it and head to BLue Streak.
(Save Disaster TRansport for the heat of the afternoon. It gets a tad busy in there thanks to the temp., but you're wait will be well worth it. The time spent in the A/C will help refresh you and get you ready for another round.)
Anyhow, depending on time, you may want to catch some lunch at Silver Dollar or Macaroni's a short distance up the Midway. (Always eat at off peak hours, though. This means less lines when everyone else is eating.
This may now be a good time to catch a show you wanted to see while making your way around to the flat rides and coasters you missed.
After roughly three trips around the park, TGIF is a great reprieve for an off-peak dinner and a rest while looking out on the boardwalk and the lake. Don't dare to ride magnum right after the time when everyone else eats dinner, though. It gets quite busy from resort re-entries
Now the evening hours have set in, and crowd flow has really broken down thanks to mixed lunches, and also the Summer Spectacular later in the night. The crowd will also noticeably lighten around 730-8. You'll have to start picking and choosing what rides you'd like to ride, though if you want to be in strategic position for your last ride of the night. I usually like to get the big ones in once again at dusk including a ride on Blue Streak, Raptor, Magnum, and Mean Streak. Of course, most of you will want your final ride to be none-other than MF this year, so this is what to do. After TGIF, shoot down the boardwalk, to Oceana Entrance. Ride Raptor, BS, MAgnum, and MS. This will now put you in position for your MF night ride. Sure---everyone will be thinking this, but it's something you've got to do. So wait out the 2.5 hours wait and get your first night ride on the Force. Lots of cool people and hopeful late night DJ will make the time fly.
After park closing, Challenge PArk is open atleast another hour. Great time to let off some steam with the friends and/or family on the Raceway but more importantly Putt-Putt! At the end of a long night, it's time for Ice Cream, arcade, and late-night flirting along the beach at the resort.
-Dave
*** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 5/6/2000. ***