Raptor walk-ons

Greetings, fellow CP nuts. Only found this board today, but I've been a Pointer all but one year of my life (that being the year I was born, and left in Sandusky with a relative rather than hauled around).
I was just wondering who's managed to walk onto Raptor, on a regular day, not during Coastermania or some other event. Anymore, I never hear of anyone having to wait less than a half hour, but I managed four times in 20 minutes once (granted, it was an early day in May). The train was still full, but all there was were empty corrals.
Anyone else been so blessed?

I can't remember ever waiting less than 45 minutes for the Raptor. Grant it I usually go in late June or Mid to Late July but whenever I got the line is huge. I don't know how or why but for 6 years an inverted coaster which there are a lot more of now, manages to still get huge crowds! Just goes to show that Cedar Point's rides never really get less popular.

-------------
I stay crunchy...even in milk!

I've walked on before, early May with rain, and Bonus Weekends with rain.

---------
http://www.thepointol.com

I waited 15 minutes in mid July!! It was a Wednesday, and we went to ride around 5:30.

-------------
Former name was B-Town
Majin Heero and Alex Parks... The Steuks Alliance.

almost any day after a 3 hour storm you can for a while too

If you are waiting over an hour on any day, it's not worth it. You can come back later and get a considerably less wait. That being said, I have had walk-ons on severale occasions. Even one in July.

I've waited 25 minutes for the front seat in early June a few years ago. Nice deal if you ask me.

Most of My 25ish Raptor Flights this year were walk Ons in May :)
--------------
2001 Force Laps-53
2001 Magnum Laps-103
6/11/01 Gemini Laps 100

Rainy days are good for walk ons. Sometimes just before the star light people come in works, sometimes late evening. Sometimes it's just a popular ride!

i walked on 5 times this year
while everyone was walking to mf

I just got back from the park and i walked on right before the park closed sunday night.

I remember the first time I ever rode the raptor... Spring of 1995, on the 7th grade field trip. It was actually my first ride on a coaster of this type and my friends all talked me into it. I WAS TERRIFIED. I thought I would have time to think it over in line, but no. THERE WAS NO LINE. It was weird, and to this day I still don't know why there was no line on a sunny day in may. So I got shoved on a seat before I even knew what hit me. However, that ride was awesome and the raptor is still my fav ride of all time!!!

When I rode Raptor, I waited 1 and a half hours!! But it was 2:00 PM in mid July.

A few days ago, I went up to the entrance where there was a small crowd of people. I figured it was broken down, and it was. But as I started to walk away, I heard the lift start back up. I turn back around and ran over to the gate. They were letting people in. I got 3 walk-ons and this was 5:00 pm. It ended up being a walk on the rest of the day!

It was funny watching people walk in and to see their expressions as they realized there was no wait. I saw some kids point over to the empty queues that they had waited in earlier in the day. I was just glad that I passed up the ride when it was a 1 1/4 hour wait.

raptor walk-ons would be heaven. I was suprised though last year around 6ish i only had a 10 15 minute wait to get into the station. But of course I waited another 20 minutes for the front.


-------------
raptor + magnum = 3

I'll be enjoying a piece of "heaven" on Thursday for Joe Cool, THE RAPTOR - at least I hope...

-------------
Steuks!!

The shortest wait ive had for it is an hr and a half, the longest would be 4 and a half (opening year)

I've been to the Point (most recently) on 6/22, 6/23 & 6/25. After 7:30pm or so, Raptor lines have usually been 10-15 min (almost always less than 30 min). Walk-on's are rare but they do occur (on 6/22 at around 8pm the line ended about half way up the stairs -- maybe 5 minutes if you didn't want to wait for front.)

FWIW, that's about as short a wait as I can EVER remember w/ good weather on a Friday evening.

Questions:

1) Is CP attendance still down? (I know it was down 7% early due to weather according to Cedar Fair, but that's no excuse now). Parking lots look decent, but crowds seem a little small to me.

2) Is Raptor losing favor among riders? If so, why? (it's my 2nd favorite to MF and I've been "very pleased" with the short waits this year)

-------------
Hey, I heard a rumor that Millenium Force is sinking...

Well, not really, because in the beginning of the day many people stop at Raptor before heading into the back of the park--so there are long lines. But after everyone is done riding and has headed towards the back to ride all the other coasters, there is less of a line.

Many people never come back to the front of the park (unless to eat or leave) so the lines stay short in the late afternoon and at night. I really think they need to spruce up the front of the park with another ride/coaster.

In the afternoon, it's almost deserted. One the most crowded of days, you can walk over towards DT and count the people you see on one or two hands--it's that deserted.

CP_bound, just read through your response... I'm a "regular attendee" (LOL) and my belief is that crowds this year (especially the last week or two when the weather has been real nice) are STILL down (they were real bad early in the year w/ the cold/rainy weather).

A year ago, you would have almost NEVER gotten a 5 min wait at 7:30pm on a nice Friday June evening... I couldn't believe the last few weeks -- beautiful weather and virtually NO WAIT after 7pm or so!! (believe me, I'm NOT complaining :-)

BTW, I'll ONLY complain if the poor attendance delays a new coaster until 2003 rather than doing it next year...

-------------
Hey, I heard a rumor that Millenium Force is sinking...