10/27-10/28

I just got back from my annual last-weekend-of-the-year trip. My brother and I went with our folks and stayed at a Lighthouse Point cottage. It was the coldest and rainiest it's ever been on a visit for me, but it turned out pretty well.

Undaunted by the steady rain and cold temps, we entered the park Friday around six. We really didn't expect anything to be running. Although we've gone a lot in the last 20+ years, we've somehow never been in the park during steady rain so we assumed nothing ran in it. Much to our surprise, as we walked under the Magnum hill we heard the sweet sound of clinking chain, looked at each other, and got all excited.

Unsurprisingly, it was the deadest I've ever seen it. We walked right on the front of Magnum. Walked on Skyhawk. Walked on Power Tower. Walked on MF and MaxAir. TTD wasn't running, but then around 10:30 the rain quit and they fired it up. Rode that a few times, nearly a walk-on. Wasn't too bad for the last hour, no rain, no wind, didn't feel bad out.

FrightZone and Werewolf Canyon weren't operating, but the other stuff was. I was really impressed by Fear Faire. It seemed to be mostly under the picnic shelters so the rain didn't affect it much. Very foggy, cool lighting, theming, and costumes, and it seemed to be kind of maze-like. I kept thinking I was lost in there, I don't know if it's really laid out like a maze or if the fog and lighting was just disorienting me.

Stopped by the big screen to check on the Tigers a few times, sadly we all know how that turned out.

By the time we went back to the cottage Friday night, our shoes were completely soaked, our pants were wet up to our knees, and our coats were soaked. We kept stepping in deep water puddles, sitting on wet seats, getting poured on almost the entire time. Yet seeing most of the best rides running in the pouring rain, walking right on them, having no crowds and no lines and riding stuff to our hearts content made it all worth it. It was even kind of fun to splash around and joke about the cold and rain.

We went back in for a few hours Saturday. It was a little busier but still pretty dead. The main lot wasn't even 1/4 full when we left. There was a lot of wind, yet TTD, MF, Magnum, Mean Streak, Mantis, WT were all running. Raptor was down the whole time, I'm guessing Friday was for rain and Saturday was for wind. Anyone know if Raptor closes for rain? There wasn't much wind Friday but it might have been blowing at it just right.

The wind chill made Saturday worse than Friday. It wasn't raining steady Saturday, but there were heavy rain and sleet showers. Between the weather, our wet shoes (we brought extra socks but stupidly forgot extra shoes), and having ridden most of what we wanted, we ended up leaving Saturday afternoon. The lesson from all this for me is if you're willing to put up with bad weather, you can still have a really good time. I can tolerate rain and cold more than I can tolerate crowds.

*** Edited 10/29/2006 2:04:36 AM UTC by Jeremy Sell***

Sounds like you had an ok trip despite the weather. Was CarnEvil operating? Doesn't seem like that one would be very protected.

Yeah, Raptor definitely doesn't run in rain. ANY kind of rain. And if it's too windy (aka it crawls it's way through the block brake) it doesn't run either.

CarnEvil was operating, barely. There was quite a bit of fog, but not a lot of screamsters.

Why doesn't Raptor run in the rain? I know a few times this year when I was there it was always down all day after it rained. I remember a few years ago it was pouring one morning and they just kept running it. Why would they stop now?

I also thought Raptor was a ride that could run in heavier rain than others.

Raptor is very picky when it comes too rain and wind.

Back in June it closed down due to rain, and people were asking ride ops why it was closed down as it wasn't pouring out. The ride ops said if the brakes get wet they can't run the ride because the brakes won't work properly.

*edited for a spelling mistake *** Edited 10/29/2006 9:17:06 PM UTC by coastergeek1***

Actually, Raptor was running on Saturday night, as I got on it at about quarter til midnight. I'm not really sure how long it had been running, but as we were heading to leave it was running so we got a quick ride on it, only about a 10 minute wait, front seat.

whichever ride op told you that about the brakes was LYING. The ride doesn't run in the rain because of rust problems. Simple as that.

Great trip report, Jeremy. Well-written and informative. Yes, some of my best times at CP have happened during and/or after crappy weather. I will always remember my trip last year during the last week of August, just after the remnants of Hurricane Katrina arrived in Sandusky. 27 rides on Millennium Force on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. And the next day, after the weather cleared, 15 rides on Dragster in a row. I didn't make it for closing weekend this year--first time since 1999. I was wondering how Friday night went. Thanks for the report.

CarnEvil opened on Friday night, but with only about 10 Screamsters who pretty much stayed under the stadium and under the tents. The rest of CarnEvil and all of Fright Zone wound up in Fear Faire, which meant there were about 65 Screamsters in there. Definitely made for an interesting night. I'm glad you didn't let the rain stop you from having fun Jeremy.