10/28-10/29 Amazing trip

Myself and 2 of my buddies left Windsor around 8 Saturday morning. We got off the Turnpike at 250 and checked into out hotel around 10:45. We headed to the park and parked in the Soak City lot. I met Brandon (djDaemon) and gave him my 2 extra tickets and we were ready to start our day.

At this point the weather was decent. It was windy, but the clouds were not looking very dark. We headed to Millennium first. The line was only half was down the ramp. We had red train, second row. My friend, who is my size, couldn't get his belt done up. Luckily the rid op helped him and we were set to go. It was a good ride, freezing cold, but good.

Next we headed back to Skyhawk and got 2 quick rides in. I forgot how much I loved it. After that we took a quick spin on Antique Cars and then rode Mean Streak. We rode second row thinking it wouldn't be that bumpy, but it was. At this point we were freezing so we went and bought hats at Heading West. It was nice to see that they have Quicksilver and Hurley products, I got myself a nice warm Quicksilver hat.

We continued on and went to Gemini. Only the red side was running. We were next to get on and it started to downpour. It went down but we decided to stay in line because it was better than being out in the pouring rain. The rain stopped and they announced it was now down for mechanical reasons. We left the station and walked back down the entrance, only to hear him announce it was back up. So we rode in the back and had a good time.

After this my friend got me to ride Witches Wheel, which I had never done before. I enjoyed it, and I felt fine after it. We went on Magnum after that and had no wait for the ejector seat. We went back and rode again in the back. We went to Power Tower after that and did the turbo drop.

Next we headed to the WIcked Twister midway rode Chaos, my first time. It really is a fun ride. We went to Giant Wheel and just as we got in the cabin it went down for weather so we went and got an elephant ear. At this point he wind was insane and the rain was pouring. It looked like a hurricane. We decided this would be a good time (it was around 3:30) to leave the park and go relax in the hotel and get some dinner.

We got back to the park around 6:30 and went to Iron Dragon. It is a lot of fun in the dark. We took the train to Frontier Town and got in line for Undertaker U. It wasn't that impressive. All of the people are in the same costume and didn't make much of an effort. That crazy tunnel, however, was worth the 10 minute wait. After that we walked onto CCMR and had a good night ride.

We walked through Fright Zone and were surprised to see that the fog was really thick. For about 30 seconds we couldn't see where we were going. It thinned out as we went along. The Screamsters did an excellent job. Fright Zone is by far my favourite Halloweekend attraction.

We went to Millennium Force after that. The sign said 1 hour, but first section of the queue wasn't even filled. One of my friends left line to meet up with some people so me and my other friend waited for front. The wait for front took us 1 hour. It was amazing. I had never rode front seat at night before. It was well worth the extra wait.

After that we went through Carnevil and met up with our friend and his friends near DT. Carnevil was about the same as last year. Few Screamsters and not much fog. We talked with them for a while and then they left. My 2 friends and I saw Raptor was running so we went to ride it. It was excellent as usual. We waited about half an hour.

We went through Fear Faire after that. I had high expectations because many people around here said it was great. I wasn't that impressed. There was no one else in it when we went through so that may have been part of the problem. The first part in the pavilion had barely any props. It was okay, nut not the best.

We headed back to Magnum at this point, it was around 11. One of my friends went and waited in the car while me and my other friend rode Magnum. We walked onto the ejector seat and had a great untrimmed ride. We rode again and went for the front. Those were probably 2 of the best rides I've had on it. We went back to the car and went to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.

We got to the park around 10:30 Sunday morning and took a quick lap on Magnum. It was untrimmed and excellent. After that we rode my new found love, the Witches Wheel. We saw that Dragster was running so we went there. The sign said 2 hours, but there were only people lined up the the dividing spot. We stepped into our train and had to get out because the train in front rolled back. After they sorted that out we got our run, I was in the second seat. We only waited about half an hour.

Next we headed back and rode Gemini in the front, blue side was running. We hopped on Monster after that and then went to CCMR. After that we waited about 15 minutes for Skyhawk. After that we hopped on the train and rode Mantis, with only about a 10 minute wait. We went to Millennium after that for what turned out to be our last ride on it for the year. It was about a 25 minute wait.

We saw that Wildcat was running so we hopped on that. After that we went on Corkscrew and decided we would leave the park and get some food. It was about 3:00 and we had lot's of time so I decided to take the Chausee, I had never been down it before. I never realized how long it was. It was a nice drive.

We at at the TGIFridays at Castaway Bay and went back to the park around 5:30. Again I parked in the Soak City lot, where I met up with Josh (exit english) and he gave me the posters I bought from him on ebay.

We headed into the park and rode Magnum. It was a trimmed ride, but still good. We went on Power Tower that and did turbo drop again. Next we went up and walked onto Wicked Twister and then got on the Giant Wheel. After that we rode Troika Troika Troika and then Disaster Transport. We noticed maXair was down so I asked the ride op and he said there was a good chance it wouldn't reopen. Next we walked up and got onto Demon Drop.

After that we headed across the midway to Turnpike cars. It was there while I was driving that I noticed that Raptor had vallied. We got on Calypso after that and then walked onto Blue Streak. It was probably the best ride I've ever had on it, we were in the front. As we got off I noticed maXair was running so we quickly went across and rode it.

At this point it was 7:50 so we headed back to Magnum for our last ride of the night. I was surprised to see how many people wait for last train. It was my first time so I didn't really know how to ensure the last train, but it all worked out. We were in the middle of the last train of 2006 on Magnum.

Well, now the season is over and time for me to reflect. 2006 was by far the best season for me. I spent 7 days at the park this year and enjoyed it more than ever before. This closing weekend trip may have been the best trip I've ever had, there was not one low point to it. Here's to an even better 2007 season and a quick passing off season.

Sounds like you had a good time.

Nice TR. It does sound like you had a nice time. You made me realize that the one ride I never got on this year was Power Tower Turbo Drop. Heres to the quick passing of the off season!

Vince982 said:Here's to an even better 2007 season and a quick passing off season.

I'll drink to that. Great report. You did some serious riding. I had seven park days this year too. Here's to at least 10 next year, even better than '06!

Hey Vince, where were you at 2:00 Sunday? We missed you. ;)

I was in line for Millennium Force. It was a matter of poor planning and forgetfulness. I really regret missing it. I got to meet djDaemon and exit english this weekend, so it wasn't a total loss. And I'm sure some of the other people on the last train of Magnum were PointBuzzers.

It was nice to meet you, Vince. And to everybody else who I said hello to at the pizza place. I was standing right inside the door holding my camera with my group that was sitting down eating pizza.

I was cherishing the opportunity to stay inside for a little while and get out of the wind. You guys were crazy for standing on the porch, I'm serious.

We decided to go off in search of some real food (and real warmth), which turned out not to be found at Famous Dave's. They were out of french fries, the food took forEVER to come out, it was cold when it arrived, then it turned out they magically "found" some french fries, but they forgot to give Jen hers. We asked for her fries, and they tried to charge me for them! I made sure that wasn't happening. ;)

Exit english. What time did you hit Famous Daves? Midway Matt and I hit there about 6-6:30ish closing day and had fast service. They told us they were out of "Famous Daves" french fries and only had CP fries but those were fine. They were very low on ketchup and mayo, but they found some for us. I thought the staff did a great job considering they were running out of everything. Rightly so, that was the last night they were going to be open.

We headed straight to Famous Dave's from the 2:00 meeting. We walked out and carried Jacob's stroller down the steps and I yelled "see you guys later, we're going to grab some real food someplace warm" but nobody said anything back. :(

Either way, it was about 3:00 or so. The lights kept flickering overhead, which was annoying, they were out of french fries so they were substituting onion peels, which was fine with me because those sounded really good. Jen doesn't like onion peels so she asked if she could have the apples instead, which was perfecly fine.

When our meals arrived, I noticed the lack of onion peels, and the presence of cold french fries. Jen, however, still had apples. When we asked our server about it she apologized and got Jen a basket of fries. This would have been fine, except she got me all excited for onion peels, so I was really wanting onion peels. Then, when the bill came, there was a $2.19 charge for a basket of fries, which were supposed to come with Jen's meal anyway.

I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but it was an all around annoyance. It won't stop me from eating there again, as I realize it was closing day, but it just kind of sucked. At least I got to be warm for an hour and a half or so.

-Josh

Thats the problem with going to a restaurant thats trying to burn off the rest of the stock by years end. I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if any left over Breakers Friday's stock gets sent to Castaway. Can't really do that with FD's. (nor can you get additional stock if you need it)

I don't see why it would be too much hassle to ship extra food over to the FD's in Toledo.

We lucked out. We got the FD fries, but the table next to us didn't about a half hour later. We went in there about 1:30. It was a nice experience to see some of them dressed up on the last day. I figured CP would be anal and not allow it!

I'm glad that last ride on Magnum went ok. If a few more people would have showed up, it would have been bad. *** Edited 11/4/2006 7:43:51 PM UTC by Magnum "Candy" Man***

Josh - sounds like your Famous Dave's experience turned out kind of like ours. :(

Kinzel has said that the park strives to make opening day and closing day the same as the fourth of July. I don't think they made a good effort at Famous Daves on closing day.

But look at the bright side... At least you didn't get a side of HAIR like one person in our group! :)

Yeah, he warned me about the hair on your way out. I was searching my food and on constant lookout just in case. :)

But yeah, as far as opening/closing/July 4th, I agree - there wasn't much of an effort that day.

You guys weren't sitting under flickering lights, were you?

-Josh

I think all the lights at FDs were flickering. They were doing it during the other weekends, as well. I, jokingly, asked if the hamster was getting tired! They laughed and said they didn't know what the deal was.

JuggaLotus said:
Thats the problem with going to a restaurant thats trying to burn off the rest of the stock by years end.

You're sure right about that. That pizza sure wasnt what I thought it was going to be like.:)

That pizza is pretty much standard fare. Thank God we're getting a chicken place next year, though I probably won't eat that either. Fried chicken and I just don't get along sometimes.

I like chicken WAY more than pizza.....I mean I work at Chuck E Cheeses for gods sake!!

^ Heh, nerd! ;)

All kidding aside, I sure could use a job... And an account to store my money away from my mom for a CP fund. Ah well...

MDOmnis said:

Kinzel has said that the park strives to make opening day and closing day the same as the fourth of July. I don't think they made a good effort at Famous Daves on closing day.

If this is true, it's totally false. The Chuck Wagon only had the roasted chicken meals on closing weekend. Gone were the BBQ pork sandwiches, beef stew, and chicken fried steak, and no choose-your-own salad. Frontier Inn had only pizza, no subs...

I could carry on, but the Chuck Wagon issue had me bummed. I could have had a bbq pork sandwich, followed by a cold beer and a ride on Snake River Falls...