10/4-10/5: Halloweekends, family style

Last weekend was for Magnum, the fright zone, and parental pampering. This weekend was For The Children.

This was a great trip to the park, despite some chilly weather on Saturday. Once again we were reminded why the employees at CP are some of the best anywhere---there were lots of little touches that made the weekend very special for us.

If you are kid-endowed, be sure to check out both the costume contest and the Witches of Witch Hollow. Boo Hill was okay, but I thought it could have been better.

My youngest had stage fright, and he wanted no part of the actual costume contest. My daughter, however, appears to be a total ham. She was up on stage dancing with the Live-E "cheerleader" and other kids before the show started, was right behind Lucy in the conga line, and "won" a small Sally doll from Snoopy during the contest. A fun, short show with the Peanuts gang.

The three Live-E witches are great; they act out a short story with three kids from the audience. Again, Erica was front-and center, playing the role of "Princess Celery" (among others). The show has a number of bad puns for the adults to chuckle at while the kids just enjoy, and the witches are great. I even got to play the role of Oscar from Vienna. (Okay, so Dad's a ham, too.)

Boo Hill was a bit of a disappointment for me, but the kids loved it seeing as how they got several pieces of candy along the way. It just isn't as detailed as the other three houses. I know the character of Boo is completely differnet, but "not scary" doesn't have to mean "mostly uninteresting." Enough with the mirrored hallways already!

Johnny Rockets provided another great memory/photo op. Right near the end of our meal, as the staff was headed outside to dance at the entrance, one of the servers asked a couple of tables of kids if they wanted to come dance too. Erica, naturally, took her right up on the offer. The waitress was teaching Erica and another little girl all the moves, and the kids loved it. On the downside, avoid the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at Johnny Rockets; they are microscopic.

Being Halloweekends, the park was filled with Ride Prides earning money for their fraternities, sororities, church groups, and what-have-you. They bring an extra energy to the park, especially on the kid-friendly attractions---after all, they haven't been there since May, so it's all fresh for them, and they seem to feed off of the kids' excitement. The best example was the guy running Scrambler on Saturday night. First, we got a great speil: "Welcome to the scrambler. It's my business to make you go fast. Tonight, business is gooood." Fun speils are common on those few coasters still without recordings, but when's the last time you got one on a flat?!? Second, the cycle on Scrambler seemed to be longer---we got much more than a single revolution at full speed, making the ride much more fun. During this, the Ride Pride kept asking "is it fast enough yet?" and everyone would scream "no!" before it would go just a bit faster. Best Scramber Ride Ever.

Of course, the regular staff was not to be outdone, and here's where my son finally got over some of his stage fright. He was tired on Sunday, and wasn't too enthusiastic about riding too much, but Maureen told him that she really wanted to ride Jr. Gemini, and couldn't unless a kid went with her. They ended up in 1-1; right before dispatch, the ride op held the station mic up to Russell so he could give the "clear". Needless to say, he thought that was very very cool.

Other highlights: I'm getting to be passably good at Skee-Ball; won two (not so) small prizes at the lanes by the front gates in only $2.00---it would have been $1.50, but my last ball in the third game didn't mark. Riding with Erica for her first rides on Troika and Monster. Riding with Russell on the Turnpike Cars (he's an excellent driver). Taking a night-time trip on the Sky Ride with the whole family.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

Just curious but what were those crowds like on the Saturday. I'm asking because I'm going to CP in just under 2 weeks on a friday and saturday and although I know Friday should be a good night to visit, I'm a bit worried about visiting on the saturday as I know it will be quite busy so just want to get a general expression of what to expect thats all.

Would visit on the sunday but feel 3 days is a bit too much and I wanted to visit PKI on that day anyway.

thanks for any help

Awww... it sounds like you had a GREAT time!!! ::smile:: We were there Sunday from 3:00pm - 6:00pm. Even though we were only there for a short time...we rode TTD, MF, saw "Monster's Rock," (sat there for about 20 minutes before the show) walked through Pharoh's Secret...and rode Magnum. Downfall...TTD gate worker wouldn't let me put my sunglasses in my pants pocket, and pull my sweatshirt over that...I had to leave them in the bushes because I had no cash on me. He didn't even notice that I had my cell phone in the other pocket...it was safe...far down, and my glasses would have been safe too! Made me upset that there were many people in line with their sunglasses on, and here mine were in a bush. Oh yeah...buy "the strap" for $2.00...um...they weren't even selling them, I don't know how you could buy one. Oh well...the ride was great, and my daughter retrieved my glasses for me after we rode...God bless her heart! From the time we began waiting in line for TTD, to getting off of MF was less than an hour. It was a beautiful day...the weather was PERFECT!!! And don't miss the "Monster's Rock" show...um...I want to know who the guy with the mesh red shirt was...oh buddy!!! He has some Niiiiiice arms, chest and stomach!!!! I'm talking 12 pack! Anyway...before I go off on that tangent....um......what was I talking about?......before "red mesh".....um.......oh shoot, anyway....... it was a great day!!! ::BIG GRIN::

If you get the chance to go on a Sunday...I would recommend it! Corkscrew was running with 4 people on it in the middle of the day. We had 6 seats both, in front and in back of us...EMPTY...while riding Magnum at 6:00pm. ::laugh:: I dont' know why the Freeway lady was waiting in the freeway line, we got in line and walked right up to the coaster! 20 minutes to board TTD...said an hour on the sign. MF was only a bit longer than that. Man what a spectacular day!!!

Oh yeah....my baby girl turned 17 this day! ::smile:: makes me feel OLD!!!

Sorry for the diarreah of the fingers...but I have to use up my alotment of words today...hehehe!!!

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Let's play "Find the one-legged seagull"

PaulD: I could tell you, but it wouldn't matter. Weather has a big effect on Halloweekend crowds. Last Saturday was cold, with a decent threat of rain, and still had a fair number of folks. Next Saturday is shaping up to be very nice. I'd expect a good-sized crowd. Plan to ride "the bigguns" on Friday night, and plan to do more crowd-friendly things on Saturday.
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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

I went out on Sunday for a while, and despite it being a nice sunny day, there was still nobody there like always. It was a nice trip, with the short waits it's even easier to just casually enjoy your day. Everything was short....longest wait of the day was 25 minutes for front seat on TTD, and another nice addition to the evening were 5 Raptor rides with Raptor Jo working. It was a little brisk out, but other than that it was an excellent day at the park.

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HW 2K3: 3

I saw Raptor Jo too! She even yelled "Hi Fat Chris" back to me. ;)

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2003 Stats: Top Thrill Dragster: 16
Magnum XL-200: 63
35 trips to the Point

mantis man and fat chris:

It was awesome meeting you guys! :) One of the many benefits to working at CP is being able to meet fellow GTTPers. Also benefit to them is knowing exactly where they can find me!
Glad you guys had fun! :)

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor Crew
Lifetime Raptor flights: 813 :)
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It's all about getting around the barrels, or over the fences, right leads, no faults, fastest time and looking pretty when done. What's so hard about that? :)

after reading some of the trip reports on this site for sundays on Halloweekends, I have decided to visit CP on a sunday afterall, I have juggled my schedule and decided to visit SFWOA Friday night and CP on Saturday and sunday to give me a good 2 full days of coaster riding at the park plus loads of dragster riding with a bit of luck. Those comments of the park being empty on sundays tempted me too much :)

Also to LuvRaptor, will you be working on either Saturday 18th or 19th October, cause maybe I will try and say hello if I get the chance :)

Looking forward to visiting the park again next week, Dragster Here I come :)