This morning, I did something that I've never done before on a trip to the Point. I elected to sleep in. Kathey and the girls were out the door at 8:50 for the early entry. Not me. More sleep. Pillow good.
It was 9:45 before I couldn't sleep any more. I was a little fuzzy, but one shower, two cups of coffee and three Advil had me back to normal again. After I was showered and dressed, I saw the note that Kathey had left for me on the mirror to call her when I woke up.
Called then, and found out that she had taken the girls with a couple of my cousins' kids to the Boathouse for breakfast. Mmm... Breakfast. I'm hungry. "Do you want us to bring you something?" My head said yes, but my stomach still wasn't real happy with me from last night, so I passed.
They returned to the room and everyone grabbed a beverage to drink on the way over to the park entrance. They had done the Millennium Dash that morning, so we went into the Magnum gate. I'm sorry -- people stay outside of CP property why? But I've beat that drum already, so let's move on.
Just as we hit the park, I got a text message on my phone that there would be a mandatory conference call at 1:00 this afternoon. Geez, isn't it enough that I'm working 168 hours a week for you people? Now you have to bug me on vacation? Yes, it's an important call, but that's what I have an assistant for -- to take care of these things while I'm out. Talked to the boss, and he suggested that I make the time and effort to be there since HIS boss would be running the call. Blast it all, anyway!
By now, I knew there was nothing to see in Area 51, but my cousins also know that I have some mysterious source of information whereby I have the lastest CP info long before the general public finds out what is going on. I assured them that I have no clue what is happening there, but they suspect I'm lying.
We headed toward Gemini, and my 18-year old cousin decided to climb the rock wall. Macho, testosterone 18-year old stuff, I guess. Me? I'm a bystander. I'll film the thing.
Well, Tom starts up the rock and can't get any footing because he's wearing sandals. He asked me what size my shoes are, and as luck would have it, they'll fit. Did I mention that he chose the toughest side of the wall to climb - even though he's never done this before?
Tom does remarkably well until he hits the part where the wall slopes back toward you. At this point, he loses his mind and things that he can jump toward the top and grab a handle. In a move that would make Peter Parker laugh, he tried to lunge, his foot slipped, and he came flying back to the ground as fast as the cable would allow.
And I have it all on tape...
Next, we hit Gemini after a 15 minute line. A line? Weird for Gemini. But we waited, and I continued my record setting winning pace, winning once on each side. I must admit, Kathey was bad and took a picture of Lexi in the opposite train as we were headed up the lift hill. Then she behaved and put the camera away before the ride really began to move. Confession is good for the soul, but I don't feel any better having said that.
I thought about grabbing some fries from HAPPY FRIAR (Tim) since potatoes will replace that potassium in your system that the hops and barley (maybe it's the alcohol) remove. I decide to pass just now, and we all hop onto the Mean Streak. At least I thought we'd just hop on. We waited TWENTY FIVE minutes in line for Mean Streak. It was then that I recall the OTT/DBC (I don't know which of us thought of it and which of us stole it, but we seem to give each other credit) corollary regarding crowds. Rain yesterday, crowds today. Yes it rained yesterday. Yes, today is gorgeous. Big crowds at the Point. Line on Mean Streak. Haven't seen this since 1993.
By the time we got off Mean Streak, I had to go and find a quiet place to take the call. I left the group while they looked at the onride photos, and headed first for the Train Station.
The Train Station is a nice quiet place UNTIL A TRAIN pulls in. Then it's like Grand Central Station (where I understand they also have trains). This wouldn't do at all. Perhaps a gift shop.
The Emporium looked like it would fit the bill, but I realized that I would become very self-conscious standing in the store for an hour doing nothing but talking on the phone. I had to find a place to sit down.
The PTFKALL* was about to start a show, so that was out. I decided to try the Last Chance Saloon next door. Perfect. I sat down with a menu and began dialing only to realize that I have no signal in there.
It's now 1:00 and I'm dialing into the call while frantically looking for a quiet spot. The Ice Cream shop was going to be just like Emporium gifts, so that was out. The arcade? Are you kidding? Beep Bang Zoom!
It was then that I thought of the cozy corner of the park that I never go to. In fact, I have never set foot on the porch of the Frontier Inn. I guess I just don't think of pizza as a food I want to eat on a hot summer day. I went in to the air conditioned comfort and ordered a salad and a drink just as the conference call began.
By the way, add the salads at CP to the short list of foods that I consider a bargain. $2.95, and they'll put on it whatever you want. The bowl is a pretty generous size and they'll pile it fairly high.
The call is going well, the salad ain't half bad when suddenly, in walk about six guys who couldn't wait to one-up each other about some tournament or other that was played (from what I could tell) two months ago somewhere in Cincinnati. They were far too noisy for me to hear the call, so I had to go outside onto the porch. I also finally gave up on finding a quiet spot (apparently there aren't any left in the park) and hit the mute button so that the rest of the callers wouldn't hear the park sounds in the background.
After the salad (not after the call) I continued to look for a quiet place. I tried the back of the Haunted House building, but between the falling water from the flume above and the Wave Swinger ride op's announcements every couple of minutes, that wouldn't do.
The Frontier Trail? I've got it! JW Addington Mill! Nobody goes in there. And I was right. Nobody was in there. Except for a video/audio showing someone making something out of something else. I couldn't tell.
Every time I'd hit what I thought might be a quiet bench on the trail, there would be a speaker behind the bench blaring bad covers of Boot Scoot Boogie and Achy Breaky Heart. Ugh.
I finally gave up, continued with the mute button and finished the call on the bench in front of the Red Garter (note to CP - this one is a little wobbly -- might want to replace it).
Well, the call that started eight paragraphs ago has now ended. I figure that my gang must be somewhere on the Midway, so I called Kathey to find out where they were. MINE RIDE????? You're still in FRONTIER TOWN???? I walked back and found them and then they decided that they wanted to ride Millennium Force. That's right, Millennium Force. The one that has the queue that lines up directly across from where I had been sitting ten minutes ago...
MF's line is a good 2-hour wait. I convinced them to pass and we headed to Raptor instead. Raptor's lines were low again today, and 8.4 gave a couple of nasty rides... Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the dive into the first hill from that seat? Not to mention the lats tearing you out of your seat on the inverted corkscrew. Ain't nuttin' wrong with this green machine!
Kathey and I hadn't been on the Frontier Trail yet (other than my search for a calling spot), so we let the kids go and told them we'd see them in two hours at the Midway Market. The whole group of 20 of us were meeting for dinner (the old aunt and uncle from Day 1's report had left yesterday). Kathey and I took the train back to Frontier Town and moseyed up the trail at a relaxed pace, hitting every shop along the way, and catching glass-blowing, candle making, fudge making, horseshoe making, wooden horse making, wooden sign making, leather making, and every other kind of making available. We also spent more money. What else is new?
By 4:30, we were supposed to be at Midway Market, but were just nearing Coasters. Sky Ride was open today for the first time on our trip and so we grabbed a bucket for a peaceful (and by now RELAXING) cruise over to the Market.
Dinner at the Market was, as usual, excellent. We had $30 in Munch Money from the package, so dinner for the four peeps I was paying for was only 22 bucks plus tax. Had I remembered, I had a 10% card that I forgot to use and it would have been $17 for the four of us.
As we all congregated outside, I went in to inform the crew that we had a group of 20 coming in. They were very accomodating and put several tables together so that we could all dine together banquet-style. Our server was Dudley. Now Dudley was a little slow getting the first drinks to us, but picked up and improved considerably as we went on. After about 90 minutes, and many refills, we tossed together a (pretty darn generous) tip and walked out -- stuffed as usual.
The girls wanted to ride with their cousins, so Kathey and I went off on our own again. I still hadn't done Power Tower yet (I kept missing it last year too) but again, the lines were prohibitive. Magnum was down for some reason, and with the crew cleaning the bugs off the fronts of the trains, it looked like it would be awhile before it was back up again. Since we were still technically digesting, an excursion on the Paddlewheel was just the ticket. Captain Joanne (?) took us back through the wild and was SO much better than last year's ride with the infamous Captain Ed.
I wanted to get some pictures, so while we were already near the Magnum entrance we dashed back to the room to pick up the cameras. Actually we only dashed back to the car since I had left them in my trunk under a nice shady tree (where apparently many birds lived -- but that's another story).
Returning to the Magnum entrance, we saw the girls and most of the rest of our group. When I asked what they've been up to, one cousin's significant other replied "deciding what to do". That's the main reason I don't particularly like running in large groups. Too many people deciding WHAT to do, and nobody actually DOING it.
As for me, I was going to give WT one more chance. I remember doing some sort of weird exhale/slouch/shrivel thing to get into Pittfall at Kennywood last year, so I was bound and determined to get onto WT before we left. Once again, I hopped up into the trial seat and exhaled. And slouched. And shriveled. And pushed the OTSR from above. When Kathey tried to help push it toward me, the ride op wouldn't allow it, and I wound up less than ½ inch from the U-Shaped Intamin. Bummer.
We passed on the Giant Wheel (Kathey doesn't like it) and headed over to Disaster Transport. No line outside, but a line to the entrance once we got there said "30 minute or more wait" to me, and we passed. I just don't think this ride is worth more than a 10 minute wait, and it's wow the weather is very nice, it's not hot enough to need air conditioning.
Headed over to the Space Spiral (walk-on SURPRISE) and was pleasantly surprised to see that the air conditioner was working on the ride. How cool is that? (another pun -- groan). Got some nice shots that didn't turn out from way up high, then decided for a couple spins on Raptor before heading to MF. You see, on the last night of our trip, we all meet at MF to get one last ride together before we go.
On this night however, only FOUR of us showed up. FOUR. At 4:30, Sixteen of us decided that we were going to meet, and four made it. Old people decided that they were tired. Kids wanted to play in the pool.
As it turns out, this was my only night ride of the trip. The wait was a very bearable 45 minutes, as we got into line about 15 minutes before it closed. We didn't have a seat choice that late, but lucked into 5.1. Airtime! What a way to end the night! It's a terrific adrenaline rush, especially when you're dead on your feet like I was. The burst of energy I had stayed with me all the way until I hit... uh... Magnum's entrance. It was employee night on Mantis, and many employees were in the park, so we took the left turn at Coasters after MF and strolled back through the Gemini Midway before calling it a night. While I thought briefly about hitting poolside before bed, common sense prevailed. The pool would close in 20 minutes anyway, so it was off to sleep. Tomorrow is getaway day. Bummer.
*Palace Theatre Formerly Known As Lusty Lil's
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Duane Cahill
I have a cheese-shredder at home, which is its positive name. They don't call it by its negative name, which is sponge-ruiner. Because I wanted to clean it, and now I have little bits of sponge that would melt easily over tortilla chips...
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