What a difference one week makes! This opening weekend (including Monday and half of Tuesday) was so much busier than last year's on May 6th. I expected that though considering Maverick's "opening" and Mother's Day. Still, It was a good time and I did get to ride everything at least once since I was there for 3 and 1/2 days.
I could have managed more rides but my general strategy was to avoid the lines and spend more time just relaxing and enjoying the park as a whole. Each day for ERT, I would skip Dragster and hit Sky Hawk, Millennium Force, Raptor, then head for maXair and Wicked Twister just as the front gates opened at 10. This way, I had already ridden several of the biggest rides and could stroll around the rest of the day riding things with short waits until the park emptied out closer to closing time. This worked fairly well considering how crowded the park was each day and that it didn't really seem to empty out that much later since the park closed at 7 on Sunday and Monday. The longest line I was willing to wait in for the entire trip was Dragster's for a hour on Sunday night after it had been down. I'm glad I did because, unfortunately, that was the only ride on Dragster I had for the entire trip. I waited for it about an hour around 1 on Tuesday when it was down but I had to leave. Watching all those rollbacks Saturday was insane. Made me wish I had just been willing to wait it out. My own fault though. It got a late start a few days but it ran every day I was there. Still, 2006 opening weekend, I managed 10 Dragster rides and at least a dozen MF laps. This year only one ride on TTD and a mere 4 on Millie. But, like I said, I could have easily waited in line for more rides on either. So, yes I was a bit disappointed by the large crowds on Sunday and Monday, but again, I was prepared for it. I left at 2 on Tuesday and it seemed a bit lighter crowd-wise that day but not by much.
I rented a LHP cabin again and that was great. They let me check in at 8am! I didn't even ask to check-in early. They also came everyday to clean the grill, leave fresh towels and take out the garbage. I don't remember them doing this last year. In fact, I thought you had to call and request fresh towels if you wanted them. My only gripe about LHP are those tiny showers! They also had the pool and hot tub open. I wasn't expecting that this early in the season.
We ate at TGIF's in Breakers late Saturday. They were very busy and the servers were obviously weeded but the food was fine as always. The new look is not that special though in my opinion. I just prefer the old-style Friday's I guess. Tried the new Chick-Fil-A too. Twice. Both times the food was very good and freshly-cooked. Service was a bit slow, but hey, they are new and probably understaffed this early in the season. All the employees here were so friendly. The milkshakes are great. Got to see Maverick testing while eating here on Monday afternoon around 3:30. That was cool. Maverick looks just amazing. It was agony watching it test so beautifully and not being able to go hop in line. At least it's something to look forward to for my fall visit.
On Sunday afternoon, I was walking by the arcade and realized that I've never even been inside before. So, to get away from the sun and the crowds, I went in and was floored by the size of this place and the sheer number of games. Eventually, I found the back wall of 70's-era pinball machines and dumped quarters in those for at least an hour every day after that. What a great collection. The arcade is a blast. Props to CP for maintaining those ancient games. Now I know exactly what I'll be doing whenever I'm at CP and it rains.
The only minor gripes I can think of are: 1) Losing a filling on Mantis:(. 2) Being stapled in on maXair AND getting stuck in it for a hour Tuesday morning. The floor wouldn't raise after our ride and they had to take us out one-by-one. Took forever. I was thinking maybe we'd get an exit pass but instead they opted to walk the whole group to MF. I'd just ridden MF earlier so I didn't go. And finally, 3) No landscaping yet on the main midway or at Skyhawk. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that last year-even opening a week earlier-the main midway beds had been planted. Oh well, like I said, MINOR gripe. Not-so-minor was the lack of enforcement of the new smoking policy. I'm not being anti-smoker here. Smoking on the midways never bothered me but if they made this new policy, they should stick to thier guns about it from day one. All-in-all another great CP trip. Already looking forward to the next one.
Oh, almost forgot. I can't end without saying how great the Corkscrew crew was on Monday. I've never seen a crew hustle to hit interval like that. They were making a team event out of it. Also, the girl who was working the Mantis spiel on Sunday afternoon is quite entertaining. CP should have her conduct training classes! She's a pro. And the guy who worked loading the Sky Ride near Scrambler Monday morning has got to be one of the friendliest ride ops in the park.
*** Edited 5/18/2007 10:01:21 AM UTC by MagNutXL200***
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