6/8/06- Short Waits & Great Weather

I departed at 8:15 A.M. and arrived at the park at about 9:50 A.M. I got into the park at about 9:55. The weather was very nice. Sunny and warm, probably upper 70's, but not too hot and there were some times of overcast to cool things off. Crowds appeared to be very light from the parking lot, but it was still very early. I immediately went to Millennium Force.

Millennium Force: I did this ride twice during the day. The first time I waited about 15 minutes. The line was forming just before the ramp. While I was on the ramp passing the exit station, a few people in the yellow train, fourth row or so, were saying to the attendants that they were hit by a bird. When they exited the train, everyone was surprised to see this large bird still sitting in the train. It took a while for them to remove it, but the ride was great (no more incidents). I must say however that MF is really due for a pain job. The second time I rode this was late afternoon, and the wait was about 30 minutes. Just as great the second time, and I'm glad to see the music returned.

Mantis: Did this one right after Millennium Force. The wait was starting at the top of the station- the shortest I've ever seen it. We waited for the front row, so the wait ended up being about 10 minutes. The trim on the first drop seemed to be off which was cool, but I was very unimpressed with the rest of the ride. The head banging has gotten really unpleasent, especially in the corkscrew. After going on it I did it again due to the especially short wait. This time the line formed before the stairs, still much shorter than I've ever seen it. The line was about 15 minutes since we didn't wait for the front. This time I held my head to the left side of the restraint for the corkscrew, along with the quick changes of dirrection, and this seemed to help a lot. It made it a lot more enjoyable. I still say though that a little bit of padding like on Iron Wolf would help a lot. Two trains were running but the third was no where in sight. I guess this could mean it is getting its tune-ups (and maybe we will be seeing 3 train operation later this year). Very impressed by how fast they were running the ride. There was hardly any stacking (only saw the second train waiting once).

Top Thrill Dragster: I also did this ride twice during the day. The first time I waited about 55 minutes, and then another 15 minutes for the front car. This was by far the longest wait of the day. When I entered the line there was about 10 minutes of downtime, but many people left making the line shorter. Great rush. I forgot how much faster the train seems to be going in the front car. That wind is amazing. The second time I rode it was late afternoon, and the wait was only about 30 minutes, no downtime, with 15 minutes for the front train. Just as great the second time, however when we entered the train and were locked in something happened which caused about 7 minutes of downtime. Great ride again, however the red train missing half of its TTD label on the front looks somewhat bad.

Raptor: Sign said an hour but we ended up waiting only 30 minutes. Great ride. Seems to go faster than it did a few seasons ago. Nice and smooth, and I am beginning to like it much more than Mantis. 3 train operation as usual.

Wicked Twister: Line started under the back spike, and only took about 15 minutes to get on and off. I waited for the very back, which in my opinion makes the ride a lot better. Excellent as usual, and I felt a little more airtime than before. Excellent ride.

Magnum: I also did this ride twice. Both times the line started right before the stairs to the station. The first time I waited for the front train, so the wait was about 11 minutes. This ride was smooth, fun, and powerful (especially the plethera of airtime). The paint job looks great. The second ride I waited for 1:3. This was about the worst ride I've ever had on Magnum. The wait was only about 5 minutes, but it was unbelieveably rough. The train vibrated and made jerky transitions throughout the entire ride, which gave me a bad headache. The airtime was spoiled by the jerky movements which caused me to slam into the restraint and then slam back into the train. Horrible ride this time. All I can think of is my location, but I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on this. On a side note, this station needs an overhaul. Seeing the attendants crammed behind the pillars was odd, and it just has an odd layout.

Mean Streak: I waited for the front car, and got on and off in less than 10 minutes. It was only ok. Not as good as I remember in years past. I've stuck up for it before, but the roughness on this ride has caused me to reconsider. It gave us a nice view of the construction site though. Photo store was closed. I saw the "this attraction opens at 11 A.M." sign. I hope this policy disappears once the peak season arrives. Seems a bit lazy to me. CP is cutting corners with this.

Skyhawk: I came by this earlier in the day, and it was closed with the door to the compression room open on the right swing (from looking at the ride). The attendant told people that he would strongly reccommend that they do not wait. I came back a little later and it was open so I got in line. By this time the time was about 6:00 and the skies were looking very ominous. The load times were slow, very slow, but since the attendants were already running I'm not sure how much faster they can make this go. The fact that they have to close your restraint makes it go a little slower though. Again the attendants were running so I was impressed by that. Only one line of the large block of ques was filled, and the wait ended up being 25 minutes. I really liked the patriotic theming. The old chairlift building seemed to be spruced up as well. The ride is quite loud, but impressive looking with all the wires, as well as the wires under each car. I boarded the ride, but didn't like the chair at first. After getting into it, the headrest seemed uncomfortable as well as the seat. It did get a little more comfortable after a few moments, but the headrest was still odd. I was a little surprised at the "seatbelts" as they seemed a little makeshift. I did like the restraints. I would not agree that this ride beats maXair indefinately. I loved the ride. It is rediculously short, but if they added two more swings it would beat maXair in my opinion. I really did like swinging over the midway. Extremely nice ride, but they definately need to add at least two more big swings (it would make the line a little longer but not too bad).

The time was about 6:25 and after getting a giant elephant ear I made my way back to the front of the park due to the approaching storm. Thunder was soon heard, and lightning quickly followed. Then it really started to rain so I made my way out of the park along with many others. I ended up leaving about 6:40. It was a great day to be at the Point! It was the most uncrowded day I've ever seen, and got on much more than I ever have in one day. The track at Breakers Express looks like it holds great potential, and the large trench at the construction site is interesting. Skyhawk was great but needs to be made longer with at least two more large swings. Thanks for taking the time to read, I know it is long.

*Edited for typo* *** Edited 6/9/2006 5:57:02 PM UTC by Top Thrill 182***

That sounded like a great trip considering it was cut short by rain. I wish I could go on days with short waits like that.

Yes, the park was great yesterday, not much of wait for anything. I don't know if anyone else saw him, but the President of Huss was in the park yesterday. I saw him showing a couple of what looked to be prospective customers maXair, Troika, and Ocean Motion.

I found the storm quite funny. It looked like it would be bad. The wind picked up a bit, but never did rain that much. Before it hit, people were literally running to the front gate. After we finished our dinner at Johnny Rockets, the park was pretty empty and it had already stopped raining and pretty much cleared up...

*** Edited 6/9/2006 6:39:16 PM UTC by DBCP***

MMMMM, Johnny Rockets, our family favorite. ;)

Yes it did look like the rain stopped pretty quickly. I did see that run to the front. How quickly did attractions re-open? I suspected it would've been empty afterwards.

Millennium opened up pretty much right away, and most everything else that can still run in a light drizzle was up by 7:30. Everything was up by 8.