Last week we decided to purchase 2015 season passes and as new passholders we received a free 2014 visit, which we opted to take yesterday. My family includes me, my wife, and our two daughters ages 6 and 9. Our youngest is still a Jr. so she is not able to ride anything 48" and up (unless it is a ride where she can go with an adult). Prior to this trip our oldest had been on Mantis, Magnum, Iron Dragon, and the Raptor.
If you don't read anything beyond this point (this is fairly long) just know that the weather was chilly, the crowds were light, and we had a lot of fun!
We began our trip on Saturday by driving 2 1/2 hours from Indiana so that we could stay the night at Castaway Bay and get early entry into the park. We arrived at the point at about 9:40 and parked in the back side of the first row. We walked up to the ticket office, unsure of how to redeem our free visit, and they directed us toward the season pass office. We had planned to stop there later in the day but I guess we needed to actually go there first. They told us to come inside and they quickly processed our cards. It was very efficient - although I did have to ask how to get our free visit. They told us to just go to the entrance and have them scan our cards. Once we were inside, my oldest daughter and I headed for the Raptor. She had told me that she would try out the Millennium Force on this trip but she wanted to "warm up" on Raptor first. When we arrived at the line queue we noticed a large amount of water gushing from the station above. I guess they were draining the ride dummies and the water was in our path so we had to go climb some rails to get around it. When we got up to the catwalk before you head up to the station there was a line at the bottom of the steps and it wasn't moving. We waited for about 10 minutes and we were about to get out of the line (felt like our hour was disappearing) when they started to board the train. We got up to the station and had a great ride!
After Raptor we decided to head to Millennium Force. My wife and youngest, who went on Ocean Motion, were at the exit waiting for us. She had my oldest daughter's pass and we needed it to get through the check point which I had forgotten about.
We went to MF but it was closed due to weather so we headed to Maverick and rode it twice - once in the middle and once in the back. The middle was a smoother ride and the back had more force. It was a walk-on at that point and it's too bad the exit wasn't closer to the entrance. After that we decided to head back to MF and by now it was 11 which meant the general public would be in the park. We stopped at the petting zoo for a bit since we ran into my wife and other daughter there. As we were petting the animals we saw MF running (they had been testing before that) and heard screams so we knew it was open. We quickly made our way over and managed to get in 2 rides - about a 10 minute wait each time...if that. My daughter loved it and the second time she kept her hands up. I think we rode the blue train, 10th row, and then the yellow train, 6th row. The second ride felt more intense and enjoyable.
After MF we headed toward the main midway so that we could meet my wife and other daughter at Camp Snoopy. As we went by the TTD I checked the wait time and it said it was a half hour . I'd never been on the dragster, so I told my daughter that I was going to get in line. I'd asked if she would ride it but she did not want to because she thought it was too scary. As we sat outside the entrance I was texting my wife to ask her to come over so I could get in line, and my oldest said, "Ok, I'll ride!" When I asked her why she changed her mind she said that she thought it would be like MF - meaning that it looks scary, but it would turn out to be fun. We got in line and waited 15 minutes...then the ride went down. Ah, so close. I was a little heartbroken and defeated at that point.
We met up with my wife and other daughter after exiting TTD. On the way to lunch at Panda Express, my wife and oldest rode the Corkscrew together. After lunch my oldest played Plinko and won the Front of the Line passes which we planned to save for TTD if it reopened. We went over to Planet Snoopy and the girls went through the small maze together and then rode the bumper cars. They also did the trick-or-treating stations which was fun. My oldest and I then went to Gatekeeper and that was about a 30 minute wait. It was a cold, cold, COLD ride but it was still fun.
After GK we went back to TTD which was running again. They wouldn't let us use our FOTL passes because they weren't fully loading the trains yet. So we got in line and waited about 30 minutes and finally got on. By that point there was a break in the clouds and the sun was shining. It was a picture perfect moment as we sat there waiting to be launched. My wife and youngest daughter watched from the stands. As the train took off I could feel the force pressing against my upper body and it was intense! Then the pressure quickly diminished and we shot up the track. We were both screaming at the top of our lungs as we crested the hill and caught a spectacular view of the park before descending back down to the bottom. As we exited the ride we both had the biggest grins on our faces.
After that we rode the train over to the Frontier town station and walked over to the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. My wife and my oldest daughter rode that while me and the youngest sat on the bench and talked about our day. When I asked her to name her favorite part she said, "Everything!"
We rode the train again so that the kids could see all of the skeletons (they hadn't been on the train before) and when we got back to the station we headed over to Dodgem and everyone rode that. Then we stopped in at the Snoopy Boutique so my oldest could pick out a gift for a friend and use one of her 20% coupons from Plinko. By that point it was after 6pm and my youngest wanted us to go through the Magical House on Boo Hill because she'd been earlier in the day with my wife she really liked it. Afterward my oldest and I caught a ride on the Blue Streak and sat in the front row. I think there were only a couple other people on with us.
Throughout the day I had offered to switch off more with my wife so that she could ride with our oldest. I kept offering her the FOTL passes but she said she only really wanted to check out the Mine Ride and was happy with "taking it slow" with our youngest.
In a couple weeks our oldest daughter is heading back to CP with a friend, but it will be on Saturday so I told her that she could take the unused FOTL passes then. She also has some game coupons that she wanted to use so we saved those as well.
I'm sorry that this is so long but I wanted to try to describe the day as much as possible. I've been to CP three times this year and each experience has been different and fun. One last thing, the paint job on Mantis was very noticeable as it was about 80% complete (just a rough guess). It will be fun to check out Rougarou next season!
You must be logged in to post