Aug 11/12 - second timer weighs in

^awesome!

OK, lets try this again. Its my first time on the inter-tubes.

Forgive me if this is a little stream of consciousness style – but wanted to rattle off a few thoughts while they were still fresh in my head. To set the stage, just had my second visit to CP – last one was 2 years ago. I live about an hour from Six Flags Great America, my home park. I’m a 39 year old male, with a seven and six year old who are not yet ready for such thrills. So I occasionally get to sneak out on a solo trip…which is indescribably wonderful.

I fly from Midway to CLE Fri night and rent a car. Amazing that doing so is cheaper than the gas to drive. Get in around 1am sat, staying at Hotel Breakers for ease of access and early entry.

Up and at ‘em and in line at 8:45. Right to maverick along with everyone else, where the ride promptly breaks down. Decision time – stay and gamble, or head to MF? I stay, and blow pretty much the early entry hour doing so. Finally get on right around 10am, and was….. welll….. underwhelmed. More on this later, but it’s a pretty rough ride. Those restraints are no fun. Apparently I have a habit of leaning forward, and this was BRUTAL on the ears and neck. Good call to wait however, as passing by later it seemed to be 2 to 2.5 hours consistently all day.

Speaking of crowds, yeah, beautiful day, Saturday, big crowds. This was expected. So be it.

Hey, what’s with the tattoos on people? I’m not *that* old, but it sure seems like a these kids today are sure getting started early. If I never see another “tramp stamp” (lower back tattoo, for those even older than me) it’ll be too soon. And pale white kids with the Chinese characters? I like to ask ‘em what it means and then tell them “’Serenity’ my rear end – that says “Beef with pea pods.”

Ended up in the parks from 845 to a little after midnite. Park was supposed to close at 11, but they decided to keep Dragster open (ie accepting NEW line entry) until midnight. They were on the PA practically begging people to get in line. Cool.

Speaking of dragster, on my first visit (May, 2 years ago) dragster never opened, so this was my first time. I’m a little jaded, coaster-wise. Been on more than my share. Takes a little something to get me going. Hooooooollllleeeeeee moley. That one did it. My biggest surprise was the crest – it looks like you go over pretty slow when watching from the ground. No one told me that was an airtime hill! Simply awesome – there is still a palpable sense of awe and excitement in that line and on that platform. Tremendous – don’t know what else to say.

Waited entirely too long for Disaster transport. I knew its not considered a great ride, but wanted to check it out as SFGAm used to have an open air version called Rolling Thunder that was eventually removed – I believe the official reason was “it’s crap!”. And so it was. This is improved from the open air version, but not by much. LOVE the lift hill in the dark where you can’t tell that you are going up.

I love Gemini. Certainly third behind MF and TTD. Don’t know what it is – fast moving line, smooth as silk, easy to get front row, fun with the “racing”, airtime, you name it. This is an absolute classic.

I also know Mean Streak does not get a lot of love. I rode it 2 years ago and thought it was fine. Not a classic, but perfectly acceptable. Well, that was through the lens of no waiting in line. I waited this time, and wouldn’t do so again. For all the well-known reasons, but none more so than the first drop trim brakes. That just puts a pallor on the whole ride. I only have one suggestion to increase interest in this ride – change the name to Kaerts Naem and run the thing backwards. Make it a different experience.

Magnum was disappointing this year. Rode about 5 rows from the back and this was also rougher than I remember. Certainly a classic, but I’d rather ride MF once than Magnum twice for the same waiting time. Sacrilege, I know!

Took a mid-day break for Soak City – wave pool and lazy river thing. Perfectly lovely.

What’s with the spider webs? It was like an infestation. Overnight my car had ‘em on the side view mirrors. Those spiders work fast. They were ALL OVER the park.

Hotel Breakers was fine – I stayed there 2 years ago as well. Hotel itself certainly not worth the price, but for that location I’d certainly stay again. To a person, the employees were all quite agreeable and personable.

Lots and lots of line jumping. Lots. Didn’t seem malicious in nature, more of people believing what they were doing – joining their group after stopping for a drink or the bathroom or whatever - “didn’t count” as line jumping. The signs explaining this were woefully inadequate.

I liked most of the tunes in the MF queue, especially the ones themed to the ride itself – “Nothin but a good time”, “Thriller” and of course, “Crazy Train”. Not so much the nameless thumpa thumpa thumpa dance tracks.

Day 2 the ticket gate didn’t open until after 9, and again right to Maverick, where AGAIN it was down. This time, they were not even letting people in the queue. I made the same decision as the day before – that the line would certainly never be SHORTER – and gambled on blowing the entire early hour on a broken ride. Like Saturday, I got on just about at the end of the “early” hour. This time I waited the extra 5 trains or so for front row, and it was the right call. MUCH better ride in the front (well, aren’t they all?). Maybe I was doing better anticipating the twists and turns, but less painful as well. Still not a great ride, but I’m ready to pronounce this a fine if not necessarily outstanding addition. Still not as good as Gemini of course.

All in all, a fine trip. I’m sure more will occur to me, and I’ll update if I remember something particularly enlightening!

Great TR! I enjoyed reading it.

I like Gemini a lot as well, but for some reason most of the people that go with me don't like it nearly as much as I do.