First I'll start with the good stuff... It was our first time to CP (my wife and brother were with me to make three). Started Fri morning out from Breakers early entry. We got in right at 9am and walked quickly to MF. We made the first train. AWESOME rollercoaster and a perfect way to start out the day.
Next came TTD. We waited about 15 minutes and it too was very awesome. Next came Mantis... A pretty cool coaster but hard on the crotch. Double backed to gemni... only one train running and a bit rough. We then did corkscrew... pretty cool.
Things turned a ugly on Mean streak and my neck is still hurting on Monday. When I was younger it would have been no big deal. At 36, I could feel it compressing my spine. Not cool... At first I thought I maybe done for the day but went ahead on Magnum and didn't feel any worse after getting off it so I forged ahead.
We did the three water rides next and ended up with our jeans soaked to the bone. Rode the mine ride and the power of tower to leave wet seats for the next riders. Felt bad about it but I got my payback later.
Went back to Breakers to dry off about 2pm and were a bit suprised to find our room had not been made up and no new towels. We changed quickly to dry clothes and headed back to the park.
Started out with wicked twister and I was greeted with a wet seat from the rider before me. Yes there is karma. Next came Raptor and perhaps our favorite all around coaster. Definitely kicks butt. Went on diaster transport and had more fun laughing at the art school quality of the theming than the ride itself. Ate at the midway buffet and were pretty happy with the food. Ended the evening with another ride on MF.
Next day we slept in went to TGI Fridays and drank long islands and ate. Buzzed we went to mini-golf to burn up our package challenge tickets. Pretty weak courses IMO but it's only minigolf anyway. My brother rode the go-carts with the direction of some of the most apathetic employees we encountered.
Went in for the starlight right at five. Rode Raptor again... lost my hat. Then blue streak which was not nearly as painful as mean streak. Then to iron dragon which was not extremely great. Rode MF again after about 45 minute wait. Our longest the entire trip but worth it. Did power tower, corkscrew, and magnum again. Ended the night with another TTD. Awesome of course.
As far as the rollercoasters goes... MF and TTD are awesome. I wouldn't want to wait 2 hours for TTD because it is so short. But for a 15 minute and 30 minute wait the 2 rides we had were incredible!! Raptor is also a damn cool coaster and my wifes favorite. I would have to say Magnum was my 4th favorite although my wife found it a bit rough.
Overall CP is an incredible park. Now the "not so good".
Employees were not rude but overall were very apathetic. Few were smiling and most would barely reply if you said hi or said something friendly. There were exceptions but for the most part I've seen more friendly employees at McDonalds. They were efficient but their lack of personality contrasts greatly to the almost over enthusiastic Disney employee. CP needs to pay these people better, give them some caffine or both. I have a picture of one of the employees slumped over at his station, head resting on his forarm, eyes closed; barely able to hold himself up while "running" the go cart track. Of course his lack of enthusiasm was evident in every instruction he gave and you could practicaly feel it zap the enjoyment from the participating kids. Makes you tired just seeing this guy struggle to do his job.
My other frustration was the lack of posted or even reasonable hours for the restraunts. We walked all the way from over by the Mantis to the Chuck Wagon at 1pm on Friday to eat lunch. My brother loves beef stew and I really dig rotiseere (sp?) chicken. It was closed and appeared to have been closed the whole day. Not cool. We ate at last chance salon instead but would have been much happier to save the walk. On Saturday we went back to the Chuck Wagon (this time from by the power tower) figuring it we be open on a much more busy day. It had just closed at shortly before 7pm. What the heck??? Nowhere on the doors, programs, or any literature could we find times that it was open. Ended up walking all the way back to Macaroni's for dinner. Bummer.
Breakers was a good hotel but for ~$200 a night you would hope housekeeping wouldn't just skip you. To make it more frustrating we found a flashing message light when we got back at 8:30pm, waited on the operator for several minutes only to find it was housekeeping and that if we needed them to call them at some other number. The hotel should really get a voice mail service that doesn't force you to wait on operators and a housekeeping staff that cleans the room without prompting. The next day however our room was made up when we got back from the park as expected.
Before you flame me on the 'negative' parts... overall we were VERY happy with CP and plan to go back very soon. Hopefully for one of the haloween weekends.
Halloween is one of my favorite times to go! First time at CP at 36??? Ive been goin since I was 4! Glad to hear you had a good time though.
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