Closing Weekend 2008

I've posted a trip report for Closing Weekend 08 on my website here

I'll also be posting pictures here shortly from the weekend.

Here's the trip report:

I spent this past weekend at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH for the final weekend of the operating season, and the first time they had ever been open in November!

Matt Doak and I left our respective jobs around noon on Friday and headed down to Sandusky, arriving around 4:45pm to the park. We managed to get in 4 Maverick rides during ERT before going to Magnum and getting another 20 rides for the evening. We did take a break for a little while since the lines started getting somewhat long and went over to Friday's and got some dinner and Matt got some beers.

After we got last rides on Magnum, we headed back to check into the Sleep Inn behind Applebees on 250. The check in process took a lot longer than it ever should have, but the room was nice, albeit a bit small. It was very clean and didn't smell, which was about all we wanted anyway.

We slept in pretty late on Saturday, getting to the park in time for ERT. There was already quite a line up outside of the Soak City entrance, and we got in and got a couple rides on Maverick before hitting up Magnum again. We rode until the lines started getting too long, and decided to hit up Buffalo Wild Wings for some football. Michigan lost, and we watched Notre Dame until halftime. I went back to the hotel room and took a nap while Matt watched the second half. We both ended up watching the 4 overtimes before heading back to the park. The lines were still ridiculous, and we went to TGI Friday's again for awhile.

Around 10:15 we headed back to the park and waited 10-15 minutes for Magnum before saying screw it and heading back to the hotel for an early start on Sunday.

Breakfast at the breakers was at 8:30 and then we got in for ERT. Maverick again for another 2 rides for a total of 7. We then headed to Magnum where we started an almost all day riding marathon where we racked up either 39 or 40 rides a piece (We lost track) with a short break in the middle for Famous Daves.

We ended up with last ride of the night which included a re-ride which was totally awesome. The ride home seemed to go faster than normal, mostly because we were listening to the Red Wings, and also because I filled up my truck for $1.54 a gallon with E85.

All in all, 72 rides on Magnum (The greatest ride in the world) and 7 rides on Maverick and a Raptor, Demon Drop and 2 Skyhawk rides over the weekend. I have been sore all day since I got home.

The line for magnum looked pretty long Saturday afternoon, then I noticed they were only running two trains. Anyone know why?

They ran 2 all weekend.

They ran 2 the last several weekends.

I saw Magnum a lot. From Skyscraper. :-D

Chris, I looked for you to say hi, but you were mostly at Ripcord and I didn't wanna bother/distract while you were working. I did drop your name and got the best ride EVER on Skyscraper, though. :-D

Hahaha, that's great. What time did you head over there?

I was there a lot throughout the whole weekend, actually. Many friends hadn't been on it yet, so I introduced them.

Let me be the first to say how much I LOVE it when you get flung over the top in an upright position and then head face first to the ground. Always have, but something they did for us on Saturday afternoon, made it happen every time.

Saturday afternoon was my good ride too. Nothing beats that feeling being flung towards the concrete with onlookers watching.

It all depends on who's driving and the weight of the carriage. Most of us tried to get it to do those great flips, but not every driver can do it, and it's very hard to do on carriages that are too light or too heavy. It's possible to get people upside down from the 12:00 position all the way to the 6:00 position, and it feels pretty awesome to be on board when it does that. :)

That's interesting that the quality of the Skyscraper ride can vary depending on the driver. I guess subtle differences in speed when riding can change how and when the carriage flips. I assume that speed if the main thing that the operator can change?

Not so much speed as accelerating and decelerating at the right times.

Ah. Now that you mention it, accelerating / decelerating the ride at the right moments would work better than maintaining the speed. It would also require more skill.

Yeah, on Saturday afternoon, ours was slowing down at about the 10 o'clock position, and nailing the throttle at the 12:00 spot. It pretty much kept us upside down until we were close to the bottom. Nothin has ever made me laugh so hard.

I'd absolutely LOVE to operate one of those. You guys have as much fun controlling it as we do riding.

You've got that right. :)

Nice seeing you Sunday Ben! :)
You too Matt even though the pics of Shea were way depressing! :(

Raptor was a blast-got 5 rerides in the morning-was awesome seeing my Raptor pumpkin in the control booth and the other one in the window at Park Ops! :)

Hubby and I had a great closing day-seeing Mr Skyward made it all complete :)

Oh yea and Matt shut the **** up! ;)
ah--Gemini 100 memories! Classic! :)

Jo