CoasterMania! '08

This was my 10th CoasterMania event and I was really excited! Hubby Eric and I arrived at the park at the crack of 4:30am. Didn’t have any good answer for Eric on why we had to be there so early since riding time wasn’t till 6. Every year I drag him there that early, you’d think he’d quit asking! :)

Since we both knew about the shirts CP was giving away for a couple weeks, we couldn’t wait to see what they looked like. They were really nice sweatshirts, kudos to CP for those! They will come in handy come Halloweekends!

I had found a “CoasterMania” t-shirt at the Odds and Ends store a couple weeks ago. I had 2008 added to it and put the designs of all the rides on the back. I added bling to the coasters and that’s what I wore. You should have seen the people staring at the shirt! Many enthusiasts stopped me and asked me where I got the shirt.

After the usual “welcome to Coastermania” speech, the gates opened and while most of the crowd headed to MF and Mav, I went for Raptor. There were a couple of rides where it was only ME on the train! Felt like test ride days all over again! :)After 12 rides the crew finally got the ok for rerides so I got to reride 5x and then stopped. I felt bad for Eric just sitting and watching. Kudos to the Raptor crew for kicking such butt so early in the morning!
Met a few friends in Donut Time before gates opened. When we looked up shortly before 10 it was like every single school in Ohio came that day. OMG I had never seen so many kids! It's like they multiplied during the day even! ;)

Eric and I spent most of the day just walking around taking pictures. “Hot” would be an understatement on how hot it was. It felt like Florida hot, thank goodness for the lake wind! Shortly before noon we headed to the convention center for the Q&A, for the questions yes, but the a/c was a welcome relief!

As with Q&A’s of past why are there ALWAYS those people who just like to hear themselves talk and complain? OMG! They go on and on and on about 1 incident, which by the time they shut up, we find out by senior staff had been explained or rectified at the time the incident occurred. They are lucky I don’t have that microphone cause I swear there are times I just want to grab it away! Then we have the same questions too “whats wrong with Mean Streak?” “why can’t CP do something cause I’m too fat to ride?” OMG! I had to ask about what KI was getting, I kept referring it as the new “garden” cause that’s what the employees at KI will call it if you ask them what they are building. Apparently we will have that answer come August--PLEASE be a B&M Garden!!
Eric asked if we could have PM ERT on Mav which Bill Spehn ok’d! Yea! :)

I would like to have someone ask about why Skycoaster is $35.00/person to ride! OK-it was on “special” for $20.00/person but still-no wonder it was empty any time we saw it. I KNOW it wasn't $35.00 when it was at Dorney.

Lunch was pretty good, I felt so bad for the cooks standing by a hot grill on such a hot day. Same goes for the silver tags who are forced to wear long sleeved shirts and pants. Blech. After lunch hubby and I snuck back to the hotel for a nap and a shower. We headed back to the park around 6ish for the yearly GOCC meeting at Fridays. Not a lot of people showed up but we had the fun table so it was a blast-thanks Flora and Tim!
When we left we noticed this red winged black bird who would attack anyone walking past him that had blonde hair! It was hilarious! No, he didn’t touch me but maybe it was only real blondes. After a while there was a crowd standing there watching this bird. I think once the bird realized he had a crowd he left.

We tagged up with Millennium Tony and his g/f Renee. Tony and I rode SkyHawk (love that ride!) and then we all took the train to the other side of the park. Ended up back at Raptor. Since it was a walk on I rode 2 more times then took some night shots of Raptor and waited for park to close. It was then the warnings were all out about this oncoming tornado, when the wind started really picking up I got worried but knew CP wouldn’t allow their guests just to stand around during a tornado. Thankfully it missed us and it was off the PM ERT. I jumped on Maggie and when they said (at that time) no rerides, I headed to Gemini. Gemini can still kick butt. Naturally our train lost but barely! The crew was really having fun racing the trains. We headed to Maverick where I stayed the rest of the evening. Ended up getting 6 rides and OMG Mav was flying!! I could not believe how fast it was moving! Way more fun at night! I’ve got the bruised shoulders to prove how fast it was! Way fun! I never did touch MF but no biggie, if it’s between MF and Mav, Mav wins hands down.

We left shortly before midnight totally exhausted. It wasn’t even so much all the stuff we did but more the heat that really takes it toll after a while. The 20 gallons of Pepsi doesn’t help either when it’s that hot out. Even though Eric didn’t ride all that much even he didn’t feel all that great during the noon heat.

We won’t even get into how many “is that tattoo real?” questions I got ;)

Coaster Mania ‘08 was a blast! We had a lot of fun. CP really went out of their way this year to make it an event to remember. My only suggestion for next year is PM ERT on Raptor!!! :)

The only sad notes were no CoasterEXT the next day :(
And where was Mr Skyward???

Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great event! See ya next year!

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 1354

Haha, my friend and I thought it was pretty funny how you worded the garden question. I wonder how many people thought you were crazy, since it seemed like there were also a lot of non-enthusiasts people at the park that day for the event.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your day! The weather was definitely not being too nice that day, but at least the crowds weren't horrible. It was my first Coastermania, and I'm so excited to return again for next years event :)

Must have just missed the rerides being allowed at Raptor :(. After returning to my car to drop off the free goodies, they had already opened the park and I then proceeded to do 3 straight rides on Raptor. After the 3rd I was just tired of doing that walk again, so it was on to MF. Defiantly saw you in your shirt then too, wasn't sure if it was you (didn't make the connection Raptor Jo=LuvRaptor) so I didnt introduce myself. I was the guy in the Maverick First Rider Shirt that asked the question about the retractors coming to the Arrow coasters/Halloweekends new attractions.

I also liked how you phased that question. You managed to make the whole panel chuckle too.

You wrote the best trip report of any on Pointbuzz.

Why doesn't your hubby ride?

factory81 said:
Why doesn't your hubby ride?

Believe me it isn't his choice! This winter he had a softball sized brain tumor removed. It was benign thankfully, and he is doing remarkably well all things considered :)
Unfortunitely for him though, no coasters till September :(

Jo

That sucks, my mom had a brain tumor before she passed of lung cancer. It was a metastatic brain tumor. They removed it fine and it was 2.4cm big I think. But I never asked if she could ride any coasters.

I am sorry for the loss of your Mom :(

When my hubby went to doc to get stitches and staples out he neglected to ask him about riding coasters. Later that day I thought about it and called the nurse. She said he would have to wait at least 6 months or he could suffer from bleeding on the brain. Yikes!

Fortunitely he is more patient watching me ride then I would be watching him ride I would be going nuts!
It is a pretty safe bet we will spending alot of time at CP and KI come September and October-he will have alot of catching up to do! :)

Jo