CoasterMania 2015

I had a good time at Coastermania. I'm always grateful for the extra effort the park goes to for these types of events when they really don't have to. They announced an attendance of 2,000 for Coastermania. Based on the lines in the morning and the two packed lunches, the running out of givaways (even after requiring pre-registration), that sounded low to me. I think maybe some people didn't pre-register, but were let in anyway? I'm also not sure if they were reconciling people that showed up with the list of pre-registered and crossing them off as "already checked in." Not sure what happened there, but it seemed like more people ended up in there than they were expecting.

As far as the long line in the morning, they could have a booth or two for credential pick up the day/night before since probably a good chunk of the crowd is on hand by then anyway. They could separate credentials from ticket/wristband buying although having to wait in two lines might PO just as many people as the one long line did. I'm not sure why they decided to break the lines out by last name - it's not like they had names on credentials or anything like that. They were all the same. Maybe they were crossing people off of a list, but I just missed that.

I also really don't think charging 5 or 10 bucks to cover the cost of the meal is out of line or take $20 and donate half to charity. I think it would cut down on the number of people by at least 30%. I got the feeling they were trying to trim the number this year by cutting some of the clubs they allowed, but it didn't really seem to work.

I didn't have any problem with the food they gave us this year although admittedly I don't think it was as good as the last year or two (they had shrimp last year LOL).

Pete said:
I wasn't there, but I heard from someone who was that people were taking a pile of doughnuts instead of the 1 or 2 that would be appropriate. Very selfish and rude behavior.

And then puking them all over Gatekeeper. Twice in like 15 minutes Really people, If you can't hold onto the contents of your stomach for a couple of coaster rides, you really should turn in your coaster club membership. :)

Silverado09b said:

One concerning note I do have to add though and not sure if I should state it here or under another topic but while riding CCMR Sunday my uncle and his girlfriend rode in the last cart of the train and after the first lift all the lap bars on the last cart popped open and the whole last car was freaking out! Thank god they had seat belts. Pulled back into the station and told the operater and he looked like he didn't even know what to do about. As I was walking down the ramp he was letting people board into that same car!!! I'm like what the heck!!!????. Has anyone seen this happen before? I was shocked!

I can comment on this because my wife and I were the other two people in that cart section with your Uncle and his girlfriend (we were sat in the back most seats right behind the girlfriend)
And just as you heard, we went down the first "hill" and as soon as we hit that first left turn POP went the lap bars. Your uncle and I basically just held them down as best we could to keep everybody calm, and make sure everything stayed ok as best we could.
When we got back to the station he and I tried explaining to the employees what happened and at first they didnt seem to get it, until I was fairly angerly firm about it and was like "The lap bars that YOU locked? Went POP and were fully open and flopping around and that guy and I had to hold them down the entire ride!" then I gave up and walked off. As we were, we could hear the people making their way onto the ride saying "Wait... wait... what did that guy say? Did that really happen?"

Anyways, other than that, our first Coastermania was amazing.
After hitting McD's for a little something we parked and were in the checkin line at ~5:45.
Took us about 45mins total to get up to the window (which didn't seem that long since we were having great conversation with all of the folks around us). Once at the window we got our lanyard and a drink wristband in less than 2mins. We then waited at the front gate, got let in at 7, grabbed a doughnut each as we walked by and headed right to Gatekeeper.
We ended up riding
Gatekeeper 3x
Millennium 3x
Rougarou 2x
Blue Streak 1x
Raptor 1x
Between 7-10am

We had the first lunch session and when we arrived the line was LOOOOONG to get it, but it moved steady the entire time and we got in and got our bag of goodies quick. I would have preferred at shirt (only because i am not a hat guy) but I certainly am not complaining at all (ITS FREE! Plus we plan to use the Coastermania bags as our new gym bags)
We thought the food provided was fantastic. We had heard stories about previous years, and while we are admittedly big foodies and love everything we heard they had before, I don't know if I would want to chow down a bunch of oysters and stuff and then go right a ton more coasters lol!
We still bring a cooler and have your basic picnic lunch in the pavillion near the season pass office every time we hit the park (something I've done literally my entire life) so this was just like our typical CP eats, just jazzed up a bit with hot dogs and boneless wings haha.
I will admit that we did grab an extra cookie each on the way out to snack on during the day (SORRY! LOL)

The rest of the day continued to be great...weather held out, crowds were light but busy enough to make sure it didnt look dead in the park and that rides like Magnum and Gemini were running with full trains which makes them significantly smoother rides...Hell, we even happened to be walking over to Millennium RIGHT when Tony did the tweetup so we got a Rougarou coin...
Seriously, we have 100% no complaints at all and cannot wait for next year!
(Hopefully they bring back the cruise.. that would be something unique to check out)

Our final ride count for the day:
Millennium - 10x
Magnum - 8x
Gatekeeper - 7x
Rougarou - 4x
Mine Ride - 3x
Raptor - 2x
Mean Streak - 2x
Woodstock Express - 2x
Dragster - 1x
Maverick - 1x
Gemini - 1x
Blue Streak - 1x
Iron Dragon - 1x
Shoot The Rapids - 1x

That's scary that the lap bar came undone mid-ride. How could that happen? My guess is the lap bar wasn't latched very tight.

Who knows...
We ride that ride a ton every year (my wife loves it, and so do I cuz its a fun classic) and never in all my years have I ever experienced anything like that (or on any other ride)
I'm sure its just one of those inevitable things, with it being an oldschool ride that ride hosts have to manually unlock/lock the lap bars.

I'd say that they could maybe retrofit it like they did Blue Streak, but really, I don't want that... it would loose its throwback charm and take away from the ride. I still miss the Shared seat/Shared seatbelt/shared lapbar on Blue Streak...If you were riding with somebody as brave as you, you could get some INSANE air time back in the day lol!

It's a good thing CF is overly cautious and puts seat belts on everything. It does seem redundant, but better safe than sorry.

I didn't get there until 6 p.m., but my friends said the issue with the morning check-in was that you couldn't tell which line to get in from way back. As people got closer, they shuffled around to get in the proper line.

One Father-of-the-Year candidate smacked his daughter (hard enough to make noise) and said "Move up! You're letting people cut!" Ironically, the people nearby weren't even sure where he came from, since he hadn't been with them in line... yet he was accusing others of cutting... which was apparently his kid's fault... which was a smackable offense.

I will say the drink wrist bands are awesome....do they offer those any day? So much better than dragging a souvenir cup around and being told "sorry need to get a locker!".

And you could go back time and time again to get more drinks, seriously no limit or wait between drink times! Well worth the $8 spent....great idea....

I had an absolute blast at Coastermania! So much fun. I really enjoyed myself :)

I agree that the drink wristbands are awesome. They are NOT available in general. That's one of the things I've been saying here for a while... Please, PLEASE let us buy those instead of pushing the souvenir cups!

Here's my theory on the "swag-shortage".

I saw *numerous* people ask for extras for their small children... Kids still in diapers... The park didn't argue and let them have extra bags. Being in a service business that deals with families, I TOTALLY understand why. Nobody wants to be the jacka** that "makes little Susie cry"...

...But that's why, at the end of the day, they ran out of stuff. It's not even the kids that wanted the stuff. It's the parents being greedy.

...Because it was there... And it was "Free"...

Personally? I enjoyed the event so much that I would have happily paid for it. I think it would be totally appropriate to use it as a fundraiser for the LeBron James Children's fund and charge a nominal fee ($15 - $20).

This would "thin the herd" down to those who were true enthusiasts and reduce the number of entitled people.

I was genuinely grateful for everything the park did and really enjoyed it. I saw many other folks who did not have the same perspective.

DSShives said:

Like many have said, how do you not know pre-registration was required and you needed a photo id to check in?

Never, ever underestimate the ability of some to Not Get It.

I work with the public daily over at the theatre, so maybe I have a sour view of some people... I'm sure some of the people who showed up un-registered had just noted the day and time and read no further; others read the pre-registration requirement and took it to mean they should show up at the park and register; others heard from their buddy or read on a website they could show up and get in.

My first Coastermania was decades ago, but I'm pretty sure it was a paid-ticket event. That seems to be the best model.

Some people would be thinned if a price was included. However, it will still draw attendance for having alot of ERT and bonus perks. Then the sense of entitlement will go up I'd feel. I can see it now: "I paid $XX for this and all I got was XXXX"

One thing to anyone who complains about the freebies. They weren't pressed on you ever at all. If you didn't like the food, go out and buy some somewhere in or out of the park. Didn't like the free merch? Go buy some at a gift shop or again outside of the park. You got things they didn't have to do, let alone time in the park that the park is paying for you to be able to enjoy.Countless employees worked long hard hours before and during this event to pull it off.

Praise goes out to the ride crews, especially the ones who worked early and late to accommodate the park guests and some who potentially picked up hours or worked a day off as a result. You guys rock, and you nailed it perfectly! Proud to be from the same bunch of people and work along dedicated individuals such as yourselves a few seasons back. Also shout out to all who plan and organize these events. Year after year your hard work gives many of us time to hit our favorite rides with some of our closest friends over and over making new awesome memories and reliving the old ones. Great event pulled off, I can't wait to see next year. With project 2016 and whatever else comes to the Point, I'm sure next year will be even better because of you

Yes, but in that case you'd be paying $XX based on what the park was offering you for that amount.

thedevariouseffect said:

Some people would be thinned if a price was included. However, it will still draw attendance for having alot of ERT and bonus perks. Then the sense of entitlement will go up I'd feel. I can see it now: "I paid $XX for this and all I got was XXXX"

I was thinking the same thing. If people pay, they will expect more and if their dollars don't match their expectations, they won't be happy.

But how hard is it to enforce the rules? If they weren't registered, they don't get in. Sounds pretty simple. If they make a scene, call security to escort them off the premises. Same goes for anybody who does anything like that inside the event.

But people who are paying for the event are making their payment in advance based on what they're told they'll receive.

If the park fails to deliver on what was promised, that's one thing, but if the park delivers what was promised (let's say X hours ERT, a t-shirt, a buffet and a tour of such-and-such coaster) then there's no reason to complain.

I'd expect that no park (or sports arena, or baseball stadium, or.... ) wants to have people complaining online that they were marched off property by security because they didn't understand the rules.

I didn't say escort them off property if they didn't follow the rules, only if they make a scene or cause trouble. In that case, it's justified to kick them out. I highly doubt that a few people posting negative comments online would be that damaging to the park.

Got it. Never mind.

thedevariouseffect said:

Some people would be thinned if a price was included. However, it will still draw attendance for having alot of ERT and bonus perks. Then the sense of entitlement will go up I'd feel. I can see it now: "I paid $XX for this and all I got was XXXX"

I agree. However, how is that different from now when people pay $YY for admission to the park and and complain about what they aren't getting for that price?

Maybe I'm slow, but I'm not getting this argument.

When I go to McDonald's and order an Egg McMuffin, I don't complain that I got an Egg McMuffin.

If I buy a ticket to Coastermania that the park tells me comes with w, x, y and z, and I get w, x, y and z, there's really nothing to complain about.

Unless, of course, you complain the Egg McMuffin is too small, the service was too slow, it cost too much, etc.

The point would be enthusiasts will somehow find ways to complain about something. The things I've heard people bicker about over the years is somewhat staggering the parks still cater to us at times. There's many a time I have considered disbanding from the coaster events & stuff as a result, however the close friends I have and usually hang out with in the parks equals out the bitterness some people bring to the park.

I agree with you, if I pay for something and I get it, sweet done deal. However, we're talking about bitter enthusiasts. I mean, angry because you didn't get a free shirt? Really?