Coastermania/EXT

Headed down to CP Thursday night (6/14) with my friend Mary because Midway Matt had to work :( Got to the park at about 8pm and got Mary her season pass for the weekend. Went back to meet up with Ben Holcomb (bholcomb) so we could ride Maverick and got a ride in before the park closed. Mary was very impressed with the newest addition to the Cedar Point family.

Got checked in at Maples Motel on Cleveland Rd. Met some other coaster enthusiasts from New Jersey, Indiana, Texas and one from Arizona! All were there for Coastermania and Coaster EXT as well. They too were frequent visitors with Joan at Maples so we all got along great! :)

COASTERMANIA

Got up at 5:15am on Friday to get to the park by 6, got checked in without any hassles, I like the new lanyard card instead of a button and cool cups for pre-registering. Mary and I then headed straight for Raptor. Managed 3 rides including one front seat and one back seat (Mary had never done either but loved both rows). Went to MF for 2 rides and headed back for Maverick for one ride, front row. Maverick has an awesome crew this year. They have all been so friendly each and every time I have stepped up on the platform. Bought the commerative T-shirts while we were there and wore those over our other shirts so we wouldn't have any "loose articles". Went back to MF for another ride and then got in line for Joe Cool ERT and did front row.

We left the park because lines were starting to get too long for us. We went back to Maples and laid out by the pool taking it easy, it was such a beautiful day. Got back to the park for the Q & A session and Mary got to meet Mr. Kinzel (which she was VERY impressed to see and meet the CEO of Cedar Fair).

We then walked over to the pavillion for an awesome lunch. Ran into my buddies Raptor Dave, Wicked Twister Bob and Ben. WT Bob was going to go home after lunch so Dave, Ben, Mary and I decided to hit Soak City until the 6pm GOCC get together at TGI Fridays. We hung out in the adult section of Soak City, I love that hot tub! Met up with a couple from ACE/GOCC and had a great time hanging out. Went to the GOCC get together and look forward to Fall Freakout in Sept.

Hung out around the park until ERT, riding WT, Woodstocks Express and doing some shopping (found glass mugs for $1.95!). Had to get a Raptor and a MF mug! After taking those items to the car it was about time for ERT. Mary got in line for TTD to ride that before park closing. I was starting to feel a bit sick, I had too much sun that day (sun poisoning and dehydrated). But I rode TTD once during ERT and Mary said that she was set for the night on rides. When I got off TTD, I ran into my good friend Mean Streak Jack from NY! I hadn't seen him in 3 years! That was the highlight of my evening :)

We went to Meijers in Sandusky after leaving CP. Got some water and juice, after getting a 12 oz. bottle of juice in me, I felt a ton better (it was 12:30am). That was the longest time I have spent in the sun since I don't know when. Maybe last year at Coastermania????

All I can say, NO SUNBURN for me! Not this year! :)

COASTER EXT

Got to Geauga Lake at 2 pm (opps, we woke up at 11:45am!) just in time for lunch. GL looks so empty without X-Flight or Steel Venom. I was glad to see we could still pick a beverage during lunch. I am a huge Mountain Dew drinker!

We didn't stick around for the Q & A. Mary really wanted to ride rides (her first visit to GL). So Raptor Dave, Mary and I rode Dominator, Double Loop, Villian, Thunderhawk (I skipped that one) and then we left and got some food at Bob Evans, kiddy corner from GL.

What bad service we had. We all ordered breakfast. Not a huge deal, right? HA! I got strawberry lemonade and Mary and Dave got water. Our glasses were empty by the time our food finally came out. My order was wrong, Dave was missing part of his order, Marys order was fine. The waitress finally refilled our glasses and I asked if she could at least bring me my bread out so I could eat with my friends. My food finally came out and my bacon was not totally cooked. By now, Dave and Mary are finished eating so I just let it go. THEN, we get the bill and she overcharged me for my meal! The waitress made the adjustment and we were on our way. I guess I was too tired to argue so we left without saying a word. Usually I let a manager know if I have problems. Dave made mention to our waitress that it would have been nice if we could have gotton refills during our meal (he was VERY polite about it) and the waitress apologized and said she hoped we enjoyed our meal. I thought this girl was going to cry! WOW! So we just left and returned to the park. Got rock star parking when we returned. AWESOME!

Rode Dominator and then rode Big Dipper a couple times and then Dave, Ben and Mary did El Dorado. I went to a "guess your weight" thing and won a stuffed dolphin for Matt. I took my loose article to the car and got a jacket for the evening ERT.

Spent most of the ERT on Dominator. Mary and Dave power rode it the whole time. I had another agenda, I had to find Andre Ransom, my old supervisor from CP. I found him so that made my night.

We finally got back to Sandusky at some ugly hour in the morning. Mary and I decided to skip CP Sunday, we were so tired. We left Sandusky by 11am.

It was a great trip, next time I will remember NOT to dehydrate myself...

The one thing I would like to see different for a Coaster event, is that for lunch if they could offer garden salads and/or fruit. That is a lot of carbs and fat to be eating and then to stay up most the day and ride is kind of hard on a person. I would take that over cotton candy or a cookie any day.

I was very impressed at how quickly CP/GL changed rides for ERT if a ride wasn't in operation, that was really cool. KUDOS to them!

Overall we had a great time and I can't wait for next years event!

*** Edited 6/21/2007 1:57:23 AM UTC by raptorqueen***

Did anybody record Q&A at Coastermania? If you did would you put it on youtube so I could see it?

raptorqueen said:Spent most of the ERT on Dominator. Mary and Dave power rode it the whole time.

Great report! Just curious, what does "power rode" mean in this context?

Thanks,

..Al

Meaning they got off and got right back on without taking a break or going to ride something else.

Ahh, okay, thanks. I did quite a bit of that during Coastermania. :)

..Al

My definition of power riding, we never got off the ride. We only switched trains once and stayed in the same seats the whole night. We didn't have to move unless someone wanted our row (we were third row back) which didn't happen. So we didn't have to move the whole night. I don't think my friends even got up to stretch!

I got up because I was cold. :(

A very interesting post Raptor Q,you must be an excellent typist.Anyway,I enjoyed reading it,almost like being there.

Thanks Allan! I currently write the press releases for a company I am doing an internship with so I get a lot of practice! :)