July 4, 2000 (Long)
Since there were a number of us GTTPers there yesterday, I'll start the thread off with my experiences/impressions and let everyone else fill in the holes...
After the gates opened I high-tailed it over to Millennium Force from the Soak City gate. You might ask why not start at the Marina gate? For starters, I'd rather park my car in the back of the park rather than in front. Secondly, by not being on one of the first trains out, I ensure myself a good ride on a warmed up train rather than a dud ride on a cold train.
After waiting about twenty minutes, I was near the turnstile. I was lucky enough that my number came up. I was cut off at the turnstile so of course. Woo Hoo! Of course I took a front seat ride. I still think I prefer a back seat ride, but the airtime and visuals up front are excellent.
After my ride, I pondered getting in line again. I examined the situation and passed. The line stretched from the MF area back to the Berry Market. It was only 10am! Looking at the midway, about a 20 person wide stream of GP flowed from the main gate straight to MF. Based on this situation, I went over to Magnum and got 3 quick rides and I could have had more if I wanted. My guess is that the Magnum line will be dead until noon now due to the popularity of MF and the non-use of TTR early. I guess in this case TTR is good :)
Next I started wandering the park, mainly people watching and looking for quick rides. Basically Gemini was the only quick ride (of course). Both sides running three trains. Unfortunately the operators didn't understand the concept of "racing coaster". The usually synched Gemini looked like the PKI Racer pre-1999 with one train clearing the lift with the other one about half way up. Thankfully by the end of the day they were back together.
At around 1pm I headed over to the set GTTP meeting place at the Magnum entrance and hooked up with GTTP regular Hooper. After chatting for a while we walked over towards the Oceana midway and surveyed the rumored demoliton area. IMHO, it is very possible to build a Ghostrider sized woodie in the area from the Coral Courtyard/Convention Center to the Giant Wheel, plus Peanuts Playground. A literal spin on the Giant Wheel gave a good perspective of this theory. There is a lot of hidden room between the midway and PP if you move the Schwabinchen and remove the food joints in that area. It'll be interesting to see what happens here.
Next was more walking and pondering. We ended up in Frontier Town and went over to the Mine Ride. For those who don't know, CCMR received a new control system this year allowing for the return of three train operation. Yesterday was the first time I had the chance to experiece three trains on the CCMR in a few years. Some of the big differences are that the lifts seem to run slower, the trims before second lift really grab the train, and there is consistant stacking on the brakes immediately after the helix. If there is a slow load, a train safely stops on the second lift. I wonder how long before some tweaking takes place to remedy some of this.
By this time TTR was drawing to a close (now 11am-4pm). Hooper and I decided to go give MF a try. We arrived to find the general queue stretching from the end of the temp queue to the far side of the tunnel. In reality, this was probably only a 30-45 minute wait, but with another hour worth of people in the queue, it would be a lot longer. Now add in the fun. While waiting near Cedar Junction we heard the strangest noise. I kind of sounded like a typical anti-rollback problem (which plagued the blue and yellow train that day). The catch was the lift sled was on it's way DOWN to the station. We looked at each other and said, "That ain't good". The operators dispatched another train, only to have it stop immediately out of the station. After a few moments, the trains started to ascend the lift only to stop at the failsafe point a train-length from the crest. After a few more moments, the train finished climbing the lift and continued as usual. When the lift sled came back down, however, more of the same clanking as before. The ride was instantly shut down and the operators were dispactched to track walks, queue sweeping, crowd control, etc. I'm not sure about this, but it sounded like a wheel in the sled seized up and started bouncing around it's channel. A few moments later, the evac car went up the lift about 20' and workers started climbing directly on the lift and started to work away. Soon after, ride ops and managers were telling the crowd, technically waiting outside the queue for a closed ride, that it would be about three hours before we were able to ride, 1.5 hrs to fix the problem and 1.5 of people ahead of us in the queue. Since we've already been around the park we made the easy decision to tough it out. After 45 min of waiting, an empty train shot up the lift as usual. When all three trains completed the circuit, the queue reopened. After entering the queue, we waited another 45 to board. All and all, we waited two hours.
The ride itself was worth the wait. This was by far the fastest ride I think I've had on Millennium Force, and I've had about 60. The first half of the ride felt great as usual. I really didn't notice it until after the second tunnel. The bunny hop was loaded with air. The final turnaround went by in a blur. The small turn between brake runs had tons more lateral forces than usual. I don't know what's going on but it's working. My guess is that they've found the wheels that work the best and it's starting to show. FYI - we sat in the 7th coach.
After a great spin on MF it was about 6pm. On the way to the second scheduled meeting time, we grabbed an average ride on Blue Streak. After that we met up with Vince, Hurricane6, Magnum is Sinking and his father. We then immediately grabbed an excellent ride on Raptor, followed by an excellent ride on Magnum.
The time was now around 9:30 and I needed to head home early so I called it a night. Overall, the park was more crowded than I'm used to experiencing, but I still managed to have a great day at Cedar Point.
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
After the gates opened I high-tailed it over to Millennium Force from the Soak City gate. You might ask why not start at the Marina gate? For starters, I'd rather park my car in the back of the park rather than in front. Secondly, by not being on one of the first trains out, I ensure myself a good ride on a warmed up train rather than a dud ride on a cold train.
After waiting about twenty minutes, I was near the turnstile. I was lucky enough that my number came up. I was cut off at the turnstile so of course. Woo Hoo! Of course I took a front seat ride. I still think I prefer a back seat ride, but the airtime and visuals up front are excellent.
After my ride, I pondered getting in line again. I examined the situation and passed. The line stretched from the MF area back to the Berry Market. It was only 10am! Looking at the midway, about a 20 person wide stream of GP flowed from the main gate straight to MF. Based on this situation, I went over to Magnum and got 3 quick rides and I could have had more if I wanted. My guess is that the Magnum line will be dead until noon now due to the popularity of MF and the non-use of TTR early. I guess in this case TTR is good :)
Next I started wandering the park, mainly people watching and looking for quick rides. Basically Gemini was the only quick ride (of course). Both sides running three trains. Unfortunately the operators didn't understand the concept of "racing coaster". The usually synched Gemini looked like the PKI Racer pre-1999 with one train clearing the lift with the other one about half way up. Thankfully by the end of the day they were back together.
At around 1pm I headed over to the set GTTP meeting place at the Magnum entrance and hooked up with GTTP regular Hooper. After chatting for a while we walked over towards the Oceana midway and surveyed the rumored demoliton area. IMHO, it is very possible to build a Ghostrider sized woodie in the area from the Coral Courtyard/Convention Center to the Giant Wheel, plus Peanuts Playground. A literal spin on the Giant Wheel gave a good perspective of this theory. There is a lot of hidden room between the midway and PP if you move the Schwabinchen and remove the food joints in that area. It'll be interesting to see what happens here.
Next was more walking and pondering. We ended up in Frontier Town and went over to the Mine Ride. For those who don't know, CCMR received a new control system this year allowing for the return of three train operation. Yesterday was the first time I had the chance to experiece three trains on the CCMR in a few years. Some of the big differences are that the lifts seem to run slower, the trims before second lift really grab the train, and there is consistant stacking on the brakes immediately after the helix. If there is a slow load, a train safely stops on the second lift. I wonder how long before some tweaking takes place to remedy some of this.
By this time TTR was drawing to a close (now 11am-4pm). Hooper and I decided to go give MF a try. We arrived to find the general queue stretching from the end of the temp queue to the far side of the tunnel. In reality, this was probably only a 30-45 minute wait, but with another hour worth of people in the queue, it would be a lot longer. Now add in the fun. While waiting near Cedar Junction we heard the strangest noise. I kind of sounded like a typical anti-rollback problem (which plagued the blue and yellow train that day). The catch was the lift sled was on it's way DOWN to the station. We looked at each other and said, "That ain't good". The operators dispatched another train, only to have it stop immediately out of the station. After a few moments, the trains started to ascend the lift only to stop at the failsafe point a train-length from the crest. After a few more moments, the train finished climbing the lift and continued as usual. When the lift sled came back down, however, more of the same clanking as before. The ride was instantly shut down and the operators were dispactched to track walks, queue sweeping, crowd control, etc. I'm not sure about this, but it sounded like a wheel in the sled seized up and started bouncing around it's channel. A few moments later, the evac car went up the lift about 20' and workers started climbing directly on the lift and started to work away. Soon after, ride ops and managers were telling the crowd, technically waiting outside the queue for a closed ride, that it would be about three hours before we were able to ride, 1.5 hrs to fix the problem and 1.5 of people ahead of us in the queue. Since we've already been around the park we made the easy decision to tough it out. After 45 min of waiting, an empty train shot up the lift as usual. When all three trains completed the circuit, the queue reopened. After entering the queue, we waited another 45 to board. All and all, we waited two hours.
The ride itself was worth the wait. This was by far the fastest ride I think I've had on Millennium Force, and I've had about 60. The first half of the ride felt great as usual. I really didn't notice it until after the second tunnel. The bunny hop was loaded with air. The final turnaround went by in a blur. The small turn between brake runs had tons more lateral forces than usual. I don't know what's going on but it's working. My guess is that they've found the wheels that work the best and it's starting to show. FYI - we sat in the 7th coach.
After a great spin on MF it was about 6pm. On the way to the second scheduled meeting time, we grabbed an average ride on Blue Streak. After that we met up with Vince, Hurricane6, Magnum is Sinking and his father. We then immediately grabbed an excellent ride on Raptor, followed by an excellent ride on Magnum.
The time was now around 9:30 and I needed to head home early so I called it a night. Overall, the park was more crowded than I'm used to experiencing, but I still managed to have a great day at Cedar Point.
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
I will continue the day after Shivering Tim left us: We went to the awesome Woodstock I haven't rode it before so we all went (I think we freaked out the little kids) it was fun. Then we went over to the Gemini. We all split up half on blue the other on red. Of course the timing was messed up, and no hand slapping occured; but we had fun yelling at each other. Then we watched the best fireworks I have seen in along time big clusters lots of big... Huge patterns, and the grand finale was awsome. After a while the smoke was so thick we couldn't see the full burst. WOW Good job on the fireworks CP!!:) After the fireworks Hooper, and I rode the Magum before we split up for the night. He went to MF. I went to Raptor, and I heard Mf was down so, he should have went with me. *LOL* I had blast it is always fun to meet GTTP citizens! Thanks Guys, I will be looking forward to the time we can ride again!
Sorry I missed out on the day with you guys, I had to do the family thing and time with the woman.
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daniel j. haverlock
'99 Magnum Count: 801
spiritofthepoint.com
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daniel j. haverlock
'99 Magnum Count: 801
spiritofthepoint.com
I had a great time and was glad to finally meet some GTTP'ers, you guys are the most fun people to ride with! Hope to see you guys some more in the future. I don't think Woodstock Express could get any better, and I'm pretty sure the blue train won on Gemini :)
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Whats life if you never get to the point?
MF:24
http://people.mw.mediaone.net/mckinnie
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Whats life if you never get to the point?
MF:24
http://people.mw.mediaone.net/mckinnie
Ummm...Scott? Did you meet up with my ghost or something? I was not at CP at all on the fourth. I was at my brothers house in Cleveland getting drunk lighting fireworks all day.
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"Magnum + Prozac= Millennium Force *** This post was edited by Vince on 7/6/2000. ***
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"Magnum + Prozac= Millennium Force *** This post was edited by Vince on 7/6/2000. ***
No, I did not meet your ghost :) If memory serves me correctly, WireDog introduced himself to me as Vince. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
I liked our ride on mine ride scott when sitting in the very back we returned to the station. and the ride op thanked the front and "very far back" for enjoying the ride. Good to ride with all here...and Luvraptor we did ride magnum for you but ah well we rode raptor for ourselves. And finally that was a great fireworks show, anyone know what a show like that costs from zambelli (sp?)
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Raptor Flights: 59
Force Rides: 30
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Raptor Flights: 59
Force Rides: 30
they do a HUGE fireworks display here in Chicago every year and the cost is well into the 6 and 7-figure range...
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ride early, ride often!!!
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ride early, ride often!!!
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