June 15-17

I headed off to CP with my friend Gabi and her boyfriend Nick on Wednesday afternoon. We got to the campground around 7 and set up our tents. We stayed at Camp Sandusky about 8 miles away from the Point. It worked for us, but I don't think we'll be going back. Suffice it to say that the bathrooms were pathetic. On a positive note, the sites were nice enough, and the major discount you get for making reservations in advance was very nice. As soon as we pitched our tent, Gabi and I headed off to CP to buy our season passes. We were in the park by 8 and jumped in the Raptor line. It went down after about 5 minutes, and we waited it out for about 10 and then decided to head to something else. Of course the second we left the line, they got the train running again. Oh well. We headed off to Blue Streak instead, and walked right on. I wanted to ride Maxair next, but Gabi was too freaked out by it and said that she wanted to wait till the next day to ride it. We rode Wicked Twister instead. Whoever said that the second to last row was the best sure wasn’t kidding. Then we headed over and rode Magnum twice with no wait. We then headed to Mean Streak, which was almost eerily empty. We then headed down the Frontier Trail and relived many memories of Halloweekends. We walked right on Mantis. The crew there was great, and they really looked like they were having a good time. We ran to the front of the park and got in line for Raptor right before they closed the queue. We managed to get on this time. We then headed back to the campground where Nick had a fire waiting for us to cook dinner over.

Thursday morning we were a bit concerned about the weather since it was raining when we woke up, but by the time we got to the park, it was warm and sunny out. Gabi and I headed in with our Joe Cool passes right at 9, and went straight to MF. They were still testing it, and they finally let us into the queue at 9:30, and we took a lap with a pretty short wait. While we were in the loading area, there was one woman struggling to fit in the seat. One of the crew members was helping her try to pull the slack, which I thought was nice until her struggle dragged on and on and on. After 5 minutes-FIVE minutes!-she finally managed to get the slack. I was happy for her that she got to ride, but I did think that 5 minutes was a bit too long to be holding the entire line up. By the time we got off, Nick had caught up with us, and we headed over to Mantis. Next up were Iron Dragon and Wildcat before we headed to the other side and rode Corkscrew. After that, we hit Magnum. Gabi and I rode Gemini Red train (the blue side was down) next without Nick while he went to get a snack. Then we headed back toward the front and Gabi and I rode Wicked Twister in the front. We both agreed that our ride the night before was better. By then, Gabi had worked up the courage to ride Maxair, so we rode that without Nick too (he doesn’t like going backwards). I had seat 11, and I thought it was great. We also hit up Disaster Transport, and I really think that they should glow paint the chains that divide the queues, because we were trying to find our way through the maze, and I almost flipped over one that I couldn’t see in the darkness. Needless to say, we navigated the rest of the way very, very cautiously. When we headed back in from lunching in my car, we went on Blue Streak. We then headed back to Discount Depot so Gabi could buy a shirt. We were somewhat disappointed by the selection there, and she ended up not buying anything. Since we were there, we took rides on CCMR and WWL. Then we realized that TTD was running, so we ran to the entrance, and got in line. We had about a ½ hour wait to ride. After TTD, we went back out to the car for snacks, and hit Raptor on the way back in. We wandered around for a while, not knowing what to do, since we’d never been able to cover so many rides in a single day before. Gabi and I rode the red side of Power Tower once, and we rode Magnum again. We took another ride on TTD, this time with an hour wait. Then we rode WT and Maxair again. I had seat 28 that time, and while the ride wasn’t quite as cool as it was earlier (its fun factor was also lowered by the fact that I got spit on while at the top of one of the swings…), the strobe lights on the ride and the rest of the midway lighting definitely made it more enjoyable visually. Then we headed over to use our 9-10 Freeway passes for MF, but as soon as we got in line, it started to pour. We decided to get out of line since we hadn’t reached the merge point yet. We waited out the rain underneath the overhang at the Red Garter, and then got back in line when they reopened the ride. Luckily, it stopped raining right before they sent our train out, so it wasn’t nearly as painful as we had been anticipating. We had planned to stay for the laser show, but since we were wet and freezing, we decided to head back to camp. Once there, we attempted in vain to start a fire to cook over with our soaking wet fire wood, and ended up hitting up the McD’s across the road instead. Note to self: Bring a TARP next time…

On Friday, we managed to convince Nick to buy another ticket so he could come with us instead of wandering around Sandusky alone for several hours. Once again, Gabi and I headed in at 9 with our Joe Cool passes while Nick waited in line to buy his ticket. We went straight to TTD and decided that we should wait for the front seat. It was more than worth the wait. Then we headed over to MF for a ride while the wait was still short. Then we went back and got in the front row on Mantis with no wait. The trims barely grabbed, and we were absolutely flying through the course. We hit the MCBR so hard, that I have bruises on my shoulders from slamming forward, but it was the best ride I’ve ever had on Mantis by a wide margin. Then we headed over and rode WT and Maxair without Nick again. I had seat 16 this time, and it was unbelievable. It’s definitely one of my new favorites at the park. Then we made our way toward the back, and stopped at Magnum. The more I ride that ride, the more I like it. Then we hit Gemini in the Blue train. We rode MF one last time with an hour wait, then took one last ride on Maxair (seat 35). We made much better time on the way home, and our trip was mostly uneventful except for our short stop at a gas station along the way. I was filling up the tank and had my hand leaning on the car while Gabi dug in the cooler in the trunk for a drink. She then proceeded to slam the trunk shut on the tip of my left middle finger. I’m pretty sure it’s broken, but there’s nothing to do for it but ice it and deal with the pain…which causes me to question why I bothered to type this TR at all, considering that every time I type an e, d, or c, it hurts. I guess that’s how you can tell when you love roller coasters…

Sorry, I didn't realize I was THAT long-winded until i submitted it...

*** Edited 6/20/2005 7:17:04 PM UTC by redwingchik***

Great tr, I was in the train waiting outside the station on MF while they were trying to get her belt buckled. Sounds like you had a great time, sorry about the finger. Go WINGS!!!!

redwingchik said:
Whoever said that the second to last row was the best sure wasn’t kidding.

Indeed! Just curious, did a crew member tell you this, or did you read it here?

I read it here. Just like all of the other random facts and tidbits that i was annoying Gabi and Nick with during the entire trip. :)

Good TR. Sounds like you had fun.

Gotta love how MF doesn't get up in time for Joe Cool anymore. 9:30 is really unacceptable. Wish they'd start doing something about it.

They did give us freeway passes for 1pm to make up for it.