Memories of 2002

Now that the '02 season has faded into the record books, what is your favorite memory of the park from this year?

Mine would have to be seeing the park at night. This past Saturday was the first time in a loooooong time I have been there at night, and it was spectacular, especially with the fog and effect lighting for Halloweekends. My personal favorite was Millenium Force and its lighting --- awesome!

-Jim
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"Just a little humor at your expense. Thanks for playing along!"
- Dick Dietrick

Mine would be the Tell Tale Heart, in the glass blowing theater. The patient guy was excellent. By far my favorite Live E this year. I would like to see another Poe story next year. Maybe "the Raven"! I would say the headless horseman, but they already did that one, and I missed it!(i know its not Poe. :))
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~~~Evil-loution is wrong~~~
*** This post was edited by newt 10/28/2002 12:03:54 AM ***

Apart from what I have listed in my signature, my favorite memory would have to be riding the Millennium Force in the back row for the first time yesterday (I had done the front before). It's a completely different experience-- since the other cars pulled me over each hill, I felt like I was flying, especially on that first 300' drop.

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Opening Day '02
Wicked Twister -- Back Row -- Last Train of the Day

.. so many this year.. but One of the standouts..

The LAST ride on Swabinchen.. employee's only then watching Jason kill the power to the ride for the last time.

Thanks Bill..

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
S&S WILL rise again....
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

Very first train on Magnum, in 1-3, back in July. Sure, it was your average crowded Sunday, but I found it special to be in that first train.

Following that up has to be the first time I saw Wicked Twister up close and personal. While my parents checked in at the Breakers, I walked down the "boardwalk" towards WT, and it just kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Webcam images don't do justice to rides of this size.

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
Cedar Point FanBoy since 2001
Forget 8 Mile - 9 Mile: The Movie is Coming Soon!

Getting a lot closer to my CP family..you guys know who you are..Closing weekend had a lot of fond memories! Thanks Gang!

And Yes Dan..There was something Burning..We did smell Gas!

BTW, Dont ever get hit in the eye with a rain..it hurts going down the green train on MF! ;)

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http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
I Met Brittney! Shes SOOOOOO Cool!

We all smelled gas on closing day, and I think you know I'm not talking about lighter fluid...

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

When I finally lost enough weight to fit into Wicked Twister on Aug. 28th!

Laura

I have three.

The first is driving up the causeway and seeing the skyline this past August for the first time after a ~15 year absence. CP was my home park when I was a kid, but after living in California, then Pennsylvania, and then having kids too small for the park my first few years back in Michigan, I was away for a loooong time. Kennywood is a great park---I even proposed to my wife after a day there---but it's good to be back home at CP. :)

My second is riding the Peanuts 500 with my then-3-year-old daughter. If you haven't been on it yet, it is a version of the classic, double-ended whip. It's quite a bit smaller than the whip at Kennywood, but larger than the Roto Whip in CP's Kiddie Kingdom. I convinced her that she had to keep her hands up through the turns, and she did. She laughed uncontrollably through every turn. This got me laughing uncontrollably, and even made the ride op chuckle.

The third was my not-quite-two year old son, who is still just a tad small for anything beyond the circle-around-slowly rides in Kiddie Kingdom, spending the better part of two days in choo choo lagoon in SC. He must have taken a slide down that train a hundred times, and he loved each and every one.

We haven't told the kids that we bought passes for next year, and the trip was over two months ago now, but Erica still brings up CP in conversations, and Russell is looking forward to being tall enough to ride the Kiddie Kingdom motorcycles next year. They have also taken to shouting "wheeee" when we crest hills in the car---airtime fiends already.

In many ways, the park is completely different from my last visit in the mid-80's. But in others, it hasn't changed a bit. Thanks to the CP family for keeping the character of the park intact while growing the thrill count substantially in my absence. We'll be coming back for a long time!

I have to say I have four memories that stand out this season.
First one came on opening day: First ride of the CP season on WT. Row 15. Wow.
Second one came on September 27th, at 11:00 pm, when I hit 500 lifetime on Magnum.
Third would have to be October 26th, when I hit 500 laps on Magnum for the season.
And the last memory, and probably one of the sweetest I've ever had at the park, was last train of the year on Magnum--36 seats--36 passengers--and trimless.
2002 season, simply memorable.

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Michael McCormack CP '02: 54
Magnum XL 200: 507 (632)
Millennium Force: 12
Wicked Twister: 34

Sitting around, hoping that Wicked Twister would open my first visit of the season (1st monday it was open, I think). I got to be the first person in line when it opened.. got in the 15th row... and WOW. I expected an okay ride.. I got amazing. The anticipation for that was simply wonderful.

Just making it 1 minute before my Freeway time was up after a rain-delayed Memorial Day Sunday... got to ride front seat with my best friend of 10 years. That was very special.

The final memory would be spending a halloweekends friday with my girlfriend of 2+ years on the day she took me back. The love was flowing and it was a great way to end the season.

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TPFKAV
MF Count - 41
WT Count - 5

There just so many this year! One of my favorites would have had to have been the great Maggie "ERT" at the beginning of every day at the park! I wonder if this will no longer be existant with the newbie so close by...maybe there will be MF "ERT" in the mornings next year!

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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...

...Denial is an ugly thing.

Not necessarily "favorite", but certainly "most memorable" was Pete's karaoke rendition of Livin' La Vida Loca at the Red Garter at the 2nd annual Father's Day meet.

Other favorites (in no particular order)

Getting my pic taken for my first ever Cedar Point Annual Pass - every other year, we've bought passes from Dorney because we're in Central PA

The first morning at Bon Air, opening up the curtains to Magnum outside my window

My first glimpse of Area 51 from the Gemini -- nothing to see, but still... I was able to see over the fence that CP had put up to keep me from seeing anything...

The Demon Drop virgin who chanted the entire ride up the shaft "Oh Jesus save me, Oh Jesus get me down, Please get me down from here, I hate heights, I want to be on the ground"

Coming thisclose to getting to run down a goose on the Antique cars.

Midway Market - always.

The meet.

Raptor 8.4

The one night ride (out of four nights) that I got on MF.

My first "second trip of the season" in the 30+ years I've been going to CP.

But my all-time favorite moment (and this is a weird one):

Seeing the train engine painting that used to hang in the Silver Dollar on the walls of the Chuck Wagon. (personal thing that you can read about in my Father's Day TR if you're so inclined)

http://guidetothepoint.com/cpplace.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=8198

The best part of the season for me was walking through the park early each Saturday morning before we opened and just listening to the silence that tells you the park is starting to stir and wake up for the guests who will be coming soon to scream and enjoy the park we all love.

The scrambler-Hey Dave, can't you put the peg in the hole?

The most depressing was Sunday evening sitting in front of Raptor after closing when Dave and I were waiting for Jo and Jeff and the midway music stopped playing. Silence

First Train on Maggie to last train on Maggie this season has been amazing.

After that last ride last night we all could have cried I think.

Going out to the parking lot to look at S:TR after was eerie. The park was dead silent. Maggies last circuit of the year was sitting at the top of the lift.

Then braking the silence, the last employee Millie train of the year roaring across the park.

It was downright surreal.

Dave, Kara, Rob, Chris, Kristin, John, Dan, Josh, Matt and everyone else I hung out with at the point this year. Thanks for a great year.

We have one more trip. PKI next week.

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Welcome back Magnum riders how was your ride?

Too many to name. Was just a great year as always.

Thanks to everyone over at CP for making this an awesome season.

Next trip: Media Day 2003, woo!

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Great Ohio Coaster Club member #335

Well, we have my first ride on WT opening day, discovering it was better than I hoped for. My school's math club day where about 20 girls from my school spent the whole day with me, the "Cedar Point Guru". My first Coaster Mania. Reaching my goal of 21 trips this year. Getting the 2nd to last train of the year on MF, and possibly being the last non-employee to leave the park on closing day.

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-Chris Woodard
"If you're standing in an uncomfortable position, that means you are in the right position because you are riding Mantis!" - Mantis ride op doing spiels on closing day.

My favorite memory of the 2002 season was when my friend exited MF and both looked at each other knowing full well what the other was thinking. It was time to let go and join the masses, proclaiming Millennium Force as our new #1 roller coaster. This was hard to do, as Raptor is very dear to me, as Magnum was to her, but we both knew after that particular ride that MF is truely something special.
*** This post was edited by CPcyclone 10/28/2002 10:34:56 PM ***

My favorite memory of the past season has to have been from this past weekend. Driving up from South Carolina to go to CP with my cousin and friend on my b-day. One last fling at the point was nice, especially getting to ride Schwabinchen before it was removed.

Purchasing my first season pass to the park this year. Ganging up and nearly flogging a group of 20-something college kids that thought they were gonna cut in front of a group of people that waited in line for MF before it opened in the morning.(It was down for tech reasons for about 45 minutes) Ask OldCPer...she was there! :) Getting to ride Troika in it's old location before they took it out. Riding Swabinchen on closing weekend before it's removal. Watching Area 51 grow and develop into the massive thing it is today. WT..no more need be said. Getting stuck on the lift hill of Raptor for about 10 minutes one cool breezy morning. Meeting up with some of the people that frequent this site and CB at CBuzzCon '02 at PKI. And the best memory of 2K2 was when I got to fly over CP in a plane. Good times, Great Season.
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11/12/02--Pearl Jam releases "Riot Act". 11/12/02 I go into Pearl Jam overload.
*** This post was edited by Joey Stewart 10/29/2002 2:43:03 AM ***