October 8,9,10 LONG

Well, we left Grand Rapids around 2pm and got to the Point and checked in around 6. A quick stop in the room to drop stuff off and distribute tickets and we were off to the park. I should probably describe who was in our group. There’s my fiancée Becca who’s largest coaster up to this point was Shivering Timbers and she (until this weekend) wasn’t much for riding big coasters. Out friend Dan is the same way and his largest had been the Mad Mouse. (He doesn’t like the droppy feeling, so Power Tower is definitely out). His wife, Maggie, is very much a coaster nut, she just hadn’t had a chance to go on very many, but she was really looking forward to this trip.

Well, we got into the park and with Magnum right there me and Maggie were up for it, when my fiancée surprises me and says she’ll go on it with us. We rode toward the back with me and Becca in one seat and Maggie in front of us. Dan decided he would wait for us. Well, Magnum gave us a great ride and both thoroughly enjoyed it.

We continued our walk towards the front and after a ride on Matterhorn which was kinda disappointing, I noticed that the carnie operators were moving rather slow all weekend, I don’t know if this was standard, but it was painfully obvious on Troika as it took FOREVER to load. Well me and Maggie, not being Scrambler nuts, waited and looked at some of the Halloweekends displays while Dan and Becca rode. After this we took the walk through the as-yet-unopened CarnEvil on our way to the Wicked Twister midway.

We decided to take a ride on Chaos, AKA greatest flat ride ever. We rode this and then the 3 of us (remember Dan doesn’t ride many coasters) went to ride Wicked Twister. Becca had ridden Steel Venom when we went to Valleyfair last month and she was looking forward to trying this impulse out. Well, we got in line and they went towards the middle while I waited for second to last (why wait longer for the very back when the second to last is just as good). GREAT ride as always. It is so fun on the back spike looking down through the spike. We then strolled over to Troika. Dan is very much a fan of flat rides so we all went on this. I was not impressed with the restraints and the guy running it looked like he was borrowed from McDonaugh Amusements just to run this ride. He was VERY carnie. Anyway, we rode it was ok. We started to wait in line for Pharoahs Secret, but decided that the line was longer than we wanted to wait for a haunted house.

We headed to the Main Midway and went to Raptor. They were flying that night and Dan, sitting by the exit, said it was nothing but a constant stream of people coming off the ride. It didn’t take longer than 10 minutes to ride, and this was Becca’s first time on Raptor as well. Still my favorite in the park, and it was just AWESOME. With our first flight out of the way, we headed down to the Lair of the Vampire. It kinda sucked because we were the last of a group to go through and even though we tried to get some separation between us and the people ahead, the screamsters weren’t able to reset quick enough. It was alright, and the best part was the rotating tunnel, I hate those things, but love them at the same time.

We stopped for a snack (pretzel and a giant elephant ear) and then continue on up the Midway. We managed to talk Dan into riding the Iron Dragon. He was a little hesitant because the hill looks rather tall, but once I told him that it doesn’t come anywhere near the ground he was a little more relaxed. HE LOVED IT. Whenever we would go to ride something, he headed back to Iron Dragon for a couple runs, and it was NEVER very busy, a 10 minute wait tops, even on Saturday. We rode first towards the front, and then in the back; he preferred the front. We tried to convince him to ride WildCat, but he didn’t want to. He said the line gave him too much time to think about it. WildCat was fun, and sitting in a row by myself, I slid all over the place.

Then as we headed back, after another ride on Iron Dragon at which point I noticed that the line for Dragster was EXTREMELY short, we stopped to see how long the wait for Millenium was, and decided to skip it for now and do it in the morning. We went through the Fright Zone, which was kinda cool, but not overly scary. I was more interested in the makeup and was trying to get a good look at everyone’s makeup. The skull was a smart-ass too. I was standing there trying to see where he might be sitting, and he started talking to me saying something like “Some people think they know how this works. They don’t realize that I am a big skull that’s just talking to you. You think you’re so smart don’t you.” It was kinda funny. Well, we skipped WereWolf Canyon as the wait was probably like 45 minutes long, and NO haunted house, even a free one, is worth waiting that long.

We looped around through frontier town back past Gemini and Magnum. Me and Maggie decided to ride Dragster while Becca and Dan waitied. They went and rode Iron Dragon a couple of times. While we were waiting, Maggie got really nervous. This was twice as tall as the tallest she had ever been on before. Well, it took about 15 minutes for us to get up and into the train. We got all buckled in, waited for the 2nd train of the pairing before us to launch, when the lights on the tree went dead. We were strapped in during a mechanical problem and had to wait it out. The bonus was that we didn’t have to stand like the people still in line. Well, that took like 15 minutes, with Maggie being VERY worried. Her first trip on Dragster, and she had to wait through a mechanical problem. Well, the eventually let a couple people off the green train (the one waiting at the line). The ride opened about 5 minutes later and the those people must have been TICKED about getting off. The lights came one and the sounds started and they launched. I could tell right from the start that they didn’t have enough. The got up on top, and rolled back. I was so ticked, because I wanted the roll back. They launched the green train again and it CREPT over the top ever so slowly. I can only imagine what it would have been like. We rolled up, and Maggie was even more worried (her fear made even worse by the roll-back we’d just witnessed). YELLOW-YELLOW-YELLOW-GREEN. It was great. She thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Just as we were getting off, Becca and Dan came back around and we headed towards Magnum. It was just about 11 pm and we were hoping for one last ride, and we got it. Maggie and Becca rode towards the back, I rode in 1-3, my favorite seat. Great night-time ride. It was back to the Breakers and some dinner at Fridays.

Overall, I was impressed with Halloweekends. The weather could have been cooler (it doesn’t feel like fall when the temp is still in the 60’s at 10pm) but the decorations were just awesome.

Saturday, me and Maggie went to the park for the bonus hour so we could ride Millenium. We got on the 3rd train of the day. It was just a fun ride, but by the time we got off, the wait was up to like a half-hour so we decided to hit Raptor. In two trips this year, I have been very unimpressed with the bonus ride hour. I have never seen ANYONE checking for hotel id’s at the entrances. It seems anyone gets to go in the park which defeats the point of getting an extra hour to ride. After Raptor, we headed to Donut-Time, where Dan and Becca had already eaten. It was really good. The prices weren’t too bad and I got a monster cinnamon roll. After that we headed to Disaster Transport and the space needle. We waited while Becca and Dan rode Troika. Then we took another run on Chaos.

We moved a little bit slower this day, hitting things as we pleased and with no real hurry. Me, Becca and Maggie rode Mantis. It was about a 45 minute wait but it is a rather enjoyable ride, so I didn’t mind. We rode and then me and Maggie got stamps for 10-11, Becca hated it, so she didn’t get one. We went and saw the Tim Hill show then back to the room to change around 7:30 as it was getting chilly and I was in shorts and a T-shirt. After getting back in, we made a couple Dragon laps before heading through the Fright Zone to the Glass-Blowing amphitheater for a performance of the Raven. EXCELLENT. It was very well done.

We headed back to Frontiertown to catch the train back up front. I’m glad to see BoneVille is still in one piece. Me and Maggie rode Mantis while the others went to the hotel to go swimming. On the way up the lift, I managed to get my mask on for the camera, only to find that the camera hut was closed. I was, shall we say, not happy about that. Well, we headed around the bottom of the lagoon and hit up corkscrew in the back seat. Such an enjoyable run, especially in the back where as you approach the top, the clicking suddenly accelerates.

Then we headed to do Gemini. Just as we got to the station they had shut it down to one train (red) and were running the last empty blue train. We got in and it was AWESOME. It was very much a fun ride even without the handslapping. Our day finished with a ride on Magnum and a photo of me in my mask.

Sunday was more of the same, just wandering around hitting coasters as we saw fit. The highlights were Dan getting on not only WildCat but Corkscrew. We had made much progress in his coaster therapy, next years goal will be Raptor, and maybe we can get him on Mantis (especially with the first hill trims).

There were other things we rode, such as Monster and Witches Wheel. Monster was a waste as it takes WAY too long to load, and I just didn’t feel like riding WW, which is odd because I rather enjoy that ride.

I also ate at the Midway Market and I was not impressed. It was a good value for only 11 bucks each, but do we really need servers? Just put a freakin pop machine out there and let me fill mine when I am ready. I had to wait forever for a refill and I was thirsty. And what was with the “Only one burger at a time”? They had a stack of burgers sitting there and they would only give me one (of course my fiancée noticed later that they gave someone else two, so who knows). The food was pretty good, and I was able to eat my fill, but the service was rather slow, and I really didn’t see the point of having “servers”.

For those of you that are still here, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it. We are planning a trip already for next year, although we will be going later in the month so as to avoid some of the crowds. Saturday was not BAD (never more than a 5 minute wait for ID or Magnum, and I wasn’t going to waste time waiting an hour and half for Dragster, which is why we did that Friday when it was 15 minutes) but I would like to give it a try with more Autumnal weather and hopefully even fewer crowds. I think we made it through pretty good.

Edited for formatting-- *** Edited 10/11/2004 6:54:41 PM UTC by JuggaLotus***

Wow that should count as a book for reading counts at school lol.

a friendly suggestion. not to hassle you, but....

breaking it up into some paragraphs would be nice...looks like a good TR but it's really hard to read.

I didn't even realize that. I had done it in Word, and then when I transferred it, the line breaks must not have come with it, even though it appeared to in the little text box. I'll edit it and see if I can fix that problem.

Much nicer read!

MrScott

I was so glad that the crowds this past weekend were not as bad as the same time last year. My girlfriend and I actually got on rides this time!

I think CP was planning on much bigger crowds, however, and they looked prepared if they did come, so a pat on the back to park ops.

Nice TR, Jugga!

I was there Saturday and I thought that it was EXTREMELY crowded. Never again will I waste an hour and a half waiting in line for a haunted house!

We only got in a few rides the 7 hours that we were there: Sky Ride, CP&LE, Chaos and Raptor. I couldn't believe how packed the train station was. there were no empty seats when we got on, and the station was still full. Walking through Fright Zone was a nightmere! How are you supposed to get scared when you have hundreds of people surrounding you?

We also waited in line for WT because it was finally running, but it broke down while we were in line :( I haven't rode it in at least 2 months and I was psyched.

This was our one and only visit without te kids for the year, and we had FreeWay passes for TTD and planned on using them as soon as it got dark because we have yet to ride in in the dark. It was running sporadiclly through out the day, and when we went to ride, it was down, so we decided to call it a night because we were parked in the SC lot, and it was frusterating trying to fight the crowds.

I must say that Friday and Sunday were by far the better days, but Saturday was not nearly as nightmare-ish as I thought it would be. That could also have been because we rode what we wanted Friday and knew we had Sunday to ride so we weren't in any real hurry.

Maybe we just got lucky and moved around the park just ahead of the crowds, and avoiding the lines that they caused.

Also, if anyone gets a chance, I mentioned the Raven in my TR, but the Tell-Tale Heart was EXCELLENT as well. Both of those actors are just great.