LOTS of things to talk about, I'll cover some of them here but not all...
We (friend, brother, and I) got to CP at 8:45 and waited at the main gate for the Joe Cool ERT. By coincidence, this was actually the second Opening Day in a row that I have been directly behind the famed Red Garter Rob in line to get in. The gates opened at 9:00, we walked backwards, facing the flag during the national anthem, and then it was off to Wicked Twister!
We sprinted to WT and were greeted with a very short wait (8 minutes or so). Waited behind Mikey (olympic), and decided that since we wanted to get another WT ride in during the ERT we would just go 5th row for our first ride. That ride was great, but it's a lot better in the back. So we rode WT again during the ERT and this time rode in the back. It was truly "wicked"!
After marveling over some of the transformations in the area around WT, we headed over to the Force. I thought it would be a short wait with just the first set of queues filled, but once in line I realized that only blue and red trains were running, so it was a little longer. I also noticed (its hard to miss) that the front shells on the trains have been replaced with silver fiberglass (sans a logo or anything). On the ramp up to the station, I asked myself whether my ears were going deaf or if MF was much quieter, and apparently with metal wheels it was MF that was losing sound intensity. Waiting in the station for the back row, I noticed yet another thing. No station music! Instead it is a terrible guy's autospiel that I could hardly understand (it gets louder and softer). The ride itself wasn't quite as fast as in the summer, but it was still nice. My fingers stung for a bit after hitting that one support on the first turn (and I'm only 5'6").
Mantis was next. It was nice to see that it was a walk on. We rode the back. WOW. NO trims at all yesterday (and perhaps not for the whole year), and the big bug was FLYING. Definitely my best, and most intense, Mantis ride ever.
Back to Frontiertown, we hit Mine Ride (where I saw Rob and some others get "kicked out" of the area, haha), then headed over to Mean Streak. As we waited in the station a train of GTTPers (Jeff, Dan, Rob, etc) pulled in, and when they exited we rode front row. Not as bad as it has been in the past, but the trims still killed the ride.
Gemini was next (forgot about those new station colors!), and then Woodstock Express (a great kiddie coaster). After lunch, we made our way to Magnum for the GTTP meeting. Not many people there, but there was some discussion of the new "construction site" since it was right there. Rode Magnum ejector seat... it was sad to see the new air gates and trains with several seats roped off (lapbar problems). Still, an excellent ride.
Hit Corkscrew next. Pretty funny, I actually saw a kid talking on his cell phone as his train pulled into the station. Next was Power Tower Space Shot. For some reason it seemed like some of the buckles for the restraints weren't really working well, there were many people that had problems (including me!).
After that we rode two coasters that I almost never ride - Wildcat and Iron Dragon. And their rides yesterday won't bring me on them again anytime soon.
Time to head to the front of the park - on the way we stopped in the arcade for some DDR. Raptor was stopped about 1/4 of the way up the lift, with people still in the train, so we rode Blue Streak. Awesome ride, it looks and rides great, especially in the back row (AIRTIME). Raptor was still stopped so we went over and checked out the "new" DT - better but still bad. Nice to see the "DANGER: HGIH VOLTAGE" sign though! Raptor was STILL stopped, so we went out to the car and got our video cam and got some sweet footage of Wicked Twister. We also got some nice still comparison pics (compared to some pics we took last year in October) - maybe I'll post those soon. When we went back to the car, they had walked-down the people from Raptor.
Back in the park, they finally got Raptor going again, so we rode back row. Great ride like always. By the way this also was the 14th coaster of the day for us (we were only missing Jr. Gemini). To finish off the day, we rode WT one last time. Waited about 50 minutes and rode back row again. And that was our day!
The weather was great all day, it was consistently sunny and by the end it was very warm. WT is an excellent addition to the park, and it's amazing to see how much Oceana has changed (it has LIFE!). FreeWay, the new virtual queue system, seems alright. Mantis and BS were the big surprises of the day. And as for the former Dodgems site, let the speculation begin!
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Break the scream barrier NOW!
Wicked twists: 3
Danger: Hgih Voltage!
*** This post was edited by Majin Heero 5/6/2002 6:33:18 PM ***
*** This post was edited by Majin Heero 5/6/2002 8:10:05 PM ***
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Brent Haley
Gemini Crew '02
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Break the scream barrier NOW!
Wicked twists: 3
Danger: Hgih Voltage!
*** This post was edited by Majin Heero 5/6/2002 7:58:29 PM ***
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Brent Haley
Gemini Crew '02
Heh, of course I didn't try to... heh... ;)
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Break the scream barrier NOW!
Wicked twists: 3
Danger: Hgih Voltage!
I don't even reach out at that point anymore.. as even after modifying it, I managed to hit it full palm.. Right Joe??
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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82 Farewell my good friend..
S&S WILL rise again....
That was loud, I tihnk I was about 6 rows behind and I could still here that wack. Keep all arms and legs inside the car, really :). I instinctively pull back at that point now too.
Thats surprising you hit that Majin. Maybe they should put one of those punching bags up on the thing like Phantoms Revenge ;).
That was pretty funny that you ended up behind me again.. hehehe
Anyways.. the thing at Mine Ride was just a first year who miss-communicated something to his TL and was solved about 15 mins later when our group ran into Mr. Jasper and Woz in front of the "Wall".
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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82 Farewell my good friend..
S&S WILL rise again....
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