Opening Day 2002
Because I usually stay in Sandusky on the weekends, my opening day report actually starts on Sat. night. After spending most of Sat. swearing at my sometimes piece of crap boat, doing spring maintenance, we decided to go to TGIFs at Hotel Breakers for dinner and a well deserved break. I like the atmosphere at that TGIF, the bar has a nice feel to it, and it was nice to be back on the CP peninsula. The restaurant was packed with Longaberger people, along with one drunk who probably spent most of his weekend drinking instead of riding. He did ride Wicked Twister however, and his account of the ride while speaking through his alcoholic haze was very animated, and made it even harder to wait for the next day, when I’ll be able to ride. Overall, it was a nice evening. The Peppercorn Sirloin was very good, exceeded only by the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea.
Waking up on Sunday, and peering out of the hatch, I was pleased to see that it will be a very nice day. I got to the main gate at around 10:00 AM and proceeded to take a walk around the park to see what’s new. I’ll hit on some of the highlights of what is new or different for this year. Also, during the course of the day I met and/or hung out with a variety of GTTPers, including Jeff, Dan, Rideman , Shivering Tim and a Ellex. Jeff, Dan and Ellex also wanted to stop and shoot the breeze at the CP marketing office, so I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Edwards.
Wicked Twister: If you haven’t been on Wicked Twister, you haven’t been on the best Intamin Impulse to date. Yes, the extra twist really does make this ride. The extra height and speed seems to give this ride an extra presence over a conventional Impulse. The launch is very powerful, the 0Gs on the spikes absolutely delightful and the twisting is very disorienting. The launch is also very quiet, much quieter then the Impulse at SFWoA. Seems like Intamin spent some time perfecting this ride, and it shows. CP also runs this ride well. The line was fast moving, much faster than I thought it would be. Overall, this ride exceeded my expectations and is a lot of fun! This is a great new addition to CP, something that should not be missed.
Blue Streak: This was the biggest surprise of the trip. This is not your father’s Blue Streak anymore. The off season work made this ride FLY, with very strong laterals on the turnaround and strong airtime on almost every hill! Blue Streak has not run this well at any time I can remember. It seems like they put some extra vertical reinforcement in the structure and the track is supported much better in high load areas. This just makes the train fly, as its speed isn’t soaked up by a flexing track, and the new track work also made the ride smooth as silk. The new paint looks sharp.
Millennium Force: New wheels, with plastic tires that seem to be a little softer than last year’s, are installed on MF this year. The tires make the ride very quiet, and also take out any vibrations. But the softness also may slow the ride down just a little, though it was running very fast at closing time. I think that as the weather warms up, the tires won’t make a significant difference in speed, it’s still an amazing ride.
Mean Streak: Also seems to have some new track work, and the ride didn’t squeak at all. Now, if they would only turn off the first hill brake! Mean Streak was giving good rides and it can’t be considered a rough coaster anymore.
The Big Wall: Who knows what will go here, but I doubt it’s a restaurant! There are some large footers behind the wall, probably for something to debut next year. The wall has landscaping in front of it, so I doubt it’s coming down anytime soon.
Mantis: No first drop brake! It’s supposed to be like that from now on. Let’s hope so, as the ride is flying now.
Freeway: A new virtual queue system for MF and WT that seems to work well. You get a hand stamp with your time to ride, in one hour segments. The Freeway people get merged into the regular line close to the station. Right now they are setting the available Freeway slots to about 10% of total capacity. This system worked very well for me and was easy and simple to use.
Food: Saw a few new items. Cod fish sandwiches at the Burger Patio and, I think, Sky Ride Refreshments. The Stockade cheeseburgers are now made with cheddar cheese. I think that’s new this year. I know the park has Krispy Kreme doughnuts now, though I didn’t see where they sell them. Also saw shredded chicken sandwiches, which I think is new, though I don’t remember where they were sold.
It was a very nice opening day. The park looked great and WT is wonderful.
------------------
It's very hard to drink all day...
Unless you start first thing in the morning.
*** This post was edited by Pete 5/6/2002 2:58:15 AM ***
You must be logged in to post