Opening Day 2007 (Detailed, long read)

First off, I didnt proof read so there may be some grammatical errors.

I arrived at the Resort Entrance around 7:30am to get in line for a good spot on TTD. There was already a good 15-20 people in front of me, which seemed reasonable. I stood there, patiently and quietly waiting. More and more people showed up, maybe more than I expected. I did not know at the time, but I was standing behind a Pointbuzzer (Josh M.) after a while of waiting. When 9am rolled around, there had to have been a good 500 people lined up at the entrance. The good thing about the entrance, that is if you are near the front, they only let a few people through at a time. There is not massive running of the bulls like the front, so that was nice. I ran my butt of to TDD only to meet a like of over 30 people already. Since I was a single rider, and Josh was a single rider I decided to move back a few people to join him in the ride.

1st Ride – Top Thrill Dragster (GOT MY ROLLBACK!!)
It was an interesting morning for big yellow. Lots of rollback in the AM, the rid didn't officially launch guests till about 9:30am. Josh and I got lucky to get the third train of the season, which I soon will never forget. We watched the first two public trains Rollback the first launch and BARLEY make it the second launch. Things were looking good for us to get a roll back. We set up launch and we were off. The launch has always seemed incredible, I still love it. We climbed the hill and neared the top. With instant excitement, I realized I got my first Rollback! What an interesting feeling to fall backwards 420ft! Took about 4min to reset, and the second shot barely made it over. Got to the block, which wasn't in the unloading area yet. They were running in manual so they would only have one loaded train in the launch area. Took about another 10min to get off the block because the train after us had a rollback as well. So over all, we were stuck in the train for at least 20min, but it was wroth it! Josh and I parted our ways since he wanted a Magnum run, so I parted to Power Tower.

2nd Ride – Power Tower (Down)
Complete walk on, I was just seeing General Admission people run their way back to Dragster. I walked through the line and was instantly in a seat. I got a seat facing the back of the park, which was a great view. Maverick looked unimpressive from here, but of course it truly is impressive. PT is still a favorite of mine, though being shot up is not a favorite so I am a down-only guy. Off to Magnum next!

3rd and 4th Ride – Magnum XL-200
As I walked back to my molly red friend, I noticed Josh who just got off his first ride on Magnum. He said the ride felt incredibly good, so I teamed up with him for two rides. The first ride we took the second to back seat, and what a great ride it was. It was really really smooth and best of all we had a no trim ride so those bunny hops gave us some killer air time. After the first ride, we quickly ran for another one. This time we hit the second to front row. Again smooth, but this time we hit a light trim... but it wasn't that bad. Still some good air time! Also, the ride was REALLY REALLY smooth all the way through, new wheels maybe? Quickly got of and decided that I would stick with Josh the rest of the day, which it was nice to have another person to help pass time in line.

5th Ride – Skyhawk
Decided to give Skyhawk a run, but we were going to do Gemini first. We past Gemini because the queue was pretty full and they were only in a 1-Train operation. Got to Skyhawk to meet a line that was only a Cycle long so a little 10min wait. Maverick was teasing us looking so beautiful as we stood in line. At first we though that the ride made one more peak swing before it was over, but we must have been seeing things. It was still the same cycle, but still a great ride.

Mean Streak Walk-Down - Picture
After Skyhawk, we headed towards Mean Streak, which was just opening when we got there. We were the 3rd train of the season up until we were asked nicely to go back through the gates. It appeared that the ride was down, and was going to be down for a long time. The Ride-Op encouraged us to exit the station, but we could wait if we wanted. We decided to take his suggestion and left. We looked up to see a train stuck on the lift and there was a Walk-Down in progress. So basically we were only one train off from having a walk-down (bummer ;)). Then we headed back towards Gemini to check its line again only to be disappointed. We kept walking for maybe another Magnum ride, but that was a no go. The line was approaching an hour long so we passed. We decided to hit the front of the park to check on Maxair and WT. As we walked we noticed the crazy line at Dragster because it was running only 3 full rows on the trains. Strange morning for Dragster, I must say. Got to the main midway, only to be met with a sea of people walking it every which direction. Took the back midway to WT, which seemed empty except for the massive line at Maxair.

6th Ride – Wicked Twister
The line was pretty short, maybe a 30min wait. But they were crowding the station so it was a little longer than what was expected. The wind was killer though, lots of it and it was cold. A good 20 degrees colder than inland. Got towards the turn style and the ride went down. Half the station cleared out quickly, nobody wanted to wait it seemed. It was funny because it took only 3 minutes for the ride to open back up and the people exiting looked upset. Josh and I decided to get the second to front row. Overall a great but windy and cold ride on the Twisted one.

7th Ride – Maxair
We met up with three other people that Josh knew and decided to give Maxair a ride. The line relaxed a little but it was still a good 30-40min wait. I love the extended ride cycle from last year, it almost makes you say “When will it end?!”. I'm defiantly glad Cedar Point took a break from coaster to invest in the two Thrill Rides.

8th Ride – Blue Streak
Next we went to check on Raptor's line which ended up being 2 hours, yuck. So we decided to give the old woody a ride. I was surprised to see the queue slightly filled. It took about 30min to get through that line, which wasn't all that bad really. This ride I never rode near the front before, but this time Josh said it was a much better ride near the front so I followed. We got the second row, and it ended up being a pretty smooth ride. Blue Streak will always be a favorite of mine. I also like the woodies and would not mind CP making their next coaster a nice Woody.

2pm Pointbuzz Lunch Meeting
It was now 2pm and it was time for the Pointbuzz meet up. It was very nice to meet all who showed up. I would say we had a good 20-30 people show up. We all had a good time, and the cake was delicious! After about an hour of eating and socializing the group dispersed. Josh and I ended up sticking with a group of eight other Pointbuzzers to do some partial ride take-overs. We were going to do Magnum first, but the line was still peaking 45min long so we went on to Gemini

9th Ride – Gemini
The line had relaxed a bit from earlier so we decided to take it for a ride. Took about 15min to get inside the station. We decided on the Blue Train, so we took up about 5 rows on that train after some careful moving and adjusting. We were also louder than the red train which we hoped would help us win the race. Up the hill we got our train to do a slow clap and some friendly comments to the train next to us. It was an extremely fun ride with all the Pointbuzz members. Our train got trimmed at the end but it was a close call on the winner to the station.

10th Ride – Skyhawk (Again)
Next we all decided we were going to give Frontier Town a tour as a group. We decided Skyhawk was our next ride, and the queue was pretty full. It was about a 30min wait before we got to the loading area. Since we had ten people exactly we asked to get one whole side of a swig to ourselves and the ride-op did he magic. We ended up getting the back of the right swing. As a group we decided to do the “Running-Man” movement through out the whole ride. We had a good amount of people laughing in the queue area, it was a blast. Then we exited the ride to take a look at Maverick.

11th Unofficial Ride – Maverick (Test Seat ;))
I must say, Maverick is fantastic looking, now I see why it costs as much as it did. The station is my favorite looking and the head shoppers on this ride look frightening. Earlier in the the day the test seat was blocked off to the public, but now that had changed. My guess is there were people jumping over the blockade to give it a try. I'm really tall (6'7”) and the seat was very comfortable. The OTSR may look like it will hurt if your neck or head hits it hard enough though. You also have to take off you earrings to ride for that reason (there is a sign that says this). Can't wait to tame Maverick in June!

11th Official Ride – Mean Streak
OK all you Mean Streak lovers. I usually don't ride this ride just for the fact that it is rough. I get head aches on it usually, which is unfortunate. Since I didn't want to leave the group behind, I decided to tag along and give it a try. It was only about a 20min wait to get onto a train, which was a pretty decent line for Mean Streak. I was told its a much better ride if you held on to the front bar and leaned forward. I tried it and it really helped a lot. I was still a little shook up after the ride was over, but it was much better and I may try to ride it more often now.

12th Ride – Millennium Force
We are still in our group so we all decided to give Millennium Force a ride. From the looks of the line, it was about an hour wait even though the sign said 1½ hours. It seemed like the ride was running really good because ride-ops were hitting some very good intervals. They also were not crowding the station, which was nice as well. We had it all planned out to be all on the same train, but our plan was quickly ruined by a broken row of seats that were taped off, darn. I got to try out a new way to ride that one of the members here told me about. If you look at a buoy directly in front of the lift hill out in Lake Erie during you whole first drop, if feels much like free falling. Very cool feeling. Great ride, great crew, great great great!

13th Ride – Wicked Twister, followed by a small dinner
Back to the front of the park for some more Wicked Twister. By this time the sun was just setting and the air was getting a little more crisp and cooler. We got in line and by was it freezing with that on shore wind. It was almost unbearable, but we made it. The wind was also building up a little bit of a sand storm along the beach and boardwalk. Took a seat near the back this time, still not as good as the front in my opinion, even if it is cool to be looking straight down from that height. After the ride, we all got a bite to eat. I got some cheese fries, which were rather unsatisfying. They were not cooked all the way through, so it was like eating a partially raw potato.

14th and 15th Ride – Magnum (Best/Most Annoying CP Experience EVER)
After eating and finishing off the half cooked fries, it was time for what we hoped to be a Magnum mini-marathon, only to be greeted with a 30-min line. We still had enough time for at least one before we wanted to enter the final line of the night. After about ten-minutes of waiting, Magnum went down mechanically. Here is where it got pretty interesting. Instantly a group of at least ten young adolescent girls cam waling from the stairway screaming “rides closed, rides closed!”. “You need to get out of line, the ride is closed”. I thought to myself, sure its down, but why do I have to leave the line. Being the curious person I am (along with all the other poinbtbuzzers), I didn't move, I stayed in line to see what the problem may have been. After the parade of frantic teenagers yelled at people to leave, it seemed like utter chaos in the queue area. Try evacuating at least 300-400 people from a line with people going all directions. People jumping over queue rails to exit out through the entrance and others walking all over the landscaping and hopping fences. Within 2 min we were now approaching the stairway when yet another raging idiot came down yelling - “Rides closed, I want my free ride back” “Theres smoke in the tunnel, rides closed!”. After hearing that last thing, I just laughed and made a remark to him, “There is always smoke in the tunnel”. Within 5min, the queue was almost empty, as was the station and guess what, the ride opened back up. Now the ride is a literal walk on and we rode it twice before the line built back up. Both rides: massive air, smooth ride, no trims.. excellent! Now “Theres Smoke in the Tunnel” is my new favorite quote, I won't forget this day.

16th Ride – Top Thrill Dragster
After the interesting Magnum moment, it was nearing closing time. We planned on making Dragster the last ride of the day. The line looked very short, only one queue was full. Dragster was running wonderfully for most of our wait with a few little hiccups. Witnessed about four rollbacks towards the end of our wait. It was getting really cod so it was hard for the ride to keep up the speed. It would have made my day to have a second rollback, which might I add actually came close to happening. We defiantly crawled over the top hat. It was not around 11pm, and my Opening Day was officially over.

I have a few more photos as well
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308074@N04/

To sum up the day in one sentence... Great fun and awesome rides even with heavy crowds. *** Edited 5/15/2007 7:24:26 PM UTC by BGRooDoG*** *** Edited 5/15/2007 7:25:35 PM UTC by BGRooDoG***

Very nice TR. The "smoke in the tunnel, ride's closed!" remark was hilarious! I can't wait to see Maverick in person, and hopefully ride it as well, if they get it up and running by the time of my visit. Anyways, great TR!

Thanks for the trip report, I enjoyed reading it, it sounded like you had a really good time. "There's smoke in the tunnel"; hah.

There's "smoke in the tunnel"? Priceless. Guess you can tell the regular CP visitors huh? I love to listen to people who think they know something about the rides. I actually got to hear "I heard it's actually sinking in the sand" from somebody last year standing in the queue.

Really nice TR. Thanks. Sounds like a great day.

Hahaha near the end of the day I remember seeing a ton of people exiting the Magnum queue. They were all jumping over fences it looked like a jail break.

BGRooDoG, glad you enjoyed my MF bouy trick.

It was nice to meet you and ride a few rides.

Wish I would have stuck around with you guys longer but that darn hangover just would not stop kickin my butt.

I was on the same MS train. I snapped a pic of the walk-down also. Thanks for the great photos.

Great TR!!

I just found this thread, so sorry for digging it up. But he mentions the first two public trains rolling back. It's funny cause I just happened to be on the first public train in the front row when it rolled back :)

BGRooDog is about a 6'5" guy....but I suppose he's a bit on the feminine side. ;)

He only looks that tall because your neck is sore from looking up. ;)

RaceRinger said:
I just found this thread, so sorry for digging it up. But she mentions the first two public trains rolling back. It's funny cause I just happened to be on the first public train in the front row when it rolled back :)

Yeah.. I think I was on the 3rd one out, who had a beauitful rollback. I thought for sure the 2nd launch was going to be a rollback, too, but it didn't work out like that :(.

Whoops! Freudian slip of the keyboard there. My bad.

Hey, It's my thread... sweet. Its a shame that I sold my soul to Cedar Point for the summer and will be working (maybe) Mantis. Loopy, I'm not 6'5"... I'm 6'7". You're supposed to remember these things.

EDIT... Loopy, shut it

BGRooDoG said:
Your supposed to remember these things.

It's not "your", it's "you're". You're supposed to remember these things. ;)

^ Im sorry! If I would have known the internet police were going to be here I would have been more careful.

I'm just looking out for the best interest of my friends.

You never know when Bill Spehn is going to drop by and you have to use "you're" properly. :)

Such as....Bill, your vodka is over there.

Or...Hey Bill, you better watch it or you're going to spill your vodka.

Or... Bill, you're always inserting your name at the end of the "Monster Midway Invasion Celebration" song....

"...With Me, Bill Spehn!" Oh the good times