Saturday 9/21/13 - fun but a little disappointing

I usually tend to try and avoid Saturdays in HalloWeekends like the plague, but due to a very busy schedule it looked like it was going to have to be a saturday if I wanted to get to the park. It was just me and my mom, but we had fun. We arrived at the park a little after 11:30, and our first stop was Millennium. Including the wait for the front seat it was only a 45 minute wait, a lot shorter than I expected. It was fast, smooth, and as thrilling as always.

Next we headed over to Dragster. Its posted wait time was 1 hour, but that wait turned into a much longer one. When we were waiting on the ramp to get into the station it went down for mechanical reasons. We stuck around and waited, since when you have passes you don't feel pressured about time and getting everything in that you want to. So after maybe 20-30 minutes the ride reopened. Once in the station we got in the line for the front row. Soon after a train launched, we saw the ride ops pointing and then laughing. Everyone in the station then started cheering and getting excited. The train that had launched had a rollback. We were jealous since I have yet to have a rollback, and the girls that had been behind us on the ramp were on that train, so if we wouldn't have been waiting for the front row that could have been us. Oh, well. After about 10-15 minutes, the ride went down again. More mechanical issues. This delay took at least another 30 minutes, but finally it opened and we got our ride. It was as great as always. Then we went on Power Tower, the drop side. We were lucky enough to sit on the side facing the rest of the park so the view was great. I enjoy this ride and think it's a lot of fun.

We were getting hungry so we wanted a snack. Having heard about pumpkin filled pretzels from a facebook fan page I follow on Facebook, CP Rundown, we decided to try and find where they were. After a little while hunting down the location, a worker finally said he would call and ask for us to find where they were. Turns out they were in the Gazebo food stand (near Planet Snoopy). On our way there, we stopped and watched the HalloWeekends parade. It was a short, cute parade and the kids enjoyed it. Then we got the pretzels, and they were amazing! It was like a pretzel filled with warm pumpkin pie. Very delicious.

Our next stop was Giant Wheel. We waited about 15 minutes for it. It's been a while since we've been on this ride, and it's a good way to relax and enjoy the view. However, several interesting things happened while we were on this ride. We watched Wicked Twister launch, it went up the first spike, came down, but then suddenly came to a complete stop. I assume it was mechanical, but it was strange. I've never seen that happen before. Immediately a ride op ran out to the train, probably to tell them what happened, and then after a few minutes the train slowly reversed into the station. Also, a Giant Wheel worker kept looking up at a particular cabin, and soon 3 security personnel arrived. When a group of middle school aged kids got off the ride, the security immediately went over to them. They were writing things down, talking to the kids both in groups and individually, and talking to the adults that must have been with the group. Whatever happened, it must have been pretty serious and they were still talking when we left the ride. At least the workers are observant and take action when necessary which is a good sign.

Then we went to GateKeeper. It had a 1 hour wait, which I was sort of surprised about, but I soon found out why. To my disappointment, it was only running 2 trains. I have no clue why the 3rd train wasn't beeing used, especially on a busy HalloWeekends saturday. So we waited and then rode in the back left row. I was excited to try out the restraints since I had heard the vests no longer lock in place. Sure enough, they don't and I had a great ride.

Next we went to do Dragster again. This time the wait was shorter (surprising short) at 45 minutes. Waited in a random row, and when I looked out onto the midway, I saw a family we know. So they watched us ride, got some pictures of us on the ride, and then we talked with them once we got off. Also, a funny thing we did was that for the onride picture after the launch, my mom and I coordinated it so we would spell "O-H" and then for the onride picture at the end, we spelled "I-O." Our picture in the photo booth area was fun, since it worked and you could see us spelling out "O-H-I-O."

Deciding to go through some of the HalloWeekends attractions, we went back into Frontier Town and decided to do an indoor one first so it would be dark for the outdoor walkthroughs. It was almost 8, and the outdoor ones were about to open. First stop: Eden Musee. We've never done this one before but have heard it was good. After a 20 minute wait it was our turn to go in. The barker was very good. Once inside, the theming was very good. We had some good startles in this haunt.

We took a quick break to get something to eat, and got the loaded fries. They were very good and filled us up. Then we went through Cutthroat Cove. My mom and I both agreed that this was our favorite haunt of the night. It had a great atmosphere, and even though the wind was blowing some of the fog away it was still great. Plus the screamsters in it were very good, and the kids in front of us were very funny and their reactions and the ways the screamsters scared them really were fun. Next was CornStalkers. This is one of our favorites, and after a 10 minute line we were in it. I have to say, I was very disappointed with this haunt. It was severely understaffed, and there were areas where you were just walking and walking without a single screamster. This haunt has so much potential and has a great concept, but it's bad when there are hardly any screamsters in it. As we were walking out, a group of people behind us were saying how much it sucked. We then walked through part of Screamworks (However it was disappointing since no screamsters came near us) to get to our next stop, Eternity Infirmary. We've also never done this one but have heard that many people like it. IMO, I really didn't find it too great. It had a long line (30-40 minutes) and it just didn't seem very strong. It wasn't even creepy and the screamsters were mediocre. I understand it's only their 2nd week and that they're still learning, but I was not impressed. All of a sudden I turned a corner and realized it was the end, and I thought, "This is it?" Unless I hear that it's improved, I doubt I'll be eager to go through this one again.

We then headed back through Screamworks. This time we got a few startles, but there didn't seem to be many screamsters. We found that there was a group of probably half a dozen of them just standing by the other entrance. I liked it when it was Fright Zone better, but maybe if there were more screamsters or the screamsters improved, then it would be better. Next was Blood on the Bayou. It was decent, and some of the theming was good, but most of the screamsters were just walking around and weren't actually doing any scaring. I think I was startled once, but that's it. It definitely has some potential.

We wanted to be sure to get a night ride on Millennium since it's our tradition, so we went over to the ride only to discover that it was closed due to mechanical issues. Hmm, I'm starting to see a theme going on today. Intamin rides just weren't running well, but that wasn't surprising. The workers at the entrance were telling people that they hoped it would open in an hour, but then another worker from the ride walked over to them and told them it likely wouldn't reopen for the night. We stuck around for a little while longer just in case, but it didn't look promising. We decided to watch Skeleton Crew since the 11 pm show had just started and we heard it was a great show. We were truly blown away by the talent. The show was awesome and so were the performers and acrobats in it.

After the show we went back to check on Millennium one more time, and seeing it still closed, we decided to make Dragster our last ride of the night. To our disbelief, it only had a station wait. After going on it, we went back on it again, this time in the back row. I love this ride, and was thankful that this time it didn't break down. Then before leaving the park we grabbed a donut and Starbucks at Donut Time. We had a fun day, but several aspects of it were disappointing. Many rides kept having mechanical issues. We also could have won a Tweetup from Tony since he was near the Dragster photo area while we were in line for Dragster, and if it wouldn't have broken down we probably would have been able to get it. Also, many of the haunts were weak. I hope they improve since it's still early, but we were sort of let down by the poor quality of scares. The theming was awesome, but not so much the scariness. However, I will say that the park was not a mobbed as I was expecting. Waits were not long at all which we were pleased about.

Those pretzels sound great, I must try them! Sorry you had a less than stellar day :(

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

It was still a fun day despite several small kinks. And you have to try the pretzels! There are truly delicious.

My daughter just turned me on to those cinnamon pretzels from Auntie Anne's the other night when we were there. Very tasty.

You waited 20 minutes for Eden Musee and 10 minutes for Cornstalkers on a Saturday night? Whahuh?

All day the lines were fine. They were actually shorter than on some of my other visits, even though the park was overall more crowded. I was surprised and confused too.