Sept. 23-24th Halloweekend (Long)

This weekend at the point was incredible! The forecasted rain never came (or barely came), crowds were light, and the only ride that was closed (except for an hour or so on Saturday) was Skyride. It seems there was hardly any downtime for any of the rides. TTD and Giant Wheel closed a few times for wind on Saturday and before noon it did rain steadily but lightly for about an hour and Dragster's line and a few other things closed for that. Otherwise everything ran perfectly and lines were more than manageable on Saturday and almost nonexistant on Sunday.

Saturday 23rd: Only about 20 people were waiting at the Marina gate for ERT, So it was just a few cycle wait for front seat, yellow train on MF. That was the perfect first ride of the weekend. MF is better than coffee for waking up in the morning. We rode a second time in back on the red train and then Waited one cycle for Skyhawk's one operating wing. I rode this in May and loved it but this time it made me really nauseous for some reason. I still like the ride though, just not for me in the morning I guess. This is when the only real rain of the whole weekend came. I knew Magnum would be open so rode that in the middle. I love Maggie always but front and back are just a bit rough for me. Middle is just right. Then we rode ID in the rain and got stuck on the 2nd lift for about 10 minutes. Glad I had my rain jacket. We were sitting in front and got soaked by the rain. My favorite part of Dragon is the mist and it was going in overdrive. Loved it. After we got free of the Dragon, WC was still down, so we walked over to the beach and waited about 10 minutes for back seat on Twister. Then I finally found that cheese on a stick place near DT open and tried that for the first time. That stuff is amazingly good, but probably about as good for you as drinking a cup of melted lard. Loved it though. Since we were right there, we opted to wait a good 20 minutes for a nice DT ride. We needed to go to the car then and decided to move to SC lot even though we had great spot in front. We went back in by Magnum and headed to Dragster but the line was a little long. So I decided to give CS a go in front, then took a shot up on PT. WC was a 15 minute wait but the Mantis line was back over the bridge so decided to catch it later. Instead we took the train to MS and got a good bone-rattlin'. After making sure my spleen wasn't ruptured, we hit up CCMR but after that found Gem down. It was only around 4pm then and we had ridden so much we decided to leave the point and go ahead a get a motel room. Went to the Econolodge as usual and got a "clean-enough" room on the cheap, freshened up and headed back to the park. Parked in front, headed in and waited about 10 minutes for Raptor. MaXair always seems to be having major problems when I go to CP, but after only a one cycle wait I got on it next. I was so happy. This was really an awesome ride and only my second time on it. I rode Delerium at PKI this summer and liked it alot. I thought MaXair was supposed to be bigger, but I can't really tell. Great ride. We were still afraid it was going to rain and storm badly later, so we decided that it was time to wait for TTD no matter what. We got there and only found a station wait! But while we were waiting, they had to transfer a train, unload another for 10 mins and two other trains were pre-loaded in our row with VIP/exit ramp riders, so we wound up waiting a good half-hour. Which was fine with me as we did get on and got a ride. After that we got a shot down on PT which always manages to scare the crap out of me no matter what. It was now about 6:30 and we were starving and decided to go to Famous Daves for dinner. It was a 45 minute wait for a table, but we took our chances in the bar and found a table right away and got quick service and good food and cocktails from the bar. I wanted a little buzz for the fright zones and a few martinis did the trick. First time at Famous Daves and it was very good. The service was great and very quick considering how busy they were. I needed to go back to the car after dinner so we walked around to the front, did that and headed back in the front for a 5 minute Raptor wait. I love Raptor more each time I ride it and have honestly decided that this is the all-around best ride in the park for me. I love it. SFGAm is my home park and everyone is all about B:TR and I love it too but Raptor has it all over Batman in my book. Hands down. No contest. It was finally after 8pm and we were right there so we walked through Fear Faire. This was my very first Halloween trip to any park let alone CP, so I had no idea what to expect from this. I was actually expecting NOT to like it, but it was awesome. All the fog, creepy music and crazy lighting were great. After FF we got some cotton candy and had to ride BS. Another of the best rides in the park in my opinion. It was a walk-on for the front seat and awesome as always. It was of course totally dark by now and I noticed how great Calypso looks at night. Better to look at than to ride at night. The ride itself would have surely made me puke. After BS, I got a beer from Gameday Grill and we headed over to WT for a walk-on and then walked through CarnEvil. It was so great finally being at CP after dark. All the lights from all the rides-especially the Giant Wheel- really added to the whole thing. It was so foggy and creepy in CarnEvil we actually got lost and wound up walking in circles for a while before we finally made it out. Then we hit up Dragon for a back seat night ride then waited 10 minutes for back row on Mantis. Mantis is very painful for me, but I have to give it at least one ride per trip. I tried a trick someone here on PB had mentioned. I firmly presseed my head to one side of the OTSR harness and held it there for the whole ride. It worked OK. But not good enough for a re-ride. It was time for Fright Zone and it was great. The fog was blinding. Who knew that Frontier Trail could be so eerie. It was great. Then the wait for Werewolf Canyon. It was about a 30 minute wait. It was interresting to walk through the drained raft ride, but it was lame and not worth the wait. The crazy pigs at the end were the best part. After that we walked around back and got a Gem Red walk-on. Then I couldn't stand it anymore and went to Camp Spooky and forced my friend to ride Wookstock Express with me. I've always wanted to ride it. Gem Jr. is now the only coaster I've not ridden at CP. Can I borrow a kid please? Hard to believe, but I realized that I'd ridden all the coasters in one day and on a Saturday. I was happy. Then I had my first ever night ride in the front of Maggie. Nice! Too windy for TTD so waited 15 minutes for MF and finished the night off with a back seat ride on Raptor followed by a re-ride for last Raptor run of the the day. We had to exit in the holding area outside of the station row by row. Loved it. I love CP even more in the dark.

Sunday 24th: Parked in the front at about 9:10. Only about a dozen cars parked in the entire front lot then! This was the best ERT ever. Walked right in the front gate and walked on Raptor front then got a re-ride without even having to unbuckle. That's what I'm talking about! Could have stayed on Raptor, but two rides in a row on any given ride is always enough for me. Headed next to MaXair and we were the only two people in the gondola! Great ride. We then walked to MF and waited 3 cycles for front and then walked on for a back seat ride. It was windy but we saw Dragster going so headed over there next to wait 20 minutes for front seat. I still had both my eyeballs, so we got on again with a 5 minute wait for back row. Then Magnum and Gem Blue. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and no crowds yet. We took the train to the Iron Dragon Midway and rode WC and ID. Then we took a break and went to the car. We came back in just before 1pm and waited 15 minutes or so for Pharoh's Tomb, then walked on to DT, MaXair, and Twister. At that point we were starving and went to TGIFridays, for good food and great service as always. The TGIF at Hotel Breakers is the best Friday's I've ever been to and years ago I used to work at one. I love going to the one at CP. After lunch, we headed to the Magnum gate and took a Paddlewheel ride to digest our food then walked over to U. R. Dade to find no line and the best haunted house in the park. Then we went and had a beer at Red Garter, waited all of 5 minutes for a MF blue train ride in 2nd row. Then, the worst part of any CP trip happened. We realized that it was time to go. We walked to the front and had a final Raptor ride then went through Vampire's Lair to complete the Halloweekend. This was such a great trip, I didn't feel as sad as usual leaving.

CP in '06 has given me two amazing trips. I love this place more than any place on earth. The staff was extra friendly this weekend (perhaps because the rough Summer is over and they only have a few more weekends left) Who cares. Everyone there was great. We had an awesome time. The Halloweekend atmosphere was fantastic. CP at night is just plain amazing. The season is over for me but I'm already dreamving of that very first springtime ride on Maverick. This is going to be one long off-season.
*** Edited 9/25/2006 9:43:52 AM UTC by MagNutXL200***

I hope my weekend theres just as good as ur...Glad to hear u had a wicked time

MagXL......awesome story. Exact same experience Sunday. I have never ever seen the park as empty as it was on Sunday. We arrived around 5pm, and literally everything was walk-on....even TTD and MF. We automatically just rode everything we could, twice. I've visited about 20 some times this year, and yesterday was one of the best times I've ever had there! Awesome atmosphere, hilarious ride-ops, great decorations. Can't wait to go next weekend to see the Monster's Rock show.....one of the best in the park all year, year after year. Thanks guys.

Couldn't agree more. I was there this past weekend too. The crowd was so light, it was incredible. We decided to try and finish out the trip with rides on MF and TTD before the park closed Sunday evening. Everything was a walk on. I got 4 rides on MF between 6 and 7, then walked over to TTD and rode it 5 times between 7:10 and 8 when they made us leave. Great trip, just sad it's gonna be another 8 and a half months til I'm back.
*** Edited 9/26/2006 6:40:28 AM UTC by DRose***

Great weekend indeed! I did a little power-riding on Magnum! Of course, I paid the price! With the worn-out shoes I have, my feet were pretty sore early Sunday. My knee started bothering me as well. By early afternoon, I found myself pulling my body up the stairs everytime! I guess I'm too stupid to know when to quit! :)

During my ride on CP LERR, I noticed large housing that was added next to lift motor on MF. Has anyone else notice it? I remember seeing forms for additional foundation back in July, and wondered what they were doing.

Here are links to 2 pics:

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/magnummania/?action=view&current=newmfhousing01.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch2
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/magnummania/?action=view&current=newmfhousing02.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1 *** Edited 9/28/2006 4:06:24 PM UTC by Magnum "Candy" Man***

Yeah Jerry, those were added after the 'downtimes' experienced earlier in the summer. :)