I was at the park this same exact day! Its a shame you weren't there for closing, because the nightime/sunset rides at this park have been spectacular this year, with the smoke from the fires and the such.
This particular day was pretty dang good crowd wise. I go to the park quite often and have had empty days and days where I wanted to leave. This day was perfect, although I spent 4 hours at Lagoon-A-Beach.
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip, hopefully you'll be able to make it back someday. It is true, Lagoon does need to take it up to the next level, however they have been getting constantly better since the addition of The Spider in 2003. I have nothing but high expectations from Lagoon in the future.
This was the sunset that night. This was taken in line for The Spider. The full 10 MP quality version is my wallpaper