Quick trip report, we spent three days at the park and stayed at the Lighthouse Point campground at the park. Our first time at CP. Campground was very nice, with a pool, and shuttle service if we did not want to walk the 7 minutes to the park. Crowds were light overall. Nice lineup of rides. Loved MF, SV, and Maverick. I can see why Intamin gets such a bad rep for reliability though. MF was down a lot over the 3 days, and we only got one ride on it. We were on the train for ride 2 today when it broke down and we left since we had already waited out one breakdown and they predicted extended downtime for the second. Maverick went down twice, once when we were 5 minutes from riding, the second time on the final brake run, so at least we got a ride and an exit pass for that one!
In RMC news, SV was down most of the day yesterday. There was a cherry picker on the structure this morning but it was running today. They were testing it from 10:30-11 tonight. I already described our nightmare 2 hour wait on Tuesday for that one. We got in a 15 minute line for it today as our last ride of our trip, but two minutes in they shut the ride down to transfer a train, which they said would be quick, but my son was just done, so we left the park. Just icing on the cake at that point!
It was very hot and humid on days 2 and 3, with people passing out all over the park, including an employee. Not sure if the weather might have affected the coaster operations somewhat. We had free drink wristbands as part of our stay that was a real savior those days.
I have to say, that second launch on Maverick might be my favorite coaster element anywhere. The sense of speed in the near darkness and the way the train just explodes out of the tunnel into that hard left turn. Truly amazing! I was howling with delight every time. Glad we got on it 3 times. It is my son’s new #1 coaster, beating out MF from the day before.
Good rides (something for all ages), friendly, enthusiastic employees overall, but the mechanical operations of the major coasters leave a lot to be desired. I was very frustrated at times. I got all the coaster credits by day 2 thankfully. I understand now why many people say just to go to KI instead. We had a fun time at the park as a family though, and it was nice to finally hit CP!