inlina

Systems engineering is a massive challenge. Integration of all the mechanical and electrical/electronic elements is a huge task. Sometimes things don't show up as an issue until after a certain run time or when someone manages to push the right button at the right time for the control system to go into an unintended action or a piece of hardware send the wrong command because of a fault. I come from the automotive industry and we do millions of hours of testing across all of the systems for hundreds of thousands of cycles. For a rollercoaster, which is much simpler than a car from a systems perspective, they will have their protocols for testing with a certain number of cycles. It's no guarantee. I like it. Now if only Breakers didn't break my budget.

Maverick - Cedar Point (I was about to write Steel Vengeance but I realised I rode Maverick after).

Bliss n Eso - Reservoir Dogs Feat. 360, Pez, Seth Sentry & Drapht [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] #straya

I don't mean to harp of this incident, but a question from the curios mechatronic engineer in me (well, I'm a mech eng with an interest in electronics) => Do you know were both trains on the move when the incident happened or did it appear that the train rolling out (Chess) stopped? Also, does anybody remember how a train gets from the brake run into the station? ie. are their drive wheels, is it just gravity? Just something I didn't take note of when I rode it the other night and again just wanted to satisfy things ticking away in my own brain, not to speculate or discuss what might have gone wrong. Thanks - CG

I shared that video on facebook and tagged my wife. She untagged herself and made fun of the cheesiness until I decided to take it down... That took about 5 minutes. I can help you find a good divorce lawyer.

Awesome - everything has 0 minute wait. I'm getting in the car right now. Oh, wait....same at King's Island. I think I broke it.

There are ways to see it without being in the park.

Wow - I just read 25 pages of CP thread to catch up on all the hootenanny. Now my eyes hurt. I'm a bit late to the discussion but we hit the Tuesday passholder preview after the 3.5 hour drive from the Detroit metro area. My work colleagues think I'm crazy for doing it to get 1 ride, but I'm convinced I'm not. Steel Vengeance is insane. The only thing I didn't like is that all the air time cause my T-shirt to ride up my back. Problem to be solved with a tighter fitting T so you can see all my curves . I also stapled myself in a bit tight going up the hill - lesson learned. Here's our reaction/commentary. https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcindie.sassons%2Fvideos%2F10156305375579860%2F&show_text=0&width=560 We bought a couple of T-shirts for my wife and daughter to commemorate the occasion. Yesterday my daughter pointed out something odd with her T-shirt. Is there something CP is not telling us? Should we start the the rumours now? Something not quite right with this new CP T-shirt Anyway - have fun with the wait time today people. I am shooting for a visit late May or early June for my next visit this season.

It's not that I don't have Google access and hadn't already figured that much out for myself - it's more that some of the hotels are just better than others in a given locale. I also thought someone might say you really should stay close at 'XYZ' as opposed to being up the freeway at the closest Holiday Inn or "everything sucks, you should just sleep in your car and eat the dead bugs off your windscreen for breakfast...that's good protein". Anywho, I'll just go back to planning this Carowinds/Dollywood trip without potential help from an expert team. P.S. Thanks Beenagins87 for your suggestion. I will look at that one.

Will be visiting the park on Sunday (and maybe a little Saturday night if we get there early enough). Anyone got a recommendation for a nearby hotel to Carowinds? I normally aim for Holiday Inn Express type level.

OK - I am definitely 'that guy' that asks 'that question'. We are going down that way for a couple of college tours during the MI spring break. Leaving greater Detroit Friday morning so be in either Pigeon Forge or near Knoxville for Friday night. Someone mentioned above local schools are off for spring break down that way. Any idea how busy it will be this Saturday? Am I crazy for bothering? Should considering the Time Saver pass since we may get in late and want to get out and on the road earlyish to get to our Sunday destination? CG

1. What is the name of your home park? Probably Cedar Point 2. Do you own a coaster related T-shirt? Yes - "Life Is Better on a Roller Coaster" from KI and and CP one that is sort of an elevation drawing blueprint. 3. Do you enjoy Vekoma SLCs? I think Lethal Weapon at WB Movieworld is the only one I've ridden and I didn't mind it at the time since I do remember going back over and over. But we didn't have a lot of options in Australia back then so it was better than nothing. 4. Name the first 3 coasters that come to mind. Maverick, Mystic Timbers, Top Thrill Dragster 5. One park you would definitely never go back to is... Sea World on the Gold Coast, Australia 6. Have you ever ridden a drop tower taller than 200 feet? No - I HATE drop towers 7. What is your favorite roller coaster? Torn between Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster 8. When you go to a park three things you must have with you are... Wallet, phone, strap for my glasses 9. How many times did you visit your home park last season? I think it was a total of 7 days over 3 trips. 10. The first Intamin coaster you rode is... Either Tower Of Terror II or Superman Escape as they were both on the same trip and I don't remember which park I went to first. 11. Have you ever spent an entire day at a park alone? Yes, Disneyland Hong Kong when I was there on a business trip. One of the best trips to a park ever because I did whatever I wanted. 12. The independent park you go to the most is... None yet 13. Does B&M or Intamin make better hyper coasters? Not actually sure. Maybe B&M by a hair. 14. If it was free, what upcharge ride what you jump on right now? None - haven't seen one worth riding so far. 15. What is the best food at your home park? Do beverages from the bar count because the food is not that great. 16. The name of the worst GCI you've ridden is... I've only ridden two and they were both fine so I wouldn't say either was 'worse'. 17. When you're not riding something at your home park where are you? At work, at the skate park being a super rad rollerblader, playing roller hockey, at my computer designing something for a super secret squirrel project that will probably never happen, in my basement trying to get one of my 3D printers to spit out a good result, in my basement working on mountain bikes, occasionally riding a mountain bike 18. Favorite water ride in a dry park (flume, rapids, etc) Any decent rapids ride. Can't think of one to choose. 19. Do you get your photo taken with park mascots? If possible 20. Name one personal item you've lost at a park. None yet 21. Name of the worst B&M invert you're ridden is... From what I can see I've only ridden 2 or 3 and have had no issue with any. 22. Name your favorite steel coaster under 125 feet tall. Maverick 23. Name your favorite coaster/ride manufacturer? Waiting to ride an RMC before I make that determination 24. What waterpark have you visited most often? Wet n Wild, Gold Coast, Australia 25. The name of the fastest wooden coaster you have ridden is... Mystive Timbers I think 26. What is the name of the flat ride you've ridden the most? Breakdance 27. Name a ride-related injury you have suffered. None that I can think of. Maybe cauliflower ear from some rough coasters with shoulder harnesses 28. Favorite Halloween event at a park? Only been to CP, so that wins and loses at the same time 29. Name the most recent Arrow ride or coaster you've been on... Magnum XL 30. Name of your favorite ride that never leaves the ground (safari, train, bumper cars, etc) Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and HK Disneyland because I clocked it! 31. What ride makes you laugh the most? Note sure - we usually make our own laughter with poor commentary and bad songs on a lot of rides 32. How many RMC's have you ridden? Zero - bring on SteVen 33. Best flat that goes over 100 feet is... The Claw, Dreamworld, Australia (I think it's over 100ft) 34. When you are on your way to your home park what is one worry that you might have? Did I close the garage 35. Favorite park that is NOT your home park is ___________. Kings Island 36. How many different parks did you go to last season? 3 37. The indoor coaster/dark ride you ride most often is... Either Space Mountain or Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster - hard to say 38. When you spend the day at the park what do you drink all day? Water and either coke or lemonade. Probably just be water next year as I am dropping the drink plan from my Platinum Pass 39. The name of the best B&M you've ridden is? Valravn 40. Name three other forum members that will fill this out... NFI

That's the problem, both are only good until the end of this season. I will only be down there one more time this season so both offers are likely to be use on the Sunday in my case. Moot point anyway - my friends are only joining me on the Saturday. Does the offer change to something usable next season though? I seem to remember last year it being something like an FL pass for use in the next season. CG

So I was looking at renewing and this is the deal was of interest to me because I am going down for my birthday in late Oct and bringing some people with me. However it doesn't make logical sense because I would probably end up using the FL+ on Sunday rather than Friday night when my bring-a-friend(s) would also be with me without a FL+ so that would be pointless. Does the deal change after the end of the season or is this the best offer we're going to get? CG

Half Assed Trip Report: Last weekend we decided to head to KI for the second time this season. We headed down last Saturday from the greater Detroit area with the intent of spending Saturday night and Sunday in KI and Monday at Soak City and heading home Monday evening (because it's out first 4th of July here in the USA and the chance to let off fireworks was a higher priority than roller coasters). So here's roughly how it went and some thought.... Saturday Got off to a late start because we had a late social appointment on Friday and decided not to rush out early. Plan was to head to the Airforce Museum in Dayton on the way down because I wanted to remind myself of what an ICBM looked like. Only had about 1.5hours in the museum in the end. I'd been there about 10 years ago and spent 4 hours there so I knew I wasn't going to be able to dedicate the time I wanted to. Did see ICBMs. If your in the area and have at least a couple of hours it's worth the look. Left the museum at the 5pm closing to head to our hotel in Mason. Got to the hotel to be told we had been bumped because it was busy. The hotel seemed to be unwilling to do anything about it and I'm not the kind of person to kick up a stink. In hindsight, and after my wife's internet research on what to do in this situation, I should have kicked up a stink because I had a confirmed booking. Only response was to contact Expedia ( as they apparently should have contacted me) who would re-book me which confused me as that was not who I booked through. As a result, Expedia had no idea what I was on about when I called them. Since I had booked with credit card rewards so contacted their customer service. Had a lovely conversation with a couple of people their who eventually informed me that they use Expedia as their agent for bookings. So I spent a total of close to 2 hours mostly on hold while the rewards company and Expedia tried to figure something out. We decided to head in the direction of the park towards the end of being on hold. Eventually the customer service rep said they'd call me back when we were almost at KI so we figured we should make lemonade. Finally in the park we decided we were not going to put pressure on ourselves to ride everything like we normally do. We wanted to ride Mystic Timbers again, The Beast during the day and Diamond Back for the first time ever. We had ridden every coaster except Diamond back, The Bat, Invertigo and Vortex on our last whirlwind trip earlier in the season and the latter three were take it or leave it for me. Mystic apparently had a shortish line (I think the app said 15mins) so we headed in that direction. Decided to stop at Boo Blasters on the way through because I like this kind of thing. It was OK but on as good as a Disney equivalent (ie. Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster). The gun I used did not seem to work either. From there, in summary, we rode: - Mystic Timbers: It's good clean fun. Wife and daughter think it has gotten rougher since earlier in the season, but I don't agree. - Backlot Stunt Coaster: Love that first helix. It's fun on a number of levels and I wish it was longer. - The Beast (not quite in the daytime): Yeah, it's long, it's fast and it's not as uncomfortable as other old woodies but it's not that special. - Diamondback: Sat in the middle but still was so good. Great airtime and really happy with my first ride on it. Was on the list to go back for seconds. - Mystic again x 2 because we snuck the last ride in on the last train of the night. Somewhere in the middle there we sorted out some accommodation....on the north side of DAYTON!!! Instead of a 10 minute drive we now had an hour. So we left at closing and got to the hotel a little after 1AM. That was going to put a damper on getting back for early entry on Sunday and Monday. Sunday After 2 snoozes I turned my alarm off and decided we were not going to make early entry. After a leisurely breakfast of whatever it was the hotel served for free and apparently decaf coffee (my fault) we headed back to KI and didn't get there until about 11AM. Lines were not too bad according to the app so we headed for Flight Of Fear as a start. So the day went like this: - Flight of Fear: It's cool but there is a lot of light leaking into the building so it's not quite as dark as I would like. Still a fun little compact ride. I got disoriented after the first element which was kind of the point I guess. - Firehawk: Well, my wife and daughter rode it because I don't really like the restraints that much (or at least that was my excuse). My daughter loved it, especially being on the front this time. - Windseeker: My wife doesn't like heights. To be honest I'm not great with them either but I really enjoyed this. - Vortex: I didn't mind it but it's nothing special these days I guess. My wife and daughter proclaimed it as rough. I though it rolled smoothly but had not so great dynamics. - The Beast in the full brightness of day: Yeah - it's better in the dark. - Race For Your Life Charlie Brown: I really wanted to ride this because it has to be the fastest log flume I've seen (ie. before the drop). It was also getting to be a warm day (not hot - Australia in summer is HOT, Ohio is not by comparison) and I decided I could do with the splash. My daughter did not want to ride (she doesn't like water rides and slides that much...starting to think she is not my daughter). My wife complained our boat had a foot of water in the back and she was struggling to keep her feet dry...sucks to be her. I soon discovered how much water was in the back when it rushed to the front as we crested the first lift and the water rush forwards straight into my shoes. The ride itself is fascinating to me. The speed is much faster than any I have ridden and it has a rapids feature you hit before the second lift. The drop is nothing special but I got well and truly wet on the splash down. If not for the water logged shoes at the end I would rate this the best log flume I have ever been on. - Diamondback (again, in the hopes it would hep dry my shoes): Almost had hope for sitting in the back but then a bunch of FLs came through. Stuck in the middle again but still a great ride. After DB we were feeling the strain of the extra travel and stress. We looked at the app and decided for one last ride on something with a short queue. We headed for Banshee. Apparently you cannot wear a fanny pack on that so my wife and daughter were not allowed to enter the line (had not been stopped at any other ride that day). Decided we had ridden it before and were not going to bother with a locker so my daughter and I headed for Delerium as our last ride and my wife missed out as she does not like that kind of ride. We left the park at about 6:30 after grabbing some T-shirts on the way out with the intent of getting a good night's sleep (aided by a beverage) and an early start on Monday so we could head back for a few coaster and water rides before Soak City opened. Monday So Texas Roadhouse let's you add an extra kick to your margarita for $1 to $2. That caused Monday to also be a later start than planned and no early entry to KI. Instead we went straight to Soak City on what I guess was slightly early entry. Not sure what was actually open for early entry at SC because everything we walked past on the way to find a base camp (chair for our towels) was closed. Anyway we headed for Mondo Monsoon because it was close to where we were and it looked like the line was not too bad. After about 15minutes in the line and almost being at the top of the tower they shut it down as there was apparently a raccoon on the loose. Bummer...OK, try something else. So it went like this: - Thunder Falls: Not bad for a start. Able to force a spin in the tube which is fun. - Paradise Plunge: Wow, they are strict on the no exposed metal for this (and others). No issue for us but it slows things down. They're OK for body slides but nothing special. - Tropical Twister: I'd ridden one before and was not that enamored by it. I didn;t mind this one. Again the no exposed metal policy along with a patron who had a freak out at the top slowed things down. - Rendezvous Run: I won...that is all that needs to be said. - Wave pools: The bigger pool with the smaller waves was nice but nothing special. The smaller pool with the bigger waves was warm, a little murky and packed. Maybe too much pee in that pool. Got out after one wave cycle. I miss surfing real ocean waves (why did I move to the Midwest from Australia?!?!?!) - Tropical Plunge (tube slide only): Rode all three. My favorites of the day. I like the colored light pattern in the tubes and the different rides. The big drop was my favorite. After that we went to get some food and headed back out again. A number of the pools/rides on the back side of the park had been shutdown I assume to work on water quality. That meant Mondo Monsoon was down as well as Pipeline Paradise. I really wanted to try Pipline Paradise because I had ridden the one at Dreamworld in Australia and this one was different with the more curling wave so I wanted to see what it was like (that and I'm pretty rad so I wanted to show me extreme radness to the people of the midwest ). Instead we headed for the lazy river which had the biggest queue for a lazy river I've ever seen and the park in general was getting busy as well so that was enough for us to call it a day. In getting changed for out trip back to Detroit we found that this Soak City has the WORST change facilities of any modern waterpark/pool I had been too. I'm no prude but I prefer a little privacy for getting changed. The showers were too tight and did not drain well enough to get change it plus there was not actually anywhere for my clothes to stay out of the way and dry. I got changed in the common area which I don't have a problem with but I prefer not to be looking at other people when I am getting changed (or perhaps it is vice-versa...or both). Even Michigan's Adventure had better and more private facilities. Anyway, we went home via a short hop over the border to Kentucky so I could say to my work colleague I had been to his home state, a random Costco stop in Toledo and a stop just inside Michigan for additional fireworks for the following day! That was a big and sometimes mentally challenging 3 days. King's Island was great and surprisingly not as busy as I had expected given the timing. Soak City had the potential to be a great day but I think the odds were against us. The park has good rides but it just didn't happen for us. Plus the hotel debacle knocked the wind out of our sales and caused lost time that was frustrating. Well, it's time for a couple of sternly worded emails to the credit cards rewards people and to the hotel group that bumped us to see what they are going to do for us, if anything (the customer is always right...correct??). That's enough typing. This was only meant to be a 10 minute job that I have now spent a couple of hours on. Here's my daughters take on the trip (in 3 parts apparently...not all/much theme park stuff but bits and pieces of commentary); [youtu_be] [/youtu_be][youtu_be] [/youtu_be][youtu_be] [/youtu_be] CG

FTFY.

What is the policy on this at most parks? I thought I read somewhere that you get a hand stamp at CP and other CF parks but I've never tried it. We usually hire a locker to keep jackets or other warm clothing in for when the weather turns or sun goes down, but I'd rather not if I have a close parking space.

Gatekeeper and Valravn still have bins. I too store everything loose in pockets so I would be more than happy for them to do away with them. I wear supportive underwear to protect my valuables.

I've only ridden it at night. It was pretty good. Still, I'd like to see what it's like during the day. Also I don't think it's as rough as some people make out. I rode Ghost Rider at KBF before a bit before the refurb and Mean Streak last year and both were far worse.

Yes, you do have to be in the park to see wait times on the mobile app. There are a few websites (though not 100% reliable) that pull this data from the app though. The best are CoasterQueue and Queue-Times. There are apps that put you into developer mode so you can set your GPS location.

So some sort of photo's and trip report from to dash to CP Friday/Saturday (I hear there's a name for that here but cannot remember what it is). Didn't get a lot of pics because it seems like my phone was chewing battery. There a few bits in my Instagram as well. This was our second ever trip to CP and now as pass holders the intent was to be more chilled about getting around the park because we plan on being back a few more times and therefore did not need to ride EVERYTHING. That was good in theory but my feet suggest otherwise. We left greater Detroit at about 3PM Friday after my daughter was done at school. Whoever thought shutting down the I75 south for a couple of years was a good idea should be shot. It added about 45 minutes to our journey when combined with Friday afternoon traffic as well. Anyway, stayed at Cedar Point Express hotel again. The refresh is nice. The rooms are fundamentally the same as they were before but at least it they are cleaner and have new beds. And extra USB charging points too...2 in the lamp and 2 in the alarm clock in our room...it's the little things! Same old pictures but the refresh is nice We headed to the park around 7pm Friday for a few quick rides and intended on parking in the south car park. Somehow, and this was completely unintended, we ended up driving all the way around the back to the Breakers entrance/CP Shores car park. Since we were in the area I made my wife take some pictures and some random stuff... Oh look, a crane Crane close-up Where did the crane go? Stairway to heaven Found the crane She's artistic Crane ballast I've run out of captions Here's the number of a good crane company I love that bit of Maverick If you break down on your way to/from Breakers there is a port-a-loo about half way alond the road in case you need to go whilst waiting for AAA I don't like heights But I found a way to overcome that on Millennium force - look straight at the seat in front of me. Yay, Valravn The school groups were starting to leave so the park was thinning out a bit. The queue times really shortened up nicely for us. So from memory on Friday night we rode: Gatekeeper - Yeah, it's fun. From the two rides over the weekend I decided I like right Twix more that left Twix. My daughter agrees. My wife does not. Blue Streak - Always good for a laugh Valravn - It's fun. I'd ride it again. I did on Saturday. Magnum XL - I seemed to remember not liking this last year but this year I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some weird design decisions were made on where to start banking, where to place banking and the angle required, but she rides pretty good. Gemini - this was the only coaster that I rode this year that I had not before. It's not bad. Nothing super exciting but it does the job. Millennium force - I actually don't like heights. I'm not that fond of drops really either, so I guess I'm weird in liking roller coasters. I got through the lift hill by focusing on the seat in front of me. The drop was not as full on as I remember it. Overall I enjoyed it much more than I remember from last year. Maverick (x 2 in-a-row) - It's hard for me to pick a favourite in the park but this one is up there. It's just good clean fun. I had also splashed out on All Season dining plans. We were struggling to find something worth eating with it on the main Midway and my wife is vegetarian so that makes it a little harder. We ended up with hot dog on a stick/cheese on a stick. It was meh. I also keep forgetting that chips means a bag of chips here. In Australia both a bag of chips (or crisps as the Brits call them) and fries are called chips. If you go to a place the sells 'hot food' and order chips you expect to get fries of some description. I need to reset my brain to expect to get a bag of chips handed to me....anyway, back to the trip. Went back to the hotel. Still a little hungry so walked over to DQ. It's inconsequential but I just thought I'd point that out. Actually, is that DQ new? I don't remember it and clearly CP has an interest in it given the staff all wear CP badges. Anyway went back to the hotel to eat it since DQ apparently closes at 11pm and they were closing up...seems early to me but whatevs. It meant I could turn on the TV and watch the Preds v. Ducks. Got told to turn the TV after the third...missed out on the OT winner. Wait, I'm in Sandusky for coasters, not hockey...good point wifey. [This entire paragraph was pointless and poorly written, I just want to see who is actually reading]. Suturday morning - I'm ready to go...so why aren't the females in my life. OK, I'll go get breakfast to fill in time. Decided to break the streak of having never gone to McDonalds in the 10 months we've been been in the USA. I was also told the McDonalds breakfast is better than Tim Horton's (I love's me some Timmy's)...I beg to differ. I was fascinated by the local's (OK CP seasonal staff's) fascination with the new look. Maccas have mostly looked like this in Australia for about 5 or 6 years. The ordering screen have only been in oz for about 2 years or so but still, why are you guys here so behind. [Another paragraph to test your resolve] Anyway, back to the park a bit after 9AM. I'm OK with being a little late. Some people take getting in first way too seriously. From there it was: *Valravn - Wanted to ride front but the dude said we had to fill other seats as the front queue was too long. Yeah, I'm OK with that I guess. Still haven't had a chance to ride front though...am I missing out? I like how steep the lift hill seems to be. * Top Trill Dragster x 2 - Always get a little nervous on my first ride of this for the day. Given the bug situation that rolled in overnight I was concerned about unintended protein ingestion as the riders on the front all seemed to be coming back with. Turns out it was just a front seat issue. Ride was great further back and bug free. Mmmmmm, tall Then it was back to Magnum. Yeah, it's still fun. Some banks still seem weird....I will not get over it. Stopped for lunch early. Went with Stockade Refreshments as they had a vegie burger. I had chicken tenders. The staff were still somewhat confused on the process with the computers and pick-ups. My accent apparently didn't help the conversation progress. Still got food and somehow ended up with a larger than normal drink for my all season drink plan....small bonus. Food rating here overall = meh. An angle that we've all seen before. Just thought I'd show it again. Wandered around Dinosaurs Alive to let lunch settle. Dinosaurs could do with have the spider webs brushed off them as the Friday night bugs were now on display as well. Got some nice views of TTD and Millenium though. Much more interesting than the Dino's (sadly). A different angle Track Got on the train. Took some picture of some scenery along the way. Not really sure why the animatronics along the way are skeleton themed. Should that be reserved for Haloweekends or whatever it's called? Looks like the new Breakers hotel deck will have a lovely view of the inlet. I hope there will be a bar on the new deck Might need to re tile the roof on the new sun deck as well I hear the new deck won't be opening until the colour of the new wood weathers to math the old wood. Might be a while I guess. What is that, baltic pine? It may never match. I wonder what the number is for their deck builder is? I need some work done on mine. And I could use a generator too. So we got off the train and got some stuff out of a metal box with a coded door that we had stashed and went over to the Lakeside area and put it in a different metal box with a coded door. Then my daughter and I attempted to ride Max Air because the tester seat said it was all good. The people ahead of us didn't understand instructions and could not seem to comprehend they were assigned a seat number. Did not matter in the end because, just like what happened last year, someone had barfed the cycle before and they had to clean it up and run 3 empty cycles. Well, just like last year, we chose not to wait around. I think I'm not meant to ride Max Air. Off to ride Gatekeeper again. It's actually the longest I've ever waited for Gatekeeper...A whole 30 minutes. Yes, right Twix was better IMHO. Contemplated Wicked Twister. Tried the tester seat which indicated it was time to lay off the DQ and McDondalds and did not ride it. Wandered around for a while in the area Lakeside/Main Midway. Tried to convince my wife to ride Windseeker. She dislike heights more than me so that discussion was short. Ended up wandering around the area aimlessly for a while. Had a little look see inside Melt. Looks cool and considered it as a dinner option instead of the dining plan options. Looked for a t-shirt in the Pagoda gift shop. Felt that the building's styling was out of place and it put me off buying anything...well that and not being sure if I really want to be identified as a theme park/coaster nerd. Got in the line to get a beverage from a place on the Midway on my all season plan. After some shenanigans caused by some people stepping out of line causing me to lose my spot in the queue not once but twice I wondered why it was taking over 15 minutes to get through a not that long queue. There are 5 drink machines but only one being used at any given point in time. Seems over-capitalized and under-resourced from a business case perspective, but hey, I came here to get away from my day job so I should be thinking about design optimization right now. Wandered into the arcade while I waited for my wife and daughter to do something else. Played a coin dozer because I have no issues with throwing dollar bills in the rubbish. Got token totalling 30 points outs of 2 dollars. Turns out 30 points gets you nowhere. Wandered around the arcade wondering why people pay to get into a theme park to then pay to play arcade games...what don't they have a Dave and Busters where you're from? Came to the realization there are classic games in there and they are only a quarter or two to play. I'll be back next visit! I am disappointed there was no Superchexx Hockey though. CP...buy a Superchexx already. I won't even hold it against you if you make one of the teams the Blue Jackets (I like what Torts did this season). Anyway, removed our stuff from the metal box with the coded door. Decided we wanted to have a good view of the park so lined up for the Ferris Wheel. Did not realise just how slow they are at loading an unloading. After waiting almost 30 minutes to get on we then slowly froze our way to the top as the clouds moved in and the load cycle seemed to get longer. It took about 20 minutes to do one complete cycle along with the load/unload cycle. Seems rather slow compared to other wheels I've been on. Anyway, some pictures..... It was a lovely day Wondering if I should have shaved Weighing up my drive to ride Wicked Twister vs my love of food. Could exercise be the answer? Nah My daughter seems so happy to be hanging out with her parents Once our captors released us from the round jail we wandered over to Raptor. We seemed to get a rain delay as they shut down the coaster when we were half way through the queue. Then there were some shenanigans in the queue because some boys wanted to stay under the cover of the station entry so they didn't get their hair wet (yes boys, not girls). The same groups then decided it was funny to start randomly yelling out 'penis' randomly. I don't get it but they seemed to think it was hilarious. Thankfully it Raptor started back up and we move through reasonably quickly. It was good, but I like Banshee better. We headed back to Melt thinking we were over meal plan dining. The wait was quoted being an hour to an hour and a half. The list of names seemed short and I thought it might be much less. Then I realised with it being early in the season only part of the restaurant was open. Decided that despite it being the best chance at decent vegetarian food for my wife we would skip it and go with Panda Express instead. We will make time next visit. Fortunately Panda Express was not the worst meal of the trip. It was above-meh. Headed to the back of the park for Maverick. Turns out the bugs had moved in again. Everyone front row was picking good protein out of their teeth. Their harnesses looked like the front of my car after I got home...so much bug guts. We rode back row. I wear glasses and kept my mouth shut as much as possible to I survided. My wife and daughter however claimed they were inundated. Had to make a call of one last ride for the trip. Went with Millenium Force even though I had been on the hunt for Tilt-A-Whirl all day. Another good ride even with the occasional bug in the face. Decided that as much as the Pagoda felt out of place I would buy a t-shirt from there. Today I am not sure I made the right decision on showing the word I like roller coasters and theme parks. Might be a very expensive rag to wash the car with....just kidding. Still think I bought the wrong t-shirt though. Left the park after 10pm and then with tracking down a coffee and getting stuck behind some slow vehicles we made it safely home a little after 1AM. All in all a good day. I plan on going back when the family can string together a few days and stay and Breakers rather than off the point. I want to run a study on the effects of alcohol on the coaster riding experience. Look out for my findings on the exit path from the rides (or a seat on Max Air per the findings of others). That's enough of my stupidity for now. I'm going to soak my feet CG

Getting on the road in about 30 minutes for a sprint to Sandusky. Hopefully get some time in the park tonight and a full day tomorrow. If you hear an Australian accent in a queue it might be me! CG

Should have put my foot down and told my wife we were going. Maybe next weekend (pending weather...but let's not start that discussion again) CG

Even when the weather was iffy I was up for it. My daughter was up for it. My wife said no because apparently it's our one day this weekend to do family things like go ride a bike. Maybe next weekend. Have fun in the park if you're there/going. CG