bert425

thanks, appreciate it. hope to finish it up this weekend, and then I have SFOT and SFFT to work on. . . .! (I"ll likely just add those to my last Fiesta report, and just keep a "Texas Six Flags" thread, similar to how others do trip report threads, as I mainly go to the Texas parks).

Have fun. . gonna miss you by a week (we'll be back on Sat 10/13). if you do FlashPass (which I think you always do, right?).. you'll get lots of rides on Wonder Woman. .it's great!

it does when you go, Knoebels, Hershey, then Cedar Point for 3 days!

No, they are re-doing that front entrance area of the park where all the shops are just before you go through the turnstiles. [attachment=0]Screen Shot 2018-10-03 at 11.33.49 AM.jpg[/attachment] You can see Chocolate World is still a fair bit of distance away from the front entrance. Closer look at the area being re-developed. [attachment=1]Screen Shot 2018-10-03 at 11.34.07 AM.png[/attachment] That really clarifies it, thanks Robb! (what was throwing me is the new restaurant shop building looked similar to me in design of the current chocolate world - which, come to think of it, makes total sense. . keep that style for the design of the two big buildings near that side of the park). really happy no need to worry about the Dark Ride going away!

ok.. so it looks to me like they are re-doing Chocolate World, and enclosing it within the park bounderies now? or is the giant factory / restaurant/ etc. . going to be a new building? or is this in a completely new area? (they mention developing the acres. . so maybe coming off the back of the park over by wildcat?)

welcome to the the thread, and TPR check in as often as you can. .we try to support each other. LOL. even tho many of us fall off the wagon in the past 2 months. I'm terrified of what the scale is going to show, but I've done it before, I know I can get back on my healthy eating and exercise plan!

in my experience, the only things that will shut down in light rain are Poltergeist, the log flume, and Batman (S&S freespin). a bigger concern is any wind. . will shut down Poltergeist, Iron Rattler, Scream, and skyscreamer. . .and because Fiesta is in a quarry, sometimes it can seem not too windy, but it is windy within the park. that said, that's just MY experiences. . I'd go regardless, and think the rain chance will keep most of the crowds away.

as others have said, Thanks Larry! it's great to have this all in one post.

really nice report. . it's thrilling to see so many pics from a park I've not been to - tho I have been to King's Dominion twice, and it seems at least some of the park/layout is similar. but yeah.. one day, I'll make it to the Beast. . always been on my wish list. Did Flight of Fear use the MCB like Kings Dominions does? that almost brought us to a stop..it was 'weird'. .and kinda a rough ride on our trip.

Just by looking at pictures of you I could tell you were smarter than most people. YEAH! thanks! and you front row people are nuts. . . oh, it's a good ride in the front, but it's GREAT in the back. I think I rode only in the back on my rides this trip. as I noted earlier, I look at my pictures before I start typing, and that usually triggers my memory. Doesn't hurt that i tend to have a really good memory regardless (not photographic of course, but very good.. it's why I'm so good at my job in the tech industry, cause I can remember all the planned processing and can reschedule things very quickly). but yeah, looking at the pics, helps me remember. I get into lapses, when I don't have pictures - such as the 1st food stop at HersheyPark, which I only remembered when James reminded me where we stopped - then the whole lunch came back to me. Still need someone (Coasterbill)? to advise on if I got lucky they let me on Skyride alone? or if it's typically ok at CP? I'm still wondering about that

^ that's great! congrats. oh, I'm well off the wagon. when I was off exercise recovering for 6 weeks, fell back into bad eating habits, and gained back 20-25 lbs (i think.. avoiding the scale). but yesterday was Oct 1, so fresh start

I rode it, but blacked out and forgot. I think. from the headbanging? is it an SLC?

fair enough - tho some people actually have asked me if I had a picture of the injury (so I included the picture since I only showed it to some that were on the trip with us on the last 2 days). Zach : I do wish you had said something to me at the time I showed the pic on my phone to you (in the BBQ place right?), as I would have apologized immediately, since i didn't even consider someone might find a bruise "gross" and that's totally on me. and if you *did* say something, and I didn't immediately do so? Then that's also on me, as I simply didn't realize. So I will apologize for that now, and i am sorry if I offended or showed you something you feel was not appropriate. I appreciate the comment on the writing, I really do enjoy reliving the trip while writing up my reports. best, bert

that's actually the only pic I have of the quad injury (and the only time I posted it). . the other pics were just random bruises from the other coasters. I can remove it, if it's making folks uncomfortable ? trying to give the full experience, and tho yes, i was injured, dind't complain about it - just did what I needed to do, and enjoyed myself. EDIT: removed the picture. not sure when I'll finish the TR. .but I guess folks can feel free to skip it, or just look at the pictures, since yeah, I'll be talking about how things swelled up and it impacted the final day for me.

I had Chase to give me warning to brace as much as possible (but yeah, wasn't . . ."pleasant"). Think it's a great ride, and look forwards to riding again when not going into it injured.

some great pics, Chuck. looks like y'all continued to have a great time on this Japan trip. and why must you tempt me with the wasabi KitKat? I'm still searching for it locally!

Day 11: Cedar Point (Day 2) Despite not setting the alarm, I woke up just around 9am on Thursday. Although I hadn’t planned on utilizing the early entry, I peeked out the window and spotted a train on Millennium Force, but it seemed to be stopped midway up the lift Hill. . I watched for a moment to make sure it wasn’t moving, and when it didn’t, it cemented my plan to not rush for early entry. Besides, we had FastLane + today again. When I flipped on the bathroom light to brush my teeth, I was shocked to see how bad of a bruise had formed on my right thigh. It hadn’t looked anything like that the prior night. . so it came up really quickly after 36 hours (since I hadn’t banged on anything while riding the prior evening). The bruise wasn’t really hurting, but was extremely tender if I applied pressure. I debated popping a pill and going back to bed. .but since I was moving pretty well from having been off it all night I decided to proceed with my morning plans. But first I took some pics of it (and when I showed it to some of the folks from the prior night who had tried to get me to ride Steel Vengeance during ERT, at least one of them said “ok. .you get a pass for not riding last night”). So I got dressed, pocketed a Tramadol to take with food, and headed down to the Perkins in the Hotel Breakers lobby for a wonderful breakfast - that included a reasonably priced Southwestern Omelet with a side of really good (for not-in-the-South) Biscuits and Gravy. And coffee. . lots of cups of coffee. We didn’t have a food voucher today, but we did have a catered dinner (as well as an all day drink wristband), so my plan was to take my time eating, and really stuff myself – seriously, the Perkins on site is a great deal. Large qty of food, and priced basically the same as one you’d find on the side of the Freeway. I did start getting IMs from some of the group I was hanging out with about how much they were enjoying the early entry, so I posted back that I was enjoying my ERT at a booth in Perkins. LOL Since I was alone, and service was pretty fast, I was still done and headed towards the resort entry into park just before 10am park opening. . tho not before stopping for a pic with Lucy and Snoopy, who were in the Breakers Lobby posing for pictures. I exchanged my ticket and FastLane+ at the resort entry, and since was still doing ok bending my leg, headed to Witches’ Wheel – which CP had just announced the day before would be closing forever at the end of August. I love Enterprises, and was very happy I was able to get a great ride on it (I think on the first cycle of the day, possibly), before it’s gone. I heard from others that later that day, the ride was “surrounded by vomit”. . LOL. . so I’d say that folks who don’t typically ride it went ahead and hopped on it for a final ride. Luckily, I didn’t witness any of that during my ride, but I’d say that’s a fitting eulogy for an Enterprise. After getting my ride, I headed down the midway, stopping to take some pics of Valravn and Iron Dragon cycling, from the nice location near Corkscrew (tho funny, I didn’t bother to take a single picture of Corkscrew over the midway this trip!). To save as much walking as I could, I hopped on the Skyride, and took it towards the front of the park, snapping pictures along the way. Now that I think about it, is it odd they let me ride it solo? I know parks have rules about the Ferris wheel “No Solo Riders”. .but I just hopped on the Skyride with no issues. Just something I thought about while typing. after exiting, and a quick backtrack up the midway to grab a ride on Cedar Downs (of course), it was time to check another ride off my “missed last time” list. . and this one was a biggie: the Midway Carousel I had missed it on my prior visit, because even tho we were there for 3 days that trip, we only came in thru the front gate once – during the early entry for CoasterMania. And had just never made it back to that far near the front gates. So I just had TOTALLY missed it, which is so strange for a Carousel fan like myself. But now was my chance to remedy that. The Midway Carousel is the oldest ride operating at Cedar Point, and per the sign in front of it: it was built in 1912 by Daniel Muller, and is one of the few remaining Daniel Muller Carousels in the world. It moved to Cedar Point 1946, and is made up of 60 intricately carved horses, and 4 chariots. It’s a 4-across, with the interior 3 rows of horses galloping. In the center is a spectacular Wurltizer #153 organ and really is just beautiful. I actually waited in a line to ride this beauty, and it took 2 cycles for me to get onto it. While I was waiting, Phil texted me asking if I wanted to meet them over at Melt! for lunch. I told him I had actually eaten a pretty big breakfast not too long before, but sure, I’d come meet them after my ride. So headed over to Melt! and found James, Phil, and Kody (along with another table full of TPR folks sitting nearby), and joined them to marvel at the simply HUGE sandwiches that Melt! serves. They were so big, I believe that Phil took ½ of his back to Breakers to put in the mini-fridge for the next day. It was a nice break to sit and talk to the guys, and tho I didn’t eat (only drank water), I enjoyed the conversation and hanging out with them in the A/C. When Phil headed back to his room with the leftovers, I declined joining the guys – who I think were headed over to Raptor – and instead headed over to yet another ride from my “missed last time” checklist. Yet another Carousel, that was right around the corner.  Cedar Point actually has 3 “Carousels”. . if you wish to classify Cedar Downs Racing Derby as one -- which I tend not to do, since it’s open air in the center and is more of a “thrill ride”. (FYI: Cedar Downs – was built in 1920, and is one of only (I believe) 2 still operating in North America) But all 3 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. the 3rd Carousel at CP is surprisingly, not too far from the Midway Carousel, over in Kiddie Kingdom area (tho honestly, I’m not really sure why, it’s not too much smaller than the Midway Carousel), and is called “shockingly” the Kiddie Kingdom Carousel. The Kiddie Kingdom Carousel, was made in 1921 by the Dentzel Carousel Company – tho it didn’t come to Cedar Point until the late 60’s. It’s a 3 across, with the two interior rows galloping, and a static outside ring of horses/chariots. Like the Midway Carousel, it too is a classic that’s filled with wooden carved figures. *unlike* the Midway Carousel, the KKC, doesn’t contain only horses, but rather a wide variety of animals one can ride. I rode an Ostrich : ) I don’t recall an organ on this Carousel, but I do remember there was some spectacular music played during my ride. As I had decided to take it easy, after checking off the Carousels from my list (and taking another spin on Windseeker – which operated all 3 days we were there, and I rode several times across all 3 days. . wish the cycle was longer, but whattaya gonna do?), I headed into the Arcade, to play some pinball. Many of the classic games were broken, but 1 or two were working, including the “largest pinball game ever made”: Atari’s “Hercules” – which had a few free credits on it. So of course I played! And had a nice conversation with one of the techs who came by while I was playing to try to fix one of the broken games. He even took a pic of me playing, so I could send home to show how much fun I was having. Cause, you know, I was. And if you’ve been to Cedar Point, you know what’s right across the midway from the arcade, right? Yep, so after stopping to hug the Snoopy figure outside of Planet Snoopy, I took (yet another) spin on Cedar Downs. Hate me all you want, it’s my favorite flat. . and despite the issues I was having getting my leg over the horse, the operator still made me get off to walk around to get back in queue to get onto the next cycle. It was weird, because she held the next cycle for me to get off and walk around. .but, eh. . whatever. . rules. LOL I was on the 2nd (3rd of the day) spin on Cedar Downs, when Phil, James, and Darryl shouted out to me (of course they found me at Cedar Downs. . . I had joked on the message boards, that if someone was looking for me check there). And I was glad to meet up with folks to hang with again. I think we may have gone and taken a spin on Valravn, and while in line (with FL+ of course), we saw Millennium Force cycling. By the time we got off of our ride, MF was sending out cars with riders. So we headed right there – along, with almost everyone else in the front end of the park, it seemed. The switchbacks were full! I guess because it had been down for a couple of days, everyone got excited, but at least FL+ saved us quite a bit of time in this case as it was way past the merge. It was so full, I posted pics of the queue onto TPR. We saw several TPR folks in the queue with us, and as we got close to the station, even spotted Joe and Robb – in queue waiting for the back row (sorry, Front Row lovers, MF is a back car coaster for me!). I ended up being in the ride behind them, so got a good pic of them in the train before it pulled out. MF was just as great as I remember it being, and remain so happy that it opened up during our visit – I was able to get 4 rides on it overall, and loved every one of them. And because John was in the group of TPR folks there, he was able to get everyone’s MF pics.. so the pic I have below is thanks to him (thanks John!). I think it was around 3, or close to it by the time we got off MF, and we had the catered pizza/pasta dinner at 5. Since my leg had started to throb a bit, I decided to head back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub again for a while. James liked the idea, so he and I headed back to Breakers, changed into swimwear, and headed down to the “good” hot tubs to enjoy the soak, chat, and people watch. During the conversation, it came up that James had been carrying with him (for years, LOL), an emergency medical kit which happened to have in it a bandage for wrapping an ankle/wrist, etc. . and he offered it to me, but couldn’t guarantee it would still be usable. I took him up on it and he dug it out for me when we went back to the rooms to change for dinner. It was perfectly usable still (still very elastic-y). . thanks again for that James! So I wrapped up my thigh in the bandage, and we headed up the boardwalk to the dinner. Tho the dinner was nothing particularly memorable - standard pizza and pasta & salads, if I recall - it was cool to have most all of the TPR folks on the trip together for a meal, to get updates, catch up with others I hadn’t seen, and get updates on info needed. We also got the update for the current T-shirt count from Jared’s “merch madness” contest (where those who wanted to, had placed bets on how many T-shirts he would purchase on the trip. I WAY underestimated him, and he blew by my guess by the 3rd park of the trip. . .i know better for next time!). In talking to Laura during dinner she reminded me that she was planning on going to the Carousel Museum in downtown Sandusky the next day, and asked if I’d want to go with. I really, really wanted to go, but said I’d have to play it by ear and see how I was moving the next day. I left dinner with James, Darryl and Phil, and I believe we hopped on Windseeker (it’s right there by where we ate), and witnessed a drunk (I think?), VERY energetic and flamboyant guy, in spandex shorts, sashaying up and down screaming encouragement (?) to the riders, and dancing along the ride perimeter. The operators were ignoring him, and/or laughing at him.. tho to me he was ruining the experience for those riding. And he was still hovering around that area of the park the next day too. . . it was . . . “odd”. He must be a regular there, or well known to be harmless there? I found him to be a welcome distraction (didn’t hurt that we were sitting on the side next to the queue/lake, so he wasn’t yelling near us), from the pain I was getting from my legs dangling. . since the evening meds hadn’t kicked in yet. If I rode with my right leg not bent – ie: sticking out supported by my left leg underneath, I was able to tolerate it much better. But yeah, it was “odd” The guys wanted to ride Wicked Twister after that..and I knew the launch would kill me, so I sat and chatted with some folks about Tiki Twirl while waiting for them to get off. And then it was time for Troika Troika Troika! Oh, it wasn’t graceful getting in, but hell yes, I was gonna ride this classic, and we got a good cycle on it. I think we also got a spin on Gatekeeper while over here, and then the guys wanted to get on MaxAir, which is another one I knew there was no way I could get on with my injury. So I sat and took some pics – MaxAir really is very photographic – while they rode, and then I think maybe headed over to Cedar Downs, and possibly Blue Streak (which I was afraid to ride, so again waited for them, but after looking at the restraints, I DID get on it the next day and had a good ride in the front seat). We walked up Frontier Trail, with my intention of going into the Frontierland Museum, riding the Cedar Creek Mine Train, and getting my last “missed last time” ride off my queue – Cedar Point’s 19th “coaster” Pipe Scream (hey, it counts it on the Coasteermania! 2017 shirt). Stopping to get some pics of Maverick in the early evening light. Maverick had been down for most of the afternoon (apparently. . I hadn’t made it to the back end of the park on this day until now). And I think MF had gone back down. . .so Maverick was pulling a healthy line. Even the Fast Lane + line for Maverick looked to be at least 40 minutes, but when we got to Cedar Creek Mine Train, it was down, so we decided why the hell not? We wanted to ride Maverick and just got into the Fast Lane + line. Rule of thumb for FL+, is if the line is longer than 20 or so minutes, go ride something else and try again later -- as it’s silly to wait in a line that long when one has FL+ and could be actually riding something! I even joked that if anyone from the trip saw us waiting in this line, they’d be making fun of us. And right as I said it, another group of folks from the trip got right behind us in line : p. . . . so we all did something silly and waited together. LOL a silly decision is always better when you aren’t the only one doing it. Shockingly, Maverick did not break down even once while we waited, but as it got more into dusk the bugs really came out. I note this because I think we sat in the front row, and I spent the good chunk of the ride spitting dead bugs out of my mouth. the restraints on Maverick really did not bother me, as the shoulder are where the restraints hit during the airtime, not on the upper thigh.. but after getting in and out of the train, I needed a short break back at the hotel to rest. So I decided I would hold off on the Museum and Pipe Scream until the next day, as I wanted to get back to the hotel for a bit. It had come up in discussion during the day, that I really should be Icing my thigh. . . and I wanted to elevate my leg a bit, and ice it before tonight’s ERT – again on Steel Vengeance. So I headed back to Hotel Breakers (it really is worth EVERY penny to stay on site, as it’s so easy to back and forth to the hotel room). Added bonus to going back to the room? Charlie Brown was out hanging around Hotel Breakers front doors, so I got another character pic. After relaxing for a bit, and icing, I re-wrapped my thigh as tightly as I could and was ready to try – possibly - to get a ride in on Steel Vengeance (I may have fallen asleep briefly with the bag of ice on my leg actually, but I know I was back up and headed over to Steel Vengeance for ERT by 10:15 pm). I was very wary about it, but wanted to try at least. Chance kindly offered that he would ride with me, in a center row (which he said had the smoothest ride), and he would tell me when I should brace against upcoming ejector air. So that certainly tilted me towards gritting my teeth and giving it a shot. It’s actually good that I hadn’t realized at the time the severity of the Quad injury, or I certainly wouldn’t have even entertained trying. . but everyone was right that I had to ride at least once, since I was there and it is the new hotness there. So once we got the all clear, everyone headed up the steps to the station, and I observed for about 20 minutes or so, cheering on the group as I had done the night before. Then I started getting asked if I was gonna ride, and there were some encouraging calls. So I asked Chase if he’d really ride with me, and we got into a mid train row, and then we headed out of the station. I was greatly appreciative of the two “ski-pole” hand grips that have been added to the trains. Yes, they are in an awkward place, and if both riders in a row want to use them it’s a bit “cozy”. . but Chase was hands up, so no issue there for me. Do I wish they were a bit easier to hang onto? Yeah, but as said, I was greatly appreciative there was an option there to hang on to. The ascent up the lift hill, with the hanging lanterns is brilliant, and at night the drop over the 1st hill into darkness? Freaking fantastic. As is the first outward bank turn (2nd hill), with that intense sustained airtime. Chase warned me the 1st extreme ejector air was coming, and I braced myself.. still hurt, but not terrible, and we zoomed thru the 1st barrel roll. Was still loving the ride as we kept intense speed into thru the inside of the course, when he advised to really brace, as there is major ejector air heading into the Mid Course Brakes. Wow.. yeah, that one hurt.. . pops you up hard out of your seat into the restraints. Didn’t have much time to fret about it, as I didn’t notice the MCB slowing us down much at all, as we continued on thru the remainder of the course (that 4th barrel roll, buried deep inside the structure? *loved* it. So many wave turns inside, and passing so fast, it takes your breath away. then I was warned that we were coming up on the final run of bunny hops. Yeah. . those were pretty painful even braced for them as much as I was. But I joined the rest of the train applauding as we got back into the station. Stepping out of the train, my legs felt like jelly. . and it actually took me a good 10-15 minutes to recover from that – but note: that was NOT due to my injury. . . that was totally due to the intensity of the ride. I wasn’t the only one affected that way either, a few others joined me on the exit ramp area to get their “land-legs” back. I knew enough not to tempt fate with my injury and ride again, but I was very proud of myself for getting on it to ride it while there. .and really appreciated the enthusiasm from the others to get me adrenalized enough to get on (and again, appreciate Chance “play by play”ing me thru our ride. LOL I absolutely will ride it again next time I’m in the park, I liked it a lot, but man is it intense. A- ride for me (losing just a bit of points for that ejector air into the MCB. So I enjoyed watching folks ride it thru the rest of the ERT – I only saw a couple of people attempt every ride – it’s so intense that Mgmt asked people to get off between rides and go down the exit stairs, cut under the track, and back up the other side. .so no real “marathoning”. . .but most folks took a train or two break between rides that I saw. I stayed and posed in the group shot at the end of the night – I rode it, damn right I was gonna be in this pic : ) And then day 2 at CP was over, and we all made our way back to the hotel (again, close to 1am) to get ready for the last full day of the TPR USA trip. Enjoying my ERT at a booth in Perkins (tho for some reason, didn't take a picture of the food) Lucy and Snoopy! ah. . lovely, hate that it's gone but I got a ride on it! see? the operator even took a pic for me. Valravn doing it's thing I like this pic, even if Valravn isn't quite at the drop yet on the skyride. . which reminds me, I actually did hop on the Matterhorn behind me before getting on the skyride (since my leg was still pretty bendable 1st thing in the morning). pics from the skyride Raptor doing it's thing on the steps exiting skyride. Cedar Downs is over there on the left the Midway Carousel. it's on the National Historic Register and, as always, being on a Carousel, is my happy place the operator saw me taking a selfie, and asked if I wanted to a full picture. .so of course, I said yes. then over to Melt to meet the guys -- this is Phil's "snack" and James' small lunch and Kody's It's a lot of food, but it all looked great, and smelled fantastic. (I was just still full from breakfast) It was weird the place wasn't packed tho.. it was sorta early, but still lunch time. after eating, it was time to go to the Kiddie Kingdom Carousel! once again, selfie by me. . . full pic by . . actually, wasn't the operator, think it was just a nice person on the animals in front of me (since the operator is walking by behind me). and Laura asked me, but no, nothing against Ostriches. . . LOL. . just was posing with my hands around it's throat. then it was into the arcade, where I found a working Hercules machine and had a nice conversation with a games tech - who had been trying to get the pinball machine near me working. But took this pic for me to send home. after playing some pinball, it was time to ride Cedar Downs (again). . but first? hugging Snoopy. no, like with the Ostrich, I'm not sure exactly WHY I grabbed Snoopy's schnozz, instead of putting my arm around him. LOL Cedar Downs! (and yes, it does move fast enough that I turn my hat so it doesn't blow off) I didn't win my race this time Holy Crap~ look at this FL+ line at Millennium Force thru several switchbacks! You can tell it had been down and lots of folks wanted to ride it. including us! (me, Phil, Darryl, James) but the passengers are coming back happy! and it's operating steadily. hey! it's Joe and Robb. . . waiting for back row and I ended up right next to them in the line. . not sure why many folks prefer the front, MF is a back car coaster for me. . and as you can tell from the angle, my preferred seat is 2nd to last row, Bay side. Thanks to Liz (TBPony) for turning me on to that magic seat and thanks to John for grabbing all the ride pics for us! after dinner, it was time for Troika Troika Troika (and no, I'm not sure why I didn't take a pic of the sign) we each got our own car, on different arms. .too far away to high five, but could wave at each other when passing by Wicked Twister from Troika Troika Troika MaxAir really photographs well. I didn't ride, but took pics of it. swings so high the guys on MaxAir possibly my favorite pic from this day: MaxAir swinging, Raptor hitting the loop, around a centered skyride car, and Blue Streak heading up the lift hill. early evening shot of Maverick's water cannons. . which you don't notice while on the ride, since you zoom by them so fast. since Cedar Creek Mine Ride was down, we decided to just get in line to wait for Maverick. This is from FL+ line, on the stairs. . but look at that standby line! Shockingly, it didn't go down for issues even once while we were in the line. Headed back to Hotel Breakers to ice my leg, and found Charlie Brown! End of night picture on the Steel Vengeance Station after ERT. I rode it. only once, but I rode it! Pic courtesy of Robb Alvey absolutely lovely evening Steel Vengeance pic, I think from Brad Roach (someone please correct me if I'm mis-crediting) (Hi Chuck!)

very cool to see those pics! thanks for sharing.

this is a really nice report from a park I've never been to (but want to go). especially like the animal pics (I had no idea they had so many varieties there!. .. tho are you sure that's not a peacock by the log flume?). the trail around the outside of the park is just lovely too. glad you had a great time, and by the way - your pics are great! no need to apologize for anything, you are a better photographer than you are giving yourself credit for - and the angled up at the Ferris Wheel pic at the end of the night is fantastic! you have a great eye for framing However, I *do* need to take issue with this: one never needs an excuse to ride a Carousel

great pics! (and info). tho, shades of "Iron Butt". . I see "Control Cat"

in my experience, crowds are really hit or miss. tho now that the Waterpark section is closed for the season, everyone will be in the rest of the park (if you go on a hot day in the summer, the waterpark pulls a lot of the crowd during the afternoon heat) but I will note for you that Poltergeist almost never opens with the park (something to do with the launch system needing time to warm up. . or something like that). . . so keep an eye on it over there ~2 hours after park open, and if you see it going, head over. They've been operating with only 1 train, so waits can get long. (tho if you're doing Flash Pass, it does dump you right into the station to bypass the line). Hopefully you have better luck with Iron Rattler. .it was down all last weekend, but maybe will be open for you. They seem to shut it down for any wind, due to concerns about vallying, but it's a great coaster.

^ agreed with all above. great report, and yes, ready to go back now.

This is a picture from the ERT on day three. . but the restraints on Maverick hit me just about the same as they hit Robb. . .(so you can see it's well above the thigh, more towards the waist). the shoulder restraints are where I hit with every airtime hill

oh yeah, regardless I had a GREAT time. the entire trip. no really. as I like to say, "I'm explaining, not complaining" hopefully it's coming across that way.

not 365, but yes, year round -- with most weekends including Fri/Sat/Sun.