bert425

^ did they ever announce anything for 2019? or is that what this is?

great report with wonderful pictures. brings back a flood of memories, from when I was just there ~7 weeks ago! agree with you 100% on MF, it's my top coaster in the park (Maverick being #2). sad to see no Cedar Downs love tho. . that one is my favorite flat there. no question.

Poltergeist at SFFT on Sunday.

actually, Maverick restraints hit on my shoulders, not on my legs/thighs. . so no issue other than getting in and out of the train (ie: not fast nor graceful). but yep, was able to ride it multiple times -- including the final ERT on Friday Night, when I rode a good 6-8 times

great pics, and bringing back some wonderful memories. . . can't believe it's been ~2 months already and kudos on getting a pic of someone who infamously does not like to be in pictures! (and this person is actually smiling in the pic too). yay!

no problem. . Japan rents middle aged men by the hour these days. . . if I have to order 6 weeks ahead anyways, I'll get one shipped over

that looks like such a wonderful thing to do, and I'm jealous as my spouse (who is terrified of heights) no WAY would do that with me. LOL. . so I'd be having solo breakfast in the sky, if I ever got to do it

was at Six Flags Fiesta Texas on Sunday, and back in a few weeks (to get our 2019 passes processed)

thanks Bill! this is just 5 or so hours from day 1, so still 2 full days to go. . tho I don't think I have near as many pics from those last two days. but really did have a fantastic time, and would/will sign up again for a TPR trip the moment I get an opportunity!

Day 10: driving and Cedar Point (Day 1) I woke up on this Wed morning still hurting, but feeling much less pain than I had the prior evening. I was still stiff, but able to move after sleeping/resting my leg. We were leaving at 9 for Cedar Point . . and I was glad this was mainly a driving day, since it would continue to allow me to keep weight off my leg. I popped another Prescription Ibuprofen, brushed my teeth, and grabbed my bag to head down to the lobby for the included breakfast before loading up on the bus. As mentioned, I was doing much better than I had the night before, but as we drove I did start to stiffen up just a bit. . and by the time we stopped at the roadside rest area for lunch, I was feeling it and had pretty much decided that the moment we got settled into Hotel Breakers, I was gonna hit the hot tub to soak and possibly blow off the first night at CP to continue resting. I wasn’t that hungry since I’d had a decent sized breakfast at the hotel (and had been snacking on the bus drive), so while most went to Burger King, or one of the other food options, I checked out the convenience store there – looking still for a cane or a tall umbrella I could use as a cane (they seemed to sell almost everything, but not that..go figure). I picked up some bottled water - which was on sale cheap – since Hotel Breakers has fridges in every room, and after a stop at Starbucks for a Vanilla Latte (my kryptonite). . parked my butt outside to warm up (I dunno what was up with it, but both rest stops we did breaks at on this trip were FREEZING cold inside) and rested / called home to chat w/ my spouse for the rest of this stop. we made really good time, despite the drizzle, and I think we made it to Sandusky earlier than the itinerary had noted (thanks for some fantastic driving, Franklin!) Bus parking turned out to be directly in front of the Hotel Breakers main entrance – it didn’t really look like a spot, but that’s where they said to park, so the bus sat there right along the front curb for 2 ½ days Made for an easy unloading of luggage, and we all gathered in the main lobby while Elissa and Robb went and got everyone checked in, distributed all our stuff – separate envelopes for each day containing tickets, wristbands for the Breakers Pool area, fast lane +, all day drink band, meal tickets (voucher for the 1st night, catered meals the other two days), and a wonderful surprise gift: a beautiful Steel Vengeance numbered lithograph! we lucked out with room placement too. . I believe we were all on the 3rd floor, but most rooms (maybe all) were facing the park – so we had some great views of Cedar Point (I took a bunch of pics from the room, and in several, I managed to catch trains on Iron Dragon, Corkscrew, Rougarou, and sometimes Valravyn in the pics). It remained overcast, but hadn’t rained, so most folks headed for the rooms to drop off things, and then immediately headed to the park. I switched to my swimsuit and slowly headed down to the hot-tubs, that were conveniently just outside the wing we were in. Unfortunately, those hot-tubs were not hot, nor blowing bubbles – they were basically tepid standing water (and full of little kids playing in them). I asked one of the employees in the area about it, and he told me that they were having trouble with those hot-tubs, but were actively trying to get them fixed. However, the hot-tubs off of the new wing (closer to the waterpark) were working . . .of course. I really needed the heat on my leg, so hobbled down the boardwalk to the new wing area, and found some glorious hot-tubs with not much crowd, tons of heat, lots of bubbling. . and bar service (that was NOT from the TGI Fridays, but was from the main Breakers bar. . that they would serve to the tubs). I soaked about 45 minutes, and the heat helped my thigh/leg a TON.. really, a pretty bad bruise was forming, but the stiffness had loosened up. It was probably close to 6pm by now, and the park was open until 11 – which is when our ERT was going to start.. . and I was walking much better and feeling well enough. . . that I decided to head into the park. With FastLane + the first thing I headed for (closest to the entrance anyways) was TTD, which was running consistently. I was concerned about the airtime at the top of the top-hat from the launch, but went for it anyways as I was not hurting. There was a little bit of discomfort, but nothing bad.. certainly not to the point of pain, so I hopped back in line and rode it again. Then headed across to Power Tower (one of my missing rides from my prior visit), and was watching it – trying to decide if I should give it a shot, when I met up with a group of TPR folks who came by. I can’t recall if I had texted Phil that I was in the park now, or if they just saw me while they were headed to TTD, but either way, it worked out great that I had a group to hang with again. I had just ridden TTD twice, so I waited for them to ride, and then we all headed across to Power Tower – which I had decided to ride, as long as I didn’t get on the “shoot up” side, and just did the drop side. I loved it, and no pain here either, and the guys even went around to ride the shoot tower (and they told me that it didn’t really jolt into the restraints since it’s so tall), but I played it safe, and stuck only the one ride on the drop side. We wandered around the park a bit, I believe riding Valravn, Rougarou, the train, Maverick, Skyhawk (the massive Screaming Swing) -- which ended up being a TPR takeover, tho we didn’t realize the back side of our row was also a group of TPR folks until after we got off of it -- and then a few folks wanted to go on Steel Vengeance to try it out (since it was running) before our ERT later that night. I asked some who had ridden it and they confirmed that it has some ejector air, so I left those that wanted to ride to do so, saving SV for later. I mention “since it was running” since Millennium Force was down this entire 1st evening, with the car stuck on the lift hill. Since I hadn’t eaten yet, and it was getting close to 9pm, I headed with a few folks (by train again) back over to the front station, so I could get a Mac Bowl with my voucher from the Mac N Cheese place under the skyride station. I had been told by those who also tried it, that it was nowhere near as good as the one I had gotten at KD, but decided to go for it anyways, since I hadn’t really eaten at the lunch stop and had to eat something (since I had been taking meds). When I got to the window, the Philly Cheese Steak (with bacon bits!. . LOL. . drove Russ *nuts* they called it a Philly) actually looked good, but I didn’t want the bun really, so asked if I could get the innards of the Philly just dumped on one of the Mac n Cheese bowls. The guy at the window gave me a long excuse of why he couldn’t. . and as the bugs were starting to come out big time, I just wanted to get away from the lights and just ordered the Philly, expecting to just eat the innards. the cook shouted to me to come back to the window, and said to the register guy: “did he ask if we could put Philly on mac? And you told him no?” the register guy confirmed, and then the cook said to him: “Dude’s got a meal ticket, AND it’s the end of the night, what are you planning on doing with the leftovers? just give the man what he’d like” so they asked me if I wanted that, and I said, “sure, if it’s ok” and they loaded me up a Mac n Cheese bowl smothered in cheesesteak, onions, peppers, tho I asked to “hold” the bacon-bits. . . LOL and of course, it wasn’t great. . and nowhere near as good as the Mac n Cheese bowl I had gotten at KD. .but big ol points to these guys for going beyond and making me feel special. so took a 20 minute break to eat, and then, since we were towards the front of the park, we decided (despite the bugs) to get some evening rides on a few things. After a quick stop to get a ride on Cedar Downs (of course), we headed to Raptor where I rode in the front and seeing where I was going made for a much better ride on it than I had gotten the prior year as I was able to brace myself for some of the transitions. I liked it way better than Alpengeist, and I’m glad I gave it another shot even with all the bugs that ended up on my face – like freckles. We passed a few other TPR folks when exiting, who had just come from Blue Streak and described their ride as "a bug eating contest". . . LOL We also headed over to Gatekeeper, for a really good night ride . .and I got to notice that the eyes in the griffon head on the train light up. Surprised I hadn’t ever noticed that before. Towards the front, no rattle at all, and gave a wonderful floaty feel. We criss-crossed back over to Valravn for another ride, before deciding it was getting close to 10:30 and we should head back towards Frontier Town. Even tho I was doing much better than I had the prior night at Hershey, most all of the coasters at CP have steps to get up and down from the raised stations. Going up was slow, but I was able to handle them OK. Coming down post ride however – while not having much bend in my leg – was starting to be an issue. Though several of the coasters (in particular Maverick, and ValRavn) have elevators to exit the platforms, which I had been allowed to use. . so that helped a LOT that the coasters I rode the most let me use the Elevators instead of going down the stairs. But back to back rides on Raptor & then Gatekeeper. . lots of stairs going down. . had affected me a bit and I had started limping again, and was starting to get some pain. So rather than walk, we took the train from the front station back to Frontier Town. It was on this shorter side of the train ride (no skeletons, but you go under MF) that was saw some maintenance guys working in the lift station booth at MF, so I got some hopes that it would be opening at some point during our visit. But not today, it was down the whole time since we had arrived. We got off the train just as the fireworks started over Steel Vengeance. It was pretty spectacular to see – it turned out they were actually the fireworks that ended the nightly “glow party” thing that CP had going on over on the beach. . but from our location at the train station, it was pretty cool to watch the fireworks that looked like they were over the coaster. we joined the rest of the TPR folks in the entrance plaza over by Steel Vengeance waiting for them to clear thru the line (which took about 40 minutes. . so ERT started closer to 11:40) – and once we were good to go, everyone put everything into a fluffy bunny, and started up the path deep inside the wood structure. I absolutely felt there was no way I’d be able to ride, despite my wanting to - all my meds had worn off and I was really starting to hurt. So tho a few folks tried to “chant” me into riding, there was simply no way I was up for it. However, I was determined to hang out with the group and cheer them on. Besides I loved the atmosphere by SV at night. . standing on the platform watching the trains climb that lift hill (gorgeous with the hanging lanterns lit up, keeping up the theming. . too bad no camera with me to take pics!). Oh and the spiders. HUGE, honking spiders. . everywhere. Nightmare inducing. . I had to be careful where I leaned. It certainly explained why Steel Vengeance had way less bugs around it than the other coasters. . and explained why the spiders were so freaking fat and huge – they eat well at SV! I knew better than to attempt riding, but I very much enjoyed watching others enjoy themselves. .really. all too soon, the hour of ERT was up, and it was time to say goodnight to CP (at almost 1am) and we all headed back to Hotel Breakers – me very much at the very rear of the group as slow as I was moving. I got back to the room, carefully got in the shower (it was a struggle getting my leg high enough to clear the bathtub), and then decided that as much pain as I was feeling? It was time to switch from the Ibuprofen to the stronger, Tramadol I had brought. I didn’t set any alarm, not really caring about the early admission (since I wasn’t gonna run to Steel Vengeance, and Millennium Force wasn’t likely to be open since it had been down all night). . besides, we had FastLane +. . so I planned to sleep in and relax. So I popped a Tramadol, and was out pretty fast. at the lunch stop . . .Russ is "King of the Rest Area" I had Starbucks, and sat outside - it was cold in there! our TPR group, front of the bus Photo Courtesy of Robb Alvey our TPR group, rear of the bus Photo Courtesy of Robb Alvey we're here. . and for a pic thru the window of a moving bus? not too bad. . just missed the "C" ok. . better. tho still cut some off we're here. . overcast, but look at all that empty parking! it kept folks away. (and it was a Wed night) still on the bus, grabbing pics thru the window as we go around to Hotel Breakers ValRavn about to dive and there it goes! ooooo.. . . weird angle, but hey, not blurry which is great considering I took a pic of a train on the lift hill moving, from a bus, also moving. i gots skillz apparently TTD running thru Gemini wow.. . TTD is cycling well. . . several launches in a row! (something that would continue this whole first evening) last pic before pulling into Hotel Breakers lot, and exiting the bus. one of the Carousel horses in the Hotel Breakers lobby, with TPR group behind awaiting Robb & Elissa directions. Photo courtesy (I think) of Phil. Could be Darryl tho. the amazing Steel Vengeance numbered lithograph/print that we got as a bonus. (this is a picture of Michael's print, since he opened it in the room to look at it. . I waited until I got home to open mine). the view from our room. the view from our room TTD continuing to cycle. . .yay. . but i REALLY needed to go soak my leg by this point ok. . . I've soaked, and I'm feeling way better, and moving quite a bit better than I had been. So heading up the sidewalk to go to the park tonight after all. got both Gemini and Magnum trains in one picture. unfortunately did not get a ride on either Magnum this trip (wasn't gonna chance it at all, with the amount of drops/ejector air I know it has) or Gemini (when I considered it the next day couldn't really bend my leg enough to get in the train car) . . .it was a good decision on my part, and at least I rode them both a bunch on my prior visit. Power Tower. . which ones are the launch, and which ones are the drop? watched it a bit to figure out. Waiting for the group to ride TTD. . I had just ridden twice, so waited for them to get a ride. I honored the "no pictures of the pictures" policy, by taking a picture of them reacting to their pictures on Skyhawk. . pic courtesy of Brad Roach. (he was hanging with another group of TPR folks - who happened to be sitting on the row behind us, that we didn't realize. once we started swinging, Brad got a great pic of our side, as we swung up .as well as pics of the other side, that I don't have. . maybe he'll post em?) at Maverick.. one of my favorite rides in the park! we swung by SV to check out the line.. and a few folks wanted to take a spin. I held off, but took some pics. Sunset over Maverick with James and Russ walking back over to SV to see if those that wanted to ride, were still waiting in line it really is beautiful as it starts to get dark another of my favorite pics from this trip. . .really loved meeting Russ. Such a great guy the cook at the Mac and Cheese place who told the Register Guy to give me whatever i wanted. . . the result. It actually tasted better than it looks, but was still just "OK" Gatekeeper Train's eyes light up at night. never had noticed that! Fireworks over Steel Vengeance. just before the end of night, and while we were waiting to begin ERT. the group and the crew after the 1st night's ERT. Photo by Robb Alvey I'm way in the back, mostly blocked (you can see the tuft of my hair. .LOL). but not worries, as I didn't participate in actually riding this night, but hung out to cheer the group on, avoid the spiders, and loved watching the ride cycle.

Night and Day. . rode in the front (with Jon). . and it COMPLETELY redeemed itself. so I got one of those (spoken only in whispers) "good rides" on Blue Streak. Fairly smooth, lots of airtime. .

they didn't change the logo in anywhere other than the advertising.. even on the menu, it's still IHOP

here's the burger I got from IHOP, on our drive up to Dallas for SFoT visit. it was the "breakfast" burger that came with hash Browns, bacon, and an egg on it. . . was actually pretty decent (if a bit overcooked so the egg yolk didn't run like it's supposed to). . and as a nice option, was allowed to swap out the french fries side for a pancake. I'd eat it again, tho not the greatest thing I've ever had.

Don't be silly! I very much enjoyed rooming w/ ya.. . (hopefully your scratch off lucky streak continued?). hell, if anything, you put up with me. . tho I THINK I'm easy to get along with. as to the face you're making in the pictures. . LOL. . aren't you smiling in the vast majority of them? well.. ok.. I THINK this is a smile:

quick 3 hour visit to the park today, on a very overcast (but no rain) day. Scream operated off and on during my visit, and looked like Iron Rattler was not gonna open at all (no staff on the ride, and not even someone stationed out front by the chained off queue to talk to people -- an operator elsewhere noted to me it was because of "weather"). .but I dunno. . . it never rained, and Skyscreamer operated all day. didn't stay late enough for any of the mazes to open (I was only there from 12:30-3:45), but the majority of the decorations are decent (a few are just awful tho. . but I think those were scarezone areas, so it's more about the live actors they would have out later, than decorations, right? I'll give SFFT kudos for the mazes all being free and included with admission - as noted on the FrightFest Maps. But yeah, several places selling "skip the line" passes for the mazes too. as noted, can't comment on quality, as I left before any of the mazes or scarezones (or shows, for that matter) started on this overcast Sunday. park wasn't slammed, but was fairly crowded. .ang I'm going to temper my above "kudos" with a SHAME ON THEM: Goliath, Poltergeist, RoadRunner Express - all running ONE train (and pulling decent lines. . tho no Flash Pass lines) Also running *one* train? Wonder Woman. yep. . . 8 people per cycle, with a huge line. I understand it's a new coaster, and there will be downtime (and it has broken down repeatedly every time I've been, including today). . but only one train? on the newest coaster? really smells like a ploy to sell Flash Pass (the kiosk to sell them, and the lines at each ride for it were pretty empty today). at least Superman was running two trains (other than Pandemonium, which seemed to be cycling 4 cars, it was the only coaster with more than one train on a Fright Fest day, when the park is open until 10). also of note, several areas of the park just reeked of Garbage and/or sewage. Not sure if they have an issue, or what. it certainly wan't "Fright Fest" theming, and it was disgusting. might come back in a few days with pics, as I did like a lot of the decorations and took a bunch of pics. .but for now, I'll note that in ~3 hours, in addition to eating lunch and also standing in line to get a milkshake at Johnny Rockets, i rode: Goliath RoadRunner Express Superman Krypton Coaster x2 Fireball Hurricane Force 5 Poltergiest Carousel x2 oh. .they have a lot of signage up about the new Joker Pendulum ride, and I did hear a lot of people talking about it. (tho way more complaining about the line for Wonder Woman, and that Iron Rattler wasn't open). I'll be back in a few weeks (with the spouse) to redeem our 2019 passes, and have already informed him that we will be staying until after dark on that day so I can check out a maze or two. hopefully operations have improved by then, as crowds will get bigger closer to Halloween.

working on it. . hopefully in the next few days will have something up!

saw a fantastic set last night from a show by Curse McCay (ex Pigface), C-tec (Jean-Luc from Front 242 & Marc from Cubanate), along with Chemlab. Curse, and Chemlab were ok - tho didn't stay for the whole Chemlab set (seen em before, and just not a big fan of em live) but bought my ticket to see C-tec -- who rarely play live (and rarely come out of hibernation since Jean-Luc is so busy with Front 242 always.. tho Richard 23 (also from Front242) always has time to tour with RevCo). Seriously, they've been around since the mid 90's, and only have released 2 albums! Tho he teased a "new" song that they played, so maybe a 3rd album is coming? anyways. they were stunningly brilliant, and played the classic songs, including my favorite "Foetal".. SO much fun for the whole place to be screaming along to the refrain "we're on the way to being gahhhhhhhhhds" [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] so good, I bought both the CD they had for sale (containing both way out of print albums), and a Tshirt (and both Jean-Luc and Marc were kind enough to sign the CD for me). here's some pics from last night mostly C-tec, tho last 2 are Chemlab : C-Tec (Jean Luc on vocals, Marc on keyboards on right) Chemlab Chemlab

well. . crap. now I want fudge. (shaped like a duck)

but at least there are pictures this time. I'm so torn!

love seeing the pics, and hearing about the waterpark side. . since I didn't get over to that part. I agree on Superman not being very good - and while I didn't ride in the very back (so it wasn't AWFUL), it was a one and done for me. I loved Wild One, tho that last giant helix is kind of brutal -- but I thought it added to the charm of it.

really great report. if you read thru mine, you'll see that we got SOAKED on the rapids. . to the point that we actually had to walk back to the hotel and change (thank goodness for the plastic baggies we had brought to keep phone/wallet). the secret? get in a raft with a pretty blonde lady wearing a white T-shirt. yeah. . . LOL. . that's what got our entire raft absolutely nailed by the boys manning the water cannons.

Not sexually harassed. . but whoever was in Milk Dud (and then Kit Kat) when we were there seemed to have a fondness for me (to the point that it was joked that I should give them my room key). If you're following along on my "bert joins TPR for the USA tour" thread.. . due to an injury I was benched for a bit in the evening, and the characters came to me to pose for pics. so whoever was in that costume, liked what they saw. . LOL.

And in one single line you've sold every future TPR Japan trip. yep! (tho the selling point really is that they put on such a great and well organized trip!). loving this continued report Chuck. thanks for all the wonderful pics.