teacherkim

Got back last night from a few days at CP & Hotel Breakers. Not going to take the time to do detailed trip review but a few notes and observations on things that have been discussed lately: Rides - everything was running very well Sat night, Sun, and Monday. Any shutdowns I observed were minimal and there was nothing down for an extended period of time that I know of. Other than Gemini which went down twice while we were in line, it seemed to be our cursed ride of the trip and was frequently only running one train. Valravn ran the whole time with two trains. TTD had a brief shutdown on Monday evening but we are talking maybe 30-45 min. And SV had a few very brief shutdowns due to "guest illness" in fact lots of protein spills on SV while we were there, including two rows behind us while on the break run waiting to come in....and that was the first train of the day on Sunday morning! Yuk. Lines - about as crowded as I've ever seen it on Sat when we got in about 4:30. So we took our time checking in and then had some dinner and since it was a midnight close caught some rides late night. Sun we had FL+ and worth every penny, seriously. Monday was lighter, not quiet by any means but lighter and manageable. Food - after all the discussion here and my extreme anticipation of Melt I was a little disappointed by my meal there BUT upon retrospect, I really ordered the wrong thing. Got a sandwich that was fried (I was thinking in a pan, like a panini) but it had been coated with funnel cake batter and deep fried, so rich I could only eat about a quarter of it and I'm no slouch eater. My bad, should have read the menu more carefully. However, my son and dad both got much simpler grilled cheese sandwiches and they were delicious (yes I tasted them) and fries and salad were tasty. Will go again and be much more careful about what I order. We also had a meal at Famous Dave's and despite my usual "meh" reaction to bbq it was admittedly pretty tasty. Did not get a chance to try the new Backbeat bbq, Johnny Rockets and Pinks were exactly what we expected. Water park - since we had a little extra time this visit we spent a few hours Mon afternoon at the water park. Not the most unique or exciting water park I've ever been to but certainly respectable considering the minimal number of days it is actually warm enough to use it! It was a relaxing break and a nice way to cool off. There is also a nice little 21+ pool that is fenced off from the rest of the park. If I had to pay a large amount extra for a ticket I don't think it would have been worth it but we were able to add on the water park to our 3 day tickets for a very minimal amount. Forbidden Frontier - hmmmmm, well, ummmm....how to say this. I like the concept but frankly it was kind of boring. The entry with the bouncy walkway or raft was cute, but not sure it's something most people would be interested in more than once. The kids playground is nice and that whole area is well shaded with lots of comfy chairs and hammocks. A good place for a break if you have little kids for sure. But overall I just didn't feel they explained the interactive concept clearly enough. I saw some people walking around but not really participating in the find the treasure map thing because I'm just not sure they got that there was something to find. Seems they needed to advertise/explain the idea a bit better. We did see some "characters" but there was minimal interaction. Now we were there late afternoon and maybe being between shows for back there it was just a quiet time, but there just wasn't much going on. Curious to see if they do the same interactive activity next season or if they change it from year to year. I agree with whomever said it would benefit from a ride, particularly a log flume, back there. Although I realize they just took a log flume out of that area. It just needs "something". Hotel Breakers - I know it's expensive and I know if you are just looking at the room, it doesn't seem worth the price....BUT if you can swing it is so super damned convenient to be right there, particularly if you have people in your group that might need a break in the afternoon. Will never stay off property. Also, as hotel guests I was able to get a 3 day park to park ticket for $86, I did not see this option on line, they had a two day for $80 but that's it so worth asking about. Weather - while I realize this is completely out of everyone's control. I must say that this is the first time it has ever been what I consider warm at CP. I was there once in June with highs in the 70's (nice but not warm) and once in May where it was in the 40's and raining; I had so many layers on I almost had to take the walk of shame. So despite the forecast I did not trust the wind from Canada and still threw hoodies and raincoats in the car. We did not need them, it was all summer this time around. Overall a fun trip, my Dad tagged along and was flabbergasted by the size of the whole complex, he really had no idea having only experienced our local park, SFSTl, he particularly enjoyed the "running of the Steel Vengeance bulls" as I call the early entry horde that races to SV. One funny note, now that he is a ride ops himself, my son was suddenly noticing things he never noticed before about the differences between operations at SF and CP. He was most affronted when he realized that every attendant at a line entrance got a stool AND a phone, lol.

Ha,Ha!! Well I tell my students they need to be honest above all else so gotta set a good example. Besides I wanted everyone to know how nice you were being. #notashamedmomsdeserveabreak I will keep your Texas trip advice in mind when planning!

YAY! Thanks for the update. We will be arriving late afternoon tomorrow and that is one of my favorite coasters!

Ok got through the whole tr. Thanks for your kind words Bert and I found that I actually enjoyed immensely being a SFSTl tour guide for the day. Guess it's the history teacher in me and it was pleasant to have pupils who were behaving nicely and listening politely for a change, lol. My son says the log flume has been operating both sides a lot this month, due to the hotter weather, the rapids ride is filled up and close to opening and the Excalibur rehab is apparently very close to being finished. I will tell you all the Bert is being very gentlemanly.....the sad truth is that I was not up for a lot of rides due to an overzealous neighborhood Mom's Bourbon tasting party the night before. Also, why I took it easy on the tacos/burritos and has "something healthy". But he politely kept my sad slightly hungover shame secret, but I am glad I came out, walking about the park in the fresh air was a good remedy. We may very well make that trip to Texas. Toying with the idea of spring break since our park won't be open yet and it will still be fairly cold and nasty weather wise up here. I'll let you know! Note on the Arch museum (sorry it's that history teacher thing again!) the city of St Louis was always known as the "Gateway to the West", last big city the westward pioneers were in before heading out on the Oregon and Santa Fe trails. The monument is to honor that heritage, hence the museum had all the boring history of the west and St Louis's history as a port city and therefore it is named the "Gateway" arch. Anyway off to pack for CP, I hope Valravn reopens, it's one of my favorite coasters there. No one on the CP thread seems to know they are too busy arguing about food in the park right now, lol!

Well that's my Dad for you and my son is just like him. The three of us are going to Cedarpoint tomorrow because the boy wants to show his grandpa his favorite place on earth. My husband decided to sit this trip out. Great, 8 hours in the car with my Dad and my son, not exactly the dream trip I wanted this summer, lol. Bert, I'm not surprised that the trolley driver didn't know about the Old Court House dome. It's boring history don't you know....my subject is so disrespected! Anyway if you like Chihuly and you ever come back you will need to visit the Botanical Garden, there are Chihuly sculptures in the reflecting pool there.

we had a fantastic time - tho it wouldn't be a vacation without a spat with the Spouse, right? (so we had a couple - including a doozy at the top of the Arch, LOL, but was all resolved by the time we were back down at the base of it ) Honestly tho: it's not that he's "understanding" - he wasn't thrilled about the early-early flight. but after 15+ years, he knows just to let me plan, and just come along and we'll have a great time. So he just goes with it - I know what he can handle - even if he doesn't think he can sometimes. I'm a planner by definition (I schedule mfg test floors), and I'm pretty good at my job. . so he trusts me to plan. and we managed to follow my plan - we usually do, which is why he let's me plan it out -- and we hit everything I had mapped out, and on schedule. of course I had backup "bad weather" plans, but worked out we didn't' need em. We do tend to have pretty good weather mojo on trips. . not always, but usually. Bert! I'm just now reading this, haven't gotten through it all yet.....but I'm a trip planner too. Maybe that's why we got along so well (at least I think we got along well ) I've planned several European trips for my whole family. Try getting a party of 9 with 2 weeks worth of luggage from the airport in Barcelona to a hotel. Anyway, my family for the most part trusts me and just goes along with my plan but my Dad always makes sure to remind me to in his words "build in some ass time"....meaning he wants time to sit somewhere, take a break, have a beer, and people watch.

Well I'm from STL but have never been a huge bbq fan. And I have never understood the love for Chik Fil A......I saw people standing in line for an hour at KI for it On the other hand I can't wait to try Melt, it wasn't open yet when we were there last year but the employees were getting trained and testing the food. Forget watching MF, I leaned against the window and watched Melt! On the other other hand.....we should roll in late afternoon on Sat, what's Valravn's status?

It also blocks the employee entrance into the park. Doubt they will want to relocate that either.

Anonymouscactus.....Going to the back of the park first, like I advised Bert, will work extra well on a Friday night during FF. Particularly if you don't care about watching the freaks come off the train. Most people will congregate around the Palace theater during the first 45 min or so because the FF monsters will get off the train at the station there and do a quick little show and then disperse throughout the park. If you skirt around all that and head right up to Eagle and then work your way down you will have light crowds for a while. Make sure to go around on the RIGHT side of the park, past Batman and Ninja, the left side will be blocked between Freeze and Thunder River by a haunted house. I agree with using your skip the line pass on Freeze, it is often very crowded during FF. Hopefully, the Boss will be back to 3 trains by then (a certain ride op told me that's the plan ) and that will move it along a little faster. If the rest of your party doesn't mind you should use the single rider entrance at Justice League I agree JB's is the best but IF there is a buffet available at the picnic grove across from fist cone that would probably be your next best bet and it will be faster. JB's will be crowded. I don't think you will find anything that different about the haunt mazes but if you do have time for any, maybe go to Camp Killamore. It is a little unusual as they set it up in the closed down water park with a "killer on the loose in a summer camp" theme. I'm not saying it's significantly better than the others, just something a little different.

Are you sure you didn't misread that? My survey was giving two price points with varying amenities $249 and $299. Even the Super 8 near SFSTl was advertising $60 as their start at price. And it's probably a close contest as to what's more "rustic" the Super 8 or KOA Most theme park owned hotels range $200-$350 per night

AND there isn't exactly lots to do around SFMM......we stayed in Santa Monica for a few days and drove up to MM just for the day. If they had some sort or resort with activities they might get some traction there.

LOL! He better not bring any fish back to our room at the Breakers! I was just checking so he had somewhere to go and chill when he's had enough of the park.

Thanks! I kind of thought there was but just wasn't sure I was remembering that correctly!

I kind of got that impression but thanks for the confirmation. Easy enough I think to stop and get bait on the way in.

Hmmmm, thanks for the info so far. I guess maybe I will price out the difference between doing HHN on Sat and Sun nights with express pass on one or both versus doing VIP on one night and see how big a difference there is. Will definitely take advantage of the stay and scream.

I really think that hotels would be most likely at SFMM, which is also in the middle of nowhere up in the canyons and operates year round. They did ask about that. SFGAm maybe because it would be an alternative to downtown Chicago but I would think it would be hard to fill Jan-March. SFGAdv is in the middle of NJ but it's only about 30 min from most of the Jersey shore towns where there are lots of activities and restaurants and stuff. And again winter. It really seems to me that SFMM is the most logical place to start this experiment, if they go through with it. The survey is probably trying to mask where this might happen. Although it was funny when they kept giving different scenarios to see if I would click a likely stay for a SFSTl hotel. It was like the survey was trying to tempt/negotiate with me, lol.

Ok, I have an odd Cedar point but not ride related question. My Dad is going up with us in a few weeks. If he wants a break from the park scene for a few hours; can he fish anywhere off the beach? Not necessarily right behind the hotel but maybe over toward the campsite. And is there a bait shop at the on site marina or do we need to stop on the way in? Anyone know? I know there are fishing charters he can take but not sure he will want to get involved with that on this trip.

Going right in the middle of October is a gamble for how insane the crowds will be with fastpasses. If you were going in September I'd prefer the regular fastpass but VIP becomes a necessity as the event goes on as the crowds get even more psychotic closer to Halloween. Since it's a Saturday, though, I'd lean towards VIP if you have the budget. Well that's why I was thinking we would do other stuff on Saturday, maybe just hang at IOA, and try for HHN on the Sunday night in the hopes it would be a bit slower.

Ok I read this and was going to agree, no way would they spend the money on a hotel here .......and then just got a survey about hotels at Six Flags parks! It was totally flawed though. I indicated that SFSL was my home park and they then asked me a bunch of questions about staying in a hotel there. WTF? Of course we wouldn't, we live here. I was also asked about SFMM because I indicated we had traveled there in the last few years. But way more questions about SFSL, way to go survey people. Plus, they repeated some questions and there was another question that asked you to choose between two options but then would only let you click yes or no. Not the IT department's finest hour. But obviously they are exploring the idea.

Ok since the conversation has turned to HHN, need some advice from those of you that have experience with it. We have been to UO a few times but never for HHN and we are thinking of doing a weekend this year. Very tentatively thinking of doing HHN on Sunday night Oct 13 (my son has a half day of school the next day, so the easiest day to miss) We could fly down Sat am and home on Mon. I'm kind of hoping that Sunday night will be a little better than Sat or Fri since we just cannot swing middle of the week. Any opinion on that or am I just wishful hoping? Also, I am more than willing to buy the HHN fastpasses but read some advice that even with those there could still be hour long waits for the houses. Should we just really bite the bullet and get the VIP tour to get immediate front of the line access? I've purchased a lot of special event amusement park tickets on line but the HHN tickets are not exactly the most user friendly. Appreciate any help from those of you that are HHN experts!

LOl, looks like the wrong bra to me, she seems to be holding them in place. If you don't use the power sports type bra on the woodies it can be brutal. I have a drawer full of "amusement park clothes", which includes among other things the best sports bra money can buy and some water shorts....because no one likes walking around with a wet a** all day after riding a rapids ride!

I'm just hoping it's at least 80 because we would like to try the water park for once when we are there in mid July. I don't really think of it as being hot til it hits 90.....not sure I can handle water park rides if it's in the 70's. Last time I was there it was in the 40's so 80 would be awesome!

I guess it's one of those things that just affects each individual differently. I've never even felt queasy on FJ, but inverts often make me sick, flying coasters more so..... So for totally selfish reasons hoping the new Jurassic coaster is not flying like some have hypothesized!

Did Dragons have to go....no, there's no arguing they had room elsewhere, but for whatever reason they decided it was best for their bottom line. Maybe so, maybe no but it's done now. As far as the ads, I always took that more to be we aren't catering to the stroller crowd so much as Disney. Maybe I interpreted that incorrectly. Disney sells nostalgia, Universal was smart to go a different route. Now exactly what that route is may still be in the formative stages. Having areas families can enjoy together is not necessarily the same as what Disney offers, where most teens are going to be bored most of the time. I for one was not unhappy when my son quickly outgrew most of the Disney rides, I can do without the super aggressive stroller brigade on my heels. However, Star Wars land may entice another visit from us in the future. As an aficionado of motion sickness (which seriously pisses me off) I will have to respectfully disagree on the Forbidden Journey vs Dragons barfing issue. Although I certainly have no numbers to back that up, lol. Inverts are very hard on those who get motion sickness. I am guessing more people with a potential issue try FJ than Dragons though. Just my 2 cents.

And to expand on this idea a bit: It's a ride that parents and kids can do together, no matter the kids ages. We are coaster enthusiasts but also Potter fans. I rode Dragons several times and liked it (although I could never "marathon" it because that would make me sick) but when you look at any group of regular suburban moms and dads in their 50's, most of them are not "coaster enthusiasts" and aren't as willing to ride something THEY consider big and intimidating like Dragons. All the Potter rides are now rides that almost anyone can do, so parents and kids can go together instead of mom and dad sitting on a bench waiting for the kids. And several of those parents are fans as well so there is something they can share with their kids. That makes the whole area attractive to the majority of families. After all you have way more vacationing families at UO than your local regional theme park or even a lot of Six Flags parks where kids are just getting dropped off for the day or Mom goes and hangs out at the water park while kids ride because it's just a day trip. They are making a sound business decision based on their demographics. Agreed that the Jurassic coaster will potentially be much more intense.