nesdude

Thanks for the fun times at Universal! Come back soon!

Operations were bizarre. In the morning, Cheetah Hunt was running 5 trains and both stations. In the afternoon, just one station and trains were stacked. Kumba had one train and the ride ops took their sweet time loading and unloading. Montu also had one train operation. Gwazi was running two trains. My girlfriend and I actually had time to watch the running of the cheetahs, walk to Montu, and ride 2nd row behind Robb and Craig since they were waiting for the front while the rest of the train sat empty. I get that the crowds were light (it was a weekday off season) but there's nothing more infuriating than seeing two trains in storage at Kumba while the line gets longer and longer. It was a real nice day to be at BGT though, all things considered. I'm glad I was forced onto Falcon's Fury (I have a fear of elevators), as I haven't been that scared on an amusement park ride in a very long time. When *that's* a 5 minute wait and a B&M 32-person-per-train ride is pushing an hour, there's something wrong. Also I failed at making a falcon face but hey it was fun anyway.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/police-2-shot-fun-spot-america-orlando/nkGZ9/ Yikes. I've been to Fun Spot a number of times now and I've never felt remotely unsafe. Things happen, though.

Hey Craig! I'm the dude that hung out with you and Robb at Busch Gardens. Really diggin' the way you're presenting this TR, it's fascinating to see Orlando through fresh eyes. Thanks again to you and Robb for letting me and my girlfriend hang out with you guys, it really was a nice day (even if operations were strange!)

My family and I happened to be in WDW when they were in the process of building the giant hat. We were driving somewhere on the WDW property when we saw a big piece of the hat on a flatbed truck - stuck under an overpass. There were a bunch of suits and other people standing around wondering what to do. It looked like they were trying to get the air out of the tires so they could move it one way or the other. Never really cared for it once I saw it finished years later, but I'll always have the memory of the piece stuck under the overpass.

The weather was completely against me in trying to take photos on Media Day, but I managed to get a few I really like. Click for full size! Wish I could have gotten more but the rain made me put my camera away. Besides, it's a pain to carry a DSLR around when you really want to ride coasters all day.

I think I'm going to do a full write up of the Coastermania event tomorrow, but for now, enjoy some pictures. I'm not a very good photographer but I found a few pictures that turned out okay! The rest can be found here.

At around 10:25 this morning, I used the bathroom in Hotel Breakers and flushed. Then the water main broke. Coincidence? Yeah, but still. My girlfriend and I took a late morning and didn't get up till 10. We were miffed about not having water for a shower but the severity of the situation didn't hit us until we got to the lobby to check out and saw a madhouse of angry people. Someone in a dress shirt with a Cedar Point name tag told us that rooms reserved for last night and today will have total refunds. It was at that point I asked a random person what was going on. We've been stopped on Perimeter Rd. the past 15 minutes, which has gotten us past Millennium Force. I type this next to the train bays and the dorms. There's quite a few people walking on the road, and my best guess is that they need to get back to the hotels but can't cut through the park. It's crazy. I feel for everyone who now has a ruined vacation, Cedar Point employees who have been berated by angry guests and the park itself for losing out on what should be one of the first busy Saturdays of the season. We're lucky that we were heading out anyway but this is a completely awful situation all the way around for everyone involved. Edit: It dawns on me that this is also the first day for a bunch of shows. The Snoopy ice skating show, the Broadway show, and I think one more. This is a disaster is every possible way for absolutely everyone involved. Ugh.

My girlfriend totally won a 2015 Platinum Pass from the Mean Streak challenge. Took forever but it was worth it in the end.

Oh, yeah. That was the Platinum Pass discount (use PASS as a promo code, but they do check for passes on check-in). Breakers has a number of rooms in the old sections that are a single queen bed, but they usually sell out quick. Got lucky when looking. The rooms are awful but it's cheap(ish), on point, and we're only going to use it to sleep, so it's okay for us. The ability to take a nap without driving anywhere during CM is totally worth the extra cash for us. I hope the renovations next off season really help, because while the new parts of Breakers are nice enough, the old parts are really awful.

With the Goliath media day delayed, my girlfriend and I decided to get a cheap room at Breakers ($123, which is cheap for Breakers!) for Friday night, so we'll be there open to close. I'll probably be rocking my Club TPR shirt. I'd like to try the Mean Streak challenge. Not sure what to expect, but we'll see. Also, those webcams are awesome. I can't stop watching.

Huh! That's cool. Thanks for the detailed info! This is why I love TPR so much. Knowledgeable people who enjoy sharing information.

Question: Between Riverfront and Valley Road, near the railroad crossing, is a large blue structure that goes over the railroad tracks. What was that used for? It seems abandoned and sort of an eye sore in an otherwise beautiful park. I seem to recall seeing a single employee climbing down the stairs at one point, but I wasn't sure. That one ^

Oh jeez. There's a test seat for your uncle, Jaykethekid, but that might not happen. I was ~250lbs and I'm 6' 1", but I carry my weight in my legs. I fit, but not what I would call comfortably. Because of where the shin guards were, it was hard for me to press the bar farther down on my legs/thighs. That's more a tallness issue than a fat issue though. Test seat is your friend. Also, interesting to note, on the restraint itself there's a engraved line that has to go past the side of the train. There's apparently a red/green light system that the ops can see as well (like the test seat), but it's nice to gauge it yourself when you sit down.

When in doubt, Fast Lane+. Cedar Point can be a tricky park to figure out wait times. First week of June is a maybe on crowds. You won't have a problem hitting everything over two days assuming nice weather on Coastermania day, but trying to hit everything on Thursday without a FL+ will be a challenge. I recommend getting one for Thursday, do re-rides on anything you really enjoyed on Friday/Coastermania ERT, and spend the rest of Friday exploring the park. If you're risking it, park in the Soak City lot. Try to get to Dragster for opening, then head back towards Maverick and Millennium Force. Lines will be shorter for Raptor and Gatekeeper towards the evening as most people rush to them from the front gate in the morning.