1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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It's 'Thy will be done'.
I arrived at the park at about 8:45, which left me about 75 minutes to "do"
the park. As it was "going home" time for the busloads of school groups,
the entry plaza was crowded, but everything else in the park was, as I expected,
nicely UNcrowded. I was able to leisurely stroll through the park and get rides
on , Blue StreakWave Swinger, Mine Ride, Gemini, and Magnum.
SAFETY TIP: Be vigilant when riding circle swings! I don't know if CP
has fixed this yet or not, but when I rode the half-empty Wave Swinger,
the ride ended abruptly, with a stop sudden enough that the swings were sent
crashing into one another. While fighting off empty swings on either side, another
one crashed into my kneecaps. Better loosen up that brake a little!
As has been noted, CoasterMania is a big event. So big, in fact that
"exclusive ride time" isn't very exclusive. At dinner, Janice Lifke
announced that official CoasterMania attendance was 1,150. To put that
into perspective, I was told that during CoasterMania Ride Time, Blue
Streak hit its theoretical maximum capacity of 1,200 PPH (the computer won't
let it do 1,440 anymore...). During ride-time, a whole section of the Raptor
queue was filled, yielding about a 10-minute wait (still pretty good!).
Speaking of Raptor, it was running fairly well, but it seemed a little
slower than it had been on my previous visit. I also noticed something I had
never noticed before...a crackling noise coming from overhead whenever the train
was moving. My guess was that it was static electricity building up on the plastic
wheels then discharging to the track. Can anyone else confirm or debunk this
theory?
After riding Raptor a few times, I proceeded to go watch the crew wake up the Blue Streak. Honestly, Blue Streak was the only disappointment of the official CoasterMania coasters...for the first time all season, it was running slow for this Ride Time. In fairness, though, it did loosen up quite a lot during Ride Time, and by the time we rode with the "earthlings" after dinner, it was its old self again, flying over the hills.
The park opened up, and I started to do the circuit. Large numbers of long yellow vehicles arrived in the parking lot, pushing the median age of those in attendance down significantly while dramatically increasing the park population. First stop was Wildcat, where the forces vary from "Yikes! Airtime!" to "Crushing Positive G" in a matter of seconds. Interesting, the computer has turned the sudden stop into a fast-but-gentle slowing followed by a very sudden stop just when you let go of the handrail. I still haven't quite got the hang of it. But it is a really fun ride anyway.
From Wildcat, I wandered across the midway to Iron Dragon. It still isn't quite up to snuff (I did...once...get a fantastic ride on this thing, so I know it has some unrealized potential), but it was running better than a week earlier, so CP is doing something right with it. A few minutes later, and I was in line for Mantis: The Coaster Formerly Known as Banshee.
Not much to say about Mantis:TCFKAB that I haven't said before, except that I didn't particularly enjoy it this time. Now, don't take that the wrong way...Mantis is a good ride; in fact, I think it represents a defining moment for B&M in that it marks their transition from building awesome engineering projects to actually building good roller coasters. But a week ago, I suffered a minor but very painful foot injury (caught my heel on a protruding bolt on my attic stairway). By the time of CoasterMania, it had healed enough that I could safely walk on it, but the force of riding Mantis was just a wee bit painful. Something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to ride a stand-up. This clinched my decision to skip the Mantis RT in the evening. I'll be back on that one when my foot is in better health.
From Mantis, I limped back to Mine Ride. I really do like this coaster for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it was my first coaster. Cedar Point pulled out a new trick for this one...trains #1 and #2 were running. Train #1 has not operated in years! But now it is almost fully restored, and giving the fastest, smoothest rides I've had on Mine Ride in ages!
A trip back to Mean Streak revealed a long wait, so I put that one off and rode Gemini instead. Gemini was running five trains (3 red and 2 blue), and I found out later that through the whole day, they did not have any missed-post set-ups. Way to go, Gemini crew! I knew it could be done! While there was a train missing from the blue side, the trains were raced whenever possible. Also, since my previous visit (5/28/1997), Gemini has received new new seat belts. They are now orange, have the quasi-aircraft-style buckle, and the single belt extends across both riders. I don't know what CP has done to Gemini, but it was running very nicely, with decent air throughout and an unexpected 'pop' at the top of the rise to the second hill. Even though the mid course brakes were operating, Gemini was running faster and better than any of my other visits this season.
I skipped the long wait for Magnum (after all, ERT beckons at night!) and proceeded to Corkscrew. This one has also improved in the past week...it no longer hunts and shuffles on the brake run the way it did a week earlier.
Chaos was up and blinking, but the orange fences were also still up. But the ride looked like it was pretty much ready to go...in fact, several ride attendants told me they had ridden it the night before. I noticed that the upper restraint bar assembly on CP's Chaos (the outer bar, over rider's legs, not shown in the earliest Chance ads) is a lot different from the one I saw in Cleveland last spring. I remarked on this change, and a fellow CoasterManiac suggested that it might be the difference between the park model and the portable. A third CoasterManiac (sorry, I wish I could remember who...) took the "snappy retort of the day" award with, "I thought the diference between the park model and the portable model was the number of visible tattoos the operator is allowed to show." Good one, if a bit unfair to carnival operators. 8-)
I continued to wander the park, took a forgettable ride on Disaster Transport,
where I noticed that large sections of queue maze have been permanently sealed
off. And I got a ride on Mean Streak...in a rear axle seat, no less.
Using my aggressive riding technique, I cussed the first-drop trims (it's getting
to be worse than the Beast in that regard...at least the Beast's
skid brakes aren't jerky like Mean Streak's fin calipers are), and otherwise
got a nice smooth ride. Halfway through the ride, I noticed the person ahead
of me doing the same...getting completely clear of the seatback. Come on, Cedar
Point, how many times do I have to point it out? Wood coasters need upholstered
seats. Fix the seats and lose the drop trims!!!
SAFETY TIP: Do not allow your back to touch the seat at any time when
riding Mean Streak.
It came to be picnic time, and Cedar Point laid out a feast. Nothing fancy, mind you...hot dogs, beans, potato salad, chips, and fried chicken. But when you consider that it was a feast for 1,150 people, I figure that was pretty good. Fastest food service in the park, I think.... 8-) After dinner, I met up with more CoasterManiacs, this time including a couple of Blue Streakers. We did a quick circuit through the park before ending up in the plaza with the main event before us: a nighttime ERT on the Magnum XL-200.
Magnum was a little slow starting, but that was the only thing slow about it. It munched people very quickly, and above all, it ran FAST. I took my ERT rides in rows #3 and #4. Normally, those seats feature a lackluster first and second drop, followed by an extended float over the third crest, and violent out-of-the-seat-NOW!!! airtime on the return run. Not for CoasterMania! Significant air on every single drop. Magnum had the most jaded coaster nuts reaching for handrails that night. It literally FLEW. I couldn't help thinking of that famous column from the New York Telegram, May 14, 1928:
"On it, you're a fly on a racing motorcar. You're less than that, really. You're God's lowliest creature with gravitation gone back on you....That Cyclone doesn't play fair. It's not content to drag you up an incline, toss you down the other side. It drags you up an incline, tosses you down the other side, turns you over this way, turns you over that way, and, before you can remember what comes after 'Thy Kingdom Come,' shoots you to the stars again."
Robert Garland was referring to the Palisades Park Cyclone, but he could just as easily have been talking about the Magnum XL-200 at CoasterMania '97! Contrary to what others here have said, Magnum was not running brakeless...when the brakes are off, there is no noise from the calipers as the train passes over (I have ridden it that way). During CoasterMania, the mid-course trims just before the turnaround were operating, but only lightly, and it really didn't matter...the train flew right through the brakes anyway and still gave some of the best rides ever. Perhaps the trims were set soft, but I did hear them hit. But where the ride relly shone was before the trims, where it dangled riders tantalizingly over the first drop and still managed to pop them out of their seats. With a performance like this, it is going to take a lot to shake my opinion that Magnum could possibly be the finest steel coaster ever built.
As the Magnum ERT ended, I hobbled (remember, I had a torn-up heel) down the midway, bypassing Mantis on my way to my car and a two-hour drive home. As I passed the stand-up, a train descended the first drop and I heard the brake caliper crunching...and decided that those of us who had chosen to spend our whole night ride-time on Magnum had probably made the right choice.
Thank-yous and kudos to Cedar Point for once again showing that they know how to show coaster nuts a good time...particularly to Robin Innes and Janice Lifke who were our official hosts for the day; and to Jason and the crew of Blue Streak; Tammy and the crew of Magnum; and the crew guys over at Raptor who I don't know by name (yet) for their enthusiastic support , working many extra hours to show us all a good time.
Next trip: Oaks Park
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page
--Dave Althoff, Jr.