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"Work, or Cedar Point? Let me think about that..."
On Thursday morning, the alarm clock, which I had set to "annoy" mode, buzzed at 4:15am. I did my usual morning preparations and stumbled into the predawn blackness at about 4:40. 140 minutes later I was at Cedar Point looking for a parking space that didn't have somebody else's name on it. I figured it would be a bad idea to park in the space marked "D. Keller" and I settled for the one belonging to "V. Isitor" instead. I identified myself at the gate and proceeded directly to Millennium Force. A couple of guys in a man-basket were doing something to the usual spot on the Iron Dragon "knot". A crew was trimming the grass in front of the Dragon station. I crossed the railroad track and walked up the Millennium Force exit ramp. At the top, Bryan Edwards from the Marketing department said hello. The yellow train was sitting in load with a blue tarp over most of it, the blue train was sitting in unload with a tarp over most of it, and Dan Feicht was adjusting a custom mounting plate attached to the handrail on the front of the blue train. This was a different setup from the Discovery Networks video shoot in September of 2000. That time, the camera was mounted on the back of the front seat and a mini-DV camcorder rode in the left-front seat. This time, things were a bit more streamlined. The camera was attached to the front handlebar with a U-bolt, and the camera mount had a bar attached to it that ran down along the left-hand side of the car, and a wooden box attached to the running board. No seats filled with gear this time around. The cables from the camera were taped to the camera mount and ran into the wooden box. Everything connected to a nice little DVCAM recorder, a little video Walkman gizmo that I decided I wouldn't mind having in my bag of tricks. Pity I have to buy the editing computer first!
Anyway, the trains were uncovered and loaded with Cedar Point operations staff for a couple of cycles. We moved to the load station and boarded. I was handed a lavalier microphone for my front seat ride, and in two takes I yelled my way through it. In September I guess I'll find out how much of a fool I made of myself; I didn't think to ask for a clone of the tape (I had all the equipment necessary to do it). I had been riding with a gentleman from the local NASA facility; we traded places and he did a camera ride, then we moved Dan Haverlock to the front seat and I rode in the back. I don't know if I gave the Times TV guys what they wanted, but John Plummer, the DP, and Jerry Risius, the videographer, seemed delighted while they were watching the playback. We adjourned to the lawn in front of the ride for an interview, then went to the park cafeteria for breakfast. Right in the middle of the park is a place to get cheap eats. Customers aren't supposed to eat there, but today I'm not a customer, but rather a park guest. They didn't even look at my season pass when I entered the park.
After breakfast, as the park opened up, we rode Power Tower. Each time facing the main midway, first on the Turbo Drop tower, then on the Space Shot tower. Once for the camera, once with the camera crew. A bit of advice regarding Power Tower: The Space Shot tower closest to the Sky Ride gives a much better ride than the tower closer to Magnum.
The crew followed Dan Haverlock and me down the midway and into the Magnum queue. There was no wait for the ride and we figured we'd meet Bryan and the TV guys in the station, but by the time we almost reached the stairway, we were called back to be shunted up the spiral staircase behind the doghouse. Bryan suggested that it was Dan's personal Magnum entrance. We snuck onto Magnum for a couple of rides, then went around to Woodstock Express. No back-door entrance here, and John and Jerry declined a ride, but they shot us riding. The show is about the physics of roller coasters, and I guess one idea is to point out how the same Physics that makes Millennium Force work also makes Woodstock Express work. Finally, we went back to Raptor for a couple of rides, finishing just as a brief rainstorm hit the peninsula. Dan and I were done with our obligations for the day, so Dan went home and apparently went to work. I had taken the day off, so I figured on spending the rest of the day in the park.
I did the park for the rest of the day, and since this is my fourth trip report on the place for this season I think I can spare you most of the details. In late afternoon I was watching as the White Water Landing crew was hustling to put every available boat into service as it had turned into a hot, humid afternoon. John and Jerry from Times TV were back in the park to kill a couple of hours before driving out to get their flight home, so I accompanied them for a couple of rides they had missed earlier, and generally played Cedar Point Tour Guide. It was a good day for a quick visit because the crowd was light so virtually all of the rides were walk-ons all afternoon. That's even with Wicked Twister down for much of the day. Oh, it was running, it just didn't have passengers on board.
By the end of the day I was riding Magnum XL-200, and the most surprising thing was that I hadn't bumped into anybody I knew all day. I had even told the Science Times guys that normally when I visit a park I run into fellow coaster nuts, but somehow today it didn't happen. Except that while I was waiting to board Magnum, r.r-c's own DJ Wiza jumped in behind me. He was on his way to collect a paycheck and ended up riding with me instead. (DJ, I hope you got your check before the office closed!). We did a mini-marathon on Magnum, then took advantage of short lines for a few rides on Millennium Force. How I managed to walk right past Dana and Dooley Schwartz and Joe Krapf in the Millennium Force station without seeing them is beyond me, but I learned the next day that they had been there. So I guess I did visit the park with coaster friends, as advertised!
I finished up on Millennium Force, then headed home, knowing the next three days would be considerably more exhausting.......
The program segment being videotaped on this visit, "The Physics of...Thrill Rides" will be a part of Science Times, and is scheduled to air on Tuesday, September 10, 2002 on the National Geographic Channel.
Update: The segment actually aired on Tuesday, August 27, 2002, and is scheduled to repeat on September 1, 2002.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Next trip: Holiday World (Stark Raven Mad 2002)
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