"Look! A bunny rabbit!"
The weather report Saturday said that a cold front would be bloiwing through Northern Ohio on Sunday, bringing with it a high probability of strong thunderstorms, especially North of Mansfield. So I wasn't terribly surprised when I drove through some really light rain showers on my trip up to the North Coast. By the time I got to the park, though, the skies were mostly clear, and I never saw anything that looked like rain all day long.
This was my sixth visit to Cedar Point this season. I'm gonna save myself a whole lot of typing and save you a whole lot of reading by noting that the place doesn't change a whole lot during the season. I took a leisurely pace through the park riding lots of rides as I usually do, in fact probably a more leisurely pace than usual.
I
did buy one of the $10 Dragster sipper mugs. Let me tell you, the ONLY
redeeming feature of these things is that you can take it to any food joint
in the park and get it refilled with Pepsi product for $0 additional for the
rest of the season. For that, it's almost a worthwhile investment. I say "almost"
because the park's selection of beverages leaves a lot to be desired, as it
generally includes Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sierra Mist, and two equally disgusting
varieties of Mountain Dew. For a Coke drinker such as myself, there really isn't
much of a choice. Why no root beer, for instance? But my purchase is my vote
that I at least like the concept, and I can seek out the few stands that have
a couple of additional options. Apart from the selection, for a frequent visitor
to the park it really is a great deal, although I had to go to four stands before
I found one that not only had dozens of these ugly bottles on display, but could
actually sell me one. The bottle is generally barbell-shaped, about 2' long,
and has the shape of a dragster molded into the side. It allegedly holds 44
ounces of product, and it is about as impractical as it could possibly be. It
has no handle, no means of carrying it whatsoever other than to hold it by its
midsection, it's way too big to fit into a pocket, it's too tall to fit into
a locker, it's too bulky to carry on a ride...it's almost as though the foods
people said, "How can we make this fantastic deal as inconvenient to
implement as we possibly can?" Not to mention, the bottle in question
is really, really ugly. Why is it that the departments didn't get together and
deal with this product in a systems fashion...pick a bottle design and realize
that it's a deal that a significant proportion of the park population will want
to take advantage of...so deliberately pick a design that is user-fiendly and
better still, even "coaster friendly" so that people waiting in hour-long
queues can use their refillable drink bottles to refreh themselves while baking
in the queue. Instead we have a great idea backed up by a lousy design implementation.
Sorry, Cedar Point.
Concept: A.
Planning: C-.
Execution: F.
I made it a point to see the "Snoopy Rocks On Ice" show. I noticed that the show is exactly the same as last year. It's pretty well done, with a lot of crowd-pleasing skating. My concern from last year still stands, though...at the beginning and end of the show, five performers are identified (including Snoopy). But there are twelve skaters, plus the Browns and Van Pelts. Don't these other eight deserve at least an acknowledgement? Anyway, it's a good show, but if you saw it last year, you've seen it.
Over
by the Corkscrew, a series of tarps have been attached to the fence along
the Top Thrill Dragster launch track. On closer inspection I realized
they weren't there to hide the work from the midway, but rather to protect bystanders
because arc welding was being done during park operating hours. Top Thrill
Dragster is getting a far more extensive overhaul than the hydraulic problems
we've all heard about would indicate. The fifth car is missing from all six
trains (and yes, it is the fifth car this time). Many of the advancing wheel
assemblies are in various stages of disassembly. Several workers were working
with new brackets attached beneath the catchwagon trough at the start of the
launch track, and on closer examination Icould see that they were installing
several brake fins for the catchwagon. My guess is that they are planning to
make the catchwagon reset faster, using the new brakes to bring the catchwagon
to a quicker stop closer to the launch point.
That should reduce the reset time, making it possible to launch and reset the
system in under 30 seconds. Back at the hydraulic building a small crane was
poised with its hoisting rope dropped through the building roof, apparently
supporting something inside. Oh, and at the opposite end of the ride, another
small crane was at work underneath the Iron Dragon pretzel; I got a picture
of it[Footnote 1].
In any case, substantial work is being done on Dragster, and some of it looks like "wish list" kind of work...design alterations that should improve the ride's throughput...and hopefully its reliability as well. Heck, anything would be better than the 0 PPH it's been running at. But in spite of the rumors and news reports, I saw a whole lot of elbows, as it were, surrounding the ride. It is quite clear to me that if it is possible, the ride will run for Independence Day weekend. I know there has been talk of just shutting it down for the season, but clearly that decision has not been made yet.
In all, it was a slow, relaxing, and not terribly crowded day at Cedar Point. I did, for only the second time in three decades, ride both Thunder Canyon and Snake River Falls. This time I rode the canyon first so that the cleaner water of Snake River Falls would serve to rinse off some of the lake water. Once again, everybody in the boat on Thunder Canyon got positively drenched except me (I merely got wet), and once again, Snake River Falls was a total drenching. They're both good rides, but I have to be in the right mood for them. Oddly enough, I didn't ride White Water Landing. Something about the 40-minute wait just didn't appeal to me.
I finished my day, as I normally do, on Magnum. They build them taller and faster, but I don't think they have figured out how to make them better. I failed to ride about half the coasters in the park, but I had a good time. And history suggests I'll be back up there again soon enough.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: Okay, so technically it is not a crane, but a white heron. Do I look like an ornithologist to you? I have enough trouble telling doves and pigeons apart! At least it isn't another @#$! seagull! [Return to text]
--DCAjr
Next: Paramount's Kings Island (#5/Nites of Fire)
Back to Trip Reports 2003
