Tuesday, July 28th, 2015

It was forecast to be in the upper 80's and humid, but clear and sunny, so we figured crowds would be so so considering it was a Tuesday. It did get pretty warm, but not oppressive. The crowds weren't bad, however, the amount of fast pass people in some lines was unprecedented (except for one trip back in late 2013 when fast pass sold out before noon)

The Intamin's had long lines all day, Maverick had a 1.75-2 hour wait all day, 30 min fast pass plus. So we skipped over it all day as I decided early on that i wasn't going to blow the money on fast pass for this trip even with the platinum pass discount. It was open for ERT, and had a ~1 hour wait for ERT, i just shook my head in disgust when I saw the line. It was never down when we were in that corner of the park.

Millennium had a sold 1 hour wait all day, but the line moved fast as the crew over there was working well, lots of fast pass people there also. It wasn't down once all day that i saw, but it wasn't open for ERT like it usually is.

Dragster...last year I was at the park more times than I can count, and it never operated like it is operating this year. It is constantly down, maybe open 1/3 of the day if your lucky. It had a long line every time it opened back up. I've NEVER seen that many fast pass people in line, they had a solid 30 minute wait, probably longer. That part of the Que was 3/4 full, yes that many fast pass people were waiting in line. We did get 1 ride in on it, but it broke the one other time we chanced getting in line for it. Seriously cedar point, just put it down for maintenance already and give it a good going over, you obviously don't have the mechanic(s) from previous seasons that had "the golden touch" and could keep it running better or they are doing rush fixes instead of long term fixes. That being said, I have noticed that in general this year, things are breaking down more often.

Everything else in the park seemed to have very reasonable lines all day, with the exception of the usual mad rush at 10am to gatekeeper and raptor. We got to ride everything in the park that we wanted to (except Maverick). I don't think we waited more than 20 minutes for anything outside of dragster and millennium. Gatekeeper was a 5-10 minute wait most of the day, magnum maybe 20-30 min. Most flat rides were 5 minute waits. Gemini was a walk on. Raptor had a 20 minute wait after the early rush, but it broke down while we were going to get in line and then was down for a while, so we never got back to it. We skipped water rides, so I can't say what their waits were, I wasn't paying attention to that. I believe STR ran all day.

One note, now that I've gotten a few rides in a Rougarou, I have a good opinion now. While it may be better than mantis, there are 2 or 3 spots after the MCBR that bang your head around like Mike Tyson no matter how hard to try to stop it. I see the buzz for this wearing off after this season (especially if the dive coaster rumors are true), and ridership numbers going back to the way mantis was. It did breakdown a few times throughout the day as well. I think with the options the park had, the conversion was the way to go. I don't think this will be a long term investment though, especially if the ridership figures go back to Mantis level numbers. This might explain the non existent ride theming. That being said, mean streak needs to go (or get the RMC treatment) before Rougarou is ever considered for the chopping block.

The food service folks were friendly and waits for food were short. We did check out the sweet spot also, the fudge is pretty good. Overall, it was a good trip, and the crowds weren't unmanageable at all.

I think Rougarou's numbers will probably blow Mantis of the last 10 years or so away for at least the next 10 years simply because it runs fairly efficiently and with three trains. Even if people aren't willing to spend a long wait in line for it like they might for MF, Maverick, or Dragster, it's numbers will be higher as long as the trains are full and they are hitting their interval.

I like the ride. I don't think it's the best B&M ever or even the best B&M at CP, but it's a significant upgrade over Mantis. I don't think the "buzz" for any ride except maybe MF or Magnum has ever lasted more than a couple seasons.

Now if we could just get them to think along the same lines and upgrade the other "less than world class" wooden attraction in the back corner of the park, we'd really be talking. :)