I know that GTTP has a wonderful strategy guide for rides, but I would like to see what other people have found out about the best time to ride a ride. I have found that during the light show you can ride Mantis with a 5 min wait and still see the fireworks, its really cool!
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14 and counting
See my Po!nt?
"Dont post if there is nothing to post about"
Coast, I usually go to CP on friday in late May before Memorial Day. After 5:00 PM alot of the schools and tours clear out leaving alot of the park wide open. Me and a friend rode Mantis 3 times in a row and the longest wait was one train!! On Mean Streak, we could have stayed in the same train because there was only a handful of people waiting on the platform. Unfortunately the ride ops made us go around. (Dont worry Ops, I'm not faulting you for doing your job) At this time of the day, I think our longest wait was 5 or 10 minutes.
Are the lines very long on a Thursday? I am going with my school for physics day (may 18), and I guess that a bunch of other schools from Ohio will be there, but it seems like there still won't be THAT many people there (compared to a Friday or Saturday).
***The most important aspect of riding alot at Cp is predicting the flow of the crowd or lack thereof and going against it.**
Although, it's not as urgent to ride as much at one time as a result of my season pass, I still generally follow the following rules which are pretty similar to GTTP.
If you're staying at one of the hotels or entering through the resort entrance, you are in a great position to get some serious mornigng riding under your belt during the week-days. Eat a good breakfast--you wont't be eating until around 2:30.
Magnum is usually up and running fairly early. Grab a few quick walk-ons and head your way up to Gemini, another walk-on. Then off to Mean Streak, (you guessed it) another walk-on, which is a nice time to ride MS. (Although you would love to ride mine Ride, skip it--walks-ons are all day during the week.) Now, hit the train to the main midway. This is were the good folks at CP make it quite interesting. Last year, if you followed this strategy, Mantis was also a walk-on; it definitely will be this year! Forget Draggin' Iron--it will be light all say, especially around sevenish.
Now since the majority of the morning crowd will be making its way to MF, I suspect that Raptor will become a lunchtime walk-on due to the flow of traffic headed to MF. Quickly get on the Sky Ride,a nd head to the front of the park near Raptor. If Raptor HAS formed a loine over 20 minutes, skip it and head to BLue Streak.
(Save Disaster TRansport for the heat of the afternoon. It gets a tad busy in there thanks to the temp., but you're wait will be well worth it. The time spent in the A/C will help refresh you and get you ready for another round.)
Anyhow, depending on time, you may want to catch some lunch at Silver Dollar or Macaroni's a short distance up the Midway. (Always eat at off peak hours, though. This means less lines when everyone else is eating.
This may now be a good time to catch a show you wanted to see while making your way around to the flat rides and coasters you missed.
After roughly three trips around the park, TGIF is a great reprieve for an off-peak dinner and a rest while looking out on the boardwalk and the lake. Don't dare to ride magnum right after the time when everyone else eats dinner, though. It gets quite busy from resort re-entries
Now the evening hours have set in, and crowd flow has really broken down thanks to mixed lunches, and also the Summer Spectacular later in the night. The crowd will also noticeably lighten around 730-8. You'll have to start picking and choosing what rides you'd like to ride, though if you want to be in strategic position for your last ride of the night. I usually like to get the big ones in once again at dusk including a ride on Blue Streak, Raptor, Magnum, and Mean Streak. Of course, most of you will want your final ride to be none-other than MF this year, so this is what to do. After TGIF, shoot down the boardwalk, to Oceana Entrance. Ride Raptor, BS, MAgnum, and MS. This will now put you in position for your MF night ride. Sure---everyone will be thinking this, but it's something you've got to do. So wait out the 2.5 hours wait and get your first night ride on the Force. Lots of cool people and hopeful late night DJ will make the time fly.
After park closing, Challenge PArk is open atleast another hour. Great time to let off some steam with the friends and/or family on the Raceway but more importantly Putt-Putt! At the end of a long night, it's time for Ice Cream, arcade, and late-night flirting along the beach at the resort.
-Dave
*** This post was edited by DaveTKoch on 5/6/2000. ***
The first year I went when Raptor was open, at night they had the DJ going, we were some of the last in the line. There was this AWESOME guy jumping up and down and bouncing around. My brother yelled out,"Hey, are you high or something?!" He said, "I'M HIGH ON LIFE!"
It was probably the best ride I've ever had because it was like 2 hours after the park closed, the music rocked, and that cool guy made the time fly.
I have seem to have the luck of riding Mantis after 9 (when the park closes at 10) about 3 to 4 times in a row!! The only thing that eerks me is that they make you get off the coaster and run back around in line, even when there is only about 5 people in line waiting to ride! They should just let you stay on and ride again without getting off, but I am sure there is a reason they do this. :)
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The more you ride it, the more you want it!
~~~Darla~~~
Actually Darla I believe it's for ride count reasons.
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Natalie
ATL Zone 3 Sweeps 2000