The 15th of May was the first operating Thursday for the park since the season started. I decided to go because I had surgery coming up on the 20th. There were lots of children there that day on school trips but they were relatively well-mannered. I saw one group of kids try to jump the queue but their friends they tried to summon forward stayed in place and eventually they caved and returned to their starting positions behind me. It's nice to have supportive and respectful friends at a young age.
My experience on Thursday was a walk-in and a walk-on for my first ride. I arrived near 11:00 AM and saw the ride for Raging Bull appearing relatively short with no switch-backs. I thought that would be the shortest line it might have all day. I boarded within 30 minutes. The ride operations team was moving decisively and communicated well and so were dispatching trains when the train currently on course passed the block zone after the drop. It was awesome to see and great to experience.
I was feeling quite invigorated, so I headed over to Goliath. I boarded Goliath within 20 minutes and went back through another 25 minute queue for another lap. The photo booth was not operating that day which really disappointed me. Goliath is my favourite ride so I love to get a fun photo on it. In spirit, I feel that I could easily ride Goliath all day long in as short a queue as possible but the reality is that the ride is quite rough! I can realistically only tolerate the ride about twice every hour or else The Rumbles get too extreme and I need a break. So, I took a break! I ventured over to X-Flight and stopped for a beverage on the way. I feel that it cannot be overstated -- the refillable drink is essential! You don't want to worry about hydration getting between you and a fun day.
Sometimes, I watch the ride operations before entering a queue but X-Flight has taught me to simply join the line when I'm riding solo and bail if things just don't look good. X-Flight was "running" two trains, but one train was rebuilt and testing during the day. This meant the teams dispatched an empty train and a passenger train every 5 minutes if they were moving well. That's about the same time as it took for them to manage single-train operations during my visit in April, so I consider that pretty good. I waited in line for about 30 minutes before a sensor malfunction triggered operations closure and prompted mechanics to inspect and fix the ride. Once the mechanics showed up, some people started leaving, and once the mechanics had pulled some fixtures off the ride to remove the sensor, even more people left at the sight of it. I stayed and watched the whole thing because I found it pretty insightful. It was cool to witness.
I eventually boarded the ride another 30 minutes later, and so X-Flight took only an hour with delays, and that would be my only ride on X-Flight for the day. It was still really fun and this time I enjoyed the ride from the left side front row's outermost seat. I think I prefer the "wing-under" feeling the right-side of the ride experiences at the drop and didn't think the forces differed much from the back row. I think the massive ride preserves its momentum more easily, so it doesn't have great differences in speed or forces across its length. The view from the front is really awesome and is especially fun when I do my silly long-jumping poses. I do think that the train changes speed when transitioning from the turn into the inline-twist which seems more obvious in the front, but that was the only difference in forces that I noticed. I think X-Flight is fun to ride from every seat and I prefer the right side a bit more. However, I really hate the shape of the leg-guards on the inner seats because it prevents me from kicking out my legs like Super Mario. I think there is probably a better way to protect rider's legs that doesn't also cause injury. lol
So, after 4 rides, it was lunch time. I think it was on the late side of 3 PM. I was feeling blissful because I had already boarded all my favourite rides and only spent 4 hours in the park. I grabbed a Chili Cheese Dog and Fries from the big food court across from X-Flight and got a powerade refill to get my electrolytes. The Chili Cheese Dog was decent and a very large portion. The cheese was added last onto the chili and was delivered from a fridge or something, so it was cold and didn't melt. A rookie mistake. Certainly someone who doesn't eat Chili Cheese Dogs. You can tell it's important to me due to the capitalisation. A Chili Cheese Dogs set me so right during my NYC visit last year. It's extremely reliable as a feeling and energising food. The dog was jumbo-sized beef and the chili was a decent mince instead of chunky, but the cold, unmelted cheese honestly makes it a 3.5 for me. It's decent but it's simple enough that it should be excellent. The fries were just fine. I'd love to see some malt vinegar for the chips, but... perhaps a dream too far.
I was feeling replenished and decided to take a quick jaunt for another lap on Goliath. I had taken about an hour for lunch for myself and when I got a glimpse of the line for Goliath, I knew it was a decent 35 minute wait. It was, and so, I had another enjoyable ride on Goliath. I reckon it could use some reprofiling, but it's still very fun.
The time now was around 4:30 PM. I had passed on Raging Bull during my previous visits and decided since the park was closing at six PM to try and get another lap on Raging Bull no matter what. And golly did I ever. The line was invisible from the parkway when I arrived and was a 20 minute wait. I thought I had lucked into something amazing. From the station, I looked backed to see the line getting even shorter. After my second Raging Bull lap of the day, I got back in line. It was ten minutes. My third lap. Amazing! I was on cloud nine. I looked back into the line and saw it only getting shorter and shorter with each passing moment. It was the final hour of park operations and I had lucked into something amazing. For the final hour at the park, I lapped four more times for a total of seven laps. It was incredible. At that point, it was just a series of repeated walk-ons. It was the perfect moment for me to try out the many rows and get the full variety of experiences the ride has to offer and I seized it. I left the line to get a photo every time or I would have otherwise lapped another two times at least. The ride operator said they would allow us to ride again if there was no one or not a full row waiting for our seat at the station. But, I really wanted my photos. I had a total blast. It was such an awesome day at the park. I was looking forward to visiting Saturday since my girlfriend would be joining me. I love her very much.
On Saturday, Pia and I arrived at the park in the early afternoon to try and avoid the worst of the UV index for the day. I think we got there around 1 PM and faced some confusion using the app for admissions, but we headed to the merch store to get Pia some sunglasses and then straight for refreshments. Some children cut the whole line just after the attendant called us directly and the attendant simply let helped them, too.. Cool! Anyway, we got a Coca-Cola and walked through the park lazily on the search for food and checking out how the rides were running. Saturday welcomed more guests than the Thursday, but it was not a huge inhibition to our enjoyment. We sauntered our way over to the BBQ Pit in the Yukon Territory and enjoyed their beef brisket, hush puppies, and potato salad together. They have a delicious mustard sauce which I love even on brisket. It was easily some of the best faire food I've ever had.
After getting fed, we walked slowly around the park back to Maxx Force, where we waited about an hour and ten minutes to board. During our time in the queue, we overheard teenagers gawking about the sonic boom sound effect coming from the ride launch system (it comes from the speakers and not the launch system). I later asked a ride attendant where the on-ride photo section is and they pointed me the wrong way. If you don't know, like me, you will pass through the on-ride photo section after descending from the dog tongue and just as you make the turn towards the heartline roll. From the launch section on the track just outside the station, you can see the white pole where the camera & light are mounted.
Pia and I decided, since she had lower energy than she might usually during this outing, that we should get on her favourite ride and at least one other ride, which I suggested be X-Flight. Since we were only trying to get a few rides, I also suggested waiting for the front row might be worth it, since it might only add 5-10 extra minutes to our wait times. We enjoyed the front row together way more than I thought. My seat on the right felt so floaty through the entire ride. It felt almost entirely different than the back row! I was very surprised and thrilled by the airtime from a ride with not one airtime hill. It was really awesome and we got a great photo. It could be that sitting next to someone I love very much improved my ride enjoyment, but I was over-the-moon nonetheless.
After Maxx Force we checked out the merch store there where Pia took a look at the IndyCar style Maxx Force t-shirt. We came back for it later. We took a stroll around the park for some more hydration and a pretzel with cheese before we set our sights on X-Flight. The ride operators were running two trains every 5 minutes and things were looking great for Pia's first ride and our first ride together. For the same reason as Maxx Force, we decided on the front row. After some deliberation about what the ride experience might be like, we decided on the right side. It was, as usual, really fun. We both had a great ride. For our on-ride photo, we held hands, faced each other, closed our eyes, and puckered our lips, but when we reached the booth we saw it was closed. Oh well! It would have been nice to capture our first ride together, but we will have other opportunities. I don't remember how long the wait was, but, with consideration for Pia's enjoyment, we decided to check the merch stores, hit the bathrooms, get a quick refill for the ride home, and head out. We stopped for some Chicago hotdogs at the combination Rosati's just across Grand Ave. to the north of the park grounds.
I had only got on two rides with my lady, but it was still one of the best ever days I've had there. I'm hoping to go back at least for the Out in the Park private Pride event in September. Maybe I'll see you there!