Trip Report from yesterday...
Good to be back in the city. I took a season off last year so I haven't been since Christmas 2016. Arrived at the park around 8:45 to a chilly 38 degree tram ride from Stop 2. Meet up with a family that shared some passes for us (Thanks Olsen's)....they are die hard SDC pass holders and where ready to line up for TT as soon as we got through the gates at 9. I wrangled by tentative 13yo to ride it with me with the help of the kids from the other family. The had the ropes up behind the TT queue so we jumped in line before 9:30. Though we where in a pretty good spot line up just outside the entrance with it moving. Took the picture and the line stopped for us right before the stairs to the 2nd floor. We enjoyed the pop/bluegrass music and the 1st floor line even erupted in the chorus of "freefalling" briefly. I figured the ride was delayed due to temp but no one was updating the line. Around 9:45 the announced they where warm enough to start testing with an eruption of claps from the building. I thought the queue and building was pretty awesome....sure it could have been more (it always can be) but I thought is was great. Got lined up and headed upstairs with our group of 5. But immediate got mixed-up upstairs because one of the trains back cars restraints weren't working. My daughter and I started backwards on the 3rd car....twisted around to take the first drop sideways!!! Took both loops sideways. My usually chicken of rides daughter yelled "LETS DO IT AGAIN!!", "THIS IS MY FAVORITE RIDE EVER", "I like going upside down". Ended up waiting a little over 2 hours for the ride....45min of that waiting on temps and testing.
Ate at the Tator patch and the family sat around the new tables by the FM exit. The layout is done well but it does feel extremely packed and crowded. Food was good. We went around the corner and rode FM. The line was out the front by the train station. The SDC app listed FM with a 0 wait time. Even with that line it only took 15-20 mins to ride. The trained marksmen in our group easy won....lol. Overheard a GP talking about this ride possible being removed with their friend commenting back "they better not".
Went up to grand exposition for some of the younger ones favorite rides. This is when I confirmed that the whole park was just crazy....not just TT area. It was about as busy as I have every saw it. Only a couple of Christmas weekends could match the mass of humanity that I had experienced before. We spend 2 hours in GE...the kids split up and only got 3-4 rides in between the groups in 2 hours. We headed over to FL but the lines where insane....kids played in the barn for a few then we risked trying Barn swing and OR. Barn swings line spilled out into the path. OR was listed as a 90min wait and they had the overflow lines beside the building backed up. We moved on.....if we where going to wait....we'd wait on FiTH. FiTH's line was backed up and crossed lines with the Powder Keg line up the hill!!!! Longest I ever seen it. Passed them both....headed to WF since my daughter was begging me to ride it for the first time. Listed as a 60min wait the line was right at the start of the building. Jackpot I thought....this shouldn't be too bad.
Did you guys know that WF has a 2nd floor waiting que?
wraps around the gift shop? I've rode this ride 30+ times and never had to use it. Longest wait I've ever had for WF....ended up taking about 45mins and my 13yo got her first WF ride!!! She loved it. I finally have a coaster rider in my family!!!
We where done at that point. Decided to hit Grandfathers mansion on the way out. I of course stopped by the Mill to get some bread when the worst news of all was announced as I waited in line. "Sorry folks, just sold the last cinnamon bread....I'll have fresh bread in 1.5 hours". I walked up to the register and told him..."I'll wait....it's on of the shortest waits in the park right now".....he laughed.
Random thoughts:
The intersection around the Casey Dugout, kettle corn, EH is just getting worse. The lines from the food places kill the flow of traffic. Same issues around the saloon at the other corner of the park. It's very frustrating.
Tram driver 'jack-knifed' a tram on our way out. They had to call for a backup driver to do some driving magic to fix it.
I'd be curious to hear the total numbers for today. I assume it was high but not record levels. The crowd has nothing to do but ride rides right now.
Show Posts
I keep forgetting that thing exists in the Wildfire building, but yeah look up when you are in the gift shop section if any of you have missed it on previous visits.