Media Day 5-20-04

[Geno21K]

Okay, I've never done a trip report, but here goes: My editor and I arrived at the park at 8 a.m. for Media Day. After parking right up against the railings where preferred parking begins, we checked in with park reps and headed in.
We were told ahead of time that only Mardi Gras rides would be operational until 10 a.m., but we noticed that S:UF was cycling with more than just ops on board, so we headed there for some ERT. It was awesome! We wouldn't have had to get off of the train if we didn't want to. We rode up front the first time around, then quickly switched to the back for ride 2. There's no question about it: the back is the place to be. The difference in the g's from front to back is simply stunning.
In my younger days I would have taken advantage of the chance to stay on a ride like S:UF for as long as they'd let me, but consecutive rides with no down time made both of us ready for a break. We headed over to Mardis Gras to check it out.
I have to say that all of the reports that I've read are true. Mardis Gras looks great! The theming is excellent, the rides look cool and the atmosphere is fun. Because we were with the media, we could have taken a ride on Ragin Cajun. Unfortunately, neither one of us can handle rides that spin excessively, and, in case you haven't seen it, RC spins a whole lot. Other than that, Jester, King Chaos and Big Easy all look good also.
We hung out in Mardis Gras for the official ribbon cutting. It was cool, but nothing to write home about. After that, it was off to do some real riding.
We walked onto B:TR and took row 8 on the second train of the day. Awesome ride, as usual. I think the yellow paint looks good, and anyone who said that the ride was running slower must have caught it on a bad day, because we were flying!
I noticed that V2 was going to be a walk-on as well, so we headed in and, after a sudden drop in blood sugar forced by editor to the exit line, I took a solo ride in the very back of the train. I don't enjoy V2 nearly as much as some people do, but I really liked the height that you get when riding all the way in back.
After a quick bite to eat, AER was the next in line. We walked all the way into the statiion and quickly rode all the way up front. The trim breaks were fairly terrible, but AER is always a great ride.
A jaunt into SW Territory brought about Raging Bull and Viper. Bull was first, row 8, of course. Great ride as always. Viper we managed front car in like three minutes. The air time was awesome, and no mishaps with lap bars popping up or anything.
Since we were so close, Demon was last on the list for the first time around. The wait was roughly two minutes, and we had a nice, normal, mellow ride on there as well.
Unfortunately, DV was not operational, so we took a break before doubling up on some of our favorites. In all, here was the final ride count:

S:UF-2, B:TR-1, AER-2, RB-2, V2-1, Viper-2, Demon-1, Roaring Rapids-1

To be honest, I don't know if it was the hot, humid weather or if I'm just getting too old (24) to handle that much riding, but today easily could have been a 30+ ride day for someone who was able to hang. Unfortunately for my editor and I, we just couldn't do it. I know, weak sauce.
Anyhow, all in all it was still a great day. The park is clean and in great shape. The lines were the shortest I've ever encountered in at least 25 trips to the park. The only disappointments were the uncomfortable weather (which still wasn't bad since they were talking about strong storms being possible) and the fact the my favorite ride, Vu wasn't operational. It never even cycled, so I'm thinking that it may have been a staffing issue more than an operational matter. While I can't confirm or deny that thought, if it was a staffing issue, it would seem strange that they would keep a marquis attraction like that closed, especially since less-popular rides like Iron Wolf were running. Whatever the reason, it just sucked that I couldn't ride it and my editor has now been to the park 6 times since Vu's arrival, and he has yet to be there on a day when it has ever left the station even to test! Oh well, it was still too great of a day to complain about.
I'm sure I saw some of our regulars here. In case anyone was wondering, I have a buzzed haircut and I was wearing a dark, striped shirt, Khaki shorts, sandals, and I was walking around with a guy with glasses. We were both carrying around those blue Mardi Gras press kits that they handed out at the beginning of the day.

[Dmrbug]

Good job on the TR. I know what you mean about riding to many rides. Some time the long que line are a good thing - gives you time to rest up between rides. When I rode the rides one after anouther with no wait on wed I got to the point that I could not do any more rides. We must be just getting old.

[Papas]

...or your not conditioned like me (opening weekend I took in over 100 coasters).

[Carlo]

Superman was Open for the ACEers. They opened it is for us at about 7am because there was not much for us to do Since King Chaos was not working and Ragin Cajun was only running 1 train so they only allowed 1 ride per a person.

[Iggy ACE]

Carlo how did ACE members get invited to this? Just wondering cause I didn't hear anything about them getting invited.

[EVOed8]

Carlo how did ACE members get invited to this? Just wondering cause I didn't hear anything about them getting invited.

At No Coaster Con we were given postcards to fill out. A select few were drawn and those were invited to media day.

[Papas]

Anyway I havn't been Cajun yet but caught a glimpse of it cycling today, looked like a heck of a ride.

[Carlo]

Yea I saw it cycling too. They have been working on Cajun a lot. It may open next weekend or even sooner. KC who knows when that will open.

[punkbunny24242]

Hey Carlo I saw you there yesterday.. now that I know what you look like from the news. I was gonna stop you and say hi but you were in the middle of conversation both times.

[SFGAMkid]

Does Cajun spin the entire ride, or just after the mcbr? I've heard a couple different statements refering on when the cars spin.

[Carlo]

No, it starts spinning about 1/2 way though the ride. I was told that it could be made to spin the whole entire time, but ours will not be setup like that.