May 23rd nice weather not crowded

[onyxhotel08]

First trip of 09 season! My brother, who is lame, decided at the last minute to go to Gurnee Mills for the day and let me do what I wanted at the park. So he dropped me off and I went to process my pass. We thought maybe he would come later after we ate some food around 3 but there was no point in paying for parking and I had a flash pass he did not. He ended up buying some crap and checked out a movie (Fighting with Channing Tatum). Anyway, I processed my pass, got my $57 Gold Flash Pass and headed for Bull. Park was lovely. Clean, cool breeze and crowds were t-i-n-y. As the day went on people packed in more but most rides were no more than a 30-45 minute wait (more in the later day). Not bad. Tell me why Flash Pass rides differ on certain days? I was wondering why BB, Roaring Rapids, Iron Wolf and Viper were "closed" when I saw they were operating. So she reminded me they aren't always on the pass. The fact that you pay them so much money these days when people are cutting back and all those rides were in fact running is stupid to not let them be used on the L-Q. Each ride that I wanted to go on which was not on the Flash Pass had a decent line so I skipped Iron Wolf, Roaring Rapids (Water wasn't warm anyway), Viper and Buccaneer Battle. BB looks good but some people get crazy with water and later on the whole pathway by the ride was soaked.

While the scenery on BB is beautiful, the skyline will never be the same without Vu. I liked how they blocked off the former SWF entrance but the eyesore is still there and I imagine how the GAR people feel passing by it each time. They could at least put some flower stands there...something. I did a lot of walking as it always seems to be closer than it is going from one ride to another. Good news? Demon was ok! Worth at least one trip a season and I still am a fan of last years first time Whizzer which is quite fun!Weather cooled down even more at around 4 so it was even dumber to go on water rides. I did, however, feel the need to go 3X on Logger's Run today. Would have preferred Yankee Clipper but alas poor baby was drained. Seems like some people don't even notice rides go down or aren't operating as the case with Vu, SWF, Hometown Fun Machine, Clipper (One girl asked is that a water ride---where Clipper and the filled up now pond meet by V2). I missed Eagle which is the only one I always feel the need to try to get on as the line was right off the stairs. Next year with all those long lines there better be a Flash Pass Entrance! Oh, I did one cool thing. I performed, twice, on Great American Idol. I was first at the beginning and did Womanizer. At around 4 I did Break the Ice when it was fairly packed with people and performers. One kid saw me on Loggers and said "Dude, you did good" "Sing!" Look it up great song. Left around 6ish when Peter and I were to meet up by drop-off and go back home. No traffic, better-than-forecasted weather, minimal crowds made a GREAT DAY.

In no order:

Superman-2 (Can hurt towards the end if you don't adjust yourself....when the ride is over and you are hanging)
Raging Bull-2 (Yellow train down hands down the best choice of rides to bring in to the park...happy 10 years Raging Bull!)
V2-2 (Nothing beats it but so freaking loud!)
Batman-2 (Not very crowded but always 10-15 minutes quicker with pass)
Dark Knight-2 (Fun to this day but pre-show should be changed up a bit)
Giant Drop-1 (Empty almost whole day)
Whizzer-1 (1 train down but so much fun and great scenery)
Loggers Run-3 (20-25 minute wait towards middle of day otherwise I just hate the smell of chlorine)
Great American Idol-2 (Started way past 12 somebody was late...but still ran past 4 which means people love their karaoke)
Demon-1 (Nice paint a little rough but worth a ride I like how they said have fun on the 33 year old Demon or something like that)

A lot of guys liked to sing Taylor Swift "Lovestory" today. No joke. Oh When we left for a bit at 3 we had Subway right across the street. Next time, with some people, first HH trip! BTW, what is the point of lockers on rides like V2 when the bins are still being used?????

[Demon_07]

V2 Bins are only for shoes. Any other loose items must be put in a ride locker.

[onyxhotel08]

One lady made me laugh by saying and I quote "Yeah, we'll go on the shuttle later"....umm she didn't see there wasn't even any people by it????

[Ilovthevu']

She could have meant bus shuttle (hotels - That Key Lime Cove definitely has one.). You say it's not crowded, but yet you get a Flash Pass anyway. So, it had to be crowded for you to not wait in some of the lines. The reason for higher crowds probably has to do with the water park being empty. People might have thought that it was going to get warmer for the waterpark, and it didn't get warm enough so everyone for the most part was just going in the regular park.

That stinks that Whizzer is down to 1 train. Hopefully, they get the other one fixed. Also, Memorial Day is a week earlier than it usually was. The reason is because this is the last Monday in the month.

[onyxhotel08]

I was there until 6 P.M. and most rides had lines way past the station. I don't go often. I was by myself so saving time waiting in a line with nobody to talk to is pointless. I wanted to ride even 10-15 minutes quicker. I would have gotten more rides in had I not left with 3 hours to go but didn't have the time this time around. Plan to make some trips by myself this summer anyway thanks to Pace Bus. Probably won't get a pass then. Since I'll be there open to close.

[Jackluver18]

I heard someone while I was standing by Viper staring at Bull saying "Oh look it's Demon" Unless Bull has mysteriously changed color, added two loops and two corkscrews over the past few summers, I'd like to tell him, I think he doesn't know which direction Demon is in. It was quite funny.

[onyxhotel08]

I missed Viper but only because it wasn't on the pass, I was running from one end of park to next and had to make sure I was time conscious as I was to leave at 6. I needed to get my pass back, buy a sports bottle and make my way to the lot.

[Jackluver18]

It has gotten very very squeaky going around the corners.....it hurt my ears.

[onyxhotel08]

Whoever said a few weeks back they went overboard with "Move it Movie it" I heard it play 10X yesterday even in the line for TDK! You hear stuff by one-hit wonders like 98 Degrees, Samantha Mumba, and OLD stuff like Backstreet Boys bleh bleh bleh but almost no current artists and hits maybe because most have sexual or offensive words/songs but still songs suck at Great America. At least I heard no Car Wash by Christina Aguilera like last year.

[BrianPlencner]

^ I believe the "I like to move it move it" song is played every hour on the hour. So, with the park being open on Saturday from 10 -9 , you would have heard it a total of 11 times.

--Brian