In pilot slang, CAG refers to the commander of an air group. It’s not an official military term, but one that I thought fit perfectly with this type of blog. As the “commander” of this site, if you will, I wanted to cover a few small topics as the site’s first month draws to a close. I’m sure I will do this from time-to-time moving forward, so I decided to come up with an official name for these types of blogs. Naturally I played off of the “Top Gun” inspiration once more and I bring you the first ever, CAG Report.
Hersheypark - Group Trip
For over a decade I have arranged annual amusement park trips to different regional amusement parks in this for my workplace. With Hersheypark’s Chocolatetown and Candymonium announcements last year, the plan was set in motion to visit Hersheypark in 2020. Then, Coronavirus…
Although things were looking down months ago with the Covid-19 screwing up our plans for our late June trip, we were able to make things work with a late July reschedule. Over 30 people attended on Monday and everyone had a great time.
Among the 30-plus who attended were seven of the site’s wingmen: Mindy, Mailyn, Elaina, Jason, Sam, Reid, Chris, and Brad. Of these seven, only Reid had previous rides on Candymonium this year. The ride was without a doubt, the star attraction of this visit. Here’s what some of the site’s wigmen had to say about the ride:
“I thought Candymonium was really awesome and smooth – thanks B&M! I’m just kind of sad that I got stapled in, so I didn’t experience that much airtime. Overall, however, it was really fun and thrilling,” said Sam, who claimed only her second hyper coaster credit to date.
“Candymonium was such an awesome coaster,” said Chris. “Sitting front row was such an amazing experience. The drop was by far the best part. It wasn’t too long or short. It’s definitely in my top three coasters at Hersheypark.”
“Candymonium was a great, comfortable ride. Not too intense, but with that perfect lapbar, you get that falling out of your seat feeling while it not being strenuous on your body,” said Reid.
Wingman Promotion
With Monday’s trip in the books, I have updated each wingman’s flight journal, where appropriate. In doing so, Reid moved up to five parks visited together, promoting him from ensign to lieutenant. Brad and Chris both gained another park and are one park away from also moving up to lieutenant ranking.
Resigning from My Job
Without going into details, on Friday, July 25, I resigned from a job that I have held for 24 years. The hardest part of walking away was by far, the people I worked with. All of the site’s wingmen, minus my Aunt Cheryl, either worked with me when I resigned, or are former coworkers who had moved on and who I remained friends with. There are a lot of good memories, but sometimes it is just time to move on when you feel like you’re at an impasse.
Was it Fate? RMC Print Marketing Campaign Contest
The night I decided to resign from my job, I saw a contest posted to Facebook by none other than Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). As someone who handled my workplace’s advertising, social media, and promotional marketing materials, on top of my customer service duties, this was too good to be true.
After resigning, I had a couple of days to compile what I wanted to submit to RMC for consideration for this contest. I created a 20 page booklet showing off some of the more recent samples of my work. I included items from We Were Inverted, some yet-unreleased design work I’ve been doing for the Facebook group, Coaster Appreciation Society (CAS), as well as items from the job I just resigned from on Friday.
All samples were due on Monday, but with my group trip planned for that day, I sent off my 20 page booklet to RMC’s contact Sunday night. She confirmed receiving it Monday morning, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be considered to take part.
Was it Fate? Meeting Greg
Last Saturday, on my first full day away from my job, I asked Sam if she’d like to go out and grab a bite to eat. She said yes and we made our way to the other side of town. I wanted to get away from the area and do something different. Boy, am I glad I did!
After walking around a small, historic town, Sam and I wandered to its outskirts and saw a restaurant. I had never been to this establishment, but it was always one that I wanted to try. I showed Sam the menu options and asked her if she was good to give it a try, to which she was.
We made our way in and it was pretty slow. Our waiter, whose name is Greg, was with us immediately and sat us in the corner. As we sat down, Greg compliment me on my mask, which was one of the ones Kings Island recently released on its online store, Kings Island Gear. It features the Beast, so I knew Greg knew a thing or two about coasters. It’s not like we’re local to the park, so I find that your average person hasn’t heard of coasters more than a few hours away. I thanked him for his compliment and asked him if he had ever been to Kings Island. It was at that point that we struck up a conversation that seemed like it lasted for like half an hour.
It turns out, Greg is an American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) member and is looking to experience new parks and rides. We kept talking, even though both Sam and I were hungry. She found it funny listening to the both of us throw around all kinds of “coaster nerd” terms, even though she’s been using them recently herself. I blame ElToroRyan as she even knows what block brakes are after watching some of his “Problematic Roller Coasters” installments.
Of course I did not have my We Were Inverted business cards on me and we parked about half a mile back up the hill into town. I told him I’d be sure to stop back before we left town and get him a card as well as one of my site’s pins. We ate our food and I did exactly what I said, swinging back to the restaurant before going home for the evening.
Long story short, Greg followed We Were Inverted’s Instagram account (@WeWereInverted_IG) and from there, we touched base on Facebook. I invited him to CAS and now we’re talking about hitting up Dorney Park and getting him his first mountain coaster credit at Camelback Mountain Adventure. Yes, the same trip that Renee and I had to put on hold due to several weeks of bad weather. Now that I have some extra time to myself, I asked him if he’d be interested in coming. Renee is excited about the prospect too.
Had I been working, as I would have been that night, I would have never met Greg. Like the contest, having some time to myself, allowed me to do something that was out of the norm and some good came of it.
Reaching Out to Knoebels
In the weeks leading up to We Were Inverted’s launch, I reached out to Knoebels Amusement Resort, to a contact I had from my workplace’s 2019 amusement park trip. She helped us plan a trip for over 60 people last year, complete with catering. I asked her if she’d be able to put me in touch with a media/public relations contact at the park and explained what I was doing with this upcoming site.
Within a day I had two different contacts from the park reach out to me, and both were interested in knowing what I was thinking. I told them of my journalism background and desire to come to the park to do some feature articles for this blog. I was told I was more than welcome and keep them posted.
I gave the site a couple of weeks to get up and running, along with some blog entries, and I reached back out to my contacts at Knoebels last week. I’m currently set to meet with my contact on Monday, August 10 on a couple of articles I want to do about their rides. I had a couple of other ideas too, but with precautions for the Coronavirus in play, we’re putting a few of those on hold for a later date. They were very receptive to those ideas as well, so I fully intend on going back once things allow me to do so.
Ending the Month at Wisp Resort & Lakemont Park
Earlier this month I tried to plan a trip with a few of the site’s wingmen to Lakemont Park, in Altoona, Pa. We all had off on a Monday, so I looked into making the small group trip happen. One problem… Lakemont Park, while open on Mondays, doesn’t operate the rides from Monday – Wednesday. Ugh!
I didn’t know when I’d get out to Lakemont with my work schedule, but with my recent resignation, and Sam having off on Thursdays, I decided to ask her if she was doing anything on Thursday, July 30. She was not. I told her I had an idea, but wanted to keep it a surprise. She was game and didn’t want to know where we’d be going until we arrived.
Originally the plan was to leave for Lakemont around noon, from Baltimore. I had plans to meet with another friend late morning, but he told me to go and do my thing with Sam. With the extra time, that’s when I decided to sweeten the day just a little bit more. I checked out Wisp Resort’s operation schedule for their Mountain Coaster. Lucky me! They also operate the same days as Lakemont. With that, we now had two stops. One new credit for me and three for Sam.
In planning the trip the day prior, I had reached out to Lakemont on Facebook about their pricing structure. It had been a couple of years since my last visit and I knew things had changed. I touched base with what turned out to be the park’s marketing and business development assistant manager. When I mentioned We Were Inverted, she told me to meet her when we arrived. What was planned as a day of casual rides with a friend had turned into the added bonus of doing a feature article on the park. I couldn’t be happier. Be on the lookout for that in August.
Final Thoughts
The site’s first month kicked off with a lot of enthusiasm on my part. I finally launched this site after wanting to create it for years. It ends on a weird note with my resignation from my full-time job, but promise in that I can move on and be happy doing some things that I enjoy. That’s how I’m going to look at it right now as I take the next couple of weeks to relax and plan out where I want to go and what I want to do. In that time, I will probably hit up a few parks to get some new credits and film some footage for this site. If we cross paths, just know…
You can be my wingman anytime! (Top Gun, 1986)
Patrick
