At the advice of a previous reviewer, we arrived about 45 minutes before the park opened. We also paid the $15 extra for the preferred parking. This made it pretty easy to go out to our car to eat the lunch we'd packed and cool off in our air conditioned car for a bit. In the morning, the lines were amazingly short! We got on three of the big coasters in just a few minutes each, and so we chose to ride some of them repeatedly back to back. The water raft ride had a really short line too, and cooled us off nicely. After lunch, however, the lines were much longer: 55 minutes or more for some coasters.
So, here's what made this a more enjoyable experience than it would have been otherwise:
1. We arrived and entered the park early.
2. We got the preferred parking. This made it easy to eat the lunch we'd packed, and we didn't need to wait around for the shuttle/tram to take us to our car. It also saved us the money and time of waiting in line to buy a lunch inside the park.
3. We came on a noncrowded day, although unknowingly. (At the park, a season pass holder was telling us Thursdays tend to be less crowded.)
Bottom line, temper your expectations. This is a bit more like Six Flags than Disney when it comes to cleanliness and employees being super friendly. You can definitely make a fun day out of it for the family. Our kids did really enjoy all of the coasters.