Highlights of your 2016 season

[ECG]

Park related-
*Best new cred - Monster @ Adventureland, Iowa
*Worst new cred - The Joker @ Six Flags Great Adventure
*Biggest surprise cred - GaleForce @ Playland's Castaway Cove
*Worst spite - Lightning Rod @ Dollywood
*Favorite park of the season - Universal Orlando
*Best experience - Test ride on GaleForce @ Playland's Castaway Cove
*Worst experience - Rage of the Gargoyles media event @ Six Flags Great Adventure
*Best individual day at a park - Filming Nitro @ Six Flags Great Adventure
*Worst individual day at a park - Rage of the Gargoyles media event @ Six Flags Great Adventure
*Best trip of the season - IAAPA Expo

General and other-
*Best people you met - Too many to list here.
*Best non park experience - Copa America Centenario
*Favorite travel moment - Hiking through Starved Rock National Park in Illinois.
*Worst travel moment - When a kiddie swimming pool flew off the pickup truck in front of me and hit my car.
*Funniest moment - Hanging with Clint Novak and the In The Loop guys at the Fun Spot GCI party.
*Favorite memory - After nearly two decades, getting to spend time with Bora Milutinovic at the USA-Argentina Copa America game in Houston.
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Klinsmann pre/post firing articles I wrote for Kicker.

 

[Bat Fastard]

First time at Silver Dollar City!

New favorite coaster!

The City Museum was absolutely spectacular and so worth skipping Six Flags St. Louis for.

My first ever visit to Cedar Point was absolutely surreal. I need to get back up there.

My first ever ride on Top Thrill Dragster was also front row. Probably the single most exciting moment I've experienced in my enthusiast days.

Hanging out and playing beach sports at night on the beaches of Lake Erie for the nights we were there was an absolute blast.

As much as I hated you, rest in peace buddy.

The Air Force Museum is a spectacular sight to see.

Another fabulous RMC.

My most exciting moment of the year, including roller coasters, was definitely my first solo flight. My first takeoff, when I lifted off the ground and looked over and saw an empty seat and realized "I am the only one getting this plane back on the ground safely now," was one of the most exciting feelings I've ever had. After I did a few touch and goes and landed full stop, I felt like I could do anything. Surreal experience. I'm so grateful I have found my true passion in life.

Overall, 2016 was incredible for me. So many great trips and overall experiences.
Excited for 2017, Fury and Lightning Rod will be top priority for me!

 

[Smithy]

Park related-
*Best new cred
Blue Fire

* Worst new cred
Wild Mouse at Parque de Atracciones Madrid

*Biggest surprise cred
Arthur

*Worst spite
Been quite fortunate this year.

*Favorite park of the season
Europa Park

*Best experience
Silver Star at sunset.

*Worst experience
A busy weekend at Thorpe. Only turned up at 2pm ready for a coaster climb but that was still too long.

*Best individual day at a park
Full day at Europa, Halloween theming up, just a great day.

*Worst individual day at a park
Forp.

*Best trip of the season
Europa for the park, as an overall trip Madrid was great.

General and other-
*Best people you met
Sue takes this one

*Best non park experience
Top of the dome of St Peter's Basillica overlooking the Vatican at sunset. And getting a selfie with the pope.

*Favorite travel moment
As above

*Worst travel moment
Of all things, a German train being delayed and worrying we were going to miss our connection, having to run between platforms with our cases.

*Funniest moment
???? bit bad that I can't think of one really

*Favorite memory
Everything about Europa

*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related
New job, finally.

 

[tomahawk]

*Best new cred Outlaw Run
* Worst new cred: Boomerang at Carowinds
*Biggest surprise cred: Tennessee Tornado
*Worst spite: Basically my entire summer, but definitely Lightning Rod
*Favorite park of the season: Dollywood, but SDC a very, very close second
*Best experience: Getting on Twisted Colossus
*Worst experience: Walk of shame on Lightning Rod
*Best individual day at a park: SFMM with my nephew when I could avoid the big boy seat and ride TC and he hit 54"
*Worst individual day at a park: US Live
*Best trip of the season: US Live

General and other-
*Best people you met: Erich and Kevin on US live, had never met in person
*Best non park experience: Winning first football game coaching nephews team after losing 6 in a row
*Favorite travel moment: SDC with the wife
*Worst travel moment: None
*Funniest moment: None
*Favorite memory: water cooler dump after winning last game of season/TC
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related: Lost 45+ pounds since July 1

 

[Edward M]

Park related-
*Best new cred: Lightning Rod
*Worst new cred: Howler (but Nighthawk excluding kiddie creds)
*Biggest surprise cred: Escape from Gringotts (I had ridden it before but it was oddly 1000% better this time around)
*Worst spite: Most of Carowinds (went to the park late at night and could only do a few rides)
*Favorite park of the season: Magic Kingdom
*Best experience: The CF Live by far
*Worst experience: Not many bad ones. I guess seeing Seaworld's small tanks which really put a damper on my day.
*Best individual day at a park: Day at Dollywood or one of the days at Disney with my cousin
*Worst individual day at a park: Day at Seaworld Orlando
*Best trip of the season: Orlando trip

General and other-
*Best people you met: everyone at the CF Live meet
*Best non park experience: This summer was just very pleasant in general
*Favorite travel moment: The view of the Ozarks on the way to SDC
*Worst travel moment: The drive from Asheville to Dollywood in wooded areas
*Funniest moment: Many moments at the CF Live
*Favorite memory: Many but I guess the memory of how I spent summer
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related: Making 2 albums this year!

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Best new cred - Taron. No competition. That evening will be etched on my memory forever
Worst new cred - Umm what have I even done this year? Oh I know, another bloody Intamin half pipe POS
Biggest surprise cred - Halvar at Plopsa Coo. It's an old Vekoma that's basically a Swartzy and full of old school terrain through the woods <3
Worst spite - The Colossus clone at Chimelong Paradise. Also loads of park spite in China due to my own stupidity
Favorite park of the season - Phantasialand, as always.
Best experience - Taron night riding as a group. The crazy levels of shared excitement and adrenaline were surreal. Seeing everyone's joyful faces and having no time to talk as they zoomed around for yet another go; just catching the odd snatched comment of joy as they ran past <3
Worst experience - Walking into Drievlet. After the amazing Live it was a crash back down to earth. Literally the worst park entrance of all time.
Best individual day at a park - I'm going to go with Toverland here. It's CF at its best (I know, I know, but it's true). Sometimes the people outshine even the best coasters. But throw in a bit of Dwervelwind of joy and the way they have upped their game this year. Plus Troy. Love it. Love all the crazy antics. Love CF. Shout out to Grona Lund and the epic evening we spent there too with the suprise concert and Eurovision times <3
Worst individual day at a park - Nothing too bad. Maybe Chimelong Paradise because it was a bit of a dump and not as good as I expected
Best trip of the season - So tough. I've not even mentioned Sweden and Wildfire yet. But Ghosterforce was sublime. And then there was fun France/Germany cred-mopping with the Macklite of awesome. Think I'm going to have to give it as a tie for Sweden and Ghosterforce.

Best people you met - Great to meet Smithy at last. And Harry too. You were both fab. Also great getting to know Howie better after bumping into him at the airport and James too at GF
Best non park experience - Taking the family through the Slovenian mountains, one of my favorite places
Favorite travel moment - Finally ticking of Salzburg. Also, being upgraded to business class.
Worst travel moment - There have been a few this year. Smashing up the hire car. Missing my flight in China and not being able to make my connections so having to drop two Happy Valleys and Jin Jang Action Park from my schedule
Funniest moment - Richard, Jordan and I pissing about on the rafts, Richard loosing the only oar, me falling in, boarding Jordan's raft and being set adrift. The only salvation being the Dutch people who offered us a thin twig to grab onto. I couldn't breathe.
Favorite memory - Taron. The joy
Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Managing to carve myself some actual downtime to get back into walking/writing/drawing.

 

[Chris Brown]

Park related-
*Best new cred
Helix for me, followed closely by Taron and Wildfire.

* Worst new cred
Condor at Walibi Holland or Python at Efteling. Both dreadful

*Biggest surprise cred
Flying Dutchman at Efteling. Although the coaster section is average the dark ride section before is sublime. The eerie atmosphere and immersive effects really blew me away.

*Worst spite
Been very lucky this year. Genuinely haven't had a single spite. Only thing that comes close was Efeling rides shutting an hour before the park which was a little disappointing.

*Favorite park of the season
Phantasialand. This place cannot be hyped enough. Simply incredible.

*Best experience
ERT on wildfire thanks to some IFC charm.

*Worst experience
Ian's snoring on every single CF live.

*Best individual day at a park
Liseberg on the Sweden Trip. Absolutely perfect day spent with so many great people. Beautiful weather, great company, night rides, HELIX, great swedish food, one of the best park atmospheres I've experienced, being in the park from 12pm to 11pm with near enough no queues. Probably the best themepark day I've ever had.

*Worst individual day at a park
Went to Towers with some non goon friends for a weekend. 2nd day there were ride break downs on top of the existing closures and i just got really bored. Nothing particularly bad happened but just wasn't as great as the rest of 2016 trips

*Best trip of the season
Blackpool, Sweden and Ghosterforce were all new parks and trips for me and all were great.

General and other-
*Best people you met
General CF'ers I hadnt met before, not a single bad one in the bunch.

*Best non park experience
Splash Landings was good fun, exploring Stockholm and relaxing in the burger joint, charging around Stockholm with everyone playing pokemon go.

*Favorite travel moment
Fuetaventura surfing with the GF was great, Copenhagen was also a lovely city to explore.

*Worst travel moment
Just general getting up early, even the though of Wildfire ERT wasn't enough to get me out of bed in time.

*Funniest moment
Toverland shenanigans, general messing around, general consensus of Efteling and just general people being knobs.

*Favorite memory
Night rides on Taron with the ERt and night rides on Helix whch was basically ERT with no queue.

*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related
Becoming a Mechanical engineer, riding coasters i'd always wanted to ride, travelling to a fair few countries and other various bits.

Post pictures too if you want!

 

[Ian]

Best new cred
Taron at night. First thing in the morning, it was good but it didn't blow me away. Six or seven rides later in the day and I couldn't get enough of it! It was also one of the few new coasters of 2016 that I followed during construction.

Worst new cred
I've done plenty of mediocre/crap stuff this season, but hands down it has to be the Eurofighter at Duinrell. I dislike Eurofighters and when I rode it, it was pissing down with rain. It didn't help that I was on a comedown after GhosterForce...but yeah, bad memories of that ride.

Biggest surprise cred
Lost Gravity. Due to it's size, I though it woudl be rather dull, but riding it was actual W-T-F-?-!, it was great fun. I also have to give mentions to Flying Dutchman and Baron at Efteling. Although the rides themselves are not the best, but the story telling made me scream with joy. Awe-inspiringly good in terms of theme.

Worst spite
I can't recall any major spites this year. Bit annoyed that I never got to ride Smiler during Alton Towers fireworks, but I did ride it in March.

Favorite park of the season
Phantasialand. I loved the intimacy and intense theme everywhere. The fact we got everything done was also a miracle. I really enjoyed the ride variation and atmosphere.

Best experience
Experiencing Efteling. For years, so many people have been banging on how good the park is and finally this year I visited. Although I agree with some people that it's quite beige in colour, the little surprises around every corner and story telling is second to none. I love the way on most rides there is a themed queue and then a big reveal as riders enter the stations. It feels epic.

I also want to mention DBGT's Media Event, the Backstage Tour of Stealth at Thorpe (I mega recommend the Stealth one, it's seriously good!), the last ride on the Bubbleworks and, of course, meeting plenty of new CFers.

Worst experience
Organising GhosterForce. It took me months to break through to the park management to arrange perks and organise stuff. Mos parks are very accommodating but the four GF parks involved a lot of hoop jumping and even a Skype call where I had to pitch CF! Ok, so everything worked out well - very well - in the end, but it was very stressful and not really pleasurable to organise at the time! I was also not best pleased with the way the Walibi Holland day ended, but that's now water under the bridge.

Best individual day at a park
Liseberg. The fact that we stayed there all day despite early rises (for most of us) and the energy and excitement levels never dropped makes me wish every park visit could be like that. On one end of the scale, there are are the mundane days plodding around Thorpe and Chessington, riding next to nothing and wondering what will break down next, and at the top end there's Liseberg with CF 2016.

Worst individual day at a park
Waiting at Thorpe Park for three hours for DBGT to open.

Best trip of the season
Toss up between GhosterForce and Sweden...but Sweden edges it. It didn't cost a penny to enter both parks, everything got done (multiple times). Grona Lund at night was fab. And Wildfire at Kolmarden was superb. I've never been on a trip when everybody is smiling constantly. Not one person (not even me) had a strop or let their laughter fade!

Best people you met
nadroJ's mum. She's everything I imagined she would be and more! Fab defined. And of course, the new CFers. It's always a pleasure to meet fellow goons and get to know them in person. I'm too scared to mention one or two in case I offend or forget others!

Best non park experience
Playing Pokemon Go.

Favorite travel moment
Don't really have one in particular, but I always enjoy having a post-Live discussion with @Chris Brown on the journey home.

Worst travel moment
When nadroJ and Belfast Conor kept farting on our return from Cornwall. I was too scared to spark up a fag. The air inside my car was so thick and toxic.

Funniest moment
The mornings after a CFer party sat aroudn watching videos, playing game and generally faffing about.

Favorite memory
Old CoasterForce website

Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related
Bugger all this year. Seriously an unambitious and negative year for me in my non-CF life. If I were to say something, I've finally accomplished the serenity of knowing exactly who my friends are and what matters most to me. Urgh, how hippyish.

 

[peep]

Park related
Best new cred
Taron. Nothing else came close this year.

Worst new cred
That shuttle coaster THING at Jin Jiang Action park in Shanghai. There's a bump that just violates you.

Biggest surprise cred
I suppose Lost Gravity. Jungle Trailblazer at Oriental Heritage was really great too.

Worst spite
Dinoconda at stupid China Dinosaur park. Burdenous. I was also really upset to be spited by the big indoor cred at Oriental Heritage park.

Favorite park of the season
Shanghai Disneyland and Phantasialand can take a tie, both phenomenal parks.

Best experience
Pirates of the Caribbean at Shanghai Disney, jeez that thing is phenomenal and that first ride was just magical. We're talking actual gasps and pointing at exciting things.

Worst experience
The rain at the end of our day at Oriental Heritage was rather annoying, meaning we didn't get to experience a couple of big rides. Actually rain being spiteful was a big problem on both the China and Orlando trips this year. Silly weather.

Best individual day at a park
Not sure, probably Shanghai Disney (first day) as it was fascinating - as a Disney goon - to be in a Disneyland park that didn't have the same basic layout as the others. Just exploring and being immersed in these large themed environments was rather fab.

Worst individual day at a park
Joyland in China was a rather turd day. With barely anything open and the park layout being rubbish it was just a really horrible day, which ended with a horrible travel situation at the end.

Best trip of the season
I think my Shanghai trip takes the crown here. Finally getting to China and seeing what Gavin has been on about for years. Also getting to Disney in opening week was rather special.

General
Best people you met
Brian, aka CP6. Great to meet an old skool CFer for the first time, just lounging around BGT and just chatting for ages was fantastic.

Best non park experience
Visiting Copenhagen and Vienna, love both cities, wish I had more time to just roam around.

Favourite travel moment
Standing on a ferry in Amsterdam that also had bikes and small vehicles, I'm explaining it poorly but it was just a really surreal moment.

Worst travel moment
That journey after Joyland in China was an "adventure" - not really knowing where I was/going and relying on my friends.

Funniest moment
Dancing on the Joypolis spinning cred for the car in front to just spin around and this couple just laughing at us being idiots. Eddie nutella hands might have been this year too (or was that last year?) - basically a child in front of us in a queue just had nutella all over his hands. Also watching the lone goons running around Taron's single rider queue again and again was quite amusing.

Favourite memory
I'm not sure how to narrow this one down, so many amazing moments this year. EDIT - OMG, just remembered being carted around Duinrell by staff and some kids singing "They see me rollin', they hatin'" - That was something else.

Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related
Finally getting on to a film's end credit scroll is pretty awesome. It's released early next year so I'll probably mention it more around release.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Park related
Best new cred- Wildfire, Kolmarden
Worst new cred- Nothing really sticks out as being the worst; probably just the +1 kiddies
Biggest surprise cred- Eejanaika! I thought I was going to hate it and now it's my #1
Worst spite- Probably paying like $15 for a kiddie coaster that I only later realized I'd already been on
Favorite park of the season- So hard to pick one... I'd say probably Universal Japan and DisneySea, but Grona was fab as well
Best experience- So hard to decide.. I think just landing in Asia for the first time was a bit surreal
Worst experience- Not being let into that crappy park in Japan due to tattoos, and all the rip-off spite that occurred in Japan
Best individual day at a park- Really enjoyed the chill day at Grona with Ben, Lofty, and AJ.
Worst individual day at a park- Parque Espana was a nice park but the events of the day were unfortunate and it also rained. Himeji was disgusting, too. There were so many dives in Japan
Best trip of the season- My only trip was 6 weeks long apart from a random day trip to Six Flags Great America, so that one

General and other
Best people you met- So happy I finally got to meet Jake
Best non park experience-
Favorite travel moment- The gorgeoussss view in Hong Kong at the light show thingy
Worst travel moment- The commute from Tokyo back to Narita airport.. My wallet got absolutely raped and I got ripped off about three times. I think the culmination of all the frustrations I had experienced in three weeks there just came down on me all at once and I had a bit of a cry.
Funniest moment- Can't even think but baton rouge is one that sticks out as amusing in hindsight (Ben and Jake will know this one </3 )
Favorite memory- Can't even think of a favourite one.. I had a lot of fun times!
Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related- Getting my private pilot's license and also going back to uni for my commercial license and other endorsements

 

[Snoo]

Park related-
*Best new cred - Lightning Rod.. new #1!
* Worst new cred - Daemonen - Tivoli
*Biggest surprise cred - Lighting Run - KK
*Worst spite - Liseberg (bad planning on my part)
*Favorite park of the season - Dollywood
*Best experience - Lightning Rod ERT at night. <3
*Worst experience - T3 at KK. It was MUCH worse than I thought
*Best individual day at a park - Dollywood with LR literally 1 day AFTER it opened to the public during the USA Live.
*Worst individual day at a park - N/A. I didn't have one bad day.
*Best trip of the season - USA Live 2016. Much fun with a lot of folks featuring a plethora of great rides.

General and other-
*Best people you met - EVERYONE in London. So glad to meet every single one of you. All of you besides Ciall were brand new to me and really made my amazing trip that much better.
*Best non park experience - Auschwitz
*Favorite travel moment - Getting married in Prague
*Worst travel moment - Getting lost in Sweden
*Funniest moment - USA Live. Just all of it. <3
*Favorite memory - Getting married to the love of my life.
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - I got a raise.

 

[mouse]

Park related-
*Best new cred
Taron, obviously.

* Worst new cred
I went on a big apple at a small fun park in Devon. I was the only person on it and the operator made it go round 3 times. It was tragic.

*Biggest surprise cred
Nothing has really surprised me. I guess Taron, although I did expect it to be quite good so it wasn't a surprise as such.

*Worst spite
The realisation that stairlifts don't count as creds.

*Favorite park of the season
Phantasialand.

*Best experience
Taron's second launch.

*Worst experience
Sitting at the back of the big apple in the hope it would give some airtime.

*Best individual day at a park
Phantasialand.

*Worst individual day at a park
Everything else.

*Best trip of the season
Um... Germany/Phantasialand.

General and other-
*Best people you met
I went to Tesco to buy some stuff for lunch and the guy at the checkout didn't charge me for a bag. He was pretty cool.

*Best non park experience
I heard a nun say bollocks.

*Favorite travel moment
Loads of signs in Germany had the word 'fahrt' on them.

*Worst travel moment
The flush handle thing had broken at a hostel in Berlin, and when I was trying to explain it to the staff they thought I was just trying to get them to look at my turd.

*Funniest moment
The ludicrous dream I had that the UK left the EU and Donald Trump became president of the US.

*Favorite memory
Getting a £2 sandwich for 10p in the reduced section at Tesco.

*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related
I bought a tuba.

 

[Ben]

I've had a really good year park and personal wise, yay.

Park related-
*Best new cred - Taron, obviously. Also honourable mentions to Eejanaika, Wildfire and Flying Aces.
* Worst new cred - Um, there was quite a few bits of crap in Japan, but I guess the worst was the SLC at Nasu Highland.
*Biggest surprise cred - Lost Gravity, thought it was going to be crap but it was fab.
*Worst spite - Spiteful Nasu Highland, where we got 4 of 9 possible creds. But, on the flip side, 4 was more than we thought we'd get cause the weather was awful! I mean, the taxi did still cost us like £30 each but eh. Not to blow my own horn, but, I had a really successful year with nearly nothing I could say was spite because of bad planning.
*Favorite park of the season - Phantasialand and DisneySea <3
*Best experience - Taron ERT, a really successful day at DisneySea and Universal Studios Japan, Grona Lund and Liseberg at night.
*Worst experience - Japan being absolutely gross and the people being absolutely disgusting. We had a great trip still, but the people are foul and led to Baton Rouge, the Fujiyama incident, the Flying Dinosaur incident, IT'S THE ONLY TRAIN. They're all just, the worst.
*Best individual day at a park - Liseberg, Phantasialand, DisneySea, Disneyland Paris and Universal Studios Japan were all amazing this year. And, randomly, fabulous Mirabilandia.
*Worst individual day at a park - Nasu was probably the only bad day?
*Best trip of the season - Japan was still excellent due to company and despite the country being disgusting, Sweden was fab as always, Ghosterforce was the best live for years, Italy and France were a massive laugh... it's been an excellent year of amazing trips.

General and other-
*Best people you met - Had a couple of good Grindr meets and some fab new people started at work. Howie and Katya for CFers, they're fab.
*Best non park experience - Had a really good trip to Turkey for a wedding in the Summer, but to be honest, done very little non-park travelling this year. Given up pretending I want to do anything other than get creds really.
*Favorite travel moment - Going to Turkey as above, and getting back to Dubai. Landing in Tokyo and being in Japan was amazing until the reality set in.
*Worst travel moment - Japan being the ultimate worst. Individual moment was probably the train spite on the way back to the airport.
*Funniest moment - The munching on toast song, Lost Gravity with Jake, getting baton rouged.
*Favorite memory - Spending weeks and weeks with fabulous Taylor over the summer <3
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Getting a new job which is a massive step up for me and something really good for me.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Park related-
*Best new cred - Taron
* Worst new cred - Insane at Grona
*Biggest surprise cred - Lost Gravity! It was so good!
*Worst spite - The Tivoli at Grona
*Favorite park of the season - Phantasialand
*Best experience - Taron at night; that second launch!
*Worst experience - Driving into Dunirell
*Best individual day at a park - I really enjoyed the day at Liseberg.
*Worst individual day at a park - None spring to mind
*Best trip of the season - Ghosterforce! Thank you so much Ian!

General and other-
*Best people you met - New person - Howie. It is always great to see some familiar faces
*Best non park experience - The boat museum in Stockholm
*Favorite travel moment - Tom's in car entertainment/ Ian's CDs
*Worst travel moment - Delayed at AMS
*Funniest moment - River Quest.
*Favorite memory - The evening before Phantasialand and then the day in the park!
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Starting Uni through work

 

[ukthemeparkfan]

park-related
best new cred-baron 1898 at efeling
worst new cred-bob at efeling
biggest supprise new cred- the flying dutchman at efeling
worst spit-nothing i've been lucky this year
Favourite Park Of The Season- efetling
best experience-baron 1898
worst experience-queuing 90 mins for the vampire in the freezing cold
best individual day at a park- efetling despite raining the whole day
worst individual day at a park- chessington for howl'o'ween but the temperature that day did help

general and other
best people you met-the people on my collage course are
best non park experince-Amsterdam was awsome
Favourite travel moment- watching GB dving gold on my ferry home form hoilday
Worst travel moment getting stuck on the M25 silproad on the way to harwich
funniest moment- driving so slow on the M25 my brother was able to play pokemon go
favourite memory-madame tussauds amsterdam
biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel realted:starting collage

 

[Hixee]

Now I've actually finished for the year, I can do this. Yay!

Been a good year for me - much better than expected. 97 new creds and 24 new parks (that's the most new parks in a year I've ever done - although hardly surprising when you consider all the +1 mall creds). Plus, finally rode my first coasters in Asia, rode the fastest in the world and broke both my 400 and 450 milestones. Not to mention all the fun stuff I got up to outside of parks (including driving a F3000 car round the Yas Marina circuit, swimming in a wadi in Oman, touring the palace in Madrid, trekking in Nepal, I could go on).

Best new cred - Storm Chaser, Lightning Run, Thunderbird, Lightning Rod, Fury 325, Skyrush, Storm Runner and Flying Aces were all brilliant. Lightning Rod, however, stole the show.
Worst new cred - Not sure... I hated Coaster Express at Parque Warner Madrid, and nothing else (that wasn't a Wacky Worm or something) springs to mind, so that.
Biggest surprise cred - Probably Lightning Run to be honest. I said it on the day, and I'll say it again: "Why aren't there more of these?!!"
Worst spite - Parque de Atracciones Madrid was pretty spiteful, closing both Tornado and Abismo as I was waiting to get in.
Favorite park of the season - I think probably either IMG Worlds of Adventure or Holiday Park. Had a great time in both.
Best experience - Lightning Rod ERT was pretty special. <3
Worst experience - You know, nothing really stands out? I suppose that's good.
Best individual day at a park - Does two parks in one day count? I think the first day of the USA Live. Everyone was there, everyone was excited and we were riding some great coasters (Storm Chaser, Lightning Run, Voyage, Thunderbird). Just so much fun.
Worst individual day at a park - See "worst experience" above, I don't think anything really springs to mind.
Best trip of the season - For a theme park based trip - the USA Live and the add-ons before and after were great. For a non-park trip - Nepal was absolutely beautiful and I don't think I could rate any other trip higher.

Best people you met - New people at CF Lives are always great!
Best non park experience - Seeing the Milky Way with my naked eyes in Nepal. Something I've wanted to do for many years and finally got the chance. Plus I think I managed to get some decent photos of it - which I'm pleased about.
Favorite travel moment - Probably nearly making Marc drive off the road with our inter-car shenanigans on the road to Holiday World and Dollywood.
Worst travel moment - Again, I think I got quite lucky here. I guess my bag getting lost on the way from Kathmandu to Abu Dhabi? Thankfully they sorted it within 24 hours, but it was a bit annoying.
Funniest moment - "Happy 14th Birthday Joey". That one really sticks in my mind.
Favorite memory - I'm not sure I could pick a favourite...
Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Meeting my girlfriend is probably number one, she's fab. Clearing the high pass on the trek in Nepal was a huge effort and I'm very proud of that. Also getting to go and see my work on the airport project in Abu Dhabi for real, that was a good experience. I am also quite proud of the Table of Elements series Hyde and I put together (with the help of Jerry's amazing catalog of footage), which seem to have been popular enough for us to be starting a second series. It's been an excellent year.

As for photos, see above: Go look at the trip report, CF Live trip report and photography threads you lazy bastards.

 

[Howie]

This was my best year to date, easily.
6 new parks visited, 32 new creds (quite modest by some standards, but when you consider that last year I got 3 new creds - and one of those was the freakin' Octonauts thing - yeah, a vast improvement indeed!) and a whole bunch of bucket list stuff done.

In a nutshell, most of the highlights were on the Sweden Live. What a trip!

Best new cred: Helix, closely followed by Wildfire. Honourable mentions to Balder, Colossos and Flug.

Worst cred: Insane. Ewww.

Best park: Liseberg

Best experience: all those night rides on Helix with virtually no queue. Sheer joy!

Best people: You lot, obvs. This was my first year attending CF Lives, so pretty much everyone I've met deserves a mention here. Except Ian (because I'd already met him!)

Best park day: Liseberg.
Also had an amazing day at Thorpe in Sept, every ride was open all day and there were no queues. No, really!

Worst experience: DBGT.

Funniest moment: Ian's 'Guess the Arse' photo competition. PMSL.

Non park related stuff: errm... nope, struggling with that one.

Basically, joining Coasterforce and attending the Lives has been the highlight of 2016. A big Thank you to everyone for making me feel welcome here and taking me under your collective wings.
I adore you all widely

 

[Serena]

Park related-
*Best new cred: Mako. Trims....what trims?! When I rode it in November it was absolutely flying. Riding it in the front row as the sun set over the twinkly lights of Orlando was such a magic moment. Plus I love the two-tone purple colour scheme. Gorgeous to look at and to ride!

* Worst new cred: Booster Bikes at Toverland is pretty awful, Cobras Curse is equally vile and pointless. But I suppose Sequoia Adventure at Gardaland truly deserves the crown for the headache it gave me for the entire rest of the day!

*Biggest surprise cred: Freestyle, the Togo stand up coaster at Cavalino Matto. Lovely treetop views from the lift hill and some funky, forceful elements!

*Worst spite: not one, but TWO of the B+M's at Busch Gardens Tampa. Went on a busy day, was steadily working around the park, with only Kumba and Sheikra to left to tick off. Kumba went down after I queued an hour, got an exit pass, went to use it on Sheikra, which then went down for the rest of the day as well. Argh! Not a cred, but honourable mention to Derrren Brown's Ghost Train for spiting me three times over the year! Will I ever get to ride this abomination?!

*Favorite park of the season: Movie Land in Italy. This place is absolutely ridiculous, I've never been to a park like it!

*Best experience: Walking through the scare zones at Walibi Holland with everyone on Ghosterforce. There was simply an electric atmosphere and loads of great, original themes for the zones. I particularly loved the Nintendo one....zombie Chun Li! <3

*Worst experience: Getting mugged in Staines on my way to the Thorpe Fright Night preview.

*Best individual day at a park: Toverland with Ghosterforce was full of fun and antics, it was just a classic CF day! Lots of laughter and two smashing coasters, plus lots of things to play on. I felt like a kid again!

*Worst individual day at a park: Spiteful, busy Busch Gardens was pretty annoying. As was going to Universal with a bunch of extremely faffy non-goons. Ugh, never again.

*Best trip of the season: Cornwall. Obviously the creds were pretty turd, but we had such a laugh with the Sheep Racing and general fabness of The Big Sheep. The weekend had that lovely British seasidey feel. Everyone was excellent company and we ended up going to The Lizard Point and The Jamaica Inn as well, which was nice. Just a great all rounder

General and other-
*Best people you met: Lofty. It seems weird to think I have known him online for a while, but we only first met in person at Ghosterforce, because we were chatting away straight away! I could listen to his creative ideas and opinions about themed attractions all day and not get bored. Fab company.

*Best non park experience: Playing on bigger stages with snazzy strobe lighting. It's like being in a horror maze!

*Favorite travel moment: Playing the number plate game and Just a Minute in the car in Italy.

*Worst travel moment: 8 hour delay on my flight home from Florida.

*Funniest moment: Richard completely ripping his shorts as we went out for a nice meal in Italy hahaha!

*Favorite memory: Walking accross the beautiful misty lake whilst gooning out with Thom at Efteling. It was so nice to visit there with someone who also adores it, and who can tell me lots of interesting facts that I didn't know!

*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related: Becoming a published writer. Touring with the band in 23 countries.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

*Funniest moment: Discovering the amount of knock-off stuff is at Adventureland

I'd like to change this to the time a Six Flags worker forgot to put a patty on my hamburger. When I came up to the counter to tell them, a guy in a VERY thick Jamaican accent told me, "Oh, you have the special one!"

 

[Tomatron]

Park related-
*Best new cred - Taron. Everything about it was brilliant.
* Worst new cred - Rainier Rush at Washington State Fair. New entry in to the bottom 10.
*Biggest surprise cred - Coaster at Playland Vancouver.
*Worst spite - Didn't really have any. PlopsaLive didn't happen, but went to Phantasialand instead so that's a few steps up.
*Favorite park of the season - Phantasialand.
*Best experience - Seeing Klugheim for the first time in September.
*Worst experience - Not seeing Klugheim in June for the first time because it wasn't open yet.
*Best individual day at a park - Phantasialand in September.
*Worst individual day at a park - Walibi Belgium in June when the park was basically flooded - but at least we got free tickets to go back.
*Best trip of the season - Pacific Northwest Trip was incredible.

General and other-
*Best people you met - Was great to road trip for 2 weeks with my friend Mark in the US & Canada, and great to meet a load of new and old CFers for the first time in over a year.
*Best non park experience - Miniatur Wunderland, the Canadian Rockies, the Seahawks season opener and the Space Needle were all great in their own way.
*Favorite travel moment - The drive through the Canadian Rockies was beautiful.
*Worst travel moment - Getting evacuated from Frankfurt Airport after a security scare and being delayed 36 hours getting to the US.
*Funniest moment - DJing to a load of drunk Dutch people at a friend's wedding. Honourable mention to the 70's themed hotel at Three Valley Lake with its Titanic themed pool.
*Favorite memory - Waking up at Beaverfoot Lodge in the Rockies.
*Biggest accomplishment not theme park/travel related - Buying a PA and preparing to start a business next year.