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Antinos' 2019 Thread (ZDT's, Galveston Pier, and Kemah)

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Another year, another trip report topic! These seemed to have been well received so I might as well continue, although this year I'll be photo hosting on Imgur instead of Facebook such that the topic won't have dead links in six months.


First up this year was Carowinds! I hadn't been since one of the week long Live road trips in 2010. The park did not leave a good impression on me back then so I felt that there was no reason to return, even with the addition of Fury in 2015. But Copperhead Strike and Fury were the perfect reasons to hold a Live at the park. I ditched work a bit early, stopped at home to grab my bag, and headed to the airport. I was through security and at my gate in no time. The flight down to Charlotte was quick and painless (they actually got us there early), and @Snoo and @Error were pulling up to get me as I was walking out of the terminal. We checked into the hotel before heading to a hibachi restaurant with the Larsons, who would be attending the Live with us. Delicious!

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We rendezvoused with the entire group just before opening at the Carowinds sign at the front entrance. In total, it was me, @Snoo, @Error, @Sky and her husband, the Larsons (father and son), @yawetag and his kids, @jay37415 and his family, my buddy Dan and his friend, Grace, and a father/daughter duo whose names are escaping me at the moment. This turned into the biggest US Live since 2012!

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Afterburn - Hell of a way to start off the season for me. Afterburn is everything you could ever want from a B&M inverted coaster and then some. The drop is quick, every inversion is ultra intense, and the ride's trenches, tunnels, and ground hugging layout really make the coaster feel fast. Although Flight Deck in California is more intense somehow, Afterburn has much more substance. It's a highly underrated hidden gem that wasn't talked about hardly at all pre-Intimidator and is now overshadowed by Fury and Copperhead. Seriously - this ride rips.

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Flying Cobras - Carowinds takes pretty good care of this ride and the new trains certainly help with rider comfort, but it's hard for me to look past the fact that it's a boomerang. It's one of the best of the bunch, but like @Hixee, I'm getting sick of riding these.

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Carolina Goldrusher - I had no recollection of riding this during my last visit (although I knew I had the credit) so I was...intrigued at most. I was promptly reminded why I didn't remember - there's nothing noteworthy about the ride whatsoever.

(Fortunately, we were able to avoid slogging through all the creds and stuck to riding the good rides. I'm sure this report would sound more bleak like the last two rides had we ridden Corkscrew, Hurler, and a few of the other garbage creds this past weekend)

Fury - I was more excited about Fury than Copperhead, if I'm completely honest. After all, I've been hearing about how good this ride is for four years now and have gone as far as poking fun at the hyper-fanboys and their collection of Fury t-shirts. I always thought the ride looked great, but does it REALLY live up to the hype? Yes, it absolutely does. Fury is B&M at their best. I was completely blown away by the speed and strength present in every turn on the ride - even the helix towards the end which looks like a lull in the action. Many of the transitions contained a brief pop of airtime which added to the 90 mph rambunctiousness of the first half. Each hill had surprisingly strong airtime for a Beemer, including the nice bit of air at the top of the treble clef. I didn't buy a t-shirt, but the ride was fantastic.

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Harmony Hall - At this time, we grabbed some lunch at Carowinds' version of the Festhaus. Some of us got a massive slice of pizza while others grabbed some BBQ. I got some brisket, which was pretty good for park food. Although the hall can seat a good number of people, we ate more or less at peak lunch time so it took a bit to get our food and grab a table. Harmony Hall is one of the numerous upgrades that the park has received since I last visited and it's surely an upgrade for the better.

Intimidator - Well...this ride has aged well. I'm not sure what the park has done with it (or Canada's Wonderland to Behemoth, for that matter), but Intimidator was running fantastically all weekend. I recall a ride crawling over hills with the new age B&M rattle and not providing much of an experience at all. Intimidator now rides like a discount Behemoth. The pacing has greatly improved and the hills provide some good floater that's familiar to this family of hyper coasters. This was such a welcome surprise as it seems like everybody's always viewed the ride as the red headed step child. Now if only we could get Kings Island to figure out what the other two parks did and fix Diamondback...

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Wilderness Run - This was a cred that I did not consider trying to grab during this visit, but we had quite a few kids in our group so we figured we would try it out. Turns out, we didn't need to kidnap and this kiddie coaster is actually pretty fun! We almost stalled out on the first couple hills and the final bunny hops threw us around pretty good. Worth it!

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Plants vs Zombies - at this point, inclement weather began to surround the park as we queued for Copperhead Strike and all rides shut down. We waited it out until we saw a thunderstorm approaching the park and headed for Plants vs Zombies. This ride was an interesting concept and a good way to kill 10 minutes. I initially had trouble identifying which blaster I was on but once I saw the ID number between my legs I was all set. Kinda fun!

Copperhead Strike - After grabbing a few rerides on neighboring rides, Copperhead opened back up and we finally got on. The best way to describe it is that it's excruciatingly fun. Neither launch is particularly intense, but the first one picks up towards the end of the launch and the second offers a unique bit of airtime. I was a bit apprehensive about all the hangtime moments but they were sequenced into the ride nicely and it wasn't overbearing. The airtime was surprisingly strong - it isn't Intamin intense but you're still thrown skyward over every hill. While I disagree with those who have said they prefer it to Maverick, I will say that it does have a bit more substance. Each ride is executed differently - Maverick takes the relentlessly intense route whereas Copperhead is a slightly slower paced toss you around but don't break you type of ride. Despite their similarities and differences, everybody was smiling and giggling during the duration of the ride: I cannot stress enough how fun it is.

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Drop Tower - Our evening was winding down so we took a few more laps on our favorites and finished the night off on Drop Tower. It was a quick lift and a pretty good drop, but it's a bummer that it's such a short tower and got shoved in a strange corner of the park.

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Dinner time! We stopped at Wing Stop and POUNDED some wings before heading back to the hotel and crashing the **** to sleep. We stopped at Waffle House for breakfast, per tradition, and spent much of Sunday marathoning Fury and grabbing a few more rides on Copperhead Strike. We did split up briefly such that various parts of our group could grab the last cred or two that they were missing. I headed to Vortex because I wanted a second opinion.

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Vortex - This ride has a ton of potential for a conversion. I like the layout and the intensity present throughout the ride - that's something that the California variant was lacking. Unfortunately, the trains are old and rattly, and loading/unloading takes half a day per train. Converting it and giving it some TLC would solidify it as one of the better rides in the park.

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At this point, it was time for the group to disband and start heading home, but I had a few more hours to kill before my flight left. We said our good byes and Dan and I took another lap on Fury before grabbing a beer at Harmony Hall (It was a Copperhead Strike IPA by Sycamore Brewing...pretty good!). For our final rides, Dan took a lap on Windseeker and I bravely trialed Nighthawk.

Nighthawk - Ok. Flying Dutchmen are not good, and Nighthawk is still the worst of the three. It's just not comfortable in the slightest and the ride's rattle shows its age. Please melt it down.

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Overall Thoughts - I haven't had this much fun with a group of people at a park since @Hixee's visit last summer, and even then, this weekend might have won out. Avoiding the garbage creds certainly helped, but Carowinds has drastically improved from the shadow of its Paramount Park ownership. Fury and Copperhead bring an enormous amount of firepower to the park's lineup. The Camp Snoopy expansion, Blue Ridge Grove, Harmony Hall, Intimidator's improvements, and all the rest of the park's quality of life upgrades and additions have done wonders to the place where not only is the park worth visiting, but it's a desirable destination now. And of course, our group of attendees was a blast to ride with. It was so great to catch up with some old faces and meet a bunch of new ones too! I know I'm not the only one who left with a bunch of happy memories - it seemed like everyone had a fantastic time! Definitely one of the best Lives we've had this side of the pond! I'm glad it was such a success and I can't wait for the next one!


Bonus photo: my return flight flew right over Cedar Point!

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Roadmap
  • Cedar Point (multiple dates)
  • CJ Barrymore's Fun Center (TBD)
  • Bay Beach (5/24 if open to public)
  • Kokomo's Family Fun Center (TBD)
  • Kennywood (6/22 unless flexed)
  • Kentucky Kingdom (7/20)
  • Holiday World (7/21, October)
  • Kings Island (7/22, September)
  • Canada's Wonderland (TBD)
  • Six Flags Great America (TBD)
  • Six Flags over Texas (9/22)
  • Sea World San Antonio (9/27)
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas (9/27)
  • ZDT's (9/28)
  • Kemah Boardwalk (9/28)
  • Galveston Pier (9/28)
 
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Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Awesome - what a cracking start to the US Lives for this year. Great to hear that new and old faces had so much fun! :)

Where are those aerial shots from? Would have liked a few of those myself for my collection - next time I'm at the park... :p
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Looks like you had an amazing weekend guys, great that you had some new faces who enjoyed themselves too :)
Please can I have a high res copy of the night Fury photo? That's delicious.

Aerial shots are from the Carolina Skytower @Hixee
 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
It sounds like I would’ve had a much better weekend had I showed up for the Live! I’m within around 90 minutes of Carowinds, but I nearly forgot about this Live... :(:oops:
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
It sounds like I would’ve had a much better weekend had I showed up for the Live! I’m within around 90 minutes of Carowinds, but I nearly forgot about this Live... :(:oops:
Missed a trick there, mate! Live and learn. ;)
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Surprised (but glad) for all the Copperhead Strike love. It always seemed like a solid ride but it's cool see everyone more or less fall in love with it.

Great to hear about the turnout for the live, especially with the non-forum folks. Can't wait for KK and HW later this summer.
 
Seems like a fun Live! I couldn't justify the travel and time off work and school to get back to Carowinds unfortunately, and it looks like I missed out! Also, when you decide on the dates for CJ Barrymore I'd be down for a meet up if you want, I still need the cred there but I've been lazy!
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
It's been a slow start to the year - life happens and thus my roadmap is changing. I was planning on doing a trip up to Houghton over Memorial Day Weekend, but weather and my friend getting sent to a conference short notice caused me to defer that trip until Labor Day Weekend in August. I also bought a house recently, so much of my free time will go towards repainting it, moving, and then figuring out just how much work a house requires. But with that being said, I still have quite a busy summer coaster-wise, and there is still opportunities to plan another trip or two if this house plays friendly with my bank account. I still have a long weekend in New Jersey in the back of my mind, and the lady has been adamant about going to Wizarding World later this year. We'll see what will happen.


Roadmap (additions and changes in italics)
  • Cedar Point (multiple dates)
  • CJ Barrymore's Fun Center (TBD, hopefully soon)
  • Idlewild (6/21)
  • Kennywood (6/22)
  • Kokomo's Family Fun Center (TBD, possibly around the July 4th holiday)
  • Kentucky Kingdom (7/20)
  • Holiday World (7/21, October)
  • Kings Island (7/22, September)
  • Little Amerricka (8/30)
  • Bay Beach (8/30)
  • Canada's Wonderland (TBD)
  • Six Flags Great America (TBD)
  • Six Flags over Texas (9/22)
  • Sea World San Antonio (9/27)
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas (9/27)
  • ZDT's (9/28)
  • Kemah Boardwalk (9/28)
  • Galveston Pier (9/28)
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Alright, I didn't plan on going between Lives without at least grabbing another cred but here we are. If anybody took a peek in the Kennywood Live thread, you'll see that we planned on prefacing the weekend with a quick run to Idlewild. I headed out from Detroit this morning, met @Snoo, @Youngster Joey, and @pkiknex25 at the hotel in Pittsburgh, and we were off!

Rollo Coaster - I've referred to Idlewild's star attraction as baby Boulder Dash, and oh my goodness, the resemblance is pretty striking. Rollo Coaster is small - probably only 40 or so feet high. It's not fast at all and it only has a few pops of floater air, but it does what it does fairly well. It's a cute, smooth, fun family roller coaster on the side of a hill surrounded by trees. Unfortunately, the new trains, which only seat ten max (265lbs weight limit per row), and their over the top loading procedure is a bit of a buzzkill.

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Flying Aces - of course we took a spin on the flying scooters, and these were excellent! The ride runs at a relatively fast speed and allows riders to get some great swings. Even though they have a no snapping sign posted at the entrance, we were able to snap with ease.

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Ferris Wheel - it's one of those old school Ferris wheels that almost gives you airtime going over the top.

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Wild Mouse - well...we got spited. Apparently the ride has been down all season and won't be operational for a few more days. It's a bummer because the ride looks seriously unique, being a Vekoma and enshrouded in trees.

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Overall thoughts - I'm torn. The park is set in a gorgeous location filled with trees and with a river running through it - it's pleasant to walk through and it's actually a lot bigger than one would think. Many of the rides are fairly vintage so the park feels like a laid back version of Knoebels. The place sounds like it should have plenty of charm, but something is missing. Maybe it's because we were bummed about Wild Mouse spite or Rollo Coaster's loading faff...or maybe it was that the park was essentially a fair ground in a fancy dress. I'm not totally sure...I think I was expecting a hidden gem but the park wasn't quite that...at least not tonight.

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Roadmap
  • Cedar Point (multiple dates)
  • CJ Barrymore's Fun Center (TBD, hopefully soon)
  • Kennywood (6/22)
  • Kokomo's Family Fun Center (TBD, possibly around the July 4th holiday)
  • Kentucky Kingdom (7/20)
  • Holiday World (7/21, October)
  • Kings Island (7/22, September)
  • Little Amerricka (8/30)
  • Bay Beach (8/30)
  • Canada's Wonderland (TBD)
  • Six Flags Great America (TBD)
  • Six Flags over Texas (9/22)
  • Sea World San Antonio (9/27)
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas (9/27)
  • ZDT's (9/28)
  • Kemah Boardwalk (9/28)
  • Galveston Pier (9/28)
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Surely Knoebles is the laid back version of Knoebels?
I mean, yes...but then Idlewild takes it to the next level somehow.

I'm going to hold off on writing about Kennywood until I get home. I have a lot of thoughts and would prefer to get them written down outside of a crowded hotel room.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Huh, I had always assumed that Idlewild was a bit... bleak? But that actually looks really nice. Shame about the creds being a faff, but it's setting is lovely!
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
I'm not going to lie - I was a bit frustrated as we rolled up to Kennywood. In addition to the faff and spite at Idlewild, driving for so long through probably 15 separate road constructions as well as avoiding speed traps and dealing with awful drivers in Pittsburgh left me pretty frazzled even in a new day. My frustration only grew as I tried to figure out how to get into the parking lot, which has no posted entry signs. Finally parked, the four of us reconvened at the front gate along with our buddy Dan (who arrived late the night before), and we waited...and nobody else showed up. This portion of the Live was just the five of us. We walked under a closed Sky Rocket - latest hearsay is that the park and Premier have been arguing over a purchase order. We walked past every single ride on the way to Exterminator and they weren't open yet. The park couldn't even bother to open their rides at gate open. Great. Why did we choose to come to Kennywood again?

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Exterminator - honestly, for what it is, Exterminator is very well themed. Unfortunately, it's just a regular Reverchon spinner, so it's pretty lame.


Phantom's Revenge - Oh yeah, this is actually why we decided to come to Kennywood. Thank god for Phantom's Revenge - it's been a solid nine years since I last rode it and the refresher was needed. Phanny is phenomenal, to say the least. The ride kicks it off with a quick and forceful twisted drop before rising up over the edge of the cliff, only to plummet 232 feet towards the trees below. After two strong turns, the ride hits you with almost painful airtime. Six pops of airtime and a couple turns later and this fast ride is over. Luckily the line stayed pretty short throughout the day so we grabbed our fill of rerides. Seriously good ride.


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Swingshot - standard screamin' swing. Good fun. Next!


Thunderbolt - Thunderbolt has a weird policy where no single riders are allowed due to the strong laterals present throughout the ride. I chose to be the odd man out, so I snapped some photos of the group instead.

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Lil Phantom - as I mentioned in the milestones topic, it's in dispute as to whether I rode this back in 2010 or not. Not much else to say except that we did a bit of a takeover.



Racer - The line seems long, but it moves fairly well since two trains are pulling the queue along. The line could move better if they put more workers on the platform to help with loading though. As for the ride itself...it exists and that's about it. There isn't really airtime and the ride hardly races at all. A whole lotta meh.

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Jack Rabbit - Wrapping up the cred run for the newcomers. After waiting in an overflowing queue, we were ready to experience the only good part of the ride - the double down. Damn good pop of airtime...and that's it.

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Steel Curtain - As many have mentioned in the construction topic already, the ride looks MUCH better in person. The colors look way more natural when you're approaching on the midway and the support structure's bizarre nature honestly fits in with the rest of the park's wackiness. We spent a few minutes watching the crew torque bolts in between rides on Racer. As for the rest of the area...it has a long way to go. You can see inside both buildings while riding Racer and they're a long way off. Between the two buildings is a suspiciously empty spot - I believe this is where that "terrible tower" playground thing is supposed to go. Queue concrete has been poured, but railings and canopies need to be installed yet. They may be pushing to get the coaster itself open within the next few weeks, but the area itself will be lucky to be complete by August. Despite all this, it will ultimately be a grand, great addition.

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Overall thoughts - Frustrating. It's frustrating to see a park struggle to open rides in the morning. It's frustrating to see a park operate rides with one employee on the platform loading riders. It's frustrating to walk past so many rides (Black Widow, Haunted Mansion, etc) and see that the park has no intention on opening them any time soon. It's frustrating to walk around what could be the best new coaster for 2019 while it's still weeks from opening. It's frustrating to hear that the park is arguing with a ride manufacture because the corporation that owns it is ran by cheap-asses. I'm honestly not sure if I even want to go back later this summer to ride Steel Curtain - putting up with the park (ok, and driving across Ohio again) does not sound worth it. Kennywood could be such a good park - a park worth visiting more frequently than most enthusiasts do. It's certainly a good looking park with a ton of charm and atmoshpere. But instead it sounds like they have serious budgeting, staffing, and maintenance issues and are receiving little help from the top. Thank goodness Phantom's Revenge is so damn good that it singlehandedly kept the day from being a **** show.

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At least @Snoo and I got to piss off some Pittsburgh Steelers fans by sporting our own team colors (ok, we probably didn't actually piss anybody off). BTW go Lions, **** the Browns! :p

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Roadmap

  • Cedar Point (multiple dates)
  • CJ Barrymore's Fun Center (TBD, hopefully soon)
  • Kokomo's Family Fun Center (TBD, possibly around the July 4th holiday)
  • Kentucky Kingdom (7/20)
  • Holiday World (7/21, October)
  • Kings Island (7/22, September)
  • Little Amerricka (8/30)
  • Bay Beach (8/30)
  • Canada's Wonderland (TBD)
  • Six Flags Great America (TBD)
  • Six Flags over Texas (9/22)
  • Sea World San Antonio (9/27)
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas (9/27)
  • ZDT's (9/28)
  • Kemah Boardwalk (9/28)
  • Galveston Pier (9/28)
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Great report as usual, Antinos; I always like reading your reports! I must admit that your thoughts on Kennywood surprise me; it always looked like a nice park, and Pleasure Beach Experience gave the park a very positive review when they went recently!

From my perspective, the park looks like a nice vintage amusement park and Phantom's Revenge and Steel Curtain both look incredible!
 

Snoo

The Legend
Great report as usual, Antinos; I always like reading your reports! I must admit that your thoughts on Kennywood surprise me; it always looked like a nice park, and Pleasure Beach Experience gave the park a very positive review when they went recently!

From my perspective, the park looks like a nice vintage amusement park and Phantom's Revenge and Steel Curtain both look incredible!

Honestly, the ops were MUCH worse then expected. I don't know if PBE are used to crap ops but I'm certainly not, especially from a park of this caliber. And given the delays we've seen with one of the biggest attractions of 2019, it's disappointing all around.
 

Antinos

Slut for Spinners
Thank you for the feedback! Kennywood is a park that I really want to like - it has all the things that I like since I'm a sucker for the wackiness and nostalgia it offers. But as Snoo said, it's really unfortunate to see the park operated the way it is.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Welp, this is shaping up to be quite the spiteful park for me. Already had my doubts about Steel Curtain and Sky Rocket (SR doesn't look like it's happening), but now Thunderbolt? Do they at least have a single rider line for that or pair me up with someone? I know it's just some forgettable woodie, but that'd be lame if they wouldn't let me on.

I still have hope for Curtain, especially if they just want to open the ride and leave the rest of the area to **** all.

What about the kiddie cred? I always assumed that required the kidnapping of a child but you guys clearly had some success.

At least I'll have Phantom's Revenge.
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
Welp, this is shaping up to be quite the spiteful park for me. Already had my doubts about Steel Curtain and Sky Rocket (SR doesn't look like it's happening), but now Thunderbolt? Do they at least have a single rider line for that or pair me up with someone? I know it's just some forgettable woodie, but that'd be lame if they wouldn't let me on.

I still have hope for Curtain, especially if they just want to open the ride and leave the rest of the area to **** all.

What about the kiddie cred? I always assumed that required the kidnapping of a child but you guys clearly had some success.

At least I'll have Phantom's Revenge.

Kiddy Cred requires no kidnapping. In thunderbolts station they were mentioning if you tell the height checking op at the entry they'd find you a ride partner so you should be able to ride it even without a partner initially. That said there's no single rider line so you will have to queue up like everyone else.
 
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