California 2019 Region Trip://Day 6~ 1.5 Hours for 25 Miles vs. 1 Hour for 300 Miles

[Jarrett]

Five years ago, I began the tradition of my annual region trip with Vegas-LA 2014. This started out as just my way to get out there and get some credits to my name, but it's become so much more than that. It's been my way to see the world I live in, something I can do for myself, and much more. Last year took my buddy Ben and I to the great and proud state of Texas for 3 RMC coasters, this year's destination was another large state with 3 RMCs: California. I had been to California twice before in my life: once to see Battlebots taped for TV in San Francisco in the live audience with my dad in the second grade, once for Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm on the second leg of Vegas-LA 2014. But I was missing all the coasters in NorCal and several in SoCal, plus that state just has so much to do from a culture standpoint that I knew a trip back there was justified when I picked it last year.

The main draw for #Cali2019 was the fact that if all went according to plans, I would have all of the United States RMC jobs, and given how much I love RMC's work, this would be a huge accomplishment for me. But it wasn't the only draw. Gold Striker in NorCal was a GCI I had heard was incredible, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was the last Six Flags in the chain I needed to have all the US parks...until they bought Frontier City and I now need that. In SoCal, I needed Twisted Colossus for my domestic RMC collection as well as several credits I missed both at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm, plus tons of credits down there at parks I hadn't even set foot in yet. My buddy Ben was already coming along but I was able to bring my girlfriend Kaylee as well, who almost couldn't make it due to work but ended up being able to tag along for just the NorCal leg of the region trip.

Day 0
I started the trip by getting off work (surprise surprise, that's when it always starts) and heading home to get changed and wash the grinding dust off of me. Kaylee and I loaded up the Versa and drove it out to Columbus to stay the night with my grandparents before catching our flight from CMH early the next morning.

My grandmother, being awesome as she is, made us this wonderful pork roast with mushrooms and it was amazing! Her French cooking is always incredible and tonight was no exception.

Kaylee and I were in bed early, with a 5 am airport time the next day. Had to be up early for my uncle to drive us to CMH!


Day 1
Ding! Ding! Ding! I was awoken by Kaylee blowing up my phone with sappy Taylor Swift lyrics and looked at the time. 4:30. I said we could maybe sleep a bit more but Kaylee, completely out of character from the person that slept two hours past our Carowinds departure time, told me to get out of bed NOW so we could get ready for my Uncle Steve to pick us up. So we rolled out, I threw on my San Fran shirt my parents got me on their vacation the previous year (they went with my dad's work for Semicon and made it a business trip/vacation experience so I had plenty of tips from them on how NorCal is) and headed downstairs for my grandma's light, elegant French breakfast. From there, Uncle Steve picked us up and we got in his car with our bags! #Cali2019 was on!

Let's get in the air!

I've only flown United and Spirit in recent memory but this #Cali2019 was provided by a new to me airline: Southwest. Ben is a massive fan, and by that I mean a member of that strange Southwest cult that's obsessed with an airline (almost as bad as being obsessed with a ride manufacturer) and he told me we'd like it so I bit the bullet and did it! But our one drawback is that we checked into our flights kinda late (were able to at 7, didn't do it until noon when I was home from work for lunch) so we were stuck towards the back of the last boarding group to pick seats.

Our flight left at 7 Eastern time but landed at 10 Pacific time, leaving us with a long 5 hour flight (second longest I've done) and with Ben not getting in until 7 from Florida, we had the longest day ever on our hands.

Ready Player One (which was set in Columbus out of which we departed, completely coincidental but hilarious) was the choice of in-flight entertainment on this cross-country flight and I seriously enjoyed it. I've never not liked a Spielberg movie and this was no different. I'm primarily a visuals guy and those blew me away but the plot of the movie was great too. Must have been awesome on a large screen, I enjoyed it on my tiny iPhone screen so I can only imagine how incredible it was in theaters. Definitely check this film out, it's amazing.

Southwest has FREE virgin Bloody Marys and Margaritas! I was in heaven! But I felt bad for repeatedly asking, wondering how many were free given my last flight from Texas was with lovely Spirit Airlines.

After hour scrunched in the back of a plane with my girlfriend and some random dude, we landed in Oakland! The landing there is terrifying, looking down you can only see the waters of San Francisco Bay until basically 40 feet from the runway and then you land. After we touched down, we noticed what a dump Oakland's airport was and were further frustrated when Fox Rent-A-Car lost our reservation. But Budget luckily still had cars so we decided to try them, needing a new agency now that I have officially broken up with Hurtz and wanting to try them out anyway for future travel. From there, we headed out to this little hole in the wall called Hegenburger I found on Google desperate for lunch and got this really good salmon teriyaki from this little Oakland hole in the wall.

California has a strong stereotype. The rest of America sees them as these vegan, yoga-practicing, avocado toast-eating, all people-accepting fuzzy people that are super chill. Well apparently all the regard for life and the safety of oneself and others goes out the window the second these psychos get in the car. We drove to Golden Gate Park to get photos while we killed time waiting on Ben...OH MY GOD!!! San Fran has, by far, the most aggressive driving I have ever seen. You want in? Throw your car perpendicular to the direction of traffic and force yourself in. You want in that lane? You are a strong, empowered driver that doesn't need that guy behind you and you cut him off! Speed limit is 35? 50 it is, or just ride the tailgate of whoever is in front of you until they go 50! The drivers in San Francisco are straight up psychotic and terrifying! Talking to a guy that's driven in New England, New Jersey, Texas pickup traffic, and this easily trumps all. These psychos need to cool it! Someone is going to get hurt...

After a VERY stressful drive through downtown San Francisco, we got to our first of two photo spots: Golden Gate Park. It's home to a museum, a tea garden, show venues, stuff of the nature. We kind of locked eyes on National AIDS Memorial Grove, a beautiful tribute to victims of the deadly disease, and headed in with our cameras.

I like landscape photography but don't do it much, so this was nice to be able to give my shorter lens the chance to shine and grab some nice photos.

National AIDS Memorial Grove is basically half garden, half natural forest, and it's beautiful. Lots of people used it for different activities, from a quiet place to study to a place to walk their puppers, to Kaylee's delight.

Lots of simple photo ops here, but it was lots of fun seeing what we could both come up with.

Sort of a magical/space opera vibe to this photo, I love it!

It's San Francisco, it's expensive, we know that but the stuff around Golden Gate Park was ridiculously overpriced. $9 to walk around a Japanese garden? $40 to get into a science museum? We ended up not doing as much as we anticipated here simply because it was so expensive, but there were still plenty of free photo ops to nab.

This couple in the park had two big floofy dogs named Biscuit and Butters so Kaylee HAD to go run and pet the puppers, but turns out they had a third pet on the walk! They had this bird named Hoochie that Kaylee wanted to say hi to, so it flew over and climbed up her jacket sleeve!

Some more Kaylee and Hoochie in case you needed just one more wholesome photo in your day.

Taken outside one of their show venues, they had this nice little fountain that complimented the renaissance architecture of the stage super nicely.

After Golden Gate Park got bleached of its photo ops (and we got anxious to get to the next, far more well-known one), we headed back to the car! I found a massive scuff mark in the bumper and freaked out one of the San Francisco drivers might have clipped me, but there was an X marked on it and Kaylee said she had already seen it and knew I didn't cause it.

The next photo op was just a stone's throw from Golden Gate Park. We got back on the road and winded up this tight hillside along the California Coast on the Pacific Coast Highway after which Railblazer was themed. The drive was stunning, you drive high up over these massive cliffs overlooking the ocean and the mountainous land of Marin County just across the water provides some breathtaking views. But what connects the two?

THIS was worth bringing the DSLR alone. Golden Gate Bridge, an enormous 700 foot juggernaut jutting high out of the Pacific Ocean, taller than any roller coaster on the planet, was the main event for culture on the trip. And HOLY CRAP it is huge! Photos don't do it justice, this bridge is MASSIVE. Give you a size comparison of this photo: From the water to the tallest point of the road in the photo is the same height as Steel Vengeance. Like, this thing is BIG. Really big.

One of my favorite photos of us together!

Golden Gate Bridge is gorgeous, but it's just the centerpiece of an incredible view all around.

Possibly my new favorite landscape photo ever taken.

My baby doing her thing!

This old ruined battery served as our vantage point, which had been mostly reduced to crumbling structures in the NorCal hillside with people climbing all over them taking selfies. But this door covered in graffiti gave me an idea...

LOVE this portrait shot!

After this we went to SFO to get some shuteye in the cell phone lot waiting on Ben to land, needing some rest desperately. We headed across Golden Gate and back just to drive over it and then, right there, the "oh #$%& we're this far from home" moment hit. We were driving across Golden Gate Bridge clear across the country! We were thousands of miles from home in California! The view driving across and into the cliffs of Marin Headlands was beautiful but we had somewhere to be so Waze rerouted us, we drove back across, and headed to San Francisco's airport to wait on Ben.

I got almost no sleep in the cell phone lot but Ben's flight landed early and I ran on over to get him before we headed to our final destination for the day near Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for the next day. But first, I couldn't go to the Bay Area without doing this...

Maybe you've seen on Facebook, maybe you've not, maybe you don't care, but I enjoy mixing cocktails with emphasis on the tiki drinks and recently installed a home tiki bar, so naturally we had to check out one of two of the world's first tiki bars. Trader Vic's, while not in the same location, was where the famous mai tai was invented and, along with Donn Beach's Don The Beachcomber, started the tiki craze of American culture in the mid-20th century, Columbus members if you remember Kahiki Supper Club that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for this place. I had to check it out!

Plan was to eat at Trader Vic's...but after seeing the menu prices we were like, "eh, let's do In-N-Out instead." So that's what happened.

Me with a Trader Vic's famous mai tai! The flavor profile tasted similarly to how mine tastes, emphasis on the orgeat and subtle, semisweet flavors, but I could tell it was made with good rum and not cheapo Jarrett rum.

After that we headed to our hotel near Vallejo to complete the drive and at this point, I was POOPED. We drove past a very closed Discovery Kingdom, got there, Ben and Kaylee checked in while I made sure no creeps got into our car since it was in a bad area, and we ran upstairs and everybody basically just passed out.

UP NEXT: Alright, architecture and bar crawling aside, playtime's over let's get some creds! Our RMC Connoisseurs Facebook group holds its first ever event, CAD reprofiling on FVD profiling, Jarrett turns into his sister and becomes a Blackfisher, and #Cali2019's brutal streak of spite after spite begins!

 

[Hixee]

I do enjoy your reports, so looking forward to this one.

Driving in San Francisco is fine, just like any other big city. You're so melodramatic!

Also - is that rain/dirt spots on the lens in the pictures? Can you remove them? Would make the pictures much better.

 

[Jarrett]

I do enjoy your reports, so looking forward to this one.

Driving in San Francisco is fine, just like any other big city. You're so melodramatic!

Also - is that rain/dirt spots on the lens in the pictures? Can you remove them? Would make the pictures much better.

I might be the only one who notices, but major cities are actually really unique when it comes to traffic patterns. You could be stacked bumper to bumper crawling along (New York City, Los Angeles), effortlessly glide to your destination unimpeded (Columbus, Minneapolis-St. Paul), people could be the most chill drivers ever (Charlotte, Louisville), they could be homicidal psychos with no regard for human life (Philadelphia, Cincinnati), certain weather conditions can play a serious role in how easy transit is (never go to Atlanta when it rains), it's all different behaviors from being used to different infrastructures and honestly, it's fascinating. But when you're the one about to get run off the road into the Pacific Ocean Grand Theft Auto style, that fascination can quickly turn to frustration.

As for the dust, I noticed that once I posted that and have since gone back and spot fixed them for printing. It's barely noticeable when the photo is blown up but shrunk down for a TR, it did become quite prominent and noticeable.


Day 2
We woke up at a pretty reasonable hour after blacking out the previous night, grabbed some McDonald's breakfast, and headed for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. But more importantly, it was a historic day for a little social media venture of mine. RMC Connoisseurs is my Facebook group dedicated to all things relating to the ride manufacturer I and so many others love, and today was our group's first formal event! RMC Con The Go was set to meet up at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for a day of meetups, photos, and most importantly, rides on one of RMC's most twisted creations yet: The Joker.

The drive to Discovery Kingdom was pretty docile but parking was a total nightmare. They were redoing their parking lot with solar panels (which is a super noble gesture, both to the environment and park guests whose cars are now shaded from the hot California sun), but not exactly handling it well at all. We get there, show our Diamond passes, and basically got directed in a circle? We had to go back to the parking toll and told them we got directed around and were told that the guy pointing us on was an idiot and didn't ask us if we were parking in the member lot. So we get back around, ask three attendants where the lot is, and this guy finally tells us where to go, pointing to a sign that barely pointed in the right direction. Pretty frustrating, but we rolled with the punch and took the long walk to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's park gate.

Park is set to open at 10:30 for us to all meet at Joker, but they didn't drop the rope until 10:40, which was sort of frustrating but we again rolled with it. But when we got back there...Joker didn't open for another 20 minutes so we were stuck waiting around and locking our cameras up. Eventually, the first RMC Connoisseurs member, a dude named Antoine, showed up and we all got to ride once it opened!

I flew across the country for THIS??? Joker was honestly toe to toe with New Texas Giant when I first rode it for lowest ranking RMC. The drop was insane, but it basically stopped there. The step up under flip was taken at a very slow rolling speed instead of the irreverent barreling through elements that RMC is known for. The stall following that was a lot of fun, yes, but the ride pretty much stopped there. Some mildly fun overbanks but the hills provided very little ejector in comparison to other coasters like it. Was it ejector? Yes. But it was significantly less than that of Twisted Cyclone, Storm Chaser, or even Goliath. I enjoyed it but got off fairly underwhelmed, especially when you consider what RMC had to work with while designing it. I give it a golf clap but definitely no Steel Vengeance or Lightning Rod.

We then headed next door where I was so rudely spited on The Flash: Vertical Velocity. I've ridden every other Impulse in the US and had no trouble with fitting at all, right down to Wicked Twister's infamously tight restraints, but this was a no go for both Ben and I. When Ben (former Wicked Twister crew member) looked at it, he was able to tell straight away what was wrong: the belt buckles are two holes back on that little strip of holes at the base of the seat for them to bolt into. So this spited me and I was a little pissed about that.

Next up we did Superman: Ultimate Flight, which was both Ben and Kaylee's first Sky Rocket II. Personally, to me it rode like another Phobia but both of them were blown away by it. Airtime at the top is killer as always and the rest of the layout packs an awesome punch.

Right next door we did New For 2019 Batman: The Ride, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's shiny new S&S Free Spin. Looking at the fin configuration it looked to resemble Fiesta's more than Great Adventure's or Great America's, but the queue followed suit. They did a great job theming the indoor cattlepen to this ride, right down to a rotating Batsuit.

The ride is definitely more Fiesta's than Great Adventure's, so I was right there too. It has the same favorite feature of mine: fins right out the drop that flip you on that first dip, and while it might not be quite as chaotic as its Texan twin, it's still pretty great.

After we got off Batman, Chris, an RMC Conn member and one of Kaylee's friends from Reddit, showed up with his boyfriend to spend the day with us. Gang's all here, time for a spin on Joker!

Holy mother of Batman's arch nemesis warmup! Joker heats up super nicely, this ride dished out probably three times the airtime our first ride did and ran significantly faster. It didn't move it up much in my rankings but it's now an RMC conversion I regard as working the way it should have instead of missing every airtime moment.

Joker's first drop feels like a more extreme take on Twisted Cyclone's. It's very abrupt, in the back it chucks you pretty mercilessly, but the snap is what makes it so much better. From there, it floats up into the step-up under flip, which I consider to be one of RMC's more overrated elements as it simply doesn't do anything on Joker. From there, it rolls back out and goes into one of two top gun stalls in California, some nice hangtime and interesting visuals here. After that, the ride is just a mess of overbanks, airtime, and one roll. The pacing is pretty good, airtime is a lot better once it's warmed up, the roll rides like any other RMC roll of the nature. Significantly better than this morning, it rose up above both New Texas Giant and Goliath where I expected it to rank, but it's still pretty tame when compared to the rest of Alan's insane creations.

Joker aside, we decided to go take a cred break since we were making such good work of the place and see some animals. They had these cute seals and sea lions in this little pool and you could pay to feed them! Chris's boyfriend Moose forked over the six bucks for a fish and threw it to one of them, it was adorable.

Speaking of eating, it was lunch time for us too! We got wings from JB's and some beer called CaliCraft or something. Wings were a bit spicy but tasty nonetheless, and the beer was the perfect way to cool down on a hot dry California summer day. Another group member named David joined up shortly after.

After lunch, we went credit whoring on Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's Zamperla death machine. Antoine had the credit and sat out leaving Ben, Kaylee, Chris, Moose, David and I to brave this horrid contraption. And man was it not worth the credit! This thing shook more violently than the others and when you're all squished into the teeny tiny kiddie seats twisted up like a pretzel, it HURTS!!! All the adults with children in line saw this train full of grown adult roller coaster dorks screaming in agony and just laughed with their children. Easily my most embarassing kiddie coaster yet but Antoine got this hilarious photo...the looks of pain on Ben and I's faces say everything you need to know about this horrible, horrible machine.

From there we headed to the other section of the park for four other coaster creds, starting with the park's B&M Medusa. Ben and Kaylee compared it to Kraken visually, which I have not ridden, but I could see it. The ride was actually pretty good, minimal headbanging and a nice layout with plenty of well-executed elements. Number two floorless behind Superman.

Next up was Kong, the park's SLC. I have a bit of an attachment to this coaster, having gone to Opryland when I was 2 before it closed and this having operated there as Hangman in the park's twilight years. Well Hangman was the more appropriate name for this coaster because the ride experience feels like an actual public execution! The station floor makes this horrible nails on a chalkboard sound when it drops down and the ride does everything a coaster shouldn't. Headbanging, jackhammering, rattling, it feels like setting a bomb off in one's skull and that is why Kong is now my least favorite coaster, taking the dishonor off of Pegasucks's shoulders. As a matter of fact, everyone on the trip decided it was the worst coaster they had been on, it was a sweep among Ben, Kaylee, and I.

In the first of three instances that made this a theme of the trip, some idiot didn't secure his phone and said phone decided to make a run for it and get off this horrendous piece of Soviet torture equipment by jumping. Lock your phones up, kids! Not that the machine itself doesn't cause bodily harm on its own but a strike from a projectile Android won't help!

While we were waiting in line to refill our member bottles their Sky Screamer got stuck at the top for a good ten-fifteen minutes before they brought it down.

From there, we went for Cobra, a little Zierer Tivoli coaster that would undoubtedly be less painful. Ride op was really enthusiastic, but why was there one of those fluorescent yellow Children At Play stick children in the low zone? David also headed out after this to take a break at home before returning for ERT that night.

After this, we headed up their heart attack hill to the last major credit we needed, Boomerang! The queue was brutal because there was no shade at all and the ops were really inefficient but we got on. It was a middle of the road, classic boomerang that was painful as hell but I've been on worse. The lift cable seemed to vibrate a lot more than usual too which made it look extra sketchy.

With the park's coasters as cleaned out as they would get, we headed back to check out the animals and honestly, it was really sad. There were Blackfish protesters there that morning that we just kind of rolled our eyes at...then we saw the exhibits. Their lion and tiger exhibits were just a small patch of grass with some rocks in the middle, and the giraffe exhibit was a small gravel patch with a fence. The giraffes were even reaching out to eat the grass outside the exhibit because there wasn't any of their own on the inside. Ben stated that while parks like Seaworld and Busch Gardens as well as the Columbus Zoo where he used to work were AZA accredited (basically a governing body for places that keep animals in captivity), Six Flags's two animal parks were not AZA so they didn't have such a high standard to how they treat their animals. It was honestly pretty sad to see, I love Six Flags but that's flat out unacceptable to treat animals that way. I'm not a Blackfisher by any means, I 100% stand with Seaworld, but this is clearly a different set of circumstances with how they treat their animals. I would love to see them either overhaul their large animal exhibits or get rid of them and replace them with a Hurricane Harbor. It ticks me off that Seaworld generates as much controversy as it does, from the Blackfish documentary to the State of California basically banning Seaworld San Diego from keeping their orcas, yet this big corporate park in a populated area can keep giraffes in a little more than a small gravel parking lot and nobody bats an eye. But it made everyone on the trip pretty angry, right down to Ben saying he flat out didn't like the park anymore when he saw how they treated their animals verses his former employer. Six Flags: fix this! This is the most important investment you can make right now!

One thing I was okay with, however, was this butterfly house. They have one similar to Columbus Zoo's and it's actually really nice. It's so much fun getting photos here too!

After that we did dinner, in the form of these really nice corn dogs from their food court, and then went on a photo lap!

Got a few pictures of Joker but the lighting was seriously not in our favor.

Joker is so TWISTYYY!!! it made me crave Starbucks during a hurricane.

Harley Quinn had been down all day, but it started testing while we were getting photos. Kaylee and Ben refused to ride it but Antoine and I wanted to take it for a spin, maybe make the decision over whether or not it's a coaster even, though I don't personally think it meets my definition of a credit. Well...they were only running one side and after we were next it went down. We just kinda shrugged it off and left, to find that the rest of the party had gone off to ride Superman again. And after seeing how much those people were whacking their heads on Harley Quinn's restraints, I don't think we missed much. Antoine also headed out after this.

Kaylee, Ben, Chris and Rodney got off Superman and said they saw a phone fly out of the slow roll at the top, and getting off they found it laying there with the screen shattered beyond recognition. Lock your phones up, kiddos!

The sun continued to go down as we waited for the 3 Musketeers #ThrowShine ERT to start, which was revealed to be Wonder Woman, Batman, and Joker...for only half an hour.

Finally, ERT started so naturally the coaster enthusiasts headed to Joker. A gentlemen got really nasty with a ride op because he didn't get an ERT wristband that day and insulted his English and other horrible things were said, and Ben was about ready to punch him right in the awful face. But he left and Joker ate through its line as it always does, and eventually we were in the station!

So we were in line for the front few cars, about to ride, and see a ride op yell at a kid not to shake the gates because they already aren't doing too well. Well two rides before ours, what happens? The ride goes down! We waited on maintenance, who came and advanced the train while working on it. Kaylee, Moose, and Chris all went to go to Batman while David, Ben, and I waited on Joker to reopen. Well what happens? Maintenance guy comes up and tells us the coaster isn't working for the rest of the night because someone broke the station gates. Some idiot kid actually managed to break their star attraction and ruin ERT for all those people and they were NOT happy.

This image of Joker's station at night while the coaster is inoperable brought to you by some MORON that shook the station gate and ruined ERT for everyone.

So we went to Batman where Chris, Moose, and Kaylee were grabbing a ride and went shortly after them in the final minutes of a very short ERT session.

Then began the most hectic evening of the trip. We had to walk all the way back to our car, then drive an hour to CGA on the darkest mountain roads ever...then Wyndham had an issue with Ben's card and wouldn't accept it, leaving us waiting outside for almost an hour while they worked it out. Finally, we found that our room was super nice and were able to head up and finally crash for the night. I went to sleep excited for Great America the next day, optimistic that we would have a better time there than we did at Discovery Kingdom.

Honestly...kind of a disappointing day considering how far we traveled to do this trip. We got over the poor handling of parking and opening that morning, the ride lineup was good, but seeing how they chose to treat their captive animals here was really off-putting. I had a fun day, I honestly did, the park looks pretty nice and has a decent lineup, but between the way they handled things that morning, the way they treat the animals, and Ben having to yell at Wyndham over the phone for an hour at midnight after a long day theme parking, it wasn't exactly the region trip-style best day ever I usually look forward to on this trip. But Joker's a great coaster that's in my top twenty, so that's what I choose to remember when I think of this park.

UP NEXT: Two fat boys brave the least fat friendly park I have ever seen, Cedar Fair's hidden gem of a park, and possibly the biggest rankings upset I've ever had as a coaster enthusiast!

 

[Matt N]

Great reports so far, @Jarrett! I look forward to your California's Great America report, as your signature implies that a new number 1 was found there; I must admit that I'm looking forward to what made RailBlazer take the top spot, as I was a little surprised when I saw its ranking in your signature!

 

[Jarrett]

Great reports so far, @Jarrett! I look forward to your California's Great America report, as your signature implies that a new number 1 was found there; I must admit that I'm looking forward to what made RailBlazer take the top spot, as I was a little surprised when I saw its ranking in your signature!

You'll see why I put it where! I was surprised as well!

-x-

Day 3
Kaylee woke me up early looking for her laptop charger to get some coursework done before heading to the park. Her and I later took it down to the lobby to eat while Ben slept in, but once he was up we were golden to go to today's park, California's Great America. CGA is one of those parks you hear about, but doesn't necessarily seem to have a well agreed-upon consensus in the coaster community. some people love it, some hate it, it was our turn to be the judge of that.

I started the day with Ben sleeping and Kaylee waking me up to help find her lost laptop cord...which was in the trunk just as I had told her. She did some of her online coursework and then took it to the lobby to enjoy free breakfast while she worked. Once she finished, we headed back up to the room, Ben woke up, we got ready, and made the extremely short drive to CGA.

California's Great America feels like Six Flags Great America upon entering, but slightly different. It's not the big bad megapark that SFGAm has blown up into, it's smaller but better cared for. There's a high degree of polish in CGA's entrance plaza you won't get back in Chicago, plus I like palm trees.

After snagging our Fast Lanes for the day, Gold Striker was our first blood. I've grown to really like GCI's newer stuff and with how recent this one is, I had high hopes. While the ride doesn't necessarily feature theming and props out the wazoo, the scruffy foliage on that mound where it sits and the climb up the wooden stairs through a rickety timber support trellis really echoes of a mine in the desert, not sure if this was intentional or not but it fits the ride beautifully.

And just like that, I have a new favorite GCI! Two region trips ago, Renegade snatched that title from Mystic in its first operating season, and I was sold that it had to be the best of the batch, but then I rode this. Gold Striker is balls to the wall insane. Dropping out of that tunnel into that speed turn, transition, and airtime hop kicks off the ride perfectly, and the airtime around the rest of the circuit is not only Renegade/Mystic quality but matched by a level of aggression I've yet to see out of a GCI. They should be very proud of this creation because it's far better than the rest of them.

Patriot was next on the way around the park. It's a floorless but a floorless conversion of a standup, similar to Rougarou. As a standup it shared a name and layout similarities with Carowinds's Vortex, which I consider one of the worst B&Ms out there, so I was expecting an awful ride. But I was pleasantly surprised. Yeah it's an older B&M so there are plenty of bad spots, but it's not as bad as say Rougarou or Scream. Got a bit of headbanging in the corkscrew but the rest of the time I actually sort of enjoyed it. The transitions are kind of funky and that makes the ride a lot more enjoyable than some of the other beemers I've ridden of the same tech level.

Next up it was time for our main reason to come here. Second Raptor for Ben and I, first for Kaylee, and one of only two built to date. Railblazer was a coaster I sort of overlooked when it was announced due to it being a mirror of another coaster that had already been announced and having been announced the same day as Steel Vengeance when I was literally in the crowd watching Fred Grubb speak at Cedar Point. It's not an RMC you hear about a lot, when I ran a poll of how commonly ridden each RMC is in my RMC Connoisseurs group on Facebook Railblazer was the least common US one, and it isn't necessarily at a huge park. However, I was excited to ride it simply because I liked Wonder Woman, but the theme on this one being something that actually appeals to me really helped!

Fast Lane was worth it for this alone. Everything in the park coaster-wise had a reasonable wait, but everyone wanted to ride Railblazer so the cattlepen was slammed. We headed in and grabbed seats in the back, it was time to ride.

And color me impressed! Railblazer blew me away and blew Wonder Woman, Iron Rattler, even Steel Vengeance out of the water! This is actually my new #1 as crazy as it sounds and I was seriously not expecting it. It's short, yes, but it's 20 seconds of hell on wheels, better than I've ever seen it done on a coaster.

Railblazer ascends its lift and then makes that left turn, which is much scarier than Fiesta's since you can see all the way to the ground with no cliff in the way, really giving you an idea of how high up you are with just that tiny track that can be threaded through your window. From there, the drop rips you out of your seat, not unlike Wonder Woman, and flies through that dive loop, once again just like Wonder Woman. But from here on out is where the rides differ. That little ejector transition after? Wonder Woman provides just a pop of ejector, while Railblazer brutally ripped me from my seat into that vest and kept me out the entire way down. By the time it put me down it was yanking me up and around that climb into the lifted S-bend before plunging off, again exerting much more vigor on the dip than its Texan counterpart. The stall is about the same, but the following overbank is taken at a noticeably faster pace, the corkscrew is a lot snappier than Wonder Woman's and reminded me of Maxx Force's roll, and the final hop into the brakes feels like the train is coming in too hot. I was floored with how much better it was! Not sure if it's just been better taken care of, needed time to break in, needed time to warm up (it had been down for a full day before Ben and I rode it early in the day last year), but it's significantly better. A Fiesta Texas employee in RMC Conn stated that Wonder Woman runs better this year than it did last year but until I can reride and rerank it, the two will stay at their current spots.

Railblazer became my new #1 mostly because of how the machine performs (which I believe should be the sole decider, not nostalgia or history or sentiment any of that teary garbage) but I also felt that it's a very "me" coaster that's appropriate to have in that spot for me. It's an innovative ride, which as we know is a big draw for me in terms of rides that I'm interested in. It also rocks a theme that I love, I've always liked rustic outdoorsy aesthetics and Railblazer's theme echoes that beautifully, from the signage to the vehicles to the rockwork. And with me being an avid photographer, Raiblazer photographs really well from several vantage points, so while coaster photographers are a dime a dozen this is one of my personal favorites to take pictures of.

We took advantage of this, with the three of us cycle riding while one either sat out or grabbed photos of the others. Here we have Kaylee praising Lord Schilke for blessing her with her first Raptor model.

Railblazer aside we headed back to Grizzly, the park's pre-CAD wooden coaster, with a horrible reputation. I had no concerns about fitting in this, having fit just fine in original Colossus which had the same California-style Morgan trains, but I was unaware these had different restraints! Kaylee rode solo while Ben and I crammed ourselves in the nice, spacious seats...and then that horrid lap bar had to come down. It took ride ops literally leaning on the bar to get us in and buckle that third belt in the center (god knows why it's there) to dispatch the train. Kaylee isn't big at all and she said she was stapled as well. So Ben and I are here, crammed in on this stupid single lap bar aware that we're on what's supposed to be one of the worst wooden coasters ever preparing for the worst. And honestly? The ride itself isn't bad. It's smooth, but the fiberglass trains run strangely on it. It feels like you're slowly rolling around in a clunky fiberglass bathtub, no airtime or anything. Restraints are vile but the ride itself is just boring, but together, they help this coaster earn the status of, all say it together...

#RMCitorWreckit

All this aside, we realized we missed Demon so we went back to go snag it. I'd ridden its clone in Chicago, which recently had its theming upgraded, but while this was still sort of rotting away it rode a lot better. It just kind of rolls through the MCBR whereas Demon Chicago actually slows the train down. Demon Chicago has the better theming but Demon West performs better, so in the end I think it's the better ride.

Next we decided to grab lunch, which for Kaylee and I was a chicken tenders platter with fries and a beer. It was actually not terrible, not great but passable.

I was so happy to see this! If I'm correct, this Zamperla Disko used to be Survivor: The Ride. Having watched the show since I was in the third grade it was so cool to see it in person, even if it had been debranded.

Either there was a natural disaster or we needed a credit because next up was Mad Mouse. This overengineered Arrow Wild Mouse, the Nokia 3310 of roller coasters, was the last one I needed to complete the set of all Arrow Mice ever made and honestly, it's fun. Got some floater on the drops down below and it ran pretty smoothly. I thought I grabbed a photo of it but apparently not.

Next on the plate was our first non-coaster of the day, the 4/5/6/7/974.8-D theater ride, Mass Effect: New Earth, per Ben's request since he's a huge fan of the video games on which it's based. Our Fast Lanes skipped a huge wait for this ride (the capacity is stupid considering what it is) and were treated to a unique experience that I surprisingly enjoyed. You start off with a preshow, which is pretty typical, but once the doors open it's actually pretty unique. You have a live actor that I at first thought was just a ride op in character that was going to safety spiel and leave, but this guy was actually part of the ride. You're in these seats with no restraint device whatsoever, no seatbelts or lap bars or anything, and the idea is that you're using some sort of warp drive called Mass Relay to go to a resort planet called Terranova. But alas, the aliens attack you, you got some sucker mouth roaring in your face while it sprays stinky water like slobber, alien bugs crawling out in sync with leg ticklers, back pokers to represent astroids as you fly through space, stuff of the nature. But the cool thing was what a good job the actor did staying in character and being in sync with the screen. Like, you could have the "ship" high centered 45 degrees on a craggy cliff and they would actually stumble to the side as if gravity was actually pulling them. The young man we had did an awesome job and made what would have been just another 4D ride into something that was actually a lot of fun. It's so amusing and, I can see why it had the huge line it did, it's fun but there's no way kids don't also love it too. Kings Island needs to take note, with our rotting 4D theater gathering dust and possibly having been turned into a secret bar for Orion construction workers. I would love to have something like this back at home and we have the facility for it.

This is where things got spiteful. We headed to Woodstock Express, the park's Intamin kiddie coaster with Wilderness Run's ride system. I recently did a walk of shame on Wilderness a few years ago riding with someone else to get the cred so I was a bit nervous about this, but to our surprise none of the three of us could fit. It's a kids' ride so we just kind of shrugged it off and headed across the park, passing Lucy's Crabby Cabbie which you needed a kid to ride.

Flight Deck (which should be called Spite Deck) was the last coaster in the park we needed, and also something I was a bit nervous about hearing how bad CGA is about cutting its belts. Spite! I was probably about half an inch out but couldn't get it, leaving both Ben and I to do the walk of shame and, like yesterday, killing my chance at getting the US Invert set completed. Fortunately for us, Kaylee fit just fine and she told us we didn't miss much. She found it rough, uninspired, and compared it to a smaller version of Raptor.

So with that spite, we took our loss to a ride that we better not get shame walked on, Skyride! We just wanted to ride it back over to the front of the park to start tat shopping so I could load up on Railblazer merch. This was met with a decision to just kind of walk around and do the good stuff again.

We did Gold Striker again but this time in the front and...yikes. I didn't have a problem with it, but both Ben and Kaylee needed to sit down after riding because it's noticeably rougher up there.

Ben started getting a sunburn next and he has a skin condition, so we hightailed it to first aid. I have to admit, Great America seems to really be embracing the whole healthcare for all thing that California supports so much, they brought him back there and actually helped him apply the sunscreen properly and shield the area he burned completely. Just a few days before I was at Kings Island with Kaylee and some other internet friends and a nasty cut I had on my finger from a slip of the knife cooking eggrolls and at Kings Island I went to change my bandage and it started to look infected, so when I went to first aid they just kind of threw me a new bandaid and some antibiotic and didn't bother to even look at it when I asked if I should go to urgent care. I wasn't expecting them to fully reconstruct my finger, Kings Island isn't a hospital, but it'd be nice to know my finger wasn't going to get infected and fall off.

We Railblazered it next, which was when I made it official that I had a new #1. Both of them sort of judged me for it, but honestly, I'm kind of glad it's not Steel Vengeance anymore simply because that's what everyone's is. It's a respectable #1, but it's so common I'm glad I now have one that I not only like more but also feel suits me perfectly.

Kaylee and Ben are fine getting wet, I am not, so they did CGA's rapids while I sat out, took photos, and told everyone manning the blasters that my girlfriend and friend were on this next boat so they knew who to aim for.

We must have spent a bit too much time in California because after that, everyone got the munchies, so we headed over to a place Chris recommended us yesterday, Sierra Creek Lodge. They ran out of buns for the hot dog Kaylee and I wanted so that was a bit of an inconvenient delay, but I was able to try their Railblazer beer! It's a really bitter IPA so neither of my two travel companions cared for it but I actually didn't mind it. I can do bitter as long as it isn't Drane-O bitter and this was just a touch below, so I was good. The bacon wrapped hot dog and macaroni & cheese Kaylee and I split was also great, and the restaurant has those beautiful rustic architectural choices that we all know I love. Shame it's not a whole summer camp/rustic area around Raiblazer, I'd love to sip the brew while watching the coaster tear up the layout.

Wanting our food to settle, we did Mass Effect again, which was just as great but with a different actor. It was strange because they were clearly doing the same job and the same script and even the same character, but this actress was able to sort of modify the role to fit her own personal gestures and speech patterns and it was just as flawless. I'd like to know how it is to have that job, not sure if they're from a talent agency or what but both hosts we had for the ride were phenomenal.

From there, all that was left to do was to tat shop and wait for sunset for that Railblazer night ride we so desperately wanted. I got a lot of Railblazer stuff, Kaylee got a few things for her and a mug for an online friend at the shop up front. Wanting to get out of there just before close after the sun went down, the choice was made to take one more spin on Gold Striker and Blazer and then head out. Gold Striker is an awesome sunset ride! There's no light coming in from the tunnel exit so instead of anticipating it, you just kind of rocket out under an orange sky, and when it's warmed up and you're in a smooth seat in the back, that experience is special. GCI can be hit or miss but this was definitely a smash hit on their part!

And finally, it was time for Railblazer at night, and I have to admit, she runs super well! The park looks beautiful from the top all lit up, they did a great job lighting just the ride track but nothing else, and it resembles riding a single glowing rail through total darkness with an incredible surrounding. And like Gold Striker, once it's had all day to warm up it takes no prisoners. This could possibly be the most insane individual ride I've gotten on an RMC.

Good night, Great America!!

On the way out, Kaylee went to grab something when her bag slipped out of her hand and we heard a smash. She dropped the bag and broke her friend's mug! Fortunately for us, as with the other pleasant service at the park, we took it to their emporium at the front and they just swapped it for an identical but unbroken mug for her no questions asked. It was a positive way to end an amazing day. On the way out, we were stopped by some dude in a promotion booth and given something called a Dragamonz? It was a small cardboard box with cartoon characters on it that Ben, Kaylee, and I were each given.

The walk from the park back to the car is actually really easy...but we had a family with a child that had won a toy that made the most obnoxious noise known to man. Kaylee and I were further put off the idea of having children down the road, and we found the car and headed back to the hotel. Kaylee looked in my merch bag and found her merch just as I thought she would, averting yet another crisis.

But first...In-N-Out! We swung by and got our burgers animal style before heading back to the hotel.

Back in the hotel, we opened those Dragamonz things. It was a wax egg that you were supposed to break open with heat but I just smashed the egg, and inside was a little toy dragon and some playing cards? So it's basically like Pokemon? Probably trying to get this out there to kids or something, not sure if it would have appealed to me at that age but it's...strange. I'll stick with the Pokemon and Yugioh I grew up with thank you very much. We just kinda threw our Dragamonz aside and hit the sack, knowing it was an early flight that would split us ways the next day.

UP NEXT: Kaylee says see ya later, I revisit my least favorite Six Flags park after five years and a few new additions, and attempt to finish my goal of every RMC in the United States! Can I do it? Check back later to see!

 

[Jarrett]

Day 4

We were up well before the crack of dawn, needing to get to SJC for an early AF parting flight, one that would take Kaylee back to Ohio and Ben and I onto the second leg of the trip. We were fortunately close to the airport, but I needed to gas up before returning the rental car, something that made me thankful we elected to fly to LA and not drive it when I saw $3.50 a gallon. We all got selected to bypass that claustrophobic body scanner and just stroll through a metal detector, making security a breeze, and allowing us to just hop on over to our gates, which were right next to each other allowing us to just chill out until our flights loaded. Finally, they called it, and both flights were less than half full. I gave Kaylee a hug and kiss goodbye, she gave me her black windbreaker (the same one she was wearing in the San Francisco pictures) to hang onto since I wouldn't have her with me on the flight, and we boarded.

You could tell this had turned into a dude trip at this moment when Ben and I picked seats away from each other, both getting entire rows to ourselves, with mine being an exit row. So I threw my earbuds in, fired up some Owl City, and watched the plane take off into the beautiful mountainous California sunrise.

The flight was barely 45 minutes before we made our descent into Los Angeles. This brought with it another moment of hitting me how far from not only home but the previous trip leg we were as I saw the Hollywood sign perched on its hill while we landed at LAX. The plane approached, landed smoothly, and just like that we were in Los Angeles for the second time in my life!

LAX had about the traffic you'd see at DAY when it's busy...but at 8 am. Ben told me that the airport is chaos 24/7 to some degree and we lucked out showing up when there wouldn't be any car traffic. We were waiting on the bus to our car rental agency when the Hertz bus just about came on the curb and struck me while pulling over, must know who I am!


Advantage Rent-A-Car would be providing a vehicle for the SoCal leg of California 2019. Neither of us had ever used it before but we decided to take them for a spin. We did a manager's special that was supposed to stick us with some stupid minivan at random, but when we got out there it was this super super nice 2020 Hyundai Elantra! Ben and I were thrilled to have it, loaded up, found a bit of damage, and headed out!

I was expecting traffic on the way there, being that it's LA, but for some reason the highways were pretty dead! What should have been a slow bumper to bumper crawl was a fun, effortless glide to my last RMC! Ben threw on the Electric Ocean soundtrack to ensure extra lit-ness on this high-speed distance drive-style cruise through urban LA. Just like that, we were there! We waited on the gates to open, set up for the mother of all gate crashes, and my most important one ever.

Gonna talk about me for a bit, my apologies. I'm a huge RMC fan, and it's something that's heavily associated with me as a coaster enthusiast. In their early years, it never really interested me as anything more than a fun way to preserve an aging wooden coaster, which I was happy to see done to my childhood dream coaster Rattler, but as time went on, I became more and more interested. In 2014, they announced this cool coaster called Twisted Colossus that linked together two sides of a racing coaster and rocked this awesome steampunk theme, which kind of showed me how versatile this treatment really was. In 2015, it was announced that one of my home parks was getting an RMC I-box and a park within overnight distance was getting a really cool launched topper track coaster, so I started looking a little bit at what this was and why people raved about it. And from there, an obsession was born. The fact that they were able to take existing manufacturing technology and create a totally different product by applying it differently captivated me, I'd sit there in class thinking about how certain elements would look flattened out on a plasma table and the like. Later that year I attempted to make a daring drive down to Silver Dollar City the week after Christmas to maybe get on my first one in the twilight hours of the season...and it was closed due to cold weather. However, in early 2016, Lightning Rod, my most anticipated coaster of the year, sadly didn't open on time, so the weekend off to ride that was spent going back to Silver Dollar City and finally riding Outlaw Run! And from there, it just snowballed. Storm Chaser opened in my backyard, Wicked Cyclone was on the New England 2016 region trip, and I even got on Lightning Rod in November of its tumultuous inaugural year in time for it to snatch that #1 spot from Skyrush. 2017 was a bit of a tumultuous year for me, between a really tough breakup and a major change to a field that RMC helped spark my interest in, but I was able to still experience my favorite manufacturer's coasters on a few occasions. Goliath was the showstopping coaster of Great Lakes 2017, and I made it back to Kentucky Kingdom to get a buddy of mine on Storm Chaser for his first time. Then, in 2018, I finally managed to snatch them up like crazy. Steel Vengeance opened in my backyard and became my new #1 the week I graduated. I braved a storm down to Twisted Cyclone Media Day in the longest overnighter I've ever done at 8 hours both ways for a few hours of coasting in the rain early in the morning, hoping to meet Fred and Alan but they sadly didn't show up. Texas 2018 brought a haul of 3 important RMCs, prototypes New Texas Giant and Wonder Woman as well as Iron Rattler as a childhood dream made even more awesome. Then in August, I had some vacation time to burn at an old job before I started a new one, so I used that to head down to Virginia and get Twisted Timbers. And finally, the NorCal leg of this trip brought Joker and Raiblazer, two RMCs I always kind of always overlooked and one of which surprised the hell out of me as my new #1. Now, all that stood between me and having completed every RMC in the United States, was that cool dueling Steampunk one. And I was in the same park as it ready to go after it.

We got in, got our Diamond Flash Passes and waited on the rope to drop. The plan was to get Flash Pass at first but with it being a chill day with only a few credits up for grabs between us, we opted not to.

Rope dropped...and Ben was in the bathroom and I was stuck waiting on him behind the crowd of maybe 20? people that bothered to show up. But once he got out, we hightailed it to Twisted Colossus! It was much further back in the park than I remembered in my visit in 2014, but I barely spent any time in that little hemorrhoid hanging off the main loop.

Twisted Colossus is one RMC that gets pretty much equally panned and praised. I've been told the airtime magnitude outdoes Steel Vengeance, back when it opened I remember seeing it ranked it at the back of the pack, I also recall hearing about it a lot as one of the best in the bunch even today. Ben was telling me not to get too excited for it (in reality I think I was more geeking out over all the cool mechanical theming in the queue) because he was a back of the packer, but I was about to be the judge of that.

We got there with very minimal wait, not exactly first train of the day but still pretty good. But to our shock, these operations were a total 180 from the lazy Kennywood-esque "we don't care" attitude I got in 2014. They were actually telling guests that it was a racing experience and they needed to board that train NOW so they could duel them, even monitoring when the train on the course was about to engage the lift. Ben and I might get a dueling ride! I booked it across that platform, stuffed my camera bag and our bottles in the bin, and power walked back to the seat, and quickly put my restraint down. When they went to dispatch it...I needed a shove, which is typical for an RMC, but the ride op shoved me with maybe two pounds of force, clearly not enough, so he shoved again and I was in snugly but it was far from a staple. But that cost them precious time on that dispatch, so I knew we would be off by a bit. But we were on! My goal was completed when that op smashed that dispatch button!

Twisted Colossus starts out with that funky prelift, which I knew about but still found pretty cool, not quite as good as Vengeance's little prelift floater but it's a fun way to start the ride. The lift hill is spent watching the train on the blue side catch up to the green one, which we were able to somewhat though it was maybe two seconds off the lift faster than we were. The drop rides exactly like Iron Rattler's bar the cool visual and the pop of airtime right out the drop is exactly like Steel Vengeance's. Climbing into the first of four turnarounds on the ride, the blue turnaround is pretty fun, but the drop out of it is super cool when the train on green practically comes down overhead and hops from the left to the right of your train. Two airtime moments follow, with one rocking the super cool visual effect of the train on green stalling overhead. A nice brisk roll follows before the second turnaround, with an outward banked portion that rips you from your seat at an angle. The train slows down, the track color changes from blue to green, and it starts up the green side of the lift. Around the time you're halfway up, the train on blue that you'll be dueling comes bobbing towards that lift, and starts speeding up to catch up, maybe it'll happen maybe it won't, but once you reach the top it's time for Twisted Colossus to get the lead out, as the green side is much better than the blue! First drop is the same, hop is exactly the same, but then things start to get crazy. In that first turnaround, that outward banked portion where it high fives the blue side? Turns out that maintains the curvature of the turn from the top view and doesn't flatten out like I thought it did, making for some insane Lightning Rod-like sideways ejector wave turn action. Coming out of that was my favorite part of the ride, the double down that hops over the blue side, which exerts Steel Vengeance/Railblazer style airtime as it rips you downward and right out of your seat. The top gun stall following has some really cool visuals flying over the other train upside-down, and there's some nice snap going in and out of it. The following tilted airtime hill that interacts with the blue side's roll is insane, bringing that lovely combination of ejector and laterals you get so often out of RMCs. Finally, it heads into that double down, around the final turnaround, and completes two hops into the final brakes.

I know they got the good stuff out in California, and anybody who says this is anything but an upper tier RMC deserving of high regard has clearly gotten into it. It's so much fun and so different from anything else they've done. The experience was comparable to maybe Storm Chaser, Steel Vengeance, and maybe a bit of Twisted Timbers, but at the same time it's so unique and nothing else Stateside provides quite the same sensation. It's so much fun! I was cracking up and smiling from ear to ear the entire time. It's such a cool coaster that rides so well! It doesn't have quite the bite to be Railblazer or Steel Vengeance, but it's definitely up there in the top 5.

And just like that, I had done it! Every RMC in the United States was now under my belt. My goal had been completed, my purpose of coming out here had been fulfilled. And honestly, it was kind of bittersweet. On one hand, I had done it, but on the other hand, it felt like my main focus in the hobby for the past four years had been lost. It was a journey that took me from the rugged hills of the Ozarks to the harbors of New England, from Chicago winds to Texas heat, from a stormy early morning ride on Twisted Cyclone to a simulated offroad adventure down the Pacific Coast Highway on Railblazer the day after driving it myself. And that morning, in a quiet little corner of a park I don't even care for, it had finally come to an end.

But it was also a beginning. Now I gotta get all the ones in North America, including the two American ones opening next year!

I would like to thank everyone involved in such an incredible journey except the moron in the front that took his phone out of the pouch.

Goal that took almost a fifth of my lifetime to complete aside, Ben and I grabbed a spin on Goliath (spoiler: it was just as boring as I remember) and headed to Six Flags Magic Mountain's premier fine dining establishment, Food Ect. from Rollercoaster Tycoon 2! I opted for tacos and a victory margarita, sitting down for a much needed A/C break on this chill day at one of the most hectic parks out there. Ben didn't care for the tacos but I liked them, they tasted nice and authentic with corn tortillas and an appropriate level of toppings for an authentic Mexican-style taco.

After that, we decided to bite the bullet and get kiddie credits. Magic Flyer was strictly no adults, so that was out. Roadrunner Express was a nice Vekoma roller skater that was surprisingly smooth and enjoyable. Canyon Blaster was a Miler, so it was pretty standard as an experience but it wasn't painful at all. We went for Speedy Gonzalez next, but the Zamperla death machine spared us by breaking down, so we headed on over to New Revolution next, which both of us needed. Ops on it...not exactly Twisted Colossus's rushing people into the train and dispatching it. Add in the queue not being shaded and it was pretty brutal. Luckily, however, it's my new #1 Schwarzkopf. It plays with the terrain really nicely, it's nice and smooth, and the slowdown before that climactic fall down the hill to the loop sealed the deal. This is proof that real engineering doesn't get outdone by later developments, this is better than some coasters that were cranked out 10-20 years later!

Refusing to hike up that stupid hill, Ben and I did Helpful Honda Express to get to the top of Samurai Summit for Superman: Escape from Krypton. He had one side of it, I was missing both sides, and of course they're only running the side Ben had. The wait took forever, and when we got in the train we saw why. Ben and I went all the way down to the end of the open row, a typical boarding procedure, and sat down and restrainted up. Well turns out that was the wrong move. Since there was nobody behind us, we needed to be in the second and third seats of the row of four to balance the train. So they had to unlock us and have us move and recheck our restraints, something that could have been avoided by having a grouper to sort these situations out.

Ben told me it rides just as you'd expect, and for the most part it did. The one thing that took me by surprise was how killer that launch was! It's not powerful by any means, but it's probably the fastest magnetic launch I've been on. It has that same nice, smooth acceleration you get from a contact-less launch like that but it continues way longer than it feels it should. You keep expecting the launch to end and fly up the spike, but it keeps going and going and feels almost out of control. All in all, I liked it more than I thought I would.


West Coast Racers, you spiteful little nitwit! We planned this trip for September for a few reasons, this being one of them, and it still wasn't complete when we came! Last New For 2019 coaster I had to ride in the opening season to have all of them, and of course this one had to kill that. Honestly hoping it doesn't open until 2020 now so I can still say I had all of them.

Heading down the hill, we did Justice League next. It's honestly the nicest of the bunch, having seen different lx Flags parks the ride had developed at other Six Flags parks it's clear it all lead up to this one, with its two preshows and extensive cast of characters on the ride. They did an amazing job with this one! It was a gas, laughing gas that is!

We headed back around the park...and then came the shirt. Yes, if you follow my RMC group on Facebook, that shirt. I own t-shirts for all the other RCs I had ridden so naturally, I wanted a Twisted Colossus one to complete said collection. Only one problem: Tragic Mountain's merch selection sucks. And I knew that from last time I was there, but it's gotten even worse. We combed over the shop and almost gave up hope when I found a Twisted Colossus shirt. But not one to my liking. No, this horrible garment would make any and all of the questionable wardrobe choices I would see at 3 am back in my old night shift Walmart days acceptable. All they had for Twisted Colossus was this horrendous pink number with the worst graphic ever on it. Now, I have no issue with dudes wearing pink at all, I probably wouldn't have even thought about it if it was a more acceptable shade, but here we have something the same exact color as a Bic pink highlighter with a blue, green, and white graphic that doesn't match it at all. The shirt itself would be fine with a yellow/white/teal graphic on it, the graphic would have been just fine on a grey, white, or black shirt, but whichever t-shirt designer decided to put that image on that color needs a new job. No wonder it was the only one they had and the price had been slashed! I stood there agonizing for ten minutes in the gift shop, trying to bite the bullet and decide if I could purchase and wear something so disgustingly hideous...

Fortunately, outside there were a few racks of merch they were practically giving away, and Ben and I were lucky enough to find this! It's a bit chewed up where the tag went in and it's a size too big for me, but it was only $2 so I had to get it. He got one as well. But did anybody get the infamous pink one? That'll be answered in a later installment of this trip report.

Is everybody in? They must be if they are because the line for X2 was a total walk on. Now, back in 2014 I rode this with my cousin after she had been hyping it as the greatest coaster ever created, and I got a horrendously rough ride and got off super disappointed. I could tell it was supposed to be an incredible experience...had the seats not been violently bucking 2-3 degrees around the layout and repeatedly bashing my skull into the headrest! But it's been towards the top of my second chance list, and now was X2's second chance!

Ben and I walked right into the station, second time ever walking on this crazy contraption that's known for its long lines, stowed my camera, and grabbed a seat in the back. One thing was for sure, like it or hate it, this might still be the only coaster ~380 credits later that still actually scares me. That nervous feeling I used to get before Flight of Fear rides as a kid? That came back to haunt me today. My name is Jarrett, I'm a grown man, and I am genuinely scared of X2. There, I said it.

And just like that, the ride that killed the legendary Arrow was no longer a coaster I disliked! Those funky restraints, which could probably be done at least a thousand other better ways, are absolutely terrifying just barely pinching your shoulders into the seats as your entire lower body basically dangles 200 feet off the ground. I can barely give an element-by-element breakdown on it just because there's so much that goes on on it, but it's a lot smoother and enjoyable than when I first rode it in 2014. You're out there, totally exposed, and the coaster does some of the craziest exposure maneuvers ever and you can't tell which way it's about to pitch you next. It got a bit bucky on that last raven turn but smoothed out instantly after. I like X2 now!

After getting over how shook I was, I gave it a much more positive rerank. New second favorite Arrow behind Magnum and above Tennessee Tornado! As well as a new favorite 4D coaster.

We headed back towards Twisted 'Wiches for dinner and one more lap on Twisted Colossus with our Flash Passes. We tried for Speedy Gonzalez since it was back up, but the ride op denied us because we lacked a kid, despite not being posted in the policy at all. I posted about it on Facebook and as I thought, several adults on my Facebook had ridden it without a kid and had no problem, but it wasn't worth arguing over, so we just kind of rolled our eyes and headed back to Screampunk.

Our final Twisted Colossus ride to close out the RMCs for California 2019 was a semi-dueling ride in the back that cemented its spot for me as a top tier RMC. It had warmed up so nicely by then and was flying right through the layout. We had to chase the blue train a bit later on in the ride but all in all, it's an incredible visual even if the trains are remotely synced up, definitely a unique gem for RMC that alone is worth the trip out to this...interesting park.

Twisted 'Wiches were huge! I got an Italian sub with no lettuce on it and it was almost too big to fit in my mouth. I couldn't even stomach all of it.

Ben and I then headed out early, having been up since 4 am to go to our next hotel near Hollywood. I spent some time out in the parking lot photographing Twisted Colossus (yet another fun coaster to photograph, though you can't get it at all from inside the park) and then headed out.

Looking for some more Cali culture, Ben and I decided to try Fatburger later that night. They're thin, pressed patties similar to Smashburger or Steak 'n' Shake that honestly taste amazing. There were also some strange Mexican drinks in the pop fountain that were surprisingly tasty. I think In-N-Out is better but this is still pretty good.

We then headed back to the hotel, I got into the sleep medication to take control of my circadian rhythm, and literally fell asleep texting Kaylee at 10:30.

And speaking of the devil, she had gotten back to CVG in one piece, and after my mom picked her up they sort of adopted her for the evening. She met a cute little pupper at CVG named Oscar, my dad made her lamb shanks on the grill, and she got into the gift bag I left behind for her at the apartment and named the stuffed dog I put in there Oscar after the CVG dog. I would see her again in two days!

Like with Kennywood earlier this season, Six Flags Magic Mountain was getting a redemption trip as a park I don't necessarily care for. But sadly, unlike Kennywood, it didn't improve that much. The new coaster is incredible, their other star attraction I now like, but all in all, it feels like they haven't done much to solve any of the problems I had with it. Guest conduct was still awful, the place was still a bit more than just concrete, generic buildings, and general cheapness to look at, and I still feel they need to train their employees a lot better. However, the one improvement I will note is Screampunk District. It feels like someone took something you'd expect to see at a Cedar Fair or Busch Gardens park and just sort of cut it off and glued it onto a crappy Six Flags park. The theming is great, their star attraction is killer, the food there is among the best I've had from the chain, and the themed music is a nice break from the awful pop music they play all over the rest of the park. The sad thing is that I want to like the park, I really do, but I just can't. But Twisted Colossus and Screampunk alone were worth the trip down to LA and I'm glad we came and mopped up some more of my missing credits here.

Ben and I actually built a flex day into the trip that could be used for whatever in the event Twisted Colossus should be randomly down as I hear she sometimes is. But with us getting plenty of twisted steamy fun on the day we were intended to, there was no reason to come back, so we had a spare day to kill. And what better way to spend it than by using Ben's employee perks at his employer's West Coast sister park?

UP NEXT: Ben and I get movie magical on some flex day fun, California traffic makes its last mark on the trip, a wonderful time exploring downtown LA, and the best Knott's Berry Farm park guest ever.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Congrats on completing that set and congrats on properly appreciating TC. Japan or Europe next?

Coming out of that was my favorite part of the ride, the double down that hops over the blue side

Mine too, the way you enter it is so out of control and vicious.

I really wanted a shirt that's just the logo like the ride sign, but they've managed to make them all look terrible as you demonstrated.

 

[FarleyFlavors]

I really wanted a shirt that's just the logo like the ride sign

I guess they stopped selling this one then?

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

^ Not quite what I had in mind. Ugly robot riding the train with aggression. Also don't like stats. Or the lazy placement of the park name.

Literally just

for me.

 

[Howie]

Ha ha, if I'd have known you were meeting Antoine at SFDK I would have told you to give his lanky ass a slap from me!
Watching that guy shoehorn himself into the Octonauts coaster at Alton Towers was something to see I tell ya!
He's a good mate of mine actually, met him a few times. Small world huh?

 

[Jarrett]

Congrats on completing that set and congrats on properly appreciating TC. Japan or Europe next?

Mine too, the way you enter it is so out of control and vicious.

I really wanted a shirt that's just the logo like the ride sign, but they've managed to make them all look terrible as you demonstrated.

Thanks a ton, it's an accomplishment I'm pretty proud of. Mexico was supposed to be 2021's region trip, but considering one of the parks on it just got shut down, I might go elsewhere internationally. It's just a smidge more to get to Sweden and my top of bucket list coaster is there sooo...

I guess they stopped selling this one then?
View attachment 6548

I actually wanted this one, or one like it. Just a logo, a cool shot of the ride, and some steampunk graphics for me, though I'd have gladly gone with that one and the addition of the robot.

^ Not quite what I had in mind. Ugly robot riding the train with aggression. Also don't like stats. Or the lazy placement of the park name.

Literally just

for me.

I'd have been fine with that as well. Maybe a ride shot, some stats, park name, something else. But I'd still have taken this on a plain Hanes undershirt over that pink abomination I purchased.

Day 5

I woke up early-ish after a decent night's sleep, shot Kaylee a good morning text, and headed down for some free hotel breakfast. Ben soon joined me, we headed up, packed up the room, and headed out!

Today was scheduled to be a flex day in case I needed one more day for an RMC. But with me having finally completed that goal (and it still not feeling real), we elected to use it on Ben's employer's sister location on the West Coast: Universal Studios Hollywood! Traffic getting there was kind of annoying but eventually, we saw the park perched atop its hill and we were there!

Universal Studios Hollywood has this really nice parking garage that's super well organized, you literally follow cones to your spot and take an elevator to CityWalk. Ben said their CityWalk was much bigger but honestly? Brilliant business move. There's crap begging you to give them their money all around you before you're even in the park. And not just stupid stuff, like good businesses.

Security was a bit of a cluster but as soon as we were through, we cleared the iconic Universal arch (which is tiny compared to how it looks in pictures) for my first time, we were in Universal!

You hear about the magic of the movies in Los Angeles all the time but to me, that always sounded like tourist stuff from vacationers that go to take selfies with stars on the street and sit outside Kim Kardashian's mansion with cameras. That's not what this is, this is a place where film is just as romanticized an art as painting or poetry. This is a real movie studio where the magic of the movies is made, and you will experience it. Both through applications in the amusement industry and by seeing it firsthand.

Our first stop was my most anticipated part of this flex day: Harry Potter! I'm not necessarily a hardcore obsessed Potterhead but I've seen the movies, read most of the books, I know what my house is, when I was ten I accidentally went into the ladies' restroom because I was in a rush to get back to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the movie theater, most millennials connect with Harry Potter on a personal level to some extent and I'm no different. So naturally, I was pretty stoked to do this, especially after how good I constantly hear it is. Ben wanted me to have the proper unveiling, so I pulled my hat over my eyes, and he grabbed my arm and guided me blind into Hogsmeade...

WOW!!!! Hogsmeade is incredible! You have these incredibly detailed rows of facades flanking a cobblestone path that leads up to a Hogwarts that looks exactly like the one in the movie. It was like every childhood dream I had of getting a Hogwarts letter and going to learn wizardry had come true, I was floored with how much they outdid themselves with this.

First stop? Three Broomsticks to get some queue line Butterbeer. I got it frozen because Ben said it sucks if it's not frozen. It's pretty good! Has this nice butterscotch flavor to it, I could see it working well as a warm beverage as well.

Our first ride of the day was my most anticipated non-coaster of the trip, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Let me start by saying that the queue for this ride is insane. From a herbology greenhouse overlooking downtown LA to the moving portraits that line the halls of Hogwarts, it feels just like the real thing. I was glad we would be able to sit back, take it all in, and sip our Butterbeer. But one problem: Forbidden Journey's lightning fast ops made it a walk on. We stepped aside, chugged it until I had a raging brain freeze, and pitched it. We then boarded and I prepared to stash my camera in the back of the seat as Ben said I could...but the Hollywood version didn't have that feature! I panicked but a ride op told me to just shove it in the restraint and that it would be fine. So I stuck it off to the side and the next thing I know my expensive DSLR is riding with me.

Alright, over here! Forbidden Journey is incredible! I was expecting the experience to be sort of spoiled with me knowing it's a robot arm and understanding the technology, but the way they're programmed alone is phenomenal. Over the course of four minutes, every magical moment from Harry Potter I grew up with unfolded right in front of me. From a Quidditch match to a fire breathing dragon to the Womping Willow to these insanely intricate and creepy Dementor animatronics in your face, this is the perfect example of this industry making magic out of technology. The bench literally feels like it's magically floating about, so to think that someone was able to teach it every single minor position to achieve that effect was mind blowing. I got off so impressed we rode again...with my camera. Easily my new favorite dark ride.

Hertz Rent-A-Car giving you a car in pristine condition like

Alright, down to business on one of only two credits up for grabs at this park: Flight of the Hippogriff. While the USF version is Vekoma, this one is Mack and features some strange features for a kiddie coaster, such as knee defenders. Regardless, it's a fun little ride with some cute theming. The Buckbeak animatronic was pretty cool.

Obligatory Ravenclaw flag photo!

Next up was lunch at Three Broomsticks for some good British bites. I did fish and chips while Ben went with bangers and mashed. It was honestly pretty good, and Ben's employee discount got it nice and cheap for us.

Alright, back to the muggle world. We headed down the six? escaltors to the lower lot and got a wonderful view of the Hollywood area. Up close we all know how I feel about LA, but from a distance it's gorgeous. I love seeing all the civilization packed in the valleys between the numerous hills in the area.

Down at the bottom of the hill in the lower lot, Ben and I knocked out the other credit at USH: Revenge of the Mummy. I heard wonderful things about the Florida version and assumed they were clones, but Ben told me this was more of a dark ride with a small coaster section as opposed to a full on indoor thematic spaghetti bowl coaster. The theming, however, was incredible. I loved the little touch of the "moon will slay the sun" heard in the cattlepen and then seeing the solar eclipse over the station. The ride actually had a bit of kick to it as well! The skeleton soldiers falling from the ceiling as the train launched was probably the most impressive thing thematically about it, and the few indoor elements had a bit of airtime packed into them. It's a great ride, as is to be expected from Premier, and Ben and I even did it twice.

Next up, while I'm not usually a water rides guy, Ben wanted to check out Jurassic World since it was the new hotness for the season. It was the only wait and since it was a water ride, we left our phones behind. I noticed it was easily the most Cedar Fair/Six Flags queue we had seen that day, but Ben explained that it was done intentionally since Jurassic World is supposed to be a low budget theme park. Wait was maybe forty minutes but we stuck it out and got in the boat.

Jurassic World impressed me! The ride starts with a lift hill up into an aquarium where they're housing the Mosasaurus (water dinosaur from the movie for those who saw it). Mosasaurus jumps over the boat from one side of the aquarium to the other, but cracks the glass and sprays some of the riders with water. It then floats on into a jungle setup with a few other animatronic dinosaurs. From there, it enters a backstage area next to the Tyrannosaurus Rex enclosure to see it's open and there are bloody scratches everywhere. Warnings go off alerting that a containment breach is in effect. We then floated into the building, engage a second lift hill, and Chris Pratt tells us to keep our hands in the boat because small movements could set the dinosaurs off...

...and then it goes dark. I had assumed it was a part of the ride, like the dinosaurs knocked the power out to the area. But we were stuck there for a good ten minutes! Finally, after getting stuck on Jurassic World, the ride returned from extinction and pulled us over the top, We turned, there's this big awesome Indominus Rex statue, and then dropped. I was worried about getting my last set of clothes soaked, but the splash on this is super tame, later discovered by Ben to be caused by brake fins in the water doing the dirty work to slow it down. I got maybe a mist to the face but honestly, I didn't want more than that.

The surrounding Isla Nublar area was also super nice, I was kicking myself a bit because we had already eaten but they had Costa Rican food I wanted to try.

From there, it was time to hit the set so we could get going. Ben and I waited about twenty minutes for the studio tour, where we were given these 3D glasses for...something.

The studio tour is pretty simple. You sit in a tram and spend an hour driving around an actual film set. It's obviously set up to show it off, but the film sets in use are very real and you're shown excerpts from movies that were shot right where you're visiting along the tour, which is pretty cool.

In a display of picture cars, or cars used for filming, they had this. This is the Jeep from Jurassic Park used from that terrifying scene with the kids and the rain and the T-rex.

This was the Wild West, where they demonstrated how floods and rain works in movies. Water is shot out of building gutters in large droplets (real rain doesn't show up on camera) and this creek is basically just a giant fountain capable of creating the illusion of a flood.

This was what they called Little Europe, which could be architecturally accurate for any European city. They just change the language on the sign and France can become Italy, Italy could become England, anything set in Europe can be shot here.

Because it was a real set, they were actually working on it while we were there. We couldn't get close to it for obvious reasons but they were filming some Hallmark thing behind Little Europe, so we were told to be quiet as we drove past it.

And another flashback over here, this was the neighborhood from the show Desperate Housewives. For me, this show started out as "that" show my parents would enjoy together but was too inappropriate for their kids, but we eventually grew into it and the series finale was a family affair.

This was Jaws, though I didn't have the best view of it. Cool set, I saw some fire, looking back there was the famous mechanical shark.

And this was Bates Motel from Psycho, which I have not seen. In front of Whoville from the live adaptation of The Grinch. Alfred Hitchcock shot one of the most iconic horror movies a stone's throw from where Cindy Lou Who sang, "Where Are You Christmas" before going on to do metal music. If you weren't convinced glitches in the simulation were a thing, this studio tour will have you believing it. Lots of things out here you wouldn't expect.

Right here was my very favorite part of the tour, War of the Worlds! When I was in the sixth grade, my family had a movie night and picked War of the Worlds, which terrified my mother and had the rest of us on the edge of our seats, easily one of the most tense movie moments I remember. Later that night, we were all in bed but a massive thunderstorm rolled through. Now, for those of you who haven't seen it, the premise of the movie is that these aliens have had these big terrifying tripod-like machine suits buried underground since before humans inhabited earth, and one day these lightning strikes activated all of them and they rose up and tried to exterminate humanity and take over the world and the like. She was terrified her kids would have nightmares that the robots were rising up because of the intense movie we had just watched...she went back to sleep and had nightmares about it herself while my sister and I slept like angels. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that I liked bother my mother that much, I'm a bad son for it but I look back and laugh at it.

Anyway, War of the Worlds is a favorite of mine, fellow Ohio native Steven Spielberg is possibly my favorite director ever, so getting to come here and see where they shot it was the highlight of the tour. It's amazing to see something this crazy wasn't CGI at all, they really created it.

The narration for the tour stated that this was a prime example of taking something very specific from inside Spielberg's head and recreating it almost to the tee in our world. As someone who designs things on the computer as well as having written a novel or two, to see that concept of an idea made real brought to life on such a massive scale was super inspiring. It was stated that a Boeing 747 downed in a residential area is just not something you ever see, so Spielberg saw it in his head and the rest just kind of happened.

During the tour, the 3D glasses were used for these stupid "3603D" things as they called them, one with King Kong and one with Fast and Furious. Basically the tram goes in a tunnel on some moving gantry thing that shakes it around with 3D screens surrounding it, but it sucked. They also had an indoor earthquake scene in a "set" done up to look like a real filming location, but the second I saw the cardboard cameras and director slates I could tell it was just to show off special effects.

From there, the tour was over so Ben and I headed out. I snagged Kaylee this little Oscar award statue that said "Best Sweeheart" on it to give to her when I got home.

But first...couldn't resist trying my first Voodoo Doughnut. I got the dirt one, which is like Oreo and peanut butter and the like and it's honestly incredible. I also liked that they had developed vegan versions of several of their pastries.

It was like 4 in the afternoon at this point, Knott's closed at 6 and was only like 20 miles away, so we figured we'd be just fine popping in to help me grab a few of the credits I was missing at the park. Damn were we wrong! Traffic was not only brutal but we had to get really close to downtown LA, which pretty much screwed us on our ETA. We rolled in around 5:30...and saw that Xcellerator, Hangtime, and Ghostrider were all down, leaving Timberline and Pony Express the only coasters I still had a shot at.

We struggled to park until we finally found a solution, but by then our parking struggle had left us with five minutes to get in the park and on the coaster, effectively screwing us out of any more creds this fine flex day.

But when we were on the way to the park...there was this completely random chicken running around a nice LA suburb. I have no idea what he was doing, it was clearly someone's beautiful rooster they were proud of, but how he got in the Knott's Berry Farm parking lot is beyond me. I doubt it's an escaped petting zoo animal since chickens are little a-holes so whoever has chicken coops in Buena Park is probably down a wake up call tomorrow morning. Being from the Midwest I've grown accustomed to finding farm animals and livestock and stuff in places you wouldn't expect (the north side of Dayton has chickens running around the neighborhoods sometimes even) but out here? That takes the cake! So Ben and I got our Mrs. Knotts's Chicken To Go or whatever it's called, took our loss, and headed back to the hotel...which was right down the street from a closed Adventure City with Rewind Racers taunting us from the distance.

After enjoying our fried chicken, Ben's dad was on his way into LAX to extend his son's vacation with him a bit, so we had to get up and go retrieve him from my favorite airport ever. But since we had time, we elected to meet up with Ben's friend from out here, a guy named Giovanni, and have him show us around downtown a bit.

Giovanni took us to this hotel and brought us up to the 70th floor, as I got my DSLR ready to capture those money shots. Spiteful glass, but the view up here was incredible! There was this really nice bar with like $100 bottles of wine and food and stuff.

Honestly though? LA is one of the most romanticized cities in the world, but the downtown looks just like any other major city. It's beautiful, as any city is at night, but there are parts of downtown Dayton or Indianapolis that look just like this. I know there are parts of town that are different and give it its reputation (Hollywood, Venice Beach, the like) but actual LA, unlike say Las Vegas or San Francisco, just feels kind of like any other city. You could probably blindfold any old traveler with a few cities under their belt, take it off in downtown LA away from any instantly recognized buildings, and they couldn't tell you if they were in Atlanta, LA, or Charlotte.

That being said, it's gorgeous still. I got some great photo ops there and everyone we ran into was pretty darn nice. Getting to park our car for $10 to do this was a nice bargain as well.

Giovanni was awesome to do this for us and I was so glad I got to meet him. I always think travel is best experienced by a few out of towners and one local to show them around, and this is a prime example of why. I saw so many cool things this night and I wouldn't have known where half of them were without Gio's help.

We left to go to LAX where we were thrust into what I can only describe as a violently obnoxious bumper-to-bumper sea of traffic. It took us a good two hours to get around one loop of the airport, with Ben electing to run in, find his dad, and have them catch me down the terminal on foot. A cop even got nasty with me for stopping somewhere I didn't know I wasn't supposed to for maybe three minutes while Ben and his dad headed down and found me. And if you look at the design, it's basically just one giant loop like DAY...only it's much bigger and makes for some horrid traffic. Obnoxious, inconvenient, horrible airport!

We headed back to the hotel, partially inflated the air mattress and found it didn't fit, I half inflated it and shoehorned it somewhere and elected to just sleep on it for the convenience of all of us, and got to sleep. Waze said I needed to be up at 6 the next morning to make my 10:00 flight.

California, it's been real. Saw two very iconic US cities, visited four incredible parks, three of which were new to me, and experienced some awesome culture in this giant West Coast state. I got a new favorite coaster, new least favorite coaster, new favorite dark ride, new favorite water ride, and most importantly, finally completed my domestic RMC collection after four years! I couldn't have picked better people to travel with and I'm so glad they both were able to go and experience this with me. Ben, Kaylee, if you're reading this pat yourselves on the backs for being such awesome travel buddies.

UP NEXT: The sun may have set on my last day out in LA, but the madness continues! We have the hot mess that is getting back to LAX in the morning, highway robbery for some cheese crackers and gummy bears, and my grandma and uncle make the greatest screwup ever getting me from CMH. Stay tuned, kids!

 

[Jarrett]

Day 6
I woke up in the predawn darkness at 6 am to get a move on to LAX, knowing that it would take an hour and a half to get 25 miles because, well, California. I checked my phone to see multiple missed calls, texts, and voicemails from my uncle...he was already at the airport! My grandma had told him 7 am, not 7 pm, and he got there at the wrong time! I said sorry, cleared it up, and got dressed to head out.

After a very annoying drive to LAX, I dropped the car off, got on the shuttle, and was finally able to relax. I looked next to me to see a full merch bag, such a satisfying sight. After all the cred anxiety, planing, travel stress, and so, so much fun, the trip was now a memory for the books.

LAX security and check in was surprisingly fast for a Friday morning, I got through quickly and had an hour and a half to kill. I got this bomb vegetarian breakfast burrito from this one Mexican place (it was either that or the line at Chick-Fil-A) that had salsa and black bean paste in it, for airport food it was some pretty good bang for buck.

Okay, if Southwest wasn’t the best airline ever before, this sealed the deal. It was Eat an Extra Dessert Day so they brought out the Heart Cart with free donuts and brownies and stuff. Spirit would never do this!

So long, LA! Had a long flight to Midway to connect and make it home to make the hour drive back to Dayton. My journey was already 3 hours in the making and I was still clear across the country from where I needed to be.

I buckled down, clung onto Kaylee’s jacket, threw on some U2, and tried to relax. Tried to get some of my trip photos transferred to my phone but wasn’t able to.

Chicago Midway was a mid-tier airport for me. Lunch was some crackers, cheese, salami, and gummy bears for $12, so that was highway robbery compared to my $7 burrito at LAX, but just about everything else about the airport was better. It was a bit chaotic and they changed our gate to this one that was hella ostracized down a hallway, but I navigated it just fine. It looked like a slightly bigger DAY, the Battle of Midway stuff was also cool but I didn’t have time to look at it in detail. If I have to do Chicago ever again, I’m definitely picking this one over that smoldering dumpster fire O’Hare.

While I was new to Midway, I wasn’t new to the flight from Chicago to Ohio. It was even quicker than the flight from San Jose to LAX, we were on the plane for maybe less than an hour.

I got off the plane at CMH, grabbed my bag, met my uncle for real this time, and he drove me back to my grandparents’. I sat with them and chatted about the trip over a glass of milk, found that my grandma had not only cleaned my car but also given us a bunch of random stuff as any typical grandma would, grandpa didn’t say much as usual, and I got on the road and headed home. Hit some traffic, it got dark on the drive, and I made one wrong turn, but for the most part it was a painless drive. I also got Fazoli’s for Kaylee and I since I was hungry and she’s never had it.

I rushed through the door, dropped my stuff, ran into the bedroom, and gave Kaylee the biggest hug ever. We then enjoyed our Fazoli’s over me giving her the Best Sweetheart award from Universal. But what else did I buy?

This Joker shirt was only $7 at Discovery Kingdom. Nice, simple, only had the Joker logo on it, sufficient for how I felt about the coaster. I like it! Also got a keychain with the same logo!

Couldn’t get a clear picture of this one since it’s missing in action, waiting to turn up once we decide to clean the apartment again. But I got this super cool Railblazer shirt at CGA, along with a Railblazer keychain, magnets, hat, and a cup. Yeah, I like Railblazer. I like it a lot.

Y’all already saw I got this shirt for myself, but what about the pink atrocity? Did I get one? Now I’ll reveal the answer: I did not...

...I got two! One for Kaylee and one for me so we can match! We can be a horribly dressed couple together! Okay, I’m wearing mine now. But I had to get it, it’s too good a story not to have one. Still waiting for the day someone walks up to me and tells me, “dude that shirt is hideous you shouldn’t wear that,” so I can tell them why I bought it.

What an incredible trip! This trip was definitely the most relaxed of the region trips, it featured the first park to be visited on two different ones, and finally cleaned out my goal of getting every RMC in the US! It also had by far the most culture I’ve ever had on any region trip, from iconic suspension bridges to Hollywood magic film sets. But most notably as a coaster enthusiast, it capped off both the top and bottoms of my rankings. My beloved Railblazer, the surprise of the trip, was the first new to me ride I’ve been on in a while that really pushed the limits of what I would expect out of it and left me with a uniquely “me” number one that I’ve been gushing about since I got back. On the other hand, everyone on the trip made Kong their bottom coaster after just one ride, refusing to ever ride that thing again. But with great rides like Joker, Superman, Batman, Railblazer, Gold Striker, Twisted Colossus, Revolution, newly enjoyed X2, and everything at Universal, my memories of this trip are extremely positive and I can’t wait to do it all again next year. But where will I be traveling next year? I’ll shine some light on that at a later date!

Also, my computer troubles have been so bad I haven’t been able to finish this so I’m terribly sorry. I literally made this last post Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk