Snoo
The Legend
#RMCorWreckIt
Canada-USA-Netherlands – August 2018 {Day 18 - Summary}
- Thread starter Hixee
- Start date
#RMCorWreckIt
b&mfanboy123
Mega Poster
Twisted Le Monstre anybody?
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
I believe I had mentioned this too Hixee but I'm fairly sure Montreal has decided Monstre is too iconic to the city for them to allow SF to RMC it. Excellent report as always Hixee and I look forward to reliving memories soon from your perspective!
FarleyFlavors
Mega Poster
Yeah, the signposting is terrible. It took us 15 minutes of driving around the same roads multiple times before we had to pull over and ask someone where the hell the car park was.
HeartlineCoaster
Theme Park Superhero
5 boomerangs in a trip sounds rough. Most I've had is 3 at a glance. Wonder what the record is.
Oh yeah, you're going to get sick of it by the end.
Day 5 – Montreal Tourism
First day of the trip with zero (yes, zero) coasters. Admittedly though only a short day.
Started the day with a leisurely stroll around Montreal. My impressions from milling about for a couple of evenings had been good, but I thought it only fair to spend a couple of hours in the city.
I first wanted to see what the views were like from Mount Royal, which I’d had a few recommendations on. It was still pretty warm, even first thing in the morning, so it was a sweaty climb. Views were good, though. That said, there was a strange haze hanging around all day which gave the light a strange quality. Quite atmospheric, but I thought at the time (and do again now looking back at the pictures), that it doesn’t really look like 9am!
Nice wide panorama of the whole view.
Arty.
I can see the creds from yesterday!
Headed back down the hundreds (nearly 400) of steps from the top down in to the heart of downtown Montreal. Views on the way down, and the area of Montreal I ended up in, were rather pleasant. Going to shove in a bunch of photos, now.
Down, down, down…
Fancy.
Looks familiar.
I originally ended up by the university, but headed from there towards the financial area before ending up in another touristy area. Seemingly quite popular, but I didn’t bother going in anywhere – happy enough wandering around, to be honest.
By this point I’d walked a fairly sizable loop and was nearly back at the Airbnb where I’d left the car. As it was nearing lunchtime I grabbed a smoked meat sandwich from one of the famous places. This foodstuff is apparently pretty famous in Montreal, and I have to admit I was hooked. Smokey, salty, fresh pile of meat in between two token pieces of break. Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Yesssssss.
Time for me now to get on the road down to Lake George. The drive was a few hours, but I had little rush so it was a leisurely trip. Including the border crossing, the whole trip took about 3.5 hours. Border crossing was easy enough (not that I had any reason to think it would be a problem), mostly just a car queue and paperwork exercise.
Checked in to the hotel for the night, and kicked back for an hour or so before @Youngster Joey arrived. We ended up in the outhouse, though. Haha!
Joey arrived and so began the shared leg of this trip! We chatted for a while, doing the usual catching up and bitching about Yukon Striker which had only been announced a few days prior. We headed out towards the Lake George strip to find a bite to eat. Apart from a few patches of bugs, the walk was pretty nice and gave a good view of the lake and boats.
We had a grossly oversized Italian dinner, which neither of us finished, and then hobbled down the road to the Around the World mini-golf. We’d talked about this for a while, and Joey recommended this one from a previous visit. It was a pretty good mini-golf course (I’m a secret fan of mini-golf), and had some absolutely excellent culturally questionable theming from around the world. Highlights for me were the Iron Curtain and the kangaroo chip shot. Neither of which were terribly questionably, but there we a couple (mostly the various Asian ones) that gave us a good chuckle.
We did the second course too (Around the USA), before wandering back to the hotel. I think I lost both rounds, but that might be just amnesia.
Easy, chilled day, in preparation for the big day tomorrow! And creds, there’s quite a few in the next bit.
First day of the trip with zero (yes, zero) coasters. Admittedly though only a short day.
Started the day with a leisurely stroll around Montreal. My impressions from milling about for a couple of evenings had been good, but I thought it only fair to spend a couple of hours in the city.
I first wanted to see what the views were like from Mount Royal, which I’d had a few recommendations on. It was still pretty warm, even first thing in the morning, so it was a sweaty climb. Views were good, though. That said, there was a strange haze hanging around all day which gave the light a strange quality. Quite atmospheric, but I thought at the time (and do again now looking back at the pictures), that it doesn’t really look like 9am!
Nice wide panorama of the whole view.
Arty.
I can see the creds from yesterday!
Headed back down the hundreds (nearly 400) of steps from the top down in to the heart of downtown Montreal. Views on the way down, and the area of Montreal I ended up in, were rather pleasant. Going to shove in a bunch of photos, now.
Down, down, down…
Fancy.
Looks familiar.
I originally ended up by the university, but headed from there towards the financial area before ending up in another touristy area. Seemingly quite popular, but I didn’t bother going in anywhere – happy enough wandering around, to be honest.
By this point I’d walked a fairly sizable loop and was nearly back at the Airbnb where I’d left the car. As it was nearing lunchtime I grabbed a smoked meat sandwich from one of the famous places. This foodstuff is apparently pretty famous in Montreal, and I have to admit I was hooked. Smokey, salty, fresh pile of meat in between two token pieces of break. Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Yesssssss.
Time for me now to get on the road down to Lake George. The drive was a few hours, but I had little rush so it was a leisurely trip. Including the border crossing, the whole trip took about 3.5 hours. Border crossing was easy enough (not that I had any reason to think it would be a problem), mostly just a car queue and paperwork exercise.
Checked in to the hotel for the night, and kicked back for an hour or so before @Youngster Joey arrived. We ended up in the outhouse, though. Haha!
Joey arrived and so began the shared leg of this trip! We chatted for a while, doing the usual catching up and bitching about Yukon Striker which had only been announced a few days prior.
We headed out towards the Lake George strip to find a bite to eat. Apart from a few patches of bugs, the walk was pretty nice and gave a good view of the lake and boats.
We had a grossly oversized Italian dinner, which neither of us finished, and then hobbled down the road to the Around the World mini-golf. We’d talked about this for a while, and Joey recommended this one from a previous visit. It was a pretty good mini-golf course (I’m a secret fan of mini-golf), and had some absolutely excellent culturally questionable theming from around the world. Highlights for me were the Iron Curtain and the kangaroo chip shot. Neither of which were terribly questionably, but there we a couple (mostly the various Asian ones) that gave us a good chuckle.
We did the second course too (Around the USA), before wandering back to the hotel. I think I lost both rounds, but that might be just amnesia.
Easy, chilled day, in preparation for the big day tomorrow! And creds, there’s quite a few in the next bit.
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
^Yeah you did lose both rounds. After Smack Talking since i before i even met up with you
Montreal seems lovely. Didn't get to do any sightseeing when i was there but seems worth a trip back up there sometime.
Montreal seems lovely. Didn't get to do any sightseeing when i was there but seems worth a trip back up there sometime.
Day 6 – The Great Escape, Sylvan Beach & Seabreeze
Okay, big day of creds today. Well, no big creds and not a huge number total, but three parks and +8, so feels bigger than the previous few days.
First things first, let’s find @Antinos. We pick him up from his hotel and head off to Great Escape. Six Flags pass comes in useful here, don’t really want to pay that much to park for a two hour trip. Entrance to the park is a bit strange – grotty highway overpass and lots of concrete, turning in to a rather attractive looking entrance. Lots of greenery (this will be a theme) and nice enough atmosphere.
We did the boomerang (Flashback) first – it was awful. Been through this before.
I tried to get on the kiddie cred, and got as far as sitting in a seat, before the ride op cottoned on a kicked me off. Spiteful.
We walked up the hill towards Comet, as we were half expecting to get spited by this and thought we’d check it out early. Turns out it was up and running two trains, with seemingly no issues at all. It was early in the day, and so was practically a walk-on at this point.
It was bloody excellent! It wasn’t too rough (only one notable section of jackhammering) and provided some decent pops of airtime. The three of us were laughing the whole way round, what a blast! We grabbed another lap right away, just in case the queues built up (or we didn’t come back up this end of the park). Took some pictures on the way out.
At this point we decided just to get the rest of the creds, we could faff a bit more later if we felt like it. Walked past the Bobsled on the way down, spite. No chance of this opening, trains were in bits on the brakerun.
Future’s not looking good for these things. I expected it to be closed, to be honest. With this one down, and Efteling’s being down for some time now, I reckon these are now ****ed once they break. I suspect no-one will make the replacement parts!
The park itself is actually quite pretty. Lots of trees, lots of shade, etc.
Top of the hill was the loop-screw, took them a while to dispatch, and the ride was reasonably unpleasant. Next.
Mine train was the final cred of the park. Does the sum total of bugger all, really. Highlight is the 900° helix though, with some good force at the end. And some interesting support work.
On the way out now, with the knock-off Disney castle on the right. We reckoned we could knock something like that up in an afternoon – so out of place here.
Right, bored now. Let’s hit the road.
Great Escape: …Meh? I mean, the park is actually quite pretty, and has a very different feel to most of the other Six Flags parks. It’s green, shady and friendly. It just doesn’t have anything that good. Comet is by far the best coaster there, which just seems crazy to me. It’s also got an odd layout, with a sort of ‘backwards-F’ type thing going on. Large main path on one side, with the spurs off to one side. None of the spurs are connected at the ends, though, so ends up feeling like a lot of back-tracking.
We were done in about 2.5 hours, if I remember correctly, and we were taking it very leisurely.
We hit the road back to Rochester, but on the way stopped off at a small lakeside town of Sylvan Beach, and their little amusement park. I had to stop for gas on the way, so Marc and Joey got there before me. I parked up next to Joey’s car, and couldn’t see the boys anywhere. Gave Marc a ring.
“We’re in the arcade, just round the side of the coaster.”
“Okay, I’ll come round now.”
“Sounds good…. Hurry.”
Uh-oh.
Came round the side of the coaster to spot the guys a little way ahead and wow, I see why they weren’t keen on sticking around. What a dump. Didn’t feel particularly sketchy, like, not dangerous, just years and years out of date and out of love. Let’s get the cred and get out of here.
Headed up to the coaster, with several ride-ops hanging around. They said the power for the coaster is shared with one of the other attractions, so they can only run one at once. Fair enough, we’ll wait around. Very boozy/high ride-op regaling us with stories of his first winter up here, before he disappeared somewhere and they were ready to start the coaster. All quite friendly, really.
Look at these sexy bitches.
I mean, wow, this ride is ****ed. The wheels were screaming all the way round. Those bearings are definitely past their best. Structure looked pretty rusted too, although not the worst I’ve seen. The ride itself was a pretty standard Galaxi, nothing special there.
We got off, thanked the ride-ops, and got outta there!
Sylvan Beach Amusement Park: +1, nice.
Couple of hours on to Rochester and we we’re at Joey’s in no time. We drop our stuff off and check out the weather. The plan was to spend the evening in Seabreeze, but an incoming storm wasn’t looking pretty. For the sake of “getting the creds”, we chance it anyway and head off in a hurry.
We get to the park and things are looking good, but there is a pretty serious looking storm cloud on it’s way.
I didn’t take many pictures this day, as we were rushing a fair bit. We rode Jack Rabbit first, which was much better than I expected. There was some pretty fun airtime, and a couple of the drops were surprisingly good. It was starting to lightly drizzle, so we rushed on to the Bobsled.
Wow, this was great! It’s smooth, fast, and very fun. One of those really enjoyable coasters to ride with friends. Especially when you can crush Joey with the laterals. At this point, the rain was starting to intensify, so this was a mildly damp ride.
That expression is pretty much how I’d describe this ride!
Finally we dashed over to the spinner. Got fastened in, dispatched and then the heavens opened. They would only let us put two people in one car, as they were concerned about the brakes, so Marc and I doubled up and decided we’d try to optimise the spinning.
Oh boy, did it work. Not only was the rain some of the strongest I’ve ever been in (think, rain head shower), we ended up with the most aggressive spin I’ve ever had on a spinner! Lord knows what RPM we hit, but it was fast. We were both truly dizzy by the end and definitely needed the handrail to get off the platform. It was incredible. We dashed for cover at this point, and Joey was quickly behind us having had some equally mental spinning. The rain had reached “oh ****” levels now, so all the rides closed and we took shelter in an outbuilding. Soaking!
That’s three very wet CFers!
Seabreeze: Wouldn’t be fair to base it all off this one, sub-1 hour visit, but the park seemed pretty nice. Small and homely, but with some good fun attractions. We headed back the next day for another go, as we felt like we hadn’t really given it a fair go. Happy days.
Once the rain eased a little, we ran back to the car and headed back to Joey’s place for a change of clothes. Once we’d dried off, we headed back out (the irony now that the rain had eased significantly) for some dinner – an excellent Thai restaurant recommended by Joey – and then on to a bar for some beers. We chatted the night away with many beers (maybe too many…), before calling it a night. What a day!
Next up is Darien Lake and more Seabreeze!
Okay, big day of creds today. Well, no big creds and not a huge number total, but three parks and +8, so feels bigger than the previous few days.
First things first, let’s find @Antinos. We pick him up from his hotel and head off to Great Escape. Six Flags pass comes in useful here, don’t really want to pay that much to park for a two hour trip. Entrance to the park is a bit strange – grotty highway overpass and lots of concrete, turning in to a rather attractive looking entrance. Lots of greenery (this will be a theme) and nice enough atmosphere.
We did the boomerang (Flashback) first – it was awful. Been through this before.
Hixee’s previous rant said:
I tried to get on the kiddie cred, and got as far as sitting in a seat, before the ride op cottoned on a kicked me off. Spiteful.
We walked up the hill towards Comet, as we were half expecting to get spited by this and thought we’d check it out early. Turns out it was up and running two trains, with seemingly no issues at all. It was early in the day, and so was practically a walk-on at this point.
It was bloody excellent! It wasn’t too rough (only one notable section of jackhammering) and provided some decent pops of airtime. The three of us were laughing the whole way round, what a blast! We grabbed another lap right away, just in case the queues built up (or we didn’t come back up this end of the park). Took some pictures on the way out.
At this point we decided just to get the rest of the creds, we could faff a bit more later if we felt like it. Walked past the Bobsled on the way down, spite. No chance of this opening, trains were in bits on the brakerun.
Future’s not looking good for these things. I expected it to be closed, to be honest. With this one down, and Efteling’s being down for some time now, I reckon these are now ****ed once they break. I suspect no-one will make the replacement parts!
The park itself is actually quite pretty. Lots of trees, lots of shade, etc.
Top of the hill was the loop-screw, took them a while to dispatch, and the ride was reasonably unpleasant. Next.
Mine train was the final cred of the park. Does the sum total of bugger all, really. Highlight is the 900° helix though, with some good force at the end. And some interesting support work.
On the way out now, with the knock-off Disney castle on the right. We reckoned we could knock something like that up in an afternoon – so out of place here.
Right, bored now. Let’s hit the road.
Great Escape: …Meh? I mean, the park is actually quite pretty, and has a very different feel to most of the other Six Flags parks. It’s green, shady and friendly. It just doesn’t have anything that good. Comet is by far the best coaster there, which just seems crazy to me. It’s also got an odd layout, with a sort of ‘backwards-F’ type thing going on. Large main path on one side, with the spurs off to one side. None of the spurs are connected at the ends, though, so ends up feeling like a lot of back-tracking.
We were done in about 2.5 hours, if I remember correctly, and we were taking it very leisurely.
We hit the road back to Rochester, but on the way stopped off at a small lakeside town of Sylvan Beach, and their little amusement park. I had to stop for gas on the way, so Marc and Joey got there before me. I parked up next to Joey’s car, and couldn’t see the boys anywhere. Gave Marc a ring.
“We’re in the arcade, just round the side of the coaster.”
“Okay, I’ll come round now.”
“Sounds good…. Hurry.”
Uh-oh.
Came round the side of the coaster to spot the guys a little way ahead and wow, I see why they weren’t keen on sticking around. What a dump. Didn’t feel particularly sketchy, like, not dangerous, just years and years out of date and out of love. Let’s get the cred and get out of here.
Headed up to the coaster, with several ride-ops hanging around. They said the power for the coaster is shared with one of the other attractions, so they can only run one at once. Fair enough, we’ll wait around. Very boozy/high ride-op regaling us with stories of his first winter up here, before he disappeared somewhere and they were ready to start the coaster. All quite friendly, really.
Look at these sexy bitches.
I mean, wow, this ride is ****ed. The wheels were screaming all the way round. Those bearings are definitely past their best. Structure looked pretty rusted too, although not the worst I’ve seen. The ride itself was a pretty standard Galaxi, nothing special there.
We got off, thanked the ride-ops, and got outta there!
Sylvan Beach Amusement Park: +1, nice.
Couple of hours on to Rochester and we we’re at Joey’s in no time. We drop our stuff off and check out the weather. The plan was to spend the evening in Seabreeze, but an incoming storm wasn’t looking pretty. For the sake of “getting the creds”, we chance it anyway and head off in a hurry.
We get to the park and things are looking good, but there is a pretty serious looking storm cloud on it’s way.
I didn’t take many pictures this day, as we were rushing a fair bit. We rode Jack Rabbit first, which was much better than I expected. There was some pretty fun airtime, and a couple of the drops were surprisingly good. It was starting to lightly drizzle, so we rushed on to the Bobsled.
Wow, this was great! It’s smooth, fast, and very fun. One of those really enjoyable coasters to ride with friends. Especially when you can crush Joey with the laterals. At this point, the rain was starting to intensify, so this was a mildly damp ride.
That expression is pretty much how I’d describe this ride!
Finally we dashed over to the spinner. Got fastened in, dispatched and then the heavens opened. They would only let us put two people in one car, as they were concerned about the brakes, so Marc and I doubled up and decided we’d try to optimise the spinning.
Oh boy, did it work. Not only was the rain some of the strongest I’ve ever been in (think, rain head shower), we ended up with the most aggressive spin I’ve ever had on a spinner! Lord knows what RPM we hit, but it was fast. We were both truly dizzy by the end and definitely needed the handrail to get off the platform. It was incredible. We dashed for cover at this point, and Joey was quickly behind us having had some equally mental spinning. The rain had reached “oh ****” levels now, so all the rides closed and we took shelter in an outbuilding. Soaking!
That’s three very wet CFers!
Seabreeze: Wouldn’t be fair to base it all off this one, sub-1 hour visit, but the park seemed pretty nice. Small and homely, but with some good fun attractions. We headed back the next day for another go, as we felt like we hadn’t really given it a fair go. Happy days.
Once the rain eased a little, we ran back to the car and headed back to Joey’s place for a change of clothes. Once we’d dried off, we headed back out (the irony now that the rain had eased significantly) for some dinner – an excellent Thai restaurant recommended by Joey – and then on to a bar for some beers. We chatted the night away with many beers (maybe too many…), before calling it a night. What a day!
Next up is Darien Lake and more Seabreeze!
davidm
Strata Poster
I see y'all are already quite wet....
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
Those Rain rides. I can see why they were so insistent on only letting the two of us on the Bobsleds and the spinner as we almost blew through the break run :emoji_joy::emoji_joy::emoji_joy:
Day 7 – Darien Lake & Seabreeze
We woke up and set off for Darien Lake. Weather was looking a little mixed, but as we all had Six Flags passes we had a discount waiting for us and so figured it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we got cut short.
We met Erich at the park – another friend it was great to see again – and we started the faff of the tickets. Even though we already had the Six Flags passes, we had to pay to get them converted to a Darien Lake pass. Fine, we go to the desk ready to pay our $20. Oh, you don’t take card? Well, they do, except you’ve got to follow some really convoluted website link to pay online. No thanks. Cash? Sure, but I need to get the manager. Gah, okay. Right now what? Head over to the season pass processing centre. But wait, I only want a one time entry… Tough. Head over to the next office and go through the whole faff of taking a picture and everything. How stupid. To cut them some slack, I suppose they’ve been left in a sticky spot, but still…
The garbled nature of that sentence should give some indication of how bad the process was. Finally we’re in the park. 20 minutes after getting to the first desk.
First up isSuperman Ride of Steel. I was particularly keen to ride this as I’d been spited out of the one at Six Flags America – the mirror ride of this. No queue this early in the day, so after a one or two train wait we were on the coaster.
What a strange ride. The huge helices, straightaways and odd large hill make for a curious ride. It’s good, but not great. I think part of the enjoyment comes from knowing the revolution that is started. It’s really testament to how far we’ve come. That’s a compliment, right?
Airtime was a pretty good Intamin offering.
Okay, let’s sweep round the rest of the creds. Next up, Darien Lake’s new for 2018 coaster – Tantum. An Iron Shark clone. Pretty intense colour scheme, which looks surprisingly good against a grey sky! Ride itself is decent enough, smooth and the lapbars work okay. Erich pointed out the slightly wasteful use of land though, as it’s placed diagonally on a sizable chunk of land, which renders most of the rest kinda useless.
Hey, that’s not right…
Did the SLC next, which wasn’t great. Joey and Marc sat it out, but Erich volunteered to ride with me. Rough with some serious shuffling. To be honest, I’m surprised these things don’t tear themselves apart sometimes. God knows what Vekoma made them out of. Possibly distilled and hardened evil? Maybe they saved that for Boomerangs.
Erich and I on the train. Not looking too happy.
Moving on.
Did Vortex next, which I remember very little of to be honest. A few rough transitions, but not a terrible ride. Moto Coaster was also okay, quite enjoy the launches on these, but the rest of them is pretty pointless.
I did the boomerang (Boomerang Coast to Coaster) next – it was awful. Been through this before.
No pictures from any of that, obviously no good. Thankfully that dumped us out near the lake, which does offer some good views of the woodie.
A comically toothless shark.
We rode Predator, getting lucky with the rain. Couple of trains before ours and the rain really came down, but just as we were boarding it eased off so we didn’t end up getting too soaked. This was actually better than I expected. Had some decent forces and a decent enough layout, and wasn’t too rough, but equally wouldn’t be a coaster I’d be dying to re-ride. If Six Flags fancied asking the team from RMC to take a look I’d be okay with that.
At this point the rain (or more likely thunder) seemed to have shut everything down. We hung around for a bit, but with little activity anywhere in the park we decided not to bother and called it a day. You get some good views of Ride of Steel from the drive out, though.
Testing empty trains very infrequently.
Darien Lake: Park is okay, really, but it doesn’t feel like there’s any real joy there. Coaster selection is average, at best, with Ride of Steel and Tantrum being the two best (a Eurofighter in your top two is rarely a good sign). It’ll be interesting to see what Six Flags do with it, to be honest, but they’d have to get something pretty special for me to think about going back.
We grabbed a quick lunch with Erich before saying our goodbyes and heading back to Joey’s place.
We chilled out for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner with Marc’s folks, who were passing through town. This mostly involved us all catching up with the outside world (emails, texts, CF, the usual stuff) and copious amounts of Trials Fusion. Bloody love that game.
At Joey’s recommendation, we went to The Distillery (a Rochester only chain), for excessive volumes of wings. Man, the food was good. Every now and again these places pop up, and this was a great one. We ate, chatting, laughed and groaned (from full bellies) for a good while. Very enjoyable evening.
At this point, the idea of going back to Seabreeze that evening (using a relatively unknown late-late entry ticket) was becoming more popular. We decided to go for a round of mini-golf in the area – to quote their own website:
We’d heard that there was a special late-late ticket available for Seabreeze that you could only get hold of once the main ticket desk had shut. We headed to the park entrance, but the booth was still open so we decided we’d head over the road for a beer for half an hour and try again later. Found a great little bar that was new to all of us (including the local!), had a very enjoyable pint (or whatever American’s claim a pint is), before noticing that the main booth had closed. We wandered round the back to guest services and enquired about the late entry tickets. $8 for the last couple of hours of park operations? Sounds good to us.
Once we were in, we hit the log flume and scooters first – the two ‘other’ rides Joey reckoned we should do. Log flume first. Not the most inspiring of rides, but then we got to the drop. Holy ejector airtime! Something is seriously messed up with the shaping, as the boat really does fling you over the crest. Definite “butt-off-seat” pop of air, which is just terrifying on a log flume. Plus, not that wet of a splash. That’s awesome!
Scooters were excellent as they always are, although I’m pretty sure Joey’s snapping was putting a lot of stress on the structure!
Tried to sweettalk my way on to the kiddie coaster, but the poor ride-op seemed so nervous about someone finding out I decided it wasn’t worth getting her in trouble.
From there we just did a bunch of laps of all the coasters. This was a much better (in terms of coaster haul and re-rideability) than the night before, and we were having a blast on Jack Rabbit, Bobsleds and even the spinner (where we achieved another very intense spin). Seabreeze is also lovely in the evening – nice atmosphere and nice lighting. Quality. Didn’t have the big camera with me, so I’ve only got a few from my phone.
All the rides were very quiet too, so no queues!
Back to Joey’s for some beers and chilling before we set off to meet some more CFers tomorrow!
We woke up and set off for Darien Lake. Weather was looking a little mixed, but as we all had Six Flags passes we had a discount waiting for us and so figured it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we got cut short.
We met Erich at the park – another friend it was great to see again – and we started the faff of the tickets. Even though we already had the Six Flags passes, we had to pay to get them converted to a Darien Lake pass. Fine, we go to the desk ready to pay our $20. Oh, you don’t take card? Well, they do, except you’ve got to follow some really convoluted website link to pay online. No thanks. Cash? Sure, but I need to get the manager. Gah, okay. Right now what? Head over to the season pass processing centre. But wait, I only want a one time entry… Tough. Head over to the next office and go through the whole faff of taking a picture and everything. How stupid. To cut them some slack, I suppose they’ve been left in a sticky spot, but still…
The garbled nature of that sentence should give some indication of how bad the process was. Finally we’re in the park. 20 minutes after getting to the first desk.
First up is
What a strange ride. The huge helices, straightaways and odd large hill make for a curious ride. It’s good, but not great. I think part of the enjoyment comes from knowing the revolution that is started. It’s really testament to how far we’ve come. That’s a compliment, right?
Airtime was a pretty good Intamin offering.
Okay, let’s sweep round the rest of the creds. Next up, Darien Lake’s new for 2018 coaster – Tantum. An Iron Shark clone. Pretty intense colour scheme, which looks surprisingly good against a grey sky! Ride itself is decent enough, smooth and the lapbars work okay. Erich pointed out the slightly wasteful use of land though, as it’s placed diagonally on a sizable chunk of land, which renders most of the rest kinda useless.
Hey, that’s not right…
Did the SLC next, which wasn’t great. Joey and Marc sat it out, but Erich volunteered to ride with me. Rough with some serious shuffling. To be honest, I’m surprised these things don’t tear themselves apart sometimes. God knows what Vekoma made them out of. Possibly distilled and hardened evil? Maybe they saved that for Boomerangs.
Erich and I on the train. Not looking too happy.
Moving on.
Did Vortex next, which I remember very little of to be honest. A few rough transitions, but not a terrible ride. Moto Coaster was also okay, quite enjoy the launches on these, but the rest of them is pretty pointless.
I did the boomerang (Boomerang Coast to Coaster) next – it was awful. Been through this before.
Hixee’s previous rant said:
No pictures from any of that, obviously no good. Thankfully that dumped us out near the lake, which does offer some good views of the woodie.
A comically toothless shark.
We rode Predator, getting lucky with the rain. Couple of trains before ours and the rain really came down, but just as we were boarding it eased off so we didn’t end up getting too soaked. This was actually better than I expected. Had some decent forces and a decent enough layout, and wasn’t too rough, but equally wouldn’t be a coaster I’d be dying to re-ride. If Six Flags fancied asking the team from RMC to take a look I’d be okay with that.
At this point the rain (or more likely thunder) seemed to have shut everything down. We hung around for a bit, but with little activity anywhere in the park we decided not to bother and called it a day. You get some good views of Ride of Steel from the drive out, though.
Testing empty trains very infrequently.
Darien Lake: Park is okay, really, but it doesn’t feel like there’s any real joy there. Coaster selection is average, at best, with Ride of Steel and Tantrum being the two best (a Eurofighter in your top two is rarely a good sign). It’ll be interesting to see what Six Flags do with it, to be honest, but they’d have to get something pretty special for me to think about going back.
We grabbed a quick lunch with Erich before saying our goodbyes and heading back to Joey’s place.
We chilled out for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner with Marc’s folks, who were passing through town. This mostly involved us all catching up with the outside world (emails, texts, CF, the usual stuff) and copious amounts of Trials Fusion. Bloody love that game.
At Joey’s recommendation, we went to The Distillery (a Rochester only chain), for excessive volumes of wings. Man, the food was good. Every now and again these places pop up, and this was a great one. We ate, chatting, laughed and groaned (from full bellies) for a good while. Very enjoyable evening.
At this point, the idea of going back to Seabreeze that evening (using a relatively unknown late-late entry ticket) was becoming more popular. We decided to go for a round of mini-golf in the area – to quote their own website:
Especially good for the chip-shot driving range style at hole #15. Enjoyed that.
We’d heard that there was a special late-late ticket available for Seabreeze that you could only get hold of once the main ticket desk had shut. We headed to the park entrance, but the booth was still open so we decided we’d head over the road for a beer for half an hour and try again later. Found a great little bar that was new to all of us (including the local!), had a very enjoyable pint (or whatever American’s claim a pint is), before noticing that the main booth had closed. We wandered round the back to guest services and enquired about the late entry tickets. $8 for the last couple of hours of park operations? Sounds good to us.
Once we were in, we hit the log flume and scooters first – the two ‘other’ rides Joey reckoned we should do. Log flume first. Not the most inspiring of rides, but then we got to the drop. Holy ejector airtime! Something is seriously messed up with the shaping, as the boat really does fling you over the crest. Definite “butt-off-seat” pop of air, which is just terrifying on a log flume. Plus, not that wet of a splash. That’s awesome!
Scooters were excellent as they always are, although I’m pretty sure Joey’s snapping was putting a lot of stress on the structure!
Tried to sweettalk my way on to the kiddie coaster, but the poor ride-op seemed so nervous about someone finding out I decided it wasn’t worth getting her in trouble.
From there we just did a bunch of laps of all the coasters. This was a much better (in terms of coaster haul and re-rideability) than the night before, and we were having a blast on Jack Rabbit, Bobsleds and even the spinner (where we achieved another very intense spin). Seabreeze is also lovely in the evening – nice atmosphere and nice lighting. Quality. Didn’t have the big camera with me, so I’ve only got a few from my phone.
All the rides were very quiet too, so no queues!
Back to Joey’s for some beers and chilling before we set off to meet some more CFers tomorrow!
Youngster Joey
Strata Poster
Once we were in, we hit the log flume and scooters first – the two ‘other’ rides Joey reckoned we should do. Log flume first. Not the most inspiring of rides, but then we got to the drop. Holy ejector airtime! Something is seriously messed up with the shaping, as the boat really does fling you over the crest. Definite “butt-off-seat” pop of air, which is just terrifying on a log flume. Plus, not that wet of a splash. That’s awesome!
Scooters were excellent as they always are, although I’m pretty sure Joey’s snapping was putting a lot of stress on the structure!
Tried to sweettalk my way on to the kiddie coaster, but the poor ride-op seemed so nervous about someone finding out I decided it wasn’t worth getting her in trouble.
From there we just did a bunch of laps of all the coasters. This was a much better (in terms of coaster haul and re-rideability) than the night before, and we were having a blast on Jack Rabbit, Bobsleds and even the spinner (where we achieved another very intense spin). Seabreeze is also lovely in the evening – nice atmosphere and nice lighting. Quality. Didn’t have the big camera with me, so I’ve only got a few from my phone.
Glad to hear you enjoyed a what my childhood was like with seabreeze and NO ONE ever believes me on that damn log flume until i drag them onto it. It genuinely scared the **** out of me the first time i rode it, wasn't much of a thrill seeker at the time and i just remember having marks on my hands from where i was holding onto the railings :emoji_joy::emoji_joy: Also those wings are so damn good <3 I'm glad you all enjoyed them
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Day 8 – Conneaut Lake & Cleveland
Not a desperately early start, but we were pretty efficient getting out of the house and on the road towards Buffalo. Plan was to drop Joey’s car off at a family friend’s house, then just take one car for the next leg. After a couple of hours we were at Conneaut Lake, trying to track down the others who’d arrived before us.
Not the most inspiring place in the world, let’s be honest.
Finally had the whole group assembled: Me, Marcus (@Snoo), Joe (@Error), Matt (@Hyde), Marc (@Antinos), Kevin (@pkiknex25) and Joey (@Youngster Joey) – order based on a later photo. Spent a good few minutes chatting, before the desire for the Blue Streak cred took hold and we made our way up there.
Man, this ride isn’t in good shape. The trains have several rows completely ****ed (seats totally removed), the first tunnel is crumbling to pieces, and the rest of the structure doesn’t look too healthy either! The ride itself wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, though. Not that rough, and a couple of amusing pops of air, but mostly one of those rides made fun by the company, rather than the ride itself. Also not the easiest ride to get any pictures of, and I didn’t fancy climbing through all the trees to get any decent pictures.
The trains do look pretty great though.
We’d spotted the scooters on the way in, so went that way. Would be rude not to, really. With no queue (the whole park was dead), we ended up being the only ones on the ride. The ride of shifted the motor in to gear (it’s one of the old ones where the ride is manually put in to drive) and we were off. It was immediately very clear that this wasn’t the most robust of scooters, but as the speed built and a few of us starting nearing the snapping the ride-op began cheering us on and encouraging as much snapping as he could (that doesn’t normally happen)!
The whole structure was shaking and the cables were pinging all over the place, and it just kept going and going and going. The ride-op cracked out a chair and a soda, and just sat and watched. By our estimate the cycle must have been about 7-8 minutes, essentially until someone else appeared in the queue. He shifted the ride in the neutral, explained there was no brake, so we had to let it wind down itself. Such an enjoyable experience, we were in hysterics.
Look at all those butts.
Marcus’ face says it all.
One more cred to get, the indoor “maybe-it’s-not-actually-a-cred”. Very small seats, janky lift and a small drop/hill, followed by a long series of switchbacks with various [broken] theming elements. Joy.
One more lap on Blue Streak and we were out of there. I needed petrol, and some of the guys wanted some lunch, so we agreed to meet at the Airbnb Cleveland.
Conneaut Lake: I didn’t actually hate this place, but it’s just got so little going for it. It’s worn out, the rides are a bit crap, and there’s not much life to it, but it was fairly green, the staff were pleasant and it was fairly cheap. Doubt I’ll ever go back, though.
We all arrived at the Airbnb, got in and chucked our stuff in the rooms, before sitting down with a beer (or two) and having a chat. We attempted to record a Drunk Riders episode, with Marcus’ mic in the middle of the table, but I think the resulting audio quality wasn’t really up for being posted. Shame really, we had a good long chat about all things coaster.
Once we’d finished recording, and finished a few more beers, we got ready and made our way to dinner. At a recommendation (from Marc, I believe), we went to Shooters, located right on the water’s edge in Cleveland.
Located next to an awesome railway bridge – no longer in use – they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
The view back towards Cleveland.
After a great meal, we set our sights on some more local beer. Great Lakes Brewing and Market Garden (if memory serves) played host to a pretty good boozing session with plenty of the usual **** talking you’d expect.
Well would you look at that. Isn’t CF amazing? This stellar group of guys are excellent friends, and I met them all through CF. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, but when we do we always have a blast. I will forever owe CF a debt for that.[/softie]
Some proper proper roller coasters tomorrow – Cedar Point!
Not a desperately early start, but we were pretty efficient getting out of the house and on the road towards Buffalo. Plan was to drop Joey’s car off at a family friend’s house, then just take one car for the next leg. After a couple of hours we were at Conneaut Lake, trying to track down the others who’d arrived before us.
Not the most inspiring place in the world, let’s be honest.
Finally had the whole group assembled: Me, Marcus (@Snoo), Joe (@Error), Matt (@Hyde), Marc (@Antinos), Kevin (@pkiknex25) and Joey (@Youngster Joey) – order based on a later photo. Spent a good few minutes chatting, before the desire for the Blue Streak cred took hold and we made our way up there.
Man, this ride isn’t in good shape. The trains have several rows completely ****ed (seats totally removed), the first tunnel is crumbling to pieces, and the rest of the structure doesn’t look too healthy either! The ride itself wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, though. Not that rough, and a couple of amusing pops of air, but mostly one of those rides made fun by the company, rather than the ride itself. Also not the easiest ride to get any pictures of, and I didn’t fancy climbing through all the trees to get any decent pictures.
The trains do look pretty great though.
We’d spotted the scooters on the way in, so went that way. Would be rude not to, really. With no queue (the whole park was dead), we ended up being the only ones on the ride. The ride of shifted the motor in to gear (it’s one of the old ones where the ride is manually put in to drive) and we were off. It was immediately very clear that this wasn’t the most robust of scooters, but as the speed built and a few of us starting nearing the snapping the ride-op began cheering us on and encouraging as much snapping as he could (that doesn’t normally happen)!
The whole structure was shaking and the cables were pinging all over the place, and it just kept going and going and going. The ride-op cracked out a chair and a soda, and just sat and watched. By our estimate the cycle must have been about 7-8 minutes, essentially until someone else appeared in the queue. He shifted the ride in the neutral, explained there was no brake, so we had to let it wind down itself. Such an enjoyable experience, we were in hysterics.
Look at all those butts.
Marcus’ face says it all.
One more cred to get, the indoor “maybe-it’s-not-actually-a-cred”. Very small seats, janky lift and a small drop/hill, followed by a long series of switchbacks with various [broken] theming elements. Joy.
One more lap on Blue Streak and we were out of there. I needed petrol, and some of the guys wanted some lunch, so we agreed to meet at the Airbnb Cleveland.
Conneaut Lake: I didn’t actually hate this place, but it’s just got so little going for it. It’s worn out, the rides are a bit crap, and there’s not much life to it, but it was fairly green, the staff were pleasant and it was fairly cheap. Doubt I’ll ever go back, though.
We all arrived at the Airbnb, got in and chucked our stuff in the rooms, before sitting down with a beer (or two) and having a chat. We attempted to record a Drunk Riders episode, with Marcus’ mic in the middle of the table, but I think the resulting audio quality wasn’t really up for being posted. Shame really, we had a good long chat about all things coaster.
Once we’d finished recording, and finished a few more beers, we got ready and made our way to dinner. At a recommendation (from Marc, I believe), we went to Shooters, located right on the water’s edge in Cleveland.
Located next to an awesome railway bridge – no longer in use – they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
The view back towards Cleveland.
After a great meal, we set our sights on some more local beer. Great Lakes Brewing and Market Garden (if memory serves) played host to a pretty good boozing session with plenty of the usual **** talking you’d expect.
Well would you look at that. Isn’t CF amazing? This stellar group of guys are excellent friends, and I met them all through CF. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, but when we do we always have a blast. I will forever owe CF a debt for that.[/softie]
Some proper proper roller coasters tomorrow – Cedar Point!
Day 9 – Cedar Point (Day I)
Okay, time for the big one.
Slight disclaimer here – got quite a lot of pictures. I liked too many of them not to share them all, but I did try not to post too many!
I had two days at Cedar Point, had been before so only needed the two new B&Ms and the RMC, and the rest of the guys already had all the creds, so this wasn’t going to be a rushed visit at all. We made a leisurely start towards the park from Cleveland, stopping at the Dianna’s diner on the way in (which was excellent, I might add). We joined the huge queue for the entrance (queued most of the way down the causeway), but once we’d cleared the gate it was a pretty smooth run round to the rear parking area. As we were staying in the cabins we left the cars near the office, and made a beeline straight for Steel Vengeance.
Marc was leaving us first, so wanted at least one ride with him before he left. Steel Vengeance is a sight to behold really, the wooden structure and steel rails twisting everywhere, make it an awesome thing to see for real. We zipped, hid and locker-ed our loose articles and got in line. A pretty consistently moving 90 minutes later and we were on the ride.
So I’m at a sticking bit now – I can’t find the motivation to write what you’ve probably all read a load of times before, by now. Let’s just say it’s pretty insane. It’s got a great mix of floater (that magnificent zero-g), ejector (some of those final hills) and flojector (the two large hills at the start). I loved it, and it was immediately in my top five without question. Not, however, number one. There was just something it didn’t quite have to get it up there. More on that later.
So, at this point we had to say goodbye to Marc. We headed back out to the cars, met his folks and said our farewells, before checking in to the cabin. With a view of the lake one side, and Steel Vengeance and Top Thrill Dragster the other, plus a cosy little room, they’re a real winner!
Plan was to meet Joe’s partner, and head back in to the park down by Gatekeeper so I could get that cred. On the way from the cabins you can get to the Magnum turnaround before connecting through the boardwalk. I’ll chuck a bunch of pictures now, some of which I’m fairly proud of!
Only up close can you see how big it really it!
I really like Magnum, and it’s a beautiful coaster, too.
How did that selfie come out, @Youngster Joey?
Heading down towards the beach.
Cedar Point offers some of the best coaster skyline views. From nearly every angle it’s just great.
Right, let’s ride this then.
Infamous B&M capacity at work here, as after joining the queue we can’t have been in line for more than about 15-20 minutes before we were at the platform. Opted for a front row ride with Marcus. Gatekeeper is really, really good, but in the way that giant B&Ms always are. It’s big, it’s fast, it’s smooth, sure it doesn’t do loads and isn’t hugely intense, but it’s just so enjoyable. The first inversion and keyholes being the clear highlights.
Next up was Valravn, but I left the camera in the locker as we still had plenty of time left on it. Another people eater passed the time reasonably well, and we were in the front row again in no time. We nearly had the whole row to ourselves, but not quite.
To be honest, I can reuse the sentence from above here:
Picked up the camera and made the short walk round to Top Thrill Dragster.
Always loved the look of these towers.
Oh mama!
There they are!
It also looks amazing.
Top Thrill Dragster, then. Rarely get nervous on rides anymore, but this is one of those ones where you look up the tower and still get the willies. Launch is ballistic, and that hill with those restraints, is just something else. There’s also some magic in it being over so fast. You’re not sitting waiting on a brake run, you’re just on, go, stop, off. You walk back past the front of the coaster still riding the wave of adrenaline. Yeah, that’s a top quality machine. Quite rightly, one of the most iconic rides that will ever be built.
And my god, does it look good.
Dinner hunger was starting to set in a little now, so we hopped in the cars and headed out in to Sandusky for a very enjoyable meal. Typing this bit fast, ‘cos I know what’s coming next.
THIS mother-****er at night.
In line once again, and the queue was moving a little faster this time (I think due to a reduced number of fast track users), but was still around 75 minutes.
Now…
Now.
In the day it’s spectacular, and sits in my top five. At night, with the structure lit the way it is, it’s number one. Not even a question in my mind. The first bit it basically the same, the layout isn’t ‘crazy’ enough to take you by surprise, it’s just really cool. The final bit through the structure is where it excels though. It’s almost dizzying as you squeeze though element after element. It’s so bewildering, for example, that @Snoo and I completely misread the track layout and expected one of the rolls to go right, when in fact it goes left. I mean, what?! Oh it was beautiful.
On the way out I snapped another couple of shots of Dragster, before we made our way back to the cabin.
Cedar Point: There is something different about Cedar Point. I’ve probably typed “CP” a thousand times or more over the years, it’s the Mecca for enthusiasts, and it really is a very exciting place to go. Anyone who doesn’t feel at least something a bit special driving down the causeway is either miserable or stupid. It’s not the best park in the world, but for enthusiasts it’s probably one of (if not the) most important parks in the world. Walking round and just seeing ride after ride after ride, knowing their histories, seeing how big they are up close, all of that, is a great experience. Plus, now they have Steel Vengeance, the best coaster on the planet.
Joe headed off, Matt left shortly after, and we dropped to bed. Happy, happy goons.
More of the same tomorrow, really. But even more pictures!
Okay, time for the big one.
Slight disclaimer here – got quite a lot of pictures. I liked too many of them not to share them all, but I did try not to post too many!
I had two days at Cedar Point, had been before so only needed the two new B&Ms and the RMC, and the rest of the guys already had all the creds, so this wasn’t going to be a rushed visit at all. We made a leisurely start towards the park from Cleveland, stopping at the Dianna’s diner on the way in (which was excellent, I might add). We joined the huge queue for the entrance (queued most of the way down the causeway), but once we’d cleared the gate it was a pretty smooth run round to the rear parking area. As we were staying in the cabins we left the cars near the office, and made a beeline straight for Steel Vengeance.
Marc was leaving us first, so wanted at least one ride with him before he left. Steel Vengeance is a sight to behold really, the wooden structure and steel rails twisting everywhere, make it an awesome thing to see for real. We zipped, hid and locker-ed our loose articles and got in line. A pretty consistently moving 90 minutes later and we were on the ride.
So I’m at a sticking bit now – I can’t find the motivation to write what you’ve probably all read a load of times before, by now. Let’s just say it’s pretty insane. It’s got a great mix of floater (that magnificent zero-g), ejector (some of those final hills) and flojector (the two large hills at the start). I loved it, and it was immediately in my top five without question. Not, however, number one. There was just something it didn’t quite have to get it up there. More on that later.
So, at this point we had to say goodbye to Marc. We headed back out to the cars, met his folks and said our farewells, before checking in to the cabin. With a view of the lake one side, and Steel Vengeance and Top Thrill Dragster the other, plus a cosy little room, they’re a real winner!
Plan was to meet Joe’s partner, and head back in to the park down by Gatekeeper so I could get that cred. On the way from the cabins you can get to the Magnum turnaround before connecting through the boardwalk. I’ll chuck a bunch of pictures now, some of which I’m fairly proud of!
Only up close can you see how big it really it!
I really like Magnum, and it’s a beautiful coaster, too.
How did that selfie come out, @Youngster Joey?
Heading down towards the beach.
Cedar Point offers some of the best coaster skyline views. From nearly every angle it’s just great.
Right, let’s ride this then.
Infamous B&M capacity at work here, as after joining the queue we can’t have been in line for more than about 15-20 minutes before we were at the platform. Opted for a front row ride with Marcus. Gatekeeper is really, really good, but in the way that giant B&Ms always are. It’s big, it’s fast, it’s smooth, sure it doesn’t do loads and isn’t hugely intense, but it’s just so enjoyable. The first inversion and keyholes being the clear highlights.
Next up was Valravn, but I left the camera in the locker as we still had plenty of time left on it. Another people eater passed the time reasonably well, and we were in the front row again in no time. We nearly had the whole row to ourselves, but not quite.
To be honest, I can reuse the sentence from above here:
Highlights here were probably just the view and the first drop, to be honest. Happy, well chuffed with that. Plus, that’s all the creds sorted too, so let’s move in to an even more relaxed gear.
Picked up the camera and made the short walk round to Top Thrill Dragster.
Always loved the look of these towers.
Oh mama!
There they are!
It also looks amazing.
Top Thrill Dragster, then. Rarely get nervous on rides anymore, but this is one of those ones where you look up the tower and still get the willies. Launch is ballistic, and that hill with those restraints, is just something else. There’s also some magic in it being over so fast. You’re not sitting waiting on a brake run, you’re just on, go, stop, off. You walk back past the front of the coaster still riding the wave of adrenaline. Yeah, that’s a top quality machine. Quite rightly, one of the most iconic rides that will ever be built.
And my god, does it look good.
Dinner hunger was starting to set in a little now, so we hopped in the cars and headed out in to Sandusky for a very enjoyable meal. Typing this bit fast, ‘cos I know what’s coming next.
THIS mother-****er at night.
In line once again, and the queue was moving a little faster this time (I think due to a reduced number of fast track users), but was still around 75 minutes.
Now…
Now.
In the day it’s spectacular, and sits in my top five. At night, with the structure lit the way it is, it’s number one. Not even a question in my mind. The first bit it basically the same, the layout isn’t ‘crazy’ enough to take you by surprise, it’s just really cool. The final bit through the structure is where it excels though. It’s almost dizzying as you squeeze though element after element. It’s so bewildering, for example, that @Snoo and I completely misread the track layout and expected one of the rolls to go right, when in fact it goes left. I mean, what?! Oh it was beautiful.
On the way out I snapped another couple of shots of Dragster, before we made our way back to the cabin.
Cedar Point: There is something different about Cedar Point. I’ve probably typed “CP” a thousand times or more over the years, it’s the Mecca for enthusiasts, and it really is a very exciting place to go. Anyone who doesn’t feel at least something a bit special driving down the causeway is either miserable or stupid.
It’s not the best park in the world, but for enthusiasts it’s probably one of (if not the) most important parks in the world. Walking round and just seeing ride after ride after ride, knowing their histories, seeing how big they are up close, all of that, is a great experience. Plus, now they have Steel Vengeance, the best coaster on the planet.Joe headed off, Matt left shortly after, and we dropped to bed. Happy, happy goons.
More of the same tomorrow, really. But even more pictures!