Creds of America 2014 PTR

[peep]

Every time you guys were like 'eww, so ghetto' I never felt the same way. Maybe I'm not as judgemental towards randomers

Right, I apologise for not keeping this up as much as usual. Let's get back to business!

Tuesday 10th continued...

So we had left the park at a decent time and we made our way into Dallas *plays theme tune*.

Large American flags are large

Getting there

Random dinner-show

There was this quite cool bridge but I could never get a clear picture of it so you'll have to make do with the below...

We found a car park and then walked for 5 minutes until we found ourselves at Dealey Plaza. Ya know, the place made famous because JFK was assassinated there. It was really surreal being there, we've all seen the place on TV in documentaries and films hundreds of times, but actually being there was just so odd. The way they've preserved the entire area as like a memorial is a little unusual but I think we all agreed that it was interesting because they had done so. They'd actually placed crosses on the road where the shots hit and the window where he shot from was left open. Apparently a laser light appears from the window at night?

I really like this building

Sorry for the blurryness but you can see the set up

We had actually spent a good amount of time in this area, just soaking it all in. We also weren't the only tourists there, I'm sure during the day it gets a little busier. (Amazingly the Dallas theme tune has just started playing on my playlist, thanks Spotify). Most of us then decided to go eat at a place called Dick's last resort. It's a themed restaurant experience where the staff have an attitude and you all get hats <3 I'm explaining it poorly but it was incredible. The menu is just a chalkboard on the wall and then the waiter/waitress sits down and explains it all to you. Don't know what a Dolly Parton is? Well clearly it's two large chicken breasts

After a while our hats arrived....

"It's only gay if you swallow"

"Yes, the carpet matches the curtains"

"Damn, I thought Dick's was a gay bar! "

I had a chicken salad and it was incredible. I was so glad that on top of the theme idea and staff being incredible the food was also great. If you see one of these places on your travels in the States totally check them out, just have a sense of humour about things

We then went back to the hotel to try and get as much sleep in as possible before our very early start....


Wednesday 11th June

We had a very silly early start as we had a small internal flight from Dallas to Kansas City. We flew Southwest, I spent most of the flight asleep.

Once in Kansas we got the bus to the hire car peeps and proceeded to choose our two new vehicles for the rest of the trip.

This car was pretty new and was very comfortable to sit in. Once we were all ready to go we set off to Worlds of Fun.

We walked straight in as the park had already been open a little while. The park was fairly quiet which was nice. Somehow I managed to get excited by a flat ride in the dark in the vain hope it might be a madhouse. It wasn't and not only was I sad about this but it wasn't a great ride - went on for far too long.

Once the vile ride finished its cycle we headed over to the Snoopy themed cred. Yay for +1s.

We then went to do Timber Wolf which I think had just opened up. It vibrated an awful lot - so much so that it was unpleasant.

It was then over to Patriot. I feel like we queued for a little while for this one. We ended up in the front. It was good fun but nothing too standout (put it this way, I just had to watch a POV to remind myself what it did).

The trend of Richard wearing silly hats continued...

It was then over to Prowler. I don't really remember much about this ok, I assume it was ok?

It was then over to Boomerang. I thought it was great but as I've said before, I have a soft spot for boomerangs.

It was stupidly hot so some of us were going to ride the rapids. It had a stupid queue that wasn't really moving. Burdenous. So we left the queue. Richard showed off his fury....

We then joined the semi-long queue for Mamba. It was hot and we were queuing for a Morgan hyper. I can think of a lot of things that I'd rather spend my time doing. As expected it was rather tedious at life with the occasional attempt at some fun and then ruining it.

The group then split. Jordan and Conor went off to get the last cred and then go see Conor's friends that lived nearby. AJ went with them to get the cred and then hit the water park. The rest of us faffed around, grabbed some ridiculously awesome barbecue food, clearly the best thing about the park. I think I had pulled Turkey? It was awesome and way too much food.

Tat shops were visited...

We then queued quite a while for the spinning coaster. Yeah I know right, a spinning coaster after all that food? Really wasn't the brightest of ideas but it was the last cred the park had to offer. It was average. We then faffed in the car park and then proceeded to join AJ in the water park. It was relaxing and I got burnt (I was good at that on this trip). I became way too engrossed in this middle aged couple throwing a frisbee across the pool though, maybe it's because you don't see it very often over here?

Anyway some hours later we left the park and made our way onwards to the next hotel. It was quite a long drive if I remember correctly which was burdenous. We stopped off to get some McDonalds (or Subway in Richard's case) at one point. AJ purchased about 5 burgers too many and proceeded to chuck some out of the window when we were at full speed. It was amusing even if I was fearing for one to come back in and all over me. We met the other two at the hotel and sleep was had.

Worlds of Fun was gross and was by far the worst Cedar Fair park I've visited so far. It was just so dull and none of the rides really stood out (and they have a B&M!).

Once again thanks for reading and I'll try my hardest to keep this up.

 

[tomahawk]

You liked the boomerang but not Prowler or Patriot? Your logic makes no sense.

Airport and park are both in Missouri, not Kansas. I don't give two **** but people around there consider it a murderous offense. Especially Missouri people. Because the places are SOOOO different. (Missouri is more white trash though).

 

[Jordanovichy]

Richard's hats are so amazing. He should buy them and wear a different one every day!

 

[peep]

You liked the boomerang but not Prowler or Patriot? Your logic makes no sense.

Airport and park are both in Missouri, not Kansas. I don't give two **** but people around there consider it a murderous offense. Especially Missouri people. Because the places are SOOOO different. (Missouri is more white trash though).

Boomerangs are standard, I know that I enjoy them. Prowler and Patriot I enjoyed but clearly not stand out enough for my brain to fully remember the experience. Maybe we should have ridden them more to get a better feel for them but the weather was grotesque so that was definitely not going to happen. Please don't see it as me slating them, I'm not, just can't really remember the full experience so can't write much on them. It's why I don't do top 10s etc, my memory is turdio.

Where did the Missouri comment come from?


^Yes. Yes he should and it'd be amazing.

 

[tomahawk]

The picture of the rental car you put after arriving in Kansas. It's the same **** place in my opinion.

The airport is **** awful. And KC weather is garbage in summer so it makes sense that'd you want to get the hell out of there fast. Definitely not the nicest park out there. Prowler is absolutely tremendous at night. I haven't ridden it since 2011, so it could have changed since then. Timberwolf is one of my least favorite out there, right up there with the thankfully demolished Psyclone. It needs to go.

 

[nadroJ]

Sea World San Antonio

I have one question, where are all the **** fish? Never have I been to a Sea World park with as little fish as SA. We literally had to go searching for the bloody things. Not a lot at this park to be honest but we somehow managed to faff our way into spending the whole day there XD Some parts of it were quite pretty but it suffers from the ago old Sea World complaint of looking fairly outdated. And I suppose if you’ve done Sea World in Orlando this is always going to be a let down.

Coaster-wise there’s nothing really to comment on, everything was pretty ‘meh’: a kiddie cred, a Mack SuperSplash, a Batman clone and a Morgan (that should have been good but was VILE). The rapids were fairly fun though and gave a thorough soaking.

Six Flags Over Texas

Isn’t it weird being in a park you’ve never been to and yet you know the layout so well? Any player of RCT2 can easily find their was around SFOT and plenty of lols were had pointing stuff out from the game as we made our way around the park. I thought this park was rather gorgeous as well, in that you would never know it was a city park. Lush trees all around providing necessary shade from the hot Southern sun, plenty of water rides and shaded nooks and crannies as well as lots of use of natural materials (like wood) to minimalise harsh sun reflections. I especially liked the Spanish and Wild West themed areas, such a contrast in theming to the Six Flags parks on the East Coast! 

My first ever Mr. Freeze was at this park. I loved the station building, really high level of detail, could have done with a bit more music but overall above average. The coaster was brilliant, forceful and mental like a Premier coaster should be. I would have loved to have ridden this with the forwards launch though, there’s something about the way a backwards launch yanks you out of your seat that doesn’t sit very comfortably with me. 7/10

I was bored by the Giovanola at SFMM so I didn’t expect anything different from Titan. I adored the rustic cattle farm theme of the queue (like I said, anything with cowboys <3) and it can’t be argued with that these things are impressive to look at, but unfortunately they just don’t do anything for me. And the GROSS MCBR. WHYYYYY?! Totally kills the ride for apparently no reason at all other than attempted whiplash. Meh. All they’re good for is adding to an impressive skyline. 5/10

Runaway Mountain was so fab and smooth, such a shame they didn’t bother to theme the actual ride otherwise this coaster would be absolute magic. To me it rode a lot like Space Mountain in Orlando but with much smoother drops and transitions, but definitely similar in terms of hurtling through darkness. 6/10

The big one at SFOT is clearly New Texas Giant, the infamous death cred and the reason the RMCs now have seat belts (boooo!). I was expecting big things. And you should never expect big things because you’ll always be disappointed. Not to say NTG isn’t fun, because it really is, but you can really tell this is just essentially a retrack, it doesn’t really do much after the first drop, there are some nice pops of airtime littered about but the coaster ends up kind of meandering back into the station. It could definitely stand to be a LOT faster. The trains, however, are some of my favourite ever <3 7/10

 

[peep]

Thursday 11th

So the night before we had travelled to Branson, a town full of random tourist attractions like a Titanic museum, waxworks and a closed wooden coaster. In the morning I took some photos...

Our hotel's reception was actually themed to a windmill. The rooms were a little dated. Oh well, the weather was a little miserable but we were finally at SILVER DOLLAR CITY!

I think this was a park we were all really looking forward to. The car park was quite busy so we caught a tram thing to the entrance. The entrance is quite weird, like you walk past the huge logo sign, then up a little trail and then you get to the turnstiles into a shop. The park had two types of maps, small un-detailed ones and then one hidden within a huge newspaper! The newspaper one was amazing, full of information about the entire park, the show times, restaurants and even what was going on in Branson.

The weather was rather dull (hence lack of photos so far) but we decided it'd make sense to go straight over to Outlaw Run. The theming for the queue and station is pretty nice. We had a little bit of a wait before getting on. The ride op fit right into the theming and I thought that was incredible.

So, what did I think of my first ride on Outlaw run? I found it very meh. That first drop is pretty awesome though. Like it's a good ride but it had been soooooooo over-hyped it's unreal. It was Boulder Dash all over again. Maybe my opinion would change if we got another chance to ride it but I wasn't sold that it's a number 1 coaster.

Next on our agenda was Powder Keg but due to the miserable rain it was down for a little bit. So we headed over to Wildfire instead. I'll admit I didn't even know about this coaster before seeing it. The station once again had some awesome theming going on. Wild West steampunk <3 I managed to get a ride in the back row.

CONCEPT ART!

I thought it was a great ride, like it was intense and good fun. Very re-ridable. The views from the lift hill were also awesome.

We tried for Powder Keg again but it was still down. So we went over to the over side of the park for Thunderation. Once again I knew nothing about it. It blew me away, it goes on for so long! Definitely one of the hidden surprises of the trip.

We then spent some time hanging around the area as we felt like we could start to relax and really take in the park's atmosphere. I think this is a good time to go on about how absolutely beautiful this place is. Everything just feels so natural and I love all the random traditional stuff going on like glass blowing, wood crafts and slate signs. All the food stalls (and there are many) also look exciting and smell amazing. At one point Rich and I both tried a potato stick where you cover it in flavourings, quite yummy. A fair amount of time was also spent in the Christmas shop which had loads of ridiculous items (food themed ornaments for your Christmas tree?).

*Childish giggle*

It was then over to the area with the kiddy cred. The cred actually had a bit of a queue! At least we weren't the only adult-only groups waiting for it. Conor decided to wait and get himself a funnel cake. By this time it was still cloudy but it was getting really hot outside, I think it started to get to us a bit. After the massive queue for the ride we were finally on and ready to get our +1. Richard nearly didn't get the cred due to the tiny amount of leg space but he squeezed in and they finally got the restraint to click down. There was a sigh of pain/relief/joy once it clicked.

The area around the coaster had a really amazing turn of the Century theme to it, I loved the design of all the posters (and the cred logo!).

Once we got off the ride we discovered a Conor absolutely covered in white powder from his attempt at eating a funnel cake. It was amazing, wish I'd taken a photo now. We then walked back over to Powder Keg in the hope that it'd now be open. It was! Huzzah!

Reason why it closed?

Another ride operator themed to an old town prospector

So yeah, what is it with this park hiring so many old people? I'm not complaining, just a little odd. They were all lovely people though and the ride ops fit right in with the park's theming

So yeah, Powder Keg. What an unusual ride. For starters why does it have the odd sideways lift to the launch area? Once again, not complaining, just very odd. The launch is amazing (one of the few things S&M are good at). The ride layout is yet again random. The huge lift hill towards the end then kills all speed to then not do a lot between that drop and the station? I don't get it's purpose, it's like they designed it in RCT and didn't think there was enough speed to get to the station but then ran out of room after building a lift hill. Still, despite that random flaw it's a very enjoyable coaster.

We'd now ridden most of the rollercoasters and we enjoyed every single one, all very solid, enjoyable rides. So we slowed our pace down a bit more and decided to go see one of the many shows the park had to offer. We ended up choosing a show that takes place in a saloon. So for starters the place looks incredible, the theming is just perfect. The show then begins and it's a little weird. Full of random little pun based jokes which Richard detested. A couple of ok songs and some moments where they picked on some audience members (something I detest). Then it all got a bit weird when some religious character comes in and is like 'heathens for drinking alcohol blah blah'. Overall we weren't that impressed by the show, a shame considering the setting.

After the show we were feeling hungry so decided to track down a buffet. The first buffet we found had a mix of offerings but the goons didn't full approve on going in. The goons moved on to find another buffet in the same building, this time there was a different offering but the goons didn't approve. They moved on a little bit more to find another buffet in the basement themed to a mine shaft which had an offering to their liking so the goons headed in and had a wonderful time.

Such a beautiful park

The food was absolutely incredible. I think we'd all picked up way too much food though. The staff in there were fab too and they adored us and our accents <3 We spent a good 5-10 minutes with the lady on the cash desk when we went to pay. Banter <3

The area outside the restaurant was amazing, they had loads of games set up for kids (I assume there was like a group outing thing) and it just looked great.

We found a stall selling wooden carved items and it was amazing. Conor almost purchased one of these...

It was then over to Fire in the Hole for some dark ride/coaster action. There was a bit of a queue for this one, a very popular ride. I didn't really know what to expect from this ride and it ended up being fab. It's got a very cheap dark ride vibe about it but it was still enjoyable. And then "Fire in the hole!" *SPLOOSH*. Ha, one of the best endings to a ride ever.

OMG the staff <3

It was then back over to Outlaw run for another go on that. I still wasn't completely sold on it. We then decided to have a go on the rapids as they looked good. I think there was quite a wait for them (it was quite humid). They were ok, the setting is really nice but the rapids weren't the best. There was a dark section towards the end which was a little terrifying, probably where we got the most wet.

We then rode the log flume which was pretty good. We kept rocking the boat from side to side which was terrifying. The main drop was awesome though, got us all drenched. It was then back over to Wildfire for one more ride on that. It was still a great ride.

We then headed over to Outlaw Run again. I got distracted by a roaming character who turned out to be hilarious (I had to wait till I got the camera back to know wtf was happening). He sized me up for a coffin and then pretended he was going to inject me with something.

I think the others did the Barn swing. Afterwards I got the 'deep fried oreo' which was a bunch of oreos on a stick and then deep friend, it was as gross as it sounds. Like, it made me feel a little sick after just a few bites. You couldn't even really taste the oreos, just tasted of fried ****.

We then continued on to Outlaw Run for two goes - Front and back.

I really enjoyed Outlaw run in the front and I think it was far better than the back which is where I'd sat on my previous goes. Still not 'OMFG amazing' but it was a really good ride. The way it throws you about is fun.

We then went to Powder Keg for our last ride of the day. Earlier in the day when it was closed Richard had got talking to one of the ride hosts and she spotted him again and kept saying how she wished she could have just walked around the park with us. She wasn't the only one wishing this, the ladies in the buffet restaurant had also said the same thing, they all loved our accents and we loved theirs. The ride was still good fun if odd.

It was then time to leave the park via the many tat shops. I'm shocked I didn't buy that much tat to be honest, there were lots of great items (American parks know how to do merch). It was sad to leave the park, we had such an amazing day there, the staff were incredible everywhere we went, the rides were all good fun and the atmosphere was just fantastic. Wish we had time to explore more of the random park shops and see some more of the shows. Definitely on my list of places I'd like to return to.

We drove back through Branson where apparently Simon Cowell has been...

AJ, Conor, Jordan and Richard went to the Titanic museum while Peter, Rach and I headed onwards to the next hotel.


Once again thanks for reading

 

[therick311]

Finally, someone who agrees with me on Outlaw Run! It's lots of fun, but no #1 and way over-hyped.

Powder Keg is wonky because parts of it were reused from Buzzsaw Falls. The half boat in the roof is one of the Buzzsaw Falls boats. Also, the lift hill, and I believe the station were reused. The strange sideways sliding track is there so they could use the old station, and have room for rollback track behind the launch house.

 

[Darren B]

Why didn't Peter and Rach join you at Silver Dollar City? Did you visit parks on a different schedule?

Anyways, great report as always. Obviously I'm a little disappointed you didn't take any pictures of food I've even left one for you in my trip report, you've saddened me John.

The park looks incredible and I'm desperate to get over to that part of the states. Full of RMC's and GG <3

Looking forward to the next Instalment.

 

[nadroJ]

^they did, we started the day altogether but didn't fancy a show the rest of us went to see, so we split at that point for a few hours.

 

[peep]

Finally, someone who agrees with me on Outlaw Run! It's lots of fun, but no #1 and way over-hyped.

Powder Keg is wonky because parts of it were reused from Buzzsaw Falls. The half boat in the roof is one of the Buzzsaw Falls boats. Also, the lift hill, and I believe the station were reused. The strange sideways sliding track is there so they could use the old station, and have room for rollback track behind the launch house.

Ha, yeah I think we're definitely in the minority with Outlaw.

Ah cool, didn't know that. Still weird lol.


Darren, I think I must have been ill, don't you worry there will be more foody pictures in the rest of the report.

 

[peep]

Friday 13th

We left yet another average American hotel and on to Six Flags St. Louis. We had planned to meet up with two of Conor's ex-uni mates and then spend the evening in the city. The weather was great if a little too hot in the afternoon. The entrance plaza for the park is really nice. While we waited for Conor and his friends we faffed around a little. During this time we witnessed Porky Pig faint, he was then taken away with the help of some staff and Sylvester. Clearly the heat was already too much for the staff in costume.

We got bored of waiting so the rest of us headed off to start getting creds. Quite a few were looking rather dead. In the end we started our day with Screamin' Eagle.

Richard will try and claim anything as a cred to boost his count

Mr Freeze was looking very closed

I approve of the goon boards

The rides name really wasn't a lie, this thing screeches its way around the track. It was ok, one of those very average old woodies that doesn't do a lot.

Some of the group then did the Superman drop tower. It was then over to Boomerang to get the +1. It annoyingly had quite a wait. The ride itself was standard (so I enjoyed it) but it was made all the more awesome by the staff member on the microphone. As you're climbing the lift hill and just about to descend back down she went "3..... 2..... 1.... and you're falling" but she said it in such a dull monotone way that I couldn't help but spend the rest of the ride absolutely wetting myself.

We met Conor and his two friends at the exit of the Boomerang. Introductions over we moved on to River King Mine train. It was awful at life.

We then headed over to Batman and after a little bit of bag locker faff we were soon in the queue for the ride.

It was then ridden. We then proceeded over to Ninja for some Vekoma fun. It was ok but I think there were a few horrible snappy moments which were unpleasant. We then grabbed our bags which were still in the lockers by Batman. Peter, Rach and I were feeling a little peckish so we popped into Johnny Rockets for a snack-lunch and arranged a meeting place/time with the others. Service in the "fast food" restaurant was horrific, food took an age to come out from the kitchen.

We then found the others not quite at the arrange meeting point. Some of the group were doing Xcalibur which looked a little gross. It then broke down just as they were about to ride. Lots of faff followed. Once everyone was back together we headed onwards to Boss. A huge wooden coaster at the back of the park. We could tell just from watching it that it would either destroy our brains or be amazing. After a long wait in the heat we were finally boarding. I sat in the back row, probably not the best idea I've had. It provided me with quite a grotesque headache, the ride however was ridiculous. It's very long, has some great drops but the helix thing at the end is horrible.

Conor's friends had to depart us but we had planned to meet back up with them at the famous arch in the city. We noticed Mr Freeze testing so we joined the large queue of people waiting for it to open up.

After about a 20 minute wait it opened up and everyone rushed into the queueline. I thought it was odd how a board in the queueline had references to all the films...

This station was themed slightly differently to the other one we rode. The ride itself rode exactly the same, great fun, that launch is very forceful.

We had one more cred to get and that was American Thunder. It was walk on (after further bag locker faff) which was nice. It was a great ride, throwing us all over the shop. It did have quite a rattle to it though which didn't go down well with my furious headache.

As I got my bag out of the locker the door slammed back and onto the bag strap. Nooooooooooooo! Luckily some other people had just paid for a locker and the system had chosen my locker so they freed me, that could have been a lot more time consuming.

We then spent some time in the tat shop before saying laters to our third Six Flags park of the trip.

Six Flags St Louis was a nice park but nothing ride-wise that really stood out (mainly clones and old woodies does not make for an outstanding park). I think if it was a bit cooler and there wasn't so much faffing around in the morning we would have had a much more enjoyable day at the park. Still, our day was far from over....


A short drive down the road and we were in the center of St Louis. I was really excited about visiting this city as it was full of interesting things. First on our agenda was the massive arch. We found a multi-storey car park and made our way over. There was a tram thing carrying a wedding party, it looked cool, the fact it stopped across the road from the huge old courthouse was nice...

And then there it was, just standing there being tall and stuff...

We then spent ages walking around taking photos. We briefly all met back up, decided not to go up the arch and then we split again and met back up at the City Museum. Brace yourselves, there be an avalanche of photos coming...

Peter, Rach, Rich and I took forever getting to the museum because Richard needed to get a shot glass from Hard Rock Cafe, turns out it's a bit tricky to find. Meant I got to admire some nice old buildings in the area though.

It's a wonderful city, I must return at some point to have a proper exploration of everything. Anyways, we met back up with everyone at the City Museum in their little cafe where we had some food.

All museums should look like this.

Yep, every museum should have a school bus just dangling off the side of the rooftop.

To the left you can see one of many ridiculous slides.

Richard got distracted on the way in by big balls

The interior was astounding. Every nook and cranny was just filled with something, the mosaic floor was just as interesting as the things used as part of the handrail.

We were in there for 5 seconds and we realised there's just too much to see and do, a very crazy place.

So we had a bite to eat and then we moved on to the outside contraption of epic proportions. Let's call it the adult playground. I love how it's just a massive mess of welded metal objects. The aircrafts are interesting. Some of the 'things' were just a bit too daunting for my liking but there was always so many stairwells, slides and random bridges to choose from. Have a flood of photos...

I liked this spiral 'staircase', it really messed with my head towards the top, just metal wires everywhere you look

You'd never be able to get this sort of place past UK health and safety

There was no way I was doing this 'bridge'

Staircase to nowhere

We then went into the ball pit where after a little while all the kids decided we were the only targets available.

Back inside now we admired the mosaic stuff for a moment before going up in the lift to the roof.

The rooftop has a few slides, a 1930s ferris wheel and quite an epic view. It was sunset when we got up there which added to the beauty/awesomeness of this place.

Whales?

Top of this white structure is a ladder, the bottom section is a slide. It looks too small for adults but people managed it

That blur is Richard

Quite a lot of time was spent with the wide slide and we had caused quite the commotion, to the point where we left before getting chucked out

We then went back down to the ground floor where we admired the mosaic room some more. I popped to the loo quickly to only return to an AJ bearing the exciting news that the others had discovered a 10 storey slide! To get there we had to somehow navigate ourselves through a dark cave of more mysterious mosaics and the like. It was like looking into the mind of an artist.

Leave your camera with AJ and you'll get loads of selfies

We the found the room containing the slide. OMG. It was just a mass of metal spirals. Some parts were slides but most were staircases all the way to the top. Once at the top, totally exhausted and sweaty, we discovered there was an entrance from the rooftop, whoops.

Massive organ

There was a little bit of a queue for the slide, obviously. I kept banging my head on the metal bars as I went down the slide but it was still fun. We then hung around the cave for a little bit before hitting the tat shop and then saying our goodbyes to Conor's friends who were awesome. It was great to meet them and they just fit right into the group.

We then drove for hours to our next hotel. It was such a great day, the city was just lovely and I want to shake the hands of the people who made that "museum" become a reality, it's such an insane place.

Thanks again for reading. I reckon they'll be another little break before the next instalment.

 

[therick311]

I love City Museum! That place is so bonkers!

I originally had plans to see if you guys wanted to meet up while you were in St. Louis, but you guys came through while I was at Kings Island. I would have loved to go to City Museum with you guys. Forget Six Flags, that place is the real theme park in St. Louis!

Also, glad you enjoyed my home town. I think St. Louis often gets overlooked being right in the middle of the country, but there's some interesting stuff here.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Huh, I guess we went to SFSTl on the same day! :lol:

I remember Mr Freeze, Boss, Boomerang, and Sky Screamer down.

American Thunder had almost no line. It was such a fun ride. Wonder why such unpopularity.

I was at the front of the massive Mr. Freeze wait. I think I saw you.

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Fantastic report, the city museum looks amazing!

 

[peep]

Thanks for the comments guyz!

Guy with a stick, shame we weren't aware we were there on the same day beforehand, it's always great to meet new people. Although if you weren't carrying a stick I would have been sad.


Saturday 14th

All the travelling and long days had started to catch up with us by now. We ended up having a little bit of an extra lay in which meant we missed breakfast and got to Holiday World around midday. We were going to have brunch on the way but it turns out there's literally nothing between where we were staying and the park. We ended up having a Subway that's across the road from the park.

Upon arriving Raven really stuck out with it's huge signage saying it used to be #1. Would it live up to that sort of hype?

Considering we arrived late there were still quite a long queue to get in. As soon as we entered we could tell it was a weird park, just having a theme based around different seasonal events is just peculiar. I mean spotting the below mid-June just felt wrong...

Still, we stared at a map and then decided to just head straight on to Raven. Turned out there was a dive show going on and the Raven queue was a perfect viewing platform. Always fun to watch the bit when the man sets himself on fire.

So the exterior of the station looks awesome but the interior looked dreadful. The ride itself definitely wasn't #1 quality, but it was enjoyable.

We then darted straight over to Thanksgiving for the Voyage (I believe Legend was down at this point which is why it was skipped).

I believe we grabbed a couple of free sodas first (love parks that have free soda fountains). We then joined the fairly lengthy queue for the Voyage.

Apparently I decided to drink piss?

The Voyage was absolutely amazing. It goes on for soooo long too. It has some incredible drops, lots of air time and tunnels! I love some good tunnels, especially when random double dips happen. It's a really fun coaster, unfortunately it gave me a bit of a woodie headache which was annoying (totally could be down to the free drinks).

We decided to go grab the kiddy cred. It's quite a cool little area for kids but it did feel weird being in there to grab the +1.

We then went on the old skool flyer flat ride (I forget what they're called) in the 4th of July area. I find them quite fun attractions, the one at Knoebels is still the best one I've been on though.

It was then decided it was time for the waterpark. Quite a few hours were spent in there. Still don't really know why it's called Splashin' safari when the only theming relating to this name is on the path into the park. After lots of water based activities it was time to ride the Legend.

Really enjoyed this ride. Just watched a POV to help job my memory of it, I really don't remember it going round the waterslides.

It was then time for another go on the Voyage. It was still excellent but the heat mixed with woodie roughness and fizzy drinks had done my head in and I called it quits while most of the others did some re-rides. Instead I went and experienced the best dark ride of the trip, Gobbler Getaway.

OMG, why the hell didn't I know this ride existed?????? I basically spent the entire ride pissing myself laughing, it was amazing. The quality of it was actually decent too but just the sound of a turkey makes me laugh, so a ride where once you hit the target a turkey pops up making that famous sound was just too much for me to handle.

She's like a poor Bond villain parody

The fun with Turkey based theming didn't end there, they also have a spinney ride where the cars are turkeys. OMG, I love it.

It was then tat faff time. We spent quite a good amount of time rummaging around their huge tat shops. I wasn't too happy about seeing a Christmas tree in June...

It was then time to call it a day and go in search of food. It was decided that we'd go to B-Dubs (or Buffalo wild wings those not in the know). I ordered way too much food. I had a salad which contained strawberries (the madness!!) and some good old fashioned wings. They were good but I ate too much and felt awful afterwards lol. It was then on to another standard hotel room for some much needed sleep.


Holiday World was a weird park, Voyage was incredible and Gobbler Getaway was by far the best dark ride of the trip but everything else was mediocre and the theme of the park still grates me a little, just feels a little wrong? It's a shame the Voyage is there though because I'd like to ride it again but I'm in no hurry to return to that park.

 

[peep]

Sunday 15th

We got everything packed into the cars, had a small breakfast at the hotel and then drove onwards to our next park, Beech Bend. This park was literally in the middle of nowhere and was proper farm county. It was also the sketchiest of all the places we visited. Just a few rides dotted around and a 'waterpark'. Still we paid to get in and headed to the first cred.

The train is actually quite nicely designed. The staff member split us up as there is an adult limit per ride. The lift hill is weird, it's like a spiral that starts to bank towards the top and it barely makes it which forces you to sort of feel like you're going to fall out of the train. After that it's a pretty standard kids cred and a nice +1 on the old count.

I should point out that the heat was grotesque this day and the concrete paths were not helping that problem. Shade was sought out at any chance we could get and lots of water was purchased. It was one of those you leave the car and instantly become drenched in sweat days.

Some of us opted to go on the drop tower. The ride op decided that he was going to put on a turd British accent before sending us up, it was all rather silly and awkward. The ride was actually decent though, had a good height, so much that I had kinda forgotten that I was on a ride and before I knew it the ride car hit the top and instantly plummeted back down to Earth. It was fantastic.

Some of the others decided to go on the graviton. I sat in the shade and attempted (and failed) to cool down. I believe we rode the ghost train next which was meh. There was some sketchy flat ride next to it which looked a bit awful.

It was then time for us to get the wild mouse out of the way. It really squeaked as it went round any corner which was weird (new wheels?) but the ride itself was as standard as they can be.

It was then over to the other side of the park for Kentucky Rumbler. A massive woodie that really didn't fit in with the rest of the park. Like where the hell did the money for this ride come from? Just doesn't make any sense. Still it was a really fun coaster and if it wasn't for the heat trying to kill us we would have just sat on that for ages (barely anyone else in the park).

In the tat shop we found some more tacky hats....

We then faffed around for a bit in the shop and then we said our goodbyes as the group was splitting for a few days. Conor, AJ and Jordan were off to Nashville and the rest of us went off to some more parks. To chill out for a bit Richard and I found some shade in the form of a smokers shelter and we watched a random show going on, something else I was shocked to see in this type of park. It actually wasn't that bad and I'm sure little ones would have loved it.

So then Peter, Rach, Rich and I got back into the oven which we call a car and drove off to Kentucky Kingdom. The park was actually quite busy much to our surprise. We just headed straight for the new for 2014 coaster, Lightning run.

This ride was surprisingly good, it keeps trying to just throw you out of your seat, very similar to Skyrush. It's also very similar in the restraint department, they try and restrict you so much that when it's doing what it does best (throwing you about for some air time) it just creates a whole World of pain. So it's a good ride that would have been better had the restraints not tried to kill us.

It was then over to Roller skater. A standard Vekoma family coaster that was ok.

It was then round to the third and final coaster, Thunder run. There were some staff members waiting to get on next to Rich and I and one of them kept shouting "SWERVE!" when we were finally on and going round. Lots of people in the queue were also proper stereotypical Southerners, this amused me. The ride itself had a few moments of air time but was generally awful at life.

The park was closing like 2 hours early which was weird but we had gained our three creds and were ready to get out of there. Getting from the car park to the main road was a bit of a shambles, the roads around there are so poorly designed and sign posted.

When we managed to navigate to a sensible road we drove on to Cincinnati for some food based times. However Rach had done her research and set us on course for another +1. Turns out the city has it's own Coney Island by the river (which is really wide) and the park contains a cred! Although the drive from the city to the park was sketchy the park was really nice, felt more like a British park (as in a normal one without creds) crossed with Knoebels. There was also a huge concert going on and because it was an open arena we could semi hear it the whole time we were there but it was also the reason why the car park was rammed and the park was actually dead.

We tried to get some tickets to ride the coaster but all the booths had decided to close early. This resulted in us pleading with the two ride ops to let us on otherwise it'd have been a wasted journey. We were lucky that they were nice people and they let us on! Huzzah for free creds!

Post cred gaining selfie

The park had also suffered from some floods and had some signs up pointing out how high they got. I always find them quite interesting.

See, pretty

We then drove on to an Applebees because they are awesome.

Wide river is wide

It was so delicious

It was then on to the hotel, we drove past Cincinnati again, it looked really nice at night.

We then got some much needed sleep before another very long day.

It was an interesting day, Beech Bend was awful, they need to relocate that woodie to somewhere decent. Kentucky Kingdom was interesting and poorly designed. They added the water park in the middle of the park so when they fully open up where there used to be rides you're going to have lots of really long-winded paths to get there (the one to the woodie was bad enough). It was also interesting hearing other people in the park, nearly everyone was talking about what the park used to be like and making comparisons etc. I was really glad we went to that Coney Island place, was a really nice setting.


Once again thanks for reading.

 

[peep]

Monday 16th

After some more driving in the morning we arrived at Kings Island where we had arranged to meet up with Ian (from CoasterForce), Darren, Jerry and Jarrett. We got to the park slightly before opening, went straight through the gates before trying to work out the quickest route to our meeting point (Firehawk). The national anthem played (vom) and then the crowd chaos began. Luckily only about 6 other people were interested in heading to where we were going. We managed to get on to the first train of the day. Have some photos...

Every time we passed this awesome photo opportunity there were some burdens taking years to take a single photo. What cretins

As we were strapped in and the gates closed an Ian, Darren and Jerry appeared. We said hello just as we were dispatched. I loathe these coasters, they are just absolutely vile. I was glad we got it out of the way first thing because not only are they vile but capacity is dreadful. I just despise the restraints, they feel really restricting and then the forces in certain elements are just wrong when in that position (I have the same issue on B&M flyers).

As we got off we got to meet CF's latest goon, Jarrett. I felt it was compulsory to take a selfie with him.

Once everyone was off it was time for some proper greetings before we moved on to the next cred for the day. Vortex could have gone either way in terms of how it rides. I found it to be rather ok, I didn't find it painful or rough in the slightest and I thought the corkscrews going through the gap between the two vertical loops to be fantastic. I actually enjoyed it. Hurrah.

This bit was great

Some of us then had some discussion times about our trips so far while some did the windseeker. I guy from another coaster group we'd never heard of came over to say hello and talk to us for a little bit.

We then moved on to Diamondback. I rode at the back and found it to be ok, nothing outstanding. I was hoping to get another ride in later in the day to see if it improved at all.

We then rode the Flying ACE cred in the Snoopy area. Why the hell is this coaster so rough? It just rattles around the entire track, did they make the wheels square? We also did the Woodstock express which was good fun. I like these little woodies.

We then made the trek over to the Bat. It is so tucked away, I don't like the paths to get over to it, I hope they improve that at some point in the future. We did have to pass this beast though...

I don't have any pictures of the actual ride but it was great fun. I do have a soft spot for suspended arrow coasters, especially when they're in such a large area. It's definitely not the best of the ride type that I've ridden but I enjoyed it.

It was then time for Invertigo. I sat next to Jarrett and we both had a view of Richard. Such an odd seating arrangement. I enjoy boomerang type coasters and this was no different, I found it to be really fun and smooth. I could tell Richard didn't think the same but I think it's just the way he fits into the restraints, makes a world of difference.

Then the STORM happened. Sigh. We had taken shelter in a tat shop which was clever. Ian and Jerry let us abuse their annual pass discount which was very generous of them (thanks again guys!). When the rain let up a little bit we decided to do a tour back to the exit of the park via every tat shop possible (Ian was after something specific). As they'd actually been the day before and Darren only needed to mop up the last few creds that we did in the morning they decided to call it a day and we said our goodbyes. Tat was taken back to the car and then we went to find food. We ended up at a BBQ place near Diamondback called "Reds hall of fame". It was baseball themed which clearly meant nothing to us. Still it looked nice, the food was incredible and the staff were friendly. I just didn't understand why a busy restaurant had so much unused space? Maybe the kitchen couldn't deal with the extra punters?

I had a pulled pork sandwich and although it pointlessly came with crisps (crisps are awful) the sandwich was incredible. Jarrett then decided to call it a day too as he wanted to get home to be able to watch the World Cup match America was taking part in.

We continued our day by joining the queue for Stunt Lot Coaster. I like the idea of these coasters but I feel the theming doesn't make a lot of sense and I find some of the turns quite painful. Gets a big fat meh from moi.

It was then time to ride the two racers. They were quite good fun but on the blue one there was a really vile moment at the bottom of one of the drops. Still overall they were quite enjoyable and well looked after. Yay. We also bumped into another coaster goon, I can't remember what the conversation was about now, possibly what we thought was the best in the UK?

We then rode Adventure Express. Ha this thing is so awful at life. It's just dull and then the last lift hill is incredibly themed and awesome and these animatronic things are banging drums and I joked that it would be funny if it was building all this hype just for us to go into the station. I never thought it would actually do just that! Oh wow how we laughed. Such a stupid coaster.

It was then time for what everyone had been hyping beyond belief. Yep, time for us to see what Banshee was all about. I had my doubts about this coaster for many reasons but my main was the fear the restraints would ruin it. They ruin wingriders so I was intrigued to see if they would also ruin an invert. Peeps like Jarrett kept claiming that they've altered the design of them, now they're weighted so don't compress etc etc. I still had my doubts. I was right to still have my doubts. While they have improved since the first design on the wingriders they're still nowhere near comfortable as the original invert restraints. They still feel too tight and constricting, maybe not getting tighter as you go like on the previous design, but now constantly throughout the ride (depends on when it decides to 'lock'). So well done them.

The ride itself is enjoyable but suffers from "bigger is not always better". While the first drop is pretty awesome (just a taller version of Oz'Iris) the rest of the ride is enjoyable but no where in the same league as the great B&M inverts like Nemesis, Oz'Iris, Black Mamba and Katun. Also I'm not saying the restraints ruined it, just lived up to my expectations of them not actually being good/fixed. By the way we managed 3 rides which were pretty much walk on. It would appear as though the storm cleared the park quite a bit.

Rach and Peter decided to do the sky coaster thing as it was fairly cheap. I got a mountain of berries and cream, it was good.

We then went over to Beast. Due to (once again) a lot of hype I was concerned this also wouldn't live up to expectations. My first impressions were... "Wtf was that?" It is one bizarre coaster. It just has stupidly long straight sections and it meanders around a lot. It does have a long tunnel section though and that's cool. Maybe we were missing something, Rich and I decided that we had to wait until near close to do a night ride. So, more on this beast later.

We then set out a small list of what we wanted to ride/re-ride. We started with Peter and I going on Delirium. I really enjoyed it, some great forces and the ride cycle didn't go on too long that it made me feel ill. We were then going to ride the drop tower but it broke down as we sat on it. So we had to bail on that idea and we went back over to the Bat. Much better this time, swings a lot in the second half of the ride which is great fun.

A little bit of Son a Beast left

I think we would have re-ridden Banshee at this point but the whole paying for a locker deal is such a burden that we passed on the idea.

Instead we went over to the tower to get some great views of the park. On the way we passed a lady selling flashy things for when it got dark. Richard had a sword battle with her, it was amazing.

The views from the top were pretty awesome but the lift going up was somehow hotter than it was outside. Grotesque.

After the tower we bumped into the lady again for round two of their battle...

We decided to grab some more food before heading over to Diamondback. This time I sat in the front row and it was better than it was earlier in the day. I don't like the splashdown though, where the train is so long it just feels really dull and boring going along a piece of straight track.

Although it was getting darker, it was still a bit too late for a proper night ride on the Beast. Still we were running out of energy and it was either jump in the queue now or wait until after the fireworks which would have been way too late for us seeing as we still had quite a car journey to get to the next hotel. Richard and I waited for back row, we tried to prolong our ride as much as possible. Despite our best efforts we still get a proper night ride. In the station there was definitely a new exciting atmosphere, helped by a loud man with access to the sound system.

Well it was certainly better to wait for it to get dark. Making it harder to see what you're actually doing makes it feel more wild and ridiculous. It had definitely gained speed since our first ride too. We both loved it, it was like an American version of the Ultimate that was actually good and not trying to kill you.

We then walked back to the exit, I love parks at night and Kings Island was no exception.

I really like Kings Island, it has a great selection of rides. I don't think anything was bad apart from maybe that silly kids cred. Yeah some rides were over rated/hyped but I feel like that's becoming the norm with these American parks now. All the staff were great and the park had a nice atmosphere. I would like to head back to this park at some point.

 

[tomahawk]

Do you actually LIKE any coaster? It seems everyone is either meh or bad, except for boomerangs.

Regardless, enjoying the report.

 

[Darren B]

Do you actually LIKE any coaster? It seems everyone is either meh or bad, except for boomerangs.

Regardless, enjoying the report.

Haha, yeah. It does come across that way, especially as Peep seemed to enjoy Invertigo and Vortex more than any of the other coasters at the park.

As for Banshee, I thought it was fantastic, easily the best B&M with an inversion I've been on. And needless to say, it smashes Nemesis out of the park. I think us Brits are very sentimental towards Nemesis and will always think it's one of the better coasters to grace the planet, but in reality, Banshee is a lot better. It has all the forces that Nemesis delivers but has a better drop, layout and restraints. Nemesis is all about the first 3 inversions and the helix, that's it. And although it does those elements brilliantly, Banshees prolonged layout makes it the better coaster.