SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M17aG_Po2Y[/youtube]
"Dixieland Doozy" | Jul 5-10 2010 | Trip Reports
- Thread starter Ian
- Start date
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Joey you're so weird <3
Haha, that video was just soo cute until his anus started bleeding. That's terrible
.
So yep, got home at 2:30 this afternoon as scheduled.. Slept the entire time though! My pictures didn't turn out too great but I'm gonna go sort out my coaster count and then have a long night of trip reporting.
<3 Y'ALLL!
Haha, that video was just soo cute until his anus started bleeding. That's terrible
.So yep, got home at 2:30 this afternoon as scheduled.. Slept the entire time though! My pictures didn't turn out too great but I'm gonna go sort out my coaster count and then have a long night of trip reporting.
<3 Y'ALLL!
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Dixieland Doozy- Day 1 and 2
So Sunday the 4th rolled around, the day I was waiting for! It was the day I was to depart and meet up with CoasterForcers for a week of credz and awesomeness. My bus from Windsor to Youngstown, Ohio was to leave at 5:30, so I got up pretty early, got ready, finished my packing, and drove to the station where some random security guard lady kept filling me in on her life story and medical history. Lovely stuff!
My packing-ness.. Almost complete and ready to go!
Yeah.. It was dark, and early.
Anyway, my bus came on time, a little early in fact, and I was off, but not before crossing customs. All was going swell, until some guy realized he left his luggage across the border. Poor guy, I don't even know what I would do if that happened to me. And then there was an illegal immigrant being sent out of Canada, so him getting his crap checked out took a solid hour, but the best thing about it was that I didn't mind waiting, since I had a four hour layover in the Detroit bus station anyway. But eventually, I arrived:
I waited around from seven until about ten or so, read almost the entire rest of my novel, starved because I didn't have any dollar bills for the vending machines, but soon enough, the other bus finally came.
After a long bus ride later, I had arrived in Youngstown, Ohio, where Snoo picked me up. We knew Marc and Athena would be arriving shortly, and eventually, they got there just over an hour later! We all went out to eat at Cracker Barrel, which was deliciously awesome as usual (seriously, Canada needs to invest).
Yes, Athena's mom and grandma joined!
Once we got back, Marc chillaxed and played some video games like a typical teenage boy.
We then watched College, and went to bed. I had the worst time falling asleep on that damn couch, but I succeeded after about an hour or so.
The next morning we slept in a little bit (well, compared to the rest of the trip, I'd say nine is sleeping in), and then got ready.
I also started off the day with a lovely smash to the skull off of Snoo's demented ceilings.
And what would a Live be without some of this?
(the aftermath, haha.. He doesn't look too impressed. Looks like Marc didn't "do work")
We ventured to Waffle House for breakfast, only to find it very full, so we went across the street to McDonalds instead, a place I feel right at home, haha! Breakfast was over, so we ordered from the lunch menu, in which I got a grilled snack wrap and probably one of the best smoothies of all time. Why can't we have these at Canadian McDonalds?
The four hour drive then commenced, with Marcus at the wheel and some pretty Pennsylvanian mountainous region thigys. Thanks to speedy driving and no traffic, we got to Knoebels just in time!
Awesomely enough, the parking lot was full and we snagged front row parking. DAMN RIGHT!
Ha, fools.
Marc looked awfully happy as he trekked into the park. Maybe that's because we were soon to meet up with Jerry, Aidan, and Gavin!
As those of you at the Live know, I was frightening to meet Gavin, but as soon as I met him I realized he wasn't frightening after all! Maybe it was the cute sunglasses he was sporting. What was scary was the fact that Aidan got about eight thousand feet taller than he was last year. But without further adieu, we got to the ticket gates and got our tickets!
We were going to ride Twister first, but we decided that Phoenix would be Athena's 50th coaster. On the way I saw that Knoebels was actually a nice park, and much bigger than I expected.
Cute Bavarian stuff.
Even cuter people!
We arrived eventually, and I'll say right now that I didn't get good photos of the coasters, but I'm sure you'll see plenty from the others that went! We didn't wait too long, and we were off.
Phoenix
What can I say really? Basic coaster with nothing but buzz bars, but this thing has awesome air, there's no denying that. I was out of my seat and screaming for most of the hills, and all in all, I can see why it gets the good reviews that it does! Not sure if it made my top ten yet, but it made the top fifteen for sure.
After our ride on that, we went over to Twister, but not before taking a look at Flying Turns, which made us all cry a bit on the inside.
Will it ever be done?! Oh well, at least Twister was open.
Twister
Meh.. It certainly wasn't the worst wooden coaster of the trip (that title goes to Hurler), but it wasn't anything to write home about at all. It had some cool features, but really didn't do anything for me.
Getting thirsty, we made out way to the snack bar where I ordered some lemonade. Well, stupid me pays for what I thought was a bottle of lemonade, so I take it and walk away only to realize the guy is calling me back because I actually only paid for a fountain lemonade. I definitely didn't steal it on purpose though.
Here goes my lack of memory, because I really don't remember what we did next. Pretty sure we nabbed the kiddie credit, which was epic on all levels.
Jerry and Gavin got the first train, but the six of us got on the second one, taking up the entire thing. We looked awesome. After that, we rode what I thought would be one of those lame fairground haunted house things, but it was actually awesome, and I even screamed (which actually might not even be surprising since I scream on basically everything).
That skeleton is scary.
Most of us were gettnig hungry, so we found a place to eat!
As we were walking out of the park, I saw a little Asian kid which looked like Aidan when he was small </3 I tried snapping a picture, but it turned out blurry. This might be because I was in a rush, since snapping pictures of random children is a sure sign of a pedophile.
So I ended up in Jerry's car with Gavin and Aidan for the ride to Hershey, where we would spend a few hours for the nighttime preview.
On the way, me and Aidan played some exciting games, which I lost. Except hangman, which I totally dominated, woo (occupation: prostitute. You know you loved it). Soon, we saw these:
It was a sure sign we were getting closer! I didn't take many pictures that night because the night mode on my camera absolutely sucks (which you will shortly see), but we went to Fahrenheit first.
Fahrenheit
I can see why people might find it average, but I really liked it, if only because it was fun and kinda different. It wasn't mindblowing by any means, but the vertical lift was awesome, the drop was amazing, there were some decent pops of airtime, and it carries forces the entire way through. It definitely made my top twenty, maybe top fifteen, but it didn't cut the top ten!
I didn't get many other pictures that night, but here is the run down. We got a night ride on Storm Runner, which is a coaster I have wanted to ride since like, the dawn of the dinosaurs. I didn't even let the insane amount of spiders bother me too much because I was totally pumped.
Storm Runner
The launch on this thing is awesome (and yes I know it doesn't go fifteen miles per hour- MARCUS), and was definitely better than I was expecting. The elements are very cool, especially the flying snake dive, but I have to agree with Jerry- it rides better in the day time simply because you can see your surroundings. Not a rough ride either, I was expecting a bit worse, and seriously, the "now get ready here we go" is just awesome! Another ride that quickly was able to make my top twenty.
Staying on that side of the park, we went to Lightning Racer where we rode many times, and in my case, lost all but one time out of our five or so rides.
Lightning Racer
As everyone says, it's a fun ride, and has a great rerideability factor. The coaster itself is nothing spectacular, though it's extremely impressive to look at in the dark because of all the lights (look at the CF POV to see what I mean)! Even though I lost like almost every time, even after hearing about the shark fin method Jerry told me about (haha kidding, I didn't actually use it), I still had a great time!
So after our many rides on the Lightning that Races, we headed out of the park since we had a full day there the next day as well! It was a short drive to the hotel, where we sat up and chilled for a little while before going to bed.
So, STAY TUNED FOR DAY 3 AND BEYOND!
So Sunday the 4th rolled around, the day I was waiting for! It was the day I was to depart and meet up with CoasterForcers for a week of credz and awesomeness. My bus from Windsor to Youngstown, Ohio was to leave at 5:30, so I got up pretty early, got ready, finished my packing, and drove to the station where some random security guard lady kept filling me in on her life story and medical history. Lovely stuff!
My packing-ness.. Almost complete and ready to go!
Yeah.. It was dark, and early.
Anyway, my bus came on time, a little early in fact, and I was off, but not before crossing customs. All was going swell, until some guy realized he left his luggage across the border. Poor guy, I don't even know what I would do if that happened to me. And then there was an illegal immigrant being sent out of Canada, so him getting his crap checked out took a solid hour, but the best thing about it was that I didn't mind waiting, since I had a four hour layover in the Detroit bus station anyway. But eventually, I arrived:
I waited around from seven until about ten or so, read almost the entire rest of my novel, starved because I didn't have any dollar bills for the vending machines, but soon enough, the other bus finally came.
After a long bus ride later, I had arrived in Youngstown, Ohio, where Snoo picked me up. We knew Marc and Athena would be arriving shortly, and eventually, they got there just over an hour later! We all went out to eat at Cracker Barrel, which was deliciously awesome as usual (seriously, Canada needs to invest).
Yes, Athena's mom and grandma joined!
Once we got back, Marc chillaxed and played some video games like a typical teenage boy.
We then watched College, and went to bed. I had the worst time falling asleep on that damn couch, but I succeeded after about an hour or so.
The next morning we slept in a little bit (well, compared to the rest of the trip, I'd say nine is sleeping in), and then got ready.
I also started off the day with a lovely smash to the skull off of Snoo's demented ceilings.
And what would a Live be without some of this?
(the aftermath, haha.. He doesn't look too impressed. Looks like Marc didn't "do work")
We ventured to Waffle House for breakfast, only to find it very full, so we went across the street to McDonalds instead, a place I feel right at home, haha! Breakfast was over, so we ordered from the lunch menu, in which I got a grilled snack wrap and probably one of the best smoothies of all time. Why can't we have these at Canadian McDonalds?
The four hour drive then commenced, with Marcus at the wheel and some pretty Pennsylvanian mountainous region thigys. Thanks to speedy driving and no traffic, we got to Knoebels just in time!
Awesomely enough, the parking lot was full and we snagged front row parking. DAMN RIGHT!
Ha, fools.
Marc looked awfully happy as he trekked into the park. Maybe that's because we were soon to meet up with Jerry, Aidan, and Gavin!
As those of you at the Live know, I was frightening to meet Gavin, but as soon as I met him I realized he wasn't frightening after all! Maybe it was the cute sunglasses he was sporting. What was scary was the fact that Aidan got about eight thousand feet taller than he was last year. But without further adieu, we got to the ticket gates and got our tickets!
We were going to ride Twister first, but we decided that Phoenix would be Athena's 50th coaster. On the way I saw that Knoebels was actually a nice park, and much bigger than I expected.
Cute Bavarian stuff.
Even cuter people!
We arrived eventually, and I'll say right now that I didn't get good photos of the coasters, but I'm sure you'll see plenty from the others that went! We didn't wait too long, and we were off.
Phoenix
What can I say really? Basic coaster with nothing but buzz bars, but this thing has awesome air, there's no denying that. I was out of my seat and screaming for most of the hills, and all in all, I can see why it gets the good reviews that it does! Not sure if it made my top ten yet, but it made the top fifteen for sure.
After our ride on that, we went over to Twister, but not before taking a look at Flying Turns, which made us all cry a bit on the inside.
Will it ever be done?! Oh well, at least Twister was open.
Twister
Meh.. It certainly wasn't the worst wooden coaster of the trip (that title goes to Hurler), but it wasn't anything to write home about at all. It had some cool features, but really didn't do anything for me.
Getting thirsty, we made out way to the snack bar where I ordered some lemonade. Well, stupid me pays for what I thought was a bottle of lemonade, so I take it and walk away only to realize the guy is calling me back because I actually only paid for a fountain lemonade. I definitely didn't steal it on purpose though.
Here goes my lack of memory, because I really don't remember what we did next. Pretty sure we nabbed the kiddie credit, which was epic on all levels.
Jerry and Gavin got the first train, but the six of us got on the second one, taking up the entire thing. We looked awesome. After that, we rode what I thought would be one of those lame fairground haunted house things, but it was actually awesome, and I even screamed (which actually might not even be surprising since I scream on basically everything).
That skeleton is scary.
Most of us were gettnig hungry, so we found a place to eat!
As we were walking out of the park, I saw a little Asian kid which looked like Aidan when he was small </3 I tried snapping a picture, but it turned out blurry. This might be because I was in a rush, since snapping pictures of random children is a sure sign of a pedophile.
So I ended up in Jerry's car with Gavin and Aidan for the ride to Hershey, where we would spend a few hours for the nighttime preview.
On the way, me and Aidan played some exciting games, which I lost. Except hangman, which I totally dominated, woo (occupation: prostitute. You know you loved it). Soon, we saw these:
It was a sure sign we were getting closer! I didn't take many pictures that night because the night mode on my camera absolutely sucks (which you will shortly see), but we went to Fahrenheit first.
Fahrenheit
I can see why people might find it average, but I really liked it, if only because it was fun and kinda different. It wasn't mindblowing by any means, but the vertical lift was awesome, the drop was amazing, there were some decent pops of airtime, and it carries forces the entire way through. It definitely made my top twenty, maybe top fifteen, but it didn't cut the top ten!
I didn't get many other pictures that night, but here is the run down. We got a night ride on Storm Runner, which is a coaster I have wanted to ride since like, the dawn of the dinosaurs. I didn't even let the insane amount of spiders bother me too much because I was totally pumped.
Storm Runner
The launch on this thing is awesome (and yes I know it doesn't go fifteen miles per hour- MARCUS), and was definitely better than I was expecting. The elements are very cool, especially the flying snake dive, but I have to agree with Jerry- it rides better in the day time simply because you can see your surroundings. Not a rough ride either, I was expecting a bit worse, and seriously, the "now get ready here we go" is just awesome! Another ride that quickly was able to make my top twenty.
Staying on that side of the park, we went to Lightning Racer where we rode many times, and in my case, lost all but one time out of our five or so rides.
Lightning Racer
As everyone says, it's a fun ride, and has a great rerideability factor. The coaster itself is nothing spectacular, though it's extremely impressive to look at in the dark because of all the lights (look at the CF POV to see what I mean)! Even though I lost like almost every time, even after hearing about the shark fin method Jerry told me about (haha kidding, I didn't actually use it), I still had a great time!
So after our many rides on the Lightning that Races, we headed out of the park since we had a full day there the next day as well! It was a short drive to the hotel, where we sat up and chilled for a little while before going to bed.
So, STAY TUNED FOR DAY 3 AND BEYOND!
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
Here's how this is going to work. The trip report is going to be split up into three parts; two parks/days per part. I won't talk too much about the rides I have already been on because you guys could look back at my report from last year. Enough talk.
Day 0. We drove from my house to Marcus's house. It wasn't a bad drive, but nothing exciting. We chilled and went to bed.
Day 1. We got up and slowly got ready. We ended up leaving at around noon. We arrived at Knoebels at around 4:00 to find a packed parking lot. After driving through, we find a spot in the first row of cars right next to the entrance. Our first ride was Phoenix.
Phoenix was a great ride. It's everything that a classic wooden coaster should be. It is extremely smooth, has a good layout, and a ton of airtime. It's one of those rides that gets better as the ride goes on. With only a buzzbar, you leave your seat. On my second ride, I sat next to Gavin, and we were both laughing like giddy little schoolgirls.
Twister is another good ride, although not as good as Phoenix. Twister is pretty unique because of its strange lifthill, which has a 180 degree turnaround half way up. The majority of the ride is inspired by Twister at Elitch Gardens and was full of lateral G's and fun drops and turns. There were quite a few messed up transitions as well.
Kosmo's Kurves was our final credit. For a kiddie coaster, it was really fun, and actually had decent airtime.
We rode the Haunted House ride, which was pretty cool after Kosmo's Kurves.
We ate next. I got the pierogies and an Italian sausage. It was to die for.
We checked out Flying Turns and headed for one more ride on Phoenix. Then we left for Hershey.
We entered Hersheypark at around 8:00 that night and headed straight for Fahrenheit. The line was only around 15 minutes. I enjoyed Fahrenheit a lot. It was fairly smooth, had a variety of elements, and never let up. Overall, I thought it was better than Storm Runner because I thought it had more to offer.
Storm Runner was next. We got on quickly and were off. Storm Runner is fun, fast, and intense, but it's too short and it's starting to be a little painful. After two rides, I figured out that if you grabbed the top of your restraints for the second half like on Maverick, the second half is much better.
Our last ride of the night was Lightning Racer. We got two rides on each side and we had a blast. Both sides are good, and I can't decide which one I like better. Both sides are filled with airtime and laterals. They're gorgeous coasters and I wish they were a bit closer to my house.
Day 2. Temperature: 100F with 95% humidity. We headed straight to Great Bear to get the credit. We waited for front row, which was a mistake. It took a half hour when we could have gotten on in five minutes. Later in the day, the line for the front was much shorter. Great Bear is an interesting ride, but it dies at the end. They could have done a lot more with the layout, but what they did is decent.
We rode Wild Mouse and Wildcat while waiting for Roller Soaker to open. I don't see why people hate on Wildcat so much. It's a great coaster with pops of airtime, laterals, and a good layout.
Half of the group didn't ride Roller Soaker, so we rode Lightning Racer some more. In our two days at Hersheypark, I went 7-1, only losing my last race by the length of the zero car. We went back to Roller Soaker and practiced blasting riders with the geysers. Aidan got so good at it that it looked like he was actually hurting people. We ended up drenching Kevin, Gavin, Athena, and Taylor.
We finished getting the credits next, so not much to say. It was a great day, despite the heat. Now on to photos. Some of my photos have been edited for color or contrast:
Phoenix:
Twister:
Kosmo's Kurves:
My meal:
Flying Turns:
Ferris Wheel:
Park atmosphere:
Now Hersheypark's photos:
Fahrenheit:
Storm Runner:
Lightning Racer:
Wildcat:
SooperDooperLooper:
Great Bear:
Kevin, Athena, Taylor, and Gavin on Great Bear:
Gavin and Aidan on Storm Runner:
Roller Soaker:
Kevin soaked:
Gavin soaked:
Night shots:
Yeah, it's hot out:
Fahrenheit panorama:
And lastly, here's my offride of Fahrenheit:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hGSNehAqc[/youtube]
Enjoy! Part two comes tomorrow.
Day 0. We drove from my house to Marcus's house. It wasn't a bad drive, but nothing exciting. We chilled and went to bed.
Day 1. We got up and slowly got ready. We ended up leaving at around noon. We arrived at Knoebels at around 4:00 to find a packed parking lot. After driving through, we find a spot in the first row of cars right next to the entrance. Our first ride was Phoenix.
Phoenix was a great ride. It's everything that a classic wooden coaster should be. It is extremely smooth, has a good layout, and a ton of airtime. It's one of those rides that gets better as the ride goes on. With only a buzzbar, you leave your seat. On my second ride, I sat next to Gavin, and we were both laughing like giddy little schoolgirls.
Twister is another good ride, although not as good as Phoenix. Twister is pretty unique because of its strange lifthill, which has a 180 degree turnaround half way up. The majority of the ride is inspired by Twister at Elitch Gardens and was full of lateral G's and fun drops and turns. There were quite a few messed up transitions as well.
Kosmo's Kurves was our final credit. For a kiddie coaster, it was really fun, and actually had decent airtime.
We rode the Haunted House ride, which was pretty cool after Kosmo's Kurves.
We ate next. I got the pierogies and an Italian sausage. It was to die for.
We checked out Flying Turns and headed for one more ride on Phoenix. Then we left for Hershey.
We entered Hersheypark at around 8:00 that night and headed straight for Fahrenheit. The line was only around 15 minutes. I enjoyed Fahrenheit a lot. It was fairly smooth, had a variety of elements, and never let up. Overall, I thought it was better than Storm Runner because I thought it had more to offer.
Storm Runner was next. We got on quickly and were off. Storm Runner is fun, fast, and intense, but it's too short and it's starting to be a little painful. After two rides, I figured out that if you grabbed the top of your restraints for the second half like on Maverick, the second half is much better.
Our last ride of the night was Lightning Racer. We got two rides on each side and we had a blast. Both sides are good, and I can't decide which one I like better. Both sides are filled with airtime and laterals. They're gorgeous coasters and I wish they were a bit closer to my house.
Day 2. Temperature: 100F with 95% humidity. We headed straight to Great Bear to get the credit. We waited for front row, which was a mistake. It took a half hour when we could have gotten on in five minutes. Later in the day, the line for the front was much shorter. Great Bear is an interesting ride, but it dies at the end. They could have done a lot more with the layout, but what they did is decent.
We rode Wild Mouse and Wildcat while waiting for Roller Soaker to open. I don't see why people hate on Wildcat so much. It's a great coaster with pops of airtime, laterals, and a good layout.
Half of the group didn't ride Roller Soaker, so we rode Lightning Racer some more. In our two days at Hersheypark, I went 7-1, only losing my last race by the length of the zero car. We went back to Roller Soaker and practiced blasting riders with the geysers. Aidan got so good at it that it looked like he was actually hurting people. We ended up drenching Kevin, Gavin, Athena, and Taylor.
We finished getting the credits next, so not much to say. It was a great day, despite the heat. Now on to photos. Some of my photos have been edited for color or contrast:
Phoenix:
Twister:
Kosmo's Kurves:
My meal:
Flying Turns:
Ferris Wheel:
Park atmosphere:
Now Hersheypark's photos:
Fahrenheit:
Storm Runner:
Lightning Racer:
Wildcat:
SooperDooperLooper:
Great Bear:
Kevin, Athena, Taylor, and Gavin on Great Bear:
Gavin and Aidan on Storm Runner:
Roller Soaker:
Kevin soaked:
Gavin soaked:
Night shots:
Yeah, it's hot out:
Fahrenheit panorama:
And lastly, here's my offride of Fahrenheit:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hGSNehAqc[/youtube]
Enjoy! Part two comes tomorrow.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
His Primark sunnies are awesome, don't be hatin!
Anywhoooo, I'm uploading the rest of my pictures later today so I should be finishing them after, or at least the next part. My stupid scanner won't let me scan the on rides either.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
^ Yes, Gavin told me! :lol: And after being on a site for five years with 90% of the people being from Britain, I caught on anyways, haha.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
DAY 3 - MORE HERSHEY
So Tuesday was a day full of more Hershey. Since the hotel was only about twenty minutes from the park, we got to sleep in a little bit, so we ended up arriving just after opening.
Bye bye, Comfort Inn!
All the signs that we were at the park!
Walking to the rides.
Since it was daylight, I was able to appreciate the nice atmosphere more. But, we had a destination in mind- Great Bear, the park's inverted coaster!
The entire area where Great Bear is situated is really nice, because it just looks like a big tangle of rides sitting near water. Fortunately, the line was really short. Unfortunately, the loading and unloading took forever, so we waited quite a while, though not to fear, for I snapped a few pictures while we were in line!
Me and the Gavinator!
Gavin in front of Great Bear.
And finally, we were able to ride!
Great Bear
I think the fact that I went on the ride expecting absolutely nothing contributed to the fact that I really loved it. I love the area that it's situated, I love the first drop, the elements are forceful, and I didn't think it died too much at the end, at least not much more than some other inverts I've been on do. The only bad thing was the slow loading and unloading, but in the end it's one of my favourite inverted coasters, probably second to Afterburn.
Since Roller Soaker gets really long lines, we decided to hit that up in hopes that they would be a bit shorter, since the day was just beginning. It was broken when we got there, and stupidly, we walked away to ride Wild Mouse and Wildcat instead.
Wildcat
Not listening to Jerry when he said to ride in the front was my first mistake. It was a bit rough, but it definitely had a good layout and I believe it would have been much better in the front. That's about all I have to say on it.
While in line, we noticed Roller Soaker was open, so we went back to ride. Only me, Gavin, Athena, and Kevin rode, since everyone else had their credits. They also wanted to reride Lightning Racer and shoot some water at us! The wait was about an hour and a half, but it sure felt nice to cool off.
Walking to it!
Sidewinder was next, a typical Boomerang coaster. Not the best, but not the worst either.
I really can't remember any order to what we did after that, but I know rode some Storm Runner after that, which was awesome during the day! We also rode Trailblazer, which was boring as hell.
Since Comet was a walkon, we rode that as well! Just an average wooden coaster, nothing spectacular.
We were gettnig pretty hungry after that, so we went to eat some sandwiches.. The thought of spending twelve bucks on one was kinda sad, but oh well. Pretty sure we nabbed our SooperDooperLooper credit after that, which was nothing spectacular, but it was still a good time.
Since Coal Cracker was right there, we rode that too. It kinda failed as a water ride since we didn't get very wet, but the fact that it's a skimmer or whatever was fairly interesting.
After a Fahrenheit reride, we ended up in the arcade. These two boys played a game.. Aidan lost.
We also played a shooter, and sadly I lost, but that was clearly a fluke. It was probably the worst shooter I had ever done, so clearly that is why my score was so low. :lol:
We headed out after that to our hotel in Front Royal, Virginia.
We went swimming for like, fifteen minutes, which ended up being stupid considering the scary lady, Rose, came out and scolded us because she thought we weren't actually staying in the hotel. So once that was cleared up, we chilled in our room and eventually went to bed!
NEXT UP-- KINGS DOMINION AND INTIMIDATOR 305!
So Tuesday was a day full of more Hershey. Since the hotel was only about twenty minutes from the park, we got to sleep in a little bit, so we ended up arriving just after opening.
Bye bye, Comfort Inn!
All the signs that we were at the park!
Walking to the rides.
Since it was daylight, I was able to appreciate the nice atmosphere more. But, we had a destination in mind- Great Bear, the park's inverted coaster!
The entire area where Great Bear is situated is really nice, because it just looks like a big tangle of rides sitting near water. Fortunately, the line was really short. Unfortunately, the loading and unloading took forever, so we waited quite a while, though not to fear, for I snapped a few pictures while we were in line!
Me and the Gavinator!
Gavin in front of Great Bear.
And finally, we were able to ride!
Great Bear
I think the fact that I went on the ride expecting absolutely nothing contributed to the fact that I really loved it. I love the area that it's situated, I love the first drop, the elements are forceful, and I didn't think it died too much at the end, at least not much more than some other inverts I've been on do. The only bad thing was the slow loading and unloading, but in the end it's one of my favourite inverted coasters, probably second to Afterburn.
Since Roller Soaker gets really long lines, we decided to hit that up in hopes that they would be a bit shorter, since the day was just beginning. It was broken when we got there, and stupidly, we walked away to ride Wild Mouse and Wildcat instead.
Wildcat
Not listening to Jerry when he said to ride in the front was my first mistake. It was a bit rough, but it definitely had a good layout and I believe it would have been much better in the front. That's about all I have to say on it.
While in line, we noticed Roller Soaker was open, so we went back to ride. Only me, Gavin, Athena, and Kevin rode, since everyone else had their credits. They also wanted to reride Lightning Racer and shoot some water at us! The wait was about an hour and a half, but it sure felt nice to cool off.
Walking to it!
Sidewinder was next, a typical Boomerang coaster. Not the best, but not the worst either.
I really can't remember any order to what we did after that, but I know rode some Storm Runner after that, which was awesome during the day! We also rode Trailblazer, which was boring as hell.
Since Comet was a walkon, we rode that as well! Just an average wooden coaster, nothing spectacular.
We were gettnig pretty hungry after that, so we went to eat some sandwiches.. The thought of spending twelve bucks on one was kinda sad, but oh well. Pretty sure we nabbed our SooperDooperLooper credit after that, which was nothing spectacular, but it was still a good time.
Since Coal Cracker was right there, we rode that too. It kinda failed as a water ride since we didn't get very wet, but the fact that it's a skimmer or whatever was fairly interesting.
After a Fahrenheit reride, we ended up in the arcade. These two boys played a game.. Aidan lost.
We also played a shooter, and sadly I lost, but that was clearly a fluke. It was probably the worst shooter I had ever done, so clearly that is why my score was so low. :lol:
We headed out after that to our hotel in Front Royal, Virginia.
We went swimming for like, fifteen minutes, which ended up being stupid considering the scary lady, Rose, came out and scolded us because she thought we weren't actually staying in the hotel. So once that was cleared up, we chilled in our room and eventually went to bed!
NEXT UP-- KINGS DOMINION AND INTIMIDATOR 305!
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
Day 3. Temperature: 105*. We arrived at King's Dominion with a bit of time to spare. We headed to the gate, got our walk on passes, tried to finish our chocolate that we bought the day before, and waited. Our first ride was Dominator, which is still a great ride. The corkscrews are a bit rough, but the ride is overall fast and intense.
We headed to the Eiffel Tower so we could go to 305 early. There were only three people ahead of us in line. It was great. We all waited for the front row and enjoyed the ride for the most part. The ride can be better, but it's still the best ride in the park. It's fast and forceful, yet graceful at the same time. The trip was centered around this ride and I thought it was fitting. Hopefully they can figure out their wheel problem so the trims can be removed, because the ride would be absolutely nuts without them. The restraints are also super comfortable. They make the transitions enjoyable and don't hurt one bit.
Next was Volcano, which is still a good ride. The launches are awesome and the rolls are very fun. It's a shame that the ride enters the brakes with so much speed though.
Due to rides that were still not open, we walked to the other side of the park, only to walk back and forth probably a total of five times. I did not ride Shockwave, Hurler, or Scooby's Ghoster Coaster(it's called that, right?). Grizzly was ok, Drop Tower was ok, Backlot was ok, Anaconda was ok, and Avalanche was the only roller coaster that we could legitimately cuddle on. We also rode the rapids ride to cool off and we got soaked. After the rapids, we rode the flying scooters, which weren't the best(wait until you hear about the ones at Carowinds).
Obviously, we went up the Eiffel Tower to take pictures. I absolutely loved my 10x zoom. I also loved my digital zoom, which allowed me to take photos at 40x.
We rode Dominator a bit more and headed out. We stopped at Five Guys which was delicious as always.
Day 4. Temperature: 97*ish. Busch Gardens was on the agenda today. We entered the park and headed straight for Griffon. Griffon is still the same lovely ride with a great drop. The layout is awesome and the ride is very forceful. There were gforce meters on all the rides at BGE and the one on Griffon hit 4g at least three times.
Alpengeist was next. There was a trim on at the top of the drop, which I don't remember from last year, but the ride was still super intense. The theme is absolutely awesome as well.
We headed to Apollo's Chariot and once again, it didn't disappoint. Everybody finally realized why I love this ride so much when we rode in back, which offers great airtime, especially on the last drop.
Everybody got their cred on Grover next. Then we headed to the Festhaus to eat. I got sausage with kraut, red cabbage, chocolate cake, mozzarella sticks, and a large powerade. Absolutely lush.
We got our Loch Ness Monster cred and then rode the train. We got to see where Drachen Fire used to be. We then rode the boat ride afterward and saw where Big Bad Wolf used to be. It's a shame that it's gone. We then headed for Europe in the Air to check it out. It was a fairly long queue and the ride ended up being dreadfully horrible. The filming sucked, was at 2x speed, and they only showed about half of Europe. Don't ride it, even if it's a walk on.
Rerides on Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot followed. Escape from Pompeii was next, which was pretty cool. We then headed for Griffon for two more rides. On one of them, Joey decided to cross his leg. Kyle followed, as well as Athena, Marcus, and Taylor. After that, we all had to join in. We had 10 in our group this day, and we were all sitting in the front row. We all held our legs crossed the same way for the entire ride, and our photo turned out amazing. Hopefully it will end up on the CF banner.
We left afterward. We had a long drive to Carowinds, so we had to hit the road. During the drive, Athena had to take a leak, so we stopped at a gas station. While we were there, a group of gangsters pulled in and started talking with another group by an open trunk. There were also some white boys sitting in a car with their shirts off starting at us. It was pretty interesting. We made it to our hotel safe and sound though.
On to pictures:
Taylor, Gavin, Marcus, and Jerry enjoying Dominator:
Dominator:
Intimidator 305:
Crazy, yet smooth transitions:
Marcus and Kevin enjoying their ride:
Volcano:
We were stopping for water after nearly every ride:
Gavin and Aidan enjoying Backlot:
I thought of Taylor when I saw this:
Drop Tower:
The Crypt:
From the top of the Eiffel Tower:
Front entrance night shot. Absolutely beautiful:
Griffon:
Griffon and Alpengeist:
Alpengeist:
Apollo's Chariot:
Enjoying Grover:
Where Big Bad Wolf used to be:
This explains a lot:
And lastly, a group shot:
Enjoy! The final part comes tomorrow!
We headed to the Eiffel Tower so we could go to 305 early. There were only three people ahead of us in line. It was great. We all waited for the front row and enjoyed the ride for the most part. The ride can be better, but it's still the best ride in the park. It's fast and forceful, yet graceful at the same time. The trip was centered around this ride and I thought it was fitting. Hopefully they can figure out their wheel problem so the trims can be removed, because the ride would be absolutely nuts without them. The restraints are also super comfortable. They make the transitions enjoyable and don't hurt one bit.
Next was Volcano, which is still a good ride. The launches are awesome and the rolls are very fun. It's a shame that the ride enters the brakes with so much speed though.
Due to rides that were still not open, we walked to the other side of the park, only to walk back and forth probably a total of five times. I did not ride Shockwave, Hurler, or Scooby's Ghoster Coaster(it's called that, right?). Grizzly was ok, Drop Tower was ok, Backlot was ok, Anaconda was ok, and Avalanche was the only roller coaster that we could legitimately cuddle on. We also rode the rapids ride to cool off and we got soaked. After the rapids, we rode the flying scooters, which weren't the best(wait until you hear about the ones at Carowinds).
Obviously, we went up the Eiffel Tower to take pictures. I absolutely loved my 10x zoom. I also loved my digital zoom, which allowed me to take photos at 40x.
We rode Dominator a bit more and headed out. We stopped at Five Guys which was delicious as always.
Day 4. Temperature: 97*ish. Busch Gardens was on the agenda today. We entered the park and headed straight for Griffon. Griffon is still the same lovely ride with a great drop. The layout is awesome and the ride is very forceful. There were gforce meters on all the rides at BGE and the one on Griffon hit 4g at least three times.
Alpengeist was next. There was a trim on at the top of the drop, which I don't remember from last year, but the ride was still super intense. The theme is absolutely awesome as well.
We headed to Apollo's Chariot and once again, it didn't disappoint. Everybody finally realized why I love this ride so much when we rode in back, which offers great airtime, especially on the last drop.
Everybody got their cred on Grover next. Then we headed to the Festhaus to eat. I got sausage with kraut, red cabbage, chocolate cake, mozzarella sticks, and a large powerade. Absolutely lush.
We got our Loch Ness Monster cred and then rode the train. We got to see where Drachen Fire used to be. We then rode the boat ride afterward and saw where Big Bad Wolf used to be. It's a shame that it's gone. We then headed for Europe in the Air to check it out. It was a fairly long queue and the ride ended up being dreadfully horrible. The filming sucked, was at 2x speed, and they only showed about half of Europe. Don't ride it, even if it's a walk on.
Rerides on Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot followed. Escape from Pompeii was next, which was pretty cool. We then headed for Griffon for two more rides. On one of them, Joey decided to cross his leg. Kyle followed, as well as Athena, Marcus, and Taylor. After that, we all had to join in. We had 10 in our group this day, and we were all sitting in the front row. We all held our legs crossed the same way for the entire ride, and our photo turned out amazing. Hopefully it will end up on the CF banner.
We left afterward. We had a long drive to Carowinds, so we had to hit the road. During the drive, Athena had to take a leak, so we stopped at a gas station. While we were there, a group of gangsters pulled in and started talking with another group by an open trunk. There were also some white boys sitting in a car with their shirts off starting at us. It was pretty interesting. We made it to our hotel safe and sound though.
On to pictures:
Taylor, Gavin, Marcus, and Jerry enjoying Dominator:
Dominator:
Intimidator 305:
Crazy, yet smooth transitions:
Marcus and Kevin enjoying their ride:
Volcano:
We were stopping for water after nearly every ride:
Gavin and Aidan enjoying Backlot:
I thought of Taylor when I saw this:
Drop Tower:
The Crypt:
From the top of the Eiffel Tower:
Front entrance night shot. Absolutely beautiful:
Griffon:
Griffon and Alpengeist:
Alpengeist:
Apollo's Chariot:
Enjoying Grover:
Where Big Bad Wolf used to be:
This explains a lot:
And lastly, a group shot:
Enjoy! The final part comes tomorrow!
Reading through these reports is getting me sooooo psyched for the next Live in a few weeks. It looks like you're all having such a great time and I cannot wait to be able to join in the fun!
Tell me its been repainted brown or has it actually faded that badly?
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
^ Oo it's gonna be epic, Hixee!
And no, it hasn't been repainted, but it doesn't look brown in person, nor do I think it looks brown there, either. Time to get your eyes checked .
And no, it hasn't been repainted, but it doesn't look brown in person, nor do I think it looks brown there, either. Time to get your eyes checked
.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
DAY 4- KINGS DOMINION!
Woke up, got ready, the usual. Went to have some breakfast at the front, which was good as always (I seriously love hotel breakfasts.. No idea why, maybe because it's free).
As we drove to the park, I was still quite excited about the mountains.
But forget about the mountains, we had arrived and I-305 was just around the corner!
Here is Athena walking into the park.
When we got there, Gavin had to get his season pass, which took all but a second. We then went to get our Walk on Wednesday tickets, which we ended up not even using since the lines were short anyway.
Now it was time to just sit, and wait at the front gates. The park hadn't opened yet, so I took some pictures in the meantime.
After they played the National Anthem, we were ready to roll. We hit up Dominator first, since it was the closest thing to the front gates, and they hadn't yet let guests over to the area where I-305 is. Shame that Dommy wasn't a new credit, but I still really like it, and it's one of my favourite B&M coasters.
We headed over to I-305 after that, which was a long walk to the back of the park, but awesomely enough, it was more or less a walk on, so we all waited for the front row. I was upset because I had to ride alone, but Danny (madhjsp) came along to save the day!
Walking there.
Getting closer!
I-305
When I first saw the layout to this coaster, I wasn't convinced, but then when it opened, I heard great reviews. That was when I became pumped to ride this thing, but then they decided to install trims. Damnit, I wish I rode this thing before then, because the first drop is completely ruined, and now it has almost no airtime. Millennium Force's drop is lightyears better, but I have to say, the turn after the drop is wicked awesome and I can only imagine what it would be like going at full speed. The rest of the layout is really fun, full of high speed turns, but it just doesn't cut it, because for such a big and impressive looking coaster.. It doesn't deliver as much as it should. Still though, it's a top thirty coaster probably, but without the trims I bet it would have cut at least the top ten.
Volcano was next, a coaster I have heard a lot about but always wondered why everyone thought it was so good. We waited about fourty minutes, and then boarded out train.
Volcano
I liked it, but it wasn't anything special. The concept of launching twice and then coming out of the volcano is really neat, and the inline twists are a lot of fun, but it could have used to be a bit longer maybe. Definitely not like anything I have ever been on, but not one of my personal favourites. The theming is really awesome though... And guys... I now know that it's real fire, but not real rock :lol: .
After discovering that Anaconda was closed, we headed over to Shockwave, the stand up, and even though I really enjoy the one at Canada's Wonderland, I now understand why people don't like them. The drop and the loop are awesome on this, but the helix and the stupid bunny hills administer a good deal of pain.
Pretty sure we went to the drop tower next, something I was not looking forward to. It was a short line, so we got on, went up, and dropped down. I didn't think the ride was as good as the one at Kings Island, but I was probably too scared to even consider how good or bad of a ride it actually was. The height is amazing though, but the fact that the seats don't rotate is kind of a bummer.
After riding Back Lot Stunt Coaster, a ride I've always enjoyed (and a ride which completed my trio of Backlot clones), I believe we went to Hurler next, which sucked and didn't deserve any pictures taken of it. It was just a crappy, airtimeless, rough, jackhammering ride. Cedar Fair really needs to get a good wooden coaster one of these days, because with the exception of Beast, most of them are either average, or they suck. But the good thing about Hurler is that once we got off, I got to meet Joey and Kyle! Yayy!
Since Ricochet was right there, we jumped on that. It was nothing special, just your standard, scary, run-of-the-mill Wild Mouse coaster. And yes, I'm serious, these coasters scare the crap out of me.
Once again, not really sure if I am getting the order correct, but we noticed that Anaconda was running, so we went to ride that. I wasn't exactly impressed with it, but it wasn't the worst Arrow I have ever been on, either.
We went to check out Intimidator to see if we could snag a re-ride, but it ended up being closed. While we were deciding what to do, I took a picture with Danny before he had to leave (CF > camp, just saying) !
We rode Flight of Fear after that, which was good fun as usual. I think these rides are very underrated, but to each his own, I guess!
Hunger was setting in once again, so we found an airconditioned place to eat, because at that point I think we would have rather eaten dog poo inside where it was cold, than a good meal outside in the scorching heat. But, we didn't actually eat dog poo, we ate pizza (or a salad, if you're Gavin) and chilled out for a while.
We went back to the part of the park where Avalanche and Volcano are located, doing a reride on Volcano, nabbing our Avalanche credit, and riding Crypt. Avalanche turned out to be a fun surprise, actually!
Rebel Yell was next, a coaster which was sadly only running trains on one track, our first missed cred.
I think we went over to the kiddie section of the park to get the Ghoster Coaster credit, and to ride the shooter. Ghoster Coaster was nothing to write home about considering I've been on many clones, and I lost the shooter, which was, once again, a complete FLUKE. But since it was hot out, we thought White Water Canyon would be a good choice.
Well, I enjoyed it, but a lot of the boys who were wearing shoes and socks didn't like it very much. Suck it up, I say!
We saw the flyers, and I thought "meh, these can't be that good, they look kinda boring," until I realized that you can actually control the direction that they fly in. They were much fun, but didn't compare to the ones at Carowinds, as we found out later in the week!
Grizzly came next, a coaster that has good potential, a nice layout, and a decent setting, but is a bit jerky.
Everyone was talking about getting ice cream, so rather than riding something, we chose to relax and enjoy a cold treat, except I didn't eat one, because I hate ice cream, so instead, I took pictures!
Aww cuties <3
After walking through Treasure Cave or whatever, which was amusing and retarded at the same time, and doing some Intimidator re-rides, we rode the Eiffel Tower, which was scary, but provided some really nice views of the park.
Hey, Marcus!
After a few more rerides on Dominator and Grizzly, we decided it was time to call it a day, and it was a long one at that. Although Kings Dominion has a lot of coasters, not many of them are good quality (kind of like my posts, haha), and the day itself was a bit too hot to fully enjoy. Either way, it's not the worst Cedar Fair park I've been to (that title goes to Carowinds), but it's certainly not the best. Even though we were all pretty burnt out, hot, and tired by the end of the day, we did have room in our stomachs for Five Guys, which has amazing burgers!
So stayed tuned for Busch and Carowinds, which will be done all in one considering I didn't get many pictures at Busch!
DAY 5- Busch Gardens Europe
I was looking forward to this park more than any other I am planning on going to this summer, and it really did not disappoint. I'm just sad that I didn't take many pictures, since I had to leave my stuff in a locker all day.
The red telephone booth made Gavin feel right at home :lol: .
We got there shortly after opening, and headed straight towards Griffon, which was located near the back of the park. Even though it was a long walk, as soon as I got close to it, I started getting kind of nervous, but excited at the same time, since I had wanted to ride it for ages. We waited for Jerry and Aidan to meet up with us after sorting out some season pass issues, which didn't take long at all, and soon enough, we were in line. We waited about two trains for the front row, and I was able to snag the outer left seat, which made for an interesting experience (seeing no track under you is kind of strange).
Griffon
For a fairly short ride, it's quite awesome. The first drop is definitely one of the best I have ever been on, in the front for the awesome holding break, and in the back for the amazing airtime. The other elements are taken smooth, and the bunny hop as well as the second drop provide good air as well. I love the end seats, because it really makes for an experience you can't get from any other coaster, besides other Dive Machines, obviously. Overall, I'd be surprised if it didn't make my top twenty at least.
After doing a back row re-ride on Griffon, we went over to Alpengeist, where we rode in both the back, and the front, thanks to the short lines. Before you even get in the queue though, you can already see the effort they put into theming the coaster, which is always a bonus.
On the way.
Alpengeist
I think the situation with this coaster is the exact opposite of what happened with Great Bear. I expected so much from it, and for me, it just didn't deliver as much as I hoped. The elements are strong, the interaction with the ground and theming is nice, but it didn't seem lightyears above all the other inverted coasters like many people had me believing. So basically, this is a prime example of why you shouldn't hold any high expectations of a coaster before riding, because I know I would have enjoyed it a heck of a lot more if I hadn't gone on it expecting something mind blowing. Still, it's a top thirty, without a doubt.
As we headed over to DarKastle, I saw more nice theming, and the cutest playground!
Every go "awwww."
So we got to DarKastle, and I really had no idea what the ride even was. All I really knew was that it looked awesome from the outside, so it had to be pretty cool. It turned out to be a 3D dark ride, and even though some of the 3D effects were kind of blurry, it ended up being a lot of funny, and really trippy at that! I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it wasn't perfect.
We decided that we were gonna head for Apollo's Chariot next, so off to Italy we went!
On the way, we went over the river.
After one breakdown and about thirty minutes later, we got on the front row.
Apollo's Chariot
I always found it weird, because back a few years ago, everybody raved about how much this coaster blew every other one of its type out of the water. Recently though, people have been saying how much it doesn't even compare to its counterparts. My first ride, I have to say, I didn't enjoy it that much. It was fun, but the airtime was lacking and it didn't live up to what I thought it would be. The second time I rode it, however, was quite nice, packed a lot of airtime, and was just good fun. So even though it still falls under Behemoth and Diamondback, it's one of the better ones for sure, and if you're gonna ride it, ride it in the back!
That's more or less the end of my Busch pictures, but we did go to eat after that. I decided to be all healthy and have a salad, but then I ended up eating cheese sticks and a few bites of cake. I really liked this eating area because they had a dancing show going on, and it really fit with the German theming!
After eating, we took the sky ride to Sesame Street where we met back up with Joey and Kyle, who were clearly super excited to get their Grover's Alpine Express credit! So after a quick bathroom break, we went on that, which was a pretty boring kiddie credit.
We decided to ride some Nessie after that, which ended up being one of my favourite Arrow coasters, and by far, the smoothest! I didn't get any headbanding, it's impressive looking, and the indoor section is pretty fun.
Relaxation ensued shortly after with a trip around the park on the train, and a boat ride on the river, which was scary considering I hate being on water. Either way, both things provided a nice view of the park, and some much needed rest after what was one of the hottest weeks I had experienced thus far.
Since all of the credits were already gotten, we re-rode Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, and Griffon, and on the latter, got an awesome on ride photo, which Jerry will post up eventually! We rode Escape from Pompeii, too, and even though I didn't want to get wet, I still had a fun time on it, and it was still a good ride. Since I wasn't that wet after the drop, I looked up to brag about how I stayed dry, only to see a wall of water coming my way, a near miss by Marcus who was using the water cannon. HA! FAIL!
We also went on Europe in the Air, a motion simulator ride where you're suppose to be flying over Europe. Even though we waited fourty minutes for it, we didn't really mind since it was in an air conditioned building!
The ride itself was kinda lame, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I quite like motion simulators, so even though this one was kinda whack, it was still fun.
Soon enough, it was time to depart, and after walking to the front of the park, we had to say goodbye to Joey and Kyle, two little cuties who I had grown to like a lot after spending two days with them! Joey also gave me a lovely souvenier (a string from his bracelet) which I shall cherish forever!
Then it was off to Carolina, to hotel it up and get ready for Carowinds the next day!
Stay tuned for the last part- Carowinds and Dollywood!
Woke up, got ready, the usual. Went to have some breakfast at the front, which was good as always (I seriously love hotel breakfasts.. No idea why, maybe because it's free).
As we drove to the park, I was still quite excited about the mountains.
But forget about the mountains, we had arrived and I-305 was just around the corner!
Here is Athena walking into the park.
When we got there, Gavin had to get his season pass, which took all but a second. We then went to get our Walk on Wednesday tickets, which we ended up not even using since the lines were short anyway.
Now it was time to just sit, and wait at the front gates. The park hadn't opened yet, so I took some pictures in the meantime.
After they played the National Anthem, we were ready to roll. We hit up Dominator first, since it was the closest thing to the front gates, and they hadn't yet let guests over to the area where I-305 is. Shame that Dommy wasn't a new credit, but I still really like it, and it's one of my favourite B&M coasters.
We headed over to I-305 after that, which was a long walk to the back of the park, but awesomely enough, it was more or less a walk on, so we all waited for the front row. I was upset because I had to ride alone, but Danny (madhjsp) came along to save the day!
Walking there.
Getting closer!
I-305
When I first saw the layout to this coaster, I wasn't convinced, but then when it opened, I heard great reviews. That was when I became pumped to ride this thing, but then they decided to install trims. Damnit, I wish I rode this thing before then, because the first drop is completely ruined, and now it has almost no airtime. Millennium Force's drop is lightyears better, but I have to say, the turn after the drop is wicked awesome and I can only imagine what it would be like going at full speed. The rest of the layout is really fun, full of high speed turns, but it just doesn't cut it, because for such a big and impressive looking coaster.. It doesn't deliver as much as it should. Still though, it's a top thirty coaster probably, but without the trims I bet it would have cut at least the top ten.
Volcano was next, a coaster I have heard a lot about but always wondered why everyone thought it was so good. We waited about fourty minutes, and then boarded out train.
Volcano
I liked it, but it wasn't anything special. The concept of launching twice and then coming out of the volcano is really neat, and the inline twists are a lot of fun, but it could have used to be a bit longer maybe. Definitely not like anything I have ever been on, but not one of my personal favourites. The theming is really awesome though... And guys... I now know that it's real fire, but not real rock :lol: .
After discovering that Anaconda was closed, we headed over to Shockwave, the stand up, and even though I really enjoy the one at Canada's Wonderland, I now understand why people don't like them. The drop and the loop are awesome on this, but the helix and the stupid bunny hills administer a good deal of pain.
Pretty sure we went to the drop tower next, something I was not looking forward to. It was a short line, so we got on, went up, and dropped down. I didn't think the ride was as good as the one at Kings Island, but I was probably too scared to even consider how good or bad of a ride it actually was. The height is amazing though, but the fact that the seats don't rotate is kind of a bummer.
After riding Back Lot Stunt Coaster, a ride I've always enjoyed (and a ride which completed my trio of Backlot clones), I believe we went to Hurler next, which sucked and didn't deserve any pictures taken of it. It was just a crappy, airtimeless, rough, jackhammering ride. Cedar Fair really needs to get a good wooden coaster one of these days, because with the exception of Beast, most of them are either average, or they suck. But the good thing about Hurler is that once we got off, I got to meet Joey and Kyle! Yayy!
Since Ricochet was right there, we jumped on that. It was nothing special, just your standard, scary, run-of-the-mill Wild Mouse coaster. And yes, I'm serious, these coasters scare the crap out of me.
Once again, not really sure if I am getting the order correct, but we noticed that Anaconda was running, so we went to ride that. I wasn't exactly impressed with it, but it wasn't the worst Arrow I have ever been on, either.
We went to check out Intimidator to see if we could snag a re-ride, but it ended up being closed. While we were deciding what to do, I took a picture with Danny before he had to leave (CF > camp, just saying) !
We rode Flight of Fear after that, which was good fun as usual. I think these rides are very underrated, but to each his own, I guess!
Hunger was setting in once again, so we found an airconditioned place to eat, because at that point I think we would have rather eaten dog poo inside where it was cold, than a good meal outside in the scorching heat. But, we didn't actually eat dog poo, we ate pizza (or a salad, if you're Gavin) and chilled out for a while.
We went back to the part of the park where Avalanche and Volcano are located, doing a reride on Volcano, nabbing our Avalanche credit, and riding Crypt. Avalanche turned out to be a fun surprise, actually!
Rebel Yell was next, a coaster which was sadly only running trains on one track, our first missed cred.
I think we went over to the kiddie section of the park to get the Ghoster Coaster credit, and to ride the shooter. Ghoster Coaster was nothing to write home about considering I've been on many clones, and I lost the shooter, which was, once again, a complete FLUKE. But since it was hot out, we thought White Water Canyon would be a good choice.
Well, I enjoyed it, but a lot of the boys who were wearing shoes and socks didn't like it very much. Suck it up, I say!
We saw the flyers, and I thought "meh, these can't be that good, they look kinda boring," until I realized that you can actually control the direction that they fly in. They were much fun, but didn't compare to the ones at Carowinds, as we found out later in the week!
Grizzly came next, a coaster that has good potential, a nice layout, and a decent setting, but is a bit jerky.
Everyone was talking about getting ice cream, so rather than riding something, we chose to relax and enjoy a cold treat, except I didn't eat one, because I hate ice cream, so instead, I took pictures!
Aww cuties <3
After walking through Treasure Cave or whatever, which was amusing and retarded at the same time, and doing some Intimidator re-rides, we rode the Eiffel Tower, which was scary, but provided some really nice views of the park.
Hey, Marcus!
After a few more rerides on Dominator and Grizzly, we decided it was time to call it a day, and it was a long one at that. Although Kings Dominion has a lot of coasters, not many of them are good quality (kind of like my posts, haha), and the day itself was a bit too hot to fully enjoy. Either way, it's not the worst Cedar Fair park I've been to (that title goes to Carowinds), but it's certainly not the best. Even though we were all pretty burnt out, hot, and tired by the end of the day, we did have room in our stomachs for Five Guys, which has amazing burgers!
So stayed tuned for Busch and Carowinds, which will be done all in one considering I didn't get many pictures at Busch!
DAY 5- Busch Gardens Europe
I was looking forward to this park more than any other I am planning on going to this summer, and it really did not disappoint. I'm just sad that I didn't take many pictures, since I had to leave my stuff in a locker all day.
The red telephone booth made Gavin feel right at home :lol: .
We got there shortly after opening, and headed straight towards Griffon, which was located near the back of the park. Even though it was a long walk, as soon as I got close to it, I started getting kind of nervous, but excited at the same time, since I had wanted to ride it for ages. We waited for Jerry and Aidan to meet up with us after sorting out some season pass issues, which didn't take long at all, and soon enough, we were in line. We waited about two trains for the front row, and I was able to snag the outer left seat, which made for an interesting experience (seeing no track under you is kind of strange).
Griffon
For a fairly short ride, it's quite awesome. The first drop is definitely one of the best I have ever been on, in the front for the awesome holding break, and in the back for the amazing airtime. The other elements are taken smooth, and the bunny hop as well as the second drop provide good air as well. I love the end seats, because it really makes for an experience you can't get from any other coaster, besides other Dive Machines, obviously. Overall, I'd be surprised if it didn't make my top twenty at least.
After doing a back row re-ride on Griffon, we went over to Alpengeist, where we rode in both the back, and the front, thanks to the short lines. Before you even get in the queue though, you can already see the effort they put into theming the coaster, which is always a bonus.
On the way.
Alpengeist
I think the situation with this coaster is the exact opposite of what happened with Great Bear. I expected so much from it, and for me, it just didn't deliver as much as I hoped. The elements are strong, the interaction with the ground and theming is nice, but it didn't seem lightyears above all the other inverted coasters like many people had me believing. So basically, this is a prime example of why you shouldn't hold any high expectations of a coaster before riding, because I know I would have enjoyed it a heck of a lot more if I hadn't gone on it expecting something mind blowing. Still, it's a top thirty, without a doubt.
As we headed over to DarKastle, I saw more nice theming, and the cutest playground!
Every go "awwww."
So we got to DarKastle, and I really had no idea what the ride even was. All I really knew was that it looked awesome from the outside, so it had to be pretty cool. It turned out to be a 3D dark ride, and even though some of the 3D effects were kind of blurry, it ended up being a lot of funny, and really trippy at that! I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it wasn't perfect.
We decided that we were gonna head for Apollo's Chariot next, so off to Italy we went!
On the way, we went over the river.
After one breakdown and about thirty minutes later, we got on the front row.
Apollo's Chariot
I always found it weird, because back a few years ago, everybody raved about how much this coaster blew every other one of its type out of the water. Recently though, people have been saying how much it doesn't even compare to its counterparts. My first ride, I have to say, I didn't enjoy it that much. It was fun, but the airtime was lacking and it didn't live up to what I thought it would be. The second time I rode it, however, was quite nice, packed a lot of airtime, and was just good fun. So even though it still falls under Behemoth and Diamondback, it's one of the better ones for sure, and if you're gonna ride it, ride it in the back!
That's more or less the end of my Busch pictures, but we did go to eat after that. I decided to be all healthy and have a salad, but then I ended up eating cheese sticks and a few bites of cake. I really liked this eating area because they had a dancing show going on, and it really fit with the German theming!
After eating, we took the sky ride to Sesame Street where we met back up with Joey and Kyle, who were clearly super excited to get their Grover's Alpine Express credit! So after a quick bathroom break, we went on that, which was a pretty boring kiddie credit.
We decided to ride some Nessie after that, which ended up being one of my favourite Arrow coasters, and by far, the smoothest! I didn't get any headbanding, it's impressive looking, and the indoor section is pretty fun.
Relaxation ensued shortly after with a trip around the park on the train, and a boat ride on the river, which was scary considering I hate being on water. Either way, both things provided a nice view of the park, and some much needed rest after what was one of the hottest weeks I had experienced thus far.
Since all of the credits were already gotten, we re-rode Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, and Griffon, and on the latter, got an awesome on ride photo, which Jerry will post up eventually! We rode Escape from Pompeii, too, and even though I didn't want to get wet, I still had a fun time on it, and it was still a good ride. Since I wasn't that wet after the drop, I looked up to brag about how I stayed dry, only to see a wall of water coming my way, a near miss by Marcus who was using the water cannon. HA! FAIL!
We also went on Europe in the Air, a motion simulator ride where you're suppose to be flying over Europe. Even though we waited fourty minutes for it, we didn't really mind since it was in an air conditioned building!
The ride itself was kinda lame, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I quite like motion simulators, so even though this one was kinda whack, it was still fun.
Soon enough, it was time to depart, and after walking to the front of the park, we had to say goodbye to Joey and Kyle, two little cuties who I had grown to like a lot after spending two days with them! Joey also gave me a lovely souvenier (a string from his bracelet) which I shall cherish forever!
Then it was off to Carolina, to hotel it up and get ready for Carowinds the next day!
Stay tuned for the last part- Carowinds and Dollywood!
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
I think what makes Apollo so good is that compared to every one but Intimidator it's so SMOOTH.
Taylor's photo taking abilities suck. Lol. Why are so many things blurry?
Taylor's photo taking abilities suck. Lol. Why are so many things blurry?
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Haha, ask Marc.. He seen me walking around snapping pictures without even stopping . I wasn't trying to polish my photography skills, JOEY :evil: .
. I wasn't trying to polish my photography skills, JOEY :evil: .
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
I'll respectfully disagree to what Joey says. Every B&M hyper EXCEPT Intimidator is smooth
And yes, Taylor sucks at taking photos. I wasn't even impressed with almost all of my own. I need to get myself one of those mini tripods...
Anyway...
Day 5. Temperature: 93*. We woke up early to drive once again and we arrived just after the park opened. We headed to Nighthawk first and waited about 15 minutes. The ride had vibrations and the layout wasn't as good as Firehawk's.
Next was Intimidator. We rode in the back and the first thing I noticed was that the ride was rough. The ride had decent air, but the turnaround was forceless and the end of the ride sucked. It was a disappointment since it's a new Beemer and it doesn't even compare to Diamondback and Behemoth.
Afterburn was next, which saved the day. Afterburn was everything I was expecting it to be; a solid inverted coaster. It had some great forces, especially in the batwing and final helix, and it even had a bit of airtime. It was a fast paced ride and easily the best ride in the park.
I can't even be bothered to write about the rest of the park (except one ride). Thunder Road was ok. Hurler sucked. Vortex sucked. Carolina Cyclone sucked. Carolina Cobra was ok. Ricochet was nothing special. The mine train sucked. The kiddie coasters weren't anything special. Overall, the park was just bad. There was only one restaurant with air conditioning, which is pathetic.
Although I do have to talk about probably the best ride on the entire trip; Woodstock's Flyers. Normally, an amusement park would kick you out for snapping on a flying scooter, but not at Carowinds. The ride ops actually advocate it. We rode twice, and on our second ride, all ten riders were snapping. The ride op said she had never seen it before. I have never laughed so hard on a ride before. Honestly, I can't wait until we get to ride the flying scooters at Indiana Beach.
We left kind of early because there was nothing else to bother riding again. During our drive, we ran into the only rain on the trip - about ten minutes worth of sprinkles.
Day 6, the final day. Temperature: 80*...thank God!
We got up and drove to Dollywood. The drive itself was absolutely stunning, and when we got to the park, the beauty continued. We entered and the park was pristine. The midways and rides were surrounded by trees and there was theming all over the place. Our first ride was the kiddie coaster to get it out of the way, and then we rode the ferris wheel. Taylor was terrified and it was pretty funny, since the ferris wheel is an old fashioned wheel with bench seats instead of gondolas. Blazing Fury was next.
Blazing Fury was interesting. It's an indoor powered coaster themed to firefighting. There was a lot of theming to it and the ride had three big drops. The last drop had a water splash, which actually felt pretty good.
Tennessee Tornado was next. This was a ride that I always wanted to ride. It was one of Arrow's last coasters, and they finally learned what heartlining was. I got off the ride thinking "what the hell is this?" Even though they finally figured out heartlining, the ride was still screwed up. The turn into the first drop is similar to Mantis', but it's banked at much more of an angle. The first loop is huge, but there isn't a fluid motion to it. The loop is very wide, and this creates twists at the 90* points of the loop. There are other transitions in the ride that are pretty funky too. The ride is smooth and intense though, so at least Arrow did something right.
Thunderhead was next. We heard a lot of good things about this ride, and we were hoping it didn't disappoint. The ride ended up being better in the front. Thunderhead was full of lateral G's and small pops of airtime throughout the ride. The turns are extremely fun and the station fly through is interesting. Thunderhead is a quality ride and a ride that should be a model for how other wooden twisters should be.
Timber Tower was closed, which was a huge disappointment. We rode Mystery Mine instead. While I thought the ride was nothing too exciting, it was a very fun ride. The theming, especially at the beginning of the ride, is very well done. Mystery Mine did not disappoint.
Lunch was next. We had country buffet and saw a ton of obese people, which is a shame. People really need to watch how they eat. I personally started off with a plate of salad and cole slaw followed up with a plate of salisbury steak, mac n cheese, and mashed potatoes. I finished it off with a cup of jello. They sure can cook good down south.
We headed to the train next, which was a real experience. The train used to operate in Alaska for the military before it ended up in Tennessee. The train climbs up the mountain and back down in about 20 minutes.
We headed up the hill to ride Mountain Slidewinder, which was a fun water ride. We didn't get too wet and we enjoyed drifting around the turns on our raft.
We went back to Adventure Mountain challenge course, something we passed up earlier. We waited in line and headed up to the challenges. There are three courses, and fortunately, you can head back up to do the others without waiting in line again. We chose the highest one, and when we were done, we went back and did the other two. The most fun course was the one with the waterfall, which randomly shot geysers at the climbers. I ended up getting shot twice.
After a few more rerides, it was time to go. We had to drive five hours back to Cincinnati. We gave hugs and hit the road. The trip was awesome. We rode a ton of rides and we all enjoyed everybody's company. Fortunately, the bigger trip is in two weeks, so we will be able to see eachother again, plus a few more people who are tagging along.
Here's the last batch of pics:
The group with Carowind's entrance:
Nighthawk:
Afterburn:
Carolina Cobra:
Carolina Cyclone:
Vortex:
Woodstock's Flyers:
Intimidator:
Dollywood:
One of the beautiful midways:
On the ferris wheel:
Tennessee Tornado:
Mystery Mine:
The train:
Adventure Mountain:
Thunderhead:
And lastly, the Buckeye Parfait, a special at Kevin's ice cream shop in Cincinnati:
Enjoy!
And yes, Taylor sucks at taking photos. I wasn't even impressed with almost all of my own. I need to get myself one of those mini tripods...
Anyway...
Day 5. Temperature: 93*. We woke up early to drive once again and we arrived just after the park opened. We headed to Nighthawk first and waited about 15 minutes. The ride had vibrations and the layout wasn't as good as Firehawk's.
Next was Intimidator. We rode in the back and the first thing I noticed was that the ride was rough. The ride had decent air, but the turnaround was forceless and the end of the ride sucked. It was a disappointment since it's a new Beemer and it doesn't even compare to Diamondback and Behemoth.
Afterburn was next, which saved the day. Afterburn was everything I was expecting it to be; a solid inverted coaster. It had some great forces, especially in the batwing and final helix, and it even had a bit of airtime. It was a fast paced ride and easily the best ride in the park.
I can't even be bothered to write about the rest of the park (except one ride). Thunder Road was ok. Hurler sucked. Vortex sucked. Carolina Cyclone sucked. Carolina Cobra was ok. Ricochet was nothing special. The mine train sucked. The kiddie coasters weren't anything special. Overall, the park was just bad. There was only one restaurant with air conditioning, which is pathetic.
Although I do have to talk about probably the best ride on the entire trip; Woodstock's Flyers. Normally, an amusement park would kick you out for snapping on a flying scooter, but not at Carowinds. The ride ops actually advocate it. We rode twice, and on our second ride, all ten riders were snapping. The ride op said she had never seen it before. I have never laughed so hard on a ride before. Honestly, I can't wait until we get to ride the flying scooters at Indiana Beach.
We left kind of early because there was nothing else to bother riding again. During our drive, we ran into the only rain on the trip - about ten minutes worth of sprinkles.
Day 6, the final day. Temperature: 80*...thank God!
We got up and drove to Dollywood. The drive itself was absolutely stunning, and when we got to the park, the beauty continued. We entered and the park was pristine. The midways and rides were surrounded by trees and there was theming all over the place. Our first ride was the kiddie coaster to get it out of the way, and then we rode the ferris wheel. Taylor was terrified and it was pretty funny, since the ferris wheel is an old fashioned wheel with bench seats instead of gondolas. Blazing Fury was next.
Blazing Fury was interesting. It's an indoor powered coaster themed to firefighting. There was a lot of theming to it and the ride had three big drops. The last drop had a water splash, which actually felt pretty good.
Tennessee Tornado was next. This was a ride that I always wanted to ride. It was one of Arrow's last coasters, and they finally learned what heartlining was. I got off the ride thinking "what the hell is this?" Even though they finally figured out heartlining, the ride was still screwed up. The turn into the first drop is similar to Mantis', but it's banked at much more of an angle. The first loop is huge, but there isn't a fluid motion to it. The loop is very wide, and this creates twists at the 90* points of the loop. There are other transitions in the ride that are pretty funky too. The ride is smooth and intense though, so at least Arrow did something right.
Thunderhead was next. We heard a lot of good things about this ride, and we were hoping it didn't disappoint. The ride ended up being better in the front. Thunderhead was full of lateral G's and small pops of airtime throughout the ride. The turns are extremely fun and the station fly through is interesting. Thunderhead is a quality ride and a ride that should be a model for how other wooden twisters should be.
Timber Tower was closed, which was a huge disappointment. We rode Mystery Mine instead. While I thought the ride was nothing too exciting, it was a very fun ride. The theming, especially at the beginning of the ride, is very well done. Mystery Mine did not disappoint.
Lunch was next. We had country buffet and saw a ton of obese people, which is a shame. People really need to watch how they eat. I personally started off with a plate of salad and cole slaw followed up with a plate of salisbury steak, mac n cheese, and mashed potatoes. I finished it off with a cup of jello. They sure can cook good down south.
We headed to the train next, which was a real experience. The train used to operate in Alaska for the military before it ended up in Tennessee. The train climbs up the mountain and back down in about 20 minutes.
We headed up the hill to ride Mountain Slidewinder, which was a fun water ride. We didn't get too wet and we enjoyed drifting around the turns on our raft.
We went back to Adventure Mountain challenge course, something we passed up earlier. We waited in line and headed up to the challenges. There are three courses, and fortunately, you can head back up to do the others without waiting in line again. We chose the highest one, and when we were done, we went back and did the other two. The most fun course was the one with the waterfall, which randomly shot geysers at the climbers. I ended up getting shot twice.
After a few more rerides, it was time to go. We had to drive five hours back to Cincinnati. We gave hugs and hit the road. The trip was awesome. We rode a ton of rides and we all enjoyed everybody's company. Fortunately, the bigger trip is in two weeks, so we will be able to see eachother again, plus a few more people who are tagging along.
Here's the last batch of pics:
The group with Carowind's entrance:
Nighthawk:
Afterburn:
Carolina Cobra:
Carolina Cyclone:
Vortex:
Woodstock's Flyers:
Intimidator:
Dollywood:
One of the beautiful midways:
On the ferris wheel:
Tennessee Tornado:
Mystery Mine:
The train:
Adventure Mountain:
Thunderhead:
And lastly, the Buckeye Parfait, a special at Kevin's ice cream shop in Cincinnati:
Enjoy!