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Highlights of your 2015 Season

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
Another season comes to an end, and while that's sad, it's another one to look back on! Like in years past, a set of criteria have been picked (though Thom helped me this time because he's awesome). Just answer each with a brief bit about the moment that fits that and maybe any honorable mentions. Also include anything that you found significant that didn't fit any of this!

Park related:
*Best new cred
*Worst new cred
*Most surprising new cred
*Biggest spite
*Park of the season
*Coolest park-related experience
*Best experience on a coaster
*Worst experience on a coaster
*Best day at a park
*Worst day at a park
*Best trip as a whole

General:
*Scariest moment
*Best people you met
*Best moment on CF
*Best non-park experience
*Coolest travel moment
*Biggest travel nightmare
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown.
*Funniest moment
*Single favorite memory

Milestones:
*Park related
*General

Also, post a photo lookback of your past season. Nothing crazy, just a stream of a few photos with minimal captioning telling the story of how your 2015 unfolded.
 
Seeing as my 2015 season is essentially over(there is a few more days of SFGAm open, though), I might as well post now

Park related:
*Best new cred: The Voyage, Holiday World
*Worst new cred: Probably Sideshow Spin at Dollywood
*Most surprising new cred: Thunder Run at Holiday World
*Biggest spite: T3 and Roller Skater rained out at Kentucky Kingdom
*Park of the season: Holiday World
*Coolest park-related experience: Being able to go between Epcot and MK on an ERT night alone
*Best experience on a coaster: First rider of the day on Thundrbird's Front Left Outer seat, First rider of the day on Lightning Run, or Voyage in the back
*Worst experience on a coaster: The Legend in a back/middle seat
*Best day at a park: Dollywood with family and friends
*Worst day at a park: In all honesty, I have to say some day at SFGAm when I rode less than 3 things(back in August, I think)
*Best trip as a whole: Holiday World-Kentucky Kingdom-College trip

General:
*Scariest moment: The doors on Kentucky Kingdom's 5D Theater slamming opened and closed due to insanely high winds/rain
*Best people you met: SImonSays99 from here, RaceBoarder from SFGAmWorld, Mike Wittick the Computer Camp Counselor/COaster enthusiast, and everyone at Emagination Computer Camp.
*Best moment on CF: That Mr. Moist argument that went o a few weeks ago.
*Best non-park experience: Richardson's Corn Maze with some school buddies.
*Coolest travel moment: Seeing Purdue Univ. and U of I, as well as going to Washington DC
*Biggest travel nightmare: Trying to find the entrance to our hotel near Holiday World(They didn't even have a sign)
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown: Don't really know, tbh.
*Funniest moment: Finally playing Cards Against Humanity with Drama Club
*Single favorite memory: Finally escaping the Concentration Camp they call my Middle School

Milestones:
*Park related:
-New #1(Voyage)
-75th Cred(Sideshow Spin, Dollywood)

*General:
-Graduated 8th grade
-Got into all Honors and AP World History for HS
-Got into one of the best High School Engineering Programs in the state
-Finally met up with some other enthusiasts
-Successfully lit up(Lighting Crew) the High School's Fall Main Stage play

I thought 2015 was a great year, and hope for another great year in 2016! :)
 
Looking back on 2015, it has been a bit of a crazy year for me, doing more trips than I've ever done before, surely breaking my record of riding the most coasters and going to the most theme parks in a year, going to places where I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever be able to go, and riding rides which I have only ever marvelled at on the internet. It's a year which has definitely had it's ups and it's rock bottoms, with several things happening making me realise who my true friends are, and who I should just avoid in the future.

I've done so much stuff this year that it's now all just blending into one, but I'll try my best and answering the categories.

Park related:
*Best new cred - Dodonpa: Unbelievable launch, incredible pop of airtime, surprisingly smooth, a winner in my books!

*Worst new cred - Blue Tornado: Yep, it's faaacking shiiit.

*Most surprising new cred - Eejanaika: I've never read a positive review about this ride, constantly hearing how brutal and terrible it is. What a load of rubbish! Insane ride, throwing you here, there, and everywhere, but definitely not in a painful way.

*Biggest spite - Can't think of too many major spites this year, although the trek up the hill only to find a closed Himeji Tegarayama Amusement Park was painful.

*Park of the season - Europapark: Brilliantly themed, fantastically immersive, stuff to look at and do everywhere, great atmosphere; One of the best parks I've ever been to.

*Coolest park-related experience - Hanging out with Cruella de Vil at Tokyo DisneySea. So funny, especially having Conor doing a little dance in front of a load of people waiting for a show, plus window shopping for fur coats. Exactly what a Disney character should do!

*Best experience on a ride - The airtime waterslide at Canevaworld Resort. Just ridiculous, and such an adrenaline rush. I think I rode twice with Chris and once with Fraser, and I didn't think we'd land back on the slide after taking off on the hill.

*Worst experience on a ride - Any motion simulator. I'm normally alright on them if I've taken motion sickness tablets, but this year my body couldn't handle any of them. Back to the Future especially left me as a hot, sweaty and sick mess.

*Best day at a park - Movieland Park/Canevaworld: What an eclectic bunch of strange and unique attractions. Came prepared with swimming trunks, and definitely glad I was! I seem to remember Nic wasn't too happy with me trying to dry my socks out on the bench though! :p

*Worst day at a park - Cinecittà World: A park with so much potential, but I really was not impressed by this place at all unfortunately. Grey, bland, concrete-y, impossible to find a drink anywhere, no thanks!

*Best trip as a whole - As much as I liked the Italy trip, with such a chilled out and relaxed group of people and some great moments and rides along the way, I'm obviously going to have to say Japan. Two of the most knackering, fast-paced weeks of my life, yet two of the best; from over-friendly house hosts (I've been shown how to turn a TV on twice this year; once in Blackpool and again in Tokyo!), to car karaoke, to some phenomenal theme parks, hilarious moments and fantastic rides; it really was a brilliant once-in-a-lifetime trip.

General:
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award - The whole 'backstage tour' at Plopsaland and the preceding 3 hour lecture about their products. The amount of cred anxiety going on was anything but chillaxing! Honourable mention to just how terrible I am at the "Name the things in this list" game.

*Single favorite memory - Car karaoke with Sue, Neal and Ali. Such a fun journey, and would love to do it all over again some day!

Milestones:
*General - 550th and 600th creds.
 
Park related:
*Best new cred - Wicked Cyclone - SFNE
*Worst new cred - Something at Knotts
*Most surprising new cred - Thunderbird - HW
*Biggest spite - Xcelerator
*Park of the season - Holiday World
*Coolest park-related experience - Voyage at night
*Best experience on a coaster - Voyage at night
*Worst experience on a coaster - The boomerang at Lake Compounce
*Best day at a park - Lake Compounce
*Worst day at a park - Cedar Point (too short, hungover slightly)
*Best trip as a whole - New England trip with Joey and Antionos. Amazing fun with those two. Holiday World a close second.

General:
*Scariest moment - Voyage at night
*Best people you met - Only new CFer I met was Jarrett. Was with the usual's throughout the year.
*Best moment on CF - BEER PONG!!
*Best non-park experience - BEER POING!!
*Coolest travel moment - Hartford, CT
*Biggest travel nightmare - Joey almost killing us driving back from HW.
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown. - CP
*Funniest moment - BEER PONG!!
*Single favorite memory - Voyage at night

Milestones:
*Park related - None
*General - None
 
Park related:
*Best new cred - Fury 325
*Worst new cred - Ricochet
*Most surprising new cred - Intimidator
*Biggest spite - The other side of Thunder Road
*Park of the season - Cedar Point
*Coolest park-related experience - Fastlane Plus for a Platinum Pass Renewal
*Best experience on a coaster - Early morning ride on Banshee in the morning mist
*Worst experience on a coaster - Magnum during the CP LIve
*Best day at a park - CP Live
*Worst day at a park - that's a thing?
*Best trip as a whole - Carowinds

General:
*Scariest moment - Trying to find my car in a tsunami at Carowinds
*Best people you met - all the new folks at the CP Live
*Best moment on CF - CP Live!
*Best non-park experience - In general?
*Coolest travel moment - Tailgate 107.3 in Charleston WV - http://tailgate1073.com
*Biggest travel nightmare - Tsunami at Carowinds
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown. - Getting bullied hard on Magnum.
*Funniest moment - ditto.
*Single favorite memory - ditto.

Milestones:
*Park related - nothing really.
*General - 1 less Arrow mine train to ride!
 
I only get to do a three or four theme park a year, but nonetheless I still get some fantastic moments and memories.

Best New Cred - Skyrush. I could go on about like I have in the past but I don’t think I need to explain. Honorable mention to Wicked Cyclone, Nitro, and Storm Runner which were also worthy enough to make my Top 10

Worst New Cred – Wildcat HP, utterly rough, but as expected. Kingda Ka was awful too. And while it wasn’t a new cred, the worst was Goliath at SFNE with the new trains.

Most Surprising New Cred (Good) – SooperDooperLooper. Surprisingly fun!

Most Surprising New Cred (Bad) – Kingda Ka

Biggest Spite – El Toro. Can’t get any worse than this. Heart has been broken ever since.

Park of the Season – Hersheypark

Coolest Park Related Experience – Night ride Skyrush whoring with walk-ons

Best Experience on a Coaster – Skyrush front row left wing at night

Worst Experience on a coaster – Goliath SFNE

Best Day at a Park – Hersheypark. Got like 30 rides among all the creds with 13 Skyrush rides.

Worst Day at a Park – Was going to say Great Adventure for the El Toro spite and general Six Flagsness but I’ll say Lake Compounce. Was only there for two hours and didn’t get as much Boulder Dash whoring as I hoped. It’s really not that great of a park when you take away Dash.

Scariest Moment – Nothing incredibly nerve racking but going up Skyrush’s lift hill for the first time with the tiny lap bar did make me a little nervous.

Best People Your Met – Those Belgian goons I saw at Lake Compounce.

Best Moment on CF – I think seeing and sharing the general excitement for all the new coasters coming out next year.

Best Non Park Experience – Reuniting with all my cousins and other relatives that I barely get to see for a weekend. Lots of **** and giggles.

Coolest Travel Moment – Unexpectedly driving right past Dorney Park. Hyped up my excitement.

Biggest Travel Nightmare – I think just general cred anxiety.

The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award – My dad’s reaction on his first ride on Skyrush. Honorable mention to general Boulder Dash insanity.

Funniest Moment – Every time I’d go up the Skyrush lift hill I just couldn’t help but start giggling.

Single Favorite Memory – Skyrush night ride whoring. My god it really was just some of the best fun I’ve ever had.

As you can tell Skyrush was the recurring highlight of the season here :p

Milestones:

Finally met some real coaster enthusiasts!
1st Arrow Mine Train - Trailbazer
1st CGI - Lightning Racer
1st Schwarzkopf - SooperDooperLooper
Now have both Intamin strata coasters
1st RMC - Wicked Cyclone
 
Park related:
*Best new cred: Black Mamba
*Worst new cred: Bandit, although it wasn't as terrible I thought it would be, considering it is the worst coaster on Mitch Hawker's polls; also the Cobra thing in Oktoberfest was quite terrible
*Most surprising new cred: Winjas or even Familieachtbaan in Billybird
*Biggest spite: Whole of Wild-und Freizeitpark Klotten being closed due to some light rain
*Park of the season: Phantasialand
*Coolest park-related experience: Everything in Phantasia being a walk-on
*Best experience on a coaster: Back row ride on Troy
*Worst experience on a coaster: The terrible mouse coaster at Stuttgart fair with nasty operators
*Best day at a park: Easily Phantasialand day
*Worst day at a park: 2nd day in Efteling (I'll get to that in my TR)
*Best trip as a whole: Dutch-German trip easily, since it was the only trip I took this year

General:
*Scariest moment: Being approached by some weird black guy selling bracelets in Rome, who grabbed my hand and didn't want to let go
*Best people you met: University people, who seem way cooler than the guys from highschool
*Best moment on CF: Dunno, there were some cool ones
*Best non-park experience: Climbing the highest mountain of my country (Triglav)
*Coolest travel moment: Dunno really
*Biggest travel nightmare: My train coming to a stop in Salzburg, giving me no idea on how to get myself to Germany
*Single favorite memory: Getting my driver's license :D

Milestones:
*Park related: Getting my new favorite park and riding my #150 cred (Van Helsing)
*General: Turning 18, getting my driver's license, graduating from High school and climbing the highest peak of Slovenia
 
Park related:
*Best new cred: Junker at PowerPark.
*Worst new cred: Typhoon at Bobbejaanland.
*Most surprising new cred: No massive surprises this season. I didn't expect Karacho to be as good as it was and Revolution at Bobbejaanland was also surprisingly fab. Oh, and the boomerang at PowerPark being almost B&M-smooth.
*Biggest spite: Spite-free year :--D
*Park of the season: Gröna Lund
*Coolest park-related experience: Seeing Helix's lit up trains in the distance from the Göteborg Stadium during the Metallica concert.
*Best experience on a coaster: Helix at night, front row, last ride of the day.
*Worst experience on a coaster: My awful ride on Typhoon.
*Best day at a park: Easily the day at Gröna Lund. Utter perfection <3 Honourable mention for Tripsdrill, because that was pretty much a flawless day too, just not as incredible as the Gröna day.
*Worst day at a park: No bad days at parks this season. Probably one of the cred whore days in the Netherlands.
*Best trip as a whole: Sweden

General:
*Scariest moment: Waiting at the top of the Booster at PowerPark. No idea why we were as nervous as we were. Fear of the unknown I guess.
*Best people you met: My Swedish friend Ingrid. It's bizarre how well we got along. We really had an amazing trip together. Honourable mentions for my Finnish friend Henri. We have been talking over the internet for 5 years and finally met in person this year, and got along quite well. Also every CFer that I met this year <3
*Best moment on CF: Becoming a mod :wink:
*Best non-park experience: The AMAZING Nightwish concert in Tampere, Finland.
*Coolest travel moment: Driving through the forest-y highways in Finland keeping count of the amount of lakes and random yellow buildings we came across.
*Biggest travel nightmare: Getting stranded after the Tilburg fair, because I had to find the last wacky worm. The last train of the day got delayed and then I missed the last tram of the day.
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award: Nearly getting ejected from the Europa Park rapids during the CF trip.
*Funniest moment: Can't think of one standout funniest moment of the year, but the Aquanura incident with Peep and Nic was definitely up there.
*Single favorite memory: I don't want to pick the whole day, so I will go with leaving Gröna Lund by the ferry and slowly drifting away from the lit up park. It was just a moment where I felt sad, but also so happy and satisfied after possibly the best day of the year. The Nightwish concert, Baron 1898 media day (and meeting and talking to one of my fave youtubers there) and the Helix night rides are also up there.

Milestones:
*Park related: 100th cred (Baron 1898)
*General: Nothing. Boring year :wink:

Conclusion, one of the best years of my life <3
 
Well my season is over now, so it's as good a time as any to do this! I'll include some pictures too. :D

Park related:
Best new cred - Tough one between Cú Chulainn and Karnan. I think Karnan wins it though - it's just mental.
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Worst new cred - Limit at Heide Park was **** (although not as **** as I was expecting, so there is that).

Most surprising new cred - Not sure about this to be honest. Maybe Flug der Damonen? I was really impressed by this coaster and wasn't expecting that much. Probably the best Wing Coaster I've ridden!
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Biggest spite - Actually didn't get spited this year, which is nice!

Park of the season - I think it'll have to be Grona Lund. It's a nice little park, in a nice setting, with some great coasters.
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Coolest park-related experience - I'm not really sure what this means, but probably just Heide Park being really quiet. It's so nice to have a chilled out day re-riding everything multiple times and not having to queue.
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Best experience on a coaster - Probably riding Cú Chulainn during our ERT session at the CF-Live.
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Worst experience on a coaster - None really stand out as being that bad.

Best day at a park - Probably either Grona Lund or Hansa Park. Grona Lund is somewhere I've wanted to go for years, and the weather was amazing, so it was all round just an amazing day. Hansa Park was just really nice, and the weather was the best it'd been in my whole trip.

Worst day at a park - Haven't really had a bad day at a park this year. Which is great!

Best trip as a whole - Whilst Germany was fun, and Scandinavia was cheap (work trip), I think the CF-Live and day in Dublin stand out. Just a good laugh all round.

General:
Scariest moment - Nothing really comes to mind. Except maybe the Star Flyer at Hansa Park. The wind was pretty strong, and so it was pretty hairy!

Best people you met - The CFers of course! It was really nice to finally meet a few people that I've known for years but never met (Ben, Lord Morton, Ploddish, Thom, etc)

Best moment on CF - Not sure. So much happens on here I can never remember! I think the outstanding turnouts for the NL2 competitions has been a highlight for me. Tom's done an excellent job managing them all, and it's really nice to have some life in the NL2 forums.

Best non-park experience - I couldn't possibly answer this, I wouldn't know where to start!

Coolest travel moment - Eh, not sure. Nothing stands out.

Biggest travel nightmare - None! I had a smooth year!

The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award - Again, not really sure anything stands out for me.

Funniest moment - DubaiDave's sudden realisation of Gavin's nocturnal exploits. Truly amazing. Unfortunately one of those "you had to be there" moments, but it was **** amazing.

Single favourite memory - Again, nothing I would want to single out.

Milestones:
Park related - Not a real milestone, but I broke 350 creds. I'm now closer to 400 than 300, which means 400 feels like it's in sight. Hopefully I can get that next year, but I'm not sure yet. I'm up to 70 parks, which is still a fair way off 100, but nice to be getting there.

General - One year at Arup? That's a nice milestone for me.
 
Park related:
*Best new cred: Space Mountain, Disneyland. I didn't love DL's Space Mountain, but it is the highest ranking in my coaster count of the few actually new coasters I got this year. It was all about Disney this year, and I loved it <3
*Worst new cred: Dahlonega Mine Train. Just ew. I usually am fine with old Arrow mine trains, but this was vile with a horribly slow yet rough layout. Just no to this. No.
*Most surprising new cred: Ninja, SFOG. I really enjoyed it. One of the best non-B&M loopers I've ridden. Genuinely surprised.
*Biggest spite: Not being able to see Fantasmic from my Dining Package seating.
*Park of the season: Disneyland. It just has it all. An amazing lineup, amazing history, amazing atmosphere, amazing park.
*Coolest park-related experience: Oh man, what can I choose. It was such an amazing season. I guess I would have to give it to my first night at Disneyland. After seeming like a horrible night when Fantasmic was canceled and the rain closed a bunch of rides at DL, I got to ride Radiator Springs Racer in the rain, at night, in a nearly empty Cars Land followed by a World of Color viewing right in the front row where I was one of the only people there in the light rain. I was also able to explore nearly empty Disneyland and ride Matterhorn at night in the rain. It was a nearly perfect night.
*Best experience on a coaster: Goliath, SFOG front row. Wow, this is one incredible ride. It's all about that amazing floater as well as the awesome atmosphere. Honorable Mention to Space Mountain Alpha, MK for being amazing.
*Worst experience on a coaster: That **** Mine Train
*Best day at a park: It is really hard to beat my first day at Disneyland. When I rode everything with no wait in the morning, and it was everything I thought it would be and more, then I got a surprise FP for Radiator and was able to have that fantastic aforementioned night.
*Worst day at a park: Sorry SFOG, but you have nothing on the Disney parks and Alabama Adventure
*Best trip as a whole: Actually, Disney World tops Disneyland. While Disneyland has more distinct standout moments, I would say that Disney World has just as many unique memories and was just an amazing trip. I think it is mainly because I did so much more at Disney World.

General:
*Scariest moment: When I thought everything was going to close that night at DL, and my night would be wasted.
*Best people you met: I met a lot of great people at the Disney parks although none stick out distinctly right now.
*Best moment on CF: Nothing sticks out.
*Best non-park experience: Seeing Beck live.
*Coolest travel moment: Nothing stands out
*Biggest travel nightmare: Nothing stands out
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown: Nothing stands out
*Funniest moment: Too many to list here
*Single favorite memory: Listening to Sea Change for the first time walking on the beach.

Milestones:
150
Got to all US Disney parks in one year
New favorite park
 
I only managed 3 trips all year and one of those was Blackpool. Still, I probably managed more new creds than most of you basic bitches!

Park related:
*Best new cred - Iron Rattler
*Worst new cred - namtaB
*Most surprising new cred - Rampage
*Biggest spite - Intimidator 305
*Park of the season - Alabama Adventure (that place is FAB!)
*Coolest park-related experience - Meeting Pat & Dan Koch
*Best experience on a coaster - Beast at night
*Worst experience on a coaster - Mr Freeze (I felt sick before it & it was a HORRIBLE experience)
*Best day at a park - Alabama Adventure (Again, that place is FAB!)
*Worst day at a park - Six Flags over Georgia (That place on bring a scumbag for free day is VILE!
*Best trip as a whole - America & Canada with Ben, Tom & the hoe

General:
*Scariest moment - Tom continuously cutting up HGV's in America
*Best people you met - Jarrett <3
*Best moment on CF - Trolling Jarrett
*Best non-park experience - The night spent at the pool in Pigeon Forge
*Coolest travel moment - Driving through the tropical bill in Texas
*Biggest travel nightmare - Anytime Tom was driving
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown. - Me and Ben pulling Taylor into the pool before continuously urinating in said pool.
*Funniest moment - Jarrett's dead baby jokes in the Diamondback queue
*Single favorite memory - Tom screaming during the middle of the night when the fridge made a noise

Milestones:

500
 
Park related:
*Best new cred - Balder. Just edging out Helix. First truly brilliant wooden coaster I've ridden, just about my number 1.
*Worst new cred - Whirlwind, spinning coaster at GYPB.
*Most surprising new cred - Rollercoaster at GYPB. Didn't expect such big drops, airtime, on such an old coaster.
*Biggest spite - Fortunately none. Yet. Fingers crossed.
*Park of the season - Liseberg
*Best experience on a coaster - Helix, front row, in the evening after a day to warm up.
*Worst experience on a coaster - G-Force and the stapling of doom.
*Best day at a park - First day at Liseberg, evening rides, everything open, little queues.
*Worst day at a park - Drayton Manor. ****, heavy rain all day.
*Best trip as a whole - Liseberg 2 dayer.

Milestones:
*Park related - Liseberg, first park outside of UK/Spain
*General - 100 coasters.
 
Park related:
Best new cred So many to choose from this year but probably Twisted Colossus (with honorable mentions to Eejanaika, Dodonpa, Fujiyama, Pyrenees, Diavlo, Steel Dragon 2000, Cú Chulainn, Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast, Olympia Looping and Blue Fire)
Worst new cred Ultra Twister the Togo pipeline - urghhhh!
Most surprising new cred Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast - thought I would hate it and left it right till the end of the day but it was amaze! Also, Steel Dragon 2000 because I didn't expect it to have much airtime and it had buckets.
Biggest spite Hollywood Dream backwards because of Universal Japan's dire operations
Park of the season Europa Park - Everyone runs it down but it was gorgeous all dressed up for Halloween. The scare attractions were a big let down but they got the atmosphere just right with Poseiden all lit up at night and the hundreds of thousands of pumpkins and vegetable sculptures during the day! :D
Coolest park-related experience Fuji Q for the sheer ridiculousness of everything there and Mount Fuji looming over us. So surreal to finally be there after so many years of dreaming.
Best experience on a coaster The whole group having an excitement meltdown on Dodonpa's launch!
Worst experience on a coaster Desparado was quite gross. Also that turd Cobra travelling cred at Oktoberfest
Best day at a park Nagashima Spaland because it was an amazing way to end to an amazing trip. Such a pretty park at night. Also Disney Sea for just 'ohh my god' levels of theming!
Worst day at a park Universal Studios Japan for their huge amount of faff and Magic Mountain for the ultimate stress it caused me. I definitely have more white hairs now than when I started the season.
Best trip as a whole Japan. The most bizarre country I've ever been to and some of the best/most insane creds in the world!

General:
Scariest moment Nearly falling asleep on the drive back from Magic Mountain to Las Vegas.
Best people you met Don't know him well but bumping into daviddoc from CF in a Japanese queueline was pretty surreal. Ohh you like coasters, you're on a forum...in the UK...?!
Best moment on CF All the excitement for 2016 coasters.
Best non-park experience Climbing Mount Fuji. Without a doubt, the single most physically exhausting experience of my life.
Coolest travel moment Sitting on top of Mount Fuji, watching the sunrise.
Biggest travel nightmare Realising that we had to connect through a different airport in South Korea...but not until we were in South Korea
The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown.
Funniest moment CF 'fat boating' Space Mountain in Japan and seeing the confused faces of the ride ops as we casually turned left, into the maintenance shed instead of going up the lift hill! (Honorable mention to in-car karaoke with Neal, Ali and Mike for an entire 3 hours non-stop!)
Single favorite memory So, so many this year but sitting on top of Fuji with Neal under a silver blanket, clutching a hot chocolate and watching the clouds below...that'll stay with me.

Milestones:
Park related Passed both 500 (Krake) and 600 (Wild Mouse, Nagashima Spaland) this year.
General New countries: Japan. New capitals: Tokyo, Dublin and Vienna

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Having rediscovered my love of coasters last year after a trip to Thorpe Park, 2015 was my first year of cred hunting. Many of the parks I’ve visited this year are not home to the greatest coasters in the world (or even the UK!) but there’s certainly been plenty of variety...

Park related:
*Best new cred: Infusion (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) – yes, I know most people hate Vekoma SLCs but this was my first experience of one so there’s nothing to hate yet!
*Worst new cred: Tough call as there have been some stinkers, but I’ll go with Grand Canyon at Southport Pleasureland.
*Most surprising new cred: It would have to be the Wildcat at Southport. Having never ridden a Z40 before I was not expecting the little pop of airtime just before the end of the ride. So this was literally the cred that provided the biggest surprise!
*Biggest spite: Big Dipper (Blackpool) which was my only spite of the year. Annoyingly it was closed for redecorating of the station rather than any mechanical issue!
*Park of the season: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
*Best experience on a coaster: Riding solo on the Wild Mouse at Blackpool. I didn't stop laughing throughout the whole ride!
*Worst experience on a coaster: Tornado (M&Ds) – a truly bruising experience. :shock:

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*Best day at a park: Drayton Manor on a September weekday, with every ride a walk-on.
*Worst day at a park: Nothing too bad but Pleasureland was probably worst due to poor weather and mediocre, overpriced rides.
*Best trip as a whole: I guess it would have to be Scotland as that’s the only trip that included more than one Park.


General:
*Scariest moment: First ride on the stand-up section of Apocalypse at Drayton Manor. Totally forgot the warning about it tilting forwards!
*Best people you met: Didn't meet anyone I didn't already know but my mates on the DMP trip were great company.
*Best moment on CF: Finally joining the forum after several months of lurking.
*Best non-park experience: My honeymoon in New Zealand
*Coolest travel moment: Driving the winding roads of the Outer Hebrides – airtime galore!

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*Biggest travel nightmare: Any time spent in or travelling to/from Abu Dhabi airport.
*Funniest moment: Scaring my mates by jumping out on them in the dark queue line for Ben 10 Ultimate Mission.
*Single favorite memory: The sheer joy on my normally coaster-hating wife’s face as she rode Vampire at Chessington for the first time and loved it. There’s hope of converting her yet!

Milestones:
*Park related: Riding 33 different coasters in my first season, including my 50th cred, which was this beauty! :lol:

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*General: Successfully completing my first year of marriage!

I hope next year’s list will be much better, as we already have plans to visit some overseas parks and I might even get the missus to try something with inversions! :--D
 
Bearing in mind that I've still got a few parks in Orlando later this month, so this might change.

*Best new cred
Hmm, it's a toss up between Oblivion: The Black Hole and CuChu at Tayto. I think Cu Chulainn pips it because it came out of nowhere. And that gross He-Man figurehead is amazing. Arthur at Europa gets a mention because it's fab, but I feel it's more dark-ridey than coastery. Hang on a mo, I forgot about Darkmare at Cinacitta World, that was a also fab. And there there was Olympia Looping at Oktoberfest. So many good new creds this year. But, CuChu.

*Worst new cred
I did a lot of crap this year. Caterpillar Coasters, powered crap, kiddie creds, but the worst new substantial coaster for me was probably the Wild Mouse thing at Lego Germany. I hate those things.

*Most surprising new cred
Darkmare at Cinacitta. The theming, the drop, the effects and THAT switch track park were amazing. I knew nothing about the coaster before I rode it and came off smiling.

*Biggest spite
DiVertical at Mirablandia and the Togo stand-up at the other Italian park I've forgotten the name of.

*Park of the season
Tayto.

*Coolest park-related experience
Where do I start? There was Italy, Germany, Ireland, Dreamland's Screamland event, the Europa Park tour and ERT, my Guardian interview following the Smilier crash, GhosterForce, E-stopping a ride, the Blackpool Live and the spin on SkyForce, the Tayto Live, my tour of the Paulton's construction site...I could go on and on.

Although there are so many happy memories I've shared with CFers, the top experience was undoubtably doing the Guardian interview at Alton Towers. The reporter has never been on a substantial coaster and after I convinced him to go on Nemesis, he was hooked. He wanted to ride everything and still today sends me the odd question about creds. Plus I got a free Annual Pass out of it, ahahaha.

*Best experience on a coaster
Olympia Looping in Germany. We almost sacked it off as time was against us but we managed to get to Oktoberfest with enough time to do the creds. Seeing the world's most famous travelling coaster stood there before me was awesome. Even though the restraints were crushing me after every loop, I loved it. There was something quite magical about the who experience. Everybody was excited to ride, the timing was spot on, the atmosphere was great and everybody loved it.

*Worst experience on a coaster
Whenever I had to sit next to Mike in Italy and Germany.

*Best day at a park
I can't pick just one. There are all of the Lives for starters. But it has to be Screamland at Dreamland. It blew away my expectations.

*Worst day at a park
Mirabliandia during the Live. The park was fine but my back had given way so I didn't ride much and limped around the place like a 80 year after a hip replacement. Was not fun.

*Best trip as a whole
I can't decide between Italy, Germany and Ireland. Germany probably pips it JUST because my back wasn't in agony and the creds were good.

*Scariest moment
Going on radio 4 to talk about the Smilier crash. My mind went blank, my throat dried up and I bumbled through it. However, if we're talking park related, it was probably at Thorpe Park during GhosterForce. We were on Rush and everybody elses restraints had locked except mine. The op used a key to lock it but for out that entire ride I felt that something was wrong because it didn't lock with the others. When it up up behind horizontal and I was face first towards the ground, I admit I was terrified I'd fall out. But I should have known better as everything was fine.

*Best people you met
Every CFer of course ;)

*Best moment on CF
Not gonna lie, CF did capitalise on the Smilier crash. It's not the "best" but in terms of forum traffic, active discussions and a warm wave of sympathy towards those involved, it was humbling and interesting time. In second place is ECG and Robb Alvey sharing a rider cam on Switchback!

*Best non-park experience
The Goon Quiz I hold every January for a select few CFers.

*Coolest travel moment
Playing the silly games in the car in Germany. I found out I was best at thinking up categories but crap at playing the actual game. Every minute in that car was a pleasure.

*Biggest travel nightmare
Having to use EasyJet.

*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown.
Bants/shade is something I don't really get involved with because I find it borderlines bullying. My humour is more observational and verging on the ridiculous/toilet side of things. Yeah, I'll rip the piss out of people but only to their face in person and if I know they will give it back to me.

*Funniest moment
It has to be the puns and name changing at GhosterForce. Some of them were so out of the box they still make me giggle when I think of them now.

*Single favorite memory
It has to be watching CFers cove themselves in glowsticks at GhosterForce. I know it's the same every year but there's something great about the collective focus as hundreds of glowstick are connected together and attached to clothing and part of the body. Especially when kids look on jealously.

*General
Getting the 700 cred milestone.
 
My seasons not over yet either, but I can't see anything in India affecting much here.

Park related:

*Best new cred: One of the two Jungle Trailblazer woodies, probably the one in Zhengzhou.

*Worst new cred: Take your pic from a slew of kiddy crap.

*Most surprising new cred: Battlestar Galactica Cylon - rode closer to a B&M invert than the Vekoma SLC that it actually is.

*Biggest spite: Odyssey at Fantasy Island

*Park of the season: Universal Islands of Adventure, though I was really impressed with Oriental Heritage in Jinan as well, considering it's a Fantawild park. Obviously nowhere near Universal standard, but up there with the better Asian parks.

*Coolest park-related experience: Preview Halloween event at Hong Kong Disney was cool, especially getting most of the park to myself and about 30 other people for a couple of hours before it started.

*Best experience on a coaster: I'm tempted to say the CF ERT on Cu Chulainn, but I actully felt pretty ill and had to run off and puke right after.

*Worst experience on a coaster:See above really. It was fab and vile at the same time.

*Best day at a park: Probably Tayto Park for the whole group thing, especially if you include the evening after the park as well.

*Worst day at a park: Quancheng Europark - one decent coaster and a slew of s**t being run terribly in a brand new park that felt 30 years old.

*Best trip as a whole: Florida - FINALLY got to get it done after putting it off for ages. The East Coast cred run that a few of us did in the summer was fab though. The parks were all ****, but the trip itself was loads of fun.

General:

*Scariest moment: Probably riding on the back of a motorbike, without a helmet and with the driver ignoring traffic lights, through Chinese traffic to get to Fantawild in Shantou because I couldn't find a real taxi.

*Best people you met: Manila Luzon, but it was also good to meet a few new CFers as well as catch up again with some older ones. Got to spend a fair bit of time with Rachel and Frank (being hilariously dragged to s**thole parks for kiddy coasters and being non too impressed) and Jordanavichy over a couple of days on the East Coast thing.

*Best moment on CF: No idea

*Best non-park experience: Probably visiting Chernobyl. Indonesia was lovely as well.

*Coolest travel moment: See above.

*Biggest travel nightmare: I've had a pretty decent year actually. Getting to and from the East Coast thing was a bit of ballache, requring hotel stays before and after meeting up with everyone and adding two extra days on, but everything was on time and I knew what it would entail before I decided to go. Actually thinking about it, being stuck for 8 hours overnight in Jakarta Airport. I knew I'd be doing it, so it wasn't down to any delays or anything, but I didn't know that there'd be nothing open and be left sitting around outside for 5 hours of it.

*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown: No idea

*Funniest moment: Probably the meal at the "Mongolian" restaurant in Dublin after Tayto Park.

*Single favorite memory: No idea

Milestones:

*Park related: 1000 coasters with Millenium at Fantasy Island. First inverting woodie at Oriental Heritage.

*General: Can't think of anything really
 
*Best new cred
There have been some really good ones this year. Katun was the best!
*Worst new cred
White Cyclone was the worst substantial new cred.
*Most surprising new cred
Dodonpa. Incredible.

*Biggest spite
DiVertical at Mirablandia, Free Style at Cavillino Matto and Hirakata Park
*Park of the season
Tokyo DisneySea

*Coolest park-related experience
There are too many to list. I loved every park in Italy and Japan.

*Best experience on a coaster
The launch of Dodonpa. I literally had a crisis!
Riding Katun back row is a joint second
*Worst experience on a coaster
White Cyclone..
*Best day at a park
The last day of Japan. Park Espania, Suzuka Circuit and Nagashima Spa Land

*Worst day at a park
None

*Best trip as a whole
It has to be Japan, an incredible trip.
Italy is a very close second

*Scariest moment
Any potential spite.

*Best people you met
It has been great to catch up with so many CFers this year. A special mention goes out to the squads from Italy and Japan!

*Best moment on CF
Reading trip reports and live planning topics.

*Best non-park experience
Hanging out a plethora of bars with CFers.

*Coolest travel moment
Conor's car music competition in Japan.

*Biggest travel nightmare
Delayed to the Tayto Live

*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown.
The bants in Italy and Japan.

*Funniest moment
The Space Mountain evacuation
The staff at Nagashima Spa Land trying to fit Richard into Steel Dragon 2000
The name puns at GhosterForce.
*Single favorite memory
When we had got all of the creds at Nagashima Spa Land on the last day of the Japan trip, it was sad that it was the last day but what an achievement. Three parks in one day.

*General
200 and 250 Milestones.
 
Park related:
Best new cred - Helix

Worst new cred – El Condor at Walibi Holland

Most surprising new cred – Probably Shock at Rainbow Magicland, a decent coaster with some nice airtime and speed.

Biggest spite – There’s been a few this season unfortunately. I would say Space Mountain at DLP but I knew it would be closed when I booked the trip. So I’ll go for Jubilee Odyssey, stupid non-existent wind!

Park of the season – Efteling, so stunning <3

Coolest park-related experience – Maybe the tour at Cinicitta World, was my first time going to the out of bounds area of a coaster.

Best experience on a coaster – Helix, back row as the sun as setting. The airtime was insane!

Worst experience on a coaster – El Condor, I dread to think what it would be like without the padded restraints

Best day at a park – They’ve all been good so nothing really jumps out in my mind, But I’ll go with Movieland Park in Italy, what with the weird and wonderful in the actual theme park and the fun we had in the water park after, it was a great day to end the trip on.

Worst day at a park – Again nothing stand out so I’ll just go with Walibi Holland because I found the place really mediocre

Best trip as a whole – It’s a tie! Paris in January was pretty special for me and Frank. It was bloody freezing but the place was dead and the trip just felt really nice and cosy and we had such a great time. And of course Italy, easily one of the best holidays I’ve been on, so much fun with such a great group of people, I don’t think I ever stopped laughing on that trip.

General:
Scariest moment – The airtime waterslide at Movieland Water Park….I thought my legs would give way at the top, terrifying!

Best people you met – All the new CFers of course! Also a shout out to the guys who gave us the tour at Cinicitta and sorted out the free entry.

Best non-park experience – Ticking off some of the cities and landmarks that I’ve always wanted to see – Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower Of Pisa, Vatican City to name a few.

Coolest travel moment – Nothing stands out….again I think just visiting loads of cool places that I’ve always wanted to.

Biggest travel nightmare – The Italian drivers, especially in Rome! Kudos to Nic and Pete who had to deal with that.

The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award: The 3 hour backstage tour at Plopsaland, the cred anxiety was unreal!

Single favourite memory: I think it’s got to be the rapids at Mirabilandia, the thought of Fraser trying to push the water out of the boat still makes me laugh.

Milestones:
100 and 150
Also this year I visited more theme parks and travelled abroad more times than I think I’d ever done previously in my life! I got 93 new creds in total and it was pretty awesome from start to finish! Massive thank you to anyone who organised trips, gave lifts, drove and offered tips/advice for my own trips and of course for the fantastic company. Bring on the 2016 season! 
 
I've had by far and away the best season I've ever had this year, over 200 creds, 43 days spent at parks over seven countries, with just the greatest people you will ever meet.

Park related:
*Best new cred - Skyrush, obviously. Best coaster in the World. Honorable mentions to Iron Rattler, Outlaw Run, Wicked Cyclone, Goliath at Over Georgia... Best "new for 2015" cred was either Fury, Wicked Cyclone or then Karnan I think.
*Worst new cred - namtaB. WHY.
*Most surprising new cred - I really like Flug Der Daemonen after everyone said it sucked, but, Millennium Force for me. So good <3
*Biggest spite - Intimidator 305 but meh.
*Park of the season - Alabama Adventure because it's amazing. It was great to get to Cedar Point, but, no, it was so stressful.
*Coolest park-related experience - Riding Rampage with the fabulous Kochs and then getting to hang out with them and see where Pat keeps her cleaning supplies <3
*Best experience on a coaster - Beast at night or Skyrush whoring with an actual whore.
*Worst experience on a coaster - Boss. What a pile of ****.
*Best day at a park - Alton for Scarefest is actually up there in terms of just a great day, the day at Alabama Adventure obviously, the Tayto Park live was fab, Europa was great just let down by a pile of poo Halloween event.
*Worst day at a park - The first day at Six Flags Over Texas. Just, gross. And Six Flags Over Georgia. The first six hours at Cedar Point.
*Best trip as a whole - America. Germany was a great trip but America was just 22 days of amazing quality and fabulousness.

General:
*Scariest moment - Thinking I wasn't going to get on Top Thrill Dragster or New Texas Giant. Urgh.
*Best people you met - Jarrett is probably the only new CFer I've met that really sticks out... Also, I met him last year but only twice I think and not in any sort of a theme park context, so I'll give NHS a shout too.
*Best moment on CF - Watching Taron getting built and getting excited to ride it in the back <3
*Best non-park experience - The Pigeon Forge pool night is up there, as is all the food we inhaled in America in general.
*Coolest travel moment - I've literally done nothing not cred travel wise this year and I love it. So I guess the fabulous not Maid of the Mist? That was fab.
*Biggest travel nightmare - Eleven hour round trip to SFOT but so worth it.
*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown. - The Blue Fire queue incident and associated topic <3
*Funniest moment - Too many. The Pigeon Forge pool is up there, "I'd love to see this park in Autumn" "it's October" "no I mean deep Autumn, not Autumn-lite", "mit pickles and onions", watching Tom stomping round Hershey with cred anxiety, "**** SAKE TOM", "ooh, mein bad", the peaches waiting to die at Dollywood/Silver Dollar City, Gavin's **** hickey at Tayto Park ah hahahaha.
*Single favorite memory - Meeting the Kochs is number one I think.

Milestones:
700 and 800th creds
 
Park related:
*Best new cred - Baron 1898. Easy easy choice for me.

*Worst new cred - Dizz, Bobbejaanland. I've ridden a few kiddie creds, so don't want to count them here. But I was actually looking forward to Dizz and it was just awful.

*Most surprising new cred - Werewolf, Walibi Belgium. Wasn't expecting to love it as much as I do.

*Biggest spite - Not really had a noteworthy spite. Even though it technically wasn't spite, I'll go for Vleermuis at Plopsaland, because it means I missed out on a +2.

*Park of the season - Efteling. Easy.

*Coolest park-related experience - I'm going to go for doing a Colossus lift hill climb at Thorpe. It was March, it was extremely windy, extremely cold and just extremely March-like weather. But the experience was awesome and nothing I'll be able to quite replicate.

*Best experience on a coaster - This is going to sound so stupid. It was after a go on Baron on its second day. I was sat next to someone, on what I assume was his first ride. At the end of the ride he started speaking to me in Dutch, looking very happy. I had no clue what he was actually saying, but it was clear he was saying something about how good the ride was. After realising I spoke English, he mustered a few phrases like 'Very good ride' and 'I loved it' or something. Kinda just made me realise how parks and coasters can bring people together, even if they don't speak the same language.

*Worst experience on a coaster - Shockwave at Drayton Manor attempting to stop me from having children.

*Best day at a park - My day at Phantasialand. It was the first time there for everyone in the group, it wasn't that busy and we all seemed to share very similar opinions about all the rides, which meant we all were happy with what rides we re-rode.

*Worst day at a park - Chessington early this year.

*Best trip as a whole - I only did one major trip, but it was my first trip into Europe and so would naturally be the best, even if I had ended up doing more.

General:
*Scariest moment - Waiting for Face it Alone at Thorpe.

*Best people you met - All the goons/enthusiasts/keenos/whatever they want to call themselves (bar the odd couple). Yeah, cop out answer since I haven't properly met any CFers.

*Best moment on CF - Kinda becoming a more active member on here.

*Best non-park experience - Eating currywurst in Germany.

*Coolest travel moment - Seeing Anubis in the distance when travelling to Plopsaland.

*Biggest travel nightmare - There's two. One was travelling on a Belgian motorway into Brussels with only 1 lane open. The other was trying to get a ferry back to Dover when there was all the immigration problems.

*The "Look Back on this and Laugh" award; aka a the funniest bit of bants/shade thrown. - I guess it would be me saying how the pirate ship in Toverland was the largest Europe (I'm sure I read it somewhere online), and then all the banter that was thrown my way because of saying that. A 'you had to be there' moment more I guess.

*Funniest moment - Meh, I can't think of one in particular. There are many funny moments.

*Single favorite memory - It's hard to pick out a single one, but I'll go with one I haven't yet mentioned: Being interviewed for a Canadian documentary series about theme parks at Thorpe. Hopefully I make the final cut. :')

Milestones:
*Park related - Getting to visit parks in Europe is a huge milestone.

*General - Got my 50th cred. Still basic, but I'm at least a bit less basic than I was last year.
 
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