Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
WARNING: This trip report contains an obscene amount of selfies, Tim Hortons, and Jarrett drinking legally. Viewer discretion is advised because- Agh, what am I doing, it's no worse than some of the stuff today's idiotic generation is into. Kids need to see this so they know what's out there in the world.
So when planning a credit run around the Great Lakes region for next year, I posted the parks I was going to hopefully do on Facebook. This included SFGAm, Mount Olympus, Michigan's Adventure, Canada's Wonderland, and Waldameer. This generated plenty of discussion, but one comment got me really excited. Taylor (LiveForTheLaunch on CoasterForce) told me not to go through all the hassle of getting a ferry so I could work Michigan's Adventure in there and said that she'd be willing to go to Canada's Wonderland with me this year if I was able to make it across the US-Canada border in Detroit. I was already happy when I read that comment but I was in a sushi restaurant, so that added to it.
Lots of typical Jarrett overplanning ensued. It would be by far the longest solo drive I had done, and my parents said Detroit was messed up in terms of infrastructure, having raised me from ages 1-5 there. I got myself a satnav from my parents and practiced with it for a week before. I was worried I wouldn't be able to safely make the drive and it was really nervewracking for me in the days leading up to the trip. However, that day came and I got home from work at 7 am and got some much-needed sleep before departing around 3:45 that afternoon.
The drive through Ohio was frustrating but I was used to the stuff I encountered for the most part since I deal with it all the time. Construction was there, as well as the occasional left lane driver. I did get in my first ever time honking at someone on this drive, though. There was a woman going ten under so I went into the left lane to pass her and upon passing her, I saw her texting and driving. I honked.
Taken after I got through a very easy Toledo on my way to Windsor. Today another state...[strike]tomorrow[/strike] an hour later another country!
I had almost no trouble getting off I-75, going through possibly the worst urban area I had ever seen, and getting into the toll booth for Ambassador Bridge. However, after getting onto the bridge, I ran into traffic about halfway up the ramp. After getting over in a slow bumper to bumper crawl (think driving through Pigeon Forge for those of you who've done Dollywood) I got to border patrol. The agent asked me where I was going. I told him Canada's Wonderland and staying with a friend. He asked me how I knew that friend. I told him I had met her through an online coaster club. I was asked when the last time we had talked was. I told him that we had Skyped about a week ago. He shot me a bit of a stink face. I explained that we had been Facebooking and texting almost all day. He then asked me, "so she knows you're coming over?" I told him she did. He searched my trunk and glanced in my car and let me through. But seriously, who crosses the Canadian border to show up uninvited at someone's house? XD
All that aside, the VERY FIRST thing I saw upon entering their country? A Tim Hortons. I drove down Huron Church for a bit and got onto EC Road Expressway and took that to Taylor's house.
As soon as the GPS told me to turn onto Taylor's street I had a mini heart attack. Anybody who's met me personally knows I get nervous before meeting another CFer in person, but this was more extreme. I was invading their house and living with them as a house guest instead of meeting them at a park. I had looked for her place on Google Maps so I knew what it looked like but apparently Google Maps is wrong. Because I pulled into the wrong driveway. I backed out and pulled a typical Jarrett parking job in her driveway.
First thing I did at Taylor's place? Grab myself a beer! I was first able to drink in Mexico on vacation last year because their drinking age was 18 and I was crushed when I got back to the US where it's 21. But in Ontario, it's 19, so that was fun. I was able to drink and all that jazz!
This night carried with it possibly the best sleeping arrangements ever. I had bought a twin air mattress with a pump from work that just barely fit in her room if we moved the desk. So it was just her bed, an air mattress, and a foot of space in between where we could walk. She couldn't leave the room without asking me to move, the whole air mattress had to be rolled over to get to the door, it was a party! :lol:
We got almost NO sleep that night (I counted an hour of time I was sure I was asleep) and then went to Wonderland leaving around 5. And I snapped a photo of a huge Canadian flag in all its beauty.
Ever since the Vancouver Olympics I've been obsessed with all things Canada. So seeing a Canadian flag in that country I have a creepy obsession with was amazing.
The sky on the way to Toronto was beautiful.
Yay!
Counted three between the border and Taylor's place. We had it for breakfast. There was one at every rest stop. Had I not know that Canadian Tim Hortons didn't have **** service like the American ones, this would bother me. But knowing that, this was epic. Tim Hortons EVERYWHERE!!!!
There was something we were supposed to do in this town but I forgot...
Oh, that was it! Taylor got to see a typical Jarrett goon freak out firsthand.
Me and Leviathan!
Just watching it puts into perspective how much airtime this thing has. It flies over those hills pretty aggressively.
Yet another aggressive element.
The gates are open, let's go!
Tempting...but high capacity.
Extremely tempting...
It looked so gorgeous!
Off to grab what we had planned to be the first cred of the day, Wonder Mountain's Guardian!
And then we saw a line pouring out the door and imagined floors upon floors of giant cattlepens inside and decided against it.
So instead of Wonder Mountain, we did Fly. I had ridden a large park wild mouse at Knott's and this was pretty much the same. But meh, it's a wild mouse. Just glad we did it first because we saw it with a full cattlepen later that day.
We then headed for The Bat which had a short wait for a boomerang. I like that they have groupers that only let one train at a time in, keeps most of the line up front and not a station wait.
And it was the best boomerang I've done! Better than Carolina Cobra! And as an added bonus, the first inside joke of the trip! There were two very ratchet young ladies that boarded the train behind us that just started freaking out as soon as the ride started. Nothing different from my experience on KBF's...yet. The Bat was so smooth and I could actually enjoy it. But on the second lift spike, there was a loud clang when the catch car engaged and one of them yelled, "THIS AIN'T RIGHT!!! THIS AIN'T RIGHT!!!" It was SO funny! XD
Leviathan had a big line so we went for Dragon Fire instead.
#StationSelfie
This definitely isn't the worst Arrow looper but it's definitely not one of the best. The loops are good and so is the turn into two okay corkscrews (think KI Vortex)...but that helix ain't right!
And we got out and Leviathan's line had gotten longer and was spilling out of the cattlepen. We decided to just do it since it seemed the crowds were just getting worse.
It had SUCH a long line! That ain't right!
Wild Beast and Leviathan!
Jarrett being a goon...as usual.
This thing was absolutely incredible! The climb to the top wasn't nearly as slow and terrifying as I thought it would be, but it really sinks in when you crest the lift and it slows down. For somebody who doesn't do well with heights, I was fine with it. The drop is absolutely amazing and intense, and into the themed tunnel adds to it. When they added that tunnel I thought it seemed like a pointless shed, but it actually added to the experience. I thought it would just zip right through that and it would be an, "if you blink you miss it" type of thing. I was expecting the following overbank to be just slow and floaty like Intimidator's but I was pleasantly surprised to be slammed down into my seat as the train screamed through that element. That speed hill provided some excellent ejector air and the transition in the middle of it was pretty snappy for a B&M. It felt like they were trying to I-305 it a little bit and it worked, because it was intense, surprising, but not rough. I almost liked it better than an I-305 transition. The following camelback felt the same as a typical B&M airtime hill but a lot more powerful, which was nice. Entering the hammerhead turn the track exiting the element creates a really nice unexpected headchopper and while I got a bit of a rattle (though it was so minor it felt like the track was just quivering, almost not enough to talk about), there were still some really good positive forces through this. After falling out of it, there's this really nice intense ground-hugging overbank to the side. The following camelback had less airtime than the previous one but it was better airtime. The overbank to the left after that was also really intense and smooth. And then there's the brakes...far too high and too soon. And I saw some kind of picnic area to the left of the brake run, they could have easily put a dipping helix like the one on Intimidator there and it would have been pretty intense. Whatever was missing aside, the brakes were high and the brake run went on forever. But overall, I think it's kicked Banshee out as my favorite B&M. It felt like the same B&M that did Banshee (not GateKeeper) but on a much bigger scale with an airtime machine, and I found that incredible. I didn't get the positive forces you'd get on an Intamin but I did get the negative ones.
The only complains I have with this one are length and location. It was far, far too short a ride for something with that much potential energy built up at the beginning. Second was the fact that it was in the **** parking lot. They have a rival coaster in the back of the park over water that's themed like a parking lot coaster. Had they taken some advice from Cheetah Hunt and Busch and put this one back there, over water like its namesake, and made it longer and given it a few more high speed turning elements, it would have been my number one. I would have been just as fine walking up to the park with Behemoth roaring around the entrance plaza instead of Leviathan, but I didn't like giving the themeless coaster the cool location. But still, I REALLY liked Leviathan and it shot up to my number three spot, and with the Carowinds giga looking like a longer Leviathan with a bit more terrain interaction, I feel like that's a very strong contender for my number one if it rides like Leviathan.
But as amazing an experience as it was...we had one guy try to put a damper on it. The infamous Isaac. We get up the station ramp and are greeted by who we would learn to be a pretty rude grouper. We were assigned row two even though we asked if we could have the front since I drove all the way from Ohio to do the coaster he was working. He put us in row two even though we asked nicely and explained. The line for row one wasn't long at all according to Taylor. We got in and talked about it a bit before getting into the second row of gates. And then it happened. "Row TWO!!!! Row TWO!!!!!" we heard Isaac rudely bark at us. I'm sorry, but I don't care if the park guest was asking if they could ride without a seatbelt, you NEVER lose your cool and bark at a customer like that. Ask them nicely to do what you need or tell them something will have to be done to make them do it nicely. Barking at a customer should get you fired in most businesses. And line jumping was really bad that day so Taylor told one of the employees only to be told they couldn't do anything about it. We took it to guest services in hopes of free fast lanes or something but all we got to do was fill out a comment card. We didn't get anything...but I'm SURE Leviathan's ride team supervisor got a surprise when he got the comment card!
Wanting to get away from Isaac and his buddies, we went to get me on Time Warp, my first Zamperla Volare. As a mechanical engineer I always loved the design of these things but I hated how there was no bar to keep you from slipping out the back, like something that went between your legs. Because while you can't slip through the back and die completely, I'm sure losing your footing and falling back might be a painful problem for some smaller riders.
And about three seconds into the ride I WISHED I could slip out the back and die! That ain't right! This thing just jerks you around a coffin-sized bucket that people that hate tight spaces (me included) have nightmares about! Whoever decided those inversions need to be a thing needs a new job. They have bad capacity, they're rough, and I was screaming in pain the whole time. Can we get Isaac on this thing?
Behemoth had a decent wait, but we went for it next. It has roughly the same capacity of Leviathan, so I wondered why the cattlepen was full. My theory? Those dumb seatbelts.
It taunted us for the whole duration of the cattlepen wait...
Okay, this is B&M's best hyper hands down! We rode in the back, the same location as my favorite Diamondback seat. But the airtime on Diamondback can't hold a candle to the air you get on Behemoth! I was pulled out of the seat up to my knees on that first hill. And I love how it's over water, that really adds to the experience. And the best thing? The airtime doesn't let up. You're getting ripped from your seat on pretty much every high spot on the coaster right up to the brakes, and the helices are great and intense. I wish more B&M hypers were like this one.
Wanting lunch, we went to Backlot Cafe to grab beer and food. Yeah...I didn't get the Japanese Poutine.
We each grabbed a Canadian beer and had at it! My first legally purchased beer!
I really like Lebatt Blue. It's nice and light but it has a lot of that good flavor. Better than Molson Canadian in my opinion.
I was drinking, and I hope this girl was too because she had taken her sneakers and socks off at the table at the park. Um, why? XD
I drank the whole thing pretty quickly. Fastest I've ever killed nine Canadian dollars.
And it went right to my head! Let's go get some CREEEDS!!!!!!
I got my first and last ride on Skyrider a little tipsy after that beer.
And it was also Taylor's last ride and I got to do it with her. Sad, but I felt honored.
It looked pretty unusual from the queue but I wanted to ride it.
And then it became pretty obvious that I had been drinking. There was this goose around the queue honking and eating the grass. So I heard it honk and felt the need to yell, "HONK!!!!" back really loudly at it.
Took seven pictures of this goose. Yeah, I was drinking. XD
My only opportunity to ride this...
From the station we saw some Muslims over in an area off the path where they weren't supposed to be praying. Um, why did they not remove them from this area? XD Seriously, if you're required to do that, couldn't you just ask to use the picnic grove really fast or something?
Inappropriate places to worship aside, Skyrider was leaving and I got to get the cred and Taylor got to ride it one more time!
Taylor pointed out that the speed on this sign was labeled as "gravity?"
I thought it was cool that this was there...but read the last paragraph and it's sad.
That is a shame. That is an absolute **** shame. Such a good, weird ride! I experienced minimal headbanging and I thought it was way better than Manhattan Express! We rode in the front and got some weird forces going through the loops, and as Taylor had told me, the standing airtime was just weird! I like how you can hear it clanging around as it goes through that awesome helix, and then some more weird standing airtime. The high turn was a bit rough but the airtime hops were just so bizarre I couldn't help but love them! So unfortunate they're taking it out. Tear down Flight Deck and put this there for the waterpark expansion! Seriously!
And Vortex's line was just the cattlepen so we did it.
But first...let me take a selfie!
I liked Vortex. We got the back car (my favorite for its clone in Ohio) and while it didn't feel as if it swang as aggressively, it was still the better of the two. I liked diving off of Wonder Mountain under its Guardian and swooping around the beautiful watery landscape of Canada's Wonderland. It plays with the terrain a lot better in my opinion. This feels like it belongs, The Bat just feels like somebody saved Vortex's track design in Rollercoaster Tycoon, hit shift, and put it over a hilly area and built a crazy path out to it. Vortex > The Bat.
Wonder Mountain's Guardian, the latest and greatest at Canada's Wonderland, was next.
The queue was stretched out the structure but at least there was a nice view.
I loved watching the little pods come out of the mountain and dip around the side in line.
I see you, Leviathan!
Lampviathan
Treeviathan
It's such a gorgeous park...
They need to heat these rocks. Like, make them painful to touch. Peoples' kids were just climbing all over them like they were play structures. And it clearly said not to climb on them on the warning sign! People needing to control their kids was a theme with this ride...
Oh boy, almost inside!
Taylor didn't do this one the other time she was here this season so it was a +1 for both of us! I had seen the POV, she hadn't. Sadly I accidentally spoiled the drop track bit for her in conversation the previous day. Had I known she didn't know I'd have just let it drop to see her reaction.
Heading up into Wonder Mountain itself, we heard a horrible chorus of children making these obnoxious howling noises echoing throughout the entire building. Parents, control your kids!
Cedar Fair trash can in the stairwell, it's themed!
Fun!
Me with this little obscure dragon relief they put in the rockwork!
And then into the little cattlepen!
They have these little games on the TVs at Cedar Fair parks that I like because while not many actively participate, if it keeps ONE person from playing that stupid "iPhone on the forehead charades" game I saw about twelve people playing in line for Leviathan, I support it. One of these games is one where it shows a ball and three goony park mugs drop and one covers the ball, the cups shuffle, there's distractions, and you have to keep an eye on the cup with the ball. That's fun. They also have trivia that includes questions about park rides and history that the GP might know. Good. Wonder Mountain's Guardian had its own trivia game but it was trivia about just the ride itself. Who made it, who made the trains, which country did the animation, things of the nature. Now one goon question (The maker of X also made which of the following?) is okay. But this was stuff that the GP would never know or care about. I researched WMG when trying to make something similar in RCT3 and I didn't know some of the answers. I personally wish they would replace these nerd questions with ones we can all enjoy. My idea that I told Taylor? There's a little cartoon mixed in with the things Fun TV loops that explains the story behind the ride. Maybe make it trivia about the ride's backstory so people have incentive to watch it?
I liked how they did a small rundown of the characters in the ride's story. These included the different targets you would have to shoot and tips on bringing them down. More incentive to watch that than the actual backstory, to be honest.
On the platform!
+1 for the both of us, loser keeps Bieber!
And then someone threw up and they had to clean it. There's probably less than ten seconds of even mild intensity on this ride, the cheapo plastic 3D glasses stay on without a strap, so unless the 3D made them dizzy or something, they have the weakest stomach ever.
Taylor and I model the restraints and 3D glasses! Let's do this!
This might be one of Cedar Fair's best choices. I initially hated the idea when they announced that they were doing something so obscure and Taylor expected it to suck, but it blew both of our expectations away. The turn out of the lift was a bit bumpy and I felt like we might be in for a letdown after all that cool queue stuff, but after that turn it was butter smooth back into Wonder Mountain. From there, it was just magic. The 3D was the best 3D glasses effect I had ever seen, and I like how unlike the laser shooters you can see where you're firing. The beams are color coded, which is also cool, so I could tell if it was me or Taylor that had just hit that target. Even moving around the corners from screen to screen in total silence in a dark room with screens lining the track it was suspenseful, as bragging rights (and forfeiture of that little autotuned drunk rental car drag racing punk) were on the line. But finally, it came. The room with the finale. It's SO cool. It's set up a bit differently, the screen is wrapped instead of straight, and you can tell something's up. You get in there, and the dragon goes after you, and you have to shoot it. But then it breathes fire at the train, there are flashing fire-colored lights, and during this continuous burn...clunk!!! I had been itching to try a freefall drop since I saw Thirteen, and it totally surprised me at just how intense it was. It felt like an S&S Power Shot in that it shot you down and I got some air on it. I was expecting just a tame release but it was aggressive! Such a brilliant element, I hope the new one at Cedar Point has the same thing so I can just drive to a freefall drop! Big win right here, Canada's Wonderland! Good on you for sharing it with KBF and CP! And hopefully KI in 2016!
(If Kings Island could have one that drops the entire height of the old Tomb Raider/Crypt building I might actually pee my pants in happiness.)
The best family cred ever (that DID beat out FireChaser for me) aside, we went onto the worst overall cred ever!
A decent picture of two disgusting rides.
It has such decent theming* for such a bad ride. They themed it to an actual size Canadian Air Force base!
*- Not counting the random hangar where you enter and there's Fanta crap all over the walls and oranges hanging from the roof.
Why can't this be at the end of the line instead?
We saw a hot air balloon flying over the queue!
Hot air balloon and a Volare
It's unfortunate because it's the best themed of any of the former Top Guns I've done, though I am missing CGA's.
I wish Jordan could have just shown up on that path next to the brake run JUST to say "It's :xcensoredx:ing ****."Because it is. This actually beat out Ninja (SFOG) as my least favorite cred. I was literally screaming at the tops of my lungs in pain the whole time...TRYING to brace! It felt like the wheels were skipping along the tracks more than actually riding on them, and the shaping is awful! Not to mention it's hideous! This thing has to go, it's terrible! Grind it up into steel wool and use it to clean the bathrooms at the most terrible, nasty Tim Hortons (aka American Tim Hortons) on the planet! I don't see why anybody wants to ride this piece of garbage.
Mighty Canadian Minebuster was next. The park had been full of line jumpers all friggin' day and we finally had enough of it and started telling people not to jump in front of us. Apparently you have to stop them, as if saying, "in my country we wait our turn," isn't enough. Unless said in a Russian accent as I told Taylor. Idiots jumping in line because they have a sister up front aside, I really liked it. Decent airtime, rough but not too rough (and we sat on a wheel), and we got to see slide pieces for that stupid slide that they're putting in place of Skyrider.
Minebuster's station at least provides something pretty to look at as you're being line jumped...
We went over to the other side of the park to nab Wild Beast. Taylor was nice enough to take this picture of me in front of Wonder Mountain.
And across the bridge I saw the most Canadian thing at the park that day. A Tim Hortons that was absolutely PACKED.
Medieval Fair at sunset!
Taylor decided to sit out Wild Beast and rest while I nabbed it. People say bad things about this but it's fun. It beats you up, throws you around, the like, but that's what makes it funny and amusing. Totally agree on Taylor with this one, Wild Beast is just a fun, rough ride.
With the kiddie area closing soon and not seeing any worth in Thunder Run or the Backlot clone, I saved those for next time we do this (which there WILL be!) and just opted for an Isaac-free night ride in the back of Leviathan.
I feel like this section right here was what happens when you get lazy on Rollercoaster Tycoon and just make your queue zigzag erratically to get more cattlepen space.
I tried a few long exposures of Drop Tower dropping behind Leviathan's turnaround but it didn't come out. But this is decent.
If I had had something on which to mount my camera when this was taken...
#StationSelfie before our first night rides on Leviathan!
WAY better in the back! I had been waffling between Leviathan and Behemoth being my favorite in the park...this takes it hands down! Just as aggressive as it was during the day, better forces, and the light up eyes on the themed tunnel really make this ride. Definitely better than Maverick!
Such a beautiful park at night! We went tat shopping and I got a Leviathan keyring, goon shirt, goon hat, and a Behemoth mug. Sadly, no Canadian Flag or Guardian stuff. But Taylor got this awesome Snoopy sweater!
After we left the park, the drive home was horrible. Toronto traffic delayed us by about two hours so instead of getting home at 1 we got home at 3. We both had to stay awake and pulled over twice to get sleep. Insanely brutal, I'm so glad we made it home safely.
After getting home, Taylor fixed my little "never tried whiskey" problem. Mixed some Canadian whiskey in with Canada Dry ginger ale. It's such a nice cocktail...and it messed me up a lot!
That night Taylor told me that Darren was right about me snoring, but at least we both got some sleep. That morning, I got to meet her family, and I have to say, they're a riot! Love Taylor's folks, they're hilarious and loved that I was obsessed with Canada.
Left Taylor's place around noon to hit the casino and I have to admit it was somewhat sad. Hope to come back soon, though, because I think they liked me as much as I liked them!
Taylor and I then went to Caesar's Windsor to fix my "went to Vegas but never gambled" problem. She started with twenty, I started with ten. We got to the roulette table and the lady walked up to us, looked at me, and said, "you look like you're 19." She looked at Taylor, "can I see your ID?" Taylor is a few years older than I am. She lost all of her money at the roulette table, and I lost five. We then went to the slots where I lost another five. VERY quickly. That couldn't have been bad luck, I just think that gambling has such a low chance of actually paying off I don't see the point in doing it seriously like some of the people I saw in Vegas. Playing with ten dollars is fun, yes, but doing that with your life savings? I'm not here to judge, but it doesn't make sense to go in and expect to win big. I had a ton of fun with my ten dollars and I'd do it again in a heartbeat (and Dayton is getting a casino just in time for me to be of age! :--D ), but I really see no point in having slot machines in the grocery stores and airport in Vegas because doing it without the experience of doing it in a casino kind of takes away what I loved about it. Definitely want to come back here and do some more gambling and maybe actually win something, even if it's just five dollars that prolongs me losing all my money.
From there we hit the road. I said goodbye to Taylor in the parking garage :cry: , got gas at a crappy Esso in a sketchy area next to a Tim Hortons, and used the restroom that had been littered with two Tim Hortons cups. I then took the Detroit-Windsor tunnel to the US. I was nervous at border patrol having never crossed back into my country alone. I explained to the agent that I was staying and visiting Wonderland with a friend from a fan forum. He had never heard of the concept of a fan forum. I explained what it was and he didn't buy it and he said that I seemed nervous so they searched my car and found nothing. Went to Toronto but never saw the mayor, so I had nothing to hide and I wasn't nervous about being searched. They waved me on through and I got on 75 towards Dayton. It started with some idiot trying to lane change on top of me that nearly took out my front driver side headlight, so I honked at him with my very threatening horn that Taylor and I got a kick out of the previous day. And Toledo was just awful. Full of construction and traffic. But after it was smooth sailing, I got home safely, and started talking my parents' ears off about the past three days.
I had such a wonderful time, though! Taylor's just an all-around great person and while I hate that we can't do much regularly because an international border and three hours separate us, I'm just glad it's just that. She was planning to make it to Kings Island to do Banshee and I might return the favor then. I'd love my parents to meet her (and her family for that matter) in person because I'm sure it would be fun. I think I made myself a really great friend during this credit run and I hope we can stay in touch and do more in the future.
So when planning a credit run around the Great Lakes region for next year, I posted the parks I was going to hopefully do on Facebook. This included SFGAm, Mount Olympus, Michigan's Adventure, Canada's Wonderland, and Waldameer. This generated plenty of discussion, but one comment got me really excited. Taylor (LiveForTheLaunch on CoasterForce) told me not to go through all the hassle of getting a ferry so I could work Michigan's Adventure in there and said that she'd be willing to go to Canada's Wonderland with me this year if I was able to make it across the US-Canada border in Detroit. I was already happy when I read that comment but I was in a sushi restaurant, so that added to it.
Lots of typical Jarrett overplanning ensued. It would be by far the longest solo drive I had done, and my parents said Detroit was messed up in terms of infrastructure, having raised me from ages 1-5 there. I got myself a satnav from my parents and practiced with it for a week before. I was worried I wouldn't be able to safely make the drive and it was really nervewracking for me in the days leading up to the trip. However, that day came and I got home from work at 7 am and got some much-needed sleep before departing around 3:45 that afternoon.
The drive through Ohio was frustrating but I was used to the stuff I encountered for the most part since I deal with it all the time. Construction was there, as well as the occasional left lane driver. I did get in my first ever time honking at someone on this drive, though. There was a woman going ten under so I went into the left lane to pass her and upon passing her, I saw her texting and driving. I honked.
Taken after I got through a very easy Toledo on my way to Windsor. Today another state...[strike]tomorrow[/strike] an hour later another country!
I had almost no trouble getting off I-75, going through possibly the worst urban area I had ever seen, and getting into the toll booth for Ambassador Bridge. However, after getting onto the bridge, I ran into traffic about halfway up the ramp. After getting over in a slow bumper to bumper crawl (think driving through Pigeon Forge for those of you who've done Dollywood) I got to border patrol. The agent asked me where I was going. I told him Canada's Wonderland and staying with a friend. He asked me how I knew that friend. I told him I had met her through an online coaster club. I was asked when the last time we had talked was. I told him that we had Skyped about a week ago. He shot me a bit of a stink face. I explained that we had been Facebooking and texting almost all day. He then asked me, "so she knows you're coming over?" I told him she did. He searched my trunk and glanced in my car and let me through. But seriously, who crosses the Canadian border to show up uninvited at someone's house? XD
All that aside, the VERY FIRST thing I saw upon entering their country? A Tim Hortons.
I drove down Huron Church for a bit and got onto EC Road Expressway and took that to Taylor's house.As soon as the GPS told me to turn onto Taylor's street I had a mini heart attack. Anybody who's met me personally knows I get nervous before meeting another CFer in person, but this was more extreme. I was invading their house and living with them as a house guest instead of meeting them at a park. I had looked for her place on Google Maps so I knew what it looked like but apparently Google Maps is wrong. Because I pulled into the wrong driveway.
I backed out and pulled a typical Jarrett parking job in her driveway.
First thing I did at Taylor's place? Grab myself a beer! I was first able to drink in Mexico on vacation last year because their drinking age was 18 and I was crushed when I got back to the US where it's 21. But in Ontario, it's 19, so that was fun. I was able to drink and all that jazz!
This night carried with it possibly the best sleeping arrangements ever. I had bought a twin air mattress with a pump from work that just barely fit in her room if we moved the desk. So it was just her bed, an air mattress, and a foot of space in between where we could walk. She couldn't leave the room without asking me to move, the whole air mattress had to be rolled over to get to the door, it was a party! :lol:
We got almost NO sleep that night (I counted an hour of time I was sure I was asleep) and then went to Wonderland leaving around 5. And I snapped a photo of a huge Canadian flag in all its beauty.
Ever since the Vancouver Olympics I've been obsessed with all things Canada. So seeing a Canadian flag in that country I have a creepy obsession with was amazing.
The sky on the way to Toronto was beautiful.
Yay!
Counted three between the border and Taylor's place. We had it for breakfast. There was one at every rest stop. Had I not know that Canadian Tim Hortons didn't have **** service like the American ones, this would bother me. But knowing that, this was epic. Tim Hortons EVERYWHERE!!!!
There was something we were supposed to do in this town but I forgot...
Oh, that was it! Taylor got to see a typical Jarrett goon freak out firsthand.
Me and Leviathan!
Just watching it puts into perspective how much airtime this thing has. It flies over those hills pretty aggressively.
Yet another aggressive element.
The gates are open, let's go!
Tempting...but high capacity.
Extremely tempting...
It looked so gorgeous!
Off to grab what we had planned to be the first cred of the day, Wonder Mountain's Guardian!
And then we saw a line pouring out the door and imagined floors upon floors of giant cattlepens inside and decided against it.
So instead of Wonder Mountain, we did Fly. I had ridden a large park wild mouse at Knott's and this was pretty much the same. But meh, it's a wild mouse. Just glad we did it first because we saw it with a full cattlepen later that day.
We then headed for The Bat which had a short wait for a boomerang. I like that they have groupers that only let one train at a time in, keeps most of the line up front and not a station wait.
And it was the best boomerang I've done! Better than Carolina Cobra! And as an added bonus, the first inside joke of the trip! There were two very ratchet young ladies that boarded the train behind us that just started freaking out as soon as the ride started. Nothing different from my experience on KBF's...yet. The Bat was so smooth and I could actually enjoy it. But on the second lift spike, there was a loud clang when the catch car engaged and one of them yelled, "THIS AIN'T RIGHT!!! THIS AIN'T RIGHT!!!" It was SO funny! XD
Leviathan had a big line so we went for Dragon Fire instead.
#StationSelfie
This definitely isn't the worst Arrow looper but it's definitely not one of the best. The loops are good and so is the turn into two okay corkscrews (think KI Vortex)...but that helix ain't right!
And we got out and Leviathan's line had gotten longer and was spilling out of the cattlepen. We decided to just do it since it seemed the crowds were just getting worse.
It had SUCH a long line! That ain't right!
Wild Beast and Leviathan!
Jarrett being a goon...as usual.
This thing was absolutely incredible! The climb to the top wasn't nearly as slow and terrifying as I thought it would be, but it really sinks in when you crest the lift and it slows down. For somebody who doesn't do well with heights, I was fine with it. The drop is absolutely amazing and intense, and into the themed tunnel adds to it. When they added that tunnel I thought it seemed like a pointless shed, but it actually added to the experience. I thought it would just zip right through that and it would be an, "if you blink you miss it" type of thing. I was expecting the following overbank to be just slow and floaty like Intimidator's but I was pleasantly surprised to be slammed down into my seat as the train screamed through that element. That speed hill provided some excellent ejector air and the transition in the middle of it was pretty snappy for a B&M. It felt like they were trying to I-305 it a little bit and it worked, because it was intense, surprising, but not rough. I almost liked it better than an I-305 transition. The following camelback felt the same as a typical B&M airtime hill but a lot more powerful, which was nice. Entering the hammerhead turn the track exiting the element creates a really nice unexpected headchopper and while I got a bit of a rattle (though it was so minor it felt like the track was just quivering, almost not enough to talk about), there were still some really good positive forces through this. After falling out of it, there's this really nice intense ground-hugging overbank to the side. The following camelback had less airtime than the previous one but it was better airtime. The overbank to the left after that was also really intense and smooth. And then there's the brakes...far too high and too soon. And I saw some kind of picnic area to the left of the brake run, they could have easily put a dipping helix like the one on Intimidator there and it would have been pretty intense. Whatever was missing aside, the brakes were high and the brake run went on forever. But overall, I think it's kicked Banshee out as my favorite B&M. It felt like the same B&M that did Banshee (not GateKeeper) but on a much bigger scale with an airtime machine, and I found that incredible. I didn't get the positive forces you'd get on an Intamin but I did get the negative ones.
The only complains I have with this one are length and location. It was far, far too short a ride for something with that much potential energy built up at the beginning. Second was the fact that it was in the **** parking lot. They have a rival coaster in the back of the park over water that's themed like a parking lot coaster. Had they taken some advice from Cheetah Hunt and Busch and put this one back there, over water like its namesake, and made it longer and given it a few more high speed turning elements, it would have been my number one. I would have been just as fine walking up to the park with Behemoth roaring around the entrance plaza instead of Leviathan, but I didn't like giving the themeless coaster the cool location. But still, I REALLY liked Leviathan and it shot up to my number three spot, and with the Carowinds giga looking like a longer Leviathan with a bit more terrain interaction, I feel like that's a very strong contender for my number one if it rides like Leviathan.
But as amazing an experience as it was...we had one guy try to put a damper on it. The infamous Isaac. We get up the station ramp and are greeted by who we would learn to be a pretty rude grouper. We were assigned row two even though we asked if we could have the front since I drove all the way from Ohio to do the coaster he was working. He put us in row two even though we asked nicely and explained. The line for row one wasn't long at all according to Taylor. We got in and talked about it a bit before getting into the second row of gates. And then it happened. "Row TWO!!!! Row TWO!!!!!" we heard Isaac rudely bark at us. I'm sorry, but I don't care if the park guest was asking if they could ride without a seatbelt, you NEVER lose your cool and bark at a customer like that. Ask them nicely to do what you need or tell them something will have to be done to make them do it nicely. Barking at a customer should get you fired in most businesses. And line jumping was really bad that day so Taylor told one of the employees only to be told they couldn't do anything about it. We took it to guest services in hopes of free fast lanes or something but all we got to do was fill out a comment card. We didn't get anything...but I'm SURE Leviathan's ride team supervisor got a surprise when he got the comment card!
Wanting to get away from Isaac and his buddies, we went to get me on Time Warp, my first Zamperla Volare. As a mechanical engineer I always loved the design of these things but I hated how there was no bar to keep you from slipping out the back, like something that went between your legs. Because while you can't slip through the back and die completely, I'm sure losing your footing and falling back might be a painful problem for some smaller riders.
And about three seconds into the ride I WISHED I could slip out the back and die! That ain't right! This thing just jerks you around a coffin-sized bucket that people that hate tight spaces (me included) have nightmares about! Whoever decided those inversions need to be a thing needs a new job. They have bad capacity, they're rough, and I was screaming in pain the whole time. Can we get Isaac on this thing?
Behemoth had a decent wait, but we went for it next. It has roughly the same capacity of Leviathan, so I wondered why the cattlepen was full. My theory? Those dumb seatbelts.
It taunted us for the whole duration of the cattlepen wait...
Okay, this is B&M's best hyper hands down! We rode in the back, the same location as my favorite Diamondback seat. But the airtime on Diamondback can't hold a candle to the air you get on Behemoth! I was pulled out of the seat up to my knees on that first hill. And I love how it's over water, that really adds to the experience. And the best thing? The airtime doesn't let up. You're getting ripped from your seat on pretty much every high spot on the coaster right up to the brakes, and the helices are great and intense. I wish more B&M hypers were like this one.
Wanting lunch, we went to Backlot Cafe to grab beer and food. Yeah...I didn't get the Japanese Poutine.
We each grabbed a Canadian beer and had at it! My first legally purchased beer!
I really like Lebatt Blue. It's nice and light but it has a lot of that good flavor. Better than Molson Canadian in my opinion.
I was drinking, and I hope this girl was too because she had taken her sneakers and socks off at the table at the park. Um, why? XD
I drank the whole thing pretty quickly. Fastest I've ever killed nine Canadian dollars.
And it went right to my head! Let's go get some CREEEDS!!!!!!
I got my first and last ride on Skyrider a little tipsy after that beer.
And it was also Taylor's last ride and I got to do it with her. Sad, but I felt honored.
It looked pretty unusual from the queue but I wanted to ride it.
And then it became pretty obvious that I had been drinking. There was this goose around the queue honking and eating the grass. So I heard it honk and felt the need to yell, "HONK!!!!" back really loudly at it.
Took seven pictures of this goose. Yeah, I was drinking. XD
My only opportunity to ride this...
From the station we saw some Muslims over in an area off the path where they weren't supposed to be praying. Um, why did they not remove them from this area? XD Seriously, if you're required to do that, couldn't you just ask to use the picnic grove really fast or something?
Inappropriate places to worship aside, Skyrider was leaving and I got to get the cred and Taylor got to ride it one more time!
Taylor pointed out that the speed on this sign was labeled as "gravity?"
I thought it was cool that this was there...but read the last paragraph and it's sad.
That is a shame. That is an absolute **** shame. Such a good, weird ride! I experienced minimal headbanging and I thought it was way better than Manhattan Express! We rode in the front and got some weird forces going through the loops, and as Taylor had told me, the standing airtime was just weird! I like how you can hear it clanging around as it goes through that awesome helix, and then some more weird standing airtime. The high turn was a bit rough but the airtime hops were just so bizarre I couldn't help but love them! So unfortunate they're taking it out. Tear down Flight Deck and put this there for the waterpark expansion! Seriously!
And Vortex's line was just the cattlepen so we did it.
But first...let me take a selfie!
I liked Vortex. We got the back car (my favorite for its clone in Ohio) and while it didn't feel as if it swang as aggressively, it was still the better of the two. I liked diving off of Wonder Mountain under its Guardian and swooping around the beautiful watery landscape of Canada's Wonderland. It plays with the terrain a lot better in my opinion. This feels like it belongs, The Bat just feels like somebody saved Vortex's track design in Rollercoaster Tycoon, hit shift, and put it over a hilly area and built a crazy path out to it. Vortex > The Bat.
Wonder Mountain's Guardian, the latest and greatest at Canada's Wonderland, was next.
The queue was stretched out the structure but at least there was a nice view.
I loved watching the little pods come out of the mountain and dip around the side in line.
I see you, Leviathan!
Lampviathan
Treeviathan
It's such a gorgeous park...
They need to heat these rocks. Like, make them painful to touch. Peoples' kids were just climbing all over them like they were play structures. And it clearly said not to climb on them on the warning sign! People needing to control their kids was a theme with this ride...
Oh boy, almost inside!
Taylor didn't do this one the other time she was here this season so it was a +1 for both of us! I had seen the POV, she hadn't. Sadly I accidentally spoiled the drop track bit for her in conversation the previous day. Had I known she didn't know I'd have just let it drop to see her reaction.
Heading up into Wonder Mountain itself, we heard a horrible chorus of children making these obnoxious howling noises echoing throughout the entire building. Parents, control your kids!
Cedar Fair trash can in the stairwell, it's themed!
Fun!
Me with this little obscure dragon relief they put in the rockwork!
And then into the little cattlepen!
They have these little games on the TVs at Cedar Fair parks that I like because while not many actively participate, if it keeps ONE person from playing that stupid "iPhone on the forehead charades" game I saw about twelve people playing in line for Leviathan, I support it. One of these games is one where it shows a ball and three goony park mugs drop and one covers the ball, the cups shuffle, there's distractions, and you have to keep an eye on the cup with the ball. That's fun. They also have trivia that includes questions about park rides and history that the GP might know. Good. Wonder Mountain's Guardian had its own trivia game but it was trivia about just the ride itself. Who made it, who made the trains, which country did the animation, things of the nature. Now one goon question (The maker of X also made which of the following?) is okay. But this was stuff that the GP would never know or care about. I researched WMG when trying to make something similar in RCT3 and I didn't know some of the answers. I personally wish they would replace these nerd questions with ones we can all enjoy. My idea that I told Taylor? There's a little cartoon mixed in with the things Fun TV loops that explains the story behind the ride. Maybe make it trivia about the ride's backstory so people have incentive to watch it?
I liked how they did a small rundown of the characters in the ride's story. These included the different targets you would have to shoot and tips on bringing them down. More incentive to watch that than the actual backstory, to be honest.
On the platform!
+1 for the both of us, loser keeps Bieber!
And then someone threw up and they had to clean it. There's probably less than ten seconds of even mild intensity on this ride, the cheapo plastic 3D glasses stay on without a strap, so unless the 3D made them dizzy or something, they have the weakest stomach ever.
Taylor and I model the restraints and 3D glasses! Let's do this!
This might be one of Cedar Fair's best choices. I initially hated the idea when they announced that they were doing something so obscure and Taylor expected it to suck, but it blew both of our expectations away. The turn out of the lift was a bit bumpy and I felt like we might be in for a letdown after all that cool queue stuff, but after that turn it was butter smooth back into Wonder Mountain. From there, it was just magic. The 3D was the best 3D glasses effect I had ever seen, and I like how unlike the laser shooters you can see where you're firing. The beams are color coded, which is also cool, so I could tell if it was me or Taylor that had just hit that target. Even moving around the corners from screen to screen in total silence in a dark room with screens lining the track it was suspenseful, as bragging rights (and forfeiture of that little autotuned drunk rental car drag racing punk) were on the line. But finally, it came. The room with the finale. It's SO cool. It's set up a bit differently, the screen is wrapped instead of straight, and you can tell something's up. You get in there, and the dragon goes after you, and you have to shoot it. But then it breathes fire at the train, there are flashing fire-colored lights, and during this continuous burn...clunk!!! I had been itching to try a freefall drop since I saw Thirteen, and it totally surprised me at just how intense it was. It felt like an S&S Power Shot in that it shot you down and I got some air on it. I was expecting just a tame release but it was aggressive! Such a brilliant element, I hope the new one at Cedar Point has the same thing so I can just drive to a freefall drop! Big win right here, Canada's Wonderland! Good on you for sharing it with KBF and CP! And hopefully KI in 2016!
(If Kings Island could have one that drops the entire height of the old Tomb Raider/Crypt building I might actually pee my pants in happiness.)
The best family cred ever (that DID beat out FireChaser for me) aside, we went onto the worst overall cred ever!
A decent picture of two disgusting rides.
It has such decent theming* for such a bad ride. They themed it to an actual size Canadian Air Force base!
*- Not counting the random hangar where you enter and there's Fanta crap all over the walls and oranges hanging from the roof.
Why can't this be at the end of the line instead?
We saw a hot air balloon flying over the queue!
Hot air balloon and a Volare
It's unfortunate because it's the best themed of any of the former Top Guns I've done, though I am missing CGA's.
I wish Jordan could have just shown up on that path next to the brake run JUST to say "It's :xcensoredx:ing ****."Because it is. This actually beat out Ninja (SFOG) as my least favorite cred. I was literally screaming at the tops of my lungs in pain the whole time...TRYING to brace! It felt like the wheels were skipping along the tracks more than actually riding on them, and the shaping is awful! Not to mention it's hideous! This thing has to go, it's terrible! Grind it up into steel wool and use it to clean the bathrooms at the most terrible, nasty Tim Hortons (aka American Tim Hortons) on the planet! I don't see why anybody wants to ride this piece of garbage.
Mighty Canadian Minebuster was next. The park had been full of line jumpers all friggin' day and we finally had enough of it and started telling people not to jump in front of us. Apparently you have to stop them, as if saying, "in my country we wait our turn," isn't enough. Unless said in a Russian accent as I told Taylor.
Idiots jumping in line because they have a sister up front aside, I really liked it. Decent airtime, rough but not too rough (and we sat on a wheel), and we got to see slide pieces for that stupid slide that they're putting in place of Skyrider.
Minebuster's station at least provides something pretty to look at as you're being line jumped...
We went over to the other side of the park to nab Wild Beast. Taylor was nice enough to take this picture of me in front of Wonder Mountain.
And across the bridge I saw the most Canadian thing at the park that day. A Tim Hortons that was absolutely PACKED.
Medieval Fair at sunset!
Taylor decided to sit out Wild Beast and rest while I nabbed it. People say bad things about this but it's fun. It beats you up, throws you around, the like, but that's what makes it funny and amusing. Totally agree on Taylor with this one, Wild Beast is just a fun, rough ride.
With the kiddie area closing soon and not seeing any worth in Thunder Run or the Backlot clone, I saved those for next time we do this (which there WILL be!) and just opted for an Isaac-free night ride in the back of Leviathan.
I feel like this section right here was what happens when you get lazy on Rollercoaster Tycoon and just make your queue zigzag erratically to get more cattlepen space.
I tried a few long exposures of Drop Tower dropping behind Leviathan's turnaround but it didn't come out. But this is decent.
If I had had something on which to mount my camera when this was taken...
#StationSelfie before our first night rides on Leviathan!
WAY better in the back! I had been waffling between Leviathan and Behemoth being my favorite in the park...this takes it hands down! Just as aggressive as it was during the day, better forces, and the light up eyes on the themed tunnel really make this ride. Definitely better than Maverick!
Such a beautiful park at night! We went tat shopping and I got a Leviathan keyring, goon shirt, goon hat, and a Behemoth mug. Sadly, no Canadian Flag or Guardian stuff.
But Taylor got this awesome Snoopy sweater!
After we left the park, the drive home was horrible. Toronto traffic delayed us by about two hours so instead of getting home at 1 we got home at 3. We both had to stay awake and pulled over twice to get sleep. Insanely brutal, I'm so glad we made it home safely.
After getting home, Taylor fixed my little "never tried whiskey" problem. Mixed some Canadian whiskey in with Canada Dry ginger ale. It's such a nice cocktail...and it messed me up a lot!
That night Taylor told me that Darren was right about me snoring, but at least we both got some sleep. That morning, I got to meet her family, and I have to say, they're a riot! Love Taylor's folks, they're hilarious and loved that I was obsessed with Canada.
Left Taylor's place around noon to hit the casino and I have to admit it was somewhat sad. Hope to come back soon, though, because I think they liked me as much as I liked them!
Taylor and I then went to Caesar's Windsor to fix my "went to Vegas but never gambled" problem. She started with twenty, I started with ten. We got to the roulette table and the lady walked up to us, looked at me, and said, "you look like you're 19." She looked at Taylor, "can I see your ID?" Taylor is a few years older than I am.
She lost all of her money at the roulette table, and I lost five. We then went to the slots where I lost another five. VERY quickly. That couldn't have been bad luck, I just think that gambling has such a low chance of actually paying off I don't see the point in doing it seriously like some of the people I saw in Vegas. Playing with ten dollars is fun, yes, but doing that with your life savings? I'm not here to judge, but it doesn't make sense to go in and expect to win big. I had a ton of fun with my ten dollars and I'd do it again in a heartbeat (and Dayton is getting a casino just in time for me to be of age! :--D ), but I really see no point in having slot machines in the grocery stores and airport in Vegas because doing it without the experience of doing it in a casino kind of takes away what I loved about it. Definitely want to come back here and do some more gambling and maybe actually win something, even if it's just five dollars that prolongs me losing all my money.
From there we hit the road. I said goodbye to Taylor in the parking garage :cry: , got gas at a crappy Esso in a sketchy area next to a Tim Hortons, and used the restroom that had been littered with two Tim Hortons cups. I then took the Detroit-Windsor tunnel to the US. I was nervous at border patrol having never crossed back into my country alone. I explained to the agent that I was staying and visiting Wonderland with a friend from a fan forum. He had never heard of the concept of a fan forum. I explained what it was and he didn't buy it and he said that I seemed nervous so they searched my car and found nothing. Went to Toronto but never saw the mayor, so I had nothing to hide and I wasn't nervous about being searched. They waved me on through and I got on 75 towards Dayton. It started with some idiot trying to lane change on top of me that nearly took out my front driver side headlight, so I honked at him with my very threatening horn that Taylor and I got a kick out of the previous day. And Toledo was just awful. Full of construction and traffic. But after it was smooth sailing, I got home safely, and started talking my parents' ears off about the past three days.
I had such a wonderful time, though! Taylor's just an all-around great person and while I hate that we can't do much regularly because an international border and three hours separate us, I'm just glad it's just that. She was planning to make it to Kings Island to do Banshee and I might return the favor then. I'd love my parents to meet her (and her family for that matter) in person because I'm sure it would be fun. I think I made myself a really great friend during this credit run and I hope we can stay in touch and do more in the future.
Cheetah Hunt just has a little bit of everything, though. Some nice forces here and there, a good inversion, a long layout, amazing theming, it's just a really fun coaster that I happen to enjoy. It's not a common number one, I know, but I know some people think it's one of the best coasters in the country.
