What's new

"Shuckin' Escapade" | USA CF-Live | Trip Reports

^He clearly doesn't understand the needs and desires of tyre-enthusiasts.

It's a shame, we're under represented these days...
 
You wouldn't ban me Snoo, you wuv me too much. You love the colour in my imagination, you're like my neighbour, I honour you - you're like a major defence to CF.
 
ciallkennett said:
You wouldn't ban me Snoo, you wuv me too much. You love the colour in my imagination, you're like my neighbour, I honour you - you're like a major defence to CF.

This isn't a good argument to be in Ciall, as the American spelling is actually the correct, original English one. The English have been using tyre for less than 100 years.

So it's not the Americans who have changed it in this case, but us (much like faucet, the American is and old English word meaning the release at the end of a pipe, a tap is a direct access to liquid - the two are very distinct things).

So yeah, give up while you're behind :p
 
^All right gay...! Wikipedia will do me just fine thanks. :p
 
Today was the 38th day of 90 degrees or better this year & what looks like the last real day of summer. The heat just brought back so many good memories that I thought I better finally get my images & videos posted. So here's some of my impressions of the great time we had together. Let's get this topic back on track...
(The links under the photos are for higher res images that Hixee wanted.)

After an anxious day of waiting for delayed flights followed by hurried journeys to the airports to pick up the boys and a relaxing few hours back home with some beers, cheese & crackers it was finally time to begin the long odyssey. The first stop was my local park: Six Flags Great Adventure.
I knew it was going to be a busy day as soon as we got to the exit off the New Jersey Turnpike because of the traffic being backed up on the highway off-ramp (something I've never seen before), which was confirmed when we pulled into the parking lot well before opening only to have to park about 5-6 rows back instead of our usual front row spot. So when the boys decided that they needed to go to the john after picking up their season passes, I went ahead & got us a flashpass. Normally we would have headed straight for Superman:Ultimate Flight, but since we noticed the ride was down (the crane working on the lift hill was obvious from the parking lot) we made our way for El Toro instead. Here is a look at the boys first ride on the wild bull, which wasn't even running that well yet.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx13UhpIiqo[/youtube]
Everyone really enjoyed the ride, so much so that we put off heading to Kingda Ka for a re-ride since the queue was still fairly short. As soon as we got off the train again, the flashpass said it was time to head over to the giant launcher. We were quite lucky in that we only had to wait a few trains for front row seats. Brad, Hixee & Aidan were first up.
45137_422950856335_575781335_5411795_456265_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0211.jpg

A couple of minutes later they were pulling back into the station.
46075_422950866335_575781335_5411796_6672603_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0212.jpg

Brad & Hix were pretty blown away!
45601_422950876335_575781335_5411797_2594322_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0213.jpg

Gavin and I were next & everyone wanted to do another re-ride before moving on. Luckily I had anticipated as much & already programmed the flashpass to ride again. Within minutes we were back on, this time Gavin & I took the second row while Hixee & Brad took the 3rd. Brad also mustered enough courage to put his hands in the air on the launch this time.
40996_422950891335_575781335_5411798_178142_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0214.jpg

Aidan couldn't get on the same train as us & had to ride by himself. :(
40996_422950896335_575781335_5411799_8018436_n.jpg


Next up was going to be Bizarro, but it was down & the boys decided to go for the mine train while I sat this one out.
45220_422950901335_575781335_5411800_3014239_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0216.jpg

To me it's just a bit to rough for a mine train, but the boys didn't seem to mind. Well, maybe Gavin did. :wink:
44752_422950916335_575781335_5411801_3150331_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0217.jpg

Since Bizarro was still down, I went ahead & programed another ride on El Toro into the flashpass. WE took another drink break & before you know it we were back on for our third ride.
41305_422950921335_575781335_5411802_6030666_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0218.jpg

The coaster was starting to warm up, but still wasn't running its best & not good enough for Brad to make it his #1, even though Hixee had after his first ride & Gavin ranked it about equal to T-Express at the top of his list.
44280_422950926335_575781335_5411803_4544806_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0219.jpg

By now Bizarro had opened & we took a ride, but due to all the troubles they were having just getting the damn thing running, no effects were turned on. I also didn't take any photos.
By now it was time to grab a bite to eat & we opted for some Philly steak sandwiches, mostly because of the air conditioned restaurant. After chowing down we headed across the park for some floaty Nitro goodness.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHirD0f_PSg[/youtube] Everyone really enjoyed the ride & the park was getting high marks by the boys from Britain, so we moved on to Batman the Ride.
44735_422950936335_575781335_5411804_815550_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0221.jpg

The compact invert also scored high marks, but all good things must come to an end & they did just that when we moved on to the Dark Knight coaster.
The Joker mask mirror was the most fun this wild mouse has to offer.
45384_422951011335_575781335_5411809_1383222_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0230.jpg

After a spin on the Dark Knight I noticed that Superman had finally opened, so we headed back across the park - passing what was left of Great American Scream Machine along the way.
40613_422951046335_575781335_5411813_2938335_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0235.jpg

We went for a front row ride & I rode with the group ahead of us so that I could take some photos of the guys. I was a bit rushed on this one by the ride ops.
45577_422951061335_575781335_5411815_4421530_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0237.jpg

This one came out better. It's a bird...it's a plane ..it's CoasterForce!
45137_422950851335_575781335_5411794_5126198_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0210.jpg

After the flight on Superman it was time for some more credz & we hit up both sides of Rolling Thunder next.
40658_422950951335_575781335_5411805_3488901_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0224.jpg

There was only one cred left & we headed back across the park for the kiddie coaster, but had to stop along the way to say hi to Wonder Woman. Gavin liked the costume & the other two liked what was wearing it.
45509_422950966335_575781335_5411806_2632673_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0225.jpg

Yay for the kiddie cred!
40210_422951481335_575781335_5411818_5058745_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0226.jpg

With all the credz out of the way & the sun setting, it was time for re-rides, starting with Nitro.
40540_422951016335_575781335_5411810_5176764_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0233.jpg

We finished up our day at Great Adventure with some nighttime rides on El Toro. After two more rids on the wild bull in darkness, Brad finally came around & announced it as his new #1!
We all left the park grinning from ear to ear & a rumble in our bellies. We calmed the hunger pains with some Mexican food that provided a great ending to a near perfect day.
45651_422950841335_575781335_5411793_474523_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/SFGAdv 7-26/IMG_0241.jpg

That's all I can post today. I'll continue tomorrow with our visit to Dorney & Knoebels. I might even be able to squeeze in Kings Island, but I'll only promise the first two for now.
 
YAY! Jerry's reports are here! Brilliant so far and so many memories come flooding back again!

(Thanks for the image links too btw!)

Look forward to reading the rest!
 
Wow you guys have a heat wave today? It's cold here, badtimes!

But, nice report! I always enjoy your reports some of the most, and your pictures/videos are awesome. Loved the El Toro video and watching everyone ride it for the first time! :)
 
The father-in-law had his birthday & we took a last minute Jersey Shore trip over the weekend, so this is later than promised. I'll try to stay on top of these to get them done before I head off to Germany to see UC next week.
---
The day after our fun times at SFGAdv we began our road trip to Youngstown to meet up with Snoo & Taylor, with stops at Dorney Park & Knoebels along the way.
Things went very smoothly at Dorney as the boys from Britian were able to pick up their Cedar Fair Platinum Passes quickly & queue lines were barely existent. With everything going so fast I didn't take many photos.
Our longest wait of the day was our first, which was the wild mouse as loading on that one is always horrid. That was followed by a front row ride on Talon, which everyone really enjoyed.
Since none of the boys had been on a shuttle launcher we headed down into the valley toward Possessed, but I decided we needed a quick stop along the way - Woodstock's Express.
45662_422954476335_575781335_5411877_7327652_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0244.jpg

Aidan & I skipped this one for a reason, it's not the most comfortable kiddie coaster around. As the boys soon found out. :p
44686_422954486335_575781335_5411878_4720163_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0246.jpg

We hit up Possessed next & I got in line for the front row (there were only 4 people in front of me) while Gavin & Hixee rode in the back. Aidan & Brad rode somewhere in between, but since there was no queue (other than the front row), Gavin & Hixee came back a for a front row ride. Since I was next up for the front, I told them to get in the second row & then we switched places after the gates opened. So they got to try the front & back rows on back-to-back rides.
We moved on to Steel Force next, but the park's big boy was closed when we got there. Next to the Morgan giant is Thunderhawk, the park's woodie, but that wasn't running either. So everyone but Brad decided to try Revolution, a claw pendulum ride near Steel Force's entrance.
After we took a spin on the swinger the woodie started running again so we took a ride on it. As we were heading around the track we noticed that Steel Force was back up again as well, so it was up next.
45988_422954451335_575781335_5411873_357920_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0247.jpg

Everyone liked the park's biggest coaster & Brad got a great deal on the on-ride photos (2-for-1 price).
Since Demon Drop wasn't open yet the last time I was here with Joey, I wanted to give it a go & the guys agreed.
45988_422954456335_575781335_5411874_4736247_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0248.jpg

They didn't enjoy the ride much, but I did if for nothing but sentimental reasons. I was just a bit surprised of the location, as they put the ride in the center of the park instead of the lot left vacant by Laser's removal.
44529_422954461335_575781335_5411875_1646265_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0249.jpg

There was only one cred left to go, so it was back up the hill toward Hydra the Revenge, where we stopped to take some photos.
41204_422954441335_575781335_5411872_3694693_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0255.jpg

I took a photo of the boys with my phone camera that I forgot to upload to Facebook... :roll:
IMG_1303Medium.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_1303.jpg

...and Aidan took another of us with my camera.
45475_422954466335_575781335_5411876_1226436_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Dorney 7-27/IMG_0256.jpg

We were lucky & got a front row ride on the smooth train. Gavin & Hixee wanted to see if the ride was any better in the back so they took a quick re-ride. We then hit up Talon again & got a walk-on back row ride before hitting the road fro Knoebels. We were at the park for a little over 3 hours & got season passes processed, all the credz, re-rides & some flat rides in. The trip was off to a great start!

(It's time to eat some din din, so I'll be back in a little while to continue with Knoebels.)
 
Haha Marcus you and Jerry have matching shirts, how cuuute.

Nice report Jerry! Dorney has always been a park I have wanted to go to for some reason, if only to ride Talon which caught my eye back when I first started liking coasters. Glad to see you and the boys having fun, even though Hix does look like kind of a loser on the kiddie ride :p .
 
Had to spend some quality time with the wife after dinner last night, so here's our time at Knoebels...
---
The trip to Elysburg took about 90 minutes with a lovely drive through beautiful Potsville, PA (a place where Brad would not like to live :p ). It was just after 3pm & we had not eaten lunch yet, so first stop was for some grub. Knoebels has been voted the best park food for years & everybody chowed down.
44627_422957601335_575781335_5412099_3888305_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0258.jpg

With our bellies full it was time for front row rides on Phoenix, which was the highlight of the day of course.
41205_422957636335_575781335_5412103_784993_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0270.jpg

Everyone has said how much they like this coaster, but it's even better than what you would expect even with all that praise.
40264_422957626335_575781335_5412102_3871580_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0263.jpg

Next up was Twister, which is a bit of a tease due to the double lift hills take keep you waiting for the 1st drop. I love the signage.
40222_422957621335_575781335_5412101_7163137_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0261.jpg

Golden bolt? Why haven't I ever noticed that before?
40772_422957611335_575781335_5412100_3443125_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0260.jpg

Unlike Phoenix, the back row is better on this one.
39984_422957581335_575781335_5412095_1568197_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0259.jpg

Next up was Brad & Hixee's turn to give the Haunted House a go before we headed over to Kozmo's Kurves for them to get the kiddie cred.
39984_422957591335_575781335_5412097_7757929_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0267.jpg

Fun times!
44278_422959716335_575781335_5412182_2431404_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0265.jpg

That wrapped up all the credz, which could only mean one thing - Phoenix front row re-rides! However everyone did switch seats.
44501_422957641335_575781335_5412104_6477053_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0264.jpg

On our way out of the park we stopped for a group photo, but Brad got some one-on-one action first.
44627_422957596335_575781335_5412098_1347765_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0271.jpg

Groupage!
45445_422957916335_575781335_5412108_3906046_n.jpg

http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk355/eastcoastergeneral/coasters/2010/Knoebels 7-27/IMG_0272.jpg

We would have taken a few more Phoenix re-rides, but we had a 4 hour drive to Youngstown ahead of us. The entire day really could have not gone any better & it was a good thing we left when we did because it was around midnight by the time we checked into our hotel & met up with Snoo & Taylor.
 
Top