The big one. Furie's trip with ECG across the East Coast!
- Thread starter furie
- Start date
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
^ Haha yay for being short.
And Furie already said he thought El Toro was superb for the first 3/4ths, and that it was kind of in between Balder and Boulder Dash, so he clearly preferred BD.
And Furie already said he thought El Toro was superb for the first 3/4ths, and that it was kind of in between Balder and Boulder Dash, so he clearly preferred BD.
zcl
Mega Poster
The weather on that Tuesday was ok. It was cloudy and a spot of rain. Had the park to ourselves. I'm going again on a Monday-Wednesday before July.
I love the King's Dominion Drop Tower. When did the topspin get renamed from Tomb Raider? I should look that up.
I have sentimental value for Nitro Marcus.
I love the King's Dominion Drop Tower. When did the topspin get renamed from Tomb Raider? I should look that up.
I have sentimental value for Nitro Marcus.
Day 7 – The big one! Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Often cited as one of the most gorgeous parks in the world (and being a bit park fan), this is really the big day for me.
Expected Highlights
The park, generally obviously, but also the (generally) number 1 B&M Hyper for the Brits – Apollo’s Chariot. Then the big boy, Alpengeist – the world’s largest Invert. Big Bad Wolf gets lots of good reviews and Curse of Darkastle is supposed to be the best dark ride ever.
Finally, there’s Griffon. At last a chance to get on a Dive Machine that does something other than drop. Possibly one of the most gorgeous looking coasters to be built in the last couple of years.
The day itself
Things are getting wooly now in my mind, so it’s going to be a bit flakey I’m afraid – I’ll do my best. Oddly, there’s not a huge amount to say about the park – not many rides or attractions so you kind of get through it easier than say Great Adventure (piecing the day together that is).
We arrived to a glorious site! A jam packed car park!
This was looking very good. Entry was the most we paid all week at just under $50 each (with discount from Jerry – hurrah). In we went and… Wow! You’re hit immediately by just how fantastically the park is presented. Everything is themed and laid out so well. Okay, it’s all cliché, but it doesn’t matter, it’s just stunning. The effort that has gone into the way all the buildings and streets look is exceptional! The paths wind and twist through created towns that hold bars, food outlets, shops and attractions. The wooded areas (as we walked towards “Germany”) open out into animal reserves for the birds and wolves.
It’s impossible to really convey just how beautiful the park is, and we’ve only touched a corner of it so far.
We’re heading here
Nothing running yet, but the park has literally just opened. After a long amble round, we reach the entrance to Griffon. Jerry will jit Griffon first and grab lots of rerides until it starts to get busy. We’re not going to, there are ops on the entrance turning people away.
Griffon is closed and they don’t know when it will open, or even if it will open. After Storm Runner and Ka, this is a real blow. I can handle missing out on a couple of rubbish Intamins, but this gorgeous beast???
At least the queue for Alpengeist was short, so we got in a couple of rides. Front row first, then back row. The theming around the entrance and station is excellent, it’s very immersive. The ride has odd kind of splatterings of theming as and where they seemed able to do it. The ride is obviously huge, so couldn’t be 100% themed. They did what they could though.
Griffon alas, no go - but Alpengeist was running just fine and dandy.
We tried to head down to Germany next, but it was locked, so we had to walk right the way back around the park. This is a bit like finding yourself in Forbidden Valley at Alton with the only way to Ugland through the gardens. It was a bit of a trek round. We wanted to grab Loch Ness Monster as we passed, but the queue was hideous. With Griffon being down and so much of the park still not open, everyone was here instead – we moved on.
Moved on to the newest area. It stands out quite badly really, with the rest of the park being quite, well, almost subtle. The new section is a Sesame Street themed area with the new coaster! Hurrah for new credits!
Grover ride or some such nonsense.
It’s all well themed around the area, but very bright and glaring compared to the rest of the park. It’s good they’ve made such a focus on a kids area though I suppose?
Off to Italy then for some Apollo’s Chariot. Can’t remember how many times we rode it, but at least once
Wander back then to try and get Germany finished. We walked slowly to give them a chance to open up. Kept on looking at Griffon for any signs of testing, but there were none
Germany was open as we arrived and grabbed a ride on Curse of Darkastle. Then we circled back right away for another go – this time stopping to watch the pre-show video.
Wonky castle.
Big Bad Wolf next, not our first Arrow suspended, but our first in the original cars. The coaster looks great from the few glimpses you grab of it as you wander around the area. The area around the coaster is lush too with the river underneath and all the trees and bushes and things. I like little river things.
How lush is all of this?
Not entirely sure what happened next, but I think we headed to Lock Ness Monster and then got the cable cars back over to Griffon. At this point I spotted a park map somebody had – it had printed on the back Griffon will not be open today. This is actually brilliant, they have specific maps that give information like this away, what attention to detail! Oh, wait, Griffon won’t be open, arse
No idea how the day really went for the moment. We watched the Wolf show, which was pretty good (considering Wolves can’t be trained really) and did the Irish 4D cinema. Obviously after Darkastle, it wasn’t too good, but it’s the best 4D cinema I’ve been in, excellent! Minor_Furie also wanted to meet the raptors, and got his photo taken with a Bald Eagle (Jerry has that).
You see, sadly, my camera batteries have died and my spares have broken. So I was a bit stuffed. I know from experience I may be able to grab a couple more shots, so I put my camera away just in case I saw something awesome to photograph later. The last shot I got was of the awesome looking Italian restaurant.
Italy is seriously fantastic.
I think we grabbed lunch at the delicious (I thought so anyway) German place next. The show was on while we ate, which was entertaining.
I think this was now, but time is confused, it may have been later. Back Apollo’s Chariot then for some re-rides. I’d also spotted the rapids, and as I love rapids and so far we’d missed every single set – we went. I have to say, I’ve never got as wet as that on a ride before. It was easily equal to Tidal Wave or Battle galleons, maybe worse. The boats go through waterfalls like the ones at Alton, it doesn’t pussy foot about in the middle of them. There are massive water cannons that hit hard and very wet and the waves are huge. There wasn’t a single dry person coming off that ride at all – superb stuff.
Not a lot else to do but re-ride, so to Big Bad Wolf. The idea was that, then maybe Darkastle again and Alpengeist. Lack of Griffon was tossing things about. The park is delicious and it’s great to just wander, but we needed another coaster! I had spotted something pretty good though while on Big Bad Wolf… I was sure I saw Griffon testing. It’s hard to tell from the back of the ride, it could have just been Alpengeist running. We headed over to France though to see what was what. On the way, we saw that the maintenance platform had gone down from the top (apparently they had found a problem in the chain which is why they assumed the ride would be down all day). This was either good news or bad. If they had gone because it was fixed – brilliant. It could easily be gone because it was now about 3:30 and there was no way they’d fix it that day anyway.
By the time we arrived at the entrance to Griffon, a train was going up the lift hill, but it stopped at the top for about ten minutes. Good or not?
The ops at the entrance couldn’t say. They couldn’t give times, or even ifs it would open. They just asked everyone to form a queue, just in case. We waited and by this time the sun was really beating down on us. We waited and waited and saw a few more trains go through testing. Engineers and management passed by, but they all shook their heads if asked “when?” Come on, please be open.
At sometime after 4:30, somebody came forward to the ops on the entrance. He looked solemn, this didn’t look good. But he nodded and smiled and the ops ushered us to the ride entrance. Ten minutes they said, but they were sure of an opening! We were close to the front of the queue and only just missed the front row of the first train of the day! Phew! Such a relief!
We re-rode several times over then headed back to Apollo’s Chariot again (this may have been the bit above, I honestly can’t remember).
We certainly decided to end the day a little early (seven hour drive back to New Jersey), so grabbed a few more on Griffon. I sat out the last ride (the ride I’d had before was excellent and I always believe in leaving a ride when you get a good one), and cursed my camera into life for a couple of last shots.
Home via Jerry’s favourite burger bar then and bed, ready for the long next day – home
Reviews
Alpengeist
At last, a worth B&M Invert. I really, really enjoyed the ride. It had a great mix of speed, intensity and fun. The thing that made it? The same thing that makes Nemesis – the near misses. I think that you have to have those to really make these rides stand out. The best bit is coming round the back end with the fake ski run under your feet – it’s excellent and you really have a sense of speed and just childish glee. I loved the coaster.
Apollo’s Chariot
Having learned how to ride these, this was better than my first run on Nitro. The fact the ops didn’t pin you made it even better. I don’t think the ride layout is as good as Nitro, and I thought the high g sections detracted from the ride. So layout wise Nitro was the better, but the lack of pinning made the airtime on Chariot better. If Nitro had the ops from Chariot, it would have blown Chariot away, as it was it was a mixed bag with the great airtime, but dull helices and bits. I’d probably still give it an 8/10, but it made me wish Nitro hadn’t pinned me as it would have easily got a 9 or 10 if it had the same airtime Chariot showed.
Big Bad Wolf
Fun Arrow suspended. Front row is excellent as you zoom through the pretend German village. Great fun. Then you hit the second lift hill for the drop over the lake/river. I expected a lot here after the fun first section, but was shocked to find it just does the water drop, a bit of a turn then back to the station – bit of a waster I thought, it’s like the ride was built arse about tit. Second run on the row though was brilliant. It was fast, forceful and really swung the cars out. Much, much better! 7 or 8 /10!
Loch Ness Monster
Was wary of this after a couple of either very painful, or very bland arrow loopers. I was wrong to be worried – the ride is actually really good. The toilet bowl helix in the tunnel is especially fun. It’s just a quirky, happy ride! 7 or 8 /10 again!
Curse of Darkastle
Review here because it deserves it. Brilliant ride, perfect timing and (mostly) effects. The “chimney” scene was broken, and Jerry said it did make a big difference, but overall it was superb. The timing of the film, movement and effects is stunning. The first run through really had me immersed in the ride – something dark rides never really do. Loved it, loved it, loved it! 10/10
Grover coaster thing
Kiddie coaster, but custom built and pleasant enough. Not as good as Troublesome Trucks at DMP, but in the same ball park. 4/10
Conclusions
Very, very impressed with the quality of the park. It easily exceeded my expectations and was both naturally beautiful and gorgeously themed – the best of both worlds.
Rides are on the low number, but when they’re this high quality, it hardly matters. We missed a fair few of the filler flat rides too most parks have. As a family theme park, it’s absolutely second to none.
The coasters are all great examples of their types, but I don’t know how on Earth they managed before Griffon, just not quite enough of the big boys I’d have said.
Brilliant park and one that everybody interested in seeing a good park should make the effort to go and visit – right now!
It’s good to finally get closure on the B&M Invert front too. I could probably work hard and pick favourites, but they all pretty much run into one another. Benefits here, negatives there. Only Alpengeist seemed to cherry pick the best from all the other inverts and put them into a single ride. It’s far from perfect, but for me it was the best Invert of the lot. Nemesis still ranks highly for me due to the wall interaction, but it’s far from the best actually ride layout, easily beaten on that front by Great Bear, Talon and Alpengeist. Batman is much more intense, but the ride is just a little too much. I’d give them all either a 9 or 10 now, but I really do need to sit down and work out my Top 10/20 and recalculate how I’m choosing those stand out 10/10 coasters.
Next, I may post the last day, Central Park bits, or just skip on through to the overall conclusions from the trip and put the last Big Apple day elsewhere. I’m not sure yet as I’d like complete closure to this, but the Central Park bit is pretty hefty picture wise (it will make a lot of these posts look like babies).
So, not decided yet
Often cited as one of the most gorgeous parks in the world (and being a bit park fan), this is really the big day for me.
Expected Highlights
The park, generally obviously, but also the (generally) number 1 B&M Hyper for the Brits – Apollo’s Chariot. Then the big boy, Alpengeist – the world’s largest Invert. Big Bad Wolf gets lots of good reviews and Curse of Darkastle is supposed to be the best dark ride ever.
Finally, there’s Griffon. At last a chance to get on a Dive Machine that does something other than drop. Possibly one of the most gorgeous looking coasters to be built in the last couple of years.
The day itself
Things are getting wooly now in my mind, so it’s going to be a bit flakey I’m afraid – I’ll do my best. Oddly, there’s not a huge amount to say about the park – not many rides or attractions so you kind of get through it easier than say Great Adventure (piecing the day together that is).
We arrived to a glorious site! A jam packed car park!
This was looking very good. Entry was the most we paid all week at just under $50 each (with discount from Jerry – hurrah). In we went and… Wow! You’re hit immediately by just how fantastically the park is presented. Everything is themed and laid out so well. Okay, it’s all cliché, but it doesn’t matter, it’s just stunning. The effort that has gone into the way all the buildings and streets look is exceptional! The paths wind and twist through created towns that hold bars, food outlets, shops and attractions. The wooded areas (as we walked towards “Germany”) open out into animal reserves for the birds and wolves.
It’s impossible to really convey just how beautiful the park is, and we’ve only touched a corner of it so far.
We’re heading here
Nothing running yet, but the park has literally just opened. After a long amble round, we reach the entrance to Griffon. Jerry will jit Griffon first and grab lots of rerides until it starts to get busy. We’re not going to, there are ops on the entrance turning people away.
Griffon is closed and they don’t know when it will open, or even if it will open. After Storm Runner and Ka, this is a real blow. I can handle missing out on a couple of rubbish Intamins, but this gorgeous beast???
At least the queue for Alpengeist was short, so we got in a couple of rides. Front row first, then back row. The theming around the entrance and station is excellent, it’s very immersive. The ride has odd kind of splatterings of theming as and where they seemed able to do it. The ride is obviously huge, so couldn’t be 100% themed. They did what they could though.
Griffon alas, no go - but Alpengeist was running just fine and dandy.
We tried to head down to Germany next, but it was locked, so we had to walk right the way back around the park. This is a bit like finding yourself in Forbidden Valley at Alton with the only way to Ugland through the gardens. It was a bit of a trek round. We wanted to grab Loch Ness Monster as we passed, but the queue was hideous. With Griffon being down and so much of the park still not open, everyone was here instead – we moved on.
Moved on to the newest area. It stands out quite badly really, with the rest of the park being quite, well, almost subtle. The new section is a Sesame Street themed area with the new coaster! Hurrah for new credits!
Grover ride or some such nonsense.
It’s all well themed around the area, but very bright and glaring compared to the rest of the park. It’s good they’ve made such a focus on a kids area though I suppose?
Off to Italy then for some Apollo’s Chariot. Can’t remember how many times we rode it, but at least once
Wander back then to try and get Germany finished. We walked slowly to give them a chance to open up. Kept on looking at Griffon for any signs of testing, but there were none
Germany was open as we arrived and grabbed a ride on Curse of Darkastle. Then we circled back right away for another go – this time stopping to watch the pre-show video.
Wonky castle.
Big Bad Wolf next, not our first Arrow suspended, but our first in the original cars. The coaster looks great from the few glimpses you grab of it as you wander around the area. The area around the coaster is lush too with the river underneath and all the trees and bushes and things. I like little river things.
How lush is all of this?
Not entirely sure what happened next, but I think we headed to Lock Ness Monster and then got the cable cars back over to Griffon. At this point I spotted a park map somebody had – it had printed on the back Griffon will not be open today. This is actually brilliant, they have specific maps that give information like this away, what attention to detail! Oh, wait, Griffon won’t be open, arse
No idea how the day really went for the moment. We watched the Wolf show, which was pretty good (considering Wolves can’t be trained really) and did the Irish 4D cinema. Obviously after Darkastle, it wasn’t too good, but it’s the best 4D cinema I’ve been in, excellent! Minor_Furie also wanted to meet the raptors, and got his photo taken with a Bald Eagle (Jerry has that).
You see, sadly, my camera batteries have died and my spares have broken. So I was a bit stuffed. I know from experience I may be able to grab a couple more shots, so I put my camera away just in case I saw something awesome to photograph later. The last shot I got was of the awesome looking Italian restaurant.
Italy is seriously fantastic.
I think we grabbed lunch at the delicious (I thought so anyway) German place next. The show was on while we ate, which was entertaining.
I think this was now, but time is confused, it may have been later. Back Apollo’s Chariot then for some re-rides. I’d also spotted the rapids, and as I love rapids and so far we’d missed every single set – we went. I have to say, I’ve never got as wet as that on a ride before. It was easily equal to Tidal Wave or Battle galleons, maybe worse. The boats go through waterfalls like the ones at Alton, it doesn’t pussy foot about in the middle of them. There are massive water cannons that hit hard and very wet and the waves are huge. There wasn’t a single dry person coming off that ride at all – superb stuff.
Not a lot else to do but re-ride, so to Big Bad Wolf. The idea was that, then maybe Darkastle again and Alpengeist. Lack of Griffon was tossing things about. The park is delicious and it’s great to just wander, but we needed another coaster! I had spotted something pretty good though while on Big Bad Wolf… I was sure I saw Griffon testing. It’s hard to tell from the back of the ride, it could have just been Alpengeist running. We headed over to France though to see what was what. On the way, we saw that the maintenance platform had gone down from the top (apparently they had found a problem in the chain which is why they assumed the ride would be down all day). This was either good news or bad. If they had gone because it was fixed – brilliant. It could easily be gone because it was now about 3:30 and there was no way they’d fix it that day anyway.
By the time we arrived at the entrance to Griffon, a train was going up the lift hill, but it stopped at the top for about ten minutes. Good or not?
The ops at the entrance couldn’t say. They couldn’t give times, or even ifs it would open. They just asked everyone to form a queue, just in case. We waited and by this time the sun was really beating down on us. We waited and waited and saw a few more trains go through testing. Engineers and management passed by, but they all shook their heads if asked “when?” Come on, please be open.
At sometime after 4:30, somebody came forward to the ops on the entrance. He looked solemn, this didn’t look good. But he nodded and smiled and the ops ushered us to the ride entrance. Ten minutes they said, but they were sure of an opening! We were close to the front of the queue and only just missed the front row of the first train of the day! Phew! Such a relief!
We re-rode several times over then headed back to Apollo’s Chariot again (this may have been the bit above, I honestly can’t remember).
We certainly decided to end the day a little early (seven hour drive back to New Jersey), so grabbed a few more on Griffon. I sat out the last ride (the ride I’d had before was excellent and I always believe in leaving a ride when you get a good one), and cursed my camera into life for a couple of last shots.
http://www.broadswordsnbunnies.co.uk/ny/d7/d79.jpg
Yes! We got to ride you bitch!
Yes! We got to ride you bitch!
Home via Jerry’s favourite burger bar then and bed, ready for the long next day – home
Reviews
Alpengeist
At last, a worth B&M Invert. I really, really enjoyed the ride. It had a great mix of speed, intensity and fun. The thing that made it? The same thing that makes Nemesis – the near misses. I think that you have to have those to really make these rides stand out. The best bit is coming round the back end with the fake ski run under your feet – it’s excellent and you really have a sense of speed and just childish glee. I loved the coaster.
Apollo’s Chariot
Having learned how to ride these, this was better than my first run on Nitro. The fact the ops didn’t pin you made it even better. I don’t think the ride layout is as good as Nitro, and I thought the high g sections detracted from the ride. So layout wise Nitro was the better, but the lack of pinning made the airtime on Chariot better. If Nitro had the ops from Chariot, it would have blown Chariot away, as it was it was a mixed bag with the great airtime, but dull helices and bits. I’d probably still give it an 8/10, but it made me wish Nitro hadn’t pinned me as it would have easily got a 9 or 10 if it had the same airtime Chariot showed.
Big Bad Wolf
Fun Arrow suspended. Front row is excellent as you zoom through the pretend German village. Great fun. Then you hit the second lift hill for the drop over the lake/river. I expected a lot here after the fun first section, but was shocked to find it just does the water drop, a bit of a turn then back to the station – bit of a waster I thought, it’s like the ride was built arse about tit. Second run on the row though was brilliant. It was fast, forceful and really swung the cars out. Much, much better! 7 or 8 /10!
Loch Ness Monster
Was wary of this after a couple of either very painful, or very bland arrow loopers. I was wrong to be worried – the ride is actually really good. The toilet bowl helix in the tunnel is especially fun. It’s just a quirky, happy ride! 7 or 8 /10 again!
Curse of Darkastle
Review here because it deserves it. Brilliant ride, perfect timing and (mostly) effects. The “chimney” scene was broken, and Jerry said it did make a big difference, but overall it was superb. The timing of the film, movement and effects is stunning. The first run through really had me immersed in the ride – something dark rides never really do. Loved it, loved it, loved it! 10/10
Grover coaster thing
Kiddie coaster, but custom built and pleasant enough. Not as good as Troublesome Trucks at DMP, but in the same ball park. 4/10
Griffon
Interesting one here… How to rate this at all?
The ride is massively impressive. It stands out from everywhere and (unlike the other coasters) doesn’t really seem to fit in with the high theming quality. It’s such a great looking coaster though, you can forgive it a bit of sore thumbness.
As for the ride? It’s not much higher than Oblivion (drop wise) and the drop, I have to say, isn’t as effective. The forces are the same, definitely, and it’s the same feeling. However, Oblivion and the hole really make a big difference. I think it’s the focus on the pavement 60 feet below you o n Oblivion that do it. You’re focused on that little hole and the fact you have no point of reference as to where you’re going next.
Griffon loses out on that as you can ride it like a rollercoaster. You can see the track pull away, so it takes off some of that “shock” factor. However, when you hit the brakes on Oblivion, I always want more. Griffon keeps on giving. The inversion is okay, nothing special, but there’re some fun pops of airtime on the second drop and coming into the water splash.
I can’t really break Oblivion and Griffon. Oblivion does its job so well, a superb drop – but that’s it. Griffon isn’t as effective on that front, but keeps on going. Both are awesome, and so similar I can see why people keep Griffon and Sheikra together in their top tens. I’d probably put Griffon higher by one place in my top whatever, but only because it has the rest of the layout Oblivion lacks. They’re both almost even to me. 9 or 10 /10.
Interesting one here… How to rate this at all?
The ride is massively impressive. It stands out from everywhere and (unlike the other coasters) doesn’t really seem to fit in with the high theming quality. It’s such a great looking coaster though, you can forgive it a bit of sore thumbness.
As for the ride? It’s not much higher than Oblivion (drop wise) and the drop, I have to say, isn’t as effective. The forces are the same, definitely, and it’s the same feeling. However, Oblivion and the hole really make a big difference. I think it’s the focus on the pavement 60 feet below you o n Oblivion that do it. You’re focused on that little hole and the fact you have no point of reference as to where you’re going next.
Griffon loses out on that as you can ride it like a rollercoaster. You can see the track pull away, so it takes off some of that “shock” factor. However, when you hit the brakes on Oblivion, I always want more. Griffon keeps on giving. The inversion is okay, nothing special, but there’re some fun pops of airtime on the second drop and coming into the water splash.
I can’t really break Oblivion and Griffon. Oblivion does its job so well, a superb drop – but that’s it. Griffon isn’t as effective on that front, but keeps on going. Both are awesome, and so similar I can see why people keep Griffon and Sheikra together in their top tens. I’d probably put Griffon higher by one place in my top whatever, but only because it has the rest of the layout Oblivion lacks. They’re both almost even to me. 9 or 10 /10.
Conclusions
Very, very impressed with the quality of the park. It easily exceeded my expectations and was both naturally beautiful and gorgeously themed – the best of both worlds.
Rides are on the low number, but when they’re this high quality, it hardly matters. We missed a fair few of the filler flat rides too most parks have. As a family theme park, it’s absolutely second to none.
The coasters are all great examples of their types, but I don’t know how on Earth they managed before Griffon, just not quite enough of the big boys I’d have said.
Brilliant park and one that everybody interested in seeing a good park should make the effort to go and visit – right now!
It’s good to finally get closure on the B&M Invert front too. I could probably work hard and pick favourites, but they all pretty much run into one another. Benefits here, negatives there. Only Alpengeist seemed to cherry pick the best from all the other inverts and put them into a single ride. It’s far from perfect, but for me it was the best Invert of the lot. Nemesis still ranks highly for me due to the wall interaction, but it’s far from the best actually ride layout, easily beaten on that front by Great Bear, Talon and Alpengeist. Batman is much more intense, but the ride is just a little too much. I’d give them all either a 9 or 10 now, but I really do need to sit down and work out my Top 10/20 and recalculate how I’m choosing those stand out 10/10 coasters.
Next, I may post the last day, Central Park bits, or just skip on through to the overall conclusions from the trip and put the last Big Apple day elsewhere. I’m not sure yet as I’d like complete closure to this, but the Central Park bit is pretty hefty picture wise (it will make a lot of these posts look like babies).
So, not decided yet
Griffon <3 I really thought you missed it though ¬¬
I agree with everything you said about Busch (minus Alpengeist being the best Invert, but, it's my joint second favourite, so, I can forgive you that one). It's just a gorgeous park. It reminded me of Alton... but on steroids and about 100 times more amazing!
I agree with everything you said about Busch (minus Alpengeist being the best Invert, but, it's my joint second favourite, so, I can forgive you that one). It's just a gorgeous park. It reminded me of Alton... but on steroids and about 100 times more amazing!
Am also glad you did not miss Griffon even though I thought you did, maybe you are getting your own back for me laughing at you when you hit your head yes I still laugh at that.
Your thoughts are the same as the ones I had regarding Sheikra, the drop on Oblivian through the hole just makes it better.
Great reports and its a park I really want to go to.
yes I still laugh at that.Your thoughts are the same as the ones I had regarding Sheikra, the drop on Oblivian through the hole just makes it better.
Great reports and its a park I really want to go to.
Ben said:
It was pretty bloody close to be honest. The engineers there worked their socks off to get it up and running. Great job, very professional.
Ben said:
Talon was the best in terms of pace and flow, but it was a very sterile experience. I much preferred the slightly off pacing of Alpengeist, but with the interaction and little bits of theming - it just made the ride stand out more and gave it greater character.
Ben said:
Yes, quite. It's amazing to think Tussauds could have done the same with Alton (well, obviously not the huge coaster thing, but quality of theming). They just never quite took that extra step though, or put in quite enough cash. Instead, we have what (not for the UK) is quite sloppy theming and landscaping. Just that "we've done enough" attitude the Brits have, rather than "have we done it properly?"
Busch was full of not only done it properly in the past, but they've kept on top of making what they did do properly top notch.
Gazza
Giga Poster
Great review, It's the one I have been most looking forward too, and cements the park on my hit list for the future....You really did have me disappointed for you at the start, thinking that you had missed Griffon.
Haha, the ones they have at SW San Diego are just like that too, they have an overhead waterfall at the start of the tunnel and I was expecting it to do the cliche thing and turn off at the last second...nope, straight through...wettest rapids I have ever been on.
I'm confused about that ride, I have seen a pov where you go through the fireplace, and wind up on the roof with ghosts waltzing around you, but in others they have a sequence where you are flying at high speed behind the mother of the evil prince.
SnooSnoo said:
It's scary!
I rode 52 individual layouts/coasters I've never been on before. Prior to that, I had 99. So out of my count, I have half as many coasters as I had before to work it out through.
A lot can be thrown away immediately pretty easily. Some are pretty tough though.
The Inverts for instance. I liked them all, but they're all very similar and hard to prise apart from each other. Likewise Griffon and Oblivion are very close for me, they're almost the same ride and it seems silly to have them sitting so close to each other.
Megafobia still scores highly for me now too, but maybe if I rode it now, I'd be less impressed with all this experience?
Am I working it out based on a logical system of calculated airtime, and what I know as an "enthusiast" makes a ride good, or should it be based on the sheer fun the coaster gave me? How much I would love to go back ride that coaster again?
That's where it gets tricky. I though Bizarro (SFNE) was a fantastic coaster, but if I had to choose between SNFE and Hershey - Lightning Racer would drag me back to Hershey. Was Lightning Racer a better coaster? No, but I'd rather ride it again and again than Bizarro. So which should be higher in the top ten? The better coaster, or the better fun?
Boulder Dash ticks both boxes, and certainly sits at number 1. That was never in doubt.
I think possibly El Toro sits at 2, but I'm not convinced. I enjoyed Dragon Khan more than Bizarro (DK was my previous No. 1) due to me just preferring the multi-looper. So that would sit at 3 and Bizarro 4, but they may swap a little with El Toro.
I had Megafobia then at #2. So should that be 5 now? It's like Lightning Racer though, lots of fun. Alpengeist was probably better to be honest. If I slip Alpengeist in though at 5, then Nemesis, Talon and Great Bear all follow in 6, 7 and 8. Megafobia isn't a number 9. Coaster, it deserves better :lol:
then what about Griffon and Oblivion, both just there below the inverts? 10 and 11? Seems mad :lol:
So, no, I've not really got much of a grip on it all yet - too much information to try and compute
No. No you wouldn't. Seriously, megafobia is up there, it's just most people seem to miss out on its utter ejector beauty (I don't know how though). Only two woodies I've ridden that flat out beat it are el toro and phoenix, mind you, looks like everyone has massive counts now so I might be a bit of a nub in still liking megafobia
Yeah, so this was the final park & we saved the best for last. It felt great getting up that morning in the hotel (we had a suite) knowing that the furies were going to love the park, but I was praying that Griffon would be up & running (after the luck these two were having so far, who knows).
What furie lacked in photos I more than made up for so sit back & enjoy all the lovely pictures.
Arriving at the park just before opening provided the first glimpse of what lie ahead.
No one here at the parking tolls. It's going to be a great day (as long as all the coasters are open).
No lines to purchase the furie's tickets, so it's straight off into the park.
After a brief 5 minute wait they drop the (virtual) rope & we're off. While others dash toward Griffon, I assure furie that it's too long of a run & to enjoy the walk over to the France section of the park. We pass the horsey along the way...
...and the duckies...
...and the eagles...
..and the wolves.
Who you looking at Mr.?
Of course we arrive at Griffon only to find it closed...
...so it's off to ride Alpie!
The king of the inverts!
At least we beat the crowd over here.
The front seat ride provides great views from this massive coaster. There's Nessie...
...and the broken Griffon.
There's so many highlights & nears misses on this ride...
...like this...
...and this.
This is the "excellent" "fake ski run under your feet"...
..."best bit" "coming round the back end" furie mentioned.
Here it is as well. Nice!
The cobra roll is so massive...
...I had to tell minor_furie when we were in it because it almost feels like two loops.
After a back row ride (which furie liked better, just to prove me wrong) we tired to go to ride DarKastle, but we were informed that the Germany section of the park does not open until 11am. This was news to me as we are always re-riding Griffon at this time & usually don't get over here until about noon. So we hiked back through France, past the wolves, past the eagles, through Ireland...
...past the ducks, past the horsey, to Scotland (finally) only to find a massive queue at Nessy due to the gate leading to Germany right beside the coaster entrance being closed. The ride will be walk-on as soon as the rest of the park opens, so we head off toward Apollo's Chariot.
Along the way I spot this.
It the new kiddie section!
Let's take a look around.
More castles!
And a coaster!
Let's ride it!
Lots of fun themeing...
...for all the little boys & little girls.
Pretty station...
...and GROVER!
On the way to the floater we passed this...
...and the furies gave it a try (which Phil forgot to mention).
Splash!
Now on to Greece to ride the weakest of the B&M floaters.
Here we are & everyone's still over waiting to ride Nessy!
Love them trains!
Alpie & Griffon are over there...
...and empty parking lots over here.
The extended nose on the lift hill doesn't thrill me. I wish it had a straight drop like all the other B&M hypers.
The tunnel is pretty weak as well...
...but the are some floaty bits.
The helix is whack...
...and the return floaty bits...
...are broken up by this crossunder.
So it's 11am & the gates to Germany are open.
Time for DarKastle!
Love the queue (no lack thereof).
So after our ride...
...we head straight back in for another.
On to Big Bad Wolf & my favorite coaster entrance sign.
They should keep these cars on all the suspended coasters.
Wheee! Zoom!
Did you know that Big Bad Wolf turned 25 this year?
After our ride through the Bavarian village & woods, it was on to Scotland & Nessy (which was walk-on as I predicted earlier).
Those restraints aren't as painful as they look, well maybe not. :wink:
Loop dee loop!
After the loopy fun we headed back through Italy & Greece for some more floater semi-goodness. Look who just turned 10 years old.
I then took some photos while the furies went to get soaked on the Roman Rapids.
Here they come...
...and there they go.
We decided to see what's going on with Griffon, so we took to the skys. The ride could also help help dry off the furie critters.
What's that I see through the trees?
Why it's the maintenance train at the top of the lift.
I think I see someone up there, but can't tell what they're doing.
It looks like they're repairing the massive chain.
Oh, please get it fixed so we can ride it today. Pretty please?
By now it was 1:30pm and time for the wolf show.
Then minor_furie wanted to see the eagles up close & personal.
Next we were off to Germany for some lunch. What a naughty boy!
Now that's some good eats right there.
Just in time for the show.
There was singing & dancing...
....& beer drinking music.
After some sausages & a pint it was back to Big Bad Wolf again. Love the sign so much it's making a third appearance in the report.
While the furies headed back into the woods, I took some photos of the flats in Germany, like the Jr. Autobahn.
Otherwise known as bumper cars...
...which we didn't ride.
Then there's the Roto-Baron.
Which plane would you choose?
There's also the Katapult...
...and Germany wouldn't be complete without a Wellenflieger? Just ask loefet. :lol:
Between Germany & Scotland is Dragonland, of course. :roll:
To my surprise, furie spotted Griffon testing while riding the wolf & like a bolt we were on our way to France. He explained the hour wait that we had in the hot afternoon sun, but man was it worth it.
After a 6 hour & 40 minute wait we finally saw this!
With the queue still relatively short we got right back on for a second row ride & the right back on again for a back seat jaunt.
Ready?
Drop!
The queue quickly grew as everyone streamed toward the drive machine, so we took a ride on the railroad to hit up Apollo's Chariot one more time.
There goes Nessy!
After furie cemented his opinion on B&M hypers somewhat with one last ride, it was back to the rails for a return ride to Griffon. Along the way to the Italy train station we passed Turkish Delight...
...which are the lovely themed teacups.
So we finished off our stay with two more rides on Griffon (both back row as it's furie's favorite, even if he wimped out of the last ride).
And I'll finish off the photos with the obligatory splash shot.
So do I really need to tell you what a fabulous time we had in spite of having to wait until 4:40pm to ride Griffon? The day long suspense only added to the enjoyment of finally getting to ride the excellent dive machine & I can honestly say that that first ride of the day was as fun & thrilling as my first ever ride on the coaster. :--D
So we had plenty to talk about on the long ride home, which was a good thing as it was already clouding up & it began to rain again by the time we passed Kings Dominion an hour later.
All told we spent 34 hours driving just over 1900 miles during the week, well worth it for being able to visit nine parks & ride over 50 coasters.
So all that's left is the furie's last day in NYC. I think you should post it bud, but whether it's here or in the Life Outside topic is up to you. I'll be adding my 2 cents regardless. :wink:
What furie lacked in photos I more than made up for so sit back & enjoy all the lovely pictures.
Arriving at the park just before opening provided the first glimpse of what lie ahead.
No one here at the parking tolls. It's going to be a great day (as long as all the coasters are open).
No lines to purchase the furie's tickets, so it's straight off into the park.
After a brief 5 minute wait they drop the (virtual) rope & we're off. While others dash toward Griffon, I assure furie that it's too long of a run & to enjoy the walk over to the France section of the park. We pass the horsey along the way...
...and the duckies...
...and the eagles...
..and the wolves.
Who you looking at Mr.?
Of course we arrive at Griffon only to find it closed...
...so it's off to ride Alpie!
The king of the inverts!
At least we beat the crowd over here.
The front seat ride provides great views from this massive coaster. There's Nessie...
...and the broken Griffon.
There's so many highlights & nears misses on this ride...
...like this...
...and this.
This is the "excellent" "fake ski run under your feet"...
..."best bit" "coming round the back end" furie mentioned.
Here it is as well. Nice!
The cobra roll is so massive...
...I had to tell minor_furie when we were in it because it almost feels like two loops.
After a back row ride (which furie liked better, just to prove me wrong) we tired to go to ride DarKastle, but we were informed that the Germany section of the park does not open until 11am. This was news to me as we are always re-riding Griffon at this time & usually don't get over here until about noon. So we hiked back through France, past the wolves, past the eagles, through Ireland...
...past the ducks, past the horsey, to Scotland (finally) only to find a massive queue at Nessy due to the gate leading to Germany right beside the coaster entrance being closed. The ride will be walk-on as soon as the rest of the park opens, so we head off toward Apollo's Chariot.
Along the way I spot this.
It the new kiddie section!
Let's take a look around.
More castles!
And a coaster!
Let's ride it!
Lots of fun themeing...
...for all the little boys & little girls.
Pretty station...
...and GROVER!
On the way to the floater we passed this...
...and the furies gave it a try (which Phil forgot to mention).
Splash!
Now on to Greece to ride the weakest of the B&M floaters.
Here we are & everyone's still over waiting to ride Nessy!
Love them trains!
Alpie & Griffon are over there...
...and empty parking lots over here.
The extended nose on the lift hill doesn't thrill me. I wish it had a straight drop like all the other B&M hypers.
The tunnel is pretty weak as well...
...but the are some floaty bits.
The helix is whack...
...and the return floaty bits...
...are broken up by this crossunder.
So it's 11am & the gates to Germany are open.
Time for DarKastle!
Love the queue (no lack thereof).
So after our ride...
...we head straight back in for another.
On to Big Bad Wolf & my favorite coaster entrance sign.
They should keep these cars on all the suspended coasters.
Wheee! Zoom!
Did you know that Big Bad Wolf turned 25 this year?
After our ride through the Bavarian village & woods, it was on to Scotland & Nessy (which was walk-on as I predicted earlier).
Those restraints aren't as painful as they look, well maybe not. :wink:
Loop dee loop!
After the loopy fun we headed back through Italy & Greece for some more floater semi-goodness. Look who just turned 10 years old.
I then took some photos while the furies went to get soaked on the Roman Rapids.
Here they come...
...and there they go.
We decided to see what's going on with Griffon, so we took to the skys. The ride could also help help dry off the furie critters.
What's that I see through the trees?
Why it's the maintenance train at the top of the lift.
I think I see someone up there, but can't tell what they're doing.
It looks like they're repairing the massive chain.
Oh, please get it fixed so we can ride it today. Pretty please?
By now it was 1:30pm and time for the wolf show.
Then minor_furie wanted to see the eagles up close & personal.
Next we were off to Germany for some lunch. What a naughty boy!
Now that's some good eats right there.
Just in time for the show.
There was singing & dancing...
....& beer drinking music.
After some sausages & a pint it was back to Big Bad Wolf again. Love the sign so much it's making a third appearance in the report.
While the furies headed back into the woods, I took some photos of the flats in Germany, like the Jr. Autobahn.
Otherwise known as bumper cars...
...which we didn't ride.
Then there's the Roto-Baron.
Which plane would you choose?
There's also the Katapult...
...and Germany wouldn't be complete without a Wellenflieger? Just ask loefet. :lol:
Between Germany & Scotland is Dragonland, of course. :roll:
To my surprise, furie spotted Griffon testing while riding the wolf & like a bolt we were on our way to France. He explained the hour wait that we had in the hot afternoon sun, but man was it worth it.
After a 6 hour & 40 minute wait we finally saw this!
With the queue still relatively short we got right back on for a second row ride & the right back on again for a back seat jaunt.
Ready?
Drop!
The queue quickly grew as everyone streamed toward the drive machine, so we took a ride on the railroad to hit up Apollo's Chariot one more time.
There goes Nessy!
After furie cemented his opinion on B&M hypers somewhat with one last ride, it was back to the rails for a return ride to Griffon. Along the way to the Italy train station we passed Turkish Delight...
...which are the lovely themed teacups.
So we finished off our stay with two more rides on Griffon (both back row as it's furie's favorite, even if he wimped out of the last ride).
And I'll finish off the photos with the obligatory splash shot.
So do I really need to tell you what a fabulous time we had in spite of having to wait until 4:40pm to ride Griffon? The day long suspense only added to the enjoyment of finally getting to ride the excellent dive machine & I can honestly say that that first ride of the day was as fun & thrilling as my first ever ride on the coaster. :--D
So we had plenty to talk about on the long ride home, which was a good thing as it was already clouding up & it began to rain again by the time we passed Kings Dominion an hour later.
All told we spent 34 hours driving just over 1900 miles during the week, well worth it for being able to visit nine parks & ride over 50 coasters.
So all that's left is the furie's last day in NYC. I think you should post it bud, but whether it's here or in the Life Outside topic is up to you. I'll be adding my 2 cents regardless. :wink: