ACEfanatic02

Pictures uploaded at my site, for sake of convenience. http://acefanatic02.googlepages.com/ptr-hersheypark Enjoy. -ACE

"Green for go, red for stop? Uh... Bob, help me out here..." "Wait... what does this switch do?" -ACE

I can only really vouch for VA, but there are several parks along I-95 here. SFA is a little ways off the Capitol Beltway. PKD is just off 95, north of Richmond. Busch Gardens is about 2 and a half to 3 hours from DC, depending on traffic. However, if you get caught up in any serious traffic or construction work, that can end up being a lot longer. Honestly, I can't tell you how much traffic to expect... but I can say that truck traffic won't be bad. As for the drive... in between DC and Richmond, there isn't much to see. However, if you take the time to go to BGE, Williamsburg and Va Beach are both nice to visit. Hope this is of some help. -ACE

WOW! I cant believe the picture. Guess I didnt expect it to be as bad as the picture shows. Dam-near tore off the side of her head. You try running into a two by four at that speed. It does a bit of damage, see. Anyway, isn't it a bad sign when maintenance work makes the ride MORE dangerous? -ACE

Well, it's certainly a beautiful ride - in that special way that all Asian engineering looks. I <3 funky supports. -ACE

My mother had a quilt show in Hershey she wanted to go to, so we went on an impromtu trip up to PA on Thursday. We got up and out around 7, drove up and got there around noon. Quickly getting lost, we wandered a bit before finding the Lodge and dropping my mother off at her show at 12:30. My father and I went to Hersheypark from there. So, once at the park, we paid our way in (really cheap prices, actually. For an amusement park.) Crowds were light, as it was a weekday. None of the lines I saw early on looked to be more than a half hour long. Having only a slight idea of what Hersheypark actually HAD - I hadn't bothered to check rcdb.com before we left - we went a little way down the midway towards Storm Runner's tophat, then got turned around and ended up back in the Carousel plaza on the other side of the park. Time for a rant - Hersheypark is really badly laid out. Much too confusing - none of the major path interactions come off of plazas (instead, they're hidden down discrete side paths.) Moreover, the park map isn't too helpful, as the reference points visible over the treeline don't quite match up to the map. Nonetheless, we both like to explore, so it wasn't a major problem. After checking the map, deciding that was the best way to find out what was there, I saw they had a Wild Mouse. Jackpot. If you've read my BGE trip report, you'll know I do NOT like zero-g. Falling and me do not mix. But I decided to give it another shot. So, I convinced my father to ride with me - who, incidentally, had sworn earlier that I wouldn't get him on a coaster. I am, apparently, very good at persuasion. It was at most a 3-5 minute wait to get on, thanks to amazingly efficient ride ops. The only time the cars stopped was when someone overly fat tried to squeeze in and had to leave. As for the ride itself - holy s**t! (Yes, I know it's just a Wild Mouse. Screw it - it's still a credit!) Lift hill sucked - had a kick in the ass as it engaged, but the hairpin turns gave really nice lateral g's. And then we got to the drops, went through... and OMG I loved it! I've read a lot of debate about the difference between wood and steel, and as this was my first steel credit, I don't know how much of it was that, and how much was just the height of the drop, but the drops are a whole hell of a lot more fun when you aren't bouncing side-to-side whilst you fall. And now I have a grand total of three credits! w00t! From there, we went and got frozen lemonade, sat down, and started eating. My father wanted to go ride the ferris wheel, so we started heading that way, but then - of course - the sky opened up and it started rainning. I'm beginning to sense a pattern. So, no more rides for us. We went wandering around anyway, walked past the construction site (lots of supports and/or 'stuff' going up. I don't know what the hell it is.) Then we found out that that was yet another dead end and turned around. To cut a long story short, we did a quick circle through the back half of the park, came via the bridge under Great Bear (those supports are the coolest thing I've ever seen) and back up to the Carousel plaza. We left Hersheypark - none of the rides were open, and though the current storm had made it's run, there were a bunch on the way. Interesting question, though: when we left, we got our hands stamped, but we couldn't see any ink. Do they stamp your hand with invisible ink, or was it just the rain? We stopped by Chocolate World and took a run on the tour/ghost train thing. Fun. But that's about it. More storms kept rolling through all day, including a fierce one right before we left - came up so quick I felt sorry for the last trains dispatched. The end result being that we ate (Red Robin owns) and left. Overall - great 3 hours. Credit +1. Pics coming soon... still need to scan my on-ride photo and upload 'em to my webspace. -ACE

Classic case of someone who just shouldn't ride... *sigh* And, of course, it will end up as SeaWorld's fault. -ACE

^ http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v45/i26/p2081_1 I find that to be vaildation. -ACE

So I was browsing Wikipedia the other day (yeah, I'm strange. So what.) and I came across this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_rocket_experiment Gravity Probe A, launched by NASA in 1976 showed that gravity slows time. If one regularly exposes themselves to zero or negative gravity, do they go through time faster? Would false gravity do the same? Do credit whores age slower? Discuss. -ACE (BTW, mods - I figured this'd fit here better, since it's only tenously tied to coasters.)

Great video. Does Kanonen really go over the tophat that slowly? Looks like it's about to roll back. Perfect song choice, btw. -ACE

Heh. I'm an oddity here, it seems. I have absolutely no problem with heights. I just don't like falling. Zero-G doesn't agree with me. And I think it's some of the same thing as "rocket scientists never go to space". You know how it works, so you know just about everything that can go wrong... Just my 2 cents. -ACE

Hmmm, been doing attractions for 3 years now and I, myself have only had to call for paramedics once. Altogether, I've been there when paramedics have been called 2 times. and both times, it had NOTHING to do with the rides at all. 135 to 140 calls is an insanely high number for one attraction. and about defibrilators... Paramedics should bring one with them. Say there was one in all attractions, who would be certified to actually use it on a guest? Ceeertainly not a ride op. Edit: do they make portable defribilators? I think so. I don't know. I know nothing of medical technology, haha If I'm about to die, I'd hope they aren't picky about certification... Besides, you stick the pads to their chest and the machine walks you through it. Idiot-proof, really. -ACE

Touche. I shall refrain from posting about something I don't know much about, then. The point still remains about the difibrillator, though. If Disney has them elsewhere, and the ride is known to place stress on the heart, it's not to much of a logical leap to expect there to be a difibrillator at the ride. Don't think I'm blaming Disney for this. Honestly, I think it's just a bad set of circumstances that no one can really take the blame for. -ACE

There are only two points that validate this: Why not have a defibrillator there? It only makes sense, and looks to be an oversight on Disney's part. Why allow a FOUR YEAR OLD on there in the first place? Mind, I know it falls to the parents to control their kids, and there is some negligence on the mother's part, but still... I expect both will change regardless of the lawsuit's outcome. However, there is some failure on the parent's part. Regular visits to a doctor probably could have found the heart defect. Just my two cents... -ACE

Friday, I get a call from a friend saying he’s got a spot open for his family’s trip to BGW. Naturally, I accepted. It’s a two hour drive from Harrisonburg to Williamsburg without traffic, so we were up at six to get there at 10 for the opening. Once in the park, we took the chairlift back to France. It was to be the longest line we stood in for the entire day. Light crowds rule. Josh’s sister wanted to take a spin on car ride, but it was at least a 45 minute wait. So while they did that, we headed over for Le Scoot. 30 minute wait – not bad on a summer day (by the end of the day, though, the line was out onto the path). One of the better log flumes I’ve been on. The only negative thing is that it reacquainted me with falling and how much I despise the sensation. Needless to say, I got no credits. Because I’m a wimp. . . Done laughing at me? Ok, good. Those of you who can actually enjoy zero-g – feel thankful. Anyhow, after the log flume, we hit up Corkscrew Hill 4D. They had one theater down, so it was supposed to be a 30 minute wait, but enough people left that we ended up getting on in 10. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but still a good ride. We got lost on our way back to France, ended up in the zoo (which, it turns out, is actually on the way, but both of us were too stupid to check our maps). Bald eagles and wolves. Yeah. Josh’s parents were over at Alpengeist, so we met up with them there. His sister, Jim, and Dale decided to ride. Sierra came off smiling, Jim was shell-shocked, and Dale was… bored? We moved through Germany, looking through the shops for a bit, and then went to Oktoberfest for lunch. The food was alright. Good bratwurst, but the ribs and chicken were dry. The entertainment was interesting, to say the least. Following lunch, about half the group went on Curse of DarKastle, which, by Josh’s reckoning, was pretty lame. I gave it a pass. Just after they got inside, the sky opened up and it started POURING rain. It let up about twenty minutes later, and then I saw the strangest thing: they SQUEEGE the paths. Am I the only one who finds this odd? Soon after, they got out of DarKastle. Josh headed over for the Big Bad Wolf, and what looked like a 40 minute wait while the rest of us hit up Katapult. Dale rode with Sierra and Tammy, all three of which insisted that he sit in the middle. Anyone with an understanding of physics can figure out the rest. Josh was still in line, so we walked over to Italy. He rejoined us pretty quickly, raving about his ride. Apparently, I’ve turned him into a credit whore now. In Italy, we did Roman Rapids and Escape from Pompeii, then headed back to Ireland so Josh and I could take his sister on Corkscrew Hill. They had both theaters running, so the wait was only 10-20 minutes. That was good, because that was the worst quere I’ve ever stood in. A group of kids behind us were being obnoxious – yelling, complaining, and line jumping. The pair in front of us told them to “shut the **** up” and it went downhill from there. I was half expecting the guy in front of us to attack someone. Not a good situation, especially when you’re responsible for a pair of 5th graders. But I digress. Josh’s parents wanted to go see a show, but we weren’t all that interested. So we followed his sister as she went around to a series of shops. When the show let out, Dale and Jim wanted to take a run on Corkscrew Hill. I passed. When they got out, we wandered back over to Italy to Apollo’s Chariot. However, Josh was having his doubts, and Dale didn’t want to ride, and the only one up for it was Sierra. So, noone got the AC credit. Instead, we got ice cream, walked back through to England, had fun in the hat shop, and left. All in all, a great day. BGW is the best park I’ve been to. Wonderful atmosphere. If you just read that essay, congratuations. If you just look at pictures, here you go: More fun in the hat shop. Yours truly. Fun in the weird hat shop. Is this what we think it is? No comment possible. I can't get over how freakin' huge that support is. Apollo's Chariot. Nessie. The generic shot that fourty billion people have... Katapult - "through Jim"... ok, that was lame. You can see Dale getting ready to crush Tammy. Carousel "through the trees". BGW has lots of wilderness areas throughout - really nice. It's hard to see here, but it's POURING rain. Chairswings. Watching for Sierra's train - and Dale's high pitched scream. Look at that beautiful tangle of track... Alpengeist... and Le Scoot! Alpengeist's Immelman. Bald eagle! The future credit whore glares at the picture whore. The longest line all day. From right to left, front to back: Josh, his mother and father, Dale, Jim, Sierra's friend Tammy, Sierra.