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Skycoastin' Steve's 2012 Season Extravaganza!!


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^I guess I'm in the minority here but I preferred he back row on Wild Eagle. I only got one ride in the front and the unobstructed views were amazing but the back row felt a lot more forceful to me and the air time on the first drop in the back was great. I also loved sitting in the back row and seeing the rest of the train in front of you navigate the course, it really gives you a chance to appreciate how massive the trains are and just looks awesome.

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Hey, why all the hate on people from Tennessee.

 

Steve and Jen are Gators, as am I. nuff said!!!!

 

That's cool I'm just going to go cruise around on my 30 Mbps FIOS internet connection- That is the slowest speed too it goes up to 1 Gbps Chattanooga FTW!

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So yesterday I had the privilege to go by BGT and watch Kasi (the park's baby cheetah) get his one-year check up! For those of you that don't remember, Kasi was acquired by BGT from the Jacksonville Zoo last March when his mother surprisingly gave birth to him (she was past birthing age), and would not take care of him. Being the animal care experts they are, and with Cheetah Hunt conveniently opening a couple months later, they took Kasi under their wing and hand raised him. He even got a best friend to grow up with, a female yellow Lab named Mtani that the park rescued from a local shelter! They explained that since cheetahs are very social by nature, many cheetah cubs that are hand raised are brought up with a canine companion (usually one from an equally social breed), since adult cheetahs and cheetah cubs do not socialize until the cub has gotten much older.

 

Fast forward to a year later, Kasi has been growing up quickly (he weighs about 180 pounds), and it was time for him to get his first annual check up! They performed the procedure at the brand new Animal Care Center (amazing place, by the way), and invited whoever was in the park yesterday to come by and watch how they do these annual check ups. Obviously I took plenty of pictures of the check up and many other things around the park, so enjoy!

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Here is the main "doctor's office" in the Animal Care Center. They have a surgery room to the left where you can watch animals undergoing an operation, and an X-ray room to the right where you can safely watch the procedure on a TV screen.

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And there he is! The first thing they did was give him a series of X-rays to make sure his bone development is coming along well. Obviously they administered anesthetic to him in order to make it much easier both on him and the doctors. They typically zonk out all the animals that go in there.

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Sleepy cheetah tail!

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This is what it looks like when a cheetah has had too much to drink.

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And not wanting to be left out, Mtani came by to check things out!

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Along with being a beautiful dog, Mtani was VERY well behaved.

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And just like any Lab, she soaked up all the attention, petting, and scratching she could get!

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I petted her for a little bit, and she thanked me by licking my hand. I may or may not have melted.

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I have said before that I would steal Kasi, and now I'm going to steal Mtani, too.

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And now back to Kasi, he's been moved into the main room where they'll perform the rest of the procedure.

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I think they were checking his eyes.

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I just wanted to go in and hug him and use him as a big cheetah pillow, is that so much to ask?

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Checking his toes and claws, those are kinda important to a cheetah.

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They were also doing an ultrasound on his abdominal area, and the neatest thing about this was.......

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You could watch the ultrasound on the TV!

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"Soooo......what do I do with this leg?"

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When animals come in for a check up, they take advantage of the situation to do everything at once, which includes a thorough dental exam and cleaning!

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Dentist: "Open wide and say ahhhhhhhhh......."

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Kasi: *snooorrrrreeeeeeee*

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The last thing they did was scope out Kasi's stomach and digestive tract with a tiny camera on a hose. If you've ever wondered what the inside of a cheetah's stomach looked like, here it is, complete with a blade of grass!

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They said cheetahs often times have gastrointestinal issues, so this is a very important procedure. Since his stomach lining was bright pink, that was the sign of a healthy kitty.

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They also took a biopsy of his stomach lining, which they'll analyze to make sure he's as healthy as he looks.

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"Hey! What are you doing to my friend in there??"

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He won't remember anything about what happened to him after being zonked out. I wonder if he'll have a cheetah hangover?

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And now they're pulling the tube out of his esophagus.......

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Almost done!

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See you later, and next time you better do more tricks or I want my money back!

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"Ha, try knocking us out and carrying us into that tiny little room."

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"Yeah, no joke, stupid little cat."

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And now we have a few Kumba shots for the dorks.......

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Coming off the brake run.

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This ride still kicks so much ass. It's like the Jackie Chan of coasters.

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And it still has the best zero-g roll ever.

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Ok enough coaster pictures. You can get enough of those in other trip reports utilizing cell phone cameras.

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"Try knocking me out and putting me on that table, I would eat your face off."

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I would hug him, but I value my life.

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Another sleepy kitty, he doesn't seem to need anesthetic.

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Sad tiger is sad.

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Now we move on to the giant, long neck pink chicken.

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"Psh, we don't need two legs."

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"I'm WAY more fabulous than that silly spotted kitty."

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DUCKLINGS!!!!

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We join this family at a time when the babies are struggling awfully badly trying to get up the curb and into the bushes.

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"Dude, do you see how HIGH that curb is? How in the world are we supposed to make it up there??"

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"Come on, kids, that giant man over there is creeping me out."

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Duckling on right: "I give up, I'm just going to sit here."

 

Duckling on left: "Don't worry, guys, I got this!"

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Up you go! They made it up shortly after this pic was taken, and my heart melted again.

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Well hello!

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Left: "Hey, what's a kangaroo's favorite beer?"

 

Right: "I don't know, but I bet it's something hoppy."

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And now for the official cuteness OVERLOAD, it's a joey wallaby!!!

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Peekaboo!

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Officially the cutest day ever now, thanks for reading!

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^Goodness gracious, I have 200 to upload to facebook, then I'll start cranking out the trip reports here. It was a weekend full of ups and downs (and that's not even a roller coaster joke!), but it was still tons of fun. And Skyrush was ridiculous. But rest assured, it shouldn't be long!

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Who is ready for my multi-part, action-packed, credit whoring Memorial Day Weekend trip report? You are?? Fantastic! Here's Part 1!!

 

Ok so in all of my credit whoring days, I've done some crazy stuff in the name of riding kiddie coasters. Last year I did a 2+ hour round trip for a Wildcat in the middle of nowhere Maryland, 9 parks in one day down the Jersey Shore for 22 new credits, did a trip to Williamsburg solely to get the Go Karts Plus credit, among other wacky things.

 

BUT! Nothing I have done could compare to the epic, amazing, hilarious, awe-inspiring trip Jen and I had to Deadwood. This place was discovered by TPR member carolinacaniac a few years back, and considering I went to college maybe an hour from this place, I was always bummed I never made it out there. Well, I bum out no more! Deadwood is this charming little restaurant/FEC type place in the middle of NOWHERE in eastern North Carolina (although basically everywhere in that part of the state is in the middle of nowhere). They have a train ride, a mini golf course, an interesting carousel, an ice cream shop, a full service restaurant, and the reason we made the 200 mile round trip from my parents' house on the water, a kiddie coaster!

 

Most of what I have to say will be in captions, so without further ado, here you go!

 

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Our trip has brought us to Ed's Grocery Road in Williamston, NC. We turned onto this road off of Prison Camp Road, so obviously the people of Williamston know how to name their roads.

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As you can see, we're in a bustling metropolis. We had to fight hours of rush hour traffic to get here. And by rush hour traffic, I mean slow drivers on a two-lane highway with no passing zones.

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Here we are! Rejoice!

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The glorious entrance to this establishment.

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We were beating off the crowds with a stick to get in.

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Perimeter fence? Seems legit.

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This little building had some ride parts strewn about in it, I think it might have been some type of teacup ride they wanted to build. Either way, it wasn't open for us that day.

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The entire town of Williamston came out to Deadwood today!

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I can barely contain my excitement for what lies ahead!

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"I have a big head, and little arms!"

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This coaster probably has more theming than most rides at Cedar Point (not that I really care about that sorta thing, just saying).

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This is the lonely, corner-dwelling dinosaur. I will call him Emosaurus.

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The landscaping, the theming, the airtime hill! Joygasm!

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Unfortunately, we won't get to see the Trial of Jack McCall today. :(

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Inside the park now, we seem to have found a lake of Smurf jizz.

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Wooden geese? Seems legit.

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What you don't see in this picture are the dozens of Smurfs at the top of the hill jizzing into the stream.

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In case you need to buy general things.

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This is how directions are given out in Williamston.

 

"How do I get to _______?"

 

"DID YOU NOT SEE THE DIRECTION SIGN AT DEADWOOD?!?!?!"

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And you know, the last thing I thought before getting out of the car was, "Gee willakers, how on Earth do I get to El Paso, and how far is it from here?" True story.

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Train enthusiasts rejoice!

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Noted!

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Deadwood Express, baby!

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Rumor has it Iron Horses 1-46 weren't very reliable, but they finally got it right with #47!

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This was our trusty train operator. He told us before boarding that we would see things we had never seen before. Little did we know.........

 

Watch the POV, you do not want to miss this!

 

 

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After surviving the aliens, Indians, and eyeballs, OH MY, we needed some cash. Too bad the only bank was a fake one.

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Coin operated carousel? Seems legit.

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As you can see, the log flume wasn't quite ready for operation last weekend. However, they are holding out hope that it will be ready by Father's Day....................2016. Either way, there's a good chance it'll be open before Flying Turns.

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Credit time!

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Looks like I'm too tall. Good thing we're in a place like Deadwood, where all your dreams come true!

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Ok, my previous record for laps on a kiddie coaster was 9, which was set at Steel Pier last spring. I never thought it would be topped, until..........

 

WATCH THE POV!

 

 

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Ten epic laps later, we have survived the Badlands!

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In most Old West films I watch, there's always a random charcoal grill somewhere in the town.

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As I said before, Deadwood also has a mini golf course, which would turn out to be one of the most............."interesting" mini golf courses I've ever played.

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For theming, we have an overturned bench.

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Jen likes to dwell in dark, dank places.

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Cement frog? Seems legit.

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Water tower. Rumor has it, this water tower supplies the whole town of Williamston with only slightly contaminated water. True story.

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This statue watches over this hole with an eagle eye. Badadum.

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What a brave man, taking on those aliens again!

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Ok, time for dinner.

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Marinated ribeye, tasty! Not as good as Outback's ribeyes, but that's a tough standard.

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This critter was above our table. No, I'm not kidding.

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Any idea whose shirt this is?

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After a horrifying train ride, a record-setting kiddie coaster ride, a harrowing mini golf game, and a delicious meal with Rocky the Squirrel watching out over us, this place absolutely gets the coveted Skycoastin' Steve Stamp of Approval!

 

Thanks for reading, now leave comments, and only positive ones!

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