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Alright, so yesterday was pretty dang awesome. The park was a bit slow to wake up with a bunch of coasters being closed until 10:30/11am or so, but once things were in the groove it was smooth sailing. Crowd levels had waits at 15-30 minutes for most everything. Operations could use a little work as I noticed every single coaster stacking trains, though. Still, every coaster that had the capability to run three trains WAS running three trains. Stacking or not, that's appreciated. Hate to see that go-get-em attitude disappear once the Six Flags merger completes and we're down to one train being half-loaded. Coasters - Orion - Hoo buddy, this one surprised me. This bad boy RIPS through the layout and has some damn good airtime to boot! Definitely a front seat ride, though the back ain't bad at all, either. The wind in front, though, is the cherry on top. Diamondback - The airtime on this ride is legitimately scary. This isn't standard B&M floater air but instead it's "bucking bronco trying to send you into Kentucky" air. Back seat is best. Mystic Timbers - Fast and wicked ride through the woods with a phenomenal first drop. Tons of laterals and some nice air pops. The shed is a complete waste of time, effort, and money, though. Back row is intense, especially getting ripped down the first drop. Banshee - Holy hot dicks from hell! I had absolutely NO IDEA how great this ride is. I'd heard the good reviews and I've seen the POVs but lawd almighty this monster is completely different than I was expecting. It rides like a mid-90s Beemer! Forces out the yin-yang on every element, especially the batwing and second vertical loop. Back row is is my fave, if for no other reason than that first drop. Best ride in the park alongside... The Beast - It's The Beast. It's one of the greatest rides on the planet. It also has some truly awful trims in the first bit (first drop, second hill, and the long shed) but after the long shed it returns to the incredibly wild run through the woods we all know and love. The trim before the helix has mercifully been moved to the top of the hill, so now you hit the tunnel full-bore and go screaming around that bitch like a bat out of hell. All hail the king, especially in the front row. The Bat - I love this ride, even if it does have a horrible location compared to the rest of the park. IIRC, back in 2003 it was much more visible and accessible with SoB in the area. Instead it's now a relic hiding behind a 5-mile hike with an entrance hardly seen at Banshee's exit. Damn shame, because this is a very fun and fast suspended coaster. Racer - Third row has some great airtime on this classic. Fun stuff! Backlot Stunt Coaster - Great launch and helix, boring everything else. Slowest line in the park. Flight Of Fear - Closed most of the day, broke down when I was entering the UFO. Didn't ride. Adventure Express - Packs a punch! I love me a good mine train and this one didn't disappoint. Ride it in the back to get the real janked-out experience, ya jabronis. This ride is great. Invertigo - Pass. I rode Two-Face when it was at SFA. I'm good. Other Rides - Boo Blasters - Yeah, this has seen better days. Cute enough and an easy way to escape the sun, but the guns hardly work and there's a large amount of broken effects. Delirium - Fun ride but after riding a larger version it didn't feel as wacky. Windseeker - This was my first Windseeker after riding many Star Flyers. Let's just say there's a reason these haven't been built in a while. Star Flyers are a much simpler mechanical ride and much more reliable. This was also pretty uncomfortable, for some reason. Good view, though. Blue Ice Cream - Yummy yummy in my tummy.

Hmmmmph. Another very VERY RAINY weekend, here. I wouldn't be surprised if Playland closed early today, because of the torrent of rain (almost like a monsoon, truth!) falling now. So I skipped this visit. Hopefully we get back to the sunshine kind of day we all love, next weekend, lol. EDIT to add: Haven't gone back to Playland since that first day visit. Rainy weather these past few weekends. I did it in the rain for TPR tours, but not this time, heh. Will probably wait until the schedule expands to five days a week, starting in July. Additional EDIT: "And then he fell down..." On the 9th I "kissed the pavement" with my whole body, and have been recovering ever since. Very painful, and NOT for coaster riding at this point in time. Hopefully, maybe, this coming weekend (29-30th) I'll be better to visit the park. Maybe.

They were testing TT2 for several hours last night. Even had water dummies on one of the trains. Might be opening sometime real soon.

Forgot to add to the TR. They give you a Digital Copy # of the onride photo, taken. So here's a better look at myself - and check out that caption. The t-shirts came out when AtmosFEAR first opened. The gift shop, sadly, is no more. But with ThunderVOLT opening soon, who knows? Maybe they'll actually open a new gift shop, with the revamp of the Games Arcade .... along with the Ride Side Bar 2.0

Opening Day at Playland ~ May 18/24 Rain had been falling on and off through the morning. No big deal. But my intentions were to just tour around the park, maybe get something to eat and drink, and just see what's changed (if anything) since last year. The first surprise was that all the games arcade was blocked off, and to be eventually rebuilt (the facades), assuming they're going to get it done by the time the actual PNE Fair happens, mid-August. The other surprise was that the entire row of buildings on the north side of the park, including my go-to drinking spot, the Ride Side Bar, was demolished, leaving space for the upcoming new concert amphitheatre being built. <grrr> Got a couple of rides done, food at the White Spot place, an onride pic from the Kettle Creek Mine coaster... and that was it. Both Coaster and the new ThunderVOLT weren't open. And the new coaster wasn't going to be open until July. <sighs> Until then, here's my pix... Waiting to go in. Testing, testing. The new flyer and park map. The usual plug for the upcoming August Fair. The map. A better showing of the map, on the wall of Customer Service. Not a huge crowd today. "I spy, with my little eye, something that is ....yellow." What's this? What's this? The young woman at the Snack Shack told me about the renovation they're doing with all the facades of the Games Arcade. Still testing. All blocked off. Yay. And nothing's been done with this building since .... several years ago? The Haunted Mansion wasn't going to open, until the afternoon. I was there between 11am and noon. \ This was the closest I could get to ThunderVOLT. And more green fences here. And the entire north end of the buildings .... all gone. Including my bar <sniff> I'm hoping they put it into the new arcade being rebuilt on the east side of Playland. Does anyone use the word "fly" anymore? Sky Bender was open. West Coast Wheel wasn't open - and missing a few ride buckets, too. The best landscaping of the park was here. Where the Honey Bee Express train travels around. I think the Kettle Creek Coaster sign needs a bit of a touch up, yes? No? All things considered, it's a pretty good coaster for anyone, kids and adults alike. They re-opened the Scrambler in it's original spot. Was down all last season. The White Spot eating spot. Really not that busy all the time I was there. In Canadian $$$. Pretty reasonable in American $$$, I thought. What I got: a bacon-cheese burger, fries, and a nice thick blueberry milkshake. Lots of bacon and cheese.... yum! After eating, a bit more strolling. This is the free Mini-Golf attraction. Not too busy right now. And Coaster. "Closed until further notice." Okay.... time to leave. The onride photo... ...on the Kettle Creek Coaster. And that's it, till next weekend's visit.....