Electerik

Exactly. It's simply a coaster designed to not do anything interesting (except go upsidedown).

I waited and waited and then flaked out last year, so I just went ahead and got this year's done tonight. My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,y,1 The Voyage Holiday World IN,y,y,2 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN,y,y,3 Raven Holiday World IN,y,y,4 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA,y,n,5 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,n,6 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,wy,7 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,y,8 Shivering Timbers Michigan's Adventure MI,y,n,9 The Legend Holiday World IN,y,y,10 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,y,11 This is the actually first year The Voyage has topped my (wood) list, primarily due to Cornball being sightly off on my last visit. GhostRider still ranks where I would have put it the last time I rode it (circa 2004). I feel a bit weird about that, but it would still be my number one if it ran like it did that first couple years. /Worst: Son of Beast

I basically agree with this. However, in Erik's World, Pilgrim's Plunge was the first misstep they've taken. So I am just a little bit worried now. (Golly, how nerdy/lame does that sound??) I do love Holiday World, though. And I, for one, think the park was well-worth visiting before The Voyage came along.

In my opinion, if special restraints are needed for the brakes, then the ride is either mis-engineered or very badly maintained. /If a lapbar can't do it, it shouldn't be done.

I agree that you have some great photos here. I also think it would be good if they told some kind of story (even a non-verbal one). But that's just me being critical. They're very nice.

You call your special area your "deal"? No, I call it Lord Butterscotch. But I can see how you might have been confused. I've had bad experiences with those things in the past, due to my thick, turtle-like shape. Even if they don't bother most people, they can totally ruin a ride for me. /And also, I'm huge.

There's a sale at Penney's! Glad everyone enjoyed the Old Mill update. I always worry when it's restaurant-y like that (as opposed to mini-golf or something). But I try to only do ones that have some attraction aspect to them. I'm probably going to do some Christmas lights updates next. But I promise I'll get back to the good stuff soon!

I love that Holiday World does stuff like this, and I'm really excited about articulated trains on The Voyage. That crotch-poking seat-horn thing is probably going to be a deal-breaker for me, though.

Larry already knows how much I love the park index, because I'm constantly pestering him about it. And I really like the new(-ish) park map thing (though not every park has one yet). So yes, indeed, keep up the great work, Larry!

Sure, but Magic Mountain was awesome in the 80's. /Then again, so was Knott's.

Located pretty much in the center of Pigeon Forge--and, indeed, older than the city itself--is The Old Mill. So, we started at one restaurant and we end at another. Because that’s the way we roll here at The Old Mill. Tell me this doesn't look good. Smisty eagerly awaiting her food. You can eat on the back porch, if you like. A bit cold at the moment, though. Out front, a 13-year old girl sings songs of heartbreak and yearning. Is it dinner time yet? Because I like the Pottery House Café even better than The Old Mill Restaurant. I believe I shall try some Peanut Butter Oreo. Wait, there’s ice cream here, too?? Okay, which is worse? The toy that invites people to throw things at your head, or the block of wood that teaches how to tie your shoes backwards? They might like Ugly Dolls even more than Dave does. And now for the toy store! There is nothing I can type here that could top that. What might happen if you buy a snickers cup, take it home, and try to cut it in half. It listens to Rush Limbaugh. Smisty buying chocolate-covered peanut brittle for some lucky boy. The Candy Kitchen makes their own stuff. (Or, at least, some of it.) Candy or toys? What a $4,000 table might look like. (Lazy Susan not included.) One of the potters doing her thing. And, interestingly, one of Dollywood’s glassblowers there shopping. The inside. And yes, it’s all made here. Don’t believe me? Pigeon River Pottery is pretty much the anchor store of the Old Mill shops. This tree is awesome. But photographing it sucks because of all the power lines. Hopefully, Pigeon Forge will follow Gatlinburg’s suit soon and bury them all. Misty had pork chops. I had that banana thing in the background. You can't take me anywhere. And it’s multilevel, to take advantage of the river view. The main restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Wait, "corn cob"? So, like, the leftover part of the corn that hillbillies wipe their butts with?? Unsurprisingly, the tour exits you into the Old Mill Gift Shop, where you can find this inspiring sign. The grindstone. Unfortunately, this is no longer powered by the water wheel. (Although, that is used to power the chutes now.) Your tour guide. And, for a mere $3.00, you can tour it! (Or, you could just keep reading.) The Old Mill district consists of various shops, two restaurants, and, of course, an actual working mill. In the center of this photo (between the wheel and the road), once stood an iron forge that the city draws part of its name from. The other part comes from the Pigeon River (also pictured, kind of), which itself was named for the passenger pigeons that once flocked to its shores. So, basically, the city is named after two things that haven’t been around for over 80 years.

^ Wait...so you could have taken even better pictures? Please don't ever come to my park again.

^ No, we go more than that. We've been to Dollywood, probably, 20-25 times this year (so far). For whatever reason, we tend to only go a couple of times during the Christmas season, but we're going to try to go more this year. I think I might have mentioned this earlier, but Dollywood really grew on me this year as being a good "home park."

Nonsense. I've seen you wear a patch jacket. As for me, well...I made a booklet with pictures of all the roller coasters at Cedar Point, with little descriptions of each one, as a guide for my (then) wife, when we moved from California to Ohio in order to work at the park. How's that?

Probably not, unfortunately. We both usually work on the weekends, and we're already taking the 14th off for Misty's birthday. And, not to be crass or anything--but while meeting other coaster nerds is always fun, ERT at Dollywood is sort of wasted on us.

Off the top of my head.... Put the Rocket Jets back where they belong. Reinstate the People Mover. Replace Innoventions with Plectu's Galactic Revue. Something new and futuristic to replace HISTA. Or, barring that, Captain EO. Full service "looking out into space" restaurant where the Rocket Rods queue/Circlevision was.

A good family ride is one that kids and adults both want to ride, not just one that they both can ride. Magic Mountain used to have rides like that, but they took them all out and replaced them with coasters. And coaster after coaster is a cycle of diminishing returns. But you're right, they shouldn't try to compete with Disneyland. They should try to emulate them in some ways, though. How about a shooting dark ride? Their clientele should enjoy that.

^ Huh. Well, it was open every time I visited in October. Maybe it was just down...? Thanks! But it wasn't so bad, having to go back to Dollywood a couple of extra times....

Name: Erik Elness Age: 39 What is your roller coaster count? 188 What is your home park? Dollywood What is the nearest big city? Knoxville What is your occupation? Guest Service (Resort Hotel Night Manager) About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? Obviously an estimate, but I'm going to say: 40. About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 3 or 4 trips, maybe 8 parks or so. When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? I always try to do other touristy/cultural stuff if I can. What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? Tricky, because some of the farthest ones I've traveled to, I've had other motives for going to that area, as well (such as family or friends in that I wanted to visit). Just purely for amusement parks, about 1100 miles (Orlando to Sandusky). Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) No, it doesn't interfere. But then, I don't have any children. Do you have any other major hobbies? I have some others, but this is the biggest. Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? I've traditionally lived in places with no off-season. Where I live now, the off-season is fairly short. So no, no sadness. Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) If I'm understanding the question correctly, no. (But if I'm not, then yes. ) Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? No. It has some advantages. Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Gone by myself many times. I have met other enthusiasts a few times and hung out--but only when I was already there with some other folks. (Luck of the draw, I guess.) Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? No. I tend to be a bit shy with new people. And the more easily recognizable people are as coaster enthusiasts, the nuttier they tend to be. (Yeah, I know, I'm being a jerk. But as a general rule, if you see someone wearing Cedar Point eyeglass straps, run the other way.) How do you get your coaster news? Theme Park Review and/or Screamscape. How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? Just Theme Park Review, at the moment. If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? The larger the group, the less well-traveled (probably). But still enthusiasts. So: The Voyage, El Toro, Terminator Salvation / Bizarro (SFNE), Millennium Force, Kumba. Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? Cedar Point, Knoebels, Islands of Adventure. Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? No. Kiddie "credits" are not that important to me. Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) Not usually. It's the parks that tend to suffer the most from budgeting conflicts. Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? A bit. But I've been around the block enough times that I can usually wing that stuff. I do certainly try to go on less busy days, but it's usually pretty obvious what days those will be. Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? A bit of both, as I imagine all communities are. Every group has its cliques, but I've never seen an enthusiast shunned because they were gay or black or something. Bad behavior or general obnoxiousness will get you ditched pretty quickly, though. Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? Yes...but only so much as I listen to stories about their cats and children.

^ This update gave me a lot of trouble, and it started with just getting the photos! On most of my visits in October, it was rainy and the leaves hadn't really done much yet--so the majority of the photos you see are from the mornings of Wednesday, October 28 and Friday, October 30 (which were both special trips just to get better photos). Misty's black & white train photos and a handful of others were taken a bit earlier in the year. Oh, and Misty will be glad to hear that about the pumpkin tree photo. It's one that she took. /The B-camera wins again.

^ Dude, you are quickly becoming my hero. Brilinjo's new avatar make me all squishy inside. ^

^ Perhaps. I usually go about...once. But I'm gonna try to go at least two or three times this year for good photo coverage. /Might even try to see a show or something....

It's the best Christmas event I've been to. But is it better than Dollywood in the summer? I'd say no. The Christmas lights are great, but all the water rides are shut down (obviously) and it's usually really, really cold--which takes some of the fun out of the outdoor rides. Not trying to discourage anyone from going, but I wouldn't move Heaven and Earth to get there if I lived far away and had already been to the park this season. Just my opinion.

I don't have the numbers, but Blazing Fury actually has excellent capacity. Sounds more like they weren't running enough trains. (Not that that changes your bad experience or anything.) Anyway, nice TR! And you should definitely check out Lake Winnie as soon as possible. I made the mistake of continually driving by it, too. But it's an excellent little park. Looking forward to more photo trip reports!

Trying to think of a coaster that I've personally photographed that was very accessible and pretty from every angle.... Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach.