BugEyed

Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America was the last coaster I rode AND my 200th coaster. This is the photo I took to commemorate the moment: Superman: Ride of Steel

I miss riding the Doppel Looping at Toronto's C.N.E. every summer. Not only was it my first Schwarzkopf; it was the only one within a multi-hour drive.

I wear cargo shorts with a Ziploc bag in each side pocket. Everything on me (camera, keys, wallet, etc.) goes into one of the two bags. I puff the bags with air, zip 'em closed and then button each bag inside either pocket. The air makes them fit tight; making it almost impossible for anything to fall out of my pockets during inversions. I've been doing this since I was a teenager. Works great.

01) I-305 02) Mindbender (Galaxyland) 03) Storm Runner 04) Nitro 05) Phoenix 06) Shock Wave (SFOT) 07) El Toro 08) Titan (SFOT) 09) Superman Escape (WBMW) 10) Tatsu ...with Sky Rush, NTAG and Apollo's Chariot bubbling under slightly.

Apollo's Chariot. It's not necessarily my favourite coaster of all time, but I could see us making a life and getting old together.

Seems to be working fine.

Canada's Wonderland Hersheypark ** Dutch Wonderland ** Knoebels ** Dorney Park ** Six Flags Great Adventure Clementon Park ** Six Flags America ** = first time visit

I rode Behemoth 47 times in one day during the filming of a commercial in 2008. We did 20 circuits back-to-back, took a lunch break and then did 27 more. Almost everyone (myself included) started to feel nauseous towards the end; the G's really creep up on you.

Agreed. Leviathan is a good time but i305 is an angry and unbeatable foe and Millennium Force has a certain unquantifiable charm.

Hersheypark (for the first time). Not to wish the summer away, but August 20th can't get here fast enough.

Sledge Hammer's hydraulic arms raising and lowering. Sounds like a giant, badass robot about to tear the roof off your house. Photo By: PCW_Nut

I've been trying to get myself there for years. Now that I've finally booked it I think I'm actually more excited about hitting Knoebels than I've been for many of the big parks.

An enjoyable read with particularly excellent timing. I've been planning, scheduling and booking my summer 2013 coaster trip the last few days. Robb, your article was enough to make me lockdown the side trek to Knoebels I'd been seesawing about. Thank you.

X-Flight was a tremendous amount of fun last summer. GateKeeper looks even better. So, GateKeeper.

Doppel Looping at the CNE in Toronto when I was 12. There's no better feeling in the world than riding a kickin' Schwarzkopf with Judas Priest blaring from the Grandstand.

Tatsu; almost 3 months ago. I need to get out more.

Leviathan. I am rather pleased about this.

I had every intention of posting the SFOT portion of this report last week but things got away from me. Working on it now. Should have ready later tonight.

After leaving Chicago on an evening flight I landed in Houston just before 10PM. I was downtown, checked into my hotel and fast asleep by 11:30 pm. After the events of the last several days I was understandably burnt out. It's worth mentioning that I stayed at The Magnolia Hotel in downtown Houston. This place is amazing. It's no more expensive than a Holiday Inn Express and they have a beautiful outdoor rooftop pool. In fact the entire hotel feels like a 5-star experience. Among it's many charms, they offer complimentary milk & cookies room service at bedtime. It was pretty awesome. If you ever find yourself requiring a hotel in downtown Houston I strongly encourage you to consider The Magnolia. Anyway, I was awake at 9AM and on the road by 10. I only had one day in Houston and I wanted to make the most of it. With an early flight to Dallas booked for the next morning another good night of sleep seemed like a great idea. The intended schedule for the day was expected to go like this: Drive to Kemah Boardwalk and spend an hour seeing the sights. Drive to Galveston Pleasure Pier and spend an hour there as well. If everything went according to plan I would be done in Galveston just before 2PM. From there I would drive to The Johnson Space Center and spend the remainder of the afternoon seeing NASA's Mission Control and other facilities. JSP is a place I have wanted to visit since I was a kid. and we're off... The rooftop pool, hot tub and gym at The Magnolia Hotel in downtown Houston is heavenly. The views of the Houston skyline are outstanding. A quarter turn and you can see Minute Maid Park. Another quarter turn and you can see the Diving Bell Ferris Wheel at the Downtown Aquarium. They also have a 65' drop tower called the Lighthouse Dive. I did not get to ride either. You'll understand why soon enough. After a relaxing hour long drive I arrive at The Kemah Boardwalk. It's a very chilled out seaside resort. Parking is free! Being a seaside resort requires that they have a nearby ocean. Here's a picture of the edge of it. Here's a bit more of the ocean. It's really big and hard to get a good shot of all of it at once. There are a lot of crabs swimming in this ocean. This bird and I had words. I tried to avoid a confrontation but he just wouldn't let it go. We eventually agreed to disagree and went our separate ways. Jerk. They have some rides here as well. I didn't ride Wipeout, the Ferris wheel or Pharaoh's Fury but they looked great. I think I see a roller coaster. How convenient? I was just thinking I'd very much like to ride one. They do in fact have a roller coaster... and IT'S CLOSED. Not to worry. The ops explain that it's only closed this morning for scheduled maintenance. If I come back around 3pm it will be running. Phew. Might as well take another shot before heading off. And thus a conflict is born. If I continue to Galveston Pleasure Pier now I will essentially have to backtrack an extra hour in order to fit both JSP and a return to Kemah into the day. However it's still early enough that I can go to Johnson Space Center now, come back to Kemah around 4pm and still have plenty of time to hit Galveston Pleasure Pier later. The idea of seeing GPP on a Friday evening suddenly appeals to me so... off I go to The Johnson Space Center. Here's the entrance to The Johnson Space Center. Taking the tram tour. Outside Mission Control. Inside Mission Control. Rocket. Not sure what this is but it was on top of a rocket and it looked interesting. Saturn V rocket. Saturn V rocket bum. This guy is totally hosed. I then make the short drive back to Kemah and discover that Boardwalk Bullet is running! Hooray! Now, I've heard a lot about this beast and not all of it has been good. It's an intense ride and known to be terribly rough everywhere except the front. I've been warned to ride defensively and I heed this advice when I grab my first lap in the front right. I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT! Amazing. Wonderfully intense. The compact layout is like getting caught in a prison riot with your feet shackled. It was great. I then decide to grab a beer, enjoy the view and ponder having a second ride on this amazingly frantic mess of timber. Liquid courage told me that I should try a ride in the back. What harm could it do? Away we go. At the bottom of the first drop something in the left side of my neck goes CRACK! (now is not the time for you to hit "postreply" with your headbanger jokes. Please restrain yourselves.) All I remember after that is blinding pain and a strong desire for complimentary milk & cookies. My neck hurts like a bugger. I don't blame the coaster. I'm not new to this. I let my guard down and now I'm paying for it. I make the (literally) painful decision to skip Galveston Pleasure Pier and head back to Houston to lick my wounds. I still have Six Flags Over Texas ahead of me and cannot afford to have a sore neck when I get there. With any luck whatever went snap in my neck was nothing important. Necks are chock full of unnecessary crap that we don't use, right? Right?? Last update of my trip coming soon...

I am seriously considering Tokyo & North Japan 2013 as my first TPR trip. I realize the details are provisional, but can you give me a rough idea how much the initial deposit that is required in October will be? Someone mentioned $500 earlier. Is that accurate?

Thank you. There's an abundance of metal in Texas. Pantera grew up mere blocks from SFOT and Dimebag Darrell's grave is within walking distance. Texas update coming tomorrow.

^ Yes, exactly. It breaks my heart to see a perfectly good ride flying at 1/2 mast.

After waking up at the cruel and ungodly hour of 3 am I finally arrived at O'Hare. I am disheveled from sleep deprivation and Grizzly has left me sore in places I didn't previously know I had. All that aside, I'm rarin' to go! The plan: Grab rental car. Drive like the wind across Chicago to Tinley Park (it's roughly an hour and a half away). Check into hotel. Shower. Relax. Swim in pool. Eat. Go to Uproar Festival to see Godsmack. Sleep. Wake up at a reasonable hour (hopefully). Drive to Six Flags Great America. I'm ready. Let's do this! \m/ * screech * Traffic. The highway is down to one lane due to construction and it's bumper to bumper, road rage inducing traffic as far as the eye can see. Apparently I shall not "drive like the wind" today. It has been decreed that rather I will fester at a standstill like a clump of mould. grrrrr. 3.5 hours later I arrive at the hotel, peel my stinking t-shirt off and give myself a 30 second bird bath in the sink. I'm out the door in 10 minutes and on my way to the show. Not exactly the refreshing interlude I had hoped for, but at least I no longer stink. Godsmack Concert. Too much beer. A lot of Jager. Bedtime. Against all odds I am awake at 7am the next morning. Yay, I did it! I drive allllllllllll the way across Chicago to the other side (again) and arrive at Six Flags Great America just as the gates open. Nice! It's a small miracle that I am pulling these maneuvers off. Between the flights, the driving, the rock bands, the hangovers and the amusement parks my trip planning has not left me much leeway. Git 'er done! Did I mention I stopped to buy a 6-pack and some shots before I checked in at the hotel? I am my own worst enemy. I know this. Arrival at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre for the Uproar festival and Godsmack. Sit on the lawn for a moment to catch my breath. The place is just starting to fill up. My tenure on the lawn will be brief however as I have one of these on my wrist. In mere moments I will be within 10 feet of the stage. Godsmack! "Wait another minute. Can't you see what this pain has &$#%ing done to me?" It's very early in the morning. My ears ring, my body aches, my stomach yearns for Cracker Barrel. Fortunately I just happen to be standing directly in front of one. Thank you baby Jesus. Lifegiving nourishment heal thy soul. The hashbrown casserole at Cracker Barrel has mystical restorative powers. You need to know this. It may save your life one day. The long and winding road across Chicago. Oh look, there's the Willis Tower. (ugh, I strongly dislike calling it that... it's the Sears Tower dammit!) Six Flags. Mastering the obvious. Carousel Plaza. I love the smell of chlorine in the morning. That's not sarcasm. I do like it. A lot. Here I am in the Carousel Plaza. Must the camera always be 18" from my face? A little background would be nice. Sky Trek Tower. I did not experience it's charms. The line was too long and babies were screaming. I think I made the right choice. Whizzer. I love you Anton. There are two Schwarzkopfs in my top ten. Whizzer is not one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. For some reason Demon's sign makes me laugh. It's just not very Demonic. The font is silly and the landscaping just seems too ladylike. I did not get to ride Demon. It was parked on the lift all day. Ladylike. This game attendant was hilarious. I crossed paths with him multiple times during the day and he was amazing. Really going out of his way to entertain the guests. Six Flags... give this guy a raise, free Dippin Dots for life, something, anything. He deserves it. X-Flight was my first wing rider and it was a fantastic introduction. I rode front right, front left, back right and back left. Front right takes the prize. The slow dive drop off the lift on the right side is unbeatable. I like this shot. The guy with his hands up is having the time of his life. Raging Bull. ohhhh Raging Bull. Everything everyone says about you is correct. I so wanted them to be wrong, but they weren't. The layout is killer but there's just no power. Darn. I didn't ride Condor. It was leaning precariously to one side and looked like it might fall over at any moment. I like the S:UF signs. He looks so badass. I've enjoyed all three of the Superman: Ultimate Flights I've ridden. Not as much as Tatsu, but they are a good time in their own right. Just gotta get myself to Georgia now to complete the package. Some kid that couldn't have been older than 5 suddenly yelled "Those banjos are stupid. They don't even have strings." Funny stuff. I didn't ride Roaring Rapids. The people exiting were drenched and I have a plane to catch later. No thank you. Cool sign. I don't remember anything about the ride. I guess I liked it. Who knows? I rode Little Dipper twice. I enjoyed it immensely. For some reason it struck me as a tremendous amount of fun. A pleasant surprise! American Eagle needs retracking. I thought it was going to shake itself into pieces of kindling before we could make it back to the station. What's up with the program on Revolution? This picture illustrates the apex of it's ascent. The weakest HUSS Frisbee I've ever been on. Dinner at The Olive Garden. It's a post-Six Flags tradition that I cherish. The breadsticks are like crack. mmmmmm. Right after dinner it's back to O'Hare, onto another plane and off to Texas. Two more parks to go. I also rode Batman, Ragin' Cajun, The Dark Knight and Viper while I was at the park. Viper was much better than I expected, Batman was exactly what I expected (great!) and Ragin' Cajun and The Dark Knight did their respective jobs adequately. My overall impression of Six Flags Great America is that it is one of the best Six Flags parks in terms of staffing. The ride ops, game attendants, restaurant employees and anyone else I interacted with were all top notch. Happy people doing a fantastic job at a place they enjoy working at. As for the rides: X-Flight was sensational, Little Dipper was an unexpected joy and Whizzer is a classic Schwarzkopf masterpiece that you must ride at least once in your life. Nice park. However, Texas is only a flight away and I'll be hitting two parks there... one of which I have been dreaming of visiting for a very long time. Giddyup Texas. Here I come.

I rode Grizzly in the very back on the left side. A couple entering at the same time as me ran for the front. I realize now why that was. I foolishly decided not to wait for the next train. I regret that, obviously. You can't see the layout in advance at all and I assumed it couldn't possibly be worse than Hurler. If I ever make it back to KD I promise to try a ride up front.

Thank you. Writing these reports has been a lot more fun than I imagined it would be. I will post the next segment tomorrow afternoon.