Invertalon

How was the traffic leaving the park after the fireworks on the 4th? The past few years it has been a complete mess... But I have not heard anything this year, which is a good sign. We decided to avoid the 4th again after getting trapped in the lot for hours the past few years. EDIT: Actually found on another site a few people mention a lot of traffic, so that answers that... Supposedly 1.5-2hrs to exit the lot and it was chaos.

1.) With FL+ , don't worry about the day. The longest wait will likely be Maverick (15-30mins). Most others should be walk-on for the most part. 2.) Yes, one day is enough with FL+ 3.) Each ride is different. And with FL+ you merge near or in the station, so you can sit wherever you want. 4.) Sandusky is filled with cheap motels, take your pick! (I honestly don't know much about them, I wouldn't stay in any of them...) 5.) Sandusky doesn't have much... You could go to put-n-bay or something, but honestly its a weird location. It has a lively "main strip" near the park, but it's more-so just restaurants and stuff. For actual attractions, stick to CP. I would recommend if you can going to the park at least two days... Check out some shows, enjoy the beach/breakers, etc...

Last night:

Thanks everyone. Canon 5D Mark III as mentioned above. Lens wise, I used a 11-24mm and 300mm for most of those in the last update... Two with a 70-200mm.

Some pictures of the hotel breakers renovation I took Friday: 1B5A9000.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9001.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9003.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9010.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9012.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9015.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9021.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9027.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9032.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9039.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9030.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9034.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9041.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9042.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9044.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr Also some from around the park and Luminosity: 1B5A9066.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9068.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9117.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9123.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9125.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9126.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9128.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9140.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9047.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9146.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9166.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9250.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9271.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9285.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9323.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9330.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9361.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9391.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9507.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr 1B5A9530.jpg by Steven Franczek, on Flickr For more photos:

Finally got on Maverick last night with the new restraints and was a bit underwhelmed, if you could call it that. Maybe due to my height (6'6"), but the vests are more bothersome for me than before. Sure, it steps some neck chops but it now presses down on my collar bone and I was sore after one ride. Not as soft as I expected. Reminded me of Gatekeeper when the vests still locked but with a stiffer vest. It was running good though... I just am indifferent on the new restraints for me. Many people love them, so perhaps if your shorter you benefit more from them.

We were coming around the one turn before the large drop and the water level started to drop, so we slowed down and stopped right at the top. Eventually the workers came up and told us the boats got too close together, so the ride shut itself down. They had to push our boat with very little water (which made it tricky) so we had to help shift weight to get it to move. When we eventually went down the hill, we got stuck on the incline of the uphill section since there we no water flowing. So then they had to push us down that way a few times until we came to a stop at the bottom so we could get off. The two boats were removed and the ride started back up shortly after.

Was my first time at this event (but not to the park) and had a blast. Thankfully, we were able to avoid all of the enthusiast drama and just had a great old time. I think it was the best event I have attended. The employees were just fantastic all around... Genuinely happy and friendly, did not seem forced or "fake" at all when they say hello or ask how our day was. Really great! First time in the waterpark here and it was amazing. Epic slide collection. We got 1.5 rides on Mammoth due to a blocking issue, rollback and evacuation which was pretty awesome... In a weird way, a highlight! So much fun, especially with the employees trying to get us moving again. Wildebeest was incredible! I really wish more parks built slides like this... Holiday World knows how to do it right. We skipped the buffet on Saturday to do our own thing at the campgrounds, but the snacks and other things they had were delicious. Loved the boneless wings. ERT of course was fantastic. Employees were very friendly and energetic with us, so it made it really fun. Always welcoming us back and telling us it was great to see us again and such. Great vibe all around. Raven was the highlight for me... Back seat at night in those pitch black woods is just insane. I always loved Raven, but it easily bumped up to top spot for me after this event. Voyage ran very well, smoother than the last time I rode a few years ago. Legend was probably the roughest of the trio this time, but still a great ride. Thunderbird was a really solid ride... X-Flight is still my favorite wing, but the rest are all really close to each other. They are just solid, fun rides. The launch was stronger than I expected and I loved the zero-g into the s-bend hop, keyhole combo. The station, lighting and effects were top notch. Really well done. Thanks to Holiday World for throwing such an amazing event for all of us to enjoy. First time back to the park in 2-3 years and now we are already are planning coming back next year already.

I only live 3.5hrs from KI and find it hard to go there once a year until Banshee came along. The park is filled with OK rides, but if your going to Carowinds and such, that is a better park IMO. I enjoyed it much more. Diamondback is probably one of my least favorite B&M hypers... Fury is FAR better. So no loss there. Afterburn is better than Banshee, although Banshee is a very good ride... Afterburn is one of my top 5 coasters, easily. Beast is awesome at night, during the day its OK at best. I find it grossly overrated for the most part.

How exactly is 51* the steepest lifthill? Plenty of 90's out there as everyone is aware, so it makes no sense.

Honestly if going to CP has been in planning for many years and you won't be back for a long time, spend the extra on FL/FL+ to make the time you do have there even better. I really think you would be just fine without it with careful planning (I never have gotten FL there, but I go often... I can easily hit all the major coasters quickly within the first two hours or so without any problem). The early entry is key... You can do Maverick, Millennium Force, Rougarou and get to Dragster around the time of opening if quick... Ride Dragster, then go right to Magnum. By this time it may be say 11am, two hours in. Then hit up all the stuff in the central and back of the park like Mean Streak, Gemini, Corkscrew, Iron Dragon, Skyhawk and other flats if you want. In later evening, the front of the park will flush out and you can do Raptor, Blue Streak, Gatekeeper, etc... with shorter lines. This plan has always been failsafe for me at least. But to make your visit better and more relaxed, FL would be worth it. To just take your time, ride stuff more often, etc.. It will make it worth the cost. We did it at Carowinds opening weekend for only 2-3hrs in the park so we could ride everything without a wait, including Fury which was a walkon with FL. It was worth the $75 just for the 2-3hrs we had.

I don't have pictures, but some notable mentions recently (last two weeks or so). Smoke N' Burn (Fatheads) - A collaboration with Founders and Devil's Backbone... Chipotle/Ancho/chili imperial porter... AMAZING! Head Shrinker (Fatheads) - Imperial IPA, much like Hop JuJu... Really good! Captain's Daughter (Grey Sail Brewing of RI) - Imperial IPA Abigale (Six Point) Kentucky Breakfast Stout - KBS - (Founders) - Barrel Aged Stout Sunday Morning Stout - (Weyerbacher) - Barrel Aged Stout Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout - (Great Lakes) BackMasking - (Three Floyds) - Oatmeal Stout

Yeah, those camera rules are absurd. They are basically banning everything except for cell phone cameras. No zoom lens (eliminates practically every point and shoot ever made.) No telephoto (see above) No interchangeable lens (no mirrorless or SLR) Lenses greater than 3.5" in length (redundant since zoom, interchangeable and telephoto lenses are already prohibited) You won't find a camera without a zoom that fits in without those specifications, aside from a phone and a go-pro. Completely stupid.

Oh yeah... Heads up for anyone who goes to Carowinds and plans to take pictures... Taking pictures of Fury (or any rides) from the parking lot is prohibited due to homeland security concerns. I was approached by an officer while getting some Fury pics and was told I couldn't do it. I asked if I could go in the main gate area and get some, but was denied. So unless your in the park, I suppose you can't take pictures... I am sure you will be fine with a cell phone camera (which makes no sense) but nothing else.

Interesting.. The picture of the park policies... So you are not allowed to take any type of SLR into the park? Nor any interchangeable lens camera (mirrorless for example). Seems a bit silly.

Just got back from our Orlando/Carowinds hybrid trip… Had a great time at the park (first timer!). The media event was excellent, although on the short side. I wish we had a little more time, especially given what happened yesterday when I stopped back at the park, which I will get to in a second. I got eleven rides total on Fury with 4x on media day and another 7x throughout the weekend… This included 2x front seat, 2x backseat and the rest scattered throughout the train. My favorite seat ended up being front left side. As I said before, I believe Fury takes the #1 spot for hyper/giga but I don’t think it would be in my top 5… perhaps in the top 10 somewhere. About the other rides in the park… Afterburn was a coaster I have been wanting to ride for well over 10 years or so. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint one bit! It was the highlight of the trip and the best ride in the park, easily. Intimidator was OK. I was actually fairly disappointed to be honest. Kind of slow, clunky… Still hate those long “V” trains, the classic B&M speed trains are far better for overall ride experience. It was also heavily trimmed, which for the cold days we had was surprising. I wonder how hard those things kick on when it’s a warm summer night? Vortex was more fun than expected… Good little standup. Never made it on Nighthawk, even on the day we had FL+… Which I was a little bummed out about, I really wanted to try out the ‘classic’. Ran one train with the most atrocious loading… Literally, the interval had to be 15minutes. I bet our wait would have been 30-45mins. I would have waited, but we were on a short schedule. Thankfully we decided to leave the line to do other stuff, as I think two trains later it stopped on the lift and those people were eventually evacuated and the ride was down the rest of day. Not a huge bummer as I have been on X-Flight and such, but those corkscrews look fun. Georgia Cyclone was a pretty crazy arrow looper… A bit more aggressive than expected with those fast turns and the helix. Not a bad ride in all honesty. Carolina Goldrusher was one of the more lame mine-trains I have been on… Not much excitement going on there. Hurler was a bit on the rougher side and Thunder Road was fun except for the crazy weird rough airtime on the last few hills. First half was great though! Ricochet was your basic mouse, although it was very lightly trimmed which made it good for what it is. Didn’t ride the boomerang (no desire) or kiddy coasters. Now to get back to my story I mentioned right in the beginning… On media day I planned to take a lot of pictures of the ride, naturally. Once the opening ceremony was done I placed my gear into the lockers, rode twice and went right to lunch. Once that was done, came back for two more rides and the event was already over with. I think in total just under three hours, which was fairly short (I thought). That along with the grey, gloomy skies I decided to stop back with the camera on the weekend and get all the pictures I wanted to get of Fury/Intimidator from the parking lot. On Saturday I got all the pictures I wanted from within the park, so all that was left was the two iconic rides So anyway… We stopped at the park yesterday on the way back to Raleigh to get my lot pictures of Fury. Beautiful blue skies, lighting, etc… Within about 15mins a Carowinds officer stopped by and asked what I was doing (I was not in a restricted zone or anything weird like that). I politely told him I was just getting pictures of the ride and all that. He wanted to know why I was talking the pictures, so I explained I do amusement park photography and just stopped back because I didn’t get all the shots I wanted from media day. He took more of my information and eventually said due to homeland security concerns, you are prohibited from taking ANY photos from the parking lot of their ride structures. That took me back a little bit, but I simply put the camera away and headed back to the car. The officer was really polite and such, but it baffled me a bit. I thought perhaps because it was close to the airport or something, but I go to the Cleveland Airport often to take pictures of planes coming in all the time and never get hassled. Oh well. I didn’t want to be a dick or anything, but I almost wanted to ask him if they were going to tell everyone with a phone taking pictures of Fury to not take pictures… Small or big camera, it’s still a camera. I asked him if I walked over into the main gate area and took pictures if that made any difference but I was told I couldn’t. I guess the only way you can take pictures of Fury, “legally”, is from inside the park. Anyway… So I didn’t get nearly the amount of pictures I wanted of Fury (and almost none of Intimidator because I never made it to that side of the lot). Was a bit bummed. I personally think it is an idiotic rule, per my phone reasoning above… But aside from that we had a great time at the park!

Finally made it back to the hotel... Fury 325 is simply INSANE! It is unlike any other B&M hyper/giga I have been on (all of them in the US plus Leviathan in Canada). The airtime is near ejector, quick transitions, intense, etc... Easily a top hyper/giga for me, no question. Riding Intimidator afterward really put it into perspective... The new B&M stuff is just far better! I never thought I would experience airtime like that on a B&M. The pacing was just fantastic... Quick, snappy elements. Excellent airtime (not just OK, but GREAT!). Completely smooth as you would expect. Easily my new #1 hyper/giga... I had high expectations coming from my love of Leviathan, but it was above and beyond even that. We were on the second to last train of the event and it really started to warm up and was FLYING. Far more braking at the end of the ride compared to the earlier rides, it was hitting to brakes quite a bit faster. Carowinds hit a home-run... Really. If somebody comes off Fury disappointed there is something wrong with them. It's that good. The event thrown by the park was also really well done... Entertainment, stunning food, friendly staff... It was all-around awesome. It was probably the best media event I have been to. New bar set! I only have some photos up from the event until next week when I get home and can formally edit them on my computer at home... You can see my updates on my photography FB page here in the meantime. http://www.facebook.com/invertalon I will post the update when I get all the photos uploaded next week.

Yesterday I had the following: Guinness (of course!) Left Hand Milk Stout Fatheads Hop JuJu Hoppin' Frog Gangster IPA

Ended up selling my 70D and 16-35mm f/4L IS to fund the new 11-24mm... Got the lens last week and it's incredible. 11mm on 35mm format is just insane. It is the widest available rectilinear lens available for an SLR (that is not fisheye...) Just some sample shots taken with the lens... Can't wait to test it out in Orlando and at Carowinds in two weeks! Here is the Christmas Story House (11mm): Christmas Story House by invertalon, on Flickr Downtown Cleveland (17mm) Downtown Cleveland by invertalon, on Flickr Next compares the focal length difference from 24mm down to 11mm! (24mm, 14mm, 11mm) Cleveland - 24mm by invertalon, on Flickr Cleveland - 14mm by invertalon, on Flickr Cleveland - 11mm by invertalon, on Flickr

My girlfriend and I watch it, but we are just DVR'in the current season since we are near the end of season 3 at the moment. So I can't comment too much on what is going on! The show is well done... Cool take on the classic fairy tales and such.

While waiting for El-Toro at SFGAdv one morning they did morning test runs with the water dummies. To empty them, they opened all the "heads" and sent the trains around a few times. Water was being sprayed everywhere, it was pretty funny as people were dodging all the water coming down.

Interesting... I stand corrected I guess! I could not for the life of me ever feel any sort of deceleration when riding throughout the year (Media Day, mid-season and fall). None of my friends who rode it could feel anything as well. Your actually the first person I have read on any forums that think the trim was on... Perhaps I just don't pay enough attention to the forums like I used to!

Robb, Perhaps you are only talking about the speed coasters, but Banshee has a magnetic trim and as far as I know, never used. At least the 50+ times or so I rode it throughout the year, I never felt anything. Thankfully when I was up at CW, it was a high of 48F or so and all the trims on Leviathan were off. Never felt any of them, at least. I have no doubt they are on though in normal temps, though. I personally can't wait for Fury as Leviathan is one of my top coasters. Fury looks like a Leviathan "new and improved", so I am excited. I am hoping that trim is closer to "off" for Fury, but I wouldn't count on it. I guess we will find out in just a few weeks!

Great report! We absolutely love Discovery Cove! I have been a few times and always have a blast. We always happen to stumble on a great deal during off-peak times and for the price, you can't beat it. We have yet to do the dolphin swim portion (we get the package without), but one day perhaps I will be intrigued enough.

I personally think 1-2 on MF is the best kept secret... Usually walk-on and due to the stadium seating, usually have a great front-seat view without the wait. I think there is far more airtime in the front (aside from front drop) in the front of the train, especially on warm nights. On Maverick, any seat is good. But I do like the visuals up front.