Invertalon

Cedar Point hosted an amazing event today... It was extremely well done and allowed for endless rides of Gatekeeper throughout the day with the addition of Raptor and Millennium Force as a surprise toward the end of the event. The ride was excellent to say the least. The new front gate is simply stunning and is MILES better than what was there before. The entrance really signifies what Cedar Point is all about. The entrance plaza to Gatekeeper is simply beautiful as well. The open beach front looks fantastic and the decor around the ride is very well done. Cedar Point has a big winner on their hands that will surely draw a crowd. The improvements to the front of the park are significant and is a much welcomed addition. Some photos from the event... More can be found at my Flickr page HERE! 6M3C2137.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2140.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2141.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2144.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2145.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2164.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2146.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2153.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2162.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2166.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2176.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2195.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2204.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2224.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2225.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2260.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2261.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2274.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2281.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2303.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2312.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2314.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2327.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2363.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2371.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2396.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2401.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2423.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2437.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2441.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2419.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2450.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2455.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2459.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2461.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2335.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2519.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

6M3C2137.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Link to post with TR: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65358

Supposedly at this time, there are around 1,000 enthusiasts on the 'list' for media day. With the capacity of the ride though, lines should be relatively short... But I would assume 15-20 minute wait times or so depending on what they do with setting up camera/media/dispatch of the trains, etc... Also depends on when everybody decides to show up. Hoping it will be a little less busy, though! Better than opening weekend though, that is for sure.

I generally prefer floater style airtime... For me, I find the airtime on Leviathan for example more enjoyable than El Toro...Yet I love Mavericks airtime hill prior to the horseshoe element... Millennium Force's 3rd and 4th hill (by the station).. El Toro was excellent though, especially backseat on that first drop. I tend to like abrupt, quick airtime though... For example, the dip out of the helix portion on Wildcat at Hershey by the station midway through. GCI's tend to have these moments pretty well, which is why I tend to really enjoy their designs. Its all good though.

Anybody have any theories on why this was posted about the POV on Facebook? "This. The full POV drops on May 6. For a reason. More to come. " I wonder if they have some additional effects being added... Such as fire, lighting, water, fog, etc... Can't think why they would hold out another few weeks for a POV. I guess we shall wait and see.

Thanks! Here are a few from a recent trip to the Strasburg, PA area: 6M3C8172.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8186.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8187.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8193.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8197.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8199.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8198.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8217.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8151.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C8137.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

At the park yesterday (Easter Day) and was a very good day crowd wise to go. Not busy at all. One to three train wait for almost everything except Toro due to one train operation. First time back at Gadv since Toro was half built, so had some new stuff to ride. Toro we got three rides on... If it had ran (2) trains, would have rode much more. Only wait in the park. 15-20mins. Excellent ride, the airtime is insane. Top 5 woody for sure, but I don't think it took my top spot. I think Wildcat (Hershey), Thunderhead and Voyage all battle closely for that spot. Green Lantern/Chang was better than expected. Smooth, intense and the lack of brakes on the MCBR made for a great finale. Nitro was running poorly. Very vibrationy the whole course. Still a top ride for me, but its like they did no off-season work on it. Square wheels are unacceptable two weeks into season... Two train wait front seat. Ka was the same way. Heavy vibrations. Launch was still good though, and the view up top. Waited 2-trains with 1-train operation. Bizzaro was interesting. The fire felt great on the cool day... Otherwise, nothing special. Still my least favorite floorless. The indoor mouse (Dark Knight?) was quite cool. Basic mouse layout, but the themeing was fun. Wish they kept the entire ride heavily themed like the start of the ride. Fizzled out. They allowed us to re-ride since no wait. Rode a few other rides and headed out before the rains started. Good visit to Gadv, although a bit cold for us. Still glad to finally get on Toro though! Did not disappoint us at all.

Few others: 6M3C6276 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C6134 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C6205 by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2064.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2098.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

From this weekend Brandywine Waterfall - HDR by invertalon, on Flickr

Corkscrews... Unless on a B&M invert where they are actually my favorite element (but those would be flat-spins anyway). If profiled correctly, they could be great. But they have to have a zero-g-roll type heartlining in them, much like Maverick's horseshoe roll. But traditional corkscrews are just never exciting.

I believe mine was Raptor at CP.... And still remains one of my favorite rides of all time.

Thanks! Yeah, I think the same style of attraction in Orlando would be amazing. Especially with the parks history in horror, it would fit in very well just like it does in Hollywood. A nice little "accent" attraction. We had a great time in Cali... Much better than we expected, and I had high expectations going to them as well. Such a beautiful area of the country as well.

USH! Although USF and USH share a few rides, the park experience itself is quite different. Both are excellent in their own ways! We found USH simply beautiful (as all parks have been out here) and the location is again, amazing. We rode most of the big rides here excluding Shrek and Simpsons just because we have been on them at USF... Some short reviews of the rides: 1.) Jurassic Park - I love the Florida one so I was curious to how this one would compare. Some slight changes which I preferred such as the jeep coming down the wall over the Raptor crate, the heavy heavy mist at the beginning (never as effective in Florida) and the two T-Rex at the top prior to the drop. It felt a bit more "immersed" with effects and such... So it was quite awesome. 2.) Backlot Tour - Did this twice on two different trips to the park that week... Both very good. Was MUCH longer than I expected for some reason. The ride sections were quite cool. The tramtastic day song burned into my head for hours after riding, though. Needless to say, it is on my iPod now. The Kong 3D portion was very cool... 3.) Transformers - A very well done ride, no doubt. I enjoyed it overall but I do prefer Spiderman at USF. They are close though. That being said, I am scratching my head at the fact they are putting this at USF... I think Universal should have done more with the ride to make it stand out from Spiderman at USF. At USH, this ride is perfect... But at USF? I am not thinking so much. People will love it though, for sure... And that is what is important ($$$). I am just dissapointed *personally* with the decision to put both those rides in the same park. I did dig the robots walking around the entrance for photo-op's... Crazy how much detail are in those suits and how great they look up close. Very cool stuff. 4.) Universal's House of Horrors... What is better than a year-round haunted house? I was VERY surprised how many times they got me, given the minimal staff inside. The few scares they did have were very effective. We both loved this! Having missed the past few HHN's, it gave us some good memories! 5.) Mummy - I was really looking forward to this after years of reading comparisons online to the Florida model. Crazy how different they really are! We really enjoyed some of the rooms at the beginning, but that was about it. Florida's version is a MUCH better ride. The coaster portion was not nearly as good and the ending was quite terrible. It was still a fun ride though. Overall, a very beautiful park... We really enjoyed it and would love to come back the next time we are out on this side of the country. We really enjoyed all the movie history, the museums and the "feel" of the entire park. We had a great time! Some pictures now... Here is link to full set with more photos and all that: First image a large panoramic image... Best viewed by clicking on the image and viewing at the high resolution! USH Panoramic by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2680.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2681.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2685.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2647.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2690.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2695.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2700.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2702.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2708.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2706.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2710.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2711.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2713.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2662.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2717.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2724.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2673.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2726.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2729.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2739.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2696.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2750.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2703.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2717.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2757.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2732.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2762.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2764.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2767.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2769.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2771.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2749.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2753.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2776.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2786.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2788.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2789.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2799.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2799.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2801.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2808.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2813.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2802.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2807.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2818.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2809.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2813.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2816.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2827.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2821.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2826.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2830.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2832.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2833.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2837.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2838.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2839.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2843.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2852.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2838.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2857.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2858.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2882.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2896.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2904.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2905.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2908.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2909.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2910.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2913.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2918.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2921.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2922.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2925.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2930.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2935.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2941.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2946.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2954.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2956.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2957.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2959.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2961.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3098.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3101.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3110.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3111.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3115.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3120.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3127.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3131.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3137.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3141.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3147.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3149.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3156.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3162.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3169.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3172.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3176.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_3186.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Disney California Adventure! Summary of visit: Screaming was quite a highlight to us both... I never really looked much into this ride, so I really knew nothing of the layout or anything. It was very smooth and lengthy, and at night was a great way to see the park. Tower of Terror we felt was superior to that of Florida's version. I don't recall there being nearly as much airtime on Florida, or as many moments of it. A fantastic ride! Cars land looked great... Very busy, quite a bit like a Disney's own "Harry Potter" if you will. Radiator Springs itself was quite good, although I do prefer Test Track at Epcot for that style of attraction. The whip type attraction was great fun, I really wish more parks would build rides like this! Rode a few other rides such as Soarin', which I still think seems extremely tacky for Disney... I just *hate* how the video played is just random clips just thrown together with no attempt at somehow telling a story or at least trying to fade between scenes. The ride itself is a great concept, but the video for me ruins the experience. I do like the smells and scenes they do have, just the lack of 'finesse'. The Rocket Ships were fun to ride as I don't remember them from my young childhood... Goofy's wild mouse coaster was your standard layout, nothing special there. The park was very clean of course... We had a nice time at this park! But much like Disneyland, if in the area we would probably skip out on these parks next time around. They are nice, but really don't appeal to us that much for the money. Next time in the SoCal area, we would probably head down to San Diego for the parks around there, along with Knotts/USH/SFMM again. Between both parks (DL + DCA) it is hard to say which we preferred... DCA was more "pretty" visually, but DL had Indiana Jones and a few other stand-out rides. Both parks are very good though for what they are! For more photos, here is a link to the set: (Sorry if the order is a bit random... Was multiple days with multiple cameras so these are uploaded in order that I took them) CAL_1156.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1158.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1160.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1166.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1167.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1168.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1169.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1170.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1171.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1172.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1173.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1174.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1175.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1179.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1180.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1184.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1186.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1188.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1198.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1218.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1221.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1227.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1228.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1231.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1232.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1234.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1239.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1240.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1250.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1252.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1734.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1736.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1744.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1746.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1755.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1756.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1757.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1774.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1779.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1794.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1799.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1801.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1805.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1808.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1816.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1821.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1822.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1828.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1859.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1864.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1865.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1867.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1875.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1883.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1887.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1895.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1896.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1904.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2375.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2377.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr' CAL_2387.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2390.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2396.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2397.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2398.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2400.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2401.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2405.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2406.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2409.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2410.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2412.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2416.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2418.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2419.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2429.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2435.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2448.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2456.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2458.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2459.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2471.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2404.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2431.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2488.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2538.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

I have no experience at all with the old trains, but being 6'6" I had no problem what so ever in these new ones... Very roomy. If anything my only complaint would be the very hard seat (no padding). But size wise, it felt fine to me!

Disneyland! To be honest, my girlfriend and I are not big fans of Disney... We have been to all of the Florida parks several times and although we always do enjoy our time, never feel the desire to go unless friends have extra comp tickets or something of the sort. I guess we just don't get all the "Disney Magic", although they do have some fantastic attractions at their parks. But we heard great things about Disneyland in comparison, since it was the "original". We got a good price on multi-day tickets so we decided that we will go since we are the in area. Overall, we did have a good time at this park... Indiana Jones and Pirates were the highlight of this park. River Congo and Matterhorn were both solid attractions as well. Nemo was a let down (expected something "more" I guess) and I don't care for Space Mountain too much. All of the classic rides were fine, but by far nothing spectacular. Park was very clean and well taken care of. Would we go again? Well that depends... DCA was a much more enjoyable park to us, the better of the two for us. So if DCA got something worthwhile to go back to, we would probably end up with a park-hop ticket. But we would easily be able to skip over this park if we had other things planned to do. Again, very beautiful park and a lot to do! I guess it just depends what you are after in your park experience. On a side note, finally got to try the "Dole Whip" after years of hearing about it... The Dole Whip though was very good, but we did prefer the float over the soft-serve alone (pictures below!). We actually made our own a few weeks prior which was VERY close to the same exact taste... Took a fresh pineapple and pureed it, added cream and sugar and made it into a nice softserve consistency, simple and delicious. We were wondering how well it would compare... To our surprise, extremely close! Now onto the pictures! Of course, for even more photos and higher resolution, visit the Disneyland set here: CAL_0743.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0749.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0750.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0756.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0758.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0759.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0763.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2326.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0767.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0771.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0772.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2336.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0774.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0776.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2352.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0791.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0792.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0803.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0808.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0812.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0817.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0822.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0823.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0825.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0830.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0834.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0835.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0841.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0846.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0850.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0867.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0872.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0875.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0876.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0877.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0879.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0881.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0883.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0886.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0887.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0889.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0893.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0896.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0897.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0911.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0914.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0917.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0919.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0928.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0929.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0930.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0932.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0935.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0936.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0941.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0944.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0945.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0953.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0956.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0957.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0960.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0966.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0970.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0974.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0985.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0988.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1003.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1004.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1005.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1007.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1010.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1022.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1024.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1031.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1032.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1036.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1037.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1050.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1052.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1054.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1058.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1060.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1064.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1067.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1068.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1069.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1071.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1074.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1094.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1097.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1106.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1114.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1120.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1123.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1128.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1136.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1137.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1139.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1142.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1147.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2317.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2325.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2329.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2339.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2343.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2349.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2351.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2354.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2360.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2362.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2364.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2365.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2369.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2370.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2372.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_2374.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Thanks for the compliments! Slowly making my way through my Disneyland photos right now... About halfway there... Much less motivation to do these versus Knott's and SFMM Since I generally like to photograph coasters and stuff, Disney is a bit boring to edit through. The DCA photos are a bit more exciting and interesting, though. Hoping to get DL up by tomorrow hopefully!

It does look like crap... We go to WWK almost every weekend in summer and I can't believe how BAD the ride side looks... The entire parking lot is an eyesore, along with that whole area. I am surprised they have not complained sooner.

Agreed... I am glad they are adding/refreshing the JP area versus removing it for other stuff. By far my favorite area of the park. I really look forward to a refresh of the JP ride myself, love it!

No UV filters... In fact, those are a "hand-me-down" from the film days and do NOTHING for digital SLR's as the sensor is already protected from UV via the filters on the camera sensor itself. Many people use them as protection only and ease of cleaning, but you have to be careful with that as well. Using cheap filters will highly degrade image quality. If you are not spending $60-75 or more for a high quality multi-coated filter (such as Hoya HD, B+W F-PRO MRC, etc...) I would avoid using one at all as it will lower contrast, reduce resolution and be much more prone to flare and other issues. The filters that *are* useful for effects are CPL (Circular Polarizing Filters) and ND (Neutral Density) filters.... CPL's will give much richer colored skies (in the right conditions), remove reflections off glass, metallic surfaces, water, etc... ND filters will reduce the amount of light into the lens itself, giving the ability to create those "flowing" water scenes in mid-day light for example. Basically allowing you to do long exposures when it is bright outside. To answer your question though, I did use a CPL quite often at Knott's and the other parks as well (not always, though)... I use a CPL quite often at parks if the sky conditions are right for it. Because CPL filters reduce the light into the lens by 1 to 2 stops (cutting shutter speeds in half or more), when shooting rides that are quick moving I tend to always remove the CPL. Depends on the situation! As far as making the images look vivid and have that "pop", that is mainly from experience with the camera, lenses and processing techniques when I edit my photos. If you ever need help/suggestions though with anything, feel free to send me a PM anytime and I would be glad to help out!

Thanks! Yeah, we were hoping SO much that the terrible weather that day would keep people away much like what happened with us at Canada's Wonderland during the Haunt... Was only in the mid 40's and rainy and the park was DEAD. Leviathan was walk-on all day and night long and had the best time ever at that park. So with the weather being cold (for SoCal... Low 50's) and rainy, we got lucky again. At most we waited 5mins for X, but most of the time we never left the station and just re-rode a few times, it was amazing. Everything else was just as empty (or more-so) and even with the short day (open 10:30 to 6), plus we lost 45mins waiting for X to open late, we rode everything in the park and plus got to re-ride our favorites. It was perfect. The weather was nothing for us, being from Cleveland and everything Willh51, hopefully when you do make it out there you get the same luck we did! It really made for a great one-visit to the park. Made it count, that is for sure.

Next up, SFMM! SFMM has always been a park we had been wanted to get to, and it was great to finally see and experience it! First off, the location of this park is simply amazing. We could not get over the beautiful views from everywhere in the park. Compared to the northeast, it is MUCH different! We loved it. The park was very clean and employees extremely friendly and helpful everywhere we went. Approaching us if we needed directions among other things, it was really shocking (and nice!). Really helped bring up our entire experience. Crews worked quickly and we never saw any slow ops or extremely unmotivated employees. I have seen worse at Cedar Fair parks, for sure. Again, a nice surprise! Ride wise, we had some disappointments and others that exceeded our expectations for sure. Here is a quick summary... ----------------------------- X2 was by far the best in the park for us. We could not get over the amazing ride experience. Definitely a top ride for both of us. The walk-on waits were an added benefit of the rainy/cold day, total of (7) rides throughout the day. Apocalypse was *slightly* disappointing for me given my love of all the other GCI's I have been on (Roar, Thunderhead, Lightning Racer, Wildcat, Gwazi), but still a great ride. We rode it (3) times throughout the day, our most ridden behind X. Riddlers Revenge was quite disappointing as well... I expected "more" given all the hype I have heard about how good it was compared to others... Good ride (only slightly better than Mantis for me) but I still like Georgia Scorcher best. With standup coasters, I think smaller is better. Green Lantern I was unable to ride due to my height (to tall) but my girlfriend enjoyed it. So I can't really comment on it! Thankfully I only waited all of 5-mins to be turned away. Revolution was quite a shocker for me... We rode in front and had a very enjoyable ride. I thought it was one of the better rides in the park for sure. Totally did not expect that! Batman was solid as usual. I have been on a few others so nothing new. Goliath was good as well... Having ridden Titan prior, again, nothing new experience wise. Drop of Doom was great! Love the views from up top. Scream! was terrible. I think Medusa is decent at SFGadv, but Scream was terrible in comparison. Rough as hell and just really sucked. Colossus was another one we did not expect to like (or at least me). Rode front so maybe that is why, but found it smooth with some decent pops of air here and there. More interesting than I expected. Viper I did not like one bit. I had higher hopes given I generally enjoy the old arrow mega-loopers such as SFOG's, Viper at DL, GASM at Gadv, etc... But this was by far the worst. Gah. Ninja was really good! By far the best suspended coaster we had been on (yes, even over BBW!) and for sure over Iron Dragon and the "Top Guns". Very smooth with a very fun layout and location. Tatsu was quite good... Very smooth and the location was great. Much better than the S:UF's, but in the end we both decided Manta was a better ride overall. They are both very good though and not much different, but Manta leads by a bit for us. Overall, we really enjoyed the park very much! We for sure plan to come back again in the future. ----------------------------- Now onto the photos! Note: I did not take my nicer camera in the park due to the one day we had here, the short hours, crappy weather and completely dead park (so we wanted to ride as much as we could!). So we only had the point and shoot we carry around, so these are not nearly as nice or 'artistic' as my Knotts or the other parks I will post later on... So just a little disclaimer that these wont be as interesting as my others... The quality will be back for the rest of my TR's! Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/invertalon/sets/72157632535295398/with/8384737911/ CAL_0714.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0718.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0720.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0721.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0724.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0725.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0726.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0729.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0818.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0826.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0832.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0833.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0836.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0839.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0840.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0841.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0848.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0849.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0851.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0855.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0856.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0864.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0866.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0867.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0873.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0887.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0889.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0893.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0900.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0913.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0915.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0916.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0917.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0920.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0927.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0929.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0933.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0935.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0937.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0941.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0947.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0945.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0950.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0952.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0954.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0963.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0966.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0978.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0979.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0980.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0984.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_0985.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_1016.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_1018.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Well the thing with Xcelerator you must remember is that being 6'6" I had to force myself very uncomfortably in those trains. My knees just would not allow me to sit without turning my body, doing some weird indian-style sitting technique and cramming my size 15 size shoe in awkward positions to fit. I have no problems like this on Dragster, MF or any other Intamin I have been on (well, only the foot area on those), but Xcelerator was very difficult. Once in though, the ride was pretty good. The launch was good and the top hat fun along with the turns... But as far as overall ride fun for me, Dragster is the winner. Kingda Ka was not as fun due to the OTSR's and also that it was quite vibrationy when we rode it, so I would put Storm Runner in right behind Dragster (that I have been on) before KK. But yeah, Silver Bullet is a gem... Like I said, inverts are my favorite style of coaster and it really did not disappoint at all! I do not go crazy for extreme forces and all that, so that did not bother me one bit that it was not as intense as some other rides, although I found that ending helix every bit as good as Raptors final helix... In fact, it felt stronger to me and much more disorientating. I found all the elements just perfectly paced and executed. But that ending sequence really is fantastic! The g-roll right into the helix followed by that flatspin-to-flatspin combo is quite amazing! Nothing beats a B&M flatspin for me on an invert, by far my favorite inversion. It was actually my second favorite coaster of the trip out of all the parks after X2.

Yeah, Xcelerator looks quite terrible... How often do they repaint it? The supports look fine but the track is almost bubble gum pink.

In a few hours all the photos will be updated without that there, so no worries... There will be a temporary "blackout" for 30minutes or so when they are changed. Accidentally left that setting on when exported and I did not plan to.