Invertalon

So far we have seen.... Varekai Totem Dralion Alegria Corteo Delirium Kooza La Nouba Saltimbanco Totem and Varekai are our favorites. Bottom of the list would be La Nouba and Delirium. Have seen a few of them multiple times.

Thanks! As far as SFMM... I actually did not bring my camera gear into the park (it stayed in the trunk). Since we only had one day and the park was dead, we just used a smaller point and shoot for the day so we could enjoy the park as we had never been. That was the only park that we used the smaller camera... So those will not be quite as nice as these (or the Disney and Universal photos) but are still pretty good. All the other parks we either had a pass (Knotts) or multi-day tickets (Uni & Disney) so we went some days just for photos around the park. SFMM was also only open from 10:30 to 6pm that day as well, so time was limited... Plus X2 was walk-on, so we chose to do that instead I would have *LOVED* a day just to shoot at SFMM with my larger camera though, no doubt... I could have fun there all day just doing that. So many great opportunities all over that park. As for the Sky Cabin, the trick is to shoot square with the glass and not at an angle. If you do, the image gets really blurry due to how light bends through the plexiglass. I did not pay close enough attention to this myself as I had quite a few that looked quite terrible if I shot at an angle to the glass. Telephoto lenses also help "hide" reflections, scratches and all that on the window as well.

We made our first ever voyage over to California after years of wanting to get our west... We had a blast at what LA and the local area had to offer, and the parks were fantastic. Of course, I took plenty of photos! We went to Knotts, Disneyland, DCA, SFMM and Universal this time around among some other non-park stuff. As I get the photos edited and uploaded to my Flickr page I will update this thread with new photos. I should have all the images done within the next two weeks or so, hoping to get 2 parks done a week. Not a big writer, so I will just do a summary of the parks and our impressions of each followed by the photos. 1.) Knotts Berry Farm - Page 1 2.) Six Flags Magic Mountain - Click Here! 3.) Disneyland - Click Here! 4.) California Adventure - Click Here! 5.) USH - Click Here! 6.) Santa Monica Pier - Coming Soon First up, Knott's Berry Farm! We arrived on Friday and the place was packed. Ended up riding Silver Bullet only once and enjoyed the parade, ice skating show and enjoying the park that night. Went back the next week and the place was dead. One train on everything with no waits to be found anywhere. The park is beautiful with all its wild west theme and the rides are pretty good. Silver Bullet was the highlight here (sucker for B&M inverts) and really enjoyed the layout on this one. If the drop was better, it would rate a bit higher on my list but that is the only downfall for me. Raptor remains my top invert, but Silver Bullet may tie Great Bear for #2 for me. Loved the overbanked turn and the entire ending sequence from the g-roll on. Ghostrider was a bit disappointing... I looked forward to it but overall just did not enjoy it much. Same goes with Xcelerator, but I guess after having ridden Dragster, KingdaKa, Storm Runner, etc... It is the most lackluster of the bunch. Had a nice "Intamin Rattle" as well which did not help. Trains were terrible for me as they were much smaller for me than any other Intamin trains I have been on for my legs (I am 6'6" and it was a PAIN getting into those trains)... Many of the other rides were fun, but nothing worthwhile. Without Silver Bullet I would have no real desire to get back here *ride wise*. We did ride every coaster in the park except the boomerang, which I avoid at all costs. Of course we tried the pie and chicken here (all that touristy stuff)... Both were quite good. Glad you are able to buy single pieces and not required to get a meal or anything like that to try it out. Was able to get a chicken leg for like $1.40 or something, which was nice just to try. We really enjoyed Knott's overall, but the ride set was a little lack-luster for the most part. Beautiful park though, and all the shops and such were quite cool to look through. Staff was great everywhere throughout the park. For even more photos (and higher resolution) visit my Flickr page here: Photos: CAL_0145.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0151.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0155.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0163.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0170.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0174.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0199.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0206.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0209.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0216.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0224.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0241.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0253.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0255.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0257.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0260.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0264.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0267.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0271.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0292.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0294.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0299.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0309.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0312.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0313.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0320.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0336.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0344.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0352.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0376.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0400.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0403.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0409.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0414.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0420.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0430.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0432.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0439.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0452.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0462.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0465.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0468.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0473.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0482.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0488.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0493.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0495.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0512.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_0516.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1298.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1325.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1326.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1328.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1329.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1332.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1337.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1340.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1342.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1344.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1349.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1356.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1358.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1359.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1362.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1363.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1368.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1371.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1372.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1373.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1375.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1379.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1397.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1400.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1404.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1409.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1414.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1415.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1429.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1430.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1433.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1438.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1440.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1444.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1446.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1453.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1465.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1475.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1483.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1484.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1488.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1490.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1507.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1512.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1521.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1570.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1572.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1573.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1587.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1599.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1634.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1641.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1643.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1645.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1650.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1658.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1679.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1680.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1688.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1690.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1697.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1707.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1709.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1711.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1713.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr CAL_1718.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

I figured so! But the park in general looked nicer than I imagined, employees and all that aside.

We were lucky enough to catch SFMM on an incredible day last Sunday... Our first ever trip to the park (or Cali) and we were really impressed! We got 7 rides on X2 along with 3 on Apocalypse and one ride on everything else in the park in the relatively short time the park was open. X2 was by far our favorite of the trip, such an insane ride... Was even better that the ride was basically a walk on all day once it opened (about 45mins late). It was a little bumpy depending where you sat, but the experience of the ride itself just took away from any bounciness. Crazy ride. Park was clean, employees were *extremely* friendly... More than most parks I would say I have been to. Always walking by saying hello, asking if we needed anything or where to go, etc... Was quite a shock from all the "terror" stories I heard about this park. Enjoyed the other rides as well... Ninja was great as well as Revolution... Tatsu was fun, but we both enjoyed Manta better in comparison. Scream was completely terrible, Goliath was fun (having been on Titan prior it was nothing special) and I was too tall for Green Lantern but my girlfriend rode and she enjoyed it. The Lex Luther was amazing, the views are just insane in SoCal with all the mountains... We really loved the park though and can't wait to go back.

At Geauga Lake (Cedar Fair management) I always thought working X-Flight was quite dangerous to check bars on... We always were climbing all over those trains to check the middle rows. I remember one employee did slip and fall into the track area, but she was OK. The ride was the best to work though because of those trains, they were much more exciting and physical. Anytime we did cross the train though completely, we had to signal to the operator to cross. This goes for any of the coasters... But X-Flight if reclined could really mess somebody up if they are in the way of the train. After hours one night closing Dominator I had to cross the track in the station without a train or floor in place... Did not help it was wet from cleaning either. Had to jump down a bit to the track and nearly slipped off of it lol... But all was well. I miss working at the park!

Thanks! Really appreciate that good news!

We will be visiting SFMM Jan 5th or 6th... Saturday and Sunday... What can we expect for crowds? First time to Cali and those parks so we are hoping nothing too bad. If it is, we plan on some type of fastpass but maybe it is a slow time? Appreciate any general idea... Also going to Knotts/Disney that week as well.

Judging based on the video and pictures we have so far... I find it a bit "off"... The physics look incorrect and that would bother me quite a bit for a simulator of this type. I know it is in development though and will continue to improve in that respect (hopefully). As a player of No Limits since the day it was released, as well as RCT (1,2 & 3) and have tried Hyper Rails and Scream Machines... I do not see the appeal of this game as it stands right now. Much like Hyper Rails or Scream Machines, it looks like the novelty would wear off quickly. But it all comes down to final execution... If it is done well, not buggy and the game itself is enjoyable to play... It will be a hit. That is just my honest opinion though. I will keep my eye out on it though as it progresses!

It is really well done! We were quite surprised last year when we went because we were not expecting it to be as nice as it was, especially since it was the first time they had done it. We generally always went to the Hershey event around Thanksgiving and my girlfriend and I both agree that we may prefer Kennywood. We need to get back to Hershey though to see it again though as it has been two or three years. But we do like that Kennywood is much closer! I would highly recommend it! We are planning to go back in a few weeks and hope it will be a little less busy.

Made our trip to Kennywood for their second annual Holiday Lights. This year, they expanded to include a holiday version of the Ghostly Estate and the Turtle among a few other things. Looked even better than last year! We arrived right at open and were able to ride everything we wanted in the first hour or so before it just got insane crowd wise. The mid-50's temps brought everybody in today. Fed the goats/llamas/sheep when it start getting busy and then grabbed the camera for the remainder of the night and just enjoyed the sights. I loved the train exhibit they had this year (we missed it last year). Was amazing the amount of detail! We hope they continue to expand this event to include even more of the park and the rides. Phantom would be a great addition when it is not below freezing... Here are some photos from the night... Click for higher resolution. Can see more on my Flickr page not posted here at 6M3C7166.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7179.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7181.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7185.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7186.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7187.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7191.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7193.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7198.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7202.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7210.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7212.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7215.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7217.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7226.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7235.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7237.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7250.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7253.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7255.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7269.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7273.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7280.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7291.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7302.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7310.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7317.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7319.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7330.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7337.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7348.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7361.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7369.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7374.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7376.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C7380.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Some more recent shots.. More so from hiking lately... This weekend I will be at Kennywood for the lights and have great ideas for some epic shooting. 6M3C6289.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C6256.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C6240.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5876.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5866.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5860.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5070 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5054 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5211 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5194 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C5107 by invertalon, on Flickr

Leviathan on an amazing night during the Haunt... Extremely cold temps just above 40*, the park was dead all day/night with walkon rides all day long... One or two train waits for front seat at most. Had some of the most fun that day then I can remember in any park in a LONG time. At the end of the night we ran from Behemoth to Leviathan to get our last ride and literally made it at the last second. The guy closed the gate but saw us and let us go through, the last two in... We were on the last train of the night, front seat with two others and had the entire train to ourselves. Was really a magical night all around. Had some amazing Haunt stuff as well. Just such a fun day. That is my vote.

Gatekeeper and Iron Rattler.

True...

I knew it was coming, but for those who have ridden it at Hollywood, does it make sense to have both this and Spiderman at basically the same park (if you have a 2-park hopper, of course). It just seems so similar that the excitement goes down for the announcement. I love spider-man and I am sure I will enjoy this, but I don't know... I kind of wish they went in a different direction with this, away from the Spiderman concept to make it truly unique and offer another type of experience. Not complaining by any means, just thinking out loud.

6M3C3264 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C3256 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C3232 by invertalon, on Flickr

Some pictures from Sunday at Canada's Wonderland (only of Leviathan and Behemoth though) This first one is a panoramic at around 7500 pixel across. Click on it and view at full size to really 'enjoy' it... The rest are normal. Leviathan Panoramic by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2594 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2583 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2575 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2565 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2534 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2532 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2524 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2519 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2507 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2504 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2500 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2496 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2454 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C2433 by invertalon, on Flickr

We were at CW on Sunday and we LOVED Leviathan. It really exceeded my expectations and is my new favorite hyper/giga. We were able to ride it around 15 times due to lack of anybody in the park. Two train wait (or less) for the front row. Not sure if I prefer the front or the back left seat... Hard to say. We thought it was kind of like MF without the boring mid-section. Absolutely loved the first drop and the low speed hills. Just an overall great ride. No complaints here at all. Wish it were closer to me!

Another batch of more recent shots in the past 2-3 weeks or so! 6M3C0626 by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C0345.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1630.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1519.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1814.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1812.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1489.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1769.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C9966.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C9831.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C9791.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C9695.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 6M3C1482.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Raptor... It generally has always been a top ride for me but the fast few years it has slipped a bit for me, until this past Friday. Back seat, left side during HalloWeekends... Cold air, amazing views of the park, fog, etc... Was simply amazing. Back to #1 for me.

Yes, it is! Such a fun set to play on, I love it! Sounds so good (Gretsch Catalina Birch) with a Phattie custom snare and 14x6.5 Reference in Rootbeer Fade.

Ahh yes the overlord... I did not see him walking around the park after the initial "gathering" on the luminosity stage. I have seen him in years past though walking about the park.