carolinacaniac

Makes you wonder about riding Cliffhanger at Ghost Town in the Sky now, doesn't it? Glad to hear the injuries were not bad enough to endanger thair lives, but man, definatly not a good sign for a start-up company.

What made the housing at Cedar Point a little less than desireable was that the bedrooms were fairly small and you had 3-4 people in each. Some of the buildings were set up like apartments with 5 bedrooms each, a kitchen/living room and two bathrooms. The problem with the apartment style buildings was that it was up to those who lived in it to keep it clean.........so yeah..........didn't hapen very often. Now the dorm style buildings were not so bad since the bathrooms, while still not steller, were at least cleaned everyday. Any set-up at Cedar Point as far as employee housing goes was never anything like this. Personally, I think Kings Island should help repay some of the expense the students had to pay to get here. Even if they were shown "one room", they should have asked to see all of the rooms and gone from there. This makes me wonder if this has been going on for a good couple years or if this has just been a problem for this year?

^ It used to be at a Jeepers in Gastonia, NC according to RCDB if I remember correctly. I don't know how long Go-Karts Plus has been open, but I believe last year was Python Pit's first year there.

Hey everybody, Sorry for the delay, here is part III. Hope you enjoy it as well as the rest of the update! Alpengiest and Griffon alone make a pretty cool skyline! Now that the credit is mine, time for food and a return the BGE. Thats all for the PTR as I decided to leave the camera in the Jeep. I really hope you all enjoyed my PTR! Thanks for checking it out! Fortunatly, no evacuations of this Python Pit were necessary! This is what has brought me to this place today! Credit number 152! A picture of the park map, Big Mike Style. Between Garmin and the raod signs, this place was pretty easy to find! I can't say that I have ever seen highway signs for a go cart place before. Garmin is now going to help me find Go-Karts Plus! BGE now has a sort of marching band, which was pretty neat since they were playing some James Bond music. This was the point where I took a break from BGE for dinner and a credit. If you are like me, and enjoy an occasional show, Emerald Beat is one of the best that you will find at BGE. Thanks to Le Scoot making it look like I peed my pants. Taken off of the exit platform for Le Scoot. A log that is about to go "SKLOOOSH!" My favorite picture of Nessie so far Cobra Roll!!! Nessie coming down! .....is a lift hill picture of the same train, but a little further up! The only thing cooler than a lift hill picture............... BGE's version of the 3-Point Challenge which I think takes away from the atmosphere a little bit since they play music that doesn't really fit the theming of the park, but I can't argue that it isn't a money maker. To all TPR peeps on the East Coast Trip, if you have a second meal at the park or the meal of the day is one which you choose your own place to eat, I personally recommend this place right next to the outdoor theater in the Italian section of the park. Big Bad Wolf, one of the trickiest coasters in the park to get a picture of, other than the most photographed part of the ride. If you know what part it is....you probably already have a picture of it in your collection! And it isn't here. It turns out the beginning of the line was in the screening room for the background movie about the legend of DarKastle. Well, the beginning isn't here. Curse of DarKastle, I'll bet this will have a decently long line. "Nice doggie..........nice doggie......" "......The Hummel Boy!" "Look, it's a TPR Celebrity! It's......it's.........."

Hey everybody, Time for the update about Busch Gardens itself. The plan for the day was to visit Busch Gardens until closing, head up to Go-Karts Plus for the credit, then down to Motor World in Virginia Beach for its credit before heading home. Well, as the day went on, I decided to take a break from Busch to have dinner out of the park and to hit Go-Karts Plus. After leaving Busch at the end of the night, I decided that Motor World would be better left for another day, but it still turned out to be a great day! Now, about my visit at Busch Gardens. The park was pretty light on crowds which was surprising for a Friday in the summer, but it was good for me as I got 25 rides total on the five coasters. The only long line that I waited in was for the log flume, which was made even longer as they had to shut the ride down because a kid on the ride got scared and apparently jumped out of the log before the big drop (of course the jumping out of the boat is not for sure, but the kid did get scared and was a reason for stopping the ride). The weather was great for it was partially cloudy and around 85, so it wasn't too hot for the day. And with that, I give you the pictures of Busch Gardens and Go-Karts Plus. This will be done over two posts so if you happen to see only one post worth of pictures, there are more to come. Thanks again for reading! Best line I have ever seen for Alpengeist in the middle of the day! Again, lines were minimal to non-existant Alpengeist Loop! Signature Splash Picture We coaster fans are not the only ones who take pictures of Griffon's first drop. Humm......to hug again or not to hug again? (See my past PTR towards the bottom for reference: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35703&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=busch+gardens+europe) well I'll be, it actually only ended up being about 11-12 minutes, which many other lines would turn out to be quite short through out the day. Only 15 Minutes? It can't be right! "Griffon in France" Empty train from the MCBR Ooo, Griffon!!!!!! Good thing Melissa wasn't here, she would have ran back to the Jeep, drove it into the park and tried to run over this poor Opossum The Scary Cave to Corkscrew Hill Leprechaun: "Aye boy-o, if ya can beat me, then I'll tell ya how to get yer las to wash ya like the clydesdale, but if I beat you, then a caurse shall be placed upon ya!" This guy has it pretty good, I have to figure out how to get Melissa to do this for me You think this guy feels pretty stiff for being here 30 years? Both Doc and his wife Sue created their own nametag look-a-likes that I thought were pretty clever. I saw this gentleman (whose name is Doc) as I was about to get on for another ride, and thought this was pretty cool. According to him and his Wife, one employee recognized them as regular visitors, and so they gave them his or her nametag. Then others started to as well. Even the trains are decorated for the occasion I had not even thought about this ride being 30 years old, but I will say that for a 30 year old Arrow, it still runs pretty well! everyone waiting for the rope to drop.

Good to hear that Busch does not intend to get rid of the parks with the restructuring. Hopefully the company won't seel period, although the offer may get to be where AB can't refuse.

Hello everyone! Well, I am happy to say that I had a great day going to one of my favorite parks, Busch Gardens Europe. Melissa did not tag along with me for this one since she went up to Buffalo to see her younger sister graduate from elementry school, but it still turned out to be a great day. The first set of pictures I have posted below is the "adventure" to get to Busch Gardens. With Melissa flying to Buffalo right out of Greenville, the plan was to head on up to Busch right after she boarded the plan and take it easy while waiting for the parking booths to open. One of my little tradidions when ever I drive somewhere is to stop at 7-Eleven for a slurpee whenever there is one, since the only 7-Eleven in the state of North Carolina that I am aware of is out in the Nags Head area. I will have pictures from inside the park and of Go-Karts Plus in a bit, I hope you enjoy this "adventure" to the park. And after a quick visit to the ticket booth to buy the ticket, it was time to start the adventure in the park. Part Two to come later today. Thanks for reading! A reminder of why this is one of the best looking parks. The tram gets going and you realize you left the coupon you brought for $12 off in the car. Oh well, I was still able to go back and get it and not loose any riding time since the park was not yet open. and with being one of the first to park comes the perk of having a very uncrowded tram waiting to wisk you away to the gate, and allow you to be one of the first in the park........that is until........ If the first "Jeep ad" picture wasn't good enough, this one should be! (Again, prime parking space!) "Yeah buddy!!! First through the parking booth!!!!" (You think I am starting to be like Big Mike with a compulsive need to take a lot of pictures of myself?) In the race to get into the lot first however, I pulled ahead for total victory, and a prime parking spot! The good news was that I wasn't the only one to get there early, these other three vehicles were her before I arrived. You think Jeep could use this for an advirtisement for the Jeep Patriot? As you can see however, we are not "there" yet acording to Garmin, for I had to wait for a little bit until the parking booths opened up. Apollo + Griffon = 2/3 the awesome B&M collection at BGE! Well looky what Garmin found! It's Apollo's Chariot! For only $2000 you too can have a stylin' ride when going on your own coaster tours!!!! YES!!!!!!! This Slurpee is delicious, and keeps the title as the Iatollah of Frozen Cola!! ON TO BUSCH GARDENS!!!! Time to test........and............ Wow, the logest line I have ever been in for a 7-Eleven (and as will be shown later, what may have been one of the longest lines of the day!) Let us see if the Slurpee will keep its title as the Iatollah of Frozen Cola! (Yes, I do realize that the first location had Pepsi instead of Coke, but I think the taste was more of a problem at the other location than it being Pepsi or Coke). Our Jeep that replaced the Elantra that was totaled in November, in front of 7-Eleven. Alright, time to try this again "Yeay, the Little Blue Truck made it to land again!!!" I know of walking towards the light, but what about drving towards the light? It is kind of funny how my Garmin will loose track of where it is when I am in our apartment next to a window, and yet it works just fine in an underwater tunnel. ....maybe it is because of this underwater tunnel! Now why could I be holding my breath? Could it be because I want to compare my lung capacity to a whale? Clould it be because I let out an SBD that I know will be foul? Or........... "AHHHHHHH! THE LITTLE BLUE TRUCK IS IN THE WATER! I hope he makes it!" "Oh no, the Little Blue Truck is heading right for that body of water!" See, it made me sad! I guess I will just have to hope for another location on the way to Busch Gardens. And here is the machine that provides the Iatollah of Frozen Cola. Unfortunatly, this location seems to have some issue with their slurpees tasting terrible, which made me sad Ah yes! 7-Eleven. When I was a kid growing up in Seattle, a family friend would always take us to one and buy us Slurpees. This one is in Suffolk, VA off of US-13 This is my new friend Garmin. While I did not need his help to find Busch Gardens, he was helpful in finding Go-Karts Plus, and telling me how long until I got to Busch Gardens!

Hey Mike, It is staring to look like Kings Dominion may not work out for me, but I saw that you are headed to Hard Rock on the 6-7 of Sept. I think that would work very well for me if the invitation is still available even though it is a different park. Thanks, Gary

WOW! 39 parks already in what, about three or four months? That make me jelous beyond belief. What will that number be once you are back from the Europe Trip? Either way, hope you have a good time, and I am looking forward to the updates.

Personally, I think they are two of the best wooden coasters I have been on. For Wild One, I think the helix has awesome lateral forces and the airtime is pretty sweet too. For Roar, it has some small pops of air, but I just love the twisting layout that you didn't see on many wooden coasters until GCI and GG (to an extent) made them more frequently

Big Mike comes through again! I loved your aerial pictures for the Ravine Flyer II. Although maybe it is time you take A private jet since it seems like the Roadshow just causes accidents almost everytime. -Gary T.

I sure hope they do the same for Wild Waves. I know they added the Disk'o this year, but when I was there last year, It seemed like it was still in need of improvement. The stage on the hill looked pretty rough, and the main water slide tower could use a bit of a clean up. They also had a few rides down for the day, but that may have been more of an inability to staff the park fully.

If you luck out on crowds, you could possibly get in all of the coasters in if you get into speedwalker mode. I agree with the rest on hitting Volcano first.

Agreed. I have a workbook in excel that I keep track of a couple different things related to my coaster riding.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Red Wings played some great hockey this year. Maybe the Canes will get it togeather and have a decent year next season. Mike, your pictures continue to please the masses, and I am still looking forward to your others as well as the roadshow's next stop to Kings Dominion laster in the summer! -Gary

^SFAfan: While I could see that getting to the park earlier may have ment a few extra rides before the lines got backed up, I still think that the operations were less than what I hoped for. I wouldn't call the day a complete loss though, for all the coasters (Minus Mind Eraser) made for good rides on Sunday. ^^Frissbeking: It's funny, my wife's name is Melissa too. I would say that I wish I had more time for Adventure Park than what I had planned. I originally thought that this visit would be a one time deal to get the credit, but after thinking about it, I think this is a place I would like to come back to again when the opportunity arises. Planet Fun on the other hand, I could do without a return visit. Now that I have had the chance to transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer, I have them here for your viewing pleasure! Sorry for the lack of SFA pictures, but as mentioned in my earlier post, I put the camera away after a while, but I hope you enjoy what I have! -Gary Because of lines like these that take twice or three times as long at SFA than they do at most other parks. Oh well, it still turned out to be a decent day with the use of flash passes. Hope you all enjoyed the pics! "Hey Gary!!!!!! Why So Serious?!?!?!?!" Well this was to be expected, although I was surprised later in the day when they actually had it running, so I nabbed a ride and thought it was pretty fun. Still one of my favorite woodies! I thought I would take a spin on Roar, and it did not dissapoint, but the ride ops kind of got on my nerves. And since Mind Eraser was only running one train with a line out of the station, I figured I would try some picture taking. So I made it to SFA, and shortly after passing the sign and through the toll booth, I found the parking lot to be about full! Cause he's got saggy blue balls....poor guy! On the way to SFA, I saw this poor truck that looked like he hadn't gotten lucky lately. Why would I say that you ask?........... Signature "Through the doorway" Shot.......done. Ride for the credit.........done. Moving on to SFA. Next stop, Planet Fun and one last shot before hitting the road Overhead picture of the place, Wildcat sits on the empty grassy area that is surrounded by the go-kart track, parking lot, and main building. What Adventure Park looked like before Wildcat Again, the themeing is really cool for an FEC And now, back to Wildcat Even their laser tag "building" is themed They have a rope course inside (although I assume that Toverland's is much more challenging). Adventure Park's Skyline I really like the way they themed this place. Best looking FEC that I have been to so far. Here we are at Adventure Park, and there is the main reason for the stop.....Wildcat!

Hey everybody! So this is my first "official" trip report of the year. I would have liked to be able to have more posted by this time, but because of certain things that have come about, I had to nix many of the plans I made for different parks because of different reasons ranging from having to pay for Summer Classes out of pocket to the stress from work and class causing me to feel a bit depressed. But now that we have more or less gotten those issues out of the way, it was time to go out for a day. Originally I was only going to do Six Flags America, but then I randomly decided I was going to do the Credit Whore bit and stop by Adventure Park USA and Planet Fun for their two coasters before going to SFA. Adventure Park USA I arrived to the place just before opening around 10, and took a little time to wonder around. I have to say that the "themeing" of the place is actually really good for a FEC. I bought the $20 fun card that was worth about 220 credits, and tried some of the video game, one of their go-kart tracks, but most importantly, Wildcat (#150). The work that they did to the ride after removing it from Williams Grove looked really good, and the ride ran very well for my two trips on it. I must say that I was a little disapointed that it did not seem to have the same forces that Wildcat at Cedar Point has, but that could be because of its slightly smaller size. Adventure Park is definatly worth a couple hours for a visit. I would have done more while I was there, but I had other things on my agenda. Planet Fun Well, many of us have had our share of these Jeepers/Former Jeepers, but I have to say that of those I have been to, this was probably on the bottom of quality. Not to say that I would be an expert on these places, but just from a general outlook, it seemed run down, with broken video games all over, and equipment just sitting around. I took one ride on the Haunted Roller Coaster (#151), and I realized that for some reason I like these Python Pit clones, they are just kind of fun. Not much to say about the place as a whole though besides what was said before. Six Flags America This was the main reason for the trip. I had figured that since it was a Sunday, it would be like a typical slow day at SFA where many of the coasters were walk-ons............not exactly. After pulling into the parking lot around 1 in the afternoon. I found the lot to be almost pack, and walking into the gate I saw the place busier than any of my previous visits. So I figured they would have two trains on anything that they could, and that waits wouldn't be terrible...............agian, not exactly. The first ride I came to was Mind Eraser, which had a full station and extended a little into the regular queue. That was when I noticed they only had one train going, and the ride ops were taking their time. So i thought I would come back later. I decided to try Roar, which to my delite was only a 1 or 2 train wait. I go on the front row, buckled up and ready to go, but the ride op in the control booth was d*cking around on the phone with a fellow employee at the pirate ship. Then the two ride hosts check lap bars just kind of stood there, talking to the guy on the phone, and telling him to tell the other employee "hi" and other stupid crap. Finally they checked the restraints and sent the train on its way. Needless to say, Roar is still an awesome woodie!! At this point, I decided to see what the line for Joker's Jinx was like, to find the station full, and people in line complaining that they had been waiting for a while. So I decided it was time to eat, and dump the camera as I lost my motivation to take pictures for the day. After a pretty good meal of orange chicken and ride at Panda Express and dropping my camera off in the car, I decided to give the Flash Passes a try. I must say that getting these could very well have been what made this day still pleasant. I used the five passes for Batwing (still a fun ride), Superman (I had some FREAKING AMAZING AIRTIME on this day), Mind Eraser (Not much head bashing, but rather spine altering), Joker's Jixnx (still an awesome ride), and Skull Mountain (Which was off and on most of the day, but I thought I would take advantage of the pass while it was working). Without the flash passes, I had another ride on Superman and Roar, as well as a ride each on Wild One and Shipwreck Falls. To sum up my day at SFA, I would have to say that Flah Passes really do make a difference. I think the biggest thing that got on my nerves was the apparent lack of effort in operations in some cases, like the earlier mentioned roar incident, as well as Superman and Mind Eraser only running one train each (Superman's other train was MIA). I have read about the improvements going on at other parks in the chain, and wonder why the same effort hasn't been put forth at this park. I will say that I hope that the improvements going on at other Six Flags parks will eventually find its way to SFA. Thanks for reading! I will try to get the pictures up soon.

CP - Raptor KD - HyperSonic KD - Volcano BGE - "Fear The Four" BGE - Griffon USF - Back To The Future USIOA - Dueling Dragons KI - Beast "25 Years of Terror" Car - BORG Assimilator Car - Top Gun "Maverick" Car - "You Might be a Coaster Freak....." GL - Dominator CL - Blue Streak Wal - Steel Dragon Kennywood - "I Survived" with five coaster logos on the back MA - Shivering Timbers SFA - Superman SFGAdv - El Toro (I actually have it on now) Knoebels - Twister

The two flumes I liked the most were the Camp Snoopy flume and the Log Flume at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. The Pavilion flume was a surprise to me, especially the underground drop (not a huge one, but it was still fun). I don't really have a worst flume since I have yet to ride one I didn't like at least a little bit.

Bummer, I was hoping to hit it within the next couple years as part of a sort of Pacific Northwest park tour. Hopefully the rides won't just be left to rot.

Can't wait for the "Press Release" of The Big Mike's Roadshow in regards to Memorial Day weekend, I am sure the trip report will be just as good as the rest of them thus far! Keep it up, it's been a good read! Gary

Did you know that the Coaster at the Puyallup Fair in Washington used to be a side-friction coaster?

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the info and advance warning. Hope to catch you at KD this summer. Gary

Hey Mike, Kings Dominion has set Dominator's opening day for the 24th, so would you be heading down to check it out that same weekend or the next one? It's cool if your not sure yet, I was just checking to see if you had a set weekend so I could talk with the boss about having a day or two off to join the Roadshow! Thanks! Gary T.

This really is a neat idea. As far as how to control it with wind as a factor, I would believe that most likly they would only do it on calm days so as to let the cloud have it's shape for longer periods of time.