carolinacaniac

Personally, I liked the name Flight Deck, but Afterburn does sound more fitting. Now let us see if Cedar Fair can make a decent logo for Afterburn.

^No doubt about that, the NY/PA/Canada trip is looking good! I think this will be Waldameer's Kentucky Rumbler, in the since that this may get the park a bit more notoriety. I liked Waldameer the one time I went a few years ago, and this can only help in making it better if it is a quality ride that GG is becoming know to make.

Just watched the video, and all I can say is......WOW! That has got to be one of the most screwed up rides I have ever seen! Definatly looks like a blast of a ride, although I can definatly see some loose articles flying off of this rides (unless they implement a no loose article rule).

If Silverwood can get this thing to operate at a higher level, they may have one of the best selection of coasters for a smaller park (speaking based on what others have said about the park and deja vu). It may look kind of funny though since from what I understand Silverwood is more or less on a flat piece of land, and the tallest thing they had before was the drop tower they added i think a year or two ago. I hope to get out there sometime in the near future for Deja Vu, Tremors and Timber Terror.

My in-laws are Corrections Officers at Lakeland Correctional Facility where he was last being held. Lakeland is a lower security prison in Coldwater, Michigan. He was taken there because they have an on-site medical facility and he has some kind of illness himself. My step-mother in-law was on duty the day he was released and saw that he was greeted by one of the big evening news anchors, but I can't recall which one.

Cool deal on the job! You will just want to make sure that you are patcient with guests because you are more than likely going to have one or two who want you to bend over backwards on the rules just for them. As long as you are polite and consistent, you should be just fine!

well, can't say that we all didn't see this one coming. I dunno why for sure though, but I am a little surprised they changed Face/Off. Seems like the name could have been on the same boat as the Drop Zone rides, but maybe not.

Maybe instead of a huge leap for the season pass price, they could gradually bring it up, by like maybe 10 bucks a year, until they reach a more optimal price. Just my own theory. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it, but I would be a bit bummed if SFA got the axe from the chain, because then the nearest cheap season pass in the chain would be either SFOG or SFGAdv. Then again the year after next I might not even go to another SF park depending on what my plans turn out to be.

Melissa and I are planning on heading to Atlanta that same weekend. Originally we were going to visit SFOG on Sunday the 9th, but we found out that the NASCAR Sprint Cup is racing in ATL that day. Neither of us have been to a race before so we are looking into doing that. What I would like to know is if crowds should be heavy for an early March Saturday (and therefore possibly call for a q-bot), or is it more likely to be slower since it is early in the season?

I vote for the park. Personally, I wouldn't make a special trip to go to a Bass Pro Shop. I went to the outdoor world at Concord Mills outside of Charlotte, and I would probably stop by another one at other malls, but I wouldn't make a special trip to go to Bass Pro.

Call me lame if you wish, but I kind of like the name Flight Deck. Yeah it is very generic, and maybe not used in the best of contexts, but it sounds pretty good to me. Besides, a name is just a name, the actual ride itself is what counts, and last time I rode Top Gun/Flight Deck, it was wicked awesome! Like moose said, it could have been worse. I also really like the Nighthawk name, but I agree that if they go that route, they need to take out the giant BORG sphere and replace it with something else.

Im not a huge fan of the crypt name since it is an outdoor ride, but the backlot name I think works just fine! I agree that having the same name for different types of rides shoudl be a no-no. But CF is also guilty of that Dominator: It is a floorless coaster at Kings Dominion and an S&S Tower at Worlds of Fun Thunderhawk: A wooden coaster at Dorney, and an SLC at Michigan's Adventure To an extent, you could say that the two Crypt rides at Kings Island and Kings Dominion are different. One is indoor, has a less traditional top spin program and more traditional in seating, while the other is outdoor, has a more tradional top spin program and has back-to-back seating. While I am all about originality, I am not completly against some similarities. I rode Batman the ride at Great Adventure and loved it, which leads me to think that the other BTR's should/could be just as good. Gary T.

Yeah, the food looked awesome everywhere you went. I think the next time I go I am going to just go ahead and not eat the day before so that I can have little regret We arrived in Pigeon Forge Friday Night and went back home Sunday morning. As I said before, my one regret about the trip was that we didn't have more time or a bigger budget for this trip, because the whole town looked like a blast! - Gary.

I just took advantage of this to renew my SFA pass. I was thinking it would be a steal until they tacked on the 10 bucks shiping which negates the discount. Oh well, still a great price for their passes in general. I just wish I could change my mug shot instead of them using my old one from two years ago.

wonder if there will be some kind of a Libertyland tribute in the park? Definatly a cool idea, although I would love to see like an Egyption theme, but I am sure whatever they do will work just as well.

Update 3: Dollywood Continued. And I end this report with a picture taken during the lightshow. Thank you everyone for checking out this report, I hope you all enjoyed it! Tennessee Tornado's sign even gets in the holiday spirit, but the ride itself is very, very dark at night, WHICH RULES!!!!!!! While there, Melissa tamed a ferocious guard kitty!!!! Nah, it was very friendly like everyone who worked at the park, and it was also well fed!!! The well-known chapel, which looks very nice with its lights Craftsman Valley at Night And to celebrate getting all the credits, it is time to eat a plywood cherry pie Credit 5, VeggieTales Sideshow Spin, AKA Moving-Miniture Penalty Box. Yay!! VeggieTales opened back up!!!!! Gary can be a Credit Ho again! The Dollywood Express is also lit up on the holidays Don't forget the multi-colored tree And a Big Blue Tree Many colored trees. another house lit up at night One of the houses all decorated nice and such Down the walkway from Timber Canyon down to the front of the park. When it gets dark out during Christmas, all the pretty christmas lights go twinkle! One of the best parts of the ride, which gives some nice hangtime! Credit Four, Mystery Mine. Best themed ride in the park, a lot of fun, just a tad jerky. Still a must ride. Dollywood endorses the Robb Alvey Diet, which features daily servings of VAULT ICEE!!!!!! Signature Lift Hill Picture Third credit of the day, Thunderhead. The first time I rode it I thought it was an awesome ride, but the second time it seemed like a different ride. maybe the cooler weather did it, either way it was still a solid ride! But now it's time for some more rides! We also saw Christmas in the Smokies which was here in the Celebrity Theater. Also a great show. The cast of Babes in Toyland, they did a wonderful job! The flying contraption that the family rides to get back home from Toyland. ...and vwa la! You are given priority seats for the show... the first of which we saw was Babes in Toyland. Find this little guy to get to the special entrance for Q2Q at the theater. One of the cool things about the contest was that a free Q2Q pas was included in the prize package. Since lines were non-existant on everything except Mystery Mine, we used it for the shows. You make a reservation at the rental center with your Q-Bot.... We all know what happens when someone comes out of the closet, but what happens when someone comes out of Dolly's Closet?????? See, Melissa LOVES shopping! One thing about Dollywood is that it serves Melissa's love of Shopping and my love of Coasters!

Update part 2: Now that I have the errands done, it is time for the Dollywood portion of this photo trip report. Before I give you the pictures, let me just say that the theme of surprise also went along with out day at Dollywood. Now I have to admit that I originally expected to a small extent that this place was going to be one of those places where the key character/person of the park would be plastered all over the place, or in other words, we would see some reference to Dolly everywhere we turned. I also kind of thought of this place as a possible country/bluegrass version of Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. As soon as Melissa and I walked into the gate, all of my initial thoughts disappeared, and did not come back once. What we found was a beautiful park with a great, authentic feel to it. The buildings in Craftsmen Valley seemed like they were picked up and moved into place. Don't get me wrong, I love the look and theming of Busch Gardens Euroburg, but I would argue that this place is just as nice in looks, and also feels more authentic. For those of you who may have read Guy's Dollywood TR from last month, he is right-on when it comes to the friendliness of the people who work here. I have never seen such a friendly theme park staff. Another thing that stuck out here were the shows. Melissa and I were able to see Babes in Toyland and Christmas in the Smokies, which were both top notch. Another thing people talk about at Dollywood is the food. Oh man! You can hardly walk 50 yards without the smell of something good passing your nose. Melissa and I had lunch at a place called Apple Jack's near the County Fair area, which provided a fine meal. Melissa had the Chili Bowl and I had an Apple Jack's Favorite Sandwhich. And now my thoughts on some of the rides. The tempuature was probably around the 50's, so the rides were all open except for the water rides. here are my reviews in the order that we rode them. Rides with a number are coasters, and the number represents where it sits in my count since they are all new to me. Dizzy Disk - This was the first Disk-o either of us had been on. I must say that we had a blast with this, it was like a funky version of a frisbee, but never the less a lot of fun. I am definatly going to ride more of these in the future. Blazing Fury (#136) - The animatronics are as cheesey as you can get, but this was a ride that was fun with the drops being with a little more to it than I would have expected. Definatly a fun ride Tennessee Tornado (#137) - This was the real shocker for Melissa and I. TT turned out to be a great coaster! I was definatly caught by surprise how this thing flew through the whole course even when it was cooler out. We rode 5 times with 3 of them the first time we were here and the other two at night when it was dark out. The back seat is definatly the place to sit for it provides very nice airtime on the first big drop through the tunnel, and the rest of the layout was really cool how it followed the terrain. It is a real shame how arrow went out of business, because if they could have started making their loopers like this one, they would have possibly made some great coasters! By far my favorite Arrow coaster, and possible top 10 worthy on my list. Thunderhead (#138) - This was the coaster I was looking forward to the most. My first ride on it when it was still light out, I loved it. It doesn't have great ejector air, but it seemed to have some nice floater air here and there, and the layout was a lot of fun for the directional changes. I think I was dissapointed when I took one last ride before we left the park because I wanted to like it more than TT for some reason, but I just didn't. It may have also just been that the first ride was better than the second, but who knows. I definatly liked it a lot, and would have no problem riding many times over. Timber Tower - I thought that this may be a fun ride, but I got off thinking it was rather pointless. It just kind of leisurly tilts to one side than the other, but never gets to the point where I felt like I was going to fall off. I don't know that I would make a point to ride it with a significant line. Mystery Mine (#139) - Mystery Mine by far has the best theming of any coaster in the park. I loved this ride for it's theme, and the layout was a lot of fun. The only down side with this one for me was the some of the transitions were a little bit jerky to me. Loved the 90+ degree drops and the final two inversions. Definatly going to ride again on another visit since I only did it once. VeggieTales Sideshow Spin (#140) - I rode it for the credit. This was one of the dinkiest kiddie coasters I have ever ridden. I felt like i was in a moving-mini penalty box. Overall, my ride count was like this: Tennessee Tornado - 5 Thunderhead - 2 Mystery Mine, VeggieTales, Blazing Fury, Dizzy Disk, Timber Tower - 1 In all, Dollywood has eaisily become one of my favorite parks. I felt that this place would be simmilar to Busch Gardens, and I feel that is accurate, but I would say that this place was better. My only complaints about our trip were things that really could not be controled, such as a little rainy weather and a case of laringitis that I had, which restricted my ability to yell on rides. Even still, Melissa and I had a wonderful time. I would like to give a huge thanks the Lance over at Screamscape, for if it wasn't for his contest, it may have been a while before Melissa and I discovered this fine park. Now for the Dollywood pictures. Again, this place just looks awesome! Very authentic feel in my opinion. More pictures to be posted in a bit. I don't think the Allstate Accident Forgivness Plan covers this Twisted Track Goodess from the station and through the fog. This ride is freakin' awesome at night in the back of the train! Signature Loop Picture. Credit Numero Dos, Tennessee Tornado. The big surprise of the day coaster wise. I don't think a female entertainer could stay on a pole THAT long! First Credit of the day, Blazing Fury. A fun little coaster that the family can enjoy, unless you hate fun. One word comes to mind with this mejestic bird......TRUTHINESS!!! If these rules were modern, I would think twice about getting my middle grade education degree. At first, I thought I was back in a North Carolina public school, but then I realized that this was too modern Melissa really gets intense when it comes to checkers, but should it really take that much strategy for the first move? They even made a sleigh fit to be in Tim Burton's version of "The Santa Clause" One of the many cool craftman shops located throughout craftsman valley, this one has wagons. Another signature Dollywood food picture Melissa decides to do the smart thing and take cover in this harmless looking cave. I am crushed by my inability to be a credit whore on VeggieTales because of the rain that came for about a half hour. Disk-o time!!! (que some Bee Gees music) If pickles arn't your thing, you can also hug a tomato or potato Pickle hugging, as inspired by USRoadTripper, have you hugged your pickle today? A look at the carousel area, also very nice. again, I just love the look of this place The tree out in the pond where the lightshow takes place. Signature Dollywood food picture.......aww, come on now, you know you would take a picture of it too. Now that we can't distract you with our mushiness, here is the tree itself 5 months and 1 day of marriage, and we couldn't be happier togeather. I love the look of this place once you pass through this gate, you will discover a wonderful park. We're here! off of the tram, you can get a signature through-the-trees view of Thunderhead And here we have the parking booth! Pulling into the parking lot. The tickets and Q2Q pass, courtesy of Screamscape!

Hello everybody! So I had thought that the last park for the season for Melissa and I was going to be Kings Dominion back in October for the Haunt, but that wasn't the case. As many of you who regularly visit Screamscape may know, there was a contest that was going on for about 2 months where Lance was giving away pairs of Dollywood tickets and a free Q2Q pass with each pair. Turns out that I was the lucky winner of the final week's drawing, so it was only a matter of finding out when Melissa had a free weekend, and making the reservations. The first thing I want to say about our weekend trip was that Melissa and I expirienced a lot of surprise throughout the weekend. I personally had expected that Pigeon Forge was going to be a town with one major attraction, a couple hotels and a few resturants. Neither Melissa or I expected to drive into the family friendly version of Las Vegas, with all the lights and such along the road. There were a lot of things that looked like it would have been fun do try out, we just didn't have the time to for this trip. When we arrived to the Holiday Inn right off of the Pigeon Forge Parkway on Firday night, the Front Desk clerk was very friendly. Not that fake friendly like when you go to some fast food resturaunts and everyone has "lines" for when customers come in to seem like they are friendly, but honestly friendly. Because of a few errands I have to take care of this afternoon, I am going to post our "pre-Dollywood" pictures. When I finish the errands, I will post the Dollywood pictures and give my review of the park as well. Gary And to wrap up this first update, a preview of what is to come! I will have more for you all this evening. Higher view of the lobby. Trees inside of the lobby First thing you walk into when you arrive at the hotel. Very nice! Neat little shops that are being renovated alongside the hotel Across the street from us was one of many go-kart places. This one had a screamin' swing! Christmas Decorations right on the Parkway A little chapel right beside the hotel. Kind of fitting since Melissa and I have been married for five months as of the day that we arrived Our hotel Outside we have a Smoky Mountain sunrise. ....and this is the pool (ooooo, ahhhhh) The next morning, I decided to do some exploring of the hotel. This was the pool area..... Yay! We have arrived to the Tourist Trap of Awesomeness!!!!!! The Smokie Mountains are just ahead. My grandma always told me how much she loved them before she passed away a few years ago. Now I understand why. Pink Clouds! Makes we wonder if some soul-singing crows are going to tell us that we are in a tree. Sunset ahead of us as we are about to pass Asheville on I-40 Melissa is ready for this trip, it's been a while since we got out of Greenville for more than a day. So Melissa was in an accident that was the fault of the other guy, but because our Hyundai is still being checked out at this point, we had this Grand Prix to take to Tennessee.

I am excited for this ride. It looks like their could be some good hangtime from the first loop, kind of like Dominator and Mantis. I know others are kind of Meh about it, but I wanna give it a spin first before I judge it.

I am all about Dr. Pepper, which you don't see at many amusement parks, so I just go for whatever they have. I don't really have a preference as to Coke or Pepsi, as if you look at my buying pattern of the 12 packs, I go for whatever is cheaper at the time at Wal-Mart when Melissa and I go grocery shopping.

^ Just out of curiousity, what do you mean by size? I ask because if you look at everything that Kennywood operates (Kennywood, Compounce, Idlewild, ect.....), they all are pretty much smaller in land area then Geauga Lake. Now if you are refering to the number of rides, then I might understand a bit more. I agree that it is sad when these places close down. But I have to admit I was more bummed about the Pavilion than Geauga Lake, since the pavilion a different kind of character to it. I still wish it was Family Kingdom instead of the Pavilion with Swamp Fox getting relocated, but as many others have said, there isn't a lot you can do about it. I also agree that amusement parks probably won't be the cure to gangs. While I would love it if there was ever a small amusement park opened here in the Greenville area, I can tell from going to the Pitt Co. Fair that their would be just as many gang members at this park as there are at the fair, or the mall, or anywhere else in town. Heck, the city has a population around 60-70 thousand, and another town in the county with a population around 2 or 3 thousand has just as bad of a gang problem. When I did one of my Middle Grade Education clinicals (kind of like a mini-internship) at the school in this smaller town, the teacher told me about a student who would cross out all of the C's on her notes, homework, worksheets, tests and quizes as a sign of "Death to the Crips". This in a little town with less than 5000 people.

Robb, however should I thank you for the knowledge that drinking frozen coke is better than regular coke! I was always under the assumption that it was about the same either way. Good to see that you are making the progress towards your goal.

That's just stupid. It's not Santa if he doesn't say ho, ho ho. To many people get to easily offended over the littlest things

I wish I made $8 an hour when I worked at S**t-fil-a, I started at $5.25 and when I left 5 years later I was at $6.15 If you do it right, you can save up some good money from Cedar Point. My first year there I brought home about $1000, which I know I could have done better, but as many others said, you get to know people and hang out with them (not to mention many walks down the road to East of Chicago too!). as far as the overtime thing goes, Cedar Point doesn't have to pay employees overtime because they are seasonal positions, so getting 45-60 hours is not unusual, some people would do their best to get the maximum of 80 hours. I think that Cedar Point can make money if you are a loner and only like to go ride the rides at the park by yourself and not buy anything except toiletries and two meals a day, but takes half of the fun out of the expirience of the entire summer. So yeah, it would probably be better to stay home and get a higher paying job, or go with Wes' idea and sell your body.

Raptor - 19 Swamp Fox in Myrtle Beach - 12 Italian Job at PKD (Media Day) - 10 Corkscrew at Cedar Point (Employee Ride Night) - 10 I have also done a few others like carowinds' Top Gun, KD's Hurler, Rebel Yell, Grizzly, Volcano and Flight of Fear about 3-5 times consecutivly each