Shockwave

Along with Psyclone at Magic Mountain getting demolished, I have never been happier to see a ride meet a wrecking ball. No flowers.

82 worldwide. Hopefully will have a couple more by the end of this year.

I've seen it on a few individual rides in a few parks, but nothing park wide like DIsney. Alton Towers used to get guests to raise their own lap bars on the Runaway Mine Train up until about 7 years ago. Now they perform hands on checks and given the unfortunate recent history I can't see that policy changing. It's a shame because it worked just fine, and it cut half a minute off the dispatch time which really adds up on busy days. The ride op didn't check my restraint on the Gerstlauer bobsled at Klotten, but this happened for every train as they trust people enough not to be stupid.

I've yet to go to Discovery Kingdom or Great Escape, but here's my view on the rest of them. I've marked the one that I used a flash pass at. 1) Six Flags Great America - Wasn't bowled over on my first visit, but my day there last year was really good. Surprisingly good operations, great ride selection and one the best coasters on the planet (Goliath). Even Raging Bull was running well! Slight let down was that Viper was broken, but it didn't make a huge different when there's so much other stuff to do. (No FP - quiet/medium day) 2) Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Very pretty setting, some great coasters and a nice atmosphere on my last visit. Iron Rattler, Superman and Batman were all well run and really good rides. Only let down was the obscene operations on the rapids. (No FP - quiet day) 3) Six Flags New England - Good operations all day, decent coaster selection, Wicked Cyclone & Bizzaro (as at was) were both excellent. But Goliath has been ruined byt the new trains which beat the crap out of you. (No FP - quiet/medium day) 4) Six Flags Over Georgia - Last visit wasn't as good as my first (a Sunday evening drop-in on the stupid bring a friend promotion needs putting to sleep), but we went back the next day and things were much quieter and better. Good ride variety, very pretty and Goliath is a great hyper. (No FP - pointless on the first night, very quiet on the second day) 5) Six Flags Great Adventure - Some incredible rides let down by some average operations. The park doesn't have the charm of the top 4, but at least you shuoldn't get bored there. Unless you're waiting in line for a million hours. (No FP - quiet day) 6) Six Flags St. Louis - Not that special, but we got everything done in a few hours on a quiet Sunday. Mr. Freeze was a real surprise, and the Boss wasn't as bad as people say it is. And would be even better with the RMC treatment. (No FP - quiet day) 7) Six Flags Over Texas - Can't really give this place a fair review because we were washed out by a tropical storm first visit and then only had a few hours the second visit on the awful bring a friend weekend. Flash passes were very necessary as I have no desire to queue 1 hour for an average Gerstlauer spinner. NTG was pretty good, and the other Mr. Freeze was also great fun. Will give it another chance. 8) Six Flags Magic Mountain - Full day with a flash pass meant I got everything done that wasn't broken (i'm looking at X and Riddler's Revenge), but the operations were abysmal. Because of how much they've added in the last 10 years, I'd defo try it again. Probably with a flash pass to be on the safe side. 9) Six Flags America - I feel bad for this place, because they had some fantastic staff members working at a raelly badly run park. Sort the management out, clean it up and bit, and it woldn't be half as bad as it is now. But at least it wasn't too busy. (No FP - quiet day) 10) La Ronde - Oh dear. This place can sink in to the St Lawrence Seaway for all I care. Some of the worst operations I've ever seen, awful looking park, average rides (save Goliath which at least made the trip slightly worth it). Acutally turned down creds here because I didn't want to be in there longer than I had to. Very flash passed. Very glad to never have to go back there again.

^Exactly. Trims or no trims, it'll still be an incredible ride.

^It specialises in disappointment.

Seems like good progress so far. I might be able to get back to Kentucky Kingdom next year if I can get myself to the Indy 500 again, and if so, fingers crossed it'll be opened in good time. There isn't a bad RMC out there, so I can't wait to try this one out.

Got my 1000th on Monday at Silver Dollar City on Outlaw Run! Also turned out to be my 100th wooden coaster! I never make signs to mark milestones, but I couldn't not do it for this one!

I'm gonna be there this weekend, and even though I'm not expecting miracles I will be genuinely gutted if I miss out on it. It looks amazing!

Wow, that is shockingly efficient! At Six Flags of all places!

Thanks Larry. And yeah, in all seriousness I'm giving up on that idea given the timing and the long day afterwards. If I fly through Little Amerricka and Santa's Village (which looks extremely likely given what I want to go on at each) I'll be able to dedicate time to Indiana Beach on the Saturday. I could give it a miss, but I have a soft spot for El Locos and I like the park enough to spend a bit of time there.

Little Amerricka won't be taking up much of my time. It's a 12 noon opening and I can't see myself being there longer than an hour. I missed it on my last trip because of a scheduling conflict with Indiana Beach where I ended up spending most of my day, so this is to go and tick that box. Absolutely. A huge pack of water bottles and a cool bag is always a good idea, especially considering where I'll be driving. That would be good! I'll PM you soon with my details. I'm also going to be at Great Adventure the day before to process my season pass.

Thanks Robb. Larry - after doing all my research including on this site, I'm allocating an ample amount of time for each park, depending on what rides they have, which ones are/will be worth re-riding, etc etc. A few of the parks on this trip will be revisits, and from previous experience I can say that some of them simply won't need my full attention even with new additions. I've also edited the first part of the topic as the first list I posted was a very early draft, from which I've since removed a couple of things which simply aren't feasible such as the Castles 'n' Coasters leg. Those who don't know me will be unaware that I've been an enthusiast for nearly 20 years, I've been to nearly 300 parks, and been on over 900 rollercoasters around the world, so I know my way around and what it takes to get there. I've done several long road trips before through Europe and the US, including a 2,000+ mile round trip through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany a fortnight ago. So when it comes to planning, I'm confident enough to know what can be done and what cannot, hence the changes from draft to final form in this, and in all the trips I plan. Whilst the concern over the length of the drives is nice to hear, I've actually over-estimated driving times which is essential for any trip to account for any forseeable delays, stops and the like. There's also room to manoeuvre some of the parks if required. The hotels I've booked, combined with the right amount time spent in the parks, and having learned through experience how to stay healthy and comfortable on a long trip such as this make it entirely feasible. I'm acutely aware that some of the schedule looks a bit heavy for those who haven't done long trips before, or baulk at the idea of long drives. They simply don't faze me because I've done them before and I know how to look after myself on them. FYI Energy drinks are an absolute last resort. A lot of these parks on the first part of the trip I will have no intention of going back to any time soon, so in some respect there is an aspect of box-ticking (the ridiculous jaunt to Joyland is a case in point, and yes even I admit that it's a bit daft going in completely the wrong direction for that amount of time). If I were to ditch any part of the trip completely now, that would be it - I can take it or leave it, From speaking to many people and reading a lot of reviews including from this site, Worlds of Fun will not take a long time. The coasters don't look outstanding (sorry Prowler fanboys, I know you think it's like that rebirth therapy from the 70's, but whatever!) and even by some awful divine intervention it is a busy day, I can just fastpass the main stuff there. I also can't envisage myself being at Schlitterbahn for more than a few hours given what they have and the day I'm visiting.

Oachkatzl - Märchenwald im Isartal

I thought I'd put this post out as this year I'm doing something a bit brave/stupid/borderline insane. I'm quitting my job next month and gonna be visiting the USA/Canada for 2 months, and have saved a load of money up to hit a lot of theme parks. I'll be in the States driving around, visiting some old and some new amusement parks. Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with some of you that I've met before from TPR trips in the past, and as long as you're not an axe-murderer, some of you that I haven't met. The trip is gonna be broken up into 3 main parts which I'll go in to in more detail. Part 1 will be based around the Plains and the Rockies and a few parks in the sticks like Cliff's and Wonderland Amarillo. I'm a bit tied by park hours and timescales, and there's some criss-crossing/backtracking, but I'll take what I can get. Part 2 will be with a few friends I'm meeting at Newark, going from New York , on to Toronto/Niagara Falls, then through Ohio across to Missouri, Texas and New Orleans, across to Georgia and back up the East Coast to NY. This is the one that we've got nailed down in terms of route and parks, hotels etc. Part 3 is still in the planning stage depending on where I spend 4th July, but will probably be centered around the North East/Pennsylvania. I'm very aware it will involve long drives (some of which through absolutely nothing - sorry Nebraska!), laundry days and a few cans of Monster. I've done road trips across the US before but nothing as large as this, so any tips on where to stay, good laundromats and good places to eat, etc etc. would be fab. The first part is very restricted by opening hours, hence some of the long drives/backtracking. I'll post the rst up a bit later. If it looks like I'm missing some big parks out, I'm probably doing them later in the trip so don't worry if the first part looks a bit weird. Fri May 22: Arrive Chicago ORD in the morning, Six Flags Great America. Sat May 23: Little Amerricka, Santa's Village. Drive to Indianapolis, possibly stop by Indiana Beach depending on time. Sun May 24: Watch the Indy 500,. Drive to Des Moines. Mon May 25: Adventureland, Arnolds Park, Drive to Kansas. Tue May 26: Worlds of Fun, Schlitterbahn. Wed May 27: Drive to Denver. Thu May 28: Elitch Gardens. Fri May 29: Drive to Salt Lake City, possibly via Glenwood Caverns Sat May 30: Lagoon. Sun May 31: Drive back to Denver, Lakeside Park. Mon Jun 1: Drive to Albuquerque. Tue Jun 2: Cliff's, Drive to Amarillo, Wonderland Amarillo, Drive to Oklahoma City. Wed Jun 3: Frontier City, Drive to Joyland if Frontier City takes no time at all. Thu Jun 4: Drive back to Chicago Fri Jun 5: Fly back to Newark. Find somewhere to do my dirty laundry. Parts 2 & 3 to come. Wish me luck, this is a big one!