CoasterFanatic

I now see why Mikalah is still around. Obviously she has fans. I don't know how, but she does. // Currently strangling that "Fran Dresher" impersonator

GrizzleyFest - (def.) Annual Event held by CoasterZombies (Sam Marks). Consists of lights out rides on the Grizzley at night. (usage) I will be going to GRIZZLEYFEST with my friends this year. http://www.coasterzombies.com

After I complete write off Constantine, he turns around and gives his best performance yet. Oh well ... still trying to figure out hoe Mikahalia (sp?) is still around. My final 3 as of now. Carrie Underwood Anwar Robinson Scott Sabol (my upset pick)

At EastCoaster, it was mentioned that if funds and time were available, then the Villian "might" get a little TLC. Don't hold your breath for the complete retracking though. Also, while the park did purchase G-trains for the "Bobs", they do look a little different. The train already the "Bobs" has that little rounded front while the "Legend" cars are of the "more boxed looking" variety. // Still sad that this park doesn't have any PTCs running.

I too, really like Grizzley. Thought it was overrated until I took my first night ride. One of my favorite tunnels ever.

But, you still have that beautiful arrangement of scaffolding all the way around the mountain. I have always thought that this ride looks like it is always under construction. Still. A great ride. Since the Racer, Beast, Son of Beast, Minebuster, Wilde Beast, and nearly every other Paramount Woodie also do this, we shall now refer to this action as the "Paramount Bounce" (ala Dinn Shuffle).

No. How hard is it. Do you know how to drive a standard?

^ I enjoy most of the coaster shows, but really prefer the documentary style ones. Especially the Rick Sebak documentaries (Great Amusement Parks and Kennywood Memories). My biggest problem with the show is that I see a new title and get a little pumped up and then it is the same footage rehashed over and over. If I hear that one guy going "aaaaaaaaaaagh" on Goliath one more time, I am going to scream.

^ From a scientific approach, your guess has merit.

Leap the Dips (Altoona) // Gotta live up to my reputation

Shouldn't be a problem. Make sure you get at least 10 laps on Hangman and Boomerang. Let us know how good ol "Cheeta" is running.

That is unacceptable. If you are "preserving" coasters, then why the hell would you cannabalize the damn things. This makes me very angry.

^ Actually, your to blame for that CD. I used to listen to it all the time and kind of fell out of it. Then I watched your video for HHN and I am hooked again. // I love New York City ... oh yeah, New York City

Die-hard MythBusters fan here and the toy track one was great. Too bad they couldn't find good enough conditions to actually test the entire quarter-mile. It would have been hilarious to see how fast the car actually got going. // Still waiting on the "wood coasters are faster at night" myth. (Confirmed)

I am here. I entered the Random area, and my "smartass"-sense went off immediately. Currently listening to: Andrew WK - I get wet Anthrax - State of Euphoria Ricky Skaggs - Bluegrass Rules Mariachi Cobre Rush - Distance Under Pressure Sonic Youth - Dirty Black Sabbath - Mob Rules

But do they count gravity-driven pretzel dark rides? // I am truly the most creative credit whore

This is the one area where SFMM definately wins. SFMM has 3 great B&M's and Knotts has one weak one. Edge ... SFMM. Other than that, I would probably prefer Knotts. I enjoy rides like the Calico, Flume, and Train and SFMM offers none of these. Also, I'll take a flatspin, claw, and S&S tower over a round-up, musik express, and 1st gen Intamin fall anyday. Edge .... Knotts.

You will have to transfer at the TTC. The Epcot monorail only stops at Epcot and the TTC. Yes, with very few exceptions No idea. Check one the following sites, closer to your visit. http://www.intercot.com http://www.wdwmagic.com

June is a different story. Most of the schools are out, and the crowds pick up a little bit. During mid-week it should be managable due to CP's excellent operations (most of the time), but I would recommend staying onsite and getting in early. Especially traveling from such distances. It is still much, much better than visiting in July and August.

^ Planning on getting a hang-over this year.

I am a Discovery/PBS Junkie ... especially MythBusters, but I do watch a couple shows too: Vegas American Idol Law and Order // Living in hell since DirecTV dropped TRIO

^ LMAO. A statue! That is the best description I have heard yet.

Warning: Please forgive my excessive ramblings. These TRs are long, but that is just the way I do it. You can find these reports along with some photos at: http://www.coasterfanatics.com. Sunday 3-13-05 Nothing like doing things at the last moment. After finding out that tickets would not be sold at the gate for the RideWorld event at Six Flags Magic Mountain, we purchased our season passes at Ralph's in Buena Park Saturday Night. This will mark the first time that I got a season pass at a grocery store. Sunday morning, the last day of this hectic trip, was upon us and by now we are completely exhausted, sore, and weak. This is the perfect combination for spending a day with the most aggressive rides of the trip. We met Paul in the lobby, grabbed some coffee and found our way up 5 to arrive at Magic Mountain with about 15 minutes to spare before the gates opened. Unlike last year, X is already testing with two trains and looks like it will be ready for us as soon as we get there. Last year, I took about a half-dozen rides on X, but with the way I am feeling at this point, I really don't see that happening again. The gates open and most of the group starts walking over to X, with a small percentage instead turning right to ride Goliath. After the hike halfway up the mountain, we are now standing in the X station and waiting to board the next train. Being the kind guy that I am, I promised Catrina that I would give her the inside seat and brave the vibrations of the outside. We load into the train and start up the lift. It is a little drizzly out and not the most beautiful morning, but the opportunity to ride this ride with no wait is more than I can resist. At the top of the lift we go over the small dip before plunging straight down at the ground. My seat is shaking pretty well by this point, and I am now wishing that my body was not as tender as it was. After 4 days of constant riding, by body is now giving me the middle finger as we go through the first raven turn. By the half-half, I feel like Rocky Balboa is jabbing me in the ribs. By now, I am starting to get used to the abuse, but then came the final raven turn. The last raven turn folded my body and made me wish for a brake run. My wish came true as we slowed down to enter the station. No X rerides for me today, so we headed over to Riddlers Revenge. Revenge was also running two trains and actually spitting them out at a pretty good pace. When we get to the station, we find out why. There is nobody here. We walk straight up to the train and board the first two rows. Revenge is a great stand-up. Not only is it bigger than the rest but it also negotiates the elements with the slightest of ease. I am most impressed with the two flat spins, but the ride has many other great elements. After Riddler, we decided to sit on a bench and take a little break. The trip is really starting to catch up with us, and we have plenty of time to make it to Goliath before the park opens. After catching our breath and recomposing ourselves, we walked down to Goliath, where the lines were not much different than those of Riddlers Revenge. I am starting to think the most of the two hours of our ERT was actually EWT (Exclusive Walking Time) due to the expansive layout of the park. Goliath was running great, and was probably Catrina's favorite of the whole trip. For me, it was better than I remembered. The trains moved very good through the layout with the exception of a short section after the mid-course brake run. In the area, the train almost comes to a stop and then slowly banks into the helix section. It is especially odd if you are in the left seat, as you stare straight down at the ground while slowly coasting down the hill. By the time we rode Goliath the park is starting to open to the public and we all decided that now would probably be the best time to get a ride on Superman. Since, Superman was closed last year; I was looking forward to finally getting a ride on it. We hiked up the hill and stuck around for a little bit to get a few rides. I rode it about 4 times, and while it is a great ride, it is not really as good as I had anticipated. The launch is not very intense and the float time at the top was not as dramatic as you would think. I forgot to bring a banana, so I couldn't tell you the exact amount of zero-g time is experienced at the top. We started walking back towards the entrance to see if we would have enough time to process our passes before we all met up for lunch. On the way there, we started to notice that pretty decent lines were already starting to develop for Viper and X. Looks like the park will not be as dead as we had anticipated. Near the entrance, we make a stop to get our stuff out of the lockers we put them into before the morning ERT. As we locate our locker, we notice something a little strange. The door is standing wide open and the locker is completely empty. My pulse is getting faster and my chest is tightening as I realize that between Paul and I, we have about $2000 worth of video equipment that just mysteriously disappeared. We walked over to the counter to consult with the locker attendant. He notified us that they did a "sweep" of the lockers and our stuff can be found at Guest Relations. We walk down to guest relations and after the lady asked us a couple questions to identify us, we got our stuff back. As the lady is handing Paul his wallet, she says, "All the money is still in there". She proceeds to take all the cash out of his wallet and goes, "20, 40, 80, 100, 120, 140, 150, 160, 180 and 20 dollars Canadian". his eyes are popping out of his head as he now realizes that all 30 people waiting at the table now know that he is walking around with $200 cash in his pocket. We are all pretty amazed with this, and I am starting to get really tempted to yell to the crowd, that "He is heading to the Mooseburger, if anyone cares to mug him." The public display of Paul's riches was now over and we started walking over to the Mooseburger Lodge to meet Chris and Natalie for lunch. The doors haven't opened yet, so we wait around for a little bit and are joined by a couple other RideWorld members. After a short wait, we got our table and Catrina and I both got the buffet. For the price, you really can't beat this place. It is the best food at Magic Mountain. After lunch we walked around and got rides on Scream, Batman, and a couple others before we made our way to the parking lot to leave for the day. When we got to the car, I noticed something bad. I had no keys to the car. It seems that the lady from Guest Relations had taken my car keys and put them in Paul’s bag. Since we left Paul about an hour ago and the park was crowded, I really had no idea how we were going to find him. I tried giving his cell a call, but no answer. Realizing that having the keys might make our trip back to Buena Park a little easier, we took the tram back to the park to locate Paul. Catrina was pretty tired, so asked her if she wanted to grab a seat on the bench while I walked around the park looking for Paul. She had no problem with that, so she grabbed a bench in the front of the park while I started my search. I started at Revolution and quickly walked all the way around the out side of the park until i reached Batman. The whole time I did this, I would call Paul about every 5 minutes or so. Finally, by the time I reached Batman, Paul answered the phone. He was back where I started, so I got to walk all the way back to Revolution where he was waiting with my keys in hand. If he hadn't answered the phone, I would have most likely passed out from walking up and down the hills in the back of the park. With keys in hand, we are now ready to head back to the hotel. Along the way, we drove through Hollywood, Sunset Strip, and Beverly Hills before making our way down Santa Monica Blvd to get back on the highway. It is a good bit out of the way, but it is a pretty cool drive if you have never seen the sites. Once back at the hotel, we tore into the Quizno’s that we picked up across the street. I took a quick nap and then met Paul down in the hotel bar for a couple beers. We kind of reflected back on the weekend and then said our goodbyes till next time. With a little bit of alcohol in the system, I took the elevator back to the room and promptly went to bed. The trip was at an end, and while I had a lot of fun, it wasn't a moment too soon. Unless I get ambitious and decide to make the trip to Northern California, next year looks like a 2 day trip with stops at Solace and Bash. Either way, it was great to catch up with familiar faces and meeting some new ones. Just remember, the season is just starting, and could there be any better way to get it going?

Warning: Please forgive my excessive ramblings. These TRs are long, but that is just the way I do it. You can find these reports along with some photos at: http://www.coasterfanatics.com. Saturday 3-12-05 (Solace) Walking over to Knotts the following morning, I was pleased to see that the season pass processing center was open for business before 7am. This allowed us to get our passes before we went into the morning ERT. The passes were a great deal for us, because we visit Cedar Point often, but also live very close to Geauga Lake. This will allow us to visit both parks without having to pay the upgrade required with both the Geauga and Cedar Point passes. After picking up our packets we headed in for the morning ERT sessions. We did Jaguar and Montezuma before meeting up with Chris, Natalie, and Paul for the 8am Xcelerator ERT. As was the case last year, Xcelerator was only running one train and the line was a little lengthy for ERT, but still worth it. This ride is without a doubt, the best ride in the park. If Ghost Rider ran at its peak, it would give it some competition, but as it is right now ... no contest. We rode Xcelerator several times and ever waited for the front row on one ride before giving the Boomerang a courtesy ride. Once the gates opened to the general public, we grabbed a bite to eat and then met back up to the flume before the line got too bad. The flume at Knott's may very well be the best flume out there as far as the total ride experience goes. Sure, Dudley and Splash Mountain are great, but do they move down the trough with the momentum of Knotts' flume. The highlight of the ride has to be the drop in the dark, but I love the whole thing. A fun ride from start to finish. After the flume, Paul and I grabbed a ride on the Screaming Swing. I don't normally do the whole up charge thing, but they offered it at half price for Solace attendees so I figured, "What the heck". While it is true that the swing does not offer a very intense ride, it sure is a lot of fun. the only downside is the short ride cycles. With a little bit of modification, this ride could be one hell of a thrill. I can't wait to see the version that Kennywood is in line to receive in 2 years. The park was starting to fill up, so we headed over to Disneyland for the third day of our 3 day parkhopper. If we thought that Knotts was crowded, we had no idea what was in store for us at Disneyland. After making our way through the lines at the gate, we headed to the Matterhorn and got the opposite side of the one we rode just 2 days earlier. It was only about a 20 minute wait, but this would prove to be the shortest one there. We walked back to Toontown because Catrina wanted to ride the Car toon spin, but the standby was 80 minutes and they were all out of fastpasses. Well, I guess there is always next time. Since Disneyland looked pretty bad, we figured we would try our luck across the street at California Adventure. Things at California Adventure were not much different than Disneyland, but it was a little bit easier to walk around. We headed back to Paradise Pier and took in the sights. This part of the park looks absolutely gorgeous at night and the lights almost force your brain into a sensory overload. The Orange Stinger and Zephyr are two of the best looking parts with bright lights adorning every part of their structures. We walked back and checked the wait for California Screaming and it was 80 minutes. Since the ride was fun, but not unforgettable, we decided to instead ride the carousel next door and them head over to Mullholland Madness. The queue was pretty full for Mullholland, but I noticed that they had a single rider line, so I asked Catrina if she would mind riding alone. She said that was fine, so we headed up to the exit and got our rides in less than 5 minutes. Mullholland is a fun little mouse and flies through the turns with the greatest ease. Most of the first half is completely brakeless and it really starts to pick up some steam before the first trims come in. It might not be the best mouse ride out there, but it is certainly among them. After Mullholland, we just strolled around a little bit before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the evening ERTs at Knotts. It felt really good to relax for a little bit. So good, that I actually fell asleep and almost missed the evening ERT altogether. Not a good idea seeing as how I haven't even had a chance to ride Silver Bullet yet. Luckily enough, Catrina woke me up with about 5 minutes to spare, so we grabbed our coats (hey ... it was cold outside) and headed to Knotts for the evening ERT. First ride was on Silver Bullet. The trains were only running about half-full so it was a pretty safe assumption that everybody opted to start the ERT with Ghost Rider rides. We climbed aboard Silver Bullet and started up the lift hill. I had been hearing mixed reviews from everybody about how good or bad Silver Bullet was. I really wanted the ride to be good, but it just failed to deliver. The first drop has no angle or intensity and rest of the ride contains very drawn elements that produce almost no force at all. The only part of the ride that really grabbed my attention a little bit was the quick helix up at the end, but it still didn't make up for the rest of the ride. At least I hadn't built it up too much, so it wasn't a case of anticipointment. Only disappointment.