CoasterFanatic

I remember when you posted those photos. That was just some unfermented yeast from where the beer sat for a while. I have drank plenty of Bell's and never noticed any more sediment than usual. I HIGHLY recommend Bell's 2 Hearted Ale!

Not that it makes any difference (I have also heard the rumors for years), but I have heard from a fairly trustworthy source that it will bite the dust this year. The difference is I heard new Orangatan exhibit. I guess we will have to wait and see who is right. // Dibs on Orangatan Exhibit

Does this answer your question?

OK. Since we have been to Ohio the last three weekends, I figured that I would spice things up this weekend and offer a little change of pace. That's right ... this weekend we are going ... BACK TO OHIO! In probably one of my worst "credit-whore" inspired trips, we are heading to Wyandot, Kings Island, Wonderpark and Strickers Grove. All in the course of about 24 hours! Enjoy the photos and be sure to leave your comments. We left Weirton about "noonish" on Saturday and headed to Columbus where are first stop would be Wyandot Lake. I figured with the parks sale completing at the end of the year that it would be best to check this one just in case. We paid the $3 parking (remember this is a Six Flags park) and headed to the gate where we were greeted with this sign. The Midway. Wyandot is a fairly small park that was acquired by Six Flags as part of the Funtime Parks (Geauga, Darien, etc) acquisition. I don't think that ever really knew what to do with it. As usual, if there is a waterpark anywhere we go, you better believe that it is PACKED! The waterpark, however, is not why we came here. The Sea Dragon was the biggest motivating factor. The Sea Dragon is a John Allen/PTC Junior woodie. It also has the distiction of being one of those "Classics" due to it's old school operation. As you can see in this photograph, it is still operated by hand and features single-position "buzz" bars. The brakeman hard at work. The first drop. Drop Number Two. The Sea Dragon, like most of the other Allen Juniors, was a very fun ride but it did have a little of a noise "bangy" streak. The park also has a nice little 1914 Mangels Carousel that was originally at Olentangy Park in Columbus. This "Mangles" machine features a full set of wood horses. After grabbing some food around Columbus, our next stop was Kings Island. Catrina and I aren't really big fans of this park anymore, but we did want to stop by and get a ride on Italian Job. Neither of us has yet to ride one. Oh Bloody Hell! To their credit, the line was very well organized and I did not see one "jumper" the whole time. We waited the full queue, but still managed to get on in about 40-45 minutes. Kudos to the great crew! They were running this thing about as good as you can. While in line, you can see most of IJ's layout. The coaster features a launch right out of the station into this triple helix. I know that the park has been taking some heat for the lackluster effects, but apart from sound problems in the car, the ride seemed to being running as designed. As you approach the station, you walk right by the big finale. "Almost there ... Stay on target!" In the end, the ride was worth the stop. I thought for a "Family" oriented ride, IJ really fills the niche. It is a lot of fun and the whole family can truly enjoy it together. After getting a ride on IJ, we stopped for some Blueberry soft serve. Enjoy this horrid self-portrait of "Zombie Ted" consuming some ice cream. Catrina opted for a more balanced attack. Before leaving, I was going to try getting some night photos around the park, but like most themers, the light packages are not much to talk about. I did manage to get a few though. Drop Zone Paramount Theater Time to call it a night, so we headed to the hotel. Trip Tip: If you want to avoid the families and screaming babies, be sure to book a "business" room far away from the park Rise and shine Sunday morning. It is now time for our next stop. Wonderpark ... You will never find a more wretched hive of credit whores and villainy. We must be cautious. "OK. At least Williams Grove was a park, Ted! What the hell is this?" "This is Boa Squeeze ... and we are going to ride it dammit!" Check out that massive piece of Miler goodness! On the way out, we posed for a shot with the massive Pac-Man statue. POUND IT! We had a little of time to kill before our next stop, so we check out the Cincinnati Mills mall for while. The mall itself was pretty nice, but it really looks more like it belongs in Florida or something. This big piece of "Sprawl" heaven also houses a Bass Pro Shops store. Complete with giant fake rock sculpture and aquarium. Good to see that the old Pink Floyd stage designers are still getting some gigs these days. Our next stop was to get some credits so special that they are only possible on two days of the year. Unforunately, the parks website uses the owners residence as the parks address. So before we headed out to the park, we paid a little visit to Casa Strickers! Pretty nice digs. The corporate picnic park concept must work pretty well. (Please someone else tell me that I am not the only person that has knocked on the front door to get directions) OK. Now at the park and we need to find the bathroom. The sign on the side of this building suggests that we just walk out in the field. In all seriousness, the Mens Bathroom at Strickers was top notch and featured the same hi-tech urinals you can find at Indiana's finest theme park. Free Pop Rules! As you enter the rides area, you are greeted by this Hershell Carousel. Complete with operating band organ. Detail Detail We actually still managed to make it to the park a little before the rides opened, so we passed the time with some Skee Ball. I managed to get enough tickets to purchase a couple of keychains complete with the park's "real" address on them. The first ride of the day was the park's Junior woodie, Teddy Bear. This ride was built by Mr. Stricker in 1996 using the plans of a similar ride at Coney Island. The Teddy Bear trains rockets back to the station. Ha Ha. Get it. It isn't a very tall coaster, but it is a LOT of fun ... and also much much smoother than it's distant Wyandot cousin. The turnaround. First drop. Strickers is littered with a bunch of classic flat rides. I am guessing that most were picked up from auctions or similar. Strickers is also home to one of my personal favorites, Bisch Rocco Flyers! The trees around the ride were cut less often than needed. This made for some very interesting collisions every now and then. Flying high against the cornfield backdrop. Strickers features not one, but two classic wooden coasters. The Tornado packs a little more punch than it's smaller neighbor. In the foreground of this shot, you can see the parks latest acquisition ... A Hrubetz Round-Up waiting to be installed. Like most of the other rides in the park, the Tornado also has a great view of the cornfields A photo of Catrina and I before our ride (Thank you to the Mrs. Operator dude for the photo) Lifthill First Drop Time to eat! We headed towards the front of the park, where the bar-b-que was in full effect. We grabbed 1 Hot Dog, 1 Brat, Potato Salad, Chips, Roasted Corn and a couple drinks. Total damages .... $4.75! Strickers is also home to a classic Eli wheel. I think this pic brings a whole new spin on the "through the trees" caption. Hrubetz Tip Top Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl Our last ride of the evening would be on the CP Huntington train. Over the years, I have seen quite a few of these, but never have I seen an engine nearly as clean as this particular one. It looked brand-spankin new. Well. Our weekend has come to an end and it is now time for us to drive across "scenic" Ohio. And remember kids .... "HELL IS REAL"! Thanks for reading!

I absolutely love German Fair Photos. Especially those taken at night! Thanks for the fix. // what the world needs is MORE twisted Mondail rides

I have had my 4th Gen since it came out (around 2 years) and it works as good as the first day I had it.

Dunno the name, but it is inside the Hershey Hotel (a 5 Star resort). Expect to open your wallet if you eat there.

Paul. Don't feel bad. It was running on my only visit to the park too and I still didn't ride it. Of course, it was also in the 50s that day. At least we have Stormforce! I find it funny that the rides that SF decides to close are the water rides on days where the heat is staggering.

You might want to change the title to something that actually describes your trip. People don't like clicking on "Mystery Meat"

Not much of a rumor. Six Flags posted it in a news release a couple days ago. There are some other rides listed at various parks but none of them are much of a surprise. Basically, if a ride takes more than four or five people to operate (Rapids, etc) don't count on it being open at their marginally successful parks.

^ You may want to knock the compression up a little bit. They refer to it as "Quality" in most programs. You should easily be able to fill the screen with a 150K JPEG image.

I personally like how he went through all the trouble to "blur out" my address in the first picture

Nice TR. I have one of those ducks somewhere. I think it is the Santa Claus one. Anyway, here is more information for Robb: www.celebriducks.com My Personal Favorites are Jesus and Frankenfurter ... and lets not forget Soul Brother Number 1 ... or Mr T ... or Snopp Dog

They are still available.

A letter for me. I am so excited! // if I don't post again it can only mean that Joe sent me Anthrax

Like most people have said, try to get TTC and Millennium Force in the morning. You may also find some reasonable waits on them in the early evening (6pm or so) but don't count on it. Mantis can be a nightmare if you catch it at the wrong time. If you see a short line ... get on it. I am not one of those "Ride Raptor Early" people. I would suggest waiting until mid to late afternoon. People tend to fill the queues early because of it's location close to the main gate. For food, I would recommend a sit down joint. You won't spend much more money and it will be a nice break. Famous Daves and Macaronis would be my suggestions. I have NEVER gotten a good meal at the TGIFridays in the Breakers. Hope this was of some assistance. I am not the best person to ask about this mostly because I rarely visit the park in June, July and August.

Good luck! // none of them count till they get on their first wood coaster

Wow. How could I forget some of these. I defeinately concur on the following: Knott's Fried Chicken Cedar Point HUUUUUUGE Elephant Ears (They got them at Geauga now too!) and anything at the Epcot Food and Wine Fest Also, If you ever get the chance to swing by DelGrossos during the Italian Fest ... do it!

Kennywood has the absolute best fries. Dollywood has the absolute best Philly Cheese Steak. If you go to Knoebels park, you HAVE to try their: Tri Taters Pierogies Baked Potatoes Birch Beer Pizza etc. My favorite "theme park restaurant" is Rainforest Cafe.

^ Depends on how it is setup. You can set it to rename your files and then it isn't a problem. You might to try installing this. If this program works and communicates with your iPod, then the problem is iTunes. www.ephpod.com/

If Six Flags fails and goes completely belly up it would be like the nerdy kid leaving your school. Who are you going to pick on now? // Cedar Fair is the new Six Flags. That's Right! I said it!

1) Remove iTunes 2) Right click on my Computer and open Device Manager 3) Remove all USB drivers and then restart (Comp should reinstall on boot) 4) Reinstall iTunes That would be the first thing I would try

^ If they sell the company (not quite sure how they would sell it) the same problems will still exist. I don't think there is a company out there that can rescue the chain in it's current state. Some parks just have to go. Sure, some will be fall into the Defunct category (SFMM ), but many of the other parks will benefit from their new owners. If Kennywood was to pick up a park like Darien or Herschend purchased SFEG only good things could come of it. // BTW, there is no reason to scream all the time. Posts in all bold are not proper Internet etiquette.

^ This is what i have been saying for a while now. These park sales aren't neccesarily a bad thing.

I have to give them some credit. At least they updated their online calendar and listed the rides affected as "closed for renovation". www.sixflags.com/parks/darienlake/Rides/list.html Now with Photoshop goodness. The moose says you're closed ... but I say you're open!