willh51

Yep, that was me acting foolish! I actually had to crop people out of several of the pictures (I missed a hand in one of those). Not enough real estate for us to get that shot!

East Coast Bash was amazing. Thanks again to Robb and Kings Dominion for putting this on. It was my first enthusiast event, and my friend and I had a blast! I enjoyed meeting a lot of you guys, especially the UNC fans. ERT/backstage tour/Q&A/games/food = all great. Thanks also to all the park staff and management who were there, especially John Pagel, who is a cool guy and was nice enough to chat with me for a few minutes. I've written about Kings Dominion before so I didn't want to do a trip report, but I'll at least comment on... INTIMIDATOR 305! The height, the twisties, the controversy! Intimidator 305 is big and it is incredible. I wasn't sure what to expect, but Intamin delivered yet another winner. I305 definitely pulls some Geeeeeeez, and I even saw stars a couple of times. There's nothing like coming back into the station with tingling legs. Whipping through the twister section was my favorite part, especially the one right before the return camelbacks. I thought the ride was incredibly smooth and, although wild, the "throws" into the turns were never painful. This might have something to do with the restraints, which are great. They fit a wide variety of body types and are really comfortable. The lift was a lot faster and steeper than I'd imagined, too. Both trains were running after noon, and the ride seemed to be running really well. The view from the front is great and the back is fun, but the middle actually seemed the most intense. Maybe that's just because I got to keep riding there during ERT? I haven't quite decided, but I think that I305 is my new #3 (right behind Bizarro at SFNE and Maverick and right in front of Millennium Force). And I have to say it at least once more...how the hell did we get a giga at KD?!? The morning began with ERT on Dominator! This sort of puts in perspective how big that loop is. Wooo. Golden rays from above. This was funny. It's der new Dale Sr. coaster. Oooooh tall. For the cable lift. The silver train liked to trick riders by flashing one of the buttons too slowly. Apparently KD's landscaping department works incredibly hard. There are only four of them! Don't be stupid or we are moving 305 to Great America. Attempting to unscrew this falls into the "stupid" I warned you about. Who is this jackass in my photo? Intamin's new levitating track design. What g's? TPR exclusive angle. This apparently has something to do with the ride. Pronto. Sexy wheels.

Looking forward to meeting some of you guys tomorrow! And don't worry about the weather, 30% chance of storms is the norm here in the summer.

I guess I was just lucky because I've walked on Volcano during at least two visits. Usually early summer during the week. I went with some friends last season and although Volcano had a long line early in the day, I was able to stay on for three consecutive rides (after walking-on initially) at about 4 p.m. I also walked on during a fall weekend and right after a breakdown (doesn't really count).

Heide Park looks great. Does Colossus have the kind of ejector air that Balder and El Toro have? I completely forgot Desert Race was at that park. For some reason I thought it was in Spain, but I guess that's Baco.

1. Mega-lite 2. GCI 3. B&M invert 4. Fire and lazers Please.

Signed up for myself and a friend. My first TPR event and probably first time on Intimidator at the rate I'm going. I'm really excited!

Kemah reminds me of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. I bet BB would flourish with some Timberliners.

Couldn't they fix everything over an off-season if they were given enough resources? I guess employee hiring and training might be more difficult.

Great pictures. I especially like the first Prowler one where you see the two bumps and the train is coming over the first one. I had no idea WOF was such a pretty park. From one of the Mamba pics it seems they are like Dorney and refuse to run 3 trains on the Morgan Hypercoaster.

Any update on this? I'm sure they'll get a second train. I just assumed they scrapped the body, which they've done before I believe (unless they just repainted one).

Running it at full speed could be an enthusiast-event exclusive! I really hope they don't paint it purple, but any updates Six Flags is willing to pay for are nice. I've never been to SFMM, unfortunately, but at this point have they been running only one side period or just one side at a time? I thought at one point one side just didn't work and they took forever to fix it. I remember when this ride first opened and was the subject of several TV specials (a side note...why doesn't Discovery do those great coaster shows anymore?) and I remember thinking how 100mph sounded insane. 13 years later, it's still pretty respectable.

Wow that looks intense. The track looks really strange to me now because there are no handrails. But, are there even going to be since the track is steel?

I was annoyed by that article. The situation is awful for the woman who was killed and her family, but news outlets should not write articles that encourage people to post comments like "When I was there the ride was stopped for 10 minutes while they 'fixed' it." I could see a ride-op joking that a rider "might fall out." I'm pretty sure it happened to me at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. Then again, maybe I'm just too cynical to believe a child knows what she's talking about.

For some reason I first thought, oh I didn't know Geauga was open in the 1970s. But then I saw X-Flight. What a difference film makes! My pictures from parks in the 1990s/early 2000s were normally on those Kodak disposables and they look so old.

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but do the Tornado trains glow in the dark? It would be awesome if they "recharged" in the sun all day and then glowed at night with that insane paint.

Apparently it scares the crap out of you. I can barely handle a standard Waveswinger.

I hope you have a great time on your trip, and I'm sure you will. On a semi-unrelated note, have any of you guys heard BGW's commercials talking about "Carolina?" They could not be more annoying. First of all, stop calling it Carolina. I assume they are using this same commercial to market in North Carolina and South Carolina, but no one says "Carolina does X." Carolina is at best an adjective, not noun when used alone. I could live with "The Carolinas go to Williamsburg." Also annoying are the "interviews" with people in line for the rides. "OMG I love Griffon, my mommy let me ride it twice." I'd expect such nonsense in Myrtle Beach but c'mon BGW.

If anything, some of the newer B&Ms are actually rougher. SFNE's Batman and Dorney's Hydra have much more rattle than Great Adventure's Bizarro or Sea World's Kraken. And Raptor was smooth as glass last summer. And maybe it's just me, but B&M's standard restraint is pretty much amazing as far as an OTSR goes. Though the ones they use on the flyers are pretty good, too. Vekoma's Battlestar Galactica seemed to be pretty good before it imploded.

Did I forget a ?

That looks pretty cool, and, since we haven't seen much in the way of new stuff from B&M since 2002, a welcome announcement. Even if the seats don't spin, it would seem that this style train could be used to great effect with some near-misses on a highly themed ride. If I had to wager, this won't be launched since B&M didn't even design the Hulk launch system. I am, however, pretty excited about what B&M will do with this. I can imagine a glass smooth (or Hydra-rattly) ride with rotating seats gliding through some nice big Immelmans. It's been awhile since Carowinds and Kings Dominion got a new ride, I'd say we'll take one.

What a difference a few coats of paint can make. All those rides look great. It's nice to see the park thriving under its post-Six Flags owners.

Nice pictures. I feel like Cedar Fair doesn't really want to invest too much in Great America since it's future is uncertain. I went when Stealth was still there and the ride formerly known as Top Gun was really great. Invertigo, Demon, Vortex and Stealth were solid but they'd gotten rid of the shuttle loop and nothing was really outstanding. They need a signature ride, like a B&M or Intamin megacoaster.

Excellent photos. Storm Runner is amazing and could really use a paint job.

Uh-oh "Very Fast!!!" has three exclamation points but I clocked the ride as only having two... That's amusing that they changed the sign and I'd bet a dollar or two that it's the park's lighthearted way of getting back at some of the whiners. It's a shame Grizzly wasn't running up to par. I haven't ridden this season but it was great last year, especially in the areas where they did some retracking.