Philrad71

This is like the NHL teams south of Ohio having cheerleaders at hockey games!!! "Put those hands up in the air Wave them like you just don't care, Roller coasters that's our game, Come to Six Flags, we're not lame! Who loves coasters? WOOOOOH HOOOO...YAY COASTERS!!!"

Maybe it was because 'America's Rockin' Roller Coast' was already taken??

Actually, funny that you should mention that! Not sure if we were at Mack's pizza or not, but we did have a slice of pizza and a beer on the boardwalk...just can't remember the name of the place. It was on the same side as Morey's Pier and very close to the entrance. Interesting lunch as we were able to watch what amounted to a live episode of 'Cops' play out right before our very eyes! Two Mack-Daddy wannabe's (you know - teens in the wife beater t-shirts, balloon pants and pantyhose on their heads) got busted for something out on the boardwalk and the whole search/arrest happened right in front of us...like ten feet away! While we munched our pizza and drank our beer, these three guys got basically strip searched for doing something that they should not have been doing. My thought was that they got caught stealing merchandise from one of the souvenier shops. Two were released, (as they looked to be minors) and the older one was hauled away. I felt so ghetto and tough knowing that we were up and representin' in the rough neighborhood known as Wildwood Beach and Morey's Pier!!

Thanks for the comments! I would say it would depend on how avid of an animal fan you are. It took us about an hour to get through it all, but we were stopping frequently and taking pictures out the window. I would say that an hour would give you plenty of time to see everything and get plenty of pictures.

Awww man! I knew that there were more dark, hidden secrets about the Hummel Boy that I did not know! Maybe if we all took up a TPR collection to restore him to his former self??? Did he talk too??

This past Labor Day in a random, "what could we do this weekend" we all decided it would be cool to head down to Hersheypark for a couple of days. Rather than this coaster nerd suggesting the trip, my sister and her husband actually ended up there on Thursday after a random drive through Pennsylvania. They told us that the place was really cool and suggested that we all come down and meet them. Because I had to work on Friday, Michael and I drove down after work and met them, (as well as my father) at the Hershey High Meadows campground. We all went in the park on Saturday and then my Dad, Michael, and I went back to the park for more coaster action on Sunday. I really enjoyed this park and would also rank it right up there near the top with BGE. Good selection of rides and coasters for everyone and the place was well kept and friendly (except for the damned Claw - see below). A good enough experience in which I am looking very forward to my next visit and can't wait to get some Fahrenheit action! Now...forward to BrownTown! Two great tastes that taste great together! Thank you Reeses boy, your park thrilled me, spilled me, chilled me, fulfilled me, and even drilled me! I am leaving Brown Town a very happy man! Wheeeee! Storm Runner, you are more than a one-trick pony! You have three tricks up your sleeve...you sly lil' mare, you! Me and my Dad getting ready to launch on Storm Runner. This is Dad's first launched coaster, other than the old 'Zoomerang' (or whatever is was called) down at Boardwalk and Baseball. I think that he might have been cussin' when this pic was taken! Perhaps getting tamed by a hot Whip can settle me down? Bad WildCat! How dare you hurt my back when there is no self medication (beer) available in the park! Eeeek...my back hurteth! That cat done twisted my back like a Twizzler! Michael (in red) was the only one brave enough to handle getting drenched on the boat ride overpass. It was a good day to get wet as temps were well in the eighties. Yay Claw!! I had never been on one of these before and other than the ridicuously poor dispatch of the ride attendants, it was an awesome ride! Definitely the WORST ride attendants EVER though! I was literally twitching in my seat when I saw Storm Runner! First ride was the Hershey Kiss Tower. Great Bear, SuperDooperLooper and Comet lie below. These geese were hoping to sail Brown Bay to Chocolate Town. After the long flight, they were disappointed, but were content with the field corn that kids were hucking at them. Good ole' Milton would probably roll over in his grave if he ever knew that Hershey was outsourcing his jobs outside of Pennsylvania and the US!!! People were picketing at the Interstate exits and I had received E-mails telling me to ban the brown! Horrors! Hey wait...I remember this! Where is the Tudor style Dippin' Dots??? This reminds me of another park that I went to earlier this year! 100 years of chocolatey brown goodness! Congrats! The pools weren't gettin' much action this morning. After a night of partying like rock stars, sis, bro, and I get ready for the bus trip to the park. I need to slather me on some PABA so I don't get sizzled in the sun. Our campsite. Note that this time, we are only about 1,000 yards from the train track and not ten feet like in Williamsburg!

It actually did look like a good coaster and I really was going to ride it, but it seemed like it was down more than it was up. Perhaps there just weren't enough people riding it to run? I know, I know...still no excuse for passing up a good credit, right? So, if I go again...what seat would you recommend?? I won't miss it twice!

Ahhh...I should have known that guessing about the 'Lightnin Loops' track would get me in trouble! Guess it was a good thing that I didn't name the caption, "Lightnin' Poops" because the monkeys had crapped all over it! I figured that might be a little too low class and tasteless...

Continuing on...we visited BGE last year while visiting Michael's son, daughter, and grandkids. His grandson rode his first ride at age three! We decided to visit on Memorial Day in hopes that the weekend crowds would all be gone. While it looked bad in the morning, it really wasn't bad at all. We waited about a thirty to forty minutes for Griffon, which for being the new ride was not too shabby. Other coasters were about fifteen/twenty minutes - tops. I think this is one of my all-time favorite theme parks. Beautifully landscaped and themed, very clean and decent food. Only downfall was that they only served Busch beer products! But when it is ninety degrees, all of a sudden it doesn't taste too bad! Oh well, on with the show! Back to the Anvil for another night of those wonderful, jack hammering trains!!! Hey...Grogan's must have real beer! Harp? Killians? Smithwicks? Damn...not Bud again!!! C'mon...I wanna real beer !!! Aye, aye, aye...the Blarney Stone brings a tear to me eye! They say this one goes down 90 degrees. I can vouch for the claim. It also plunges you through a lovely wisp of water too...a lot of people "ooh and ahh" over this one. Remember those interlocking loops I was talking about? BAM! You can almost see the lovely coiling, serpentinian loopiness! The mighty Griffon lurks in the background... Alpengeist...no caption needed! Once in a lifetime shot...me with a Bud in my hands! Hey, it was 90 degrees, cut me some slack! Please, let us run away and be together forever, Hummel Boy... where no one will persecute us for being born different!! We can sing and dance together in harmony for ever and ever! All I can say, is that my life is pretty plain... Swamp ridden Arrow goodness! Did you know this was one of the first interlocking loopers? You did? Then you must have peeked into Shane's closet!!! Once this spooky serpent gets you in it's lair, there is no turning back!! Bwah-ha-ha!!! Beware the Loch Ness Monster!!!! Best element on an Arrow suspended coaster...ever! Maybe even the only good element on any of them?? Woo-Hoo! No captions needed. My BF already labeled this one! Apollo's Chariot signage for all you coaster sign fetishists out there. First stop...Live at Pompeii! No wait, that's Pink Floyd. How about Escape from Pompeii?? Hot, then kewl. A very dark, dank, and wet ride. Splendid! Mmmmmm...Tudor-style Dippin' Dots! The crowds don't look too bad??? Actually, they weren't...this was just the mad rush at opening time. Longest wait of the day was getting through the front gate. Despite thundering trains passing us by all frigging night, we finally arrive at BGE...a little weary and tired, but ready for action! Anvil campground - our heavenly homestead...with some close neighbors.

Hi folks, Being that a lot of us are in the doldrums of winter, I decided to pull out some old photos's from our theme park trips of the past two years. I will try to keep them basic and to the point and throw in my odd bits 'o' sarcasm and random stupidness here and there...enjoy! LLAMA!!!! I leave you with two random llama shots! Baboon's just a lovin' the remains of the Lightnin' Loops. Herds of horny somethings owning the park. This giraffe left a nice, long trail of saliva on our windshield....ewwww! Rhino wishing that he could get some of my El Toro bull action! Yay! Safari Park!!! Skull Mountain you have party written all over you! So sorry I didn't ride! Nitro or Batman?? We chose back seat on Nitro three times in a row and decided to skip the Marvel clone. Michael's first roller coaster ride in the front seat! He opened his eyes just for this photo op!!! He was so proud!!! Oh, what small cars you have for such a big ride, El Toro! Float On, Floaters! Me like 'em big bulls...like El Toro! What is this nestled in the woods in the middle of nowhere? Michael was enjoying the awesome gayness of the seashell Tilt-A-Whirl!! Meanwhile, at Morey's Pier... Because I was too busy riding the waves and exposing crack to all of the unfortunate beach-goers! More woodie action for all you lover's out there! Not sure if it was any good because I did not ride it... Sunny Wildwood Beach, NJ with wooden coaster in the background.

Awesome posts! The CP one's were a trip down memory lane from my childhood, as were the "real" carnival flats. I used to love the 'Octopus' as a kid and I still will hit up 'Monster' at CP when I am there...it was always one of my mother's favorite rides. And who all agrees that 'Rock-O-Plane' is the coolest flat ride (and name) ever along with 'Zipper'?

A 'Rock-O-Plane' and a 'Loop-O-Plane' at the same park?? Complete and utter coolness!!! And the 'Northwest Federal Savings Bank' coaster looked pretty nice along the waterfront too...

What ever happened to 'Der Flinger'? Is that still there? Coolest ride name evah...other than 'Steel Eel', of course!!!!

Nice report and pics! I agree in that it does look very "Cedar Fair-ish", but a very nice, clean family park. Next time I am in the Minneapolis area for business, I will have to make it a point to get over there and get a ride on Renegade!

I would say that more about the Iron Dragon than I would about Mantis in all honesty. When Mantis was built, it was the tallest, fastest stand up in the world. Yes, I agree in that it is a bit rough these days, although I don't think that it is all that bad in the front seat. I had a fun ride on it last year, although it is not quite as hot as Riddler's Revenge. Iron Dragon on the other hand was an extreme disappointment from day one and a pointless waste of good space. I was thinking 'Big Bad Wolf' when it opened and almost cried the first year I rode it. Avalanche Run (IE: Disaster Transport) was what I considered another pointless ride, although it does keep that coaster count up there for the records! Four hour wait the year that they did the transformation to indoor coaster and pointless millions spent on renovations....uggggh! I think that they could easily tear it down, put in a spinning mouse and another flat. For the dark ride enthusiasts...bring back 'Earthquake' or 'The Pirate Ride'!!! I disagree with the comments on 'Wicked Twister'. Granted, I would not wait an hour or more in line for it, but it is a nice addition located in a cool spot on the beach. I have never had to wait more than twenty minutes in line for this ride.

As long as we are humiliating ourselves with past coaster nerdiness, I found some pics of me in my kick-ass Canada's Wonderland painter's caps circa 1984! Can't believe that I am doing this, but here are the pics! Scott and I getting ready to tear it up on Dragon Fire. Actually, I wussed out in line! Me in my bad ass Iron Maiden jersey and coke bottle PhotoGray glasses! Me on left, best friend in middle looking impressed, and my Mom (RIP) on right. Note short shorts on guy on far right. God, I miss the eighties! Me on right sportin' the new CW cap with my Dad on left. Now I can honestly understand why I was a virgin till I was 22!

Oh, these are priceless! The 'Steel Eel' t-shirt is the funniest thing that I have ever seen! When I first heard that name, I thought it was the most beautifully stupid name for a coaster that I had ever witnessed! It seems like Cedar Fair are coming around in that department, but they just need a little more time...perhaps a few more cross-functional team meetings for coaster name reviews? Or perhaps maybe even a Six-Sigma project for "cool" coaster names?? Gee, can you tell I work in a corporate manufacturing environment? Thanks for the laughs, Wes. It helps when you are home sick with the flu bug and can read some incredibly funny stuff to bring you back to the world of the living. PS - Who has one of those retro Canada's Wonderland painter's hats that have the two flaps coming down the back?? I do, I do!! I will have to see if I can find it at my Dad's and snap a pic. It ranks right up there with the DD cap for overall nerdiness!

Nice report! It just seems nice to see some of the parks North of Florida starting to open now...especially when I look out my window and see three feet of snow on the ground! Amazing that SF would have had the upper brass come out to shake hands, wave, and say good-bye to the customers at the end of the day. I have never seen that at a theme park before, but I am very impressed to see such a classy gesture was made by what we all consider to be one of the "Corporate Giants" of amusement parks. I had some job training a month ago from a guy that worked for Disney called, "Through the lens of the customer." Very interesting, fun training, in which this fellow made several key points on how doing the little things like saying good-bye, being polite, friendly, and clean will create a big impact on deciding a customers return. I see that in a lot of posts here when reading about someone's crappy service, employee's bad attitudes and cleanliness while visiting a park. Customer service really is a huge part of our experience and not just the thrill rides and coasters. It is cool when I see the younger coaster fans on this sight note and point this out in their reports! Hopefully, other SF parks will model themselves after this service in the future! I have never visited this park, but may reconsider now if I am ever down Atlanta way.

Yes, that would be a tough choice. I have not been to KI since I was seventeen years old...long before Flight of Fear, Son of Beast and whatever they are calling the drop tower now (is it 'Drop Ride'?). I had great fun while riding 'The Beast' and just like someone else had pointed out, a lot of enthusiasts will go there just for that coaster alone. It was a fun ride (especially in the dark) back in the day, but I have read a lot of posts on here from enthusiasts saying that it is not what it used to be...too rough, trims, etc. When I went to Kings Dominion and rode the 'Flight Of Fear' that they have down there, I will say that the ride surprised me like no other! I had no idea what was going to happen beforehand and was elated at the insanity and speed of the entire ride! I honestly thought that it was going to be a dark ride with maybe some surprising elements. Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of 'Disaster Transport' at CP, which I noticed wasn't mentioned in your report. If you did not ride 'Disaster Transport' and decide to ever go back to CP, I would not waste your time on that one unless it is a walk-on (think ultimate ghetto ride)!! That being said, I did vote for CP in the poll, only because I know that you will have a great time and enjoy Raptor (front seat) and Maverick (any seat) and CP is always a blast. But, I still would like to get back to KI myself and was even thinking about going this year. I am torn between that and going back to Hershey, which I visisted for the first time last year, and really enjoyed. Personally, I think that you would have a great time at both parks and would look forward to the trip report for either one! PS - Like someone pointed out...just watch the weather report in advance if you decide on CP. Spring and early summer can be very iffy in Sandusky. I had four years in a row when I planned trips during that time of the year that ended up getting rained out! CP will not run anything if there is the slightest shower. Not sure if this is true with KI anymore now that they are owned by Cedar Fair, but when I visited many years ago, it drizzled and rained almost the entire day and I believe that all of the rides were open and running.

Yeah, I figured that someone might point that out! Actually, we weren't too bad...it was my attempt at doing something ultra-lame for the camera, as I often will do when riding in the front seat! I figured someone might also comment on the look on my BF's face, as he looks like he might become a bit ill! Although, he was in good shape after all was said and done and that was the last ride of the night. I think that the sheer overall look of TTD is what is so intimidating for Michael. On this trip, my father was also with us (as well as another friend) and I got him on TTD. I swear that was one of the very few times I have ever heard my father say 'Holy F!' was when we were cresting over the top!!! I think that I have a picture of us just before we launched that I will have to dig up and maybe throw into a quick trip report. I told Michael that once he gets over the fear of the overall heighth and drop, it is really not that bad. Besides, it is over so quick, you hardly have time to be scared. It is the moment before the launch that is so horrifying...the dry throat, the heart pumping, looking straight at the tower, the colored lights...and then you're just gone!

Forgot to tell you...nice trip report! I laughed at the pic of you on TTD. My first ride was also in the front seat (at night, no less) with some girl I met in line, and I was also...TERRIFIED!! I would definitely recommend that you try to get back and do Maverick someday. It would be well worth the trip alone! I had the same bad luck when I went out last year (broke down). Luckily, we stayed two days and after it was broke down the first day, it opened the second, so I got two rides on it. I would also highly recommend Raptor in the front seat if you ever get back! You definitely did not miss out on Iron Dragon, but hopefully, you got to ride Demon Drop before that classic is removed!

My BF was terrified of riding coasters (he's 64), but I started him on the small one's first (think Mine Ride style) and last year, I got him on Millenium Force in the front seat at night! He is still reluctant to ride Top Thrill Dragster (he calls it Death Wish II), but we have now gone to seven theme parks in four and a half years together and he is getting more and more used to riding them with me! There are still moments where I get more of a kick out of watching him on the coasters, because he will have his eyes closed so tight going down the big hills. It used to be that way through most of the ride, but now after the initial drop, he has progressed from both eyes closed the entire ride, to one eye open, to now even an occasional "look Ma, no hands!" Hope someday, your BF will be willing to at least try some smaller coasters with you. Not sure if he drinks, but sometimes one or two late afternoon cocktails will loosen even the most coaster-phobiac person!!! Just don't overdo it!! Attached pic was taken at night in the front seat after a couple of JD and Cokes!!! Best ride ever!!! Okay, I might have over-reacted a bit with the craziness!!!!

I was disappointed after hearing about the ten inversions on Colossus. I had never seen pictures of this coaster before I visited back in '05, so when we drove into the parking lot, I guess that I expected bigger than a 90 foot lift hill. It wasn't too bad in the front seat, but definitely is not ranked in my top twenty steel coasters. The park was okay overall, but what was up with the park closing at like 5 or 6:00 PM?? There were a few more rides that I would have liked to have ridden, but next thing you know, everyone is headed for the exits! To be honest, I wished that we would have drove a little farther and went to Alton Towers for the day.

This is turning out to be a prelude to an upcoming season of excitement where I live! I have never even been to Martin's Fantasy Island, even though I am only about an hour and a half away. I think that this might be the year that I visit for some hot Star Flyer action! It is too bad that they did not go for the 250' version, but I can see where that might be a bit too much for the family atmosphere of the park. I wonder if the Falls will be visible from 140'?? Good news for the area: Darien Lake: Moto Coaster (How's that for a name?) Waldameer: Ravine Flyer II (Hope to get out for some pix soon) Hershey: Fahrenheit Canada's Wonderland - Behemoth MFI: Star Flyer CP: Revamped kiddie area Bad news for the area: Conneaut Lake fire No more Geauga Lake (Dominator/Big Dipper)

Just visualize the "Ride Re-namer" presenting this in Powerpoint to wow his/her boss in the weekly meeting... "Ladies and gentlemen, the moment that you have all been waiting for....the new name for our Kings Island drop ride is (insert drum roll) Drop Towwwwerrrrr!!!" Maybe CF just figured that everyone would make fun so much of the name that they just didn't see the point in wasting their time coming up with something "kewl" sounding.