Wood Dragon 1988

If she knows you well enough, she will know about how much cash you have. Girls find a way of doing that whether they are dating you or not! If she doesn't know, she will find out soon anyway. If you can't buy her a $100 birthday present, chances are you can't buy her much of anything else. Solution: Give her the best sex she's ever had!

Haha one of my old roomates would flirt with every girl he met-including his 12-year-old sister. It is quite a good skill to have.

Hello. I'm Chris and I usually don't post TRs, because I don't have time, but I think I'm going to try to document all my trips this year. That being said, that won't be hard, because I only have 3 trips planed this year, which is relatively lame compared to some other folks on here, but oh well. The first installment will be even more lame. Not only will it only consist of 4 pictures and many words, but it is 2.5 months old! Anyway, my first park experience of the year was Six Flags Great Adventure's opening day. I went to Great Adventure twice last year, and had a great time both visits. This visit displayed how bad Great Adventure could run and still be pretty good. At one point, only 4 of SFGAd's 13 coasters were operating. A lot of it was due to "cold" 55 degree temperatures and high winds. Oh well, I was still pretty mad at the park. Here were a list of the rides that were closed at some point and how long they were closed to the best of my knowledge: El Toro (opened around 2) Nitro (all day) Kingda Ka (all day) Medusa (all day) Rolling Thunder (one side till 1, other side all day) Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train (All Day) Superman Ultimate Flight (until 4) Dark Night (until 2) Anyway, probably the thing that upset me the most was an employee greeting us at the entrance and explaining the "running of the bulls" was no longer aloud at Six Flags. He said he would "lead us" in a leisurely walk to El Toro and Kingda Ka (where most people wanted to go). Well, he led us there, only to find both rides closed!!!! Then an employee in front of El Toro advised us to go ride the Mine Train. Seriously, couldn't the security dude just tell us the rides were closed, so we wouldn't have to walk SO far in the HUGE park!? Almost forgot, here are the 4 pictures I have for this update. My camera ran out of batteries right when we pulled into Six Flags. I think most of you have seen pics of Great Adventure anyway! I love New Jersey gas prices. Anyway, I still think SFGAd is one of the best parks on the East Coast. I think the visit was sub-par, but it was cold and windy, so what can you do? El Toro was not running as good as it did last year, but what do you expect when it's been sitting there all off-season, and suffering through a very cold and windy day? It is still my number 3 coaster and the first drop absolutely demolishes any other first drop I've experienced! On a side note, it was really fun to meet up with some friends from last year's TPR trip named Matt, Matt, and Matt. Also got to see Big Mike and Nay, and ran into Cyclone Man Dainan towards the end of the day. I also met the "GCI guys" for the first time. They seemed like extremely nice and cool guys and clearly have some of the greatest coaster minds ever! Too bad for Pennsylvania Matt, as he only got about half of the Great Adventure credits. Had it been my first time in the park, I would be extremely pissed! I'm willing to go again, but as long as someone else supplies the car next time for the 6 hour drive LOL! Next up will be an even-more-dissapointing-day-coaster-wise, yet fun day at the Jersey Shore. Chris

^Yeah, but in 90 percent of big parks, there's at least one good coaster, so why would you ride a bad coaster and "enjoy" it, when you could ride a good or even mediocre coaster?

No. If you're an enthusiast, you understand what a good coaster is and don't praise bad ones. I do kind of agree that I don't get the general opinion of "it's no good, tear it down." As long as it is profitable, coasters should remain operating. Anyway, I was contemplating going to KI this year for Diamondback, but I don't think so. As a KI virgin, I think a ride on SOB is simply a necessary torment. Anyway, it's too long of a drive for me for something very similar to KD lol.

Last year I did a similar trip, but much smaller, and much more pressed for time: Day 1: Drive up to Massachusetts Day 2: Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce at night Day 3: Rye Playland and a quick El Toro stop (and Dark Knight credit) at SFGAd. And arrive home. I wouldn't advise two days at Great Escape or even SFNE. I suppose you have a Six Flags Season Pass.....however, from an out-of-town person like myself, I don't think I could spend much over a day there unless it was an extremely crowded weekend. In fact, I went on a Saturday in July last year, got all the credits, three rides on Superman, and a few flats I wanted to do. Just get there early or Superman/Bizarro's line can be long. I'm not saying anything bad about the park (in fact, I think it's a great park), but unless you are really into water parks, you don't need two days at all. I would advise perhaps spending a full day there, getting a few Bizarro rides in the next morning, then heading out to something else. If you're into basketball at all, the National Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Massachusetts, very near SFNE. I thought it was very fun, and the city of Springfield seemed kind of sketchy, but very old school and scenic at the same time, if you're into that kind of thing. Last year I did the after five admission to Compounce, and was able to do enough. But it is an AMAZING park with one of the best coasters in the world in Boulder Dash. If I were you, I would plan on spending more time there than at SFNE, Great Escape, or Dorney, but that's just me. There are plenty of places you could add on to your trip. There's a place called Hoffman's Playland, about an hour south of Great Escape that has some great Bumper Cars apparently (much like Knoebels). It's a kiddy park though, so depending on how old your son is, you all could enjoy it. Canobie Lake is less than 2 hours from SFNE is you get bored there. There are plenty of other parks in upstate NY, albeit a bit far from Great Escape (Darien Lake, Martins Fantasy Island, Sylvan Beach). Knoebels and Hershey are by Dorney, which are both better parks than Dorney (I'm assuming you may have been to those places already though lol). Anyway, I would wet myself for 7 days in the northeast. It doesn't look like you are trying to rush at all, but I would still advice against spending a full two days at the Six Flags parks, and spend more time at Lake Compounce/add-ons.

Lakemont definitely is a horse of a different color. I've been there twice: on the TPR trip last year, and a random fall weekend last year. On the TPR trip it was a "dollar day" or whatever, and the park was relatively packed (for the type of capacity rides they have!) and on the fall weekend it was amazingly empty. I really hope the park survives, as it is interesting to say the least and has two good wooden coasters.

Yes, congrats on the job! But I remember you saying something about not wanting to work in any amusement park in New Jersey or something.

^You're the first person on three sites to mention the frogs. That's the only thing my dad (very non-enthusiast lol) was impressed with in the video!

That song defines the word "overplayed" IMO, but still a pretty good song!

^I would agree with that. At least I would think I would have enjoyed KD in the 70s and 80s more than I do now. Sure I would miss Volcano and FOF, but I have heard Rebel Yell and Grizzly ran amazingly back in the day. I think the whole place seemed to have had a lot of character back then, albeit if it came from "gimmicks" used to entertain people due to lack of ride quantity. Thanks! It's nice to know I impressed the creator of the best old-school thread ever. All credit goes to my grandfather though, for dragging that huge camera through Kings Dominion with 6 kids.

^You really think the F1 coaster would be much less expensive than a "giga" coaster?

My family was watching home movies a few weeks ago, and to my delight there was one about an amusement park. So, here it is, Kings Dominion in 1978 from an old-school movie projector.

It seems like a lot of people hate this park. I visited in 2006, and I thought the employees were overall very good. The rides aren't world-class, but it's not a destination park. Rather it's a very good local park IMO. However, there was a bit more to do when I went (Hellevator, Twisted Twins, Mile High Fall). I think a lot of TPR trippers agreed about the park staff and the general good atmosphere of the place in 2007. I think a lot of more local enthusiasts compare it to KI, HW, and other places in the midwest, and just find the ride line-up to be pitiful. IMO, they have a good Schwarzkopf, one of the best stand-ups, and a good wooden coaster (Thunder Run). I don't know, I can still appreciate a place like SFKK. I think because it is owned by Six Flags, people expect it to have a mega coaster, a crazy launch coaster, and like a dozen other coasters. If it wasn't owned by Six Flags, I think people would like it more And about the rapids: I actually thought they were the WORST ride in the park due to the "drainage problem" you pointed out!

I road it last year (in July I think), and it was horrible. I know it has gotten great reviews in the past, which is basically what I was trying to say. It really isn't the original engineer's fault if a ride gets rough or smooth, it is the park's.

It's funny that in all my years of coaster enthusiasm I never knew what a SCAD tower was until I saw one on a Travel Channel show yesterday! I guess there's one in the Dells in some park I've never heard of, but they look awesome. It is definitely on my "things to do before I die" list.

The Dinn/Summers wooden coasters definitely do get a bad reputation, but for whatever reason, I have enjoyed most of their work so far. Thunder Run was very good IMO...Charles Dinn helped rebuild Phoenix and Wild One which are two of the best traditional wooden coasters. I hated Georgia Cyclone and Mean Streak, but for whatever reason found Predator bearable. Thunder Road IMO is mediocre, and Wilde Beast and Mindbuster aren't great. I really like Wildcat at Lake Compounce, but apparently it has gotten rough recently. I think it has to do more with how the parks take care of the rides than how it was origionally built. If John Fetterman worked at Canada's Wonderland, the assbuster and Wilde Beast may be just as good as Phoenix is. I really don't know what to make of their legacy. When clearly, they produced some of the worst wooden coasters out there, they also rebuilt three classic wooden coasters that are all running pretty good (and one is running amazing). Certainly they aren't the best minds in wooden coaster history, but at least all of their rides weren't failures like RCCA.

I love OCMD. It's been too long since I've been there (3 years). They need to build that Minnesota Avalanche and put it on the shore. The one thing the whole MD/Delaware shore is missing is a great coaster!

This is a great TR. I'm glad you got to ride Phoenix. I've been to the park 3 times, each time it rained, and Phoenix always rode better after the rain IMO! My best ride on it came in the pouring down rain in the third seat. I love that ride!

So on some other forum, a KD fanboy said Knoebels was boring. Um, okay, maybe I'm just strange, but I would rather ride 5 or 6 rides at Knoebels than do anything at KD. How can someone seriously not like at least one or two of their rides?!! Meaning, one or two of them would be enough to keep me occupied all day and not be bored!

TPR sure seems to be quite famous over in Europe with all those interviews! Maybe some US shows will start interviewing TPR as opposed to ACE all the time

Haha, from Orlando to Clementon! Probably a bit different as far as quality goes. *sigh* maybe one day I will get to either of those places.

Haha, ain't that the truth about most drinks though? I've never had any energy drink, but to me they just LOOK like one of the most toxic substances you can put in your body. I really don't want to start

Been on 2 (Kingda Ka and Millie), and seen 2 more (Titan and Dragster).

Unfortunately, due to all of the people in the group working far worse jobs than we had last year, the big Mid-West trip I was planning for the beginning of August was canceled. However, I'm thinking about a much smaller 3-day trip to Coney, KI, and Camden Park.