Wood Dragon 1988

Alright everyone, this update may be a bit boring to some of you, as I am calling it my “coaster geek” update. I still consider myself, however, a coaster geek, and being that you are on a site such as this, you may very well be one too, so you may appreciate it as well. So, just for a warning, my final update consists of a bunch of ranking, over-analyzed reviews, and lots of other info about coasters, rides, parks, hotels, bus rides, puppet shows, and sauce you may or may not be interested in. No pics, videos, captions, or any cool stuff like that. If you would like to see those, just scroll up a bit! So now for a review of just about all the parks: Seabreeze: Fun little park. As Robb says “There’s something about the small parks.” I had heard some bad things about Rochester, but the area seemed okay. The rides were decent and I love parks with a semi-classic feel at least. Darien Lake: This one was interesting, because it used to be owned by Six Flags, but is now owned by PARC management. I had never been to a PARC park before. It actually felt very barren and “dead”, maybe because we were there so early, but it seemed that PARC had sucked all the soul the park had as a Six Flags park. It just seemed to lack atmosphere, and had a select few good rides, but an overall mediocre set of coasters. It was also weird to see many old Six Flags style themeing and buildings still existing there that I have became used to at the many Six Flags parks I’ve endured…errrr…visited. Martin’s Fantasy Island: Really cool little park. Had a great staff, and one great water ride and coaster. The Silver Comet ride ops were perhaps my favorite ride ops ever, because they let you leave the lap bar as high up as you wanted!!! I don’t know exactly why, but I absolutely loved the place, and if I were in the area again, I would probably go to this place before any other park in Upstate New York or Ontario! Canada’s Wonderland: As I said in my TR, I don’t think Dick Kinzel approves of the vast amount of trees that exist in this park! The park was actually pretty darn beautiful. Sure it had some BAD, BAD, BAD coasters, but I would probably rather have a Cedar Fair park with a lot of bad coasters than one with just a few good ones (I am talking about Cedar Fair parks only, however, if that makes since). It at least gave us something to fill the whole day with, and I thought it was quite impressive how almost all the TPR members came away with all the credits they wanted! Overall, this was just a real fun day, and I like CW better than the other three Cedar Fair Parks I’ve been to (KD, Carowinds, and Dorney) Marineland: A lot of people have been kind of complaining about this place, but I actually enjoyed it. I mean, it’s one of those places that really isn’t a theme park first. The few rides they had were good, and it seemed like a good place for a family day out. The type of people who go to Niagara Falls probably appreciate a scenic, zoo-like, picnic park like this compared to a real destination theme park anyway. Waldameer: Everyone liked this place, but I really didn’t First impressions was it was a permanent carnival type place, and nothing I saw later on convinced me otherwise. I got a little bored (and a bit sick) here, and simply sat down under the pavilion and talked for an hour, which I really enjoyed more than walking around the park! The park had some good rides, such as the drop tower, RFII, and others, but overall just wasn’t really my kind of place I guess. Maybe it’s just because I like traditional parks like Lake Compounce, Kennywood, and Knoebels way better, I don’t know. Oh yea, but ERT was amazing. Idlewild: This and Canada’s Wonderland were my favorite parks of the trip. Beautiful, relaxing, some awesome rare rides, and a great Vekoma coaster. Great food too, and very hospitable. GO HERE EVERYONE, THIS IS THE MOST UNDERATTED PARK IN PENNSYLVANNIA! Lakemont: Not the greatest park in the world, but honestly, I expected, MUCH worse! I had heard some terrible things about the ghettoness of this park, but thanks to a home baseball game and 5-dollar Wednesday, the park was doing pretty good business and had a decent atmosphere. Leap-the-Dips and Skyliner are DEFINITELY back-seat rides!!!! Yea the place was a bit ghetto, but I would (and have, LOL) visit the park again! Delgrosso’s: It is simply all about the sauce, and I don’t have to say much more……… Overall, it was a great package of parks for just four and a half days of park-going! The parks would have been pretty lame with no ERT and no group, but the trip atmosphere made it the best 4.5 park days of my life!!! Thanks a lot everyone! Top Coasters: 1. Ride of Steel, Darien Lake: This ranks in at about my 6th or 7th favorite coaster. This was a great ride, and rode like SFA’s Superman used to. No real airtime until the third hill, but after that, it was ejector city. ERT was awesome on it, even though I was sick! 2. Silver Comet, Martin’s Fantasy Island: Great ride, and has been maintained brilliantly over the past 10 years by this tiny park! From what I remember, the layout went something like: First Drop, good airtime hill, insane little airtime hill, turn, turn, double down with good air, aggressive turn, insanely aggressive turn, little airtime hill, brakes. Just a crazy ride, and it is great that a little park has a ride that people of all ages can enjoy! 3. Behemoth, Canada’s Wonderland. I REALLY like B&M hypers, even though they seem to lack the Intamin style ejector air found on their hypers and wooden coasters. This is probably my least favorite B&M hyper, due to the weird and week ending, but the first couple of drops are still really, really good. It has about 6 or 7 pops of airtime, that feel great despite the 3 or 4 trim brakes. I really liked this ride, but like Apollo’s, Nitro, and Georgia’s Goliath more. And just to be a picky, spoiled coaster enthusiast, it had more rattle than the other B&M hypers, most likely because of the weird trains I guess. 4. Ravine Flyer II, Waldameer. Great ride, liked it a lot, but didn’t love it. It was already very rough after just months of operation, and judging from the rest of the park, I’m not sure if this thing will get the TLC it deserves in the future. Maybe I just don’t like things this aggressive, and prefer a more relaxing yet kick-ass ride like Phoenix or El Toro. However, I do like Silver Comet and Boulder Dash, so I’m not sure. Maybe it is just the consistent airtime, or more “free” airtime that RFII seemed to lack that I missed. I guess I was just a bit too staple from the EXTREMELY aggressive turns to really enjoy the random airtime hills. 5. Whirlwind, Seebreeze. My first MS spinner, and I really liked it. It was out of control, smooth, fast, and very spinny in parts. Way better than Steel Dragon at Waldameer. ------------------------------ If you are still reading this crap, THANK YOU!!!!! Again, in closing this TR, I would just like to say thanks to TPR, and EVERYONE that made this trip so great!! I will see many of you again next year and can’t wait! Chris

Does anyone know when and where the first amusement park Halloween Event occurred? Also, any information about which parks have older/newer events would be appreciated.

I'm in college now and am perfectly content with not being in a relationship. I used to want a girlfriend badly, but now really don't care. It is fun to talk to basically any girl you want whenever you want to. It is okay to just wait for something to come around I think, if you can enjoy life without being in a relationship.

I like Schwarzkopf loops, the flying-naked-snake-twist-sauce-dive thing on Storm Runner, and I supposed Pretzel loops and Vekoma Flying loops (although those are the only good parts of flyers, so I don't like to include them lol)

I'll try my best. I live in Maryland and live about 15 minutes away from PA and WV.

Really, really awesome TR, as all of yours are. Can't believe you like Kawesemi better than EGF, but that is good news I guess Every time I see pics of Lotte World, it keeps looking better and better than last time. Again, excellent TR, can't wait to read more!

My only observation is that looks very much like Intamin track, even though it is from Mack. I like Intamin track, so this coaster looks quite promising!!!

Great TR, I would love to go to Heide. Colossos looks like a ride right up my alley.

That was actually pretty cool. It's nice to hear something you don't get to hear about often. I'm a bit more of a fan of GG after that. They seem to be some pretty cool guys!

If I were going to Spain, I would try to do Port Aventura first, and Tibidabo second. It is right in Barcelona, and not many places in the world have a view like

Great TR. Lots of pics, good captions! Quick question about Bandit: Does it have any airtime or is it basically a speed and intensity type of coaster?

I've seen a couple Maryland fairs and none look that good. Wish I would have known, if those credits count it would have been worth the trip

I don't know. If this thing is good, I think it would be awesome. Biblical stuff can sell, and is sometimes really good! For example, "The Ten Commandments" and "The Passion of Christ." Regardless of weather you think those were good, they are popular. I could see it happening as sort of a cheap Epcot type deal, but definitely not a Six Flags or Cedar Fair set-up.

I've heard mixed things about Kumali. It is newer, and is a not the "standard" SLC though. Hopefully I will get to ride it for myself next fall!

Anyone remember that Bible park in Germany that was brought up a few months ago? Is this related at all?

Honestly, I would have rather gone to the Yankees game than some of these parks you've been too! I have never been to the Cathedral.

I have never been to.....or even seen.....an In-Out in my life. The food looks great for fast food. The west has so many good fast food joints the east doesn't. Good TR, doesn't look like a bad stop on the 2009 Cali trip!

You know, I think I've ridden Phoenix about 13 times in my life, and I don't think I've had my hands down for the whole ride once. The GP confuse me sometimes.

Good pics of a good trip. You know, I think we planned this thing like two days before we actually went. Then, after a half-hour of Lakemont, someone mentioned that Knoebels may be close. It ended up being 2 hours from DelGrosso's I think, but WELL worth it! Our first ride there was Phoenix, with a full train, in the rain, from the third seat. Need I say more about how great that ride was?! The trip brought some great memories from the Behemoth trip, and fortunitely I was able to buy a jar of the world-class sauce this time

I haven't had crabs all year I think. Fall crabs are the best though. Too bad I moved away from the shore right before fall starts.

Wow, really awesome photo-editing. I will ride that ride someday.... hopefully with TPR as my guide with ERT and beer included. Thanks for posting PS: I really like how EGF's station is outdoors! It looks so weird and simple, but really cool.

Nice little TR Matt. I've definitely got to get over to the shore; hopefully next year to cash in on some credits - oh, and Clementon too!

These photos turned out fantastically. That big old camera Dan had seemed to work! Thanks for posting

According to http://rcdb.com/id4147.htm, it will be LSM. So, Aquatrax, no Rocket

I personally think DelGrosso's is doing just fine. After all, rides (such as an Arrow looper) are only built there in order to promote their main attraction - the SAUCE! They feed half the population of Pennsylvania every spahghetti Wednesday after all.