Wood Dragon 1988

I love jazz. I love theme parks. I lvoe crazy CCIs. I love small parks. I think I would have liked to visit here. Thank's for posting.

I don't know why anyone wouldn't look forward to this. One of the top two steel coasters in the world gets some improvements. How can you not like it? I don't think any "mega coaster" has ever had OTSRs, so I'm pretty sure SF will not be dumb enough to let that happen to this ride. If anything, I think (and hope) the new train design eliminates the ankle restraints. I've never ridden it without the ankle restraints, but I hear it was much better without them. Everyone says the fog is one of the coolest "effects" of SROS, so why wouldn't people like to see music, fire, etc? I personally thought the fog was a nice touch, but kind of an afterthought. Not quite enough to get excited about, so all these new effects should really enhance it. One last thing, do they really enforce the height limit? I'm pretty sure I would be well above the limit, but I rode it three times without even being questioned.

Very nice TR. I'm planning on going to school in northern England next year, and the Scottish parks are definitely on my list to hit.

RCDB says the top speed of Eagle Fortress is 40 mph. Looks a lot faster than that! Can't wait to see Everland pics/videos. That park really looks fantastic!

Another great Sauce-land report. Too bad that the Behemoth updates are over, but I can't wait to see the East Coast ones.

I actually like the name, which is the first CF name I have liked for a while. The restraints and the ride, however Just because it's new doesn't mean it's going to be good. I think those little black OTSRs would kill my shoulders. And if this is still replacing the Super Saturator, then it is a terrible move IMO.

Very nice updates...China seems like a place that is growing rapidly when it comes to amusement parks. Good luck, Rich, at Disney.

lol, it's 15-year-olds bouncing basketballs that annoy me at theme parks.

I went all of 2005 without riding a coaster. June 2005 was when my internet coaster obsession began. I didn't ride a coaster until July of 2006!

Before I forget again, I need to explain why this TR has such a strange title. Well, before the trip, in an attempt to get a week off two jobs I sort of forgot to mention to some of my friends and coworkers that I would be riding any sort of rides on this trip…I basically told them I was taking a “bus tour” of Niagara Falls and Western New York. Which was partially true I guess! But for a few months my TPR trip was known as a Canada trip to many of my friends and coworkers. Okay, one more batch of photos until the boring, coaster-nerd ride-rankings and such! Enjoy! I'll leave you with this. I hope you enjoyed my report! Again, thank you TPR for an INCREDIBLE experience, and I will happily be back on a TPR bus next year! I may not get to go to Japan for a while, but Vapor Trail represents "crazy Philly helixes." Vapor Trail was my 150th credit....I know....sad and pathetic. This park is owned by Busch....er-In-Bev-Busch?.....whatever it is. So, good landscaping is a must. I really didn't want this tour to end, so I decided to go to Sesame Place with the group, something I didn't plan on doing before the trip. I had a great, relaxing few hours here, and I want to say thanks to Neil for giving up his ticket. I'm sorry you missed out, but I had a great time, so thanks! As you can see, the park was very crowded and quite popular for families. As a sports fan, I appreciated how there were a bunch of stadiums all bunched together in Philly. Philly was a new city-credit for me. That's pretty sad and pathetic, considering I was born and raised in DC, about 3 hours away! I still can't believe I missed out on any form of cheese and steak on a bun though. Hello John! Wooden coaster, go carts, and baseball....what more could you want? "Go Curve" through the supports. We were all "Curve" fans that day For whatever reason, Skyliner is 75 years younger than Leap-the-Dips, but looks much older. I would really like to watch a game here some time. Heck, maybe I will, since Lakemont is now my local park. Any park with that type of back drop is worth checking out. Yay, some park finally allowed on-ride photos! Can anyone spot the TPR members in this photo?

Okay, so time for my final photo update. If anyone didn't know, we went to three parks on the last day of the tour: Idlewild, Lakemont, and Delgrosso's. I think this was perhaps the most fun day I had on the tour for a few reason: 1. My stomach ache finally went away. 2. Idlewild was really fun. 3. DelGrosso's was really funny. 4. I finally was able to just chill and enjoy myself. and 5. All the bus rides were insane for one reason or another. I was running out of memory by this time, and only got a handful of boring looking pics from this day of the tour. It was sad that this was the final day of the tour, but I was happy to know that I met so many great people, had so much fun, and surprisingly the tour didn't go by extremely fast! It seemed to have a great pace to it. There is nothing much more I can say about TPR than the experience was UNBELIEVABLE, much better than photos can suggest. I am completely hooked on this website and this group of people, and will easily make every effort to go on a TPR tour every year they are available! And there will be a few bonus pictures of a bonus park and a bonus credit that happened to be my 150th. I personally thought the back seat rocked! More to come shortly Credit failure. My second Tobogan. I thought it was just boring, not rough. I found that if I hunched over and didn't put my head against the big bar, it didn't hurt. Does ACE give themselves any credit, EVER??? Leap the Dips, perhaps you have heard that it's the oldest coaster in the world. This was our bus. The bus rides throughout the day and night were amazing! From sauce to Winnie the Crap, to other random stuff, it was just great. I can't believe that just 5 days ago I was scared to death driving from Philly to Rochester. This was the only pic of a real ride or a real person I got at Idlewild. I have now been to Idlewild, Kennywood, and Lake Compounce and have never consumed one Potato Patch Fry. I clearly fail. The climacting Hug-N-Song Party. I have to say that when I saw Confusion Hill and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on the itinerary I was scratching my head. But they were awesome. Unless you haven't paid attention to TPR for about a month, you know we "took over" this crazy ride. Every where you look, the park looked great. It was one of my favorite parks of the trip. Some of you may not be planning to visit this park, because it doesn't have any "legit" coasters, but I assure you, the Vekoma mouse was REALLY good! Serisously, I don't think I've ever gotten more airtime on a Vekoma coaster and I have ridden quite a few. This place reminded me of a kiddie Knoebels. It is owned by Kennywood's Spanish owners, but reminded me of Knoebels. Welcome to Idlewild!

Nice updates Ben. I have to agree that from what I saw this year at SFA it totally sucked. SROS has aged so much over the course of like....a year...... Wild One is not as good as it used to be, or maybe Phoenix and Boulder Dash have spoiled me.

Much like how I thought the scariest part of the Behemoth trip was the bus ride after Waldameer. Perhaps RFII ERT though.

Sad news I'm going there on Sunday, because I have been putting it off for too long. If anyone else is going, PM me.

Haha. That's me in the second row, riding with some random dude....I think it was the only GP I rode with on the entire trip. Anyway, the guy was really funny. He kept saying how "radical" Skyrider was. Then he asked me if I had ridden Beheomoth and he called in "VERY radical." (I guess that is Canadian slang) Great photos. You really sacraficed a lot of ride time for these, so thanks!

A few more pics. Doing this in short updates, because I don't know how long my computer will hold up. I really regret not taking more thunderstorm pics, but I really was having too much insanely dangerous fun to take a lot. Fortunately I got this one, which explains enough….but I just want to say thank you again to you awesome ride ops who left this open for us. For all of you who were sitting under the pavilion- YOU MISSED OUT….AND STILL GOT SOAKED!! Hello down there! - Lions guarding Steel Dragon…WTF? - Now time for the spontaneous-and-random-pics-of-mostly-people part of the update. A lot of these need no explanation. RFII from the ski-lift. Shot of the scrambler taken from the ski-lift things. I can’t remember the last time I was on a ski-lift.

So after quite a layoff, I am finally ready to start my Waldameer update. After running a little low on memory, I don’t have too many Waldameer pics, so sorry. This will be hard for me, because unfortunately, I did not fall in love with either Waldameer or Retroactive as much as a lot of people did. I honestly thought the park was mediocre. In comparison to other traditional parks like Idlewild, Kennywood, Knoebels, or Lake Compounce, it is a few steps behind. They are headed in the right direction with Ravine Flyer II I guess, but they need to work out a few other non-ride issues as well. A few of our tour members had initial reactions like Waldameer was more like a carnival than they were expecting, and I would have to agree with them after our 6-hour-visit. My only real complaint about the park was the restrooms. I know that doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but for a Tuesday, there is no way some little family-owned park should have restrooms the way those were…….whatever……. off my rant. The place did have some cool little rides. The drop tower was awesome. Not only was there no way of knowing when you got to the top, but the shoulder restraints were not cumbersome at all and allowed a ton of airtime all the way down. The view of the park and Lake Erie was also pretty sweet. If anyone knows who makes these drop towers, it would be much appreciated. I personally had more fun on that than I have ever had on an Intamin or S&S tower. Ravine Flyer II was a pretty good coaster, but it was getting rough already IMO. It is amazing I am so down on the place, after I will freely admit that some of the ERT rides were perhaps the best coaster rides I have ever had. All I can say is thank you to a couple of awesome, young ride ops who let us continue to ride RFII in the thunderstorm. I forget who said this but it was genius: “I think Cedar Point would shoot us if we were still on their coaster.” On to the pictures: Ravine Flyer II in all its glory. That’s where we are. If I remember correctly, this sign was in the middle of the park, just like Knoebels’. Note: just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s good!! I just loved this tower. I rode this with a few folks instead of watching Retroactive. Jason’s most anticipated ride of the day. I would agree with him that the version in Maryland is better. Steel Dragon. This is the second half of my screen name’s name. I thought it looked a little rusty and rode far worse than the one at Seabreeze. Still a fun little spinner. This is the second half of our “mini-trip's” name.

Really enjoying the updates. Lake Compounce is the main reason I am so jelous of the East Coast Trippers. I have to ask, what is with the Intamin wheel?

^I would agree that Cesari's rocks, and no pun intended, it's all about the sauce!

Not sure if funny was the word I would use, but it was...........well, it was what it was!

Okay, for a brief review of Dragon Mountain- I liked it quite a bit. My favorite and least favorite Arrow loopers are in Canada. Although I have to say Loch Ness Monster has better forces through the loops and airtime down the drops, Dragon Mountain wins by just a hair because of the length and uniqueness of the ride. Both rides have countless brakes on them, but for old Arrows, they may be needed. My only complaint about Dragon Mountain was the discomfort, primarily resulting from my height. I have heard shorter people dislike Arrows because of headbanging, but Arrows give me shoulder strain. Here is a great pic taken by Hanno that displays how I look like a helpless white turtle trying not to overextend my neck with those wretched little Over-the-shoulder-restraints. Niagra Alright, a few more pics taken by me. I will leave you with one last shot of the falls. Waldameer and the ERT session of death coming soon! Random cliffs culture credit. Looks so cool. Guess this lookout thing was on the American side? Back on the bus, this is Niagara Falls, the city, I think. Yea, the view was decent! Nerd shot. Everyone is more concerned about their cameras than posing for mine! Everyone enjoying their view. Dragon Mountain had a LONG lift-one of the longest Arrow lift hills I’ve ever encountered. But as you can see, it goes right up a mountain, so the train is never more than a few feet off the ground. Overview of Dragon Mountain. Alright, these next few pics were taken from Sky Screamers hill. It was quite a walk to get up there, but you got a nice view at the top. Including a bunch of sad-and-pathetic TPR members. Kiddie coaster for people of all shapes and sizes. Blurry, but my favorite sign of the trip had to be included!

After a very early morning after 14 hours at Wonderland, we all could use a nice 2-hour bus ride and a 2-mile walk! I actually thought Marineland was a nice break from all the nonsense that was Wonderland. This place was quiet, laid back, certainly a lot of "nothingness," but also very beautiful at the same time. They don't have a lot of rides, but the one's they do have seem to be taken care of well. I didn't get to see Niagara Falls up close and personal, because our ERT sessions took a long time to finish! It took a long time to walk to Dragon Mountain, then it took some more time to walk to the S&S tower. Then, we waited for them to put the tower in elevator mode so we could get pictures. By this time, I would have had to run over to the falls in order to see them before the bus left. I still had a meal card to use, so I opted for the food over the culture as any enthusiast would We got a good look at them during a fairly long border crossing RIGHT over Niagara Falls, but I am still kicking myself for being on mile away from the falls and not seeing them on foot. Insert Disneyland joke here. It’s a bear…….not much else to say. I didn’t even know this place had a topple tower. It was decent I guess. Now you enter the mountain itself, through the mouth of the dragon. Good shot of the park's two major rides. The first entrance to Dragon Mountain. Shot/Drop Tower. Note the large hill. This is pretty much how a lot of the park looked. Trees and pavement. We took the left of course. The flowers at the entrance looked nice. Three flags flying over Marineland.

I would very much like to believe that statement is true, but if you look at the park's history, they haven't added a coaster since 2001, and have only added one or two rides to the theme park side since then. I don't think that fits the definition of transitioning. I visited the park shortly after the tour did, and it was in the worst shape I have ever seen it in. And SROS- wow has that thing got a rattle to it. Anyway, good report!

Best = Martin's Fantasy Island's

Last batch from Canada's Wonderland. And I will leave you with Canada’s Wonderland’s world-famous Wonder Mountain. Thanks you Wonderland and TPR for a great day! Fountains doing their thing at night……again much cooler than KD’s fountain show. Among other things, Ben discovered his favorite position while in Canada. Behemoth’s lift gets lit up red at night….this was a nice touch as we could see it from our hotel a few miles away. Shortly before this pic was taken, James and I got an AWESOME ride on the Enterprise…….not only was this Enterprise cool because it was an Enterprise, and they rock, but it was also home to the best ride-announcement EVER! The ride opp got on the microphone and said, “This is just a reminder that Marineland SUCKS! Thank you for coming to Wonderland….” Nice to see ride opps supporting their park. Other good announcements included this dude on Vortex during ERT, and the dude on Behemoth all day…. I did, however, do this awesome toilet bowl. This was my first toilet bowl slide, and my favorite slide of the day! Since I had all my 13 credits (only those that were non-dirty, REAL coasters!), I decided to take part in the 10-people-strong waterpark takeover. I had a great time here, even though I couldn’t help but question my sanity when I was at a waterpark in the snowy country of Canada at dusk! It was very cold here, but a nice break from the coasters. Max was the only one who had enough energy to do this big, multi-lane slide. Canada: home of the maple tree. Skyrider was pleasantly better than KD’s Shockwave, and Carowind’s Vortex for that matter! It even had a pop of airtime, which was very weird standing up. Still not the funnest coaster ever, but the dude riding beside me called it “Radical,” which I guess is how Canadians say “Kick-ass.”