Wood Dragon 1988

More from Wonderland Minebuster was rough in parts, boring in others, and had at least one pop of airtime over one of the first hills. I rode once during our nightime ERT and then headed to Behemoth. There were fish all around the stream by Behemoth, and many of them decided to congregate by this little waterfall in the middle of the park. Me holding up Behemoth. It’s Behemoth, not much else to say. Go to Canada’s Wonderland and ride it. But I am warning you the line was well outside of the queue area when this pic was taken! Ahhhhh, these trims didn’t KILL the ride, but they did wound it a bit. Behemoth was great, and I rode it close to 20 times. I still think I prefer Apollo’s, Nitro, and Goliath to this, but all four are so close. It was weird that I got much better airtime in the front compared to the back. I think this may be because the trims hurt the momentum of the train more when the back half reached the crest of the hills…….if that makes any since at all. The Behemoth walk-back was one of the coolest perks of the trip. As you can see, everyone took a ton of pictures, and you’ve probably seen most of them, so I won’t post too many of mine Lunch time. Honestly, it wasn’t that great, but after two breakfast buffets and a lunch buffet, I was full for the rest of the day! I passed on Riptide, because I think non-floorless topspins are hell-on-earth for tall people anyway. Scooby Doo. Honestly, I liked KD’s and Carowinds better, but I like the fact that junior woodens’ cars always seem to shift around, making them feel more like “real” coasters. I thought Josh didn’t ride small coasters!

I am going to do this in smaller updates, because when I try to do large one's my old computer craps up.....sorry. Okay, so day three brought us to Canada's Wonderland.......for 14 hours!!! 14 hours at a Cedar Fair park is not the most attractive sounding idea for me, but I have to admit, I really like Canada's Wonderland. The place seemed very nice looking and very well taken care of for a Paramount/Cedar Fair product. TPR being with me at the park didn't hurt either. During those 14 hours we got 2 hours of ERT on 5 coasters, a breakfast buffet, a lunch/Q&A Session/TPR trivia, a Behemoth walk-back, 13 new credits, cool flat rides, and a waterpark takeover. It was also cool that I was able to meet a few of the members that came just for Behemoth Bash. They seemed to enjoy the day, and I think the event was a huge success. Glad Canada's Wonderland management concluded after much "Market Research" that inviting TPR to their park would be a success. The coasters, however, were a different story! Some have said that they were mediocre, but I will go as far as saying most were flat out bad. Valare, SLC, jr. SLC, boomerang, Togo.........you get the picture. The woodens also got a bit of bashing, deservedly so, but I still think they weren't quite as bad as people are saying. Thank goodness for Behemoth and Vortex. Fortunately, about half of my rides were on Behemoth that day, so I didn't need too much Advil. On to pictures...... I don’t think Dick Kinzel approves of this area This brought back some nostalgia from old-school PKD. Hannah was wacked from my local park about 10 years ago. Terrible. I don’t know why. I usually don’t mind Arrow loopers, and there was plenty of straight track, weak-looking drops, and block brakes to go around, but this thing shook me like no other. Easily my least favorite Arrow coaster, and possibly my least favorite coaster ever. I actually wanted to reride, to see if my first ride was just a fluke, but I passed. Lift hill shot of Dragon Fire, which was………. We are at a Cedar Fair Park….. This was our SECOND breakfast buffet of the morning! You really are treated like royalty on a TPR trip. BTW, are Canadians really into croissants, or was it just coincidence that they had a substantial amount at both breakfast establishments? These fountains looked sexy…..much better looking than KD’s for some reason, and ten times better than Carowind’s one-fountain-and-a-pole entrance. Neil and Jake have the right look for an SLC, though. They are smiling on a Zamperla Volare! WTF?! We began the day with an hour of ERT on Behemoth, Stunt Coaster, and Time Warp. Right when I was taking this photo, I was thinking “I can’t believe I’m actually here, in Canada, 500 miles from home, riding coasters.”

Wild One August 24th

Mr. Noodle of course

Ms. Fairy, Could I please get a custom title? Something about me being an Enterprise Enthusiast. Or about Delgrossos sauce. Or about Phoenix being heavenly. Just to give you some ideas.

I'm actually glad Tony filmed this, because I missed this epic highlight of the trip....probably too busy riding that ghetto drop tower, which was better than all the Intamins and S&Ss I've ridden combined. That was me I think Kim would agree that you and Robbie are total wusses for saying it hurt. That thing was smooth as Behemoth.

Day two brought us to Martin's Fantasy Island. This was one of the most surprising parks of the trip. I was expecting Silver Comet to be pretty good, and it actually exceeded my expectations. It is somewhere around my top 5 wooden coasters, out of 45 total. However, the rest of the park was awesome as well. The best log flume of the trip, ninjas, a crap-your-pants star flyer, ballons, I Got It, and one of the best ERT sessions of the trip. ERT was completely new to me on the night before this one, but it is funny how ERT is a concept that is easy to get used to! Anyway, I really enjoyed Martin's. I especially liked how the staff and management all seemed pretty excited that we were here. They almost looked like they felt privileged to host the event. For example, this one ride opp by the flume was very interested in our group, and was even looking forward to working the ERT session later that night! She ended up working Crazy Mouse during ERT and not Silver Comet and was actually disappointed. If I was ever in the area again, I would probably go to Martin's over Darien Lake. This pic symbolises my first entry into Canada, and my first time leaving the United States! Right after I took it, Tony told me to put my camera away.......trust me, he didn't say it often. Is this better than Son of Beast, Adam? A bunch of TPR members are on this train. Let's see if I get everyone's name right: Jahan, Robb, Max, Dave, Neil, Natalie, Tyler, Josh, Brad, Jason, Roxane, Leo, Matt, Newly Gay Adam, and Tony and Dan in the back. Silver Comet may be located in a "family park," but it is definitely a very thrilling ride! The coaster begins with a drop and two small bunny hills, the second of which provided probably the most stand-up airtime of the trip. It helped that the ride opps were being extremely "generous" in terms of stapling.....one other great perk of ERT in small parks. The ride does a few turn arounds, with an airtime-producing double down mixed in. All the turns are pretty agressive, and the last one is ALMOST too rough, but still very fun. As Robb said it "hurt so good!" I rode this about a dozen times, and would have ridden more had I not had to make the "walk of shame" during ERT to get the Crazy Mouse Credit. Silver Comet as seen from the Giant Slides. The station looked good, and was modeled after one of the older "Comets." Silver Comet- I know I am in the minority, but I thought it was the best wooden coaster on the trip. I almost forgot that the park had some coasters. You could see Niagra Falls' mist, the city skyline, Marineland, and a bigger ferris wheel from Martin's wheel. Robbie's head, and a bunch of ferris wheel supports. Everyone got a little picture-happy on this scenic ride. While some TPR members wanted a bit more wetness, others decided to take-over the ferris wheel. I can't believe I didn't ride ONE Tilt-A-Whirl during this trip....I do have a good excuse though. I think I got food poisoning the night before the trip, after eating at some now-forbidden local Chinese resaurant. Not a good move. My stomach finally cleared up on about day five, but I tried to avoid most of the spinning stuff until then. I'm just hoping my body will be able to handle the jet-lag that will occur on a trip that may actually be a time-zone or two away! Some hot "I got it" action. I actually played this for one or two rounds, and it was fun. This was the second catered meal of the day.......you are really treated like Royalty on TPR trips. On an average trip to a park, I feel more like just a number. We finally make it over to the buffet, past all the pretty flags. Matt looks like he's kind of unsure though....although it is always hard to tell what Matt is thinking, so I really don't know! I definitely apporve of this ride. If you are not convinced that this little ride can get you wet, I think you are now! Robb races over to film all the "wetness" action. Everyone wet enough? Hands up going down that monster drop Everyone's wondering, "Why we are actually queueing for this, when we could be at the buffet?." Now we're talkin! This kiddie-looking flume was my favorite water ride of the trip. More TPR members brave the Star Flyer. Mike and Matt look like they are searching for something. You get pretty high up there. Beth was the only one brave enough to befriend a ninja. Robb said we would crap our pants on this ride. It wasn't THAT bad. Fortunitely, it was a scenic walk. You had to walk quite a while to get to most of the rides.......... Welcome to Martin's, TPR's 3rd park in about 28 hours!

Go to Six Flags Great Adventure. From all I've seen myself, and heard from the past few years, that is one park that knows how to keep the lines moving. Just curious, what exactly is SFA's Flash Pass Deal this year? I saw several people riding rides multiple times while I was waiting in the same line yesterday. I tried to ask an employee, but the Flash Pass booth in Gotham City appeared closed when I was there.

At least I'm not the only one....I was denied the credit when I went to Rye earlier this year, and I'm an inch taller than you. Great TR Erik. Looking forward to what I missed on the East Coast Trip.

I think Adam (Jedi Master screen name) got this name, because he got his "boob credit" from Tyler, who of course is his room mate, and a man! He did end up winning Elissa Bingo, but he won it at the expense of Robb and later the title fairy giving him the name "Newly Gay Adam." I called him Newly Straight Adam once just to change it up. ^Superman at SFNE is clearly better, but after recently riding SFA's SROS, I think that thing has aged about 10 years over the last few months. It had so much rattle to it that awesome turning-bunny hop (the same one DL's has) wasn't even enjoyable. I think the TPR members who rode it a week earlier would agree with me. next update should be late tomorrow

^Wish I would have known you went. I am a member of your site, but this trip was very spur-of-the-moment. I was probably the only person there wearing a Lakemont Park shirt, so you may have noticed me. I didn't even walk over by the Mind Eraser side of the park, but I noticed the Great Race, Two Face (all season), and the Scrambler were down. Most of the downed rides didn't have a very visable sign saying they were down, but I didn't see any employees or riders. I'm not saying you were, but it almost sounds like this is supposed to be an excuse for poor operations. So, the park brings in a country music superstar, advertises it all over local radio, and the best ride in the park is running 1/4 capacity. I don't care why, there is no reason for it. There had to be someone in the park that knew how to run it. Even with the one train opperation they were screwing up their fast pass system, and were dispatching very slowly. The only reason I'm mad is because I've ridden about 90 coasters this year, and SROS was my LONGEST WAIT OF THE YEAR! And the park had a major event.

More Darien Lake pics You've probably seen this before, but here lies the remains of an old stand up coaster.....thank's for reading, Martin's Fantasy Island complete with the trip's BEST wooden coaster and BEST log flume will be coming shortly. Oh boy, first Enterprise of the trip! I'm hooked on these things, and when I found out Darien Lake had a "one-of-a-kind" Enterprise, (no joke, check http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/fahtzeenterprise.html ) it became one of my "must rides" for the trip. Well, we were running a bit short on time, but we finally found this little thing, and I was able to convince James, Matt, John, and a few others to ride with me. I really liked it, as it had great leg room and head room. If you notice the ride is tighter than the HUSS models, providing great forces. I have to admit I like the HUSS models better, but this was better than the Schwarzkopfs. I'm glad John sacraficed winning a free motorcycle to ride this thing with us.....sorry John. I felt halfway bad after leaving, because the Intamin demons struck ROS again right after we got off! TPR members using their exit passes.....I felt like a total jerk right here, because I had *never* used any sort of fast pass, q bot, or exit pass before. The line was like an hour, so I felt sorry for the GP, but the ride was great! So, this is one awesome way TPR and Darien Lake made up for a little kink in the program. ERT was shortened by about 15 minutes, so the park was nice enough to give our whole group exit passes to ride Ride of Steel one more time without a wait! Good thing, because I thought it was our best ride of the day. What the fountains look like without my head in the way Here is my face making the pretty area pretty darn ugly. This was one of the prettier areas of Darien Lake, for all you flower and courtyard enthusiasts. Flags, flowers, and two of Ride of Steel's hills. The smaller one being my favorite of the ride-just so much air. The picnic area was a great place to get some Ride of Steel shots. SFA's SROS may be a mirrored clone of Darien's, but SFA's helix doesn't have this type of surroundings! Some folks decided to sit on the grass First meal of the trip was pretty good Ready for our first catered meal of the trip? This was really one of the BEST perks the trip had to offer. Not only was the food pretty darn good, it was enough to fill up even an ACER for the whole day. Between this and the breakfasts, you really didn't need to buy any other meals Lift hill shot of Viper

Day two began with Darien Lake. This was a decent park, kind of the definition of mediocrity. I didn't hate anything here, but besides ROS, the Enterprise, and TPR there was nothing outstanding about it. It is safe to say that Jahan enjoyed this one more than I did.......more Darien Lake pics shortly Josh and Matt look excited for Viper-our first Arrow of the trip Dan approves this sign! Brad came all the way from New Mexico to ride the flume with Matt Damon! A boat full of TPR members enjoy the ride About to get soaked? It's a log flume Now onto my first flume of the trip-as you can see, they weren't quite full capacity that day.... How 'bought this one? Newly Gay Adam lost his SLC virginity to this ride, and liked it so much he made everyone ride again!!! (Serious, he did actually like it!) After ERT was over, everyone was wondering what mediocre coaster to ride next? Once everyone got loaded into SROS, it kicked ass!!! I have ridden all three ROS's this year: they are all great, but this one is right in between SFNE's and SFA's. Ahhh, the Intamin curse makes its way to upstate New York. ERT started 15 minutes late, because the train was stuck here for quite a while......but TPR always knows how to make up for stuff like this..... Well, everyone's in the station ready for ERT, but where's the train? This may look like just a lift-hill shot, but if you look closely, you can see parts of all six hills--the last four provide awesome ejector airtime!! Josh models the awesome Behemoth Bash shirts every member of the tour got TWO of! Confession time: Matt (MS 13) and I rode this in the front, and it dissapointed me......I was expecting BY FAR, the worst wooden coaster I have ever ridden, but I think Matt can back me up that the ride was actually good! The hills produced some wild air, the turns were a bit shaky, but not terrible at all. You could tell it wasn't cared for very well, but I still had fun on it and was completely shocked! I thought it was hilarious to hear Newly Gay Adam behind us moaning like he was giving birth or something (and he's the guy who said Son of Beast was his favorite wooden one day earlier!), while Matt and I were enjoying a decent ride! We rode again towards the back to see if we were crazy (and we had ERT so we can do that easily!) and it was worse, but I would still take that ride over some that I have had on Roar or Rolling Thunder. I like how Darien's SROS kind of fits in with the rest of the park. I mean, you can't miss that thing out on the road, and it seems to go right along with the path in the park......this is very unlike SFA's, which just seems ploped in a field Everyone is ready for ERT on an Intamin!! And Tony's filming...... Here's what you need to get in Welcome to Darien Lake

I just went to SFA for the firts time this season. Although I only went for a few hours for country music day, I can easily conclude that the park was in the worst shape I have ever seen it in. (And I have been four times since 2004) To start with, I have been to three other SFI parks this year, and SFA appears to have gotten none of the new love the others have gotten. (AKA Six Flags TV, Q Bots) The clientel, as always, was terrible. The staff wasn't bad, but the operations were terrible. For example, I did a bit of math and determined Superman was running at 350-400 riders per hour. One of Wild One's trains broke I guess, but they didn't even take the train off the track. They just left it on cylcing empty trains for at least a half an hour. Several rides were down, some didn't even have a sign saying they were down. The rides themselves were much worse than they have been in the past. Superman and Wild One used to be in my top 10, and though they were still good, SROS was much rougher and WO didn't have as much airtime. Overall, I was very dissapointed with the park. The Craig Morgan/Zac Brown Band concert was awesome though!!

Agree! Definitely agree......one of your final moves before you turned gay was to show our little group at SeaBreeze how awesome Moser towers were! It was outstanding, some of the best non-coaster airtime I've ever gotten....I think I even enjoy them more than the Intamin versions, because you get many more airtime pops than just one.

Hello everyone. I guess not many of you know who "Wood Dragon 1988" actually is, because I don't post much, and the site gets like 3 million posts per day and stuff. About 50 members here know me, because they enjoyed the insanity that was the 5-day Behemoth/Ravine Flyer Mini Trip with me earlier this month. (And if you haven't been living under a rock for the past year, you probably already knew what this report was about after reading the title, but anyway). Since hardly anyone here really knows me, I will introduce myself briefly. My name is Chris, and I am 19 years old. I live in Maryland, and got into coasters 3 years ago. Now that I finally have a car, some money, and a little time, I thought I would finally see what all this TPR fuss was about, so I joined this "mini-trip," and signed up some time in May. This may be "mini-trip" for Theme Park Review, but it certainly was a major trip for me! Before this trip, I had never stepped foot outside the United States.....in fact my parents hadn't even stepped foot outside the United States! I had met about 3 enthusiasts in my entire park-going life, and none of the 52 coaster freaks I would meet on this trip. The awesome thing was that by the end of the trip, I would not only ride great rides and see great places I had never been, but I would meet so many of these cool people.......the people really made this trip. Okay, I'll stop rambling and try to get to some pictures. I will confess that our first park didn't get much love from my Kodak EasyShare Camera.....don't know why, but I only have a few post-worthy pictures. I promise you the other updates will be a tad more interesting. I'll do my best to keep this TR a bit unique, because I know a lot of you have seen this about a dozen times by now! Not much of a photo, but this represents my first ever ERT session. It was a great way to cap off a three hour car ride, and a six hour bus ride!! I deserve 30 minutes on a coaster after all that. Mike and Newly Straight Adam Enjoying Whirl Wind. As much as I would have liked for a classic ride at this old park to be its star attraction, my favorite of the day was easily Whirl Wind-my first MS Spinning Coaster. The ride was great! I can only imagine what rides like Dragon's Fury and Winjas are like when the portable models are this insane See, Bobsleds is a nice family coaster--that didn't stop Jason from riding it 20 times during ERT!! Bobsleds! The pirate ship, and the music express were the first two flats we rode during the trip. Rabbit Jack Not the best pic, but I liked the way the hill was lit up at night. Not much of the rest of the ride was, so you still got a nice, dark ride. The first coaster of our tour was Jack Rabbit. This was fun, but it would be very awesome if it actually had a little airtime. It had a very long, dark tunnel, but the airtime was really hampered by the Morgan trains Anyone know what our first park was by now?

1. Phoenix 2. Boulder Dash 3. El Toro 4. SROS - SFNE 5. Goliath - SFOG 6. Phantom's Revenge 7. SROS - SFA 8. Ride of Steel 9. Griffon 10. Wild One

I only got one ride on all the coasters, because it was a hot, crowded day.....but from my experience I liked 1. Goliath 2. Mindbender 3. Batman the Ride The only huge disapointment was GA Cyclone, it was running rough AND airtimeless when I went.

Idlewild was my favorite park of the trip.......Wild Mouse may just be my favorite Vekoma. I wish we had more time here, but this is certainly a park I will visit again in the future. I'm not sure if any future visit could beat our four hours of insanity here though. Donuts, ERT, Hug n' Song, confusion hill, hand-carts.....wow it was such a great time!

Dude, you live next to the nations capital! Two baseball teams, a football team, a hockey team, a basketball team, tons of shopping, tons of food, tons of water......dude if you can't find anything better to do than to go to SFA in the DC area....wow

Enterprise <3, wooooo! That ride turned me into an Enterprise enthusiast... Man I love Lake Compounce...definitely my favorite park. I think it's just awesome how you can swim in the natural lake, ride two great wooden coasters, ride awesome flat rides, eat good food for decent prices, and get a great view of a mountain all in the same park. Dash owns Ravine Flyer in my mind. Ravine Flyer is already rougher than Dash (IMO) after a few months. The airtime on that tripple up and pretty much the entire second half is out of this world.

Wow, TPR has changed your life I bought a Six Flags America season pass on the last day of the season last year, and have been to SFNE, SFGAd twice, and SFOG this year, and never SFA. Just have no real reason to go, until now, because I have to see if it is as bad as it was the day TPR went. I'll probably go the last day of the season to get another 50 dollar pass.

I am SOOOOOOO jelous now!! You got to eat at Pats and ride Cyclone before and after the Behemoth trip. If there is one coaster I want to ride before I die, it is that one.... Last coaster I rode was Phoenix last Friday. Knew you were a smart guy Brent.........your top four looks a lot like mine: 1. Phoenix, 2. Dash, 3. Toro, 4. SROS

Man, really sorry I didn't meet the EC Tour at my locals SFA or KD, but my work schedule just sucked that week. Here is the secret about SFA: It takes them AT LEAST half the day to get all their coasters running well. At night, everyone has left, and pretty much every ride is a walk on. I'm usually able to get plenty of rides in, and your ride count seemed extremely low for having ERT! Yall should have stayed till close, your not supposed to sleep on a TPR tour are you? I hope none of you think the entire state of Maryland and the surrounding area is of the same quality of Six Flags America and Capitol Heights (where you stayed before SFA). Really would have loved that Boulder Dash ERT. I loved the night ERT on RFII and S Comet, but I like Boulder Dash so much better than those two rides, it would have been insane....you haven't even gotten to Phoenix yet and I'm already jelous

I forget who said this, but it was genius: