Wood Dragon 1988

Awesomeness. I went to Trimpers 2 years ago and loved it. At the time, my father wouldn't let me go to JRATP, because we had other stuff to do. If I go back, I will be sure to do both-and Jolly Roger too. I read a report that they got a "new" Wildcat this year. IMO, the Pirate Funhouse is the best walk-through there-one of my favorite attractions in my home state! Mirror maze is lame (too short), the Arabian Walk through was allright, and the Haunted House is good, but much worse than Knoebels. The Tobogan was the best coaster in OCMD. I know I should be shot for saying that. BTW, what happened to JRATP's 220 foot tall sling shot ride? I didn't se it in your "park panarama" shot.

Quick question---you all rode Dominator and Medusa within days of each other....how do you think they compare? KD is one of my local parks, but I don't really like it, so I don't go much. However, KD still has plenty of cool stuff for a first time visitor. Cedar Fair has made it worse though IMO.

Really enjoying your pictures and your simple but oh so true commentary. Interesting what you said about Euro water rides. I heard a lot of good stuff about them from the Spain tour TRs. I agree about Steel Force. I don't know how people say there is no airtime on it. And as one of you mentioned, it is silky smooth. I almost enjoy the under-restrained Morgan hypers more than I do the B&Ms.

^^According to SFAFANS.com, they believe it is still getting work done off site. They hardly ever run two trains anyway. I agree about Batwing though. I've never really noticed the cussing/texting/etc, but it just seems that the ride is either always down or runs a horrible capacity. I've never seen more than one train on any of my three visists from 2003-2007. In fact, I've never seen one whole train; a row or two is always roped off! The line jumping is completely out of control on Batwing. It seems like SFA never has many long queues, but when they do, the general patron's mindset is that line-jumping is completely tollerable. SROS seems to always have a bad crew, but as Larrygator said, they do seem to employ SOME decent human beings.

Wow, let's try to me just a little bit more damn racist next time. Sorry, but what you just said is messed up. It was really messed up, I agree. But then I thought about it, and I am wondering if racism has a lot to do with SFA's bad reputation. I know SFA is bad. But I have only been to 12 parks. I can't imagine SFA is as bad as much more experienced people are saying. In fact, I remember when about 20 TPR members went to SFA last spring, they reported that their experience was quite good. Again, I'm not saying the park is pristine, but I think if you go in with low expectations you will find that about half the coasters are very good, and about half the crews are at least acceptable. Basically, it's not far off the other Six Flags or Cedar Fair operations I have encountered.

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Thanks a lot for the responses. SFNE and LC are big parks for me, so I will not be trying to do them on the same day-I might as well get my money's worth. My main concern was weather or not the parks' one-hit-wonders (Dash and SROS) were all operational and everything right now. Now that I think about it-I am a huge New England Clam Chowder fan, and would love to try a good version of the real stuff. Anyone know of a diner/carry-out type place near either of the parks with good chowder? Also, I am now 90% sure I will be doing SFNE on Friday, LC on Saturday, and coming back home for the new park/Wildcat credit in Maryland on Sunday. I'll probably need only one hotel-near Bristol on Saturday. Anyone know of a good/cheap lodge?

I've heard some really crappy things about La Ronde. I had no idea the workers were unionized. It sounds like the union actually helps them out a bit. The compensation/scheduling doesn't seem nearly as bad compared to what most amusement parks offer.

I am off work this weekend, and I am planning a 2-3 day trip to the north east. I live in southern Maryland, so this means at least a 6 hour drive to any of these parks. The two parks I'm definitely doing are SFNE and Lake Compounce, and, if time and money permit- I may add Great Escape and Rye as well. My main question is: does anyone know if Superman has been having problems the past few weeks. I know that it is a ride that has had problems before, and is one of the two or three reasons why I really want to do this trip. (Boulder Dash and Comet being the others) Also, have these two coasters had any recent down time? I looked for recent PTRs, and I couldn't find any, so if anyone is local and has any advice, it would be much appreciated!

^Woe there....HXLC may have been painful. I completely agree that it is a ride that you wanted to get off of before it was over, mostly due to insanely horrible restraints. But worst coaster ever is really stretching it......you've gotta give some props for the completely unbelievable launch. After riding Kingda Ka, and after hearing that Dodonpa's launch may be a bit "too intense," I actually think HXLC's launch COULD have been the best in the world.....hard to believe, because the ride did suck. Still, I think a Vekoma Boomerang is just as painful and way less "pros" than HXLC did.

Voodoo looks like one of the few rides that Cedar Fair can name/logo correctly. Dorney was a pretty cool park, but still one of my least favorite Penn. parks. Steel Force is very underrated

Dam Sen Park - wow that was interesting! I have to admit that if I ever go there, I would be terrified to ride some of those rides. The park looks incredibly unique though- roller coasters, dinosaurs, ice sculptures, dragons, lakes, rip-off Disney stuff, crocidiles. The food at least looks delicious!

Just for the record, Alaska is one of the top "non coaster places" I want to visit in the U.S. It looks just beautiful, and it was one of the only highlights of the Simpson's movie for me. I actually hope the place stays coaster-free.

Awesome report. TPR should forget Scandi in '09 and hit up Egypt! It has a bonus helix at least

^Depends what you mean by "looks." Themeing and ride=fantastic Colors=hideous

My only comment is that I would really like to see a top-ten feature.

Wow, some really nice photos there! Looks like you really took a lot of trips in 2007 as well. Good job!

I went to SFGAd for the first time on Sunday, 4-20-08, the first day of spring break. Crowds were unbelievable light after all of the stuff I had heard about it being crowded. I got two or three rides on almost all the coasters, and five on Toro. Maybe I got lucky, but I would highly recomend an out-of-area visitor to go in April.

Very interesting......I can always count on TPR to bring me up to date on ride openings. Overall, I'm a little disappointed in the end result, but I still like the ride concept and the look of the park. When I first heard the idea of a "Gerstlauer semi-pre fab. wooden," I wasn't expecting the opening topic to be called "Tripsdrills cute woodie." However, I think it's great that another company is basically doing pre-fab.s now, even if Stengel is the same person designing them. The ride still looks built a little more for airtime than most GCIs, which is a plus in my book. Also, the second half looks better than the first-the way I like it. Overall a good looking ride. Honestly, I think the only thing that is preventing it from being Intamin competition is the steepness of the first drop--and obviously Tripsdrill didn't want it that steep. Considering Cordes built the first three Intamin prefabs, you would think they would be able to build some steeper drops on their own in the future.........

El Freaken Toro

Wow, very nice TR. This one addition just proves how BGA is so much more than your average theme park. When I ever get to Florida, I've got to check that place out. The fact that it has three of the best B&Ms in the world and all those fantastic zoo-like areas makes it look completely unbelievable.

^Yea, but so does Kingda Ka......and Rita........and Stealth. On that note, I was looking at some pics of Zaturn (basically a Stealth clone) and I came across this pic: http://rcdb.com/ig3454.htm?picture=9 Are those some new sort of Intamin restraints that I haven't really heard about? Heide park looks outstanding. Much better than the UK's Merlin parks. I think Colossos's layout is far more appealing than El Toro's-more airtime hills, less turns, a bit more "raw." But I do not doubt the overwhelming opinions that ET delivers more. Although, your comment about Colossos being a bit rough was the first I have EVER heard about the ride. In fact, the only complaints about it I usually hear are about it being too smooth and steel-like. Man, I wish I could afford that TPR Euro trip! And matteocrepaldi I want to give you props for a great PTR. You've really put a great deal of effort into this, and for whatever reason have gotten hardly any responces. I have really enjoyed reading it.

Just curious if Sidewinder got a paint job prior to this season? I'm not the kind of guy who memorizes every color of every Vekoma Boomerang, but I remember it looking like pure crap last year, and those pictures make it look......slightly more appealing?? Fahrenheit looks incredible! From the animation I had no idea it would be that compact. It sure looks like it has quite a bit of elements, just hoping it doesn't get painful!!

I can't believe you couldn't find atmosphere at Kennywood-at least compare to the plethora of corporate and wanna-be corporate parks that litter the Mid-West. The only thing I think is wrong about the place is that none of the woodens are really epic, and they haven't added anything coaster-wise for quite a while. Anyway, the old school arcades, awesome looking entrance, classic looking ride stations, fantastic use of ravines, and the fantastic view of the general Pittsburgh area are things you can't find at most parks. They clearly make Kennywood a unique and nostalgic experience.

^^^^^I have heard a few other people claim they get air on the turns of T-Head. To me it makes no sense. Air-turns? I just don't get it. Air on a turning, twisting hill makes a bit more sense, but I just don't know how a heavily banked wooden turn makes your butt go out of the seat. I am not the biggest fan of GCI based on their installments in Hershey Park and SFA only, but then again that is four of their installments. Basically, I didn't think Lightenening Racer lived up to its hype at all, but am still hoping that Troy, T-Head, Ozark, etc. do.