Wood Dragon 1988
Members-
Posts
1,004 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Wood Dragon 1988
-
Mitch Hawker 2010 poll
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Skycoastin Steve's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I love it! I've never thought of it that way, but basically that sums up my thoughts about the two companies. And whoever said hooray for Phoenix, amen to that too! -
Mitch Hawker 2010 poll
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Skycoastin Steve's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
It's hard to believe I've only been on 50 woodies or so, and virtually no new wood credits in the past two years and I've been on 4 of the top 5! Not much else to say, other than I'm surprised at how low Voyage is and that Aska still is in the poll! Also, did anyone notice that 7 of the coasters ranked 11-20 were GCIs while none of the coasters ranked 1-10 were GCIs? (I know it's like 2 A.M., so I may not have counted that right.) So, does that pretty much prove that GCI makes a quality ride that isn't going to be the best coaster in the world, and they're all pretty similar? It seems every year GCI comes out with something new that everyone raves about, but as an outsider looking in (because I haven't ridden more than 4 GCIs), they've always looked pretty similar with one or two innovations along the way. Maybe the new one in China will change this though. -
Are you serious!? When I was there for ECB during the IntimidaTOUR, I greyed out every time but once that day. I rode it about 12 times because of ERT. This was about the same story as mine. I rode probably about a dozen times, and only didn't black out maybe twice. Some were worse than others, as most times I would regain sight by the first bunny hill, but on others I wouldn't for what seemed like half-way through the ride. That being said, I had a slight cold that day, and was very tired out from walking and riding all day. Downing about 5 hotdogs and 3 beers at lunch didn't help things. I didn't black out on any other rides that day though, and hardly ever do. Intimidator is just a black out beast!
-
Parc Asterix Discussion Thread
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to sebastienstuff's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Can't wait to see the themeing...Parc Asterix always seems to theme its rides very well, if not a little oddly! -
Heide Park Discussion Thread
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Sebbe's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I'm sure their total cost included clearing out the old boat and lake that was there as well as the theming. I can't imagine that the ride itself cost more since it is significantly shorter, smaller trains, etc. Parks usually have a habit of lumping EVERYTHING it costs for a ride into the total number, and that will include things like marketing, media day, announcement parties, etc.... --Robb That would make more sense. It seems like this ride will be heavily themed, and while Griffon is themed, I wouldn't consider it "heavily themed", especially for a Busch park. Even the announcement day ceremonies for Krake looked pretty darn expensive. -
What Was the Last Beer You Drank?
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to robbalvey's topic in Random, Random, Random
I tried a Gordon Biersch Marzen and a Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale yesterday. Neither were my style, but not bad. The Dogfish had too much coffee taste for me. I liked the Saranac Brown I had about a week ago much better than the Dogfish. The Gordon Biersch wasn't too bad, but it was very sweet and almost tasted like it was spiced or something. Not really sure how, but as you can tell I don't know that much about beer ingredients. It didn't taste anything at all like Sam Adams Octoberfest or Spatan Octoberfest, both of which I like much more than Gordon Biersch. -
How many bones have you broken?
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to booger's topic in Random, Random, Random
Never broke any bones. Knock on wood. -
Photo TR: Lake compounce
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to thrillrider's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Great TR...Lake Compounce is my favorite park. To me it's just perfect. It's small, but has just enough. My second favorite coaster, plenty of flats, a small water park, a beautiful lake and mountain setting, and almost no corporate feel at all. I love how you can swim in that natural lake. You see so many overcrowded, dirty wave pools in parks these days, but you don't see many real lake where you can swim in. -
Heide Park Discussion Thread
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Sebbe's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
This is one great looking coaster. I've always really wanted to go to this park (perhaps more than any other European park), and this only adds to my craving. It's amazing to me that this coaster costs more than both SheiKra and Griffon did....I'm not sure if it's just because of inflation or what. As great as it looks, its so much shorter than SheiKra or Griffon and contains like half the elements. It's hard to believe how much B&M rides cost these days. Cheers to the park for at least getting one, regardless of how much smaller it is. -
Most Intense B&M!
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Beate's Freak's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Out of all the B&Ms I've ridden the only ones that really stand out to me as being intense rides are the Batman Clones and Raptor. Idividual intense moments include S:UF's pretzel loop, Afterburn's bat wing, and Goliath at SFOG's helix. -
It all depends on how far you want to drive and what interests you, both of which you seem to have not listed. I would say the best parks are Hershey or BGW. Hershey has some great coasters in my opinion at least, with Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, and Great Bear leading the way. I'm not too big of a fan of any of their wooden coasters, my favorite is Comet, but many enthusiasts seem to think Lightening Racer is awesome. Overall, its a fairly nice park, a huge coaster collection, and your pretty much guaranteed to find a coaster you love. BGW is a big, spread out park, with good themeing and great landscaping. I don't think its the most beautiful park in the world, but they certainly don't mind telling you all the awards they win. It's themed to Europe, I know lots of European enthusiasts who find it interesting to see what take the park has on all the countries. I think Griffon and Apollo both kick a$$. Only down side is lots of walking and not as many credits as some of the other parks. As others have said, SFGAd is also great. I have day tripped it when I lived even farther south than DC. Its an awesome park with perhaps the best selection of coasters on the East Coast, and IMO it's run a lot better than other Six Flags parks. It gets very crowded over the summer though. SFA is the closest park. It's the closest park to me...I hate the park, but if you simply want to get some good coasters under your belt with little lines its a great option. At this point, I think I'm in the minority, but I still think Superman in the front half of the train is the best coaster in the area (unless SFGAd is included that is!) And you certainly won't find anything like Superman in Scotland. Hope this helps.
-
My home parks are KD and SFA, having been to KD the most. Neither one are even in my top 10. Lake Compounce is my favorite, Knoebels is second, and SFGAd, BGE, and Kennywood are kind of tied for third. As much as I really don't like states north of the Mason Dixon line, the parks I've been to there are generally far better!
-
What is the best floorless?
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to ddaver177's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Been on Hydra, Medusa East, Batman, Superman Krypton, and Dominator. Superman and Dominator are tied for my favorite. Medusa and Batman seemed pretty forceless to me, and Medusa's layout seemed a bit lacking compared to the other two large flooreless I've ridden. I rode Hydra so long ago, I barely remember it. It's hard for me to judge between Superman and Dominator though. -
Knoebels Discussion Thread
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
^^ & ^^^ Totally agree. I live 3-4 hours away depending on how crappy road construction in PA is, and when I had the time and money to visit a lot of parks I went to Knoebels at least once or twice a year. I didn't exactly think the park was amazing on my first visit, but by my second and with maybe 100 more coasters and a dozen more parks under my belt, I really appreciated what great, no hassle fun Knoebels is. At any big park (and many small ones), so much can go wrong when it comes to crappy operations, high general admission and parking, high food and souviner prices, crappy food, long wait times, etc. It seems like thats never an issue at Knoebels. In fact, each time I go it seems to rain, but there are still people in the park, all the rides operate (if not better because of rain), all the food stands are open, etc. Anyway, I haven't been to Knoebels (haven't been pretty much anywhere else either) since 08, and can't wait to go back, despite the fact that Flying Turns is still a big wooden lawn ornament. I don't know much about Black Diamond, so I'm hoping it surprises me in some ways. Plus there's two more credits and everything else that was good (besides the best kiddie coaster ever, but I think I'll survive!) is still there. -
I've been to SFGAd twice in April, and had two very different experiences. The first was in mid April on a Sunday in 2008, and it was one of my best days at a Six Flags park. Hardly any lines, got all the credits in a few hours, and rode El Toro and Nitro till I had my fill in the evening. The other was on openeing day (Saturday) 2009, and the park was even less busy, but only half the rides were open, operations were one train and slow, Nitro valleyed, etc. This was all due to very high winds and cold temps, which obviously were out of the park's control, nontheless made for a subpar park experience. I felt very bad for my friend who only got about half the credits after a 5 hour drive from West PA. So my only suggestion to you, is if you have two days as an option, look at the forcast and make sure its not going to be too windy, rainy, cold, etc. But then you also have to include the spring break factor. For parks in my area, Spring break week is usually not too busy, but I've heard it gets bad at Great Adventure. Hope you have fun, I think SFGAd is one of the best parks on the East Coast! edit- about your question about rain, I don't believe they close anything for a light drizzle, but as mentioned above, New Jersey in April can still be cold and windy, so rain coupled with rain cold lead to a pretty sucky day. As I said, I really think weather is the most important issue that time of year.
-
Ferrari World Discussion Thread
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Captain Jack's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Without trying to be as ignorant and idiotic as many of the above posts have been, I still think this isn't necessarily great news. I mean, I'm not convinced that the park will be saved just because the government is taking it over. I guess we can at least be optimistic and believe the park is in better hands than it was with a company that couldn't even operate the park for a year without selling it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I just overall don't know what to make about what is going on in that part of the world these days. I remember when I first got interested in coasters and reading forums about 5 or 6 years ago, all this UAE stuff was announced. Around 2010-2012 they were supposed to build all these parks and it was supposed to be Orlando East or something. Well, its now that time and its certainly not what was announced. Around the same time, I was starting college, and many of my professors when talking about globalization and stuff brought up UAE and showed us all the plans for the cities, businesses, real estate, tourism, etc. A few years later one of my profs just came back from a one year furlough....he was supposed to have taught at a huge university built in Dubai that was never built. He still got paid his furlough year from the state of Maryland, so just decided to travel the world for a year. Just wanted to mention that, because everything going on in UAE, not just theme parks, seems....strange I guess, and confusing. It all seemed too good to be true when it was announced, and it looks at least now that it was. All I can say is hopefully this one park that actually was built can stay open because it looks awesome. And maybe one day the UAE real estate market will turn around and they will finish more of their big plans! -
Ever heard of this place? http://www.wispresort.com/ ski, snowboard, snow tube, alpine coaster, hotels, cabins, big lake, a brew pub....same deal, probably not nearly as good as this place but its still in MD. -------------- I'll be honest this looks like one of the coolest things I've ever seen TPR do. I would love to go skiing in the west some time.
-
Mitch Hawker 2010 poll
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to Skycoastin Steve's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Just reading through here, and thought it was funny that my top three are exactly the same as yours (but in a different order), but your number 4 wood (Bordwalk Bullet) is probably in the bottom 10% of all the woodens I've ridden, if not in last place! It's funny how people's opinions can be so similar but so diferent. -
Honestly, the only things I can invision myself accomplishing are: -running my second marathon at some point (and hopefully doing it in under 2 hours) -finishing my master's degree in December And as the above poster said, I'm looking forward to Halloween, because Halloween is basically the greatest thing God ever created...hands down!
-
I've got to say that if the first turn is widened and trims are removed, I will be very excited to ride this coaster in 2011! I only rode last year after the trims on the first hill and new restraints were put on, and still really liked it but didn't quite feel it was top 10 worthy. I thought the blackout was a bit too much for me (while riding about 10 times during TPR ERT, I blacked out until almost the end of the second hill a few times). I expect to have a bit more comfortable ride and even more speed and airtime if these changes are made. Now looking back at it, I feel KD and Cedar Fair did about the best they could given the hand they were dealt last year. They were able to keep the ride open almost exclusively throughout last season (and a new ride actually opened on opening day for once). As Robb keeps saying the insane snow fall the east coast had last January and February made opening on time and pre-ride testing almost impossible, but they found a way to do it. Most of my non coaster friends loved the ride as did most of my enthusiast friends. I do know a few people who thought the ride was way too intense to ever ride again, but that's really what you should expect from a coaster of this magnitude. And if they are able to market it in 2011 as being maybe "longer, higher speed throughout" or something like that they may be able to win a few more people back to the ride. I said this after the TPR Bash and I'll say it again now, KD had lost me for a few seasons, but they have me back now for sure!
-
What Was the Last Beer You Drank?
Wood Dragon 1988 replied to robbalvey's topic in Random, Random, Random
Just wondering if you drank that in Italy or were you traveling somewhere? I couldn't imagine that Flying Dog would export half way around the world...I've always seen them as a small local brewery. Then again, I don't know much about how American micros do in Europe.