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AmyUD06

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  1. AmyUD06
    Kings Island, July 3rd and 4th. So, most of us have been to KI, and there's a ton of pictures out there of it, so I'll spare you them in this post. However, I did take a lot of pictures of the 50th Anniversary History walk they have set up in the garden, the Phantom Theater Encore show, as well as the art contest winners that were on display in one of the stores. These can be seen in a post on the Kings Island Thread. As for my time at the park, day one I spent a huge amount of time in the water park to start the day, then went back to my hotel for a while, then went back to the park and got a front row ride on Beast (12 minute wait). After that, I met up with a new friend (one of the bartenders from the waterpark) bar and we did a lap on Adventure Express, wandered around looking at history stuff for a while, did a lap on the back row of Mystic (I forgot how awesome this is at night). After that we took in the fireworks/drone show, and then did two laps on Diamondback (rows 2 and 11) to close out the night. Notably, Beast's Fast Lane line after the fireworks show extended all the way down the exit ramp, almost to the photo booth. Eeesh. The next day, I went back for park opening, and hit the following rides solo, with ducking away for a while in the middle of the day to visit Stricker's Grove: -Woodstock Express, walk on for back row (full train, which I rarely ride this with, made it fly)/ -Diamondback, train-and-a-half wait for back row, right wing. This ride is growing on me. -Mystic, three-train wait for front row. Cars and snake monster ending, same one I had last night. -Banshee, train-and-a-half wait for front row/ -Orion, train-and-a-half wait for back row, left edge. -Beast, two train wait for front row. -Banshee, half-train wait for back row, left wing. -Racer left side, one train wait for front row (did not win). -Flight of Fear, 10 minute wait for row 3. Honestly one of the better rides I've had on this for a while. -Mystic, three-train wait for the back row. Maneater and snake monster ending. At this point I met back up with my bartender friend and we closed out the night with a night ride on Beast on the last train of the day (Hour and 37-minute wait through the fireworks shutdown). Unfortunately, while we lined up for the front, we were right at the cutoff and had to move to row 11. Notably on Beast, the stop-and-go shuffling when pulling into the station has been largely resolved but not entirely. And that about sums up my stop in at Kings Island. Next up, the ultimate in rare park credits: Stricker's Grove.
  2. AmyUD06
    So I haven't seen a lot about either the history section that has been set up in the gardens, or the Phantom Theater Encore show, so I'll deviate from my big trip report to talk about them and show the pictures here. First up, the 50th Anneversary history section set up in the gardens. This area has stones for every year with the big addition on the ground, with blank stones set up for another 15+ years. Along the path are signs talking about the parks history, broken down by era, as well as model Eiffel Towers painted in the colors of major rides. And the Phantom Theater Encore show. It was entertaining enough...I definitely enjoyed the acrobats, and the talent and production values were there, but not knowing anything about the original ride, I found the show kinda meh. There was also a little too much union bashing for my liking. In the lobby of the theater there's a whole bunch of history about the ride, including reproductions of the lenticular posters, and the original model of the ride (which apparently the park had to buy back from a collector who had purchased it). I love park history, so honestly this part was better than the show for me, but I'm sure people who remember the original Phantom Theater ride will be very entertained by the show. Out front, one of the original ride vehicles. The poster on the outside of the theater. Inside the theater (no photo or video allowed once the show began). And the history section: And I'll close out this post with some pictures of the art contest winners and runners up, on display in one of the stores:
  3. AmyUD06
    I didn't. Between the heat and my mild headache, I didn't do any rerides, which I regretted 15 minutes down the road. I was also a little nervous about back row rides ruining the ride for me like what happened on Thunder Run LOL. Thanks for the positive encouragement!
  4. AmyUD06
    Columbus Zoo, July 2nd. After leaving my hotel in Louisville, and with several hours before I could check in to my hotel in Mason for Kings Island for the next few days and a slight disappointment over missing out on two credits early in the trip, I decided to forego the extra time at KI and instead detoured up to Columbus for their zoo, which as everyone knows has a couple of coasters. This report will deviate from my standard chronological format. I'm going to talk about the rides section first, then animals (of which there are over 200 pictures). But first, the entrance: Yeah, it was kinda busy. Okay, so on to the rides section here, called "Adventure Cove." Their newest addition, a Reverchon spinning mouse called Tidal Twist. 12 minute wait and then four minutes sitting on the brake run, because in true Kings Dominion fashion, they only allowed one car out on the course at a time but were running every car they owned. Whatever, it's a spinner...I still don't particularly enjoy these. 4/10. Some other rides they have... And then finally every enthusiasts reason for coming here, Sea Dragon: A 1956 junior PTC woodie with hand-level operated skid brakes! No wait for front or back row. It was decent enough, very smooth...retracked through the whole first lift and drop. It runs PTC junior trains with flanged wheels (no guide wheels) and non-buzzing buzz bars (they were mechanically operated). No real airtime or any kind forces to speak of, but a great classic ride. 7/10. So what did these three rides cost me? $6.00 Every ride here is individually ticketed (you can buy wristbands), and costs either one or two dollars. On top of the $25 entry fee, this place is a bargain. Before I picture dump all of the animal pictures, a few comments: -I walked through every section except the Africa section, simply due to time. -The Lynx, the only other animal I really wanted to see, was hiding somewhere. -I typically am not a big animal or zoo person, and while it was cool to see Pallas Cats in person and I got to pet a Stingray, all in all it kinda made me sad. Most the animals have to be so bored, cooped up in cages without many of their natural activities to do. This goes double for the primates...just thinking that they are so close in genealogy to humans, and we trap them in tiny boxes and just watch them...I don't know. I get it, it's good to preserve these species that might be having their natural habitats destroyed, but still. -You'll see how sad some of the primates are in the pictures...it's just all over their faces. They're just laying around, bored, all day except when the trainers come in to interact with them. It just doesn't seem...right? Anyway, with that preachy spiel out of the way, here's a video of the Pallas Cats doing their thing. These are tiny little wild cats, barely bigger than a housecat, and are super cute but also a deadly predator. VID_20220702_134204314.mp4 And now, the photo dump of all of the animal photos I took. If you have no interest, feel free to skip ahead to the next post.
  5. AmyUD06
    Just finally got around to posting my first ever trip to Holiday World in my big 2022 Photo TR thread. What did I think of the park, after spending the previous day at Kentucky Kingdom? Click through to find out!
  6. AmyUD06
    Holiday World, July 1st. I made the drive out to Holiday World in the morning, taking advantage of the time zone change to get an extra hour of sleep, and arrived before opening. I always love to see parks with their own water towers. Fast scanners again. Seriously, Cedar Fair...let's go. A nice classic entrance facility. With nothing operating for about another 30 minutes, ducked into the waterpark to stow my aquatic gear, and took pictures of the areas I could access: Even without his famous coat, Santa must get really warm in that velvet suit in these temperatures. I could tell already that this place wouldn't have the same shade issue as Kentucky Kingdom. A great theme for their drive'em cars. Amusingly, I did not spontaneously burst into flames while taking this picture. A nice little kiddie ride section, each ride with a nice Christmas theme. Though I don't quite understand how seahorses work into the Christmas mythos... I see you....I'll be back later! Once the park opened, I started making my way towards the back of the park as per recommendations I received here (Thanks everyone!), for my first top: Voyage. I love when parks put 3D logos on the fronts of coaster trains. Nerd shot. That is a tall lift... 14 minute wait for the front row. WOW! That was insane. Awesome, awesome ride. A little rattle-y, not gonna lie it gave me a little headache, but it has everything you could want in a wooden coaster: Speed, airtime, laterals, positive Gs...you name it, it has it. 11/10. On a brief side note, this is the first park I've ever encountered where the ride ops actually encourage guests to hand them their loose articles rather than have them cross the train and put them in the bins. I continued my way up towards Thunderbird, taking some more pictures as I went... A great theme for a Tilt-a-Whirl. I did not ride the turkey-shooting dark ride. All that remains of Pilgrim's Plunge. Uh...so about that shade? This part needs it the most! No, this doesn't cut it! What's with these Zamperla Starflyer-clones being so prolific in this part of the country? Finally, after the long long hike uphill in the direct sunlight, I made my way to Thunderbird. 15 minute wait for the front row, left wing. Great ride. This was my first ever launched B&M, and I don't know why they don't make more. The keyhole element was incredible and I greyed out a little bit at the top of the vertical loop. 9/10. And of course, gotta grab a picture of the first hill on Voyage through the trees. At this point, I made my way into the water park and stowed my phone, so obviously no pictures. The first stop here were of course the three water coasters. Reasonable waits for all of them, and all were very very good. I had never experience true airtime on a water coaster, and wow they blew my mind. I loved the dividers in the giant tubes on Mammoth. These should be standard on every ride that uses these large tubes. Otherwise, the water park is very expansive and has a ton of slides and splash-around areas, though I wish there were more single-person-tube slides as opposed to the big-family-tube type that proliferate at this park. I get it, adults without families are not the target demographic for this park, so it's definitely a me-only problem. The lazy river is quite long but doesn't really have a lot of elements in it, and is quite shallow (only like 2.5 feet deep), making it a little odd for riding it in the body-through-the-tube fashion that I prefer. That said, I did like the U-shaped "lounger tubes" that were offered that allowed one to be mostly submerged while in a sitting position...these should be standard on lazy rivers. I left the water park at around 2:15 and made my way into Halloween. I absolutely loved this theme on the Wave Swinger. Unfortunately, Legend was closed on my first pass, with a train stuck halfway into the station, but I would get on it later. Only the second non-lighted scrambler I've ever seen. I was surprised that they still had a diving show; these are long-gone history at most parks. Anyway, I made my way up to the next coaster, Raven. Awesome little thematic details on the walls in the station. And once again, a 3D logo on the front of the train. And some nice graphics on the sides. Why more parks don't do this, I'll never understand. Two-train wait for the front row. HOLY. SHIT. This ride was absolutely insane. I was out of my seat for the entire first turn after the drop, getting some nutty laterals+airtime. It held great speed through the woods, and provided great laterals and airtime throughout. It honestly reminded me a lot of Beast. 11/10. As Legend was still closed, I made my way back up through 4th of July to the kiddie area, grabbing a "few" more pictures along the way. Great theme on the bumper cars. Great theme on the Calypso. Not really sure if you want to advertise eating something "dog" named when your park's mascot is a dog LOL. Nice little song and dance show. Man it must be brutal in that costume (it was like 92 degrees ambient on this day). I was honestly surprised to see one of these kid's climbing things in such a major park, but I guess they are independently owned after all. Grabbed a ride on Howler, their kiddie coaster (no wait), and made my way back in to the main part of the park. Another show venue. This stupid little kiddie flume that has zero verticality...I love it. I stopped in to the merry marketplace for some food. The mac & cheese was pretty good, but the breadsticks were super dry and hard. Finally, I made my way to Legend, which was now operating! Three-train wait for the front row. Absolutely insane laterals here. There's a double helix, that's basically taken with no banking and at a pretty good speed. This ride is all about the lateral forces, and I love it for it. 10/10. Exhausted from the heat and with a mild headache from the not-perfectly-smooth wooden coasters, I decided to call it a day around 4:00. All in all, I really enjoyed Holiday World, and anyone who thinks Kentucky Kingdom is objectively the better park is out of their mind. Boo hoo, there's no alcohol...what are we, back in college? Oh, and the free drinks was awesome and every park should do this. Next up is an unplanned bonus visit to the Columbus Zoo!
  7. AmyUD06
    Just posted up my report from my visit to this park on June 30th, right here. Check it out and see if Thunder Run was truly worthy of being my 250th!
  8. AmyUD06
    I guess I should probably finish this report sometime within a month after it happened, right? Kentucky Kingdom, June 30th. This was my first time ever at this park...and boy was it...underwhelming? That's a big flag. At least the entrance is nice. And they use the fast-scanners too. Come on CF, get on the ball with these. My first time ever seeing a Huss Breakdance that wasn't themed to something. First up here was Lightning Run. Two train wait for the front row. This was kinda insane. Definitely a fan of the Hyper GT-X model and will join everyone else in echoing "Why aren't there more of these?" A few of the transitions were a bit abrupt, but yeah this was awesome. 9/10. Also, did RMC have something do with the restraint design? It's almost identical to theirs. Same Ferris Wheel model as at Morey's, except without the suicide-prevention cages. Next up was Kentucky Flyer. One train wait for the back row. A very fun ride...I was expecting something like Wooden Warrior at Quassy, but was pleasantly surprised by the solid airtime. Still not sure how I feel about the Timberliner trains though, and it could be longer. 8/10. That is one tall water slide...reminded me of the massive speed slides that used to be at Action Park, NJ. I had to do it to make Thunder Run my #250th at my fellow TPRers recommendation, plus I'm never one to turn down a credit, so yeah...next up was T3. This sign speaks the truth: 22 minute wait for the front row. So what did I think that is widely regarded as one of the worst coasters on the planet? Not too bad. I don't know what everyone complains about. It's no Great Nor'Easter, sure, but it's far from the worst SLC I've ever been on. Yeah, the restraints got a little tight by the end, but nowhere near bad as SkyRush. You've just gotta follow the instructions and brace against the restraint by pushing against them with your hands while you're riding. It's also incredibly photogenic on the exit path, but I didn't feel like standing around for 10 minutes for them to send another train. Still, it is a janky SLC, so...3/10? Moving along, we come to Storm Chaser. One train wait for the back row. This is a top tier RMC, right behind Twisted Timbers in my book. It has everything I love about RMCs...wild airtime, funky turns, and those super-quick inversions. It was a little rough, but I blame that on the 1st generation RMC trains with the single axles. I deeply regret not making this #250 (you'll see why later). 10/10. This park has a 1919(?) carousel that doesn't appear to have ever been updated (it still has the stairs at the platform), and it could certainly use a little love. Maybe not a SFStL 3 year refurbishment, but something. Next on the list was Roller Skater. Like a 10 minute wait solely because they won't run it with only one person on it. Whatever, it's a kiddie coaster...no rating. I did express solidarity with the ride op and wished him a happy last day of Pride month...I couldn't imagine being LGBTQ+ in Kentucky. Nice little history board...mostly about other parks LOL. The infamous flying-shoe swings ride. And finally, it was time to get my 250th credit...Thunder Run! My first ride was on the front row (one train wait). This was awesome...tons of airtime, good laterals, easily tied with Storm Chaser for the best ride here. Maybe could use some Millennium Flyers, but overall, awesome. 10/10....or is it? My second ride was in the back row (half-train wait). OMG this was just a jackhammering, shuffling mess, and gave me a massive headache. I have no idea how the same coaster could be so different between the front and back rows. 0/10 in the back....so I guess 6/10 overall? I grabbed a salted pretzel with vanilla icing from Twisted, absolutely delicious and only $7. Amusingly there were 5 employees inside the pretzel place, but only two were actually working...the others were just chatting about nonsense with eachother. A few other notes about this park: -Most food stands were not open. -Lots of long pathways with no shade or anything to do on them. -Half of the soda stations were unmanned but did work; the other half had staff charging you. A decent stop on the trip, but I don't see myself coming back here anytime soon barring some new major coaster. My next stop was Holiday World, a much, much better park.
  9. AmyUD06
    Glad you had a good time! I can't remember the last time I've seen Racer running both sides, even when the park is busy.
  10. AmyUD06
    *Shrug* When I bought my passes for this year back in Feb, the renewal was $220 and the FL+ was $950.
  11. AmyUD06
    Not that much of an increase. Pass price went up by like $20-30, drink plan by less than $5, and FL+ by $49. Reasonable.
  12. AmyUD06
    Without FT, Fahrenheit should be your priority. It has both the best FT implementation and the worst capacity, I'd then say SkyRush next, since it can be temperamental and you don't want to miss out if a sensor throws a weird code or the lift cable snaps and it stays closed for the rest of the day. Otherwise Boldy's advice makes sense. With FT you don't need a plan, just don't be surprised when you encounter Cedar Point-esque merge points on many rides. Some other tips: -Don't skip the log flume. You don't get too wet and its one of the few left that have a little jump at the bottom of the main drop. -Don't skip SuperDooperLooper. If you've been on Revolution at SFMM or MindBender at SFoG, imagine that but with no trims. -Mac and Cheese from the place down by Trailblazer's entrance was bangin'. -Don't forget about Preview Night - your ticket gets you in for the last two hours of the night before your visit. Keep the same ticket and parking slip for both days. -Don't waste time in the water park. Lines will be double-insane for everything there and there really isn't anything unique aside from the water coaster.
  13. AmyUD06
    Yes, the first drop was steepened. You will get airtime, even with the trims, towards the back of the train, on the first drop, and the first hill after the drop, as well as the new little "bump" they put it before the second tunnel. The helix was also substantially changed, and is more awesome, but I won't ruin the surprise for you. Prepare to be very impressed.
  14. AmyUD06
    No one died. There was an accident where a boat rolled back flipped over, injuring the passengers, but only one was taken to a hospital and they were later released. Also nothing like the big splash boat rides you mentioned. 10 passenger boats, and it closed at the end of the 2015 season, two years after the aforementioned incident. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_the_Rapids
  15. AmyUD06
    There's also the plethora of other entertainment options in North Jersey.
  16. AmyUD06
    Oops... Well it was news to me haha. Now that I've seen it in person this year, more and more I think you're right. There is all kinds of gunk built up on the hydraulics of the launch brakes like they're not taking care of the ride at all.
  17. AmyUD06
    Sorry if this has been posted already, but all of Dragster's trains are gone from the storage track.
  18. AmyUD06
    By all accounts I've seen, the waterpark and amusement park are the most successful parts of this boondoggle. I could see Triple Five defaulting and the whole complex being sold to a more seasoned park operator with the sole intention of operating the rides/slides and turn the mall into an Amazon warehouse. It already looks like one.
  19. AmyUD06
    6 PM on a Tuesday. Edit: And the FL+ line for Maverick at 7 pm (Edit edit-this only took 8 minutes to get through):
  20. AmyUD06
    Your strategy seems sound. I'd recommend grabbing a quick ride on Iron Dragon on the way to Millie, since it's not on FL but is on Early Entry. The front row of Millie does not take an extra 45 minutes. Maybe an extra 15 at the most. I do. I don't even mess with the stupid locker system in the queue anymore. Yeah, it's not free, but its worth it to avoid the hassle IMHO.
  21. AmyUD06
    Awesome! Thanks for the update. Guess I'm stopping there on my way to CP on Tuesday.
  22. AmyUD06
    15-20 minutes is only possible, in my experience from last year (I haven't been this year yet) if all of the following are met: -FL-Merge-Person lets FL people through right away so it doesn't back up. -Locker-spieler is on their game. -Locker area doesn't get backed up. -Post-locker metal detector persons are on their game. -Grouper at the top of the stairs is pulling equally from both stairwells. -Actual operations don't get held up for any reason. I don't budget any less than an hour for SV, even with FL, unless the line is so short that you can breeze right past the locker area. Your experience is atypical, unless they've gone back to one stairwell being for FL and one being for non.
  23. AmyUD06
    By that logic, shouldn't they shift the hours later so they're open longer once the sun is down? 7PM is right when it starts to cool down.
  24. AmyUD06
    Now that you have time you could scroll back through the past few pages. Eeesh. Summary: It's up and down, as always.
  25. AmyUD06
    Maverick's puts you in the station. Yeah, CP's Fast Lane implementation is less than idea, but its still mandatory (especially on weekends) if you ask me, unless you have several days at the park.
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