AmyUD06

Bonus: I won't bore you with details of the work conference, but part of the fee bought us a catered dinner and free tour of the Harley Davidson Museum. I'm not a huge Harley fan, much preferring Japanese standards and cruisers when it comes to motorcyles, but it was a good bit of history. Amusingly, they had a special exhibit set up for The Race of Gentlemen, an annual classic automotive culture and racing event held on the beach in Wildwood every year, which I just so happened to be at a few weeks prior. Here are the photos (part 1)

Day 1: 6/21 I was up at by 5 AM (a little early for me compared to usual, but not by much) and on the road by 6. While driving through Ohio, I had this weird driving into a cloud moment that I felt the need to capture in image... Into oblivion I guess? Anyway, 7+ hours later, having traversed the entirety of "5 miles clear, 5 miles under construction, 5 miles clear, 5 miles under construction, etc etc." of the Indiana Toll Road and horrible Chicago traffic, I wound up in Gurnee, IL, home of Six Flags Great America. Now some of you may remember me not being a huge fan of Six Flags in general, having worked at Great Adventure in NJ for the better part of my youth and getting annoyed with their constant cloning and ridiculous policies, but I figured it's on the way and it's got an RMC and a classic Schwarzkopf, so why not. So I arrived, checked in to my hotel right across the street, and headed right over to the park at around 1 PM. Get in, make a bee-line straight for Goliath (RMC topper track), jump in the Single-Rider Line, and get on the front row after only a 4-5 train wait. Holy. Mother. of. God. This thing just rips. Airtime, laterals, positive Gs, that hang-time moment...just, wow. This was my first RMC of any type and it absolutely blew me away. Bravo. 10/10. Tied with Maverick for my favorite steel coaster or The Beast for favorite wooden, depending on how you want to count it. Goliath doin' its hangtime. On to Whizzer, which was my longest wait of the day at about 30 minutes. A great, classic custom Jet Star III, with that weird self-powered-car spiral lift. 8/10. Whizzer being weirdly awesome. By this time, I decided to check out the waterpark for a bit. Meh overall I guess. Made my way back to the amusement side, and found everything much more packed than it was earlier (lines of 30-60 minutes for most of the coasters), so I splurged on the Flash Pass line-skip system. Now this was my first time utilizing the Six Flags Q-Bot system and found it to be a major pain in the ass compared to Cedar Fair's wristbands, mainly because you can only reserve one ride at a time. Anyway, using the Flash Pass, I queued up for X-Flight, which would be my first B&M Wing Coaster. Threading the needle. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this. Yeah, it was kinda forcless like most modern B&Ms, but the sensation of riding on the egde of the track, entirely non-heartlined, was kinda cool, and the visual effect of the threading-the-needle moments was breathtaking. 7/10. From here I'm having trouble remembering the order, but I know that I did Demon (very much ouch on the corkscrew entrance), American Eagle (not too bad for an old woodie - non-wheel seat of course), and Raging Bull (nice variant of the usual out-and-back B&M hyper design), and I finally made my way to Viper, their 22-year old Cyclone mirror. Surprisingly enjoyable in a non-wheel seat. Viper Vipering At this point, I had done all of the major coasters that weren't sub-par clones of rides at parks closer to me, and each of those (Batman, Dark Knight, Joker, Superman, Vertical Velocity) all had 30+ minutes waits even using the Q-Bot, so I decided to just wander around and found a Condor! I loved this ride when Morey's still had one (even moreso when they ran it on a fast cycle), and through this one ran the slower "scenic overlook" type of program, it was still cool to get one one of these classic rides. Fun fact, this one used to operated at my old employer, SF Great Adventure, but I guess I was too young to remember it. CONDOR!!!! After Condor, I continued wandering, and found Little Dipper. Now, I knew about this coaster, and know about its history, and it was one of my major reasons for deciding to go to this park, but somehow in the midst of the day it had just completely slipped my mind. Got on, loved it, loved how they kept it almost true to how it was (no more levers for brakes, but still skid brakes none the less), and chatted a bit with a ride op about it. Great classic ride, and I'm really surprised that Six Flags of all companies would keep it as intact as they have. Holy crap how did I almost miss you? I also happened across this weird thing...they call it Buccaneer Battle...eight people ride around a slow moving course in a boat armed with water guns, and people on the sides of the ride can shoot back with water guns of their own. Definitely a unique ride and one I was surprised to find at a Six Flags park. At this point it was getting late, and I was happy to have gotten everything accomplished a day ahead of schedule, so I made my way out of the park. Entrance Midway I would head back the next morning, for a quick extra ride on Goliath (back row this time, just as awesome as the front) and to buy some shot glasses for Goliath and X-Flight (only to be disappointed at the lack of the latter), and then it was off to Milwaukee... Outside Plaza the next morning. Stay tuned...

Okay, so here we go with the TR. First, some backstory, my job was sending me to Milwaukee for a conference that lasted from Friday the 23rd through Monday the 26th. Yeah, a conference on a weekend, but whatever. Seeing the opportunity available to me, I opted to drive instead of fly from Northern Delaware, and hit a whole bunch of amusement parks on the ways to and fro the conference. My grand scheme was originally as follows: Tuesday, 6/20 - Drive from Northern DE to Newton Falls OH (pure travel day), leaving in the afternoon and arriving in the evening. Wednesday, 6/21 - Drive from Newton Falls to Gurnee IL, check-in and go to sleep. Thursday, 6/22 - Do Six Flags Great America, drive the remaining hour to Milwaukee. Friday 6/22 - Monday 6/26 - Work conference BS Tuesday 6/27 - Drive to Sandusky OH, try to get in some rides at Cedar Point Wednesday 6/28 - All day dedicated to Cedar Point Thursday 6/29 - Finish up at CP in the morning, drive to Mason OH, try to get in some rides at Kings Island Friday 6/30 - All day dedicated to KI Saturday 7/1 - Drive from Mason OH to Kennywood, do Kennywood, drive to State College PA and go to sleep. Sunday 7/2 - Drive from State College to Knoebels, do Knoebels, drive home to Northern DE, arriving late in the evening. Monday 7/3 - Do laundry, pick up mail, and drive to Wildwood for the 4th Tuesday 7/4 - Enjoy Wildwood Wednesday 7/5 - Drive home. As you'll see, the trip didn't really follow that agenda, for the better! Day 0: 6/20 This day was supposed to a purely travel day, leaving when I normally get done work at around 5 PM. Well, I was able to hit the road much earlier (10AM), and got a huge jump on the day. While travelling through the nothingness mountain-ness of western Pennsylvania, I see a billboard for what looks like an alpine slide. An honest to goodness, Action-Park-NJ-style, alpine slide! To the google machine I go on my phone, and find the Seven Springs Mountain Resort, merely an hour off couse, with a real alpine slide still operating. I had to go. It was just as fun as I remember from my days at Action Park, being all of 10-12 years old at the time...just as heart-racing and exhilarating even though this course was nowhere near as intense as Action Park's "expert" run. That said, it was ten dollars a run, so I only did it once, and was on my way back on the road. I arrived at my stopover hotel in Newton Falls around 4 PM, so I just gassed up the car and grabbed a bite to eat, and passed out, intent on getting an early start the next day. More to come...

Finally getting some pics off my phone, so here are some of Hyrdus and the Ferris Wheel I took when I was there. Station/Sign Lift and Loop Another angle Ferris. Looks great and you can see it from the bridge on SR-37 coming in to town.

Just a quick update from Knoebles...holy fuck how do they get away with running Phoenix with buzz bars and no seat belts? Awesome.

Wildwater Kingdom is worlds beyond Hurricane Harbor unless you are all about gimmick slides (funnel, bowl, etc.). In that case, Hurricane Harbor is more up your alley. WWK has a ton of different slide towers, a good mix of body and tube slides, and as you saw, two wave pools and two lazy rivers. That said, on a hot weekend day the lines can get a little nuts, but weekdays or slightly overcast days should be just fine. You also get the bonus of no-line rides on some pretty decent coasters after you're done at the water park, and the splash-boat and river-rapids ride (and to a lesser extent the super-awesome log flume) are right by WWK so you can stay in your swimwear for them.

Well technically I'm driving from State College, PA, through Knoebels, then home to northern DE on Sunday July 2nd. Then to Wildwood on Monday the 3rd and back on Wednesday the 5th. Yeah, I know I'm in for some major traffic on the way back (not planning on the ferry), kinda just hoping that the 4th being mid-week cuts down on the traffic load. Mid-Trip Update So far the trip has been great...got my first rides on a RMC and B&M Wing Coaster, blasted through 9 major coasters at CP in 4 hours on my first day there (without a FastLane), got blitzed and made some new friends on day 2 at CP, and managed to knock out everything I wanted to do at KI (again without a FastLane) including night rides on both Mystic Timbers and The Beast on day 1 so I'm able to make day 2 into a recovery day. Might try to go back to KI to get on some flats and a few more rides on Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and the Beast later on depending on if these storms hold out. As for photos, Ride Sign fanboys will be overjoyed once I post them all (mostly was just keeping track of what order I did things), but here's one of the few others. Diamondback doing its thing.

I used to loathe skip-the-line programs with a passion. Then I used one, and now I'm in love and can't live without them. If you buy Season Passes well before the season, it's kinda like the FastPass fee is your daily admission LOL.

EDIT: Whole Trip Posted! Part 1 - Alpine Slide!!!!!! Part 2 - SF Great America Part 3 - Harley Davidson Museum Part 4 - Ferry & Michigan's Adventure Part 5 - Cedar Point Part 6 - Kings Island Part 7 - Kennywood & Knoebels Part 8 - Wildwood Enjoy!

Quick Hydrus Review: Meh. Yeah, it was forceful enough, and smooth enough, but over FAR to quickly for $10 a ride. You go into the breaks with so much speed it just feels like there should be more coaster to it. "Underwhelmed" I guess is the best word to describe it. Oh well, rode it once, won't be again.

Aww, boo hoo. http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2017/06/american_dream_megamall_hit_with_another_delay_report_says.html#incart_river_home

Well, Morey's has vest restraints and with the retracking is as smooth as butter. Still a little jostling but no headbanging or anything headache inducing.

Don't be skeptical...it is scary smooth now.

Probably anything ridden prior to the early 2000s when I really started to get into this hobby. Back in the days of dialup, downloading a POV was virtually impossible. Damn young'uns.

My guess is that it's similar to the situation with Revel/TEN in AC compared to all of the other recent ownership changes in that town (namely Blastien's moves) - the right person isn't greasing the right palms. This is NJ, afterall.

I'm calling Photoshop. "Comming" is spelled wrong, and their website just shows "Aqua Trax / Desert Trax" underneath the ride title. Add in the fact that the spacing is off, and that they almost never refer to specific parks in their ride descriptions, I'm highly suspicious.

Not on El Toro/Kingda Ka. Not anymore. Went on both just a few weeks ago with all of the following on my person: 2 wallets Plenty of keys 2 mobiles phones Pack of smokes 2 lighters Pair of glasses Bunch of coins Some things were in zippered/buttoned jacket pockets, but most were just in un-fastened jeans pockets. Don't give the kids working the entrance gate reason to pay attention and they won't stop you. SFGAdv hasn't instituted metal detectors like Universal or Morey's (yet).

Did you completely miss the past few pages of the thread that basically summed it up as "you cannot predict the weather at Cedar Point"?

No park needs fewer smoking sections.

No, because the wind would push it back down once it reached horizontal, barring any sort of crazy wind event with alternating direction of gust in the exact right pattern. Also, if that video was indication of the amount of sway in a 60 mph wind gust, you'd need winds well over 150 mph to even get it horizontal. On other words, a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane. Also consider that the cars are not clamped to the cables in any way, so that as they approached 200 degree rotation the cars would fall off the cable to their doom.

Quick trip report from this last Sunday (July 3rd). Not going to mention everything I did, just the highlights: Nor'Easter: Still good with the vest-style restraints, can't wait to see what the retracking will bring. Cygnus X1 (aka Gravitron): The no-fun-police need to lighten up here. Let people get sideways and upside down if they can. Musik Express: Thank you for not converting this to a programmed-speed control system, and to the operators who listen when I ask them to turn it up to 11. New Go-Kart Course on Adventure Pier: Meh, not bad but I liked the old one better. And please update the cars with the newer ones used at the Go-Karts on Mariner's Pier. Great White: The retracking has taken this from a "must skip" to a "must ride." It's like it was new again. Ghost Ship: Gonna catch a lot of flak for this, but I seriously didn't see what the big deal was. Not a lot of actors, and the ones that were there I could see coming from a mile away. Got a bigger scare out of the one actor inside Dante's Inferno. I miss the mini-golf course. Swim-Up Bar at Ocean Oasis Waterpark: Okay, maybe someone can explain what's with their "we're not allowed to deviate from the menu at all" policy is when it comes to making mixed drinks? I understanding having a limited selection of liquors due to space, but you should at least allow your bartenders to make what they can from the available supplies. Guest Services couldn't explain it either. Not Morey's, but Flow House Bar at Splash Zone Waterpark: Keep awesome, staying open late, and having reasonable drink prices. Best place to drink on the boardwalk by far, and top 3 in the Wildwoods all together.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why they call Joker-style coasters "4D" coasters? Though you gain spinning, you're losing lateral movement, so really the car still just moves in 3 directions.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're that concerned about the additional tenant fee, you might not really be grasping how expensive the basics in Vegas can be.

In the good ol' days, waiting in line was cigarette time. Now I need to take time out of my itinerary for breaks in the designated zones for second-class citizens.

The cars on Arrow/Vekoma trains have the wheel bogies attached at the front end of the car; the wheels of the 2nd car back serve as the "rear" wheels of the first car, and so on, except the last car, which has a "dummy bogie" attached to the rear coupling so it doesn't drag. In the Morey's Piers incident, it was that "dummy bogie" that separated while the train was making it's 1st/forward run, causing the last car to drag and basically tear the back part of the frame/fiberglass off and drag the rest of the train to a halt. And yes, the couplings between the cars see unequal force (successively greater the farther back) while the car is being pulled/held backwards up the initial spike. On the 2nd spike, there's a chain lift that "drops out" to release the train, but I don't know which car(s) have the catch pawl. Logically, it would be the "front" car, to try to equalize the total stress each coupling experiences during a full cycle....but this is a company that ripped off the basic designs of another company that didn't have the grasp of physics that we do now.