rollin_n_coastin

^^,^^^,^^^^ Awesome, thanks for the sharing. It's always cool hearing other people's take on these things. I really loved i305 and loved how the layout really fit the racing theme. That being said, not sure where it would go in a ranking. I still also have a soft spot for Millennium. Just amazing how you all have two of these beasts in the US offering two different but great rides. I loved how Rebel Yell was running really well and I definitely have a soft spot for Grizzly as well. Our 'clone' of Grizzly up here was the first big wooden coaster that I ever rode. I still reserve judgement on Hurler

^Ya, we clued in. Still not as bad as Niagara Falls, my current benchmark. The only thing we did other than the beach was a few tickets for the amusement park. That insane green ride that flips you forever, the flume and the hurricane/ tornado. If you ever remember which haunted attraction was the best, would love to know. Cheers, J

Thanks for the comments all. Ok, so I can blame the direction issues on the GPS, I'm cleared! We thought it was accurate since it wasn't telling us to drive into a lake or a dead end. But yes, it definitely was an amazing day at KD. It was a huge contrast from July 5th with sweltering heat and much heavier crowds. Coming from a mighty potato, I'll definitely have to check out Captain George's one day if the budget allows. Thanks for the comments! Project, you've got something great in your back yard! Oli, thanks as always! Did I mention I did an insane portable drop tower at the CNE this past weekend? It was a lot taller than it seemed and made all these strange noises before finally dropping. It literally didn't stop until your feet touched the ground...very disconcerting.

^Yikes, best not to ride Millennium Force then That's totally fair, everyone has a right to their opinion. That being said, any reasons why (just so it doesn't flame any local fan discussions lol)? Also, what did you think of the park overall? Any rides that you enjoyed more? I had a blast there over the July long weekend.

Chuck this is great! I'm not sure I'll be able to order up another chicken fried dish for some time. It's amazing how great both Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are. Very hard to choose between the two. Powder Keg I think was the biggest surprise of the trip. One of, it not the favourite. Looking forward to arch antics!

^I was being a bit sarcastic about Dragon, but you're definitely right, Hades was just wacky, intense awesomeness.

The best has to be Dragon at Adventureland

^Joey, that's so funny, I was just putting together the "Best of Mike Austin" clips and pics. There's quite a bit of material! (Mike you'll love it!) I definitely hear you about post-TPR depression. Thinking about the SUV drive-by quotables in Branson still cracks me up. Seeing this and everyone's trip reports makes me wish I had the resources to do Iintimidatour as well. Looks like it was an awesome trip and ECB looked incredible! Thanks to everyone who has been posting up their TRs, great stuff!

Happy Birthday Paradise! Wow, congrats on the three years of cool stuff! Mark, love the addition of the other brochures, really completes the picture. I really would love to try one of those parachute towers one day. SFoG still is a nice looking park I think. I'd go back just for Mind Bender.

Well, after a very hectic few months at work and of course with some amazing TPR trip goodness in the middle, time to get back on track. After an awesome day at Kings Dominion, we took off for the beach to see what the long weekend would be like there. The weather was awesome and the water was choppy enough to give some terrific waves. You know, to frolic in. A lot of interesting people and interesting sites. Overall, a fantastic day! We knew we were off to a great start when we found a church parking lot offering parking in the form of a donation that was at minimum, half the price of the main lots. A very brief sites and sounds tour of Virginia Beach Amusement Park, and Kerry singing! Really, it is that small On to the pics! I guess the old saying rings true. You know you're in Virginia when... Arriving! Now parking... Oooh...a park! But alas, no credits here folks! Just a fantastic day. You know we're TPR types when....the first thing we run to isn't the beach and ocean but the haunted attraction. We fought the urge though and eventually headed to the beach. Downtown It was starting to pick up for sure. An awesome public entrance. Derry Queen! I know where I'm going for snack time. Yes, it's a beach! ....with people! The boardwalk was really nice but why use that when you can walk in the water? Just starting off with pockets of people. Obligatory in water shot 1 Obligatory in water shot 2 Cabanas, bikinis and sunshine, oh my! It's very difficult to tell from the pics but the waves were insanely large and rough...if you like 'em like that, you were in luck during the 4th of July weekend! Well, when there's a profit to be had, charge for it! Walking the pier costs $2.00. But, you get to see some interesting people and above all, bizarre ''nick nack" type shops. Now these lovely unforgettable items were found in a shop, kept open and welcoming by one of the most enthusiastic and friendliest women I've ever met. She was right, no one can source this awesome stuff like her boss can. I think the mermaid flush handle will be awesome for the condo. I'm afraid that the HOA may send me a nasty letter though Here we are at a Virginia Beach institution of sorts, as is the pier. Ocean Eddie's. Now, this restaurant was to be torn down with the entire pier and re-develeped. The downturn put those plans on hold so Ocean Eddie's, along with the entire pier, are around for another season. Ok, back to important things...beer! Ah, but not just any beer, Land Shark! Won't you join us for a walk on the beach? To bad, you're coming. It's definitely starting to get busier! I know, I know. I shouldn't have stepped there. Sorry. Waves are still roaring in. The water was awesome! I think Kerry and I were bashed in by waves for a good 30 minutes before we decided to get out of the water. That and a sudden fear of sharks? Even Mr. Trying to Find Metal is having a good day. I think. After drying off, it was time to head for a snack and the amusement park. On our way, we found some awesome Kohr's Bros frozen custard. It was f@*#ing awesome! Oops! S#*t! I'm sorry! Almost forget we were in Virginia Here we are at the amusement park. Very small and the type of park where one ride op ran two or three rides. Our second ride was a "Please wait". He got the keys, started her up and we were on. A bit sketchy but a ton of fun! Some cost saving measure I guess. Some Skyscrapers operate with only one side. This one does so permanently. the Kohr's, it really was awesome! Skyscraper alive! You know it's a great little park because it has three of the all time greatest park plush toys! Obviously! Another look around before we take off the Williamsburg. See ya Virginia Beach! It was an awesome day! Time to head out and meet Chuck for dinner at one of the Burg's hot spots. After a great drive in to Williamsburg, Chuck met us at the hotel and we were off to a great start in Williamsburg. Wood oven pizza! Stay tuned for our awesome day at Busch Gardens.

Don’t forget they’re also spending over $1MM in capital improvements throughout the park, which is something we all take for granted but complain about when things fall through the cracks. I’m not sure if it’ll go to extending the midway for this ride or just overall general improvements though. Either way, it's a good thing. My only thing is that the Star Flyer looks more frightening, but that’s not to say that this won’t be a great ride. I think Elissa spoke to some of those reasons in the Knott’s thread. The whole concept is frightening given that you’re not in a cabin or gondola. I’m personally terrified of condors and dared not look down during the Star Flyer ride at Tivoli. This should do well at every park. I bet a lot of coaster fans will skip out on this one just because of nerves Not sure why they’re in two Ohio parks but each park has it’s own management team and knows their market very well. Who would turn down a new ride that stands out really well and has great potential? Plus, this is a new design and ride for Mondial so they may have needed to build a certain number to make it feasible for this year. Can't wait to try one of these out if the nerves don't stop me.

Windseeker Officially Announced Today! Here are some Stats: Manufacturer: Mondial Ascent/Descent: 50 Seconds Height: 301 Feet (91.7 Meters) Rotation Speed: 8 Rotations per minute 25-30 mph (40-48 kmh) Diameter in Full Swing: 110 Feet Location: Next to Vortex, overlooking Wonder Mountain Capacity: 32 Suspended Twin Seats (64 total passengers) Cost: $5,000,000 Max. Swing Angle of Arm: Up to 45 degrees Groundbreaking: Fall 2010 Ride Cycle Time: 3 Minutes Ride Opening: Summer 2011 Video:

^haha it's looking that way! Maybe they got a good volume discount at Mondial. All three of our Mondial rides up here are awesome so at least we know that Cedar Point will be getting a great ride. Our announcement is also tomorrow through our local morning show at 7am I think.

This is awesome, let's all set a goal to keep Wonderland on the first page for a few days longer ^Well, even the official ride websites had spelling mistakes. Plus, Intamin's first language isn't English. That being said, given that it is in North America, I think IntaRide would be in charge of it rather than Intamin directly in Switzerland. So you're right, typos are a bit out of place. But, it's still fun to play make-believe and think it's real.

^^I think the announcement is at 10am or something? It's only Breakfast Television there at 7am for City TV Day so far. They would have been there anyway. Great ticket prices though if you link to Wonderland tickets from the BT website. I love BT, but let's face it, not exactly a news program so much as a morning magazine/ gossip show. Knowing what Jennifer Valentine has covered in the past, it could very well be a new funnel cake fry stand on top of Wonder Mountain ^Agree that a Star Flyer at the romoured height is really impressive. Definitely news worthy. If you've ever seen one in person or been on one, they are quite something.

I doubt it, we all know how CF treats CP, and what their attitude is towards their golden child. You really think it's just a coincidence that I305 came up short of MF by 5 feet? Yeah, I highly doubt that. We're talking about TEN YEARS of technology advancement from the time MF was built. I bet if they wanted to build a coaster taller than MF, there would have been no trouble in doing so, but they chose not to for obvious reasons. Regardless, like I already said, if this CW coaster is true, I don't believe that it would be as tall or fast as the one on that flyer. I would definitely like to see it happen, but I also have to be realistic. It would for sure be fantastic! But yes, reality hits. Agree that TTD is more reliable than opening year but still very temperamental, just like any accelerator, new or old. I have no problem with CP being treated differently since it's the flagship. With KD, I hear you in that 10 years have passed so the logic is that KD could have very well built a giga taller than MF if they wanted. But keep in mind that it has been 10 years of absolutely no advancement or development in giga coaster technology/ design by Intamin. So, building one of an entirely different design is a lot more difficult than we think given that they haven't built one in ten years. Also, the five foot difference from MF could be that for whatever reason, they designed the elevator cable to run underground rather than above ground as is the case with MF.

Somewhat more reliable. I would have agreed but after early last week, it was constantly operating, down, operating down, etc etc. Plus a roll back and then down again for another hour. We were next in line for the front after waiting 2.5 hours because it just didn't even open at park opening after being down and somewhat operating the night before. Then we waited another hour while friends fell sleep on the train waiting. The ride ops said it's just down way too often so no real change since opening year if you remove the accident. Because of TTD, we got a whopping 3 rides in by 5pm, but only because Millennium was a 2.5 hour wait. When you're with friends and hanging out, the time passes by though. I think the difference since opening year is that they're better at trouble shooting. But they told us there's so much going on with that ride that each fault or down time is a new trouble shooting experience so it still takes a very long time to get the ride up and running again. With the exception of drop towers, ride anything with an Intamin cable first thing if they're open since there's no guarantee that they'll be open for the entire day, if at all. That being said, it still is phenomenal ride! We should be so lucky

Chuck, this is awesome! What a surreal place Mall of America was. Looking forward to more. Cheers, J

Great reports, thanks for keeping them coming! Definitely wish there was time to add this trip on. It looks fantastic! Love the walk back of Tennessee Tornado! Such a fun ride in a great park. What was the record for cinnamon bread loafs consumed by one person this year? Enjoy the rest of the trip!

So, keeping up with the “now”, the Ride Warriors event at Wonderland for tomorrow was canceled earlier this week due to a “Lack of Interest”. I wonder who dropped the ball on this one. I believe those running our local fan site (cwmania) had input and worked with the park to put together a terrific day. I feel bad that this happened given what I’m sure were a lot of hours put in to plan the event. Did anyone (TPR or Club TPR) even know about this event? I would never have known until early August when it was announced through cwmania and then through one of Robb’s emails. I guess the late announcement and lack of promotion had a lot to do with the cancellation and lack of interest. I hope this doesn’t discourage Wonderland from using these plans for next year with a promotions plan. It really sounded like a terrific day.

I was really looking forward to how this concept would come to life. A great idea and concept but the location was always in question. Also, after seeing what was on offer, nothing seemed different from what competing parks in the area's key feeder markets already have. Does anyone remember the initial press release? It said something to the effect of that they challenged every ride manufacturer to put their heads together and come up with the most amazing attractions the industry has seen to really fit in with the theme. That's what they came up with? Either money was tight or whoever signed off on the attractions didn't really know what was already out there in competing attractions. That being said, the original dark ride looked really unique and creative, along with the concept of the ferris wheel lift. Hopefully everything will find a great new home.

Just fantastic! Regardless of how many intros he shot, the fact is that he actually did that. Thanks for sharing Robb, very cool stuff!

It's not specific, but is that the Scad tower? I was actually thinking of doing that thing after chickening out in Denmark. Thoughts are with her, family and employees. Hopefully she'll be ok.

Very cool! Feel free to say hey nexy time. I hope there is a next time that day was amazing. ^Hurler and Shockwave are definitley acquired tastes. We went all out and rode the back of Hurler for memories sake and it was just as horrible as the first time, given that it is still fairly rough.

haha That was Kerry and I ..... http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56002 Oh, we sat directly behind the kid that had the melt-down. After the drop, both hands up and he was totally loving it.