RAWKIN_coaster38

^Am I missing something? Why do you two say that? If there's some sort of news, you should post the news instead of just commenting vaguely about it.

Awesome TR! Thanks for sharing! I experienced Scary Farm for the first time last year and it did NOT disappoint! It's really amazing how talented they are, and the new mazes this year just look even better with the amount of detail and effects in each one. Also, I'm glad I'm not the only TPR member to walk around as a "target" for scare actors. It makes things more exciting though (as opposed to not being a target), and it's always entertaining to my friends, who notice the scare actors and wait for them to scare me. I can't wait until I can make it back for Scary Farm again!

As someone who has faithfully watched AHS, I think that maze looked awesome and I wish I could experience it this year! I thought it was a nice touch to include some of the lines and voices of characters from the show (like the maid from Hotel, and of course... Dandy!) Bummer to hear about the crowds. I've only been to USH HHN last year, not sure how it compares crowd-wise. We had someone with a disability pass so we were able to skip the lines, which helped a lot. Not sure if the crowds are better or we are just more easily scared, but we definitely got our share of scares in! We went on like a Thursday in early October, so that might help as well? I can't imagine how bad Halloween night can get, or the Saturday just before.

I actually got a special tour of a couple of the mazes (I think that was one of them) and that simple yet genius trick blew me away. I'd really love to get to Howl-O-Scream one of these years, but sadly, it isn't in the cards for this year.

I was one of those people who rarely used Twitter. I have since started using it more (explained in a moment), but my main reason for giving up on it was that I didn't have a lot of followers (and still don't) so it felt pointless to post because no one really cared or ever saw what I posted. Since I never went on to post, I stopped browsing my feed as well. This is why I've been using it more: I've started posting and tagging pages or conversations so that I can interact more directly with those people. For example, I often go on to post or read comments about TV shows or season finales, and when do I go on, I see a lot of TPR posts as well. However, I still get most of my TPR content from this site or Facebook. I hope that makes sense and is helpful to you.

Yes! Did you take a nap some time this week?

^^$30 for a wristband?? That's ridiculous!! SFDK FFest really isn't that good, why would they bump up the price and remove Haunts? IIRC I don't even know if Boathouse is even back, and Pig Farms was the best that is now gone. They stopped doing the one at Whitewater. The wristband was like $25 last year I believe and I think the park was only open till like 10 so we barely got through each maze once. Come on SFDK, you can do better. We got tickets to Horror Nights for $35 last year. There will still be people who go but I think this will drive a lot away. I always felt Feight Fest had a lot of untapped potential if they invested more into it.

A couple of weekends ago. I've been too broke to do it again this month but I love eating out, so that'll be one of the first things I do when I get paid. When was the last time you won something?

Love your pics of the two Knotts mazes! Tooth Fairy is such a demented maze, I love it! One of the scariest most unsettling of all their mazes for concept alone. It's cool seeing the pictures of it! Paranormal Inc was by far their best maze last year too. Lots of great props and effects! Thanks for sharing!

Mini TR of yesterday. I arrived at the park around 8pm, totally psyched (and a little scared) because I love Haunt! I've never been to this one, and I must say, it was amazing! The scare zones and decorations were really well done, and every maze we went through was really great! I arrived at the park alone, but ended up meeting up with DILinator and his family. OMG, what a nut! (LOL JK, he's really cool) Park wasn't too busy, but time passed quickly. We only did 4 mazes, but the night rides we got on Firehawk, Banshee, Adventure Express, Bat, Diamondback, and of course Beast were probably the best rides I've had on those coasters! Diamondback in the back row at night.... WOW. We got some serious airtime over the drop, not touching the seat at all. It was probably the best ride I've gotten on a B&M hyper, even compared to Nitro. After that ride, I think I do like Diamondback best now. And of course, Beast in the front at night. Sublime. I'll definitely be back to do more of the mazes, but the 4 we did in order were KillMart, Blackout, Wolf Pack, and Field of Screams. KillMart was the first one we went in, and it got some good scares out of me. Wolf Pack was the least scary out of the 4, but still well done. Field of Screams was the last we did, and done up like a corn maze. We were some of the last ones to go through it, so I think a lot of the scare actors had packed up, but the ones still there did get some good scares out of us. It was a really cool maze, and I'd like to do it again when it's in full swing. Since I believe it's new, I won't say much more so that people can experience it themselves. Blackout.... man, that was the most terrifying thing since I went to Horror Nights last year! I loved doing Total Darkness at Magic Mountain a few years ago, and this was kind of like that, but way scarier! I actually thought it would be darker inside, but seeing silhouettes of things in the darkness and then having the lights flash on and off made things super eerie and freaky. Man, that tall thing.... TERRIFYING. I won't say more. HAUNT!! Better than CGA! A good way to end the week! (or start the weekend?) I freaked out when I saw the Haunt eyes on the tower, I LOVE the Haunt eyes! Pumpkins carving...people?!? So twisted it's awesome! Wolf Pack wasn't too scary but.... ...the bit of structure beside it was the scariest thing we saw all night! I glanced up, and the trees glanced back! Those are some mystic timbers right there I loved this version of Jack! What is scarier, Beast at night, or DILinator at night? Field of Screams! Nothing like creepy Ohioans...I mean, corn field owners. Even the dinosaurs got into the festivities! Great night at Haunt, meeting new friends My new friend and I

^I'm pretty sure most of the GP don't brace anyway, and eye covering wouldn't make you go ragdoll if you weren't before. I'm not saying it's impossible to get hurt on Kong, but I just don't see that the VR is going to suddenly cause some horrific injury because the person couldn't see the track in front of them.

I think you guys are wayyy over-exaggerating this. No one is going to get hurt and sue just because they have something over their eyes if Kong hasn't done it so far. Plus, no one is forcing them to wear VR, so if they get hurt because of the VR, they can only blame themselves. Also, Kong really isn't that rough compared to some other SLCs, and if I recall correctly, there's another coaster getting VR that's also a notoriously rough coaster. People will like Kong better with the VR. I'd be surprised if it didn't make Kong more popular.

Haha said it today! And it's so true! When was the last time you played a sport?

I was going to say I can't see them doing that, but then I remembered a rumor I heard about Seaworld looking into showcasing animals via state of the art technology. With tech getting more and more amazing each year, and the VR catching on so hot, it probably won't be too long before we could have a super realistic interactive tour of the ocean. It still wouldn't be the same, and Seaworld is such a big part of animal research and rescue, I don't think (and really hope this won't be true) that they will veer completely into a conventional theme-park and no longer have animals. Or if that does happen, it'll probably accompany a large revolution in zoos that would see many other zoos close up shop. Honestly, I can see a time in the not-so-distant future where many species of animals exist only in zoos. Last I heard, the Yangtzee River dolphin was so endangered in the wild that its only hope was repopulating in zoos. Some people that say "survival of the fittest" might not agree with the concept of keeping a species alive solely in zoos, but if that's the only way for a species to survive, I think most people would agree that it's the best scenario for that animal. Busch Gardens and Seaworld do so much for animal conservation that we don't even really see or hear much about, of course they would be a part of one of these types of efforts if they can.

I was talking about if a facility were to sell an animal or close down entirely, not that Sea World would demand they be given an animal to "Rescue" it. I read your post wrong, thought you were talking about other animals besides ocean animals. It wasn't what I'd call a rescue, but SFDK sold/traded their orca to SWSD. (I still miss Shouka ) So I don't see why they couldn't do it again. It would be up to the other park, but SFDK gave Shouka to SeaWorld because of pressure regarding a law that said marine mammals couldn't live alone, and SFDK couldn't get a hold of another orca. If the other park was pressured by Seaworld (or offered enough money), then it does seem likely. However, it would still be a dead end in the long run, as I don't think facilities capture wild orcas anymore.

Storm Chaser at KK! My new favorite RMC, I absolutely loved it!

Never, I have an Apple When was the last time you purposely avoided reading a particular thread on TPR?

Thanks for the preview TR! Seeing that just made me SUPER excited for Haunt this weekend! Is Blackout kind of like the maze they had at Magic Mountain a few years ago, Total Darkness? If so, I LOVED that! My friend and I backed out of leading the group, and the people who took the helm absolutely sucked and got everything all mixed up! I went from being 3rd from the front to somehow holding the middle of the rope in a curve. They somehow doubled back and screwed everything up so much that the scare actors had to help us, but it was super fun and hilarious!

^You mean land animals like they have at Busch Gardens? Then they would probably go to Busch Gardens. It seems rare that an orca would need rescuing. Even an orphaned calf would probably be cared for in the pod. However, there are lots of other cetaceans that get into trouble. It would actually be really cool if they took care of a gray whale again or a humpback that we could view. Orcas are my favorite, but there are some really endangered other types of whales, dolphins, and porpoises that Seaworld might be able to help. I wonder if California would bend on their rule of "no breeding" if it was for an endangered species of cetacean. Something like that might not even be covered in this bill, which seems to directly apply to orcas.

IDK if this will be open next year or not, but it's exciting to see the RMC trucks at CP! CP has a really promising layout for an RMC of Mean Streak, and I could see them trying (and succeeding) to one-up Magic Mountain. It'll actually be kinda funny if SFMM gets a dive coaster in 2018 that's better than Valravn and CP gets an RMC that's better than TC in the same year.

Anyone hitting up the park for Haunt this weekend? Namely on Friday, because that's when I plan on going. It'll be my first time at KI Haunt and I'm totally psyched!

Mid August, we drove from California to Ohio. Took us about 5 days. When was the last time you ride your #1 coaster?

^I've ridden 3 and this one was definitely the worst! ^^I'm definitely hoping to make it out to Dollywood this year! I'm not sure if a lot of the coasters are still running around December...but that might be the earliest I could make it out. Is the weather bad around then/do they close a lot of the rides? SDC is also high on my list, but most likely that'll be next year as well as other parks further than 4 or 5 hours drive. Which RMCs have you been on that you rank Storm Chaser so low?

Ha, this is an interesting thread. I really appreciate some your comments, Robb, and it's great to hear from someone as well-travelled as you. This is something I've been thinking about, especially after a few people (strangers!) asked me about my count this year. It really hit me that it's not the number of coasters on your count that matters so much as which parks and which coasters you've been on that are genuinely good and remind you why you love this hobby so much. I've met some downright embarrassing enthusiasts who are too obsessed with credit counts and leave me shaking my head. Whatever makes them feel more important in life, I guess. I've actually racked up a lot of "credits" this year, but to me it's more exciting that I've gotten to ride several AWESOME coasters and go to AWESOME parks and have a ton of fun! Heck, I don't count them, but some of my favorite ride experiences this year have been on flats. I'm getting less and less interested in riding all the coasters in a park than getting my "fill" of whichever is my favorite or the one I came there for in the first place or even riding a non-coaster ride I know I'll enjoy. I've still admittedly ridden some coasters here and there that could be argued as credit whoring, but only if the line is nonexistent and I know I have plenty of time in the day and just wanna change things up a bit. Also, I think Robb's comment about it being a "completion" thing would probably be accurate to describe me. I am a bit fascinated with numbers and milestones so I do keep a spreadsheet for my own benefit, and it's really cool to see in writing all the places I've visited, but I don't like to wave it in people's faces, that's just stupid.

Made it out to the park yesterday with my new friend who also loves coasters. It was both of our first time. Not only was it a new park credit for me, but a new state credit as well. Good ol' Kentucky Highway Patrol decided to give me a warm welcome on my way to Kentucky Kingdom. Not a great start to the day, but oh it gets better. Stupid me forgot to zip her pocket for one ride on her new favorite RMC... however, skilled new best friend somehow caught my phone with his feet and held on for the duration of the ride. I was so amazed with his skills that it took me a few hours—right around the time I wanted to go to my car and eat the pizza I brought—to realize I had lost my keys. NOT the best situation when I was supposed to drive back to Ohio that night and my friend was heading off to St. Louis. Also, guess which state the spares are in? Not Kentucky! We waited an hour after park closing to learn they didn't find them and failed to call me. They're supposedly checking again this morning but I haven't gotten a call. We had to call a locksmith which took a long time, so we were literally hanging out in my friend's car in the KK parking lot for 3 or so hours after the park closed and everyone drove off. It wasn't too bad, I had a great person to um.... kill time with, and it wasn't the worst park parking lot we could have been stuck in. Both negative situations yesterday were entirely my fault, which would have irked me more if it wasn't for how AWESOME of a day we had! No more than a one train wait for anything all day. I got in 16 rides on Storm Chaser, 5 on LR, 1 each on the other 3 coasters, and pretty much all the flats I wanted. First of all...Storm Chaser. WOW. When I first saw the videos, it looked pretty slow and disappointing at the end. NOT the case now! My thighs are so so sore from how strong the airtime on that thing is, especially in the latter half. It kicked a$$!! We were blown away every time, could NOT get enough of it! Those 4 hops at the end...completely insane. And the inverting drop is just stellar. Killer ride. I also loved Lightning Run, but the awesomeness that is Storm Chaser overshadowed it for me. Nothing wrong with Lightning Run, it's a really stellar ride and the perfect mix of great drop, floater, awesome transitions, and some great ejector toward the end. It did hurt my shins a bit more than Storm Chaser, but still a killer ride. T3...OMFG BEST RIDE EVER!!! Um, no. It was of the worst coasters I've ever been on, and I'm usually pretty forgiving. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if it weren't for the vests. It was so awful. T3 makes every other rough coaster look butter smooth. The restraints are way better than the older SLC style...but T3, just no. I usually try to post pics but we really didn't take any because we were just having fun and enjoying the park.