mattnz

Last August, Andrew and I returned from TPR's awesome Mid-America trip with heavy hearts, since we weren't planning to do another globe-trotting coaster trip until 2012. Then in April an email arrived saying spots were open for the North East trip... Sigh! North East and Road to Cedar Point were the two 2011 trips that we wanted to do so badly after Mid-America, but didn't think we could afford. Out of interest, I sent an email to Robb and Elissa asking if there was a possibility of spots opening up on Road to Cedar Point. Sure enough, spots opened... Andrew and I looked at each other and realised we had to make our dream trip become a reality! We honestly didn't think any trip could top Mid-America 2010, but North East/Road to Cedar Point back-to-back was a truly epic experience. North East was the more relaxed trip, with two buses journeying through the smart, leafy corner of America (not to mention Canada) to visit some very nice, smaller parks and ride some of the best coasters in the world (Boulder Dash, Bizarro). Road to Cedar Point on the other hand was completely insane! We had a very full itinerary as the parks kept offering TPR more and more perks. As I have been telling people who think we're crazy, a TPR trip may be exhausting but they're also oddly re-invigorating. Kind of like great sex. The Intamin gods smiled on TPR for both trips. The times it did rain were at the parks with tolerant rain policies (Knoebels, Kennywood), and even at Cedar Point the expected storm on day three held off right to the end. Thanks Robb and Elissa for all your hard work behind the scenes and for all those little things you do that may sometimes go unnoticed by the group. Thanks especially for not being able to say "no" when parks offer us cool stuff! We joined in the pre-add on day before the North East trip began - Coney Island - see below. Wellington to Coney Island (scroll down) Quassy to Lake Compounce Six Flags New England Palace Playland to Funtown Splashtown Canobie Lake to Canada La Ronde The Great Escape to Magic Forest Park Six Flags Great Adventure Morey's Piers Knoebels Hersheypark Dorney Park Kennywood Kings Island to Columbus Zoo Cedar Point Disney California Adventure Disneyland Our journey starts in Wellington, New Zealand. The new 'pumpkin' terminal looks great. 30+ hours later, and we're in Newark. Love the view from the runway. Our chariots await. So cool to have our driver from last year - the awesome Brian - back for more! The drive to Coney Island was fascinating. New York is jam-packed with character. It all sort of looks like you could still get mugged in this city. Thank God Rudy Giuliani couldn't completely take the badass-ness outta here. The New York of my TV-watching childhood lives on! Hehe. Poon. We were first riders on Cyclone for the day. I was a little intimidated by this old classic. A New York City icon. Awesome! First coaster of our trip! We found it a fun ride - very bouncy but just this side of "not too rough". Cyclone did shear the skin off my fingers a smidgen when I slammed my hands into the front of the car. Yay! First coaster-related injury of the trip! The boardwalk area looked very nice. We heard the city has cleaned it up a lot. I really don't want the city to put those tacky food vendors behind me out of business though. It's a boardwalk, it's not supposed to offer five-star dining experiences. The old parachute tower is another icon of the area. Bit of a shame it doesn't operate anymore. We ventured into the new 'Scream Zone' for two new credits. This is the bizarre lift-hill on Soarin' Eagle. Doesn't it look like fun?! TPR found this to be pretty good! We had never been on a Zamperla Volare so were relieved it didn't do strange things to our internal organs. The other coaster in Scream Zone is called Steeplechase, a nice throwback to an old ride at Coney Island. It's David and JP in the back! Gary got a whole train to himself. He put his arms up on the launch and by the looks of it almost broke his back! We wandered over to Deno's to ride the world famous Wonder Wheel. Fun facts! We went swinging with Gary. Nice views from up here as we creaked around the wheel... The Tickler down at the new Luna Park. We'll get to you later. Definitely must try out the original Nathan's hot dogs too... Tenements looking over Coney Island. Deno's is also home to the Spook-a-Rama! No matter how ghetto, I always love these as I tend to 'spook' easily. On to Nathan's for some food. Maybe not this much though. I didn't know Nathan's was also a chain now so it was pretty cool to visit the original location. TPR trash can take-over! We tried the chili dog which was decent. Outside the freak show TPR members get a bit freaky. I just wanted to walk up and talk to these people - they all look so interesting. Andrew outside the nice-looking new entrance to Zamperla's Luna Park. I loved how Zamperla had their signs and ride names all paying homage to Coney Island's heyday. We rode Tickler with Jordy the giant from the Netherlands and spun like crazy! (Jordy not pictured.) Oh my God they have a Star Flyer. We had never been on one of these. It is these simple seats and restraints (if you can call them that) that makes Star Flyers amazing! I think the group consensus was that this flat ride was the best at the park. Very fun ride. Not sure what the fate of the old observation tower might be. Another view of the Wonder Wheel next door. We did a take-over of the Electro Spin. The first of many strange shows on this trip... The pre-add on day was a great way to begin the trip. The newly cleaned-up Coney Island was fun and I really thought Zamperla has done a great job with their portion of the area. Many more adventures await us. Stay tuned!

Thanks for these awesomely detailed updates. No wonder you guys stayed at the resort so long. I don't think I'd want to leave!

Yay! A Hanno update! Look forward to following along.

Awesome update - am loving them all and getting so excited for the North East trip! If I'm not mistaken the 'Log Coaster' features in one of my favourite Godzilla movies - Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster! (Different trains back in 1971 I guess.) Looks like a really fun ride for such an oldie.

Mount Rushmore looks awesome. Are there any actual 'credits' in South Dakota? I'm guessing you just have to stick with culture/nature credits up there!

The Nickelodeon Streak train looks awesome! It's good to see an old ride get refurbished/made-over. How does it ride now? Looks like a nice day in Blackpool.

What a beautiful park, thanks for sharing your pics. I can't wait to visit with TPR soon!

Carowinds looks like a fun, well-rounded park - I'd love to get there someday. Thanks for sharing.

Looking at your pics of the cinnamon bread made me salivate... We finally have KFC double downs downunder. They're so good. Fun trick: Get a Double Down, insert it between a standard KFC burger and you get...a Gang Bang!

^ Absolutely agree. We waited in 1 1/2 hr + lines last year at Cedar Point and would have loved q-bots. When you've travelled half way across the world to visit a park it would be nice to have the option. We shall see!

That Crazy Mouse ride looks amazing, shame it's closed. Looks like you got to ride *just* in the nick of time!

^ LOL Damn rapture preventing yellow loop! I couldn't agree more about the Gold Flash Pass it is an absolute MUST at a park like Great Adventure. C'mon Cedar Fair where's your version?!

I must get to Canada's Wonderland someday...15 credits are very enticing, even if some of them ain't all that great. The park's looking good though. Nice TR Jason!

Completely agree with you re: Mind Bender. What an absolutely awesome ride - kind of has it all really. I remember Mary Mac's! Went there the last (and only time) I was in Georgia. Very nice Southern cuisine. I'd love to go back some day!

The simple seats, those little chains, the minimal restraints...at that height?! I am still scared to death of these things! Good investment by Six Flags though - I think they'll go down well with the general public.

I agree about Georgia Cyclone. With a full train, that ride delivered an amazing, airtime-filled experience the last time I rode it (2008). Like quite a few of us on last year's TPR Mid-America trip, I thoroughly enjoyed Timber Wolf! Sure, it had its (very) rough spots, but not enough to take away from the great lay out. I also found Excalibur at Valleyfair pretty smooth and a really fun ride.

I've seen people do the jump off the Sky Tower in Auckland and it looks terrifying! (Mainly just the stepping over the edge part!) Will have to suck it up and give it a go sometime.

Good advice Elissa! I've just hijacked it and passed it on to some friends who are visiting Tokyo next week. All those parks look easy to access by train and they're keen to get to a few parks while they're there. So thanks!!

Great report Chuck, I was hoping you'd do one for Australia. Look forward to the next update.

Wow, this is the most comprehensive Cedar Point off-season TR I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing all the little bits of info - my inner coaster nerd found it very interesting!

Awesome updates - the POVs are fantastic. It's cool to finally have some great on-ride footage of the Aussie coasters.

This thread is making me HUNGRY! Awesome TR. I still haven't lost my 'Middle America' weight. It serves as a reminder of the awesome trip we had.

Hey guys - Nice trip report of our little local park. Glad you enjoyed the rest of the country too. Looks like you had a good look around the North Island. The South Island is even more spectacular but you might like to give it a while before you return (at least until all the earthquakes peter out...). Matt

Awesome, have never seen off-season pics of this park before. I can still remember the blazing heat on the TPR Mid-America trip last summer. What a contrast!

This is awesome - I love the park index! Will be very interesting to see how TPR rate the parks in due course.