Zand

Here's mine: Canobie Corkscrew, Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH Canobie Corkscrew

I've ridden S:RoS at SFNE 15 times in 2 hours, 16 times in a day. I rode a Moser Drop Tower 31 times in a row at the Big E.

My favorite wood and steel coasters are both in New England: S:RoS and Boulder Dash. Boulder Dash likely won't be there at the end of this year as A: It's gotten worse the past few years and B: I'm riding El Toro in a few weeks. My coaster count is 86, including parks like CP and GADV.

I watched the parade from Spider on Tuesday. Talk about a short parade...

First and foremost, MEDUSA East. If it weren't for the rougher than normal B&M inversions, I could've fallen asleep. Millennium Force and Nitro are two more. Both are great at night, but still not up to the hype and both are downright forceless in the day.] Lightning Racer stands out for me for woodies. I think Wildcat is far better.

Awesome day at SFNE today. Just about everything went right except one or two things. SWAT and Mind Eraser were the only rides closed. SWAT was lifted into the air a few times, but no more progress than that. Arrived at the park just after 10 and got my pass processed right away. Got down to Superman at 10:15 and apparently, it opened on time today. At that point, it was only running the red train with all seats open. They were working on the blue train's wheels at that point. Mid morning, the blue train was added, but the last car of the red train was roped off. Anyways, got in back in about a half-hour and had a great first ride of the year. Next up was a come-backer for 2006, Nightwing. The restraints felt tighter than last year. I don't know if they actually were, or if it was just due to my growth. The ride was fun, but loading still takes a while. Next up was Scream. It started with all 3 towers, but the Hellevator tower closed mid-morning. No big deal. I walked on to the combo tower on the south side. Great ride besides the weaker than normal air on the launch. Next was Splashwater Falls. At that point, the line was just before the station. The ride spins fast, but doesn't do much else. I didn't get a single drop of water on me. I imagine once they turn on the fountains and water cannons, it'll be a soaking ride. Next after that was a great ride on Spider. I haven't had a ride this good on it in ages. The car spun non-stop and the ups and downs gave great airtime. the ride was a walk-on to a one load wait, but for some reason, the op unloaded all the cars, then loaded them afterwards everytime. Don't know the point of that. Next was Double Trouble. Felt better on the legs than normal, but was still a bit painful when it went upside-down. Only spun one way, didn't turn around and go the other way. Next were two walk-on rides on Batman, front and back. Very forceful in back and not as forceful in front, but the illusion on your feet hitting the track is cool. 2 trains running. Next was a ride on Buzzsaw. It had a full car and had trouble getting up to full height. After that, it was a great ride as usual and probably the most interactive ride in the park. After a worse-than-normal burger at Fast Eddie's, I took a ride on Kontiki. Rough ride and there were a bunch of 6 year old girls screaming in my ear. Next up was a great ride on Twister, which was running in multi-flip mode. A walk-on like all the other flats. Next was a trip to the renovated north end. Cyclone's line is cool under the ride with the coaster signs (besides "RIDE GREAT AMERICAN SCREAM MACHINE- SIX FLAGS OVER TEXAS", wrong park idiots). It had about a 20 minute wait with one train running. For some reason, when looking up at the ride, the new paint gives an illusion of the ride being smaller than it is. Rode in the back seat with that awesome ass-kicking ride. No first trim (and insane turns were bound in that section), but the second was on. Next was was Time W4rp. Great ride as usual with a nice upside-down look at Pandemonium's long line. There was no more sign of a single rider line for it, so I didn't bother. Next was Flashback. Felt rougher than last year, but more forceful. I almost blacked out in the loop. Waited a cycle for the back. Another comebacker in 2006, Houdini was next. Same ride as usual, just wanted to ride it for the first time since what, last May? Tomahawk was next. Awesome ride like usual. Gotta love the Huss Frisbee. Next up was Thunderbolt. Waited 3 trains for the back. A bit rougher than last year, but still a great ride. Next was another back seat ride on Superman. Wait was about 4 blue trains. Had a slight delay due to puke the ride before me. Next were 2 more rides on Spider. That thing was insane. I also watched the parade from it while it was unloading. Next was a waste of 45 minutes in line for Splashwater Falls just to have it go down for a while. Got out of line and then it starts back up as soon as I walk out, but I said screw it anyway. 3 more rides on Batman followed, front, row 6, and back. The row 6 ride was the best one of the day. Walk-on all 3 times. It was 5:15, so I ended the day with 3 more Superman rides. The first time, I walked right onto a waiting second row. The second time, it took 20 minutes due to some delays. A train about 2 rides before me got stuck on the lift. Maintenance came within 3 minutes, pushed a few buttons, and all was normal for my row 1-2 ride. Then, when my train hit the brakes, someone in the station puked so we waited while they cleaned that. I also got on the last ride of the day in front. No better way to end the day than to fly over the empty park one last time. My impression right now is that we're in for a good year. I'll be back Friday.

Something in the structure got all screwed up over the winter so they took it out.

It was installed in 1978. What I'm saying is it may be a sign for a new wheel, made in 1983.

Look closely at the Colossus sign. It says "1983 Oswalt Giant Wheel." I don't believe it said that before. Is it a sign of a new wheel coming?

Mine of Lost Souls? That ride is so stupid now, it's funny. "And NOW you'll lose your heads!" Haha. Probably Cannonball or Starblaster.

As the crow flies, the closest operating coaster to me is S:RoS at SFNE. The closest non-operating coaster is Flyer Comet at Whalom Park.

1. Talon 2. Raptor 3. Alpengeist 4. Batman 5. Great Bear First 4 are incredibly close together. Great Bear simply lacks.

The first TD was clearly a TD. The ball went over the line before he hit the ground.

1. Superman Ride of St- SF New England..... 1/.9949 2. Apollo's Chariot- Busch Gardens Will....... 14/.9517 3. Storm Runner- Hersheypark................... 13/.9585 4. Millennium Force- Cedar Point................. 3/.9885 5. Talon- Dorney Park............................... 46/.8328 6. Superman Ride of St- Six Flags Darien L.. 12/.9574 7. Top Thrill Dragster- Cedar Point.............. 22/.9219 8. Raptor- Cedar Point............................... 32/.8770 9. Chiller: Robin- SF Great Adventure......... 83/.7168 10. Alpengeist- Busch Gardens Will............. 36/.8618 Here's how the coasters at my home park (SFNE) ranked: Superman Ride of St- SF New England....... 1/.9949 Batman Dark Knight- SF New England....... 95/.6881 (Hey... it beat Scream!) Didn't dig deep enough to find the boomerang or SLC. MSP wasn't on the poll.

The only trip besides local parks (SFNE, Compounce, Canobie) I have planned for next year is a trip to Dorney, Knoebels, Hershey, and GADV. That could all change, but that's what it looks like currently.

Definitely Talon.

My favorite queues: TTD- Constantly moving, the ride is fun to watch, and the music is good. S:RoS (SFNE)- The "S" made by the queue is cool and the line moves in big chunks every 2 minutes. Storm Runner- Good music and the amount of shade is great on a hot day. Least favorite queues: B:TR at GADV- Being stuck in that tunnel on a hot day is NOT fun. Millennium Force- Seems to always move slow. Wildcat at HP- Queue is 15 miles long, but there's never a line. Disaster Transport- You can't tell how long the line is and it goes on forever.

First Coaster: Apollo's Chariot (April 2) Last Coaster: S:RoS (October 31) Highlights: First trip ever to BGW. Weather sucked, but the park was great and no one was there! Riding my first spinning mouse at SFNE, Pandemonium was a fun little coaster, too bad the lines were always so long. Riding S:RoS 15 times in a row after a thunderstorm in late June. My first trip to Geauga Lake and a return to Cedar Point. Getting on S:RoS's last ride of the season in the back! Also, I got my 80th credit on GL's Boomerang. Either Kingda Ka or El Toro will be my 90th next year.

I picked El Toro as it's likely the only one I'll be able to ride this year, but damn, a lot of those look great.

I have a whole list and most are B&Ms: 1. Mantis. It has a great layout, but after waiting 2 hours in the 100 degree heat, the headbanging didn't go over well with me. It was the only time I ever felt like I was about to puke on a coaster. 2. Medusa. Everything is all drawn out and forceless. The only good part was the cobra roll. B:TDK and Dominator are a lot more forceful. 3. Nitro. Also forceless besides the helix and the weak floater air is boring. Apollo's Chariot owns it. 4. Millennium Force. It's in my top 5 mainly because of the drop and speed, but there's a whole 2 spots of airtime on the entire ride and it's just a bunch of turns. 5. Great Bear. I wish they'd tear everything down after the Zero-G and try again.

1. Hersheypark 2. Knoebels 3. BGW 4. Cedar Point 5. Canobie 6. SFNE 7. Compounce 8. Geauga 9. Dorney 10. SFDL 11. SFGAdv 12. WDW (haven't been there in a whole though)

Another ride I don't care for is the Chance Slingshot. I'd rather not snap my neck in half.

Worst Endings: Cyclone (SFNE)- Trimmed to hell before the last few turns Great Bear- Boring turns, a random photo at the start of the brake run Alpengeist- Last helix is weak Best Endings: Superman (SFNE)- 2 sharp ejector hills and a tight banked turn into forceful brakes Boulderdash- Never lets up Apollo's Chariot- Big hill into trench WTF Endings: Mantis- What the hell is that banked turn? Raptor: Wee, wee, OUCH!

There's none I won't ride anymore, but I rode Space Shuttle at GADV when I was like 8 and I haven't been on it since (went in 1999, 2000, and 2004; was still scared of it in the first 2 and it was closed last year). I'd like to try to get back on it now though.

Screw rain, try hail. I rode Loch Ness Monster in a suprise hail storm last April. Boy did that suck. I've ridden the following in rain: Superman (SFNE) Batman (SFNE) Apollo's Chariot Big Bad Wolf Loch Ness Monster High Roller (Vegas) And the following in the snow: Everything at SFNE