Zand

Today was my first ever opening day. Left home around 8:40, hit the gas station, and sailed smoothly for a 9:50 arrival. As I headed west on the Pike, the temp rose to about 65, then fell to 55 as I hit Springfield which had the skyscrapers shrouded in fog. Couldn't even see down the river but by the time I got to SFNE the sun was out. Watched the opening celebration and then headed straight for Superman. Guess what... IT OPENED ON TIME!! I got the first public ride of 2008 in the back. After getting the 3rd public ride in the 2nd row, I headed back up and spent the next 2.5 hours going south to north. Hit Scream, Thunderbolt, Batman twice, Coldstone for a shake, Cyclone twice, Catapult, Time Warp, Pandemonium, Flashback, Houdini, and Tomahawk all by about 12:30. All the waits were short to none in the morning. The temps warmed to almost 80 and it was sunny and humid. Too summer-like, I like my cool April days. I guess thats what an 80% chance of heavy rain and 55-60 degrees is supposed to mean. Hit Superman twice more, back and 2nd row, which had a 15 minute wait around 1:00 and got caught up in one of many breakdowns today. Mind Eraser also had its fair share of problems. Caught a great ride on Twister which had 4 consecutive flips. Stopped in the Wii building and played a few strings of bowling. Also started getting a bad headache at that point. Finished the day off with Splashwater Falls, Mind Eraser (that helped a lot with the headache), Crime Wave, and Batman before having a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets. The cheeseburger I had there was terrible... guess I'll stick to Fast Eddie's when I want a burger. Headed out at that point as I felt like crap and the Red Sox were on. Opening Day notes: - DC is blocked off between the Wiggles World stairs and Johnny Rockets for Dark Knight construction, so obviously Catwoman's Whip will be closed for a couple months. - Houdini's line doesn't go into the building where the line maze used to be anymore, now you just go through a door that goes right into the initial hallway of the ride. - They took the big TV out of Big Bens. - Cyclone needs oil. Badly. - Nightwing and Shipwreck Falls were closed. - 2 trains on Batman and Mind Eraser, 1 on the rest. - Double Trouble's spot is now occupied by a basketball game and the annoying hammer game that used to be where the new food stand is now. - There's a new park exit to the right of the old one. I don't remember much else, but it was a good day in the park until I started feeling like crap. Did anyone see me? I had an Ortiz jersey on. Anyway, it is quite weird thinking 6 days ago I was skiing in the same state in below freezing temperatures. 6 days later, I'm in an amusement park and its 80 degrees. April in New England. Ride Count: Superman - 4 Batman - 3 Cyclone - 2 Scream - 1 Thunderbolt - 1 Catapult - 1 Time Warp - 1 Pandemonium - 1 Flashback - 1 Houdini - 1 Tomahawk - 1 Twister - 1 Mind Eraser - 1 Crime Wave - 1 Total: 20

I ski. I've been skiing for 9 years now and get about 30-40 days a year. I've been to many of Vermont's resorts as well as a few in NH and a few here in MA. Unfortunately I haven't been out west yet. My favorite 3 resorts in the east are Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, and Stowe.

A sign at Flashpass today stated that Superman is likely closed for the remainder of the season due to more chain problems.

Posted this on a couple other boards. Sorry it kinda sucks as far as content goes... I'll have more detailed TRs later on in the week but this will do for now. Holiday World: Voyage- New #1 wooden. At night, this thing was Boulder Dash on steroids. The airtime was almost an afterthought when all those insane turns hit. It was quite brutal in back, but well worth it. Legend- Great first drop and very intense in the 2nd half of the ride. Double helix is great. The middle part through the waterpark is a bit slow. Raven- Disappointed in this one. Apparently you have to ride it at night to get the real deal (got caught up in a Voyage breakdown so I didn't get the chance). It was fun, but way too short. Splashin Safari- Why is this waterpark rated so high? There really is nothing special about it, the water was too warm to be refreshing (and don't tell me it's because of the weather... if SFKK and Kings Island can keep the water cool, HW can too), and the bathrooms were disgusting. Zoombabwe was fun. but I certainly don't see how it's one of the world's "top 3 waterslides". HW was a fun park, but besides Voyage there isn't anything there that really wants to make me go back real soon. If I'm in the area (and I probably will be someday with family out there) I'll definitely go back but I otherwise probably won't go out of my way. SFKK: The mouse was quite a bit rougher than the other 2 I've ridden (Dorney and Hershey). Greezed Lightning was fun. Chang was my 100 credit and was MUCH better than Mantis. T2 SUCKED... Very easily the worst SLC I've ever had the displeasure of riding. Yeah, ME at SFNE has some headbanging, but T2 brought pain to a completely different level. Thunder Run was OK. Twisted Twins sucked too... nothing to it (Lola was the only side open) and pretty rough. Deluge was a blast... probably the 2nd best ride in the entire park. As a whole, SFKK looked nice and the people were nice, but they really need some better rides. Too bad SF has given them the shaft the past few years. Kings Island: Son of Beast- Don't fear it any longer. It's smoother than Voyage and I enjoyed it. I rode front and back and besides a few vibrations and a few rough spots in the rose bowl (which weren't bad), it was completely smooth. Amazing how big this thing is. Top Gun- Short, but has some good turns. Too bad the line is like a mile long before you finally get to the station. Drop Zone- Fun ride, but just not the same as the 1st gens. Face/Off- Smooth for a Vekoma and pretty fun ride. Pretty weird sitting in the back row and going in the opposite direction you're used to going on a Boomerang. Adventure Express- Dumbest ending ever. 'Nuff said. Racer- Sucked. Rode each side once for the credits and that's all I could stand. I swear the wheels were square and there were potholes in the track. Gave me quite the spine adjustment, that's for sure. Flight of Fear- Fun ride, but it's not dark enough in the building to keep you from seeing the track. Firehawk- Longest wait in the park and it was good (better than S:UF), but still not really worth it. Rode it 8 times at Geauga anyway so I only rode once. IJ:ST- Interesting little ride. The helix is intense and the rest was fun as well. Vortex- Decent looper. A little smoother than GASM, but still some headbanging. Beast- Fun ride for sure, especially at night, but it just has the dumbest layout ever. They could've done more than put in a bunch of straightaways in a few of those spots. The helix was great. Boomerang Bay- Fun little waterpark. Really loved the boogie boarding simulator. The Aussie Twister was amazing. Kings Island was a great park and out of the 4 CF parks I've been to is certainly the nicest. Hopefully CF doesn't turn it to crap like Geauga. Cedar Point: Maverick- Pretty much Storm Runner's smaller, but stronger brother. The first drop was great and the rest was a lot of fun. Millennium Force- Some of you know how back and forth I am on this one. Back in 2003 I thought it was very weak, and in 2005 I thought it was great. I'm a bit in between this year. In 2005 I said the front was the best seat and the back was lacking, but now I'm the opposite. I think I only like the back more because it's finally developed an Intamin rattle so it actually feels like it's moving now. Great ride, but it still doesn't beat S:RoS or Apollo's Chariot for me. Mantis- Got some front seat rides and I like it a bit better now. Still not a huge fan because those trims kill it, but better than I used to make it out to be. Iron Dragon- Still draggin iron. Beginning is fun, but the ending is pretty dumb (a helix on a suspended coaster?... come on now...). Blue Streak- Decent airtime in back, but still not that great of a ride. Raptor- Amazing like always... not as intense as B:TR but the length of the ride makes up for it. Too bad it gets the longest line in the park because it's the first thing everyone sees. Demon Drop- Long live the Intamin 1st gens, still the greatest freefalls ever built. Wicked Twister- No line for it so I rode it a few times. The front and back both have special areas that make them both worth riding. Disaster Transport- Best 45 minute line ever. Air conditioning is great. Oh yeah... there's a coaster here too... fun but short. A/C makes the ride. Corkscrew- Ouch. And tear down the freaking bunny hill. TTD- Good to be back... much much much much much better than KK. The size difference isn't noticeable and otherwise I like everything about it a lot more than KK. MAGGIE!- The one that started it all. 2nd drop is rough, but the rest of the ride is great with insane airtime. Gemini- Besides some roughness, it's very fun. Hand slapping contest was in full force when I was riding it. Good airtime over the hills and the headchopper is great. Mean Streak- Just burn the damn thing down already. CCMR- It's like a 10 MPH Beast... a bunch of straightaways and not enough elements. Helix is good. Skyhawk- Needs to go for another minute or so... fun ride but just way too short of a cycle. Well, there's the temporary TR. I'll go in depth sometime this week, but I'm way too tired right now.

2003: Top Thrill Dragster 2004: Storm Runner 2006: El Toro 2007: Will be Firehawk (not necessarily new and I rode X-Flight anyway) and Maverick

I'll add ROTM to my list of worst endings.... I wasn't a big fan of it or the ride in general.

This was just featured in Dave Letterman's top 10.

I kinda traced out the flooded area... the black arrows mark where the majority of the water went over the banks. It actually hasn't gone over directly next to the ride yet. The dotted area is where the water could end up if the river keeps rising. Also, the area at the bottom of the first drop (where the land starts heading uphill) isn't flooded (yet) so therefore the only water in the tunnels should just be whatever rain fell and not river water.

Sorry... I don't have any pictures. IDK if any pictures on this site really portray its location, but there are a few on RCDB that show its relation to the river.

I'll post my top 5 steel and top 5 wood as I have a hard time putting them together. Steel: 1. Superman (SFNE) 2. Apollo's Chariot 3. Millennium Force 4. Storm Runner 5. Batman The Ride (GADV) Wood: 1. El Toro 2. Boulder Dash 3. Phoenix 4. Villain 5. HP Wildcat

Made a trip to SFNE today. As most of you know, a huge storm has been battering the northeast for the past few days and will continue for a couple more. Also, 5-7 feet of snow has fallen in Vermont in the last couple weeks which is being melted quite a bit by this storm. As a result, the Connecticut River has gone way over its banks. As most of you know, Superman is located within 20 feet of the river. Today, the river had flooded out a large portion of the DC Comics area, mainly the area under Superman's second half. The water level is about up to the height of the track in the brake run, which is submerging all of the electrical components underneath it. The water has also put more than half of the queue line underwater as well as much of the access road to the ride. The Picnic Grove is also majorly flooded with, what is normally a small creek seperating the Grove from the park, now a major mess with water levels up to and almost over the bridge in some areas. The water level in the river is expected to rise a little bit through tomorrow, then recede VERY slowy through the weekend. Superman is indefinitely closed until at least the water recedes far enough for them to access the damage (if any) done to the brake run and the electrical components underneath it. Also, the park was closed at 1:30 today due to the drains through the majority of the plug being backed up, creating massive puddles on the midways.

Favorite: Pink Floyd Others: AC/DC Aerosmith Alice In Chains Allman Brothers Band Beastie Boys Billy Joel Black Crowes Black Sabbath Bob Seger Boston Counting Crows Cream Creed Dave Matthews Band Days of the New Deep Purple Def Leppard Dire Straits Doors Eagles Emerson Lake & Palmer Eric Clapton George Thorogood Godsmack Guns N' Roses J. Geils Band Jimi Hendrix Jimmy Buffet John Mellencamp Led Zeppelin Live Lynyrd Skynyrd Metallica Pearl Jam Queen Quiet Riot REM Rage Against The Machine Rush Soundgarden Steve Miller Band Stone Temple Pilots Styx System of a Down Tom Petty Tool Van Halen Whitesnake ZZ Top I missed a few... thats just my iTunes list lol.

Our forecast for Friday: High: 8 Low: -4 Windchill: -30 It's pretty much too cold to snow. haha.

We're finally getting our first snow of the year here. And we're only getting 2-4", more typical of a storm in early November than January. They're going nuts in the weather stations because its the first time all year we're getting more than like a half inch at once. My snowmobile has been really sad so far this winter. I must say it is quite funny listening to you SoCal people calling 30 degrees cold. I know it's usually a lot warmer and you're not used to it, but it's funny to me. Most years, 30 degrees here would be a heat wave this time of year, but this year has just been weird. Hopefully this pattern change sticks for a while.

Florida in April: It's not really a coaster trip but hopefully I can stop at Universal or Disney for a couple days while we're down there. OH/IN Summer Trip: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Holiday World, and possibly Indiana Beach. The Florida coaster trip comes in 2008.

Besides S:RoS, this list is way off. But, we all know that and that just makes me want to see this year's reults for Mitch's poll that much faster.

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

August 29th for a 3 day week... then a 4-day weekend for Labor Day.

I drove from Atlantic City back to MA today. In Atlantic City, it was 92 when we left at 10. In Montvale (NJ/NY line... about 10 miles NW of NYC) at noon, it was 106. In Hartford at 2, it was 101. Here at home, it's 92, with a 78 degree dewpoint, and it actually doesn't feel hot at all after being in much hotter temps earlier.

And here's the carnival that goes through that town every Labor Day weekend, the Spencer Fair.

Here's the town I grew up in: Spencer, MA

Since I live in a small town with the tallest building being about 30 feet, here's the city a few miles away: Worcester. 2nd biggest city in MA. It has 3 tall buildings, but I couldn't find a pic with all 3 in the same shot, but here's the tallest plus city hall.

50. Thunderhawk @ Dorney 60. Comet @ Hersheypark 70. Nitro @ SFGAdv 80. Head Spin @ Geauga Lake That's all I remember, although #40 came at Cedar Point... probably on something like Wicked Twister or Disaster Transport.

Well, the parents can always make Love (In An Elevator). Back In The Saddle again? Is that What It Takes? Or is Falling In Love too Hard On Her Knees? I guess it's just too bad no one has Nine Lives. They're not feeling to F.I.N.E.

I hope this wasn't the family's Last Child.