DerekRx

I like bumper cars, it's Nicole that doesn't! And I'd be psyched to ride them if those bumper car boys were there. Now, to find a brewery nearby....

Thanks for the tip! I was actually thinking about the park this past weekend while I was in Jersey, but didn't want to drive there just to find out the Wildcat was closed. At least now I know it'll be opened, and I may have to finally check out the park sometime soon. Yay for 2 credits and a darkride!

Actually, looking at all the stats on the shirt, we figured it was actually for the nearby competition, Steel Force. Everything from the height, drop, speed, year, and track length all fit perfectly with the stats given for the ride on RCDB.

Sunday we stopped at Great Adventure on our way home. After last week's trip to SFNE, I was curious as to how Great Adventure was holding up as far as staffing, operations, cleanliness, no smoking, etc. I'm happy to report it's still doing fantastic. Employees seemed happy (or at least not zombies), coaster crews hustled to dispatch trains, ops were friendly and would try to converse with you, security everywhere, even parking attendants at the new automated things to make them go faster. Rides opened with the park, including Kingda Ka, and Rolling Thunder actually raced! The park was really clean, had lots of costumed characters and other random entertainment people out, and it was just a really nice time. So nice that I actually bought some merchandise, just because I was happy with the place and felt it would be worth giving my money. So bravo, Mr. Shapiro, at least one of your parks is still on the right path, who'd have thought it would have been Great Adventure!?! As far as El Toro goes, the ride opened WITH THE PARK, was running TWO trains from the start, and they were barely stacking the trains (except for some problems with the restraint sensors). The crew was doing great, especially John, and I'm also pleased to report that even though the lift does still slow down at the top (and it still is a ride in itself getting up there!), it doesn't affect the ride at all, there is still plenty of air and speed down that first drop and everywhere else it always was. I can't wait to get back to SFGAd. And shockingly, another great day at SFGAd. We're impressed, and actually WANT to go back, new coaster or not! Even Bugs isn't afraid to write people tickets for linejumping So picturesque. All that is missing is an Aquatrax, Impulse, and an elephant ears stand. It was built in 1997!? Crap, where have I been! They must have covered this up really well. El Toro's new shirt points out all the awesome stats on the ride. Like it's 200 feet tall? has a 205 foot drop? huh? and everyone on the train goes "ay Dios mio! Donde esta el bano?" Just can't get enough of that good El Toro Random singing act in the park. Nice to see stuff like this, it definitely appeals to the families, and showseekers Out into the woods they go. Hope the Jersey Devil doesn't get them! mmm Nitro, and check out that personless staircase, thanks to 3 train operation! We spent enough time with Conner this weekend, no more Wiggles for us! Gotta give some love to Batman too, still one intense little coaster Sorry Joey, all that remains for you of Stuntman's Freefall is a queue entrance and an unmarked Qbot station Those hills just be looking whack! The Batman side still eludes Heath, and I don't think I've ridden it since the restraint change either! Both Chiller trains are on the track, but neither is running today We'll give some love to Medusa though, since it doesn't seem to get it anymore. Maybe peoples are confused from the theme of the ride Sorry, Jahan, no ride on any Arrow's for us today, though we could if we wanted to, thanks to the comfort of the new restraints Its lakeside location makes it very photogenic. Of course, it could be in a parking lot and still look wonderful The lift slowdown does make the turnaround feel more PGA Grizzly-ish, but at close to 200feet in the air, you've got an excellent view, and lots of anticipating for the plunge you're about to take Still delivering the most insane airtime on any wood coaster out there ...meaning no lines yet for El Toro. Fantastic! Bonus ride Happiest of all though, Kingda Ka opened with the park too... El Toro opened with the park, making me very happy. Getting on the 2nd train out for the day and not waiting long makes me even happier Nice little rules and policies card given out to everyone upon entrance. Now people can't say they didn't know when they do something wrong and get booted from the park Back to SFGAd, it's still 30 minutes before the park opens, but things are testing already

After hitting up Seaside, it was time for some more whoring up at Pt. Pleasant. The place was a zoo and parking was next to impossible, so I just dropped Heath and Kim off to ride the Flitzer, then picked them up drive-by style. Then it was on for our final whoring of the weekend, down to Blackbeard's Cave in Bayville. Woohoo! I got another credit this year, and this one only took like 5 times out of our drinking time! after a few minutes, an op came over to shamefully allow us to ride. Pretty cool how they saved the trees inside the helices and behold, thar be our precious booty, the Dragon! We found the kiddieland area, we're in the right location A few miles south of Seaside is a FEC with mini-golf, go carts, batting cages, arcade, a model train restaurant, and a kiddie land called Blackbeard's Cave

This past weekend was the new New Jersey ACE reps first regional event, which they decided to host at Seaside Heights' Casino Pier. I've been great friends with both reps, Adam and assistant Bret since I got into this hobby, and since guests were allowed with ACE members, I was able to go with Heath and Kim. For only $10 we got a POP wristband good on all the coasters and a few other rides like the Haunted House and Centrifuge. We got really lucky too, and Pirate's Hideaway had just passed inspection and opened the day before. The ride is very similar in layout to the old Wizard's Cavern that used to occupy that same spot on the pier, but Pirate's Hideaway is still missing something...like anything inside the building. No props, no lighting, no darkness, no nothing. Hopefully they'll add some props over time. After hitting Casino Pier, we ventured down to Funtown Pier so the gang could get their credits in down there. Good news, it doesn't appear like the pier will be closing at the end of this season as suggested last year. The weather was great, the coasters were fun, the price was fantastic, and the event saw a pretty good turnout at around 50 people. Not bad for only putting it together in a little over a month. Dr. Pinchy's Prostate Exams are quick and painfree, just ask Heath! There's only 1 ride restriction, but it has 3 parts. Darn, and I was looking forward to riding with my Artic Ales. At least they don't make you rent a locker like they would at SFA Vertical not so good loopage One final credit on the pier for the crew, sorry guys, it's a Pinfari Looper and Heath follows with an "Oh yeah!" look Kim goes for some big air Still one of the best types of mice with the cars that lean around the turns Relocated last year from Playland in Ocean City, the Mighty Mouse, one of the rare old-school Miler Mice No hassles about adults riding either, at least not today. The Funtown Family Coaster has a really nice extended layout for a Miler. And no trash cans on the track yet this year! Down to Funtown Pier just a few blocks away to rack up some more credits for Heath and Kim You don't want to know what I had to do to get into the Pirate's Hideaway all credits achieved, it's time to dance! Cool themed cars and some nice air on the drops. Hopefully they'll add props to the inside portion Of course, our fat @$$es broke the ride on the lift, requiring the op to come and push us off the rollback Finally the workers leave, which means Pirate's Hideaway is now opened! and it's preboard area has one of the most effective spinning tunnels out there and Centrifuge is one of the coolest indoor scramblers out there, especially when they're playing Pantera Stillwalk Manor is a really nice darkride, though the extreme airblowing hurt our ears, and very few props had heads. No sight inside is scarier than the behinds outside though! Workers were still preparing Pirate's Hideaway, so we decided to ride some other stuff first The credit whores have no shame in riding the Hot Tamale (but I rode it before, so I will pass this time) Both Heath and Mighty Mouse need to use the facilities The Miler version of the Wild Mouse was next on the agenda. A little overbraked, but the big drop is great First stop of the day was the Star Jet over the water, replacing the Jet Star a few years ago. With lite crowds, it was pretty much ERT for us, as Heath and Kim show The reps rocking the registration booth When Casino Pier opened at 12, we had all we could ride until 4 on all the coasters.

After a really nice day at SFGAd, (again, another time, another forum), we stopped off at Rock Bottom in King of Prussia on our way home. Sadly, they just recently ran out of the Czech Mate Pilsner that I wanted to try, but we still managed some good stuff. and Heath went with Prussia's Pride IPA to end another BACT Attack weekend Round two saw us drinking out of our Mug Club Mugs, which cost NOTHING to join, how you like that BrewWorks?! I had the Penn's Curse Amber, pretty good even Kim had a beer, a root beer Heath went with the El Jefe Hefeweizen, really spiced up First up for me, the cask conditioned Dubliner Dragon Stout, an Irish Stout if you couldn't tell by the name Ironic that we're back at Rock Bottom

Yesterday we headed into the dreaded New Jersey to attend the ACE Day at Casino Pier, in hopes of getting to ride the new Pirate's Hideaway, but that's another story for another forum. Onto the beers! I'd definitely attend more ACE events if they all ended like this! Of course, we didn't keep it on the down low for long, as Adam brought some Stone Ruination IPA with him for us all To protect myself from the Jersey Devil, I tried to protect myself with some Pennsylvania HopDevil. I'm still alive, so it must have worked In true Bret fashion, a fire was necessary for the evening. Good thing it cooled down outside, which is odd for this time of year Apparently Adam thought Dale's Pale Ale was a British brew by the look on his face We didn't want to get to extreme with our beers, so we kept it on the downlow, even picking up some Stoudt's American Pale Ale just for the flavor Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat and Stoudt's Smooth Hoperator also made appearances After the event, it was back to Bret's for some afterparty bbq, swimming, and drinking. We came prepared with some fine micros like the canned Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Went great with our huge slices of pizza! We were amazed to find some microbrews on draft there as well as the usual swill. So, time for some Blue Point brews, Blueberry for me and Toasted Lager for Heath Since we got to Seaside Heights a little early, we decided to grab some food at SawMill down by Funtown Pier

^Crazy to some, fitting for the Guy I know though! Wait, did I just call Guy crazy??

Have fun guys! Get some gazpacho instead of riding Spanish Deja Vu, for me! I'll be sure to stop by Newark on your way home to say hi during the 9 hours you'll be stuck there

^Guten Tag to the beer thread! Be sure to keep showing us some more of your country's fine beers such as the bocks, pilsners, and don't be forgetting the Dortmunder. As far as Germany on the other side of the pond goes, tonight I was off to Stoudt's in nearby Adamstown (no, not a whole town owned by Adam Revesz, that'd just be scary) to enjoy some of their very German inspired beers (since the owner IS Pennsylvania Dutch, aka: from Germany). and to end the night, their strongest beer at 10%, a pint of the Double IPA. Quite a piney and citrus filled double IPA, though a little too high in ABV to drink more than 1 of in a session. Follow that up with their summer seasonal, the Weizen, a great banana and clove flavored hefeweizen, wonderful in the summertime First up for me, the Smooth Hoperator, a very hoppy Maibock, and probably my favorite thing they're brewing After Heath's inspirational words from his trip a week ago, I figured I may as well visit the almost too close by place I usually pass up, Stoudts

Another free yet boring drug dinner tonight. While the food was great, they were out of the only beers I drank there (Spaten and Hoegaarden) so I just drank Coke. Time to relieve that as soon as I get home! Nice citrus notes and a good overall flavor, and lite too, perfect for summer! It's getting late, don't want to drink anything too potent. Troegs Scratch #1, the California Common will do nicely

* symbolizes homepark at the time 1991: Sidewinder at Hersheypark* 1996: Skull Mountain- SFGAd* 1997: Boomerang Coast to Coaster- The Great Escape Great White- Morey's Piers Steel Force- Dorney Park* 1998: Great Bear- Hersheypark* Batman and Robin: The Chiller- SFGAd* Volcano: The Blast Coaster- PKD 1999: Top Gun- Carowinds Apollo's Chariot- BGW Medusa- SFGAd* Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train- SFGAd* Roadrunner Express- SFGAd* Wild Mouse- Hersheypark* Batman The Ride- SFOT Boomerang- Fiesta Texas Poltergeist- Fiesta Texas Steel Eel- SeaWorld Texas Serial Thriller- Astroworld Nightmare- The Great Escape Superman: Ride of Steel- Darien Lake Sea Serpent- Denos Wonderwheel Pier Twister- Knoebels* Joker's Jinx- SFA Two Face- SFA Exterminator- Kennywood Wild Mouse- Casino Pier Gwazi- BGT Dueling Dragons- IOA Incredible Hulk- IOA Pteranodon Flyers- IOA Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster- Universal Studios 2000: Wild Mouse- Dorney Park* Lightning Racer- Hersheypark* Millennium Force- CP Superman: Ultimate Escape- Six Flags Ohio Villain- Six Flags Ohio Batman Knight Flight- Six Flags Ohio Woodstock's Express- Dorney* Superman: Ride of Steel- SFNE Poison Ivy- SFNE Boulder Dash- Lake Compounce Flying Super Saturator- Carowinds Flying Unicorn- IOA* Kraken- Sea World Florida* Dania Beach Hurricane- Boomers Ant Farm Express- Wild Adventures* Bug Out- Wild Adventures* 2001: California Screamin'- DCA Nitro- SFGAd Hypersonic XLC- PKD Talon- Dorney Cheetah- Wild Adventures* 2002: Superman: Ultimate Flight- SFOG Ricochet- Carowinds Ricochet- PKD Primeval Whirl- DAK* Roller soaker- Hersheypark Colossus- Thorpe Park Air- Alton Towers Goliath- Walibi World Silver Star- Europa Park Rock 'n' Rollercoaster- Walt Disney Studios Paris Klondike Gold Rusher- Wild Waves/Enchanted Village 2003: Top Thrill Dragster- Cedar Point Greezed Lightning- SFKK Superman: Ultimate Flight- SFGAd Crazy Mouse- Rye Playland 2004: Revenge of the Mummy- Universal Studios Florida* Storm Runner- Hersheypark Tsunami- Clementon 2005: Hydra- Dorney* Pandemonium- SFNE Sheikra- BGT Powder Keg- Silver Dollar City Kingda Ka- SFGAd* Mighty Mouse- Funtown Pier Hades- Mt Olympus 2006: Expedition Everest- DAK Goliath- SFOG Wacky Worm- Trimper's Rides Voyage- Holiday World Kentucky Rumbler- Beech Bend Speed: No Limits- Oakwood Kumali- Flamingoland Stealth- Thorpe Park Speed Monster- Tusenfryd Thunderbird- PowerPark El Toro- SFGAd* Runaway Train- Gillian's Wonderland Pier Shamu Express- Sea World Florida Tatsu- SFMM Haunted Roller Coaster- Krazy City Black Mamba- Phantasialand 2007: Griffon- BGE Pirate's Hideaway- Casino Pier

Bubba, I want some of that Hop Stoopid too! I can hook you up with some wonderful Southern Tier goodness, and maybe a bottle of Nugget Nectar And Joe, another excellent selection of beers. Definitely try for some of the Terrapin Rye and search out the Monster series; the Imperial Pils isn't the best thing ever, but Big Hoppy Monster, Rye Squared, and Wake N Bake are fantastic. Tonight I decided to try another beer I bought up in New York and that Nicole loved and nurtured for me for a few weeks, then drove it across the state to give it to me, The Middle Ages X: 10th Anniversary Double IPA, celebrating the brewery operating from 1995-2005. And yet it's 2007 and I just now picked up a bottle. At first I was a little skeptical, but apparently they kept bottling it and this is actually a fresh bottle. We shall see... Indeed the beer was pretty fresh tasting and a different, yet good double IPA. As the beer warmed up, more flavors came out The face of confusion, as this double IPA didn't taste as hoppy as I would expect. Good biscuitness and malt as well as pine and grassy hops and a hint of mint. Odd indeed Weighing in at 10% is the 10th Anniversary from Middle Ages, clever, no?

Another night of mowing grass and other housework, following it up with some goodness I imported from out of state, thanks to Nicole. Crisp and flavorful. Dortwunderful! I'm not a big fan of golden lagers, but when I'm in the mood to drink one, the only one that'll do is Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold

Seeing how the park was exactly the same on my previous visit there a few years ago, and the same as in all my times there since 1999, I'm going out on a limb and saying it's like that all the time. Add in that we went with James, who goes to the park often and he verified that things are usually this bad and crews are this slow all the time. Most of the ops showed no enthusiasm or even a smile with the exception of the Pandemonium crew who told us to have a great ride. Here's some of the routines I witnessed while waiting for the rides: Cyclone's ops would casually check the train (always getting as many clicks as they could) then lean against the back wall with their ok signal in the air, no expression other than disgust and boredom. Train dispatches, returns, riders exit. After everyone is out of the station, station gates are shut by op standing in the back. Op walks back to the back, gates open for new riders. Riders sit, restraints locked, ops from the back both walk to the front and start checking the train. Catwoman's op would open the gate to the station, let in about a trainsfull of people, then reclose the gates, make everyone pick a row, then open the gates and load the train, then figure out that there were empty rows and then reopen the gate, call out for 2 guests, then another 2 guests, when the 3 people right at the front of the line had to wait for another train. Then exit op would check the back half the train, front op would check front of the train, and with each lapbar seem to be confused why the Zierer's only have 2 locking positions, 1 for little kids, and 1 for adults. Even Pandemonium's counter couldn't figure it out, a group of like 2 would go up, then she would call out for another group of 2 (which there were none of on the ramp). Finally someone from way back would fight their way to the front to get on the train which had already loaded and dispatched with only 2 people, and then the process would be repeated. All the while she could have very easily just called out once, and finding no one either a party of two, or not paying attention, just used 2 single riders from the singles queue. I know Thunderbolt isn't allowed to run 2 trains, but that was really bad. 2 ops checking and the same ones also handling crowd control and 1 op running the ride. The exit op would signal to the entrance op to hold like 6 seats for qbot, so the entrance op would allow that many people into the station and they'd pick their row. train rolls into the station, guests exit train, gather belongings, leave station. Exit op closes exit gate. Gates open on entrance side to board train. Belongings are dropped, people sit down. The exit dude opens the Qbot gate so the Qbotters can fill in the rest of the seats. Buzz bar is released, entrance op walks the train and closes everyone's bar. Then goes back to the front to check seatbelts and lapbars again. Then exit op checks seatbelts and lapbars. Both ops go back to their designated spots, single ok, train dispatches. Exit guy figures out which set of qbotters is next to ride, process starts again. Just seems to be it could be worked out to be more efficient, or that they really should alter the Qbot on the ride. On Tomahawk, after a ride the entrance op would make sure everyone was off the ride by physically walking thru the ride to the exit, and then talk with the ride operator (who would be playing with one of those penny racers in between rides). Then go back thru the ride after everyone is off the ride and open the gates, letting people in (but forgetting how many he let in). Then he'd walk into the ride and count the empty seats after everyone had dropped off their belongings. Then he'd let that many more in. Then him and the exit op would check restraints (by pushing down for that extra click, even though the restaints had no tension whatsoever and would just fall down from the moment they were released). After the green lights, they'd stroll back to their positions and give the all clear. The only ride that wasn't stacking trains was Mind Eraser, and we tried to ride plenty of other things besides the coasters as the park has some pretty unique flats as well. It just seems to me that the park is more concerned with having people put trash in the trashcans, as it was the only thing you really saw everywhere, and even then it didn't happen. But yeah, it was probably just a one time occurance at the park(that happens on the day I decide to go each year), even though it seems to happen to other people who go there on a regular basis. Pretty much everyone knows that parks are extremely busy on a Saturday, but the thing is, the park wasn't crowded in the morning, and yet the waits were still pretty bad for the number of people in line. I know the park really can't do much about it's clientelle, but maybe they could satisfy more guests if they actually didn't have to wait in lines that are only long because the crews aren't really concerned about put-thru, just dragging out their "Sentence" until they can go home at the end of the day. Eventually the families are going to say "why should I spend $200 for my family of 4 to enter the park and only ride 6 things at Six Flags in the time I'm there because of the lines when I can have a more enjoyable time at Disney and actually get to ride stuff." Oh wait, they already do that.

It wasn't so much the crowds that ruined our day, as with most parks if you get there at opening, you usually have at least 2 hours of tolerable crowds. It was the slowness of the operations that let us there to rot with all the people who arrive at the park at like 1pm in massive droves. Had the crews been showing some effort at all, we could have probably ridden everything in the park a lot sooner and headed out if we needed to. Most of what we rode early on only had like probably like 5-10 train waits, but with the slowness of operations, instead of being like 20 minutes, it ended up being like 40 minutes. Much like any job, if you putz around, you're gonna get backed up. With the SFNE crews already backed up, it messed more with the qbot crowds, giving them lines and backups which the crews could never seemed to be able to alleviate, nor did they even seem to care. It's that attitude that is commonly referred to as "the Six Flags way". You don't see the workers at Dollywood or SDC or Disney acting like that, and why families actually really enjoy going to these parks. If not for Superman, SFNE would only be receiving a Golden Ticket if they gave one out for "slowest operations".

^Wow, Joe hitting the heavy stuff early in his career! At this rate, you'll need the 12-step program faster than any of us It's true, some beers cannot mask their alcohol as well as others (my prime example is Southern Tier's Unearthly IPA, bleeeeach!). Keep trying other things, usually the Belgians rely mostly on that particular strain of yeast to keep their flavor, and therefore cannot mask the ABV as well as the stouts and IPAs can by covering them up with other flavors. If you can get lots of Avery stuff down your way, look into the Samael, Mephistopheles, Beast, or Maharaja, all are high in alcohol but mask it very well. Of course, they're all more on the costly side, depending where you go. Keep on drinking good stuff, and sure, send some Sweetwater IPA up my way (or just remember to pick me up some the next time we're supposed to meet up).

LOL! Larry's pirate talk makes this PTR excellent in itself. Or was that Chuck's pirate talk? In any case, glad you got to ride the Typhone Sea Skull Mountain, Chuarry, I never have.

I haven't really followed WWE in the last couple of years, but I really enjoyed watching Benoit. He wasn't always the standout, but he was always a good technical wrestler and gave it his all. RIP Wolverine

I wanted to go, but couldn't and I agree with Lou, more Nicole pictures are necessary for a Nicole solo PTR. Maybe I'll try to make a stop off at this park in a few weeks, as long as the weather holds up, since it didn't on my last attempt at hitting this place last year.

Nice to see some Southern stuff in the thread, as well as the always wonderful Victory goodness. I've yet to get to a Sweetwater, hopefully sometime soon that will be amended. After Saturday's debacle known as the Moan and Dove, I decided to head to one of the other top 50 places to have a beer in America, which also happened to be only 30 minutes from work, and just recently celebrating their 13th Anniversary, off to the Drafting Room we go! To accompany my fondue and to finish I was going to have the Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale, but they were having problems with it being too foamy, so I went with the Sly Fox Chinook IPA. A really nice strong hop flavor to it, but I should have gotten the 12th Anniversary Brown Ale while I still had the chance, as I'll have this one again in like 6 months. $10 plus tip for the whole night, gotta love happy hour prices!! This could happen to be a more than usual thing... Since I switched seats so some dude could play the poker machine thing, he bought my next round. Next up would be the newly released 13th Anniversary Imperial Pilsner also brewed by Troegs, nice hoppy notes at 7+%. No merch was made for this one, good thing we picked up the 12th Ann. stuff when we did! and so, the 11th Anniversary IPA on cask would be my first selection for the night, recipe by TDR, brewed by Troegs, and still holding up wonderfully after 2 years Just as good a selection as the Moan and Dove, and even better, they've got Lindeman's on tap AND a hand pump, spurting out their own 11th Anniversary IPA Lots of stuff on tap, most of which I've had before, but wouldn't mind going back for more A very rare occurance, me at TDR on a Monday night. But after missing Thursday's Anniversary Party because of mowing and pre-trip arrangements, I knew I had to get here soon

I'm pretty certain that you'll have a better day based that it is a Monday and shouldn't be as crowded. The clientelle may be different as well, therefore less linejumping and smoking in the queues, but operations should still be pretty lagging, maybe even more 1 train operations than on the weekends, not that it makes much of a difference having 2 trains with the length of stacking that takes place at that park. Soren, you won't be seeing me with a beer at that park, although they do sell it there and they do have a Sam Adams biergarten, I refuse to pay like $12 or whatever it is for a pint at the park. See the beer thread for the much needed drinking that was done afterwards

Being up in Albany this past weekend, the original plan was to hit up The Great Escape. However, we decided to change our plans and hit up SFNE instead, as James (Canobie Fan) agreed that it wouldn't be too unbearably crowded this early in the season. Nicole had never been to the park before, so I wanted to get her on Superman as well as some of the other good coasters like Cyclone and...um, I guess that's it. But yeah, she needed the credits and they had a lot. Plus I assumed the weather would be hot and they have a pretty cool looking waterpark, and I need me some Nicole in bikini action. (Sadly, it was only in the lower 70s, so that didn't happen ) Getting to the park at opening (actually earlier but guests can't understand that you only pay the guy at the parking toll, not ask him all your questions for the day), we ran right to Superman, and our plan to hit all the coasters before any sort of crowd appeared would have worked wonderfully...if the employees at the park moved even remotely as fast as turtles. However, the majority of them in the whole park were so slow with checking restraints and dispatching trains that I think some were actually moving backwards. With one train operations on the woodies, extreme stapling on everything, smokers in the queues, linejumpers, inability to use Qbot properly, and a general ho-hum attitude from the employees, it definitely felt like the old Six Flags New England I loathed so much. I'm glad to see Great Adventure improving last year and this, but New England pretty much stayed where I've always known it to be, even back in its Riverside days. We'll see how Great Adventure is doing soon enough, onto the pics from this wonderful day. and I'll leave you with one final shot of one angry coaster. Of course, if I lived at this park and knew how awesome I was but was underappreciated and being reduced to what I currently am, I'd be angry too. Heck, I'm angrier just going to this park. Thanks SFNE! Lots of spinning, it's always nice to ride a Huss Frisbee, especially when you don't get puked on. Watching a riot almost start behind you over linejumping is fun too! I finally remembered to ride Houdini, which had no wait and 2 obnoxious kids sitting (laying) behind us the entire ride. Yet the ops did nothing about this. Guess it'll take someone getting killed before action is taken. So filled with airtime, and pretty much a perfect steel coaster. If this was at Cedar Point, it would have gotten the Golden ticket every year since 1998, even though the ride wasn't even built until 2000! Lots of people in this shot are going "weee, we're having fun for the next few moments, and then we have to get off this ride and wait more. Now we're getting sad" (and then there are the people about to get on the George Foreman grill only to say "ouch, this is painful, why did we go on this??") But Aquaman was holding out for an Aquatrax, so he summoned the carp, mackeral, and other creepy river creatures to rebuild the ride on dry land SFNE tried to alter Superman to have a more Maverick-esque 1st drop. Shortly after this picture, the whole ride fell into the Connecticut River Sideboob on the family coaster, Welcome to Six Flags! The park couldn't decide if it was Poison Ivy's Twisted Train or Poison Ivy's Tangled Train, so they just said "Catwoman's hotter, let's just give her a ride instead" Who needs a Wipeout when you can have the Justice League shop. At least they put it in the DC area instead of like Crackaxle Canyon though! Ug, the Catapult. At least now I got both of these credits. This one was much lamer, with a lapbar that continued to keep retracting throughout the whole ride. As Kelly Clarkson would say, "Never Again" After like 7 guys pushed it, it finally made it though the rest of the course. Greased the track, sent the trains like another 6 times, and hooray, we got to ride (and with the rest of the train empty, except for us in the very back) and sometimes it does stop completely! Like when they added the 2nd train midday and testing it empty and "cold", resulting in a "temporarily closed" sign, thus a cleared out station except for the 3 of us. TPR party in the station for the next hour! (We'd have ordered Papa Johns, but I didn't have my Platinum Card with to pay for it.) Though there is still some moments of extreme air, the ride has so many trims now it just meanders around for much of the duration. Sometimes you think it's going to stop on the course completely and just stay there Ah, the Riverside Cyclone, one airtime filled woodie...at least back in the day. Check out that first drop, no not the one the train is on, the one they painted over under that! The skycoaster has a pretty cool location, up on a hill. Of course, these people chickened out when up at the top and had to be winched back down. Wonder if they still had to pay full price?! Good thing for single rider line, the regular wait was way too long for this! And the crew wasn't too shabby with dispatches Pandemonium, no longer a Mr. Six attraction, sorry Mike Nicole says "I don't wanna be a credit whore anymore" Not even a pretty vertical loop entrance can make me happy to ride a Boomerang, especially one sent from SFKK OK, this is the best thing in the park, the dog show. At least it was all energetic, unlike the other SF employees. Shapiro, train the dog to operate the rides, please! Not as spinny as Cypress Gardens', but still fun, and not too wet. Though Nicole wanted to get wet to see if the ops were at all creepy like the ones on Log Jammer at SFMM. Astroworld's remains sure are better than the log flume that used to be around here. The newly moved Crime Wave looks good next to Batman, but why didn't SF think to put both of these in the DC Comics Superhero Adventures section of the park!?! A little rough in the flatspins, but it has a compact layout, steep lift, and a good zero-G roll. It may not be too intense or unique, but at least it's not as lame as Hydra Hooray for New England's first B&M. This will be good, right? I mean, check out that loop! No! A prime example of why it's called a "hang and bang" Plus the shaking and shimmying now also delivers kidney blows, thanks Mind Eraser and Vekoma! Mind Eraser had probably the most efficient crew all day, and was even running 2 trains! James, what are you doing with that napkin, do you have built up earwax or something? From Mind Eraser you get a good view of Supercan: Rattle of Steel! (in its defense, I think most of the rattling comes from the back "wing" of each car on the train rustling in the wind from all the speed) Quick, to the crappy SLC before the line gets too long. Nothing worse than waiting a long time for something you know stinks One ride on Superman done and we decide to hit Thunderbolt before chaos engulfs it. Always a 1 train operation, now with extra wait time because of Qbot AND super slow checks Only with such slow operations and extreme stapling to the point that the lapbar is entangled in your intestines, it kinda moved down a little in my rankings First stop of the day, Superman, what used to be my favorite coaster in North America Typical holding at the gates until 10am with a song and dance, then unleashing the fury upon the world of SF Welcome to SFNE. At least the park looks nice, and they're proud of their good coaster

and finally, tonight: I must say, this new Sam Adam's glass really does work! While it's nice to get away, it sure feels good to return home, where HopDevil always welcomes