DerekRx

So I got home from work tonight only to have the power go out on me. What else COULD I do other than drink?! Fortunately for me, I had the knowledge and ability to find my beers in the basement fridge without the help of light. This may very well be the best Brooklyn beer yet, it actually has a really good flavor, something I can definitely enjoy in the summertime! and finally, to finish the night, some of Brooklyn's Pennant Ale '55, a Pale Ale and let's just use the bottle for ole Hoppy, he won't mind May as well follow by finishing the rest of the Big Bear Black, such a foamy stout! Whatever the case, it tasted fine, even if it didn't look all pretty Why to make black and tans with the Big Bear Black, of course! Unfortunately, it didn't turn out so well. Either they just don't separate, or it's really hard to pour beers in the dark That's right, a HopDevil IPA! But why is my glass only half full?? I think I've got just the solution! But what to have next....Normally I would finish off the rest of the bomber, but tonight I'm feeling bored... A little bit on the headheavy side, but awesome flavors of chocolate, coffee, and licorice First beer of the night will be another California brew on the Top 100 American list, Big Bear Black Stout from Bear Republic Coming home from work, I encountered this thunderstorm that took out my power for the past 5 hours, but at least it washed the bird crap and pollen off my car

If you think about the fact that Beastlie Kingdomme was concepted back in 1992 before B&M ever came out with their inverted design, plus the fact that the train design was 'half-melted cauldrons being held by a bat above' you can pretty much assume it was just a simple suspended coaster, much like Big Bad Wolf. At least that's what I think of when I think of a cauldron/bucket, the standard suspended trains. More than likely Vekoma would have made it, otherwise look to Arrow. From what I've heard, B&M isn't too willing to budge on their say of the ride they design and build, whereas Disney likes to have total control and claim everything as their own, whether they made it or not. Think about it, do you see little Zamperla plaques on Aladdin's Magic Carpets, or Vekoma signs of quality on Rock 'n' Rollercoaster??

^I've never lived there (go me!), but you should be able to get a good selection of stuff in Georgia, as long as you know where to look. I know that Dogfish Head and Victory are now distributed there, and Bell's probably should be shortly. You've also got some pretty good local stuff down there like Terrapin, and Atlanta has it's fair share of good stuff like Max Lagers, 5 Seasons, and Atlanta Brewing. Georgia does have weird beer laws though, like you won't be able to find out any information about beer festivals from the microbreweries down there or websites. Hopefully you're moving to a more populated area that is actually on a map, and not some podunk "town" like Joe, you shouldn't have any problems getting some good beers. They even sell it in gas stations down there. The sad thing about the South though, not too many other microbreweries down there, mostly everything comes from up North or out West.

^^We don't run out of beer #1 because we're in Pennsylvania, where you can pretty much only buy by the case and #2 because we keep an eye on our inventory. We get good beer out here because Pennsylvania is awesome . It's one of the only places that gets the Russian River stuff on tap, thanks to our fine city ( ) of Philadelphia and its beer bar, Monks. This state just gets a really good selection, and we know of a few really good places to pick up some rarer stuff, and even a few that can sell singles and 6ers that we frequent. Plus we're close enough to other states that can sell singles and 6packs that we pick up stuff whenever we travel, which is pretty much every weekend.

The funny thing is, BGE actually DID have those temporary rub-on tattooes that they were selling in a few of the gift shops of the coaster logos and such. They went all out for merchandise with Griffon, nd LNM and BBW both have new stuff, though both Alpengeist and Apollo stuff is hard to find anymore. And sadly, no pins of Griffon, or any of the other coasters anymore at least not yet this season.

I wouldn't think an Intamin woodie would be anywhere near as loud as Busch's B&Ms (since they're not filled with sand). Besides the farting noise the trains make getting all that airtime, the only other loud sounds you hear is all the screaming from the riders, something that every amusement park ride has to deal with. Balder's in the middle of a city, like right next to the motorway, and I never saw people outside protesting it's noise level. Plus if they went with an El Toro-like cable lift, that eliminates the noisey anti-rollbacks found on all traditional woodies. I say bring it! (like that'll ever happen)

Tonight I decided to break out another beer I picked up in Virginia, one all the way from Wisconsin from one of a contributors favorite places, Lakefront! YEAH! Once again, Bell's delivers another fine brew, loaded with citrus and grapefruit flavors Right now I'm thinking this is the best reason for Matt to drive up to Wisconsin, so he can buy more Bell's, like this Two Hearted IPA. His Lakefront just doesn't cut it for me Matt, dude, I seriously think your Lakefront is a lame microbrewery, almost as bad as Southern Tier. This thing had like no maltiness at all for an ESB, and just a slight hint of citrusy hops Lakefront's Organic ESB, made with organic hops and barley

"Driven"- Sevendust

I'm not a big fan of Harry Potter, but I know the franchise sells well, so this should be a nice addition to Universal, and I'm sure they'll have to do a good job with the theme. I wouldn't want to see Lost Continent changed, though I could do without Sinbad, as I haven't done that show in years. Hopefully this island will contain more rides for the family to enjoy, though another coaster would be nice too. Perhaps they can get a Booster Bike themed to Harry's broomstick. It's just nice to see IOA finally adding some new stuff, it's about time!

From the moment I woke up this morning, my beer destiny was calling me. First my random shirt to wear under my scrubs, then my random beer glass being for the same beer as the shirt, it was inevitable that I drink that beer tonight. Fortunately, I had just picked up a 6pack of it down in VA this past weekend! I'm happy to report that mine is still pretty good. Starting to turn a tad little bit, but the cellaring helps Next up, I wanted to try some Nugget Nectar since Heath reported that his was going bad Definitely some awesome stuff, and easier to enjoy when you don't need to drink 2 glasses like you did with the bomber bottles mmmm, such a wonderful hoppy smell Tonight's beer, Stone's Ruination IPA, now available in regular sized bottles and 6packs!

^I think "Fire Mountain" was somewhat similar to Dragon's Tower, but was supposed to be their tie in after Reign of Fire came out. Of course, that didn't do so well, and thus Beastly Kingdom is still shrouded in mist. Hopefully soon Disney will realize how great an idea this would have been, just look at what Everest did for the park. Thanks for sharing the link to that article, Barry. Good stuff, very similar to the stuff Joe Rohde told me himself during dinner before catching the Blue Man Group a few weeks ago during a super sneak preview.

It's good to see Coney Island all bustling, it's gonna be odd looking in a couple of years, so thanks for sharing these pictures to archive the memory of Coney as I remember it. Thanks for showing other stuff in NYC as well, someday I'll get to Yankee Stadium, assuming Ellen's not with us.

"No More Sorrow"- Linkin Park

^Haha! That's what you get for waiting so long for such fantastic brews. There's a reason why it's called Southern Tier, and it's not because of the river And yeah, Juggler, we've been getting Young's here for years; actually there were quite a few English beers that I saw down in Virginia this weekend, but after the experiences I had last year over in England with the brews, I tend to ignore them for good stuff Tonight for me, another Top 100 American Craft Brew that I finally found in Virginia and picked up this past weekend. an excellent rye IPA, very well balanced between sweet and malty thanks to the rye. Even better when it warms up a bit Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye, #40 on BeerAdvocate's Top 100 American list

If this thread can provide nothing else for the members of TPR who think there should only be 1 thread for every coaster, I'll sum it up for you in these simple words: "This proves that Intamin woodies work wonders for parks that can't maintain their woodies for the life of them!" Look at El Toro after almost a year, still riding exactly the same, and most likely with very little work done in the offseason. Had Great Adventure gotten The Voyage, it would probably be laying in pieces in the lake. For parks that don't want much hassle with a wood coaster, but want a wood coaster, dial 1-800-INTAMIN. Thanks for the review, Bret. Glad you finally got back on it, although I am saddened that you live 10 minutes from the park and haven't been back since last year. Puts a serious halting on any desire I have to procreate anytime soon After my rides in early Spring I was somewhat worried about the Thunder hill losing its punch, apparently that was all just because of the cold weather, really looking forward to getting back on it now that it's warm out again.

"Tears Don't Fall"- Bullet for my Valentine

You all suck

^^^Believe it or not, the floorless aspect actually does make a difference, at least in the front row as you hang over the edge of the holding chain. In the back, not so much; you sit so high that they could put alligators, old chewing gum, or broken bottles of Budweiser below your feet and you wouldn't notice unless you looked down. It was cool in the front thru the whole ride, but the only real place I was like "wow, this is kinda cool" is on the holding brake. The rest of the ride and going over the water didn't do anything, except the end is so far out that it does kinda feel like you're flying. Fortunately, your chances of getting the front row is 1/3rd, as opposed to the other floorless coasters. However, the line was significantly longer for the front. Many times the ops would be yelling for people to fill in rows 2 and 3, but that may also be partially a product of a bad station design. ^^I would assume so, I know the other people behind me at guest relations were from other original Cedar Fair parks too, like WOF and CP. All those passes still have our pictures on them, unlike the Cedaramount park season passes.

I got mine in the mail today around 2:00 or so. Darn Pennsylvania's Jeff Johnson for taking an extra day off (Memorial Day), unlike the German mailmen. and I did exactly what the postcard told me to do!

Of course, the hotter and more crowded the day got, the more we just wanted to chill out, and fortunately BGE is one of the best parks for that. From Grogan's Pub to the Festhaus and other good restaurants and shows, it's easy to fill up a full day at the park. And then there's also our idea of fun when it's too crowded to wait in line for our taste... With three trains running and dispatches happening quickly, the line never went above an hour. Awesome job Busch Gardens! Finally, let's head back to Griffon to close out our visit Coaster + Nudity = Coasterporn! and all that remains of Drachen Fire. Rumor has it they're saving the station for the next coaster, either a Balder clone, an Aquatrax, a B&M Flyer, or a combination of all three of them! The new and improved skyline of Busch Gardens Europe These ain't no Chip and Dale, these be the Clydesdales Lucky us, the train had no wait. All aboard! $2.50 and lots of fun later, Apollo still had a line. Good thing we got our fill earlier in the day and soon we have synchronized soakings! Chuck and Larry get more money for more victims Best use of a quarter ever since I got that Magic 8 Ball to help me make important decisions But we can have lots of fun soaking the riders! Nope, we won't be riding the Roman Rapids, the line is too long Then it's onward to the Italy area of the park, but since Apollo has a full queue, we'll find other ways to occupy our time even a lactose intollerant guy like me can't pass up Busch's ice cream on a hot day and while we're here, let's catch the show. It reminds me of Oktoberfest, only I'm not totally smashed and passed out...yet Then it's on to the Festhaus for more cool air and the Brewmaster's Club Time to stop off at Griffon again, this time with the Griffon Knight keeping the beast at bay. Hooray for single rider line and like 2 minute waits! These big bad wolves you could ride if you tried hard enough, but you probably wouldn't fare well. Skip Jack Amber for everyone! Not a bad beer for Anheuser Busch! Back into the park during the hottest time of the day, why not enjoy a nice relaxing visit in the Irish Pub

We knew it would be crowded at Busch Gardens on Sunday by the fact that the park was opened 8:30am-11pm. As with most parks, getting there early helps out with dodging the crowds, and this day was no exception. I've gotta commend Busch for the way they handled the popularity of Griffon. Unlike most parks that would just drop the rope and let it be a free for all to get to the new coaster, Busch actually had a security guard walk everyone there. Within 15 minutes we were sitting in the front row of the newest B&M Dive Machine. Unlike Montu and Alpengeist, Sheikra and Griffon are very similar. I think I like Sheikra's theming and watersplash area better and the tunneled drop, but Griffon has the better view (James River instead of downtown Tampa and the ghetto surrounding BGA) and airtime. Both are excellent coasters though and great additions to the parks and dive machines in general. After 1 ride on Griffon, we made a loop around the park while everyone else was in line for the new ride. We managed to hit DarKastle, set a reservation at the Brewmasters Club for later, and ride Big Bad Wolf, Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist, and Apollo's Chariot with almost no waits (like 1-3 train waits). While on Apollo we saw the entire parking toll plaza and interstate exit backed up. We knew rides would be scarce later, so we rode Apollo 3 more times before heading over to Griffon to check out the single rider line before getting lunch. We lucked out and they opened the single rider line just when we got there, so it was a meer 1 train wait before I was off in the back left this time. The single rider line was odd, they'd open it to let like 10 people in, then close it off again until it emptied out, then reopen it for another 10 people. Everyone caught on that you didn't have to wait for an hour, so they'd all hang in the plaza and wait for the line to reopen, it caused lots of confusion with those wanting to get into the regular line. Still, thanks to the single rider line and the excellent crew dispatching like crazy, we managed 4 rides throughout the day without really trying. We even waited thru the whole queue for our final ride, and it wasn't even an hour wait. This is just one of the lines to BUY tickets at 2pm. Who the heck goes into a park at 2pm!? No wonder people complain about waiting in lines all the time, they're dumb! After some mid-day merch shopping, it's time to take the skyride back towards the front of the park to drop off the goodies at the car Trapper's Smokehouse has some pretty good BBQ, much better and cheaper than most of the fastfood at other parks As Alpengeist goes thru its heartline, Le Scoot says "hey, remember when they were saying I was being taken out for an Aquatrax!?" little turtle dude just swimming in the Rhine Griffon's Immelmann says "haha, I'm taller than you, Cobra Roll. and you thought you were so tough against Loch Ness Monster" And then it goes into its vertical loop later on and even I am saying "um, this loop is too big" Here goes Alpengeist down the hill. Tttttttttttssssss goes the train as it passes thru the trim brake These bald eagles say "why are WE called bald eagles, we have more hair than that Cop Rich dude" BGE is more cultural than BGA, which focuses more on animals, but BGE does have its share of creatures First someone spilled protein on Big Bad Wolf when we were there, then someone else did so on Apollo. People need to let their breakfast digest before riding! Apollo is just hard to take pictures of, there aren't many viewing spots for this ride unlike his brothers and cousins Busch Gardens is just one really nicely landscaped park Though Big Bad Wolf is still the only one hanging out on the other side of the bridge (well, except for Apollo, but he doesn't want to be seen) Once again the Rhine line changes with the addition of Griffon Best thing about Griffon, no lines for anything else for a little bit. Even poor DarKastle is all "hey, remember me, I'm fairly new!" Each of the three trains has a slightly altered watersplash effect from each other, but none really get people wet, just sort of misty The trains are wider than the state of Rhode Island! Oh yeah, and this one ain't gots no floor First ride of the day, Griffon of course.

Our original plans for Memorial Day weekend had us heading to Cedar Point and Geauga Lake. However, once Maverick was announced as not being opened, we changed our plans to hit a coaster that was still opening on time, Griffon. Leaving early on Saturday morning, our first stop would be Kings Dominion, since I hadn't yet gotten my Italian Job credit, and we can always enjoy a ride on Volcano. Despite people driving like idiots once they get inside Virginia's borders, we still managed to get to the park before opening. After about 10 minutes of waiting for someone to show up in Guest Relations so I could get my Maxx Pass exchanged for a day ticket (still the stupidest policy for season passes ever, Cedar Fair) we were let loose to mill about until they opened the rest of the park. We didn't stay much past 12, but we weren't planning on it. Kings Dominion is just one of those parks that to me has been on the decline for the past couple of years. Things were a little better, but that may have been just because of the lack of crowds yet. Some coasters still didn't open with the park, the woodies were still in dire need of grease, no crowd control in lines/use of queue switchbacks, and no hustle to dispatch coasters were all the norm. Even though Volcano was running 3 trains, we were under the impression they were only running 1 with how slowly dispatches were. In general, the employees just seemed to be zombies, moving slowly, not smiling, not asking how you were etc. I never really noticed it much until Six Flags started doing it, but it really is a nice gesture. If the employees look less than enthused about being there, chances are the guests won't want to be there either. Not wanting their overpriced bland food, we headed out at lunchtime to continue our adventures, first some beercrawling in Richmond (check the Beer Thread for that stuff) , and then dinner at Pierce's Pitt BBQ in Williamsburg before getting some much needed rest. The woodies may have gotten worse at Kings Dominion, but they're still better than this! This place will definitely have to be a traditional stop on future trips Awesome BBQ and great prices, sure beats Sonic! Saturday's dinner place, just outside of Williamsburg next to the Great Wolf Lodge. Can't forget to show a picture of the new trashcan designs Obligatory shot in the 0.0004 seconds I had between people standing in front of the sign to have their pictures taken Kings Dominion still has some prettiness left, and trees. Cedar Fair has a ways to go Ug, I hate to see this area be used for go-carts, they're so lame. They don't even shoot turtle shells like Mario's does! Meanwhile Grizzly the coaster has a huge wait. Shame it's really rough, in need of grease, and you can't reride with the new Cedar Fair ownership Either Heath has taken his UFC training to Grizzly, or ABCs new show "Dancing with the Bears" is holding auditions Yup, Hypersuckit is still there, still working, still has a long line, still rough, and still has the "running into a bunch of trashcans" brake run Coolest nongyrating gyrodrop ever, even if they were only loading half of the ride early on Verticle loop AND thru the tree, wow. Simply amazing (of course, we didn't ride the coaster, we're not that dumb!) Hey look, the Togo Standup is reopened, and not derailing like it's brother in Japan Volcano enjoys spicy buffalo wings, walks on the beach, and spitting fire. His dislikes include anchovies, body odor, and Barry Time for the best ride in the park, Volcano, if you couldn't tell from the MEATNORMOUS "VOLCANO" sign in front of it First ride of the day will be Italian Job, just to get the credit and not have to wait in any sort of line While waiting for rope drops, Heath and Kim partake in UFC training (or their version of marriage counciling) We do however find this motley crew. We would have hung out, but we were on a mission to get outta there ASAP! Arriving to the newly redesigned entrance plaza we find not the normal Saturday morning chaos at Kings Dominion

and finally today, good old Memorial Day, a Monday that pretends it's a Sunday, meaning lots of people are out on the roads and not working. For us it meant a drive home from Virginia, but not before a stop at the other Capital Ale House in Innsbrooke. oh sweet great microbrewed beer in grocery stores, why do you taunt us Pennsylvanians so!? But before we could leave Virginia, may as well do our grocery shopping and Heath went with an awesome barleywine, Avery's Hog Heaven And to conclude our time in Virginia, Breckenridge's Avalanche Amber for me, finally making its way out from Colorado The REAL Stone Pale Ale, no Mill needed, sorry AB Did Heath just rip one, or is that just my Cask Stinky IPA from Starr Hill Heath wanted to roll with the homeys with his malt liquor, Rogues own Dad's Little Helper So we stick to draft. For me, Lagunitas' Dogtown Pale Ale. Really fruity and fizzy, almost like champagne and loads of bottled stuff that costs a lot Getting here at opening had it's advantages, like no one else in the place! This place has even more taps than the Richmond location #14 on the list of top places to have a beer in the US

Sunday we went to Busch Gardens. Of course that could mean only 1 thing, a trip to the Brewmaster's Club for some freebies! Even Spiderman needs to sit down and kick back a round or two in the Festhaus every once and a while And Kim goes for the Blueberry Pomegranate Peels Larry is still working on those faces while enjoying the new Mid-Atlantic region limited release, the Skip Jack Amber I decided to try ABs Chinese lager, the Harbin Hey it's Williamsburg's own ChloroFluoroCarbon, Chuck! He'd be enjoying the Stone Mill Pale Ale Now you don't get prearranged "flights", you pick and choose your 4. Heath went with the Bud Extra, an energy beer with caffeine as one of his choices BGE now has 2 of these instead of beerschool. But we still like the original location back in the Festhaus. Make reservations early!

Griffon, backrow last night. Good stuff, excellent airtime. Just as good as Sheikra