DerekRx

Yeah, it really makes no sense having that ride and that ride only NOT open with the park. If its because it needs more maintenance or staffing or time to open up, why doesn't the park have those particular employees come in earlier? But its the ONLY ride that doesn't open until 12, instead why not have one of the less popular rides open up later, like GASM or Runaway Train? "El Toro isn't opened yet, but feel free to have your picture taken by 1 of our 19 photo guys at the entrance plaza." If they need more time for that ride, then why don't they have a staggered opening schedule much like IOA does, open up Plaza de Carnival and Frontier Adventures an hour or 2 later every day, instead of having everyone run right to the new ride only to find some clueless security guard saying "it ain't opened, they don't know when it will open, come back this afternoon" or a sign only in the Fastpass office stating that the ride won't open until 12. (and at 12:30 it still wasn't opened). Oh well, at least now I know for next year that I won't have to get to the park at opening to ride El Toro because it won't do me any good. Instead I'll only leave my house at 12 after I eat lunch. And like someone said, yeah I bet if the ride was at any other park, it wouldn't have these same problems every single day. I will say though, its very amusing how the new "running of the bulls" isn't to Kingda Ka or El Toro, even the GP is aware that they never open with the park. The new immediate destination for everyone this past weekend was the Flashpass office!

This weekend I found myself in Jackson, NJ, but not to go to SFGAd, mainly to see some friends and wax my car. But since the park is IN the same town as Bret and Jill, I figured what the hey. Got to the park just shy of opening, and instead of running of the bulls to Kingda and Toro, we went the other way, stopping at Nitro. Of course, nothing was opened with the park, but the ride opened in about 10 minutes or so. Managed 4 rides on Nitro, including a front row and back row, a ride on Batman, 2 on Skull Mountain, my first ride ever on the Fantasy Fling, and Elvira's Superstition all before 12. Around this time we decided to check out El Toro. As expected it didn't open with the park, in fact, it wasn't opened yet at 12. We waited a few moments for it, but since there was no "significant" wait for much of anything except Ka, we got out of line and decided to process my season pass for next year and then ride Medusa first. All went smoothly, and we were pretty much done with the place. It would have been nice to ride El Toro again before the end of the season, but they had no clue when it would open, and they'd just randomly send empty trains out every 15-20 minutes. Kinda sad to have one of the best wood coasters so close by, and yet its next to impossible to actually get a ride on it. I had a feeling even before the ride was built that the cable lift was a bad idea for that ride in that park. I'd really like to know exactly why the park can never seem to get that ride opened with the park. Hopefully by next year they get all the kinks worked out, or just switch over to the tried and true chain lift. Sounds good! See you next year Six Flags! One more, that'll be $100 please Just for Mark, here's some photos of your ride in operation Hey look, El Toro still isn't opened. If you want a great coaster ride, you can either fly to Sweden, or head up to Knoebels, as Phoenix still phlies on weekend nights Not nearly as awesome as a sandwich roll. And how exactly did Greek chick Medusa end up in the old west?? Yup, cool but definitely no Tootsie Roll Medusa, the forgotten B&M in the park The surprise of the day was the painless pass processing. Now I'm good for another season of satisfaction, Six Flags style Hooray for the reopened bridge, completing the circle again. Now with torsos and limbs! And we can see these guys confused as all heck as to what is supposed to happen here With the bridge reopened, we can get these cool shots 1/2 of the rides in this photo are running, big improvement over the Burke/Story years Those desperate enough for wood even went on Rolling Thunder while waiting out Toro Finally we found out where all the people were. All in line waiting for El Toro to think about opening And the parachute tower is working too! (well, 1 car of it) A rare shot of Kingda Ka as seen thru the Scream Machine (and its running!!) My first ride ever on the Fantasy Fling (round up). Turns out its kinda like my night of Oktoberfest, only it was over quicker This bathroom stall made Bret realize he was fat 7 years ago. Today he realized he wasn't that fat, the stall is just really small Some people say Skull Mountain is haunted. Some people are idiots And I'm a zero g roll. While not as important as a cobra roll or a sandwich roll or a tootsie roll, I'm still cool Hello, I'm a vertical loop. I make people go upside down. I'm pretty important A door that lets you see the other side of Nitro! No wait for the backrow, but Bret is excited to find an opened door Next up, Batman: The Ride (that didn't chuck LIMs) Hills and speed! Oooh, pretty and wooded Mr Pale isn't so excited about the impending wind burn he'll be getting Up the lift we go. An Autumn morning in the front row...this is gonna be cold Its really really tall, and goes really really fast Until El Toro is done being buggy, I'll continue to rely on Nitro for good rides hey Julie, look at the size of that pickle! Fountain of blood and death Fright Fest theming during the day Wow, maybe this is why we have the paper, so we can read it in line. Apparently Saturday there was 38000 people in the park Pulling into the parking lot, we get the daily news, which suggests we go to IOA instead

Whoa, I also decided to divulge my tastebuds in a Pumpkinhead Ale last night. Could this be the official Halloween beer of the Beer Thread? Shipyard sure has great distribution!

More pictures from Union Jacks And I finished off my night with some dessert, a Lindemans Framboise Ronnie enjoyed the Apricot Wheat as her last beer, but we only got it because they were out of Pyramid Apricot Weizen Wow, I didn't even know Sea Dog made an Apricot Wheat too! I convinced Dave to try the Spaten Oktoberfest, seeing how its October and all. He liked it Follow that up with a North Coast Brother Thelonius Abbey Ale, very very good, smooth, and sweet It makes me feel like Frank Zappa! Next up, a bottle of Lagunitas Freak Out

Last night it was my time to go scouting for new beer places. After discovering that a place not too far away had a double IPA brewed specifically for them by a local brewery, and then reading some reviews of the place, I figured it would be a nice stop for a Friday night. Union Jack's was a pretty cool place, out in the middle of nowhere, inside an old Inn. The place had plenty of parking, enough seats and stools, really good food (especially the wings and the hamburgers), and oh yeah, a huge selection of beer. I found a pretty cool place to want to go back to hang out more all because of a locally brewed double IPA, a double IPA called Hoptimus Prime! And I can even pick up a copy of the Mid Atlantic Brew News to read about the Pumpkins Next up for me, the Southampton Pumpkin Ale. Nice spice flavors. Heavier than the Pumpkinhead, but not quite as strong as the DFH or Weyerbacher Even Ronnie enjoyed the smokey hints in the brew "oh, well that makes a little more sense then" um Dave, its called the Stone SmokeD Porter, not the StoneD Smoke Porter Where Dave was tempted by the Stone Smoked Porter Ronnie decided to have a Lindemans Framboise to start Very pubby with lots of beer stuff everywhere As well as the draft list (I love how it says where its brewed and lists DUH for Coors and Yuengling. I guess if you don't know where they're brewed, you are pretty much DUH) The big menu isn't enough, so there is also the add-on Next up, the Russian River Damnation Blonde, very easy and good for a summer brew The Hoptimus was ok, a good overall hoppiness, but not really what I'd think of a double. Not DFH 90 Minute or anything like that Hoping for a hoptastic transformation in my mouth But the main reason we're here is to try the Hoptimus Prime lots of stuff I'd like to try on here and continues... The US section of the beer menu starts... The beer menu is pretty big, and even has some explaining of the different types for the noobs Their newest acquisitions Built inside an old Inn, the place is now a beer bar/restaurant Pulling up to Union Jacks I see the Victory sign, I know I'll like this place already At least this way I know I have at least 1 good beer tonight Before heading out though, I had some time to enjoy some Devil at home

And technically, Arrow/CP coined the term hypercoaster. Therefore, the only hypers would be Arrow manufactured, as Intamin and B&M call theirs Mega coasters, meaning this entire thread is pointless, as PMBO is the ONLY hyper coaster in all of Europe. Classifying nonlooping steel coasters with many hills though as hypers, I would rank them the same as Elissa and many others, Expedition GeForce being way above every other one, Pepsi Max sleeping on the bottom bunk all the time, with Goliath really good and Silver Star just meh, but still more worthwhile than PM.

Not much detail or anything on the Jeep ride, but I love the name of Dueling Dragons...Merlin's Duelling Dragons! And its funny how Journey to Atlantis sounds like a good name to more than 1 company!

Yup, I knew all about the flaming skewers of meat! I'm bummed I missed out on those days of the trip especially Europa because its still my favorite park overall. Loads of random stuff to do, some really fun unique coasters, and fresh kokosnuss! I think I would have cried though if I only got 4 rides on GeForce because of 1 train operation and 20 minute waits.

Tonight was another new brew selection, as well as a tried and true good'un. Oh well, still the best Southern Tier I had so far, but a Belgian it is not. I was expecting it to be sweet like a Belgian ale, but it was almost like an Oktoberfest with a little more sweetness to start (which ended quickly) Next up, the new for me Southern Tier Tripel, a "Belgian" style As good as I knew it would be (seeing how I just had one on Monday) Instead of starting out with an iffy new beer, I went with the Dogfish Head Punkin to start

For my birthday I got a Southern Tier variety pack from Tom. Since he never tried any of the brews and I haven't either, I decided to start cracking into them tonight, seeing if it was worth him buying a case for himself. Another pretty weak beer with not much flavoring of any sorts Next up, Phil & Matt's Extraordinary Ale, an American Pale Ale It started out with some nice hops, but it dissipated and disappointed fast. Leaving no finish at all With a really hoptastic smell, I was hoping for something good First up, the IPA. Very hoppy smelling, even just by opening the bottle

I also decided to divulge in my Left Hand Oktoberfest that Tom gave me tonight. Very nice Oktoberfest with great flavor from both sides. Not too buttery either like some other Oktoberfests. Malty tastes taking over Very unique taste, nice hops to start Figured it was a good time as any to break out the Oktoberfest mug for an Oktoberfest lager

Yeah, Dorney has had that policy in effect pretty much since the ride opened, and the restraints are different from the ones found on Fury and the other spinners. I know I've ridden the same model at other parks, Wild Adventures, Oktoberfest fair, and we've had 4 adults in a car and no one exploded or flew off the ride. If the park wants to compete with now sister parks PKD or PKI for worst capacity, maybe they should look at getting a Hypersonic or Batflyer instead!

Hasn't it been rumored for the longest time that the dreaded evil Corkscrew would be leaving the park? Balder would go nicely there, right next to Rita. O course, if that happened, I'd never ride Rita again...then again, I don't plan on riding it again anyway!

That's fantastic. First, the ride was saved, second its going some place where it may actually be accessible to ride, not like a shopping mall in Malasia or some mountain town in the Andes. If and when it actually does get erected and opens at Camelot, I'll actually have a reason to go there! I bet Joe is estatic!

OK, that settles it. The next time my camera breaks, I'm not going to buy a new one, I'm just going to take you with me on trips. Those pics are simply awesome. When I don't ride as much for a few years because I get a family and fix up the house more, I'm totally investing in a sweet camera like yours so I can really wow everyone when I do go to a park.

Oh the horror, the last coaster I rode was the Wild Mouse at Dorney. Luckily I'll ride plenty more before the season is over, and that won't be one of the ones I ride again for the remainder of the year!

I always knew having a big mouth would come in handy for something! Thanks to it being around my birthday, I got some new stuff this weekend. Tonight's brews: Nice pumpkin flavor, various spices. Not as pumpkin spiced as Pumpkinhead, but still great. Thanks Heath! Its that time of year again, and I was gifted with some Punkin Ale from DFH. Always pleasing to me(even Nicole tried it this weekend, though she hated it) Starting out again with the HopDevil, while my other new brews chill in the fridge

Sweet video dude. Very Roger Rabbitish (except for the lack of Jessica Rabbit). Funny stuff!

On Sunday after destroying Dorney in like 2 hours, we went to Bethlehem Brew Works so I could get my birthday meal and we could introduce Rich and Melanie to the place. Sadly, they were out of Oktoberfest once again before I could try it, but the Pumpkin is back on, and its pretty good this year again! The girls in the beer thread! Nicole with a Hoegaarten Mimosa, Melanie with a Valley Golden mixed with Raspberry Though it may be trying too hard to become a country club, BBW has some pretty good beers, and decent food

Been a while since my last update, but don't worry, I didn't die, nor did I give up beer. We've been busy BACTing it up in Central and Eastern PA this past weekend. In case you live under a rock, Knoebels Phall PhunPhest was this past weekend, and since Selings Grove Brewing Company is like 30 minutes away, we decided to stop off there for lunch after we had Heath and Kim scout it out a few months ago. With lots of homebrews on tap and a cozy atmosphere, SGBC is definitely a place we'll return to To finish off, I downed the caramel dip Heath didn't care for my Heathface, but he enjoyed his Smoke Mountain Stout, nice smoke finish Me and my Heathface went with the IPA, really good Next up, Tom got the Belgian Triple, kinda Witbierish Not quite as large as a Munich pretzel, but it was big enough, and cheap! Not wanting to ruin our Knoebels appetites though, we just got pretzels, mine with caramel and sugar Except for some of the girls, who went with homemade root beer To start, we all got their Oktoberfest, Market Street Fest Right on Market Street though, in a really old house, Selingsgrove Brewing was pretty awesome Real small little place that if you didn't know it was here, you'd pass by Saturday started out here though Even Tom enjoyed a beer out even though he's got it on tap at home Followed by some Troeg's HopBack at the restaurant Went great with the kabobs he grilled! Friday night it was time for some HopDevil from Ted at the campground

Usually on Sunday I hang around Knoebels for more rides and craft fair, known as Hangover Day. However, with Nicole in town and us not knowing the situation for next year, we decided to take this opportunity to visit Dorney Park. Besides that, Rich and Melanie were planning on going, so we'd have some cool people to hang out with. As usual, Dorney was pretty dead on a Sunday at the end of the season. In their Halloweekends mode, the park has a few haunted attractions opened, but nothing nearly on par with even the worst house at HHN. The final ride of the day before departing for BrewWorks was the Wild Mouse. Can someone explain why only 2 adults can ride in a car, when every other Maurer Sohne mouse can have 4??? Lamest policy EVER. updates complete See, proof! Although its easy to forget, a true credit whore will not pass on Woodstock's Express Probably the best of the "haunts" was the kiddie funhouse One of the park's arcades was turned into another haunted house, where you could buy 3-D glasses for $1. Possibly lamer than House Bastard! But how many of these rides would you rather ride now instead of those extra 12 trashcans that replaced them each? One good thing CF did... The "graveyard" was kinda cool, acknowledging all of Cedar Fair's butchering Steel Force was running pretty much brakeless, and proved to be the 2nd best coaster at the park today Hey Joe, how's it going Although there year round, this haunted house is only opened in October Trademark shot of 2 of Dorney's oldest and best coasters This Fright Zone is sponsored by Chik-Fil-A apparently, and doesn't operate on Sundays $0.25 cotton candy....must buy...too cheap to pass up Hydra, the more I ride it, the more boring it becomes. (and it vibrates a lot!) But at least it looks cool Talon was running fairly well, but as Nicole said, its just "meh" (and this coming from someone who only rode like 2 other B&M Inverts!) I am the master of the Talon vertical loop shot. Don't even attempt to challenge me But we came so Nicole could increase her coaster count even more this year They throw up corn and other Fall stuff like pumpkins Welcome to Dorney, now in Halloween mode

A yearly tradition for me is PPP at Knoebels. Ever since my first event in 1998, I haven't missed a year yet, not even during school in Florida. This year though I was lucky enough to be able to show Nicole around one of the most charming parks in the country on one of the best days to visit. While the event may have gotten a little "too" popular lately, really advertised for the non-enthusiasts and such, its an event I don't ever plan on missing. Our time was brief at PPP though, as our core group was all split up on arrival times and such. Some of us BACTers decided to start Saturday off with some Selings Grove Brewing Company for lunch before heading to the park. Really a great little place, but you'll have to check out the beer thread for that part of the story. By the time we got to Knoebels, it was already well after 2pm, and our friends were scattered thoughout the park. The main purpose now was getting on as much as possible to show Nicole the uniqueness of the place. Luckily the weather was really nice (albeit cold) compared to last year. We managed to accomplish everything, had plenty of rides thru the course of the night, and really enjoyed ourselves as expected. In all, the event wasn't overly crowded, just the antique car ride was. While it was strange not being in a large group like usual, we did see lots of friends, though just in passing. Looking forward to next year's event! Luckily, snapNazi wasn't there for Nicole's only ride on the Flyers for the evening Heath does his happy Twister dance Then it was time for some Twister, which seldomly gets a line at PPP As PPP officially began, we saw Rich and Melanie in the money seat on Phoenix Then it was back to the craft fair for some pumpkin rice pudding in a cone! Obligatory shot of hot people on the skyride Definitely not your average kiddie coaster, no matter how tame it looks Time for Nicole to get more credits than Erik Johnson One more shot of a rare new woodie Since they actually came out for a coaster event, they got to sign with our signature slogan Represent! I then signed the piece of wood (not as cool as on Balder) So I tried to stick them in my mouth. There was a roll of random nails laying around For those of you who don't want to see me in the trough shot, here. (why would you NOT want to see me though!?) OMG, I'm "inside" the trough Hopefully this will be ready next April! Ah Phoenix, the American version of Balder Since we had a few hours to kill before PPP actually started, we did tickets for a few rides Exclusive shot for TPR of the park entrance sign, found in the middle of the park Heath even got his in a chocolate waffle cone And the Covered Bridge Festival is one of the only places you can get Penn State Creamery ice cream Some of the staples of Knoebels food is found over at the Covered Bridge festival in the pavilion area. Rides would have to wait though, as we needed some of Knoebels good food that wouldn't be opened that night Arriving Saturday and parking at the campground, we were welcomed into the park by the train, now in fall foliage fashion He had one too while he manned the grill, kabobbing like crazy Friday night I stopped off at camp, where Ted was nice enough to bring me a HopDevil!

Really stinks that they closed this ride, but at least now TPR can skip this park on their next Europe trip and spend more time at a good park like Phantasialand or Europa instead! Thanks Star Parks for making the decision a little bit easier Still really glad I skipped this place for more time at Phantasialand a few weeks ago! If I had stuck with the original plan of hitting this park for the sole purpose of riding LWP (CCC) and then it being down, I'd be a little angry

Nice to finally meet you, Jay (however brief it was). That's one of the bad things about PPP, a lot of people come out, but you hardly have enough time to see everyone AND do all the various unique thing there to do. Add in the lack of cell phone service, and its almost impossible to meet up with people. Shame you missed Dorney, next time either suck it up, or take some pain relievers.

Sounds good to me, Dave. Derek's Gardenhose Kingdom is having their year end meeting in a few weeks and I totally am going to have myself a 60 minute Powerpoint (complete with the cool sounds!) on just why I am so awesome. In addition, there shall be Excel spreadsheets, a slideshow, and I've even hired Rick Sebak to narrate the documentary "Derek, Awesomer than ever thought possible". Factor in the overwhelming response to "Derek and a Broad Sword" on NBC and not only should I get a 30% raise, but also a nice quarterly bonus AND a few more cases of beer into my monthly salary.