DerekRx

The park is looking really nice lately. Even today while the park was opened there were landscapers out planting flowers, trimming bushes, etc. If anything at the park is still lacking, its operations (and the fact that they can't get the rides opened with the park). I'll let them slide on KK being down because it was struck by lightning (though if you think about it, wouldn't the park be smart enough to put in a lightning rod, seeing how you've got a 456 foot tall giant metal "rod" in the ride?? I know both back on opening day and again today, my friend Bret had to pretty much train the operators of the kiddie rides his son was on. The one op didn't know you had to be UNDER 54 inches to ride one of the kiddie rides, he thought you had to be OVER it. Another op never checked if Conner was buckled in before starting the ride, and a final op argued with Bret about which type of train car his son could ride in, 1 was for those under a certain height (which is where Conner falls), but she wanted him to sit elsewhere. Eventually Bret trained her properly, but she said "sorry, I don't normally operate this ride." Its rotating rides like this which ends up causing accidents (much like the Disney Parade dude who died a few years ago). Still, the security guards, exiting people, operators, etc were all telling people to have a great day, some even sounded enthused, unlike the staff at SFMM. If there is anything that will always make SFGAd seem like a rough park, its the clientelle it attracts, which is exactly what Shapiro is trying to get away from. Hopefully in the next couple of years the new management will be making some progress with the changes they desire (unlike the Premier days).

Now onto the pictures from today, I didn't take any yesterday because I wasn't sure on the policy about loose articles. On the way out, don't forget to stop and get your souvenir corn and watermelons! But Balder still delivers more air, and on every hill, where El Toro has a few hills where you need to sit in certain seats to experience the air. And the turnaround is better than Colossos's The first couple of hills have LOADS of air The area doesn't look THAT different than it used to. Except now there is sand everywhere, so eventually some punks will probably get annoyed in line and start throwing sand at riders The ride is massive Hooray, its finally opened! The park got wise and grabbed a test seat (as our "lovely" Jersey models show). Green light means you can ride, red light means you need to join Bally Total Fitness first "Eventually we'll let people on" "Probably, but that'd mean we'd have to come in early. So we'll do our block checks for the next hour" So here we are. "Hey, wouldn't it be a GREAT idea to have your newest coaster open WITH the park?!" Yup, smoke free, though people milling around waiting for El Toro to open still smoked and security didn't seem to care Oh goodie, nice sea of humanity trying to get thru the entry gates and metal detectors (why doesn't the park do the metal detectors back closer to the parking lot?) Yup, its the anniversary for the chain, even though the old SF died years ago Here we are, heed the warning signs!

So originally I was planning on heading down to ride El Toro the week I got back from the UK. Unfortunately, the weather interfered with my plans. I hadn't seen my friend, Bret, for a while and I had some stuff for him from England, so I figured "why not go down over July 4th, I'm sure he'll have a BBQ." Sure enough, he agreed. On the way down I decided to ride El Toro after getting out of work early. Here's the way it went down yesterday: Got to the park around 5:45...El Toro closed, in fact its been closed all day, but they're sending test trains out. I decided I'd wait around until around 7, as that was the time I told Bret I'd be planning on arriving. Talked to some people who were hanging out waiting for the ride to open and with my knowledge of test runs, we had some fun while we waited. Sure enough, around 6:20 they decide its ok to open the ride, they just need security there. So, finally at like 6:30 Security shows up and we get to actually go in the queue. I'm on the second train out of the day, back row. Fastforward to today: Got to the park just before opening, made the running of the bulls to El Toro....El Toro closed AGAIN. No, it didn't suffer any breakdowns (until Kingda KA AGAIN) but they haven't begun testing it yet. Finally after an hour of morning testing, the ride opens and I'm on the 3rd train out in the 2nd row. Now I'm sorry, but on a holiday, a park shouldn't be testing the brand new ride AFTER the park opens. If they're going to be like that, why not be more like BGW or some other parks that only open certain sections early. I'm pretty certain it didn't require any major testings, as it conveniently opened exactly at 11:00. Oh, also briefly saw ParkTrips and Larrygator while waiting for the ride to open. Hi guys! Now, onto the ride itself. El Toro is a great coaster, better than Colossos at Heide Park, but not quite as good as Balder (or Voyage IMO). Its got lots of ejector airtime, especially the hill going over Rolling Thunder, but it also has a few dead hills, mainly the two after the turn around. The twister section is a lot of fun though, running around the infield of RT, and the cable lift is really cool, certainly fast too! The trains feel really secure, still with stadium seating, just an extra bar by the shoulders and U-bars instead of T-bars. (mmmm....bar) The worst part of the ride though is operations and the station. First, the station, in which a security guard counts like 36 or 40 people at a time to go into the station. They're not assigned a row, they just go wherever they want. When another train goes out, they send another 40 people up. After my ride this morning, the next train had 3 rows empty because the people in the station were waiting for other rows. Really stupid. The station is also extremely small, the same size as Vipers was, only now you load on one side, and unload on the other. The queue gates allow like 3 trains worth of people to wait, with plenty of room to get by, but the unload side is like single file. Operations are really poor, 5 minute dispatches (and that's being generous). Buckle your seatbelt and DON'T touch the lapbar. The ride ops then come, tighten the seatbelt so you can barely breathe, then slam the lapbar as far into your gut as possible. Don't worry, no one will fall off this ride, all fatalities will be the result of internal bleeding. They check one car at a time, and once the car passes inspection, the lead says "car 1 clear" and they can move onto the next. At least today they had 4 ops checking instead of 2. That helped speed up things a little, but even still, after the ride opened and we got off, the line was already spilling into the midway. (and why isn't the bridge opened??) In all, El Toro is an amazing coaster, I'm glad they finally built an Intamin woodie in the states. Once the season dies down, I may go back for more rides, hopefully operations will improve too. I hope lots of parks now take a look at El Toro and we start seeing these things pop up at other parks around the country, because it really is a great ride...too bad the park its at doesn't really know what to do with it.

Right now its July 4th, its hot, the heat index is 99, and we've got a pool. We had enough of Great Adventure after 1 hour, so it was back to the house for some swimming (and, of course, beer.) Ah, Apricot Weizen, this'll be good on this hot summer day

After working on Monday, I decided to head over to Jersey to finally check out El Toro, as it was on my way to my friend Bret's house for some BBQing. You know you've got a true friend when he goes out and buys your favorite beer just for your visit. Later that night I had one of the Thunderhead's I brought for him Its hot, but we've got a pool and HopDevil nice and cold, so I'll stay.

Well Joe will be happy to know that as of 6:30pm on July 3, El Toro recovered from its slumber. Kingda Klosed was still doing its lawn ornament impression, as was Superman (but he's got the better one of them anyway back home). Hopefully Toro stays opened for Independence (or perhaps its Mexican and is waiting for Cinco de Mayo. In any case, I'll be there tomorrow as well, hopefully it'll run again, as I really enjoyed my 1 ride on it, but it wasn't as amazing after 1 ride as Balder or Voyage in wooden terms for me. Still, awesome ride, hopefully it runs again, though there are no "thunderstorms" so hopefully that'll help in Joe's favor

Yeah, um, rode it today, riding it again tomorrow. If you can't decide if you'd rather book a flight to New Jersey or Indiana, I suggest Gothenburg, Sweden. Sorry guys, Balder is still top wood.

Rebel Yell

I don't have an iPod, don't want one either. I have a Toshiba Gigabeat 40GB mp3 player with like 160 albums on it and have loads of memory to spare. Cost me about $200 less than an iPod too, and is just as nice, though a little thicker. At least I don't have to conform though! [/img]

Sweet photos. I hope Stampida will be racing when TPR visits the park next year. Sucks that Tomahawk was seriously stacking, they must have been in competition with El Toro and Tatsu.

I'd like "pounding" Ryan more if pounding was some Fresnoian slang for "kicking one to the head". I can only hope one day Ryan has a field trip to the State Correctional Facility and asks one of the inmates to pound him.

Went to Smokey Bones tonight for some BBQ, ended up drinking a Blue Moon Belgian Wheat. Unfortunately, for the first time ever I didn't take some form of a camera with me!

Yes, I believe JJ is correct, the Flooded Mine wasn't under the "mountain" back by the Train station, it was in fact back in Craftman's Valley. I'm not totally certain, but I believe it may still be there, near DareDevil Falls. The pictures posted earlier are that of the mining museum/mineral giftshop.

"It's all over"- 3 Days Grace

Because I'm in Philly, if I want to fly somewhere direct, I'm usually forced to go with USAir. There are few other options for the number of flights per day, destination, and price. Not cheaper than others, but sometimes you find good fares (which is why I end up booking my whole season in like March!) I could also fly Southwest to a few places, but they're usually not much cheaper, have less flights, more delays, and I can't choose my seat. After a few more flights on USAir this year, I'll be Silver Preferred, so I intend to fly them as much as possible in the future.

Well, it sucks that I died. But did I really die?? As for liking Diet Pepsi, I can't stand anything diet, and I would only drink Pepsi if the only other choice in cola was RC. Guess this should teach me a lesson, credit whoring isn't worth your life, especially if your death occurs on a Vekoma. At least I met my end in the vertical loop, if my corpse landed in a beer truck, that'd be the way I'd want to go. Maybe I'll make a cameo again as a ghost, or in Hell or something. At least I'll have a fastpass and don't have to wait at those stupid pearly gates like other tools!

After Victory we headed to King of Prussia to see Superman Returns in the IMAX theater there. Since we were early, we stopped off for more beers at Rock Bottom, since this was a BACT attack after all, and we hadn't had a beer in a good 15 minutes! So concludes another BACT attack. Next stop, Pittsburgh! Wally, how'd you like to drive this to work every day? and I went with the Royal Weiss, which was highly banana flavored, and good! Heath needed to try the Vanguard IPA, which he liked But Heath, Kim, and myself had an add-on trip back to Sly Fox in Phoenixville With this new for everyone brew credit in, the BACT July 4th weekend attack officially ended It was a weird area, but the location of the brewery was pretty cool The place was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night. Gotta love a place that serves microbrews and sushi though! Heath and Adam went with the Krooks Mill American Pale Ale For the next round I got the Schuylkill Punch, not too bad, but I liked the Blueberry better They even had a magician to come entertain us while we waited for our food. Heath wanted the Manayunk Lager, but they were sold out, so he just got an Amber Nugget instead. Kim just watched in awe Ellen chose the Schuylkill Punch, a raspberry lager Adam and I started off with the Blueberry Wheat, which was really nice and blueberry-y Good thing I called yesterday, they had just reopened after the flooding of earlier in the week Following the movie, we all headed down to Manayunk for dinner We all enjoyed a beer before heading to the movie; me a Prussia's Pride IPA, Heath a Prussia's Pride Cask IPA, and Adam a Penn's Curse Amber They had lots of stuff on tap, as usual Chalk up another brewery credit for Adam and Ellen The mall was crowded, but Rock Bottom wasn't too bad at 2:30

Up next is food and more drinks! Live from Victory And Heath gets the BrauMeister Pils. Now, time for more drinking and eating and less posting! Adam finally gets his HopDevil Cask back from Heath Ellen decided the Mad King was worth another beer The Throwback Lager was pretty tasty Heath enjoys the HopDevil Cask that Adam ordered Finally more beers arrive Its not spaghetti, its beef This is my Southwestern Beef Sandwich The food starts to arrive, and Adam looks confused. "Did Ellen drink all my beer?" Heath compares the HopDevil and the HopDevil Cask I stole this cheese from a mouse just to have some food Kim thinks the wings are pretty hot Ellen digs the cheese Heath enjoys the hot wings We ordered the assorted cheese tray. They gave us 4 little wedges of cheese and some bread and peppers

Ladies and gentlemen, the BACT July 4th weekend meeting has officially begun. You've seen photos of Robb working on the updates from various locations. Well for the first time, we'd like to introduce you to "live" beer thread updates, directly from Victory brewing! Next round coming soon! Let's post! The laptop is welcomed with open arms, and feels at home with its HopDevil wallpaper Heath breaks out the Heathface early with his HopDevil Cask Ellen can't decide if she likes the Mad King Weiss or the Sunrise Weiss better, so she takes both Everyone enjoys their first round I start out with the Sunrise Weiss Here we are at Victory. Don't you wish you worked here, Wally?

Well, SOME of the BACT members may have just skipped to the beer portion of the trip, but I assure you that Ellen and Adam hit Great Adventure today and had a great time, which they will mention later hopefully. I got a call from Adam that he was in the area and ready to drink, so I drove down to meet up with them and hit Sly Fox, originally scheduled for tomorrow night, but we couldn't wait. But then last call was finished and we were done drinking for one night. Don't worry, tomorrow will be a first!... Next was the Whitehorse Wit Crazy Ellen chose to be original though and went with the Royal Weisse, which tasted hinted of banana Adam did the same I went with the Vanguard Anniversary IPA Its 11:00pm and we're at Sly Fox

The final park on the agenda was also the home of the northern-most woodie. PowerPark in Alaharma, Finland is the home of the newly constructed GCI and the last GCI credit, Thunderbird. I feel lucky enough to have gotten up here, because honestly, the park is in the middle of nowhere! Lots of people compare it to Beech Bend, but in all honesty, its much nicer than BB is. First off, pretty much everything has some signs of theming, like they're trying to form themed sections. The park is also home to many permanent footered rides, like the boomerang. We got to talk with the park owner, who told us of his plans for the next couple of seasons. This small park in the middle of nowhere should continue to open its arms and grab more and more people each year. PowerPark was a really nice way to "Finnish" off our trip with its nice new woodie. Even Robb enjoyed the darkride, because it had boobs! And the park has a darkride for people like Bret and Dave Here's the western section of the park Tommi thought the drop tower was pretty cool You are not allowed to bring dogs, alcohol, cars, radioactive materials or elephants on skateboards into the park. What a downer. Sorry, Pinky, you and your skateboard need to stay in the car Powerland (the rides section) has a very RCT-like entrance PowerPark also has indoor gocarts, again which require you to wear helmets and fire suits Here's a model of Thunderbird, for those of you who want to see the whole layout but cannot find any other websites besides TPR As well as a Crazy Barn The park had some "Finnished" areas with flowers and ponds and such As seen here! Some of us enjoyed the Booster Someone wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, but after its 27 minute long 1 rotation, that person never fessed up to wanting to ride it The ride actually went thru the house! This was the coolest thing of the trip! An "indoor" Frisbee! Joyride is the L&T built, Stengel designed, Intamin track configured final coaster at the park It was really smooth, and though the new restraints were reminiscient of the tightness of the X-car, they weren't bad But its also got these new trains! and magnetic braking Its still got the vertical loop! Last year the park got a new Vekoma boomerang And the trains are very vintage, just like the rest of the newer GCIs You know its definitely a GCI with its tight compact layout And the entrance has very elaborate theming While not as extreme as OzCat or Thunderhead, its still lots of fun, and really well constructed and smooth We got ultra-exclusive ERT on the newest GCI The coaster was ordered after the owner rode Thunderhead at Dollywood, so I'm told But this is the main reason we came to the middle of nowhere Finland, Thunderbird The only bad thing about visiting this place in late June is that this is what it looks like outside at midnight The park started off with some go-carts that go like 40mph! You gotta wear helmets and fire suits to ride them Robb was only too happy with the hotel restaurants and the "Green Monster" The bathrooms were ultra swanky too And were built so solid, even old man Johnson couldn't hear us yelling next door The rooms were really nice Our hotel was right at the park

Bring back the old Mythos! OR taer it down and replace it with an Intamin standup giant drop! Its really depressing how the food selection has taken a turn for the worse, especially when Chef Mark is still the head dude there.

Tonight starts of the July 4th weekend BACT attack. For my "coaster" part, I did Dorney, as traffic was a little annoying after work. Besides, it was on my way to my goal for the evening, BBW to renew my mug club membership. And what a better way to be welcomed back to American amusement parks after spending 2 weeks with fountains, flowers, and uniqueness than with concrete, trash cans, and plainness. This explains why its called Blueberry BELCH Really good stuff, pinkish red beer is weird looking though Next up would be my free mug of Blueberry Belch, just tapped 2 days ago Great stuff, and it goes fast, especially during Music Fest First up would be the Zomerbier (summer beer) Finally I rode Hydra enough that the Jojo roll teleported me to BBW I had to ride sad and pathetic style in the backrow Again, not only is there no line, there's no one in the station! Hey look, its another one of those rollie coasters, I think its called Hercules or something I would have ridden this, but didn't want to lose my keys, prolonging my voyage to BrewWorks The shoot the chutes ends with a big KERSPLASH! This water is only make believe. You don't really get wet, like you do on the one at Alton Towers I really wish I knew what this coaster was called! No wait works for me! mmm, vertical loop (I have another 5000 archived on my computer) As you can see, the line was HUGE. I love the waterpark next door I'm not sure what this coaster is called In another 100 years this will be historical and Cedar Fair will be forced to remove it Here we are at Dorney. Eh, why not, its free and gives me some coasters to ride while I wait for traffic to go away

"High Enough"- Damn Yankees

After Linnanmaki, we headed back up to Tampere to stay at a very nice Scandin hotel with an awesome restaurant with tapas and stuff. The next morning, it was a quick drive to Sarkanniemi, another park located in a city. This one was newer, and was more of a resort/city park, with an aquarium, observatory, petting zoo, and amusements section. The location couldn't be beat, right on the lake. The park had lots of rides and boasted 6 coasters, including a Volare, a Vekoma whirlwind corkscrew (that make the same lift noise and kerchunk that Knoebels did!), and Tornado, the Intamin invert with a heartline roll through the station. The park was very cool and was also fairly lively, but there weren't long waits for anything. It was definitely a nice park that I look forward to returning to. The tower was a great way to "Finnish" to our day at Sarkanniemi =D I'm trying to take the day glow red train home with me Here you can see most of the layout of Tornado You can see how the rides park is located on a peninsula Like this exclusive layout shot of the corkscrew. How it got to be smooth, I have no idea! Then we headed up the 400 foot tower to take some pictures of the park from up there The final coaster to ride, and my #600, was the Volare, Trombi (which means mini-tornado in Finnish) A Huss Take-Off was the newest ride. It did a fair amount of spinning at first, but then kinda died out. Still, not Elissa-friendly There's also a Jet Star right on the lakeside. These are always fun coasters...unless you ride tandem with Jeff, then you fear for your life All the operators were hot, which helped our longest wait of the day (4 train wait on the kiddie coaster) worth our while Next up was the Corkscrew, just like Whirlwind at Knoebels...complete with lift noises and kerchunk. Surprisingly though...IT WAS SMOOTH! WTF?! There was even airtime down the first drop if you sat in the back! Even cooler than Volcano I wish more Intamin inverts were made, because it was really cool and different. And flying thru the station upside down is really neat. Much better than Thunderhead's fly-thru Threading the vertical loop, how can I not love this ride Our next stop was Tornado, for some more Intamin goodness The rapids ride looked pretty cool, but we had coasters to ride. Notice how the 400 foot observation tower can be seen from anywhere! A lot cooler than disk-o, but that may be because of the extra verticalness of the spikes Our first stop was Half Pipe, the original Intamin halfpipe coaster It was a quick 10 minute city drive to get to Sarkanniemi