BigThunderMtn

I have 8; 50th birthday of Comet at Hersheypark, bought in '96, Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park, Kumba, from BGA "Fear the Four" from BGA Drachen Fire, from BGE Wild One, from SFA Mind Eraser from SFNE And an "I survived my first roller coaster" tee from Big Bad Wolf at BGE (I was six at the time, but hey, it was my first coaster!)

Hey Howdy Hey! I am new here (obvious maybe given the post, but I figured I'd start with that anyway) and was talked from lurker into poster by my friend Natatomic. I'm an ex-WDW Cast Member, worked ops at Frontierland's Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was great fun! Now living in my home state of Maine, geographically separated from nearly all roller coasters excepting the Excalibur Wooden Coaster at Funtown-Splashtown USA (my home park) and a virtual forest of S.B.C. Galaxis. Despite this I've done 48 coasters so far, (the Coaster Fanatics bar in my signature counts the Dudley-Do Right log flume at Universal) and hope my next trip takes me back to Hersheypark, where I haven't been since Wildcat had just opened. My favorite roller coasters of all time are WDW's Big Thunder Mountain, which carries a special place in my heart, and the Thunderbolt at SFNE. Been around since '41 and still delivering the goods. What else? Steel vs. Wood; Well I'll be first in line for the new B&M/Vekoma/Intamin AG hyper-giga-mega-whatnot scream machine you're unveiling, but there's still nothing that captures my heart like a Woodie from the Golden Age. Any questions about Disney or anything else, (like exactly how far into the middle of nowhere is Funtown USA?) I love to talk, just ask! See ya'll around the boards! Dan Contrary to popular belief, Mind Eraser is not rough or mean, just misunderstood.

It sounds like you had a great time! Carowinds is definitely high on my list of to-do's. But you're tougher than me if you put Hurler at #2, its twin at Kings Dominion left me black and blue! Hope the weather was nice and the memories are solid.

Last coaster was Volcano: the Blast Coaster, a good one to dream about while waiting for the next!

I'm only 45 minutes from a Burlington Coat Factory, and shopped there once, but saw nothing harkening back to Burlington nor any mention of a factory. There were coats though, and affordably priced at that.

Funtown-Splashtown USA, Falmouth, ME: Basically just clean, polish, theme and landscape. The park's two major rides, Excalibur (Wooden RC) and Dragon's Descent (Drop Tower) are both located in nice, well-themed lands (medieval England and Mandarin China, respectively) of which they are the only occupants. I would extend these lands into the surrounding area. The rest of the park has the potential to be a quaint, local amusement park, and though it opened in 1959 as a drive in (now long gone), if the main theming and architecture were consistent to any era from the 1930's Art Deco thru 1950's retro. it would be very nostalgic and very cool. ...Just don't touch the creaky old S.B.C. Galaxi. Any New England park not owned by Six Flags has gotta have one, if not two. How can you not love a ride where the unloaders still push the cars back up to the loaders?

Howdy all, As far as I know, Fahrenheit did open up later that day, and if I know Nat, she was lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce when it did. So I'll bet she ultimately got to ride, yes. And I know that she spent all Friday and part of Saturday running madly about the park (not riding anything, just running madly, arms flailing), which is always fun. Especially when you get in for free. So I think it's safe to say that she had a good trip. That being said, I haven't been able to reach her yet today, which probably means she's on the long drive home. Or, it could mean she's sitting on a motionless train in some little valley between the inversions of a cobra roll...

Having worked for so long at WDW's Splash Mountain, I would be hunted down and beaten senseless with Br'er Bear's Club if I didn't choose it for the Laughin'est, Splashin'est, most "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" Splashtacular Laughin' Place in the whole wide world. So I will. But, I must also mention that I've always found Hersheypark's Coal Cracker to be a disproportionately enjoyable ride, given its lack of theming, creative track elements etc. Quite enjoyable, yes.

Just three for me, and a kiddie at that! Python: Busch Gardens Africa, FL Rockin' Rider (S.B.C. Galaxi): Canobie Lake Park, NH Go-Gator: Palace Playland, ME The list of coasters I wish I'd ridden before they closed (Psyclone, Drachen Fire esp.) is much longer...

Hey Howdy Hey! This is my first post, so you've not heard from me before but you've likely seen me; I was the guest star in Natatomic's SFA/Kings Dominion Photo TR last week, (I was the roller coaster dork in the MindEraser T-shirt) As many of you probably know, Natatomic has been awarded the chance to ride the first train to carry passengers through Hersheypark's new sextuply-inverting Intamin scream machine; Fahrenheit. She is up there right now for the celebration and has dispatched me to be her little birdie for you all. But to be blunt, the much heralded first ride didn't happen. Before park open, on an unmanned test flight, Fahrenheit valleyed out in the middle of the cobra roll. As of the time of this post, the train is still sitting there, in the middle of the figure, while maintenance tries to pull it through the second inversion. Hopefully, the ride will open later today, unless more drastic (hydraulic boom-powered) measures need to be taken to retrieve the train. So Natatomic will not likely get to be the first rider after all, but I hear compensations have been made by the park. Hmmm, compensations from Hershey... I wonder if that will include chocolate of some form... Vast quantities of chocolate... Yummm. I will keep ya'll updated as I hear from her!