PhantomNick

What about Rick DiPietro the ride? The ride would cost the park 36 million dollars and would feature a launch section. On either side of the launch track there could be lots of fiberglass hockey pucks so you can experience the feeling of hockey pucks sailing past you almost effortlessly. To add to the immersive experience, after the first year or two of the ride's operation it would break down and would remain broken for 13 more years. The ride would become an embarrassment to the park who would still be on the hook for the entire 36 million dollar price tag and every time guests came to the park they'd be forced to walk by the SBNO ride and would be reminded about the horrible financial investment the park made. What do you think? That's fantastic.....in fact, it sounds like an ideal ride for Darien Lake!! Awww, crap......now that thread is gonna blow up again and rise to the top! I always thought a "24" themed dark ride/shooter would be awesome! Although, I love that show, so I might be biased.....

This. I've always wondered what that layout would be like if B&M built it. The SLC's can be rough as heck, but I still like the layout. As for an Arrow ride, I often wonder what the original Steel Phantom would've been like if B&M built it. That said, it all worked out, as the transformation to Phantom's Revenge yielded all sorts of awesome!!

Not to mention, with the way newer B&M's have been, there wouldn't be enough forces to generate whiplash or head banging anyway! (sorry, I couldn't resist that one!) In all seriousness though, I think Banshee looks fantastic! I love the look of the layout, with what looks like a great assortment of elements. I've always been a huge fan of inverted coasters, so it's nice to see that they're not fading away just yet. (shoot, I've been dreaming for years about Kennywood getting one....) That reminds me, I need to make sure I sign up for media day! I think it's great that parks have started to offer this perk. The one for GateKeeper last year was awesome!

We've yet to visit Disney, but it's on our radar for the near future (we even have a "Disney/Florida jug" for all spare change at home. ). Personally, I think the new FastPass+ system sounds amazing, and it's a great use of modern technology to make the experience for visitors even better! Seriously, I don't even understand how people could be complaining about this!! How is this not 1,000 times better than having to run around the park and collect paper Fast Passes? And for perspective, I showed this system to my wife (who has visited Disney World before). Her response? "That's genius really. Now you can book and guarantee the rides you really want to ride, then go about your day with even less need to run around." I think that says it all.

Your timing is great, as I was planning to come in here to ask for any helpful hints or can't miss attractions for Christmas Town! We're hitting the road early on Black Friday, but it's not to go shopping! We're making our first ever trip to BG's holiday event, and we're all excited to check it out!! We booked a package for a great rate for 2 nights, and it includes a pass good the length of our stay. We'll be heading to the park on Friday and Saturday. The pictures we've seen and the video we watched looked wonderful. I'm also excited that this will easily be the latest in the year that I've ridden a coaster (hopefully the weather cooperates), and a new credit to boot! Our lone trip to BGW was the year before Mach Tower opened, so Verbolten is a perfect choice to have open for me! A couple questions off the top of my head that hopefully some of you (especially Chuck) might be able to answer: -- They list Verbolten as open. If weather would end up unseasonably warmer, do they ever possibly open up a 2nd coaster for the event? Just curious on that one. -- Mach Tower is also open. Is it in normal drop tower mode for the event? Or is it more like an observation tower to see all the lights? (I don't even know if Mach Tower can do that, but I know some towers can go into a maintenance/observation mode) -- Any can't miss shows in the lineup? They all look pretty good, to be honest. -- We loved the park's food when we went before. Any good food choices specific to the Christmas Town event? -- My wife and I are giant kids at heart and we love Christmas. We both said that "Santa's Workshop" looked pretty cool. Do they allow adults to walk through there and "see Santa"? Or is it a kids only thing? (I always enjoy those things since I play Santa myself for our children's holiday party here at my work! ) Looking forward to our trip! Any insight is welcomed and appreciated!! Thanks!

No doubt that was an odd list with some of those choices..... I ended up with just 32, although that was higher than I expected it to be. Reason number 898,467 I just need to go on an awesome TPR trip!!

They really are not! Thats the thing, people just expect it to be a lazy boy chair. It is an airtime power house, sure there is sometimes a bit of pressure, but its not like some people act it to be I know nothing I say is going to keep you from saying this over and over and over again, but it's incredibly irritating how you need to keep defending those restraints. The fact is they DO hurt for a lot of people, they're some of the most painful restraints I've ever experienced (and I've been on SLCs, boomerangs, etc.). And it's not because of the extreme airtime, El Toro has comparable forces and it wasn't uncomfortable for me at all, because it secures you at your waist, like most restraints. There's a reason so many people were complaining, there's a reason the park responded to those complaints by adding padding and now releasing the restraints on the break run. It's because they're poorly designed and extremely uncomfortable for a lot of people. I understand you don't find them uncomfortable which is fine, and you can say that, but I just wish you (and others) would stop implying that the masses of people saying the restraints hurt are just whining or would find anything less than a B&M lap pillow painful, because it's not true. As an addendum to all this, Skyrush is still one of my favorite coasters of all time, so it's not like the pain automatically makes it a bad ride. In fact, for me it almost kind of adds to the ride, to that "fighting for your life" feeling that makes the ride so unique. But again, everyone's experience will be different. I dunno, to be perfectly honest, I agree with Tyler. Look, I'm not discounting the fact that some folks find them uncomfortable. I'm sure it's one of those "your mileage may vary" things depending on a specific person's body type and where the restraint hits them. But I also think that some people (not all people, mind you) certainly over-exaggerate how "painful" the restraint is on Skyrush. And they absolutely HAVE to be tight considering how balls-to-the-wall aggressive the ride is. When I rode Skyrush the first time last summer, the only minor issue I had where I even felt the restraint was when we sat on the brake run, since the dispatch times are fairly slow. When we returned back in May, that issue was corrected in a wonderfully easy way - the restraint pops up once the train is stopped on the brake run. I thought it was a perfect solution. Who knows, maybe I'm lucky and the restraint hits me in a good way where I truly don't feel pain during the ride. Some say they feel pain. That's fine. And some (like Tyler and myself) don't really feel much of any. That's also fine! And I don't think there's anything wrong with expressing either opinion on the matter. The funny thing (to me anyway) is, I feel Skyrush's layout is about as close to a "Megalite" type of design as we'll see here in the U.S. And people moaned for years that no park in the U.S. would build a ride as intense/awesome as a Megalite. Hershey does, and then people moan about the restraints. Come on, folks! I personally wish we'd see a couple rides just like Skyrush pop up at other parks, quite frankly. It's my current #1 steel coaster, and the airtime is absolutely unfathomable! And kudos to Hershey for listening to people's complaints and doing things to help with that as much as possible but NOT (at least so far) neutering what is a phenomenal coaster! Just my 2 cents.....

I am admittedly very intrigued/excited for this announcement. I'm really hoping that it ends up being an invert, as those have always been a favorite coaster type of mine. We really liked Kings Island during our lone visit to the park in 2009, and we felt like they had several coasters I would classify as "good" or even "very good". But, I did kind of feel like the park needed 1 more true standout coaster in their lineup. For me, the only one that I thought fit that bill was Diamondback. I know some folks aren't huge fans of it, but in my opinion it is a fantastic hyper. (I think my wife would have liked it more had we not come to a screeching halt on the MCBR, where we stayed for about 10-15 minutes......which is the one thing she worries about when riding! ) And shoot, if they ended up building a taller/faster version of Afterburn at Carowinds, I'd be in heaven! That one is my current favorite invert, just edging out Talon at Dorney. Looking forward to the 8th!

Chuck, thanks for posting this stellar trip report chalked full of many fantastic photos! Glad you enjoyed your first trip to Cedar Point! I know it's not the "best amusement park in the world" that they proudly claim it is, but I still love it there. No matter how many times I've been there, I still get totally pumped and excited when we drive up the causeway and that skyline first appears. Good stuff! Also, I have to say that it's awesome to hear well-traveled enthusiasts like yourself give a thumbs up to my home park of Kennywood. I've always thought it's one of the coolest parks to visit, but I often would wonder if my thoughts were swayed a bit by it being my home park. I really couldn't have been happier when they finally introduced their season pass a few years back, because I absolutely love going there! Great to see you guys loved Phantom. That ride, IMHO, kicks all sorts of a$$, and is sometimes under the radar when it comes to discussions of great hypercoasters. The airtime on that thing is phenomenal! And I too am a huge fan of Sky Rocket. The more and more I ride it, the more and more I love it! Premier and Kennywood did a marvelous job packing that much of a coaster into a relatively small footprint. Plus, it's nice to have a coaster back in the park with inversions.....and unlike the Steel Phantom, these ones don't try to kill you.

Sky Rocket at Kennywood on Father's Day. The more and more I ride that thing, the more and more I love it! In my opinion, Premier did an awesome job adding a compact coaster into a tight space that still packs a punch and has a great assortment of elements!

Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion!!

I'll take "news stories that don't surprise me at all" for 200, Alex! Stinger stuck again - shocking, right?? I feel bad for Dorney, getting stuck with this lemon of a ride that was equally problematic in its previous location. You know it had to kill them to market this great "New" coaster for last year, knowing in the back of their minds that things like this might likely happen.

So, the final 4 hours are upon us! I have an all-day meeting with customers starting at 8, so I won't be able to keep an eye on things, but after a huge surge yesterday thanks largely to TPR, I've managed to move back into first (well, 2nd technically behind Jason's awesomeness! ), which means I would be able to donate my prize as planned to a child/family in need in the Dorney Park area! I am crossing my fingers that I'll stay there so I can do this!! I truly love this event and cannot wait for Sunday!! Also, I wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to ALL who donated to my page, including so many from here on TPR! You guys are all amazing, and it goes to show why I absolutely love this online community we have here. Kudos to all of you for the hard work you've done! It is beyond fantastic that TPR has raised so much money for GKTW already!! And a special thanks to Robb and Elissa who throw so much support and work behind this wonderful cause and charity! Without you guys leading the way, I think it's safe to say that many of us wouldn't have gotten to the fundraising levels we have. Thank you! Here's to finishing strong today! GO TEAM TPR!!!

Jason, impressive doesn't even really do justice to what you accomplished!! That is so incredibly tremendous that you've raised over $8,000 for GKTW!!! Wow! Congratulations on such remarkable work!! This is why I love this event, and why I love being a member of the awesome Team TPR!! Also, thank you so much for the shout-out in your post! I've got a ways to go to regain that top spot, and not much time, but dang it, I'm sure going to try everything I can to raise more funds during this final week. So, if anyone is looking to throw some donations somewhere, I would be extremely grateful. Remember, if I'm lucky enough to secure a prize that includes park tickets, I will happily work with Kara and donate the prize to a Dorney Park area child in need and their family. Let's do this! And best of luck to ALL Team TPR members during this final push of fundraising!! Way to go, everyone!

^ Just donated $30 to your page! You're getting closer to your goal! Good luck these last couple weeks!!

^ Agreed. And it makes sense that they ditched the Fast Lane offering, since GKTW incorporated that as a prize for raising $1,000. You really are getting so much from the park for participating in this awesome event! Not to mention the great feeling of what you've done to support GKTW!! In regards to the parking specifically, the only thing I find somewhat interesting is that some parks charge for it on the event day, while the majority do not. It looks like Michigan's Adventure and Kings Dominion are the only other parks besides Dorney charging for parking that day. I would've thought Cedar Fair might make a universal decision (all parks charge or all parks don't), but I guess they left it up to the parks individually? Only a little over 3 weeks away! Can't wait!!

Awesome to finally see some Dorney details! And I love the assortment of different coasters this year! That's a cool surprise to see. Can't wait for June 9th!! Besides, I feel like I'm warmed up now after yesterday's Media Day for GateKeeper! By the way, congrats on reaching your initial goal Sue!

What a great day at Cedar Point! Got here around 7:30, and I'm having a blast!! I have met several really cool folks from TPR, including Robb himself. I know he is incredibly busy working on some awesome footage, so I just want to thank him for taking a minute to chat.....it was great to meet the guy in person who runs this amazing site! As for GateKeeper? I think the ride is fantastic! Solid 9 or 9.5 for me. It has superb pacing, some hints of air, and just a nice assortment of elements. I liked the first roll/drop way more than I even thought I would, especially on the left side! And the keyholes, as Robb said, are really kick ass!! Love those! Go ride this puppy, you won't be disappointed! And on top of all that, the park is opening Raptor & Millennium as a "thank you" to those who came out. Great stuff!

Done and done, Chuck! Great job on reaching your goal!! And a huge thanks for your generosity!

That was the best part of the day, seeing their faces as they said "thank you"! Totally agree on that one! It was so touching to see first hand a family that got to enjoy the benefits that GKTW offers to these kids in need. Made me feel so great about having raised money for such a wonderful cause like that. In fact, seeing that family was one of the things that spurred me to want to contact Kara this year about donating any park prizes, if I manage to finish high enough with my fundraising this time around. And, for the record, my earlier mention of the line of cars to get in last year wasn't a complaint, as I actually found it rather humorous!

^ Yep, you can get your tickets as soon as you arrive, even if the official check-in isn't until later.

^ Nice! I like it!! And to those curious about Dorney's details, I feel like it wouldn't be Coasting For Kids without Dorney being the dead last park to release their details. I just hope this year they know we are coming......those who were there last year will know what I mean and will remember the line of cars waiting to be allowed into the lot! I'm betting it will be Steel Force again, but I noticed a lot of the parks have multiple coasters, so I think it'd be neat if they added Talon for like a couple hours in the morning perhaps. We'll find out soon enough!

Millennium Force

Led Zep looks like a pretty fun B&M looper overall, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it show up at another park. I wonder if there ever has been any interest in the ride by some other park/company?

^ Yep, it really is a pretty awesome deal! Since I have a season pass I've yet to get one of these VIP passes, but this year there are times I may be there with friends when it's busier, and I wouldn't hesitate at all suggesting one to maximize the fun on a busier day. And really not bad at all that for only 3 bucks more you can ensure front seat rides!