PhantomNick

Just one so far.... Kemah Boardwalk, 4/7 But, the next couple months should pick up and swing me into coaster season! Upcoming: Kennywood (multiple times) Morey's Piers Six Flags Great Adventure Cedar Point (not sure when yet) Kings Dominion (not sure when yet)

WOW, does that thing look awesome! I'm in general a fan of the B&M flyers, and would love to ride Tatsu one day.....but this thing looks even better! I'm happy to see some new elements used, and I'm LOVING the straight (and pretty steep!) drop.

Bummer that it had to close....never got the credit, but it looks like a pretty great coaster! Probably very doubtful, but I wonder if any other parks might have an interest in it?

Really nice photos! Thanks for posting an update on Mach Tower. It really fits into the area perfectly!

Boardwalk Bullet at Kemah Boardwalk Great coaster with a nice setting on the bay. Perfect way to end an exhausting business trip - drive to Kemah, ride Bullet 8 times, and have a fabulous steak dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse!

Loving the new features in the park index, and I'm very excited to be able to post park reviews. Really nice work on everything....I like the layout on the park pages too, as everything is neat and organized while providing tons of info! Thumbs way up. I posted 2 park reviews already as well - one for Cedar Point, and the other for Busch Gardens Europe.

Just want to say that I'm very impressed with how my Pens have hung in there and scratched out points with Sid and Malkin both out. Some kudos to Bylsma for sure for not letting the team go in the tank when those 2 went down. I obviously don't expect them to truly contend for the Cup if Sid can't come back, and frankly I'd rather he sit out (even the playoffs) if he's not 100%. We need him healthy for many years to come.

Whoops, my mistake then. The last time I went to Dorney (which was after Voodoo/Possessed was already added), Laser was already gone. Tried to connect dots from there, but guess I should get my facts straight. I assumed, and we all know what happens when you do that! That said, now I'm further bummed that they ditched Laser, since it in fact did operate alongside Possessed. It just cracks me up that this will make 3 hand-me-downs in a row for Dorney. I guess Cedar Fair decided to go green at Dorney with all this recycling.

These posts from the early riders make me want to get out my credit card and book a flight to Texas.....now. It also pretty much confirms the reaction I had by just watching that POV video - WOW. Have fun breakin' it in, to all those lucky enough to be there today!

Nice to see the blog back! I really enjoyed some of their "behind the scenes" stories and info. In a semi-related piece of news, looks like plans are all but finalized for my brother's bachelor party bash at CP on opening weekend! I'm pretty stoked to be heading back there after a 2 summer hiatus. Also pretty excited to be at their opening weekend, as I've never done that before. Handful of guys messing around, doing a bit of drinking, and riding coasters - sounds like a pretty perfect weekend to me!

Wow, tough to choose just 5 from so many great coasters! I haven't been on some of these, but the reviews and reports I've read on here make me confident they'd be fine choices. 1. El Toro (SF Great Adv.) 2. A Mega-lite (pick one....I haven't been on any, but they all look awesome!) 3. iSpeed 4. Expedition GeForce 5. Montu (gotta have an invert!) Park Name - Coastopia

I know the general public will probably be thrilled to see a shiny new coaster come to Dorney next year, but I for one am still very puzzled why they chose to send Invertigo there (and then plop it right next to Voodessed, another inverted shuttle coaster!). Frankly, I wish they would've just kept Laser. That little coaster was great, and was pretty forceful too. It's really a shame they couldn't have squeezed in Possessed and also kept Laser. And shoot, if they had to get something from CGA, why didn't Cedar Fair just send them that GCI that never got built out there? I really like Dorney, but I do think they could use a modern woodie to round out their coaster lineup nicely.

I totally agree with this. TOTR was far superior to Empire State Building when we went to NYC for our "mini-moon" after our wedding. We did both, primarily because it was my first time in NYC, but we said that we'd have no desire to do Empire State Building when we go back someday (and that was even after hardly waiting at all to go up). Thanks for posting this awesome trip report! I loved NYC when we were there, and I know we'll be back at some point. The make your own muppet looks so cool! Looks like you guys had a wonderful time! Oh yeah, and..... Must. Do. Pizza. Tour!

Those trains look sweet!! And the coaster don't look too shabby either! We're trying to plan a trip down there to hit up the park, and I'm really crossing my fingers that it pans out. As soon as we left Busch Gardens Europe last summer, I turned to my wife and said "we MUST get to the other Busch Gardens in Tampa, post haste!" She whole-heartedly agreed.

The most recent time I rode Predator at Darien Lake, by far. I've never had my brain and back rattled that much on a coaster before! Funny thing is, I visited DL with my family in 1999, and I thought Predator was decent, and not too terribly rough. Fast forward to like 2005 when I went with some good friends of mine who live up in Rochester. We rode Ride of Steel (awesome), and then I suggest "we could do Predator next....that little ride's pretty decent". One of my friends (who cannot stand an overly rough coaster) asks, "is it very rough?", to which I say "no, not really". Then we rode it. Potholes, jackhammering, and just a miserable experience. As we hit the brakes, my friend turns around, gives me the evilest eye I've ever seen from her, and simply says "You. Die. Now!" After the brutal pain wore off, we laughed about it the rest of the day, but man....that ride SUCKED!!

I truly cannot get over how insanely AWESOME the New Texas Giant looks!! I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it rides as great as it looks, because it'd be nice for parks to have an option to breathe life into an otherwise badly aging woodie (Mean Streak, anyone?). The first drop looks simply sick. And those overbanks and wildly twisted hills look equally amazing. Looking forward to hearing reports from those lucky enough to ride it!

^^^ Exactly. Shoot, I'll be the first to admit I'm a sucker for those insane height/high speed rocket coasters like Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka (in fact, Dragster still sits in my Top 10 at #9), but there's no denying they're a "gimmicky" or "one trick pony" type of ride. I realize cost may prevent this from ever happening, but I'd love to see a ride that launches, goes up a huge tower, and then has a layout afterwards to bleed off all the massive speed. Kind of like how iSpeed looks, only making the elements/hills bigger. I'd be all over that!

Same for me! The first time I rode Tidal Force, I remember hitting the water and then seeing this insane wall of water go skyward on all sides. It was at that very moment I thought to myself, "Oh. Crap!" What followed was the equivalent of jumping into a pool with my clothes on. Most soaked I've been on a ride ever! I couldn't stop laughing the whole way to the station! I mean, you see the wave from the midway, but your mind thinks "nah, most of that has to miss the boat!" Um, no.

Great to hear that, as we just bought our tickets to Mamma Mia last week! We're pretty excited to see it on stage, as we both really liked the movie. And as it turned out, we're going to see it on my birthday!

$3.49 here, just outside of Pittsburgh. The local news had a story last night about some stations in Orlando nailing travelers by charging over 5 bucks a gallon!! Some of them aren't even posting it on their signs.

^^ You know, it was funny, when Blaine and his crew finished that song last night, I heard the slightest sigh and giggle from my wife. When I glanced over she was smiling and had the look of someone who had just turned to mush! I thought last night's show was really good, and I'm impressed with Gwyneth's singing skills! With her and Will looking like they'll be a couple for a bit, that could lead to some more songs with her, which is fine with me. "Afternoon delight?? Oh, that's when you go out and have dessert in the middle of the day!"

Great survey! I completed it....I mean, I gotta support my alma mater!

^ That there may be one of the coolest souvenirs I've seen! (I'm assuming you'll be able to get those at the park) The ride itself looks pretty cool. I'll look forward to seeing it with the theming completed.

My wife and I absolutely fell in love with this park when we finally visited last summer. The place is gorgeous, and the detail in the different countries is just awesome. Not to mention the food, which is sinfully good! We loved the coasters too, as there wasn't a bad one in the bunch! The drop tower is a fantastic addition, and if the launched coaster turns out as good as Cheetah Hunt is looking, then the Germany area will get a huge shot in the arm! We liked the area, but with BBW gone it felt like it was missing a "signature" ride. With these expansion plans, there's no doubt that a return trip to Williamsburg will be in order for us!

I'll bet they had no idea how accurate they'd be by using "Nightmare" in the name! Bring back the skeleton band, dang it!! Oh well, at least they didn't scrap it entirely. That would've been a real shame. On a different note, I'm very curious to see how the new lighting will look on Sky Rocket. I'm assuming they're going to do spotlights under the main hill?