PhantomNick

This coaster looks simply phenomenal! I may never make it to China to ride this thing, but I think this might end up being GCI's best coaster design yet! And that test run video?? *Droooool*

I love Hersheypark and their coaster collection, but the one thing I've thought would be a great addition is a hyper. Needless to say, I'm very intrigued by this 2012 project they are working on. Frankly, a dive machine would be great too, but a hyper from B&M or Intamin would be perfect! Either way, I'm thinking a trip back to the park will be in order come 2012. Last time I was there was 2005, so I haven't ridden Fahrenheit yet either. It truly amazes me how Hershey continually fits in new coasters and weaves them in amongst other rides.

Thanks for the great winter photos! There's something so peaceful about seeing pics of an amusement park and coasters covered in snow during the winter. The Blue Streak ones are really nice!

Here's the top ones for me.... 1. Busch Gardens Europe 2. Holiday World 3. Cedar Point 4. Kennywood 5. Hersheypark 6. Knoebels 7. Six Flags Great America 8. Six Flags Great Adventure 9. Dorney Park 10. Kings Island

Awesome pictures, as usual! I'll definitely be keeping up with this thread, as I thought your 2010 Extravaganza was wonderfully done! I'm really hoping the wife and I are able to go on our planned trip this summer to BG Africa. That place looks amazing!

^ Same goes for me, about 30-35 minutes away from Kennywood. Great park to have so close by!

Here's my top 3 steel and wooden drops.... Steel: 1. Millennium Force's 1st drop (especially in the back!) 2. Phantom's Revenge's big drop that slices through Thunderbolt 3. Apollo's Chariot's 1st drop Wood: 1. El Toro's 1st drop 2. Jack Rabbit's double-dip 3. El Toro's "Rolling Thunder hill" (and subsequent "crap yourself" airtime!!)

I loved this park when I visited a few years back, and it's great that they continue to add some new rides. Swing rides are one of my faves too, so I'm liking this addition!

My home park is Kennywood, and the best coaster there to me is definitely Phantom's Revenge. The airtime on that bad boy is simply phenomenal!! That said, I must say that Kennywood also has my favorite collection of coasters overall now, thanks to the fantastic addition of Sky Rocket! That, along with Thunderbolt, are a very close 2nd to Phantom.

I always thought coasters were fun when I was much younger, but then at the age of 12, my little home park decided to briefly jump into the "coaster wars". In 1991, Kennywood built the Steel Phantom, and it was awe-inspiring to me! At the time, it had the world's biggest drop and was also the world's fastest coaster. I had never been on anything that large and intimidating before! I rode it for the first time with my dad, and when we got to the station, I admittedly got pretty nervous. But once I rode it, a coaster enthusiast was truly born! I was simply blown away, and I then instantly wanted to go to new parks to ride the best coasters they had to offer.

I've been on about half of the listed B&M inverts, which happen to be one of my favorite types of coasters! I rate all of them very highly, but my rankings for the ones I've ridden would be: 1. Afterburn (Top Gun) - Carowinds 2. Talon - Dorney 3. Raptor - CP 4. Alpengeist - Busch Gardens Europe 5. Batman - SF Great America 6. Great Bear - Hershey 7. Batman - SF Great Adventure

This park looks awesome, as does the new coaster from Gravity Group. I've been on 2 of their coasters (Voyage and Ravine Flyer II) and loved 'em both! I just think it's amazing how much Grona Lund has packed into a relatively small area. Someday, I'd love to take a trip (TPR trip perhaps? ) to Europe and experience some of these great looking parks!

^ I agree that the definition of a "small park" can be debated. Out of parks I've visited that I consider to be small, my favorites would be: 1. Holiday World (although it continues to grow, for now I still think of it as a small park) 2. Knoebels 3. Waldameer 4. Michigan's Adventure I need to get to some more smaller parks, as I love the atmosphere they provide! One place that's pretty high on my list to get to is Lake Compounce.

You know, it's kinda funny, but as a kid I was terrified of the notion of going upside-down. Not sure why exactly, but any coaster with inversions freaked me out. Then, in its last year of operation, I rode Kennywood's Laser Loop....and loved it! I remember saying to myself, "Wow, that wasn't so bad at all!"

Interesting topic....with taking the home park out of the equation, I initially thought my list wouldn't include too many. Then the more I thought about it, a few more kept popping up! Here's my list: 1996 - Mind Eraser (later to become Head Spin....and then Carolina Cobra), Geauga Lake 1999 - (Superman) Ride of Steel, (Six Flags) Darien Lake 2002 - Wicked Twister, Cedar Point 2003 - Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point 2005 - Hydra: The Revenge, Dorney Park 2006 - El Toro, Six Flags Great Adventure 2007 - Maverick, Cedar Point 2008 - Ravine Flyer II, Waldameer 2009 - Diamondback, Kings Island 2010 - Intimidator, Carowinds On a nice one "new for that year" coaster per year pace these last several years....with any luck, that pattern will continue next year when we swing into BGT!

^ Kara, that doesn't make you sound "shallow" at all!! In fact, what you said is 100% true. I felt the same way about how my love for coasters is a part of my makeup as a person, and anyone that "poo-pooed" on that was just not a right choice for me. I actually got incredibly lucky with regards to my darling wife. She's not as hard-core of a coaster nut like I am, but she would never discourage me from taking part in something I love.....and that's one of a million reasons why I love that woman to death. Case in point, she really wanted to visit her cousin in North Carolina this summer. So, along with that, we made a longer trip of it and she suggested we also go to Williamsburg on the way down, because she knew that there was a Busch Gardens there. She also made sure that one of the things we did while in North Carolina was spend a day at Carowinds. It was an amazing vacation! Fast forward to next year, another of her cousins is getting married on the beach in Key West. We thought it'd be a blast to take some time off and drive there. After the great time she had at BGE, she actually suggested to me that on the way home we stop off in Tampa and spend a couple days to hit the other BG!! That's how a relationship should work. But anyway, sorry if I took this thread off-track with that. This trip report was great, and I think it's an awesome tradition that you've setup with your boys. Those are memories they will always have as they grow older.

Wow, this event looks like it was an incredible time! I'm really enjoying seeing all the photos/reports from it. It amazes me when I see how much effort is obviously poured into these events by Robb and Elissa....you guys are awesome! I really need to get myself to a TPR event and join in on all the fun!!

^ Nice I simply had to quote this segment from your ride overviews, as you sum up my views on these three coasters perfectly! Millennium is still my #1 steel as well, and I have yet to have a ride on it where it didn't deliver the goods. I've heard the "Millennium Forceless" comments and I honestly just don't get it. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Seeing the looks of those I305 strap restraints, I think those would be a HUGE help on Maverick. I love the ride, but there's a couple spots that can give me a jab if I'm not ready for them. As for Dragster, I really think it craps all over Kingda Ka. The whole experience is just so much better on TTD. I still thought KK was a blast, but those restraints really eliminated the awesome freedom you get on TTD as the train screams down the launch! Still hangin' on in my Top 10 as well, at number 9. This really was an awesome trip report, by the way. Great summary, stellar pics, and some captions that cracked me up! Glad you had such a nice trip. I actually haven't been to the Point since 2008, which is a situation that will need remedied next year for sure!

Several coasters come to mind as really intense rides I've ridden..... Voyage - That wonderful blend of sustained intensity, powerful speed, and airtime is the main reason it's my #1 El Toro - Most intense airtime I've experienced on a ride TTD/KK - The raw power and intensity of the launch still takes my breath away Phantom's Revenge - To me, the steel equivalent (for intensity) of Voyage....no mid-course, so it's all-out once it leaves the chain lift Maverick - This coaster means business I should add that although all of the above to me are very intense, not one of them do I consider rough (except for the back row "rattle" of KK and the need to somewhat ride defensively on Maverick).

This is great news for the park! We visited Carowinds for the first time in July, and thought the park was loads of fun. We just thought it was a bit odd that they closed at 8 in the middle of the summer. Well, won't be a problem anymore! And, for the record, Intimidator was all sorts of AWESOME!!

Thanks for the great updates! I have to say this coaster looks really awesome! I'll probably never get a chance to take a spin on it, but that's okay.....I applaud Ferrari World for going after the speed record by creating a ride with actual substance, something that Ring Racer could never have claimed with its launch/elevated turn/done sequence. The funny thing is, Ring Racer still may not be open by the time Ferrari World is, which you'd think would greatly reduce the draw that RR even had in the first place.

Definitely some shake-ups in my Top 10 after several park trips throughout July..... Overall Top 10: 1. Voyage (HW) 2. Millennium Force (CP) 3. El Toro (SF GAdv) 4. (tie) Intimidator (Car.) 4. (tie) Apollo's Chariot (BGE) 6. Diamondback (KI) 7. (tie) Phantom's Revenge (KW) 7. (tie) Ravine Flyer II (Wald.) 9. Top Thrill Dragster (CP) 10. Phoenix (Knoeb.) Steel Top 10: 1. Millennium Force (CP) 2. (tie) Intimidator (Car.) 2. (tie) Apollo's Chariot (BGE) 4. Diamondback (KI) 5. Phantom's Revenge (KW) 6. Top Thrill Dragster (CP) 7. Griffon (BGE) 8. Sky Rocket (KW) 9. Raging Bull (SF GAm) 10. Maverick (CP) Wooden Top 10: 1. Voyage (HW) 2. El Toro (SF GAdv) 3. Ravine Flyer II (Wald.) 4. Phoenix (Knoeb.) 5. Shivering Timbers (Mich. Adv) 6. Lightning Racer (HP) 7. Thunderbolt (KW) 8. Raven (HW) 9. Viper (SF GAm) 10. Jack Rabbit (KW)

Until I get some trip reports posted, I figured I would come here and at least post my thoughts on Sky Rocket. I've ridden Sky Rocket 4 times, and I will say that I flat-out LOVE it!! The first half is just full of intensity and killer airtime, and I thought the holding brake on the big hill was awesome. The launch was plenty powerful without being white-knuckle intense, and the inversions were absolutely perfect. I had never experienced such strong airtime during inversions before. That was unique and certainly very thrilling. The surf curves, to me anyway, were a nice little breather before the last 2 strong pops of air that you get on the final hops. When I hit the brakes, I feel like I've enjoyed a truly complete coaster experience, and I'm eager to ride again! After first riding, I could easily say that Sky Rocket was the BEST coaster with inversions I had ridden to date. (it turned out that it was only slightly edged out by Griffon a few weeks later when we went on vacation, but that's another story) It really is a ton of fun to ride, and I think one of its biggest assets is how smooth and re-ridable it is. I really do think that Sky Rocket is the sleeper hit of the new 2010 coasters! I really want to THANK Kennywood for putting this coaster in. It is a perfect fit for the park, and it is exactly what they needed to round out their awesome collection, in my humblest opinion. If the price tag with Premier was as low as it has been rumored, then I applaud them even more, as they got an unbelievable amount packed into that relatively small coaster footprint. Color this coaster (and Kennywood) enthusiast all sorts of thrilled!!

Wow, some of these lists are impressive! This one may look small to most of you, but for me it has actually been a really great year so far for park visits, as I've been to more this season than any other year since I really got into riding. Already Visited: Kennywood (4x) Michigan's Adventure (unplanned surprise trip while in Michigan for business!) Busch Gardens Europe (2x) Carowinds Possible/Still to Come: Kennywood (at least twice, including Phantom Fright Nights) Kings Dominion (seriously debating heading down there for Fall Thrillfest in early October) All in all, I've added 22 new coasters to the track record, which isn't too shabby!

WindSeeker looks like a great addition to me! I think the setting is going to be spectacular right along the beach, and I hope that it's just the beginning (as others mentioned) of a continued improvement of that area of the park. Although, admittedly, being 300 feet in the air in just a swing may freak me out a little! I'm also looking forward to the "dynamic lighting package" for it that is mentioned on the website.