PhantomNick

Hey there Big Mike! I've been following your road show reports since I joined the site, and let me just say that they are a joy to read. Your pictures are outstanding and very high quality! I figured it was about time I post in the thread and commend you on a wonderful job! I can only imagine how memorable this road show is for you! Seeing all these parks, and meeting so many great people, really must be a treat. I can only hope to someday take a coaster journey even half as big as this one! And finally, the fact that you are having this contest and offering such a generous prize shows what a wonderfully kind person you really are. I would be honored at some point to meet up with you on the midways! So, to sum this all up, I can only say 2 small words - THANK YOU. For the reports, for sharing your great times, for the contest, for everything. As for Hershey, I have always loved that park. It offers guests so much to do, and the atmosphere is just amazing! Storm Runner and Lightning Racer are real gems and remain 2 of my favorites as I close in on triple digits in my coaster count. Nowhere near Big Mike levels, but not too shabby either. Glad you had a great time! And what the heck, I will throw my guess into the fun ducky contest - I spotted 9 duckies.

This is definitely an interesting thought to ponder. Just thinking back to how coasters have evolved throughout my childhood and into my early adulthood, the sky is the limit really, as these designers are constantly being more and more creative. It also makes me really wonder what the "typical park skyline" will be like in a few decades when my kids are (hopefully) in their riding prime. I think there will ALWAYS be wooden coasters, as that appeal is a constant, both among enthusiasts and the general public. I also feel that we haven't seen the highest coaster yet either. I have a sneaking suspicion that someone will break the 500-foot mark before too long. And crazy as it sounds, I think they will do it with a "traditional" coaster design as well. I know it would be ridiculously expensive, but I could see some park pulling the trigger on it if they want to make a big splash. Only thing I know for sure is that I'll be happily riding whatever comes our way for as long as my body will let me!

This was years ago, while enjoying a day at Kennywood. I was in line for Thunderbolt when I heard the following conversation behind me: Son: "Dad, what's THAT big green roller coaster over there?" Father: "That's the Steel Phantom's Revenge" Son: "Oh. It looks cool. Why do they call it that?" Father: "Because there was an older coaster called Steel Phantom and it had loops. Then they took out the loops and had all that track straightened out and painted to make this new ride. It was a real tough thing to do since it was cold outside when they were having to bend all that steel!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that the old track was scrapped. Besides, my friend and I were laughing too hard!

Amen to that. Be thankful that your home park is possibly getting not ONE, but THREE flat rides one season after getting Dominator installed! Most parks would love to have that kind of attention. Just ask Carowinds, who simply gets the used boomerang. And shoot, call me crazy, but I think ferris wheels are important rides that should be at amusement parks.....Kennywood (my home park) is awesome, but it just feels weird that they don't have one. I have fun every time I go there, and we haven't had a new coaster since they redid the Phantom in 2001. You can't have coasters installed year after year.

Yeah, Robb's dead on with that plan for 2 days! My only real knock I had against Great Adventure was the lack of flats, but with this plan you get coasters at both (with some being pretty amazing!), and a nice selection of flats at Hershey, if you'd like to ride some of those as well. El Toro alone is worth the trip, as that is one of the headlining coasters in the whole country. More parks here in the US need to hop on the Intamin Pre-fab woodie bandwagon!!

Excluding ERT sessions, the best total I've had on a coaster for a single day was 17 rides on Phantom's Revenge on an overcast day a few years ago. That same day also included my most consecutive (non-ERT) laps on a single coaster, with 8 on Phantom's Revenge. I do love me some Phantom airtime goodness!!

You are correct that SFKK has a coaster called T2. However, that name has nothing to do with the Terminator franchise. I'm not positive of the exact meaning, but I think it stands for something like "Terror squared"......which would be more than appropriate since it's an SLC that will send most screaming for the hills!! (Even though I tend to like them......I know, I'm weird that way!) EDIT: Whoops, looks like Wes beat me to the punch by a minute.

GE looks like a nice smaller park, although it doesn't seem to get much love from Six Flags in regards to new rides. How long has it been since the park had a new coaster installed? I would wager the used SLC is what they will get, and hopefully they will at least give them the new trains for it. A nice steel coaster (non-looping, even like a mini-hyper) would be great for the park and a nice complement to Comet in my opinion.

Last time I was at Hershey was before the Boardwalk was put in, and I quite frankly loved it the way it was. It just seems to not make much sense to me why they needed to cram this waterpark in that area of the actual park. Couldn't they have put it in its own separate area, or even across the road? I don't have anything against waterparks, as I know many folks enjoy them (myself not included however). However, this one just doesn't seem like it was well thought out. But I could be wrong, as it sounds like the attendance there is pretty strong. I just hate to see rides now being sacrificed for the sake of expanding this waterpark, especially if they could've put it somewhere else and then used the land for further park expansion without removing rides. There are some flats I would think Hershey could still use, especially a drop tower of some kind.

Really nice pictures. The new coaster looks like a pretty fun ride. I loved Ride of Steel the couple times I visited. That third hill is just insanity in the airtime department!! I had heard that some retracking has been done on Predator, which makes me curious if it is any better, or at least rideable! After my last trip there, Predator secured the spot as the worst coaster I had ever ridden. Sad too, because it looks like a great ride.

I'm with you there! Just one so far for me as well: Cedar Point However, things should improve between August and the remainder of the year, as I still plan to head to: Kennywood (Multiple times, including Fright Nights and the Single Riders charity event.....that is, if they ever decide on the rescheduled date!) Waldameer (New!) Six Flags Great America (New!) With any luck, my coaster count will officially hit triple digits! Yay!

Tremendous photo trip report, Derek and Nicole! Great read, awesome photos, and brought back great memories from last summer, when I visited both the beach and Morey's for the very first time! (much to my fiancee's shock, who had been going to Wildwood almost every summer since she was a kid) I have to say that Morey's really impressed me, and the night we went there we had an absolute blast! That atmosphere there at night is truly incredible. I thought the coasters were decent enough, although I was bummed that a huge storm rolled in before we were able to hit the 3rd pier with Great White. Oh well, just more reasons to go back there, along with trying out the new SLC trains and maybe checking out a new shiny woodie in a year or so!!

Many thanks to Robb, Elissa, and all the others who have contributed the massive amounts of photos for these photo trip reports chronicling your amazing trip to Europe! These updates are a great read and very funny, along with giving a great look at these parks that a guy like myself has never seen or been to. I feel like one of these trips is essential to do at least once, and that's certainly my plan! It looks like massive amounts of fun from start to finish!

I will definitely agree that they're unique......although I would not feel a need to ride any more I come across after riding the one at Lakemont a couple years ago (I know, revoke my "coaster whore license" ) That thing was pretty bad, and also a rough little devil. I think what really kills these things is that ridiculous ride car. Who in their right mind thought those caged little monstrosities was a good idea?!?

A big thank you to Hercules for starting this topic, and to all those members who contributed. I'm heading to Chicago for a work trip in very early September, so I am taking a side jaunt to Six Flags Great America. After searching through the thread, sure enough, I found some great tips for visiting the park. Good stuff everyone!

Thunderbolt at Kennywood would have to be my favorite. I love the first 2 drops, and the first one right out of the station is fantastic in the back! Honorable mention go out to Phoenix and its ridiculously dark (and equally great) opening tunnel, and Hydra with its opening Jojo goodness.

Thanks Chuck, this is a great trip report so far!! The photos are great, and the captions are even better! Funny stuff, especially those ones for the gargoyles. All I can say is wow, these mega-TPR trips look to be incredible. The Alveys really seem to put together amazing trips. I need to save up some cash so that the future wife and I can go on one of these trips to Europe. I mean, sightseeing plus coasters - who could ask for anything more? (Incidentally, it was great to see some faces to go with a couple usernames I've gotten to know pretty well on other sites. Yep, I'm talkin' about you, Larry and Rich - aka larrygator and coaster05.) I'm glad you all had a great time. Team Larry rules!

Nice TR, and cool pics as well. Sounds like it was a good time. I made it to Wildwood for the first time last year and absolutely loved the atmosphere! I'm intrigued by these new trains for their SLC. I thought it was a good ride with an amazing placement, but kind of bumpy in many spots. Course I'm weird to begin with since I actually tend to enjoy SLCs. Great White looks great, and I was bummed we didn't get a chance to ride it. We had a huge storm as well, but once it started it rained all night!

The more and more info I find out about this coaster, the more certain I am that a first ever trip to Kings Island next year is in order!

This one's an easy pick for me - Predator at Darien Lake Sad thing is, I rode it once shortly after Six Flags took over ('99 I believe), and it was actually pretty good and very fun. Then I rode again some 7 years later and felt like my spine would crack in half! If ever there was a poster child for the word "Retracking", this would be it!

Last coaster I rode was my favorite Steel - Millennium Force on May 25th to conclude our Memorial Day weekend trip to CP. Shoot, it's been almost 2 months since I got me some coaster action!! Yikes, I need to fix that ASAP! Millennium Awesomeness!

Kennywood by far, and more times than I could ever count or remember! Been going there since I was 4 or so, and my first ever coaster ride took place there (Jack Rabbit).

Thanks for the Trip Report! I'm looking forward to checking out Waldameer for the first time myself at some point this summer. I was always on the fence about heading up there, but it's only 90 minutes from home, and with RFII now on board, how could I not go?? It sounds like a neat little park, and I think they hit a home run with RFII. I've heard nothing but glowing reviews of that puppy! My #1 coaster is a GG installation, so I'm more than eager to hop aboard another one!

I haven't been on a ton of inverts yet, but for now, my favorite is Talon at Dorney Park. It just edges out Raptor. Montu, Afterburn (Carowinds), Dueling Dragons, and Nemesis are high on my must-ride inverts list.

Top 10 Steel: 1. Millennium Force, CP 2. Top Thrill Dragster, CP 3. Phantom's Revenge, KW 4. Maverick, CP 5. Nitro, SF GAdv 6. Storm Runner, HP 7. Talon, DP (tie) Raptor, CP 9. Steel Force, DP 10. Magnum XL-200, CP Top 10 Wooden: 1. Voyage, HW 2. El Toro, SF GAdv 3. Phoenix, Knoebels 4. Lightning Racer, HP 5. Thunderbolt, KW (tie) Raven, HW 7. Jack Rabbit, KW 8. Legend, HW 9. Twister, Knoebels 10. Racer, KW Overall Top 10: 1. Voyage, HW 2. Millennium Force, CP 3. El Toro, SF GAdv 4. Top Thrill Dragster, CP 5. Phantom's Revenge, KW 6. Maverick, CP 7. Phoenix, Knoebels 8. Nitro, SF GAdv 9. Storm Runner, HP 10. Talon, DP (tie) Raptor, CP