JFrombaugh

Mario and Luigi ride the dreaded Waterfall coaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAsTa9JldUk&NR=1

^Yeah, I guess you have a point. We can't very well have the 10-14 year olds that are the park's staple business hearing some Ludacris song coming from one of the editing computers after they get off the coaster. "Spiralling negative G camelback"? Sounds like a Zero G Roll to me...but it could also be a Silver Bullet/Maverick esque overbank.

A runaway Top Thrill Dragster train going 120 mph, and ejecting from the front row was...

No. Have you heard the song Chocolate Rain?

Probably they could just assign an employee to sit at the entrance and do this if a family with a kid who appeared to be too young walked up to the ride entrance: Employee: Hey! Whoa! Stop! How old is your son? Father: 12. Employee: Oh, he's 12? I'm sorry, this ride is not suitable for guests under 15 due to the use of blood and suggestive themes. Father: Ohh...well Ryan, you wanna go ride Colossus instead? That's how some of those indoor playground thingies with slides and stuff enforce a MAXIMUM age restriction. As for those who would lie about their age...well, I don't think there's anything the park can do about them. A lot of kids under 15 don't even carry a photo ID...

No. Have you ever been in a contest? (I mean a real contest event, not a "contest" between you and your friends or on some forum)

Both of these prototype coasters offer an amazing first drop at 90 degrees (or for Euro fighters, some more than 90 degrees), but which delivers the better ride experience overall? I can't vote on this as I have not ridden either type of coaster...yet.

I don't think this has been posted before, as I tried a search beforehand. Which layout of the Wild Mouse do you think is better? The standard version by Mack with the steep drops, or the Reverchon/Zamperla models which have the cars that start spinning halfway through? I kind of prefer the spinning ones, but that's me.

I suspect the name "Double Take" will be used throughout the enthusiast community, because so far this is the only coaster Maurer has installed the element onto. It might even be used in RCDB because of that. As for the other names, probably not. I don't know how the Double Take will feel though, that climbing twist into the loop could be kinda painful... I know Universal will do a good job with this ride, although I'm sure most enthusiasts will probably find that it doesn't quite measure up to X2 at SFMM (it could be a surprise big hit though!). One question: I heard a rumor that people would be able to bring their iPods and use whatever music they had on there for use in their on-ride video if they decide to purchase one. Is this true? If so, that'd be AWESOME!!!! I'll probably compose a sort of X2-like compilation of songs for use in my onride video when I ride it. Also, does this ride have any inversions? I don't think it does, but it's hard to tell from the blueprint photos, there could a heartline roll or something hidden in there. The "Treble Clef" looks like it could have a dive loop too.

It sounds like the unlucky superstition of the number 13 will be a major part of the ride theme. Nemesis has blood and horror-based theming, but it doesn't have an age restriction, so I don't know if this ride will or not...like it says it's unconfirmed. Looks cool! This ride could be a sleeper hit!

Here's mine:

Some of it. Do you have pierced ears?

I heard a rumor that you'll have to be at least 15 years old to ride it due to the horror theming. That'd be kinda strange if that were true...

Well, if it turns out it is destroyed, at least I've got the credit already.

^^I play on Silvermoon. Here's part 2. Part 3 will be posted when I get to about Level 60, just before I start doing quests in Outland. In the meantime, you can check out Encendedor's progress in training at his Magelo profile here: http://wow.magelo.com/profile/41709. Don't have a seizure when you find out I'm a Guild Master, because that was one of those things that happened by accident. Prior to when I was about Level 25 or 30, I belonged to a guild named Scales of the Dragon. This guy came around and wanted the to join his guild, and he said he'd make me a co-leader. I accepted, thinking of the possiblities, but then he made me the Guild Master and left. Sadly, this "lords of wow" guild is a sinking ship. It had about 15 members when I joined, and now it has only 5. Although it has potential for expansion, I'm too lazy to do anything with it right now, so I think it's only a matter of time before that guild disbands. When I get to Level 70 I'll probably join a raiding guild. I'm not really a player to lead a guild - I only reap the benefits of being part of one. If you have a rare gear item that your class cannot equip, you can put it up for auction and see who will pay you money for it. You'll generally get a LOT more money selling gear this way than you would from selling them off to a vendor, and I sure wish I had known this sooner. There is one catch though – items which have been "soulbound" to your character, can't be sold. If you've ever wondered what "binds when picked up" means, now you know. You can also find all sorts of rare items for sale on WoW's version of Ebay. I enjoyed many of the quests in Dustwallow Marsh (very fun ones, in fact). Here, to power the laser that zaps oozes, killing them almost instantly, you have to stand near the power core fragments of the crashed zeppelin. Pull one ooze, then run towards the power fragment and fire away! Repeat until you have 10 of them dissolved. BOSS: Tethyr HP: 150,000 After a long chain of quests in Dustwallow Marsh, an event will begin where the massive Tethyr will attack Thereamore Isle. This sea monster is too big to fight one on one, so you’ll employ the help of 12 marksmen and a few cannons around the docks, which will become operational after Major Mills says "FIRE AT WILL!" The fire cannon command inflicts about 10,000 points of damage, so use that and keep moving around to the different cannons. When you’re not firing a cannon, the marksmen will take his health down gradually, and if any other players are around while this encounter is happening, chances are they'll try to help too. Try to avoid his ice breath, as that will knock you back and freeze you for a couple of seconds. You'll lose if all of the marksmen die, but it shouldn't happen. In the battle for Warsong Gulch (covered in Part 1), the factions have a simple task of capturing the enemy flag, and the Alliance managed to blow it most of the times I played. In Arathi Basin, the task is larger. The first faction to score 2000 points by controlling the various resource bases on the map will win the mini-game. To capture a base, a player must spend about 10 seconds using the command to either capture, or tear an enemy flag down if it is already there. If you have mounts, they are very useful here. If a faction manages to control all five bases at once, they will gain points VERY rapidly, virtually clinching the match, so don't let it happen. This is a pretty funny quest chain. The deserters, an operation of traitors hidden amongst the guards, are spreading false advertising around Theramore, and your job is to find their stash of propaganda, and then one of the guards will alter it so that the wording will embarrass the deserters, and you can give it to the guards. It's kind of like Bart's prank when he switched the church music! "Can't we all just get along?!" screams Yaztip as he is ordered to attack, as may well some players of WoW at times. Encendedor's Enslave Demon spell is pretty cool, and it turns a "Demon" type enemy, up to a certain level depending on the spell's rank, into his pet for 5 minutes. When the spell wears off the demon will revert to an enemy and attack. Since it only works on demons, and the demons I've enslaved (so far) have turned out to be not as useful as his minions, it has limited uses. Still, it's pretty cool! This is a neat quest with a good reward from the treasure chest. I got lucky and found the monsters that had the keys quickly, but you can't get to the chest until you fight off a bunch of Level 36 sea serpent monsters. This whole chain of quests is an absolute terror to try to complete. In the final phase, shown here, you have to protect this night elf from the SWARMS of Orcs guarding the fortress. If she dies, the quest fails, and must be restarted. It's actually quite similar to the van rescue part of Sly Cooper 3 with Murray. I got lucky and another player was trying to do this same quest, so I joined up with him and we beat it together. Lucky for Encendedor, warlocks have their own Felsteed mounts which come complete with training at a MUCH lower cost (85 Silver I think)! I don't think he gets a freebie "epic" mount at Level 60, though, so when I reach that level, I'll have to report to Amberstill Ranch to buy that mount I've always dreamed of. Too bad I don't show you what it is. Yet. You can receive mail from NPCs as well as other players through the in-game mail system. I haven't friended any other players yet, but this was a letter from a riding trainer that I got after the level limit for riding mounts was lowered to 30 in Patch 2.4.3. He suggests that I buy a horse, my own race's mount which does not require max reputation, for faster movement. Good idea. But 35 Gold for training and 10 Gold for the mount?! My God, I just want the horse, not your whole stable! This is a cool quest where you use tinder to burn Orc catapults threatening Menethil Harbor. Lots of real-life animals make appearances in WoW, such as spiders, wolves, bears, and even cougars (pictured above), the mascot of my old High School who I have yet to see in any other game. At first glance, Encendedor's Eye of Kilgrogg spell looked hecka confusing and mostly worthless ("Creates an eye and binds your vision to it. The eye moves quickly but is very fragile."), but it turns out it has some potential. Basically it creates an eye that works much like a Grapple Cam (see Sly Cooper). Useful for when you need to locate an item in an area and don't want to be battling tons of enemies as you look for it! In a neutrally-alligned city (like Booty Bay, pictured above) you're pretty much safe from random PvP combat, even if Horde players are around. A battle can still be initiated, but be warned: if a fight does break out, the city guards will do a little more than ask you to take it outside… Lower level players will be relatively unexposed to the "war" between the Alliance and the Horde due to the segregated low-level zones where players begin their journeys. But starting at around Level 30 that will no longer be the case, as the mid and high level zones are "Contested", that is, they are not controlled by either faction and therefore you will find players and cities belonging to both factions within them. It's always fun to kill a Horde character when you know it'll make some guy in Mississippi start shouting out profanities, but at the same time it can be annoying to get ambushed by another player when you're trying to do quests. Here I am in Stranglethorn Vale, a notoriously contested jungle zone, in the middle of being "ganked" (killed by a Horde that is much higher level). BOSS: Mekgineer Thermaplugg HP: 6,900 At the end of the Gnomeregan bonus round, you'll face your first real boss fight. He's pretty easy if you know how to fight him, but make sure you have at least one player to deactivate the machines around his room. It's a neat trick, but if you don't attack the bombs that come out of them before they explode, you'll take a lot of damage. After dealing with the leper gnomes at the entrance of Gnomeregan, you'll be able to enter a bonus round. In this round, there are loads of gnomish robots. Just keep battling them and upgrade your punch card at each computer. Hey, Encendedor gets to talk to someone named Dawn too! I'm so jealous! Here he is, the evil Mor'Ladim. Crystal was right to warn me about this guy – beating him on your first visit to Duskwood is almost impossible, even if you should want to try. This skeleton's a Level 30 Elite, capable of killing off a cloth-armored warlock in a couple of moves. Needless to say, after my first encounter with him pictured above, I got wiped out quickly and had to run my ghost back to my corpse after he left. The Stormwind Stockade is a jail in Stormwind City filled with Defias members and other criminals that have been captured by the guards of Stormwind. Inside the jail is a bonus round. To get through here, you'll need to master forming a team with other players. It's a tricky skill, but a very valuable one to learn. Carryla is a succubus, Encendedor's next minion. Far from the ugly machinery of the Succubuses on the Starship Titanic, this one is a very hot demon that Encendedor can learn to summon at around Level 25. Unfortunately, during the first phase of the quest, you'll have to survive a trek through The Barrens, which is Horde territory. This means – you guessed it – random Player vs Player (PvP) combat! Long before you find them, the Horde players in this zone will know you're there, thanks to their Local Defense channel. The Horde guards placed around the cities don't help, either. I found it best to just run like crazy through this area – with luck, you'll eventually make it to the trainer. It's also an opportunity to do some repeatable quests for Reputation if you need some. The Darkmoon Faire seems to be one of many events in WoW. Here you can do many fun things like take a personality test that gives you a stat boost for 2 hours in a certain stat. The Legend of Stalvan is a lengthy chain of quests involving many places and events. During the first few phases you'll fight a few Forlorn Spirits, this one has a funny polymorph ability that turns Encendedor into a sheep that runs around aimlessly for a time, thank goodness Thokgore is still able to fight! The Zoram Strand also contains a bonus round that's partially underwater. Encendedor's unending breath spell will be invaluable to a party here, to avoid being handicapped Breath-wise. Aku'mai might take awhile to go down with 6,500 HP, but you should have no problems with it if your team had no problems with the rest of the elites in this round. The Zoram Strand is a temple built on the coast of northwestern Ashenvale. It is populated with Wrathtails, powerful serpent-like water demon creatures who are wanted dead by the Night Elves. Bloodmyst Isle is the eastern portion of the island, contaminated by a curse that turns the land red with blood and causes animals to mutate and become hostile. Although it is not the home of the Blood Elf race that has joined the Horde in the Burning Crusade, it is home to many renegade Blood Elves that Alliance players fight in quests here. The Exodar is actually a crashed dreneai ship, and now serves as the home base of Azuremyst Isle. The place is very strange with all its crystals to me, but it must be some kind of cultural difference. Like the difference between Del the funky Homosapien and Erika from Poke'mon. Azuremyst Isle is the home of the draneai. It is a mystical place with arcane energy.

Not only is WoW one of the best games available on the PC, it's also one of the largest. With about 50 huge zones on the main world of Azeroth (and seven zones on the Outland) to explore, it's pretty easy to feel overwhelmed. To document my experiences, I'll be posting some "photo TRs". Now, I'm not going to show you how to beat every quest that I beat while I play the game. That would take away all of the fun. Instead, I'm going to touch on some of my favorite aspects of the game, as I go along. My character's name is Encendedor (based on a Plastilina Mosh song and my perception of it's magical-sounding), and he is a human warlock. I'll show you just what he goes through during his training. Don't forget that you can also unlock quests by reading dropped notes from certain monsters or from items such as wanted posters. Okay, enough with the chatter, let's play some WoW!!! Warsong Gulch is on the border of Ashenvale and the Barrens, and is a major battlefield for the Alliance and the Horde. Here the objective is to capture the enemy's flag and return it to your base three times before the opposite faction does. The team members are allowed to use their attacks to prevent the other army from scoring. Ashenvale is similar to Teldrassil, and is one of the more beautiful zones in the game. Inside the Defias-controlled town of Moonbrook, you'll enter a bonus round with a lot of Defias members and goblins. Just take it slow and careful, and you won't have much of a problem. Remember, you will be working in a group of up to five players, so you'll have to be extra vareful with your actions and preparations. Encendedor has wandered into Durotar, the home of his mortal rivals the Orcs and Trolls. He better watch his back! Every once in awhile, a weather change will occur in certain zones. These weather effects are quite random as to when they happen, and certain effects only appear in certain zones (snow can appear in icy areas like Dun Morogh and the upcoming Northrend expansion, while sandstorms can rake desert areas like Tanaris, Durotar, and the Hellfire Peninsula in Outland). Rain, pictured above, is the most common weather effect. I've heard rumors that rain reduces the power of fire spells, but I haven't confirmed this yet. Mining is a profession that doesn't cost money, it MAKES money. (You still have to pay for equipment and training, but it'll soon be rakin' in the dough for you!) Basically, you dig ore out of veins and smelt it into bars. You can also find gems that sell for money. As you gain skills, you can mine more valuable ore, that is, the Copper Bars you first smelt will sell for a measly 10 Copper, but this will go all the way up to 10 Gold for the legendary Elementium Bars! Fishing is one of the professions that you can learn. As you get better at it, you'll be able to fish in better areas and catch better fish. The profession is necessary to complete certain quests. Here, Encendedor locates the mysterious red crystal that is drawing Moonkins into the area. Darnassus, an echanted colony built on the forested island of Teldrassil, is what the Night Elf race calls home. The temples here resonate with mystic history. You don't have to run, Encendedor. The monster in front of you is an ancient protector of Darnassus. Hostile giants like this will attack in higher-level zones. Getting to Outland is a bit more complicated. Talk to other players, and, unless they're lying, the only way to get to Outland is through the Dark Portal, located in the Blasted Lands. Unfortunately, the portal won't be open for a long while, although you won't know that right away. Use of it is restricted to players with the Burning Crusade expansion pak who are Level 58 or higher. Installing the Burning Crusade is easy enough once you get to purchasing it. But you still have to get to Level 58, and that is still a long way off. These boats run anytime you want to ride them, and they make travelling between Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor very easy. A boat, now where does it go? There's only one way to cross the continents in minutes...hop on a griffon and fly away! Diseases exist in WoW, but function slightly differently than in the real world. Tetanus for example lowers your Stamina by 2 points for 20 minutes. The Frostmane trolls reside inside an ice cave and attack from a distance, so you'll want a spell such as Shadow Bolt ready. Ironforge, a city built inside a mountain and around a massive forge for blacksmithing, is home to dwarves and gnomes of all races and a thriving tourist trade. The Tinker Town has the craftiest engineers for miles around. Between Dun Morogh and Elwynn Forest lies several high-level zones such as Searing Gorge. Ignore them for now, because the enemies there are much too strong for you at this point. You won't have to worry about those places until the end of the game. Instead, take the subway for now. The next area you will do quests in will probably be Dun Morogh, land of the dwarves, as it is lower-level than the areas adjacent to Elwynn. "Elite" enemies are indicated by a gold dragon frame, however all they really are is an enemy a fair bit stronger than you that requires strategy and often a group to defeat. Hogger is the first Elite many Alliance players will face. There is no shortage of random holy churches and towers on the Alliance side. Hey, the librarian here has the same name as my father! Stormwind City is the heart of the human race. Attractions include Old Town and Stormwind Keep. Unless you're familiar with the city, consult your map or ask a guard for directions as you may find it difficult getting around the place. The Lion's Pride Inn was the first inn that I discovered, and it has been my main base hotel ever since. If you spend time at an inn after logout, you can gain a Rested state where you will temporarily gain twice as much experience from monsters. Don't try swimming across the ocean or you'll be stopped in your tracks by the Fatigue bar, which activates if you swim into deep and unchartered waters. As with most other games, this one too has an underwater breath limit. But Encendedor can learn a spell called Unending Breath that allows him to breathe underwater for 10 minutes! And Outland, the floating remants of the planet Draneor. Until around Level 8 or so, players will only have done quests in the first area in Eastern Kingdoms so you can see just how much more of the World of Warcraft there is to explore. As well as the continent of Kalimdor, which has plenty of areas and quests of its own (a third continent, Northrend, will be featured in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion). As you wander around Elwynn, take the opportunity to view the layout of the game world. Essentially it consists of the Eastern Kingdoms, with about 20 zones... Elwynn Forest is the starting area for humans such as Encendedor. This lush community of farms and villages is located at the foot of Burning Steppes. Here's what the map of the forest is like. If your enemies hit you with enough power to reduce your health to 0, you'll die and become a ghost. Ghosts cannot interact with the game except with other ghosts. To return to normal, either talk to the Spirit Healer or (preferably) run to your corpse and ressurect there. I'll be the first to admit that the battle system in WoW is a bit overwhelming at first. You have to select a target before all else ("I need to target something first!"). After that, you can use either melee attacks with a timed speed and damage rating, or spells which cost Mana to use (but which have very cool effects). Be sure to keep an eye on the Durability of your armor and items; once it reaches 0, they are too far gone and you'll have to pay for repairs. Here's Encendedor, in all his glory, the way he would have looked at Level 1 upon creation of his account! I'll take another pic of him at Level 80 after beating the final boss in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, so you can see how much more extra features he's gotten.

I know the ride experience probably feels more like a Eurofighter or a Wild Mouse on steroids, but... is Steel Hawg kind of similar in intensity to Firehawk? (intense in parts, but all the elements are just a lot of "fun")

I can't even begin to describe how much I disagree with that.

More bad news from Screamscape... Great. I think this has SOMETHING to do with the new management. There's more too... It sounds like IB is going the same way as KBF...OMG...no. Just...no. Steel Hawg is currently my most sought after coaster to get to, I wasn't able to make it out to IB on my KI and CP trip. If I get there and find it's closed, and I am told it will open by 2pm or later in the day, and it never opens, I'm not going to be happy.

Days 2 and 3 - Cedar Point Misc. Comments -If you stay at the Hotel Breakers, do NOT have breakfast in their coffee shop area! The staff there on my visit were ridiculously slow, it took about 15 minutes to get our food in the cafeteria style line, and the cashier didn't seem to have a clue how to operate the register. In fact, my Dad ended up ditching his biscuit sandwich thingy for a 2 egg breakfast without toast "because it's obviously too much trouble". -I was going to buy an on-ride video of me riding Raptor to post here, but the ride broke down right as we were on the brake run. We sat there for awhile, until they cycled the train in the station and unloaded us. By the time I got to the booth, my video had already passed. Why can't they pull it up from a few trains back like they can with the photos? -The ride ops usually do a 3-2-1 countdown before they launch Wicked Twister, but depending on what the ride op in control is like, he/she may launch you on "two" - that happened on my ride, be warned! -I asked this board what beyond-vertical drops were like, and to be honest, Maverick's 95-degree drop was pretty much what I expected it to be. It was a quick burst of airtime and stomach feelings, but IMO the first drops of Magnum and MF are more thrilling because they last longer. And I leave you with this photo of the lake at night. All those white spots are bugs. I can certainly see why riding MF in the front at night is not recommended! Thanks for reading. In contrast to MF, Mean Streak was everything it was made out to be. With no airtime, rough as hell, and a drop with trims at the top, its bark is worse than its bite. Of all the coasters on my trip, MF was the one I was most nervous about riding - in fact, I was tempted to skip it altogether. What a mistake that might've been. Millennium Force is now my new #1 steel coaster, TTD is a close second. If only I lived a little closer ot Sandusky Ohio... These are the airgates that are apparently notorious for closing on people's legs! Gemini was a really good racer - it actually has steel track with a wooden support, and several strong pops of airtime. Corkscrew...really short...really painful...and that's about it! Blue Streak was ok...had some decent air, nothing too special though. The helix is another intense part of the ride. I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer Gs on the Cobra Roll. You can get good views of Raptor from the Skyride. Raptor is a really forceful B&M invert!! It is a bit slow through the midcourse brakes but this provides a welcome respite from the assualt on the senses generated by the rest of the ride. Cedar Creek Mine Ride...yeah...it's a mine train...next! Mantis...in a word, ugh. With apologies to all you stand-up fans out there, it didn't do anything for me other than make me sick. The ride op also stapled me in pretty bad. I guess I just don't do stand-ups well... Myself in high spirits after getting off the Dragster. Too bad the speedometer thingy was out of commission... =( Top Thrill Dragster from the Breakers parking lot. This thing delivered one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I have ever experienced. I was hoping to see a rollback, but never did. The black train going up the LSM lift hill. I love how you get in the tunnel and it looks like the ride is over, but then the train accelerates rapidly to 70 mph into the second part of the ride. From the ground, the two inversions in the "Twisted Horseshoe Roll" look like Corkscrews, but on the ride they actually feel more like Zero-G-Rolls. I would think it's fairest to say that they're some kind of hybrid between the two. Maverick is a really good coaster. It's an intense ride, but it's not so intense that you can't ride it multiple times without getting a headache (*cough* Tatsu *cough* Boardwalk Bullet). If the lines weren't so long I definitely would've gone around for repeat circuits. Sunrise on the beach by the Breakers as we head for our hotel ERT! Disaster Transport was an average bobsled in the dark. And OMG, what was with the sqeaking??? It sounded like the thing was coming apart!!! Wicked Twister and Lake Erie from the observation tower. I had heard nothing but bad things about Iron Dragon, but I didn't think that it was as bad as people made it out to be! It's far from great, but I have ridden plenty more boring rides. We got to CP around 4pm or so and we started off with Magnum, a real airtime machine! I remember putting my pendant below my shirt, but it was outside of my shirt by the end of the ride, thrown out by the insane airtime! Our room at the Breakers was pretty nice. No Wireless in the room was a pretty big minus for my Dad though!

"I REALLY hope no one from the GP realizes that I'm on a coaster trip...that would be interesting..." -Thinking to myself "Did you fly here all the way from Texas?!?" A girl in the TTD line who saw my shirt "*sigh* Yeah..." -Me Note to self: If you don't want to be recognized, don't wear a shirt from the Story of Texas museum in Austin. Well, it was fun. This was my first trip where I was able to rack up many credits quickly, several of which were Top Ten coasters. We took some cheap Southwest Airlines flights from Houston Hobby transferring in St. Louis, and then going to Columbus, and then using a rental car to get to KI and CP. It took forever to get there, and we had some bumps along the way, including having to snap up the last available seats on the Open Seating flights, and getting lost in this residential neighborhood after taking the wrong exit to get to our hotel near KI. Day 1 - Kings Island Misc Comments -We rode the Beast first, and it was fun in the morning, but at night it is bordering on the insane! I noticed the trim brakes on the drop into the helix, and there ain't much airtime, but still, I have never ridden a coaster that dives so furiously through a tunnel at 65 mph! -When I tried to ride Racer it was only running the red side, which broke down shortly after. When I came back and it was running again, it was still only one side, but the blue side opened up while I was in line. The result was everyone jumping the fence to get onto the first operational blue side of the first racing train. Sadly, I didn't get this moment on camera. -Firehawk had two breakdowns both of the times I rode it. The first time, the right side of the station went down and they moved us over to the left side. When I re rode it later, there was a delay and we were stuck in the lay-down position, waiting for the ops to get us out and send test runs. Finally they did. -Is the "Welcome back riders, how was the ride?" over the microphone some sort of Cedar Fair thing? It was done a lot at both KI and CP, and I had never seen it in any other park before. OMG! Track pieces have arrived! Oh yeah I almost forgot...I got some construction pics of Diamondback while I was there. We finished up the night with a WILD ride on the Beast. Yes it is a Vekoma, and yes it si really good! Firehawk was awesome! Well worth the long wait and delays. It's no Tatsu, but it's a lot of fun! Has anyone else noticed all the coins below the Vertical Loop on Invertigo? Next up was big bad Face-Off...oh wait, it's Invertigo now. The red side of the Racer running. They got both sides up later in the day. It's good to see the trains on Racer being raced like they should be! Adventure Express wasn't a bad ride, but the ending was a big letdown. Those that have ridden it will know what I mean $^#^&@! We didn't get to ride Flight Deck because it broke down and got stuck on the lift hill. They should call Son of Beast "Son of a B**h" because that's exactly what riders say while they're riding it! "Son of a b**h! That hurt!!" Backlot Stunt Coaster was fun, but it'd be better if the effects were working. You can see most of Backlot Stunt Coaster's layout! From the Eiffel Tower you can get good views of Son of Beast. The theming in the line and station is top notch. Flight of Fear was a lot of fun. but made my Dad kind of sick. Those loops actually delivered a LOT of Gs! My Dad, who doesn't do looping coasters very well, surprised me by riding Vortex with me. It was smooth for an Arrow, but the Batwing made me kinda dizzy. Here I am in front of the King's Island logo.

^^My Dad laughed when I told him we'd need to drink $65 worth of sodas using the wristband before the Season Pass would be worth it. (drinking bottle after bottle of coke) "Must...compensate...for...extra...cost of...Season Passes..." (an hour later, while riding Firehawk) "Need...bathroom...OOOHHHHH!"

WHY did they have to put this really cool coaster at Indiana Beach?? It's probably one of the hardest parks to get to using an airport shuttle service.

^^I've seen vending machines at a few parks I've been to, but I've never actually tried buying from them, so I assumed they'd be cheaper than the stands...but still, you get my point.

A little comment about my upcoming KI/CP trip and admission…I have one day planned for KI and two days at CP and figured the best deal was a season pass...or so I thought. A Platinum CF pass costs $150. This allows you free admission to any Cedar Fair park (meaning admission for all three park days is covered). A Platinum pass also covers parking, and for $9 extra at KI you can get a wristband that allows free sodas and unlimited refills for that day, which was a really good deal in my Dad’s eyes. This would bring the total cost to $318 for the both of us. So, in the end, is the Season Pass worth it for my trip? No, not really. Even though my Dad has the money, we discovered that the individual tickets were better bargains. Admission to KI for one day is $30, and CP costs $44. Add in a $10 parking charge for KI, and our total cost comes to $254 (Breakers is within walking distance of CP so we don't need to pay for parking there). We'll assume that we get our sodas from vending machines that charge a dollar per can. At these rates, we would have to drink 65 cans of soda total at KI (not counting any sodas we may drink on our two CP days, as they don't have the wristband deal) before the Season Pass deal becomes cost efficient VS paying as we go along. Even if we were to buy the larger sodas from stands that cost substantially more ($4 a soda, let’s say) we would still have to buy over 16 of them throughout the day before the season pass is worth the money. Plus it has the annoying drawback that you must go to the processing center to get a photo and get the pass made. That’d mean we’d have to either go to KI late Thursday night, or go even earlier Friday morning and risk missing out my ACEer Beast ERT! If there was a CF park near Houston that I could visit later this year, and the soda wristband was a free add on available at any CF park, then it would be worth it. This was my decision for my trip, but I’m sure many enthusiasts find value in the Platinum Pass deal. Anyone else who lives near KI have any opinions on the CF Season Pass or the soda wristband deal?