The Big So-So

TPR was based in Valencia for several years, so it makes sense for SFMM to be the most talked about park on the site.

I quite enjoyed this. I thought it was funny that the reporter wasn't too impressed with the ride, saying, "Despite its size, it still cannot hold a candle to a good steel loop roller coaster."

Positive - Goliath at SFMM feels like the most, but I don't know if that's technically correct. Negative - New Texas Giant Lateral - Not sure, but there was a moment of sudden lateral force on the Beast that killed me.

Liseberg was featured in a sequence from Ingmar Bergman's 1955 film "Dreams." Included is a ride on Bergbanan, a woodie that operated from 1923 to 1987, according to RCDB. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZdryPxlgcg

I'll be making my first trip to Disney World Saturday 10/15, staying for a week. Can't wait!

Scream isn't rough in the traditional sense, but its rattle gives me a fierce headache after only one ride. It's the only ride at SFMM that I consider unrideable. To compare, I rode Medusa at SFDK this summer and found it a fantastic, smooth ride. As for some of the other B&Ms mentioned in the last few posts, Vortex is a brutal headbanger and Diamondback is butter-smooth. If Dback had a little rattle, it didn't bother me at all after about 15 rides.

I just saw the 77" height restriction listed on the SFMM Web site. Looks like I won't be able to ride. I don't understand why a ride of this type would need such a restriction. This is hugely disappointing.

New Texas Giant at TX Giant Bash. I miss it so much!

I had an amazing time at Texas Giant Bash! One interesting thing I noticed: on the train ride around the park, the recording says that Runaway Mine Train is the world's first tubular steel-tracked roller coaster. The SFOT Web site claims the same thing. Now, I may be wrong, but there's a little park in California with a ride called Matterhorn Bobsleds, and its track looks like tubular steel to me. And I do believe that ride is a few years older than the Mine Train. But anyway, I loved Six Flags Over Texas and its selection of rides. It kills me I can't go hop on NTAG or Shockwave right now. But at least there are some exciting things coming up this summer to keep me busy here in SoCal.

I've been on one (Knott's) and I never want to go on another. But I will anyway. I expect to ride my 2nd Boomerang in a few days at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Tickets bought. Super cheap Virgin airfare purchased. Hotel booked. May 14 cannot come soon enough!

I ranked the Voyage #1.

In the email this afternoon:

Major woodie indeed.

Who is the Seven Dwarf, and where did he get this mine train? Sorry, but misplaced apostrophes bother me a great deal. And even worse-- on actual signage posted at the park!

Well, this poll is designed to include opinions from people of varying ages and experience levels. I've only been on 13 woodies. I've been to Holiday World once. It was in 2010. I rode the Voyage five times, and it didn't hurt me at all. It was wild and aggressive, but I didn't experience the bone-crushing pain I've felt on the Beast and occasionally on GhostRider. Even though I found the Voyage excessive in its last 1,000 feet or so, my experience was good enough that I consider it my favorite coaster I've been on. Maybe it's unfair that I have yet to ride Boulder Dash, El Toro, etc., but that's just the way it is. As for Raven, that's one cute coaster and pretty fun, but not nearly exciting enough to rank higher on my list.

Here's my little list: 1. The Voyage 2. Favorite Steel 3. Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz) 4. Terminator Salvation: The Ride 5. Blue Streak 6. The Legend 7. GhostRider 8. Raven 9. Giant Dipper (Belmont Park) 10. Colossus 11. Racer (Kings Island) 12. Fairly Odd Coaster (Kings Island) 13. The Beast 14. Mean Streak

January 1 - Disneyland / Disney California Adventure - A nice clear day in-between rainy periods here in SoCal. I'm at Disneyland often and will be back many times throughout the year. January 2 - Universal Studios Hollywood - This was my first time at the park in three years, but seeing as it's a mere five miles away from my apartment, I decided to get an annual pass for this year. I only rode the Studio Tour, then left because I didn't feel like hanging around in the rain. This was my first time experiencing King Kong 360 3-D, which is good for what it is, but nowhere near as good as the late King Kong Encounter. January 15 - Adventure City - Great mouse, a rib-shattering kiddie coaster and an effective, though small, drop tower. Fun little park. January 15 - Scandia Amusement Park - I enjoyed the Screamer despite a little pain, but don't myself returning here anytime soon. February 6 - Six Flags Magic Mountain - One of my home parks. I'll be back here many times this year. Can't wait for the new coaster experiences! April 23 - California's Great America - This park is definitely lacking, but I still had a good time. Flight Deck is as good as everyone says it is, and Grizzly is definitely not the worst roller coaster in the world. April 24 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - Nice surprise. Some good, though not spectacular, coasters and a lot of cool animals. April 25 - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - First time here in a couple years and remains one of my favorite parks. What a charming place. May 13 - Six Flags Over Texas - Got a few rides in the night before TX Giant Bash, and then had a blast at the Bash. I was really impressed with this park and think it would make a great home park. Solid variety of rides, pretty good theming for a Six Flags and a fantastic new airtime machine. October 16 - Disney's Animal Kingdom - great park, though light on attractions October 16 - EPCOT - my favorite park at Disney World. We spent some time there every day of our vacation. The food especially kept us coming back. October 17 - Magic Kingdom - fun to compare to Disneyland - I prefer Disneyland Park to MK, but WDW as a whole is a much better resort experience October 19 - Disney's Hollywood Studios - my least favorite park in WDW, probably because it feels so similar to CA Adventure. Still a lot of fun stuff to do (listing just my first visit to each park this year)

The passing of Will Koch. I made my first trek to Holiday World this summer and was looking forward to being greeted by him when I entered the gate, but I was a few days too late. I know he had a lot more to offer the theme park world, and I just hope Holiday World continues going on as strongly as it did under his guidance.

Another vote for Hotel Breakers. If you book early and stay in the "old section" of the hotel, you can get a pretty good rate. The perks are great, and I also enjoyed the Tomo Hibachi restaurant inside the hotel.

The longest I specifically remember was 2.5 hours for DL's Splash Mountain in 1989, the summer it opened. I think I waited around that long for DL's Space Mountain when it reopened in 2005, but I don't remember exactly. I may have waited that long for X2 once in '09, but that was partly because the ride broke down multiple times while we waited.

I spent a few hours at SFMM today, and Superman was testing the whole time I was there. It's still got the old cars going forward, but it was reaching significantly further up the tower than it has been in recent years.

The lapbars weren't too tight. Though I didn't experience any air, I did enjoy the speed of the ride. I haven't ridden Nitro or any other B&M hyper besides Diamondback, so I can't say for sure. From POVs, they look pretty similar, though I know those can be deceiving. All I can say is it was well worth the trip from CA, though if it wasn't for Diamondback, I'd have little reason to return to KI.

I have to go with X2.

This summer, I went on my first significant theme park trip, leaving behind California so I could ride some real roller coasters. Okay, California has a pretty nice assortment, but I wanted to go on those rides I see on the top ten lists. Voyage, Millennium Force, Maverick, Diamondback! My biggest worry was the weather. I've read so many horror stories about Cedar Point in the rain, and I sure didn't want to miss out on any rides. Luckily, the weather was gorgeous the entire time, and I did not see a single raindrop over the course of the trip. The first stop was Cedar Point, where I stayed at Hotel Breakers and spent two full days at the park. I began with hotel guest/season passholder ERT on Millennium Force and Maverick. While both rides are great, I must admit my first ride on each was underwhelming. Millennium Force is, well, forceless, and Maverick is not as intense as many make it out to be. I re-rode both rides, and after forgetting the hype, they are both great coasters. Millennium Force is especially good at night, though I do wish it had some air. Next up was Top Thrill Dragster, and this was the only time I waited in line for an hour during my trip. It is a great ride, though I don't feel the extra height and speed make it much better than its smaller cousin in the West, Xcelerator. The rest of the roller coasters: Blue Streak, Gemini, Magnum XL-200 - These were my favorite rides. Tons of airtime on each, though after repeated rides I experienced some lapbar soreness. Cedar Creek Mine Ride - The worst ride of this type I've been on. Disaster Transport - Underrated, tons of fun. Iron Dragon, Corkscrew - weak Wildcat - fun for what it is Raptor - a solid B&M invert, though I'm not a huge fan of these in general Mantis - I hate these things, rode it just for the credit. Woodstock Express - decent kiddie Mean Streak - The most hilarious ride of the trip. Yes, it's rough as heck, but after the ridiculously trimmed first drop, we trudged through that course so sluggishly that I didn't feel any pain. The whole train was laughing through the whole ride. Wicked Twister - I did not ride this one due to the 6'6" max height restriction. For the record, TTD and Maverick also post this restriction in the station (not on the entrance sign), but I was allowed to ride because I fit in the seat and my head did not exceed the headrest. Wicked Twister actually posts the restriction on the entrance sign, so I didn't bother trying to ride. I assume the issue there is with the dangling feet, and I don't want to take any chances. Overall, I had a blast at Cedar Point. The rides are great, and the park is huge. Despite it basically being a big slab of concrete, its peninsula setting adds to the charm. The hotel is great too and well worth the cost. Park number two was Kings Island. I spent two half days at the park, with the other halves spent driving. The park was very quiet, with Diamondback never having more than a 15-minute line. Oddly, the longest lines were for Firehawk and Flight of Fear in the back of the park. The roller coasters: Diamondback - The greatest steel coaster I've been on. The floater air is pure bliss, with lots of hangtime over those hills. It is also one of the most comfortable coaster cars I've been in. Overall a fabulous ride, and I got to ride it over a dozen times because it hardly had a line. The Beast - I'm surprised I don't hear more about this coaster's roughness. This thing hurt me like no other coaster besides GhostRider. I planned on making this the last ride of the night, as I've heard so much about its magical nighttime rides, but after the painful daytime ride I made Diamondback the night ride instead. Firehawk - Much better than expected. It wasn't rough at all and was pretty fun. Not as good as Tatsu, of course, but darn solid. Flight Deck, Adventure Express, Backlot Stunt Coaster - solid, if unspectacular Flight of Fear - Excellent indoor coaster. I generally don't care for rides with lots of inversions, but without OTSRs they are so much fun! The Racer - Decent woodie Vortex - Typical pain-filled Arrow looper. For comparison, I enjoy Viper much more. Woodstock Express - The best kiddie I've been on. Fun little woodie. Invertigo - Did not ride due to max height restriction. Kings Island is a fun park, mostly due to Diamondback being so sweetly awesome. The park lacks charm, but I still liked it. The final park on the trip was my most anticipated, Holiday World, and it did not disappoint. The roller coasters: The Voyage - My new favorite coaster, even though I can't say it's perfect. Everything up until the last 1,000 feet or so is pure heaven, enough to put it above Diamondback for me. I do wish the ride ended there, though, as the silly series of quick turns at the end can be pretty headache-inducing after a few rides. Raven - A fun coaster, but a bit overrated. Not really much to say about it. The Legend - And this one is underrated. I like this one a lot more than Raven. I did not ride Wildebeest as I did not want to get completely soaked. I'm sure I'm missing out, but I don't mind. I did ride Pilgrims Plunge and did not enjoy it all. The drop is unspectacular, and it lands HARD, causing a bit of butt pain. Overall, Holiday World was fantastic. The cheap food, free drinks/sunscreen and friendly atmosphere make it an A+ park. Those clouds look threatening, but the rain did not come. I was this close to an Intamin cable and I live to talk about it. They took the tunnel... and came out with bruised legs. This here's the wildest ride in the wilder... er, this side of the Pecos! I thought this ride was supposed to be twisty. I thought this ride was supposed to get you wet. Woohoo! Airtime! Oh, wait, never mind. This is Millennium Force we're on. I was surprised to discover they officially changed the name of the ride. Chugga chugga choo choo! Sit down, people. You're on a roller coaster! Either Raptor is super fast or someone can't hold a camera still. I drove south from Cedar Point and somehow ended up in Paris. Splaaaassshhhhhhhdown! I do like how Vortex starts out, heading into that straight drop. The Beast looms in the forest... ...while his mutant offspring prepares for the end. Though no Tatsu, this was a surprisingly fun ride. This great junior woodie has more airtime than Millennium Force! In other words, it features very brief airtime. decent log ride with a little Peanuts theming Red takes the lead! Can Blue catch up? Nah, Red's pulling pretty far ahead. I drove southwest from Kings Island and somehow ended up at the North Pole. They call this the Lewis and Clark Trail. Didn't realize those two had a car. Holiday World doesn't have Dippin' Dots, so I had to go to the Mini Melts guy for the lowdown on those Timberliners. Second best coaster in the park! Sorry, Raven. You were fun, but you disappointed me. Oh, Lord, please accept this football as a token of my faith. Okay, I cheated the angle a bit. This turn is only banked about 45 degrees. Almost time for a dusk ride on the Voyage amongst the fireflies.