The Bebes
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continued...
We left Busch Gardens Europe and sadly concluded The Bebes’ Theme Park Tour: Part Deux! We would travel to Norfolk for some BBQ and ice cream at Doumar’s (the inventor of the ice cream cone) and an overnight stay at Mr. Bebe’s friend, Joe’s house. Tomorrow we fly back to Los Angeles.
Throughout the entire rain filled trip, we managed to ride every adult roller coaster with the exception of Exterminator at Kennywood, a credit we already had.
13 days, 12 parks, 70 roller coasters, 66 NEW credits, and a lifetime of memories!!!!
Riding a kiddie coaster in the lightning scared the piss out of Lady Bebe. Another trip to the Loo.
Grover’s Alpine Express. It was still running, so we snapped a quick pic and rushed through the queue. Just as we got to the gate there was an announcement over the park loudspeaker regarding the closure of the rides. The ride ops were discussing with each other whether or not they were supposed to stop operating, as they hadn’t gotten a call from management. We asked them to send us through before checking, and they did!!!
As we passed by Escape from Pompeii, there was a bright flash. “Was that lightning?” And then a great Crash of Thunder. Oh No! We better haul ass so we can get our final new credit of the entire 13 day journey on….
We headed though Oktoberfest and San Marco and back to Apollo’s Chariot again. We were going to wait for the front, but chose the second row to speed things up. We got on in just a few trains and had a nice ride near the front, but the back was better. The clouds were building and we still needed one more coaster.
After the cruise, we climbed up the ramp on the Germany side and went to Curse of DarKastle again. There was absolutely no one there and we walked right on.
Swans and turtles inhabited the river. Apparently, they could care less about the rain.
We headed back to Scotland and down a ramp to the Rhine River Cruise.
There was an animal show starting soon, so we high tailed it back to the wildlife area in Ireland. The show was fun, but the similar one at Seaworld San Diego was better.
We walked around and watched the river rapids. Then, we spent a few quarters blasting the riders with water guns. Great fun when you get them from all sides! Muah ha ha!!!
The whole ordeal made Lady Bebe have to pee like a Clydesdale.
We were on the second train, in the very back. Much like Nitro at SFGAdv, Apollo’s Chariot was a fun ride filled with floater air. The best part was the little pop, just as you come to the final brake run. As our train pulled in, they were escorting people off of the train in front of us. Yes, Apollo broke. We sat strapped in our seats outside the station behind the train in front of us. It started raining again and there was nothing we could do about it. After about 10min., they sent the train in front of us up the lift and brought our train into the station, where we were manually released from our lap bars.
Dejected, we waited in the station, hoping that whatever “weather” was threatening would pass soon. After about 30 minutes, the ride was reopened. They cycled the two trains once each, then loaded up.
And just as we got there, they shut it down. Inclement Weather.
Apollo’s Chariot! We finally made it around to where we tried to start!
The next stop was Festa Italia. It was still Italy, but more like a carnival. And it had a few big attractions, including….
There was no big attraction in San Marco, but there were several flat rides. We didn’t ride.
More cool scenery, and more imposing storm clouds.
Mrs. Giannantonio couldn’t care less about long lost relatives and goes for the fresh, homemade vino! Salute!!!
The next region that the Giannanotonios visited was the Italian district of San Marco. Would the Giannantonios find any long lost Italian relatives in this Venetian sestiere?
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DAY 12: Busch Gardens Europe
Friday June 5, 2009
We awoke Friday morning ready to visit our final theme park of the trip: Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, Va.
Big Bad Wolf is a suspended coaster, and one of the best. It has some fun scenery and a great dive after a second mid-course lift hill. We waited about 15 minutes and only rode it the one time.
We continued our our journey onward (in the next post below)...
After lunch we headed for the Big Bad Wolf, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary.
And off to Der Restroom!!!
Completely Drunk.
The Platter and The Beer (partially drunk).
Here is the Menu. We shared a Festhaus Sampler Platter (Knockwurt, Bratwurst, and Smoked Sausage with Red Cabbage, German Potato Salad, Sauerkraut, and a roll). And, of course, what Oktoberfest party would be complete without a beer!!!
Inside Der Festhaus you could get cupcakes in the guise of Elmo & Cookie Monster.
This is what it would’ve looked like if Justin ate at Der Festhaus with The Bebes.
Outside of DarKastle, we spotted another sad panda and remembered our friend, Justin, who was supposed to come on the trip with us, but backed out at the last minute.
We boarded the 8 person chariot and entered the Kastle. This was the absolute coolest dark ride we’ve ever been on!!!! A hard to describe combination of 3-D animation, motion, and physical elements. Worth the wait!
Immediately inside the Oktoberfest section is The Curse of DarKastle. This was the first attraction that had a significant line. We waited nearly 45 minutes before reaching the ride cars.
And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for!!! Oktoberfest!
Lady Bebe illegally poses for a picture on the carousel horse.
Dame Bebe geht zur Toilette.
The nude fountain in Germany will make your lizard spit.
This oversized German kid offered Mr. Bebe fellatio for 9Euro. Nein!!!
Germany!!!
Oh, my!!! Noon already! Time to get going to….
Oui oui, mais nous étions douloureux après écraser par une barrière en bois (The cheese is old and moldy).
Fantôme d'Alpes was a good, forceful inverted coaster with lots of looping. We rode a second time in the front to experience the wondrous French Canadian Alps first hand. Did we survive???
Undeterred, Lady Bebe rushed past the crowd, pushing and clawing her way to the very back of the lift.
As we made our way to the ride, we noticed this poor skier, who had been flung from Alpengeist and through the roof of a refreshment stand.
The big attraction in New France is Alpengeist, which when translated from French, means…. Well…. Nothing.
It’s German. Spirit of the Alps. The Alps?!! In Canada?!!
Anyway, Alpengeist (Fantôme d'Alpes in French) is an inverted coaster themed to a ski resort, making it like some sort of malfunctioning ski lift.
New France was full of old west style log cabins, Kodiak bears, and a wonderfully delicious smelling smokehouse. However, this area was quite neglected. Somebody spilled this whole bucket of flowers and didn’t even clean up after themselves. How aboot that!!
This is where Busch Gardens Europe gets a little bit discombobulated, as our next themed land was New France. This would be early 1800s Quebec, Canada (a far cry from Europe, eh).
Lady Bebe’s daddy collects squished pennies, and prefers a good squished and stretched backside to the stamped side, so we brought a coupe dozen pre-1970 pennies along with us on Theme Park Tour: Part Deux.
This was the Bebe’s first ever B&M dive machine, another TPT:P2 first! We rode twice. Once in the back and once in the front. The stop and hang at the dive point was neat in the front. Overall, a nice smooth ride. Short, but sweet.
While Mr. Bebe was loading into the seats, he slipped and landed his “taint” on the center leg divider. Ouch!
This floorless B&M dive machine has a train of three cars that seat 10 across.
And the newest addition to the park’s coaster collection: Griffon.
Our European tour continues into France…
After you pass through the Irish Village, you enter a small wildlife area, where there are a number of injured bald eagles who can no longer fly. Because of their inability to fly, they are kept in the habitat with only a small 3ft fence. Super cool! Next door to the eagles is a wolf den.
The only attraction in Ireland (aside from the Leprechauns and the rain) is Corkscrew Hill, a 4-D adventure ride. It was sort of lame, but kept us dry for a few minutes.
While Lady Bebe was indisposed, Mr. Bebe eyeballed Grogan’s Pub.
Lady Bebe went searching for leprechauns in the Irish restroom.
Next on our journey was Ireland, complete with the greenery and the rain.
The famous interlocking looping coaster was fun in some regards (the long cave run) but ho-hum in other areas (lots of slowing). By the time the train returned, the queue was quite full. We didn’t stay for a second ride.
There was hardly any crowd when we got there and we waited for the front.
In Scotland, we encountered the mythical monster of Loch Ness.
Busch Gardens Europe is separated into 9 different themed areas: England, Scotland, Ireland, France, New France, Germany, Oktoberfest, Italy, and Festa Italia. We decided to head straight for Apollos Chariot in Festa Italia, but we were quickly turned away. Italy doesn’t open at 10am with the rest of the park. So we followed the crowd to Scotland.
Big Ben says that it is 10:15am already, and we need to get on our way.
…and then she was cast off to the stockade.
Lady Bebe made Mr. Bebe try on this bloody hot dog hat. Bullocks!
We walked onward into the main entrance portal of Busch Gardens; an area themed to England, complete with a red phone booth.
But first, Lady Bebe must use the restroom.
Busch Gardens Europe is a really nicely themed and landscaped park! We headed inside.
We arrived at the park right before it opened. Since we have a Platinum Seaworld season pass, we got free preferred parking and free admission. But the parking lot was pretty vacant. Other than a couple busses (grrrr!!!), it looked like the crowds were going to be pretty light.
A quick glance outside proved that our day would be a challenge. There was rain, and a good amount of it! We put on our raincoats, checked out of the Days Inn, and hopped in the car. Busch Gardens, Here we come!
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I'm so glad to see B:TR getting so much love here. I've always contended that I like it more than other B&M inverts because of its' intense compact nature. Runner up: Alpengeist.
Most Intense Single Element: TATSU Pretzel Loop! Makes S:UF pretzel loop seem like a kiddie coaster.
-Mr. Bebe
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The Bebes are pretty sure they spotted the big man waving a white hat!
Is it true?!!
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Of the woodies we have ridden as of 2009:
El Toro!!!!!
No Contest.
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Thanks everybody for all of your kind words! Here is a response for some of the recent questions that The Bebes have been asked:
Loved the Love Among Freaks reference! (or was it Jay and Silent Bob?)
Do you guys post your hotel reviews on Trip Advisor? I know many would appreciate the cockroach story if they were contemplating a visit.
YES, The "Berserker" reference is from Clerks!!! Good Catch! We were hoping some people would get that!
We haven't posted any of our hotel reports on trip advisor, but perhaps we should. Many places we stayed on this trip were great values, and others were just plain horrible.
Bebes!!!Are you heading to Kings Island anytime soon?
-Zach
It is not likely that we will visit King's Island anytime soon, Zach. We visited in 2006 on Theme Park Tour: The O.G. We have been wanting to return to Holiday World in an upcoming trip, so perhaps KI could squeeze its way in, especially if they open ANOTHER new attraction in addition to Diamondback by then.
Sarah loves anything with an Eiffel Tower!How cool! When we were married in Las Vegas, we had dinner in the Paris Hotel's Eiffel Tower Restaurant. On our honeymoon (a transatlantic cruise to Europe), we had lunch in the restaurant inside the REAL Eiffel Tower in Paris, France on our 2-week anniversary. So, the Eiffel Tower is very special to us too!!
King's Dominion was the 3rd Eiffel Tower that we've been in. Sadly, we didn't even bother with King's Island's tower in 2006.
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Perhaps I missed this somewhere, but inquiring minds want to know - what is the origin of the "Bebe" moniker?
Glad you asked, Moina! It's really quite simple.
When we started dating, we began calling eachother "Baby". As in, "Hey, Baby, you want to go to The Sizzler tonight?"
Our own laziness lead to the slurred pronunciation of the word "Baby" as Beh-Beh.
It got to the point where we never call eachother by eachother's name and only refer to eachother as Bebe.
When we would play games and such, the scorecards would read Bebe and Bebe, with a gender symbol nearby to designate which Bebe was which.
When we began posting as The Bebes, we changed to Lady and Mr. to differentiate, since gender symbols aren't available in these text boxes.
So, for those of you wondering: We are Corey and Danielle Giannantonio aka The Bebes (pronounced Beh-Behs, NOT BeeBees).
So if you see us around, please call out,"Hey Bebes!!!!"
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It's not *SO* bad. It just doesn't run as well as others. I don't know why, but it doesn't.
-Mr. Bebe
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DAY 11: King’s Dominion
Thursday June 4, 2009
We woke up this morning hopeful that we would not get rained out and that all of the roller coasters at King’s Dominion would be fully operational. Rain was in the forecast for the next several days, so we put on our raincoats and headed to the breakfast room at the Days Inn Richmond on Chamberlayne Rd. The room wasn’t looking so good, the selection sparse, and then a cockroach ran out of the juice machine. We left the Days Inn and went to the McDonald’s across the street instead.
We stopped at a souvenir shop and spotted another “sad panda”. Hopefully the rain will avoid us and we won’t be sad pandas like Justin at our last theme park of TPT:P2; Busch Gardens Williamsburg…….
We went to dinner at Pierce’s Pitt BBQ. It was OK, but a little pricey for its portions. By the time we left it was pouring rain.
Another Days Inn. This one in Willimsburg, and much nicer than the last!
Mr. Bebe was obsessed with this freaky old Buick station wagon.
And then she TOUCHED it!!! Rumor has it that park management deemed it contaminated by Lady Bebe’s touch and had it replaced with a different ride. Does anybody know if that’s true?
Lady Bebe got out and got some close-up shots. This one has some writing on it if anyone cares to decipher its meaning.
We drove up closer to the pieces.
There were some workers building a fence to hold the parts, and the area of the fence was looking large.
On our way out, we noticed the new attraction parts near the main parking lot.
We ended up having a good day at King’s Dominion. We got every credit in the park, re-rides on most everything, and it only sprinkled a little bit.
We finished our day at King’s Dominion with four laps on Dominator. Does anybody know why the ride was re-painted a slightly orange color, but the first big loop is still Geauga Lake yellow??? Weird.
Do you want to S*CK my F*CK? Berserker!
As soon as Danielle took the last name of Giannantonio, she claimed to be Italian. And to prove it, she baked this pizza pie all by herself. It tasted like cardboard.
The seatbelts said “For Marine Use Only”. Since neither of us belongs to any branch of the armed services, we went without them for this ride.
Then we headed for a flat ride called space surfer. Just as we got there, it closed down. The problem seemed to be with the restraints releasing, so we waited nearby. It opened about 5 min later and we rode. The ride was not much more than a spinning swing ride.
We grabbed a bite to eat at Chick-fil-A. Yummy!!! Nuggets!!!
Our friend, Justin, who was supposed to come on the trip with us said that he was a “sad panda”; and this reminded us of him.
And another spin on Volcano. Farthest back this time, and it still creeped through the exterior elements. A fun ride at the start, but it needs a little more speed after exiting the Volcano.
Then we went deep into the heart of the Congo for a couple re-rides on Avalanche.
Mr. Bebe wonders if he is authorized to enter. But enters anyway. It was quite a fun launched spaghetti bowl in the dark. We rode twice.
I guess that’s it. No more coasters here at King’s Dominion. But it doesn’t add up. We’re missing Flight of Fear! It was completely closed when we were over by Anaconda in the morning and has no markings that lead people to it. Maybe it’s inside this warehouse over here.
We decided to ride Drop Zone. And although we had thought we had ridden one before, we were completely caught off-guard when it thrust us downward. That was pleasant.
The pre-ride show was even more fantastic!!!
Then it was Togo’s Masterpiece, Shockwave. Bad sign, bad paint job, bad mechanical design; but an all right ride overall. We did get jarred a little, but the layout was neat.
Time for Lady Bebe to take another spin on Toilet Bowl: The Ride.
Mr. Bebe spews into the trashcan after riding Hurler. It truly lives up to its’ name.
Hurler is open!!! Our hearts are mended! The ride was fine. Lots of good lateral G’s. It actually starts out good, but loses steam fast. We rode front and back. And WHY do they call it Hurler?
While we were on Grizzly, we saw that Hurler was testing.
We rode front and back. Not a bad ride, but all together forgettable.
Grizzly didn’t have anyone in line.
The wooden Grizzly bear in the queue violated Lady Bebe. Who wishes they were the groping grizzly?
Lady Bebe was doing the pee-pee dance, so she got the first re-ride of the day on Toilet Bowl: The Ride.
Unfortunately, Hurler was closed. The Bebes were heartbroken.
So we headed around the corner to Ricochet. Wild Mouse + The Bebes = Sucks.
We brandished our best Billy Idol faces for White Wedd…errr… Rebel Yell. And we cried, “More, More Mo-o-ore!!!” But we only rode it once. The weather was threatening and we needed to get all of our credits before there could be any re-rides.
Never-the-less, we waited for the front seat again. This time they strapped us in, and we were off! Whoosh!!! Acceleration…a turnaround …Whoosh!!! Straight up and out of the volcano. That was really neat and fun. But then, the train creeped through the rest of the ride. What’s with all of these trains going so slow today???
Of course, the line for Volcano: The Blast was a lot longer today than it was yesterday.
That brings us back to the coaster that we were unseated from yesterday due to inclement weather. And, as we had perfectly planned it, Volcano: The Blast would be our 150th career roller coaster.
Next, we were on to Anaconda, the arrow looper that goes over the water and through an underwater tunnel. This was another loser. It had a lot of trim brakes and took the course at about 7mph. After we got off, the lady behind us said “I didn’t think we were gonna make it through some of those inversions.” Neither did we.
BackLot Stunt Coaster. We tried to ride this three years ago at King’s Island and it broke down while we were in line. Finally, we get to try it out. NOBODY else went for this ride, so we hopped right in and off we went. Overall, it was sort of boring. It had a few neat moments but, overall, not too exciting. This was our one and only ride on BLSC.
But Lady Bebe stopped him to use the restroom.
Finally, they dropped the rope and release the park-goers. Mr. Bebe ran toward BackLot Stunt Coaster, his arms flailing like a madman.
There’s Dominator!!! Doesn't it have a nice yellow loop?
It was REALLY foggy this morning and most of our shots didn’t turn out.
We decided to go up the tower and snap some aerial overhead photos.
As soon as they opened the gates, everyone headed straight for Dominator and Berserker. We, on the other hand, went straight for BackLot Stunt Coaster. But the area was closed off. The only things open for the first half hour were Dominator, Berserker, and the Eiffel Tower.
There were so many school kids waiting to get in that we could hardly move. Mr. Bebe’s blood was really boiling now!
But we were able to snag a primo parking spot right in front of the main gate. Our spot from yesterday was two spaces closer, where the white PT Cruiser is now.
We headed to King’ Dominion, getting there about ten minutes before the gates opened. There were some buses in the parking lot, which made Mr. Bebe’s blood boil.
Our fingers were crossed in hopes that the rest of our trip was better than the Days Inn Richmond.
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Mr. Bebe would recommend Hershey over Dorney.
Better ride selection and better atmosphere in general.
Both Parks have good BM inverts.
Both parks have stupid wild mouse.
Dorney has a great hypercoaster; Hershey does not.
Dorney has a good LIM U-shape launched coaster, Hershey has a launched comlete circuit phenom (StormRunner).
Dorney has an old coaster called Thunderhawk & Hershey's is Comet.
Dorey's Hydra is the worst of the Floorless models i've ridden (still a decent ride), albeit the most unique. Hershey's Fahrenheit & Lightning Racers are awesome.
Dorney doesnt have anything else. Hershey Does.
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Yeah, those look like good burgers!!!
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The Bebes were stapled our first few ride (before Termination Day) and learned to lean our weight up into the restraints, so when they push down, it doesn't click to the very last possible notch.
^^SuperShawn,
I got blinded too, and it's cool because you just start to regain your vision as you hit the first tunnel!
-Mr. Bebe
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LOL
We watched this episode and didn't even recognize Elissa... but we remembered the rug cursing!!
That is soooo awesome!!
Lady Bebe has been trying to convince Mr. Bebe to audition for the show. Maybe this will give him the push that he needs!
Way to let that rug know who was boss, Elissa!... Or, is it Elisa???
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Hi A.J.,
I just came across your thread! I'm interested in hearing how your trip to Hersheypark went!! What did you ride? Have you conquered your fears??
I hope so.
- Lady bebe
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The Bebes' vote has been cast for Steel First!!
Good Luck depotrat!!
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I wish I could rent that extra room out by you and convert it into a Big Mike West Coast World Headquarters!
Peace, Big Mike
Our empty room would make an excellent Big Mike West Coast World Headquarters!! Should we send you the rental contract??
I saw the Bebe's at Termination day, but sadly didn't introduce myself. A bad move by me.Bad on you, Shawn!
I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you around, too. You're hard to miss!
The Bebes are also very shy about introducing themselves to people and wished that we went out of our way to meet more, or talk more.
We will most definately be at WCB 2010 and possibly invade a few parks on TPR's West Coast Trip in August. So if you're there, definately come say hi!!!
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^ Hey! We rode with you guys a couple of times, thought you looked familiar.
Btw, I loved your guys' interpretation of the ride audio. I was laughing the whole time! "HERE THEY COME!!"
I remeber seeing you there too! I practically lost my voice after so many rides on the broken audio train!!!
^^^^Calicoasters,
You totally had me going! I felt aweful and started tearing up. You can't dump a good partner just because they're racist!!!
^^^Big Mike,
There were TONS of cool people there that we didn't even get a chance to meet!!!
-Mr. Bebe
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...continued
It took a solid two hours to get to King’s Dominion and Lady Bebe napped most of the way. We got Free Parking and Free Admission at King’s Dominion with our Cedar Fair Platinum Passes. There was NOBODY at the park and we got a spot right by the front gate.
But it wasn’t pizza we were after. It was The Village Café, a local eatery that we heard about on TV.
Mr. Bebe got a calzone, but they were out of marinara sauce. Lady Bebe had banana pancakes. And The Bebes shared a plate of beer-batter onion rings.
Back to the room for some rest. It was still raining and nothng but rain in the forecast for the rest of our trip. Hopefully, we’ll be able to pick up the 9 additional credits at King’s Dominion. Fingers crossed. stay tuned….
After relaxing and catching up on our internet business, we headed to Richmond for dinner (late dinner actually).
Our friend Justin was supposed to come on the Theme Park Tour with us, but backed out at the last minute for work. But he told us to be a little more Extreme in his absence, and this place reminded us of our fallen friend.
We arrived at the Days Inn Richmond at 5701-A Chamberlayne Rd. It was NOT a very good place. It had holes in the walls, bad carpet and was just generally run down. More about this place in the next trip report.
We hopped in the car and headed toward our Day’s Inn Richmond. It started raining quite heavy.
Why was everything closed? It’s not like there was lightning directly above Dominator’s cobra roll.
Disappointment became utter sadness.
Anger became disappointment.
The guy at the Dipping Dots stand said the park wasn't going to re-open anything with the rain coming and only a half-hour remaining, so we left in anger!
We asked the guy at the ICEE stand if he was closed due to the storm and he gave Lady Bebe a Free ICEE!!!
Anaconda and Backlot Stunt Coaster were too.
We waited a few minutes before deciding to leave and look for something else. Avalanche and The Crypt next door were both closed and being guarded.
No fluffly fluffy bunny filled medicine and goo policy here, as they brought a cart around and collected personal items from people in line.
After all of the personal items were collected, the gates opened and we boarded the ride. We clicked our OTS down. The ride ops came by and checked our restraints. Clear for launch. Click. Our restraints pop open. “Please step back into the queue”, they say. “The ride has been suspended due to INCLEMENT WEATHER". We looked at eachother in amazement. There was no wind, no rain, and it was still mostly sunny! WTF!
Next door was Volcano: The Blast. This cool concept ride shoots riders straight up and out of the crater of a volcano, then twists them around the mountain. Mr. Bebe was excited about Volcano: The Blast. The line for the front seat was only three trains, so we figure we’d get our front seat ride first.
Avalanche!!!!! Another first for the Bebes on TPT:P2 was this bobsled coaster. We rode together in the front and absolutely loved this ride! It was sooo fun and different. We rode again, separately, in the middle, and it wasn’t so good. But together in the front rocked!!!
It seemed as if the clouds were starting to roll in so we headed on to the next ride.
On to the Congo! We saw Tomb Raider: Outdoor Edition and remembered how much we dislike the Indoor Version at KI, so we skipped it, but it looks really nice!!!
Next door was the big blue wooden kiddie coaster, Scooby Doo’s Ghoster Coaster. I suppose the only thing that makes this a coaster a kiddie coaster is that the trains are really small, and most adults would have a hard time fitting in.
Since the kiddie area was right here, we headed for Taxi Jam. Oh no, another one of those kiddie coasters that requires adults to have children with them.
There were two kids on the ride in the front seat and Lady Bebe persuaded them to split up and ride one with each Bebe. So Mr. Bebe rode the front seat with one random kid and Lady Bebe road the second row with the other random kid. If a credit “whore” is one who rides kiddie coasters for a credit, then what is it when you USE children in your “whoring”. Does that make us “credit molesters”?
Oooooohhhh, Scary. Once we reached the loading station, the ride had broken down. We left, and unfortunately, forgot to ever return.
We headed in the direction toward the Congo area and hit The Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion along the way.
A panoramic stitch shot of the Dominator train station. You can see just how busy it is! Batman: Knight Flight, errrr, Dominator is still a great B&M floorless ride. Silky smooth, fast and fun.
Lady Bebe was terrified by the pre-ride show.
Finally inside, we hit Dominator. This is the B&M floorless that we formerly rode at Geauga Lake when it was called Dominator.
We went to Guest Relations to ask if what rides might close tomorrow if it rains, just as we did at Hershey Park. They said that most everything will continue to operate if it rains, just like they said at Hershey Park. OK. How about our Knott’s Passes? Does Guest Relations need to process them, or will they scan at the main gate. They’ll scan, he says. They didn’t and we were sent back to Guest Relations.
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DAY 10: Six Flags America & then…
Wednesday June 3, 2009
We woke up pretty early, packed our bags, and grabbed a bite to eat before leaving the Howard Johnson Cheverly.
This was a pretty decent economy hotel. It was clean, had a decent continental breakfast, and was secure (you needed your room key to open the front door at night).
Lady Bebe still had her cough but, otherwise, felt well. We hopped in the car and headed off to Six Flags America.
Lady Bebe retrieves the water-soaked photo tickets from her pocket and presents them at the photo booth. That would end our day at SFA around 3:30pm. All-in-all, a pretty nice park with a fairly decent selection of rides and really friendly staff. We enjoyed SFA, but we’re off to get in a couple hours at King’s Dominion!!!!
Continued in the next post….
Our minds have been erased by Vekoma.
We boarded the front seat, had a nice conversation with the ride-op, and off we go!!! This is pretty much your standard Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, complete with poor transitions, but not as bad as T2 at SFKK!!!
We could’ve walked on, but decided to wait ONE whole train for the front seat. Hmmm. That’s not an encouraging sight!
Heinz says that Mind Eraser s definitely going to be worth the wait. Hopefully it won’t be as horrible and painful as some of the SLCs out there!!
The last roller coaster credit was Mind Eraser. The original Vekoma Hang n Bang. Oh Joy!!!!
Take THAT, Old Man!!!
There he is! Walking away like he didn’t do anything!! “I want to punch him!” wet Lady Bebe exclaims.
Sorry Lady Bebe!!! And the worst thing was that just as our raft left the station, an old man loaded up his sideline water gun and shot The Bebes!!! Why is everybody aiming for The Bebs today??!!
Love the ride rules on the canoe!
#3: Have a Nice Bath!!!
Anybody that knows Lady Bebe knows that she HATES to get wet, but she decided to follow Mr. Bebe onto the Renegade Rapids.
The Rodeo rocked and spun these bulls in all sorts of directions. Fun ride, but the loading procedure took forever!
We went right for a flat ride called Rodeo. Since I am illiterate I have to rely on pictures to inform me. Pic #4 says I can’t ride if I’ve recently ingested lima beans. Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have had that succotash with Sylvester this morning for breakfast!!!!
Next we entered the Old Western Town.
We happened to catch a swashbuckling pirate show on our way out of Skull Island. It was quite silly and not particularly good, but we watched the rest of it anyway.
They were running two trains on Roar. Here comes the train that we would be boarding. Good thing we weren’t waiting for Row 6 or 7!!! We walked on the front and then switched to the back for our second ride. Roar was mostly uneventful. It had a short span in the middle that was quite fun where it felt out of control and flew through a tunnel. But otherwise, was just OK.
Lady Bebe ROARS for the GCI woodie at SFA.
Unacceptable amount of wetness (mostly due to the kids, not the ride)
More interesting theming here as we make our way to Skull Mountain, a log flume type ride. It actually has a roller-coaster style bunny hill in the middle. Toward the end, your flume rotates 90 degrees before plunging down the final hill. I was expecting it to reverse you like the one at Walibi Holland, but it didn’t. We managed to survive the ride without getting too wet, then some kids spent a couple quarters and soaked us with the spectator water guns!!!! Oh those kids!!!!!
Heading toward Skull Island we realized that crowds probably weren’t going to be an issue today. You know you’re doing well when the trash cans outnumber the park-goers.
This is your standard kiddie coaster that only children and whores would ride, and in a few places it hurt. Why are we such whores???
Following a quick trip to first aid for Mole related injuries; we went on The Great Chase kiddie coaster. Exciting!
WHACK!
Time for a game of Whac-a-Mole!!! There’s the mole.
We left Gotham City and headed for Six Flags America’s classic woodie, The Wild One. Originally constructed in 1917, Wild One has been burnt to the ground a few times, rebuilt, and in the mid 80s relocated to Six Flags America. It was an OK woodie, if only for nostalgia, with a few nice hills and a good helix to finish.
Lady Bebe + The Bathroom.
…and then through this tangles mess of steel. Although it sort of plodded its way through most of the layout, it did pick up speed toward the end and finished with a nice corkscrew. We rode twice, front and back, as usual and had fun with the Jinx.
Joker’s Jinx is a launched spaghetti bowl coaster. It launches riders though a tunnel…
Another shot of the Jinx entrance, with the ride in the background. Nobody in line.
There was a sea serpent in the water that ate Lady Bebe, but puked her up right next to Joker’s Jinx. Whew!!!
At the end of the second ride, lady Bebe fell from the raft. The Penguin reached out to help save her, but couldn’t reach with his stubby arms, and she sunk to the depths.
You are seated in these multi-colored rafts, similar to those of a Roaring Rapids ride. The lift takes you up, and you are released down a winding water chute. The first time you hit a wall, the raft begins to spin and spin, faster and faster. Quite a fun ride and we didn’t get wet at all! We rode again.
It was a pretty warm morning and we decided to brave the Penguin’s Blizzard River. It looked like some sort of ride that should be in Hurricane Harbor, but it was in Gotham City, so we assumed it wasn’t really a waterpark water ride.
Batwing is a Vekoma Flying coaster. We rode Batwing in the back; and then again in the front.
The back was quite rough and rattled our heads. The front wasn’t as bad, but Batwing certainly didn’t ride as well as its’ clone, X-Flight (aka Firebird at KI).
Also, the paint looked crappy and the placement of the ride sucked.
Mr. Bebe must be confused. His Bat Pose looks more like the Karate Kid’s CRANE move. Quick Robin, to the Crane-Mobile!!!
Next, we were going to go to Batwing. I know it’s somewhere back here by Superman. I can see the ride. How do we get to it? Sheesh! The walkway toward the ride is pretty discreet. But there is a sign that marks the way. This is Lady Bebes’ Bat Pose.
We were able to get a one-train wait for the front and a walk-on in the back. It was a nice speedy ride and sure to be the best at the park!
SROS is an 200ft Intamin Hypercoaster that takes 75mph. It has a great first couple of drops, a powerful double helix,& finishes with a series of bunny hills.
It extends into a very barren flatland area that sort of sucks.
We weren’t the first to get there, but as you can see, there wasn’t much of a crowd.
Our first ride of the day: Superman Ride of Steel.
We quickly made our way to Gotham City in the back of the park, figuring to beat any potential crowds to the big ticket rides (SROS and Batwing) before it got busy. More nice scenery along the way!!!
A closer look at the Big Switch
We reached the big plantation house in town square where they were holding back the crowd from proceeding further into the park. There was a big opening ceremony in progress. Sylvester assisted a little girl with switching the Big Switch and the park was Open!!!
Revolutionary Heroes Statue.
There was a very nice replica of the Liberty Bell (see our Philly post pg.11 for the real deal), and some of the nicest Six Flags bathrooms I’ve seen!!!
The main street area is themed as if it were late 1700’s America, just following the revolutionary war. Quite nice!!!
We entered the park, grabbed a park map and got our photo snapped. We rarely buy the park photos, but love to look at them. They let us in even though it wasn’t 10:30am yet. Not only was this place looking good, but the staff was super friendly too!!!
Here we are at Six Flags America. We had heard about how bad this place was, so our expectations weren’t very high. And our first impression at the main gate: How Cute!!!
We got Free parking with our Six Flags Season Pass Parking add-on. There were a couple buses and not many cars in the parking lot. Hopefully it stays that way. It was only about 10:15am and the park opens at 10:30am.
The park was really located in the middle of nowhere, but there was that oh so inviting Six Flags sign. We turned in.
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LOL!!!!!
I didn't even notice your caption the first time through!!!
The photos are just a tad bit too large to easily see the whole pic and the captions too. We had the same problem in a few of our posts and have gone to a 600x450 resolution.
Keep an eye out for those imposters!!!!
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Nice TR!
I loved your B&W redition of the old coaster trains on the old coaster with the kid peaking over. Really Good!
I also liked your bridges.
-Mr. Bebe
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Hi Big Mike!
Glad to hear about how you are counting the fair coasters by operator. I was talking to Jeff Johnson about that yesterday at Termination Day. That sounds like a fair and acceptable method. Though, I don't think I could ever wait in a 2hr line for a fair ride. The Bebes are way too impatient!
I loved the lucky dog report!!!! Too funny and sooooo well done!
Lady Bebe wished you could've been at Termination Day! We wish we could meet you at Coney Island!
-Mr. Bebe
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P.S. - We should have the Day 10: Six Flags America and King's Dominion Trip Report up tonight/tomorrow AM.
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A quick break from our TPT:P2 trip reports to talk about our wonderful time at Termination Day on June 28,2009.
Termination Day was awesome and it was really great to finally put some faces to screennames!
Thanks to everyone who came up and said Hi. It was great to meet you all.
We'll have a full TR up after we've caught up with the TPT:P2, but for now, here are some of the cool people we met at Termination Day:
And of course we met The Alveys. Thanks for putting together a great event and we look forward to hanging out more in the future!!!
We briefly met Ryan King and Dan at the Alvey Party, but we met Ryan's Delorean earlier.
I spotted ILoveRides (David) with Hillary Duff (Brittany) and asked him to do his "manly" pose from his Adventure City TR. I'll post THAT pic in our TR too!!
We met oldjjman (Jeff Johnson) in line for our first ride of the day on T:S and chatted quite a bit. Then more at the party. No insertion jokes here, please.
We caught up with PackersfanLV (Shawn) and PackersFamilyLV trying to make our way toward X2 right after morning ERT. Then Shawn and I shared OUR last ride of the night together while our families got an extra lap. I will elaorate when I get to our TR for Termination Day.
Lady Bebe and Calicoasters spotted eachother while The Bebes were on the tram and Calicoasters was walking back to his car. We later met up during night ERT and shared some rides since we both had parties of 3. It was great meeting Calicoasters, his sister, and Sarah (even though she hated JustinJJ for being Asian!! jk)
We met Mechanic right after morning ERT and then spent some more time together during night ERT. Great meeting and talking with you Mechanic!!
timfar (Tim) was the first person to actually recognize and say HI to the Bebes!!! Thanks Tim!
Sounds like you and your party had a great time on the Moderately Thrilling Terminator:Salvation.
*** THE BEBES *** Rainbow Magicland ITALY TR
in Photo Trip Report Archive
Posted
Thanks Ginzo!
Some notable near misses:
- Phoenix was closed due to the weather; opened after about 3hrs
- StormRunner hadn't operated all season til the day we got there
- StormRunner didn't open for several hours on Day 2 at HP
- StormRunner denied us a backseat ride due to weather on Day 2 at HP
- Kingda Ka re-opened after a two week hiatus just for us
- A broken El Toro opened as we approached it
- El Toro broke again while we were in the station for it
- Superman:Ride of Steel closed for the day a couple hours after we rode
- We were ushered off of Volcano on Day 1 at KD due to weather
- Every ride in the park closed due to weather on Day 1 at KD
- Hurler didn't open for a few hours on Day 2 at KD
- Apollo's Chariot closed due to weather as we got to the station
- Apollo's Chariot broke right after we finished our lap
- Lightning threatened our last credit on Grover's Alpine Express
Yeah, we were really lucky!!!