KBrylczyk

Many of us on this site have encountered a Flowrider before. You all know what I'm talking about. That innocent-looking wave machine that lets you boogie-board your heart out and occasionally wipe out while all of your friends watch and point and laugh. Wiping out is fun on these things, though! They're not particularly painful and you always get right back up laughing about it, right? Wrong. There are places in this world, evil places, that allow, no, ENCOURAGE you to learn how to surf on a Flowrider. And I don't mean surf like body-surf. I mean full on stand up surf. And they do this to people who have never touched a surfboard before. This almost always results in what I like to call, "the moment of clarity," which occurs when one's head is about 0.5 centimeters from the base surface of the Flowrider, where that little voice goes, "Um, yeah, probably wasn't the best idea, buddy." If you ever find yourself in the position to learn how to surf on a Flowrider, please heed my warning and opt out. Instead take your business to a beach with small waves or go to Typhoon Lagoon and get surf lessons in their very deep wavepool. You don't want to end up with a "moment of clarity." Thank you for your time. The moment of clarity.

Oh, how I wish I had the onride from my visit last week. My future brother-in-law bought one of the USB sticks with 3 or 4 different onrides and our El Toro pose is incredible. Once I get them they'll show up in the GAdv thread.

Happiness is... Going on the TPR 2012 Italy and Europe trips as your first live TPR experience. Seriously, it was incredible. I've been following this site since it's creation and finally had the chance to join in the hijinks this year and it was well beyond what my already high expectations were. I just wish I could do EVERY trip! I'm working on saving up for one of the international trips they talked about for next year. I don't think I'm allowed to mention locations yet, though, so I'll stay quiet. Oh, happiness is also having your future brother-in-law try to prove just how awesome he is by buying Flash Pass Gold for your group and refusing to take anybody's cash. He paid for it himself and insisted it be his treat.

Aww . . . that's just because Raptor loves you so much! Yeah, it just wanted a hug, Craig. Sheesh, be a little more sensitive...

Here's a trip report from my visit today! Alright, so the plan was for my sister and her fiancee, my future brother in law, to meet at my place at 9:30 so we could get to the park, park the car, and get inside before the rope drop. Well, you know, best laid plans and all... Turns out she set the alarm for PM and instead woke up at 8:45am panicking. They live in Ventnor Beach, which is just south of Atlantic City, a pretty good drive to my place in Howell, 10 miles east of Six Flags. I'm all set, having just sat down to breakfast when my phone rings and her out of breath voice is on the other end apologizing and saying they're gonna be on the road ASAP. Fast forward to 10:20-ish. They finally show up, we all pile into my car and hit the road. We got to the park just before 11am. Oh, side note - This is the first day in FOREVER that the sun wasn't bearing down on NJ and the temperature wasn't in the mid to high 90s. Thanks to a line of sever storms that rolled through last night, the weather was hovering around 80 degrees with a very gray sky all day. This means people were afraid to go outside, resulting in only moderate crowds in the middle of July. Yay! Anyways, we get into the park and I immediately suggest we go to Sky Screamer for three reasons. 1, I know the capacity is horrible so we should just get it out of the way. 2, I am terrified of Star Flyers (more on that soon). 3, my sister has never ridden one and she has a SERIOUS fear of heights. Now, a quick background on why I hate and love Star Flyers. I rode the one in Orlando and just recently the one in Germany at Holiday Park. Both petrified me with their minimalist seat design. I mean, really? Plastic seats, thin chains, one tiny metal bar and a crotch buckle?! I'm gonna die on those things! I've always had a fear of wave swingers because I swear the chain is gonna break, so when you put that ride on a 200-foot tower and spin it at high speeds, I start to lose it a bit. The one in Orlando terrified me, but it was an early model, a simple up and down and done. Then I got to Holiday Park and rode theirs. They had an extra seat belt, but still plastic chairs and all that other hoo-ha. Oh, and they had a new-ish model that goes up and then yo-yo's up and down three times before finally stopping. Combine this with a VERY strong wind above the tree line that made your seat rock back and forth and spin side to side, you have the makings of a Kyle Torture Device. I say all of these things, but I still love them. Mainly because they are the one ride that can seriously terrify me, and I respect the hell out of that. Now let's get back to Sky Screamer. We get to the ride and see the line isn't horrible, but it's taking forever because, let's be honest, these aren't the best rides for a super-busy park. Beau (future brother-in-law) heard me mention Flash Pass and said screw it, let's go get one. He ended up buying the group the Gold Flash Pass. We walked right onto Sky Screamer. Sweet! I realize prior to boarding that, this being the latest model, has much firmer seats. Mostly metal construction with legitimate buckles, including a full-on seatbelt across your chest. This made me feel a LOT more comfortable in the ride and less like I was seconds away from a gory death. Now, don't get me wrong, the ride still freaks me the hell out, but I was able to relax my death-grip on the safety bar and actually look around this time, as opposed to Orlando and Germany where I had locked my vision straight ahead and even the jaws of life wouldn't get my fingers off of the bar. We realized going up the tower that they had installed speakers in the tower blasting AC/DC's Thunderstruck, which is awesome in it's own right, but even cooler today due to the heavy cloud cover and threat of storms. The ride was great. It scared me, but it still allowed me to have a good time. Watching my sister shake from nerves for the 10 minutes following the ride made the entire day worth it, and we were only one ride in, haha. Anyways, from there we worked our way around the park with the Flash Pass. We did Dark Knight next which is still just a mouse in a box with a lot of broken effects and a few crappy working effects. After that it was off to Batman and wow, it was running as fast and furious as the day it opened. I really don't know how this ride manages to stay as good as it was 19 years ago, but it does. Side note, wow, I'm getting old. This was my first looping coaster and that was 19 years ago. Holy hell... Off to Nitro next. After being bored to tears from B&M hypers I wasn't expecting much. I should note that I have ridden Nitro before, but it's been years since I went to Great Adventure. I completely forgot that this was a really good ride with a ton of airtime. We rode in the back and had a blast. Skull Mountain was next. Yeah, still Skull Mountain. Crappy blacklight effects and a soundtrack that can hardly be heard. Hooray, I guess. We worked our way over to the Log Flume and rode. I should tell you guys that Beau is a pretty big guy. He's not fat, just friggin' huge. And he got the front of the log. This ride went from being among the dryest log flumes to HOLY WOW WHY AM I SOAKED?! Thanks to Beau sitting in front we caused a tidal wave on the last drop that absolutely covered the entire log in a deluge of water. Lots of fun, still! I love this flume. It's long, it meanders, and it has two smaller, quick drops that pack a lot of speed. Runaway train was next. The restraints are still horrible, the transitions are among the worst I've seen, but that final airtime hill never fails to cause ejector air. It sucks but I still love it. After this we were going to do Bizzaro but the Q-Bot buzzed at us to tell us that Green Lantern had finally opened. We immediately reserved it and had a 5-minute wait. Well, it would be a 5-minute walk, so let's go! Green Lantern was fun, though I do prefer Riddler's Revenge. I never got a chance to ride this as Chang, but it's already starting to show through the paint on the trains and the tracks that this is a transplant. There are a bunch of spots on the train where the red and yellow are clearly visible and the track's wheel marks are grinding to the old paint. Its not a real complaint, but for a ride being only a year old you would think the paint would last a little longer. This thing pulls some serious G-forces in the second half, so much so that it was starting to become painful on my legs. Luckily I was able to perfect my posture for our second ride and it wasn't nearly as bad on my muscles. That horizontal loop is evil if you have the wrong stance, btw, so watch out, haha. Also, this is one of the few rides who's layout is still a mystery to me. After the horizontal loop it just makes random left and right turns all over the place and I loved the disorientation. The second corkscrew caught me completely by surprise both rides. Superman was up next and, while it is a fun ride, felt like it was running slow today. It could have been due to the weather, but the pretzel loop was practically forceless! We did get to witness someone in the rows ahead of us lose their phone and watch it smash into pieces on the rocks below the loop, though. That was cool! After Superman we got a notification from the Q-Bot that Kingda Ka decided to work again! Hooray, we can ride a one trick pony! Let's go! Beau had never been on the ride before so I let him and my sister ride the front row while I went for the second. The launch is great, the view is great, but the ride is meh at best. Up, down, twist, hill. So many people love this thing but I just get bored with it. On to El Toro!!!!! Now, I mentioned I haven't been to the park in a long time and honestly, I was expecting El Toro to have gone the way of Rolling Thunder. I was really expecting a rough ride that is a shadow of it's former self. Boy, was I wrong. We went straight to the back row. Right off the bat, I completely forgot how unbelievably steep the first drop is. I mean, holy crap! Ejector air on the first drop and the first two hills. The turnaround is fast and furious, and the return run is nice, though no airtime. And then it was time....for....THE HILL. If you've ridden before you know what I'm talking about. Right after the left hand turn around the station, you go up, and then right back down a drop that's pretty much as steep as the first drop. Riding in the back causes the most terrifying ejector airtime available on earth. You don't even get to the top of the hill when you're launched from your seat and then the ride pushes you even further out of your seat the entire time down the drop. Absolutely incredible. And the twister section is just turn after turn at such high speed. Sheer relentlessness and adrenaline. This ride is stunning and I love the hell out of it. Finally we made our way to Bizarro and, to be honest, I'm kind of sad we even bothered. The ride crew was the worst I have ever encountered anywhere. They were running three trains and they wouldn't start checking the train in the station until train number 3 hit the final brake run. Meanwhile, the train would come in, unload, people would climb on and close their restraints and be ready to go before the last train even left the lift hill. These ride ops were busy crowding around the control desk talking with each other or texting on their phones to bother doing their damn job. Once the train hit the final brakes they would then "check" the train, which consisted of them lazily plodding to each seat with a "I hate my life" look on their face as they nudged the harnesses. It took over 2 minutes for them to check each train. Every time. I couldn't believe I was witnessing it. As for the ride, well, it hasn't aged well. There's a few random headbangs, the LED tunnel at the bottom of the drop has a few broken strips, the flamethrowers are a lost relic, and the sound system is almost blown out. At least the two speakers on my seat seemed to be. They were quiet and extremely distorted. The final corkscrew is still cool, though, because of how close you get to the scenery. Those ride ops, though, were absolutely atrocious. I feel sorry for the trip members on August 1st if they get stuck with them. We went back to Kingda Ka after that and rode in the second car, rows 3 and 4. Oh god, what have they done to this thing?!?!!?!?! It was like sitting through a 9-pointer earthquake! It was horrible! The front car was great, but WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REST OF THE TRAIN?! After that we rode El Toro, Green Lantern, and Superman one more time before calling it a day. Overall I had a great time (thanks, Flash Pass!) except for the wretched Bizarro crew and the second Kingda Ka ride. El Toro is running extremely well, Batman is still great, Nitro rocks, Green Lantern is nice, and Sky Screamer is terrifying/awesome. Maybe I'll return in a year or two, but I'm in no great hurry, hahaha.

While I'm not sure what Robb and Elissa's take on Wodan were, I'll give you mine from the trip - Wodan was fun. It wasn't great, wasn't bad, but fun. From initially looking at the ride, I thought it would be a backseat ride. So, we rode in the back and were underwhelmed. We began to fear GCI had begun to go the way of B&M by creating wicked looking rides that don't deliver. Well, I was wrong. We got our ERT at night and I decided to give it a go up front. Wow, was I wrong about this ride. Again, it wasn't OMG AMAZING, but it sure as hell was a ton of fun! There were pops of airtime throughout and the speed was constant. Definitely a solid front-seat woodie.

Anyone who has been to Europa knows about that amazing song on Euro-Mir. Well, my fellow TPR people, especially the ones who were just on the Europe trip, I present to you....THE EURO-MIR MUSIC VIDEO! I'm dead serious. This isn't some fan-made thing set to the music. It is a legitimate video made with the song by the park featuring cosmonauts riding the coaster.

I would just like to chime in here and say that, while I'm not one of the guys in the video, Hanno told me he has one hell of a picture of me from one of the two times I rode it where I'm locked down in complete terror. That slide is no joke. I did it once and Robb convinced me to go again. We also flew off of the slide, just not as high as they did. Take it from me, a survivor, that this was the single most terrifying experience of my entire life. The screams coming from my mouth weren't me hamming it up for the camera, they were legitimate screams of pure, unadulterated terror. And I loved every last moment of it.

DUDE! That happened to me this past April! I was at King's Dominion for opening day. The weather was great (a bit cold, but sunny) all morning and early afternoon. By the time I got to Hurler a storm was brewing. I got into the back row, clicked the seatbelt, lowered the lap bar, and we were dispatched. As soon as the train began going around the turn leading towards the lift hill it began to hail. I grabbed what I could of my jacket to shield my face and went, "Aw, hell." The two people in front of me started laughing, as did I. The entire ride went by with my shielding my face with my jacket while staring at the empty seat next to me, laughing my ass off along with my ridemates in front. It was painful, but I'd be damned if I didn't have a grand ol' time on that ride.

Yeah, that doesn't begin to convey the absolutely incredible and fun time I just had. As some of you may know, there's a bit of a winter storm passing through the northeast right now. So much so that SF Great Adventure and SF New England shut down operations for the day. The Great Escape, however, remained open. The storm passed mostly to the south of us, but we began getting snow around 6pm. Anyways, I had a normal day of working the shows at the park, but we had to cancel the final performance due to the stage being too slick from the snow to dance on. It was a blessing in disguise, though, as it allowed me to make a run to the back of the park and jump in line for The Comet. If you read my last quick TR, you'll know that The Comet blew me away last weekend. It was a lot of fun and had a ton of airtime. Tonight, though, it was a whole new monster. Not only did I get to ride it at night. Not only did I get to ride it with a completely full train of insane coaster lovers (half of which were employees). Not only did I get to ride it in the very back row. Indeed, on top of all these great things, I got to ride this classic, excellent woodie...IN THE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh holy wow, it was sensational. Seriously, I got EXTREMELY lucky to ride a rollercoaster in the snow and if any of you ever get the chance, TAKE IT! I know it's Halloween weekend and all, but the ride was just magical. The ride was running extremely fast (thanks, slick tracks) and delivering airtime out the yin-yang! Couple that with the visuals of snow falling past the running lights and the overall ridiculously joyous mood of every rider on the train, and you have a one of a kind, once in a lifetime event that will never be forgotten. This was, without a doubt, the best rollercoaster ride of my life. Words simply can't express the joy I felt the entire time, even after the fact. I still have an ear to ear grin on my face that won't be going away any time soon. I cannot believe that I got so lucky. I wish that everyone here has the chance to ride a great rollercoaster in the snow. It is truly spectacular.

Hey guys - I mentioned here a few weeks ago that my company is providing Six Flags entertainment for it's Fright Fest events around the country and that I was working the shows at The Great Escape. Today I got pretty lucky and had an hour and a half of downtime where I was given the opportunity to actually go on some rides. Now, I had never been to The Great Escape before this job, but I did see the rave reviews for The Comet from the TPR Trip last year (?) and really wanted to give it a shot. Today I was finally able to ride it. The ride is spectacular. It was just good, old fashioned FUN! Airtime on every hill, great lateral Gs, a good length, and it never let up its speed, which really shocked me considering its age. Herbert Schmeck has never disappointed me and now I'm not sure if I prefer this or The Phoenix, haha. I was able to ride in the front and had a blast. Excellent ride. After The Comet, I had about 45 minutes before my next show was to begin, so I quickly jumped in line for the Alpine Bobsled. There have been hints that this may be the final year for the ride, but I haven't heard anything in my time working here, so I'm hopeful that it will stay. There's a serious lack of bobsled coasters remaining. Anyways, onto the review. I got to sit in the front of the Canada bobsled, haha. Its been years since I rode a single-car bobsled coaster (last Bobsled I rode was Avalanche at KD, which is a train). In fact, the last single-car I rode was Disaster Transport at CP in 2001. For all I know, Alpine Bobsled and Disaster Transport could be clones, but I digress. The seating really threw me for a loop, as it is extremely low to the ground and the lapbars are pretty intrusive to one's legs, especially since I'm 6'3". It was a bit uncomfortable at first. Once the ride began, though, I was having a grand ol' time. Just like The Comet, this ride is pure fun. It never gets extremely fast, but those cars really whip themselves around the turns. And when I say whip, I mean whip. The back ends of the cars were fishtailing like they were part of a drifting competition. The entire ride had an out-of-control feeling that I loved and put a huge grin on my face. Unfortunately once I finished Alpine Bobsled I had to get back to work. I'm hopeful that I'll get a similar chance next weekend to ride at least The Comet again. Other than that, the shows are going extremely well and we've been getting rave reviews from park officials and guests alike. Seeya! OH! Bonus for you guys! I grabbed these pictures of one of the park's maintenance guys doing a morning inspection of the Sky Coaster. It goes without saying that this man has bigger cajones than I can ever dream. Enjoy!

Aw, that really sucks. All it takes is one bad apple to ruin the bunch. Well, looking on the bright side, at least one train won't sit in the station for five minutes because a guest on the opposing train is having problems. I witnessed that all too often whenever I was in IOA.

I doubt you'll ever need to ask to be led out, but if so the request is taken seriously. Most, if not all, haunts have "chicken exits" built in, mainly for the actors to get from one room to another, but also in case of emergency or if someone is going to have a heart attack. Just be sure to make it clear that you must leave and you are not playing around. While I have not had the need to be led out of a haunt myself, I have been scared so badly that I've gone into the fetal position while screaming / laughing and the actors never let up (they way it should be). The best haunts are the ones that make me fall over and curl up, in my opinion, haha.

Hey guys - I'm wondering if anyone was planning on visiting The Great Escape's Fright Fest this October. I ask because I'm running four of the shows there with my company. I'm in charge of audio and lighting for Hyde School Musical, Reunion Of Souls: Rock The Dead, Witch Hanging, and The Curse of Madame Divine. I work for an outside vendor, not Six Flags, and I'm having a lot of fun. The first weekend was pretty darn busy. There were over 9,000 visitors on Saturday and Sunday. Reunion Of Souls was SRO for every performance. I had never been to The Great Escape until this past weekend and, I must say, the park surprised me. While it doesn't have any huge rides, it is a beautiful park with a solid family selection. Unfortunately due to my work schedule I won't have a chance to ride anything (even though I'd give my right arm to ride Comet), but I fully intend on making a trip up here on my own in the near future. Anyways, if anyone was going to be visiting, I'll be the guy at Hyde School Musical, Reunion Of Souls, Witch Hanging, and Madame Divine wearing khaki pants, a white polo with an RWS And Associates logo, and a hat. Come say hi and let me know what you thought of the shows and the event in general! PS - Their haunted house, Skull Manor, was excellent. The entertainment managers at the park invited me to walk through the day before opening. There weren't any actors hiding since it wasn't officially open, but they turned on all of the lighting and animatronic effects for me and managed to scare me pretty well throughout. I highly recommend it. The guys I met who helped design it are huge fans of Halloween Horror Nights, and it shows.

Hey guys - I went back to Dorney Park this past friday to get the full Haunt experience. In case you didn't see my last review, the night was completely ridiculous. It was pouring rain, only the indoor haunted houses were open, all of the rides were closed, and the lower part of the park started to flood from the river that travels through it. Anyways, this past Friday was much better. The weather was cool and dry. The only problem I ran into the entire night was the amount of unsupervised children running around. That's not an issue for this post, though. So, without any further ado, let's get down to it! Psycho Circus - Yup, still pretty darn crappy. Skip it if you can. Club Blood - This had a lot of potential. I went through it three times throughout the night and, unfortunately, had a worse experience each time. It seemed that the amount of actors inside was lower each time. The first time going through was the best. There weren't a LOT of actors, but it was a decent amount. They really stuck to darkness for this maze. Well, darkness and hot chicks. Overall it was fun and hopefully they can expand on the idea in the future. Mansion House Hotel - Is that what it's called? Eh, its the Hotel themed one. Still the best in the park. Its nice and long with good themeing and some good scares. Asylum - My second favorite. It gets pretty disorienting at the halfway point. There were some good props in this one, including a mannequin of some demonic girl crawling on the wall that always creeped me out every time I went through. Now onto the outdoor haunts. These were a mix of scare zones and outdoor houses. Gravewalkers - This was pretty fun. It was a combination scare zone, followed by a connected outdoor maze. With the two concepts being combined there were no lines at all. The way it worked was you walked into a graveyard and were allowed to roam anywhere you wanted. They encouraged you to leave the path, even. The entire graveyard was crawling with zombies and puppets. The walk-through section was at the opposite end from the entrance. It isn't terribly long, but it was fun. You start in a Mausoleum and work your way back to the outdoors, surrounded by coffins and hearses, then you reach the end. There were some good hiding spaces in this one and great actors. Backwoods - This was a walk-through outdoor haunt. Unfortunately it was too wide open which caused a lot of the scares to be spoiled before your group would reach them. Its a long, winding walk through the woods behind Steel Force where campfire stories come to life. I enjoyed the concept, but as I said, it is too wide open to have any really effective scares. Sure, there were a few good hiding spots and they managed to get me once or twice, but it could really use a redesign to realize it's full potential. Good scenery, though. Age Of Darkness - This was the worst scarezone in the park. It was small, lightly themed, and the actors were pretty bad. They mainly shuffled around slowly and moaned. They didn't try to sneak up on anyone or threaten anyone. Pretty boring. Death Trap - This was an outdoor walk-through maze. Unfortunately, again, it was pretty bad. Perhaps I caught it at the wrong time, but it seemed like everyone that was supposed to be working the attraction was on their lunch break. We passed through room after room with no actor, no action, nothing. It was just boring. They actually shut down Thunderhawk to use it's queue for this haunt. Big waste, in my opinion. Terror Square - Skip it. Just skip it. Cutthroat Island - I had high hopes for this scarezone last time. They still had a ton of fog and actors, but they suffered the same condition as the Age Of Darkness actors. None of them seemed to know what they were doing. They just slowly wandered the area and shot the cannon every now and then. Cornstalkers - Another outdoor walk-through maze with a lot of unrealized potential. There were a ton of excellent hiding spots in this one, also a bunch of really tight corridors, but it seemed underpopulated, just like Death Trap. The actors that were inside weren't focused on scaring people, either. Rather they were more focused on standing in our way and picking at their costumes. My major complaint about this one, though, is that it ended WAY too early for the location it is in. The maze ended, yet you were still required to walk a half mile back to the park. Why couldn't the extended the maze to finish closer to the park? Moving on to the rollercoasters - It has been way too long since I've ridden a rollercoaster at night and it was great to finally do it again. Dorney Park shut down most of the lights on the coasters to make them even darker at night. Talon - Pretty dark and fun, but since the ride is centralized around the station it never got extremely dark. Hydra - Its a "meh" ride during the day, but with no lights at night? One of my favorites. Since a lot of the ride takes place on the side of a hill away from the station, we were lit only by the moon. It was a funky experience every time. Possessed - Unfortunately due to the location of this coaster, turning the lights off didn't have any effect. It's sandwiched between a midway and the parking lot, so there were light everywhere. Still, I love Impulse coasters to death and this ride will always make me scream with delight no matter the circumstances. Steel Force - This ride was made to be ridden with the lights off. Once you go over the top of the lift, there is no light aside from the ambient lighting. It was so much fun. Airtime over every hill, the turnaround in the dark was completely disorienting, and its just a ton of fun. Soooooo, in the end, the Dorney Park Halloween Haunt was fun, but not very scary. If they manage to expand on the ideas and get some actors that actually seem to care about scaring people, this place could be something special. Unfortunately, though, too many of the actors are uninterested and the haunts are grossly underpopulated. If you enjoy your rides and rollercoasters, give it a shot and leave with a smile on your face. If you're looking to get a good scare for Halloween, look elsewhere.

Hey guys - I went to Dorney Park's opening of the Halloween Haunt this evening and, well, it was one of those experiences that was too ridiculous to say was bad. Anyone living in the northeast would know that it was pouring rain all day today. I said the hell with it and went anyway. When I arrived at the park it was still raining with no end in sight, but I had made the trip, so I manned up and got out of my car and headed into the park. By the time I reached the ticket booth I was already drenched. I bought my ticket and headed inside, looking forward to some haunted houses, trails, and some kickass rides. Here's where things start to go wrong. The only rides that were open were the smaller flat rides, like the Wave Swinger or The Whip. The rollercoasters were shut down due to the weather. Ah, well, admission was cheap, so I'll just do the haunts and enjoy myself. The clown haunted house was up first. It was pretty bad. I was walking through alone, soaked through my 3 layers of clothes, and I couldn't help but notice how quickly thrown together this haunt was. It was put inside of what is normally an arcade, so it was small and nothing but neon-painted temporary walls. After that I made my way to the ghost pirate themed area. Unfortunately, since it was raining so hard, I didn't feel the need to stick around and explore, but it seemed to have a lot of potential. There was a full pirate ship torn apart with an absolutely ridiculous amount of fog and a ton of actors. Since I was in such a hurry to find a roof, though, I didn't get to experience it all. I made my way the the haunted hotel attraction. This one was pretty good. It was a decent length and had some really good actors in it, also some cool themeing. Good times in here. I then wandered down to the back of the park where the Asylum haunt was. Due to construction for the new ride next year, this haunt is a bit out of the way of the main areas of the park, but it was fun. The haunt began decent, but became very disorienting once the strobe lights kicked in halfway through. It wasn't very scary, but it was fun. Unfortunately the two big haunted trails by Steel Force were closed due to the weather, which ticked me off a bit, but oh well. I made my way through to another scarezone themed to medieval times. This one was pretty much deserted because of the weather. Also, when I reached the other side, I learned the hard way that the river had begun to flood the lower portions of the park. I'm not talking a puddle, I'm talking a friggin lake. I was walking on wet cement one moment, the next I was in 5 inches of water. This was also the point in my evening where I just began laughing uncontrollably. The weather was so terrible, I was soaked to the bone, and this lake was the last straw. It was so ridiculous that I could no longer be mad at the park for having all of the rides closed. This evening had gone from a waste of money to a life experience that I will always remember and love. As I walked past a bunch of other closed rides and empty scare zones, I gave up and decided to head back to my car and call it a night. I then heard an announcement for one of the shows to be starting in 5 minutes. I though, what the hell. I walked into the theatre and got comfortable. About two song into the show the fog had gotten so dense inside that the fire alarms began going off. I threw my head back and laughed. Then I gathered my things and made for the exit. When I got back to my apartment, I took a quick inventory. My jacket had been thoroughly saturated, as well as my jeans. My messenger bag was drenched but not completely soaked through. My overshirt was soaked, my undershirt was soaked. My underwear was soaked. My canvas Converse were soaked, my socks were soaked, and I'm fairly certain I now have a case of trench foot. But you know what? I don't regret it at all. I'm pretty sure I'll be heading back next weekend, where the forecast is 70 degrees and dry, to give it another try. Hopefully with proper weather and all of the rides being open, it will be a great time. There is a lot of potential here, but due to the weather most of it was lost. I'll report back if it turns out to be great.

Sky Screamers are the most terrifying ride to ever be created in the history of mankind. I don't care how macho you think you are. Once you're at the top of the tower with only a fiberglass seat and tiny chains holding you there, you'll be pooping yourself a bit. I rode the one at Fun Spot in Orlando a few years ago and damn near had a panic attack. It was also one of the most fun experiences of my life, but dammit if I wasn't feeling on the verge of death. Edit - Wait, what? According the to pics of the SFFT one, there's a pretty hefty chest strap on these. That's disappointing news. It was way more horrifying when it was just that metal bar.

Thanks for the help, guys. I was leaning away from BGW because I was there earlier this year (as well as KD) and Mike was there two weeks ago with his family. I figured to wait until next year once Verbolten is open. Regardless, it is great information. I'll run it by him and see what's going on. Thanks again!

Too many to bother making a list, haha. But seriously, though, Ghost Rider isn't that bad. I was out in SoCal this past March and had a grand ol' time riding that thing over and over again. It had some bite, but nothing too violent. I rode multiple times in the front and the back and always came back into the station with a huge grin on my face.

Hey guys - Originally my buddy Mike and I were planning to go to HHN at USO this October, but it turns out he can't get the required time off of work for the trip. Soooooo, we're now looking at a long weekend type of trip and the options are Cedar Point, Dorney Park, King's Island, or King's Dominion. Now, I have been to each park and love them all, but I've never been to their halloween events. Which one would you guys recommend in terms of scariness, regular rides available, and crowds? We're planning on the trip being Friday, October 14th, through Sunday, October 16th. Thanks, guys!

Ghost Rider is no worse than Wildcat at Hersheypark. Both rides kick the crap out of you, but in such a good way, haha. I know I'm in the minority, but a good rough and tumble woody that lets you know who's boss is my favorite type of ride. Ghost Rider, Wildcat, and the Coney Island Cyclone are three of my favorite woodies.

You're a dirty liar! I was just at Dorney today and got drenched with cheap shots on the log flume! Seriously, the first half is all nice, but as soon as you get to the turn next to Hydra's exit, prepare for water. First one is a random wave that launches over the left side of the log and soaks your entire left side. The second is another splash over the right side (not too much, though). Third is the waterfall that no loger turns off, and finally the splash at the bottom of the hill, where when you're in line it doesn't look too bad, but in the log you get drenched. Also, the water is quite cold. I loved it. The shade issue I don't find to be much of a problem. There's a nice walkway that goes through Thunderhawk that provides some nice shade, and the area on the parking lot side of Planet Snoopy has plenty. The front area (Talon to Hydra) is very sunny, as is the area by Possessed. Possessed is my favorite ride at the park, but I'm also a sucker for impulse coasters. I think I rode Possessed 10 times today, alternating between the front and back seats. Talon is a ton of fun. It packs quite a punch, I'd compare it to Batman in terms of pacing and intensity, really. Steel Force has not held up over the years. Sure, its still a fun, smooth ride, but with Intamin blowing everyone else out of the water in the hyper/mega/giga/whatever coaster market, it seems like an antique. Definitely ride in the very back. Thunderhawk, well...its Thunderhawk. Imagine a wooden coaster that has a lot of potential, but has been squandered due to poor maintenance and one of the worst trim breaks ever conceived. Those final bunny hills would have a ton of airtime if it wasn't for that damn trim! Oh, be careful if you're riding with someone. You could very well smash heads once or five times. Its happened to me. Hydra is a strange thing. I rode it when it first opened and really enjoyed it, but it has not aged well at all. Let me preface by saying that the last time I was at Dorney before today was the year Hydra opened. Its just night and day different. When it opened it was smooth and had a really nice flow to it. Now it shimmies like you're riding in an earthquake and the pacing just feels disjointed. I'd give it a "meh" rating. I don't know what planet you're visiting Dorney Park on, but last I checked, it was a HUGE destination for the Philadelphia, Reading, and Allentown residents. Today, the first three hours were great as the park was fairly empty. Possessed and Steel Force were walk-ons, Hydra was 10 minutes, etc. But then...then the busses showed up. Sure, the lines never got stupid long, but the park went from being empty to being moderately crowded with every ride, including the flats, having at decent line. I even went on a stroll through the waterpark and damn near had a panic attack when I saw those lines. Regardless, you'll still have a fun time. The park isn't cutting edge or anything, but its still a nice place with a bunch of great rides.

Well, this might well seal it. I've been planning a trip to HHN for October 12-17th with a buddy of mine, but its still up in the air. This could be the thing that puts the deal in ink.

Steel - I305. Wooden - Ghost Rider, Wildcat, or Beast. Three way tie, really.

By any chance will anyone be visiting Knoebel's tomorrow? They're giving special pricing, apparently. I called and was told the $20 ride all day pass (including coasters) is for everyone, not just school picnics. PHOENIX! WHOO!