Skycoastin Steve

And it's time for Part Deux of Easter Weekend. After our opening day activities at Kings Dominion on Good Friday, it was time to head to Six Flags America on Saturday. Daniel had been here before, but like a good sport, tagged along so I could get my 7 new credits. We got in as the gates opened, and immediately headed back to Superman, where I earned my 250th credit in the front row of a chilly early morning run. It's a pretty decent ride, but I just don't get the heinous straight sections of track and the ridiculously long helices that just get boring after a while. Even when it was running a bit slow, it had good airtime, though. Next up was Batwing, which was my 3rd and final Vekoma flyer credit, and it sucked just as bad as the other two. Then we went back to Superman for a back row ride, which had some great ejector air on the first drop, but still was a bit boring in the 2nd helix. We then hurried over to Joker's Jinx to finish up Gotham City before the GP flooded the back of the park, and riding this gave me my 4th and final Spaghetti Bowl coaster credit in the states. After Joker's Jinx we headed to the other side of the park for a little Wild One action, which was a pretty good ride for being so old. We rode in the 2nd row from the back. It had a couple nice moments of airtime that caught me by surprise, but had some dull sections. Either way, I enjoyed it. Then it was time to credit whore The Great Race, and the slowest ride operator in the history of amusement parks was operating that. My longest wait of the day was for a frickin' kiddie coaster that had a two-train wait. Now it was time for Mind Eraser. No matter how much I pray and hope and wish that these things are broken down for the day when I visit a park with one, this one just HAD to be open so I was forced to ride it for credit whoring's sake. It hurt just as bad and was just as crappy as the rest of them. Thankfully, our last rides of the day would be on Roar, one in the front seat and one in the back seat, and for an early GCI with PTC trains, it actually was a fun ride. The back was kinda rough in a few spots, but all in all it was a quality coaster (however nothing to write home about). I now only have two remaining GCI credits left in the country (Roar at SFDK and Renegade). As far as the park was concerned, I actually thought it wasn't that bad. I guess I was expecting customer service-ageddon from all the horribly negative reviews it's gotten in the past, but the operators were excited and moved quickly (for the most part), and the staff was all very friendly. I could see how the clientele of the area would make a few people anxious, but I didn't see any problems that day, at least. Their ride selection just leaves a LOT to be desired. Not the best SF experience I've had, but not the worst, either. Once we hurried up and left SFA, we headed back down to Kings Dominion for a little more I305 action. However, the park was PACKED and was still plagued with the operational problems from Friday. We were able to get a single rider line wait of about 45 minutes and one more ride on 305, then we waited almost an hour for Backlot Stunt Coaster because of one train operation (Daniel needed the credit, otherwise we wouldn't have ridden it). After Backlot, we went back to 305 and saw that they were transferring a train off the track for the 2nd day in a row. Knowing that that would mean about a minimum 90 minute wait, we decided it was best to just leave. We got one more ride on Dominator on the way out and called it an early night. Hopefully the next time I go to KD they have everything sorted out operationally. Now for the pictures, I have to say that these will not be the greatest quality. My camera turned on accidentally in my pocket while on Dominator on Friday and got smashed up against the seat repeatedly throughout the ride. Now the lens motor is fried and the focus is all out of whack sometimes because of it. Guess I gotta get it repaired.

I don't think I remember you (I was delirious by that point), but I'm almost willing to bet that was us in the single rider line. We were insanely tired and didn't feel like waiting through one train operation. Paid off, too, cause we ended up getting Mexican on my mother's tab right after that.

Yeah, but when it's warm out (which it is for 90% of the season), it's hauling Buddha-sized ass when it hits the brakes. No real point in using an example of when it's cold, because literally every coaster runs slow in the cold, not just MF.

Pictures from KD opening day. Full facebook album can be found here. Time for Kings Dominion! And Intimidator 305! It's testing! Sign goodness. It's amazing to me just how much smaller this ride makes everything else look. I remember when Anaconda looked like a tall roller coaster. After 3 rides pre-GP, it was time to head to Volcano, which was my first launched coaster. I waited 2.5 hours for this the week it opened! Notice they only painted parts of the ride viewable from I305, and did a pretty shoddy job at that. Hopefully they finish before daily operation, because it looks pretty janky. Grizzly time! Love this woodie! I'M A BEAR, RAAWWWWRRRR!!!!! We now pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of Hypersonic......... Skycoaster! New credit for myself, one that I had never ridden in all my visits as a younger lad. And a 305 foot ride! And another 305 foot ride! Whoa! Largest loop in the world! Steve Mecca! This ride is so great it provides TWO places for sign-ride action! Doesn't look so much like a cobra from here. B&M curves. mmmmmmmmmmmm....... Really like the unique layout. Sunny delight! Rattle rattle rattle rattle. Best shot of Dominator, figures it's at the pre-lift track. Having so much fun, too bad we had to wait twice as long as necessary! Time to go up in the Eiffel Tower. Drop Tower got stuck with people up top, this would happen again the next day. So I guess there's a new coaster there this year? Drop Tower on its way down now, and Rebel Yell looking fantastic. Time for what was my first looping coaster, Anaconda! This ride seriously scared the life out of me the first time I rode it. It's safe to say I've conquered my fears since. Slowest, roughest, most uncomfortable double corkscrew ever, but I LOVE it! We request more of DAS LOOP!!!! Credit! But now it's time for more of the REAL reason we were all there. I want my bag of crap! I have a TPR shirt on and a picture in front of I305! Robb take note!!! Left turn on a Nascar themed ride. Success! Airtime! Brake run. Satisfaction. My favorite picture of the day, and as always is the case with those, my current background. Blown up version of the picture above, a full grown man begs for mercy. Another of my favorite shots. Last shot of this report!

Alright so it's time for my trip report from Kings Dominion's opening day and other fun activities that happened throughout the weekend. All in all it was a very successful weekend riding some kickass coasters and having three pretty good days at three different theme parks. The weekend started on Thursday afternoon when Daniel (CoasterGuy06) and I left Birmingham and headed for Fredericksburg (site of my family home). Twelve hours and two traffic jams in Tennessee later, we arrived and realized that we were going to be waking up less than 5 hours later for opening day at Kings Dominion and Intimidator 305! We got to KD at about 8:30 and were given two tickets to the event by another TPR poster (thanks a million!) who had won two seats in the first ride auction. The great thing about being a guest of the auction winners was being able to go back with them to I305 at 9 instead of waiting on the GP flood at 10:30. So we waited through the fantastic preshow they had for the day, complete with two of Dale's offspring, a nice rendition of the national anthem, and a whole lot of pumping up for the ride. As we were waiting for the auction winners to finish their 4 rides, Jack Falfas (COO of Cedar Fair) started to walk towards the ride with a few extra people, pointed to me and said, "Hey, he's got Knott's Berry Farm on his shirt, let him in!" (I was wearing my WCB shirt). So he escorted Daniel and me into the station to be on the 2nd train after the auction winners were done (so technically the 6th public train), where we got a 2nd row ride. After that, we were able to get a ride in the 2nd to last row, and a third ride in the middle of the train before the GP FLOODED the queue. I already gave my ride review in the KD thread, but this thing was insane, intense, crazy, wild, wicked, and any other wild word you can think of. Resting solidly at #2 on my steel list, still behind Millennium Force (shut up, I still like it better). After leaving I305 when the GP storm arrived, we hit up Volcano, which was only running one train (a sad and disappointing trend of the day). We also got rides on Grizzly (one train), Ricochet (a few trains, but operators were sending them out with 2 riders instead of trying to fill every one to move the line faster), Drop Tower, Dominator (only running two trains VERY slowly), Anaconda (two trains, cycled the fastest of any ride not named Intimidator 305), a 4th trip on I305, and then a credit whoring cycle on Ghoster Coaster (running two trains but only loading one). We only got 7 laps during operation because unfortunately most of the rides were either down or running at extremely low capacity. Dare I say, it felt a lot like a day at the Six Flags parks of old. Thankfully I305 was epic and awesome and made up for the disappointing rest of the day. I also had to visit Guest Relations about an issue with my Platinum Pass, and they had me standing off to the side "waiting" on someone for half an hour. When nobody came, I just left because I didn't want to keep wasting time (the issue was resolved the next day). As stated in the paragraph above, Dominator's crew was running horrendously slow with only two trains running, and were BADLY stacking trains when it should have been rather easy to keep them moving along. We timed a few cycles while in the station, and the average cycle from train parking to train leaving was almost 4 minutes, which is AWFUL. As I've stated before, I'm pretty critical of ride crews given my background in operations, and this was the worst crew I had seen in a day at a park since I went to BGA and tried to ride Gwazi last year. Total coaster ride count for the day: Intimidator 305: 4 (new credit) Volcano: 1 Grizzly: 1 Ricochet: 1 (new credit) Dominator: 1 (repeated credit) Anaconda: 1 Ghoster Coaster: 1 (new credit) Part 2 will be posted after the first batch of pictures.

I went there today and had smashing success hitting Superman, Batwing, and Joker's Jinx right away before the GP made it back there. Had very short waits on all three, and got a re-ride on Superman.

Only got to ride it one more time today (spent the morning at SFA to get those credits), still an incredible ride, but still #2 behind MF in my book. I gotta say, Kings Dominion had a VERY rough time this opening weekend. Lots of ride closures, I saw Drop Tower stuck with people at the top twice in two days, saw a number of coasters stop on the lift while loaded, slow dispatch times, and only one train running on most coasters. It was a very disappointing two days at my original home park, but thankfully I305 and their fantastic crew made up for it.

^The mix of positive and negative g's is what this ride is all about. There were definitely pops of airtime that I totally didn't expect thrown in a few places. The trim brake is most certainly necessary, too, as you would probably get killed finishing the ride at the speed that it's going when it hits that hill. I can't wait to get back there mid-day tomorrow and give it a couple more spins.

^Totally cool with me! I think if 305 had lapbars and maybe a little more length it would have certainly topped MF in my book, but it falls just short. I haven't had a first row ride yet, which will probably come tomorrow, so there's still a chance for it to take over #1.

In short, I305 was INSANE, but I still like Millennium better for two relatively small reasons. 1. Ride length, it's over before you know it. 2. Yes, I hate to say it, but the restraints. Definitely had some serious neck choppers on a couple rides, but this thing still comes in at #2 on my steel list WAY ahead of Maverick at #3 and X2 at #4. I'll post a more in-depth review of the coaster after a couple more rides tomorrow and after I get back home and do my TR. MAJOR, MAJOR kudos to KD and Intamin on this beast, though. $25 million well spent! P.S. And before anyone rips into me liking Millennium better, it's called an opinion. I won't attack you for yours, so don't attack me for mine. These are roller coasters, not life or death. -Steve "Handing out chill pills to MF haters everywhere" Burant

^Even though I've never watched a minute of that show......

^Allysa's husband. Didn't you know that?

^I'm planning on being there, but as they say in Forrest Gump, shit happens sometimes.

^I wouldn't think you'd have even a slight problem on Sunday. In 2008 when I was still working there, I went into the park on a Sunday in May and literally rode 39 separate rides, including 14 of the coasters, most with no wait. That was also with an hour delay in the middle of the day for rain. And opening weekend is hit or miss with ride closings. 2007 was a great opening weekend for maintenance, 2008 was a disaster.

^In my experience, opening day crowds were actually never that bad.

It was definitely a fun trip, lack of sleep and all!

If I'm going to a park, I'll usually ask around to see if someone can come with me, but it doesn't bother me if I'm by myself. In fact, my two biggest trips this year are most likely going to be solo trips.

Some people don't realize that Carowinds is never a park that's that busy. I remember when I worked there we averaged 10-12K people a day, and they got spread out pretty well among the water park and various other shows and rides.

^Sounds like a fun weekend, and GO GATORS!!!! -,==,<

^^Many thanks, I love taking these pictures and sharing them with you guys. I agree with you about the brightness of the park, and I definitely think it has a lot to do with the new color schemes for Nighthawk and Carolina Cyclone, as well as the addition of Carolina Cobra and Intimidator really making the color of the park jump out at you. I really had forgotten how nice the park was until I went back, it's definitely a very nice place to spend a day.

^Likes backgammon. < LOVES Rally's!!!! V Hates anchovies.

^There was a small amount of rattle at the valleys of a couple hills, but nothing bad at all. It would be pretty tough to eliminate all vibration with the speed that these things are going.

^Yep I'll be there Friday for opening day. Should be a completely different ride experience, but I'm definitely looking forward to it!

^Coming from someone who's been doing it a few years, you guys were doing a terrific job. Sometimes trains are just going to stack because of guest issues, nothing you can do about that, but for day 1 it wasn't bad at all!

I'll be with someone who has a TPR shirt, will that be good enough?