Skycoastin Steve

Not that I recall, no. Have you ever gone to more than three parks in a single day?

Night rides with full trains and the track nice and oiled are a treasure to behold. Especially in the back row.

This past April I brought a friend along to SFoG on "Bring a friend for $10" day, which happened to be a Saturday. Not only was it hotter than Eva Mendes in a thong bikini out, every single line was at least 90 minutes by 1:00. My friend had never been to SFoG, and was only able to get 4 credits before we finally threw our hands up in disgust and just left. It was just bad timing, but it was the only day we could go. Either way, that was probably the worst experience I've had.

^Rampage is most definitely not for the weak. I actually think it's one of the few coasters that I've like more and more as I've ridden it time and time again. Sad thing is, I keep riding better woodies and bumping Rampage down my rankings. How does that work? --Steve "Why couldn't I have ridden it before GCI and TGG started making coasters?" Burant

Posing in front of the Screamin' Eagle sign before getting my 200th coaster credit and 50th wooden credit on the same ride!

I still don't think that Voyage was all that uncomfortable, but it's obviously all personal preference. I just love its unrelenting speed and aggressiveness. To me, that's what a coaster should be. I'm not as much into the airtime as everyone else seems to be. Sure, I love flying out of my seat as much as the next person, but I tend to go for the more out of control rides, which is probably why Voyage is far and away my #1. Should be very, very interesting to see what kind of dynamic these new trains add (or possibly subract) from the ride.

Yeah in 2007 they really had that MCBR turned on hard. Pretty much brought the train to a standstill before the return run. I know the opening year it wasn't like that, and it surely wasn't like that this year. I think the track work had something to do with it. It certainly makes a difference when you coast through the brakes as opposed to stopping on them.

I can still tough out rough coasters, but I get headaches a LOT easier these days. The heat and how much I've eaten also have a lot to do with that as well. I did a 25 cycle Rampage marathon this summer on an empty stomach when it was a few degrees below 100 and I felt like I was going to die.

I suppose I should have looked that up, didn't know they had already announced it. How unfortunate.

That's precisely the analogy that popped in my head the first time I watched the POV. The first drop and turn are Piraten on steroids. It looks like an awesome ride. The first turn is going to be intense at 90 mph! I have some friends in Virginia, hopefully I can visit them next year and go to King's Dominion. Sounds like a fun vacation to me! Home for me is half an hour from there. I'll be at KD on Media Day for sure.

I have several planned, but who knows how many will happen. January: Knott's SFMM Pacific Park **and as many of the small LA parks as I can, depending on time and money, also doing the Vegas coasters and the Grand Canyon as a plus! April: Carowinds Kings Dominion SFA **probably going for I305's opening, it's a gigacoaster, and my home park May: Holiday World for Holiwood Nights **if Holiwood Nights is indeed the last weekend of May again, I'll be going on Friday and going to the Indy 500 on Sunday (they'll be on the same weekend) August: SFDK CGA **not sure when exactly in August this will happen, but I'm definitely going to SF I'm also trying to plan a road trip to go to Indiana Beach, SFGAm, the Dells, and Valleyfair some time during the summer. Whether or not it will actually happen is still up in the air. I had wanted to do a trip to New England, but it will have to wait at least another year.

That's precisely the analogy that popped in my head the first time I watched the POV. The first drop and turn are Piraten on steroids.

Ya know, there's a lot more to a coaster than just airtime.

Good point. Didn't really mean to question him or imply he was lying, but you know what kind of ridiculousness is sometimes brought about by these polls. I wish I had been able to go overseas by age 14. Hell, I wish I could have gone overseas by the time I turned 25 (a month from now). Maybe one day......

Yea.... not sure why many people have to question what I ride.. Well the fact that you're 14 and you've traveled that many places, including Sweden, does seem a little off. But hey, if you've had that many experiences at such a young age, kudos. There are a LOT of people who vote on their "favorites" by looking at POV's and not actually by RIDING the coasters. It murders the integrity of the poll.

^That's pretty similar to what I did. When I listed them all out, I just grouped them by the 1-10 rating I gave them on coasterfanatics.com. Then I just re-ranked them within each rating. After I got past 9, I kinda just put them wherever.

^Steel is a lot tougher to do than wood basically for sheer numbers' sake. I had twice as many steel coasters to rate, and several of them I haven't ridden in years. I'm dreading next year, as I'll probably be adding close to another 100 coasters. But adding that many coasters two straight years is never a bad thing!

^Have you actually ridden all those?

Hooray for the Steel Poll being out! Now for my Top 25: 1. Millennium Force 2. Maverick 3. Storm Runner 4. Magnum XL-200 5. Top Thrill Dragster 6. Montu 7. Apollo's Chariot 8. Diamondback 9. Phantom's Revenge 10. Incredible Hulk 11. Titan 12. Alpengeist 13. Nitro 14. Kumba 15. Griffon 16. Sheikra 17. Steel Force 18. Kraken 19. Manta 20. Afterburn 21. Hydra 22. Goliath (SFoG) 23. Talon 24. Dominator 25. Raptor Bottom 10 (#1 being the worst): 1. Favorite Zyklon Loop (Beech Bend) 2. Ninja (SFoG) 3. Favorite Powered Coaster (Dollywood) 4. River King Mine Train (SFSL) 5. Avalanche (KD) 6. Trailblazer (HP) 7. Favorite Tivoli (SFGAd) 8. Roller Soaker (HP) 9. Adventure Express (KI) 10. Runaway Train (SFGAd)

^Hey that's all good to me. I love saving money.

What are the crowds typically like in early January? I'll be there the 2nd Saturday that month (10th) and I'd really love it if I could get as many credits as possible with as little waiting as possible. Flash Pass will be bought more than likely.

I hate to say "I told you so," but I hinted at this a few days ago. Edit: Saturday, to be exact. --Steve "Nobody Believed Me About the Flume At Cedar Point Either" Burant

^Either way, SFGAdv's layout is still craptacular.

^Even saying that would make people think the ride is "broken," "not safe," and "going to get them stuck." No matter what you say to the GP, they'll formulate their own opinion and idea of what's wrong with the ride, because they're idiots. So being vague is the only way to go. Plus, if it ends up being a problem that takes longer than resetting the launch, then you won't end up looking like a jackass who told the GP it would be a 5 minute wait and ended up being 30 minutes. Then the GP asks for supervisors, asks for refunds, etc. They don't need to know specifically what's wrong with the ride, just that it's down and will be back up as soon as possible. Most times, the operators themselves don't even know specifically what's wrong with the ride, so they aren't even authorized to give such information out to people who know even less about it. The operators may have an idea of what the problem is, but only maintenance knows 100% what's going on.

Fan boys should know that there's no "s" at the end of Great Adventure.