Skycoastin Steve

Evel Knievel is #3 on my list, and Boss is #8 (out of 46). Not only is EK my #1 GCI, but Boss is my #1 CCI now (ahead of Rampage, *gasp!*). Evel Knievel was INSANE, that little triple hop right before the end is amazing. The only rides I had on Boss were in the pitch black, which probably made it better than normal, but it was fast, intense, and contrary to what most people think, not that rough. Since you say they did track work on it, I say that figures, because even in the back seat, it wasn't THAT bad.

I think many people confuse the fact that "I don't rank Voyage as #1" as "distaste." I (and a few others here) just don't simply like it as much as others do. It's not like we are ranking it in our worst woodies ever, I just personally think it's not as amazing as others make it out to be. I have it ranked as #30 out of 163 woodies. That's still pretty darn high up my list! I far prefer some of Gravity Group's other work, like Ravine Flyer II, Hades, and Fireball. It's just simply not my type of ride, but Raven is. I can't really explain it, it's just my opinion. --Robb "I don't understand how people like country music...but they do!" Alvey I'm just baffled that it's not on everyone's top 10 at least. I know there are definitely people who don't like its perceived roughness (there are MUCH worse), but it's still an insanely fun ride. But hey, that's the beauty of human choice. If we were all alike, why would we need internet polls? Just so I can toot its horn to work colleagues, where did you rank Rampage, Robb? --Steve "Rampage doesn't get enough love" Burant

Voted. I still don't understand the general distaste for Voyage and lovefest for Raven by many on this website.

One thing about only having two trains. What happens when one of the trains needs some kind of extensive maintenance that can't be done overnight? Voyage operates with one train, that's what. Just because you get a 3rd train doesn't necessarily mean you have to operate with three trains. You can just rotate the 3rd train in occasionally to give another one a "break." Hopefully that decision doesn't come back to bite them in the butts. Either way, I can't wait to try these trains out. The "roughness" of Voyage didn't really bother me in 2007 or 2009, but from a GP and track maintenance standpoint, this was a solid move by HW.

Depends a lot on where you sit and what kind of shape the wheels are in.

Incredible Hulk yesterday, should be my last coaster ride until January when I go to Los Angeles.

^Rampage's layout is largely based on Megafobia, which was built a few years prior to Rampage. Rampage is practically the exact same, only bigger, as Megafobia all the way up until the last little bunny hop, and then the ending sections are different.

The water park is decent enough. UpSurge is phenomenal though, awesome ride design.

I can think of a park in Bessemer, AL that CG should donate Starliner to. For free. Just sayin'.

If I remember correctly, they only had two trains running.

Oh, and yes Robb, Rampage was rip-your-face-off intense the TPR night, but we rode it after closing on Closing Day, and it was by far the most intense rides I've ever had on it. Even more so than the TPR night. And that was also the consensus of everyone that rode. Something about that ride in the pitch black, I don't know what it is, but it just transforms into psychosis.

I have it on good authority that the major potholes will be fixed in the offseason. They did a ton of retracking in the curves and on some of the valleys of hills last offseason, and it turned out great. So we're all hoping the track repairs will go just as well this year.

Ok so this really doesn't count as a "trip report," considering I work there, but these pictures are way, way, way too good to not share with my coaster enthusiast brethren. DISCLAIMER: These pictures, especially the ones in the low zone, were taken with every safety precaution in mind. I was extremely careful in making sure that the close-ups of the track were taken while the ride was in the station and not running. I have no desire to be in the news as the idiot employee decapitated by the speeding coaster.

Agree on Manta, it's simply a stunning ride. Patriot, as well.

^Never ridden it.

I have all kinds of milestones I came up with. 1st - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 100th - Griffon 150th - Diamondback 200th - Screamin' Eagle (just reached this last Friday, had to go with the classic woodie, John Allen's last coaster) 100th steel - Manta 150th steel - Mr. Freeze @ SFSL 50th wood - Screamin' Eagle (when I hit 200, I had exactly 150 steel & 50 wood) 1st coaster with inversions - Anaconda 1st wooden - Hurler @ KD Have a trip planned for Los Angeles and Las Vegas in early January, #250 should be Desperado. 200th steel should be one of the Intimidators next spring!

My final top 10 for 2009 is as follows: Steel 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. Titan Wood 1. Voyage 2. El Toro 3. Evel Knieval 4. Prowler 5. Thunderhead 6. Lightning Racer 7. Ravine Flyer II 8. Boss 9. Rampage 10. Kentucky Rumbler

In my August trip to Texas, I found that several of the coasters in San Antonio had very photogenic qualities to them. Steel Eel Great White Superman: Krypton Coaster And Voyage is a simply beautiful ride to look at.

Enjoy! Hands up! Classic GCI turn. My favorite picture of the trip. fly through.bmp I understand why the operators wear ear plugs! First drop. Beautiful ride. Thunderhead! Kinda rough for tall people through here. Mystery Mine! Brown track rocks. What a monstrous loop! Some good TT sign action. Fiiiiiirrrrrre in the hole! 1st Place at credit whoring! A real scarecrow! Pretty flower display

So this is my first go-round at a photo trip report on here, so go easy on me if it's a little below par for the course. It's almost almost a month late, so forgive my tardyness. My friend Jen and I were able to get free tickets through a contact at work here (AA), so starting the trip off knowing we would be saving $55 was a nice bonus. We also decided to make it a day trip from Birmingham (about 4 1/2 hours each way) to save money on a hotel, as well. This would be both of our first trips to Dollywood, and for me, the last "major" park in the South that I had left to visit (the only "not so major" parks I have left are Lake Winnie and Freestyle). We ended up getting to Dollywood around noon or so, after making a couple wrong turns and taking the long way through the monstrous tourist trap that is Pigeon Forge. After arriving at the park, we picked up a park map and headed on our way back towards Tennesee Tornado. On our way towards Tornado, we stopped at the Bald Eagle Preserve and snapped a few pictures of our national birds in all their majestic beauty, and then stopped by our first coaster of the day, Blazing Fury. Oddly enough, Blazing Fury would be our longest wait of the day, about half an hour, probably due to the fact that the ride is ridiculously long and low capacity. Either way, it was a silly ride that somehow gets that coaster title with three gravity-induced drops, including a splash down (take that, Sheikra/Griffon/Diamondback!). The best part of the experience was the operators' "Firrrrrrrrre in the hole!" After leaving Blazing Fury, we headed to Tennessee Tornado for a cycle on the only Arrow Looper to not have a 10-foot loop after a 160-foot hill. The result? A CRAZY ride! Loved the hangtime going through the Tornado's massive loop, and for an Arrow looper, this thing was almost as smooth as butter, until we jumped up the final bunny hop into the brakes and slammed our knees on the front of the car. Once we shook off the beating our knees took, we walked on over towards the Mystery Mine and stopped for a minute or two to check out the construction of Adventure Mountain, which was coming along nicely. Then we made it to Mystery Mine for our first Euro Fighter experience. The wait was pretty short, only a few minutes, and we got on the front row of our train and headed into the mine. I really enjoyed this ride, the theming, vertical lifts, and past-vertical drops were tons of fun, but the outdoor section after the first big drop was a little rough. The OTSR's weren't doing me any favors, especially considering I'm 6'5". However, I still enjoyed the quick turns and drops of that section. Then we went back inside, made one more insane climb up the 2nd vertical lift, and went flying through the grand finale with the barrel roll and insane hangtime of the dive loop into the final brakes. Definitely had a very fun time on the ride, and I'm looking forward to my next Euro Fighter credit. After our spin on Mystery Mine we headed over to the crown jewel of the park, GCI's wild and wonderful Thunderhead. As is always the case, I was awestruck by the beauty of the structure, as nobody builds a more visually pleasing coaster than GCI. I took a few nerd pics, and we headed into line. We took our place in line for the front row, with a virtual walk-on wait time, but had to wait a couple extra cycles as they put the 2nd train on the tracks and ran it empty a few times to warm it up. Once we got on, Thunderhead was nothing short of spectacular, and I can see why it was voted #1 in the world when it was first built. The quick turns, short pops of airtime throughout, the station fly-through, and the ground-hugging finale was simply amazing. The only small drawback was that some of the turns towards the end were starting to vibrate a bit, but it was obviously nowhere near the roughness of most wooden coasters. We immediately got back in line and did a back seat row, but found out that the front was a much more exciting ride. It was a bit smoother, and had lots more airtime, as there aren't any big drops to speak of and no real "yank" airtime that you often times experience in the back seat of woodies. After a very good steak tip meal at the Backstage Restaurant and a subsequent short wait for a rain storm to let up, we headed on over to the County Fair section of the park to get a spin on the VeggieTales Sideshow Spin kiddie coaster, which was oh so exhilarating (as most kiddie coasters are). After our quick stop at VeggieTales to credit whore, we went back to reride the big coasters again. We got another lap on the Tornado, this time in the back row of the car to avoid another knee-banging. Got another lap on Mystery Mine, this time in the back row, which was just as fun as the front row. And then we got two more laps on Thunderhead, once in the middle of the train, and our second time in the front row. By this time, it was after 5 and just about closing time, so we departed Dollywood and made our long journey back to Birmingham. All in all, Dollywood was a very fun park. The old country theming and friendly ride operators made the experience a pleasant and enjoyable one. It definitely had a great quality vs. quantity ratio, as 3 of the 5 coasters were reridable. As far as the coasters are concerned, the ratings are as follows: Blazing Fury: 4/10, 1 ride Tennesee Tornado: 8/10, 2 rides Mystery Mine: 9/10, 2 rides Thunderhead: 10/10, 4 rides VeggieTales Sideshow Spin: 3/10, 1 ride Pictures to follow in the next post!

My last park of 2009 should be Universal Orlando. Don't know if I'll make HRRR or Mummy my last official coaster ride of the year. Headed to SFSL and WoF this weekend to close those parks down and get my first credits at each park. Should be fun!

Thunderhead last Friday, and here's a nice pic I snapped of it.

Name: Steve Burant Age: 24 What is your roller coaster count? 195 What is your home park? Kings Dominion What is the nearest big city? Birmingham What is your occupation? amusement park supervisor About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? 20-25 About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 15-20 When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? depends on the place, but I like to see other sites as well What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? ~800 miles Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) not usually, it's just in my free time that I go Do you have any other major hobbies? Guitar Hero, used to play football Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? the offseason isn't that bad for me, and I occasionally try to make it to a park that's open year round during the winter Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) there's a couple that comes and rides Rampage at AA all the time and I'm on a first name basis with them, very nice people....also had a great time conversing with Robb and the other TPR members when they came in July Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? nope, I've done it often Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? gone by myself plenty of times, but never tagged along with a random enthusiast Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? having common interests always makes it easy to make friends with someone How do you get your coaster news? TPR, screamscape, etc. How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? let's see, 3 amusement park sites, 2 Gator football sites If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? wood: Voyage, El Toro, Thunderhead steel: Millennium Force, Bizzaro, Nitro Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? BGE, CP, HW Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? only time I have was with my little cousin to get Jr. Gemini this past summer, otherwise I don't believe in it Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) going to parks naturally takes money out of your budget, so yes Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? I like to find deals on tickets if I can, and I'll look at the park map prior to going so I can map out the best course of action while there, and I typically try to go on weekdays no matter what Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? just like any community, it can be both; I think there's certainly a snobbish factor to coaster enthusiasts, but for the most part, I think we're accepting to people who are new to the community Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? if they are interested or act interested, I like to talk parks or coasters with non-enthusiasts, but it's very difficult to talk specifics like manufacturers, ride types, etc. with someone who doesn't know anything about it

In my opinion, the funniest movie of the decade. I was in tears.

I did a mini-marathon on Rampage this year and got 25 in a row. Managed to sit in each individual seat in the train (24 of them) in the 25 rides. Had the worst headache of all time at the end. It was 95, sunny, I hadn't eaten all day, and I was dehydrated, and three potholes on the layout don't bode well in those conditions.