Skycoastin Steve

^It's even sadder that a lot of people don't see the value in doing general park improvements, they just want MOAR COASTERZZZ!!!

Wooden Warrior and Jack Rabbit are the two best I've been on.

The only rides that truly need Fast Lane are 305, FoF, Volcano, and (sometimes) Dominator. Everything else is typically a walk on on weekdays.

^Yeah, Universal can be pretty hot/cold in my world, too. Thankfully I've had a few good days there since getting my season pass. The nice thing is, if I'm having a bad day there, home is five minutes away.

Alrighty, so one of my main priorities after moving to Florida was to get a season pass for Universal, and after a couple months of being here, I finally got recently, so I've been going there quite a bit (seeing how I live five minutes away). These are two parks that I had only been to once in about the last 10 years, so I had a lot of catching up to do. I really do like the Universal properties. While they aren't the greatest parks in the world and there isn't a TON to do at either of them, I still usually enjoy the time I spend there. They also happen to have two of the best B&Ms on the planet at IOA (Hulk and Fire, not Ice) and the best indoor coaster that I've ever been on at the Studios, so it's a nice place to go for some high quality coaster riding. As the season goes on, I'll do more riding of the non-coasters, but for now I haven't been in the mood to. I definitely have to catch up on attractions like Twister and Disaster (even though I've only heard bad things), Shrek 4D, and all the other non-coaster things those parks have to offer. But for now, it's all about teh roller coasterzzzz! Yeah, yeah, everyone has this picture. As well as this picture. Somehow or another I got it with no tourists in the shot. Score! Still don't think this ride is that great, and it's ugly. But I still like taking pictures of it. Lots of "OH SH*T" faces in this one. I do think the non-inverting loop is a pretty neat element, and it's got some nice airtime in the back row. I tried like four times to get the train directly over the sun, this was the closest I got. Anyone else think the non-inverting loop looks like a lopsided balloon? While this ride has some decent moments with forces, the endless amounts of brake runs just kill any momentum the ride ever gets. Nets ruin perfectly good pictures sometimes. Crowd surfing. This element is far too slow, you just get halfway dumped off the side of the train and it's really uncomfortable. The ending element is pretty nice, though. Overall, still not that great of a ride, but at least you have music to distract you from its mediocrity. This ride is just a wee bit better. Loop! Love everything about the first half of this ride. If they could have conjured up a 2nd half that was just as good, this ride would be in my top 5. I also agree with reports that it's getting a little rough. But the launch into this zero-g roll is nothing short of phenomenal. And the super-sized cobra roll is also fantastic. Beware of the after effects of this splash if you're in the front row, I got pelted with the leftover water one time, didn't feel good. The drop after this corkscrew in the back row is one of my favorite B&M moments, right up there with the drop out of Kumba's zero-g roll in the back right seat. Hulk looks angry, he needs a hug! I hadn't ridden this since the park's opening season, but holy crap the pop of airtime at the top is insane! Really like this picture, it's very "Florida." Non-Dueling Dragons = Pacifist Dragons? The cobra roll is the highlight of the Ice side, which is fairly mediocre otherwise, especially with no dueling. This was one of my favorite dueling moments while on the Fire side, seeing the Ice train fly beneath your feet! Depressing. So mist-erious! I would like this picture a lot more if the net wasn't there. See my caption back near the beginning about nets ruining shots. Good ride, but not worth more than about a 15-20 minute wait. Can you spot the train? I love the view from this bridge, especially at night. Hulk's cobra roll looks fantastic at night. I spy a train! This is what the "auto fix" feature on my photo editing software came up with for the last picture. Not sure why it's purple, but it looks trippy, and you can see stars! Another slow shutter look at the cobra roll. I really wish the train had green LED lights down the side, that would look spectacular! Another wacky "auto fix" edit. Yep, looks like a penis. Panorama of that half of City Walk. Thanks for reading!

Well the Extravaganza has enjoyed a fantastic two year run of terror on the amusement industry, traveling all over the country and leaving a wake of nuclear destruction in its path. Now it's time to take on the end of the world in 2012! Will December 21 loom large as the end of not only planet Earth, but the Extravaganza? Only time will tell if the end of days is powerful enough to stop the never-ending freight train that is Skycoastin' Steve's Extravaganza. But seriously, I can't believe we're already two months into 2012 and I haven't done a trip report. These damn things consume my life sometimes, but it's time to jump back on that horse and giddy up with photos, captions, and all other types of shenanigans. For those of you who don't know, I moved to Orlando at the end of 2011, so you'll probably be seeing quite a few reports from the Florida parks this year. I also have a few other trips planned throughout the year, including Dollywood for opening weekend, a trip back to Virginia for BGW and Hershey's new coasters, and my first foray to the parks of Western NY and surrounding areas for Leviathan Bash! I'm 110% sure there will be some type of credit whoring sprinkled in there for good measure, so stay tuned for all the whoreish madness! I have a couple reports upcoming this week: a quick look at Universal, as well as my first trip to Legoland Florida. Here we go! Quick Links! Legoland Florida Part 1 - Page 2 Legoland Florida Part 2, Miniland USA! - Page 3 Hollywood Drive-In Mini Golf - Page 4 Dollywood Opening Weekend - Page 5 BGT, Including Baby Cheetahs, Ducklings, and a Joey Wallaby! - Page 12 Deadwood! - Page 13 Ocean City, preview at Hersheypark - Page 14 Skyrush opening day! - Page 15 Verbolten! Jen hits 300 credits!! - Page 20

For anyone that hasn't gotten to see this mini golf course, it's going to be INSANE. I can't wait to play on it!

LEDs are the way to go with lighting these days, even though they're quite expensive. MF, Power Tower, and the Giant Wheel needed lighting upgrades for YEARS, and with MF getting more new paint, it's going to look better than ever!

Hey Steve, I read your post too quickly and thought you had gone loony for a minute and were saying that the GP knew about Intamin's spotty track record with reliability and B&M's pretty sterling track record with reliability and also the price tag for each. I'll admit my use of pronouns was a bit ambiguous.

^The GP doesn't know the difference between B&M and Intamin, so I doubt parks care too much about what the enthusiasts will think about their ride. I'm sure they know about Intamin's spotty track record with reliability, and I'm sure they know about B&M's pretty sterling track record with reliability. And they damn sure know what the price tag is for each. But at the end of the day, the GP sees OMFG 300 FOOT DROP!!!! no matter who builds it.

^I'm going to go out on a limb and say Rattler would have been torn down years ago if they didn't reprofile the first drop. Then again, maybe that would have been a better option, anyway.

The one positive out of this is it's creating jobs. Otherwise, it just seems to be a bottomless money pit. Hopefully it works out for them.

The whole ride hauled ass with the exception of the brake run.

^So is it banked more than it used to be? It still has that little hop coming out of the turn, so it's tough to tell what the difference is.

Looking good! Nice to see that it still has a decent dip right there in that turn.

Ha, that's pretty awesome.

In fairness, I had several rides on Intimidator that were practically trimless (usually early in the day or with half empty trains), and those were some of the best rides I've had on any B&M hyper. The rides during Coaster Stock '10 in particular were INSANE. However, in the middle of a hot day with a full train, those things grabbed pretty hard.

This ride looks absolutely phenomenal.

^No, it's not for sale. I heard about this whole sale of rides/closing of the dry side a couple months ago, so I've been preparing for the fact that Rampage will never run again for a while now. Even when I worked there in 2009, I knew the park was on its last few breaths. Surprising it even made it two more seasons if you ask me. It'll be interesting to see how long the water park lasts.

^^I think they're going to be like the Intamin OTSR's without the shoulder restraint. So it'll pull down over you and have that U-shape around the side. At least that's what I've gathered and what I'm imagining. If anyone else knows differently, please share.

^Yes, Rampage was custom built for the terrain, it would be insanely difficult (probably impossible, if not outrageously expensive) to relocate it.

^^I haven't seen too many people actually whine about this ride, it's more like neutral observations. I think if you read through the thread, the prevailing thought is that this will be a fantastic ride. The HP people are just taking things a weeee bit too personally.

SAVE TEH RAMPAGE!!!

I think the fact that it's at a lower point in the park doesn't help the height perception, either. I definitely need to either see it in person or ride it to determine if it's really 85 degrees, because in most of the pictures, it doesn't look like it is. But once again, it's all about the angle and perception. Either way, that first drop still looks nuts!

^Guys, he knows what he's talking about. He's spent some time at CP. And by some, I mean a lot.