xVicesAndVirtues

Hello TPR! Despite going on more trips than I can count lately, I always give good thought to posting a PTR, then never find time to get around to it. However, I decided that I’ve been selfishly reading everyone else’s trip reports long enough and that it’s time to contribute some content to the forum. If you’ve been doing the same thing as me, I’d love to see your photos! For the long weekend of 8/18 through 8/21, I finally hit that “I-35 Corridor” in the middle of the western bit of the Midwest that I’ve never visited, seeing Adventureland Iowa, Valleyfair, Nick Universe, Worlds of Fun, and Silver Dollar City in the process. I’m not the sort of person who wants to write lengthy paragraphs comparing Tornado at Adventureland to some other random classic-ish woodie, nor do I have much of a rating system unless the Mitch Hawker poll is going on. That said, go ahead, revive that thread and ask when it’s coming back. Day One: Lack of sleep, an entertaining TSA agent, flying from MCO to MCI, driving 4 hours to Adventureland, Adventureland. Full disclosure: I didn’t take that many pictures due to the aforementioned lack of sleep. "You can choose any Compact vehicle in the aisle and go! ...as long as it's a red Hyundai Accent!" Some berries I got from a grocery store because I like to eat healthy like that. The container was also conveniently sized perfectly for a compartment in my red Hyundai Accent. This has probably been said before, but the Adventureland entrance is pretty much a Magic Kingdom entrance knock-off. That being said, it's actually a really pleasant way to enter the park. It even has the "underpasses" to walk through on either side. Their new Gerstlauer Infinity coaster. These are really good rides. The lapbars, which look and feel kind of like hydraulic-locking versions of B&M's clamshells, make the inversions (especially the extended-hanging ones) really scary. Tornado, a Bill Cobb woodie. Kind of like the other Bill Cobb woodies, it's kind of a random mix of fun airtime moments, some fun spinal re-adjustments, some fast out-of-control bits, some slow parts to enjoy the surrounding scenery, and some hills that make your brain stem go an inch or two farther into, well...your brain. Outlaw was up next. It was halfway decent but not all that memorable. The only memory I remember having of it was "I wish these trains were Millennium Flyers" There are some very pretty park areas in Adventureland and the park as a whole was definitely in the upper 40th percentile of parks in the US in terms of charm, maintenance, and landscaping. I wish some parks or chains cared about these things. It goes to show that Adventureland's owners and/or management really care about the place and want to give the best presentation possible. Oh, this one. I remember getting a little nervous heading into the lift, then the drop pleasantly surprised me, followed by these two Schwarzkopf-esque loops (in terms of G force going through them). Then, the coaster takes a small right turn, during which I imagine I first felt what it would be like to get T-boned in a car at a high rate of speed. Ouch. You have a dirty mind. Again, the clamshell-like restraints make you feel like you're naked, bent-over, and exposed going into that killer drop. Pretty much everyone seemed to be holding on for dear life. Cool elements from the great minds at Gerstlauer putting a lot of thought into cool elements for hang-time and directional changes. After riding Karacho at Tripsdrill earlier this year too, I really hope these Infinity coasters catch on and spread everywhere like the Eurofighters have. Really cool pre-show to The Underground. Yes it's kind of small-park cheesy, but added to the experience for sure. If I was a little kid, it definitely would have built up the anticipation for the dark ride/coaster. At this point I had driven from Adventureland to Bloomington, Minnesota, still on about an hour and a half of sleep. I nearly fell asleep on the table after a single Stella Artois.

All I have to say after reading all the pages of insane crap after quoting Screamscape, followed by the subsequent trashing of the site is that, as was stated a few pages back, Screamscape is a "News and Rumors" site and the guy clearly has his work cut out for him. He posts news when announcements are made or, for example, when it was uncovered that Six Flags New England applied for planning approval for their new S&S 4D Free Fly, a pending-announcement bit of news. In addition to this he clearly has sources who probably have other sources and information gets passed to him that way. He maintains a level of integrity for the site and if I were to go ahead and e-mail him right now and say that I had a dream that Universal is building the next tallest coaster on the planet, he isn't just going to throw it up on the site and say "somebody told me", he's going to put the information through his vetting process because, again, he wants to maintain integrity of his site. Would some of you prefer not to have this resource at all? It's also very important to note that plans change. Say KD was on track to get a new entrance and huge B&M for 2015, then they either saw a decline in traffic, decline in revenue, or even an outside (ie other park had a large increase) statistic that indicated that their resources would be better used elsewhere, they are a business and exist to make money. You may feel that it's "unfair" that KD hasn't had a new major coaster since 2010, but unfortunately business just doesn't work that way. They are also a publicly traded corporation, so the shareholders and board of directors are also going to mull over the details to make sure they get the best return on investment for the decisions they make in capital investment.

Today on Screamscape: The idea of a launched B&M Flyer sounds like somebody's f'ed up RCT2 ride having too much fun experimenting with the 8cars trainer modifications. Either that or it sounds like the fourth page of a park discussion thread on here after someone shoveled a single scoop of dirt at "insert park name here", as they prepare to build their launched underground Aquatrax yada yada. But it also sounds awesome. Being launched into a flying coaster pretzel loop would be everything awesome, so hopefully it comes to fruition. Maybe they'll also include an entrance re-do a la CP and Carowinds and incorporate the new coaster into it, maybe you'll walk through the pretzel loop or something to get into the park.

Wow, that entrance pond with fountain and hedges looks awesome, as does the hotel. Usually, all you hear about Conneaut Lake is either a Screamscape article foreshadowing it's demise or pictures depicting it as a Purell mother's worst nightmare. Given the fate-beatings this place always takes from all angles, it's really amazing to see what some very dedicated people can do to restore a place like this. It's easy to write it off and still say you'd be better off with a trip to Six Flags America before setting foot in the place, but if you've ever painted a single room in your house then realized afterward that you just spent $100 on paint, the rollers, extra brushes, and a tray, then scaling it up to an entire theme park really makes this seem like a miracle. Thank you for sharing.

I think this change is 100% for the best. I know a lot of people are likening the transition to floorless to that done on Rogarou. Rogarou is better with floorless trains but it really wasn't that bad or rough with stand-up trains. Vortex, however, was as easy for me to name my most dreaded B&M as Kumba is to name as the most awesome B&M. Let's just hope the trains solve the problem, because the transitions on this ride were really terrible.

Impressive video quality in that El Toro video. In the off-ride shots, it's visually as close to "actually there" as you can probably get. El Toro is so awesome. Having been on all of the major Intamin coasters in Europe and North America plus about half the RMC coasters, El Toro is easily my favorite because of the intensity and how the ride doesn't give you one second to catch your breath from beginning to end. But I'll admit I haven't been on Lightning Rod yet. You can tell in the pictures and even more in person that Bizarro's old Medusa paint is really starting to show through the purple in a lot of places. Maybe it'll eventually get a sand blast and re-spray like it's New England counterpart. I personally liked the old theme better, anyway. Great to see you guys having fun, these trip reports are really great to read!

I can somewhat sympathize with those who didn't enjoy the ride experience. Just like the Intamin Zac-Spin coasters, free-spinning means free-spinning. Sometimes you get a mild ride, sometimes you get a more intense but really fun ride, but sometimes you get a very out-of-balance ride that spins uncontrollably, which I found felt like a more intense, more unpleasant flat ride experience like a Zipper or something.

I've seen both SFFT and Great Adventure move the lines pretty quick with their coasters, so long as guests are complying with the ride ops' instructions. Usually they keep people standing "on deck" for the next train to come while loading the other train, plus both parks did a good job of stopping the main line and sending people evenly to each side of the ride. That being said, while I think this itself is a good addition to SFNE, I think Six Flags as a whole is starting to make a pattern with the whole "put the same ride everywhere" thing, kind of like how every park has gotten the Larson loop "coaster" flat ride in the past couple years. I know that this isn't exactly new for them, with 3 Superman Flyers in the chain, a ton of BTR clones, then the Dark Knight coasters a couple years back, but the more they do it, the less special and unique each park feels. I'll be kind of disappointed if every single Six Flags ends up with the exact same 4D Free Fly 3 years from now.

Yesss, I love how under-rated Dorney Park is! A lot of people give them a hard time, so I went with bare-minimum expectations and loved the place. It might be a little "Cedar Fair blacktop and trash cans" in appearance, but Possessed packs a good punch, Hydra may be light on forces, but is a HUGE refresher compared to the more "cookie-cutter" floorless coasters, and I thought Talon was one of the better inverts when riding in the back row. Plus it has some of the "Pennsylvania old school charm", retaining a whip ride, the classic woodie, and with the addition of Demon Drop, despite being a transplant.

Uh huh. Flying sunglasses and GoPros. How many coasters or flats even have netting over them to catch flying objects ? Under them sure, but I think the trough has that covered. Take a closer look at that netting. I can fit objects much larger than sunglasses or GoPros through the lattice. In addition cameras are not allowed on the ride unless you are a member of the media and use their camera. http://www.schlitterbahn.com/kansas-city/rides/all-new-verruckt Birds and other wildlife. How many coasters or flats have netting over them to keep birds and other wildlife out of the ride path? Have you ever been to CP? They have gulls and sparrows everywhere. Everywhere that is except anywhere near the coasters. They hang around begging for french fries and repay you by pooping all over your car. They know there is no profit in hanging around coasters or slides. How many reports have there been of riders attacked by gulls or "other wildlife" at CP or any other park for that matter? I would imagine getting hit in the face by a gull or even a sparrow at a 120mph on TTD would cause some serious damage and might even make the news. Also what kinds of non-bird wildlife are you concerned about interfering with the safe operation of a water slide? Kansas Flying Monkeys? Nice try though. Fabio begs to differ. Sorry, couldn't resist.

^Maybe it'll be the first "lunching" wooden coaster. Maybe they'll serve you lunch in the shed. And they'll announce that you'll be served deep-fried bits of that mythical cat the guy posted the picture of.

I just want to say that if Busch Gardens Tampa suddenly announced that Gwazi was finally being torn down and being replaced by this, I'd be a happy guy. Wooden coasters are hard to come by down here in Florida. Looks pretty solid to me and while GCI doesn't build the best rides on the planet necessarily, it's still a great addition to the line-up you guys already enjoy at this park. Plus, as a few people have said, it'll be a great "night ride" through the woods without having to have your a$$ kicked by The Beast. Going to this area next year anyway, excited to check it out.

Awesome! I'm personally planning on hitting up Dollywood and the Pigeon Forge area in a couple of weeks, probably the 2nd weekend in August. Other than at the park, any nearby food places you'd recommend, Robb?

Superman/Bizarro/Superman again at SFNE ran a full first-gen train until they got the second-gen trains for the Bizarro transformation, which they kept and just lightly modified for the return of Superman this year. To the best of my knowledge and what I can find from searching and looking through photos online, EGF is the only case of the mixed train. Having rode both EGF about two months ago, then Superman a few days ago, I can definitely say that Superman's train feels uniquely "light" while riding and kind of seems to jog and bump up a bit going over the larger hills. EGF does not feel this way. I rode EGF in front row a couple of times and did not get a similar sensation. But at the same time, maybe EGF's heavier first-gen train pushing the lead car prevents this sensation from taking place. Maybe the fact that the second-gen lead car also includes a very small "zero car" on the front (that shares a wheel assembly with the 1 car) that can flex a bit improves the tracking on a more twisted layout like EGF, or maybe helps with maintenance/wear and tear a bit? Purely speculating, also purely speculating about the second-gen being lighter, but thats the way they seem to feel with the way they track.

^...but, if you look on rcdb, there are photos with it previously running a full first-gen train (with the first-gen lead car), then at some point later, they switched out just that lead car.

Hey guys, I have a question for the die-hard Holiday Park enthusiasts out there. I'm sure this has been answered before somewhere and tried doing some searches to no avail. Why exactly does Expedition GeForce run with the second-generation Intamin front zero car and front car, then the rest of the train with first-gen Intamin train cars?

Very nice report, thanks for posting! Haven't been to this park in quite a few years. I had no idea whatsoever that they bought a new train for Ride of Steel, as I hadn't followed the park's discussion thread. I'm a huuge fan of those first-gen Intamin trains and had no idea that they still would make one of those without it being the newer, lighter Bizarro/Superman the Ride style. The restraints seem to be of the Xcelerator/TTD/Colossos variety, which are every bit as comfortable as the older ones.

So much GeForce porn, I love it! I was also amazed when I went earlier this year to see it's running 110% despite being 15 years old. At Europa, I stayed at Castillo Alcazar and was blown away by the theming. Better than Disney hotels I've seen here.

A little late to comment on it, but I could not agree more about Heide Park. I visited Germany at the end of April/early May and was REALLY looking forward to the park from the great things I've heard in the past, but I definitely had a more of a Six Flags Day. I was there alone and also was disappointed by the non-use of the single rider queues. What's more, I thought that Flug der Damonen was super rough in comparison to recent rides I've had on Gatekeeper, Wild Eagle, etc. Colossos also running pretty rough just made me feel like they're neglecting to effectively maintain these rides, which is really a shame because they're otherwise really, really great rides. Colossos was running one train at a 60-90 minute wait for the first 1/2 of the day, then when they added a second, they'd consistently stack the trains for a minute or more after the second train had arrived again, which seemed completely unacceptable since Colossos has a slow chain lift system followed by a really long ride. The employees didn't seem to give a crap at all. Also, all of the non-junk food locations were closed, so the only choices were deep fried crap or cheap frozen pizza. I really hope they can get it together in the future. Otherwise, I'm absolutely loving all the photos and detail, makes me wish I'd done even more parks when I was in Europe!

I think that, in a lot of cases, it comes down to maintenance. I've had experiences where I rode a coaster once on Train 1 and had a rough ride, then rode again on Train 2 and had a great ride. At the same time, when people used to complain about old-Hulk being rough, I used to truly wonder if somehow every time I rode it I was teleported to alternate-reality Hulk, because I've ridden it ten times in a row and never thought it was rough. I will say, though, at risk of everyone saying I'm out of my mind, that last week on my Germany trip when I rode Colossos at Heide Park, it was pretty bad. Like brain-stem-slamming bad at the bottoms of the hills bad. Didn't stop me from multiple rides, but I definitely had a lasting headache. I rode El Toro most recently last year and while there's some violent patches ie the turn-around, I think it's an incredibly great coaster. I was really looking forward to Colossos and I found that while the airtime was still great, the shuffling and jostling of the trains was pretty punishing. Also, since someone mentioned ColossUs at Thorpe Park being really rough, is this a common theme with Merlin parks not maintaining coasters well? I felt like Flug Der Damonen was shuffling much more than I remember Gatekeeper or Wild Eagle doing, and Limit was an incredibly enduring experience. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of bed that morning.

1. Do you have a 4K HDTV? Yes/No (If no, jump to question #6) No. 6. If you don't have a 4K HDTV, how important is it to you to get one? Almost not important at all. I read a CNET.com article a while back about reasons to/not to get a 4K TV, and, in a nutshell, to actually have a visual benefit from the TV, you'd have to sit pretty close to it and have it be a 60"+ screen unless you're sitting right on top of it. I sit about 12 feet from my 47" 1080p LED TV, and if it got blown up by a power surge tomorrow, I'd honestly just probably get a slightly larger 1080p. The graph that CNET cited in the article is here: http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/01/27/resolution_chart.jpg 7. If you were to buy a new HDTV, what feature would be more important to you? 3-D or 4K? Or both or neither? I think there would have to be a significant improvement in technology or a forced technology upgrade (like there was when cable providers announced the need to have an HD adaptable box for standard TVs), or other complete lack of compatibility. If I was going to buy a new HDTV, a higher refresh rate, reputable brand, and built in Smart TV capabilities/apps are more important to me than 3D or 4K.

The situation with the attacks on scareactors is definitely a complicated one. On one hand, the costly, complicated solution to the fact that the public seems to lack self-control at these events, would be to install CCTV cameras in the houses so that the police can review footage after an alleged assault. But buying enough cameras/DVRs and equipment for every house that could also be removed and re-used for the following year would be incredibly expensive both in terms of equipment and set-up each year. Plus, that wouldn't solve incidents like the cited one in the above article that happened to the stilt actor. I asked some questions to a few people I know that work in HHN and/or the resort, and what I've gathered from them is that the uniformed park employees situated close to scareactors in the houses are tasked with their security...however, they're also tasked with ensuring guests don't take pictures and keeping the line flow moving through the house, with a heavy emphasis on the latter to keep the outdoor queues down. They can be telling one person to put their camera away and miss the moment when someone punches the actor in the face. I think one of the simplest ways that Universal can improve in this area is by having some kind of audible warning in the outdoor queue for the house, even though it would be annoying to have to listen to over and over. Have it threaten arrest and lifetime criminal trespass from the resort if aggravated physical contact with a scareactor is made, then find a way to better publicize arrests made for this to show that they're serious. I paid attention tonight when I was there for warnings about physical contact with the scareactors and the best ones I could find were on the house entrance signs, which of course guests don't even seem to glance at whatsoever. I think eliminating alcohol would be a financial blow to the event. Despite charging a separate admission, it's got to be a huge cost to set-up, advertise, recruit, train, and staff the event. Alcohol sales are huge for restaurants and often keep them afloat, so I'm sure that alcohol profits out-weigh all other purchases and admission. I wish people knew how to conduct themselves in public. If you're the kind of person who knows that your likely "automatic reaction" to having someone jump out at you is to punch them in the face, why are you going to horror nights? And not to further rant, but why can't people think beyond their own life and consider that the scareactors are people who will happily work for a not-so-high wage, give up their nights and weekends during one of the most event-filled time of year, and do the physically-tasking job of running around and jumping out at you for several hours? Everyone that I've met there, even if just for a second for a photo-op, has been happy to put their scareactor weapon next to your head for a photo and seems to enjoy just being part of it all. I'm thankful that those people are there to make this event fun for me.

Signed the petition. Universal needs to realize that, had competition not existed in our market in the first place, their business would not be where it is today. Orlando's sprawling attractions corridor and it's growth year-after-year is the reason why people from all over the world choose Orlando as their destination and keep coming back.

^Disney to Fun Spot is a good 20 minute drive in times of no traffic. Fun Spot is in the general area closer to Universal. During the city's busier traffic times, typically 4PM-7PM on weekdays, it can take an hour or more. Assuming that you mean Uber, being a large city with a large tourism population, you can pretty much Uber anywhere in Orlando to any other part of Orlando. Thanksgiving week itself can get a little bit busy, but the week following shouldn't be too bad.

Went to the park on Sunday while on a brief trip up north to see family, changing leaves, and get the whole "fall experience" as a break from Florida. Dorney Park always impresses me as one of the consistently best-run Cedar Fair parks that I've ever been to. The park was completely dead yet they still run 2+ trains on everything and keep the capacity going pretty well. I was happy to see Stinger running, as it had been down the last two visits I've made so I hadn't been able to catch a re-ride since getting the credit at CGA years ago. Employees were super friendly, they were letting guests re-ride if their rows were empty or giving the option to move for a re-ride to an empty row. Steel Force seems like it gives slightly more jarring rides every time I go back but it adds to the experience. We rode in the back row of the first car and the flex in the train's floor is pretty nuts. We got on everything two or three times in the span of about two hours. I'd really love for this park to get the next investment from corporate. I don't know a whole lot about the park's finances but it seems close enough to Philadelphia and it's position in the center of the Lehigh Valley area seems like they could squeeze a little extra out of it to make an investment pay off. I'd really love to see a GCI in the Dinosaurs field or maybe an entrance-piece coaster like they did with Fury325 and GateKeeper. Either way, this is about the only place you can go and always walk right onto some really great B&Ms, plus having the Whip and first-gen Freefall there really round-out the old and new. We always have such a good experience here that I try to get to the park at least every other year.