fraroc

I should have posted this the day I had the dream, but a few days ago. I had an absolutely horrifying dream concerning roller coasters. It started in this small amusement park somewhere in the Midwest. I remember it was a small, dinky looking park with only a handful of roller coasters, I think there was a medium-sized woodie and what looked like a Galaxi, but it's claim to fame from coaster enthusiasts is that in the "thrill section" the park currently has a very rare portable Schwarzkopf looping coaster that was very similar to Olympia Looping, but larger and much more intense. It was so intense, that even when it did rounds in German Fairs, it had to be trimmed. And it was STILL very intense. Basically, the most of my dream was a very tragic news story concerning said Schwarzkopf coaster, supposedly without trims, the coaster has such high G-Forces that it's very dangerous for people. Well, the news story said that the trim brakes failed during the ride.....and basically people sitting in the back 3 cars were killed instantly. There necks snapped due to the G-forces, just like that. And the news channel even showed a picture of what happened. God....I know that would never happen in real life, but the dream just made it seem so real.

August, 2012 Kelly's Coasters: Post 32 Hey guys, It's Kelly. I just got home from my recent trip to TGA. I know, I know, I've been to Tennessee's Great America once every summer for almost 12 years straight, but you know what? It's my home park, it's easy to get to from where I live, and it's freaking awesome to boot! One of the upsides of going to that park every year was that I got to see it evolve before my very eyes! This is how the park looked 12 years ago when I first started this blog... And this is what it looks like now! However, If you've paid any attention to my most recent posts, You'd realize that the TGA skyline will be forever changed at the end of this year.... Even though I thoroughly enjoyed every other coaster in this park, especially the three amazing Intamins, I felt it very appropriate that I ride Roar for one last time before it closes forever. Lines were VERY long today for Roar, as expected. I waited 45 minutes and the line's wait time just kept getting longer and longer. When I got off Roar, I noticed that the sign said "Approximate wait time for Roar: 2 Hours" Lets just say that as of 2012, Roar is operating at its absolute worst. Thanks to GCI's Millennium Flyer trains, at the end of the first drop, instead of your head slamming against a headrest, you get such HORRIFIC whiplash. The first drop has also been trimmed so badly that it's top speed has actually been reduced from 64mph to a mere 58mph on the stats. Not only that, but thanks to the trims, the train almost valleys on the ascending turn to the MCBR, in fact there is a pneumatic system that was installed on the brake run to keep the train from rolling back. Once again, that one hill after the MCBR is the only pop of airtime because for the rest of the ride, they turned the trim brakes back on and the train slows to an absolute CRAWL during the oval section. The sad part is, I can't really say that it's a "shell of its former self" because its "former self" wasn't that great either. A lot of people on a lot of the coaster enthusiast sites blame the general public for the "dumbing down" of Roar over the years, even after the 2008 re-profiling of the drop. To be frank, the original version of Raor wasn't all that was cracked up to be. If you didn't ride Roar from 2001-2007, you didn't miss much. I even wrote early on in my blog how it slams your head against the headrest, jackhammers you in the mountain tunnel and that the oval section was trimmed. So anyways....Goodbye, Roar...You had the potential to be the greatest wooden roller coaster of all time, I only wish you would have lived up to that.....

Boo. Boo, Wendy Testaburger. Boo. Sorry, I just HAD to XD

Where the hell did you get the Intamin First Gen Freefall from?! I could have used it for Tennessees Great America when they had Espionage from 1981 to 1995.... I think the park looks great though. My only issue is that I think that you're kind of overdoing it on the NL imported tracks...Don't get me wrong, they look excellent it's just that (and this is my opinion alone) they're no fun. I find it a lot more fun when you're building and theming a roller coaster using the default tracks, even when they don't look 100% realistic.

That entire Congo area is a huge mess. I LOVE the park, don't get me wrong, but it just always annoyed me how there is so much disarray with the theming of that area. Also, I still can't believe how many people are so quick to say how bad Shockwave is. I rode it a few times and it really is NOT that bad. It ain't smooth in the least amount, but I found it to be at least tolerable.

May, 2012 Kelly's Coasters: Post 31 Hey guys, I know that I updated my blog just a few days ago but you guys just HAVE to hear this!! Apparently, lots information about the "secret" concerning Rocky Mountain Construction's cancelled project with Tennessee's Great America, which is of course, renovating Roar. An entire press kit, which includes a short description and CGI generated photographs of their project! And let me tell you something, having viewing these pictures, I really freakin' wish that the project was never cancelled. Also, a letter that was sent to Jason Walker was attached, explaining why RMC is pulling out of the Roar Restoration project. So basically, RMC was fixing to give Roar the Texas Giant/Iron Rattler treatment, which would have been AWE-FREAKIN-SOME had it become a reality. I love the fact that they were going to get rid of the awful-paced oval section after the MCBR and replace it with two air-time hills and an over-bank turn. That second airtime hill would have had some killer floater air and the first one would have had some awesome ejector air! And that Zero-G-Roll? Holy crap that would have been amazing... Sadly, according to the letter attached to the leak, it was just not meant to be. Dear Jason Walker, General Manager of Tennessee's Great America We regret to inform you that we at Rocky Mountain Construction are pulling out of the project to renovate the Roar wooden roller coaster. After multiple inspections of the track, trains, and supports, we have come to the conclusion that Roar's structural integrity is very poor and that if we were to go through with the plans to add Iron Horse track or Topper Track to the ride, it could suffer a potentially catastrophic structural failure. Due to the fact that Vekoma Rides Manufacturing of Holland did not construct this ride to the best quality of structural integrity, Roar is simply not safe enough to renovate. We duly apologize for any inconvenience. Sincerely, Rocky Mountain Construction. So basically, what I'm gathering from this letter is that RMC believes that Roar is a poorly-built piece of crap and that if they were to make it into Primal Scream like they wanted to, it could have collapsed. I'm not really surprised at this, it really seems now that Jason Walker and Cedar Fair as a whole wanted to build the worlds tallest and fastest wood coaster to out-do Paramount King's Island because they had built Son Of Beast a year earlier, the tallest and fastest woodie and the only woodie with a loop. Instead of blatantly ripping off Son of Beast and making Roar a looping woodie, they just made it 230 ft tall and 86mph to take away Son of Beast's accolade as the tallest and fastest woodie. Also, it also seems that Vekoma was the only coaster manufacturer that was willing to embark on TGA's grandiose project in 2001, despite the fact that they only made a handful of woodies in Europe. But whatever....I'm a little sad to see Roar go, I really think it had the potential to be one of the greatest woodies in the world.... but what happens, happens....

This looks like a very nice start to a park, I hope you continue with this!

May, 2012 Kelly's Coasters: Post 30 Hey guys, Kelly here. Just an hour ago, I found this news bulletin posted on Coasters4U concerning Tennessee's Great America. And I really don't know if I should be saddened, relieved, or disappointing in what was just confirmed. Let's check it out. So...it's really happening. Roar is gonna be removed.....Ever since the accident that happened on the day me and my family went in 2007, I knew deep down in my heart that despite the confirmation that it was going to be renovated, Roar was operating on borrowed time... But here is the thing I don't get...why the hell did I see guys walking around the perimeter of the coaster with Rocky Mountain Construction t-shirts on? Ever since I posted that here on my blog, we all went ape and thought that RMC was going to make Roar a steel coaster or give it some much-needed Topper Track...I really wonder what happened?

I also believe that, because the first time I rode Grizzly, despite it being rough, I found it to be SO much better than Hurler. Also, I actually said "Yeah, Grizzly seems very Cyclone to me."

Wow....This is pretty cool, the park looks good, but I really love the fact that you're incorporating this engaging story in with the park.

January, 2012 Kelly's Coasters: Post 29 Hey readers. I know it's been a very long time since I've updated my blog or even logged on, a few months to be exact....but I'm back and I can't wait to show you what my home park has in store for 2012! It's NOT a roller coaster (they just built one last year ), but it's a really cool new thrill ride! Here are some pictures! The ride's logo.... And here it is! Stonehenge, a WELL overdue HUSS Top Spin. What's pretty cool about this one is that it's a "Suspended Top Spin" so your feet are dangling with no floor beneath you, similar to a floorless roller coaster. The theming of the ride looks pretty cool with the giant Stonehenge monument behind the ride... Not only that, Stonehenge also has pyrotechnics! Floating on top of the top spin's reservoir are six chemically-based flamethrowers that explode when the ride's gondola is suspended upside-down over the front of the ride, instilling fear in riders that they are going to go headfirst into a sacrificial pit! And if you think that wasn't enough, starting in the 2012 season, every day at 9:30, the massive Stonehenge monument will put on a massive laser light show, called Light Up The Sky (nice name, isn't it ) I don't have any pictures of this, but Camp Snoopy was re-themed to Planet Snoopy and the EF Miler kiddie coaster known as Woodstock's Express (formerly known as Mini Mine Train) is now Snoopy's Spaceship. I will end this update with a rumor! According to this picture, there have been some sightings of men around Roar wearing shirts that say RMC on them........could it be?

Some random Dragon Wagon in some hole-in-the-wall fair in Old Bethpage, Long Island.

To be honest, the first time I rode Skyrush, I thought I was going to fall out. So many people complain about the restraints, but I just love the feeling of having absolutely nothing above you or to your sides and just being held down by your legs. I literally uncontrollably leaned over on the first drop and I thought I was going to die. What amplified the fear of falling out was that my Hershey trip was just after the Texas Giant tragedy so quite predictably I was a smidge concerned.

Interesting way to start a park....Looks very nice, by the way!

United-Spacelines. If that coaster existed in real life, it would blow Volcano The Blast Coaster in the water.

She must be taking some GOOD painkillers if she thinks this ride is the best coaster ever.

All I got to say is that....this is pretty damn cool. I've made some timeline parks before as you can see by my park Tennessee's Great America, but I would have never thought to have added such an engaging storyline to it! Yeah, my park has a story but none as engaging and creative as yours! Keep at it by all means!

October, 2011 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 28 Hello readers! This is Kelly’s boyfriend, Kevin! Kelly unfortunately is sick with the flu, so she was unable to attend Halloween Haunt 2011 at Tennessee’s Great America with me. I originally wasn’t going to go without her but she said to go and have fun by myself, so that’s what I did! This blog post will explain my day from beginning to end! I arrived at the park at noon, just an hour after it opened. The crowds weren’t as bad as when I was here last in 2007, the year that Hercules: The Revenge opened, but it wasn’t empty in the slightest, unfortunately. First coaster of the day was Screamin’ Eagle, a good, classic out and back woodie! Both inverted coasters; Steel Savage, the B&M invert and Venom, the Intamin Inverted Impulse coaster were closed today. From what I’ve been told from the ride-ops telling everybody that the ride was broken, Steel Savage is having issues with its station brakes and Venom is having problems with the computer that controls the LIMs. Those two coasters were a no-go today After I rode a few flats, it was time to go on a coaster! I decided to go on Fireball. Long story short, it sucked. Compared to how it was in 07’ (bumpy but tolerable) it’s now extremely rough and the headbanging is VERY bad on the helix and the corkscrews. The drop after the brake run into the turn over the pond is the worst part because your head just SLAMS into the restraint. Kelly really likes this one though.... (I wonder what kind of painkillers SHE’S taking.) Next up was Rush Zone, the new coaster! The line was huge because A. It’s a new ride, and B. STUPIDLY, they were only operating one train. But the 1hr 30min wait was SO worth it! Holy JESUS this was cool ride! The first turns after the first drop might be even MORE X-Treme than Intimidator 305’s! And the hills are just packed with air-time! For the first time, I actually felt scared on this ride because I thought I was going to be ripped out of my seat! Bottom line, Rush Zone ROCKS! Next up, I went against Kelly’s advice and went on what she describes as the most overrated and disappointing roller coaster in the world, Roar. Surprisingly, it’s not a horrible ride! Yes, it is very rough but aren’t all wooden roller coasters supposed to have that rough “out of control” feeling? The hill after the brake run has a nice pop of airtime and the smaller hills in that oval part have some air too! It’s a shame that it was badly trimmed and that the first drop was shortened, but overall, it’s not a bad ride. Hercules: The Revenge had NO LINE! SCORE!!!! Despite me loving Rush Zone, I really gotta say, Hercules is still my favorite roller coaster. Intamin really outdid themselves with this one. The airtime on the top hat, the forceful turns, the speed, the launches, the Greco-Roman theme, everything is perfect! Nice abs, Poseidon! Seriously, you’ve been working out? Then came the neighboring B&M, Rage! Now I was surprised that Rage actually had a line, because I remember the times I’ve been here, Rage was always a walk-on. It’s a pretty cool ride! An interesting fact about Rage is that it’s the first B&M Floorless coaster to be built, but the second to open! So that basically sums up my trip to Tennessee’s Great America! I had a pretty good time and I would love to go again!

Christmas Day, 2010 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 27 TGA GETS ANOTHER INTAMIN! Rush Zone hyper coaster announced! Merry Christmas, coaster freaks! Tennessee’s Great America updated their website and social networking sites with this announcement! So.....this is it, the coaster that’s going to replace Vampyre. It looks cool, don’t get me wrong, in fact it looks and sounds like it’s going to be a VERY good ride. But It seems like whenever this park needs a new coaster, they always go to Intamin. I LIKE Intamin, don’t get me wrong, but next year this park will have three Intamins and only two B&Ms!

LONG. FRIKKIN. ISLAND. Now, I'm not ragging on Adventureland, it's a quaint little park for families and the SDC Hurricane is pretty fun, but LI is really in need of a major theme park like KD or Hershey. I know that Dorney, Knoebles, Hershey and to an extent KD are in pretty reasonable driving distance from Long Island, but it WOULD be nice to have one that's closer...

Ok. This needs to exist in real life. The custom inversons look cool as hell, especially the X-shaped Cobra Roll and the "Eagle Roll".

December, 2010 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 26 GOODBYE VAMPYRE So...I know this picture is pretty dark and hard to see...but it’s of Vampyre’s queue line on the very last day it was open...Halloween 2010....From 11PM to 2AM, every single other ride at TGA was closed while Vampyre stayed open so that coaster enthusiasts can have their very last ride on Vampyre. They ran a VERY strict “One Ride Only” policy from 11PM to 2AM (because the park was technically closed) and lines were approximately 3 hours long not only at night, but all day. I think they did a great thing by letting us say our final goodbyes to Schwarzkopf’s magnum opus before it gets torn down.... The day after Halloween, park employees that worked on Vampyre were granted one final ride on the ride. This picture in particular is of the very last train to EVER go through Vampyre’s circuit..... I’m pretty sure you all know what happened next .....there are no photos currently depicting the actual demolition of the coaster. That’s a good thing, that’s not the way I want to remember my favorite coaster... But.....I did find this on Coasters4U.....It’s all gone....What once was the greatest steel looping roller coaster of all time....now reduced to nothing but a crater....even the two mountains are gone.... But what I find really strange is that even though the ride itself is totally gone, the unique triple-loop element is still standing there...the rest of the ride is off to the scrap heap, but those three loops still stand strong....I wonder why they are there?

June, 2010 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 25 Wow....I can’t believe this blog has been online for almost ten years and it’s still getting so many readers! So, I just got back from yet another trip to Tennessee’s Great America and I wish I was posting here under happier terms, but with Vampyre’s fate sealed, this trip (though I had fun on the roller coasters) was anything but happy. I dedicated the first few hours of my trip riding all of the other coasters that TGA has to offer like Steel Savage, Screamin’ Eagle, Venom, Rage and Hercules: The Revenge...ultimately dedicating the rest of my trip to re-riding Vampyre over and over again. Of course, with the internet the confirmation of Vampyre’s closure became viral, so the line was over 30 minutes all day. The new expansion was a very quaint area. The Coaster’s Drive-in was moved from the food court in the front of the park to here, there is also a gift shop called the DROP Shop which had a cool logo with the word DROP being pictures of coasters in the park. D is the first drop of Roar, R is a picture of Venom’s back spike, O is one of Fireball’s loops, and P is the cobra roll of Rage. The HUSS pirate ship was a long-overdue addition to the park and the pier is a pretty cool and relaxing place. That is, until one of Vampyre’s trains suddenly goes rushing through those three loops, which I found to be a very cool Kodak moment. I’m suddenly even sadder that Vampyre is going to be removed, if that’s possible But the thing I don’t understand is WHY? Why are they really getting rid of Vampyre? Take a look at Roar, ever since Roar opened in 2001, it has been plagued with mechanical issues, painful ride experience, constant downtime, and to top it off, in 2006 the freakin’ train DE-RAILED and someone DIED on it! It makes so much more sense to get rid of Roar, but instead, they decide to get rid of a coaster that is very safe, extremely thrilling and smooth, and has excellent reliability! Not only that, but it’s also a Schwarzkopf! But they’re removing it just because it happens to be much older! I just don’t get it.....

What's the netting for anyway?

December, 2009 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 24 HORRIBLE NEWS: CLOSURE OF VAMPYRE ANNOUNCED NO!!!!!!!! I........I.........can’t believe this....... This.....is by far the saddest news I have ever gotten concerning a theme park......This may sound weird but....I’m literally in tears as I write this. Vampyre was me and my sister’s absolute favorite roller coaster and we both loved it so much..........it’s been an hour since I found out and I’m still in absolute disbelief.....