fraroc

You do realize that Black Diamond is a dark ride, right? It's also a badass KISS song Ok, pleasant surprise....I guess Shockwave at Kings Dominion. People say it's so horrible, but honestly, it's not a bad ride. Not the BEST but still rideable. And the standing-up factor is pretty unique compared to anything else in the park. Unpleasant surprise...I guess Stinger at Dorney. After riding Sidewinder at Hershey which is one of the better ones, it just falls short...

Not quite Iron Rattler but its good to see someone attempt an RMC coaster using RCT3.

September, 2009 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 23 Hey!! I’m here with some news concerning TGA that I recently found! Let’s see what’s up! Judging from this promo picture that Cedar Fair and Tennessee’s Great America posted on their Facebook pages, they are expanding the park! It seems like a brand new “Shopping District” is going to be put in place. The Coaster’s Drive-In is moving from the original picnic plaza to here, According to sources, a Subway will replace the original Coaster’s Drive-In. Some more gift shops and bathrooms will also be added. Not only that, but TGA is getting a new flat! A WELL overdue HUSS Pirate Ship ride named “Ocean Motion.” I really like the “dock” that is going to sprawl out across Elmwood Lake, almost giving it a Long Island “Olde Towne by the water” sort-of-feel. Unfortunatley, it seems like the Round-Up will be sacrificed to make way for this new area. I loved this ride! To me, it was like the love child of Enterprise and Gravitron! It will be missed! No other things were announced, so it looks like the Fireball MIGHT be in the clear for now. However we won’t know until the park opens next year!

July, 2009 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 22 God....I haven’t been to TGA since 2007......But look, now I’m here!!! Lets get down to my trip, shall we? I haven’t been on Roar since about a year before the accident. For the most part, It’s been a “must avoid” ride because of it’s roughness, but now I’ve been hearing from multiple roller coaster fans that it’s operating much better since they got the new trains and the drop was re-profiled. I definitely like the look of the new Millennium Flyer trains. Much more articulated and streamlined than PTC trains on Screamin’ Eagle or the Vekoma-made trains that were on Roar. After riding it a few times, my official stance on Roar is that it’s still not a great ride, but they did fix some of the problems that plagued the ride since it opened since 2001, such as the pacing issues in the oval section. It’s still rough as hell, but there is considerably more airtime. The flat section before the drop is kind of redundant, but it’s supposed to reduce wear and tear on the train’s wheels and (hopefully) prevent another accident from occurring There is a perfectly good explanation for why 4 out of 7 cars on Vampyre are empty when it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary! When it was my turn to finally go on and the train returned to the station, there was a poor girl that was sitting in the back that looked so pale its not even funny and as soon as the lap bars released......she opened her mouth and instantaneously, a projectile filled with lumps and stuff just FLEW out of her mouth! Like the girl in The Exorcist! It just covered the entire back of the train and no one wanted to sit in those seats! Btw, the locker policy is still in place, but they’re much more lenient with it now. They reduced the price from $4.00 to $1.25 and the bouncer isn’t there anymore forcing people to empty their pockets. They must have got a lot of complaints about that.... What can be said about Hercules: The Revenge other than INTAMIN and AWESOME!!!! I’ve been hearing, yet again, MORE rumors. This time, the rumors aren’t positive. IT seems that TGA is planning to remove one of their older rides. From the looks of things, it doesn’t look good for Fireball. It’s still a fun ride, but every year it seems to get rougher and rougher and much harder to maintain as it ages. I mean, the ride is twenty-NINE years old! However, it seems we have to wait some more....

October, 2007 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 21 According to Coasters4U.com and several other roller coaster fan sites, the Tennessee branch of OSHA has approved of plans to renovate Roar which has been SBNO since June following a major accident that killed one person. Clair Hain of Great Coasters International has confirmed plans to do extensive work on the on the only Vekoma woodie in the U.S which include new Millennium Flyer trains to replace the Vekoma-built trains. Sadly, in order to reinforce the structural integrity of the ride, the entire 220 ft first drop will be re-profiled smaller, which means that by 2008, Roar will no longer be considered a “hyper coaster” and it’s speed will be slowed down from 86mph to approximately 63-65mph. However, I do believe that when it reopens, Roar will probably be at its smoothest! Before..... After.... A closer look at the new Millennium Flyers.

How could I forget this? It was either this last trip to Kings Dominion or the one before that. But I heard this gem from the entrance of Anaconda. "I think this is the coaster they used for Final Destination 3. I don't want to go on cuz it's not safe!!"

RCT3 No Limits Theme Park Studio ThrillVille And just for laughs.... Roller Coaster Tycoon on 3DS SimCoaster/Sim Theme Park AirCoaster on iOS

July, 2007 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 20 Hi guys. Judging from all of the comments being posted on my blog, you all want to know exactly what happened on Roar which caused Tennessee’s Great America to close down for two weeks. One of Roar’s three Vekoma-built trains suffered a major mechanical failure during operation, causing one of the cars to derail. All thirty people suffered from injuries ranging from minor to severe. Tragically, one person died from his injuries at a local hospital. This is a simple diagram of Roar’s train when it operates normally without issue. And this diagram basically depicts the accident. Severe metal fatigue caused one of the running-rail wheels to shear off while Train 2 was going through the swooping drop in the mountain. The third car of the train suddenly jumped the rails, jackknifed causing the car’s connector to break off, and T-boned causing substantial damage to the train and injuring the riders. The rest of the train, including the front two cars stalled due to the friction, which is why I saw a crane by the mountain. They had to be rescued and taken to the hospital.....and one person didn't make it Sadly, this isn't the first time someone died at Tennesee's Great America. Back in the 1990s, before Twister or Hang-Time or whatever the hell it's called now came to the park, they had an Intamin First-Generation Freefall named Espionage and it closed because someone fell to their death after one of the restraints went up. TGA re-opened two weeks after the accident and operated as per usual, sans Roar. The coaster is currently listed on RCDB as Standing But Not Operating, or SBNO and there is currently no telling when Roar will open again..... If it’ll ever open again....

What? Why would you say that? That's not even funny... It's not supposed to be funny. The ride op, in reality was being told about the major incident that happened on Roar, Kelly of course didnt realize what happened so she made the wrong conclusion.

Thanks for the nice comments! BTW, AlmereStars, the giovanola coaster is named Coast-To-Coaster, not Viper. Viper was what Super Looper would have been named if it was built at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 2003 as a replacement for Joker's Revenge. June, 2007 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 19 FINALLY RIDING HERCULES!!! Hey guys! I’m going to do this blog post a little different than I usually do. I will post picture updates on this post as I spend the day at Tennessee’s Great America in order to finally go on Hercules: The Revenge! I have no doubt that this ride is going to be awesome! 10:30AM: When me, my parents, and my sister Sara (who is now a big adrenaline junkie like me!) arrived at the park, it was pretty crowded and a good amount of people were headed towards the new coaster. Hopefully the line isn’t too long..... 11:00AM: As it turns out, the line for Hercules: The Revenge was not that long! Only about thirty minutes. I love the way that the queue was themed with giant gladiator statues and ruins, very authentic stuff! I still wonder how Cedar Fair got permission to use Steve Reeves’ image for the logo of this roller coaster. REVIEW OF HERCULES: One word. AWE-SOME. This is one of the most kick-a$$ roller coasters I have EVER been on! The first launch into the helix wasn’t that strong though, it was more of a gradual acceleration from 0 to 35mph, but that did NOT indicate what the whole ride is! The second 35mph to 84mph launch into the massive top-hat was like being shot like a bullet from a gun! Travelling through overbanked turns at over 70mph was incredibly forceful and you are literally pinned into your seat the entire time! In fact, the entire ride itself is very forceful, especially the underground section after the third launch! The Zero-G-Roll makes for a great grand finale for this coaster! I give Hercules the Revenge 9.8/10. This coaster has tons of speed on it, it has a lot of substance and length for an Intamin launched coaster, the overbanked turns are very forceful and the top hat has tons of ejector airtime and overall, I think it’s a great ride! 12:00AM: Hercules, to me has GREAT re-rideability value so I just have to go on again! This time, after I got off of the ride, I could see the young ride operator answering the phone in the control booth and....you could just see color drain from his face as he put his head on the desk.....poor guy....I can bet you someone in his family just passed away.... However, as my family and I returned back to the main plaza of the park, I’m seeing people literally flipping out and screaming, not like a fun scream, but screaming in fear. I have no idea what the hell was going on, but I know it’s something big. Oh my God.....there is smoke coming from Roar’s mountain....there’s got to be a fire or something....Oh God.....I hope everybody’s okay..... 6:00PM: When me and my family arrived at the park that evening, almost half of the park was cordoned off by the police, shutting off access to Round-Up, Hang-Time, Roar, Forgotten Tomb, Revolution and Vampyre. Everybody was trying to ignore the elephant in the room and trying to enjoy their day at TGA, but no one could totally ignore what happened. I could see from the lift hill of Fireball what looked like a crane behind the massive lift-hill of Roar....Something tells me that....you know....this is it for Roar. If it’s true than it’s a shame....the coaster is only six years old. I’ll post again when I have more info.

Honestly, Shockwave at KD. That ride was honestly not that bad the times that I went on it. Granted it ain't the smoothest roller coaster out there, but to me, it was tolerable.

April, 2007 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 18 Whatever Happened To Super Looper? I know....I know....Hercules: The Revenge is currently testing and is slated to open in a month, but first I want to give you an update that put a HUGE smile on my face! I’m pretty sure you’re all familiar with Super Looper, the Schwarzkopf looping coaster that was removed from Tennessee’s Great America in late 2001..... Super Looper was removed, but not scrapped. Throughout 2002-2007, it has been in storage at several different amusement parks throughout the United States, especially after Cedar Fair’s rival, Six Flags bought it and wanted to relocate it to one of their parks. In 2002, it was in storage at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and was rumored to be put where Joker’s Revenge once stood and be named “Viper” After that fell through, the coaster was stored at Six Flags America from 2003-2004. Then, it was moved AGAIN and stored at Six Flags New England from 2005-2006. After Six Flags as a whole lost interest in building it at one of their parks and put it up for sale. Super Looper was bought and stored in a small mom-and-pop boardwalk amusement park called Family Land Florida located in you guessed it, West Palm Beach, Florida. Family Land Florida is a very small, yet quaint park that is home to a few good flats and two roller coasters. Tiki Coaster, a tiny Wacky Worm, and a unique family roller coaster built by Giovanola called Coast-to-Coaster. And to make things sweeter, the park is totally free to enter! And you can ride every single ride however times you want for a small Pay-One-Price bracelet! What makes this dinky little park interesting is that whenever me and my family go on our Easter trip to Walt Disney World, we always pass this tiny park. However, this year....was special.... This time when we passed Family Land Florida, I could swear that the skyline looked different and I saw something that looked very familiar to me. It was a total deja-vu. As we drove closer.....my mouth dropped down onto the floor of the car. It had to be.....IT WAS! Super Looper was built and now operates at Family Land Florida! When I finally got to a computer to check RCDB, I found out that Super Looper is now known as Python! I can’t tell you how happy I am to find out that this classic Schwarzie did not go to coaster heaven!

January 2007 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 18 Hey guys, I’m sorry for abandoning my blog for so long, me and my family were spending a nice holiday season together, so nothing’s wrong! The reason why I updated the blog is because construction pictures of Hercules: The Revenge were posted! Let’s look at them! As you can see here, the majority of the coaster is all done! All that needs to be completed is the Top Hat and the “Roman Roll”. I’m still stymied about why Hercules’ Zero-G-Roll is called a “Roman Roll” My guess is that TGA is trying to be as edgy as possible with this new attraction, It’s similar to how the Immelmann on Storm Runner at Hersheypark is called a “Cobra Loop”. Either way, I’m ‘totes digging the roman column support stricture! This ride should be complete soon!

Holy shiz Kings Dominion needs one.

September 2006 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 17 TENNESEE’S GREAT AMERICA ANNOUNCES HERCULES: THE REVENGE INTAMIN LSM COASTER I....I...I CHECKED COASTERS4U.COM TODAY FOR UPDATES ABOUT TGA AND... AND......OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD HOLY CRAP...... OH. MY. GAWD. THIS. SOUNDS. SO. AWESOME. I. CAN’T. WAIT. UNTIL. NEXT. MAY. Creator Comments: You like this? I’ve been planning and working on Hercules: The Revenge since the 2002 update! I’ve always loved the idea of an epic launched coaster and somewhat following the legend of Hercules and Hydra seemed perfect! Inspirations include Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa, iSpeed at Mirablandia, and Maverick and Cedar Point.

So according to the person who made it as a bid for attention, us roller coaster/theme park enthusiasts that called him out on faking that video are involved in a cover-up scandal with Funtime rides and we're trying to vehemently deny that this "accident" ever happened.

August, 2006 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 16 Today, when I decided to check Coasters4U.com out of sheer boredom, I found something EXTREMLEY exciting that confirms that a new major roller coaster is indeed coming to Tennessee’s Great America! Let’s look at the pictures that were posted in the Tennesee’s Great America Discussion Topic! As you can see here, the amount of land cleared near Rage is tremendous and a massive ditch was dug. Basically confirming that this new coaster is going to be pretty damn big! Something I found interesting was the barrier fence that the park put up to block the cleared land out of plain view. Instead of just a plain wooden fence, it seems to have some sort of rustic motif to it. It almost looks.....Greco-Roman to me. But this is the coup-de-grace. At the opposite end of the cleared land is roller coaster track and supports! But not just any coaster track, but INTAMIN track! TGA is getting another Intamin! This means that Venom will no longer be that lonely little Intamin among a park full of Arrows, Vekomas, B&Ms and a legendary Schwarzkopf! I can’t help but imagine just how freakin’ cool it would be if this new coaster was an Intamin Mega-looper like Colossus at Thorpe Park! Then again, the plot of land seems to be way too large for such a ride. What seems more likely to me is an Intamin hyper coaster. Which means that TGA will finally get a true hypercoaster that Roar failed to deliver. It would be pretty cool if it was a clone of Expedition GeForce! According to many of my fellow enthusiasts, Expedition GeForce is supposed to be one of the greatest steel coasters of all time. But I’m just dreaming... It could be something COMPLETLEY DIFFERENT for all I know...... Creator Comments: What do you think this Intamin will be? Will it be anything like those two designs that Kelly thought of?

November, 2005 Kelly's Coasters: Post 14 Okay.....I have no idea what prompted this decision, but so long as the head banging is gone, I have no argument against this! By the way, this year I am attending opening day at TGA for the first time in my life so expect some pics! ======================================================================================================= April, 2006 Kelly’s Coasters: Post 15 OPENING DAY TRIP REPORT!! Ok, now I know why I should never go to the park on opening day. I already expected the park to be crowded. Like, BEYOND Hersheypark on Saturday in July crowded, and it was. But operations were just PITIFUL. Screamin’ Eagle, Stratosphere Tower, and Fireball were all closed and not expected to open until June! Most of the roller coasters were only operating one train so lines were humongous. I waited in line for about two hours to get on Steel Savage and 1h 45min to get on Venom! Vampyre was a 30+ minute wait only operating a single train, Vermont Maple Train was also one train. Roar operated all three trains but the line was still an hour and thirty minutes because dispatch times were abysmal. The shortest dispatch time was SIX MINUTES. Imagine that! I also waited 45 minutes to get a chance to ride the “new” Hang-Time. It definitely is smoother and much more enjoyable though. Rage had the shortest lines at only ten to fifteen minutes. It took me a while to notice, but as soon as I found out, I freaked out. The slingshot ride Vertigo is gone! They must have taken it out because it just wasn’t profitable anymore. Overall, it wasn’t that great of a trip and from now on, I’m only going during weekdays. P.S: I’ve been hearing some whisperings around Coasters4U.com and other theme park enthusiast sites. They’re keeping this a secret, but it seems like TGA is planning on something really big for 2007. Which is also part of the reason why they took out Vertigo, they’re going to use the land for something else...And it makes sense, you know? Tennessee's Great America has not added a significant new attraction since 2003 and before then,they added new attractions every year! Starting with Roar in 2001, Venom and Revolution in 2002, and The Forgotten Tomb in 2003...however, that petered out...Absolutely nothing is confirmed yet, but my gut tells me that next year, TGA might have the steel hypercoaster that I’ve been waiting for.

September, 2005 Kelly's Coasters: Post 13 Here it is, straight from Cedar Fair! Twister will not be removed! But what do they mean by "the ride will be very different" in 2006? I guess we have to play the waiting game again... Kelly out!

I like your coasters, a lot actually, but I wonder what kind of PC you have and why you can't put the detail settings up all the way....

Arrow: Trailblazer At Hershey Vekoma: Vapor Trail at Sesame Place (first coaster) Schwarzkopf: SooperDooperLooper (first coaster with inversion) B&M: Talon at Dorney Intamin: VooDoo/Possessed at Dorney CCI: Hurler at Kings Dominion Togo: Shockwave at Kings Dominion PTC: Comet at Hershey GCI: Either Wildcat or Lightning Racer at Hershey...I don't freakin remember. MACK: Wild Mouse at Hershey Wow...Hershey really has one of everything when it comes to manufacturers.

May, 2005 Kelly's Coasters: Post 12 RANT ALERT: Vampyre’s AWFUL new locker policy and ride operations As you can tell from the title, my recent trip to Tennessee’s Great America was less than good. All thanks to the absolutely terrible new rider policies for my favorite roller coaster. In a move that has thoroughly pissed off ME and most other patrons, Tennessee’s Great America has enacted a mandatory locker policy on Vampyre. Akin to Millennium Force at Cedar Point, we now have to pay an outrageous fee of $4.00USD to rent a locker for ONE HOUR (lines for Vampyre can reach up to 3 hours on a bad day.) and NOTHING is allowed in the queue line, not even a bottle of water. But the worst part of this whole ordeal was the fact that TGA hired a f***ing BOUNCER. That’s right, they hired a security gorilla in order to intimidate people into buying a locker for their purses, backpacks, stuffed animals etc....My experience with this new policy is that this security guy is SUCH a bully! After I bought my $4 locker to put my purse in, as I was strolling up to the entrance of Vampyre, this guy PUSHES HIS ARM IN MY FACE to stop me!!! And he said in not-too-friendly of a tone “Empty your pockets, or I will have to pat you down.” He watches me like a hawk to make sure that I take my “contraband” cell phone, eyeliner, and lipstick out of my pocket. He then had the nerve to force me into BUYING ANOTHER LOCKER for my lipstick, cell phone etc....I had enough with this roid-ape’s crap so I just said “Forget it! I’m not going on.” He just smirked. Obviously, I’m not the first one to walk off line because of him. Not only that, but I heard through the grapevine that in late August of 2004, just a week after I went to the park with Iris and Jill, they enacted an assigned seat policy. They removed the magnetic gates leading to the rows and when you reach the entrance of the gothic abbey, a ride-op assigns you a seat. If you wanted the front car and you’re assigned the middle car, TOO BAD. Better luck next time. According to the complaints, this is the attitude that the attendants have on the ride. Ugh....I just frikkin HATE THIS!!!! Cedar Fair turned Anton Schwarzkopf’s magnum opus into a complete hassle to just to get on! Currently, my favorite four coasters at Tennessee’s Great America are Steel Savage, Venom, Rage, and Vampyre and this crappy policy alone is the reason why Vampyre is now my fourth-favorite coaster in the park. If they enforce this policy next year, it’s sad to say that I will end up skipping this ride. I should close this rant with a rumor that I heard that they are considering removing the Vekoma Boomerang, Twister! This makes no sense. Twister was built in 1996 to replace the Intamin First Generation Freefall, making it only nine years old, not that old at all. And it’s still pretty popular! Nothing is confirmed yet but, time will tell whether or whether not it’ll be here next year.

August, 2004 Kelly's Coasters: Post 11 Hey, it's Kelly! Wow...it's been a while since I posted anything concerning my home park on this blog. I have some good news! My mother agreed that for my 17th birthday that I can take two of my best friends to Tennessee's Great America with me! To the right is my best friend Jill. She really loves coasters like me and she jumped at the chance to go to TGA with me! To my left is my other best friend Iris. She's a little timid when it coems to roller coasters. She usually has to ride small coasters first and then graduate to bigger ones. We arrived at the park at approximatley 10:30, a half-hour after it opened but the place was already crowded. It soon became evident why the lines for the coasters were so long today compared to other days. every single coaster was operating one train! I have NO idea why considering how crowded it was. The first one we rode was Vermont Maple Train! This is when I really wish that Super Looper was still around, it would have been the perfect starting ride for Iris. Next up was the Arrow+Vekoma combo, Twister and Fireball! Twister didn't have a long line, so we rode it about three times. Fireball on the other hand had a 30 minute wait so we only rode it once. We then went on Venom. Because that ride is so popular and it can't operate a second train, the line was MONSTROTORIOUS! Me and the girls killed time by just chatting! Jill: Was it just me or was the ride operator for Fireball kinda cute? Iris: OMG he totally was! After Venom, I decided to go on a ride that I haven't been on ever! The water ride, Forgotten Tomb! Before we went on the ride, we had to put our purses in the locker room. Forgotten Tomb is very well themed. It almost looks like a real lost Aztec temple, not what I'd expect from a Cedar Fair park! Mabye from a place like Alton Towers, but not here! My friends were ready to crucify me after this. Both times we rammed into the waterfalls, Jill and Iris both got soaking wet and I was still somewhat dry at the end of the ride! After they dried off, they forgave me though! Of course, I had to save the best for last! Vampyre! Jill and Iris also loved it! Despite the long lines and me getting Jill and Iris completley soaked, all three of us thought it was the best trip ever and I can't wait to go back! Hopefully next year, there will be a new ride or a new coaster to go on! Bye for now!

It's sad to say, but the Texas Giant incident is bringing in another wave of overweight hate. One prick, I'm not gonna say his name, even had the audacity to say "Natural selection. Fat people don't deserve the gift of life." Ok, Why don't YOU try being the son or daughter of that woman that fell, and not even that, but try having a loved one die of a heart attack because of their weight, are you going to say that they deserved it? If you do, screw you. You don't have a heart.

May, 2003 Kelly's Coasters: Post 10 Hey guys, I'm sorry to tell you this, but this year we will not be taking a trip to TGA this summer. Instead, we are going to go to both Dollywood and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom for the summer. However, I do have some news concerning Tennessee's Great America, they recently added their first water ride! It is a river rapids ride called The Forgotten Tomb. And it looks awesome! It occupies the empty space left between Roar and Revolution. The theming of this ride is supposed to be either a lost temple in the tropics or an Egyptian tomb. The theming of the locker room is tropical, so I'll go with that. On a side note, there was a funny blooper on the commercial TGA did for the Forgotten Tomb, a woman riding the ride was completely oblivious to the waterfall creeping up behind her and.....you should have seen the LOOK on her face when she got drenched!!