Midgetman82

Didn't the boomerang from Alabama Adventure get sold? Who bought it? Stingray's probably gonna be a no-go due to capacity. I'd imagine a custom one if he did go with something like it, but I don't see it with the money put down.

Top Thrill Dragster tops it for me in terms of it rocketing to a really fast speed, but Rock n' Roller Coaster's felt faster due to it being indoors.

^Don't Vekomas, like what Jew said, have wider tracks. They also look heavier, use up slightly larger footprint, and don't have that good of experience to them due to their usual roughness. I know I won't rest until I've made it to a major fair in Europe someday. The ones in the States just don't have some things many European (German, specifically) fairs seem to have, and I unfortunately can' quite describe what.

^ Is incorrect < My park's in the hospital receiving crutches. v Didn't know he/she/it could've saved 15% or more by switching their car insurance to Geico.

ProSlide really had a leg out in front of the others when they began making their more unique (and safe) slides like the bowls and tornado's. WhiteWater seems to be taking a huge leap forward, though, due to their size and how they're taking on uniqueness as well. I still have to remind myself that they did get Hopkins Rides late last year. ProSlide was number one in my book, and they have my favorite types of special water slides, but WhiteWater is inching closer to going past ProSlide in my list of who I prefer. In terms of who's better as a company, it's true, they're both probably equal. It's just in my view WhiteWater looks like it has a bigger portfolio than ProSlide does. Midgetman "acting like a know-it-all, again" 82

If the ride has an amazing "storyline," something like a lot of B&M's (first comes to mind is Kumba), then that's what usually comes out to be a great coaster to me. It doesn't matter if the coaster pulls 11g's with 19 inversions or stands 80ft tall and only has bunny hills either. Other than that, rides that feel totally out of control tend to be jacked up to the top of my list, especially if it can disorient me. This includes, and is not limited to, Rock Bottom Plunge, Flight of Fear, Montu, and Wicked Twister (front or backseat); with an honorable mention to Maverick. So far, Voyage at Holiday World has fulfilled both of these (minus the disorientation). GREAT Storyline, great speeds with some roughness to give it a "monster out of control" feeling, and the overall length of the woodie. Though, that coaster usually decomissions someone like my dad for the rest of the day from riding any other coasters because it can be too intense for some. Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of some of Intamin's crazy transitions like on Maverick and Intimidator305 (though the restraints really did help on this one). Being whipped so hard to one side and continuing a long curve isn't my cup of tea, unless it's followed by a crazy bats**t insane course, like the second half of Maverick after the water geyser section.

T2 was 52" iirc, and I totally agree agree with everything else you said. It'd make for a really bad day when almost every ride you take your kid to turns them away and leaves them with only small flats meant for the much smaller ones. I saw it a lot at Cedar Point.

Wal-Mart actually sells packs of 48 poptarts. Gimmie, gimmie.

I think for marketing purposes, the coaster could be extended further. It'd probably be something like a Mr. Freeze coaster, which wouldn't be a bad idea with a newer layout. No problem! Really glad to see how much attention it's getting!

Okay, here are some photos I have of the site yesterday. I had the day to kill, so I took the initiative that morning after work to head over to Kentucky Kingdom and take pictures of the cranes on Greezed Lightnin'. It was about 10:00am when I made it to the local bowling alley to take the first peek at the coaster, and immediately saw the cranes, but no back vertical spike on the coaster. I stayed to see the deconstruction a little from here since I didn't want to face paying the fee for going into KY State Fair properties. I stayed to see the deconstruction a little from here since I didn't want to face paying the fee for going into KY State Fair properties. It was here when I took a drive around Kentucky Kingdom. Since there wasn't anything going on at the Expo Center, I didn't have to pay the $8 fee to get in. There was a lot of activity going on within the walls and a lot of workers landscaping. There were even some trucks parked out in front of Breakdance when I passed the front side of the park. Soon, I got right up to the construction site to get a much closer look at the deconstruction. There was a man buffing the gondolas of the ferris wheel. The ride was looking more shiny! He seems to have some work ahead of him. Most of the back section had already been removed and placed on the ground outside the fence of the park where the street passes under the bridge. Nope, not messing with the bolts at all. It's full-on cutting of the steel and pulling it apart piece-by-piece. Probably because they had problems with the bolts. All of a sudden, an anchorman and camera man showed up from WDRB. I was pretty much the only other person there watching the deconstruction like the KK fanboy I apparently am, so that was how I was interviewed. Looks like this whole section is next to become separated. Turned around and got a closer look at the guy with the ferris wheel. Anchorman taking notes. Does this look salvageable? How about this...? With a bit of lifting and pulling and lifting and pulling, it eventually freed itself, clunked next to the leftover piece of track, and began spinning slowly in the air. Gently stood up on the ground next to the other pieces. "What nuts and bolts?" Eventually the workers and the WDRB group left to go get lunch, so I got a closer look at the track. I've never really watched the deconstruction of a roller coaster before, but i don't think this is how it's done if the coaster was going to be used in another park sometime in the future. Ramp! I only took some photos of the front of the park after this, before making another circle around the park past the site and then leaving. I'll have some leftover pictures thrown onto Flickr soon, look for the same username.

I won't be able to post my photos tonight due to time, buuuuuuut: Just letting you know who this was. I'll try to get my photos up by tomorrow.

Just saying, I could, unless mudvayneimn would like to take the initiative instead.

Honestly, the slide couldn't look any sketchier than what I'm seing here... source

3 1/2 years for me. I still remember what it was like signing up for a coaster site to be on, and know that CoasterForce still hasn't activated my account there yet... My aunt recently discovered my Shel Silverstein 3-book set. Childhood rediscovered.

Getting to visit amusement parks that interest me is a bit of a difficult part when your dad wants to save money, and your mom isn't always physically capable of helping take you there; as badly as she might want to. Driving to places like Holiday World an hour away for me is also a bit difficult since my parents won't let me go alone, and I can't find anyone I know who's willing to travel with me there. I also know nobody else who's into roller coasters in the slightest bit because some friends think most wooden roller coasters "don't have under-wheels to keep the coaster from flying off the track", they think amusement parks are for kids only, or they just don't care. So I usually just sit around and wait until I can gather the courage to ask my dad if he can take me to a park (or, like recently, an event), and see if he can or can't/will or won't. Someday, I hope to do what ^"edh" is doing, and be able to travel while collecting skymiles.

I've heard some things about EDC, but holy cow I didn't expect it to be so big! Large gatherings excite me, but add in rides, food, and good music, then we're talking!

zachclarke2, your photos are astounding! Some of mine, I guess. I liked how the sky this day was completely white. HDR Edit HDR Edit

I love it when slides have a shiny finish on them, it makes them look so slick! I usually prefer ProSlide's mat racers because they have very good speed going around the helix, but I guess WhiteWater can do it too when they feel like it. And I absolutely hate it when master blasters launch water over the hill and all of it lands above you, especially when the bottom of the drop has a smaller radius and it feels like you hit it! Anyways, great report! Looks like a really nice water park.

Rock on

That definitely seems to be the pull factor with them when I see any of their ships with slides on them. They were the first to get a bowl slide on top of a ship before Norwegian Cruise came around, and now this. Speaking of Norwegian, my mother has one planned for my family and I later in the summer on the Breakaway! Very excited!

Gotcha. Thanks.

Part Two: Coastermania (June 7th) Skip a month ahead, and I'm back at the same park. This time, all the rides were operating and ready for the many people that were at the event. Compared to the last visit, my mom and my brother came with me to Sandusky, my brother coming with me into the park. We spent two nights in the area so we could have as much time in the park as possible. The morning started with me waking up an hour after the event had started, but it's alright, they had ERT on the rides I already went on, and get to ride when got into the park. As always with my TR's, prepare for a lot of pictures... We did take up the advantage of being roughly 10 minutes early into the park, even though the event started a while before. First ride we hit was Gatekeeper knowing the line for it was going to soar to long lengths later in the day. Still a good coaster! The seagulls still tried to claim the coaster to themselves. =-/ The seagulls weren't the biggest problem this day though. It was the bugs... they were EVERYWHERE! AAH! Finally beginning to rack up more new credits, we hit Wicked Twister second. This coaster... blew me away, and landed as my favorite out of all the coasters at Cedar Point! We then quick-paced-walked our ways towards the park's NASA space shuttle program. Front seat ride. Aww Yis! Then we fell out of the sky. I see you Millenium Force! Being my first S&S drop tower, it didn't impress me too much. It did provide some very weird butterflies in my stomach though! Weee! My brother and I then took a quick ride on Millenium Force. No photos there since we spent most of the time waiting to get on. Then came lunchtime. My brother ditched me to eat outside of the park and take a nap, so i had the benefit of eating here. Two birds The wait for the food was worth it though, because at the end of the really long line was where they gave every single attendee a free jacket to take home with them. Later, they let people go in a free-for-all grabbing another VIP fleece, which I very luckily got my hands on one in my size. Best park souvenirs ever! After lunch, I got a little airtime. This one turned out to be much more fun than Kings Island's Delirium. Then I got back in line for this crazy machine again! Notice the bugs... My second Windseeker, and still a very gentle ride, once you get over your anxiety from floating 300 feet in the air. The guy sitting next to me wasn't too happy or comfortable about it either! Weeeeee! All the way back seat on Magnum-XL 200 was very interesting. My first Arrow (Not Morgan ) hypercoaster, and it sure did deliver! The bunny hills coming back were a tad brutal, but it was alright overall. A park known more for its coasters than its theming, I can understand the continuity between dinosaurs and dragsters. Unfortunately, I could tell the operator on Witch's Wheel wasn't having a very good day dealing with people as he had to send people out of the line for line jumping, and denied a kid from riding due to his height and having to face an angry father. A hop from Gemini, a jump from the closed for maintenance Screamin' Swing, and a skip from an expensive pizza place, I hit the wildest coaster I have ever ridden; hands down. Waited an hour for it, and it was quite a rush! I liked it, but it's not one of my top coasters unfortunately. Oh, hello random chicken walking the sidewalk outside the nearby petting zoo! Back to the front, I meet up with my brother for a Ride on Raptor as the night began. We worked our way towards the same route we took in the morning, but stopped to ride MaXair on the way. We then got a backseat ride on Wicked Twister. Very close to park closing time, we made it to Mantis with absolutely no lines! We got in line for the front. It felt pretty good to get back on a stand-up coater, but this coaster turned out to be a really bad decision for me due to the pain it caused my feet. One thing I won't forget about this coaster though was the view from the top of the lift, and seeing the entire front-half of the park glowing. Beautiful! Illuminocity was performing, so we stopped to see a bit of that. Very good show, and lots of lights and pyrotechnics! After the park closed, we made our way to the back of the park to take part in the first portion of the nighttime ERT. We rode this twice that night, but had Mean Streak in between each ride. After the second ride, we were done with Maverick! Mean Streak wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. It was a very mild and in-control ride, but it didn't hurt. We ended the day with a few re-rides to the moon and back. Good coaster. Just short, tis' all. I'm in love with the color-changing for Power Tower! Heading out. Thanks Cedar Point for a great event! I ended the day with new credits, and at least $30 munched off of me from locker-use alone. Gatekeeper: 1 Wicked Twister: 3 Top Thrill Dragster: 5 Millenium Force: 1 Magnum-XL 200: 1 Gemini: 1 Maverick: 3 Raptor: 1 Mantis: 1 Mean Streak: 1

Zoom lenses on coasters! *Ahem* Great photographs! I wish I could come to Great America and try namtaB! Looks epic, and I love disorienting rides. Also, your thought on X-Flight were the same opinions I had for Gatekeeper. Not a top 10, but still pure fun!

I haven't posted a Photo TR in quite a while, and felt like brushing up on my skills (whatever skills that might be) and posting one. This trip report is going to be a mix of two seperate visits to the same park, Cedar Point. Once for Gatekeeper Media Day (May 9th), and the second being the annual Coastermania event (June 7th). Very large gap between both, but oh well. So, I should first start by saying that the Gatekeeper Media day event was literally my first time ever visiting Cedar Point in Ohio. For a park that's touted as the roller coaster enthusiast's wonderland (or whatever they call it), I've always wanted to go. Knowing the thought of visiting Cedar Point again later in the summer was not going to be guaranteed, I took my chances on going, even if I knew it was going to be on just one roller coaster. In fact, it was going to be on the park's newest roller coaster. Also, it was going to be my first time on a B&M Wing Rider! My dad suggested we did a one day round trip flight there and back home the same day to save money, and I went with it due to it working perfectly for a trip to the Mall of America once. Unfortunately, we missed two morning flights out of Louisville that morning due to personal reasons, and ended up missing 12 out of the 15 hours the event lasted. No need to fret though, because I still got to go and ride it AND Millenium Force multiple times that day! Yay! As they say, the light are on, but very few people are home. Pulling up to the park alone was exciting to see, but pulling up to this was even more exciting! Hmm, seems I'm a bit late to the party... 12 hours late to be exact. First time at a media day event as well, this is gonna stick with me for a while. Ah! Good ol' B&M! Went straight into the park and lapped this coaster twice in a row. I tried to squeeze in picture-taking as well, so I could get the most out of the 2 1/2 hours I had there before I had to catch the flight home. Ooh! Bucket seats. Gotta love them! The restraints didn't give me any problems, though my collar bones did feel mildly sore when I rubbed them. No complaints from me. You dummy Wee! Probably one of the coolest trains I've ever seen. World's tallest inversion. How's it going Yolocoaster? I also liked that they were testing the rides while we were there. A bit of a tease since we couldn't ride any of them, but I could wait until a month from now! When I arrived at the event, I was very surprised to hear that ERT was also being held on Millenium Force. I got to lap this 3 times on the middle, front, and back seats. Great coaster, very smooth and "open", and the constant speed felt beautiful. Ohai there What was the name of the new ride? Some sort of fence coaster, right? Anyways, Gatekeeper was an overall fun coaster. Nothing brilliantly amazing to me, nor would it be in my top ten favorites. But I sure did like it! I'll be back for this coaster and more! Also, I was sorta in a rush getting back in the car where my dad was waiting, so I couldn't catch when the sign would say ClubTPR. That would've been cool! Coastercount for the day: Gatekeeper: 4 Millenium Force: 3 Part Two, Coastermania, coming your way soon-ish.