saginawhxc

Didn't mean to post yet as I wasn't finished. Think I just had a brain fart. Oh well on with the rest of the report. I never once saw a line for the ride, but occasionally I would see someone walk up and get right on. It had some amusing theming inside and out. Frankensteins Castle was an additional charge of $3.50 but it was worth every penny. It took about 20 to 30 minutes to walk through, but I took extra time at many of the stops to check things out. It even startled me once or twice along the way. I also took the time to ride their ferry. I was actually the only patron on the ride and found myself having an extended conversation here with first mate Lee who worked at Canobie park as a teenager. The ferry offered some real nice views of the park. And for my buddy Zach and other drop tower/double shot fans here is a picture of their double shot. I have to admit they are growing on me a bit. I was very excited to come across this. I had never eaten at the restaurant before, but Dog N Suds root beer used to be a favorite of mine growing up but I don't think I've seen it in fifteen years. Finally leaving the park I saw this and got real excited. I knew what that had to mean... And with a little searching I came across this beauty. I love drive-ins almost as much as I love amusement parks. Just a note for anyone passing through Indiana Beech, this one is located less than five minutes from the park. It was closed during the week though so I didn't get to visit.

I had been wanting to stop by Indiana Beach for quite some time but this was the first opportunity where I could really make it work. I spent about 7 hours in the park and had more than ample time to do everything. I had a fun time and might make this a more standard stop on the way down to Holiday World. I had been driving down country roads for what seemed like forever, so I was quite happy to come across this finally. The park was almost completely empty for the first two hours, but then filled in a little bit after noon. I was greeted by Steel Hawg right at the front gate, but decided to bypass it and come back to it later. I decided to head back to try out Cornball Express first. I had heard very good things about this ride. I thought it was an excellent ride, though potentially not quite as good as I was hoping for or expecting. I'm not quite sure how I ended up with so few good pictures of it though. After a ride on that I didn't need to go very far to get to Tig'rr. It was a fun little Schwarzkopf. As I walked up I wasn't even sure it was operational as there was no one to be seen anywhere near this ride. But when the operators saw me walk up they put me through two quick back to back runs on it. Fun stuff. I then walked up the waterfront to hit Lost Coaster Of Superstition Mountain. Which just seems like it is a very unique and odd coaster. But I will have to see for myself on another visit as it remained closed all day. So I headed back down the waterfront in the opposite direction to get to Galaxi next. I put in a single ride and moved on. With two credits left to obtain on this visit I made my next stop at Hoosier Hurricane. While Cornball seems to get most of the attention in this park, I think that Hoosier is at least just as good if not actually better. It was slightly rough in spots, but over all I thought it ran real good, had good speed, and nice pops of air though out the ride. And any coaster that runs a shoreline as nicely as this one does certainly earns extra credit in my book. In fact the majority of the park actually does a real nice job of this. Despite single train operations this remained a walk on through out the day. Two future enthusiasts in training. After a couple of rides I finally made my way back out to Steel Hawg. This is actually where I encountered the longest waits of the day with waits in the ten to fifteen minute range. The ride contains what is supposedly the worlds "steepest" drop, but when does a drop just become an actual invert? It contained some real interesting elements though, including this outwardly banked turn. It had two other inverts not counting the steep first drop. I found this ride to be more fun than I expected it to be. It was a very unique coaster. If I had a category for favorite steel coaster under 100' this would probably be my number one. It ran smooth, it was unique, and made interesting use of the inverts instead of just plugging them in there for the sake of having them as I feel many rides do. While it was good, I don't think it is overly intense, which makes it an excellent family coaster. With all my credits out of the way I gave some love to the flats. I rode several and photographed most of the rest. I think IB has a real nice a varied collection of flats. Scrambler was always number one in my book growing up. I would love to visit this park at night with every thing all lit up. Having so many of them lined up on the shore line is just awesome. The whole park had a "worn" feel to it without ever seeming run down. This is the kind of park I wish was closer and more realistic to take my kids to on a regular basis. I've never snapped a flyer... but these felt like I could have if I had tried. Being out over the water you caught wind like nothing else, which made some great rides. I rode 3 times before moving on. Another flat I'm a sucker for is swing rides and this one was really good. The park was very compact so moving from ride to ride was very easy. Anyone else feel that these kind of rides lose much of their charm during the day time. Not that the rides aren't fun during the day, but there is something about a lit up mid way that can't be beat. The flume was fun and was nearly a walk on for the entirety of the day. The Den Of Lost Thieves was their blaster/dark ride. I didn't score too high. I should of gone through twice, I was gonna come back to it but never ended up doing it.

Awesome. Sorry about the mix up. We'll blame it on too many Voyage rides...

I'm really looking forward to making it down to this sometime this fall hopefully. I am actually a Harry Potter fan and I think the new area looks great.

If anything you should be racing there to ride it with the classic PTC trains before they are gone. The Timberliners are gonna be on for many years to come (hopefully), and you will have plenty of time to ride them. I'm not going back till the Timberliners are on, but I've already spent 6 days in the park this year.

Yes I must be screwed up here. I think I met way too many people in one weekend, and I'm trying to put faces, real names, and screen names all together in my head and somehow keep it all straight. I apologize. So if you could be so kind to point yourself out to me in one of my pics so I can get it right next time.

I'll be at Timbersfest. I can't wait to do night rides during this event. Should be a lot of fun.

No I wasn't scared. I stalked you all weekend.... remember? I had my point and shoot on me on Saturday night I can't believe I didn't get a picture of your group. I think I was to caught up in the Voyage night rides to remember that I wanted to take pictures too.

I don't know about anybody else but if I had to choose between two PTC trains or a single Timberliner for this event I would choose PTC every time.

I also caught another nice one of you standing next Colleen's bucket. I tried to get one of the two of you together right after she stepped out but it didn't turn out at all. I had been back getting a few shots of Holwer when I was walking by and caught you guys riding Eagles Flight. At that point we had met briefly but hadn't really had the chance to talk. It was nice to stop and talk to you for a few minutes after I took that. So I'm glad I just happened to be walking by at that point. *edit: Wrong person completely. I'm confusing screen names and real names. Sorry to all. I ended up doing St. Louis on Sunday. I don't know what the two of you had planned but I kicked myself for not getting contact info and getting you guys to meet up. I actually did the zoo, city museum, and six flags all in one day. It was a blast. That trip report should be up in the next few days.

Were you at Six Flags on Sunday? I was there Sunday evening. I didn't get there till late, so I didn't shoot near as many pictures as I normally would, but if you liked EK watch for my trip report as I am gonna post a bunch of pictures of it in the next day or two. I loved EK and thought it was amazing. Super smooth with great pops of air. I especially liked the three quick pops on the final stretch of track.

Okay some of these next shots may get tedious and repetitive to some. I never get sick of them myself, but you may breeze through them. Every single one of these pictures are chosen for having event attendees included within them. Once again here I am leaving out many pictures, but I'm trying to get as many people in as possible.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect since this was my first event anywhere that I was going to attend. I had been warned at one point that people tended to stick to their little cliques. Since I do most of my traveling by myself I knew going in that it wasn't gonna be the end of the world if this was true. Worst case scenario it would be just like most trips, but with some much anticipated walk backs on some of my favorite coasters. In reality people were extremely friendly and open to conversation. Through out the weekend I met many new friends, and managed to put faces to many friends from online. As much fun as the festivities that the park offered were, the relationships formed were the star of the event for me. It was a great time and I look forward to going again next year. Due to the Timberliners not being ready they added free tickets for a return visit to our package, which was very nice and unexpected. They fed us a pizza dinner on night one and let us loose on the three coasters for some dusk/night ERT. The best perk of all though was FREE FUDGE! Since I recently posted a very thorough trip report on the park I will stick mainly to the walk backs, and then I will make a second post of shots that contain people that were attending the event on the rides. I will try to get as many people as I can into this thread with out it getting to out of control. While choosing the shots to include I am gonna try to show a preference towards people I was fortunate to meet during the event. On a side note I will mention that I put away my camera for the night time ERT, and I shot the Timberliner pics with my little point and shoot. I also took it on the Voyage walk back and used it to shoot the wide angle shots so I didn't have to keep changing lenses during the walk backs. You can really tell the difference in the pictures. I wish my dog was as cool as Holidog. Even though they weren't ready for us to ride yet they brought them out for us to play with. It was nice to get see them in person after all the talk we have heard. A shot of the restraints that will be on them. They were really comfortable and I really look forward to giving them a try when they are ready. My first walk back ever was to be during the early morning ERT on Wildebeest. We were led back by none other than Will Koch himself. The netting made photography slightly tricky. I had to turn auto focus right off and manual focus everything. We were allowed to shoot from the crows nest at the top of the lift hill. Also shot from the lift hill. While standing in line we warned them that the ponchos might not save them. I wonder if they worked? I wish I could of asked them afterwards. There is a shot of the crows nest we were allowed to shoot from. I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I found myself being taken aside from the group to visit the opposite side of the ride. While over there one of the rafts became lodged in one of the tubes. A lifeguard had to climb inside and lead the riders back out of the tube. When this happens they need to re-launch the empty raft mid-course, and as I witnessed this can sometimes be tricky. I was informed that the rafts themselves weigh about 200 pounds each, then add in a water jug for extra weight, and they needed a second life guard to get this thing moving up the hill. With a little bit of work though they got it moving. There goes the empty raft back up the next hill. I wish I had the time to fiddle with my setting a little more to get a better quality picture than this, but here's a shot from the tunnel we were headed to before the stuck raft side tracked us. Excited with some of the shots I got here's one of the queue as I walked back towards it. As fun as the walk back was for Wildebeest I was ready to shoot some coasters. I shot almost every picture with my 18-55 lens which kept me from zooming in for some better shots, but allowed me to shoot the structure from a wider perspective. Thank God I figured out a better solution by the time I made my way back to Voyage. Our path led us right between the lift hills for Frightful Falls and The Legend. Under the hill and through the woods. The path provided us with some close up shots of area's that could only be previously seen from quite a distance. Then suddenly there was Raven. I love stumbling across random roller coasters while trekking through the woods. Since it goes almost completely through the woods Raven isn't normally very photogenic. But she was laid out in all of her glory for us today. What a drop. There really was some nice views of a ride that is normally pretty shy. The first drop from the woods. The same train, but I saw name tags. I never met them, but like I said I'm gonna try to get as many attendees in as I can. Now for the star of the show... My number one coaster... It's THE VOYAGE! I would do almost anything for more than an hour back here. With more time, I could of captured some absolutely great shots back here. There were dozens of photogenic areas of the ride from the pathways. I would be more than happy to camp out each spot for hours. Not that I'm complaining about the time provided, it was ample and very appreciated. But it was hard to keep moving from each spot. I just wanted to keep shooting. Tunnels! Walking was tough, it was hard to turn your back on a sight like this. There was a lot of camera clicking and video recording among all of us back there. Airtime! OMG! I don't think I'm very good at containing my inner nerd when it comes to this stuff. I really hope your not tired of Voyage shots yet. Because I still have several yet to share. There is just to many shots that I haven't yet been able to get. I don't think I could not share them. Believe it or not only a small portion of what I shot is making it in. I don't think I've ever in my life shot so many pictures in such a short period of time. The walk backs alone almost filled my memory card. We finally made it to the back of the ride. And found this extremely photogenic spot. I was very sad when they told us it was time to go. There is just to many shots back here that I wanted to give more love to. It really is a beautiful ride. I can't wait to do this walk back next year with the Timberliners. Another of the shots taken with my point and shoot because I couldn't get it in with my 55-200 lens. They are not as good of quality, but it did the job and kept me from missing the shots I really wanted. I actually wouldn't mind purchasing a more versatile lens to avoid having to do this in the future. I seriously wish I could just make camp back here. I'll close this bunch of photo's out with some 90 degree love!

Because it is one of the craziest drops you will ever experience on a roller coaster. I almost feared for my life, but couldn't stop riding. Awesome fun. I went to Wisconsin this spring. Hades was being re-tracked, and Hellcat just wasn't open.

Nice report. I'm taking a short break from working on mine at the second. I absolutely love the shot of the HallowSwings.

I learned how to marathon a coaster on Wolverine Wildcat. It was my favorite when I was a kid. Shivering Timbers is absolutely amazing. One of my favorites.

Amazing photos. I hope to someday be as good. I had friends there the same day who only get to visit once a year and they were super happy to find such short lines.

I'm looking straight at you in that first picture, because I remember watching you take it and cursing myself for putting my camera away. I was thinking that I didn't want to lug my camera around during night time ERT, and the second night I at least carried around my point and shoot, but I wish I had just carried it around because there were lots of shots I missed because of it. Hooray for the pic of me on the Wildebeest walk back. I have an insane amount of pictures to sort out from the last few days when I get home.

It was my first Holiwood Nights, so I can't compare it to previous years, but I thought they did a tremendous job putting on the event. I had an absolute blast meeting so many great people over the last two days. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went. I took tons and tons of pictures over the two days, including some nice walk back ones. Plus night rides on the three coasters are not to be missed. I will be in Six Flags St. Louis later today, and then Worlds Of Fun on Monday, but when I get back home I'll get around to getting some of the pictures up.

I wasn't really excited with the call, but stood by their measurement. Maybe I need to go back to trade school to re-learn how to use a measuring tape. Maybe he will get to ride Shivering Timbers later this year instead, and if not we always make one Cedar Point Halloweekends family trip and by that time he should be owning that 48" measurement. I haven't shot any video with my camera yet, but I know it has HD capability. I may have to experiment a little with it tomorrow at Holiwood Nights.

The video definitely changes my idea of what exactly went on a little. It was my impression that the band had called the crowd onto stage. The video clearly shows this wasn't the case and that it had been a recurring theme throughout the show. In similar situations I have seen announcements made that if that kind of behavior didn't stop the plug would be pulled and the show would be over. I've even seen a bands power cut mid song because the crowd wasn't complying. I just have a hard time thinking mace was the right response. They were definitely where they weren't supposed to be, and they clearly knew it, but if you watch the video you can see that they weren't rioting, stampeding, or putting anybody into any sense of immediate physical danger. It was definitely a liability, and I never argued that it wasn't. I understand completely why a park or venue wouldn't want this kind of behavior. I just think things could of been done to avoid the situation completely. I still think something as simple as having a barrier would of been better solution to the situation. That or just not booking this type of show inside an amusement park. On top of that if controlling crowds are an issue than I don't like having those little peninsulas coming off of the stage (does anybody know what they are called, I don't). It creates a bigger line to hold if a situation like this arises. As for the kids climbing on the stage they are showing the same spoiled rotten behavior that young teenagers are so known for. It's tiring, and it's old. I don't understand why kids this age can sometimes be more immature then kids half their age. I would like to think that any of my boys once they reach that age would be able to go "gee I don't think they want us on stage, we better stay down here." Now in my initial response I forgot to address the issue of the bands response. I had planned to, but never got around to it. I don't blame the band for their reaction even though it is the wrong one. It was just an emotional response for an emotional event. The blame was definitely misplaced, but as an artist you never ever want to see fans at one of your shows get hurt. I just think he was emotional and didn't think what he was saying through before he opened his mouth. I also don't blame Six Flags for their response of dropping the band from the next show. If I was Six Flags I would immediately drop anyone from future shows that stood on a stage within my park and bad mouthed me and my parks. I doubt anyone at Six Flags ever sat in a meeting and made the decision to mace anybody. It's just a silly thought. I also don't think anyone is security ever did anything that didn't feel is necessary at the time. Once cooler heads prevail I would love to see a formal apology posted by the band for their public statement. I don't expect to ever see such a thing, but I feel it is the proper response. On one side oversights to pre-planning were made, and on the other side things were said that shouldn't of been said. In the end the most important thing is that lesson's are learned by all sides and mistakes are never repeated. Like I said the first time I think that this isn't as big of a deal as some people are making it, it just sparked my interest because it involves the world I am involved with now and the world I was involved with for so much of my life.

As someone that played in punk bands for over ten years I think there was a few mistakes made by both parties here. While these were not punk bands they are a genre of music that evolved from punk. For the record I'm not hating on Six Flags here and taking the sides of the artist involved. I don't listen to or even like any of the bands and I am hands down a much bigger fan of Six Flags. I think that the biggest mistake overall is it sounds like Six Flags just wasn't properly prepared for the concert they brought in. Some may not agree with the behavior of the band or of that of the crowd, but it is generally pretty standard behavior for the genre. Just because it is something that is different to what you are used to doesn't make it wrong. For this type of concert SF should of considered barriers separating the stage from the crowd, done a better job training the security for handling such an event, and most importantly should of communicated their expectations more clearly with the artists involved. Hiring security with more specific experience dealing with such type of concerts could even of been an option. As far as the pepper spray being fired by a police officer and not SF security, it sounds like the police officer was temporarily employed as SF security for the event. From my knowledge I think this is a pretty familiar practice for similar events around the country. Whether or not any expectations were communicated or not, the bands involved should of maybe taken the context of the venue into consideration a little more, and maybe decided that certain behaviors that were the norm were not gonna be acceptable at such a venue. So I'm not trying to say "It's Six Flags fault," or point my finger solely in their direction, but I really wonder if this is a proper venue for such a show. As much as I love certain types of music and amusement parks, I just feel that they are two very different entities and are probably better off not being mixed. In the end it's not as big of a deal as some make it. The saddest part is that it is a black eye for all parties involved and it is something that should of been easily avoidable.

HN attendance list- 1. Nick (angryemobeaver {actually DropZone99 on every other site}) 2. Adam (spaceace12) 3. Nathan (kumba830) 4. Joel(10ryansmith) 5. Justin (RedB) 6. Brandon (saginawhxc)

Good TR. Thanks for posting this. Loved the "dueling" Voyage shot.

Good TR. Thanks for posting this. Loved the "dueling" Voyage shot.