Geauga Dog

It's always been a rule that if it's a beautiful Saturday in October you DO NOT go to a theme park for their Haunt. Last year I decided to hit Kings Island to get some final rides in plus renew my Gold Pass at the reduced rate so that I would be ready for next season. Despite the three to four hour drive to get down there I always try to arrive at the park before the gates open. I got my pass renewed, got my early rides on Beast and Diamondback (which would be the only rides I'd get on both that day) and then tried to ride as much as I could before the masses arrived. I did get to ride most of what I wanted but by 3:00 PM the park was slammed with huge waits everywhere and it was hard to walk around without bumping into people. Decided to call it a day and drove back home.

Hi Larry. Noticed you're still needing photos of Kennywood's new Black Widow. Here's a few I took today. This ride is great and felt it's a slightly better ride than the two Huss giants in my neck of the woods. Go Zamperla! When I went to CP on Monday I noticed that Iron Dragon has a new sign so I snapped it in case you wanted it. The sign at the top of the ride. New Iron Dragon sign at CP

Kings Island Darien Lake Kings Dominion Busch Gardens Williamsburg Cedar Point Going to Kennywood this week and planning SFGAm next month.

That's actually not a bad idea. If Canobie Lake can get a standard Euro-fighter, something similar would be ideal (though stick it on the south end by Mega Vortex to spread out the crowd). The next thing they should do after the Musik Express is add some modern slides to Water World. Mat Racers are the hot flavor of the month right now. I know they have expressed interest in adding a wave pool but when will that happen? I also wonder, given the explosive growth Waldameer has seen, will they be able to continue having the admission program they currently have. I realize going to a flat pay-one-price, and include Water World in that admission, may not sit well with some of the locals but at the rate of all the expansion going on maybe it's something they should consider and get rid of the wristbands altogether.

Mean Streak today - and yes, it is the best it has been in a loooong time. I was very surprised.

Even without the yellow train the line still moves very good. I think the max I had waited was about 40 minutes with a full queue, which is great since I don't know how much more I could take of Gerta demonstrating her version of peeling rubber (vroom, vroom). They sure can get those trains loaded and moving quickly but glad to see they are testing the yellow train. Alpengeist is still my favorite ride in the park and my second favorite invert behind Afterburn.

^That's the same thing that happened on my visit last Wednesday. Maintenance was working on Mach Tower for most of the day, even raising and lowering the cabin at different times. Chuck, since you stated in the other thread that Alpengeist was your last coaster, do you think it's developed a nasty rattle in the trains? I don't remember Alpie having that much rattle even though my last visit prior to this one was nine years ago.

Griffon at BGW on Thursday.

I realize that Intamin is basically the king of the drop towers (and KD's Drop Tower is quite a potent ride) but I still would have liked to have tried something from a different manufacturer, even if it was for the view alone. Griffon made up for it with its stunning view as you crest the lift hill.

I literally just got back home from enjoying a Kings Dominion/Busch Gardens trip and got three rides on Verbolten in the two days I was at BGW, I would have had four if it didn't have a big breakdown yeasterday afternoon (and I was next in line for a front seat ride as well). Overall it's a very good ride, a worthy replacement for Big Bad Wolf despite the little hiccups it's been having. However I'd like to take a wrecking ball to Mach Tower, which was down both days I was there.

Nice photos, Chuck.They did a great job with Dinosaurs Alive and I think a part of that is due to the natural wooded setting at KD. Glad you also posted a photo of the entrance as I probably would have had a hard time looking for Grizzly when I visit next week.

A non-wheel seat in a three-bench car is ideal on the wood coasters. It's the only seat I wait for on the Beast (other than an occassional ride in the very front seat). I thought GASM was quite smooth on my visit last year unlike Georgia Cyclene, which I didn't know there was a magic seat on that ride.

Am I the only one who is not particularly thrilled with the idea of having this span across the midway and main entrance? If this is indeed the "actual layout" of the ride I had hoped that it would have had more of a compact/twister layout in its design since they are using up a chunk of the parking lot behind the public picnic area, thus giving them ample room to do more with the space being provided.

For me it was Xtreme Skyflyer at Kings Island back during the Paramount era. For years I had wanted to try a skycoaster but always had this fear of being held by a skinny cable and then having it snap as I swung out over the midway. Since Kings Island is the only park I've been to that has a reasonable price for their skycoaster I actually went ahead and got suited up for my flight. I was nervous the whole time being pulled backwards to the top of the back tower and when I pulled the cord I said the loudest "Oh S***" I've ever said. Since then I've been hooked and love it. The first time I rode VertiGo at Cedar Point. I picked the "Cosmic Flip" program, which is where you got launched up in the upright position and then you were turned face down at the top as you plummeted to the ground. With the minimal restraint on that attraction and the small seat, it was a bit unnerving that first time. I did eventually fall in love with the ride and rode it several times during the year when I went to the Point. Besides $10 a person was a steal compared to the neighboring Skycoaster. I was saddened when the tower collapsed that winter resulting in the removal of the attraction. I'm planning on trying the Skyscraper when I go thsi year. I'll probably feel the same way.

Thank you for the report and the excellent photos, Steve. I was awaiting your review of Skyrush and I'm glad to hear the ride really delivers. Sad to hear that Hershey's operations have gone downhill.

Among my favorites is the early Arrow lattice support structure and the B&M inverted Immelman.

1. Intamin Mega-lite. As much as I love B&M's I would prefer an invert or hyper from them over a wingrider. 2. GCI - surprised you didn't include Gravity Group unless they are the ones to do the Beast-like coaster. 3. Intamin gyro - stand-up floorless (Acrophobia) over the regular sit-down though. 4. Giant Discovery - that was a tough decision as both are equal in the thrill category. I don't frequent water parks much but here's a few: Attractions: ProSlide Tornado Water Coaster like Wildebeast or Mammoth Family Raft Slide (with the giant innertube that holds four or five people) Body Slides Speed Slides (at least a freefall/racer combo or like the new Bonzai Pipeline at SFStL this year) Children's slides (most likely a part of a rainfortress attraction) Bowl Slide Innertube Slide Lazy River (with action sequences like waves, waterfalls, geysers, tipping buckets, etc) As for themes - the tropical/exotic locale theme is very overused despite it easy to theme a water park with. I'd try to do something different despite it being hard to come up with something original yet fit your water park attractions to it. A winter theme (think Blizzard Beach) or a Wild West theme would be a nice departure from the norm.

Glad you had a great time at Kings Island and count me in as a big fan of Vortex. Hate those seat belts you attach the harness with but still it's one of the best rides Arrow created. I hate how they don't fill the station up as well and while it was always that way with Diamondback I noticed they were trying to control the amount of people in the Beast station on my visit a few weeks ago. I understand the reasons why as it can get bad (like SFGAm Viper station bad) but they genrally do a decent job in dispatching trains.

Hope it's up and running by the time I get there in two weeks. Looking forward to riding it as well as DarKastle and Griffon.

I just completed the scenario by end of year four but I'd thought I'd share a couple screens of my wing coaster - Air Raider.

I'm someone who tries to find redeeming qualities in even the worst coasters as I don't dislike rides but... B&M - All their standups except Riddler's Revenge and Georgia Scorcher are migraine producers. Maybe if the OTSR wasn't so bulky in the head area it wouldn't be so bad. Intamin - Darien's Ride of Steel isn't a bad ride but it is a little lackluster with the straight section and the helices that don't really do much. GCI - haven't rode a GCI that I didn't like. Wildcat, Lightning Racer, Roar West, and American Thunder are all I have ridden so far.

You're probably not going to see any stakes or any earth movement in the parking lot until late summer. I can possibly see track or supports being plopped next to Breaker's Express by mid-summer, like what happened when pieces for Maverick starting showing up early. I see Space Spiral being the first to come down and will probably be down before the park closes for the season as I'm sure they'll take advantage of being closed during the week after Labor Day weekend to get a big crane in to dismantle it.

Not surprised by this given the wing coasters are the hot ride right now. I'm sure we'll be seeing some first of their kind elements in the wing coaster design just like how Raptor had the first cobra roll on an invert. This makes me more excited to get to SFGAm to ride X Flight later this year. It's going to seem odd not seeing Space Spiral in the skyline.

I went back and re-read some of the posts in this thread and Phoenix was brought up a few times. Phoenix did have a park called Legend City that closed in 1983. Here's a website about the former park. http://www.legend-city.com/ While it doesn't seem to have had a whole lot at the time but if you look at some of the aerial photos on that site it appeared to be a rather decent sized park.

I got 39 out of 40 - probably the best I've ever done on any of those quizzes. There were quite a few I guessed on.