shesaidboom

I've gotten dirty looks from people for taking pictures of coasters, but never had trouble from park employees. When I took pictures of Pegasus at Mt.Olympus I got dirty looks from one woman because her family were the only people on the train and she probably wondered why I wanted them in my pictures. I have gotten trouble for taking pictures in a mall before, I was told it had something to do with it being private property and my pictures weren't authorized. Maybe it's the same thing at the park? I can understand a no pictures rule in a waterpark, but I don't think there should be a problem otherwise..especially if there's no rule posted about it.

A little late, but rain is a great thing at SFGam as long as it lets up at some point. I was there for two days a couple weeks ago and the first day was very gloomy. There were very short lines for everything besides Superman and Raging Bull and the park wasn't very crowded. We went back the next day [both days were weekdays] and the crowds were unbearable. Lines spilling out of queues and hour long lines for mediocre rides. I would take a rainy day over a nicer one at this park.

I really dislike water parks, but The City of Dungeons and that witch's bowl thing look incredible. I like when parks try to do something different rather than slapping the usual bunch of colourful waterslides onto a slab of concrete. This park certainly accomplished that. The leg slides are amusing too.

I'm not sure what the most I've done in one day ever is, but recently it was 18 rides on Avalanche. We would've done more, but the bugs pelting us in the face on our night rides got to be too much so we gave up.

Nice pictures. I really want to make it there next year.

Ooops, the Dairy Queen offer is for Holiday World. I'm not sure where exactly the Dairy Queen is, but the guy who gave us his extra coupon said it was right down the street and not hard to find.

There's also a Dairy Queen down the street where you can get $6 off coupons. You only need one for your whole party to get $6 off for everyone. No purchase necessary, just go in and pick one up.

Timber Falls time! Riding Avalanche at night is a horrible idea, unless you like dropping into a giant swarm of bugs and being pelted in the face with them the entire ride. Nikki found Mexicans and many, many spiders up this guys nose. Avalanche and the airplane have a lot in common since you spend a lot of time flying on both. While this guy screamed for help, we sat there laughing and taking pictures. Those kids in the back are getting some sideways airtime. Jer wins at mini-golf so I let him wear my glasses. We enjoyed playing mini-golf in a tree. The scenery/themeing was actually very nice. Apparently when the locals have errands to run they drop their kids off at Timber Falls. The ride op told us this happens all the time. I wish my mom did that to me. Timber Falls was completely empty. There were four kids who rode Avalanche all day. In fact, we left and came back a few hours later and they were still riding. I don't think it's possible for Nikki to take straight pictures of hills. There's also a log flume and mini-golf here. We didn't ride the log flume, but it looked amusing. Sideways airtime is cool even though nobody is getting it in this picture. Avalanche is only about 45 seconds long once you get up the lift, but those 45 seconds are what can be best described as pure insanity. Avalanche may be little, but the thrills are BIG. LOLOLOLOLOLZ. We didn't have any bowls so Jer ate his cereal in a bucket. Mmmmm, bucket cereal. The slums of Wisconsin Dells? When visiting Wisconsin Dells, one must not forget to have a swig with Nig. What's that all about? We got three crappy credits at this park, which made up for skipping Dive to Atlantis. This ride op was nice and offered us free rides on Galaxi because we were just here to go on that. First we stopped at Riverview Park. This place is an absolute crap hole. Riverview brings the trailer trash quotient of Wisconsin Dells.

shesaidboom and 307 do the parks that are kinda the mid-west but some are more easterly but I guess a few can be considered mid-west but maybe "central" is a better term for them - PART TWO of EIGHTY SIX We've already covered Six Flags Great America - and now we're heading north to hook up the Wisconsin Dells for some Hades and Avalanche rides. The drive was pretty generic - oh, except for that tanker truck that exploded in the opposite lanes, causing a traffic back up that lasted ten [yes, 10! more than 9, less than 11] miles. Ten miles! You'll obviously see these pictures a bit later on in the report, when the babbling stops and the visuals begin. Wisconsin Dells is, to be blunt, a tourist trap. But there's something about it that I just found incredibly odd. I guess it was just because it was a tourist trap in the middle of a forest that made it weird. It was basically "WATER PARK WATER PARK COASTER MINI-GOLF WATERPARK MINI-GOLF RIPLEY'S MUSEUM INDOOR WATER PARK HAUNTED HOUSE RIDE THE DUCKS WATER PARK". Lots of water parks. Fortunately for us, we were doing a whole zero of them and were just here to pick up 11 credits. Mt. Olympus' main gate - holy crap, that thing just killed me. It was way too high and steeply banked for any "average" American to make it up without suffering some sort of heart attack or stroke. And the entrances to Hades and Zeus were no better. What a work out I got from this place. The Parthenon "giant indoor theme park" was a joke. You walk in to basically a warehouse, in one corner there's Opa! [with basically no entrance - you just stand in the middle of the floor], and a couple of other randomly placed flats/kiddie rides. I mean, what the hell? There's nothing to do here. If this qualifies as "giant indoor theme park", then the dive known as Riverview would certainly be the equivalent to Cedar Point. Also, the addition of a Disc-O to an otherwise nicely themed park is a really dumb idea. When everything else has something to do with Greek mythology at least in some fashion - why would you plop a Disc-O in the middle of it? It just looks stupid. Otherwise, Mt. Olympus was a very nice park full of western European transfer students attempting to pay for college and expecting tips for everything they do. Timber Falls I found to be incredibly neat, in that you basically pay for your tickets, and then take the appropriate wooden staircase to your destination - rather than having to walk down pathways. Of course, having only three attractions made it possible, but still, I liked. Onto pictures! Hades going up the turn-around on the other side of the parking lot. Mt.Olympus is full of exclusive shots, as you can see here. Mt.Olympus' Go Karts were highly touted by others but we didn't find them to be particularily great. Zeus going under Hades, even though you can't really see it. It's neat. Jer is blowing his nose. Despite the exclusivity of this shot, it still brings the cool. Nikki is win at crooked pictures. Cyclops guy is awesome. The enormous line we had to wait in for Hades. Even though Hades only has one train, the line was non-existant after noon. Despite our credit whoring, neither of us found it necessary to get the Dive to Atlantis credit. Making it the only credit we skipped on the entire trip. Another Mt.Olympus death trap lies behind the Hades entrance. Nikki is a lift hill fanatic. There are three coasters in this photo. Oooooooooh. They made us go around the course five times so we took this exclusive picture to celebrate. Our car didn't catch properly after our first ride on Opa! so we got a 'bonus' ride, spinning the entire time. I wish all spinning mice did this. Ducks like to kill Nikki. Pegasus has a neat layout but the coaster leaves something to be desired. Most people scream for fun, however Nikki screamed for her life [this is the only coaster to do that, I'm really not a wuss]. And in this exclusive picture we bring it to you. There's a very good reason they have this sign here. Hades goes weee and so do I. Fixed! Hades is full of air and it wastes no time in launching you out of your seat. Some woman in line asked us if we went to one of the local high schools. We didn't think we looked that young =\ Of course every coaster we were looking forward to on this trip had to break down at least once. Hades was our first encounter with this. Hades and this picture have something in common: they're both awesome. Just beyond these gates is the first Mt.Olympus death trap, the 60 foot drop that you must make on foot at an impossible angle. We're really not that lazy [Jer is]. Nikki doesn't want me to post this picture, but I'm going to anyways. The Black Hawk motel was surprisingly nice. It looks like a crap hole from the outside, but the rooms were excellent for the rates. Fridges and microwaves are always a plus. What we saw on our way to the hotel. We had to drive by this whenever we went anywhere. It taunted us, teasing us, saying "RIDE ME" until we finally caved in. Ten miles later... When Trucks Explode, tonight on Fox.

Crazy Mouse at Del Grosso's.

Nice pictures, I really want to go to Magic Mountain.

shesaidboom and 307 do the parks that are kinda the mid-west but some are more easterly but I guess a few can be considered mid-west but maybe "central" is a better term for them - PART ONE of EIGHTY SIX Here's the itinerary! Click any underlined text to head to that trip report! Tue May 30: Driving from Vaughan, ON to Gurnee, IL Wed May 31: Six Flags Great America Thu Jun 01: Six Flags Great America Fri Jun 02: Mt. Olympus + Riverview Hole in the Ground Sat Jun 03: Timber Falls Adventure Park Sun Jun 04: Driving from Wisconsin Dells to Monticello, IN Mon Jun 05: Indiana Beach Tue Jun 06: 666 @ Holiday World! Wed Jun 07: Six Six Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Thu Jun 08: Paramount King's Island Fri Jun 09: Kennywood Sat Jun 10: Idlewild + Lakemont + DelGrosso's Sun Jun 11: Driving from Altoona, PA to Vaughan, ON Be prepared for: a] hilarity b] annoyance c] more hilarity d] the best trip report you've ever read e] possibly also the longest f] it's totally worth it though so bare with us g] string [Oh, and for those wondering (which I know is all of you), 307 is doing the trip report part and shesaidboom is doing most of the pictures/captions.] Okay so on May 30 we embarked on a nearly two-week long EPIC coaster riding tour. I say epic because it's a cool word. Despite the fact that we had nothing planned but driving on the first day, we were still up and atom by 5'30"AM. Unfortunately, we were being hunted. Not by a sniper, stalker, wild boar, or a velociraptor disguised as Ted Nugent, no. We were being hunted by Mother Nature. That vile wench had sent clouds full of the evil Jesus Rain to intercept us, the unsuspecting Canadians only looking to have a good time and possibly cause some sort of ruckus. So about half-way there, it began. Rainclouds to the left of me, rainclouds to the right of me. The pelting beads of wet death hammering the windshield and causing us both to throw our hands in the air, screaming into the heavens "WHYYYYYY". But anyway, there really was a lot of rain and it was really annoying. MapQuest predicted the trip would take about nine hours. Eleven and a half hours later, we FINALLY checked in to the Red Carpet Inn in North Chicago. Nikki [aka the loverly shesaidboom] pipes in with a hearty "CHICAGO SUCKS" and I can only nod my head in agreement. This is getting a bit too long winded, so uh let's just say that the first day basically made us question whether or not we should even continue with the trip because obviously Higher Powers had it in for us and would stop at nothing to destroy our hopes and dreams and possibly Nikki's automobile. But alas all the worrying 'twas for naught. On May 31st, we woke up feeling rejuvenated and, more importantly, ready to CREDIT WHORE. I know most of y'all want to see some pictures already, so I'll be quick and painless. SFGAm was pretty empty. There were almost no cars in the lot [as you will see shortly]. It looked as though the Jesus Rain had followed us to the park, however it held up and we managed to have a splendid day. Rather than write a big long review of everything before I post pictures with captions that basically say the same thing, I'll just skip all of this foreplay and give you what you all came to see... HARDCORE NUDITY. Or pictures. Whatev. Hi, me five cents! Products are funny. This picture is brought to you by the letters A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Mmmm, icee. Raging Bull was one of the few rides we actually had to wait in line for. Luckily, it was only a 1/2 hour wait with a full queue. Our favourite picture of Raging Bull. It's Raging Bull's turn around. Seriously, how witty can you be with pictures like this? Raging Bull is teh fun. lolz. The people in row four suck at coasters. Prepare for multiple counts of Raging Bull love. We have no caption for this picture. Vertical Velocity was running even though everyone told us it would be closed. More love for Batman. LOBSTER ROCK The alligator wants to get off the ride. Somebody call Peta! This was our first Batman and it kicked ass. It was definately our favourite ride in the park. Despite the twin levels this carousel was certainly no Caro-Seuss-el. Jer named his pony Princess. More Whizzer. We were going to make a video, but got bored after 10 minutes of filming. Dejavu never opened, but did you really expect it to? :( Though there was no rain, the sky still remained dark. This is the only picture with Iron Wolf in it, so enjoy it. Prepare for a flaming Arrow death. Here's the Demon sign. BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Raging Bull is fun even if it is braked to high hell. Viper makes shesaidboom make gross faces. Viper THROUGH THE TREES!!! Since you guys seem to like those. Whizzer allowed Jer ample time to get Nikki credits. The pretzel loop is the lone redeeming factor of this ride. We were told to head to Superman first and we were glad we did, when we came off the second ride of the day the line had already filled the queue. SO MANY CARS?! This toilet cleaned for your protection! Big Ben? THE JESUS RAIN

I can roll my tongue into a clover, although I'm not sure that counts as a talent.

I really want to go back to Knoebel's when the flying turns is finished, it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Great TR, thanks for posting all the construction photos

I've worn loose-ish shoes on many inverts and floorless coasters and they've never come off, so he'll probably be fine. I see lots of people take off running shoes with laces before going on an invert and I can never figure out why. They have laces, tie them. When I was at IOA last August the rideops told people with flipflops to put the seat belt through the straps. If they're the heavier kind you might end up getting kicked in the crotch by your own shoes though

I have no idea how you find time to go to all the parks, take care of everything/everyone on the trip, and post all these updates. I hope you're finding time to actually get some sleep! It looks like everyone's having a great time, and judging by all those cameras we have lots more updates/videos to look forward to when everyone gets back.

Rory and Lenore enjoy the new forum title.

Flight of Fear at PKI was open when I was there last Thursday.

I thought the same thing. It makes sense since so many people can't figure out how to close/open those things. Great TR Erik, it looks like you guys had a great time on your trip. I look forward to seeing some of your videos.

I think atmosphere is very important, and obviously the surroundings and themeing play a huge role in that. Busch Gardens Williamsburg/Europe/whatever is one of my favorite parks even though it only has a few coasters and none of them are in my top 10, it's just a beautiful park and I had a great time there. I can have a good time at a park that sits on a giant slab of concrete if the coasters/rides are amazing, but I always have a better time at a park that has a great atmosphere. The entire experience is just better.

Honestly, if there's a railing or even a little fence the majority of people know they shouldn't cross it. That's generally what a fence means. If they decide to do it anyway they're being idiots. Parks shouldn't be expected to put up 8+ foot high fences to keep people out. There's a fence or a railing there, it should be enough. Like someone else said already, it's not like you can walk right up to a coaster in the middle of a midway. I actually liked not seeing giant fences everywhere when I was at the park less than two weeks ago, and I didn't feel unsafe..except when I was riding the back seat of Cyclops When I was there they did actually check lap bars on everything, so maybe things are changing?

It's listed as one on rcdb so I'd count it as one. http://www.rcdb.com/id3139.htm

Opa looks much different than I was expecting. I knew it was a spinning mouse, but I didn't think it would be themed to mice. I thought it would be themed to plates or something. I hope the crowds are just as small when I'm there at the end of the week!

We are angry.

Nanalan! Gilmore Girls Most Extreme Elimination Challenge/MXC Carebears Family Guy CSI Mythbusters Invader Zim [even though it was cancelled ]