
Schrecken
Members-
Posts
359 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Everything posted by Schrecken
-
Probably the best one I've ever been on is the one at Dollywood, and I was extremely disappointed when I discovered that it was closed when I visited this past December. I like it because the ride is fairly long, it is scenic and also the locomotive itself is an historic old-school coal-fired model.
-
What was your favorite ride of 2013?
Schrecken replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Hands down for me the best ride of 2013 was Skyrush (and also new to me this year). I haven't had a coaster totally blow my mind since I first set foot on Millennium Force and TTD back in 04'. It totally re-ignited my passion for coasters (I had gotten kind of jaded and blase about coasters up until this spring) this year, and I've done more riding this year (on Skyrush and other coasters) than I've done in years. Other honorable mention coasters that I enjoyed a lot: El Toro (I always enjoy this one!) Wild Eagle (my first B&M wing rider; I just wish I had had the time to get more than two rides on it) Wild Thing (the best coaster of my mid-west trip, which included Valley Fair, Nick Universe and Mt. Olympus) -
Fastest Lift Hill?
Schrecken replied to bonsaiisuperstar's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The fastest lift hill I've ever experienced bar none was on Skyrush - and I rode it for the first time this past June, so it was after it was slowed a bit at the top. Before that I had thought that I-305 and Millennium Force had fast lifts, but Skyrush seems quite a bit faster. Even if it isn't really that much quicker than those, it seems that way because it has only 2/3rds the distance to travel. -
I'd change the shape of the lap part of the restraint on Skyrush so I could marathon on it even more without having to quit because my legs couldn't take it after 28 consecutive rides - then it would be an utterly perfect 10 in my book. I'd take the awful OTSRs off of Revolution so it could run the way it did when it was built. I'd also take the equally awful OTSRs off of Maverick so I could actually enjoy riding it and not have to put all of my thought and energy into defending myself vigorously while riding. I would replace them with I-305 style restraints. Also agree with whoever said they'd remove the trim on that hill on Raging Bull - when I first rode it that really ruined that part of the ride and I have never been on a B&M with such a stupidly placed trim. I'd also modify the restraints on El Toro - I know these don't rate very high among coaster fans' pet peeves, but they do limit my marathoning on the ride - so far I've never been able to go more than about 10 rides in a row because of the way the restraints press against my stomach. All the antacids in the world can't overcome El Toro's restraints, so those I'd swap for something that would sit lower on a rider's body, like on the lap rather than jammed into their gut. I'd also change Kingda Ka's restraints to some sort of lap bar type - either like the ones on TTD or perhaps a better version of those on Skyrush.
-
KD - what this park needs, IMO (since they have a pretty all-inclusive collection of steel coasters, at least as far as the various types of coasters go), is some really good wood. Yes, RY is a classic racer, and Grizzly is pretty good (at least riding in the front or close to it), but then there's that other woodie....tear that one down and build either an Intamin woodie (admittedly very unlikely since most parks seem to balk at the price) or perhaps an RMC woodie. I have no personal experience with the latter, but based on what I'm hearing, it would be a massive improvement over the Hurler. SFA - gee, this is simple - any NEW coaster! Not relocated (well, unless it's something really good) junk, but an honest to goodness brand new coaster. As far as the kind, I'd like to see something launched, and I don't think the park needs any more woodies (unless perhaps they go with RMC), so it would need to be a steel coaster. Just a nice, new sit-down launched coaster would fit the bill nicely. But, hey, with this park's track record, as noted, anything NEW would be very welcome! This park could also desperately use a serious large flat like a Huss giant frisbee, or an S&S screaming swing, or perhaps a starflyer, since they now have the height limit waived for something like that. Hershey - as far as coasters go, it would be hard to top Skyrush (well, other than totally re-doing and improving the restraints, which seems very unlikely), so I can't imagine what this park could use coaster-wise right now, except maybe a non-inverted more family-oriented coaster. Also, since Wildcat has a nice layout, they could also make it rideable with some topper track, which wouldn't be a new coaster but a vast improvement on an existing one. BGE - hard to say here, since this park has a nice collection of steel coasters. I know they will likely never build a traditional woodie, but I think they could get by with an RMC, since it appears that this would mostly eliminate the noise issue that supposedly keeps them from building a traditional woodie. That would be a way the park could have a woodie without the usual noise of a woodie.
-
As someone else had said, I think the main thing you can accurately get from a POV is the layout of a ride. Roughness is also hard to tell, simply because of how the camera is mounted or if it is hand-held, though if some footage of the riders is included within the POV, you can see things like people's heads slamming into OTSRs and people grimacing in pain if the coaster is a headbanger. You can also see people being thrashed around if it is a rough woodie, so in that regard, video of people riding the coaster can be very helpful to warn of rough rides. But not so much with POVs. I also agree about Skyrush - I watched some POVs the year it was built, and I really had no desire to rush up to HP and ride it based on those vids, and also on the look of the coaster itself, with apparently gentle hills and valleys. IMO Skyrush has to be one of the most deceptively designed coasters out there, and the POV shots are testament to that. Even though I went to HP alone my last time this year, I thoroughly enjoyed the first time GP reaction to the coaster! Even if they had seen the POVs, they wouldn't have helped prepare them for a first time ride.
-
Craziest Park Weather Experiences
Schrecken replied to Mr Stratosphere's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I was also there for the media event - I remember that quite vividly! Sleet and small hail (and even rain) sure does sting when you're going that fast... but I wasn't riding when the wheel broke, though. -
Craziest Park Weather Experiences
Schrecken replied to Mr Stratosphere's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I've had a few....back in the late 90's my friend and I went to SFA (was Adventure World back then) just before Halloween and it had to have been one of the coldest Octobers ever. It was in the low 40's when we arrived at the park, and once the sun had set, temps dropped into the upper 20's. I'll never forget riding the Mind Eraser and the Wild One in 28 degree weather! I wanted to put my hands up on Wild One but even with gloves I couldn't stand to do it. Of course, on the Mind Eraser, I felt like my feet and legs were going to flash-freeze by the end of the ride. Flash forward to a few years ago and I was again at SFA with some friends and a huge thunderstorm came up. We were over by Superman and all we could do was to take shelter in the gift shop. It poured like crazy and lightning was everywhere, and I kept expecting lighting to strike Superman but it never did. We must have waited over two hours before we were able to ride anything, but luckily for us, the storm cleared the park out completely and everything (including the infamously slow-loading Batwing) was a walk-on. I also remember one night at Holiday World there were some bad storms, but finally they were able to open the rides again, and I got a couple of end of the night rides on the Raven, Legend and Voyage with lightning flashing all around (I guess they determined that the storms were far enough away to not pose any danger, but the lightning was still like visible). It was like riding the coasters with strobe lights all around. Nothing cooler than riding the Voyage in total darkness with lighting flashing all over the place. And finally, a few years ago I was at Waldameer one July day, and all of the sudden what had been a beautiful day in the 70's with blue skies turned into dark clouds and impending rain. So my friend suggested that we ride the disk-o because the line was shorter than it had been all day, but I hesitated because the sky looked so threatening. Finally she convinced me and her other friend that we shouldn't pass up the opportunity, and against my better judgement we got in line and got on the ride. No sooner than the ride cycle had started in earnest the sky let loose and by the time the ride had stopped and we were able to get off, we were totally drenched. I had on a sweatshirt over a t-shirt and the sweatshirt was soaked and my t-shirt was getting soggy, and by the time the rain had passed, the temps dropped down into the low 50's. I remember that we were hanging around one of the food stands trying to get some warmth from one of the cases they put pretzels and hotdogs in to keep them hot, and trying to get our jackets and sweatshirts to dry out. But finally we warmed up and dried out, and we were rewarded with some wicked post-rain night rides on Ravine Flyer 2. -
Normally I am quiet on most coasters and rides, but if they really surprise or blow me away, I may yell or groan or do some other verbal exclamation. And if the ride really blows my mind, I might curse under my breath -something like "holy ****!". For instance , on Skyrush I just can't "remain silent", even after multiple rides. The only other times I might make any noises is if I'm trying to talk to my riding companions, or if I'm riding a really rough coaster and I'll be like "ouch" or "yeow, or maybe "ugh" or "argh!"
-
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Schrecken replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I actually like the GB a lot, and its only real fault IMO is that it is rather short. But, then again, many of the coasters at HP suffer from that issue, which is a reult of not having a whole lot of room to build longer coasters. -
What Was The Last Coaster You Rode?
Schrecken replied to SharkTums's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I just rode Thunderhead at Dollywood yesterday; that will be my last coaster of the year. -
I just rode my first alpine coaster this afternoon - the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. I had forgotten all about it until someone handed me a brochure a couple of days ago, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to try it out and get the cred. Not only that, today was a beautiful day, with partly sunny skies and temps in the 60's. Well,I'm glad I rode it, as it has a seriosly steep and convoluted series of lifts and four pretty forceful helices. Of course, I rode the whole way without the breaks on, and I really got lucky when the ride ops asked me and several other riders if we wanted to ride twice without getting off. Turns out they were testing the capacity of the lifts to handle more riders at a time and they needed a bunch of riders. That was a nice surprise. In a nutshell, IMO, these coasters are worth riding (well, at least this one was) if you get the chance. The only tiny gripe I had was that the brake handles are rather low-set, which meant I had to depress the handles with my fingertips for the length of the descent. So, if you are a short person like me (I'm 5'3)' you may have to realy stretch your arms to ride with the brakes off.
-
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Schrecken replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I went to HP twice in June this year and then again in October, and I noticed no difference in the speed of the lift. I never got to ride it last year so I have nothing to compare it to in that regard, but it is plenty potent as far as I'm concerned. -
I've only been on Togo and B&Ms, and by far the latter are the best imo. I thought that Shockwave at KD was going to crack my tail bone, so I can't imagine what it would do to unwary male riders. I could see where B&Ms could be uncomfortable in that way, but not as bad as the likes of KD's pile of scrap iron. It will be interesting tosee what the Togo at Canada's Wonderland is like in comparison, since if it was reported to be as bad or worse than Shockwave I I feel I might want to skip the cred. But most everyone says it is much better so I will plan on riding it whenever I get to CW.
-
Weird Roller Coaster Dreams
Schrecken replied to alpengeistdude321's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
As of late I keep dreaming about SFMM, which used to be my home park back in the late 90's. In these dreams, my friend and I are at the park, and we've already done most everything except the Gotham City area and the area where Psychlone used to be, and we are heading over to that area. But, every time we start going back there, to ride Batman, Goliath and everything I haven't ridden in ages or at all, I wake up. -
What do YOU take with you to a park?
Schrecken replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I try to take as little as possible into a park, whether it is a park I visit regularly or one I have never been to before. Basically my list is as follows: car keys credit card small amount of cash phone (no, not an i phone!) and (if I remember) some antacids. If it's cool or might get cool, I bring a jacket. No need to store it because I put it on when I ride and just tie it around my waist (if it gets warm enough where I don't need to wear it) when I'm not riding. If I'm in a park I've never been to before, or one where I didn't get to take any pictures or good pics, I bring my camera. However, if I bring my good camera (which I also use for my job, so it would be bad if it got lost or damaged), I either bury it in the bottom of my hobo bag (which I only bring if I have my good camera) and use the bins in the ride station if there are any, or I just plan on storing it, or, taking all the pics I want and then just returning it to my car. I also usually bring a heavy-duty zippered plastic bag and some safety pins if I am unable to find and wear any article of clothing that has zippered pockets. I put all my stuff (not the camera!) in the baggie, zip it shut and literally pin it inside my jeans or shorts pocket. No coaster or ride thus far has been able to breach this protective system! Also helps if I get wet on water rides. -
As far as coasters and rides I've actually ridden, I'd like to be able to ride the BBW again (looks like I'm not alone on that one), the Wildcat at CP, the Laser at Dorney (since I only got to ride it one time ), the Wild One at SFA before it was re-profiled back in the late 90's (it actually had a serious pop of ejector air right before the turn-around, which was unfortunately removed in the reprofiling job), the Hurler at KD the year it opened (I remember it being quite fun back then), and Ghostrider at KBF the year it opened. I also wouldn't mind taking a spin on Flashback one more time, if only because it was such a unique coaster. Then there are some old coasters that used to be in Ocean City, MD, way back in the very early 80's. One was a small non-inverting steel coaster that was on the boardwalk or very close to it (RCDB gives me three options, but I can only guess which one it was because I rode it at night and I don't remember the exact year), and the other was an ancient wild mouse with cars that were like bathtubs with no restraints of any kind (not even listed on RCDB). The only reason that these are significant to me is that this was at the height of my coaster phobia and it took me quite some time to get up the nerve to ride them, especially the unknown one. So this is more like " I wish I had a time machine" sort of thing, not that these coasters were anything worthwhile but just so that I could remember more (I recall more about working up the nerve and white-knuckling the rides than the coasters themselves). Other rides I'd like to ride again are Kingdom of the Dinosaurs at KBF, Mr Toad's Wild Ride at WDW, Skull Mountain at SFA (was a very unique ride), and just in general it would be cool to be able to experience two of the regional parks I visited a few times as a kid (KD and HP) the way they were back in the early 80's (especially with KD bringing back some of the old stuff).
-
What are amusement park necessities?
Schrecken replied to angryemobeaver's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I would also say a dark ride, especially the classic kind that you don't see many of these days like the Wacky Shack at Waldameer. -
I must have caught Hades on a really good day (assuming there are any) when I visited this past July, because I can think of at least a half a dozen woodies I found to be far more rough than Hades was (only rode Hades in the front and 2nd seat, but I also rode those other brutal coasters in the same seats - front or 2nd). SOB still ranks as the worst woodie I ever set foot on, and I found Zeus at the same park to be much worse, as well as my ride earlier this year on Wildcat at HP. Other dis-honorable mentions I found worse than Hades were Hurler (KD, several years ago) and Hoosier Hurricane at IB (three or four years ago). IMO, while I will never be a fan of Hades, it did have a few redeeming features - I liked the first trip thru the tunnel, and though I find inversions on woodies to be unnecessary and pointless gimmicks, I did think it was kind of neat to come right out of the darkness and into the inversion. If only the inversion wasn't sitting smack dab in the end of the parking lot, it would be a nice surprise feature.
-
First of the Vekoma clones you rode?
Schrecken replied to IronWolfman's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
SLC - Mind Eraser at SFA (first inverted coaster period) Boomerang - Sidewinder at HP Inverted boomerang - Invertigo at CGA (PGA back then) GIB - Deja Vu at SFMM Flying Dutchman - Stealth at CGA (PGA back then) I've also been on a couple of their suspended family coasters, but not sure which one first - I'd have to say probably the one at Kings Island. Never been on a rollerskater or any other Vekoma clones that I can think of at the moment (or probably any other Vekomas at all). -
Well, this indeed a "horse of a different color", as the old saying goes. At least it isn't a clone and more of the same-ol same-ol stuff that's way too common that people complain about all the time. That said, it looks to me (based on the artwork) that such a coaster would have to have a lot of trims and brakes based upon the relatively tight curves and elements in order to prevent the speeds from getting too high, rather like many wild mice have lots of trims due to tight turn radii. Either that, or it would have to be built in such a way as to never allow the high speeds that would result from a simple 300+ ft drop. Also, the two track colors to me suggest that perhaps it could end up being a twin-track coaster. But, such a tower design could also allow a nice long drop after a couple of inversions and hills.
-
This past summer I missed a coaster and also a coaster experience that I've heard many talk about but didn't realize until it was too late. My friend and I went to Mt. Olympus this summer, and we didn't ride that other woodie that's down the street from Mt. Olympus. Granted, we were on a pretty tight time schedule, but looking back, I know that we could have found the time to ride that one at least once to get the credit. I do regret that we didn't hit that other woodie, especially since I doubt I'll ever go back to that area for a very, very long time, if ever, so that's basically a cred that I just won't get. In addition, we missed the back seat on Cyclops because (even though we got the credit for the coaster) at the time we both assumed (you know what happens when you assume... ) that the back seats were marked "riders over 18 only" because of bone-smashing roughness and not killer airtime. But considering that park has some pretty rough wood (that, and having read on these forums about the maintenance issues at the park), I don't think our assumption was too far off base. But still, had I know the real reason the seats were reserved for adults, at least I would have been able to better decide whether or not I wanted to ride back there (only reason I would have chosen not to is because of my back).
-
I'm hoping I might be able to get to Canada's Wonderland this coming summer, but if not, I know for sure I will be able to get to WDW in the fall of 2014 and will be able to ride anything that wasn't there when I last visited in the early 80's. Not sure if I'll be able to do anything but the Magic Kingdom while I'm there, but at least I will be able to do that. Also hoping I can get to BGT on that same trip, since I haven't been there since 1979. So that is at least one thing to look forward to that I know I will be doing (WDW). Also, I'm planning on hitting CP next Coastermania, so I can try out Gatekeeper, which will be my 2nd B&M wingrider assuming I'll be able to ride Wild Eagle later this year.