andybarnes84

Thanks for the huge array of photos, you've managed to capture the scale and detail of the park very well.This is by far the best park in Europe and I agree that it's most certainly up there with the the best in the World, the gap in quality between Europa and all other European parks (excluding Disneyland Paris and Port Aventura) is astonishing and depressing. Would highly recommend going to Food Loop for breakfast as it's much quieter then and a cheaper way to experience it. This is a 2 day park at least, we had just 1 and although it wasn't too busy we really struggled to get most attractions in, although the fantastic operations keep the queues moving nicely.

Just visited Liseberg for the first time yesterday and it lived up to expectations. Initially wasn't hugely impressed by either Helix or Balder when the park opened but there was a stupidly big difference in intensity once they'd warmed up in the evening. Balder really makes you laugh hysterically, that first drop is incredible in the back which is where we sat nearly every time. Constant airtime pops, lacks the scale of El Toro but very much like Phoenix on steroids. Amazing! Helix once running well was also incredible and I don't use praise much being a pessimistic Brit, after dark those airtime hills almost matched Skyrush in intensity, the launches are nothing special, there to slightly increase momentum really. First drop out of the station is best experienced in the back. This ride puts Blue Fire to shame, impressive Maverick like hairpin turns at certain points too. As everyone says, the POV doesn't do this coaster justice! These were so good we're heading back on Sunday before our flight home to get some last minute rides in as i know it's going to be a while until I ride something that'll impress me as much.

Surely it's got to feel a lot like the drop on Deja Vu but just taller, how I miss that coaster Luckily they still run the one in Madrid! *Sorry Iron Wolfman just realised that you were talking about the same thing, I didn't know that they moved one to Silverwood

Hi all, Just back from a couple of weeks driving 2700 miles from Chicago all the way down to Atlanta and back visiting many of the best parks on offer in the middle states. Unfortunately my camcorder packed up on day 1 of the trip and I felt little inspiration to photograph the trip via phone so i'll just summarise what we did and observations as to not bore you all. I'd just like to thank all those on here for inspiring us to do another road trip after reading all your excellent trip reports and constant discussion. I'm not sure when we'll next feel the need to do so much driving, perhaps Florida is calling next for some downtime... May 12th - 13th: Chicago Had a couple days of "culture", highlight definitely the Wendella boat cruise which although slightly pricey was more than worth it. Found the city to have a very different vibe to NYC and very walkable. May 14th: Six Flags Great America 7/10 Really not sure what to make of this park, didn't seem as impressive as Great Adventure or Magic Mountain and also lacked any sort of character like SFOG, very generic with some good attractions but not enough to impress for such a major location near Chicago. What does work for the park is the intensity of the coasters on offer. I have never had what I would consider an "intense" ride on a wing coaster but X-Flight was incredible. I'm not quite sure how this is possible but it ran like the Batman of wing coasters, very heavy G's throughout until the final brake run, couple of grey-outs, hugely impressed! It's just a shame it's other variants are so tame. Raging Bull was fun, with pops of airtime on the drops out of the turns but this is certainly more of a twister type hyper rather than pure airtime. Another highlight was Whizzer, some really decent G's and nostalgia made for an impressive slice of history and a better than expected experience. Everything else was kinda "meh", American Eagle was fun too though. Thankfully I was mentally prepared for having to stare at Goliath *almost complete* prior to arriving as to avoid any negative feelings. May 15th: Holiday World 8/10 Very greatful for the free entry event held by Paula and everyone at Holiday World, it was a fantastic chilled out day despite my g/f and I feeling not too great after a couple nights of broken sleep and struggling to adjust to the time difference. Sorry to all on here for not saying hi, I think I recognised a few of you but my typically British reserved nature got the better of me. What a fantastic little park, not that "little" is any way intended to undermine the quality of attractions on offer, but with the water park closed I can see half a day being sufficient. For us, we preferred Raven over Legend (which has crazy laterals and is amazing if you're really into that), but obviously the Voyage is just an incredible stand out ride, and surprisingly for a U.S. park, completely untamed and very, very wild. This coaster has left an overwhelmingly positive impression, it has to be the ultimate wooden coaster in the World and has made me re-evaluate just how seriously I can consider RMC and even Intamin (versions such as El Toro) to be the same type of coaster. I couldn't believe how the Voyage seems to get faster and more vicious towards the end, i'm just beeming as I type this thinking back to my rides on it. The new ride tease was fun and it's always positive to see such effort put into these campaigns from smaller independent parks. Once again huge thanks to Paula and all, especially for free buffet dinner too. May 16th: Nashville Cool small feel city, was impressed by the Broadway and the general friendliness and cleanliness of the place, 3 hours was ok for us as a brief stop but obviously there is so much to do. We also stopped by the Jack Daniels Distillery Tour in Lynchburg which was really great, couldn't believe it was free and yet run as professionally as it was with so much to see, one of the trip highlights! May 17th: Atlanta World of Coca Cola was great, well worth the $16 entry. Very well done, obviously just a giant advert for a drink that we all know we should cut down on but what the heck, you roll with it. Managed to taste all 60 (?) flavours at the end with the obligatory Beverly of course. CNN centre was nice to just pop in and have something in the food court, then we headed over to the Martin Luther King historic site and stumbled upon a talk in the basement of the Ebenezer Church which was pretty special. Very interesting city indeed and one I'd like to return to for more. May 18th: Six Flags Over Georgia 9/10 Very nice park, as scenic as it gets with SF I suppose, all the positive reviews are true. Again, once you've been to the biggest parks it's easy to feel a little short changed with the range of attractions after taking the obligatory clones out of the mix, but there are some gems here, Goliath has most certainly become my favourite B&M Hyper. It was running fantastically with just the right amount of intensity and airtime. Dare Devil Dive was great too but the line went painfully slowly especially as Flash Pass was in full swing. Mind Bender was running well and I hope they continue to keep it going as long as possible. It was also the first time I've been on a Batman clone in quite a while and they are still as good as ever, great compact design and G's throughout which continues to exceed the quality of most recent inverts. Strangely perhaps, the GASM was probably my second favourite at the park, just a great old woodie with a stunning location over the water and nicely hidden at the back of the park. May 19th: Dollywood 9.5/10 What a place, believe the reviews! This park left a great impression and one we'll certainly make every effort to return to. It helps that it's in such a beautiful location, although i'm happy to have stayed in Gatlinburg rather than the strip in Pigeon Forge, not that it's bad or anything, just "very I-Drive". I couldn't really fault any of the coasters, Thunderhead was relentless although not quite in my all time top favourites, Tennessee Tornado was probably the best Arrow looper I've ridden with great forces and a unique layout although a bit short. Firechaser Express was better than expected after reading indifferent reviews, certainly not a kiddie coaster and yet just the right amount of forces and pops of airtime as to not scare anyone from riding again, great location, theme and layout, well done Dollywood! Frustrating to hear many say it wasn't as exciting as expected despite it's age appropriate marketing but you'll always get that with any new family coaster. Wild Eagle had an AMAZING crew, great station, again great location but perhaps not quite as intense as they could run it, but much better than Gatekeeper. Mystery Mine was very unique, not nearly as intense as Saw at Thorpe but still fun and really loved the effects for the second drop. Blazing Fury was a great "older" attraction which has been well kept and the finale was very entertaining. Contraversially I didn't think the cinnamon bread was *that* amazing when you can go to Cinnabon and have something even more intense but I would obviously have it again. Great buffet lunch at Mrs Lillian's, was chased around by Mrs Lillian herself with the banjo when getting some soft drinks which I won't forget in a hurry. May 20th: Kings Island 6/10 As much as I appreciate the cleanliness of Cedar Fair parks, the blandness of this park cannot be ignored. Very open, lots of tarmac and generic buildings, not a fan to be honest. However two reasons for coming here, Diamondback and Banshee. My expectations of Diamondback were slightly exceeded, perhaps not the most intense B&M Hyper but certainly not the least. I just don't like the trains. Banshee however was a dissapointment I'm afraid, having read alot of positive buzz, I was confronted with a station made out of Duplo, a rattling train with tight restraints (just like the newer hyper train design, I'm also not a fan of these wing rider style restaints) and a generally gracious ride but certainly not what I could call forceful or intense other than the interesting final helix and a good zero-g roll. Such a shame, but maybe it just deserves more of my attention in the future to get a different opinion. I'll stick with the Dragons and Montu for now. What did exceed my hopes however was The Beast. The clue is in the name I suppose but I never expect a wooden coaster "of age" to provide an intense ride. This thing is truly untamed, nuts, and fast. I won't forget the left turn in the tunnel after the second lift hill any time soon! It's just not right for such a coaster to go as fast as it does, if you like your fair share of laterals get on this thing if you haven't already. Positively surprised and slightly whiplashed, quite a "random" gem of a coaster. May 21st and 22nd: Cedar Point 9/10 Not going to state the obvious about this World leading park, but our visit was as great as ever, other than a bird depositing a generally large amount of recycled food upon my Dollywood Tee, is this place ever quiet though? I couldn't bring myself to pay the $80 for fastlane plus, I'm originally Scottish you see. Maverick warrants it's queue length, what a crazy crazy wicked thing it is, the Voyage of steel coasters. Millenium Force didn't impress me as much as before which was a shame, however TTD once it got over it's morning strop didn't dissapoint. Gemini always sticks a smile on my face as does Magnum, and I have no idea if I'd lost my mind but I actually kind of enjoyed my ride on the Streak. The park is Disney clean which is fantastic and long may it continue. Gatekeeper, sorry but this thing doesn't live up to it's impressive stature, we tried our best to enjoy it but alas no such luck. May 23rd: Detroit Had to see this city, and found it to be predictably sad and fascinating at the same time. You get a real sense that huge efforts are being made to turn it around, was very surreal and sombering driving through Grosse Pointe and then 5 mins later through the area where the Heidelberg Project is. Ren Cen cool, Detroit People Mover had an 80's Epcot vibe, Henry Ford Museum pretty good but the Rouge Tour was fantastic. Buddy's Pizza so good we had it twice. May 24th: Indiana Beach 8/10 Please support this park, we both loved it's rugged charm and only hope to visit again soon. Oddly not hugely impressed with Cornball Express but I don't believe it was running nearly as fast as it could. Lost Coaster of ...etc was shut too. Other than that, great "oldskool" place with a reasonably priced entry fee and warm feel. You can tell that so many employees are happy to be there and I only hope that the park has a great season and it's fortunes are turned around. That's pretty much all we acheived, it's fair to say we're a little exhausted. I'll summarise: Top 3 woodies of the trip: 3. GASM 2. Thunderhead 1. The Voyage Top 3 steel coasters of the trip: 3. Diamondback 2. TTD 1. Goliath Biggest dissapointments: 3. Cornball Express 2. Gatekeeper 1. Banshee Biggest surprise: 3. Firechaser Express 2. The Beast 1. X-Flight Park to re-visit sooner than later: Dollywood Park to re-visit later than sooner: Kings Island I hope I haven't bored you all and thanks again for making this trip possible with all the discussion and advice that makes this site what it is.

That's fantastic thanks for the link!

I can't seem to find any info about the 15th? Only the 30th and 31st of May. Is this day like a practise run for the main event hence free entry and meal etc? Would be amazing luck if there is an event on the 15th as I happen to be visiting that day during my 2 week self guided tour around the Midwest, fingers well and truly crossed

Sorted, done. Thank you

Just trying to figure out the last day of our holiday/vacation and can't decide between MA or IB, they are both pretty much the same distance to drive and I would like to finally ride Shivering Timbers but equally am quite interested in Cornball Express and the other coasters there, quite a unique setting too. Any thoughts on which you would choose if faced with a similar dilemma? It would be for around 3 hours as we have to drive to O'Hare for a late flight back. Thanks for any suggestions

Some really fantastic pictures there, many thanks! Can't believe I was there just 5 months ago, I still chuckle thinking about the hugely efficient (almost frantic) loading procedure on Journey and being pushed in to the cars, brilliant.

These will always hold a special place in my heart But i've always had a strange thing for these too, just like the clunky style:

Just when I was starting to forget about Helix along comes an update! This is going to knock Blue Fire out of the water

The Gravity Group response about the coaster for Alton Towers was interesting and devastating at the same time, if only we were more like the Chinese - "just knock them down, and screw the locals"

What excellent news as I'm off to Tokyo in a couple of months and was really hoping for the remote chance this might re-open, hope it stays that way

Ok thanks Elissa I shall proceed at caution and obey any instructions as necessary

I was wondering if anyone has experience of how strict staff are at the two parks when it comes to filming POV footage? I have found an overwhelming number of on-ride videos from the parks and just wanted to find out if the camcorder culture in Japan is a little more favourable towards tourists than at our Western counterparts. Many thanks Andy

Had an extremely quiet year, have done the main UK parks and Port Aventura. Making up for it in October as going to Tokyo via Abu Dhabi (Ferrari World, Tokyo Disney Resort, Fuji Q and perhaps a couple smaller parks).

Someone has made a pretty good video of The Smiler on opening day with lots of interesting camera angles to give you a really good idea of how fast this thing goes. Mixed comments about roughness though. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

I think it was RCT for me, can't remember why I chose to get the game but once I did, I started becoming interested in how they worked and looked up coaster sites. Then in Florida I somehow got myself onto Kumba and that was it, forever cursed.

Quite a few POV vids are starting to appear from various media folk, this one isn't too bad [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

That video was posted a couple of pages back, but yeah as everyone says the 14th inversion is prior to the first lift hill. Word (as mentioned on the last page) is that they are aiming to get the coaster to duel with itself, don't know if this is good enough for a World's first but apparently they have said that the inversion count isn't it.

Darn, there on the 19th

How dare you not visit this fine park sir! Brought back loads of happy memories, thanks for posting

What?? "Your mind and body is sliding into Submission"

Press event scheduled for 17th May so might open on the 18th. Advertising begins 30th April. I'm going on the 19th May, should be chaotic if it's open.

I would recommend Knoebels if you can squeeze in the extra hour driving time from Hershey and down to SFA. Wasn't a fan of SFA to be honest but it has a couple of interesting coasters, perhaps you could get there early and do the sightseeing in D.C. in the afternoon/evening if you are really pushed for time. Coney Island is also a nice side trip from NYC but does take around an hour each way on the subway. Have a great holiday whatever you decide to do.