WillMontu

I have been somewhat discouraged by the lack of interest from the last update, but I'll give this TR one more chance. After lunch was the I305 walk-back. This allowed for some unique shots Part of the group The first drop The first turn. I can understand that park's motive in installing the trim brakes, as there is some graying out even with them turned on The top of the lift hill This is high class coaster porn Anaconda did not seem to be getting as much attention The underwater tunnel and "splashdown" are fairly unique "Darn you Ron Toomer!" The night ERT started with a session on Volcano and FoF with the lights on The haunt theming in FoF's queue is still here from two years ago For many, the I305 ERT was the highlight of the night Gentlemen, start your engines! The TPR group was fairly well received by the park management and was recognized as the "fun" group. Thank you to KD's management for hosting the event, Robb and Elissa for organizing it, Erik for putting up with my driving, and everyone else who helped make this happen.

^ While I have shopped images in the past, those are not among them Part 2A - East Coast Bash This was the second "Bash" event I went to, the first being West Coast Bash in 2008. Although there are typically more people than traditional TPR trips, there are plenty of perks and ERT sessions. Having visited KD in 2008, I had most of the credits, but I had yet to get Ricochet (the wild mouse, which I succeeded in getting this time), and Taxi Jam (I am not sad and pathetic enough to get this one). Although Dominator was under construction when I last visited, I had already ridden it at Geauga Lake a year earlier, so I did not count it as a new ride. It's 8:22 in the morning and the park is still closed But it turns out that it was actually clopen Obligatory trashcan shot. Despite being a Cedar Fair park, KD still has character First ERT session: Domonator What is he doing in the second row? Happy TPR riders Closeup The new signature shot Time for Grizzly ERT It's very difficult to get good photos of this coaster Pre-lift Next was the opportunity to be first in line for I305 It takes off very quickly The station During the first few rides, it started to rain Big fast Intamin ride in the rain? Not for very long How was your ride? One of the bunny hills The final brake run is steep Don't you already have this credit? Togo Death Machines like this one are becoming increasingly rare. Who needs binoculars when you've got a 300mm telephoto lens? Close up of the top of Dominator's lift I305's lift is slightly higher than the tower viewing platform The first bunny hill on I305 I'm personally not a big fan of these twists. Then again, I was not a fan of Maverick either. Time for lunch The Beer Line The Q&A with Park Management Time for TPR Quest. I'm assuming that everyone has read at least one other ECB thread, so I won't go into detail about the rules The volunteers "Bring me something related to Cedar Fair" Prizes to be won I think someone had too much beer. To be continued...

It's been over two years since I last went to a TPR event (the most recent being the 2008 Europe trip), but it came time to break the hiatus. I will be posting this TR in parts, and who knows, maybe I'll finish this one. Day 1: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Day 2: Kings Dominion (East Coast Bash) Day 3: Knoebels Day 4: Hersheypark Day 5: Dorney -------------------- After a long drive up from Florida, we hit Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I last visited in 2008, when Corkscrew Hill and Big Bad Wolf were still operating. In the same way that Curse of Darkastle was a "budget Spiderman", Europe in the Air (the replacement for Corkscrew Hill) is like a lower budget version of Soarin'. On the other hand, I think that we had been spoiled by Disney and Universal. Crowds were quite heavy, but our Platinum passes from the Florida Busch parks allowed for preferred parking and discounts on the Quick Queue wristbands. Thank you to Chuck for providing us a place to sleep that night. At the first hotel: TPR and Domo, now in pocket size We purchased Quick Queue passes for the day, allowing us to get repeated rides on Apollo, along with the rest of the major rides. If you can lower the restraint so that it locks, you can ride Apollo above the trees Watch out for geese! Having ridden the Tampa version of Grover a week earlier, this ride has an identical layout. Maybe next year. Nessie is still going strong If I recall correctly, in past seasons, the operators attempted to sync the trains so that two went through the loops at the same time. Everyone has the daytime version of this shot. Help! The loss of this wolf, however, makes Domo angry Two boats and the train. Top that! The water rides were very popular that day. Fortunately there was no waiting with Quick Queue The train An idea of the crowds that day. No caption needed Alpengeist going over the lift I've never quite understood the purpose of the zero-car. AFAIK, Alpengeist is the only B&M inverted coaster that has one. Griffon going over the first drop [insert ninety degrees reference here] Personally, I prefer Sheikra, but this still provides a solid ride Even Domo got to ride Now at Busch Gardens, the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man! Except that they don't have flailing arms. Normally the crowds thin out by this time of the day. Not here. Griffon at night On the holding brake Going down Every time you post that picture, Angus attacks a Domo. Please, think of the Domos Sometimes playing dead is the best approach. Thanks for reading. Scroll down for East Coast Bash

I took a ton of pictures that day, so I will post a few of the highlights here, as well as a quick video from that night. A proper PTR of some form is in the works. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=StartYourEngines_huyf[/coastertube] ERT on Dominator This was my second "Geauga-Lake-coaster-ridden-in-two-locations". Not a new credit First riders of the day on I305 Happy TPR members The Q&A session with park management The TPR Quest game It got aggressive Finding foreign currency was an easy quest As for a bra - that took skill There were prizes to be won The photo walkback Many people, myself included, grayed out slightly on this section even with the trim brakes There was ERT on Volcano and Flight of Fear ...as well as I305 Gentlemen! Start your engines! That lift is fast. I am probably in the minority by being partial to the Carowinds ride, but that is because I like the floater airtime and the more comfortable restraints.

The QR barcodes in fact link to videos on the website. Six of them point to simple "teasers", while the last one points to the video previously mentioned. The first six videos mention: Speed Spirit Chase Power Accelerate Agility Here are a few pictures from last Saturday The old monorail station has a hole cut in the roof. Dirt near the Crown Colony area I'm not sure what is going to happen with the old Clydesdale building. We miss the donkey!

After a year and a half away from this, I have resumed updating this park. Among the latest developments: The unnamed Eurofighter-like ride finally has a name: "Ninety Degrees" A new GCI wooden coaster named "Take the Tunnel" Modifications to the Intamax coaster. The track now penetrates the Donkey Clubhouse building Addition of a Nautic Jet boat ride (one of those self-operated boat jump rides common in Europe)

This reminds me of my old RCT2 park, named Donkeyland with themed areas such as "Rides on the Moon" and "Wisconsin State Fair" and rides like "Vekoma Death Box" and "Golden Arches", inspired by this thread. I think I may need to update/finish it someday

I just signed up and will be sending the check in shortly.

For the long weekend, Erik Johnson and I went up to Six Flags over Georgia. Crowds were moderate, but wait times were not too bad (most attractions were less than 15 minutes, including Goliath, Monster Mansion, and Scorcher) Having visited the park a month earlier, a few things have changed. Acrophobia is back up and running, but we missed out riding it in favor of getting more rides on Mindbender. The new Papa Johns location is also open Since I had already visited earlier in the year, I only took a limited number of pictures. Many of these are night shots and came out quite well. I used a standard Canon IS lens for most of these with a long exposure (with a steady hand, not a tripod) for the night shots. What could be more American than riding the Great American Scream Machine. As far as I know, this one will be sticking around. Unlike the other one, it doesn't hurt people. Or should I say, doesn't hurt people as much Now this ride does hurt people. Too bad it didn't get washed away with the floods last year I was smart this time around by not riding The famous Riverview Carousel is a must-do on any visit to SFOG Hey Chuck! It's still there! The Joker must be up to his tricks again I have yet to do the rapids ride here, especially when there are people manning the water cannons The log flume, as seen from the train The new Papa Johns location Monster Mansion The ride is almost comparable to Disney or Universal quality dark rides Erik and I agreed that Mindbender and Goliath are the best rides in the park. Motion blur Gotham City by night Being the 4th of July, there were fireworks Note to self: Clean camera lens The cycle on Crime Wave was slow and short. Even with the fireworks going and less than an hour until closing, Mindbender was dispatching full trains most of the time Goliath as seen from Gotham City A train going down the first drop Walking through the "tunnel" Georgia Cyclone lit up. A train is barely visible at the top of the the drop Goliath's helix at night Closing time Georgia Scorcher cycling the last of its trains for the night Goliath at night again On the home stretch Mindbender was completely dark at this time. Nothing that a long exposure and a steady hand can't fix. Looking under Batman's lift Batman's loop Batman's lift Batman's station as seen from the parking lot Another long exposure of Batman. Thank you for reading

I used to be somewhat of a coaster nerd, but it has since both scaled back and spread out to include amusement parks in general. EPCOT does not have any coasters, but it's one of my favorite parks. I don't have many friends due to my social difficulties, but I just tell people that I enjoy amusement parks, which isn't that abnormal in Florida

That is insane. I am so glad that I got to experience it during soft opening. How far did some of these people come?

So after the first unsuccessful attempt at exploring WWHP at IOA two weeks ago, arriving to find that there were technical problems, Erik Johnson and I tried again last Sunday with better results. As mentioned several times before, knowledge of the Harry Potter universe is necessary to truly appreciate some of of the details in the new section. Even for the soft opening, the area was crowded, especially all the small stores. The rides, however, handled the crowds without any difficulties. Dueling Dragons/Dragon Challenge and Flying Unicorn/Flight of the Hippogriff both had a less than five minute wait, while Forbidden Journey rarely peaked above 20 minutes (even less for the single rider line) Since I am aware that TPR is already saturated with PTRs from WWHP, I will concentrating on some of the finer details. Although nothing compared to Europe (in 2006, I remember seeing a pub at Victoria Station advertising that they were a "World Cup Free Zone"), there is a small amount of World Cup fever in the US. In the space of less than a week, this new screen went up showing scenes from the Harry Potter movies I'm not what charm they are using, as this snowman does not seem to mind the scorching Florida heat Inside the Hog's Head pub There was a video shoot going on. I'm not sure what it was for though. Something to keep in mind It appears that Gringotts has adopted a piece of muggle technology. You would think that they would have reconsidered after that break-in Are these the Hogs from Hogwarts? It looks like some pigs do fly... ...and some people can too. Must be a levitation charm There are shows every fifteen minutes, alternating between the Tri-Wizard display and the Frog Chorus. More of the Tri-Wizarding show The Frog Chorus Ribbit The Three Broomsticks menu. For amusement park food, the servings sizes are not too bad for the price. The drink selection Three Broomsticks interior Occasionally shadows, sometimes depicting various scenes, are projected onto the walls Are these for sale? Seen outside of Honeydukes sweet shop Inside the post office, one of the more crowded of the stores The Monster Book of Monsters, required reading in the second book in the series. It does bite Good to know... More expensive than conventional brooms, but cheaper than a Cessna A look inside one of the "closed" shops A quidditch set. The large red ball is the Quaffle, which is used to score goals, and the two smaller metal balls are Bludgers and are intended to knock people off their flying brooms. The Bludgers in the display were shaking, as if they were attempting to break free. Books by Gilderoy Lockhart, a character in the series who has an inflated ego and later suffers from memory loss Flying Unicorn is now Flight of the Hippogriff I believe that the ride is themed to a "training" version of the Hippogriff, hence the wicker cars. There is, however, a "real" Hippogriff at the bottom of the lift. Riders must bow to it, otherwise they get a Vekoma quality bashing. This was the longest wait of the day of around 20-25 minutes in the hot sun, as it only takes a dozen or so people at a time. The Ollivander's shop is a short demo of matching a wand to a wizard as mentioned in the first book. After the presentation, the "attraction" empties out into an already crowded gift store. An overview of the crowds during the day. I will soon be posting pictures from Forbidden Journey, especially the queue and a quick look at Dragon Challenge

I'm currently in a state of transition. My LG CU515 recently broke (the hinge failed) and I'm temporarily using an old Motorola L2 until I can get something new, possibly the HTC Evo 4G. I'm currently with AT&T, but their Android selection is poor (they have one model at the moment and and it has a proprietary front-end on it) and the iPhone does not appeal to me.

These photos are probably ten years old now (taken in 2000), but they were taken two years after Parc de Montjuic in Barcelona closed. According to RCDB, there were four coasters here, including a twin shuttle (moved to Zaragoza and now operates as Ramses), a Boomerang (which now rusts away at SFNO), a Galaxi (which still operates in Spain), and a small kiddie coaster. None of them were remaining during this visit. I never got to walk around in the remains of the park, but I took these from the skyride that connected the war museum at the top of the hill to a funicular railway that was in turn connected to the Metro. Remains of a fountain and a open building. I'm guessing it was for food service. A stadium I believe that the barrel was a walk-through attraction based on similar attractions at other European parks What appears to be a small go-kart track Another food service stand I'm not sure what ride (or rides) operated here Another view of the stadium with the city in the background More vacated ride space Looking up the hill. The Skyride had three stations, the second being in the park itself, but not loading/unloading Another look at the circular building with the barrel attraction in the background

I believe that Kumali is not as unique as it seems, as there are one or two SLCs with similar layouts in China. It's good to see that after four years, it is still running as "smooth as a baby's bum"

HRRR has a small amount of vibration, but it is not painful. There are lap restraints, so there will not be any headbanging (unless you pick a song that warrants that kind of action). Dueling Dragons (or Dragon Challenge, depending on which entrance is open) is a people eater, and even in its first season (1999) it never had much of a long line. They can run up to three trains on each side. Many of the rides have single rider lines, and they can significantly reduce the wait time when they are open. Mummy, MIB, HRRR, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, and Incredible Hulk have single rider lines.

Despite the Wizarding World not opening to the public today, here are some pictures from the Muggle side of things earlier today. Aside from different music and some new signing, much of the Dragons remain as they were. I'm guessing that when WW is open, they take on the Dragon Challenge personality and use the new entrance and queue and revert to using the temporary queue when WW is closed. At the park opening, this was where the queue to enter the Wizarding World begins It extends across the bridge to Jurassic Park This was all for an attraction that did not even open to the public that day. I'm suspect that the bridge between Lost Continent and Jurassic Park will be staying, as they are building some sort of entrance or gate here. The Dragons look the way they have for the last year or two. This entrance was not opened until later in the day. The Dragons queue snakes through a portion of WW, with fences to hide all the Potter theming. It goes in through the exit as before, but then joins the existing queue, bypassing the new features It's still easier just to say Fire and Ice The loading station is different. I apologize for the blur (I was using the P&S camera at the time and I didn't want to hold up the line). The shadows on the ceiling are animated. The old wooden handrails have been replaced, though they still remain in the loading area So is this Blizzrock, or has Hungarian Horntail been taking polyjuice potion?

From my personal experiences: -Go for quality over quantity. I used to post huge PTRs with hundreds of photos, and they were buried very quickly, especially when they only covered stuff that others had seen before and people started losing interest by the second page. I now generally only post if it's something new or interesting -Don't get too discouraged by lack of hits/responses. Many old PTRs are moved to the archive forum and/or placed in the park index -TPR has its in-jokes, but don't go overboard, especially when they involve people (who probably get sick of such comments). Everyone already knows that Jeff Johnson can get 1000 credits from riding a Wacky Worm depending on the seat, time of day, and weather conditions. Sometimes its better to make up your own. I've sometimes hidden small surprises, etc. in photos, such as Photoshopping a sign -PTRs can be a lot of work. If all else fails, just put the camera away and ride.

So after several changes in plans and several hours of driving each way, I did my first out of state park trip since 2008. Operations at Carowinds were fairly good on most of the attractions, with the longest waits being for the Vekoma Flyer (Nighthawk),the Mine Train (with one train operation), and the Chik-Fil-A food stand. On Saturday we met up with Team Larry and made sure they got their Boomerang credit. My primary focus here is on ride photos, so excuse my captions. I've also posted these and other photos I took during the trip on my site. Also, the Gator Nation is everywhere with several people sighted with Gator shirts in the park that day. How do you think Steve Spurrier got that way? Carowinds is a new park for me, and one of the nicer Cedar Fair parks out there. This is the only picture you will see of me, at least for a while I'm not going to waste time by showing the Stateline sign as everyone's seen it already. Instead I'm going for a closeup of the observation tower Intimidator was the one of the primary reasons for coming here Despite a few breakdowns, the ride was running quite efficiently with three trains I'm not sure how these affect the aerodynamic performance of the trains. I'm sure they create a small amount of drag. Over the trees The ride did go down a few times, and I didn't want to have to wait around to get the perfect shot here. The SLC-In-Training was just like all the others Top Deck Afterburn Insert "through the trees" cliche here It's been likened to a shorter version of Montu without the midcourse or the extra inversion The "Shark" wheel-covers on this train are a nice touch. Hurler was bumpy, but not too bad. It reminds me of Gwazi Drop Tower Stunt Zone The Arrow looper had all the classic Ron Toomer elements I though this shot came out well The Boomerang was added last year, and it was just as bad as it was at Geauga Lake Nerd shot of the Boomerang catch-car The new train. At Geauga Lake, the ride operated with an old Arrow train Chuck and Larry take a ride Vertical loop goodness (well it was probably the best part of the ride) BorgStealthawk was somewhat rough and uncomfortable Thunder Road was racing quite regularly, however one side usually got a slight head start. This was the other reason for coming here, and they are just as they were made out to be The operators was challenging riders to see who could go the highest Snapping was actually encouraged Word of advice to those who want to ride Lucy: "You are sad and pathetic. Five cents please." A 360 degree panorama shot from the tower. Carowinds_360.zip High resolution download of the above image

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and the people (including myself) who have them are quite diverse. There is Aspergers', and various forms of autism, including "high" (with a lot of overlap with Aspergers) and "low" functioning (some with savant-like abilities). Some people are verbal and others are non-verbal (not able to communicate verbally) Personally, I have had great difficulty with social skills and making friends, which is further complicated by an inability to recognize faces. There have been times when I've accidentally upset people due to misinterpreting or misunderstanding social cues or being misheard or misunderstood myself and I find that I am being frequently interrupted or even ignored in conversations. Others on the spectrum may not have the same problems that I do, and/or may have difficulties that I do not experience. Some people are sensitive to flickering lights or being touched (no, I don't mean THAT kind of touching), and others are uncomfortable around large groups of people (e.g. supermarkets, theme parks)

I think that it's a solid ride and something that will work out well for the park with its high capacity. As mentioned above, the front and back seats are the best places to be, though getting stapled by the operators several times isn't so much fun. The Boomerang was pretty bad (just as it was at GL), though it ran a bit quieter. We overheard people exiting the ride saying how they would "never do that ride again"

I'm not certain, but I've heard that the Cedar Fair parks do not allow tripods (including smaller ones like the Gorillapod) while places like Disney allow them. I do have a small pocket sized tripod that I can place on top of something like a fence or a trash can, which worked well for night shots even when I only had a simple point and shoot. I've also heard of people making "tripods" using string and weight (or something to stand on). It's not as effective as a proper tripod, but it supposedly provides decent stability.

I personally don't think that the "raw" videos are my kind of thing, but it is something I may want to consider buying sometime if I get a BluRay player.

The Park Index submission form (suggest.php) seems to be broken. I took some pictures at WDW this past weekend (Rafiki's Planet Watch, Finding Nemo show, Tom Sawyer Island attractions, PeopleMover with new lighting) and I tried to upload them using the upload script. When I click Submit, it tells me that I need to log in with my forum account with nothing but a link back to the main page, even though I'm logged into the forums, and I entered my username/password in the fields in the form.

I dug up a few of my old photos from Europe two years ago Want another Roundup? This is the one at Heide Park Log flumes at Phantasialand Silbermine (Phantasialand). I don't remember if there were any other signs around that had the name of the attraction on it.