Blue Fire Guy

Almost "NINETY DEGREES!" Not quite, but almost. Can't wait to get some photos of this thing during GWW!

Great TR! Makes me eager to hit up the place on a Sunday this November. Gilroy Gardens always looks beautiful, especially when you have two coasters sneaking "Through the trees!". Quicksilver's layout is very unique, and there is some decent back seat airtime in the second half given that it's running fast enough. Mushroom Swing and Banana Split are still my favorite rides of their respective kinds, and not just because they look like food.

I think I need another shower after seeing those GoldPorn pics. Awesome TR to conclude the season, definitely looking forward to riding that beauty! Just be sure to bring an extra change of clothes for GWW, it'll be a wonderfully twisted mess by then. Sad to believe this awesome season is now over, but here's to an even better season in 2013 for obvious reasons. And now, it's time to activate my off-season survival mode: Gilroy Gardens in November, SCBB limited operation days (Giant Dipper marathoning and maybe Undertow construction site pics), and of course, GWW!

DUCK! I'm debating with myself whether or not these headchoppers, Gold Striker's, or Outlaw Run's are the craziest. They've all got some pretty low looking clearance, perhaps 2013 is going be the year of the headchopper?

All right, the 3rd wave of photos is here! 'Twas my last visit to CGA (excluding GWW) of the season, and I literally ended it with a snap on the flyers. Losing my sky coaster virginity was a big highlight though, and from the launching position is the only place in the park where you can really get a good look at TroyProWodanigade's airtime hill following the double down after the Prudential turn. The wood smelt quite pungent in the "Xtreme Area" as I'd call it, nothing like southern yellow pine in my nostrils! List of highlights: -Getting the hang of spinning Breakdance boats, had one of my more intense Peanuts' Pirates rides. -I went a little too crazy on the flyers, but it was a fitting way for me to end my visits. -Jeff had a "Car Crash" on Loggers'. We all rode solo to make sure we didn't get too wet, but the downside of that is that the log will stop a lot quicker during the splash, causing some intense deceleration Gs. You'll see it in the photos! -KBF talent livened up the Gauntlet significantly, something it really needed. -Skycoaster. 'nuff said. List of sucky moments: -Star Tower down all day and all night, but for a good reason -OK, so now there are "Line Blockers" instead of line jumpers. They are jeeps who just idly stand at the beginning or in the middle of a queue doing nothing but blocking our way. Ugh. Not nearly as disgusting as line jumpers but still...ugh! -A height nazi kicked us off of Woodstock despite the fact that there actually isn't a maximum height rule for it. The TPR gang and I have done this many times before, so this op just decided to be a total nazi and make up some rule forcing us to walk-of-shame our way off the Intamini. UGH!!! And now, it's photo time! Good morning CGA! Doing some pre-opening shots. Flight Deck lookin' good as always. GWW tent. ...a lonely Cedar Fair trash can. Okay Star Tower, time to lower yourself down for us nerds! Um...Star Tower? Oh well, you're closed for a MOST EXCELLENT reason... Clearing for the Troy "mirror image" first drop. Midway Turn bents are going up! This'll be our Star Tower substitute for GWW. Deflated Overlord. Don't piss him off, or he WILL shove diarrhea up your A$$. Porn, porn, porn... Before the ride begins, I take a picture of Gumball taking a picture of me taking a picture of Gumball taking a picture of me taking a picture of... NERD SHOT!!! Loggers' fun. One TPR member survives...NEXT! Jeff looks OK right now... ...until he has a "Car Crash" and falls down! LMAO! TroyProWodanigade's butt. TWISTY!!! From this angle it almost looks "NINETY DEGREES!!!" Here's the final turn, buried in the twisted mess of wood. Jeff in a blue suit? Oh you know what this means... "Why the hell do we do these kinds of things?" Getting closer to their fate... I hope you two are ready, you could lose one of your nine lives to this thing. Going up, and then... Gumball captures the critical moment... Almost... OMFG!!!!!! They survived! Jeff isn't sure about what the hell just happened to him! Bird Statue: California's Great America Would you like to save your game? Would you like to warp back to the sky? The TPR folks hit up Delirium. Whooosh! Someday...SOMEDAY...I WILL get you! Time for a little Pirates fun! And we'll finish with a "Butcher's Eye View" of some GCI wood. Good night CGA, we will be returning for GWW! TroyProWodanigade's going to be MASSIVE by then.

That was a legit OMFG moment for sure, holy crap! As for wave 3 of the updates, it won't come until tomorrow evening. REALLY busy with college lately, sorry guys! Though I can sum up right now what you'll all see when the time comes: "Jeff's 'Car Crash' ride on Loggers". Also, did you actually type in j-e-e-p when you captioned your photo of Kevin lying next to the car? I laughed really hard at that one, the TPR word filters are just the best.

Enterprise for me, an excellent example of how He can really hold you in firm and tight. Now, if only mine (CGA) was run backwards...

I'm just in the middle of my playthrough of Pokemon White 2, with 5 badges in tow. I find its soundtrack, much like Black and White, very impressive...I am always baffled as to how Game Freak managed to get what sounds like orchestrated music onto the DS in the form of the new and improved title theme. Great game all around, longer and slightly more challenging than B1/W1, and I find it has a more "full" feeling to it as well. White 2, you'll be helping me survive the off season very nicely!

I was hoping for a Wacky Worm for whoring purposes, but still...yay for carnie rides ! Especially a TPR takeover of Dizzy Dragons, those things are easy to spin riding solo, but with a group of crazies...oh dear...

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING UPDATE CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF WOODEN COASTER CONSTRUCTION PORN. IF YOU FIND THIS IN ANY WAY OFFENSIVE, TURN BACK NOW! VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Had another really awesome day at the park, and there were a number of memorable highlights as well: -Tons of GoldPorn shooting. -More extreme snappage on the flyers. -Grizzly ran FAST like a bat out of hell. The early morning fog had moistened the track, allowing the train to slip through the 3-second turnaround with ease. There was quite a bit of back seat floater air to be had! -Madame Marie herself greets us at the Boofet, telling us that our visit to her manor will be extra special, and she was NOT kidding! -I get chased by a talent from Underworld Alley ALL THE WAY to Drop Tower, quite impressive if you ask me! -Funny chase in the Gauntlet (sorry Heather!) -Best Mmmmmmmmmmm walkthrough yet. There were lots of startles this time, including a portrait scare. We passed by the portraits thinking why there weren't scares there on our previous visits...and then BAM! I also got nailed in the face by the "zombie door" sprayer, and we all had the honor of getting our souls taken away by the Madame herself. This place has now firmly cemented itself as my #1 maze of CGA's haunt, as it really hit its prime last night. And now...Gold Striker construction porn updates commence! Normally, seeing trees get cut down is sad, but this is an EXTRAORDINARY circumstance. I see you...you're just waiting for us aren't you... The best portable toilet in the world, in the core of the finely built coaster. The long train will gracefully slide through the tight opening... It is foggy mornings like this one that'll naturally lubricate the track, allowing the train to only go faster and faster... Don't be sad, Midway footers. Soon you shall become one with Goldy... New bents impatiently waiting to be transferred over... You are looking good, even in the fog... Wooden coaster construction is dirty, very dirty... (shot under the wall) The midway footers, waiting... The brackets are VERY sensitive...you don't want to put the bents on them too hard. G-Goldy...y-you, ohhhh you smell WONDERFUL... (Southern Yellow Pine!) Goldy's smooth, fine curves... Goldy stands proudly, even though the trees are in the way here. These trees have sacrificed themselves for an insane first drop. Here is Goldy, illuminated by the sun at last... Goldy's small opening again... Another dive under the structure. There is going to seriously be a LOT of headchoppers in this ride. Goldy's small opening from Slaughterhouse's queue. Such an impressive, well-built structure... You can see the fan-turn style bents driving themselves firmly into the ground... Random wood pieces. You are j-just...G-GORGEOUS Goldy...we will be very happy to see you next Spring! BONUS PHOTO! Jeff and Heather brace themselves for impact on Logger's/BWC. BONUS PHOTO #2! The evil Star Tower engages in a laser duel with its taller brother behind Goldy.

Had a really fun day yesterday, crowds were light, lines were nonexistent on the majority of the rides, and during Haunt some of the mazes were walk-on's...and if there was a line for a maze, then it was short, very nice! There was a little TPR craziness as well, and a few genuine WTF moments as the day went along. I also had my most insane flyers ride ever in the afternoon, pulling off some of my most terrifying snaps yet. The last snap of the ride went like this: -Ride starts to slow down to finish the cycle. -Tub rears up for the snap like usual. -Nose points WAY up, and for an unusually long period of time. -A long moment of silence... -BAM!!! "Kkshhiinnnngshingkerchunkerchunk..." And with that, it's time for more GoldPorn! There will be more on the way after my collection, courtesy of Angry_Gumball and JeffyJosephNorCal, they've got plenty as well! Now, without further ado...porn of GCI's new sexy beast! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z82ZZBZQTU Obligatory banner shot. I spy new headchoppers! TWISTY! This tree might not be here anymore... Star Tower/Porn Tower ride. New wood smells good... You can see it just peeking above the trees from Delta Flyer. The view from Xtreme SkyFlyer is just getting better and better every day! I wonder what that stuff there is... "GRRRRR!!! I'M THE CRAAAAAAZY EVIL STAR TOWER! Here's my evil red eye laser show."

Now that's some good news right there. I'm certainly looking forward to this! Seems as though they'll bring in some rides of their own as well. The GWW website hasn't confirmed exactly what the rides will be, but I'm hoping to expand my flat ride palate given that they are rides I haven't ridden yet. http://globalwonderland.com/carnival-games-rides/

I actually had this theme stuck in my head more firmly than Toy Factory's. Don't get me wrong, Toy Factory's theme was extremely catchy and added immensely to the WTF factor of the maze, but this...it just has something that makes it krazyglue into my head. At around 20 seconds into the recording, you can hear the butler say in a French accent: "Your time is soon, madames and monsieurs..." By the way, awesome TR!

It feels so nice to have lost my Haunt virginity, and having done so with M^4 was great! M^4 was very impressive, music gave the feeling that something terrible happened or had already happened. Being the sleep-conscious person I am, I left the park an hour or two before the rest of big TPR group (max. 10 people) left, so I'll hit up my missing maze credits (CarnEvil, Slaughterhouse, and Club Blood) on my next visit. Here's a list of notable highlights of the day: -All rides on Demon were walk-ons. -Good Ghost Gliders rides, though our morning takeover got Snap Nazi'd. I wouldn't be surprised if the 2013 season bears some new rules for the flyers. -Unacceptable amount of wetness on Black Widow Cavern (daytime), yet my nighttime clench-n-squish ride only got my hair wet strangely. -Very bizarre ride on FireFall. It didn't flip even ONCE. WTF?! At least all the fire was working this time though. -Gold Striker paparazzi shoots, both on and off Star Tower. Double up and double down are shaping up, as well as the final turn before the brakes. Unlike what the animation showed, the track looks like it'll pass through a tiny opening in the supports during the last turn, and the opening looks tinier than anything I've seen so far in terms of headchoppers (Angry_Gumball will likely show it in his photo TR). Yikes. But alas, when there are highlights, there are really sucky moments as well: -Endeavolution. I managed to make sure the restraint didn't dig into chest or gut too much, but I'm not a huge fan of inverting ships. I felt like my head was about to explode, and overall I didn't find it very pleasant... -Learned the hard way where NOT to sit on Demon. On a morning ride, I picked a row towards the front because its gate was empty. Little did I know that: Orange train + front-ish row = OUCH. Thankfully, I got a smoother ride in the magic Arrow seat in the afternoon. -Ugh. Time for a line jumper/cutter story. While in line for Werewolf Canyon, this group of kids just FLEW through the ropes and entered into the line way ahead of us. We tried to get the nearby security to find out the cutters, but they were camouflaged in the mass of people such that they didn't get found out...well, I would've just fed them to the werewolves instead. And with that, I conclude this little writeup on yesterday. Looking forward to my next visit already!

Very good advice, GCI coasters are rather...shapely should I say? That and bye-bye to my Haunt virginity this weekend! Seems like MMMM's going to be a hit for Haunt veterans and newcomers alike. But the part I'm looking the most forward to is snapping the flyers again.

^ Their website will also fill you in on all the different models of flyers out there. Ours is Larson's very first, an 8-tub prototype model. I've heard the newer Larsons are much harder to snap, but I can't confirm that until I've ridden one. On another note, I'm already excited for this year's Haunt! I'm picturing in my head the facade of the completed MMMM, windows sticking out Victorian style. New hotness on my first Haunt will be very interesting, looking forward to it!

"YOU!!! PUT DOWN THE CAR!" --Knoebels Snap Nazi Yesterday was quite the adventure! Lots of Gold Striker paparazzi shooting, light crowds, lots of riding time, and much more! Flight Deck's SharkTums train was running nice and smooth today, but my ride later in the afternoon on the bird train had quite a few brutal banger moments. Grizzly ran glass smooth (ROW! ROW! ROW!) up until the last part which still hasn't been re-tracked yet, hopefully it will soon. I found my ride on Demon's orange train in the afternoon quite rough and slow. Oddly, with correct bracing there is no headbanging at all. The real problem was in the loops there was some brutal jackhammering, snapping my neck back and forth, OUCH! A night ride in the recently rehabbed yellow train was much smoother, and FAST! The thing just booked through the whole layout like nothing, definitely one of my better rides on this Arrow. Another highlight was the partial Woodstock takeover, which wasn't nice to my long legs. I felt like such an idiot sitting in a wheel seat with my long legs, so I had quite an "interesting" ride. Another "interesting" ride was my loss of Vortex virginity (#46), it wasn't the worst coaster ever, but it was definitely my worst B&M and had a few brutal moments. "Interesting" still was our clench-and-squish Logger's session, where we all decide to be idiots and cram five people into a log...and it is NOT a Dan-friendly experience. On my ride, after the main splash (which had already got me soaked), the right side of the log dipped under the water and scooped up a ton of water, completely filling my right shoe with water! Let's just say this thing cleaned us up from our Gold Striker paparazzi session earlier in the day of Star Tower. Now for some notable flat fun. During the time in which we had 10 members, we decided to hit up Pumpkin Patch just for the hell of it. Perhaps, the "Sad and Pathetic" within comes out, and then the kiddie ride urge follows...it happens! On our particular ride on Orbit, the ride op sounded the horn TWICE. Once high pitched (ouch) and once at the normal pitch right after before starting the cycle. Rolercstrluvr then shouted in sheer ecstasy: "ANTON SCREAMED AT US! PRAISE BE TO ANTON! AMEN! YAAAAAAH!!!". Anton then held us in nice and firm, raising us higher and higher, going faster and faster...harder and harder... ...and then, Anton was doing his finest. Very precise, always doing it just right, He lifted us up high before pushing us back down HARD, over and over again. We never wanted this feeling to end, but in just about a minute or two, Anton then ran out of all of His energy, and we all gave him our "Danke Shoen" before bidding farewell to Him...for now. A very dirty Schwarzkopf conversation followed while waiting in line for Flying Eagles, where RawkinCoaster asked if one of use could name as many Schwarzkopf coasters around the world as possible. It's a great way to pass the time! What followed afterwards could only be described as awe-inspiring. Very quickly, I am rising to become a flyer snapping king (don't mean to brag). I've rigorously studied the FlyerAddicts website and videos, as well as any other off ride footage of cable snapping. Yesterday was the day in which I showed that I had quickly become a flyer fiend, both amazing and terrifying the other TPR members during two takeovers and one "duet" with rolercstrluvr. In the list below, I'll try my best to teach the art of snapping to aspiring flyer fiends. How to snap a flyer: 1.) Anticipate the wind 2.) Become one with the ride 3.) Good hand-eye coordination 4.) Know that every flyer and it's different tubs will behave differently 5.) STUDY. Watch various cable snapping videos and watch the pilot's every movement of the sail. 6.) FOCUS. Underestimating the slightest detail of the task at hand will produce a disappointing result. 7.) Beware of snap nazis. Some ops are ok with snapping, some aren't. And with that, here's my photos and videos of the visit. I felt lazy and didn't feel like taking nearly as much photos as I planned, but I seemed to have a decent amount when I transferred them onto my computer. I also took a couple off ride videos, one of Woodstock, and one of the flyers at night. I also took a centrifuge video, but for some odd reason my thumb slipped mid cycle and stopped the recording , oh well. My flyer video includes a very "FlyerAddicts"-ey conversation with rolercstrluvr as well as some good snaps here and there. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zP_1NvHWwM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX-M05gbUvU Let's start off with some Gold Striker porn! "Bent" with excitement, anyone? More new wood. I see you Vortex. I'll meet you later in the day... Time for some Schwarzporn! Woodstock time. Foxtails, TPR member, Woodstock, and "THROUGH THE TREES!" Evening Star Tower ride, park looking beautiful tonight! A nice, sparsely filled parking lot! Sexy GCI curves. Concrete fillings going in. Let's finish with this shot. Using my tall body and my long arms, I took this shot of Slaughterhouse's entrance, not themed yet.

^ I'm hoping for the same situation too! For the clench-and-squish Logger's session this time, I'll have to sit in the back half for the true experience, the front had some good room for my looooong legs. Excitement brews...

Sorry you guys couldn't hit up Extreme Rusher, looks like a great ride! I like how the park fully repainted Crystal Wings and the authentic SLC. Looking at the sky in those pics, it looks like the air quality was pretty good that day as well. Have fun with the rest of the trip!

Mmmm...love the new sections going up, I can already picture the train racing through those sexy GCI curves. It'll be even better when I see it in person this Saturday, can't wait!

Actually this looks pretty fun! Now I'm limited on what GCI coasters I've ridden but I don't think 'tame' or 'ho-hum' exists in GCI coasters. The lower layout should provide a nice, fast ride! You want tame, check out the Chinese knockoff Vekoma SLC. I've only ridden Wodan and Roar West, but my take on GCIs is that they are not boring, yet not too intense either. I find them to be fast, fun, zippy, and very re-rideable. As for airtime, they don't produce intense ejector air, but they do have a lot of nice little pops here and there, especially in transitions in and out of curves.

You have eased my fears very much, I'm looking forward to meeting you guys again!

^ Absolutely! I shall come prepared to offer my testicles and cranium/skull to the B&M standup gods, that sacred credit is still missing from my list. You might get to hear me speak French for 45 seconds!

Nice update! I visited the park today as well, didn't realize you were there at all! As you said, the crowds were nice and light today, which made for a good amount of riding time. As for your squirrel encounter on Grizzly, all I have to say is I'm glad the squirrel lived too, it must have been a bit scary! Where in the ride did this happen? Yep, those pics definitely show how fast they're putting stuff together, and I'm still hoping for an early-season opening day for Gold Striker. I'm down for a Saturday meet-up, and I'm very happy that I finally processed my 2013 gold pass today!

I picked the Breakdance, any ride where the intensity depends on the weight balance ranks highly in my book. Even if I don't get a really wild, whip-me-around ride, Breakdances are still a lot of fun. One day, I shall ride the Kinzler Breakdance (or should I say, Epileptic Seizuredance) that travels German fairs. This offride video here shows its long cycle, special effects, and the "Never in America" speed setting later on.