ytterbiumanalyst

Yeah, I have the same deal. BuzzSaw Falls was advertised as a water coaster, so that's what I think of when I hear the term.

^It also says Spoony That's a K, not an N. Pretty sure it's an N.

^ Definitely. I rode Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster and Goats on a Roof after Dollywood closed, and both are fantastic.

Awesome as usual! Everyone loves Dick Rock Canyon. It's probably the best thing about that park.

These are some incredible photos! Thanks so much for sharing!

Day 8: Holiwood Nights at the World’s End The second day of Holiwood Nights began much like the first. This was to be the very last day of our vacation, as we would drive back home the following day. Since we spent the first day almost exclusively in the waterpark, we focused the second day on the flats, especially those in the Fourth of July section. Now, I don’t normally like spinning rides, but I did ride Firecracker, and it wasn’t too bad. My kids loved it, and I survived it, so that’s about the best review I could give it. The kids got to ride the canoes, and they had a really great time doing that. They had previously ridden the ones at Frontier City, so they were pretty stoked about these, and apparently they didn’t disappoint. We spent most of our time in Holidog’s Fun Town. The Howler was a hit, and the kids got to be part of a dance show. They enjoyed the few rides that are there, but the playground equipment was the highlight of the area. Afterward, we headed out to Halloween to get back on Raven and Legend, while my youngest enjoyed Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch. The other two were too tall for those rides, but I’m glad Holiday World really makes sure they have something for every guest. It was time for the first walkback to see Raven and Legend. I had not previously been on this tour, as when I was here 2 years ago, the focus was understandably on Thunderbird. It was really cool to see a new side of these coasters. Once the walkback ended, we focused on the Thanksgiving section. The kids enjoyed Turkey Whirl, Everyone liked Gobbler Getaway, my youngest included, enough to re-ride it immediately. We then went to Plymouth Rock Café for lunch. Wow, is this place good. We ended up just getting a couple of family meals and splitting stuff among all of us. Everything was great, and it really did taste like a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. Plus, free drinks! After our Thanksgiving feast was the Thunderbird/Voyage walkback! For this one, the two coasters were a little reluctant to cooperate. Fortunately, I had already been on this walkback two years ago, so it wasn’t as big of a deal. They did allow us this time to go much closer to Thunderbird, which was very special and very much appreciated. As was the snack at the end of the tour. We went back to Holidog’s Fun Town, then rode Raging Rapids and Eagles Flight again, and by then it was time to meet up at the pavilion for dinner. We enjoyed the downtime while everyone filtered out of the park, and then it was time for ERT again! We went straight to Voyage and rode a couple of times before it broke down. Voyage just had a hard day. Fortunately, Gobbler Getaway was opening around that time. It’s maybe my favourite non-Disney dark ride. Sorry, Holiday World, nothing here touches Pirates of the Caribbean, but I’d love it if you could! Legend and Raven a couple more times each capped off our amazing trip, and then it was back to the campgrounds for our final night in the RV. We had a great time at Holiwood Nights and all the other places we went. Everyone agreed it was our best family vacation to date, so maybe I’m getting better at this! We’ll see what next year holds. Gotta love the carousel. Who ya gonna call? The kids loved all the photo ops. And the train. Guess what? The kids loved this canoe ride. More photo ops! Thanks for all the memories, Holiday World! Hope to do this again very soon! Posin' with the Big Guy! Fourth of July was our goal for today. The new stuff at the Alamo looked great. I fully intended to eat there later, but damn, Plymouth Rock Cafe.... Firecraker was all right. I'm not a huge fan of these rides. My kids are, though, and they loved it. Time for a rapids ride! And can't forget the log flume! Short lines helped. On to the Raven walkback. It's Eric Rentz! We're in the woods. Some campers enjoying Lake Rudolph. Our group for the walkback. Lots of junk out here. Oh, and coasters. Those too. Legend's tunnels look a bit different from this angle. A new perspective on the flume. Dive! backlot Helix! Helices! Oooh, artsy. You can get really close to the flume here. And we exited into the waterpark. Back for more firecrackin'. Yay. Time for fun with Holidog! The kids loved this playground. The adults loved sitting here. Dance party! They take their theming seriously here. Plymouth Rock Cafe was pretty great. Thanksgiving time! And now the walkback with a couple of intermittently running coasters. What do enthusiasts like more than coasters? Food! I think we should be here now. What do you do when you see a dinosaur? My son goes immediately to give it a hug. Celebrities!

Normally, I'd agree, but Railblazer has some seriously negative connotations, at least out in Missouri. I know we're not exactly close to Cedar Point here, and they may not care, but around here, mention Railblazer and anyone who actually experienced the 80s will immediately have a strong reaction. The death on that coaster was a pretty big deal.

My only experience with the Tron coaster is via videos (would love to go to China someday...), but given that I skipped Autopia when I was at Disneyland, I'd say replacing Tomorrowland Speedway with Tron would be just awesome. I definitely would have made time for it, whereas I couldn't be bothered to peel myself away from more awesome rides for the go karts of the future.

^ Agreed. Frontier City has had to call out the fire department to evac Silver Bullet twice this year, and it's still going. It takes more than that to remove a ride. Now, if people start avoiding the park because of Joker's Jinx's unreliability, that's a real reason to remove it, but I don't see that happening in any significant numbers.

Our 5 out of towners were let down by it. Dollywood is still fun, and we went into it expecting LR not to run so as not to be disappointed, but to be honest, Lightning Rod definitely was a big reason for booking the trip.

Clearly the Smiths will play a concert next year.

Yeah, this. Anyone around the St. Louis area would be able to give them one good reason why they shouldn't call it that. Treat it like a hurricane and retire that name permanently.

Yeah, I always prefer to book with a name brand hotel. Even if it's one that's generally on the crappier side at least they have some standards to uphold. Wildwood has tons of cool, mom and pop places you've never heard of. It's kind of cool and creates an awesome retro vibe, but it makes booking rooms pretty tough and a bit of a gamble. It's REALLY hard to find a name brand hotel in Wildwood. The most expensive hotel room I ever stayed in was in Wildwood and the place was pretty much sh*t. I told you the problem you guys had was you were booking for one night on a Saturday in the middle of the summer. Lots of the mom+pop places are great and surprisingly cheap but most require week long bookings because thats what a huge chunk of people do when they visit Wildwood. Until I had a regular place to stay down there thats all we ever did because its the only way you can get rooms at reasonable prices. Some places know how hard it is to find rooms for one night so when someone comes requesting that they take advantage and charge ridiculous prices. Its just a Wildwood thing. You could of course book over the winter and get a room for one night at a reasonably cheap price but that doesn't work for enthusiasts who are coming for rides and want to wait til last minute to watch the weather. Just look @ the Coastin By The Ocean event on FB - all the comments are people bitching they cant find rooms for a night or two. Its cause they're all booked for the week! I'm very lucky I always have a place to stay there. That's exactly the problem I've had too. Anyone actually willing to allow me to book a single Saturday night in the summer was charging $200+ for it. That's the thing about market forces: If everyone in that area is all doing the same thing, then they can all get away with it. I mean, I paid it, so it clearly worked.

Invert: Batman, Six Flags over Mid-America, 1995 Sit-Down: Wildfire, Silver Dollar City, 2001 Floorless: Superman Krypton Coaster, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, 2004 Flying: Superman Ultimate Flight, Six Flags Great America, 2014 Hyper: Raging Bull, Six Flags Great America, 2014 Wing: X-Flight, Six Flags Great America, 2014 Launched: Thunderbird, Holiday World, 2015 Dive: Valravn, Cedar Point, 2016 Stand-Up: Riddler's Revenge, Six Flags Magic Mountain, 2016 Giga is the only model of theirs I haven't ridden yet, but that's just a matter of time. SGF-CLT airfare is pretty cheap.

Yin Aethelred of Wessex or Sigfred the Dane?

Excellent report! Great Adventure looks like a very fun place. You went to a few of the places I'll be going to in a month, so I'm excited to see how this turned out for you.

Yeah, out West we got nothing but highways. About four blocks from me used to be a train station, but it was torn down 50 years ago. Amtrak and MoDOT did a study about 10 years ago to get train service restarted, but they determined it would cost $3 million per year, and then further decided they did not want to spend that amount of money. So they spend $100 million on 10 miles of additional freeway lanes instead....

You guys in the Northeast are so lucky. I have to go 2 hours to get to the nearest train station. No exaggeration.

This looks really great! My girls are big fans of this movie, and we all just watched the video. They now want to go to Dubai.

Nate Silver seems to think that's the most likely scenario. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-mlb-predictions/

This place will be PACKED, and doubly so on a Saturday. Being from Chicago, I assume you're used to Six Flags Great America. Now add about 5,000 people and slow down operations substantially, and you've got Magic Mountain. Expect waits over 2 hours. So...If you have the money, I'd go with Platinum. If this is a budget trip for you, Gold should be fine, as long as you use it well. As soon as you check in, you can make another reservation. Do so, and your Flash Pass will be waiting in line for you while you're on the previous ride. 1. Yes, for Superman and Revolution, if you have the Platinum Pass, you get to skip the line once the entire day. After you use it once, you cannot use the Flash Pass entrance for that ride again. If you have a regular or Gold Pass, you cannot skip the line at all. For Twisted Colossus and YOLOcoaster, same thing, but you get one skip with Gold or Platinum. If you have a regular Flash Pass, you cannot skip the line at all. 2. X2 is an add-on to the Flash Pass; without that upgrade, you will not be able to skip the line at all. Personally, I'd just go straight to X2 first thing if it's a priority for you. If you do want to buy the add-on, you would do so at the Flash Pass building, which is basically straight ahead when you first enter the park. 3. If you want to ride X2 more than once, don't go on a Saturday. Avoid Saturdays. Any other day is better. 4. That's a matter of preference. For me, generally speaking, yes, though I liked the back on Scream and the second row from the back on Twisted Colossus. 5. Depends on what you consider cheap. Most places in Santa Clarita are in the $100-150 range, but it's not far from L.A., and there you've got everything from hostels to luxury hotels. If you don't mind driving, you can find a motel to your tastes. If you do mind driving....uh, have fun in L.A. 6. It's L.A.! How long do you want to spend there? As far as theme parks, there's Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Disneyland, with Legoland and Sea World San Diego not too far. There's the Getty Museum if you're into art, and freaking Hollywood if you're into movies. Go to Pink's Hot Dogs in Hollywood, it's amazing. There's also a bunch of beaches. Santa Monica Pier is fun, especially at night. Trust me, you won't run out of things to do in L.A., no matter what you're into.

Cool report. Little Dipper is honestly one of the best coasters at Great America. Very cool of this park to keep a bit of Chicago history alive. An hour at Michigan's Adventure sounds appropriate, though Thunderhawk and Corkscrew both are a better specimen of their ride type. Free Plinko passes--how cool is that? Looks like you've enjoyed the trip so far, even as busy of a schedule as it's been!

Day 7: BEST WATERPARK EVAR!!!!!! We spent the previous night in our rental RV, then got up and boarded the shuttle to Holiday World. We bought the 2-day tickets, so we were prepared for a whole day of splashin’ in a safari! After renting a locker, changing, and applying some free sunscreen, we lined up for rope drop. First up was Zinga—still the best Tornado slide—followed by Jungle Racer. I always enjoy these mat slides, only Holiday World actually had the balls to build one big enough to handle the people who want to ride it. Now it’s time for Wildebeest and Mammoth. My daughter liked Mammoth better than Wildebeest, but liked RiverRush best of all. My son loved Wildebeest, and it is one tormented even-toed horned ungulate. I think I prefer it to its proboscid cousin, but I love them both, and it’s hard for me to choose. They’re both favourites, so either one is good. I think I’d go on Wildebeest because it’s a bit more favourite. But if Wildebeest were broken down, I’d say that’s okay, because Mammoth is my favourite anyway. It’s like another favourite, but not as much. Not as much favourite, but they’re both good. We hung out at Safari Sam’s Splash Land for a while, and all the kids love this area. It’s huge, and there’s about a dozen different tiny slides. Next up was Bakuli and the lazy river. Wow, this slide is just so fast. Easily the best bowl slide. Lunch time! We tried out the new burgers at the Wildebeestro. I had the Blue Brew burger, while Julie had the Sriracha burger. Both were really great. Plus none of it’s too expensive, and yep, free soda here too! After lunch we waited an hour before swimming, and spent that hour on water slides instead! We’re rule following people. I was eager to try Hyena Falls, as it was down when I was here two years ago. Wow, the Laughs slide is awesome! Two people shall ride this slide, no more, no less. Three shall not ride, neither shall one, except that one be paired with another to form two. Four is right out. Once two, being the second number, be formed, those two shall collect their tube and proceed to climb the hill and have a blast on this slide. Amen. The other slides in this complex are pretty fun too, but wow. Laughs is the clear standout. Well worth walking halfway to Ohio to get here. Only a few more now, so on to Watubee, Otorongo, and Zoombabwe, before winding down at the wave pool. About this time the Holiwood Nights festivities were set to begin, so we changed, toweled off, and headed back into Holiday World. We gathered at the Hoosier Theatre for instructions, knockoff jingles, and general separating us from the plebian masses who do not belong to coaster clubs. ERT! It began with a great hors d’ouvres, which is maybe a bit misnamed, as you can really get a lot of stuff here. The wings were fantastic, the hummus and veggies were great, and all the desserts were amazing. Plenty for everybody. Then on to Wildebeest, Mammoth, and Bahari Wave Pool for ERT until 8. Once the sun set and the waterpark closed, we headed back into Holiday World for ERT on all four coasters and a few flat rides as well. The changes to Legend have improved it a lot. Two years ago, I said I love all three, but Legend was a bit less in my mind. IT is now every bit the equal of the three others. Great job on the retracking here. After some pizza and fudge, we had reached the end of the first day. It was long, exhausting, and awesome, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. Fortunately, we wouldn’t have to wait long, as Day 2 of Holiwood Nights was coming up right after a good night’s rest in an RV. Our home for the weekend. The kids' room. Our fancy living quarters. And the master suite. Shuttle to Holiday World. GET HAPP---oh sorry, wrong park. We're here! After a quick registration and picking up our lanyards, tickets, etc., we were ready to start our day! You can't hide from me, Big Yellow Water Tower! Loved the itinerary. Can you find all these dinosaurs? It's Paula! Yep, this is the park president handing out stickers with the new schedule. I love that no job is beneath anyone. Now appearing stage left are two of our favourite Kochs! "I guess they want us to sing it, don't they?" "We are dinosaurs, we don't live no more, so it's time for us to go!" Time to open some gifts! What yummy bacon munchies await? They clearly are super excited about trying these. Big green foot! HallowSwings at night is pretty great. Back to Holiday World for some Legend ERT! And Raven too! Found a friend on the way back from Thunderbird. (yeah, these were the least blurry ones) Voyage at night is always incredible. This park deserves all the applause it gets. Wildebeestro was a hit. Safari Sam was the star this year. His great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather knew a few dinosaurs! ...to herbivores... ...to sweetivores! There was food for everyone, from carnivores... Time for some ERT! Some of us liked wave pool ERT the best. Holiday World also gets the Official Exhausted Kids Seal of Approval--the highest honour there is.