azza29

Anyone who slows down dispatch times because they sat on a seatbelt instead of doing it up. Or because they decided to wear their flip-flops on an inverted or floorless coaster. Also over-zealous ride ops who won't let you ride until that park map is out of your pocket and safely in the storage bin. I mean, safety first but within reason!

I've been on 6 of those, and although I agree that Coney Island's Cyclone is VERY rough in spots, I don't remember any of the others being particularly bad. Wild One does feel like it's about to fall apart but wasn't really all that rough (Roar will beat you up much worse). Surprised to see Thunderbolt on there, it certainly wasn't bad at all when I rode it a few months back.

This is the only reason I rode mean streak. And Roar. And Revolution. And Mantis. And The Grizzly.

Just when my day was getting dull - a Chuck TR comes along!

Part Nine: Kings Island One of the biggest questions when planning our trip was "how far do we go?" Cedar Point was a given, but beyond that lay Six Flags Great America, Holiday Park and plenty more. At some point though, we did need to return to New York, so Kings Island was to be our westernmost destination on this part of the trip. I'd mainly picked the park to ride Diamondback and The Beast, but Vortex and Flight Deck were pleasant surprises. The park's remaining selections were very solid. Flight of Fear, Firehawk, Backlot Stunt Coaster and Invertigo might be cloned elsewhere, but they all gave pretty decent rides. I was very impressed by the overall quality of coasters in the park, once Banshee is complete Kings Island will definitely rival Cedar Point (if it doesn't already!). Somewhere around Lake Compounce my brother started to refuse to participate in any water rides, so (dedicated flume enthusiast that I am) I was doing most of these solo. The group of strangers I rode White Water Canyon with were absolutely hilarious every time we got wet, so it was a very memorable ride. This was another park where having an extra half-day was a huge benefit - Flight of Fear broke down for most of the first day so we would have missed that otherwise, and both mornings we managed to fit in 3-4 Diamondback rides with almost no wait during early entry! For those playing at home, stats after Kings Island: 11 parks 69 coasters (54 steel, 15 wood) 7 log flumes 8 drop towers 5(!) boomerangs Without the sign there would be no way of knowing whether we were here or at KD. Kings Island is themed to Paris and Dinosaurs. An unlikely combination, but I think it works. Diamondback was my favourite B&M hyper of the trip. Easy airtime on the hills, and incredibly smooth the whole way around. If you lose a penny, Kings Island keeps that penny. More impressive was the box of broken mobile phones in the Diamondback queue. Every rollercoaster should have water scoops at the end. An impressive finish. Sneaky Beast photo. I liked the whole ride, but the helix in the second half was awesome. By this point in the trip we'd started to see Arrows as something to be endured, rather than enjoyed. Vortex blew that jaded view away. "Unrelenting" is how I would describe this ride, and back-to-back loops are always great. This is either an arty silhouette or just poorly composed. You decide. The RCT-esque remainder of this trip report is courtesy of the park's Eiffel Tower. Backlot Stunt Coaster #1. An fun family coaster in need of a little attention to clean up the effects. I think if you ride all three you will eventually see all of the them working. At Kings Island the helicopter moved properly, but we'd have to wait until Virginia to see the stormwater scene. Not only does it give a great ride, Vortex is pretty good looking as well. Except for the turn before the MCBR, which will smack you into a concussion if you're not careful. Some Banshee footers. Yes, it has really taken that long to get this TR put together. I wasn't expecting much from Flight Deck after the disappointment of Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, but it ended up being really good, with the front car in particular swinging crazily all throughout the ride. On the upper left is our accommodation. Not the White Wolf Lodge, the Super 8 behind it... luxury! Invertigo was not bad at all. Definitely better than your average Boomerang, and sitting directly opposite other people certainly adds to the experience. Like the girls sitting opposite us who were clearly terrified the entire time - hilarious! Diamondback also has a good time when you ride. Easily a top ten coaster for me. Which makes about 25 coasters in my top ten now. Mitch Hawker voting will be difficult this year. Flying coasters give you an interesting insight into a firm's design process. Vekoma are quite happy for riders to stare at the sun on the lift hill. And in case you weren't sure just how slow loading this ride is, they're running two trains and still need a double-sided station. Which is a shame, because apart from that it was pretty good. This was log flume #7. About a 4/10 on the wetness scale. And one more of Vortex for old time's sake. This was my favourite Arrow for about a week and a half, at which point I rode Loch Ness Monster. Next up - Kennywood!

The credit doesn't matter to me, but I won't skip a ride just because it's in the "kiddie" category. Kozmo's Kurves and any Flying Scooters are great, even though they're aimed at a younger audience.

^The e-stop happened almost at the end of the cycle, so they decided to send us around for a second time. Two consecutive runs on that thing with it's 'turbo mode' was more than enough! Waldameer's Space Shot, on the other hand, I could not get enough of, despite the cranky ride op who made us go through the whole queue to re-ride even when there was nobody waiting. Gatekeeper might have been shut for part of the time as well - we rode it during early entry on both days to beat the queues - but it seemed to have less downtime than Raptor or TTD. Didn't seem like much more than a light breeze at ground level, but obviously that's not necessarily the same as the wind speed at the top of a ride.

Picked this game up again last night after not playing for two months. Everyone was cross with me for abandoning them, and I got a lecture from Isabelle on saving the game. Anyone else get the feeling there is something sinister lurking under the surface of this town? Who is Nook and why does he control the economy? Does everyone owe him money? What is Reese doing with all of those cherries and shells? Am I the mayor or the puppet of a secret animal cabal? I'll have to keep playing to uncover the truth...

#50 - Batman (SFNE) #100 - Steel Force #150 - Tatsu

Part 8: Cedar Point! After spending a good chunk of the (Australian) summer watching Gatekeeper's "birth" on the Cedar Point webcams, I was eagerly anticipating out visit to "The Point". As if the new hotness wasn't enough, we also had Top Thrill Dragster, Raptor, Maverick and Millennium Force to look forward to! The drive from Utica (our overnight stop after the insane SFNE/Lake Compounce/Quassy day) was the longest of the trip, and broken up by pit-stops at Niagara Falls and Waldameer. Niagara Falls was very pretty, but far too touristy to actually be enjoyable. By that, I'm not referring to the number of tourists, more that everything in that town seems to exist to squeeze every last dollar out of you and get in the way of actually seeing the falls. Waldameer was fun. I ended up skipping the photos at this one, by the time we were done with rides it was too dark anyway. The highlight was definitely Ravine Flyer II, which was running spectacularly well. The park's selection of flat rides was excellent, and it has the best drop tower I've ever been on (Knoebels' new one is a close second). The log flume was superb. The local clientele were... interesting. There were a lot of police around later in the day, and the Music Express was e-stopped at one point (while we were on it) because somebody had decided to light up a joint. But we still had a great day, and it's definitely a park I'd visit again at some point. Cedar Point absolutely lived up to expectations. It was a bit windy on the first day we were there so quite a few rides ended up being closed for at least part of the day (MF had valleyed a couple of weeks earlier so I guess they were being cautious). The second day was much better, although TTD never opened while we were there, so I'll have to go back to get that credit at some point. Some observations: - Millennium Force was a huge highlight, absolutely awesome ride. - Maverick took me by surprise and may well be my #1 now. - Magnum's airtime in the back seat was absolutely insane, I felt like I was going to fly out on those final hills. - Gatekeeper was exactly what I had expected - not forceful, but very smooth and a great "flying" sensation. - Did not expect much from Gemini but it consistently gave great rides - Raptor is the best B&M anywhere (that I've been on, which is a few now). - Mean Streak is nowhere near as bad as it's reputation suggests. Roar at SFA is far, far worse. - Shoot the Rapids is a weird flume ride, and a death trap apparently. Lapbars on a log flume? Really? Stats at the end of this leg: 10 parks 57 coasters (45 steel, 12 wood) 6 log flumes 6 rapids rides 7 drop towers 4 nights spent at a Red Roof Inn (so cheap! And the one in Sandusky is actually pretty good!) Onward to pictures! Oh. Canada. Niagara Falls. Not pictured: thousands of other tourists trying to take this exact photo. Cedar Point's sexy new entry plaza. Bad weather forecast = short lines! Everybody loves a good keyhole. It was great to finally see Gatekeeper in person, and not just on a Cedar Point webcam. In the dark. Because, you know, time difference and all. I had a great time on this ride - it definitely wasn't "rough and slow" when I rode it. The back side of keyhole. One of the best first drops on any coaster! Flying! Rastafarian bananas. For the man who has everything. Maxair/Wicked Twister double! This is a really cool coaster. Unless you are fat like me, in which case you wait at the exit with all the other fat people while your slimmer companion rides. Once again, our efforts to ride the Windseeker were thwarted by it being closed. Australia. Not important enough to get a balloon on Snoopy's ride. There are six coasters in this photo. Can you spot them all? Corkscrew. The most evil coaster element ever invented. But it does look awesome sitting over the midway. Mantis and Iron Dragon are terrible, so here's a picture of a fountain. Top Thrill Dragster is super tiny compared to Power Tower. It's barely taller than this ride sign. Closed due to wind. I was disappointed to miss this one - we would ride Kingda Ka later in the trip, but popular opinion seems to be that TTD is better. How long until this gets a drop tower? Arrows are great until you hit a corner. Magnum gets around this by not having any. Gemini. Better than it looks, but I still have no idea what it's supposed to be themed to. Like all racing coasters it's much better when both sides are running. Finally. A photo with the train in it. Cedar Creek Mine Ride is the prettiest awful coaster around. Everybody hates on Mean Streak. Personally I didn't think it was that bad. Not great, but not the worst either. I liked Shoot the Rapids, and was blissfully unaware that of its potential to injure when riding. Maverick's track. Great ride, but it broke down a lot while we were there. We managed to ride twice on the first morning with a 5 minute wait each time, after that I only ever saw it closed or with a 90 minute queue. More Maverick. Best Intamin? Probably. Dry. Splash. Drenched. The old-time/wilderness-themed part of the park was really pleasant Maverick might be a better ride, but Millennium Force is still the king of Cedar Point. Big drop. Big curves. Big airtime. There is nothing "small" about MF, and it delivered a fantastic ride. Radiator Springs Racers: Cedar Point style. Mantis: you won't want to ride twice. It has a good looking loop though. B&M are going to find a new market selling sit-down trains for their standup coasters in the next few years. The midway games building looks really cool, but I've never understood the appeal of playing video games at a theme park. Rumour has it that this will be repurposed as a dark ride one day, which would be a great addition to the park. Raptor. Best inverted B&M anywhere. This was closed due to wind for most of our visit, so we camped outside the entrance for 30 minutes on the last day. Once it opened we got on the first train. By the time we got back to the station the ride was closed again... One last look at the midway and Gatekeeper. Goodbye Cedar Point! I will return when it's less windy! That's the end of this instalment. Next up: Kings Island!

^Sounds like you had a great trip. Downtown Disney is a good option for dining if you want a short break from the parks, and some less expensive food. The Anaheim Plaza is definitely excellent value for the location, I think we only paid $70/night in May - and only a five minute walk from the front gate!

Gatekeeper for me - one of the best first drops I've experienced, the keyholes are awesome, and it's a very good looking ride to boot. Gatekeeper also wins out in terms of what it added to the park as a whole - fantastic new entry plaza and really opens up the beach as an extension of that part of the park.

I saw Rush this afternoon. Sport movies can be pretty hit and miss for me, especially when they're based on real-life events, but I really enjoyed this. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl were really well cast as John Hunt and Niki Lauda, and the "race" scenes were exceptionally well done. Plenty of action while keeping the feel of it grounded in the 70s, at times it felt more like a documentary than anything else. Definitely recommended, especially for anyone who's into motorsport.

Looks like a great addition to the park. I didn't care much for the film but it certainly seems like good source material for an immersive themed area, and the ride sounds pretty cool.

I've only played about an hour of the Pirates co-op campaign. It's pretty good, not too difficult for kids but enough to keep the grown-ups entertained too. Kind of like the Lego games in that respect.

If you're heading to Japan you might want to think about learning a few key phrases before you head over. Don't assume that everyone (or anyone!) will speak English.

Finally finished playing Arkham City last week (I've only had it for two years...!). No idea why I waited so long, perhaps I was saving it for a special occasion. Just as brilliant as it's predecessor, great storytelling and cinematic gameplay, and probably the best voice acting I've ever seen in a game. Prequel is out in two weeks!

If I was your parent and you talked like that around me, you wouldn't even have a computer.

^Definitely one of my most anticipated coasters of next year's Scandi trip. The other Intamin motocoasters are pretty good but Juvelen looks like it'll blow them out of the water!

^Perhaps another chartered flight by more Universal fans eager for aerial photos of the relocated Jurassic Park midway games?

^Unfortunately "coaster stops on lift hill, riders evacuated safely" doesn't make a great headline.

So in the midst of all this Halloween goodness, the game has finally decided to give me the Hibbert/hospital tasks that I never got to complete. No idea what triggered this, but at long last my citizens will have the healthcare they deserve!

The comments on that article make for interesting (and amusing) reading. Seems like the same crowd who were lamenting Tomorrowland being neglected and dated are the first to complain about the rumoured changes "ruining Walt's park". I thought Disneyland was a theme park, not a museum!

^Well, I think Orphan Rocker is closer to being scrap metal than ever actually opening at this point.

I might be the only person who liked Gatekeeper - or at least it completely met my expectations. Coaster looks great at the front of the park and I thought it delivered a pretty good ride for what it is (the first dive and the keyholes being highlights). When did it get rough? I rode about two weeks after it opened and it seemed pretty smooth at that point. The only other new coaster I've been on this year was Coast Rider, and it was indeed exactly as expected.