Condor

I'm considering doing exactly that for Holiwood Nights next year. Probably get down to Beech Bend for Kentucky Rumbler while I'm there too. Yeah I was a bit surprised with just how much I liked Voyage. I have found that my favorites tend to stray a little bit from the established collective opinion when it comes to rankings. As incredible as El Toro is, I wonder if people sometimes rank it #1 by default because they feel it's what they are supposed to do. Or maybe I'm just being too cynical. And part of me still wants to rank Phoenix above both of them! Like I said, I can justify to myself putting the top 4 in any order.

And here is my top 10 wooden coaster list following my trip. I've done a lot to improve it over the last two years, seeing as back in 2011 my top 2 were Apocalypse and Ghostrider. 1. Boulder Dash 2. The Voyage 3. El Toro 4. Phoenix 5. Outlaw Run 6. The Legend 7. American Thunder 8. The Raven 9. Lightning Racer 10. Prowler *I could rate my top 4 in almost any order. They are all so different, yet so close in quality. But if Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 walked up to me naked at night and said, "Your rankings. Give them to me. Now!" this is the order I would be forced to choose. And for those interested, Powder Keg and Wildfire come in at #14 and 15 respectively on my steel list.

Day 4: Holiday World & (not) Splashin' Safari Holiday World is one of those destinations I've always thought about and envisioned myself in, but never quite seemed like an actual place to me. I had a moment when I finally got here like, "It's actually real, I'm really here. It's more than just pixels on a screen now." It felt like the only appropriate way to first experience each of these coasters was in the sequential order they were built. So The Raisin it was. I liked the Raven, but I doubt it was ever a possibility it could live up to the image I had of it in my mind after all the accolades it has won over the last two decades. Even though the El Toros and Voyages of the world were not around back then, I don't really see how it was rated #1 for several years ahead of contemporaries like Boulder Dash or Ghostrider (back then, not now), or even over classics like Phoenix. For all Raven does well, it is a relatively mild and tame experience. The Legend... The unloved, red-headed, acne covered, middle step-child of Holiday World's coasters. The ride that almost unanimously ranks third out of three. So what did I think of it? I loved the wooden crap out of it! Let's just say that if you're the type of person who thinks Patriot at Worlds of Fun is a GREAT coaster, the Legend is not for you. Now it's crunch time. Voyage was the ride that could make or break this trip for me. I had a lot of fun and rode some great coasters up to this point, but if Voyage did not deliver, the whole thing might have felt like a somewhat hollow endeavor. Raven and Legend each had 10-15 minute waits in the morning, but Voyage was a walk-on and remained so all day... So how was it? God-like. That was the first description I used for it while texting my friend Kyle (Gnome) after the ride. It delivered in ways no POV video or written review could have prepared me for. I walked through the water park to get some more Legend photos. If there is one part of The Legend everyone seems to applaud, it would be the first drop. I can see why. Great, sustained airtime followed by a curve into some truly alarming laterals. Just the way I like it. I think Legend's use of tunnels is far more effective than Raven's. Each one marks a dramatic change in the nature of the ride at that point. Splashin' Safari is the kind of water park I'd normally be all up for, but the weather that day made me take a pass. It will give me something new to do when I come back. Holiday World's coasters are only marginally easier to photograph than Silver Dollar City's (Wildfire exempted). I can totally see why a lot of people don't like The Legend, but it's perfect for me. I think a mindset where airtime is the only thing that really matters and smoothness comes second has permeated so much of the enthusiast community that traits like strong lateral g's and varied pacing from one element to the next are all but overlooked. Legend succeeds at both of these and relegates airtime to a lower priority. But even then, it has no less (in fact probably more) air than Raven. The first drop turn, this helix, and the four-corners finale (previous photo) threaten to rip you from your seat with the same ferocity as the camelbacks on Voyage or El Toro, only to the side rather than upward. It does make for the roughest ride of HW's three woodies, but that's nothing a set of Timberliners couldn't fix once Voyage is taken care of. I think a smoother ride and new trains would go a long way toward helping others see Legend more for its positive attributes. Raven still makes the best off-ride impression of the three with its iron gate entrance and Poe-inspired station. Most guests had emptied into the water park by noon, making all three coasters walk-ons or single train waits the rest of the day. I frequently was able to stay on for consecutive cycles. Raven has a nice setting, but like much of Holiday World, it does not feel quite as "out in the woods" as I would like. Even if it looks so in some pictures. As I said earlier, what surprised me most about Raven was how tame it felt. This was probably a case of heightened expectations when I should have kept in mind all along that only the last third of the ride is known for feeling out of control. It has two, maybe three, spots of strong airtime, one being this hill following the first drop. Raven felt almost more like a GCI without the quick directional changes and complex banking than the other CCIs I've done. Maybe I just like my woodies to be more out of control than most. I still liked it a lot and rode it repeatedly, even though my commentary here sounds like I'm just bagging on it. It gives some nice laterals of its own during the lake turn. Fourth of July needs an anchor attraction. When the park builds its next coaster, I'd really like to see it incorporated here. The idealist in me would like to see a GG wooden twister painted 1970s white with red and blue highlights like Screamin' Eagle. Gobbler was the only non-coaster ride a went on. I didn't feel like being bothered waiting 10 minutes for run of the mill flats when I could wait half that or less for one of the coasters. While a bit ridiculous with its uber family-friendly take on dark shooters, it was still a lot of fun. I was seriously bummed when news came out that Voyage was still not ready for Timberliners. But whatever track work was done this year to keep it in rideable condition really worked. Only the end of the ride after it leaps past the station gave me problems with roughness. It was immediately clear after my first ride that Voyage was vying for a top-four spot on my wooden coaster list. It was definitely better than Outlaw Run and only a question where it would rank in that group with El Toro, Boulder Dash, and Phoenix. Voyage doesn't quite want to eject you over the hills like El Toro does. It has an entirely different kind of airtime. You start to notice yourself lifting up gently on the upward trajectory nearing the crest of the hills, then you completely lift out of your seat at the apex, and you're just plain flying on the way down. The mark of the Voyage and/or Legend. Either way, it was worth it.

Thanks for the feedback! No I did not visit Marvel Cave. I thought about it, but in the end I was having too much fun just re-riding the coasters. Interesting to learn about Celebration City. Sounds like another case of poor planning/management unless it was the fault of surrounding businesses. Onto day 3, Six Flags St. Louis: I passed a prison bus on the way to Six Flags St. Louis. I got scared for a second, thinking I had made a wrong turn and driven to Magic Mountain instead. As the saying goes, I guess quantity has a quality all its own. I was very curious to compare American Thunder after being disappointed with Prowler. Part of me was honestly concerned that perhaps GCIs just didn't "do it" for me. It was a walk-on all day and they still ran two trains! Just who do they think they are?! So did at least one of the two GCIs on the trip live up to my expectations? YES! American Thunder was one of the most pure fun coasters I've ever been on. Smooth, packed with air, and extremely re-rideable - everything a GCI should be. Like a lot of Six Flags Parks, SFStl looks really nice in some areas, but then you walk around the corner of a nearby building and wonder if you're even in the same park. I had no clearly defined preconceptions of The Boss. There's one side of the enthusiast community that can't stand it and constantly suggests it as a candidate for the RMC iron horse treatment, but there is also a smaller, but ardent group of Boss fans that absolutely love the thing. Boss is one of the most visually impressive wooden coasters there is, though you can forget about taking any worthwhile pictures of it before the return run and helix. My opinion of Boss takes a middle ground. I appreciated the unique layout, epic scale, and long track length with a variety of elements. It is in fact very rough, though it is not the unrideable abomination some would have you believe. Roughness would be forgivable if the Boss were to compensate with large amounts of airtime or prolonged laterals, but it just doesn't. Though a flawed coaster it is, I think Boss is a potential gem of a wooden coaster if given the right treatment. It already has a great layout, so I'd like not to see a steel i-box conversion, but instead Rocky Mountain topper track with or without new trains, or a Gravity Group re-tracking with Timberliners. Either would improve the comfort of the first half and allow the second half to run trim-free and maybe unleash some of that airtime and laterals I can sense lurking within. Ah yes, the ubiquitous, white-painted, gracefully-profiled, Americana-themed, 1970s wooden roller coaster. I have always had a fondness for John Allen coasters and as his ultimate design, Screamin' Eagle was almost a grail of a coaster for me. Allen's rides are all a little too tame to hold elite rankings in polls these days, but they are still a lot of fun when running smoothly. Screamin' Eagle doesn't give much air until the last few hills, but it has held up well over the years and feels a half-notch more intense and ambitious than Allen rides like Great American Scream Machine or the Kings Island Racer. "If you wish to challenge the King... YOU'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME!!!!!!!!!" Ninja was closed too. Damn it, don't they know I'm credit hunting?! Superman: Tower of Astro World. Do the Sky Screamers run different programs depending on the park? It might have been just me, but this one seemed much less thrilling than SFGAdv's. Batman doing what Batmen do. I wondered if the mirrored layout would throw me off at all, but it felt just as natural as all the others. I know even steel clones can vary a bit from one installation to another, but for some reason I really prefer this one and SFOG's. I think all Batman: The Rides are known for their long, redundant queue lines and SFStl's has to be the most hilariously redundant of all of them. It starts here... Then goes here... And then here... here.... and then to this indoor section before finally proceeding up to the station. At SFMM it seems like every kid under 15 (or under 25 if they also won a basketball) wears one of these capes. Here though, I hardly saw anyone with them. Good.... "Excuse me, is his cape available at Six Flags St. Louis???" I generally am not a huge fan of shuttle coasters. Only Schwarzkopf shuttle loops rank highly on my list. I do remember always liking Speed: The Ride though, so I had some hope for Mr. Freeze. Having not previously been here or SFOT, I did not ride Freeze before the Reverse Blast so I cannot make a comparison. I did like it though and was surprised by the g-forces it pulls. Wow! I had no idea SFStl was so dedicated to theming in their DC Comics Plaza section. A Shazam/Captain Marvel themed flat ride?! Sarcasm aside, I am impressed Six Flags would dig so far into the obscure depths of the DC universe to name a scrambler. Oh cool, I bet this area is appropriately well-themed. Nah, it just has this. Pandemonium was okay, but I did not get the kind of ride on it I had on Spinning Dragons a few days earlier. Let this photo be an example in contrast between the atmosphere here and at Silver Dollar City. Finally got the Mine Train credit. Hard to get excited about this one after riding Thunderation for the last two days. Not much to see here. Ninja eventually opened up too. It was not as bad as I feared and only the sidewinder inversion was objectionably painful. It was Boomerang's media day, so no credit for me. I got a few more rides on Screamin' Eagle and Boss. Boss was annoyingly running two trains but cycling one of them empty all day despite having the longest line in the park. Finished the day with an American Thunder marathon. It briefly (for a day) made my top 5 wooden coasters. I really liked this coaster. I wish I had time to ride it more. It also convinced me that I must not have experienced Prowler at its best. I stayed in downtown St. Louis for the night, so of course I had to see the Gateway Arch. The immediate area around the arch looks pretty nice. I work for Hyatt in Huntington Beach, so I got a night here free at the employee comp rate. I call this the "Star Trek" shot. I went out exploring downtown at night. St. Louis is not a bad city, but I tried to make it look nicer in pictures than it actually is. It's not quite San Francisco, but there are lots of, shall we say, "non-home owners" in St. Louis. Hookah lounge credit #24! It did not make my top 20.

I think that is exactly what they are going to do. Look for it in 2014 if not sooner.

Silver Dollar City Day 2: I stopped by the old Celebration City site to see how close I could get to Ozark Wildcat. Having never been here prior to this trip, I never got the chance to ride OzCat, but it certainly looks like one GCI's better creations. It still seems to be in decent condition, though there are lots of plants and weeds growing up through the track. On the surface it looks like a coaster that could still be saved if another park wanted to buy it and go through the effort of disassembling and relocating it. Unfortunately I doubt the marginal cost savings over buying a new GCI and building from scratch are worth the time and effort for something that's not a piece of history like the Phoenix (Rocket). Looking at the surrounding area I'm surprised Celebration City never caught on in the Branson market. The immediate area around the park is packed with go-kart tracks, miniature golf, a small water park, dozens of theaters, and other similar attractions. It seems like the ideal area for a small amusement park with later operating hours than Silver Dollar City to thrive. Celebration City's old parking lot now appears to be overflow parking for a church. The lot was open and unlocked so I was able to walk right up to the coaster. It rained for about 15 minutes the morning of my second day at SDC. Weather threatened all day and probably deterred the crowds from showing up. Park was uncrowded all day. Rain-slicked Outlaw Run with no wait to start the day? Yes please! I rode it five times while it was still a walk-on, with only my by now inflamed achilles tendons keeping me from riding it more. It's hard to decide on my favorite part of the ride. The overbank and barrel rolls were great, but I think I liked the twist-and-turn through the lift structure and the 90-degree wave turn the best. Both gave a variety of airtime different than anything I've ever felt. I bought this. And he bought this.... Barn Swing was the longest line I waited in all day. All ten minutes of it! I rode the train to get some better photos of Achilles. By the way, I commend those of you who rode this train over and over for construction photos last year. Sitting through the part where you get "held up" by the world's worst train robbers once was tough enough for me. Achilles doing its thing. Neither coaster train decided to grace my camera with its presence while I rode by. The overbank is definitely the most visually impressive portion of the ride, but it's probably only my third or fourth favorite element on this coaster. Grand Exposition credit-whoring. The Exposition is a nice little area, but it's so off the beaten path from the rest of the park I bet many visitors miss it entirely. I don't usually do water rides. American Plunge looks like a solid flume though. Dark rides like Flooded Mine are a different story, even if they technically do take place in water. I'm not the kind of guy that takes pictures of my food eight times per week for my Facebook or Instagram, but the food at SDC is so good it warranted an exception. Chili cheese kettle chips for the win! I love the atmosphere here. Probably my favorite of any park I've been to. I would like to propose a trade with Knott's Berry farm: Pony Express for this swinging bridge. More Thunderation. Such a fantastic ride. Silver Dollar City really hit on a winning formula with this and Powder Keg as family coasters that are still thrilling enough to draw enthusiasts and thrill seekers. I still failed to find any photo-ops for this coaster. Poweder Keg was closed for the first few hours. I'm assuming the wet proxy-sensor issue I've heard about. I got another seven laps on it once it re-openend. I knew about the airtime, but what really surprised me were the g-forces it pulls in this spot and the low turn where it transitions to the old Premier track. I got plenty more rides in on Wildfire over the course of the day too. After doing everything else I wanted, I settled into a rhythm of 2 laps each on Wildfire and Powder Keg, then 1 on Outlaw Run, then rinse and repeat.

Day 2 of Silver Dollar City plus a bunch of Ozark Wildcat photos coming shortly!

I took my first trip to the Missouri and Indiana parks from June 4-7. Plans to include a few friends and family didn't work out, so I decided to just do the whole thing myself. I used St. Louis as a hub and flew into and out of there, and then branched out to the surrounding cities' parks. I actually saved quite a lot of money by doing it this way. Originally I had intended to spend one full day each at Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Six Flags St. Louis, and Holiday World, but my plans changed and instead I had to book it from St. Louis to Kansas City the first night to catch Worlds of Fun before closing and spend two full days at Silver Dollar City instead. This only gave me 2 1/2 hours at WoF, which turned out not to be much of a problem. It allowed me enough time to get all the credits and repeat a few, but what it did not allow was time to take pictures. I took boatloads at the other parks, but for WoF I'll just skip right to the reviews: Prowler: I was really excited to ride this after all the praise it gets on these boards and its lofty ranking in the Hawker poll. I hadn't yet been on any of what I would consider the "elite" crop of GCI's and Prowler was to be my introduction. But when my train pulled back into the station, I had a thought. It wasn't an exciting thought, and coaster enthusiasts probably aren't supposed to have these thoughts, but there it was: "Is Prowler a disappointment...?" I didn't know what to make of it. The ride was typical GCI-smooth, held its speed well, and had the trademark terrain and constant directional changes, but it was somehow underwhelming. It was more than just the complete absence of the airtime I was expecting. For some reason nothing about Prowler felt at all engaging or compelling. I would have liked to ride it more to get a better understanding of Prowler, but my time constraint limited me to only three laps. Don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed it and it is the best of WoF's coasters, but it just left me cold. Mamba: Morgan hypers have always appealed to me. They are not as thrilling, fast-paced, or packed full of g-forces and airtime like the Intamin and B&M hypers, but I just think they're fun even they don't excel at any one thing (wow this sounds hypocritical after my Prowler review). I liked Steel Force the year before and Mamba was obviously more of the same, just minus tunnels, plus headchoppers, and in an open field instead of a ravine. Mamba is by no means one of my favorite coasters, but it was good enough to warrant a re-ride with my limited time. Timber Wolf: Rocky Mountain or tear it down. Does nothing more for me than it does for anyone else. I've been on far rougher and far slower, but Cedar Fair needs to jump on the RMC iron horse bandwagon sooner or later and this would be a good place to start. It's still kind of surprising to me when you realize that all of the remaining Summers & Dinn woodies are in such poor standing and condition. Spinning Dragons: I don't care much for Gerstlauer spinners. Never have, never will. But sometimes you get lucky on family coasters and receive a ride that almost threatens to change your opinion, such as the one I got on Spinning Dragons. A ride op saw I was riding alone and suggested I lean as far as I could to the left going down the first drop. I did and ended up having the craziest spin-fest I've ever had on one of these! Still not a great or even particularly good coaster, but it more than delivered on this occasion. Patriot: Okay, here we go. This one could ruffle some feathers or draw cheers. I did not like Patriot. Not at all. I am a huge B&M fan and it kills me when I come across a ride that embodies every single negative stereotype people have about their coasters. Patriot is one of these rides. It has methodically slow pacing, does not hold its speed through any of its elements, and lacks any positive or negative forces of any consequence whatsoever. For a ride that has a similar layout and identical sequence of elements as Talon (which is no beacon for the extreme itself), Patriot feels nothing like it. Move over Silver Bullet, I have a new least-favorite invert. Alright, and with that out of the way, I'll move on to day 1 of Silver Dollar City. Branson? You mean as in like, Richard Branson? Maybe Richard has a theme park here. Virgin Land, anyone? The arrival of this bad boy put SDC at the top of my list of parks to visit. First stop, Brownfire. Fun fact: Most people don't know this, but this is the actual tank that was used to grow Joe Biden. These B&M sitdown loopers always seem to deliver. Wildfire may not be Kumba, but every element packs a punch and the first drop has hypercoaster-like airtime plus the best view from the lift hill I've ever seen. Wildfire is the only coaster at Silver Dollar City that is easy to photograph. I think of Wildfire as one of the last of the truly old-school B&Ms. It maintains a type of sustained intensity that feels missing from all of the floorless coasters. It takes the inversions much faster than B&M's recent loopers, yet none of the transitions are uncomfortable or result in headbanging. Only the trim before the cobra roll was in use. It only came on about 50% of the time and the affect was negligible. I didn't figure out where to take pictures of Powder Keg until the second day. Loved the ride though. Both Wildfire and Powder Keg made the lower half of my steel top 20. In line for Outlaw Run I met a Gatekeeper shirt-wearing ACEr named Bob (sorry ladies, no pics). Nice guy though and I ended up spending the rest of the day with him. I was confused when he told me that he thought Gatekeeper was actually BETTER than Outlaw Run. But that was before he told me his license plate says "CEDRPNT." Then I understood perfectly. Outlaw Run is stupid good. The hype is real. Believe it. I'll be shocked if it doesn't finish in the top 10 of the Hawker poll next year. It does have one nasty problem though that reared its head the more I rode it. There is a sharp metal strip under the seat that dug into my the backs of my ankles every time I lifted out of my seat, which was roughly 94% of the ride. I am not a restraint complainer (Skyrush does not bother me whatsoever) and Outlaw Run's lapbars are fine, but after eight or nine rides I was convinced it was trying to gradually sever my achilles tendons. That in fact became my pet name for the ride. Thunderation is even more difficult to photograph than the others and this was the only stretch of track I could spot off-ride. What an awesome mine train though. It's great, and not just by mine train standards. I liked it much better than Patriot, actually. The Intamin of cinnamon rolls. Also better than Patriot (I kid, I kid....) At the Best Western. A towel... cobra? I booked a hotel within walking distance of the Branson Landing waterfront. Dinner and bar-hopping were in order. This is apparently what a waterfront looks like. Branson nightlife was, shall we say, uninspiring? This was bar #1. And moving on... Place was empty anyway. This joint was much better. Great beer selection and pizza. And it had actual people inside it! It's not exactly Wynn Macau or Bellagio, but the Branson folk seemed into it. Credit?

Already visited: Six Flags Magic Mountain Worlds of Fun (first time) Silver Dollar City (first time) Six Flags St. Louis (first time) Holiday World (first time) Plan to visit Knott's Berry Farm Disneyland Resort Six Flags Magic Mountain several more times Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk California's Great America Silverwood (first time)

El Toro. Even after riding Outlaw Run for the last two days. Both are beyond incredible, but I thought El Toro's drop had slightly more of that "ejector" sensation than Outlaw Run's did.

Time to update following my first trip to Worlds of Fun: 1. Raptor 2. Dragons (Fire) 3. Montu 4. Flight Deck 5. Great Bear 6. Dragons (Ice) 7. Talon 8. Batman: The Ride 9. Silver Bullet 10. Patriot Unfortunately I was not impressed with Patriot at all. This is coming from a huge B&M fan, and even I thought it was utterly forceless. It was not particularly smooth either. Patriot seems to have developed the B&M rattle much earlier than its cousins Talon and Silver Bullet. I'll take occasional headbanging and snappy transitions with REAL forces (Raptor, Dragons, Montu, Flight Deck, Bear) over the newer breed of inverts any day.

Just wanted to say that Cyclone Sams's is an insane ride (at least when I rode it) despite being a carnie ride in a barn. Had my first visit to WoF on Monday. Can't say I agree with soundn8 on Patriot (I thought it was tame and boring), but GigaG is absolutely right about Cyclone Sam's. Best ride in the park bar none! Photo TR coming soon!

Are you sure you're not getting them confused? lol I've never had anything less than a great ride on Thunderbolt and never had a ride that didn't suck on Cyclone. My experience last year was the same. Cyclone runs great now that it has topper track and Thunderbolt jackhammered my spine to hell and back. It was the most disappointing coaster on my northeast trip.

I can picture how a Travel Channel list would have looked without Robb's involvement. Probably something like this: 1. Hulk 2. Millennium Force 3. X2 4. Kingda Ka 5. Aftershock 6. Medusa (SFDK) 7. Steel Dragon 2000 8. Batman: The Ride (backwards) 9. Saw: The Ride 10. Lightning Racer 11. Diamondback 12. Intimidator (Carrowinds) 13. TH13TEEN 14. Bizarro (SFNE) 15. El Toro

Very interesting pics. Did anyone here ever ride Mega Zeph? It's one of those lost coasters I've always wondered about. It looks like it had a decent CCI layout, but with the G-trains and SF upkeep it could easily have been another Villain.

I don't understand your post. American Thunder is a woodie like Apocalypse. The only difference is that nearly everyone who has ridden both feels American Thunder is better.

Ehhh, I don't know that I'd call the waterslide package on both Breakaway class ships or the Illusionarium/fireworks setup on NCL Getaway something intended for a "mature" clientele. I think they're both going for roughly the same sort of passengers, they're just slightly different paths to get there. True. I suppose it just looks like NCL's kids attractions are mostly confined the pool deck. That's how it felt on Norwegian Epic at least.

As mentioned before the theme is gold mining and the tunnel is to simulate a mine shaft. ...Which is just the PR excuse for noise abatement. It was also already explained the tunnel has nothing to do with noise abatement and was added as an after thought for themeing.... still having nothing to do with suppressing noise. Claiming it's purely themeing and not noise-related is PR 101 to my eyes. I'm a lot more pumped for this now than I have been since the announcement. The real POV makes the ride's character appear much more aggressive and shows that it will likely have a few decent pops of air that weren't previously apparent. I thought the CG POV looked tame and very light on airtime. Glad I was wrong!

Looks awesome to me, though I'm another who's lukewarm on the bumper cars. Quantum seems almost more like the Radiance class in some ways than Oasis, with the packaging, solarium, indoor features, and all-around views in 2seventy. I'd expect to see most if not all of these innovations on the third Oasis vessel they recently ordered. Quantum has a lot of pros in its favor compared to NCL's Breakaway class, but NCL has been targeting a slightly more mature clientele with its last few ships so all the kiddie attractions probably wouldn't fit in. Curious to see if the third and fourth larger Breakaway ships take more inspiration from Quantum. Also, I thought I remember reading somewhere that Quantum would be an outgrowth of the Celebrity Solstice class, which itself grew out of Radiance. Anyone know?

Yeah the guy was in is 60s and doesn't sound like he's been to a park in decades. I definitely didn't let him off easy.

Not a GP comment in the same vein as others, but I recently had a parents' friend "lecture" me on how coasters are just kids' stuff and I should have more "adult" hobbies now. Like photography. That was his suggestion (not that there's anything wrong with photography). Has anyone else had conversations like this?

I actually love grayouts. Coasters that do it to me consistently are Millennium Force from the first drop pullout through the first overbank and Nitro in the midcourse helix. I get them on Xcelerator from time to time on hot days (or if I happen to be on a particularly vicious creatine cycle). As others have said there's nothing dangerous about it unless it starts happening all the time. Then its probably dehydration or poor nutrition. If that wasn't the case I doubt fighter pilots would be regularly subjecting themselves to 7-9 g's.

Thinking about some international coasters. How about Spain's three (well four) wooden coasters renowned for their roughness and/or terrible layouts: Stampida, Magnus Colossus, and Coaster Express? Also Le Monstre, but that one's probably less likely considering it just got new trains.