Josh Linn

I hope so. It's not a big deal because I can drive there whenever, but I've been anticipating that ride for awhile.

- Flying Turns (I hope) - Hopefully visiting Kennywood and Waldameer for the first time - SFNE/Lake Compounce (again, I hope)

Hmm...lets see: Hercules (Dorney) Laser (Dorney) Whirlwind (Knoebel's) Python (BGA) Wild Maus (BGE) Viper (Great Adventure)

Not entirely true. I live in the East and I've been to BGE and found Alpengeist way overrated. It's my least favorite B&M invert out of the 6 I've been on.

Lets see... 1. Montu 2. Raptor 3. Talon 4. Batman: The Ride (SFGAdv) 5. Great Bear

I have a soft spot for Phoenix's pre-lift tunnel, especially during PPP when they put all the Halloween stuff in it.

I've been to Knoebel's many, many more times than any other park. I've always lived 20 minutes away from the park, and my dad who I visited every weekend lived about 5 minutes away. I'd say I've been there 50+ times in my life, not so much recently though. I've also been to Dorney about 10 times, well, Wildwater Kingdom when I was younger, but Dorney nonetheless.

1. Millennium Force 2. El Toro 3. Storm Runner 4. Kingda Ka 5. Phoenix 6. Kumba 7. Apollo's Chariot 8. Top Thrill Dragster 9. Montu 10. Raptor

I'm pretty pumped to see what this is, and I might have to take a little detour to KI when I'm going home from college in Bowling Green.

Damn, I even see a BlackBerry in there too...that must've been an expensive ride.

For me, I'd say the biggest letdown/overrated ride was Alpengeist. The first half of the ride was great, but after that, it was pretty sub-par. I was expecting it to be amazing because of its size and all of the stuff I heard about it, but it was just middle of the pack. I'd rather ride Talon, Raptor, Montu, B:TR, or Great Bear as far as inverts go.

I'm 5'7", 125 with a size 30 waist and obviously fit no problem, but was still stapled to all hell.

They've stayed within the $3.89-$3.95 range here...hasn't reached $4.00 quite yet... I grew up at the wrong damn time...I remember when I was like 9 or 10 my mom would fill her car up for $10...it takes me like $35.

Only if you're a credit whore. Quass has a crappy mouse and kiddy coaster. It's your average crappy gheto park. If you want as many credits as possible, then sure stop in and get them. But if you're looking for just looking for a nice extra park to stop at, then skip it. I'm a credit whore, but I'm also cheap and hate wasting money, so looks like Quassy's out.

All I can say is that I <3 beyond-vertical drops, and Fahrenheit as a whole. Very fast-paced ride that never got dull, and has a few surprising air spots, such as the bunny hop near the end of the ride. The norwegian loop is something that I'd like to see featured on future Intamin rides too. Not a perfect 10, but still worth multiple rides and a trip to Hershey.

Great American Scream Machine (GAdv) and Knoebel's old Whirlwind are 1A and 1B for me.

I'm currently in the process of planning a N.E. trip for July, and right now it just consists of the usual suspects, Lake Compounce and Six Flags New England. I just had a few questions before I set anything major in stone: -Right now the plan is to get to Lake Compounce after 5 PM to take advantage of the reduced admission. My thinking right now is that there's really only a few rides that seem to intrigue me (Boulder Dash, Wildcat, Zoomerang, the screamin' swing, and the drop tower), and we should be able to finish up everything + get multiple rides on Boulder Dash before close. Is there anything I'm missing and should I be able to get everything done from 5-close? -Where can I find good discounts/coupons for SFNE? Any local supermarkets/gas stations that I should look at? -Quassy. I know that it's fairly close to Lake Compounce. Is it worth a stop or no? I don't know much about it personally. -Are there any other parks in between Northeast PA and Mass. that are on the way that I should look at? I know there's the nearby park thing on RCDB, but I'd like to hear any opinions on nearby places. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I know this guy's trip is, I assume, long over with, but I'd like to add my thoughts just in case someone else is faced with this decision: Great Adventure, Great Adventure, Great Adventure. I've been going to Dorney since I was 5 or 6 and it has a special place in my heart, but it really doesn't stack up to Great Adventure at all. I haven't been there since '04 so I can't comment on Hydra or Voodoo, but there really wasn't that much to do there as far as the amusement park was concerned. At the time of my last visit there were 3 re-ridable coasters, Dominator, and a few flats that were worth riding. After that, not much to talk about. I will say though that Talon is one of my favorite inverts (I'd rank it only below Montu and Raptor) and Steel Force is a hell of a ride and one of my favorite hypers. Laser is also a very underrated ride that packs a huge Schwarzkopf-labeled punch. I'm sure this problem is better now with Voodoo and Hydra, but there is still no quality wooden coaster to speak of, as Thunderhawk is "meh" at best. As for flats, I'd strongly recommend Meteor. That's about all. Then you have Great Adventure...and El Toro. I could really end my argument right there, to be honest with you. I've only been on roughly 15 woodies and only a few quality ones, but I'd be amazed if there was one in this country better than El Toro. Like previously stated, it's worth the admission price alone. Ka right next door is unbelievable...there might not be much after the launch and tophat, but it's still enough to get you to ask "WTF did I just do?" after the ride. Medusa is a top-notch ride, Nitro's one of the best hypers out there, B:TR is vintage B&M at their best, Superman's a very fun coaster, and The Dark Knight is basically an indoor Hershey Wild Mouse, which is a very good thing. Avoid GASM at all costs though. So in short, it's really not that hard of a decision for me, and 100 times out of 100 I'd pick Great Adventure.

Yeah, um, what exactly was the reason for texting while driving on the highway? I'm dying to see the transcript from this ingenious moment in time. My friend texted me...I wasn't going to ignore him...I'm not trying to be a smartass about this either, but that's the story.

1. High Speed Thrill Coaster, Knoebel's 10. Blue Streak, Cedar Point 20. Wild Mouse, Hersheypark 30. Great American Scream Machine, Six Flags Great Adventure 40. Mantis, Cedar Point 50. Montu, Busch Gardens Africa 60. Revenge of the Mummy, Universal Studios Florida

I actually am 18, first of all, I don't see a reason to lie about my age. Second of all, I figured the chances of me getting pulled over were low considering I either barely kept up with traffic or was getting passed by car after car. Third, I was only told you weren't allowed to talk on the phone while driving in NJ, didn't hear anything about texting. We made it there and back safe, it's all good. As for the park...I personally didn't experience any of the things that you talked about. The only time I heard a ride-op yell was when a small group tried to sneak up from the FastPass line without a FastPass, and the only time I saw employees strictly enforce a rule was when people were smoking outside of the designated areas, which is an extremely good thing, IMO. I have a feeling the Six Flags of old might not have taken the same steps.

Nah, I'm a big soccer fan...don't really follow the Bundesliga though. NBA: Phoenix Suns and whatever team J.J. Redick is on MLB: Baltimore Orioles NFL: Baltimore Ravens NHL: Philadelphia Flyers NCAA Basketball: Duke NCAA Football: Florida Soccer: Tottenham Hotspur (England), Fulham (England), Rangers (Scotland), Columbus Crew (USA)

"Put On" by Young Jeezy and Kanye West

I apologize for the length of this TR, but here it is: We went to Hersheypark for our senior class trip on June 4th (no TR, but Fahrenheit is sick and Storm Runner is still amazing), and ever since then I've really wanted to get back into the whole coaster thing. When I was 13 years old, I was as big of an enthusiast as anyone else here was. I obviously couldn't drive and I'm about the only person in my family that likes roller coasters, so I was lucky to get to 1-2 new parks a year. I'd get to Knoebel's multiple times since it's right down the road, maybe Hershey or Dorney once, but the rest were all vacations. For whatever reason, I guess you could say I grew out of it. My family decided that they'd rather go to the beach than go to amusement parks, so I was SOL. I didn't even go to Knoebel's (still haven't either, not since '04, I'm waiting for the Turns but I miss Phoenix dearly). Before the aforementioned senior trip to Hershey, the last parks I visited were IOA and USF in 2006. The feeling I got while at Hershey was pretty much "damn, I miss this". I wanted to plan something and go to another park as soon as I could. The initial plan was to go to a place that I haven't been to before, but there really wasn't anywhere within reasonable driving distance that I haven't been to, so instead I picked a place that has 1) added a ton since my last visit and 2) has rides that I didn't get to go on when I was there last. Great Adventure fit the bill. My first and only visit to SFGAdv was in 2002, and from what I remember, I enjoyed myself. However, I only managed to get on 6 coasters (Nitro, Medusa, B:TR, Rolling Thunder, GASM, Viper). Nitro and Medusa immediately broke into my top 10, B:TR was one of my favorite inverts, and Viper and GASM were decent. With the additions of S:UF, El Toro, and Kingda Ka, not to mention getting to ride Nitro, Medusa, and B:TR again, it was the perfect choice. With the help of a Tastycake Buy 1, Get One Free coupon, I managed to drag my one friends with me. She doesn't mind coasters, but was a little afraid to go on the likes of Ka and Nitro. They were calling for rain and thunderstorms all day, but I had a gut feeling that we would be fine, so we went anyway. We left around 8:10 AM and was there by 10:45, which I understand is making good time (going 80 on the interstate goes a long way, I guess). The park didn't seem too packed, which was a good sign. I was hell bent on getting on Kingda Ka, so we headed over there first. We got in line to see a good number of the switchbacks full, so we said screw it and would go back later. Apparently the line wasn't as long as we thought, because on all of the coasters they would fill up the station and then cut off the rest of the line and have it further back. We couldn't get a clear view of KK's station from where we were, so we didn't know that at first. Oh well, on to El Toro. EL TORO - I said before that I'd be hard pressed to find a wooden coaster better than Phoenix. Well, I found one. Everything I heard about this ride proved to be true, it was amazing in every sense of the word. The drop was sick, getting yanked over every hill was sick, and the end was crazy. The air I got on the hill leading into the twisted turn ending was Phoenix-esque. It was pure speed start to finish, and it's now sitting atop my wood list. 10/10 After El Toro, I had a bit of a headache, which really worried me. I know some people develop motion sickness on coasters, and I was afraid that I was too. I was fine at Hershey last week (except for Sidewinder), so I'm hoping that this was just a fluke or something. Anyway, we headed back to Medusa so I could catch up with an "old friend". MEDUSA - After riding Medusa in 2002 it was one of my 5 favorite coasters. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered it to be, but it was still a great ride. Love the first drop and the zero g roll, not to mention the great pacing. No longer in my top 10, but still a favorite. 9/10 My friend wanted to hit up Runaway Mine Train on the way out of that section, but it was experiencing "technical difficulties" so we passed. We worked our way to Movie Town because she really wanted to get on Dark Knight, but the attendant at the front of the line said "wait is about an hour, not worth it", so we moved on to the bigger Batman-themed ride. BATMAN: THE RIDE - B:TR was the fourth B&M invert that I rode, following Talon, Alpengeist, and Great Bear, and was my 2nd favorite after '02. It's just as intense as I remembered and still ranks among my favorite inverts (behind Raptor, Montu, and Talon). I actually greyed out in the transition between the first loop and zero g roll and was pretty close to doing it again right after the second loop. 9/10 We checked TDK again, still a long line. We decided to check out Skull Mountain, which had no line. It was a good little ride, and the first drop really sneaks up on you. After a quick ride there, we headed back to Nitro. NITRO - After my ride on Nitro 6 years ago, it was my #1 or #2 coaster, Apollo's Chariot being up the other. I remember tons and tons of floater air and a sick helix leading into the MCBR. I must say that in 2008, Nitro left me disappointed. Still a fantastic ride, don't get me wrong, but there seemed to be less air this time around. Still a good amount, but nowhere near what I experienced last time. The helix was intense as ever though; I greyed out near the end of it. Not the perfect 10 it was before, but still well worth the ride. 9/10 After Nitro, we went to check out the line for S:UF, and it looked a little lengthy, so we skipped it. She then saw GASM and wanted to ride that, which was a huge mistake. I won't dedicate a paragraph to GASM, it wasn't worth it. I'd like to know what happened to it, though. In '02 it was a good ride, not a great one, but not as painful as I was expecting. In '08, horrible. I got knocked around early and often, and it actually made my friend's ear bleed (she was wearing little stud earrings). My headache got a million times worse after that, so we took a break. We went through the Fly Me to the Moon 3D show, which sucked, then we got some food. She liked what she got, but my mozzarella sticks were subpar. I didn't know marinara sauce was supposed to be watery. After a little rest, I decided it was time for some Ka. KINGDA KA - Damn. That is all. But really, TTD and Ka were the only rides that I was legitimately scared to ride. My friend was terrified too, but along with the fear I was also pretty pumped, so she didn't really appreciate me getting all excited. I decided to make matters worse when they played the "128 MPH in 3.5 seconds" over the loudspeaker by saying "Hey, you know that's pretty fast right? It's pretty tall too." She responded with "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you" when we were getting ready to launch. Speaking of the launch, WOW. I love launches, and ever since Storm Runner 2 weeks ago, I was craving something even faster and better, and Ka delivered. The top hat was pretty sick, as was looking over and seeing everything look so small. The "small" hill into the brakes provided some nice floater air. As insane as that was, I'd still rank Storm Runner as my favorite Intamin rocket. I'd go SR 1, Ka 2, TTD 3. It's still a top 5 ride for me, but Storm Runner is top 3. 10/10 I've looked and noticed that this TR is dragging on, so I'll condense the rest. After Kingda Ka we went over to Dark Knight and decided to suck it up and wait. The pre-show was really cool. Decent in length and made me sort of feel like I was in Gotham City. The rest of the queue was nicely themed also. As for the ride, just your standard Wild Mouse, but packed a punch due to minimal braking. Easily my favorite of the Wild Mice due to the above average theming. Headed over to Superman, wait was non-existent, walked right into an empty row in the station. This was my first flying coaster, and I thought it was pretty fun. The pretzel loop was as intense as advertised, but the rest (save the inline roll) was just average. Re-ridable, but not near the top of my favorite coaster list. I had to beg my friend to get one last ride on El Toro before we left, so we got that out of the way, as amazing as it was the first time. We made our way towards the candy store on Main Street and left at about 8 after picking up some stuff for the road. We made our way back to PA and got home around 10:45. I had to pull over after an hour because I was so tired, so she took one for the team and drove the rest of the way. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. SF seems to be doing everything right here. The park was clean, all the staff I encountered were nice and seemed to enjoy their jobs, and the dispatches on rides were solid. This trip did it's job, which is get me back into my coaster loving mentality. It introduced me to two of my favorite coasters, including my new favorite wooden coaster. Lucky for me, I'm going to college at Bowling Green which is just a short drive from Cedar Point, so my habit will be supported for at least 4 more years. What was a really spontaneous, spur of the moment trip turned out to be a huge success. As for the pics, they were all taken with a cell phone, hence the poor quality. we found this sign funny for some reason medusa's cobra roll in all its cobra-ness. 2 of my new favorites from our parking spot...looks a lot different than it did in 2002. kingda ka from the road leading into the park...very nice. going 80 mph and texting at the same time...don't try this at home

Like I said in another thread, I thought I was going to be hard pressed to be able to ride a woodie better than Phoenix, but El Toro proved me wrong. It was absolutely insane.