mightypotato

More than welcome to spend some time with me! I can't wait to see folks from the NE trip again! Leviathan Bash 2012 seems like a good idea.

The land clearing and "preparing this area for your future enjoyment" signs were up during season passholder preview night. A couple months of clearing later, we got holes and rebar cages. The teaser/countdown page went up at the start of August and has slowly received new quotes plus the "this is my park now" thing. Wonderland doesn't really do much in the way of teasing...they play things really close to the chest.

*BWAAAAAAAAAAAHM*

^ I think that really brings credit to the 330-350' rumours. If Leviathan (or whatever) is towering over everything including Windseeker, this is going to be massive. Since everyone else is making wacky predictions, how about a 400' tall traditional coaster? B&M goes for broke!

Completely ignoring Backlot Stunt Coaster, lol With someone like Kinzel talking about breaking records, it's serious business. I don't think he'd make a statement like that for Canada's tallest/fastest/longest, etc. That said, it's difficult to hazard a guess as to what the record will be.

I loved Funtown. Free go-karts, the most chaotic bumper cars I've ever been on and Astrosphere made for a great day. Oh yeah...Excalibur was there too. That was OK.

^^ Magnetic brakes. The same style are on Diamondback. Also....holy crap.

This new teaser has me EXTREMELY excited. I really don't think they would put a lot of hype into "Canada's tallest/fastest" as the park already has that in Behemoth. That said, I really don't imagine B&M building a coaster faster than Formula Rossa or taller than Kingda Ka. The only thing I can really think of that B&M would realistically challenge is possibly the length record (either Canada or world). All will be revealed shortly though...can't wait!

^^ I think that after the Cedar Fair takeover, the park stopped stagnating. I've noticed huge improvements in the park (and not just in the extra trash cans). They've added a fantastic B&M hyper, actually got the waterfalls on Wonder Mountain to work, put in a pretty decent Planet Snoopy, kept the place clean and added Windseeker, a big draw for the GP. I've actually been quite happy with how they've managed the park and definitely look forward to whatever new B&M hotness is coming our way next year.

The last coaster I rode was El Toro on the Northeast Trip. Holy crap, is that one crazy and awesome ride.

Oh man...I must have gone through almost $5 in quarters on the water cannons that day. I really enjoyed Great Escape too...it was a ton of fun and didn't feel like a Six Flags. Magic Forest was....interesting. Let's leave it at that.

Hey there, new B&M hotness! This has me really intrigued, especially given comments about how cool the engineering is supposed to be. I'm still holding out hope for B&M's true 4D prototype. One can dream...

My last coaster was Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer. Still kicks an unbelievable amount of ass.

Steel: Top Thrill Dragster Wood: Voyage However, once I'm back from the Northeast Trip, it will be Kingda Ka/El Toro.

Oh man, I haven't been this excited about Wonderland in a long time. Big construction is always fun to watch. Let the (even wilder) speculation begin!

You can definitely hit up all three in the same day if you're going after credits. I did it last year and had plenty of time at all three parks (trip report here). Seabreeze is a fun little park with 3 credits and a handful of flats. The rides don't open with the park and don't open at the same time, so you will likely be waiting around for stuff to open if you get there for opening. Their coaster lineup isn't really spectacular, but definitely has charm. Bobsleds is one of the most messed up coasters you'll find anywhere, and their Maurer-Sohne spinner is pretty fun too. Jack Rabbit is their "big" woodie. While it doesn't offer much in the way of thrills, it is pretty fun. I do recommend their bumper cars, they seemed to have some decent speed (not Knoebels speed though) and could deliver a good hit. Darien Lake is one of those parks that I won't ever spend much time at. It's basically, get in, get the credits and get out. Your best bet would be to start with Boomerang, then work your way around until you get to Ride of Steel (when it's open). If you have already been to Darien Lake and have the credits, then it's probably best to just skip it, to be honest. Outside of Ride of Steel, Motocoaster is the only other interesting thing there. The park needs something new BADLY. Martin's is only about a 30-45 minute drive from Darien Lake. If you get there after 5pm, the admission is dirt cheap. Silver Comet is by far the standout at the park. It was my biggest surprise last year and I ended up re-riding it over and over and over. They also have a fairly standard spinning mouse, a Disk-O, a small starflyer and one of the wettest flumes out there. The park has a lot of charm, but can be fully cleared in maybe 1.5-2 hours (with tons of re-rides). Doing all three is a long day, but it's definitely worth it.

From what I remember hearing, Canada's Wonderland was due to get Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear before the Cedar Fair acquisition. It was going to be back where Behemoth currently is. Thankfully, Cedar Fair put the brakes on that. Of course, this could all have been wild speculation, so whatever.

My last coaster was Phoenix at Knoebels. What an awesome ride. Just full of airtime. My next will probably be Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood.

To each their own, I suppose...but...really?

So, I was driving home from work the other day and I noticed that the parking lot of the local Ford dealership is having its "not quite annual, but happens sometimes during the spring/summer, but not always" carnival. I figured I might as well check it out instead of ignoring it like I usually do. Plus, there could even be a sad and pathetic kiddie credit to be had! There wasn't really much to see here, the big attractions were a Ring of Fire, a Matterhorn type ride and something called "Tip-Top" that I had never seen. Unfortunately, there was no kiddie credit to be had. Well...that's really about all I can say for the carnival. So, here are some pictures to keep you entertained! Music Fest...a swinging Matterhorn style ride Rock and/or roll! Swinging... I fell in to a burning ring of fire... Went down, down, down and the flames went higher... And it burns, burns burns...the ring of fire. Hey! That's named like my name! I'm really not sure how to describe this ride... It's not a carnival without some gratuitous copyright infringement! Speaking of copyright infringement... Super fun happy slide! Obligatory bumper cars Bumpin' and grindin' Swingers "Towering" above the "midway" was the ferris wheel More ferris wheel action I actually thought this was a clever name for a scrambler More scrambler action Kanye glasses have never been stylish Prizes! Every time! Wow! Throw a dart at a construction paper cut out...super ghetto. Obligatory random and tasteless hats/belt buckle/sunglasses stall Full of tooth melting goodness Prices! The best part was that they accept Canadian Tire money. Love it. SUPERFUN!

Ballot in! Hurrah! Top 5: 1. Favourite Wooden Coaster Anywhere (Voyage) 2. Millennium Force 3. Maverick 4. Goliath (La Ronde) 5. Behemoth Bottom 5 List of Shame: 53. Favourite Vekoma Family Coaster Anywhere 54. Iron Dragon 55. Favourite Intamin Bobsled Anywhere 56. Favourite Vekoma SLC Anywhere 57. Favourite Zamperla Volare Anywhere

For a little cross sport fun, who will have more wins this season, the San Antonio Spurs or the Pittsburgh Pirates?

As I mentioned in the other concert thread, I recently got tickets to see Rammstein in Toronto in May. I don't think I've ever been as excited for a concert as I am for this one. Back in high school, I was (and still am) a MASSIVE Rammstein fan. I even had a really embarrasing Geocities Rammstein fan page. In 2001, they came to Toronto in support of their Mutter album and I was excited to get to see them. However, the concert fell during a family vacation. I was unable to convince my parents to leave me behind, so I ended up missing the concert. I was sad, but thought that their next album would lead to another North American tour. Well...10 years and 3 albums later, they're finally coming back. The tickets went on sale yesterday at noon and I bought my tickets....yesterday at noon. It's been a very long time coming, but I'm finally going get to see them live. I couldn't be happier.

Saw Motorhead in Kitchener last night. It was the second time I had seen them, and nothing has really changed. They still have the absolute loudest shows I have ever been to. Somehow, this one was even louder than when I saw them in 2009. Now, because they are so incredibly loud, the sound system they use should be able to handle it, right? Well...unfortunately it couldn't. A lot of the songs became garbled noise where all I could hear was the bass guitar, drums and Lemmy screaming something or other. The best part of their set, just like last time was the extended version of Overkill as their last encore song. I'd probably give them a 6.5/10 for the night. The sound issues really put a damper on the show. Since I'm still partially deaf from seeing three concerts in a week (Eluvietie, Finntroll and Motorhead), I'm going to give my ears a bit of a break. The next concert I'm going to isn't until May when I go see Rammstein in Toronto. Dear god, I'm looking forward to that show.

I've got a few trips already planned out for the summer. The first of my trips will be June 14-15 when I head down to Hersheypark and Knoebels. If all goes according to plan at Hershey, Phoenix at Knoebels will be credit #100...hurrah. I'm on the Northeast Trip this year, so that'll occupy part of the last week of July and first week of August. Also doing the SFGAdv addon, because there's no way I'm missing out on a chance to ride El Toro. There's also a tentative plan to go to Michigan's Adventure sometime this summer as well, but nothing has been finalised or anything. Of course, there will be random trips to Canada's Wonderland, but that goes without saying. I'll also be doing a trip to Sauble Beach Fun World to get some ghetto credits. It's gonna be a great summer, I think. There are four solid contenders for my number one coaster (Phoenix, Boulder Dash, Bizzaro and El Toro), so this should be interesting.