Blue Turbo

Great update as usual Andy! Which reminds me that I need to work on my TR (it would be a good way to avoid studying for my exam). Overall is was a nice park and if it got a little more attention and a few new big rides it could really be a great park

What was your favorite part of this year's US trip?

Kristen, do you enjoy the front seat of log flumes?

Nathan on the other hand... It was a great day except for getting waterboarded in the lazy river

I think I'm gonna have to break down and find a group if I want a chance of catching them. I went past articuno, zapados, and moltres raids on my walk today but there was no one there

I though you were stronger than this Elissa

Silver Dollar City gives instructions on how to make rainbow candles so I made a pride t-rex

There's a ton of really flattering pictures of me in this update, thanks Andy (also thanks for all of the rain ). I was not expecting to be sitting in a puddle in the log flume after the lift hill (Also it was KT's idea to sit in the front, not mine)

^Same. There was a large group who were trying to catch it when I got there, but it didn't sound like anyone actually did

^ I went back when Hades 360 first opened and I have no desire to go back as I didn't have a good experience. The operations were so slow that I waited ~45 for Hades 360 to be on the second train of the day and I can't watch a POV of it without feeling phantom pains in my back because of how brutal that ride was

^Lol. I was in the Dells the other week (stayed away from Mt Olympus) and all of the coupon books are completely pointless for the park as they have the tickets at like $15

I'm asking myself would I really want to get splashed by that? Thanks Andy, and just you wait for this one Haha, yes it was. But I have to say the best was your reaction (lots of swearing) on Lex Luthor. I was surprised by how much more subdued you were on Zumanjaro. Moving on to the next update... Wonderland Amusement Park: The Move Part 2 The next stop on the journey was Amarillo, Texas, home of Wonderland Amusement Park. It is a smaller park, maybe a little bit larger than cliff's, but it's a little hard to tell since the layout of the park is essentially one long midway with a hook on the end. I'm not sure how to give a review of this park because the timing of my visit wasn't the most ideal. I went on a Sunday, the weekend before Memorial Day, right at park opening. Now this sounds like it would be great since the park wouldn't be all the busy, but because of the wind and operation requirement, all of the roller coasters (minus the wild mouse) were requiring a minimum number of riders to run. The issue with that is because people are either not patient enough or smart enough to just wait in the line for more people to show up, so it was hard to get enough people. I was able to get on all of the coasters and a couple of the other rides in my short visit, so that is a plus. The staff were all quite friendly and the park looked fairly well taken care of, especially for being a smaller park. Overall, just like with Cliff's, it's a nice park with a decent collection of rides, but nothing to go out of your way to visit. If you happen to be in the area, stop on by, but I would recommend going at a slightly busier time so you don't have the same troubles as me. On to the pictures: We have made it to Texas...yay?!? Near the front of the park is the log flume with the sky ride overhead Splash! It's hard to tell in this picture, while not fake blue, the water was quite brown, so I skipped this one The first coaster of the day was the slightly strange looking wild mouse, Cyclone. The right was pretty average for a wild mouse, but it did have a longer layout than most. It was smooth which is always a plus. The most interesting part was the cars, as you sat with your legs straight out in front of you resulting in you feeling very low the the track. Also the the wheel base sat fairly far back so you always felt like you were going a little too far before each of the hairpin turns. Just in case you forgot which ride you are on Up and over the hill of strange looking track The next up was Mouse Trap, a Pinfari zyklon, that seems to have the wrong name . Again another average coaster, but it does get a good amount of speed because of the three-car trains. Drop. Side-note: I bet this ride looks nice at night with all of the lights along the track Helix #1 Helix #2. I don't know what else to say about it The drop ride looked interesting (I don't know who made it), but maintenance was doing work on it so I couldn't get a ride The smallest coaster in the park is The Hornet, which is apparently a Vekoma MK-700 built in 2009 if you wanted to know the nerdy details. The ride itself is nothing special, it's essentially a kiddie coaster, so what can you expect. The trains are quite interesting. They look almost roller skatery (yes I will make up words) but they have really strange restraints that you have to accordion out when you pull them down so that it reached your lap. Smoothest non-Disney Vekoma I've been on, but that's not saying much now is it I'm not sure what drugs that hornet is on, but I want some??? Also you can sort of see the strange restraints the ride has A colorful wet/dry slide with emphasis on the wet part (I was not prepared for that much water) This looked like some sort of dinghy drag race, I'm not really sure though, but "the time has come for you to lip-sync FOR YOUR LIFE" I decided to take a ride on the sky ride for some aerial views of the front half of the park Fantastic Journey is an old school haunted house dark ride. While not quite the same level as the one at Knoebels, still worth a ride Overview of Cyclone and an empty log going down the drop A look towards the entrance as well as the ferris wheel and weird monorail ride I was under the impression that Texas wasn't a huge fan of rainbows The park also has a mini golf course for people who are into that Is it a real amusement park without a scrambler? The last coaster, the star of the park, Texas Tornado. It is a Hopkins coaster, the second one I have been on with the other being at my former home park. Hopkins coasters are basically knock off Schwarzkopf's, and they ride like it. While they are in no way terrible rides, they just are as well designed (as you will see). I was surprised at how smooth the ride was, but the forces are a bit sudden, ruining the experience a little. This was the ride that was the hardest for me to get on. It needed 10 people for it to be able to operate, which immediately turned people away from waiting. I decided to give it another try as I was leaving and there was a couple who decided to stick it out with me. After another couple showed up, a worker who was checking on something with the ride op went around to other employees to try and get them to ride. We were able to get enough people and we got two laps in without getting off! Is this the right ride, the sign says Exas Tornado That is a slightly weird shape for a loop, but I guess it's fine... but I think someone screwed up here And these trains sure are something, they look suspiciously like PTC's, but they were actually quite comfy I end this update with a look at the brake run with some of the layout visible in the background. There is also a rapids ride that I decided against since I didn't want to get soaked and then sit in a car for several hours Again, thanks for reading and be sure to leave a comment! Next time...The Ozarks and amphibious vehicles

With my luck it's gonna be gone forever. This ride hates me

Thanks, I should have the next update up later this week Thank you. I haven't gotten to do much exploring of the area around here since I've been quite busy this summer, but I'll be here for several years so I'll have time to check everything out I don't particularly dislike windseekers and I will still go on them, but I don't find them all that exciting. The best ride I've had on one was when I was with someone who was scared of heights and was freaking out the whole time. I really liked that the star flyer wasn't as rigid since the seats can turn and move around like on a regular chair swing

Nathan's Summer Adventures This is a photo trip report of some of what I have done this summer. It will recount my move across the country, local exploration, a cruise, family fun, and of course some roller coaster and theme parks. I'll keep this first post updated with an index of all the new posts. Index: Move p1: Cliff's Amusement Park [scroll down] Move p2: Wonderland [Link] Cliff's Amusement Park: The Move Part 1 In the beginning of May, I graduated from college! I graduated from Arizona State University with a BSE in Materials Science and Engineering. Luckily I do not have to face the real world of adulthood and get a job just yet, as I am going to starting grad school in the fall. I will be going for a PhD in Materials Science at Cornell University! That means that I had to move from Phoenix all the way to upstate New York. I will definitely be in for quite a change, going to a school about one fourth the size of ASU, actually having to experience weather (Arizona doesn't have that, it is either HOT or not quite as hot), and a completely different culture, but I am super excited for it. Now, moving across the country is no simple task. My mom and I decided to drive it so that I would have my car there, and ended up making it into a road trip. The total journey was close to 2500 miles, and we stopped at 4 different parks and spent of couple days with my sister who lives in Ohio. Now looking at the route we took, I think many people can see a few parks that would have made sense to hit as well. I was wanting to go to Frontier City, but the since we were doing this trip the week before Labor Day, there was not a way to add the park in to fit the schedule of when we needed to be in New York since most of the parks were not open daily yet. We also skipped out on Six Flags St Louis (and also could have gone a little out of the way for Kings Island) because I had already had plans to go there later in the summer. Even though I will be doing Silver Dollar City again, I decided to do it on this trip because my mom has really been wanting to go to Dollywood, and while not the same, the parks do have the same feel to them. Now onto the park this update is about- Cliff's. We made our first stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit this fairly small park. I enjoyed the park quite a bit. Everything was kept up fairly well, there was a decent collection of rides, but the clientele definitely seems to be largely local kids/teenagers. The operations were a little slow (mostly because of the need to scan wristbands) but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. Plus, I've seen way worse operations at some other parks *cough* Six Flags Great America *cough*. Overall it's a nice park for a local crowd. If I was ever in the area again I would stop by and get a few rides at least of the Rattler, but I wouldn't go out of my way just for this park. Now picture time (My camera was dead and I didn't have a way to charge it until part way through this trip as the USB slot on it just stopped working so these are all from my phone and I didn't get that many anyways): This will not be a short journey at all My eye was immediately drawn to the park's sky screamer-type ride, Wind Rider. While it was only 115 feet tall, it was still more exciting than a windseeker imo Who doesn't love a classic Galaxi coaster The helixes did pick up a bit of speed and were quite fun Going down the drop The parks newest coaster Spin-O-Rama. It is one of the family figure-8 coasters that have been shown off at IAAPA Most of the ride it felt more like turning than spinning, but the kids really seemed to enjoy it The New Mexico Rattler is the parks signature attraction, and it the layout covers nearly half the park. The ride picks up quite a bit of speed, is quite intense in some sections, and has a little bit of airtime thrown in for good measure A roller coaster, not a roller coaster, and a carousel The coaster has a turn around above the kiddie section Going up... And going down I love a going drop tower, and this one looks like it takes you straight to heaven The Rattler's final helix circles around the drop tower. It also circles around the Wind Rider with a few tunnels underneath the walkways Log at the top of the drop Log at the bottom of the drop Log disappearing behind a wave of exceedingly blue water I got really excited at first when I saw this, but alas there was only ice cream and funnel cakes, but I guess that isn't a huge disappointment Next update, we see what north Texas has to offer. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment

It's always weird since I went to Phoenix Pride this year, which was back in April. But at least it isn't 100+ degrees out like it is there now

I don't understand how Hamilton tickets have gotten that much more expensive than they were last year. I knew they would go up since they added more seats for the lottery but that is ridiculous. And for the people that want to brag about it, they can't even say they saw it with the original cast anymore. And the whole thing is that the demographic of people that can afford to see the show are not the people that it was trying to target.

I so glad that to hear how great Kinky Boots was. I love Brendon Urie (Panic! is one of my favorite bands of all time, I've seen them in concert twice), so I bought tickets for august once I heard he was gonna be in it. I wanted to see the show last year, but it was dark on the day I had free so I saw Waitress instead, but I'm happy to get a chance now. And now that I live in upstate new york I feel like I will end up making many trips down to the city for Broadway shows

From twitter

I graduated with my bachelor's degree last week and will be starting grad school in the fall, which means I now have to move all the way across the country

It hit triple digits today, and I am so glad that I will only be living here for another couple weeks

That looks incredible. I was able to see the show last August and instantly fell in love with it, so this would be something really cool to get. Also, I got a ticket to see Brendon Urie form Panic! at the Disco in Kinky Boots on Broadway in August!

Great update as always Andy! It's funny, for how many times I've been to Orlando I still have never been to SeaWorld. I will definitely have to make it visit someday. Also, I totally agree with you about both forms of penguins.

If you go to this link, it has a program that you can download that you give it the blocks and stuff and it will generate a script for it. Not sure if it will let you do the transfer table, but it something to try

Just got accepted into one of my top picks for PhD programs!