Rugged One

I think the fact that they have concerts and the ticket price is considerably less than the competition probably has something to do with it. The fact that they are about to open an included waterpark won't hurt matters either. It really seems that they are going to have to constantly add to the park though to keep people interested.

So what is the deal with Little Titans? Do you need a kid to ride or what? I swear that I've seen pics and vids of people riding it without a kid. We tried last year and had the gate rather rudely slammed on us by the Greek kid operating the ride. I'm curious as to if they changed the policy once they became Mt. Olympus last year. We are going again this weekend and if they changed the policy, I'm not even going to try.

I've only ridden Goliath once (in the front seat) so I can't really speak a whole on that ride's particular drop. I did however ride Titan (an almost clone) at SFOT several times the other week and thought that it's first drop wasn't really that intense, compared to say the B&M or Intamin hyper drops. I was frankly expecting more. Like others have said, the helixes are probably the most intense part of the ride.

Thanks for the update on the dates guys. So it looks like both Friday and Saturday (July 1&2) are bad days to go. I'll have to maybe works things out to go on that Thursday instead.

How have lines for Tomb Raider been this year? I've heard everyone has caught on that it sucks and there isn't much of a wait anymore. True?

Great Adventure definitely has the great rides down but the atmosphere will depend on how crowds affect your definition of the word. I don't know when you plan on going but not that we are into June, there won't really be any "slow" days at the park. If you go during the week, it won't be as bad but you'll still be waiting in some lines.

It all depends on how many parks you have time to hit. Hersheypark, Dorneypark, and Knoebels all kind of form a little triangle that can be hit rather easily. Kennywood is a must but sits further away and is better done with a combo of Lakemont/Delgrossos/Idlewild or Conneaut/Waldameer. If your set on either Hershey or Dorney, I would go with Hershey (and not just because it's my home park ). While Dorney has a great steel collection, Hershey has more and better wood as well as some good steel coasters. Hershey also just seems to have more to do overall, has a better atmosphere, plus has Chocolate World next door. But heh, that's just my opinion. 8)

Thanks for the heads up on Canada Day. So, just guessing, what day would you guys say will be the worse? Canada Day or the day after on Saturday? I'm expecting big crowds on both but am looking for the lesser of two evils here.

I'm also interested in a good stategy for the park as I'll be there for the first time a week after you, on July 1st. The unfortunate thing in your case, is that your going to miss out on the golden hour of 10-11, where you can knock out some of the low capactity or popular coasters (like IJST) right off the bat. Hmm, after looking at their calender, it appears that the park is open until 10:30pm. The only day of the year where they are open that late. Gee, I wonder if they are expecting some crowds?

I guess we'll find out in August, when the shipping containers full of track are supposed to show up. I assume that some kind of site prep work would perhaps begin before that as well?

Dude, whatever!

Here's Rat Tums taking a ride on the Ozark Wildcat with us. Wheeeeeee!

Elissa, could you please change mine to Please don't feed the donkey. Thanks.

Dude, who are you talking to?

Well, Myrtle Beach is the beach destination of choice for most in Ohio. I remember when I lived in OH for a couple of years, that's were everyone talked about going. To Myrtle Beach for vacation. I guess the Great Lakes don't cut it.

Man, I wish some of the guys at my work had been as kind during my first few years on the job.

I've ridden both TTD and Kingda Ka and I would say that the most intense part is the launch. Especially if you've never experienced a launched coaster before. While the launch doesn't pack quite the punch as some other launched coasters I've found that the rate of speed can be a little intimidating on your first ride. It just seems to accelerate faster and faster until you don't know if it is going to stop. As for the heighth, it seems like it's 400+ feet at the top but not going up or down as they happen so quickly. Trust me, coming from someone who was scared of coasters his whole life and didn't ride his first one until he was 27, go for it and have fun!

That's cool. Francis Marion is about the only place you would want to live on the east side of town. Yeah, I used to live on the extreme west side of town, so it used to take me about 20 minutes longer to get there (it really takes forever to get through town). There were a couple of times that I left for the beach from my work (down the road at Roche Carolina) and I could make it in about 40-45 minutes. I used to live in Florence for about 6 1/2 year before moving back here to south central PA. You can go ahead and insert a token "yankee go home" jab now if you like.

Rampage for like 3 hours straight during ERT last Saturday night.

Does anyone know off the top of their heads how tall the first loop on Hulk is?

So what your asking about are rides that are underrated in the sense that other people bitch about them but you like them for one reason or another? If that's the case I'd have to go with the Hersheypark Wildcat. While it can get rough in the back, the front is a top-notch, awesome ride.

Well if you know anyone that is in ACE, but an ACE card at the ticket window will get you half price admission to Carowinds and PKD. Also, both parks have fast food joints right outside their gates that might have coupons. I believe Carowinds has a Hardees and PKD a Burger King. I don't know about any discounts to Dollywood. I know that they don't do anykind of twilight rate or anything like that. Hopefully someone else can help you out with any discount coupons. I've only stayed over in the area once and the hotel wasn't super cheap, so again maybe some else can help you out in that area.

Like others have said, the proposed theme park is to go into Fantasy Harbor and be the first Hard Rock Cafe park. I don't what the latest is with this but as of last year, the project was supposed to be completed by 2006. I believe they were have trouble getting the funding for it at some point, so who knows when it will get built. The redevelopment of the Pavillion is basically replacing it with a upscale shopping/hotels/entertainment area with a roller coaster thrown in to remind everyone that the Pavillion used to be there. So they want to replace one of the few remaining seaside amusement parks that has character and history with the town and replace it with the same crap that you can find in Las Vegas. It's no wonder the Mayor is fighting this all the way. Epcotlova, what side of Florence do you live on that it only takes you 50 minutes to get there. Southside?

Great update guys. I'm glad you finally made it back to Branson and were able to check out, what is in my opinion one of the most underrated woodies in the country, the Ozark Wildcat. We enjoyed it much more than Thunderhead.

I was at the park last Saturday (5/14) and had to deal with sickening crowds. The key is getting there early. We arrived a little after 9 am, got into the park and quickly rode Loch Ness Monster without a wait. Right after we got off at 9:30, they dropped the rope next to Nessie that leads down to the river and up into Germany. Pretty much walked right into the Darkastle preshow, did the ride, and ran back around for a second one. The line moves so slowly though that as we waited for the second ride, the line slowly started to build. We figured 2 rides was good enough (ymmv) and then started working our way around to Big Bad Wolf, Alpie, and Apollo's Chariot with light to moderate waits. As soon as it got towards noon though all of the coasters queues filled up completely (with all coasters running 3 trains) and stayed that way for the rest of the day. We just chilled out during that time, got some food, did some shopping, took in some shows, and went to beer school (make sure you sign up early). Later in the evening the lines went down and we were able to get in some more rides with moderate lines. Sorry if this sounds like pretty much like a trip report but this plan worked out for us on a very busy May Saturday, which is probably what you will experience as well. Btw, I don't believe there are any more credits around the PKD, BGW area. I think Virginia Beach used to have a spinning mouse but it is gone.