[SoCal Trip Indecision]

So I ended up mostly following my last plan.

 

After spending Thursday evening at Knott's, I drove down to San Diego Friday morning. Had a delicious breakfast at Snooze before heading to the zoo. It wasn't really crowded at all, and I was able to see everything I wanted to by 1:00. I really enjoyed the zoo. It was a lot of walking, but the animals were super cool.

 

(I don't have time to re-post all of my pictures, but if you want to see them, they're all on my twitter:

)

 

After that, I headed over to Sea World, and got a couple rides in on Manta (it was a walk-on basically all day). I never thought a 30ft tall coaster could be so much fun, but I loved it. Easily the best 30ft tall coaster ever. Infinitely re-rideable. I managed to fit 6 or 7 rides in on the day. I skipped Wild Arctic because I really didn't like the one in Orlando, but I did do Journey to Atlantis, despite one of my fundamental rules of coastering being "no water rides in street clothes". It was a cool and not-crowded day, so I ended up with a boat to myself. I managed to only get minimally splashed from the big drop (which was fine by me), only to get immediately drenched by some jackwagon with a water cannon. You know, the 25-cent water cannons they put right outside of water rides so spectators can try to hit the riders. Well, I was the only person on my boat, and some random dude decided he wanted to soak me. I'll admit, he had impeccable aim. But then I had to float/ride through the entire rest of the ride before I could get off and make some sort of an attempt at drying myself.

 

As for the animal exhibits, I did feed the manta rays. They were bigger than the ones they have in Orlando, and the larger ones were really aggressive, but it was still cool. I ended up at the dolphin exhibit right when they were doing the interaction program, and getting to watch that was really cool as well. I saw the Pets Rule Christmas show at the suggestion of the girl at the ticket counter. It was alright, but I didn't think it was terribly spectacular. Shamu's Christmas Miracles seemed to be a bit heavy-handed with the "having kids is the best thing ever" message; I would have hated to be someone in that crowd who was struggling (or couldn't) have kids. No trigger warnings, either. I kept waiting for the whale action to go somewhere, but it stayed at a really slow, drawn-out pace. It also was only okay. My favorite of the shows was actually Clyde & Seamore's Christmas Special. It was silly but actually really well-done and engaging.

 

After I left Sea World, I went over to Belmont park for a couple laps on the Giant Dipper. I don't think Giant Dipper South holds a candle to its northern brother. Belmont park was a ghost town, and I was really surprised at how tiny of a little park it was. (At one point I had thought about trying to go back to the zoo, but I felt like I was able to see everything I wanted to that morning, so I just went to the hotel and called it a night.)

 

Saturday, I spent the whole day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It was amazing. I highly highly highly recommend it. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. I ended up doing the Tigers & Friends Behind-the-Scenes Safari, as well as the Caravan Safari. I got to meet a porcupine & victorian crown pigeon (and watch the [male] pigeon give its mating call to its [male] keeper, which embarrassed the crap out of him to the delight of everyone else). I got to feed Okapi, Giraffes, and a family of Rhinos. I got to see a tiger dig through a cardboard box for a giant cow bone to gnaw on. I learned so much about a ton of really cool animals, and this paragraph doesn't do it justice. The whole safari park is huge. They have so much space for these animals that it puts every other park I've ever visited to shame. All-in-all, it was a really cool day at a really cool park, and I would do it again.

 

I had at one thought about doing a shorter amount of time at the Safari Park and trying to cram a Knott's visit into the evening. I did end up going to get a Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner, but I was so stuffed afterwards that I decided trying to ride any coasters would be a terrible idea. From there, I got back in my car and drove up towards Magic Mountain.

 

Sunday was spent at Magic Mountain. Apparently they had a gold passholder early entry event at 10:00 that I didn't know about (didn't get through the gate till around 10:10) for Full Throttle. By the time I got off, the GP was starting to enter, so I headed for the ride I really really really wanted to ride: X2. Which was closed. Due to wind. Oh, and LL:DoD, Scream, Riddler's, and Ninja were also closed for wind; none of them would end up opening all day. This was unfortunate because X2 is such a unique coaster, Ninja is my favorite surviving Arrow suspended coaster, Riddler's is tied with GA Scorcher for my favorite stand-up coaster, and LL:DoD while not the best drop ride ever is still really fun. So I would just have to make do.

 

I headed for Tatsu next, and after about a 20 min wait, rode it in the front. I still don't get what people like about this coaster. It doesn't do anything for me. I strongly prefer SFOG's S:UF because its pretzel loop actually transitions from positive to negative g's (the best part of any flying coaster, imho) and actually interacts really well with the ground. Tatsu is just a bunch of flips and turns up above the trees. Maybe that works for some people, but it's not my cup of tea. I did also ride it in the back later in the day to make sure that didn't change my opinion; it didn't. Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I wait more than 20 min for it? No.

 

I (mistakenly) believed Superman was closed due to wind, so I headed to Apocalypse. I really enjoy Apocalypse. I can see how it's in need of some track work, but I never found it to be painful, either in the front or the back. I love the relentless speed; I can't think of another wooden coaster that has that kind of pacing with no real lulls until it's over. Really fun ride.

 

After that, I saw Superman operating, so I walked up Samuri Summit to get there (holy crap, that's steep). I then noticed it was an hour wait and decided I wasn't going to deal with that for the rest of the day, so I went down to the front of the park and bought a flash pass. I then headed back up and rode Superman 3x nearly back-to-back before the flash pass updated with a longer wait time. Superman is definitely a fun ride (especially if you don't have to wait very long). Because I was able to re-ride it so much (6 or 7 times total on the day), I 'd say it was my favorite of the rides that were operating Sunday.

 

Next was Goldrusher (2 min w/ flash pass). I didn't remember it being as much fun as it was, so that was a pleasant surprise. Followed that up with Green Lantern. Every time I ride it, I swear I'll never do it again, but every time I'm there, I end up riding it. I never saw a single car flip all the way around; the closest anything got was a half-flip coming into the breaks (saw it twice). My car did not flip at all.

 

I skipped Batman because I've ridden all of the North America Batman clones (except SWSA) and didn't feel like the wait. So Goliath was next. In the back, you get some air going down the first drop, and then again on the lone airtime hill, but other than that it's all positive G's. In the front, you lose the air going down the first drop, but the airtime hill is much stronger. Throughout the day, I had several completely different experiences with the MCBR. One time I was barely slowed; another brought the train to a complete stop. Go figure. I think I ended up riding Goliath 4 or 5 times total throughout the day. (In between my first and 2nd rides, I went and credit-whored on the 3 of the 4 kiddie coasters I was allowed to ride.)

 

After that was lunch at the Full Throttle sports bar thingy. The wings were actually halfway decent, but the service was terrible.

 

I headed up the Orient Express and rode Superman again before coming back down, hitting Revoution (RESTORE REVOLUTION!!) and Viper (which was having problems with some of the OTSR's coming open ). After that, it was back up the hill to Tatsu, then 2x on Apocalypse, and another 2x on Goliath. I bought 2 FP reservations for FT for 7 and 7:30, and when I got off after the 2nd one I ran into a security guard that I had talked to earlier; she asked me how it was, and I told her I enjoyed it, but I had a FP reservation to hit Superman one more time and I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it back down to the FT line before they closed at 8. She told me if I managed to make it up to Superman & back by 8, she would personally walk me to the front of the line. So I booked it. OE up the hill, sprinted to Superman, rode it, sprinted back, OE down, sprinted back to FT & made it before 8....but she was gone. Somehow the ride op at the line believed my story and when the guard didn't show, had one of the other ops walk me up to the station. And to top it all off, somehow my night ended with half the station (and the op over the loudspeaker) chanting my name. Don't ask me how, but it ended up being a really cool way to cap off the trip. I want to say I ended with 26 coaster rides on the day. Not too shabby, if I say so myself.

 

All-in-all, a good trip. Thanks to you all for your help and suggestions!

[SoCal Trip Indecision]

So I ended up spending an hour at Knott's tonight and managed to ride Montie, Xcelerator 4 times without having to leave the station, Coast Rider, Calico Mine Ride, and Silver Bullet. Not too shabby, IMHO.

 

Here's my current plan for the weekend. There are still a few holes, but I feel much better about it now than I did at my last iteration:

 

FRIDAY:

Get up early to take my coworker to the airport at 6

Drive down to San Diego (1.5-2 hrs)

Eat breakfast (currently considering the R-Gang Eatery & Snooze)

Get to the Zoo for opening at 9; stay till around 11:30 or so

Drive over to Sea World

Stay at Sea World from around noonish till close at 6 (I'll probably still try to hit Manta first & end the day with the aforementioned shows)

Once I'm done there, I'll head back to the Zoo till they close at 8

Afterwards, I'll head over to Belmont Park to get a couple rides in on the Giant Dipper since they're open till 10.

Still trying to figure out what I want to do for dinner.

My hotel for the night is fairly close by.

 

SATURDAY:

Get up & eat breakfast at the hotel

Drive the 45min or so to the Safari Park to get there for opening at 9

I still haven't decided if I'd be better off doing the Tiger & Friends Safari or the Deluxe Caravan Safari. I'll probably wait till I get there to decide.

Since I was at Knott's today, I don't feel too much pressure to allot a ton of time to it Saturday, so I'll probably just play things by ear as far as when to head that direction.

The drive to Knott's should take 1.5-2 hrs, depending on traffic

I know I'll be having a Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner; I'll also want to hit up a few rides while I'm there (may as well, right?); exact timing/order is still very much up in the air

Drive to hotel (exact location TBD)

 

SUNDAY:

Get up & eat breakfast at the hotel

Drive to SFMM to get there by 10 for opening at 10:30. (will depend on where I end up staying Saturday night)

Spend all day at SFMM (10:30-8), likely with a flash pass to really maximize my time

Drive to hotel (exact location TBD, but likely much nearer SNA than SFMM--don't want to deal with too much AM rush hour traffic)

 

MONDAY:

Get up early & head to the airport by 6ish to make my 8:30 flight

[SoCal Trip Indecision]

So,

 

Much thanks to everyone who offered their suggestions and advice. (And a warning that this is a fairly longwinded post)

 

After thinking about it, I'm fairly confident I want to focus mostly on San Diego (sorry, no Tijuana), but I do still want to find a way to get some good coastering in. At one point, I was thinking of trying to find a way to swing up to Magic Mountain on the Sunday, but I just don't think that's feasible. 150+miles of LA traffic (and that's just 1-way!) doesn't seem like fun.

 

So, that being said, I do think I might like to try to swing up to Knott's Sunday evening so I'll be back up nearer to SNA for my flight Monday.

 

 

Friday morning, I'll probably have to drop my coworker off at the airport around 6AMish, so following that I'd probably start heading down towards San Diego. Since that's only about a 90-ish minute drive and Sea World doesn't open till 11:00, I'll be looking for something interesting to spend my morning doing. Are there any cool attractions/stops/photo ops/etc. on the way down to San Diego? Any popular/cool/unique/awesome breakfast joints to check out? I'm open to other suggestions as well.

 

 

So Sea World San Diego will be Friday 11-6. Being the coaster junkie, my first priority will be as many rides on Manta as possible. I wasn't the biggest fan of Wild Arctic at SWO (don't generally love motion simulators), and I don't know that I'd really want to get soaked on Journey to Atlantis, so I'm thinking most of the rest of my day will be spent looking at animals & seeing shows. I'm considering either the Animal Spotlight Tour or the Penguins Up-Close Tour. I might could have been convinced to spring for both, but their times make them mutually exclusive. Thoughts?

 

Assuming they keep their show schedule roughly the same, I figure I'll end my day with Clyde & Seamore's Christmas Special and then Shamu Christmas Miracles.

 

After that, I could head over to Belmont Park. I don't know that they really have anything that interests me beyond the Giant Dipper (not really a fan of spinning rides), but I'll go check it out since they're open till 10PM. Anything I don't know about that I should make sure to check out while I'm there? It doesn't really look like there's much there. I'm also open to dinner recommendations.

 

 

 

Right now, I'm thinking of spending all day Saturday at the San Diego Zoo (open 9-8). It looks to me that there's enough walking around that I could probably fill most if not all of a day just trying to go around and see everything (and I'm the sort of guy that likes to see all the exhibits and things). I'm also toying with the idea of doing the Early Morning with Pandas tour. Not sure if anything else is really jumping out at me.

 

 

I could theoretically swap Friday and Saturday's itineraries, but while that would give me something to do Friday morning, I would imagine Sea World would be more unpleasant on Saturday than the zoo, no?

 

 

Sunday, I'm thinking of hitting up the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It looks interesting, but it also looks like upcharge attraction after upcharge attraction. For anyone who has been there/done them, what's worth it? And what's worth skipping? I don't necessarily feel like I'd have to do everything because I'm a Busch Gardens Tampa passholder and get to see their safari animal attractions (and I'll probably be back down at BGT again before the end of the year), but I'm sure there are new/different/interesting things that the SDZFP has beyond BGT, right?

 

Right now I'm looking at the Caravan Adventure (or Deluxe Adventure) Safaris, but I have by no means made up my mind and am still looking for suggestions. As cool as the Flightline Safari looks, I don't know that it'd be worth $75. If I did a Behind-the-Scenes Safari, I think I'd do the Tiger & Friends one, but I don't know that I'd want to spend my entire day on upcharge safaris and not get to see/experience all the stuff that's included in the base ticket price.

 

Since they're open 9-5, I think I'd be there open to close, and then at 5ish, I could head out and drive towards Knotts. That looks to be about a ~90min drive, so I figure the earliest I'd likely get into Knotts would be 7ish. Here's where I have a big decision to make. The last time I visited Knotts, I did not have a chicken dinner. If I decide to go that route, I'd probably lose a full hour or so of coastering time. The park is open till 10, but Mrs. Knotts is only open till 9.

 

My priority of rides is roughly Xcelerator, Montezooma's Revenge, Calico Mine Ride, Silver Bullet, then whatever of Pony Express/Coast Rider/Log Ride my time/mood permit. (Would probably want to get an early ride in on XCelerator and then close out the night on it to maximize my ride opportunities.)

 

 

Then Monday morning, I'd want to find somewhere for a really nice, big breakfast (preferably something I wouldn't be able to find back home) before heading to the airport (Orange County/John Wayne, not LAX), so if anyone has any good suggestions for that, I'd be grateful.

 

 

 

If I do the above, I think this would end up being one of my slower-paced trips I've ever done (for comparison, on my first LA trip, I flew in on Wednesday, did Knotts, Disneyland/DCA, USH, SFMM, and went to a NASCAR race before flying back home on Sunday; I also had a stretch last summer where in an 11-day span, I drove from Atlanta to Orlando, did Fun Spot Orlando, all 4 Disney parks, both Disney waterparks, USO/IOA, Wet'n'Wild, SWO, Aquatica, drove to Tampa for BGT & back, spent 2.5 days at an industry tradeshow, drove back from Orlando to Atlanta, and also read all 7 Harry Potter books cover-to-cover). It looks like it'd be a lot of walking and a lot of animals, but I wonder if I'm over-budgeting time at some of these places and taking it too slow. Would I be better off trying to do like rcdude suggested and squeeze the zoo into Friday morning, SWSD in the afternoon, and Belmont that night? That would free up an entire day in my schedule, either to see some of the historic stuff in San Diego or try to squeeze in Sunday at SFMM. It'd also mean skipping some of the add-on encounters and saving some money, but at the expense of potentially awesome experiences.

 

 

If I'm honest, though, my biggest worry is that I'm going to end up spending an arm and a leg on this thing. My BGT annual pass will get me into SWSD half off, but that's still $43. The Zoo/Safari Park combo ticket is another $86, plus $12 parking at the Safari park. Belmont is $6/ride or ~$30 for an unlimited pass. Knotts and SFMM would be free parking & admission with my season passes. So that's $171 before gas, hotels, food, or any of the add-ons.

 

The Sea World add-ons I'm considering are either $45 or $50. The Zoo Panda add-on would be $89. The Safari Park Caravan add-ons are $105 or $155, and the Tiger one is another $80. If I did all of that, I'm potentially up to over $500 in just park admissions and animal encounter add-ons. That's crazy to me. But my FOMO is making it hard to try to trim that back.

 

 

 

I'm usually very decisive with my trip planning, but this one has been hard for me to weigh all the pros and cons of all my different options. I just don't think I've hit the optimal point of cool experiences for the right price without missing out on essentials, and I need help to finish figuring this all out.

 

Thanks again for all the help & suggestions!

[SoCal Trip Indecision]

So I'm going to be in the LA area in a few weeks for work and plan to take a couple of days at the tail end of the trip to just have fun, but I cannot for the life of me decide on what I want to do with myself.

 

We'll be getting to LA probably Sunday night the 14th and working Mon-Thurs. I'll have to drive my coworker (from our hotel near Irvine) to the airport either Friday morning at the buttcrack of dawn to catch a ~6AM flight or midday for a later one, but then I'll have the rest of Friday, all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and about half of Monday if I want it. (Alternately, I could cut it short and come back Sunday night.)

 

I've been to LA twice before. The first time in Spring 2012 I did Knotts, Disneyland/DCA, USH, and SFMM. The second time was last year and just Knotts & SFMM.

 

 

 

Option 1--The Cheap Route:

I have a Six Flags Gold Season Pass and a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass, so I could get into Magic Mountain & Knotts for free. Apocalypse and Xcelerator were closed the last time I was in town, so I could stand to get some rides on those. Plus it wouldn't hurt to get a few rides in on Tatsu to try to see if I can figure out why everybody seems to prefer it so much over SFOG's SUF. That being said, I don't HAVE to visit either park on this trip; I'll for sure come back to SFMM at some point in the future to ride TC, and I can live without Knotts (or rush through it and hit all the highlights in a couple hours and be done).

 

Pros: Cheap, Good Coasters

Cons: Nothing really new

 

 

 

Option 2--The Inner Child:

My only trip to Disneyland/DCA was in spring of 2012, which was before Cars Land opened, and Matterhorn Bobsleds were closed for renovations. I also didn't get to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, and I think I only got one ride in on California Screamin'. I was at the parks from 8AM to midnight, but it still felt like I rushed through and missed some stuff, so that plus the new additions would mean I would have some new experiences for sure. That being said, even a 1-day parkhopper is $150 plus parking, so it certainly wouldn't be cheap.

 

Pros: New Rides

Cons: Cost, Rides are more mild, Being a single guy at Disney is always kind of weird

 

 

 

Option 3--The One With All the Animals:

I've been to Sea World Orlando, but Sea World San Diego's Manta coaster looks intriguing for sure. SWSD doesn't have really any other rides that interest me, but I do generally enjoy animal exhibits, and Sea World's shows tend to be pretty cool. I have a BGT annual pass, so admission for me would be half price. I could also hit up the San Diego Zoo (and Safari Park?). Not sure if it'd be worthwhile to visit Belmont Park since I was just at SCBB a few months ago and from what I understand, their Giant Dippers are supposed to be very similar.

 

Pros: Lots of cool animals (and options for animal encounters)

Cons: Cost (the animal encounters can add up quick), Not much in the way of thrills

 

 

 

Option 4--Outside the Box:

Maybe it's time I did something other than theme parks (gasp!). Are there other things in SoCal I should consider doing? I do enjoy visiting cool and/or historically significant sites for sure (as an example, earlier this year I visited the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hoover Dam), but I'm not really *that* into a lot of the "Hollywood" stuff.

 

Pros: Learn/see something new

Cons: No coasters

 

 

 

Option 5--All (or more realistically some) of the Above:

Should I try for some combination of the above? Take bits and pieces from each? They do have that Southern California CityPASS, though I wouldn't really want to re-visit USH (not my favorite park by any means).

 

Pros: May be the best of several worlds

Cons: Could get pricey, May require lots of driving, May still miss a bunch of stuff

 

 

 

I'm functionally looking at Friday Dec 19th (the morning may or may not be in play, depending on my coworker's flight) through Monday Dec 22nd (up till around lunchtime or so, depending on my flight).

 

In case you can't tell, I have no idea what to do at this point. I am open to any suggestions you all may have.

 

Thanks!

[Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)]

I'm thinking of trying to make a trek down to Tampa sometime between Thanksgiving and the new year, depending on work schedules and stuff. What does the park get like around the holidays?

[Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG) Discussion Thread]

Went to the park on Sunday. I won't post a full TR, but I will comment on the woodies:

 

Cyclone was running *awesome* in the magic seat. No real roughness at all. Absolutely fantastic all around.

 

GASM, on the other hand, was miserable. Felt like it was running on square wheels and going through potholes. I've never understood the people that really enjoy this ride as I've never noticed any substantial airtime in the front or back. Feels like it traverses the course just a bit too slow for any real airtime. And then the brakes at the end are unnecessarily forceful.

[The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread]

^ That's probably exactly what it's gonna be like. lol.

[Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread]

Mean Streak actually ran very well last weekend, but I agree that it's probably only a matter of time. Problem is, as much as they've spent re-tracking it the last 2 or 3 years, giving it a 10 million RMC treatment would add up to being the cost of a new ride.

 

Could they just topper track it, maybe with a little re-profiling, and turn the trims off?

[Weird Roller Coaster Dreams]

I had a dream where I was on Goliath @ SFOG with my family and they didn't check all the restraints before dispatching the train. And then I discovered that mine wasn't latching and if I pulled it down, it clicked but then slowly re-opened on its own. I was convinced I was going to be the 1st person to die on a B&M.

[Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread]

off topic but

 

the bat

banshee

invertigo

drop dower

delerium

that bungee jumping thing

 

they should get rid of congo falls and rename it "Dangley Zone."

 

"Hiiiiiiiiighwaaaay tooooo the DANGLEY ZONE!"

[Walk Of Shame? Theme Park Wise]

Tried riding El Toro in the last row back in April and got denied, but knowing that each seat is calibrated differently, I asked the supervisor if I could try a different row and managed to fit in the third-from-last row on the left.

 

Never heard of that before. Maybe I shouldn't have tried the back row for my first ride (had to get stapled to fit; did not enjoy it).

[Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread]

So...where will the name Centurion go?

 

The Twelve Colonies of Kobol!

[The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread]

Similar question to ^:

 

I figure crowds will probably be quite large, but I figure it's worth the ask. I may be out there the week before halloween, and I might have the opportunity to stay for the weekend. How many people actually go to the park on halloween itself and the sat/sun thereafter? Is it insanely crowded? If it's pretty bad, do the people going for the fright fest stuff take away from the lines for the coasters at all? Thanks.

[The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread]

I figure crowds will probably be quite large, but I figure it's worth the ask. I may be out there the week before halloween, and I might have the opportunity to stay for the weekend. How many people actually go to the park on halloween itself and the sat/sun thereafter? Is it insanely crowded? If it's pretty bad, do the people going for the fright fest stuff take away from the lines for the coasters at all? Thanks.

[Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG) Discussion Thread]

So I found out today that this past weekend was Military Appreciation Day (free admission for active duty military and up to 3 dependents). But apparently no one in their PR department was thinking because Sunday was also Muslim Friends and Family Day. I work with a former Marine who was deployed to Iraq and went to the park on Sunday. He said it was incredibly awkward.

[Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread]

I guess it's official now. Mantis is getting the floorless conversion & being renamed Rougarou:

 

[Parks that Don't Get Crowded]

Busch Gardens Tampa outside the Summer months never seems to be crowded. I can't remember the last time that I didn't walk on to Kumba.

 

I've seen Kumba have an hour wait. And then a couple hours later in the day it'll be a walk-on again. The only coaster at BGT I've ever seen with a substantial line is Cheetah Hunt, which tends to stay at 45 mins or more.

 

The great thing about BGT is that there are a several different (but equally valid) ways to hit the park without having to wait in too many lines, even on a pretty busy Saturday. And if you ever get to the point where you don't want to wait for something, there are tons of great animal exhibits to go see, and then you can come back and hit the coaster later when the line is shorter.

[Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread]

I just saw a picture the park posted on twitter and was shocked at how much they already had tracked. Also, that drop is all kinds of steep.

[What was your first Intamin Coaster]

Actually had to think about it for a while. I knew I rode TTD in 2006, but then I remembered I rode SFA's S:ROS a couple years prior.

[Article about Jeff Henry and Verruckt]

Great article. Always love the stuff on Grantland. They're quite different from your typical sports site.

[Post your milestone coasters]

I know my #1 was the GA Cyclone at SFOG. I do not know my 50th, 100th, 150th, 200th, or 250th coasters, but I do know that my 300th was Banshee at KI last weekend.

[Needed Advise on an East Coast Trip]

Dont count out Mammoth and Wildebeest at Holiday World there great rides maybe even better then the coasters

 

This. Holiday World IMHO is as much about the waterpark as the dry park, if not more so.

[Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)]

I got this in the mail the other day! I'm going to try to go one of the days before work.

 

 

^ must find excuse to be down in Tampa one of the next few weekends... (starts plotting)

[Which wooden coasters needs refurbishments/improvements.]

The Voyage needs topper track throughout and trains that can actually articulate properly through the course. I know the Timber liner experiment failed (and I'm curious if anyone knows why), but I think this is what that ride really needs.

[Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread]

For all the speculation about the path to Thunderbird--

 

There is a new concrete pathway that has been poured that looks to be for Thunderbird. Said pathway connects directly to the Hyena Falls pathway basically right above the tunnel.