rcdude

^This! Knott's is no longer what it was back when the Knott family ran the park, and in today's market it probably would not be competitive enough. There was a period in the mid-2000s where Cedar Fair was going the more generic route, but over the past few years the park has been morphing into a new identity with a focus on the theme park roots but a modern combination of thrill attractions and family attractions. While it would have been out of place in the Knott family era, Silver Bullet is a perfect fit for this new identity, as it symbolizes how far thrill rides have come since Knott's opened the world's first successful inverting coaster while sitting right next to some of the most historic theme park attractions in the world. As far as a new coaster goes, I do think Knott's will add a major thrill coaster in the next few years (my guess is 2017) and I do think it will tower over portions of the park, but I don't think it will totally destroy what is there or seem out of place in modern Knott's. I've got no idea what type of coaster it might be, but I'm sure Cedar Fair will come up with a creative idea to give the park a unique thrill without dramatically changing the feel of the park. They've got room, or they will make room.

Every existing RMC has them, so I would be shocked if Twisted Colossus didn't. Shouldn't make much difference in the ride experience, so not a big deal.

are you saying they can't dispatch trains until 1:45? i've seen them dispatch faster than that. the clock in the station is 1 minute and a couple fridays ago, they were actually decently fast. i'd guess just over the minute to 1:30 the 3 times i rode that day. although, that's not usually my experience with timing. Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the SFGAm Goliath. SFMM's Goliath was a capacity machine before the seatbelts were added, with the crew regularly hitting the 60 second clock and competing with Viper for the highest daily throughput. Unfortunately, from what I've heard it is now difficult for them to get even 1,000 pph on SFMM's Goliath due to seatbelts and guests slowing them down.

^The ride will have four and will normally use three. I would not be surprised if they tried running with four right at the beginning just to maximize throughput but they need to be quicker than 1:50 to get a significant benefit from the fourth train (realistically they'd probably need 1:15 dispatches to justify it).

^Oh yeah, forgot about that. I don't remember what order we ended up in, though I remember being behind Nathan as I ran into him a couple times in the really dark sections. Now that I know what the castle is like, I think it'd be a lot of fun to go through there alone and see how long it takes to find the way out.

I thought I heard 110 seconds (1:50), which makes a lot more sense for a 3:40 ride. 1:10 would be a very optimistic goal with two restraints, but 1:50 should be possible. Based on watching Goliath operate, it is limited to about 800 pph due to the minimum dispatch interval (about 1:45). X2 can get close to 900 pph when the crew is hitting the clock every time, which tends to happen when the park is busy. I would not be surprised to see Twisted Colossus pull in numbers in the 800-900 pph range, but unless the park actually uses all four trains and has a crew capable of 60 second dispatches it's not likely to get much above that. No, it's not going to be a capacity machine, but if the crew is on top of things it should be good enough. Remember, Full Throttle's theoretical capacity is only 800 pph and I doubt the ride has ever gotten above 700 pph (I'm guessing it probably gets around 500-600 on average).

I agree. They may not be the biggest or the best, but they are one of the role models of the industry and most other major parks could look to them for how to do a family-friendly park right. Yeah, we were told the second Legend train had to be sent back to PTC and probably wouldn't return until 2015. It still wasn't a terrible wait (about 20 minutes), but that was still the longest wait of the day. The park management also said the placement of Hyena Falls and Thunderbird was intentional, and while it may not make sense soon it will once their master plan develops into reality. I'd love to see them add a couple wet flats (such as a Mack Twist n' Splash) in the area where Pilgrims Plunge was and add 2-3 more thrilling but not extreme flats (such as a Frisbee) throughout the park. Okay, time for the next park. This was one of the two wildcards of the trip (along with Kentucky Kingdom) in that I didn't really know what to expect. With Kentucky Kingdom, the park was fun but didn't quite meet my expectations (in its current form...might change in a couple years). Indiana Beach...completely different story. Trip 2, Part 6: Indiana Beach Originally, our departure time for Indiana Beach was 8:00 A.M. However, due to arriving an hour late the previous night, the bus voted to cut our 90 minutes of ERT in half in exchange for extra sleep. Ordinarily, I would have voted for ERT, but after a very late night on top of an early morning/late night with little sleep, I was glad for the extra time. It ended up not making too much of a difference, as Indiana Beach was mostly dead and we still had more than enough time for the park. Indiana Beach: On every trip, there is always one park that I prejudge as a throwaway park. For this particular trip, Indiana Beach ended up being that park. The park does have some notable rides, but hasn't had the greatest luck in recent history with constant threats of closing, and with their inability to get all new for 2014 rides open on time I didn't have high hopes for the park. On the way there, the park gave Robb a call and informed him that Hoosier Hurricane had been closed for state mandated maintenance and would not be available for ERT (from the looks of it, it looked like it might be down for the season). Not a good sign. Upon arrival, however, we were greeted by the park owner, who took us inside to get wristbands. We were also given a card with $5 of cool cash, a nice bonus. Finally, the park made up for the closure of Hoosier Hurricane by opening up Tig'rr Coaster during ERT, in addition to all three of the park's other coasters (Cornball Express, Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain, and Steel Hawg). Although we only had about 45 minutes for ERT and the coasters are all low capacity, I still managed to ride all three and get several rides on Cornball Express before ERT ended. After ERT, I joined up with Caroline, Judd, and Nathan (as usual) and spent some time exploring the park. Due to a lack of crowds (partially caused by cold weather), we managed to explore a majority of the park in only an hour. At 12:30 P.M. we had a group lunch in the Skyroom. For once, lunch was something different that the standard for this trip, and it was quite good. Indiana Beach gave everyone a souvenir cup and pin as well, and I.B. Crow was on hand for photo opportunities. Following lunch, it was time for TPR takeover of Fascination. I've never played this game before, and I'm not one for carnival games, but Fascination is a lot of fun. It's somewhat of a combination of a roll the ball racing game, a redemption game, and bingo. At only $0.50 per play, it's also very affordable. I spent around $10 on the game and ended up with two wins, which I used to get some candy. After I finished with Fascination, I spent my remaining hour and a bit exploring the park more and riding some of the standard flats positioned over water. At 3:30 everyone gathered at the south entrance for the official Mini New Hotness group photo (including I.B. Crow), then it was time to get back on the bus for our drive to Chicago. Coaster Reviews: While not an outstanding collection, Indiana Beach's coaster collection is solid and contains some very unique rides. While I wouldn't consider anything at the park travel-worthy, nothing at the park is a bad ride and every one of their coasters is memorable in some way. While it is always disappointing to miss a major credit, I will say that Hoosier Hurricane is probably the park's least noteworthy coaster, so if you have to miss one it's an acceptable one to miss. Steel Hawg: Having ridden my first El Loco at the Adventuredome one month prior, I was excited to try the original version of the ride. My feelings on the coaster are pretty similar to that of the Adventuredome's: good, but not great. I do prefer the layout of Steel Hawg slightly as it is less repetitive, but the cars on El Loco are a vast improvement. If pressed for an answer, I'd probably pick Steel Hawg as my favorite, but both are practically tied in my rankings. It's just a shame Indiana Beach only uses two cars on this ride, as I would have liked to ride more than once. C+ Cornball Express: Now here's an excellent wood coaster. It doesn't look like much, but the ride has tons of airtime, decent forces, buzz bars, and isn't too rough...and that's all just the first few trains of the day. I imagine this ride could be insane on a warm afternoon. Unfortunately, I only rode during morning ERT and based on those rides it just missed my top ten woodies, but Cornball Express is still easily the best ride at Indiana Beach and, in my opinion, better than the more well known Legend and Raven at Holiday World. It's a shame the ride is short, but given the small area the park has to work with it is completely understandable. B+ Tig'rr Coaster: Everyone raves about Schwarzkopf coasters, but I'll be honest...I just don't see what all the hype is about. I'm guessing the Jet Star and Wildcat models are more geared toward families, so they're not the best judge of Schwarzkopf's talent. As for this ride, I found it to be an okay family coaster with a good first drop and turn, but after that the ride just sort of meanders around so the coaster doesn't feel as short as it is. I give Indiana Beach credit for keeping this historic ride, but I will say it was my least favorite coaster at the park. C- Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain: Okay, I challenge anyone to find a more WTF coaster than this thing without leaving the country. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain is just such a bizarre ride, as it's a hybrid between a dark ride and wooden roller coaster with an elevator lift. The ride uses two car trains with rows of seats facing each other and netting covering the riders. Also, this ride has a habit of stalling out, so the park requires all eight seats to be filled and the front car to be heavier than the back to guarantee the train will complete the circuit. From what I understand, there used to be effects on the coaster, but they are no longer working. In any case, I was surprised how much I liked the ride, and if it wasn't for the park only having one working train (which resulted in a 60+ minute wait all day) I would have definitely done a second ride. Even though the ride is very short and the train never gets going above 20 MPH, this is my second favorite coaster at the park. B- Non-Coaster Summary: Indiana Beach's flat ride collection is decent, certainly better than Holiday World's. Most of the park's flat rides are just standard models, but as many are located on platforms out over the water the thrill factor is increased slightly. Unfortunately, a number of rides at the park were not operating on the day of my visit, so I was unable to try them out. Despite this, I rode more flats at Indiana Beach than at any other park on the trip, including Air Crow (decent flyers), Double Shot (one of the most extreme S&S towers I've been on), the Giant Gondola Wheel (which was having mechanical issues and kept rolling back), the Scrambler (still one of my favorite standard flats), and the water swings (putting the swings out over the water makes a big difference). I also rode the park's log flume, Rocky's Rapids, which was very dull and only had three logs operating. Indiana Beach's star non-coaster rides, however, are not flats. The park does have a reasonably good dark ride, Den of Lost Thieves, which appeared to be an old two-story dark ride with interactive elements recently added. There is also Adventure Point, a ropes course/climbing wall/zip line that I wasn't aware was included with the wristband and therefore skipped. However, Indiana Beach's best non-coaster is Frankenstein's Castle, an old walkthrough attraction. Although it doesn't use live actors, the castle has every other trick in the book: animatronics, dark corridors, slanted rooms, moving floors...you name it, and it's in here. Unlike most walkthroughs, there are false paths inside this one and it is quite long, fully utilizing all three stories of the building and making you constantly wonder what comes next. It is an upcharge, but I think it was only around $3 so it is definitely worth doing. Overall Thoughts: I went to Indiana Beach expecting it to be the tour's throwaway park, and ended up enjoying the park more than any other non-major park on the trip. The park may not have the latest and greatest thrill rides, but it does have enough for 1/2 to 3/4 of a day of fun. Add in good food, great employees, a nice setting, and just the right amount of quirkiness and you've got a park I would definitely return to if I were passing by (plus I'm still missing a significant credit here). It is sad to see the park in the shape it's in, however, but hopefully Indiana Beach will bounce back and be around for future generations to enjoy. The Indiana Beach day was somewhat of the rest day of the tour, as it wasn't a late night for once. Instead, when we got to Gurnee around 5:30 P.M. we had a nice dinner at Pizzeria Uno, a decent place for deep dish pizza. Officially the day ended with our arrival at the hotel at 8:30 P.M., but I took a look at Six Flags Great America just 3/4 of a mile away, checked to verify their hours (open until 10 P.M.), grabbed a sweatshirt and headed over with my roommate. As we would not be receiving any ERT at the park the next day (more on that in the next update), I thought it might be a good idea to get a bonus ride on Goliath, and about a dozen others (I'm guessing all those with Six Flags passes) had similar thoughts. Even near closing time the wait was still posted at 1 hour, 45 minutes, but we discovered it to be just slightly over an hour thanks to a good crew. How was the ride? You'll have to wait until the next update to find out, but I'll say two things now: 1. If you really want to know, check my signature, 2. I've got a pretty strong feeling I enjoyed it more than any of the other TPR members who rode it that night. The real story of the night comes on the way back to the hotel. As we were leaving the park, we encountered someone in the parking lot who had won a giant stuffed bear but couldn't fit it into their vehicle. One of the members of our group (I forget who) bought it off the guy and we carried it the whole way back to the hotel as if it was a fresh kill from a hunting expedition. Some of the reactions we got were just priceless, especially someone we encountered in the hotel lobby (I'll let others tell the full story if they wish). Ride Totals: Cornball Express: 3 Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain: 1 Steel Hawg: 1 Tig'rr Coaster: 1 Air Crow: 1 Den of Lost Thieves: 1 Double Shot: 1 Frankenstein's Castle: 1 Giant Gondola Wheel: 1 Paratrooper: 1 Rocky's Rapids: 1 Scrambler: 1 Water Swings: 1 Total: 15 rides in 5 hours (3 rides per hour) Unfortunately, Indiana Beach was also the turning point of the trip where I started to take a lot fewer pictures. This was due to a combination of: 1. No more backstage tours, 2. More major parks that are already well documented, and 3. More rides to ride. I'll still post what I've got, but expect only 10-20 pictures per park instead of the 30-50 previously seen. Tig'rr Coaster. I may not get Schwarzkopf or think this was a particularly great ride, but I'm glad I rode it for the historical value. And I'll end with the famous Water Swings. YoYo swing rides are good, but stick them over water and they become significantly better. Got to Adventure Point just in time to watch Andy attempt the climbing wall. Success! That's better than I could do. Indiana Beach has a nice looking ropes course and it's included with the wristband! I wish I'd known that sooner. A look back up the midway toward the north end of the park. If I go back I need to do that Skycoaster...I've never done one due to price, but it was only $10 and is completely above the water. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain is definitely the most bizarre wood coaster I've ever been on. I wonder if CCI would have done another had they not gone bankrupt. Two coasters are visible in this picture. One I rode. The other is the most significant missed credit of the entire three week trip. Scrambler + platform over water = better than normal scrambler. I don't always ride Paratroopers, but when I do I prefer the ones that permit single riders. Frankenstein's Castle is amazing. That's not just a three story façade, the attractions actually is three stories (you'll come out on the top balcony if you do it right). Even if you don't do upcharges, DO THIS ONE! Hey, there's a Galaxi coaster here. Oh, wait, it's been replaced by a carousel. The Den of Lost Thieves was a good dark ride. An old-school ride with modern interactive elements squeezed into a tiny two-story building. We've arrived at Indiana Beach. Okay, this was actually the end of the day but there isn't really an official entrance at the north end where we started.

Let's see if I can offer you some advice... This depends on the park and when you're visiting. The Disney parks are always busy, so expect crowds there. SFMM tends to vary since their Halloween event is not a separate ticket, so since you're visiting close to Halloween it may be busy and will absolutely be packed on Saturdays (definitely plan on a Flash Pass, but don't buy until you arrive). If you're visiting as a day guest, USH and KBF shouldn't be too bad, but if you're planning to go to their nighttime haunt events expect crowds. For SFMM, go either Friday, October 24th or one of the two Sundays you are here. I doubt it will be dead, but it shouldn't be unreasonably busy. Avoid both Saturdays and Halloween (Friday, October 31st) as the park may get close to capacity on those days. Since you are coming from out of the country, I would recommend purchasing a Flash Pass unless you discover lines are only 10-15 minutes. I recommend Gold as Platinum is outrageously expensive and will make everyone in line mad at you with double rides. Full Throttle is not available with Gold, so definitely ride this first (even before picking up the pass) and X2 is an upcharge, so if you don't want to pay ride it mid-afternoon (3-5 P.M.) for the shortest waits. For the other parks, visiting Monday through Thursday would definitely be the best option. Disneyland won't be dead, but probably won't be too busy (aka 30 minutes for headliners). If you use Fastpass effectively and have a touring plan, it shouldn't be too difficult to do everything of note at both parks in two days. USH is small enough that even on a crowded day it's easy to do everything, but I wouldn't expect it to be too busy for day visitors. In the event that it is crowded, all three lower lot rides have single rider lines that will save a lot of time. For Knott's, unless there is an event going on it will probably be completely dead on a weekday (you probably won't have more than a 3 train wait for anything). Also, if you decide to spend a third day at Disney and have to do a park on Halloween, Knott's is probably your safest bet. As everyone else has said, you need a car for effective travel in Southern California. If you rely on public transportation, expect travel times to be doubled or tripled, and if you use taxis you could end up paying a week's worth of rental costs for one day's worth of taxi service. You'll need your dad to drive the rental car as the prices for drivers under 25 are sky high, and don't forget to factor in traffic when traveling on weekdays (I usually double the estimated time or add an hour, whichever is less). Fortunately, all of Southern California's major parks are easy to get to. As coasterbill suggested, if you want to go to the beach head out to Santa Monica (you could even do this after USH). Other than that, I just know of the typical tourist stuff in the LA area (Walk of Fame, Getty Center, La Brea Tar Pits, etc.) so you may want to do a search on TripAdvisor or similar and see what might be interesting to do on non-park days.

My favorite inversions in general are: Zero-G Roll on any B&M Coaster Pretzel Loop on any Flying Coaster Any Loop on any Arrow Looper For particular rides, I like (no particular order): Batwing on Afterburn Cobra Roll on Alpengeist Double Corkscrew on Demon (CGA) Corkscrew on Flight of Fear Heartline Roll on Hydra the Revenge (aka JoJo Roll) Top Hat on Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast Dive Loop on Mystery Mine Dive Loop on Manhattan Expresss (only good part of that ride IMO) Second Corkscrew on Riddler's Revenge

I like the idea of a carnival theme for Colossus, as it seems to fit well with the ride and with the general Colossus County Fair theme for the area. The trains, though...eh, not bad but I prefer the ones in the animation. The Steampunk theme looks good as well, but it would seem out of place without a complete Colossus County Fair retheme. Regardless of what is done, the area needs more than two coasters to be of interest. Remodel and open that closed food stand and add a couple flats down here (if going for a carnival theme, a Super Loop would fit right in ), and SFMM could end up with something as good as DC universe. Of course, if SFMM isn't committed to keeping up the area, I'd rather see them save the money for a new project, so hopefully they'll commit and the park will begin to move back toward 2009-2011 SFMM.

I've had my own car on single car coasters several times, but as for a whole train I can only think of three occurrences: -Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg during an ERT session. -Pony Express at Knott's Berry Farm on an extremely slow day -Possessed at Dorney Park by going there 10 minutes after opening Especially when visiting Knott's and SFMM during the off season or riding during ERT on the trips, I've had numerous occurrences where there were less than 10 people on the train (ex: one ride on Beast at Banshee Bash had only two or three others), but that's not quite the same. Also of note (though a little bit different), I've been the only person on a flat ride a handful of times, I've had my own boat on Pirates of the Caribbean and own jeep on Indiana Jones Adventure, and I was once the only person on Snow White's Scary Adventures as cars had to be cycled empty just so I could exit.

Game 1: T Express +500 Goliath +300 The Grizzly +0 Blue Streak +100 Maverick +300 Total: 1200 Game 2: Banshee +300 Goudurix -100 Thunderhead +100 Piraten +300 Ravine Flyer II +100 Total: 700 Game 3: Katun +200 Rampage +100 Balder +500 Giant Dipper +100 Gravity Max +300 Total: 1200 This is a fun way to waste a few minutes. I wonder if anyone will get a perfect score.

Got home today to find a TPR Bag-O-Crap waiting for me. Thanks again Robb & Elissa for all the free crap! There it is, a TPR Bag-O-Crap (well, Box-O-Crap in this case). Yep, verified as official by TPR. Looks like there's some crap inside. Let's find out what this box contains. We've got a Levia-Thon T-Shirt, a red TPR bag, a bottle holder advertising Ihu's Breakaway Falls, two Chimpanzee buttons, a TPR Christmas ornament, and a I heart Geauga Lake keychain. But wait, there's more. Inside the bag was another ornament, a pen, another Chimpanzee button, two TPR magnets, a mystery DVD, and a bundle of maps. All the crap in it's glory. One last thanks to Robb and Elissa for all the awesome things they do for members, such as these. And for those interested, here are all the maps. Top Row: World Joyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Chimelong Paradise, Happy Valley, Ocean Park, another Happy Valley Middle Row: Cedar Point, Phantasialand, a third Happy Valley, Victory Kingdom, Happy Valley #4, Tokyo DisneySea, LEGOLAND Florida, Schlitterbahn Bottom Row: Holiday World, Silverwood, Waldameer, SFGAm, Lake Compounce, SFNE, Kings Island

I've been stuck several times on rides, but usually it has been relatively minor (and occasionally operator induced). However, there are a few times when I've needed to be evacuated from a ride: -At Disneyland, I was on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when one of the doors broke (specifically the one following the train crash). We were taken off the ride and walked the whole ride in reverse to get out, stopping along the way at each car. -At DCA, I got stuck mid-ride on Goofy's Sky School and had to exit the car and climb down a ladder to return to the station. -During the TPR LeviaThon trip, we had a rainy day at Conneaut Lake Park but they kept Blue Streak running for our group. Eventually it got so wet that the brakes couldn't stop the train, so we shot through the station and stopped on the lift. For whatever reason, we were not allowed to walk back through the tunnel to the station, so we had to jump from the lift to a maintenance platform, climb down a rickety ladder, then run through the mud under the coaster to get back to the station.

Yes, the second lift will probably have an emergency block, but it could potentially be something requiring a manual reset and therefore isn't the same as a standard block. We wen't know what until more of the ride is installed, but my guess would be that there will be an emergency brake on the lower part of the second lift that could stop a train or sensors will allow the first lift to release the train as long as the second is cresting, as there won't be enough energy to reach it if the second chain stopped. Based on the way the ride operates, however, it needs five blocks outside of this to work with all four trains as there should never be a train on lift one, a train between the two lifts, and a train on lift two all at the same time. Assuming the final brake is not a block, one would be required in front of the station to allow four train operation (unless the station could hold two trains, which is doubtful). We won't know for sure until we see this ride testing or see evidence of a second station, but I just don't think there would be enough room to accommodate a transfer and two stations based on what has been installed so far.

I'm glad there's a POV out since it pretty much answers all the things debated in this thread for pages and pages about the ride (one track or two, station location, pre-lift, how the trains will by synced, etc.). Plus, it is nice to see what the ride will be like, even though most of it was shown through brief clips in the original video. Not going to say it definitely won't happen, but based on construction pictures and the old station I'm 90% sure this won't be the case. The ride needs five blocks to operate with four trains, and since the brake run is at such a steep slope I'm guessing they decided to use a pre-lift block and only use the transfer as a block before the station (same setup as Goliath). Besides, the stop could be used to help with lift hill syncing and if the park only intends to use three trains in normal operation a double station would not be beneficial.

This is a very tentative list and will likely change (especially the non-California parks), but for now I've got... Definitely: -Knott's Berry Farm (may have a pass) -Six Flags Magic Mountain (will have a pass) -Universal Studios Hollywood (have a three day pass (two days remaining) through September) Likely: -Disneyland Resort Possibly: -Adventure City -Adventuredome -Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino -California's Great America -Lagoon -Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk -SeaWorld San Antonio* -SeaWorld San Diego -Six Flags Discovery Kingdom -Six Flags Fiesta Texas* Slim Chance: -Playland (PNE)* -Six Flags Over Texas* Deep South Trip: -Carowinds -Dollywood -Lake Winnepesaukah* -Six Flags Over Georgia* -Splash Adventure* * indicates new park I've got a feeling next year will end up being light and I probably won't get outside of California, but we'll see what the cards hold.

Sierra Sidewinder last week at Knott's Scary Farm. You can't visit Knott's and not ride at least one coaster, and this had no line.

This should be a good addition for the park, and I'm glad to see the rides Knott's removed from Camp Snoopy put to good use. However, I'm really hoping 2016 brings a waterpark expansion and/or a new coaster as that is what CGA needs most.

As previously stated, my first of the year was Space Mountain at Disneyland. As for last, I'm planning to do one more visit each to Knott's and SFMM before the year is over, so something at one of those parks...probably at SFMM.

$3.65 per gallon in Orange County, CA as of last week. Not bad compared to what it can be around here, but still expensive compared to the rest of the country.

Okay, I'm overdue for an update. Remember how I said only one day challenges Banshee Bash for best day of the trip? Well, it was this one. Trip 2, Part 5: Holiday World-July 27th, 2014 Unlike the other days of the trip, our day at Holiday World had been kept a closely guarded secret. All we knew was this: 8 A.M. departure, group lunch, very late night, and bring a swimsuit. If I remember right, it was about a 45 minute drive to the park, so we still got there plenty early. After a group booing of Satan's Lodge, the "66 Minutes of Sleep Tour" (as Paula Werne of Holiday World dubbed us) pulled into the parking lot. We got to the front entrance, met Paula, and were given our schedules, admission tickets, group meal tickets, meal vouchers, and discount coupons. Now, before I reveal the schedule, note that Holiday World generally isn't able to offer any type of ERT in July and August, and I believe previous TPR tours to the park have included other perks instead (such as backstage tours). So, here's what the schedule said (quoted directly from lanyard): 9am Voyage walkback and first rides 12n Lunch at Good Old Days Picnic Grove 1pm Thunderbird tour 7pm Gather at Bahari River Island for water-coaster ERT 8pm Change/empty lockers and head back to Holiday World 8:30pm Park closes; gather north of Plymouth Rock Cafe As soon as the pesky GP leaves, Coaster ERT! All times are Central. We know. It's embarrassing. Yes, you are reading that correctly. We got ERT on all three wood coasters AND on both water coasters, plus a backstage tour. Yeah, this day could top Banshee Bash. Holiday World Unlike most of the parks on this trip, Holiday World is a park I had visited before. On my previous visit (July 2011), I had a great time and really enjoyed the park. Since that visit, little had changed at the park. Yeah, several new slides had opened in the waterpark and Pilgrims Plunge was gone, but other than that Holiday World was pretty much how I remembered it. However, there was one big difference between this visit and my previous one: this time, I was with TPR, and we were essentially receiving a VIP experience. The day began with a walk to Voyage, but we never went through the park entrance. Instead, we were treated to a tour under Raven, along the lake, and under Legend to get into the park. Once inside, we weren't taken to Voyage, but instead we went to the Plymouth Rock Cafe for a surprise breakfast (nice to have something other than make-your-own waffles for a change). At 9:30 we were taken to Voyage and let in the line before all the GP who had sprinted to Thanksgiving to ride the first couple trains of the day. Voyage was just as I remembered it...the best traditional wood coaster I know of as long as you can endure the ride. After getting off Voyage, I joined up with Caroline, Judd, and Nathan to tour the rest of the park before lunch. Due to Holiday World's traffic patterns, this meant some lines (especially for Legend, which only had one train), but we still managed to do everything but the kiddie in 2 hours. I'll let you guess what we had for lunch (if you've been following the report it should be pretty easy). During lunch, several members of Holiday World's management came out to discuss Thunderbird (which had just been announced a few days prior) and hold a Q&A session. I don't remember any specific questions, but based on what was said I'm confident Thunderbird is going to be a win for Holiday World even if enthusiasts don't care for it, and while I wouldn't travel all the way to the park just for the coaster I definitely will ride it at least a couple times next time I visit. After lunch it was time for the backstage tour. Before departing the picnic area, however, we were all given Thunderbird souvenir cups, apparently not yet released at the park (at the time). These came in handy as it was a hot day. Once everyone had their cups full of their beverage of choice, the tour began with a walk along Voyage all the way back to the spaghetti bowl area of the ride. Normally this area is impossible to access, so it was neat seeing what it looked like when you're not flying through it. The tour then continued over to the Thunderbird construction site, where footers were being poured. We were shown where the station, equipment room, queue line, access pathway, restrooms, and Pepsi Oasis would be located, then taken back into the park through a gate near Hyena Falls. At this point, my group decided to do the remaining rides of interest in the ride park (they all needed the Howler credit and we wanted to ride the "RMC log flume"), then head to the waterpark for the rest of the day. It's not hard to find stuff to do in Splashin' Safari, so I had no problem spending several hours there. I ended up doing all the slides but Bakuli and Zinga (both of which I did on my previous visit), then just hung out until it was time for ERT. Water-coaster ERT was probably the highlight of the day, as both Mammoth and Wildebeest are outstanding rides that could beat 90% of the legitimate coasters out there for fun factor. I ended up doing three or four rides on each during ERT thanks to a lack of lines. Once waterpark ERT ended we all got changed and headed back into the park for coaster ERT. Our ERT began with a half-hour on Voyage, which I rode twice (more than most of the group), then we headed to Halloween for a half-hour on Legend and Raven. I spent most of my time on Raven, though I did give Legend a ride as it was running well at night. Eventually the last train returned on Raven and it was time to head out, so everyone slowly headed out to the bus for a long drive to our hotel (we didn't get in until after 2 A.M.). It had been a great day, in my opinion the best day on the trip, but this was the point where the lack of sleep was starting to take its toll, as evidenced by a group vote to shorten ERT at Indiana Beach the next day in favor of a later departure. Coaster Reviews: Holiday World arguably has the best wooden coaster collection on the planet, as their three woodies all rank in the top 50. Unfortunately, that is all the park has as far as coasters go. Next year's Thunderbird is a very good addition to the park's coaster lineup, and will give them an above average coaster collection, but Holiday World really needs a good family coaster to give kids under 48" something to ride. Voyage: There are plenty of people who do not like Voyage. I will not argue that opinion, as Voyage is a rough and aggressive ride that truly pushes the limits of traditional wooden construction. However, I absolutely love this coaster. It is tall, fast, seems to go on forever, and never lets up. The first drop is great and the whole entire out run is full of airtime while being reasonably smooth. The run back to the station, on the other hand, does give you a bit of brain rattling and focuses more on twists than airtime, but I would much rather ride a wooden coaster that tests you than one that is perfectly smooth but not overly exciting. Would I like the ride better if it were smooth? Absolutely, as I can't ride more than twice consecutively in the ride's current state, but I don't have a problem with the ride as it currently is. Whatever everyone else says, Voyage is my second favorite wood coaster (favorite traditional), my favorite ride at Holiday World, and the best coaster I rode on this leg of the trip. A Legend: Other than only having one train, Legend was running better on this visit than in 2011. The ride has a good amount of airtime and some of the most intense laterals on any coaster anywhere. It is also a long ride, but not so long that dull spots start to appear. Lastly, while not glass smooth Legend is not as rough as you might expect it to be. It's a shame the ride only had one train available as I would have liked to ride it more, but I'm glad I got two rides on the coaster. B+ Raven: While Raven may be the least intense of Holiday World's coasters, it is still a really good ride (though overrated). The coaster is full of airtime and, like Legend, takes advantage of its surroundings, incorporating a surprisingly large drop half-way through the ride. Additionally, while it's the oldest of Holiday World's woodies Raven is the smoothest of the three by far, probably due to its lower speed and smaller size. My main issue with Raven is that it's a short ride, about half the length of Legend and 1/3 of Voyage. So which is better: Legend or Raven? Most people say Raven, but I say it depends. During the day, I like Legend better, but night rides on Raven are tough to beat (3rd best night ride after Boulder Dash and Beast...Voyage is 4th). I personally have them both right next to each other outside my top ten woodies but inside my top 25. B+ Non-Coaster Summary: To be completely honest Holiday World's flat ride collection is below average and is probably the worst aspect of the park, though it is satisfactory for the park's family audience. For flat rides, Holiday World's best may be the new Mayflower swinging ship. While it's not an outstanding ride, it is fun and is an excellent fit in the Thanksgiving area. I only rode a couple other flat rides in the park, namely Liberty Launch (a good double shot tower, but weaker than most others) and Sparkler (great family ride, not at all scary like the taller swing on a stick rides). Many of the park's other flats are of the standard variety. The rides are geared mostly toward families and those not interested in the coasters, with attractions such as a chair swing and antique cars, as well as numerous kiddie rides. Holiday World also has two decent water rides: Frightful Falls, a short but fun log flume, and Raging Rapids, an above average river rapids ride that doesn't get you too wet. There is, however, one standout non-coaster attraction: Gobbler Getaway. Gobbler Getaway is an interactive dark ride where you have to round up the turkeys for Thanksgiving by shooting...er, calling them. While not the best of Sally Corporation's dark rides (I'm partial to the Lost Kingdom Adventure and original Ghostblasters attractions), Gobbler Getaway is still a very good and unique ride with some Holiday World humor thrown in. Splashin' Safari: It doesn't matter that Holiday World's non-coaster collection isn't anything special as that's not the reason most people visit. Aside from the coasters, Splashin' Safari is the big draw at this park. The waterpark here is the best I've visited and is large enough to be its own attraction. In fact, I could probably spend about 80% of a Holiday World visit here and not be disappointed. In fact, I don't recommend going out of your way for Holiday World if you won't be doing Splashin' Safari as the ride park is really only worth a half day. Slide Reviews: Hyena Falls: New since I last visited, Hyena Falls consists of a Tornado Wave (Laughs) and three serpentine tube slides (Chuckles, Giggles, and Tee Hee). I personally found the Tornado Wave slide a little underwhelming, though the standard tube slides were fun (as long as you have two rides...don't do these single). This complex is placed in an odd location as it is quite a walk from the rest of Splashin' Safari, so you'd definitely want to come out here, do everything you're going to do at once, then head back. Otorongo: Another standard tube slide complex, but these slides are completely dark. I personally liked the Otorongo slides better than Hyena Falls, as all three gave different experiences: Otto (my favorite) is a single helix followed by a drop, Ron is a serpentine slide, and Go is a straight double drop (beware of this one as you can be launched from your tube at the bottom). Fun slide with excellent capacity leading to short waits. Jungle Racer: A 10 lane mat racing slide, this is more or less the same as others. These rides are fun when you race against your friends, but are not very exciting to do by yourself. Watubee: This one was a fairly average family raft slide, and was the only slide I skipped on my previous visit. While this slide typically gets huge lines, we got lucky and rode with less than a 10 minute wait. It was fun, though nothing special and not something I'd want to wait too long for, especially when right next door you've got... ZOOMbabwe: Some say this is the world's best family raft slide. I'm not sure that I'd go that far, but it is a very good ride. The ride is dark with random light figures on the walls, and it just seems to go on and on. Try to get as close to the weight limit (600 lb per raft) as possible for the best ride. Mammoth: My thoughts when this was announced: "Looks like fun, but they've got Wildebeest next door and that's a lot better." My thoughts after riding: "Holy crap that was awesome." Yes, Mammoth is an amazing ride, better than 90% of the roller coasters out there and better than almost any other waterslide. The ride just has the right combination of elements and is intense enough to be thrilling yet tame enough for families. You'll also get your boat turned into a pool at the end of the ride, and depending on your group's weight you may even sink it. Even if this ride has its usual 60+ minute wait, DO NOT MISS IT! There were people in the group who normally don't do waterparks but were very, very glad they did waterpark ERT on this ride. Wildebeest: I'll be honest...Mammoth may be a nearly perfect waterslide, but I still slightly prefer Wildebeest. Wildebeest is just slightly more intense, but it has significantly more airtime and a larger number of drops. Wildebeest definitely feels less like a traditional waterslide than Mammoth, but I still love it and consider it the best waterpark attraction out there. Overall Thoughts: Holiday World is a great park in many aspects. They've got a pretty good coaster selection and an outstanding waterpark. Some of the food options are unique (especially the Thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth Rock Cafe), and if nothing else it is reasonably priced compared to other amusement parks (a burger, fries, and a cookie was less than $8). Parking, soft drinks, and sunscreen are all free throughout the park. The landscaping of Holiday World is great, and the theming is reasonable (although a little limited). Every employee I met at Holiday World was great, from the upper management down to the ride ops, and efficiency in ride operations rivals parks like Cedar Point and Dollywood. There are only two significant drawbacks to Holiday World: the lack of good non-coaster rides and the fact that it's difficult to spend a full day at the park without visiting Splashin' Safari. Despite this, Holiday World is one of my favorite parks, and while I don't know that I'd make a special trip to visit on a regular basis I can't think of anywhere I enjoy more while I'm there (except the Disney parks). Welcome to Holiday World, one of the few independent major parks in North America. There's a coaster back here, so it must be a park. Now, guess the coaster. This is not the park entrance for most people, but we got to go through the special entrance. Are you sure this is an amusement park? It looks more like a hike in the wilderness to me. If you guessed Raven, you are correct. After walking under Raven, we had to walk along the shore of Lake Rudolph to get to our next destination. Holiday World is one of the few parks that has their coasters buried in the woods. It definitely adds an extra dimension to the ride. Coasters enthusiasts on parade. Legend's helix of death almost seems like a Beast imitation, as it has two tunnels, lots of laterals, and is buried in the woods. It's not too often you can walk right underneath a massive wooden coaster. Frightful Falls, aka the "RMC Log Flume." In my opinion, Legend is one of CCI's best creations. The ride has a great first drop, an interesting layout, and a long ride without a dull moment anywhere. Holiday World has a thing for taking the tunnel. Voyage, the star attraction at Holiday World. This is one of only a few rides that is actually a challenge. Voyage's first drop is outstanding. It's not the biggest or the steepest, but it's still great. The ride begins with three massive hills, then descends into a mix of small airtime producing camelbacks, high speed turns banked up to 90 degrees, and high speed twists and turns, all designed to provide the ultimate thrill. Riders making the return trip on the far side of the steel structure. This is part of the area that will be occupied by Thunderbird next year. If I remember correctly, this is where the barn will be placed. Regardless of what the rest of the coaster holds, most people will agree that the first three hills on Voyage are great. It's what comes after that gets poor reception. Voyage plunges into the first of its many tunnels. I believe this ride still holds the record for most time spent underground. Riders on Thunderbird will literally fly through the forest for over half the ride. While it doesn't look like the most intense wing coaster, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the best. It's now time to head down to Thunderbird's construction site. This opening is the very end of the ride. Back to Voyage. This is the spaghetti bowl turnaround at the end of the coaster. I was not able to get closer than this, but it is still neat to see it from the ground. While not the original 90 degrees woodie, I've got a feeling Voyage is more well known for it than Hades 360. One last shot of Voyage as we cross the tracks. Back in July, the construction site looked mostly like this. A lot of change has happened in just 3 months. Once you get to here you'll begin slowing down as you enter the final brake run. Take a guess what these are used for. I'll give you a hint...these gave away the make of the ride. I'll end with an overview of the construction site. The station is on the left, the Pepsi Oasis will be on the right. Given Holiday World's past history, Thunderbird should be ready to go opening day 2015. A field of footers. These are the most important part of any ride, even if nobody cares about them after the fact. This was the only building on site at the time. It will house components of the launch system. How to build a footer: dig a hole, put up a frame, install rebar, and pour concrete.

^Unfortunately not. SFMM only has single rider lines on Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, Riddler's, Revolution, and Viper. For everything else, you'll just have to wait in line (or get a Flash Pass). If you're going on Saturday expect significant waits for the headliners (Full Throttle, Goliath, Tatsu, and X2), on Friday or Sunday they should be more reasonable.

Finally got caught up with this. Great report! Mini New Hotness was overall an outstanding trip, probably my favorite of all the TPR trips I've done (displacing North East 2011). It's always interesting to see what others thought of the parks and coasters compared to my opinions. Sometimes they match, and sometimes they're polar opposites. I'm interested to see the last bits of your trip, as I strongly considered going to Worlds of Fun and Silver Dollar City in June, but unfortunately it just didn't work out. It doesn't sound like I missed much at Worlds of Fun, but I really wish I could have stopped by Silver Dollar City.

I haven't used Fastpass+, but from what I've heard about it I'd like to see it eventually come to the Disneyland Resort. I do hope Disney will get all the bugs worked out before expanding it to any other parks, but I wouldn't be surprised if paper Fastpass is gone from every one of their parks in 10 years. I wouldn't worry much about there being a problem with AP guests, as implementing a change like any of the following would probably solve the problem of them claiming all the reservations: 1. Only those staying at the Disneyland Resort hotels are eligible for advance booking, and everyone else must book through their smartphone or kiosks at the park on the day of their visit. Guests staying at other nearby hotels could also potentially qualify for advance reservations with proof of stay, though Disney hotel guests should get priority (perhaps 60 day advance for Disney hotel guests and 30 days for others). This approach would give a huge incentive to stay on site if visiting from out of town. 2. Like in Florida, everyone may book at 30 days in advance (60 for hotel guests), but AP guests may only book for one date at a time and cannot book additional FP+ reservations for other dates until all existing reservations are used or cancelled. This would allow everyone to have the perk of early reservations without allowing AP guests to dominate reservations. 3. AP guests get a limited number of reservations per year (probably around 100), and can only have a limited number active at one time (probably around 10). You would not receive credit if you make a reservation and don't end up using it. This is the most restrictive and would probably not be popular with AP guests, but the reality is few would probably end up using all their reservations, and if you visit enough to use them all how much do you really need it? Point is, there are plenty of ways to make Fastpass+ work at the Disneyland Resort and have it be fair to everyone without allowing it to be exploited by any one group. In fact, using the system exactly the way it works in Florida would likely fail at Disneyland due to the majority of visitors being different (AP holders in California, tourists in Florida), so I'm sure some tweaks will be made to the system. Of course, anything Disney does that limits a specific group of visitors will probably receive kickback, but if you really dislike it then don't use it or don't visit.