rcdude

Based on all the hints and rumors over the past several months, I really think this is pointing more toward a conversion than a removal. My guess is that Mantis will be entirely repainted, rethemed, renamed, get new trains, and possibly have some tweaks done to the track to make it compatible (if necessary). When the process is done, the ride will probably appear as a new ride to all but coaster enthusiasts, and as a sit down Mantis would probably be on par with (if not better than) GateKeeper. If the process is successful, I could see it applied to one or both of the Vortex twins in 2016 (CGA really needs it, Carowinds not as much). Of course, I could be totally wrong and Mantis could be removed for a new coaster. Cedar Fair has done two big coasters in one year before, I just see it as being a little late to begin construction unless it's something on the scale of a GCI (actually, that would be a great fit for Cedar Point). We'll probably know after Dorney Park's announcement whether Mantis is staying or leaving.

After all of my traveling this summer I've made some changes to my list (new coasters in bold). Wood: 1. El Toro 2. Voyage 3. Boulder Dash 4. Goliath (Six Flags Great America) 5. Thunderhead 6. Phoenix 7. Ravine Flyer II 8. Beast 9. Lightning Racer 10. Gold Striker Honorable Mentions (new coasters only): Kentucky Rumbler, Cornball Express Dropped from top 10: American Thunder, Apocalypse the Ride, Legend, Raven Steel: 1. Bizarro (Six Flags New England) 2. Tatsu 3. Nitro 4. Maverick 5. Banshee 6. Top Thrill Dragster 7. Millennium Force 8. Lightning Run 9. Leviathan 10. Intimidator Honorable Mention (new coasters only): Raging Bull Dropped from top 10: Griffon, Kingda Ka

^I may be going there on that Friday, but haven't decided yet. I'll send you a PM with more details. Since you'll be there on a Friday after schools have started, I wouldn't expect it to be too crowded. Even if it is crowded, however, USH is small enough that it can be done in about 6 hours on all but the busiest days. As for a touring plan, I haven't been since Despicable Me Minion Mayhem opened, I don't know how that will affect crowds but would definitely recommend riding that first. After Despicable Me, go to the lower lot and do the three rides down there (order doesn't matter much, but I usually go Transformers, Mummy, Jurassic Park). If you want to re-ride, do so while you're down here, as it is not particularly easy to travel between the upper and lower lot. Note that all three attractions have single rider lines, so even if the regular wait is long you should be able to get on in just a few minutes (I've never waited more than 10 in a USH single rider line). After finishing the Lower Lot, I usually come back up and ride Simpsons Ride (this one is skippable if the line is long, IMO), then either get lunch or do the Studio Tour (depends on the time). Once you've done the tour, you've just got shows left. Waterworld is the only must see show at the park, so do not miss that one. Special Effects Stage and Shrek 4-D are decent, but feel free to skip one or both of those if you want more ride time or aren't into shows. I wouldn't bother with the Animal Actors show unless you've done everything else. Other than that, there's just the Super Silly Fun Land area (complete with a Dumbo-type ride) and that's everything in the park.

I can confirm that you just hold sandals on slides, as I do it all the time. If you have the flip flop variety, you must remove them for every slide, but I believe water shoes/sandals with straps can remain on during tube slides as they are more secure. Shirts are okay on tube slides. For body slides, everything but your swimsuit must be removed. If you are a bit afraid of water slides, I recommend starting off with Lost Temple Rapids and Lightning Falls, as those are relatively tame. After that, go to the back of the park and do Bamboo Falls, Black Snake Summit tube slides, Tiki Falls, and Tornado (this one gets busy, so if the line is still short do it first). If you are good with all these, you'll probably be fine with almost anything else. The only exception might be Bonzai Pipelines...this ride scares everybody, but it is the best slide at the park and is an absolute must ride. You'll probably be hooked after one ride. You may find you have a preference for tube slides over body slides (or vice versa), but I still recommend trying everything once and then re-riding your favorites. One other recommendation for Hurricane Harbor: If the park is somewhat busy (lines longer than 20 minutes), invest in the Flash Pass. It is only $15 per person (plus a $5 refundable deposit), and will make your day a lot more relaxing.

^I wouldn't try to judge the location by the promo video as that all appears to be stock footage from Brain Drain at Elitch Gardens. The spike you see is Half Pipe, which looks similar to V2. I was under the impression it was going next to Cobra, but I don't think anything has been officially announced. I know there's been a lot of complaining about Six Flags buying these rides, but personally I think it looks like a decent addition in SFDK's case. The park isn't big enough to warrant frequent coaster additions, so with Superman in 2012 I'm guessing it will be a couple more years before the next major coaster. This is a good thrill ride after getting a family ride last year, and probably won't be a capacity issue at this park. No, I won't drive up to Northern California to ride this (I don't really like these rides anyway) and it isn't really a ride most enthusiasts will care about, but I do think it will be popular among the general public. Now if only they would stop promoting it as a coaster...

So far, I-Boxing wooden coasters has been done primarily to rides that were once great but have become average or worse. I doubt it would be a worthwhile investment for a ride that is still pretty good, even if it isn't quite as good as it once was. Based on my experience at Holiday World this year, none of their three wooden coasters would be candidates for a RMC transformation, in my opinion. I could see putting Topper Track on some sections of Voyage to help with the roughness and reduce maintenance, but that's about the limit right now. Consider this: All of Holiday World's wooden coasters are currently in the top 50 in the Mitch Hawker poll. Most of the coasters that have received the conversion were in the top 50 at one point, but with the exception of Texas Giant, all fell below 100 before they were converted. As far as I know, most of the conversions have been around $10 million, and Voyage (Holiday World's most expensive woodie) was around $8 million. Is it worth investing more than the original cost of the ride into a coaster that is still above average and still draws a decent crowd just to make it a little better? Most parks would say no.

Wicked Cyclone looks like the more intense ride, but I think Twisted Cyclone looks like the better ride. It is closer in spirit to the original and has much more unique elements than Wicked Cyclone. I'm sure both will be great, but if I could only ride one I'd choose Twisted Colossus.

Based on the renderings, it looks like this will probably keep the same station building as the original Colossus and use the right side station platform. The path to the lift looks almost identical, just with bunny hops instead of a gradual downslope. I'm guessing there will be three brake sections (magnetic on the first slope, a final/safety brake where the red train is, and a hold brake on the green flat track. The blue flat track before the turn would be the station platform (I'm guessing the building isn't rendered due to cost...Goliath doesn't have one either). This is purely guesswork, but I'm thinking the line will enter the building at the same location as it formerly did, proceed toward the platform, then go through switchbacks in the former left station area before reaching the platform. More switchbacks could be added between the Colossus station and Scream's entrance as well to accommodate the likely 2+ hour waits this will be getting. As for syncing the trains, I'm guessing it will be something like this: both lift hills run in creep mode until a train is detected on each hill. At that time, the computer will adjust the speeds of the lifts until the two trains line up. If there is a delay in sending a train, there just won't be a race on the second loop (or with four train operation, the train may need to stop on the second lift). This feature could be disabled during one or two train operation, but would be active any time three or four trains are running.

The Larson Fireball ride is a good fit for parks like SFA and SFDK. It's an okay fit for SFOG. However, I really think SFGAdv drew the short straw with this year's additions, as they deserved something better. Perhaps not a full size coaster, but at least something more noteworthy than a carnival ride. I do like that Six Flags tries to add something new to each park every year, but if it results in additions like this I wonder if it is truly worth it. Honestly, I think something like the GCI Big Fun concept, but modified for higher capacity, would have been perfect for SFGAdv. It would give them a traditional wooden coaster, a good bridge coaster, and probably would be under $5 million (I'm guessing closer to $3 million). Plus, they could stick that in Rolling Thunder's spot and name it El Torito or something relevant like that.

Can RMC build a bad coaster? Apparently not. This looks great! I wish Six Flags New England wasn't on the opposite side of the country from me, but at least this gives me a legitimate reason to return to the park next time I'm in the North East. I know there's going to be a debate between Twisted Colossus and Wicked Cyclone, so I'll just state my opinion now: Wicked Cyclone looks like the more intense, more extreme, and more thrilling ride, but Twisted Colossus looks like the more unique and overall better ride.

I do not like to say this without actually riding the ride or at least seeing videos of the ride in action, but I think Twisted Colossus is definitely a top 10 coaster and, with the dueling aspect, could be a serious contender for best coaster in the United States. The ride is long, but never dull. It looks plenty intense, yet not so intense as to not be re-rideable. There are inversions, there is airtime, there is interaction between the racing trains...basically, the ride has something for everyone. Best of all, while not identical to the original Colossus, the ride resembles it enough to mitigate most of the complaints out there. Finally, if the ride actually does run four trains as I suspect it will, this would probably be the highest capacity coaster at SFMM. Well done, RMC, and well done, SFMM. Now don't even think about doing anything to screw this up.

^Some parts of Lakeside are a bit run down, but a majority of the park is in decent shape. The are around the park, however, is not somewhere I'd want to stay. Also, in case anyone is curious, the purple seats at Coors Field mark exactly one mile in elevation. Trip 1, Part 3: The Drive to Vegas-June 24th-26th, 2014 Tuesday began the real road trip back toward California. Of course, we made several stops along the way. The first destination of interest along our route was the top of Mount Evans, located in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. While the peak is not the tallest in Colorado, the road up here (which ends about 100 ft. below the 14,265 ft. summit) is the highest paved road in North America. At this elevation, there is snow year-round, so even though it was summer we saw plenty of snow. While we didn't hike to the very top of the mountain (hiking at 14,000 ft. is not easy), there was still a great view from the overlook at parking lot level. Our other main stop for this part of the drive was Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, located in Glenwood Springs, slightly over two and a half hours from Denver. Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is an interesting place. It is located on top of a mountain, so you must take a gondola to get up to it. Once there, you'll find a couple dirt trails that lead to various attractions. You could call it an amusement park, but although they have several amusement rides that isn't really the main focus of the attraction. The park was started as a cave tour, and until about ten years ago that's all they had. Today, two cave tours are available. The Historic Fairy Caves Tour is the original tour at the park, and takes visitors on a 45 minute guided tour of a natural cave system. This tour consisted of walking through various caves and tunnels, including a section traveled by candlelight (the original way the cave was explored) and a brief walk along the rim of the canyon. The other tour is the King's Row Cave Tour, which is more strenuous and takes place inside one gigantic chamber full of unique formations. For those who want something more extreme, there is the up-charge Wild Tour, a two hour spelunking adventure in portions of the cave system not covered in either tour. As far as the rides go, Glenwood Caverns has about a dozen rides. Half of those are kiddie rides that I didn't bother with, and the rest are anything but ordinary. In fact, Cliffhanger (the park's roller coaster) is the least interesting of the bunch, as it is a standard S&MC Hurricane. The ride is located at the top of the mountain and is the highest coaster in the world, but I found it to be rougher than the S.D.C. version of the ride. There is also the Wild West Express, a Zierer Tivoli coaster (that I didn't ride), and one other "coaster" in the park... the Alpine Coaster. This was the first alpine coaster in the US and the first ride at Glenwood Caverns. It is a pretty good ride, more fun than about 80% of the real roller coasters I've been on, and although the Park City alpine coaster is slightly better this one is much cheaper ($12 versus $20 or included with the day pass). For the non-coaster rides, the park has a Soaring Eagle zipline over a canyon and the Glenwood Canyon Flyer, a swing ride perched on the canyon rim and swinging over the side. However, by far the most extreme attraction at Glenwood Caverns is the Giant Canyon Swing. This is an S&S Screamin' Swing located on the edge of a 1,300 ft. cliff. It may not look like much, but if you're in the downward facing seat when the ride swings over the canyon you'll find a new definition of insane. I'll admit it: theme park rides rarely scare me, but this one did. Overall, I really liked Glenwood Caverns. The rides were fun, the cave tours were interesting, the guides and employees were all great, and you can't beat the location. I would call it the best amusement park in Colorado, but the place isn't a true amusement park. It is a little expensive and is a half-day adventure, but I definitely think Glenwood Caverns provides more enjoyment than either of Denver's actual amusement parks. After Glenwood Caverns, we drove onward to Moab, Utah, where we stayed for the night. The next day was spent exploring Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Arches National Park was great, with a variety of natural rock features to look at. Unfortunately, we were unable to do the hike we originally planned to do due to misinformation, but we still got to see some neat stuff. Canyonlands was pretty good as well, but there isn't much to get out of it from a half day visit. I would love to go back to Canyonlands and explore the park more thoroughly, in addition to seeing more of the Moab area. On the way out of the park, we took a rough and somewhat unnerving dirt road to a back exit. We also stopped and hiked to a random arch in the Moab area. This hike was better than anything we did in either park, partly because of the hike itself and partly because there was nobody else around (I think we saw two other people on the entire three mile round trip). After this, we got dinner at the Denny's in Moab and then drove to Cortez, Colorado. Thursday was a long drive day, as we were driving all the way from Cortez to Las Vegas, an eight hour drive with no stops. Our route, however, included a few detours. From Cortez, we went to the Four Corners National Monument and stopped there for a few minutes just to get pictures. We then drove past Canyon De Chelly after my grandfather kept saying it was a must see. It was neat, but if we weren't already going by it I don't think I would have detoured for this. Our third stop was Meteor Crater, a 3/4 of a mile wide crater a little outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. This was quite interesting. If I remember correctly, the crater is the best preserved impact site on Earth. There's not much to do here other than view the crater from the rim, but I'm really glad I we went to see it. Probably the most impressive thing on this day. The remainder of the drive was relatively uneventful as we drove west through Arizona, then north to Hoover Dam and onward to Las Vegas for the final portion of the trip. Once you get west of Denver, the drive through Colorado becomes a lot more scenic. Mount Evans is directly ahead. It is one of two easily accessible 14,000+ ft. peaks in Colorado. This is the top of the highest paved road in North America. Good view from up here. The actual summit of Mount Evans. We decided against hiking it. The Crest House used to be a restaurant and gift shop, but after it was damaged by a fire in 1979 the building was abandoned. At this elevation, you can find snow year-round. Perhaps Olaf should consider moving here. There were a bunch of Bighorn Sheep wandering around the area. I guess they like this climate. Even in June, the lake is still partially frozen. I wouldn't recommend walking out on it, however. Back on the road again. Fun Fact: At just over 11,000 ft., Eisenhower Tunnel is the highest point in the Interstate Highway system and one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. Colorado has a number of ski areas right next to I-70. I remember passing Keystone, Loveland, Copper Mountain (pictured), Vail Mountain, and Beaver Creek, as well as seeing signs for several others. Colorado really is a beautiful state. Before arriving in Glenwood Springs, we stopped at a point along the Colorado River. If you've ever wanted to try river rafting, this would be a good place. There are some rapids, but nothing too extreme. That is a very long way down. There are some good views from the top of the mountain. Glenwood Caverns is famous for their cave tours. Two different tours are available, and both are included with admission. The caves are full of many formations, including Stalagmites, Stalactites, and Columns. That's a long way down. I wonder if there's an organist at the bottom. King's Row is the single most impressive room on either tour. When the lights are off, it is pitch dark in here, but once the lights come on you can see all the formations built up over millions of years. There are rides here too. This one, the Giant Canyon Swing, may be the world's scariest flat ride. Yes, the swing is beyond 90 degrees, and it is hanging off the edge of a 1,300 ft. cliff. A look down the canyon toward Glenwood Springs. More of the natural beauty of Colorado. The Glenwood Canyon Flyer is new this year. It's a fun ride, but after the Giant Canyon Swing it's pretty tame. I like the theming, however. Hey, they've got a credit up here. Cliffhanger may be the world's highest coaster, but it is the least interesting non-kiddie ride at this park. I think they do some type of show here, but I didn't stay to find out. The park was smart to install two Soarin' Eagle ziplines right next to each other. You can't see it in this picture, but just behind the platform is a gorge and the other tower is on the far side. Since the Alpine Coaster is all below the park, it's hard to get a good ride. This was the most popular attraction at Glenwood Caverns, and probably the best as well. Time to head back down the mountain. You can't actually see the park until you're almost at the top. For most of the ride, your view is much like this. It started to rain a little as we rode down. Good timing on our part. You must ride the Iron Mountain Tramway to access the park. There's no other way up the mountain (well, there is a dirt service road, but that's only if the Gondola can't operate). The Iron Mountain Tramway, a Leitner-Poma Pulse Gondola, is 4,400 ft. long, gains 1,300 ft. in elevation, and has a ride time of 9 minutes. The top tower in this picture is only about 1/3 of the way up. Yes, this update does contain an amusement park. Today, we'll be visiting Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. We've now crossed the border into Utah and left the interstate. Pretty desolate out here. As you get closer to Moab, typical Utah scenery begins to appear. This somewhat reminds me of Big Thunder Mountain, but it's not quite the same. Random rest area along the Colorado river. I have no idea why there is a boat launch out here. Rafting tours, perhaps? The Colorado River runs through Moab, then cuts across Utah to Lake Powell. From there, it heads into the Grand Canyon. The next day was National Park day, which means hiking. There weren't many people on the Delicate Arch hike when we started. On the way back, however, we encountered tons (including Asian tour groups complete with a flag). There is the Delicate Arch. The famous shot of the arch. There was a line, so I never went under to get my picture. On the way back, we took a detour to see some Petroglyphs. We also went by this old house. Not sure who lived here. Balancing Rock is another popular feature of the park. Since there was no parking, we just took a picture and moved on. We only had time for one other hike in Arches, so we took the short hike to Double Arch. However, this was a good enough improvisation. This arch looked like it could collapse at any time. One last look at the park before heading out. One of the hikes we did was to Upheaval Dome. It was somewhat neat. The trail continued along the ridge, but we decided to turn back at this point. Most of Canyonlands looked more like this. Part two of National Park day: Canyonlands. Due to time, we only visited the Island in the Sky portion of the park. The park is much bigger than Arches, definitely more than can be seen in a single day. Even in a week, most people would only see about half the park. Island in the Sky is a large plateau in the northeast section of the park. If I ever go back to Canyonlands, I definitely want to do this. Mesa Arch was pretty neat. It is on the edge of a cliff. Seriously, it hangs over the edge and there is no idiot protection around it. You could even climb on top of the arch if you wanted to. This is the road we took out of the park. It is a one lane dirt road that winds down the canyon wall. No guard rails, no pull-outs, nothing. If you don't have 4 wheel drive, don't attempt this one. However, a fall from here would be game over. (note-I have no idea why the picture came out sideways) Out of the park now. I believe that rock outcropping is part of Dead Horse Point state park, but I may be wrong. I'm pretty sure this was the last time we saw the Colorado River on this trip. One more hike for today. For this one, we had to cross the train tracks. Someone built a lot of cairns out here. Lots of arches out in this area. Most of them form caves. This was the best hike of the day, partly due to location and partly because there was nobody else out here. There's the destination, Corona Arch. We didn't actually go under it, as getting out there required climbing ladders and traversing areas with the aid of chains. One last look at the area before heading back to the car. The next day began with a stop at Four Corners. Hey, I'm in four states at once. (Spoiler alert: Not really. The marker is slightly off from the actual four corners and is all in New Mexico). In case you forgot what the four corner states were. We then went to check out Canyon de Chelly, as my grandfather claimed it was really good. It was a pretty neat canyon. You can actually drive in the bottom if you have a guide with you. Yeah, it was overhyped by my grandfather, but I still think it was worth seeing. I think it's something like 3/4 of a mile wide and 500 ft. deep. Too bad you can't go to the bottom. There was a mining operation down there at one point to prove the crater was the result of a meteoroid impact. The operation is long defunct, but the equipment remains. I discovered my iPhone has a panorama function on this trip. Here's a view from the middle observation deck. Pictures don't always give a true sense of scale. This crater is huge. One last picture, this one from the lower observation deck. From here, we headed onward to Las Vegas. That will be covered in the next update. Next stop: Meteor Crater. This was cooler than I thought it would be.

According to coaster-count, my credits per year have been... 1991 - 0 (the year I was born) 1992 - 2 (#1: Matterhorn Bobsleds (Disneyland)) 1993 - 1 1994 - 1 1995 - 2 (#5: Freeway Coaster (Adventure City)) 1996 - 2 1997 - 0 1998 - 4 (the year I hit 48"; #10: GhostRider (Knott's Berry Farm)) 1999 - 12 (#25: Little Dipper (Castle Amusement Park)) 2000 - 6 2001 - 9 2002 - 1 2003 - 15 (the year I became an enthusiast; #50: Batman The Ride (Six Flags Magic Mountain)) 2004 - 9 2005 - 5 2006 - 8 (#75: Montezooma's Revenge (Knott's Berry Farm)) 2007 - 2 2008 - 25 (the first year I visited parks out of state; #100: Mean Streak (Cedar Point)) 2009 - 2 2010 - 36 (the first year I did a TPR trip) 2011 - 66 (#150: Screamin' Eagle (Six Flags St. Louis), #175: Excalibur (Funtown Splashtown U.S.A.), #200: Kingda Ka (Six Flags Great Adventure) 2012 - 42 (#225: Comet (Waldameer), #250: Dragon Mountain (Marineland Theme Park)) 2013 - 12 2014 - 90 (#275: Dragon (Lakeside Amusement Park), #300: Flying ACE Aerial Chase (Kings Island), #325: Lightning Racer (Hersheypark), #350: Cyclone (Luna Park)) Summary: 2014 has been my biggest year so far, with 90 new credits. I honestly doubt I'll do that again until I go on an international trip. Also worth noting is that my four biggest years are the four years I did TPR trips, and the only year I got a large count without a TPR trip was the first year I traveled out of California. One final fun fact...It took me 18 years to reach #100, then only 3 years to reach #200, and 2 years to reach #300.

Twisted Colossus isn't a great name, but it's not a bad name either. Honestly, if they can build a top tier coaster I don't care what they call it. If the one-track rumor proves to be true, that will be somewhat disappointing, but if the park isn't going to run the ride as a racing coaster I'd rather they put the money into a better ride than one they don't use. As for the statistics, Colossus was 4,325 ft long, 125 ft tall, and had a top speed of 62 mph, so the new ride should definitely be the longest RMC (and I somewhat hope they don't try for tallest or fastest). My personal hope: Keep the out and back layout, keep the statistics relatively unchanged (slightly taller and/or faster is okay, but not 200+ ft or 80+ mph), and build a ride with as much airtime as possible. Inversions are okay as well, but don't go overboard (a barrel roll would be okay, and maybe a zero-G stall, but no more than that). If this is done right, SFMM could have one of the top 5 coasters in the world, so I hope that beginning summer 2015 they do.

^To be fair, California Screamin' has had the scream tubes since day one and the park was built adjacent to (or possibly partially in) a residential area. I was also the impression GhostRider's shed was more for the benefit of those staying at the Knott's hotel than the park's neighbors. As for a giga at Knott's...no. Too big for the park. A B&M hyper, however, would be a good fit for the park, satisfy all the thrill seekers in the area, and is different from anything else in Southern California.

Through a combination of events, I ended up spending five weeks of my summer this year traveling on two separate trips. Some of that time was spent on my own. Some of it was a family trip. Some of it was traveling with TPR. Some parts good, some parts bad, but overall everything was a ton of fun. Not everything was theme park related, but over the course of the summer I visited two dozen out of state parks and got over 80 new credits. Since everything is somewhat mixed together, I'll just showcase it all here. Before I get started, here's the plan: I'm going to try to do two updates per week, though sometimes I may only be able to do one. Each update will cover either one day or one destination (except the first and last, which will each contain two destinations). Although there will be other stuff mixed in, every update will contain some theme park content. And finally, a reminder of my coaster rating system: A: A coaster worth traveling just for that one ride. One of the best coasters I've been on. In order to get an A from me, a coaster must be worth a 60+ minute wait, must be good enough that I want to ride multiple times per visit, and must be something I'd like ERT on. B: A must ride if you visit the park, but not worth traveling to the park just to ride. These are rides I would typically ride every visit but may not ride again unless the line is short. C: A ride that isn't bad, but isn't really anything notable. As a general rule of thumb, if I'd ride it again but wouldn't wait for it again it gets a C. D: What would typically be considered a credit coaster. These are usually rides I'd do again if someone wanted to ride but would skip if I was on my own. F: A truly horrible ride. I rarely use this rating, as it is reserved only for coasters that I never, ever want to ride again (and does not apply to kiddie/family coasters). And with that, let's begin. Trip 1, Part 1: FSAE Electric-June 15th to 21st, 2014 The first trip of my summer began on the day I graduated from UCI. Basically, we had our graduation ceremony on Sunday, June 15th and had to be in Lincoln, Nebraska on Tuesday, June 17th for a school-related event that started the next day, and we were driving. I went to the ceremony, went home, got changed, got lunch, drove back to school, picked up my traveling companions, and took off. What was the event? FSAE is an engineering competition where student teams design, manufacture, test, and compete with Formula-style racecars. Since my chosen senior project was Racecar Engineering, the class ended with this competition. 33 members of the team chose to go, and that day all of us departed split among seven vehicles (two pickup trucks, four minivans, and my dad's car (he would be meeting me later that week in Lincoln and we were road-tripping back to California). Each group was permitted to choose any route desired, as long as they arrived in Lincoln by Tuesday evening. Most chose not to stop anywhere, as the school was not providing hotels en route, and ended up arriving in Lincoln early Tuesday morning. I, however, chose a more scenic route. The first day, we drove to Phoenix. I was originally going to stop by Castles n' Coasters for a couple credits, but by the time we arrived it was a little too late (plus my traveling companions had no interest). The next day, we took a scenic route and drove through Petrified Forest National Park, then headed through Albuquerque (sadly, Cliff's Amusement Park was closed that day) and up to Colorado. Tuesday was a somewhat boring drive across eastern Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, until we arrived in Lincoln in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, any excitement I had for the competition disappeared shortly after arrival. I found out the next day that our car had not been reassembled prior to departure, so we spent the first two days of the event (plus the night in the middle) just doing that. After our car failed technical inspection on Thursday, we were up until 4 A.M. in the parking lot of the hotel trying to get it up to spec, and by the close of inspection Friday we still hadn't passed and were disqualified from the dynamic events. Now, FSAE Electric has a notoriously difficult technical inspection (only about 20% of teams pass), but it was still disappointing to know that we likely had the best car there and couldn't compete. Add in the fact that about 1/3 of the team didn't really contribute and the hotel we stayed at was one of the worst I've ever been in (dirty, rooms leaked, elevator was a safety hazard, etc.) and this part of the trip I just want to forget. The next day (Saturday, June 21st, 2014), I said goodbye to my racecar team and went to pick my dad up at the airport. We went and watched some of the endurance event at the FSAE competition (a 22 km race), got lunch, and explored downtown Lincoln a bit. The rest of the day was mainly a rest day, as he was worn out from an overnight flight and I was worn out from 20 hour days during the competition. Good that we did, because the next day the vacation really began. Trip 1, Part 2: Denver-June 22nd & 23rd, 2014 On Sunday, we left Lincoln and made the 7 hour drive to Denver, Colorado. On the way, we stopped at a place called The Wild Animal Sanctuary. This place was a bit different from a typical zoo, as they take in rescued animals, typically ones that were mistreated at their former homes, and allow them to live the rest of their lives in a controlled natural environment. Instead of small cages, animals are kept in large enclosures (typically 10-15 acres), and there is minimal human interaction once they are acclimated to their new habitat. Visitors view the enclosures from an elevated walkway. Overall, The Wild Animal Sanctuary was pretty cool, and I'm glad we went to see it. I'd definitely recommend stopping by if you're traveling through the area (it's about an hour from Denver and a little ways from I-76), but it's not the type of place I would make a special trip to. Lakeside Amusement Park Upon arrival in Denver, we headed directly to Lakeside Amusement Park. Lakeside is a smaller park without any big thrill rides, but what makes the park unique is that they retain a lot of old-school attractions that are not found in modern parks. Other than the drop tower, everything at the park looked like it was at least 30 years old. The park also has quite a bit of charm, and although we didn't stay until nightfall everything was lit up with neon lights. The staff at the park was great: operations were about as efficient as possible and every employee we encountered was personable. Lastly, the park is really cheap: rides were all $3 or less (most adult rides were $2), and even an all-day wristband is just $20 on weekends (cheaper during the week). As far as the ride selection goes, Lakeside has four roller coasters (one of which is fairly notable) and a decent collection of flats. Of the flats, the best that I tried was the Roll-o-Plane. This was my first encounter with this type of ride, and it was great. The ride was more intense than I thought, especially when going backwards after the ride tilts. I didn't ride too many other flat rides, as we did pay per ride and quite a few weren't running, but I also tried the Whip and ZOOM, both of which were fun. As for the coasters... Cyclone: Cyclone is one of two remaining Vettel woodies (the other is the Conneaut Lake Blue Streak). I wasn't expecting the coaster to be anything special, but this ride was really good. In fact, it was probably the best I rode on this trip. The ride is very smooth for a 1940s woodie, features quite a bit of airtime, and has a decent layout, though the ride does die out toward the end. Cyclone also still uses the original Vettel trains with only a seatbelt to secure riders. I've now been on both operating Vettel woodies, and I have to say this is definitely the better of the two. B Wild Chipmunk: This is one of the two remaining Miler wild mouse coasters. This coaster reminded me of the former Tree Top Racers at Adventure City, but was a better ride overall. No restraints at all on this one...just get in, hold on, and watch your head. Fun ride, though this was probably the longest line in the park due to capacity (only three operating cars, and two adults would be a squeeze). C Dragon: Standard Zamperla powered coaster with two helixes. Probably my least favorite of the three I've ridden due to an extra hard stop at the end, but otherwise nothing special about this one. No rating. Overall, I enjoyed Lakeside quite a bit. The park is a bit different than most modern parks, but that is a good thing in this case. I would definitely recommend visiting if you're in the Denver area. I'd say 2-4 hours is about the right amount of time for this park (more if you're getting a wristband or going on a weekend). Just be sure to check the hours before visiting, as the park is typically only open in the evenings (they usually open at 6 or 7 p.m. on weekdays, noon on weekends). After we left Lakeside, we headed to our hotel. The next day, we visited Denver's other amusement park. Elitch Gardens Elitch Gardens is one of those parks that I've always been interested in visiting, but didn't think I was too likely to get to anytime soon. I'd heard it wasn't the greatest park, so I visited with low expectations. What I found was a park that wasn't so good for the traveling enthusiast but perfectly acceptable for a local resident. Elitch Gardens (the current Elitch Gardens) is not that old of the park, but it has been through several owners during its lifetime. The park was owned by Six Flags at one point, and Herschend managed it at some point after that. I'm not sure who's in charge now, but they seem to be doing a decent job with the park. Everything was operating except Half Pipe and one random flat ride, Mind Eraser and Twister II were using both trains, operations were reasonably efficient, and all the employees were friendly. The park does have some issues (most notably a confusing layout and low quality food), but neither of these are major enough to complain about. Despite being the largest park in Colorado, Elitch Gardens is still a smallish park. There are six coasters here, though all but one are stock models and none are particularly notable. The park also has a dark ride, a decent collection of flat rides, two water rides, and an included waterpark (did not visit). Coaster Reviews: Twister II: I had heard Twister II was a below average wooden coaster, but the ride actually surprised me. It isn't that fast or that intense and has almost no airtime, but the ride was fairly smooth and it was just a fun wooden coaster. This was actually my favorite ride at the park, and while it isn't a ride I'd go out of the way for it was a coaster I'd definitely ride again (I rode twice on this visit...the only ride in the park I rode more than once). B- Boomerang: As far as Boomerangs go, this one was right in the middle. Not too rough, but there was some headbanging. It wasn't the worst coaster in the park, but that doesn't say much. C Mind Eraser: This was SLC number six for me, and based on my experiences it seems that they are all more or less the same: a decent layout that is too rough to enjoy. This one was fairly rough...not as bad as Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland, but worse than Kong at SFDK, and definitely my least favorite coaster at the park (plus it had the longest line). C- Sidewinder: This was my first experience with an Arrow Launched Loop, as only a couple of them remain in operation. I had heard the ride was decent, and several reports said it was the best ride there. I, however, thought it was just okay. The ride isn't rough, but it is uncomfortable to bang your shoulders on the restraint due to the small amount of airtime on the hill, and I really didn't care for the backwards trip since this was unexpected. It was certainly better than the average boomerang, and was the best steel coaster at the park by default (especially since Half Pipe was closed), but I much prefer the Schwarzkopf shuttle loops. C Non-Coaster Summary: Elitch Gardens has a decent collection of flat rides, several of which I did (Big Wheel, Dragonwing, Observation Tower, Shake Rattle and Roll, Tower of Doom, and Troika). None of them really stood out, as all were standard models, but for a basic amusement park they were fine. I did ride the park's Ghostblasters dark ride, a newer version of the attraction which was quite fun (though I prefer the classic version). I also rode Shipwreck Falls, the park's splash boat. The ride was wetter than I thought it would be, and due to the small size you actually get hit by the splash while loading in the station. I did not visit the waterpark due to time constraints, but nothing there looked particularly special. Overall, I thought Elitch Gardens was a decent park. Unlike Lakeside, it's not somewhere I would probably go back to unless they added a major new coaster or I was certain Half Pipe was operating, but I did have a good day there and could see it being the type of park a local might visit for a few hours. I don't really have a strong recommendation either way about whether you should visit it on a Denver trip, but I will say it would be easy to do both this and Lakeside in one day...Elitch Gardens is a 6 hour park at most (we were there about 4, and if you were just getting credits you'd be done in 2). After Elitch Gardens, we went back to the hotel and rested for a bit, then went and walked through downtown Denver, ending up at Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies game. I've been to five or six different ballparks, and Coors Field is probably my favorite of them. The stadium has a great layout, and there are some neat features, such as a games area for kids and a party deck on the roof above right field. The only issue I have with the stadium is the direction it faces; we were on the first base side and were staring into the setting sun for most of the game. I don't remember too much from the game other than that St. Louis shut out the Rockies (the St. Louis Cardinals are a much better team anyway) and that my dad caught a foul ball. Nothing much happened after the game. We just walked back to the hotel and went to bed, since the next day was an early departure with lots of driving. This is Zeta, the car we brought to Lincoln. It is UCI's first FSAE Electric vehicle. UCI's racecar project builds vehicles like this. The car pictured is Epsilon, UCI's last FSAE vehicle (it competed in 2011). I spent a majority of my time in the program working on Savage, the school's 2015 competition car (specifically, I did suspension design). Back in the Triassic period, this area was a forest, but now all the trees have become petrified wood. It is pretty to look at. I bought a couple souvenir pieces at a store just outside the park. The Crystal Forest trail is pretty much a 3/4 of a mile walk past stuff like this. One last picture of petrified wood for good measure. There weren't many visitors here, either. This was the only parking lot we saw with more than two cars in it, and we passed maybe a dozen during the drive through the park. Since we only had time for one hike, we chose Crystal Forest. Not much of a forest remains. The Agate Bridge is a fallen tree that has become petrified and therefore connected to the rock, forming a natural bridge. I've been to a number of national parks, and this one is one of the least interesting. Most of the park looked like this. Newspaper Rock was kind of neat, as the rock was covered in petroglyphs (though you needed to use the telescopes to see them). Our last stop in the park was Painted Desert. This is probably the nicest part of the park to look at, and you can hike down there. Unfortunately, we didn't have time. The only notable stop en route to Lincoln was Petrified Forest National Parks. Fast forward two days, and we're now at FSAE Lincoln/Electric. Our team, on the other hand, spent a good amount of time doing this. The event contains three team presentations (Business, Cost, and Design), along with five dynamic events (acceleration, skidpad, autocross, endurance, and efficiency). Most of the competitors were doing this. Fun Fact: FSAE is an international competition, and we were paddocked next to the Japanese Honda team. Surprising Fact: The Japanese Honda team didn't really do that well. The rest of the UCI team was on the way back home at that time. Here's a shot from the endurance event the next day. I watched this event for a couple hours. Saturday afternoon, my dad and I went and explored downtown Lincoln a bit. This appeared be the old part of town. When we were arriving, they were just cleaning up a morning street fair. I liked Lincoln, though I definitely wouldn't want to live there...it's too far from anything interesting to do. The event takes place on an unused section of the Lincoln Airport. All that separated us from the active area was that orange fence. Since most of the animals are rescues, however, they don't go straight into an enclosure. First, they are placed into a building like this until they get used to the sanctuary environment, and are then gradually introduced to other members of their species. All of the animals are kept in large enclosures (10-15 acres), such as this one. Enough with Lincoln, onward to Denver. En route, we stopped at the Wild Animal Sanctuary, where you can see lions... One of the bear enclosures, with toys for the bears to play with. Most of the animals are large carnivores people have kept as pets. In addition to the previously mentioned, they also had wolves, wolf hybrids, foxes, and a few other miscellaneous animals. ...and tigers... ...and bears (oh my). There were rabbits running all over the place, and since they are free to enter the habitats I'm assuming the animals get them quite often (we saw the lions make a kill while we were there). At one point, the sanctuary received nearly 20 lions at once, so they had to build a building specifically to hold them for the winter. The gates open to the outdoor enclosures. The end of the Mile into the Wild walkway. There's plenty of room to expand the sanctuary (the eventual plan is to have a 3 mile walkway), but it's all determined by money. If you like these animals and happen to be in the area, check this place out. Wolf exhibit. Since we visited midday, a lot of the animals were just relaxing. What in the world is that thing? Wild Chipmunk is the other adult coaster at the park. Apparently a chipmunk is more wild than a mouse. This thing was quite fun. I love the old-looking ticket booths all the rides had. I had heard Lakeside is the "ghetto park" according to locals, but it actually seemed like a pretty nice place. This ride doesn't look like it's been working in a while. Oh, it's a defunct Ferris Wheel. From the looks of it, this has probably been here since the early days of the park. I guess they used to have a boat ride on the lake, but it appears long gone. Okay, okay, you came here for amusement park pictures. Welcome to Lakeside Amusement Park! Cyclone is the star attraction of the park. Not only is it the best ride here, but it is the best roller coaster in all of Colorado and actually a really good wooden coaster. Almost all the signs at Lakeside were old neon lights. If I go back, I'm definitely staying until after dark. Lakeside had a decent looking kiddie area. This was more fun than I thought it would be, but was probably my least favorite ride that I did (other than the powered coaster). I've never seen a Whip before. Let's give this ride a try. The back part of Lakeside looked more like this. I'm guessing the area around Cyclone was the original park and it expanded back along the lake. Yes, I rode this. Yes, I count it as a credit. This was the only ride in the park that looked relatively new. It's just a standard ARM/Larson tower. Here's another ride I've never seen, the Roll-o-Plane. At the end of the park was Heart Flip, a weird suspended teacup ride. Sadly, it was closed. I wasn't sure if I'd like this ride, as I don't usually do backward spinning, but it ended up being great and more intense than expected. In my opinion, best flat ride in the park. Fun ride, but it's a common model and the most expensive flat in the park (still only $3). Yep, Mind Eraser was pretty bad. I like the layout of the SLC, but all the ones I've ridden are pretty rough. I wonder if there's any SLC considered good. On second thought, I think I'll pass. I like rapids rides and don't mind getting wet, but I don't like the wetness being due to a fire hose. I guess I'll ride the splash boat instead. Oops. Should have watched that before boarding. Twister II is the best ride at Elitch Gardens. It's not anything special, but it was a decent wooden coaster. I was surprised to see three-bench trains running on this ride, as those are usually only used on out-and-backs. Apparently Twister II is built on a swamp or something. Other than the area of the entrance and exit pathways, the ground under the coaster was wet. The entrance area to the park was nice, but once you got past that everything else pretty much looked like this. Brain Drain, the park's new for 2014 ride. It wasn't running due to technical difficulties (I think it did open later). I rode one of the two coasters in this picture. Which do you think it was? Why did you buy a drop tower with only three cars, and then use only two, Elitch Gardens? At least buy the four car model, if not six. Okay, honestly operations were pretty decent at the park, with Tower of Doom being the lone exception. Oh no, they've got one of those here. Dragonwing = discount SkyScreamer/Windseeker. Let's go check out the rapids ride. Which is the better ride, Sidewinder or Troika? One last credit to get in the park (since I'm not waiting for the kiddie). Best name ever! Apparently it is mandatory that every visitor to Denver visits Elitch Gardens. The next day, we went to Denver's other amusement park: Elitch Gardens. Plenty of people were having fun in the waterpark. I've never seen a half-pipe slide exit into the lazy river like that. Coors Field is somewhere down there. The waterpark or the river, which makes a better day out? Nice views from the top of the tower. Goodbye Elitch Gardens. I had a good time. On the way back from the park we passed this mural under an overpass. Not sure if this has any significance or is just a beautification project. I guess some people chose the river. No need for a waterpark, just bring a tube and ride down here. Once you cross the bridge, there's a nice park to walk through before the city. WTF? I have no idea what this is. Time to head to the game. From our hotel, we had to cross this bridge to reach downtown Denver (note: I think this picture is in the wrong direction across the bridge). Walked by Union Station on the way to the stadium. Time for a ballgame. Tonight, we'll be watching St. Louis vs. Colorado at Coors Field. This is the fourth baseball stadium I've seen a game at, and it's probably my favorite. What's special about the purple row of seats? I'll reveal the answer at the start of the next update. And we'll end it here (both because I've got no more Denver photos and this is the limit). St. Louis dominated the Rockies, in case anyone is curious. More to come next week. Before leaving the park, we went up in the Observation Tower. From here, you can see that Elitch Gardens really isn't that big. The park is located in the middle of downtown Denver, right next to the Denver Aquarium and Mile High Stadium.

I have not been disappointed by a B&M hyper yet, and from the video Fury 325 looks like it could be the best of the type. It doesn't matter that Carowinds already has Intimidator, they are definitely getting a top tier coaster with this addition, and it will definitely be a hit with the general public. As for the similarity debate, I rode both Behemoth and Leviathan when I was at Canada's Wonderland and while the individual elements on Leviathan felt very similar to elements on Behemoth, the overall ride was different enough. It's not like the difference between a B&M and an Intamin, more like the difference between a B&M floorless and a B&M stand-up. Either way, Fury 325 is enough to get Carowinds added to my revisit list. It's unlikely a wing coaster would have done that without some type of unique feature.

Probably Knott's Berry Farm for West Coast Bash, though there is a possibility I may end up going somewhere else before that.

Somehow I had forgotten about this thread, so I just got caught up on reading it. All of the reports are great, as are the pictures. I'm really interested for the upcoming reports, as I love comparing my own opinions to those with the same experiences. I think it's about time I got my own trip report going too.

Every RMC conversion so far has utilized some of the existing structure, and I highly doubt Colossus will be any different. At minimum I'm guessing the structure for the lift hill and the two turns will remaining mostly intact, with modifications as necessary to accommodate new elements (probably a taller lift with a steeper drop and some type of turn other than a flat unbanked one). I wouldn't be surprised if the middle structure, especially that for the midcourse brakes, is entirely replaced. As for the station, unless they move it I'm guessing there won't be many modifications to the building itself. The queue layout will probably change, especially if there is only one track.

Well, I rode Thunder Run this summer, and of the four Dinn woodies I've been on (others being Mean Streak, Predator, and Psyclone) it is easily the best. While it isn't anything special, Thunder Run is the only one of the four that I'd wait more than a few trains to ride and it is the only one I think is worth multiple rides.

Full Throttle at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Thursday.

^^No, don't do that. SFMM is NOT open on Friday, September 26th. If you are willing to purchase the Flash Pass, two days at SFMM are not necessary. With a Flash Pass, Saturday crowds are not an issue, so if you've got the budget for it and don't mind losing sleep due to Haunt the night before, just go on Saturday and buy a Gold Flash Pass (do not buy Platinum...not worth the cost and you will anger a lot of people in line with it). Be sure to ride Full Throttle first thing in the morning (even before picking up your Flash Pass) and do X2 mid-afternoon if you do not buy a reservation for it. If you are not getting a Flash Pass, go on Thursday and see how much you can get done. I recommend starting at Full Throttle and going counter-clockwise around the park, as most people go straight to X2 and Tatsu so those rides (especially X2) clear up mid-afternoon. I don't know what the crowds will be like that day, as the park usually isn't open on weekdays outside of summer and holiday periods. It is possible that you'll be able to do everything in one day without a Flash Pass even with limited hours. If the park is crowded, either buy a Flash Pass that day or go back for a partial day on Saturday.

Okay, I think this is at least semi-realistic. Knott's Berry Farm: 2015: New interactive dark ride in the space formerly occupied by Kingdom of the Dinosaurs (not Wonder Mountain's Guardian style) 2016: B&M Hyper starting in the Boardwalk and running along the south side of the park (Riptide and possibly Boomerang removed to make room) 2017: Knott's Soak City expansion with two new slide towers (a Snake Pit style tower and a family raft ride), new kids area, new food service location, and park-wide landscape improvements 2018: General improvements...no new rides this year 2019: GhostRider overhaul: complete retrack with either Topper Track (no layout changes) or new wood track plus new trains 2020: Fiesta Village refresh with 2-3 new flats Six Flags Magic Mountain: 2015: Iron Colossus 2016: Revolution Restored: complete repaint and new lap-bar only trains 2017: World's tallest SkyScreamer in former Deja Vu location and Tsunami Soaker in former Freefall location 2018: ProSlide HydroMagnetic water coaster replacing picnic grove, new picnic grove in Flashback's spot 2019: New trains for Ninja, turn one side of Superman forward, and begin cleaning up the park in preparation for the 50th anniversary in 2021 2020: Continued park clean-up project and begin construction on SFMM's 20th coaster for 2021: the world's largest lift driven coaster (350 feet tall with speeds of 100 mph).

Cedar Point tomorrow as a prelude to this year's TPR US trip.