rcdude

Yes, it's unfortunate that X2 has to be closed for WCB, and I know it is a major disappointment for anyone coming from out of state, but to be honest that is probably the least rerideable of SFMM's major coasters. While it is a top tier ride, I think the coaster's reputation comes more from its uniqueness than from anything else as the coaster is very rough and uncomfortable (if you leave even a tiny bit of space in the restraints it will throw you around like a ragdoll) and in my opinion the layout looks more impressive than it actually is. Personally, I'd only rank X2 forth among the park's coasters (behind Tatsu, Full Throttle, and Goliath), and if nothing else not riding it this time just gives another thing to look forward to on your next visit.

Time to wrap this up. Since the other two parks are both small and we spent less than two hours at each, I'll just combine them into one report. Note that pictures will be limited (although I'll include a few bonus ones from the drive home). Pacific Northwest Park 2: Oaks Amusement Park-August 10th, 2013 Oaks Amusement Park is one of Oregon's two parks. The place is located in Sellwood Riverfront Park south of downtown Portland. While getting to the park is a little awkward, there are plenty of signs to guide you. It is quite small, but the ride selection looked decent for a couple hours. Add in the roller skating rink, go karts, miniature golf, and just looking around the general area, and you could probably spend a half day here fairly easily. We only had a couple hours, so we just did a few rides. One other thing worth noting about Oaks Amusement Park is that it is incredibly cheap. Free admission, free parking, and rides are only $2.50 each (excluding go karts). An unlimited wristband good for everything except go karts and golf is $15.25 (go karts and golf are $6 each, or a $10 upcharge on the wristband for one ride and game). The wristband even include the roller skating rink, although you do have to rent skates ($1.50 to $5 depending on model). As for food prices, we got ice cream cones here and we got two cones for less than the price of one at Wild Waves, so definitely less than most parks. Finally, if you're visiting check the website for promotions: I found a coupon that got us unlimited ride bracelets for $8. Ride Reviews: I rode each of the following once. Looping Thunder: The biggest, most intense coaster in Oregon, this is a standard Pinfari ZL42 model. This was my first experience with a Pinfari, and while the ride was far from great it was not as bad as I was expecting. Due to the car design you really feel every jerk in the ride, but other than that it wasn't bad. I actually preferred this ride to Wild Thing as it did more. Rock-O-Plane: An old Rock-O-Plane ride, this one was very good. It felt significantly faster than the other version of the ride I've been on (the one at SCBB), and it was possible to get the cars flipping with little effort. Even though I find these rides somewhat sketchy, they are still one of my favorite old-school flats. Cosmic Crash: I had heard Oaks Amusement Park's Scooter Cars were among the best bumper cars out there, but sadly I discovered they had been replaced with more modern bumper cars. Fortunately, this park doesn't have any of the restrictive rules common nowadays and the cars run full speed, so it was still a pretty good bumper car ride. Zoooooom: A Miler Family Coaster, this was probably my least favorite of the type as it was quite jerky. The ride is the larger 16 ft model with a helix and does two laps. We also rode the train (don't remember if it had a different name), which was just a basic lap around the picnic area and not all that interesting. The rest of the rides are mainly carnival rides, although there is a mix of new and old attractions. Overall, Oaks Amusement Park is a decent park, but I certainly wouldn't go out of my way for it. Even on a Saturday evening, the place wasn't too crowded and operations were very good so even the longest lines would only take 10-15 minutes. Even though the ride section feels like a permanent carnival the park has a nice atmosphere and has some history behind it. Pacific Northwest Park 3: Enchanted Forest-August 11th, 2013 I've been curious about Enchanted Forest ever since I discovered the place, so I was really glad we were able to fit it into the trip. The park is about 10 minutes south of Salem, Oregon, and is located right next to I-5. It's a small park, and there are only 4 adult rides, so don't expect to spend more than a couple hours here (we were here less than two). The park charges an admission fee of around $10, and then it is pay per ride (rides were $1-4, unlimited wristband was about $25 on top of admission). Half of Enchanted Forest consists of a variety of fairy tale displays. Many of the fairy tales are familiar, especially if you're a fan of Disney movies, but the displays are quite strange. Some feature basic animatronics, but most of them are static, and slides are everywhere (I counted at least four). The other half of the park has several streets each themed to a different era (Wild West street, Medieval street, etc.). The place was nice, but you could tell it was done as cheaply as possible. While there are only four rides, I'd say all four are must-ride because they are unique. Ride Reviews: As we were doing pay per ride, we only did each once. Haunted House: Technically not a ride but a walkthrough, the Haunted House featured a variety of animated displays and cheap effects. It's not that scary for an adult, but I can see how a kid would be scared. Many of the effects seemed similar to those found in Disney's Haunted Mansion, but done on a budget and changed enough to avoid any kind of lawsuit. The walkthrough is also quite long, so it is definitely worth the price. Big Timber Log Ride: A Miler Water Coaster, the Big Timber Log Ride is half log flume, half roller coaster. The ride is about four minutes long and features two lifts, three drops, and a decent flume section before the coaster track starts. Due to staff shortages, they were only running two logs when I rode, but there was no line and the operators talked with us until it was time to go. Decent flume ride, though not spectacular, and as for the question...I'd call it a credit, but a strict counter wouldn't. Ice Mountain Bobsled: This was a funky custom built coaster that looked more like an alpine coaster and the theming made it feel like a ghetto Matterhorn. The ride was actually decent, probably the best steel coaster of the whole trip, but it is more for kids. The ride is long, so since only one train was running there was a bit of a wait, but it was still only 15 minutes or so. Challenge of Mondor: Not only is this the best ride at Enchanted Forest, but it is one of the best dark rides outside of Disney and Universal parks. The ride is a trackless shooting dark ride, and unlike other similar rides it takes advantage of being trackless. The vehicles move forward, backward, spin, and go down dead-end paths only to reverse out. Theming is great, although the story doesn't make the most sense. I scored around 1,700 points, my Dad got a couple hundred higher, not bad for a first ride (2,000 is considered a good score here, 3,000 a great score). If you score the high score of the day (around 3,200 when we rode) you get a special medal, and if you can beat the all time high score (over 5,000) you get an even better prize. Enchanted Forest was a nice park. Of the three I visited on this trip, I'd say it was probably my favorite, but it certainly has the smallest ride selection. The park is really more for kids, but I'd still recommend checking it out if you're in the area. Employees are great and very friendly, and according to a couple we talked to the park is often dead outside of Saturdays and Sunday afternoons, so crowds are not an issue here. Pictures: After leaving Washington on Saturday, we arrived in Portland around 7 P.M. We went searching for an Ice Cream shop recommended by a relative (Salt & Straw), but after finding a massive line we ditched that plan and went straight to Oaks Amusement Park. Looping Thunder is the biggest, most intense coaster in the state of Oregon, but it's just a carnival coaster. The loop on this ride has to be one of the smallest anywhere. Time for the Rock-O-Plane. This is probably the park's best ride. I always like the look of carnival parks at night. They just seem to come alive when the lights turn on. Unlike most modern bumper car attractions, there are no "one way only" or "avoid head-on collisions" rules here, and the cars run full speed. Unfortunately, I was greeted by this. A bit disappointing, but I'm still glad we rode. Time for the bumper cars. I was excited to try an old Lusse Scooters attraction. An old Spider all lit up. It's nice to see the park has old rides like this... Right next to new thrills like Scream N Eagle. This ride got very close to the trees. The site of the old Lewis and Clark dark ride. A sign said something new is coming soon, but I don't know what. No park is complete without a Carousel. The next day we visited Enchanted Forest, Oregon's other amusement park. The witch's Gingerbread House from Hansel and Gretel. This is the first walk-through encountered on Storybook Lane. The crooked house was toward the end of the trail. I took several pictures of other displays, but sadly due to low light most are quite blurry. At the end of Storybook Lane, you end up on Wild West Street. To give an idea of size, this was half the street. It's great when parks add little details for a laugh. The Haunted House is partially hidden by trees. You can't see the full three story building until right when you get to the steps. RC boats for kids. This is one of the nicer areas I've seen on one of these attractions. The big drop on Big Timber is bigger than the biggest drop on Looping Thunder. Even though you approach this drop at speed since it comes at the end of the coaster section it is still too slow to give any airtime. The Big Timber Log Ride is located at the junction of Wild West Street and Medieval Street. The station is themed to a sawmill and includes a second story observation deck. Heading down onto Medieval Street, the location of the park's other two rides. Ice Mountain Bobsled, the best coaster in the state of Oregon. Part of the ride is on an artificial mountain, and the other part runs along the natural hillside. The ride has two lift hills, giving it a ride time well over two minutes and leading to a long wait when there is only one train. After leaving the park, we drove down the California coast and passed through Redwood National Park. A view of the Pacific Ocean. There isn't much to do in Redwood National Park in terms of attractions (most of it is longer hikes), but we did stop at the biggest tree in the park. Sounds like a Cedar Fair name, but it gets the point across. One more look at Big Tree. You sure feel tiny standing before a 300 foot tree. We spent the night in Eureka, so we went exploring the Samoa Sand Dunes in the evening. The beaches out here are quite rocky, but we saw a few people relaxing. Sunset from the Samoa Sand Dunes. One last look out to sea. This concludes my 2013 summer trip report. Thanks for reading!

There are actually four/five parks in the LA area depending on how you count: Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios Hollywood, and the Disneyland Resort (technically two parks, but some people consider it one). If you can only go to one park, I would definitely not pick Universal Studios Hollywood, but which of the other three depends on your preferences. -If you are primarily a roller coaster person, go to SFMM. Of the three parks, it easily has the best coasters (in fact, I'd say it has the best collection of any park I've been to). However, keep in mind the park has very little to do other than roller coasters, so if anyone in your group isn't into roller coasters and thrill rides they'll probably be bored here within a few hours. Also note that SFMM is only open weekends during the off-season, so if you have to visit on a weekday it won't work, and be aware that one or more of the major coasters may be closed. -If you are looking for a high quality park and don't care as much about thrills, Disneyland is the best option. The park is expensive, and if you visit on a weekend any time of year it will be packed, but it is easily the best park in Southern California. If you choose to visit here and only have one day, I'd recommend either picking one park and just doing it, especially if it is your first time. It is possible to do both parks in one day, but it requires a bit of planning and a lot of walking with little downtime. -If you want a nice park without the cost of Disney and thrills but not just coasters, Knott's is a good option. The park is nicely themed and offers a good mix of coasters, non-coaster thrill rides, and family rides. Most of the park's rides are not spectacular, but almost everything is still worth riding. During the off-season, especially on weekdays, the park is often dead, but for a first-time visitor there is enough to occupy a good portion of a day even with no lines.

When Outlaw Run was announced last year, I was skeptical of the ride and thought it looked gimmicky. However, that ride has gotten nothing but positive reception. While my preference is still for more traditional wooden coasters (at least until I actually get to ride a Rocky Mountain), Goliath looks spectacular, possibly better than Outlaw Run (although that would really depend on how it runs). Until today, Banshee was my pick for best 2013 coaster, but Goliath definitely looks like the better ride. Unless there's a really appealing European trip (Scandi would probably be out of my budget) I think I'll shoot for this next year. Not saying this is what the trip should necessarily be, but I was playing around with Google maps the other day and based on the various 2014 announcements an Atlanta to Chicago trip (with a detour to Kings Island) looked like it could make a great line-up.

As far as Bonzai Pipelines is concerned, the press release mentions a five story platform, so perhaps they'll replace Sidewinder and Boa Constrictor (although I'm not 100% sure on the height of those slides and they might be too short). If the slides replace Twisted Fang and Coiled Cobra, they'd need a custom layout as the slides would need to end in the same place as the current ones due to the wave pool, but from an aerial image it looks like the two-slide model at Six Flags St. Louis could fit on the lower platform. I highly doubt Venom Drop is going anywhere as it is a signature slide at the waterpark and it would be difficult to have the slides on Taboo Tower without removing Secret Passage and/or the Black Snake Summit slides. I do wish they had opted for the six slide version, but I'll still be going to Hurricane Harbor next summer to check out these slides as I've never done a trap door slide before. Regarding the new coaster, if it's a decent family coaster then it will be nice for a break from the more intense thrill rides. I remember one of the surveys had a picture of the Zamperla Junior Twister Coaster, which would at least be unique, but I have no idea what the park might be getting. On the other hand, if it's a kiddie coaster (like the Zamperla Family Gravity Coaster shown in the video), it seems like it would just be a total waste. Even when I've visited SFMM on Saturdays during a holiday weekend, nothing in the kiddie area ever has more than a one cycle wait. SFMM is a coaster park, not a family park despite what the promos say, so without a major overhaul and several new family attractions scattered around the park it seems like any attempt to appeal to that demographic is a lost cause. Finally, I'm not a huge fan of backward coasters, but I'm looking forward to backwards Batman. I do think it will probably be a one-time only ride, but I'd like to try it. Backwards Colossus is better than regular Colossus, but isn't really a new attraction and I wouldn't wait more than 15-20 minutes to ride it.

Regarding the 2014 additions, I do think they will be popular rides and it's nice to see the park investing in family attractions, but I don't think it's enough to make a significant difference. If the park truly wants to appeal to families, they need more major attractions the entire family can ride together. Something more along the lines of a dark ride or even new trains for the Cedar Creek Mine Ride so it could run with a 42" height requirement would help the park much more than a Flyers and Disk'O Coaster. At least family rides are better than kiddie rides as long as they are run with reasonable restrictions (aka an average 5-6 year old can ride) and this will improve that area of the park. As for the announcement video, it went from fine to awful in under 2 minutes. I don't think it was necessarily the family's fault, but either way it's unfortunate they'll now be associated with this mess of an announcement.

In previous years there has been Revolution (and Viper) ERT at night. I remember one year riding Revolution during night ERT and the employees were excited people were actually coming to ride (if I remember right, there were only six or seven people on the train and when we got back there was maybe one person waiting). Due to the trees, Revolution is actually a pretty decent ride when it's dark, but I wouldn't ride more than once since it's still the roughest coaster at the park.

Knowing SFMM, it's not safe to assume anything until the ride actually reopens. I want to think the park will want to get both rides open as quickly as possible as they are two of the headliners, but I could also see them saying "we've only got one week until Labor Day, and after that we'll be dead until Fright Fest, so if we can't open it this week we can wait until then to have it going again." I would be a bit surprised if Apocalypse isn't ready assuming there isn't more to the problem, but if X2 did break the chain I'd expect it to be a few weeks before the ride reopens. I doubt that the scheduled ERT during WCB plays much into the reopening schedules, but I do hope that if one or both of the rides are unavailable the park will substitute additional attractions to replace them.

As of now... Best Steel: Tatsu followed by Xcelerator (Full Throttle is a very close third) Worst Steel: Excluding kiddie and family coasters, the bottom three are (in no particular order) Knott's Boomerang, Kong, and Vortex Best Wood: Gold Striker followed by Apocalypse Worst Wood: Grizzly, although Belmont Park's Giant Dipper isn't much better

I would not be surprised to see Cyclone receive either an I-Box conversion or be redone entirely in Topper Track, but I'm guessing it's relatively low on the refurbishment chain (my guess: Medusa (SFM), then Colossus (SFMM), then Boss (SFStL), then American Eagle (SFGAm), then Cyclone (SFNE)...one per year). I highly doubt Cyclone will be going anywhere anytime soon. If any coaster at SFNE is likely to be removed in the near future, it is Flashback or(significantly less likely) Mind Eraser. As for a new coaster, a ZacSpin would be a poor fit for the park, as the capacity is terrible (at best I'd estimate Green Lantern gets 500 riders per hour) and while the ride is fairly unique it really isn't anything notable and is quite uncomfortable(assuming the ride would be run as it is at SFMM). Additionally, SFNE really needs something better as their current selection only has one top tier coaster (Bizarro) and two others worth re-rides (Batman and Goliath). Personally, I'd like to see a new B&M inverted coaster replace Mind Eraser, but that's probably the least likely to happen. In any case, a new coaster won't be happening this year as they're almost certainly just getting the Sky Screamer.

I remember back when I visited the park in 2011 there were hints that Alpine Bobsled didn't have many years left. The ride is almost thirty years old after all, and it's not the park's only family coaster, so while there haven't been any recent rumors I wouldn't be surprised to see the ride retired after this season. As for a new coaster, my guess is a Eurofighter similar in scale to Dare Devil Dive (around 2000 ft long, less than 100 ft tall, and thrilling but not overly intense). However, knowing Six Flags they may give Great Escape a new coaster on the cheap and just ship Ragin' Cajun over from Six Flags Great America as that is rumored to be removed after this season. Either way, Great Escape is due for a new coaster, and if they had more than one good coaster I'd consider returning next time I visit the North East.

This is still happening for me, but everything else I originally listed appears to have been fixed. However, I've found a new one: When previewing the post, the images will appear in a random order in the preview post but are listed in the correct order below. Fortunately, the order was correct in the submitted post.

The Pacific Northwest is not a region for amusement park enthusiasts. There are only five or six parks in the entire region, and all of them are small. The largest and most talked about is Silverwood in Idaho, which unfortunately was too far out of our way. However, I did manage to visit three of the other parks in the region. Pacific Northwest Park 1: Wild Waves Theme Park-August 8th, 2013 Excluding the Washington State Fair, Wild Waves Theme Park is the only full amusement park in the state of Washington. It is a small park, comparable in size to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire. The park used to be owned by Six Flags, during which time it was known as Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, but now the park is independently operated and the whole place goes under the name of the attached waterpark. The main draw of the park is the waterpark, which is large enough that it would make a decent stand-alone waterpark. However, as time was a concern (we only had 3 hours for the park), I only did the ride park. To our surprise, nothing was longer than a ten minute wait, so I was able to do most of what I wanted and leave early. Ride Reviews: Other than Timberhawk, I did each of the following once. Timberhawk: Ride of Prey: Without a doubt, this is the best ride in the park (in fact, it was the best ride of the three parks I visited). I'd never been on an S&S woodie before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the ride was very smooth by wooden coaster standards and was quite intense in the back. Anywhere else, however, the ride still has a good first drop but is more of a family woodie. The longest the line got for this was three trains, so I rode four times. Good ride, but not worth traveling all the way to the park just to ride it. Downhill Tubin': This recently replaced the park's sack slide, and while more unique I don't know if it is necessarily better. The ride is basically a dry form of the snowtubing hills found at ski resorts. Since there are only three lanes the line moves very slowly and a 48" height restriction prevents younger children from riding (and they would most enjoy this). Kiddie Coaster: A Zamperla Tornado, this was not that great. The ride is a simple single-helix powered coaster that does four or five laps. Surprisingly, most of the people riding this were older children (4th and 5th grade age) and not young kids. Lumberjack Falls: A standard splash boat ride, this is the only water ride at the park. As far as these types of rides go, this one was great because it got you fairly wet (but not absolutely drenched), it only had seat belts instead of a lapbar, and the line was short. Wild Thing: Old Arrow Loop & Corkscrew, this is the biggest, most intense coaster in the state of Washington. It also had the longest line in the park at 10 minutes. The ride was okay, not terrible but not particularly notable either. It was smoother than the other one of this model I've been on (Steamin' Demon at Great Escape), and you were allowed to go twice if you wanted without getting off. Disco Flashback Boogie Ride: Despite the fancy name, this is just a standard Disk'O ride. These are one of my favorite medium-intensity flats, and although they are quite common for some reason there isn't a single one in Southern California, so I try to ride them if I can. Nothing particularly notable about this one. CW Parker 1906 Carousel: I don't always ride carousels, but when I see a historical one I like to ride just because of it's significance. Standard carousel that was lacking music, so it wasn't anything special other than being almost a hundred years old. The only ride I would have liked to ride but didn't was Klondike Gold Rusher, which was closed for the day. It is a missed credit, but fortunately it is just a wild mouse. There were a handful of other flats I considered riding, but didn't due to one annoying rule Wild Waves has: On any ride with a shared restraint, single riders are not allowed. Even rides I've ridden as a single rider elsewhere had this rule, and since my dad doesn't do flat rides for the most part I wasn't able to ride most of them. Fortunately, a vast majority of the rides at Wild Waves are standard models that are present at many parks around the country. Wild Waves is a decent park. For a local's park, it's quite good, but for a traveling enthusiast three or four hours is all you'd need unless you also do the waterpark. The park is nicely landscaped and has some theming, employees were great, operations were above average, but the park is just lacking in the ride department with only one attraction worth multiple rides. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, but I wouldn't go out of the way for this park. Downhill Tubin', the unique dry tubing attraction at the park. Even though the park is small it was split into themed areas. Me on the powered Kiddie Coaster. Yes, I count these. The one missed credit of the trip, Klondike Gold Rusher. Fortunately, I didn't miss much if my past experience with this model is anything to go by. In about five seconds these riders are going to be soaked. Best themed swinging inverter I've seen. Klondike Gold Rusher, Lumberjack Falls, and Timberaxe (this ride) all form a mini Northwest themed area. A look at the north section of the waterpark. While none of the slides there are particularly interesting, it did still look fun. Wild Thing, the biggest, most intense coaster in the state of Washington, is just a standard Arrow Loop & Corkscrew. The park's antique carousel. Nice location on a hill surrounded by trees and flowers...shame more people weren't riding (my cycle only had three other riders). First up, Timberhawk. The ride is a bit of a hike, but it's worth it. Most of the coaster is hidden by trees. It's a double out-and-back ride with a bit of a wavy layout. We didn't do the Dodgems here as it had one of the longest lines in the park. Most parks have a bus or airplane for this ride, but Wild Waves has a covered wagon. I don't think this wagon will be going anywhere anytime soon. When spinning, Gambler looked like a roulette wheel. It was kind of a cross between a sack slide and snowtubing. Pretty fun, but I would hate to wait for it if the line was long. Kang-A-Bounce in the kiddie section. Wild Waves actually has a great kids area, better than a lot of larger parks. Random theming left over from the Enchanted Forest days. Here I am on the 1906 Carousel. It may be just a carousel, but how many rides are close to a hundred years old? The longest named Disk'O ever: Disco Flashback Boogie Ride. If I ever come back, I'd like to spend some time in the waterpark. Today, however, we're just doing rides. And I'll end with the Ring of Fire, one of my least favorite rides out there. The Oregon parks will be up at some point next week, both in the same update. Wild Waves is situated around a lake. On one side of the lake is the waterpark and on the other is the amusement park.

Tried it again and it's probably user error. Since I was picking out individual images I must have accidentally selected too many at once by mistake. Do you mean order number or file name number? In either case, the instructions DO tell you that the files need to be named in consecutive order, and if give two images the same order number that doesn't seem logical. So I'm not sure this is an actual bug, unless you mean something else. This occurred when I hit preview or deleted a file while renumbering. Since photos are not automatically renumbered, the system allows two photos with the same order number to exist at once. Here's what I mean (example not from my trip report, just a test I did here): IMG_2981 is ranked 4 and IMG_2982 is ranked 5. This is the order they are ranked in by default. If the images were shuffled (due to another bug or incorrect naming) and one is deleted while numbering, it is possible to have two with the same ranking at the same time. Here, IMG_2982 displays before IMG_2981 even though it should be after it by alphabetical order. I doubt this would cause too many issues as pictures won't automatically be ranked the same, but I thought I should mention it. It may be worth looking into an automatic renumbering system at some point so that this can't occur and there aren't gaps when a file is deleted (every time I deleted a picture it would skip a number in the rankings i.e. 1...2...4... instead of 1...2...3...). Edit: Just noticed that placing images inline reverses the order.

Just tried out the Multi-Uploader and found the following bugs while uploading photos: -When additional sets of photos were uploaded, they would be displayed in reverse order at the top of the list, with all the other photos in the correct order below them. Going into preview mode put all the pictures in the correct order. -When an image was deleted, the other pictures near the deleted image would be shuffled around in a seemingly random manner. -For some strange reason, one random photo from the previous set would be duplicated and inserted with each new set at a random place. -The uploader would give me an error when I selected 25 images, but was fine with 20. -When multiple photos were assigned the same number, they would display in reverse alphabetical order. To get everything to work, I just uploaded everything, deleted the photos I didn't want, then manually renumbered everything before adding captions. When posting, the only glitch I noticed was that a backslash was inserted before each apostrophe in the captions (ex: it's became it\'s...I left this for investigation, trip report here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1346601#p1346601). For reference, I am using Internet Explorer 10. I didn't take any screenshots, but when I do the next part of my trip report I'll take screenshots if the glitches persist. Even with these minor bugs, the Multi-Uploader is still far better than uploading single images. I was able to get all the images uploaded in about a 1/3 the time and didn't have to make sure they were uploaded in the exact order I wanted them to display (or I could adjust it if I goofed).

Time to bring this thread back in a modified form. Earlier this month, I attended a cousin's wedding up in Washington. My Dad had been planning to go for some time, and had come up with a week and a half road trip through Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Since I only decided to go about a week before departure, I didn't expect to have any say in what we did along the way, but when he asked for suggestions I mentioned (among other things) stopping at the three parks in the area: Wild Waves Theme Park, Oaks Amusement Park, and Enchanted Forest. We did manage to get to all three, but only for brief visits at each (3 hours at Wild Waves and 2 at the others). While I do have photos from the three parks and will be doing those reports over the next two weeks, I figured I'd first cover all the non-park stuff we did on the trip (except the wedding, which I forgot to bring my camera to). So here is everything we did on the way up from Saturday, August 3rd to Thursday, August 8th, and the first park report (Wild Waves) will be up tomorrow. The first day was a drive day. We drove up US 395 through the California high desert, but took a couple detours along the way. Sunday found us in Reno, but we're not here to gamble. The museum also had several display galleries. The first had antique cars, such as this one from the 1910s. The museum was really nice. Everything was decorated to look like the appropriate time period, with the right cars on the street. Another street in the museum. The predecessor to an RV. A row of cars in the 1930s display gallery. I found this the most interesting of the four main galleries. Old engines. They also had a working display of a 1930s engine. Some of the old cars were quite odd, such as this one. The Thomas Flyer was the single most interesting vehicle in the building. Built in 1907, this was the winner of the 1908 New York to Paris race. Instead, we're visiting the National Automotive Museum. My Dad is a car guy, me not so much, but I still really enjoyed this museum. The last gallery contained competition cars. They were neat, but... The 1950s display gallery. Several movie cars were present here. We first went to Sulphur works, the most accessible of the park's active locations. You could feel the heat from this mud pot from the walkway. Volcanic vents in the landscape. While the area is volcanic, there were plenty of areas that looked like any mountain forest. Brokeoff Mountain, one of the four main volcanoes in the park (all four are currently dormant). Here I am at the Ridge Lake. The first day we hiked to the Ridge Lake, a short but strenuous hike. We then headed up to the first of four national parks on the trip: Lassen Volcanic National Park. Of the four, this was probably my favorite, especially since I prefer active natural features. Before moving on, this is the hotel we stayed at while at Lassen. It was located about ten miles from the park in Mineral, CA, and with a restaurant and general store attached, this was pretty much the whole town. Neat place to stay, but don't expect many modern conveniences (the rooms didn\'t even have television). On our second day in Lassen, we went for a longer hike. The next several pictures show a panoramic view of the south section of the park from a lookout on Bumpass Mountain. The descent into Bumpass Hell, the most active area of the park. Bumpass Hell is entirely covered in sulfur deposits. As a result, it is unsafe to walk anywhere except the boardwalks, as you could easily fall into a boiling pool otherwise. There were bubbling mud pools all over the place in this area of the park. Steam vents were also scattered all over the place. The whole time we were down here, you could smell the rotten-egg smell sulfur gives off. One of the steam vents close to the path. There were a couple of pools down here, but I wouldn't want to go swimming as the water was still very acidic and quite hot. Lassen Peak from the Bumpass Hell trail. Lake Helen, with a great backdrop of Lassen Peak. This was the trail up to Lassen Peak, but it was closed for refurbishment. Due to road construction, a couple other hikes we planned to do were not easily accessible so this was it for Lassen park (except for driving through to the north exit). We took a scenic route up to Oregon using Forest Service roads to go around Mt. Shasta. It gave some great views of the mountain. The next day (Tuesday), we visited Crater Lake National Park. Unfortunately, it was very smoky due to fires in South-Western Oregon. One of the tour boats at Crater Lake. The water is very clear in the lake, so you can see down quite deep. I have no idea how far down it goes here. Without the smoke, this would be a beautiful picture. Even though this is the best view I got, I'm glad I got to see the lake. We hiked down to lake level (a short and somewhat strenuous hike). It's hard to imagine that even down here you're only a third of the way to the bottom of the caldera. Here I am at Crater Lake. We drove up to Mt. Hood that afternoon and went to Mt. Hood SkiBowl to do the alpine slide. Great ride, probably the best of the three alpine slides I've done. But that's not the only reason we visited Mt. Hood. Timberline Lodge is the location of Timberline Lodge Ski Area, one of the two primary ski areas on Mt. Hood (the other is Mt. Hood Meadows). However, it's August, so why would we be at a ski area? This is the start of the Magic Mile chairlift. It runs a mile up the mountain from the lodge, gaining a thousand vertical feet along its length. In the summer, the lift is used as a scenic skyride and to transport skiers to the Palmer snowfield. Perhaps for hiking? While we did walk a little way up the mountain, this is not the reason we are here. We spent the night at Timberline Lodge, a historic building on the mountain. According to a documentary, it was built in the 1930s as part of the WPA during the Great Depression and President Roosevelt himself dedicated the lodge. Surprisingly, the snow was great, at least on the upper half of the run. We skied for a couple hours, and while it got a little softer on each run it was no worse than typical spring conditions. Yes, I did say skiers. Timberline Lodge is the only place in the United States where you can ski 12 months a year. Skiing takes place on the Palmer Snowfield, an area that receives so much snow it stays year-round. The entire area is upper-intermediate difficulty, and the run is over a mile long with 1,500 ft. of vertical. My Dad on the chair for one last run (green jacket on the left). I called it quits before he did because I was getting tired and skiing the same run over and over gets boring to me after seven or eight laps. There's a great view from up here. According to signs, on a clear day you could see as far as Mt. Bachelor from the top of Timberline. Since we were done skiing by 11, we headed down to the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland to look at some waterfalls and do a bit of hiking. Latourell Falls is the first one you come to going east on the Historic Columbia River Highway. Although quite large, it is not the most impressive waterfall in the gorge. This was one of two you could walk behind, but it was very muddy back there so we passed. Bridal Veil Falls, a smaller waterfall. This one required a short hike as it wasn\'t visible from the road. Multnomah Falls, the largest waterfall in the gorge at over 600 ft. tall. This was the popular spot for sightseers. While the waterfall is tall, not that much water flows down it. As a result, a little wind can significantly alter its path. Lower Multnomah Falls from the pedestrian bridge. Our final stop was Horsetail Falls, which is actually two waterfalls. This is the lower portion of the falls. And this is the upper portion, which required a half-mile hike. Like Latourell Falls, it was possible to walk behind this one. The backside of water. Disney has nothing on the real thing. Ok, story time. We saw a sign at the beginning of the trail and at the bridge that stated "The steel bridge on Horsetail Falls Trail is open, but limited to one person at a time crossing. There is some damage to the bridge, but engineers have determined one person crossing at a time is safe." This left us wondering how they determined it was safe and what counted as one person. I love how forested the Pacific Northwest is. It's definitely a region I wouldn't mind moving to. We took another scenic route through Washington that took us near Mount St. Helens, one of the most well-known volcanoes in North America. The next day (Thursday), we drove up through Mt. Rainier National Park. Mt. Rainier is magnificent. It is one of those mountains that towers over everything else, and it is relatively easy to get close to it. This would be a challenging mountain to climb, however, as the entire thing is covered in glaciers. I know people have done it, but I'm guessing all are serious mountaineers. Since we were only a few miles away, we decided to drive up to Crystal Mountain just to see it. Although it is Washington's largest ski area, I've been to several that are larger in California and Utah. The Mt. Rainier Gondola was open for scenic rides, but we passed. From here, it was onward to Wild Waves Theme Park, which will hopefully be covered tomorrow.

Sent in an e-mail last night. I really enjoyed doing the Boardwalk film shoot back in May, so hopefully I get a chance to do this one as well.

^Personally, I'd stick with the Gold Flash Pass and just ride Full Throttle first thing in the morning. Everything else is available with a Gold Flash Pass and the price difference is fairly significant. Definitely wait until you arrive. The park is not likely to sell out of Flash Passes, especially in the off-season. Besides, you might not even need one. I've visited on off-season Saturdays and gotten on every coaster without a problem (though re-rides were limited, but that could be because I left the park and had lunch at a sit-down restaurant). If you do get one, I'd recommend sticking with Gold unless you plan to use the Full Throttle upcharge as Platinum is very expensive for what it offers.

^Knott's is about a third the size of Carowinds. You can walk from one corner of the park to the opposite corner in about five minutes provided you don't get held up by the train. Not that I'm aware of. They have a number of stores, including several outside the park, but as I'm not a shopper I don't know exactly what each one has. Yes, I believe rows 4 and/or 5 (it may be different on each train) have them on one of the two middle seats. I can't remember if there are one or two per train (there is only one per row). As of right now, I believe everything except Windseeker and Xcelerator are running, but this is based on the website which often doesn't list minor ride closures. There is a good chance Xcelerator will reopen soon, however. If Xcelerator is running, I'd recommend starting at the Boardwalk and going counter-clockwise around the park. If Xcelerator is not open, it may be better to start at Silver Bullet or GhostRider instead (Silver Bullet often has a longer line, but it also has better capacity). I wouldn't bother with Fast Lane as it shouldn't be difficult to get everything done without it (Knott's rarely gets lines longer than 45 minutes as long as rides are being run at capacity.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm guessing it was one of these four (ordered most likely to least likely): -Gadget's Go Coaster at Disneyland -Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland -Freeway Coaster at Adventure City -Timberline Twister at Knott's Berry Farm

Normally about an hour before the park opens. In past years I've typically arrived about 45 minutes before ERT started and the parking lot has always been open.

I do have a feeling Iron Colossus is coming in the near future, but I doubt it will be announced with this year's announcements. Unless the transformation is supposed to be done for 2014 (which is possible but unlikely), it would probably be too early to announce it. I think we're more likely to see hints of Iron Colossus appear on the park's Fright Fest website when that goes live. If a message appears anywhere promoting this as the "last time ever to ride Colossus Backwards", it's a pretty good indicator something will be happening. While the ride could close after Fright Fest, I wouldn't be surprised if SFMM waited until after winter break to close it as they could use the extra capacity during the holiday period and they'd still have 18 months to transform the ride and have it ready for summer 2015. It's okay, but if you can only visit one of Southern California's halloween attractions it is the one to skip. I often go because, unlike Knott's, I can get in with a season pass and the park often adds special features to some of the rides, but the event really is the weakest in the area (in my experience).

While I've been optimistic Voyage would eventually get the Timberliners, after reading about Hades 360 I'm not at all surprised the project is cancelled. From what I remember, the Voyage is not entirely rough, so perhaps the park will keep the PTC trains and look into putting Topper Track on some of the rougher/high maintenance sections. The ride certainly doesn't need a full I-Box treatment, as it is a great ride that is just too rough to enjoy fully. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

The new effect looks great. Don't really care for the voice, but I've got a feeling it is temporary (or will be if all the Disney fans hate it). Indiana Jones Adventure is my favorite ride at the park, so if they've got more improvements in store I'm excited to see what they are. It's been too long since I last visited...fortunately my pass is only blocked out for one more week.

I'm only including manufacturers who have 5 or more operating coasters. Also, when a ride has an asterisk it is the only ride I've been on by that manufacturer. Steel Manufacturers: Allan Herschell Company: Little Dipper at Quassy Amusement Park Arrow Dynamics: Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland Bolliger & Mabillard: Flight Deck at California's Great America (then Top Gun) Caripro: Spellbreaker* at LEGOLAND California (now defunct) E&F Miler Industries: Freeway Coaster at Adventure City Fabbri: Screamin' Demon* at Castle Amusement Park Gerstlauer Amusement Rides: Coastersaurus at LEGOLAND California Giovanola: Goliath* at Six Flags Magic Mountain Intamin: Lightning Bolt at MGM Grand Adventures (now defunct) Mack Rides: Goofy's Sky School at Disney California Adventure Park (then Mulholland Madness) Maurer Sohne: Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum at Six Flags New England Miler Manufacturing: Tree Top Racers at Adventure City Molina & Son's: Kiddie Coaster* at Lake Compounce Morgan: Santa Monica West Coaster at Pacific Park Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters: Blue Streak at Cedar Point Pinfari: Looping Thunder* at Oaks Amusement Park Premier Rides: Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood Schwarzkopf: Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain S.D.C.: Windstorm at Fun Forest Amusement Park (now defunct) Togo: Windjammer Surf Racers at Knott's Berry Farm (now defunct) Vekoma: Gadget's Go Coaster at Disneyland Walter Elias Disney: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland Wisdom Rides: Tiger Mike at Boomers Zamperla: Tornado at Castle Amusement Park (now defunct) Zierer: Jaguar! at Knott's Berry Farm Wood Manufacturers: Custom Coasters International: GhostRider at Knott's Berry Farm Dinn Corporation: Psyclone at Six Flags Magic Mountain (now defunct) Great Coasters International: Roar at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Intamin AG (wood only): El Toro* at Six Flags Great Adventure S&S Worldwide: Timberhawk: Ride of Prey* at Wild Waves Theme Park The Gravity Group: Voyage at Holiday World