rcdude

I'm gonna have to go with the Suspended Top Spin. I find these a lot less uncomfortable than the regular versions, and in my opinion Knott's Riptide runs a much better program than any normal Top Spin I've been on. Frisbees (the regular ones...not a fan of the Giant version) are second place, and the rare UFO (not listed) comes in third. I find most of HUSS's other attractions that I've experienced (Break Dance, Pirate, Troika, Enterprise, Jump2, Swing Around, possibly Rainbow, and possibly one or two others) underwhelming, and I generally find similar rides built by other manufacturers to be better.

Okay, now that LeviaTHON is done, we're going back in time to the beginning of July. Due to a gift my dad recieved for Christmas, our big summer trip for 2012 ended up being a two week trip to Europe. Although my brother and sister were initially hesitant about the trip, we eventually decided to go. After a significant amount of planning, we settled on the following itinerary: July 4th: Depart LAX for LHR July 5th-6th: London July 7th-8th: Venice July 9th: Chamonix July 10th: Le Mans July 11-15th: Paris July 16th: London July 17th: Fly Home To best present this report, I will be condensing the 13 day trip into 6 sections: two for London (one for each part), one for Venice, one for the drive to Paris, one for Paris itself, and one for the only actual parks we visited on the trip...Disneyland Paris. Note that other than Disneyland Paris, most of these are pictures of random non-park tourist attractions, although we did visit a family entertainment center in Chamonix and a carnival in Paris. Europe Trip-Part 1: London (July 5th-6th) The trip officially began at around 5 P.M. when our Virgin Atlantic flight left LAX. The flight was uneventful, and although I do not like flying I didn't have that much of an issue with the 11 hour flight. We landed at London Heathrow around noon, and after purchasing Oyster cards we took a train to our hotel near Victoria Staton. We dropped luggage off in the rooms, got a quick lunch at McDonalds, and headed over to the nearest departure point for The Original Tour, a two and a half hour double decker bus tour of London. The tour was a great way to see the city. I don't remember everything that we went past, but I know most of the city's major landmarks were included. The route started by Victoria Station and headed up past Hyde Park to Regent's park, then took Regent Street back to the river and roughly followed that back and forth from Tower Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, then ended with a drive by Buckingham Palace before returning to Victoria Station. If you know London, then good. If you don't, see the following map (we were on the City Sightseeing Tour (red line)). The map was a bit too big to scan, but I think this shows it well enough to get a general idea. Start at the 4 (lower part of the map, a little to the left) and follow the arrows. That night, we were all tired, but we went out to dinner with my uncle (who just happened to be in town on his way to Ireland) before having an early night. I think I was asleep by 9 P.M. The next day was our London sightseeing day. The first planned stop was the Tower of London, one of the icons of the city. This place was pretty cool, and was the closest we got to a legitimate castle on this trip. We spent around two hours touring the grounds and seeing the Crown Jewels. We then headed to the nearby Tower Bridge to tour that. The views from the top were good, but the museum was a little disappointing as it showed old technology and not the current workings of the bridge. We then caught a boat from Tower Pier down to Westminister Pier, where we crossed over to the London Eye. My dad and I enjoyed this, my brother and sister not as much. It gave a pretty good view of the city from the top, and was definitely worth doing, but for the price I don't think I'd do it again. After dinner, we headed over to Trafalgar Square to see the National Gallery. I'm not the biggest fan of art museums, but I think this may have been my favorite of the three we visited on the trip. We only spent an hour or so here, but that was about all the time required to see everything. We then headed to Leicester Square just to check it out, then caught the underground back to our hotel from Piccadilly Circus. The next day, we woke to find that my brother wasn't feeling well and my sister had got very little sleep, so my Dad and I headed to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard without them. I don't know why this is so popular, because I found it uninteresting and almost everyone else I know whose seen it has had similar feelings. We ended up leaving halfway through because we had a flight to catch, as the next destination on the trip was Venice, Italy. Overall, London was great. It was probably my favorite of the three main cities on the trip. The city is very easy to get around, with an excellent public transportation network, most of the places we went were very clean, and most of the people we encountered were very nice and helpful. The city was very interesting, with a blend of old and modern architecture yet nothing looked out of place. It was also a great place to start the trip because while it didn't feel quite like the US, it wasn't terribly removed from it either. Pictures: I have a ton of pictures from London. The first half are the bus tour, and then the others are the various things we did the next day. Welcome to London. If you don't know what this is, you've been out of it for a while. Our trip began with a bus tour of the city. The tour started out by Hyde Park, where we passed these statues. I don't remember what the guide said the significance of them was. Another random statue. At the end of the road was the Marble Arch. London was the host of the 2012 Olympic Games. Various preparations were underway, and it was amazing how much had changed when we returned a week and a half later. Something that is different about Europe is that signs are often attached to buildings instead of being located on poles over the road. In fact, I don't think I saw a single traffic signal on an overhanging beam. One of the random old buildings we drove by. These are side by side with... Newer, modern buildings such as this. The Telecom Tower. I think we got closer to it at some point, but I can't remember for sure. Hamleys is the largest toy store in the world. Her Majesty's Theater, one of many theaters in the city. Now we're approaching Trafalgar Square. This is what I would define as the center of London. An overview of the Square, with the National Gallery behind it. Fast food places were all over London. Most of the major American chains were present here in much greater numbers than I saw anywhere else. If you think that is London Bridge, you are wrong. This attraction seemed popular. I guess it's some type of elaborate haunted house. We didn't investigate further. Time to cross one of the most famous bridges in the world. Tower Bridge POV! I have no idea why the rings were up like this. Every other time we saw them, they were hanging down. The Tower of London. We'll get back here momentarily. Westminister Abbey. This must mean we are near... Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment. Just in case anyone was wondering what time it is. The London Eye, one of the largest observation wheels in the world. MI6 is somewhere down here. I think it's the building on the left. A quick drive by Buckingham Palace, and then it's back to Victoria Station. By the way, this is Victoria Station. It was our base camp during both stays in London. Now onto the Tower of London. I don't know if this can legitimately be called a castle, but it certainly looked somewhat like one. Entering via the Traitor's Gate was basically a death sentence. I don't think anyone wants to be on this thing. It looks painful. Part of the tower looked like a small village. This is the Queen's House, complete with a guard. Inside Beauchamp Tower was this room. Upstairs was a room where prisoners were kept. Old graffiti was etched into the walls everywhere. Several cannons stood outside Waterloo Block, where the Crown Jewels are housed. We then headed inside the White Tower, located at the center of the complex. Inside were a bunch of medieval weapons and armor, as well as various other displays. An old coin press located inside the tower. Apparently, a dragon also lives here. After a walk around the outer wall, it was off to the Tower Bridge. A view downriver from the top of the bridge. Most of the city is located in the other direction. Inside the museum, you could view old machinery. It was neat, but I would have much rather seen the mechanism that currently moves the bridge. One last shot of the bridge before we board the boat to head downriver. Crusing down the Thames gave us a different view of the sights we had seen the previous day. Tate Modern museum, another museum that will have to wait for a future visit. Even though this isn't the original Globe Theater, I'd still enjoy seeing a performance here. I think London Bridge fell down. This was the last picture I got on this day because I had fogotten to charge my camera. We now jump to... Buckingham Palace. This is the crowd approximately 30 minutes before the Changing of the Guard is due to start. Instead of standing by the gate, we stood on this little island in the middle of the square. The statue on the central island. While we waited, some horses paraded by. Then this group of guards marched past. When we left, something was going on inside the gates of the palace, but we couldn't stay. We had a flight to catch, and quite honestly, I don't think we missed anything.

Yeah, this was a nice little park. Not the type of place I'd go out of the way to visit, but I'd stop by again if I was nearby. I really want to see this park survive, as it is a historical park with a couple rare rides. Fortunately, the staff that were present during our visit seemed really committed to restoring the place. All they need is money.

I cannot tell whether you are actually considering a trip to Six Flags America or you just used that as a random example. Either way, my answer to the question "Is it worth it to day trip a park outside reasonable driving range?" is NO. In your example, you are essentially paying almost $200 for a day at a single park. No park on earth is worth $200 for one day, and with all the hasse involved with flying you likely wouldn't have much time at the park. Personally, I would never visit a park outside of reasonable day trip range (2-3 hour drive each way) unless it was part of a larger trip. Using your example, you'd have to include at minimum the two Virginia parks to make it worth the flight, or you would need to spend at least a couple days sightseeing in Washington, D.C. I can't give you any planning help if you are actually planning the trip, as I've never been to that area and only visited the East Coast parks as part of a TPR tour. If you really want to get away from home to visit amusement parks and you can't drive, that's the way to do it.

There's several tours in 2013 I'd be interested in doing, but unfortunately I don't think any of them will work out for me this year (due to finances and other things). However, I'd be interested in pretty much all of them (except Mexico (not interested in the parks there) and West Coast (I live in California)) in a future year. I'll wait for the official announcement, but at this point I'd say there's a pretty good chance I'll just be doing bashes next year (WCB, BAB (if it happens), and maybe one more). One Question: Is there any chance the Texas/MidWest tour could be split up into two legs? I'm definitely interested in that trip (more the Texas part than the MidWest part), but the whole thing is a bit out of my budget. I could, however, afford a $1000-1200 trip.

When I read the subtitle I thought ten rides would be closing at once. No, it's just ten attractions will be closed at some point during the fall, which is a lot better. I'm most interested to see what changes (if any) will be coming to Indy, as it is my favorite dark ride (excluding Haunted Mansion Holiday). I'm only slightly dissapointed I won't get a chance to ride it again before my pass expires next month, but I'm sure I'll get a chance to ride it by the end of next year. Next week is likely going to be a really slow week at Disneyland. Three E-tickets down at once will probably convince people to delay their trip or stay mainly at DCA.

Darien Lake doesn't need this, and based on the shape it's in I doubt the ride will ever be rebuilt. The one at La Ronde was not very good, and even if this one is slightly better I can't see any parks investing money to restore it. It probably wouldn't be significantly more expensive to have B&M build a new stand-up with an identical layout, and the ride would certainly be a better experience.

I like the backward launch. It makes the ride longer, adds something a bit different, and should give the crew sufficient time to load the other train and avoid stacking. Based on the video, the ride looks approximately 45 seconds from the first launch to the brakes, and the backward launch only adds about 10 seconds. It's going to take at least 30 seconds to unload, load, and check restraints, so without the backward launch there's a good chance that the ride would stack every cycle, and I'd much rather have a 10-15 second longer ride than spend that time sitting on the brakes. Assuming the ride is able to send one train every 60 seconds (probably the ideal scenario), the capacity would be around 1000 riders per hour. 600 riders per hour (the minimum this ride should be getting) would be one dispatch every 1:45. Assuming the ride has a simple lap bar, I've got a feeling they'll be able to operate both trains without stacking and I don't think capacity will be as horrible as people expect (probably 800-900 people per hour...similar to Apocalypse). As long as the ride is run without stacking, the length of the ride won't matter, and unless the ride is regularly ready to go before it is clear to do so, the backward launch isn't reducing capacity at all.

Montezooma's Revenge last Wednesday. It was a lot of fun riding with only one other person in the train.

Gold will be good enough. You will not be able to reserve rides on Lex Luthor, and may not be able to do so on Green Lantern (it used to be restricted to Platinum but I heard it changed after Lex Luthor opened). Since both of those rides require a separate fee and I believe they have single rider lines, it isn't really worth reserving them anyway. Also, you may want to ride X2 first thing in the morning because it is $15 per reservation regardless of which Flash Pass you have, and it may be better to avoid that. Gold will get you on everything, and you'll have time for re-rides (although not much...SFMM is so big it takes at least four hours just to do everything once even with a Flash Pass). Platinum will just cause annoyance from those in line behind you, and it doesn't get you on enough additional attractions to justify the extra cost.

Let's finish LeviaTHON off. LeviaTHON: Day 5 (July 30th, 2012)-Marineland Theme Park The final day of the trip began abruptly, with a 6 A.M. departure. Since Marineland opens at 9 A.M. instead of 10 like most parks, and it was about a 90 minute drive from our hotel, we had to leave this early for ERT. Once we got to the park, we were escorted back to Dragon Mountain for an hour of ERT on this Arrow Custom Looping Coaster. Dragon Mountain: Dragon Mountain is a very bizarre ride. It is an Arrow looping coaster, but it feels a lot more like a mine train. The ride begins with a couple loops, but until the end of the coaster it just meanders all over the hillside. It is a long ride (3 and a half minutes) and has two lengthy tunnels, in addition to one of the longest lifthills ever (it even needs two chains). The ride is mostly smooth, and it is a fun coaster, but I don't think Dragon Mountain is good enough to justify a trip here just to ride it. B After five consecutive rides on Dragon Mountain, I decided I had had enough and headed down to look at the nearby bear enclosure. There has been a lot of publicity about Marineland lately and accusations of neglect, but with the exception of one bear (pictured below), they all appeared perfectly healthy. Once the park officially opened, I headed off with a small group of fellow TPR participants (I think it was Michael, Corey, Corey's friend, Tim, and Amanda) to go get the other credit and explore the park. Lady Bug Coaster: The smallest Tivoli coaster I've been on, this was still fun for a kiddie coaster. It did 4 or 5 laps, so the ride was a decent length. Unfortunately, we got line jumped and the operator didn't do anything about it, resulting in our group of six having to split up. The first of several annoyances on this day. D Space Adventure: Little more than a Dumbo type attraction, but the cars had the ability to spin. Tim said this was called a Video Telecombat, and that these rides used to have television screens in them. Riders would play a game with their ride vehicle moving accordingly. Based on the vehicle shape and controls, I definitely could see that. It was okay, enjoyable to try but probably not something I'd bother with again if there was a line. Viking Adventure: A supersized Rockin' Tug that looked like it was built in the 80s. This ride was quite good, and spun faster than I expected, leaving all of us a bit dizzy. Probably the best ride in the kids area, and one of the better rides in the park. Since there was nothing else we cared about in the family ride section, we decided to head over to the thrill rides. En route, we stopped by Friendship Cove to see the whales. Once again, I didn't notice anything wrong with them, although the Killer Whale did look lonely. The issue I have with this exhibit is the extremely basic design, which looks like the park just put a couple tanks in and built a walkway around them. There is no shade in the upper viewing area, and the underwater viewing is just a acrylic window in the wall with a nearby sign. The tanks themselves were also devoid of anything other than the animals. Maybe I have higher standards from visiting SeaWorld San Diego and the San Diego Zoo regularly, but the exhibit seemed very lacking. Anyway, continuing on with the rides... Flying Dragon: I like these magic carpet rides, so this was fun. It's not the most intense ride out there, but it was a good fit for this park. The cycle was also just the right length to give a good ride without being overly repetitive. Wave Swinger: Standard swing ride, but the area around it looked nice. However, a decent number of the chairs (I want to say around ten) were broken. Sky Hawk: This is the one flat that I really wanted to ride here because I'd never been on a Condor before (both of the ones on the North East trip were closed). This ride ran a much longer cycle than I expected, and longer than I believe most run. It began at ground level, then the ride lifted up about halfway and paused for roughly 30 seconds before continuing to the top of the tower. At the top, the ride slowed down and gave a scenic view for a bit before returning to full speed, then descending at the end of the cycle. Total, the ride probably lasted 3-4 minutes and it was the best flat in the park (excluding Sky Screamer). After Sky Hawk, we decided to get lunch, which meant a long trek to the park's only full restaurant. We then made an even longer trek to the top of the hill to ride Sky Screamer, which had finally opened. Sky Screamer: This is probably my favorite S&S tower. Not only is it a 300 ft combo tower, but it is located on top of a hill that is at least 100 ft tall. The views from the top are great, and since it pauses for about 10 seconds before dropping you have time to appreciate them. Unfortunately, I was only able to ride once since the line was 45 minutes due to one tower operation (a second tower opened later and the third didn't look like it had been used all season). After Sky Screamer, we went and checked out some of the animal exhibits. With the exception of the aquarium, I didn't see anything that looked like a problem. In the aquarium, however, most of the animals did look sickly and there was a nasty smell everywhere. The whole thing looked like it used to be used for performances, but became neglected after they ended. Based on this, I do think it is possible there are behind-the-scenes issues with the park, but I certainly think the problems have been significantly exaggerated. We also checked out the arcade, which was filled with games I remember playing 15 years ago. Finally, we saw the one animal show at the park, which started out good but had a boring second half. It didn't help that the sound system is archaic and it was nearly impossible to understand what was being said. By 3 P.M., I had run out of things to do and was glad to leave. Overall Thoughts: I am glad I got the chance to visit Marineland, as I've been curious about it since I saw the place in 2008, but now that I've been I doubt I'll ever go back. The park is just very bland, with about a dozen rides spread out over an area larger than Cedar Point, and with the exception of Dragon Mountain and Sky Screamer nothing is really that great. In fact, everything except Sky Screamer seems like it was built in the 80s or earlier. The animal exhibits are inferior to those I've seen at almost any other animal park, and are few and far between. Finally, the real killer is the admission price, as there simply isn't enough to justify a $45 ticket. If the park added something major, and I was in the area, and I found a 50% discount, I'd probably go back, but other than that or another TPR trip to the park I highly doubt I'll be returning. Ride Count: Dragon Mountain: 5 Lady Bug Coaster: 1 Space Adventure: 1 Viking Adventure: 1 Flying Dragon: 1 Wave Swinger: 1 Sky Hawk: 1 Sky Screamer: 1 Total: 12 rides in 8 hours (1.5 rides per hour) Departing Marineland, we crossed the border to the US and headed back to Buffalo Airport. Along the way, the 2013 TPR trips discussion took place. I won't give any specifics away (Robb and Elissa should be announcing the trips shortly after returning from China), but I will say that there will be trips in Asia and North America (possibly outside the US), and maybe something in Europe as well. We got to the airport around 4:30, a bit earlier than planned, so I had plenty of time to kill before my flight. Unfortunately, my plane was delayed and I was worried I'd miss my connection in Atlanta due to a short layover, but I ended up barely making it since the flight waited for me. I got back to LAX around 12:15 A.M., marking the end of my trip. Overall Thoughts on LeviaTHON: LeviaTHON was the shortest and most intense of the three TPR trips I've taken so far, but it was still a lot of fun. Although I enjoyed the park selection more on last year's North East trip, I think LeviaTHON was overall the best TPR trip I've done. I enjoyed the parks we went to, even if a couple of them weren't the greatest, the randomness of the first day was fun, even though I had limited interest in Niagara Falls it was still an enjoyable stop, and I especially enjoyed getting to know everyone on the trip. For the first time, I think I managed to meet most of the participants (probably 80-90%), and even some of the people who I was on a previous trip with I didn't really get to know until this one. The only thing I really disliked about the trip was the weather, but that is outside of Robb and Elissa's control and can't be helped. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...If you are even considering taking a TPR trip, save your money and sign up for one. Robb and Elissa really do an amazing job putting them together, and if something goes wrong they do their best to fix it. These trips are the best way to visit parks and even if they may seem pricey they are an extremely good value. By the end of the trip, you will be exhausted and you will be sore, but you'll have had a great time visiting amusement parks with others who share a common interest, not to mention all the random stuff that occurs on these tours. Seriously, just give it a try, and if you find out it's not for you then that's unfortunate. More than likely, however, you'll be hooked. I know I am, and although I likely will be unable to join a 2013 tour I look forward to taking more trips with TPR at some point in the future. Well, that's the end of LeviaTHON. Next week, I'll start with my Europe trip. While there is some park stuff later on (including a whole update for Disneyland Paris), the first couple updates will be mainly other random stuff. So...yeah. Marineland pictures below. Pictures: According to the tower, we are in the right place. Marineland is right on the border. I'm guessing it probably gets a decent number of American visitors in addition to Canadians. But enough about that, we're here for ERT on the coaster. When walking around Marineland, it feels more like a city park than an amusement park. In Canada, you're not allowed to go rock climbing while cosplaying as Peter Pan. What is that thing? If it's supposed to be a dragon, it's the most messed up dragon I've ever seen. It looks more like a ram. Hooray, there is a coaster back here. Dragon Mountain is the only coaster in existence with a Bowtie. Too bad this is SBNO. I would have liked to try a topple tower, even if they are considered to be mediocre. To give you an idea how spread out Marineland is, this is near the entrance to Dragon Mountain. Magic Experience (that flat right in the center) is the closest ride, and Sky Hawk (the tower in the distance) is the next closest. If we have access to the animal exhibit before the park opens, does that count as EVT (Exclusive Viewing Time). This bear looked off. I don't know why. The rest all looked normal. I never got a chance to ride this, and I honestly have no idea what it does. It looks pretty spinny, however. Why does the drop tower not open until noon? We had to walk all the way back here after lunch just to ride it. I didn't go in here, but it looked like a deer petting zoo. It was gigantic, so I wonder how many deer were actually in this thing. Time to ride the kiddie coaster. Viking Adventure. Biggest surprise of the park (well, other than Dragon Mountain). This park had an excessive number of Beluga Whales. On the other hand, there was only one Killer Whale. This guy looked bored and lonely, as he just swam in circles the whole time I was down here. Nothing like the restaurant at Disneyland. Yay, Sky Screamer opened. Unfortunately, they're only running one tower. You get a good view of the surrounding area from up here. Niagara Falls, Canada. Marineland really has plenty of room to expand the park if they ever choose to do so. However, since the new aquarium was announced in 2006 and vertical construction hasn't even started yet, I've got a feeling nothing happens quickly at this place. And we'll end with an overview of Dragon Mountain. This is about all you can see of the ride from within the park.

Flyers are a great family ride, and Great Escape is much more family focused than most other Six Flags properties. I think this will be a winner for the park. However, I'm more glad that the random Screamscape rumor about backwards trains on the Comet turned out to be false.

I don't get all the hate for Full Throttle. It looks like a great ride, and is currently the ride I'm most looking forward to trying next year. Yes, it's not the greatest coaster on the planet and it isn't an airtime machine or giga coaster like enthusiasts wanted, but as long as the majority of visitors enjoy it the ride is a great investment for the park. The only issues I have with the ride are the brakes immediately after the top hat (it definitely seems like it has enough speed for another couple thousand feet) and the low capacity (I couldn't see the ride getting more than 600 people per hour). Either way, it looks like an excellent ride that I'm very much looking forward to riding next summer.

Disneyland Resort on Thursday, September 6th. Finally get to experience Cars Land and the new Disney California Adventure Park, and with two E-tickets down and hopefully lighter crowds the early closure of Disneyland shouldn't be a problem.

^I was there yesterday as well. I was very surprised how empty the park was, as I expected moderate crowds (30-45 minute waits), but everything except the water rides and Sierra Sidewinder was practically a walk-on. I was also impressed that the park was running two trains where possible (including 2 trains on the Mine Ride and 2 towers on Supreme Scream) even though there were no lines. I was there opening until about 3, and accomplished my objectives for the visit (final rides on Perilous Plunge). That earthquake closure was weird, especially since I didn't feel anything. I'm just glad the park was able to get everything back up within 45 minutes. It was funny listening to guesses as to why everything was closed. A few people (who I kept running into throughout the day) thought somebody died in the park.

Gold Striker looks great, in my opinion the best North American GCI since Thunderhead. I honestly think this will replace Apocalypse as California's best wooden coaster, and I could possibly see it being the best coaster in Northern California. California's Great America desperately needs this ride, and I hope it is a sign of things to come for the park. I can't wait to try this (and Superman Ultimate Flight) when I visit Northern California next year (hoping for a Bay Area Bash 2013, but I'm going up there either way).

LeviaTHON: Day 4 (July 29th, 2012)-Leviathan Bash at Canada's Wonderland Of all the parks on the LeviaTHON tour, Canada's Wonderland was the one I was most excited about visiting. I'd heard the park referred to as Cedar Fair's second flagship park and the best former Paramount Park, plus Leviathan was my most anticipated new for 2012 coaster. In fact, I'm pretty sure that is the main reason this trip happened, and the main reason I went on the trip. The event began at 8:30 A.M. with morning ERT on Leviathan. I was on either the second or third train out. Leviathan: I know a lot of people were disappointed by this ride, but in my opinion this is Canada's Wonderland's best coaster. It is very smooth, has a decent amount of airtime, and maintains its speed throughout the course. Although the ride does end abruptly, I didn't feel that the coaster was too short. If you're looking for the most intense, forceful, airtime filled coaster out there, this isn't your ride, but if you want a coaster that is just pure fun, you'll love it. Definitely a top ten coaster on my personal list. A At 9:15 A.M., Fly and Vortex also opened for ERT. We were scheduled to have Wild Beast as well, but due to track maintenance it wasn't available. I think the park may have opened up a substitute coaster (I believe it was Bat), but I may be incorrect and don't know for sure as I never went to find out. Fly: I don't know why, but this ride seemed slightly better than the equivalent versions I've been on elsewhere. Maybe it had less braking or maybe it was just a little smoother, but I preferred this to the identical Technic Coaster and Ricochet. It's still just a wild mouse, but it's probably my favorite Mack mouse. B- Vortex: Now that Eagle Fortress is closed, this may be the best suspended coaster left. The ride is short, but it flies through the course and doesn't let up until the brakes. Although the ride was a bit rougher than the other two Arrow Suspended Coasters I've been on, and the ride is about half as long, this is easily my favorite of the three. B After getting a couple rides on Vortex, I waited with a group of people for Windseeker ERT at 9:45 A.M. Once the ride was open, the security guard walked us over to the attraction and we rode. Windseeker: I ride the Knott's version of this attraction all the time, so I knew what to expect from this ride. I think Canada's Wonderland provides a better view, but other than that the two rides are the same. We were then instructed to meet at Shockwave at 10 A.M. for a special bonus activity. Nobody had any idea what it would be, and it ended up being bonus ERT on one of the coasters not included on the Fast Lane pass: Silver Streak. Silver Streak: This is the second of these rides that I've been on, and due to wider harnesses this one was slightly better due to a lack of headbanging. I'm sure the ride is great for kids, and it's still an okay ride for adults, but I wouldn't wait very long to ride it. C+ After Silver Streak ERT it was time for breakfast. Bagels, muffins, pastries, and fruit were served, along with coffee and juice. During breakfast, we had a Q&A with park management, during which some very interesting questions were asked (for the record, Leviathan was never destined for Knott's, the park did almost get a B&M inverted coaster instead of the Vekoma SLC, the park wants a flume but doesn't think it will happen, and Sledgehammer is the most likely ride to be removed in the near future). After this was over, we were free to explore the park, so I took off to see how many credits I could get done before lunch. My goal...get the not-so-good rides done early so I'd have more time for the good rides later. Time Warp: This was my first experience with a Volare. It was...interesting. The ride was not as painful as I expected it to be, but it was still quite rough and uncomfortable. This is also probably the slowest moving line in the park, but it does have a single rider line which helped (I managed to cut my wait time in half). I'd ride this again if I returned and the line wasn't bad, but I think once per visit is enough. C+ Flight Deck: Flight Deck was my fifth SLC. It is the worst SLC I have been on. I generally don't have a problem with these rides, and don't mind riding if there isn't a wait. However, this one was very, very rough. I really hope it gets replaced soon, because the ride is awful and doesn't look like it is too popular anymore (I rode over two hours after opening and it still had less than a four train wait). D+ SkyRider: Every so often you come across a coaster that doesn't fit the mold for its type. This is that coaster for Togo. Based on my experience on Kings Dominion's Shockwave, I expected a rough and unpleasant ride, but I actually enjoyed this coaster. There are a couple rough spots, but other than that the ride is great and it delivers some of the strongest airtime in the park (quite an interesting sensation on a stand up). I still wouldn't wait more than a half hour or so for it, but if the line is short this is one Togo I will ride twice in a day. B Mighty Canadian Minebuster: This must have had track work done recently, because it was a lot smoother than I had been led to believe. Still, the ride is not the most exciting since it is a simple out and back with hills that are too shallow to produce airtime. Fun ride, and the best of Canada's Wonderland's woodies, but still just an average woodie. B- Bat: I don't hate boomerangs, but I don't love them either. I won't turn down a ride on one with a short wait, but once per visit is enough. This is not the worst boomerang I've been on, but it is in the bottom third, and unfortunately it had a 45 minute wait even WITH Fast Lane. They either need to let more people on per cycle (12-14 instead of 8) or eliminate Fast Lane from this ride because this is the one ride where it doesn't work. The boomerang itself I'd ride again if the line was short (two or three trains), but otherwise it's not really worth it once you have the credit. C Wild Beast: I hate to say it, but this was horrible. The ride has the potential to be good, but it is just far too rough. It is not the worst wooden coaster out there, or even the worst in the Cedar Fair chain, and I have a feeling that the retracking this off-season will help the ride. I'd rather ride this than the SLC, but it's only a slight preference.C Dragon Fire: I didn't think this ride was that bad compared to other Arrow coasters, but it certainly isn't the best around. If it had Fast Lane, I probably would have rode a second time, but since it didn't I only got one ride. It's a bit different with a reverse corkscrew, but other than that the ride is pretty similar to every other Arrow 2 loop, double corkscrew model. B At this point, it was almost time for lunch (1:30 P.M.). Lunch at Canada's Wonderland consisted of standard amusement park food, and although the quality seemed above average for a Cedar Fair park it still wasn't anything special. We then played TPR quest, a very fun game where contestants search the audience for an item and bring it up as quickly as possible. All I can say is that this must be experienced to appreciate it fully. After the game was done, a scavenger hunt in the park was distributed, but I opted not to play since I still had credits to get and other rides to ride. Thunder Run: It may just be a powered coaster, but Thunder Run was decent. It isn't the greatest capacity ride since it only has one train, but the line was still under a half hour. Yes, for the record, I am one of those people who counts powered coasters. C Behemoth: Although Leviathan is larger, Behemoth still draws sizeable crowds. The two rides appear similar at first glance, but give very different ride experiences. Now, I've heard that Behemoth is generally considered to be the best B&M Mega, but I found it to be somewhere in the middle: not as good as Intimidator or Apollo's Chariot, but better than Goliath (La Ronde) and Nitro. It was still a great ride, and all five B&M mega coasters that I've ridden are still in my top 25 list, but Behemoth just had what I consider an uninteresting layout and seemed to have a bad case of the B&M rattle compared to other B&M Mega Coasters. Still my #2 at the park, but if I could only choose one I'd probably pick Leviathan.A- Back Lot Stunt Coaster: I've been on this ride at Kings Dominion as well, and I think it is a great family coaster. The Kings Dominion one still had the effects working when I rode (while Canada's Wonderland's didn't), so I have a slight preference for that one, but if they have been deactivated there Canada's Wonderland's wins as it feels a little smoother. B At this point, I had all my credits done except Ghoster Coaster (which I was saving until after dinner), so I decided I'd do the backstage tour of Leviathan and Wild Beast. We got to go under the station of Leviathan, then entered restricted areas to take photos of the two rides (plus Dragon Fire) from angles normally not accessible. Once this was over, I had around an hour to do flat rides before dinner. Drop Tower: In my opinion, Intamin AG builds the best drop rides. This one didn't feel quite as intense as the other Intamin towers I've done, but it was still a fun ride. Nightmares: After riding the UFO at Darien Lake and really enjoying it, I decided that I had to try Nightmares as well since I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to ride one of these. While Nightmares ran a shorter program, it was just as fun. Way better than a normal round-up, and definitely one of my must ride flats. Shockwave: I almost didn't ride this because I was worried I would get sick on it, but I ended up enjoying the ride so much that I rode twice (a rarity for me when it comes to flats). This ride is amazing, and even if the program is as dull as people say it is, the ride is still better than 3/4 of the other flats out there. I wish I had one of these closer to me, but I don't believe there are very many in North America. At this point, it was time for dinner (6 P.M.). For dinner, we had a reserved section of the Marketplace International Buffet. Once again, the food was a little better than average for Cedar Fair, but still nothing special. Also, does anyone know why Canadians have the taco toppings before the meat in the buffet line? Once I was done, I joined my roommate to get my final credit (Ghoster Coaster), then I headed off to do some more flats and re-ride a few of my favorites. Ghoster Coaster: A fun junior woodie, and a pretty smooth ride. Not my favorite of the Ghoster Coasters, but not my least favorite either. I also didn't realize that this ride had two trains, as RCDB says it only has one. C+ Sledgehammer: A unique prototype ride that unfortunately looks cooler than it is. The ride wasn't bad, but it certainly looked like it would give a more thrilling experience than it did. Given the amount of downtime this ride seems to have, I wouldn't be surprised if it left in the near future as the line was only about a three cycle wait. Orbiter: A giant enterprise, the last in North America. Orbiter was a fun ride, but it really didn't feel any different from a standard enterprise (not that that's a bad thing, as enterprises are one of the better flats). Swings of the Century: Just your average waveswinger, although in a small secluded area instead of right on the main midway. I happened to be walking by right as it was beginning to load and could get right on with my Fast Lane wristband, otherwise I probably would have skipped it. Krachenwagen: Bumper cars. They weren't bad, as the cars moved at a decent speed, but the park does have the one way rule and there are more cars than there probably should be for this size of arena. Again, something I only did because I could get right on with my Fast Lane wristband. Spinovator: I'm sure there is a more technical name for this ride, but I call it an inclined scrambler. I like these rides more than a normal scrambler, mainly because they seem to spin faster. Even though there was no Fast Lane line for this one, it was only a one cycle wait anyway. I then headed back to our tent in the picnic area for a dessert of cake. While at dessert, Robb announced that there would be bonus ERT on Taxi Jam at 9:30 P.M., and Wild Beast would be added to night ERT since it wasn't available in the morning. I just hung out at the tent and took a peek at some historic documents the PR people had brought out for us, then headed with a group to Taxi Jam when it was time. Taxi Jam: Yay, bonus credit! Well, at least a bonus for me since a child is usually required and I didn't plan to get the credit. The ride's a Miler kiddie coaster, not a bad ride but also nothing special about it. Definitely fun for kids, but for coaster enthusiasts it is just another credit. C After Taxi Jam, I had time for a quick night ride on Vortex before night ERT began. First, I headed to Back Lot Stunt Coaster for the water challenge. For those that have never done a water challenge, it is as simple as it sounds: You ride the coaster with a cup of water and see how much you have left when you get to the end. Back Lot Stunt Coaster is a very difficult coaster to do this on, and I lost all my water both times I rode. I then headed to Behemoth, and roe that until it closed at 10:45 P.M., then spent the rest of the night on Leviathan (with a side trip to Wild Beast with about ten other people, just to show that crew some appreciation for keeping the ride open for us). At 11:45, the bus headed back to the hotel, and I got a quick shower and went to bed. The next day would be a 6 A.M. departure, and those are no fun at all. Overall Thoughts: Canada's Wonderland was my favorite park of the LeviaTHON trip, and is my favorite Cedar Fair park as well (yes, better than Cedar Point). The park just feels very different than any other Cedar Fair park, with a lot of greenery and some decent attempts at theming. While many of the coasters are not spectacular (Cedar Point does beat them in that respect), Canada's Wonderland has an excellent non-coaster collection featuring quite a few rare or unique rides in addition to the standard amusement park staples. I also do think the food quality here was slightly better than it is at other Cedar Fair properties. Other small things, like the excellent ride operators and operation of as many ride vehicles as possible show that this park really cares about giving their guests a good experience. Of course, my opinion could be inflated slightly by the amazing job the park did with Leviathan Bash. I've enjoyed every bash I've been to, but I think Leviathan Bash may be my favorite (WCB SFMM 2010 and Knott's 2012 are very close runner-ups). The PR people who were with us for the event (and whose names I unfortunately forget) were outstanding. One more comment about the park...we visited on what others have told me was a very light day. I've heard it is not uncommon for this park to see lines approaching 3 hours during summer weekends. If you only have one day in the park, invest in Fast Lane. It is a bit pricey, but will allow you to ride everything and get plenty of re-rides. With the exception of Bat, none of the rides was more than a three train wait with Fast Lane, and on the flats you always got put on the next cycle. Canada's Wonderland does a great job with merging in Fast Lane users at the loading platform, so I never heard any complaints from other guests. Seriously, it is worth it at this park, and probably at every other big Cedar Fair park as well (although I haven't used the system elsewhere). Ride Count: Back Lot Stunt Coaster: 4 Bat: 1 Behemoth: 4 Dragon Fire: 1 Drop Tower: 2 Flight Deck: 1 Fly: 1 Ghoster Coaster: 1 Krachenwagen: 1 Leviathan: 7 Mighty Canadian Minebuster: 2 Nightmares: 1 Orbiter: 1 Shockwave: 2 Silver Streak: 1 SkyRider: 2 Sledgehammer: 1 Spinovator: 1 Swings of the Century: 1 Taxi Jam: 1 Thunder Run: 1 Time Warp: 1 Vortex: 3 Wild Beast: 2 Windseeker: 1 Total: 44 rides in 15 hours (2.93 rides per hour) Coaster Rankings: 1. Leviathan 2. Behemoth 3. Vortex 4. Back Lot Stunt Coaster 5. SkyRider 6. Dragon Fire 7. Mighty Canadian Minebuster 8. Fly 9. Silver Streak 10. Ghoster Coaster 11. Thunder Run 12. Time Warp 13. Bat 14. Wild Beast 15. Taxi Jam 16. Flight Deck Pictures: Most of these are from the backstage tour, so I'll start with the ones that aren't. Welcome to Canada's Wonderland. Here's a picture of me. I think this park has more trees than trash cans. It must be a sign of the apocalypse. But we're not here to count cans, we're here to ride this thing. Leviathan towers over everything else in the park. Don't forget, we've also got ERT on the insect-themed wild mouse. I can see a day where Ninja is the last suspended coaster in the US. Fortunately, Vortex isn't in the US, so it wouldn't have to close for that to come true. We also had ERT on the mini SLC, which was better than the full size version. Let's check out some of Canada's Wonderland's other rides. For example, Klockwerks. Sledgehammer, although a unique ride, is not really a must ride at this park. Canada's Wonderland has to be the nicest Cedar Fair park in terms of landscaping. Seriously, parts of the park look more like Busch Gardens. Wonder Mountain, home to a waterfall. It isn't Niagara Falls, but that's not a bad thing. This is one of the rides that I will not ride. I had every intention of riding this, but after watching, I decided I didn't want to spend a third day in a row in soaking wet clothes. I wish the ride was still called Dragon Fyre. It fits with the medieval theme a bit better. At least the dragon is still here. This is better theming than you will see in most Cedar Fair parks. Spinovator, the best scrambler type ride I've been on for intensity (Astrosphere still wins for overall experience). I think this drop tower would be more impressive if it wasn't right next to a coaster 80 ft taller. If I had some Canadian money and didn't have to cram everything in a carry-on suitcase, I would be very tempted to play this game. It is now time for a backstage tour of this ride. I do not know why, but one train was removed from Leviathan in the middle of the afternoon. Underneath the station of Leviathan. It felt like it was at least 100 degrees in here. A crane used for off-season work. I fully support first ride auctions when the money goes to a worthy cause. This is the computer that runs Leviathan. Don't pull that lever! Heading out into the backstage area to get some special shots of Leviathan. Due to the length of Leviathan, with two trains running it was 2-3 minutes between trains. In the meantime, I took some pictures of Dragon Fire. It still amazes me that Leviathan's brake run is taller than any point on this ride. One beast through another. We were pretty much allowed to go anywhere we wanted in here. Yes, it was perfectly safe. On Dragon Fire, you get screwed in reverse. I didn't know Leviathan was a Diving Machine. While this tunnel could use a nicely-themed entrance, I think it's fine the way it is as well. New hotness above old and (not quite) busted. This looks just like a ride at Darien Lake, but there's something different about it. We also got a backstage look at Wild Beast (which should still be called Wilde Beaste). That sign should also say "Good Luck!" The predecessor to GCI's fan curves. When watching the ride in motion from here, you could see the train bouncing along the track. These numbers are all over Wild Beast. I'm guessing they are left over from construction and still used to designate sections of track. This is the point where the pain begins. It lasts for approximately 75 seconds. Hopefully, with a retracking job it will go away. This turnaround is the smoothest part of the ride, but it could be because it is very slow. This turn also wasn't that bad, but it is rougher. The bottoms of the drops and the fan turn were the worst. Darkness descends over Medieval Faire. Once again, this is more theming than any other Cedar Fair park (except for Knott's). And I'll leave you with a picture of the coolest ride sign I've seen in a while. Thanks for a great event TPR and Canada's Wonderland. One more day of the tour to go.

Undertow looks like an excellent addition to the park. I've been on a couple other identical coasters, and they were both good rides. It's not going to dethrone Giant Dipper as the park's best ride, but it will be a much better second coaster than Hurricane was. Maybe.... If this happens, I am there. I've wanted to go to Bay Area Bash for a while, and each year something has prevented me from going. I'll just have to schedule my Northern California trip to coincide with the event.

After this summer's trip, I'm now at seven (listed from best to worst): Boomerang Coast to Coaster (Darien Lake) Zoomerang (Lake Compounce) Boomerang Coast to Coaster (Great Escape) Carolina Cobra (Carowinds) Bat (Canada's Wonderland) Boomerang (Knott's Berry Farm) Flashback (Six Flags New England) I've also seen two boomerangs that I couldn't ride due to them being closed all day (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and La Ronde), and I've been on one invertigo (CGA's former Invertigo) and one Giant Inverted Boomerang (SFMM's former Deja Vu).

24/30, mainly due to missing small details. There were only a couple I actually had to guess at.

The longest wait I can think of was for Disneyland Paris's version of Space Mountain. I first saw a picture of it in a book around 1998 or so, and at the time I didn't think I'd ever get to ride it. However, I got to ride it this year (14 years and one major refurbishment later). The one I'm still waiting for...Alton Towers. I've wanted to visit since I learned about the park (either through the same book or through the original RCT scenario). In the US, it would be the Universal Orlando resort, but I didn't really know much about it until around 2002 or so and I'm pretty confident I'll get there before I get to Alton Towers (although I got to Disneyland Paris and haven't yet been to Disney World, so you never know).

I would be very, very surprised if this is a shuttle coaster. If it is a Premier, it may use the same type of track and trains their shuttle coasters do, but the area is way too large for a freeform shuttle coaster. With ride time and loading, it would probably be a lower capacity than Green Lantern. If it is indeed a Premier coaster (I'll believe it when I see the announcement), I'm thinking it would most likely be comparable to a supersized Back Lot Stunt Coaster, but with inversions. I could see the initial launch being directly out of the station, with a second launch through the tunnel and the record breaking inversion in the second half of the ride. Hopefully it is able to run four trains (or at least three), and only has lapbars to keep dispatches quick. One thing almost certain is that if this ride is a Premier, it will likely be the largest Premier coaster to date.

^I get what you're saying, and I've been told that sometimes my reviews and ratings come off as quite a bit harsher than I mean them to. I think it is probably because I pretty much always notice things I don't like, even if they are miniscule, and those can sometimes outnumber the positives in a write-up, causing it to sound wrong. I also do have a somewhat bizarre rating system that can be misinterpreted. Like you said, everything on the trip was pretty much as good as it could be given the circumstances, and I would still rather be sitting by a fountain at Niagara Falls with TPR members than probably 80% of the other places I've been. Speaking of ratings, I think I'm going to try using letter ratings for coasters, as they are less specific and generally more well understood, and omit the ratings for non-coaster rides. Here's what each letter roughly translates to: A-One of my favorite rides, usually my top 10 wood/25 steel coasters or anything else I'd consider an absolute must ride regardless of wait time B-A ride I would consider a must ride unless the wait is excessively long, but not worth visiting the park just to ride it C-It's worth riding if the line isn't too long, but isn't really something I'd typically do multiple times in one day D-Not one of my favorites, I'd do it again with others but would probably skip it when visiting on my own F-A ride I would refuse to do again. Very few rides get this rating, and it is usually reserved for rides that are exceptionally painful or rides that make me sick We'll see how this one works. I may go back and revise the ratings in the previous posts, but I'll definitely use them from here on out unless they end up causing confusion as well (in which case I'll probably drop ratings all together). So let's continue. Hopefully there isn't any more accidental negativity involved. LeviaTHON: Day 3 (July 28th, 2012)-Darien Lake & Martin's Fantasy Island This day began just like every other day of the trip, but with one exception: since we were moving to Canada, it was time to load luggage. At 8:30 A.M., the bus left to head to Darien Lake, only a half-hour or so away. We ended up arriving to find a cloudy sky and a gentle drizzle, but the rides were testing. After getting our tickets, lunch coupons, and beer wristbands, we were escorted back to Ride of Steel for an hour of ERT. Ride of Steel: What to say about Ride of Steel? Well, it is a great ride, it's got plenty of airtime, it's very smooth, and this is one of those rides you could just stay on all day. The only issue I have with the ride is that it has too much straight, flat track (the same issue I have with Millennium Force). Honestly, if this ride had a few more hills and none of those flat sections, it would probably be in my top ten. As it is, the ride is still a must ride coaster, and I certainly could have ridden more and not gotten tired of it. A After ERT ended and we were allowed to leave Ride of Steel, most of us headed over to Predator. The ride had some issues in the morning (it wasn't the only one), but eventually it opened and I got to ride. Predator: To say this ride was good would be a lie. However, to say it was as bad as I expected it to be would also be incorrect. Predator is one of those rides that has the potential to be a decent ride, but is just too rough to ride more than once per visit. I'd do it again, but I probably wouldn't wait more than a couple trains to do so. C I was on the first train of the day on Predator. From what I heard, the next train didn't dispatch until over 45 minutes later. This was only the first of several breakdowns I encountered at Darien Lake. From Predator, I headed to Boomerang only to find it still wasn't open. I then tried for Moto Coaster. Being a Saturday, it already had a moderate line at this point and only one train was running. I waited for probably 20 minutes, then when I was 2 trains from boarding it broke down and they kicked everyone out of line. Annoyed, I decided to head back to Boomerang and either ride or wait until it opened. Fortunately, it was open by the time I got there, although it had a 20 minute wait. Boomerang Coast to Coaster: Yes, it's a boomerang. Fortunately, this is one of the better boomerangs I've been on, with no headbanging and a relatively smooth ride. The staff seemed to be making an attempt to run the ride as efficiently as possible, so I give them credit for that.C+ After getting off Boomerang, Moto Coaster was running again, so I decided to go wait in line again. Fortunately, this time I did get to ride. Moto Coaster: I was expecting this to be boring and uncomfortable like Pony Express, but I was pleasantly surprised. The ride was actually quite fun, and although still a bit uncomfortable it wasn't bad. This is probably the only coaster at Darien Lake other than Ride of Steel that might be worth multiple rides in one day. I also give the operators here credit for unloading, loading, and dispatching this slow loading coaster as quickly as possible, although they really need two trains on this ride (the second was nowhere in sight). B- Next, I headed to Viper. Surprisingly, it was a walk-on and was running two trains. Viper: I was hoping this would be a decent ride, but sadly I'd rank it in the bottom third of Arrow Custom Looping Coasters (I've been on 11), and the worst of the three on this trip. The layout was unique, but the ride was a bit rough and uncomfortable. Still not the worst Arrow out there, but I wouldn't bother riding if it had a line. C+ I then decided to do Mind Eraser with the hope of getting all my credits done before lunch. The line crawled, however, due to the worst operators in the park. Mind Eraser: A generic SLC. This one wasn't too bad in terms of roughness, but I don't find SLCs to be that great in general. I'll ride them, but once I've got the credit I wouldn't wait more than a couple trains to ride again. C I then headed to lunch. I was a little late, so I missed the vote, but the group had decided to leave at 2:30. No complaints there, as while I would have liked to stay later I also wanted to do more than just a credit run at Martin's Fantasy Island. I had a quick lunch then headed back out to see how many non-coaster rides I could get done before it was time to leave. Shipwreck Falls: I wasn't planning to do this, but Corn Popper broke down as I headed over to it and this had no wait. I actually enjoy splash boat rides, and while this was a pretty standard one it was fun and had just the right amount of wetness (enough to cool you off but not enough to get you dripping wet). UFO: This was easily the best of the four non-coaster rides I rode at Darien Lake. Much more intense than a round up, and definitely a unique sensation to be essentially standing on a wall. It also seemed to run a fairly long cycle. Silver Bullet: This is a unique enterprise as it is the only one by Heintz Fahtze still in operation. Other than that, not much different than a standard enterprise (not that there's anything wrong with that). Corn Popper: I don't know if it was all the spinning in a row or just this one ride in general, but after I got off it I wasn't feeling too good. The ride was not as good as it looked like it would be, and I honestly don't think I'd bother with riding again on a future visit. After Corn Popper, I considered doing the log flume but the wait looked prohibitively long. Instead, I ran into Mike and Rosie, and just sat and chatted with them for 10-15 minutes. It was then time to head back to the bus. When we started walking, it was drizzling. Within a minute, the rain had turned into a torrential downpour. Fortunately, this time I had my TPR ponch with me, and made it back to the entrance without too much soakage. Randomly, the rain let up just as I got to the park entrance. We then headed outside and waited for the bus to arrive. Overall Thoughts: I really want to like Darien Lake, but the park just had so many annoyances that I couldn't. It definitely has potential, and I'd love to see Herschend bring it up to the quality level of their other parks, at least in the food and operations departments. Yes, I do think my day was marred by an abnormally large number of breakdowns and a relatively short span of time to get everything done, but I was able to make the best of it and got on a decent number of rides. Next time I'm in the area, I'll give the park another try, visit on a weekday, and devote at least 2/3 of a day to it so I can be sure to get everything done. I will also say this: I would much rather return to Darien Lake than return to La Ronde, even with the aid of a Gold Flash Pass at La Ronde. The issues I had with Darien Lake were mostly the result of bad luck, while those at La Ronde I don't think are likely to go away anytime soon. Ride Count: Boomerang Coast to Coaster: 1 Corn Popper: 1 Mind Eraser: 1 Moto Coaster: 1 Predator: 1 Ride of Steel: 4 Shipwreck Falls: 1 Silver Bullet: 1 UFO: 1 Viper: 1 Total: 13 rides in 5 hours (2.6 rides per hour) We then headed over to Martin's Fantasy Island. Upon arrival, the park manager came out to greet us, then escorted us over to Silver Comet so we could all ride without waiting in line (a very nice way to make up for our cancelled ERT). I know this caused a few complaints from those waiting in line, but since the regular line was only about fifteen minutes I think they may have been somewhat unjustified, especially since the situation was explained to them. Silver Comet: Although Silver Comet is small and isn't really very intense, the ride is still pretty good. It is a lot smoother than most other CCIs, with only one significantly rough spot. The ride has a couple airtime moments, but nothing in the way of strong airtime. It somewhat reminded me of a smaller, less intense version of Excalibur at Funtown Splashtown USA. B I then headed over with the other TPR members to get the other credit at Martin's Fantasy Island. While we were in line, Robb came by and told us we were free to do whatever we wanted, but the bus left at 5 P.M. Crazy Mouse: I don't really like these Zamperla Twister Coasters. It spun a bit, but not as much as Gerstlaurer or Maurer Sohne's designs, and had a much less interesting layout. Worth riding for the credit, but not worth multiple rides. C- Since the line for the Crazy Mouse took a while, we only had about 45 minutes before the bus left. I went off with my roommate, Michael, and we managed to get two additional rides in before heading back to the bus. Flight: I enjoy tower swing rides, and this one was no exception. It ran a decent length cycle, and moved up and down the tower during the ride. Still nothing to go out of your way for, but a fun ride nevertheless. Devil's Hole: Standard gravitron that seemed like it ran a shorter cycle than most of them do (although I could have been imagining it). Another ride that is fun, but not particularly unique or worthy of a significant wait. At this time, it was time to depart and head off for Canada. Overall Thoughts: Martin's Fantasy Island reminded me a lot of Funtown Splashtown USA, but seemed a bit smaller and with a more generic ride selection. It seemed like a nice park, but again it is one of those places I need to return to in order to fully experience. I am glad that we did get to go here, however, instead of just having it get deleted from the trip, and I did enjoy my brief visit. Ride Count: Crazy Mouse: 1 Devil's Hole: 1 Flight: 1 Silver Comet: 1 Total: 4 rides in 1.5 hours (2.67 rides per hour) En route to Canada, we watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on the bus. I like that movie, but it's one of those movies people tend to either love or hate, and I spoke to several people who didn't care for it. The border crossing wasn't as bad this time, and I think it was around 7:30 when we got to our hotel in Toronto. It was then time for the special dinner extravaganza: a taco buffet at Dave & Buster's with unlimited video games and 200 credits for redemption games. Out of all three TPR trips I've done, this was probably the best non-park activity (Zorbing in Pigeon Forge comes very close). It was a lot of fun just hanging out with everyone and playing games until midnight, at which point I decided to head back to the hotel. The next day would be an 8 A.M. morning, and I wanted to get some sleep before Leviathan Bash. Pictures: Due to all the running around at the two parks trying to get everything done, I didn't take that many pictures on this day. However, I will post what I have. Darien Lake, a former Six Flags park that is now managed by Herschend. The park itself looks nicer than most Six Flags parks. Predator was testing from the moment we walked in the gate. It appeared to have been having difficulties all day, as it opened late and broke down almost immediately. But we're here for Ride of Steel. Unfortunately, since I left my bag in a cubbie during ERT, I didn't have my camera with me to take further pictures of the ride. Darien Lake's swing ride. There were three waveswingers on the trip, and this is the only one I didn't get a chance to ride. Moto Coaster running its course. Better than Pony Express, at least in my opinion. Viper, the world's first roller coaster with five inversions, and the first ever batwing. This ride is very photogenic, and since the queue winds under part of it you can easily get some good shots. Viper corkscrewing over the queue line. We were told that no adults were allowed on the kiddie coaster. I saw a couple other TPR members try while walking to Mind Eraser. The result: Denied! Mind Eraser is a bit removed from the rest of the park. Unlike the other Mind Erasers, it is located partially above water. Darien Lake's ferris wheel looks a bit odd, with groups of three cabins spaced around it instead of evenly spaced gondolas. I'm sure there must be a reason for it. Silver Bullet, a unique enterprise that feels pretty much the same as every other one. Thunder Rapids looked like the best log flume on the trip. It's too bad the line was too long. To end Darien Lake, a random shot of Mind Eraser I took while waiting for the bus. We're now at Martin's Fantasy Island. This looked like a decent Antique Car Ride. A smaller ferris wheel for a smaller park. I can't imagine how long the wait for the log flume was. The logs were at least 45 seconds apart. Flight is likely the best flat ride at Martin's. On one side of the walkway they had the full size version. On the other side was the kiddie equivalent. Despite several parks having them, I went this whole trip without riding a Disk'O. Lastly, Devil's Hole. I have no idea why the park replaced their old gravitron with a new one, but this one has only been there a couple years.

Wow, I honestly did not realize it sounded that way. I guess for most people, when they see a ride rated a 6 they think it's not that great of a ride, while I see that as I ride that I enjoyed, but just don't think it would be worth going out of my way to ride again. There are actually very few rides I do not like (aka rides I wouldn't want to ride again), and those are the ones that I assign a 4.0 or lower to. I did enjoy the trip a lot, and I've enjoyed every TPR trip I've done so far. Robb and Elissa do an outstanding job putting them together, and I really think they are the best way to tour theme parks, both for value and for the experience. I think what would be best is if I leave the ride ratings off for now, at least for non-coaster rides. Either that, or maybe I should equate them to a letter system since that would probably make more sense to people. I'll think about it today and then use whatever I decide with my Darien Lake/Martin's Fantasy Island report this evening. No need to worry about that since I didn't even visit Germany and the only parks I went to in Europe were the Disneyland Paris parks. I was not on the TPR Europe trip (although I would have liked to have gone), and I have a feeling that Expedition GeForce would be one of my favorite coasters.

In no particular order: -Arrow lift hills -Intamin and Premier LIM Launches -B&M lift hills, as well as the classic B&M roar -Intamin's hydraulic launch system, especially on Xcelerator -Intamin magnetic brakes -The sounds of a wooden coaster running PTC trains -Pretty much every noise Montezooma's Revenge makes There are actually very few coaster sounds that I don't like.