Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

rcdude

Members
  • Posts

    2,376
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by rcdude

  1. I've only been on four, and I would rank them as follows. 1. Apocalypse the Ride 2. Thunderhead 3. American Thunder 4. Roar (SFDK) As for reasons why, Apocalypse just feels the most out of control to me. It doesn't seem to ever lose speed, and it is a great blend of out-and-back and twister. It is a shorter ride, but it is long enough and does have a couple bits of airtime. Thunderhead would be my favorite, but it is just a bit too rough. After this, there is a little bit of a gap before American Thunder, which I still found a really good ride. However, it also felt short and I'm not really a fan of tiny airtime hills on a twister. Finally, Roar, while being a lengthier GCI, had not aged well and is quite rough, as well as not being as interesting as the other designs.
  2. As far as Intamin vs. S&S, I like t put it this way: An Intamin tower is for thrill seekers. No matter how many times I go on them, I always get an adrenaline rush when the ride drops. They are the closest any ride comes to complete freefall, and even if they aren't that tall they still give a really good ride. An S&S Turbo Drop is a fun ride, but not a particularly intense one. If you are not afraid of heights, they aren't particularly thrilling. I've described them as high speed elevators before, because they honestly don't feel much different. I prefer DCA's Tower of Terror to any S&S tower I've been on simply because it is actually more intense than most of them when talking about forces (and I really want to try the better Florida version). Overall, I think an Intamin tower is better suited for a park like SFMM that is primarily for thrill seekers, but for more family-oriented parks the S&S towers are a better option. However, I will say that the S&S Double Shots and Combo towers are significantly better than the Turbo Drops and Space Shots, so I wouldn't be disappointed if SFMM got one of those (at least if it was a really tall Combo tower).
  3. July 27th, 2011-St. Louis Trip Day 5-Holiday World Holiday World. This was one of the main reasons we opted for a St. Louis trip this year instead of a New York trip. I’m sure many coaster enthusiast have heard a lot about this park, as it has won many awards. The park is rated as one of the best in the US, and has been called the cleanest and friendliest park in America for several years. They also have a waterpark, Splashin’ Safari, which has won its fair share of awards. However, if there is one thing most people know about the park, it is that Holiday World is home to three of the best wooden coasters in the world: The Raven, The Legend, and the Voyage. Due to my brother’s worry about not getting to the park on time, we left the hotel nearly an hour before the park opened, even though it was only five minutes away. We parked, walked over to the gate, got tickets (thanks to ClubTPR, it was only $30 per person), headed inside, rented lockers, and got to the Fourth of July rope drop point about 15-20 minutes before rope drop. Yes, leaving early paid off, but I think we could have left about 15 minutes later and been fine on time. At 9:30 A.M. exactly, the rope dropped. Like I expected, many people headed into Halloween or to Splashin’ Safari. Instead, we headed to the largest ride in the park: The Voyage. Voyage-The Voyage has been called the world’s best wooden coaster for several years. It is one of the largest woodies ever built, and is the most well known Gravity Group ride. It is a really good ride, but it is rough. I rode three different times in three different seats: 1-1, 2-1, and 4-1. The first and second car gave a shaky ride, but as long as you held on after the first three hills it wasn’t bad. The fourth car, however…that one hurt! If this ride were smooth, it would be my favorite wooden coaster. However, it is just too rough and not re-rideable enough. After three rides, I decided that I was done with Voyage for the day (not that we had time for a fourth one anyway). It ended up placing second on my wooden coaster list (between Thunderhead and Apocalypse the Ride), and was demoted to third following a ride on El Toro a week later. It is really good, but not the best, and it was my favorite of Holiday World’s three woodies. A Before we visited the park, my brother said, “I haven’t been on it, and the Voyage is already my favorite wooden coaster.” As much as I tried to tell him to ride it with an open mind and don’t make decide ahead of time (I think that might have been part of the reason he didn’t like Intimidator 305 last year), he wouldn’t listen. As I expected, he got off and said the ride was his favorite woodie. What I found even more interesting, however, was that he didn’t find the ride at all rough. He took his first ride in the front seat, and when I rode it later in that seat (my first was in 2-1), I found it only slightly smoother than anywhere else. It took a backseat ride before my brother would acknowledge that the ride was rough. My dad and sister both really liked the ride as well, but both said it was rough. I think it may be my sister’s favorite wooden coaster, but I don’t remember if my dad said it was or not. Gobbler Getaway-This is a shooting dark ride. It has a unique storyline where you shoot…er, I mean call…turkeys. Despite the fact that your weapon was a non-lethal turkey caller, we all called it the turkey shooter ride (as I’m sure many people do). I wasn’t a fan of those caller guns, as they seemed to not work as well as the regular ones I’ve found on Sally’s other rides. Either way, the ride was pretty good, except for the ending, which was disappointing (not spoiling it for those who haven’t ridden yet), and I got the highest score on this one. B After Gobbler Getaway, we decided to head to the waterpark early so we could get changed and be ready when it opened. Although I was against this decision at the time, I ended up being really glad we did. We got changed, and waited about 10-15 minutes for the rope drop. When it did, we headed into Splashin’ Safari, and all the way to Wildebeest. Note: All waterpark ride ratings are only for waterpark rides and are not comparable with dry rides. Wildebeest-This ride was great. It is an amazing ride, and is one of the best waterslides I’ve been on. However, I personally prefer more traditional waterslides to water coasters (funnels are my favorite), so this wasn’t my favorite slide in the waterpark. I also have to admit that I do not believe any slide is worth the lines this ride gets. We only waited 15 minutes, which it is totally worth, but when we got off, the line was backed up to the 90 minute sign and growing. I have to be honest here…as awesome as Wildebeest is, I’d rather wait 5 minutes to ride Rendezvous Run at Castaway Bay (Cedar Point’s Waterpark Hotel) than 90 minutes to ride Wildebeest. It is an amazing ride, but I would never wait in excess of an hour to ride it. A Zinga-I love funnels. They are my favorite type of waterslide. Unfortunately, Holiday World has this strange policy of only 2 adults per tube. Due to this, we had to split our group of four into two groups of two, and the ride was a little disappointing. For my dad, who had never been on a funnel before, it was a great ride. For me, it was my least favorite funnel, but my favorite slide in the waterpark. A Zoombabwe-I’ve heard that this is one of the best family raft slides, and I do feel it is (though not the very best). However, I generally find these rides underwhelming unless you load up a ton of people. This ride had a 600 lbs. weight restriction, and there are scales at the top, so we had to split our group again. Fun, but could have been better. B After Zoombabwe, we were going to do Wahtubee, but we all decided to skip it after seeing the line backed up to the “60 minutes from this point” sign. As few, if any, waterslides are worth a 60 minute wait (and certainly not a family raft ride), we headed instead to Bakuli. Bakuli-I’d never done a Behemoth Bowl before, so I was interested in trying this. It was, unfortunately, my least favorite bowl. The bowl is so large that there is little feeling of speed when you enter it. The tube goes up on the wall briefly, but after that it just goes around on the flat part of the bowl until you reach the middle. A bit disappointing, but still more fun than most of Splashin’ Safari’s slides, especially since all four of us could ride together. D Pilgrims Plunge-This is not technically a waterpark ride, but we did it while in our swimsuits (and then re-rode later in normal clothes). I really liked this ride. It feels a lot taller than it actually is since there is almost nothing around, and the drop seems to take forever since it isn’t that steep (more of a giant ramp than a drop). I also liked how it waited until the last possible second to splash you at the bottom. For giant water rides, I slightly prefer Perilous Plunge because it has a better drop, but both of them are really good. B After Pilgrims Plunge, we decided to get lunch. I was surprised at the prices for Holiday World; It was only about $6 for chicken strips, fries, and a cookie, and the drinks were free. Speaking of free drinks, Holiday World has a lot of free stuff: free parking, free drinks, free sunscreen. Lockers are only $5, and admission is very reasonable. I thought the food was pretty decent, at least for amusement park food. Once we were done with lunch, we headed to the smaller slides in the waterpark. Otorongo-I only got time to do this once, as nobody else wanted to do it a second time. We chose the Ron slide (twister) since it had the shortest line. It actually was decent, but it was too short. The spiral (Oto) looked fun as well, and I would have liked to try that one, but the straight drop (Go) didn’t look like it was worth it, especially since it had the longest line. D Jungle Racer-A ten lane mat racer. It was okay, but I think it was one of the less exciting mat racers I’ve been on. It just felt slower than most of the others. I’m also not a huge fan of this type of slide. F+ AmaZoom-I like single tube slides better than double tube slides, and I found this one better than the Otorongo slide I rode. I wish it was actually dark in the tube, but it was still fun nevertheless. C Following AmaZoom, we were going to do Bamboo Chute, but my brother refused to do any more waterpark attractions. He was worried we wouldn’t have enough time to finish the ride park if we continued doing waterslides, and the remaining attractions were mostly generic. In order to avoid a conflict, we decided to skip Bamboo Chute and head back a slightly early (I had planned on doing the waterpark until 3-4 P.M., and it was about 2:30 P.M. now). As a result, I ended up missing Bamboo Chute and the other Otorongo slides, and my sister ended up missing the Lazy Rivers. Fortunately, those are rides that can be found at any waterpark, so it wasn't too much of a loss, although I would have liked to do them anyway. When we were done changing and back in Halloween, I asked my brother, “Legend or Raven?” Since Legend was closer, he chose that, so off we went. Legend-This ride really seems to vary in terms of the experience it gives. On my first ride, I rode in the third car, and it hurt. When I rode the second time, it was in the front car, and the ride was really good. I am really glad I rode it a second time, because I actually ended up liking the ride better than GhostRider. There is a lot of airtime and a ton of laterals, and the ride does feel a little out of control. It can be quite rough, and it is a little overrated, but I still think the Legend is a great ride. B Frightful Falls-This ride was very unusual. Instead of fiberglass, the flume is made out of concrete and is built into the ground. Overall, this made the ride less comfortable than most, especially at one point when it picked up some speed only to slam right into the wall. Despite this, there were some cool things as well. The tunnel was neat, and we had no idea what would happen in there. The drop was also really good, although it almost felt like the log bounced at the bottom. I enjoyed this log flume, and it is right in the middle of log flumes I’ve been on, but I wouldn’t wait too long for it. C Raven-I’m just going to start by saying it: This ride is overrated. I don’t know how it was ever considered the #1 wooden coaster. During the years listed on the sign (2000-2003), GhostRider was running as good as it ever has, and even in its current state I prefer GhostRider slightly to Raven. Now, it is true that Raven is mostly smooth (the lake turn was a bit shaky, but the rest wasn’t bad), and there is quite a bit of airtime, but the ride is much shorter than I expected. I think I was also expecting a little more than I should have, as when I saw the ride walking in I was thinking, “That’s it? I thought this thing was taller.” In my opinion, the ride has five good drops (with the fifth one being surprisingly large), but after that it isn’t that exciting. The laterals are fairly weak, and it doesn’t feel as fast running through the trees as the Legend does. Raven is still a really great ride, but I just expected…I don’t really know. I guess just…more. B Liberty Launch-An S&S double shot. When we were waiting for this, my dad was all “this is a kiddie ride.” True, it’s only about 80 ft. tall, but I personally prefer a double shot to most other S&S towers under 200 ft. This isn’t the best double shot I’ve been on, but it was still quite fun. My dad still thought it was a kiddie ride, but said it did have more airtime than he expected. B Howler-Nobody else wanted to ride this, so they all watched and took pictures for blackmail while I rode. I don’t care, it’s a credit and it was actually okay for a kiddie coaster, although it was a bit jerky. F+ Raging Rapids-Holiday World has a very bizarre rapids ride. Instead of having groups of two or three seats, the boats have single seats spread evenly around the circumference. I thought the ride was actually pretty good, but it’s not the best rapids ride I’ve done. At least it is better than the log flume. B Lewis and Clark Antique Cars-I thought this was decent for a car ride. Certainly not the best one I’ve done, but not the worst either. I don’t really like the two rider rule, but to some people it probably doesn’t matter if they drive (even though I’ve got a license, I still enjoy driving car rides). C HallowSwings-I think this is probably my favorite swing ride, although I don’t ride them too often. Maybe it is just because the one at Knott’s (which I ride most frequently) is very disappointing. B We were considering doing more flats, but nobody else really wanted to. I wouldn't have minded doing a couple more (such as the flyers and round-up), but I was fine with what we had done, and didn’t want to keep anybody else waiting. At this time, it was only about 5 P.M., so we had ended up doing the remaining dry rides in about two hours. In order to avoid a debate, I didn’t mention this to my brother, but we really could have spent another hour or so in the waterpark and gotten everything done. Now, we had to decide what to do. I asked everyone what they wanted to re-ride, and we all decided we wanted to re-ride the three wooden coasters. However, I also wanted to re-ride Pilgrims Plunge, so we went there first as it closed at 6 P.M. After the longest wait of the day (50 minutes) we rode. We then did Voyage again and got dinner at the Plymouth Rock Café to avoid having two amusement park food meals in one day. It was decent, but overrated. After dinner, we went to Raven and found it now had a 20 minute wait since the waterpark was closed. We rode anyway, and I got a back car ride in addition to my earlier front seat ride (the back was better). Now it was decision time. My brother wanted one more ride on Voyage, and I wanted a front seat ride on it. However, I also wanted to do Legend, which now had a 20-30 minute wait and appeared to be broken down (a train was stopped halfway out of the station). My dad was done, so he didn’t care. Since my brother and sister both wanted to do Voyage, and since I admitted I would prefer a front seat Voyage ride to another rough Legend ride, we opted for that. We waited about 40 minutes in line, but it was worth it. In its current state, there is no better place to ride Voyage than the front seat. We got off and met my dad, who had retrieved our items from the locker, and then prepared to leave. On the way out, however, we walked right by the Legend, and the queue was still open. After making sure nobody minded waiting, my brother and I got in line for the front. Unfortunately, we were told there would be only two more trains, and there were already 4 people in line for the front. My brother left, as he didn’t want to end on anything other than Voyage unless it was a front seat Legend ride, and I took a seat in row two on the last train of the night. I’m really glad I got that last Legend ride in, as it was a much better experience in semi-darkness. After I got off, we headed out. My overall feeling about Holiday World were a bit mixed. At first, I thought the park was overrated. I had been let down by all three woodies, and there didn’t seem to be anything special about the place. However, the more and more I did, the more I enjoyed the park. I ended up really liking the park. In addition, Splashin’ Safari blew away every other included waterpark I’ve been to. Although I think the addition of Mammoth is somewhat silly, I’m sure it will help, as that place was crowded. Holiday World is in the middle of nowhere, but the park (especially the waterpark) seems to draw huge crowds. The ride park, on the other hand, seemed to be empty for most of the day. How are the rides, anyway? Well, Holiday World has a lot of non-coaster rides, and their collection is pretty good. However, they are mostly older rides, and there are no modern giant flats in this park. The coasters are all really good, even if they are a tad overrated, and if visiting the park missing any of them would be a real bummer. However, don’t go expecting to ride the woodies all day, as they are a bit too rough for continuous riding (especially Legend and Voyage). Now, the negatives of the park. Fortunately, this is one that doesn’t have too many, and I can only think of a couple. First, the park did not seem as well themed as it could have been. When I think of Holidays, I think of the symbols that go along with each one. These were not very prevalent in the park, and outside of the Christmas section all the other areas felt the same. They felt more like a random forest than a themed area. Secondly, if you aren’t into the waterpark, there really isn’t enough for this to be a full day park. I really think you could do everything here in about half to two-thirds of a day if you are only doing the ride park and not the water park. This is not only due to a lack of rides, but more a lack of lines, and the park could work a bit on getting a few more modern flats. The other main one is a complaint I’ve heard from others. Although the park has three above-average wooden coasters, they don’t even have a full size steel coaster. I really think this is what the park needs to complete its coaster collection. It doesn’t need to be some groundbreaking giga, but something good from one of the major manufacturers would add quite a bit of variety to the lineup because, as different as three woodies are, I felt that it got a bit repetitive riding them throughout the day. One or two wooden coasters are really enough for almost any park, and three without a steel coaster just doesn’t work too well (at least in my opinion). However, other than these minor things, I really liked the park. As you may or may not have noticed, in my signature below I have Holiday World listed as my favorite park. That is only mostly true, as there is an exception. Yes, Holiday World is my favorite park if you only look at places that feel like amusement parks. However, I still think Dollywood is a better park, it just doesn’t feel like an amusement park. At Holiday World, before you walk in the gate you know that it’s an amusement park. At Dollywood, however, if you avoided the county fair area, you’d have to get to Timber Canyon before the place felt like a park and not like an old mountain village. This may be just my opinion, but it’s how I feel. Ride Count: Voyage-3 Gobbler Getaway-1 Wildebeest-1 Zinga-1 Zoombabwe-1 Bakuli-1 Pilgrims Plunge-2 Otorongo-1 Jungle Racer-1 AmaZoom-1 Legend-2 Frightful Falls-1 Raven-2 Liberty Launch-1 Howler-1 Raging Rapids-1 Lewis and Clark Antique Cars-1 HallowSwings-1 Total: 23 rides in 11 hours (2.09 rides per hour) Pictures Because of Holiday World’s super-strict camera policy (“cameras are not allowed on rides, even when secured in a pocket or fanny pack”), I decided to just leave my camera in the locker for most of the day. I doubt it would be an issue, but I didn’t want to break any rules, no matter how silly. However, I did promise more theme park pictures, so enjoy two pictures of the Voyage and know that next week when I begin my North East report there will be many more. The Voyage. Not the #1 wooden coaster in the world, but still really good. And there is the ride. My brother and sister are in the front row, but it is a bit difficult to tell.
  4. I would be very surprised if they built a drop tower on the side of Superman. In its current state, that tower doesn't look like it could support one, and I'm guessing it is cheaper to build a new tower than modifying/replacing the Superman one. As for where it might go, I'm thinking one of three locations: on top of the hill (possibly where Laughing Dragon Pizza is since that place has been closed for years), down at the bottom where Spin Out used to be, or replacing Thrill Shot. It probably won't replace Deja Vu since that will likely be the site of a 2013 coaster. I don't have a height guess, but I'm thinking tallest in the US (or possibly the world), though not necessarily 400 ft. Also, they'll probably change one of the Superman cars forward at some point next year. I don't know if it will be at the beginning of the year or after summer, but I think the plan was to run both of them backwards for 12-18 months, then switch one forwards and let people pick their experience.
  5. Okay, I’m committing myself to finishing the St. Louis part of my trip this week. Others are finishing their North East reports, and mine hasn’t even begun. So, without further ado… July 26th, 2011-St. Louis Trip Day 4: St. Louis Zoo and Drive to Santa Claus The last day of the St. Louis portion of our trip began like any other day. However, after getting up and getting breakfast, we had to load up the car and check out of the hotel. Once that was done, we headed over to Forest Park. St. Louis Zoo: I do like zoos, but I think I’m spoiled by living so close to the San Diego Zoo. That zoo is regarded as one of the best in the world, so compared to that the others generally don’t seem as good. Besides, seeing the same animals over and over can get boring. The St. Louis Zoo, however, is the best free zoo I have been to by far. Here, admission is free, and the specialty attractions (rides and shows) cost extra. We didn’t do any of those, so we only had to pay for parking. We spent about two hours here and did a lap of the zoo, looking at all the animals. Some of them were asleep or relaxing due to the heat, but a few were up and about. The exhibits were good in that they did what they needed to while not being too cluttered, and it was fairly easy to spot the animals inside. Overall, I’d say that this is a very good zoo, but it isn’t my favorite. Following our zoo visit, we went to look at a couple more houses that were owned by relatives of my dad. I think one was his father’s house as a kid, and another was a house he used to stay at regularly (don’t remember who owned it). He said he disliked staying there at night, and I could see why. The house is right on the edge of a cemetery. After the house tour, we went to get frozen custard at a place called Ted Drewes. I expected this to be something like soft-serve ice cream or frozen yogurt, but it was a bit different. Custard starts out vanilla, and flavor is added by mixing in stuff. I just got a basic chocolate custard, and it was really good. Much lighter than frozen yogurt, and I think it tastes better as well. Once we finished our custard, we headed to a nearby Steak ‘n Shake for lunch. Steak ‘n Shake is an unusual hybrid between a fast-food restaurant and a diner, and instead of hamburgers they serve steakburgers. As I like neither hamburgers or steak, I didn’t try one, but everyone else did and said they were good. I was a bit surprised my brother liked them, as he is usually not a fan of higher-quality burgers. We all liked the restaurant, and once we were done we headed up the street a bit to Gooey Louie’s to get some Gooey Butter Cake for later. Then we got on the freeway and headed out. The drive from St. Louis, Missouri to Santa Claus, Indiana is a very boring one. I think it took us a little under three and a half hours including a stop for gas. However, we eventually made it to Santa Claus, which was much smaller than I expected. Other than Santa’s Lodge (where we stayed) and a small marketplace, there isn’t really too much in the town. Oh, wait, I almost forgot about the main attraction: Holiday World (this will be covered in the next update). Since there wasn’t much around for restaurants and we were considering it anyway, we decided to drive to Owensboro, Kentucky. This allowed me to get a Kentucky state credit. On the drive, we passed over a cool bridge and past a power plant, but there wasn’t anything else noteworthy. When we got there, we drove around town a bit, went out to the edge of the river (or as close as we could get to it), and then got dinner at a Taco Bell (we were looking for a KFC, but the one the navigator found was closed). We then headed back to Santa Claus and had some Gooey Butter Cake (which was really good), watched TV, and went to bed. Overall Thoughts of St. Louis St. Louis is a very interesting city. It has much more of an old feel than some other major cities, partially due to the number of brick buildings. These look older (probably because they are) and they give a different feel to the city. Also, St. Louis has several different areas in really close proximity to each other. There is the nice part of the city, which seems newer and is more open, with several small parks scattered about amongst the buildings. This is the park of the city that we toured on Segways. Then there is the old section with brick buildings up and down the street with no end in sight. This seemed like the most busy section for nightlife, and was where we stayed. Finally, there is the old, run-down part of town, which we stumbled into due to a slow GPS and road construction. Most of the buildings here looked (or were) abandoned, and the area seemed a bit sketchy. Outside of the downtown area, St. Louis is just like anywhere else, but the houses do feel old (a lot of those are brick too) and the neighborhoods are more spread out. Compared to other big cities, St. Louis is not my favorite. I enjoyed visiting it, but I really don’t have any desire to return. I think I managed to see most of what I cared to see on this trip, and I don’t have any specific reason I’ll need to go back in the future. After this trip, my favorite big city that I’ve visited is still Chicago. Favorite St. Louis Activity: Glide Segway Tour, closely followed by City Museum Least Favorite St. Louis Activity: Tough to pick one…probably the Gateway Arch, although it wasn’t bad Pictures Pretty much all of these are animal pictures taken at the zoo. If you are into those, great. If not, feel free to skip them. I promise I’ll have more Theme Park Photos up soon. The last time I'll see this view on the trip. First up at the zoo...Penguins. This was one of the coolest exhibits (literally)! The bears are always neat, but they seemed a bit too tame. Perhaps they need to be untamed (sorry, that's as good as they get). Tiger doing its thing. It looked like it was protecting its exhibit or something. Meanwhile, the other big cat is taking a nap. Either that, or... Maybe it is waiting for one of these guys to fall asleep so it can "guard" it. The rhino looks tired. I don't think it's in the mood for a rally today. Hyenas...I've got nothing. The cheetahs were the most active of the big cats. I think they might be distressed because their relatives are being hunted down in Florida. And finally, we'll end with a picture of Dusty the Elephant.
  6. It's funny. When the Windseekers were announced, I didn't care much for them, but now that they are actually operating they do look like great rides. I'm planning to go to Knott's the week after Labor Day to check this out.
  7. Top two LIM launches for me would probably be Volcano, The Blast Coaster followed by California Screamin'. If you include LSM, however, Maverick beats both of those. In general, I find Intamin's magnetic launch coasters are generally more forceful than Premier's, however Superman: Escape from Krypton is the biggest exception to that (weakest magnetic launch in my experience, but probably partly because you are launched backwards). For all launches, Xcelerator wins, but it is hydraulic and doesn't count for this thread.
  8. Final totals: Europe: 17/20 North America: 20/20 Rest of the World: 15/20
  9. This will be a really good ride for Carowinds because it towers over everything else in the park. I believe all four of the parks that got one this year have a ride that is within 25 ft. of the height of Windseeker (not sure about Canada's Wonderland), so that seems like it would make the height less impressive. I haven't been on the one at Knott's yet, but I have a feeling that Supreme Scream is close enough that it won't feel as high as it actually is (I could be wrong however). Also, I think Kings Dominion would be the most likely choice for the other one, but they already have several 300 ft. tall rides, so I don't know if it would have as big of an impact there. One other thing...instead of playing random movie music on the Carowinds one like the other Windseekers apparently do, they should just play the Carowinds Theme. It would be somewhat cheesy, but I'm sure nobody would forget the song afterward.
  10. Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood about a week ago. Still my second-favorite dark coaster (after Disneyland's Space Mountain).
  11. La Ronde was pretty much what I consider a "Just Okay" park. It had some good rides, but there were also some not so good rides. Operations ranged from standard to poor, and they were very inconsistent between rides, but other than the 45 minute SLC line with the Gold Flashpass, nothing was horrible. There were also things (such as the bar) that you would never see in an American park. Overall, most things balanced out to somewhere in the middle. It's certainly not the best Six Flags, but it isn't the worst either. Oh, one more thing...Canadian Goliath may not be the greatest Mega Coaster, but I would gladly trade California Goliath for it.
  12. 17/20 on the Europe quiz (as previously reported) 20/20 on the North American quiz. Either I spend way too much time looking at American parks or I'm helped by the fact that I've been on half of the 2011 coasters.
  13. Wild Rivers Waterpark (most likely next week or the week after). For an actual amusement park, Knott's sometime after Labor Day but before I start school (September 19th).
  14. 17/20. Surprisingly high, especially since I know very little about the European parks that aren't majors.
  15. I usually don't enter these contests because I don't build too many custom rides in RCT (I'm more into recreations), but since junior woodies are small and I was bored, I played around a bit and made this in an hour. Here is Tiny Timber, a junior woodie loosely inspired by some of CCI's designs. http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=2394 SCR1.BMP Picture and stats.
  16. July 25th, 2011-St. Louis Trip Day 3: Gateway Arch, Riverboat, Glide Tour, and Baseball Monday the 25th was the day we chose for general touring of the city. This was partly influenced by the schedule of the St. Louis Cardinals, as they had a game Monday night but not Sunday and we wanted to go to a baseball game (if possible). We had also chosen to do Six Flags on Sunday instead of Monday, so that left the whole day free. Before I begin, I will just note that there is nothing amusement park related on this day. Instead, it is a bunch of other random things we did. This will be the only report that is not at least indirectly related to an amusement park. After getting up at a somewhat late time for being on vacation, we grabbed breakfast and headed down to the Gateway Arch, just a short walk from our hotel. We went through the security process, then got in line to purchase tickets. Since we decided to do both the Arch Experience and the Riverboat Cruise, we asked for tickets for the next available time slot for the arch and the 12:00 P.M. cruise. As it was already almost 11 A.M., the ticket person insisted we wouldn’t be able to make the boat and gave us tickets for the 1:30 P.M. cruise instead. About five minutes after getting our tickets, it was time for us to get in line for the Arch. Arch Experience-The Gateway Arch is probably the most popular tourist attraction in St. Louis, and is the tallest structure in the city at 630 feet. However, since it is an arch, a normal elevator cannot be used to ascend to the top. Instead, passengers ride in small pods that seat five each. These things were tiny, even smaller than I expected. In the boarding area, you wait in front of what appears to be a normal sized door. However, only a small center section actually opens. The door for the pods was at most 4 feet tall, and the ceiling inside wasn’t much taller. Fortunately, the journey only takes 4 minutes. Still, this is not a suitable attraction for the easily claustrophobic. Once at the top, you emerge onto the small and crowded observation deck. I’m guessing only about 200 people could fit up here at any one time, as it is probably about a hundred feet long and ten feet wide. On each side of the arch are windows that allow you to look out at the city of St. Louis on one side, or across the river to East St. Louis on the other. That’s it. We probably only spent about 10 minutes or so at the top because it was crowded and you can only look at the city for so long. So how was the Arch Experience overall? Eh, I wasn’t crazy about it. Yes, it gives you a nice view, but it is really one of those things everyone does due to the fame of the arch. I much prefer going up in a normal skyscraper, such as Sears…no, sorry, Willis Tower, to the Gateway Arch. Yes, I’m glad I did it, and it was a bit different, but I have no desire to do it again. After we got down from the Arch, we noticed it was only 11:40 A.M. We headed down to the riverboat landing and asked if we could do the 12:00 P.M. cruise instead of the 1:30 P.M. one that was on our tickets, and they said yes, so we got right on. Riverboat Cruise-This was a nice way to see the shoreline of the city, although there really wasn’t a ton right by the water. Most of it was old factories or manufacturing plants, and not actual buildings you would be likely to visit. We also got to see several bridges, including a very interesting one (see pictures for details). The cruise was narrated by the captain, and a park ranger (at least I think that’s what he was) told us a bit of history as well. It was a nice way to spend an hour and travel on the Mississippi river aboard a paddle steamer. Oh, wait, I almost forgot…the boat wasn’t actually a paddle steamer, it was a modern boat dressed as one. The Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland is still the most authentic paddle steamer I’ve been on. Following the cruise, we headed over to a shopping area (forget the name) to get something for lunch. Of course, instead of trying one of the restaurants in the area, we went to one of my least favorite fast-food restaurants…Subway. No comments there. We then walked back to the hotel and relaxed for an hour or so before we left for what ended up being my favorite part of the day. Glide Tours-Glide Tours is a company that operates Segway tours in St. Louis. This was one of the things we decided to do relatively late in the planning stages, but I’m really glad we did. The company offers three different tours in the St. Louis area, and we opted for the Downtown St. Louis City Tour. Like any tour of this nature should, the experience begins with a safety video and a small amount of paperwork, followed by about a half-hour of practice riding in the parking lot. Once everyone has a pretty good idea of how to drive the Segway, the tour begins. The tour consisted of approximately 2.5 hours of riding through Downtown St. Louis. I don’t remember the exact route, but I know we went past Union Station, the old City Hall building, Busch Stadium, the Gateway Arch, about halfway across Eads Bridge, and by the old courthouse. In addition, we also rode around in a couple parks were we got to do some off-sidewalk Segway. The tour was very fun, and we had a great guide who seemed to know a lot about the area. On it, we also got to check out a few things that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. The other main reason we did this tour was also just so we could get a chance to ride Segways. I’ll just say it as simply as I can…these things are a lot of fun. They are very easy to ride, and they can cover a significant distance very quickly. I can see why these are catching on, and if they weren’t so expensive and I was more of an outdoor person I might consider getting one. Following the tour, we headed back to the hotel once again. However, on the way, we stopped at a Hardee’s/Red Burrito to get my brother and sister dinner. Although they have a very similar menu to Carl’s Jr./Green Burrito, my brother and sister said Hardee’s was not nearly as good. My dad and I then headed back out, but not by car. We went to the Metro station and used the public transportation system in St. Louis to head to Busch Stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. As we weren’t 100% sure we were doing this until that evening, we didn’t have tickets yet. Fortunately, we were able to buy pretty good tickets for only $10 each. Since the point of going was more to check out the stadium then to watch the game (neither of us really care too much about the Cardinals or their opponents, the Houston Astros), we ended up spending about 5 innings in our seats, then a couple innings walking around the stadium. This stadium is pretty bizarre, and it is not at all symmetrical. In some areas, there are only two decks, but in others there are three or even four, and the left-field side is not the same as the right-field area. There was also a walkway around half the stadium that you could watch the game from, but on the other side the field wasn’t even visible from the walking area. We ended up leaving right before the 7th inning stretch, and beat most of the rush for the Metro. At this point, the game was 8-1 Cardinals and I’m thinking most people figured it was a guaranteed win. When we got back to the hotel, however, we saw that the score was 8-5 (the Cardinals ended up winning 10-5, but I didn’t watch the ending). When we got back to the hotel, we didn’t really do much. We just went up to our room, showered, watched a little TV, and went to bed. Pictures: All of these pictures were taken in the morning, as I did not take any pictures during the Segway Tour or at Busch Stadium. However, a few photos of us on the tour can be found on the website: http://www.glidestlouistours.com/. Just click on tour photos and select the July 25th, 2011 P.M. Tour. Welcome to the Gateway Arch, the most popular tourist attraction in St. Louis. This is where you board the pods. When you are at the top, you look through tiny windows in the sides of the arch. To the east, we have East St. Louis. To the west, we have downtown St. Louis. Busch Stadium. My dad and I will be here later in the day, while my brother and sister (who hate sports) will be playing video games in the hotel room. Fun Fact: The arch is the same height and width. Therefore, it is 630 ft. tall and the bases are 630 ft. apart. Yep, that looks like 630 ft. to me. Here we are at the top of the arch. Now can we go down and do something else? Count these steps. Count up to step 33. That is how high the river has gotten in the past. Down at the edge of the Mississippi River. Here is our Riverboat, the Tom Sawyer. The other boat, the Becky Thatcher, was not in service today. Time to head up-river. Random factory...or something. In East St. Louis, it is apparently legal to throw your money away. This is the Gateway Geyser. On ideal days, it is capable of launching water up to 600 ft. in the air. Under the bridge. Another random factory. I really wasn't paying that much attention to whatever the tour guide was saying. As a result, I don't know the significance of this mural, but I know it looked nice. This barge was being unloaded. There is a reason they unload one end first. Apparently, if it was loaded/unloaded in the middle first, it would break and sink. I guess there aren't enough bridges across the river yet. This was the turnaround point for the riverboat. There is something strange about this bridge...see if you can spot it. Answer at the end of the update. Downtown St. Louis from a distance. Downtown through the Arch. I personally think the Gateway Arch looks better from a distance than fron close up. If you are too close, you are blinded by the reflections of the sun. The old courthouse. If you remember anything about Dred Scott from American History...yes, this is where that all happened. The Anheuser-Busch Brewery. We were just here a couple days earlier. Ha! Proof that the boat is a fake. This was about ten minutes from the end of the trip, and it's a little difficult to tell, but the upper paddles are dry. This is the tallest building in St. Louis. It is tall, but the Gateway Arch is still taller. As we were walking the riverfront afterward, we passed this plaque. This statue is actually about 20 feet tall. It was under 12 feet of water here. And finally, here is what was strange with the bridge...the top deck randomly ends three-quarters of the way across.
  17. Well, I was hoping that Deja Vu wouldn't be leaving, but I guess it is. That's really too bad, as I enjoyed that ride. At least it is only being relocated, not demolished, and will be reopening at SFNE, where it will be one of the park's top three coasters. At SFMM, it really was overshadowed by many other rides (Tatsu, X2, Green Lantern, Goliath, Apocalypse, Riddler's to name a few) while at SFNE only Bizarro and Batman are better. I just worry about a Giant Inverted Boomerang being placed next to a regular Boomerang, and I hope I get one more ride on it before it leaves (planning to go in early/mid October, but I don't know how late in October it will be running) since I likely won't get back to SFNE for several years. As for its replacement, I don't care if it is a new coaster or not provided it is still a quality ride. If it is a coaster, anything comparable to or better than Scream would be fine by me. If it is not a coaster, a more unique flat or a drop tower would be a good option. I just really hope the park replaces the ride within a year or two (aka by summer 2013). As for the coaster count, I don't really care. I'd rather visit a park with 4 really good coasters than a park with 1 amazing coaster and 10 decent to below average rides (not saying that is SFMM, but the same principle holds true). Even with only 17 coasters, SFMM still has six world-class coasters, two more that many parks would be glad to have, three more good but not great coasters...in fact, other than the kiddies, I don't think SFMM has a single coaster that isn't worth riding. How many major parks with more than 10 coasters can boast that?
  18. I posted reviews of all the parks I've visited this summer in the past week or so, and reviews of many California parks during the beta test period. I don't know if any of them are eligible, but if they aren't I've still contributed to the park index.
  19. Honestly, I don't think Dinosaurs Alive is a bad thing in general, but I do not think Cedar Point is a good park to recieve it. There is so much to do at that park I would easily skip it there even if it were free. Now, at another Cedar Fair park that has less to do (CGA, Carowinds, Knott's, maybe even KD, etc.) I'd consider checking it out if it was free. The waterslide in Soak City, however, should be a good addition. That waterpark looked very outdated, and we chose to stay at Castaway Bay and use their small waterpark (which has a watercoaster) rather than visit Soak City because it looked worse than any of Southern California's waterparks.
  20. For me, Canobie Lake was the biggest park surprise of the trip. I didn't know what to expect beforehand, but from what I had heard the park was good but not great. It ended up being one of my favorite small parks, and had two coasters any small park would be grateful to have (Untamed and Yankee Cannonball). In addition, I think Canobie had the best mix of new and old flats, as well as some really wet water rides and a very bizarre dark ride. The night in Canada was very interesting. I doubt anyone will forget it unless they overdid it in the alcohol exchange.
  21. Although I really want to visit Canada's Wonderland (not just for Leviathan, but in general) it would be a bit too far to travel for a one day event. However, if TPR decided to do a similar trip to the 2008 Behemoth/Ravine Flyer tour, I would be 90% in provided it is similarly priced (~$1000) and includes Canada's Wonderland & Waldameer.
  22. After my 2011 summer trip. Bold states are additions. Italics are status changes. In addition, I may have gone through Vermont but I wasn't paying enough attention to know if the North East tour passed through or not. Currently at 23 or 24 states and 2 provinces.
  23. Leviathan looks like it will be a good addition to the park. Although it is a similar ride to Behemoth, I doubt most people will care. Besides, Behemoth looks like it is a series of airtime hills, while Leviathan looks like it has a lot more low-to-the-ground high-speed sections with a few airtime hills thrown in. I doubt the rides will be nearly identical like some people are saying, and I also don't think one will kill the other. Would something different be better for Canada's Wonderland? Probably, but this isn't a bad addition either. I'm just excited to see that B&M is joining the Giga Coaster market and I can't wait to see if more of these appear in the next few years (Knott's could really use one if they don't get an Intamin Mega or Giga this year).
  24. They're not roller coasters, but Six Flags Magic Mountain opened with Log Jammer and Jetstream opened the next year. Both are log flumes and both have two drops, with the larger drops being the same size. It's not quite the same, but that is the closest thing I can think of at any park I've been to, at least at the moment.
  25. The whole Maine day of this trip was awesome. Lunch at Jimmy the Greek's was good, Palace Playland/Old Orchard Beach was a fun little diversion for a couple hours, and Funtown Splashtown U.S.A. was probably my favorite small park of the trip. Excalibur was way better than I expected, and was probably the smoothest CCI I've been on (Raven is very close, however), Dragon's Descent waited at the top for what seemed like a really long time, and the Astrosphere was probably the best Scrambler I'll ever ride. I didn't mind the slow speed, it was just as much about the show elements as it was about the ride. Splashtown was also a really good waterpark for its size and I can't wait to see what it looks like after the expansion. I remember seeing the building for that, but never rode it as I wasn't sure what it was. It's too bad they moved it outdoors, although being under Windjammer was a little different. Now the park doesn't even have a scrambler anymore because Pony Express replaced it.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/