rcdude

This week is spring break for me, so of course it may seem like a good time to visit parks. Unfortunately, most of Southern California has spring break this week or next, so parks are crowded. As a result, I wasn't planning on going to any parks over spring break, but it quickly turned into two park visits. My cousin decided to come visit us for spring break. She arrived on Saturday and just left today, but she wanted to go to an amusement park while she was down. Knowing that she is 11 and her favorite amusement park is Legoland California, we decided to go there on Tuesday, April 7th. It had been about three years since I visited the park, so I would get a chance to see the Land of Adventure and Pirate Shores areas, and my uncle had never visited the park. Originally, showers were predicted for this day, however as it got closer the showers moved a day later. Legoland California has always been a park that I liked due to the usually somewhat short lines (despite all rides being low capacity) and it has many unique attractions, although they aren't the most intense or best rides out there. Knowing that it was spring break, I advised my uncle that we had to leave by 8:45 to get there early enough to do everything. This would have worked except for the TV commercial they saw saying that you get a free kids ticket with a full price adult ticket with a coupon from Subway, resulting in stopping at three Subways, none of which had the coupon. I had a different coupon for ten dollars off up to six tickets, which was a better deal anyway, but they thought using both would be a good idea. I don't think it would have made that much of a difference in the long run, since the coupon they saw on TV was for a park hopper ticket only. We got to the parking lot after opening to find what looked like at least two hundred cars in line. This meant that by the time we got into the lot, got to the gate, bought our tickets, and entered the park it was already 11 p.m. and the park was getting lines all over the place. Luckily, almost everyone was in the front two thirds of the park until after lunch so we didn't get any major lines until later in the day. I will give a review of all the rides individually like I usually do. Technic Coaster-We didn't end up riding this until later in the afternoon but I'll do it first since it is my favorite ride in the park. Technic Coaster is a Mack Wild Mouse and is probably the best wild mouse I have been on. The ride features a large first drop followed by a standard wild mouse layout. Although the braking is a bit heavy at some points, the ride is still fun and does have one spot of decent airtime. Unfortunately, we had to wait over a half hour for this ride due to the crowds. If we had gone here first thing like I usually do, the wait would have been about twenty minutes shorter. Lost Kingdom Adventure-This was our first ride of the day. It is a shooting dark ride, themed with Lego's of course. I didn't pay too much attention to the storyline of the ride, but it was something about saving the girl and stopping the bad guy (in other words, pretty generic). The ride itself, however, was probably one of Legoland's best rides. The only downside to it was that the guns were a little difficult to hit targets with, but other than that it was an excellent ride for families. I don't think it was quite worth the forty minute wait, but I'd probably wait a half-hour to ride it again. Dragon-This is a Vekoma Junior Coaster/Dark Ride hybrid. The ride starts with a Lego dark ride then leaves the castle, heads up a lift hill and has a roller coaster segment. While the roller coaster part is just okay, the dark ride is one of Legoland's most creative features. Seeing all the lego models in the ride is great, especially when you realize each of those was put together brick by brick by hand in the Lego workshop. Definitely worth the twenty minute wait. Splash Battle-I had seen this ride under construction on my previous visit but hadn't got to ride it until this one. Although it looks like a fun ride, it is just okay. You have the potential to get very wet, but if nobody else is really shooting at you it is pretty dry. The track layout allows riders to spray each other as well as onlookers, but onlookers can spray back at the riders. The most fun part is spraying people who aren't expecting it, then watching them turn around and run for it. Considering there is a sign at the entrance of Pirate Shores that says you may get wet, I think it is fair to spray them. I would wait the ten minutes or so I did for this again, but not much longer. Captain Cranky's Challenge-The rest of my group bailed on me for this. They didn't seem to think that a themed Rockin' Tug ride was worth a ten minute wait. However, I think they are one of the best family rides on the market right now. Anyone can have fun on them, and they aren't crazy spinning so most will not get sick. However, they are not as great once you have experieced a Disko, but they're still a fun ride. Driving School-Obviously, I didn't ride this, but I watched my cousin do it while I ate lunch. After waiting a half hour in line and riding, she decided that it wasn't really worth the wait anymore. It is one of those rides that, from doing it before, is good when you are young but once you start driving go-karts at family fun centers it isn't so fun anymore. Skipper School-This is a ride where you drive boats through a course. It is a good ride, but not worth an excessive wait, such as the forty-five minutes we waited. Miniland-Technically, this isn't a ride, but it is still an attraction. We spent close to a half-hour looking at all the displays here. They are all very accurate and pretty interesting to look at. The one thing I don't like is how a good number of the moving components don't work anymore. However, Miniland is worth half the price of admission alone and can be kind of thought of as a Lego museum (although the whole park kind of is). Coast Cruise-This ride is simply a boat tour of the lake. It is okay, and isn't worth more than a ten minute wait. The jokes are lousy and everything seen on the ride can be seen by walking around the park, although not as close up. Fairy Tale Brook-A lot of people I talk to really like this ride. I think it is skippable but worth doing if there isn't a wait. Luckily, this is the one ride in the park I never see more than a five minute wait for. It is a boat ride past Lego recreations of scenes from varous fairy tales. If I remember right, the scenes come from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Three Little Pigs", "Billy Goats Gruff", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Hansel and Gretel", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Aladdin". Most of them have little humorous twists on them, but the ride still isn't worth it if there is much of a wait. Fun Town Fire Academy-This is an interesting ride/attraction/show/game. Your party splits into teams of four. Each team gets into a fire engine. One person controls the gearshift (forward/reverse) and two pump levers to make it go. Once you reach the end of the track, everyone gets out and two people man hoses while the other two pump water. You have to spray enough water into a hole in a painting of fire on the side of a building. Once it is out, you get back in the truck and race back to the start. It is a very fun thing to do, as long as the wait isn't too bad. It was only ten minutes for us, but I've seen it much longer before, especially when only one set of engines is in use (they have two complete setups for the ride). Kid Power Towers-This ride really isn't worth it if there is a wait. Since my cousin wanted to ride and the wait was only five minutes, I decided to ride as well. This ride is a thirty foot tower where you pull yourself to the top and then controlled freefall back down. The tower spins, offering a good panoramic view of the whole park. Unfortunately, it leaves you hands very tired. Sky Cruiser-I have no clue why I always wait an hour for this even though it is a rather disappointing ride. It's probably because most of my group always wants to ride it. On this ride, you are in a car on an elevated track. You have to pedal around the track unless you want to go two miles per hour, but no matter how fast you pedal you can only get up to six or seven. It is good for sightseeing, but is worth nowhere near an hour wait. In the future, I should go ride Coastersaurus while everyone else does this as I like that ride much better. Knights' Tournament-This is the only ride I went on multiple times during the day. This ride consists of a couple seats on the end of a robotic arm with four degrees of motion. It is the best flat ride I have ever been on and probably appeals to the widest age group as well. The ride has five different intensity levels, so anyone can ride it without being too worried about getting sick. I rode four times, but I'll review all the intensity levels separately. -Level 1: This is the extremely tame intensity level, and the only one I have never ridden. It basically consists of two complete horizontal revolutions without any seat tilt, followed by one with a slight upwards tilt and a high spin. My cousin went on this level twice and said that by the second time it was too boring. -Level 2: This is a good level for most non-thrill seekers. I only rode it because my cousin wanted one more ride on it and nobody else would ride with her. This level consists of various slower spins and tilts, including tilting up to completely sideways and facing straight down, but never inverting riders. When downgrading from a higher level, you are always expecting an inversion but one never happens, so it may be a bit of a letdown. It's still fun, just not insanely intense. -Level 3: This is the most well-balanced level. It isn't too extreme, but does have higher intensity than anything else at Legoland. You will go upside down a couple times on this, but it is mostly spins and tilts. This was all my uncle could handle. -Level 4: This is my favorite level. It feels most like a roller coaster, incorporating flips, inversions, spins and tilts in a continuous, seamless manner. I especially like the flying section and the downward facing roll-overs. The one thing about this level is that it will throw you around the most in your seat if the restaint isn't in tight, which may result in minor discomfort (especially for guys). -Level 5: At the insistance of my brother and sister, I gave this level a try. Although many flatride enthusiasts, as well as intensity lovers in general, will love this level, it was too much for me. This level is basically turn the riders upside down as many times as possible in a minute. I have no problems with inversions, but I cannot stand being held upside down for any length of time. In this cycle, the third element is an inverted horizontal three-sixty, and from that point on I was just like "How much longer is this going to last?" It wasn't bad, just too much. If level five was about three-quarters as long, I probably could have handled it fine. Overall, it was a decent day at Legoland California, but it could have been better. Due to crowds, I was unable to ride Coastersaurus, and Treasure Falls was closed. I didn't get to the other Land of Adventure rides but they looked pretty generic so it didn't really matter. And Aquazone Wave Racers was either too crowded or nobody else wanted to get wet when we were in the area so we didn't get to do that. It was more crowded than I would have liked but that can't really be helped. Overall, we did fifteen rides, a decent amount but I was hoping for a few more. We stayed until closing at 6 p.m., then left and went home, stopping at a Mcdonalds for dinner. A few general comments about Legoland: -If anyone has been to Legoland before, they probably saw the play areas a few of the queue lines have. In my opinion, these are both good and bad. It keeps kids entertained while parents wait in line, which keeps everyone from becoming annoyed. However, I have seen groups (and not always groups of kids), send one or two people in line, then all cut through the play area when that person gets close to the front of the line. When they're small kids it doesn't matter too much, but when you've got ten teenagers who each want to drive their own boat at Skipper School it significantly increases the wait time. -Does anyone on here have first-hand experience with Treasure Falls? Since I like log flumes, I'll probably ride it if I see it open but I would like to know if it is really worth much of a wait, and if adults can ride without kids. It looks small but it could be fun to do once. -I'm guessing the reason it was so crowded was because of the chance of rain the next day, making two days worth of visitors visit on one day. -The Sea Life Aquarium looked fairly disappointing and ruins part of Fairy Tale Brook since you are in a forest, suddenly go by a giant building, then enter the forest again. -Although Legoland is a good park, it is overpriced. Sixty-three dollars is too much for what they have there. In my opinion, the park is worth about forty dollars per person so unless I find a good discount or my cousin really wants to go back sometime I doubt I'll visit again until they add a MAJOR new attraction or a couple new areas. On their own, the Splash Battle and Lost Kingdom Adventure are not things I would consider reasons to go back, but both Pirate Shores and Land of Adventure make a trip worth it. It may be a few years until I get back to the park, but it looks like they are doing construction on something new for this year right now. Hopefully next time it will be less crowded and I will get a chance to go on all the rides I haven't experienced yet. I'm sure the West Coast Trip participants will have a good time at this park, even though it can be done in a half-day when it is completely empty (especially by adults without children). I will be going to Universal Studios Hollywood tomorrow so I will post that portion either tomorrow night or Friday depending on when I get back. Edit: Part 2 posted below.

I heard somewhere (I wish I could remember where) that the Calico Mine Ride was entirely gravity powered and the driver only had control of the brake. That could help explain why they need a chain lift in the middle of the ride. I guess that could make this a poor man's scenic railway but I don't really consider it any more of a roller coaster than a Log Flume. In fact, Splash Mountain has a roller coaster section and I don't even consider that a coaster.

12/20 Not horrible, but not too great either. At least it means I actually do something other than surf coaster sites all day.

This list (especially the wooden one) may change later this year, but unless I get a new credit it will probably stay pretty much the same. Wood: 1. Ghostrider-Although this ride is rough, it is still overall a great ride and is the best out of the few wooden roller coasters I have actually experienced. 2. Mean Streak-This is only up here because I believe that with a major retracking job it could be a great ride, and has just gotten so bad due to negligence on the part of Cedar Fair, just like Ghostrider's story. 3. Colossus-The classic out and back wooden coaster that, despite a lack of airtime, is still good for one or two rides per visit. 4. Roar-I'm not a huge fan of wooden twisters, but this is a great example of one, although it is a little on the short side. 5. Psyclone-Although this ride could break your back, at least it's better than Grizzly. Steel: 1. Maverick-This ride contains just about everything anyone could want in a roller coaster: heights, drops, airtime, twists, inversions, speeds, a launch and a semi-traditional lifthill. 2. Tatsu-Very close second to Maverick, only behind it because it doesn't have as great of variety and is reliant on a gimmick, although only slightly. 3. Silver Bullet-Even though this is a tamer inverted roller coaster, it is one of the few rides I can ride several times in a day (3 or more) without getting bored or sick of the ride. 4. Top Thrill Dragster-There is nothing I have been on that compares to the thoughts you have as you go over the top of the 420 ft tower and look straight down. 5. Scream-This is a good ride that isn't just reliant on a gimmick, but it is getting a little old and the layout is just inversion, inversion, inversion, inversion, inversion...it is fairly uninteresting. Unlike a lot of people who have been to Cedar Point, I am not a huge fan of Millennium Force because it seems like once you go down the first drop the ride has more straight track than anything else and doesn't really have much airtime or force. Maybe one ride isn't enough to get the true feeling of this ride but I just think it is way overhyped.

USA-live here Mexico-I went on a family vacation here once, but I was only about 5 at the time. Canada-I went here for one night when I visited Niagara Falls last summer.

I do not know if this is the best way to do it but here is what I would do. Monday: Arrive at Santa Ana. No park this day. Tuesday: Go to Universal Studios Hollywood in the morning and Pacific Park in the evening. Universal Studios only really requires a half-day to do everything. Also, most schools around here have spring break the week after your visit or maybe even the one after that unless they have it this week, so crowds shouldn't be an issue on weekdays. I am assuming you are only going to do the roller coaster and maybe a couple other rides at Pacific Park so you probably only need an hour or so there. Limited operation is usually the coaster, one other major ride and two minor rides. Wednesday/Thursday: These are days at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Crowds at that park can be variable, so you probably do not need two full days. If you want, you could even use Thursday to drive down to Carlsbad as it is a bit of a drive. As for Magic Mountain at night, it really isn't worth it to go on a Saturday just to get night rides in my opinion, as the average wait jumps from less than a half hour to at least an hour on the major coasters even if it isn't a holiday or during a school break. To give you a comparison of my recent visits, on a Sunday I got 20 rides in 8 hours while I only got 12 rides in 12 hours on a Saturday. Of course, if you get the flashpass the crowds won't really matter too much, but it is expensive. Friday: This is the day I would use for Legoland California. Although the park isn't usually too crowded, the rides are mostly low capacity so lines move slowly. A Friday will not be as crowded as a weekend, although it will be slightly more crowded than a weekday. Saturday: This is a good day for the San Diego Zoo as crowds don't matter as much since lines aren't a problem. You will be able to see plenty here regardless of the day you visit. After the zoo closes, or whenever you leave if you don't stay until closing, go down to Belmont Park and ride the Giant Dipper. There is nothing else worth doing here so you only need a half hour. Sunday: Go to Knott's Berry Farm. Sundays at this park are usually not much more crowded than a weekday, and you will get a good number of rides (15-20) done in the nine hours you have. As for Xcelerator and Jaguar, I am pretty sure Jaguar is scheduled to be open, so unless it has some type of problem or it is raining the ride should be running. I don't know about Xcelerator, but based on what I have heard it has about a 60% chance of being open with one train operation. If you are trying to ride all the coasters, you should be aware that Boomerang is scheduled to be closed but if you don't care about getting all the credits it probably doesn't matter. Monday-Depart. Since there are no parks left, you don't need to do a park this day. If you are flying out, it would be impractical as well. This is just what I would do. If you want to try something different then go ahead. It probably doesn't matter too much as long as you avoid Magic Mountain on Saturday unless you are getting flashpass and go to Knott's on your last day for the best chance of Xcelerator. With the exception of Knott's and Magic Mountain, the other parks will be crowded on Saturday but not to the point that you won't be able to do everything worth doing. The weekdays will probably be close to empty most places.

When I went on GhostRider, it seemed like it was not as jerky as it has been previously, but there is a lot more vibration in some parts of the ride. Personally, I don't mind the vibration as much as getting thrown side to side. Overall it seems to be a little smoother than before, but if you want the smoothest ride go on it first thing before it has a chance to warm up. The ride feels like it goes about ten percent faster by the end of the day (although I doubt it really speeds up that much). By the way, does anyone know when they added the exit gate and changed the lapbars on GhostRider? I assumed it was during the recent rehab but I could be wrong. I certainly don't remember them when I visited back in November.

Great pictures. I'm glad to see that the Little Dipper has reopened as I thought it was on the way out. It has been closed on my previous two visits. Was Ghostblasters open by any chance? That has also been closed on my recent visits and I haven't seen any work going on, although the ride looks completely operational. I think it just isn't as popular anymore since it costs extra. How did you like the Screamin' Demon? I personally thought that the ride was great for a park like Castle Amusement Park, but overall that it wasn't that great of a ride. When I rode I got jerked in a couple places and slammed into the bar when it hit the brakes. It also didn't seem like it spun very much. I'm glad you had a good time. Castle Amusement Park is really the best minor park around, and it has Dragon's Tower which is probably my favorite S&S ride. I need to post my Castle Amusement Park video once CoasterTube gets up and running completely (even though it isn't really that great).

For me it depends on the volume as to which I watch more. On Volume 3 I tend to watch almost exclusively the park footage. This is probably because this DVD has the most parks that I will probably (or at least hope to) visit at some point in my life. On Volumes 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 and 9 I tend to watch the park footage more than the coaster footage. These DVD's just have my favorite park footage and have quite a few repeated coasters, so I don't see the need to watch the coaster footage too often, especially on all the disks. I still watch it once in a while, though. On Volumes 6, 10 and 11 I tend to watch both disks about evenly. These are my least favorite volumes so I don't watch them too much in general, but when I do I usually watch both disks. On Volume 5 I actually tend to watch the coaster footage disk more. I don't really have as much of an interest in seeing random bizarre things at parks, which is what a lot of this DVD is, as I do in seeing what kind of rides the park has to offer. I still occasionally watch the park disk, but since it is not as interesting to me I don't watch it too much. This DVD also has my favorite coaster footage so that is why I watch it much more (I like seeing how coasters in other parts of the world are compared to here, especially ones with radically different cultures). I do not own either of the RAW DVDs but at the moment I don't plan on getting them. To me, looking at a raw POV video is just not that interesting. If it is a ride I am interested in, it will just make me really want to visit the park, even if I know that isn't likely to happen anytime soon. By adding the music in the park segments seem to flow better and are less like some of the lousy imitation youtube videos I have seen, and the coaster POVs are more like the TV shows and other DVDs I've watched (which I don't watch too often anymore...the TPR ones are better and don't seem like a promotion at all). As far as music goes, however, I have noticed that I like most if not all of the songs on the earlier DVDs, but few if any of the songs on the later ones. I don't know if that is just my taste in music or if you ran out of good songs, but I have tried muting the videos and even a video with songs I'm not a fan of is better than a mute video. At least there aren't any rap songs or anything like that or I might consider mute to be better.

It's very likely that was me. I usually wear my ACE shirt to amusement parks where coasters are one of the main attractions, such as Knott's or Magic Mountain. That was actually the first day I wore my TPR sweater to an amusement park, but my guess is that will be what I'll wear when it is cold out. ^That was pretty funny. It was almost more fun listening to that than riding Pony Express after a 30+ minute wait ACE Winter Coaster Solace is this Saturday, and West Coast Bash is the next day. I was planning on possibly going to one of them this year but unfortunately I can't go to WCB because of school the next day and I don't really want to go to Knott's twice in the same month. I am, however, about 90% sure that I'll be able to make WCB next year, which will probably be my first coaster event.

Yesterday, Saturday, March 14th, I went to Knott's Berry Farm for my sister's birthday. Despite my advice to her for doing it on Sunday instead, she insisted on Saturday so all her friends could make it. This of course meant that it would be about twice as crowded. Despite the crowds, I still managed to get on 17 rides in the twelve hours I spent at the park. We arrived at the park at about 9:45 and got inside before it actually opened. I didn't know that Knott's did this as I have never seen it before, but they will only let people enter Ghost Town. When the park opened, I went to Pony Express while my sister and all her friends decided to go to Silver Bullet. I think that they made the worse decision as Silver Bullet had a line out the door when I walked by it about ten minutes later. Anyway, here are the rides I ended up going on throughout the day. Pony Express: This is Knott's newest roller coaster. It is the best coaster I have encountered for kids moving up to bigger rides, but is very short and fairly tame. If the ride has a line, I'll usually come back later or skip it, but if there isn't a line I always ride this ride. I went here as soon as the park opened and was on the second train of the day. When I went on it later in the day with my sister and all her friends, the line was about 40 minutes. I do not believe that this ride is worth that kind of a wait, especially once you've been on it, but I chose to wait anyway since I had already been on all the major rides. Log Ride: Knott's Log Ride is one of the best I have been on (Splash Mountain excluded). It is a classic ride and is something everyone who visits the park must ride. The Log Ride is not that big, and doesn't get riders very wet. When I rode, there was no wait but I did see longer waits for it that I would usually wait in later in the day. Calico Mine Ride: This is another classic ride every visitor to Knott's has to ride. It is old and some of the jokes aren't so great anymore, but when there isn't much of a wait it is a good way to kill fifteen minutes. I went here early before the crowds arrived, so there was no wait. Ghostrider: Although the ride is pretty rough, this is my favorite wooden coaster and is a ride I recommend every visitor rides. I have found that the ride gets rougher as the day goes on, so I usually go here first thing. Unfortunately, it didn't open with the park so it was at least a half hour before I got to it. The first time I rode this ride was just after it opened and I only had to wait about fifteen minutes or so, but the second time at the end of the day the line was fifty minutes long. My sister said that they had tried to ride it earlier but upon finding the wait outside of the queue building they decided not to. I am guessing that would have been over an hour wait, althouh I am not completely sure. Silver Bullet: I do not know why everyone dislikes this ride. It is actually my favorite ride at Knott's (Xcelerator comes very close) and is my favorite of the four inverted coasters I have been on. Silver Bullet is not the most intense ride in the world, but it is still a pretty good ride. Everyone who likes roller coasters should ride this if they ever visit the park, but it is not really a ride you should go out of your way for. I went on this ride twice during the day, waiting about a half hour each time. Coincidently, I sat in exactly the same seat on both rides (same seat, same car, same train). Sky Cabin: The only reason I went on this ride was to get an idea of where people are in the park. It is just an observation tower, and it had no wait when I went. The ride gives a good view of the park, but is really something that can be skipped easily. Supreme Scream: I have never been on another S&S Turbo Drop, so I don't have much to compare this to. As far as drop rides go in general, Supreme Scream is on the tall side, but is not as intense as many shorter towers. I do not believe the ride is a true freefall, but rather a controlled drop. It still is, however, definitely worth riding. I went on this ride twice, waiting about twenty minutes each time. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful at convincing my sister to ride this as she is afraid of heights (even though she has ridden the Power Tower at Cedar Point which is only about fifteen feet shorter). Boomerang: I made the mistake of waiting fifty-five minutes for this ride because my brother's friend wanted to ride. This ended up being the longest wait of the day. The Boomerang is just that, a standard Vekoma Boomerang and is fairly skippable. In fact, I rarely ride it unless it has no wait. I have not been on any others, so I don't know how it compares roughness-wise, but for some reason the roughness doesn't really bother me too much. It might be because I am tall enough that the harness only really contacts my shoulders and holds them in place, preventing headbanging and causing me to only feel vibrations in the track. This means that few Vekoma or Arrow rides really bother me (other than Vekoma's SLC). It does, however, give me sore shoulders. Montezooma's Revenge: This is the oldest, and probably best, Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop. It is a definite must ride for roller coaster fans. I went on it twice during the day. The first time the wait was bout a half hour, but it was only about half as long the second time. Although I am not a huge fan of shuttle coasters, this one is one of the best that I have been on and is definitely worth a bit of a wait. Perilous Plunge: For thrills, this is the best water ride I have been on. It is also the only water ride I know of that has a shoulder harness. I went on this ride just after it had reopened from a breakdown so the wait was around twenty-five minutes due to one boat operation. When I got off it looked like the wait had grown to about fifty minutes. This ride is not as wet anymore as it used to be, but still gets your upper body pretty soaked. I would recommend this ride to anyone who likes to get wet. Bigfoot Rapids: This is a pretty average river rapids ride. It is fairly dry compared to others I have been on, and is really not worth more than the twenty minutes I waited in line for it. However, it is a decent ride and does have a little splashing to cool people off. Sierra Sidewinder: This ride is really hit or miss. I think it is a great family ride and is good enough that anyone will enjoy it, but my sister's friends had opinions ranging from "It was okay" to "Pony Express is way better". I like Sierra Sidewinder a bit more than Pony Express, but rarely ride it more than once because it is low capacity and has long lines. When we rode it had a thirty-five minute wait and that was at 9:00 P.M. I was at Knott's until after closing due to the wait for GhostRider. Overall, the day was about average compared with my other visits. Both Xcelerator and Jaguar were closed or I would have rode those as well. Unfortunately, Xcelerator has been closed for a long time and it has been over a year since I last rode it. I hope it is reopened in time for my next visit (Mid-May, Senior Picnic). My sister also really wants to give it a try (after Cedar Point she isn't really scared of anything anymore). Overall, I think Knott's is a good park. It isn't the best there is, but it isn't a total waste of time and money either. The park does have some good rides, but without Xcelerator they get boring after a couple rides each. However, one of the best things about Knott's is that they have plently for everyone to do. Camp Snoopy is a better kids area than anywhere else in California, a good number of the parks rides can be enjoyed by families, and the park does have a few great rides for thrillseekers. However, the charm of old Knott's has been disappearing since the 1990's and I hope Cedar Fair stops overbuilding the park by adding a ton of coasters and destroying rides and attractions the Knott's family put in. A park the size of Knott's maxes out at about six coasters and they have just tried to add as many as they can, even if the rides are short and aren't that good. If Cedar Fair can't stop destroying Knott's charm, I don't think they are the right ones to run the park.

Not many for me, but there are a few: California's Great America: Taxi Jam (lines) Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: Roadrunner Express (lines) Boomerang Coast To Coaster (after the Knott's one, I didn't want to ride but since I've heard that it is smoother maybe I should have) Cedar Point: Jr. Gemini (I'm not stealing a kid) Woodstock Express (I didn't think about it when we were right next to it and then ran out of time) Fun Forest Amusement Park: Rainbow Chaser (I didn't want to buy a ticket to ride a kiddie coaster) Nascar Cafe: Speed (When I went five years ago I didn't think the ride was worth $10. However, now that I know more about the ride I want to try it next time I am in Vegas) Other than these, I have ridden every coaster at every park I have visited unless it was closed on every single one of my visits (this is the case with Dragon at Traintown and Flashback at Six Flags Magic Mountain).

To get to the exit of Revolution, turn left when you enter the park. Go past the Grand Carousel and the path will split. Take the right path up toward the entrance to Revolution. Once there, go up the walkway with the Flash Pass sign. This will cut the distance from the entrance to Tatsu in half.

Six Flags Magic Mountain SFMM may be crowded on Monday, but it is your only choice. In order to get on all the best rides, you will need a plan. Here is the one I used last time I went, which worked pretty well. 1. Be at the park at least fifteen minutes before opening time. If you can, get tickets before you arrive. 2. When the gates open, everyone will run straight to X2. Both times I have been recently, it wasn't open immediately. Instead, go to Tatsu by going up the exit of Revolution. This will get you there before the masses arrive. 3. After Tatsu, go to the top of Samurai Summit and go on Superman The Escape and Ninja if you want to. Ninja rarely gets a wait and is a pretty good ride, while Superman usually has a bit of a wait even though it is only worth about a fifteen minute wait. 4. Head down the back of the hill and bypass Riddler's Revenge. By this point, people will have arrived in this area of the park and when I have gone on Riddler's Revenge at this time the line was commonly around an hour and a half. Instead, go to Colossus County Fair and ride Goliath, followed by Colossus and Scream. 5. If it is still before noon and the food places haven't become packed, this is a good time to eat. 6. During the main lunch hour (12-1), go ride X2. Last time I got on it in around 45 minutes, which it is definitely worth. If you want to ride Viper and Revolution and they have short waits, now is a good time to ride them. 7. If Deja Vu is open, go to that part of the park and ride it. It is best to use single rider as it turns an hour and a half wait into a fifteen minute wait most of the time. 8. Return to Riddler's Revenge. By now, the line should be shorter. If you want to ride Goldrusher, which rarely has a wait, now is a good time. 9. Go to Batman The Ride and ride it. As long as both trains are in use the line should only be a half hour at most. 10. If you are trying to get all the credits, go to Bugs Bunny World and ride Canyon Blaster. 11. By this point, it was around 4 p.m. last time I used this plan. I used the remaining time to go on Tatsu, Scream, X2, Goliath, and Riddler's Revenge a second time. None of the non-coaster rides are really worth the wait on a crowded day. If you use this plan it will usually work, although if anything is running only one train or has an unusually long line you may not be able to complete it. Whatever you choose to do, the four must ride coasters are X2, Goliath, Tatsu, and Riddler's Revenge, so make sure you get on those four at some point. Knott's Berry Farm No matter when I have gone, Knott's is never crowded on a weekday. I have always been able to get on pretty much every ride worth doing by mid-afternoon. You don't really need a plan, but here are a few things I recommend. 1. Go on Ghostrider first thing if it is open, especially if you do not like rough rides. It tends to run smoothest in the morning and get rougher as the day goes on. 2. Lines are rarely a problem on Jaguar, even if there is only one train running. None of the other Fiesta Village rides usually have much of a line either except La Revolucion. This gives you flexibility as to when you want to visit Fiesta Village. 3. Boomerang has a low capacity, but usually doesn't get too long of lines (it isn't worth riding if there is one). On the other hand, Sierra Sidewinder has low capacity and gets somewhat long lines, especially with only one train. Since this one is definitely worth riding, I would recommend doing it early. 4. Just because something is listed as closed on the website doesn't mean it will be. The website isn't always reliable so don't write something out of your plans until you actually get to the park. Unless you get unlucky, you probably will not need a whole day at Knott's Berry Farm. The only must ride attraction is Xcelerator (if it is open), and everything else will get boring after about two rides. If it is crowded, avoid walking through Camp Snoopy as it seems to be the most likely area to run into a bottleneck. Disneyland Resort Since Disney's California Adventure only has about four must ride attractions (Tower of Terror, Soarin', Toy Story Midway Mania, California Screamin') it can usually be done in half a day. Disneyland, on the other hand, requires about a day and a half to see and do everything. I find the best way to do Disneyland is to split the park up and only do half of it each day. On a day reserved for just Disneyland, do all the major rides, such as Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, the four roller coasters and other fastpass rides. You can also do popular or low capacity rides on this day as well. Save all of the unpopular or high capacity rides for a day split with California Adventure. This will allow you to see everything at both parks easily.

Everytime I go to Knott's I usually will ride Ghostrider at least once. Due to the roughness, I usually won't ride it more than that but occasionally I do. On my most recent visit to the park (Nov. 2008) I ended up riding Ghostrider three times. The first ride was right when the park opened and it wasn't actually too rough at that time. When I went on it in the afternoon it was rougher but still tolerable. I then rode it right before leaving at the end of the day and it was horrible. The ride almost felt like it was jumping along the tracks instead of rolling. I guess Ghostrider is one coaster its better to ride early before it has warmed up. I still think Mean Streak is rougher than Ghostrider but only by a little bit. Unlike Ghostrider, however, I would never consider doing Mean Streak twice in one day. Of course, Cedar Point has many coasters better than Mean Streak but Knott's doesn't really have anything better than Ghostrider except maybe Xcelerator.

The people standing outside X2 said specifically that it was too dangerous to operate the ride with the fire and that they couldn't just turn the fire off. I thought it sounded like a lame story to cover up that they didn't want to open it with probably only about three thousand people in the park. As far as roughness on Ninja, maybe it was just from me not being prepared for a couple of the quick swings in the ride. It wasn't roughness like hitting your head on the restraint, but more of a vibration/quick motion of the car. I agree that single rider lines would help with some of the rides, but at the moment only Deja Vu uses one. I think most of the major coasters could use one because they get long waits during peak season. Since I usually go before Easter or after Halloween, it is very rare I'm there on a crowded day but when I went in May last year all four must rides (Tatsu, X2, Goliath, and Riddler's Revenge) were in excess of an hour wait all day.

On Sunday, January 18th, I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain to celebrate my 18th birthday. Since it was for my birthday, I invited four of my friends along. Two of them had never been to the park before, one of them hadn't been in about five years and one hadn't been since X became X2 so there were new experiences for all of them. In addition, my uncle who came with us hadn't visited the park since the 1970's so he didn't quite know what to expect. I had told my friends to be at my house by 8 A.M. so we could get to the park by opening (it is an hour and forty five minutes from my house). Naturally, a couple of them were late so we ended up leaving at 8:30 and getting to the park at 10:15. It ended up not opening until 10:30, so by the time we parked and walked to the entrance they were just opening the gates. As soon as we got inside we went directly to Tatsu then circled the park twice from that point. The rides will be reviewed in the order we rode them. Tatsu-This is the best ride at the park, at least in my opinion. It is also my second favorite roller coaster, period. The ride is probably the best B&M coaster out there, or at least the best flying coaster. Although the ride isn't insanely intense for most of it, the pretzel loop pulls a massive amount of g's. One of my friends said they felt the beginning of a blackout from the g-force. Everyone agreed that Tatsu was the best ride in the park so we rode it twice. Unlike our first ride, which was a three train wait, we had to wait about a half hour the second time we rode, which was the longest line of the day. Ninja-This is the better of the two suspended swinging coasters I have been on, although it is the shorter one. They were only running one train, which we just missed when getting on. My friends all liked it, although they said it isn't worth more than a ten to fifteen minute wait. I ususally don't even bother with it unless I can get on within a few trains because there are better rides in the park. If the ride was a little smoother I would probably ride it more often. Superman The Escape-When we got to this ride a group who had entered the building a few seconds ahead of us came out and told us it was closed. We decided to go inside anyway and found out we were the first riders of the day and had the car to ourselves. After we got off the ride, we told the group to just go in and keep walking until they reached the doors. All of my friends liked this ride, although none of them said it would be worth the 2+ hour waits it used to have. I rarely will ride if it has more than a ten minute wait, but that is just because the ride is not as good as it looks like it would be. Colossus-Six Flags Magic Mountain's classic wooden coaster. Everyone in our group thought this was a good ride. One even preferred it to Ghostrider. I personally think that Colossus is a good out and back wooden coaster, but isn't one of the park's top rides. Ghostrider is my favorite wooden coaster, but Colossus is in the top five. It is, however, something I recommend riding if the line isn't too bad and you have time. We did it twice because of only a three train wait. Scream-This ride had the widest range of reactions from my group. I think it is the second best ride at Magic Mountain, and two of my friends thought so as well. My brother prefers Medusa at Discovery Kingdom to this ride. One of my friends and my uncle said this ride just made them sick. My other friend said that it was good, but not a must ride. Either way, everyone liked it enough that we rode twice, especially with only a three train wait. Goliath-This is the most forceful ride I have ever been on. In the spiral towards the end of the ride, I have felt the beginning of a blackout occasionally. When I told my friends about the ride, one of them decided not to ride because of both the intense spiral and the height (He doesn't like tall (200+ ft.) coasters). However, my friends who rode it all liked it and wanted to do it a second time, especially with only a three train wait (rare for Goliath). My uncle just got sick from it and had to take a break for the next hour before he felt like riding anything. I think Goliath is a must ride attraction for anyone looking for an intense experience, although it isn't one of the world's best coasters or anything like that. Yosemite Sam Sierra Falls-This is a water slide in Bugs Bunny World. Two of my friends didn't want to ride because they didn't want to get wet. Of the two that rode, one said it was interesting and the other said it was boring. I personally think this is one of the best water rides at Magic Mountain because it is unique. However, I almost got stuck midway down because I was trying to make the raft go faster by leaning back slightly, which caused a slow and slightly boring ride. Canyon Blaster-Two of my friends didn't want to ride this because it was a kiddie coaster. The two that rode both said it was boring. I will usually go on this if and only if there is no wait and I've been on everything else major already. It isn't the best kiddie coaster in the world, but is definitely on the better side (at least for what I've seen). Log Jammer-This is the best water ride at Magic Mountain. It is at least five minutes long not including the time spent on the lift hills and has two large drops which I've heard are over a hundred feet combined. There is also a smaller drop in the ride though it doesn't create a splash. The drops at the end do, and this ride gets you wetter than any other log flume I have been on. Despite the weather being in the 70's, the line was only ten minutes. One of my friends who didn't want to get wet stayed off. The other three all rode and complained about how wet they got. Viper-I believe this is Arrow's best Custom Looping Coaster. However, it is a bit rough and three of my four friends didn't want to ride it when I told them. The one who did said it was too rough. Maybe it is just my height, but the roughness doesn't bother me. Either way, there are better rides and this one isn't worth more than a ten minute wait. Revolution-I convinced all of my friends to ride this since it is a historic coaster, even though it is the roughest coaster at the park, at least in my opinion. Two of them complained about the roughness. The third said it was actually a decent ride. The fourth said that it was worse than Viper. I think Revolution is only worth about a ten minute wait. When we rode, the gates were just opening as we walked up so there was no wait at all. Orient Express-This is the best way to get up the hill. However, it is a little slow and can take five minutes before they are ready to dispatch it on slow days. Since it isn't much of a ride, I didn't ask everyone how they liked it. Jetstream-This is the park's other log flume. It isn't nearly as good as the Log Jammer, although I do like the drop better. Unfortunately, the ride takes approximately two minutes to get from the top of the lift to the bottom of the drop. Once there, you don't even get very wet. I do not believe this ride to be worth more than a ten minute wait, but apparently my friends who rode it disagreed, as they all liked it better than the Log Jammer. As with the other water rides, one of them didn't want to ride. Gold Rusher-Since we just missed the one train running when we rode this, we had to wait a little bit. All my friends still liked the ride, but they all said Jaguar at Knott's is better and smoother. I still think Gold Rusher is worth a ten minute or so wait, but not much more. It is easily the better of the two Arrow Mine Trains I have been on, as I could barely fit into the other one and it was a disappointing ride anyway. Riddler's Revenge-This was my uncle's second favorite ride in the park, mostly because it didn't make him sick. Unfortunately, it makes some people sick and most of my friends had to stand in a row someone had thrown up in. Despite this, all of my friends liked the ride, although none of them wanted a second ride. I think Riddler's Revenge is a must ride just because of its standing, not because it is one of the best coasters out there. It also has some really cool station music that is perfect when there is a three train wait, but gets annoying after ten minutes or so because it just loops. Batman The Ride-By the time we got to this ride, a couple of my friends were done for the day. The ones that did ride it said it was too dizzying and didn't want to ride a second time. I went twice, however, and found that the middle of the train is much less dizzying than the back. This isn't one of the must rides, but is a pretty good ride anyway and should be experienced if the line isn't bad. We stayed until about 6 and then left because everyone was pretty much done by that point. All my friends said that it was great. They all wanted to go back once Terminator Salvation: The Coaster opens. Maybe I'll have to get a trip together with them this summer. As usual, not everything is perfect at Magic Mountain. A few slightly irritating things that I noticed were: -Even though they had two trains on the track for Riddler's Revenge, they were only loading one of the trains. I don't think it takes more ride staff members to load two trains, so I don't know why they weren't doing it. (at least it was only a three train wait) -Batman the ride had what looked like a twenty minute wait for the front row at one point, but the other rows were virtually empty. This caused the line to back up into the tunnel. I don't know why Magic Mountain doesn't tell people the front is full and they need to pick another row like other parks do. It seems like it would help improve capacity. -Gold Rusher and Ninja were only running one train, although the rides are two to three minutes long. Even though there was no line, it can be a little annoying if you just miss the train like I did both times. -It may be because of the lack of crowds, but the locker policy was not being enforced. This didn't bother me much, but it did seem kind of strange that the guy hired to make sure people use the lockers let people with backpacks proceed to the station. Even though nothing above is really that major, one thing that really annoyed me was. When we went to go on X2, we found out it was closed. They said the wind was making it too dangerous to run with the fire. When I asked if they could just turn off the fire, they said that they couldn't. I may be wrong, but I thought the ride would automatically shut off the fire if it was windy. That means they were probably just being lazy and not running it because there weren't many people at the park. I would much rather ride X2 without the fire than not be able to ride it at all. If they can't turn off the fire, it was a really bad decision to add it to a ride in a park that usually has some kind of wind. Oh well, at least everything else was pretty good. After counting up the number of rides I got on during the day, I got a grand total of 21.5 (the half was suggested by my uncle since Orient Express isn't much of a ride). Considering we probably spent at least a half hour for lunch and another hour resting throughout the day, that number isn't bad at all. I must have done nearly 4 rides an hour to get that total. Overall, Magic Mountain is a park every coaster enthusiast needs to visit, even though they only have a few world class coasters (Tatsu, X2, and possibly Goliath or Riddler's). I think Magic Mountain is the best amusement park in California, and will hopefully improve with their new additions for this year and next year.

I would ideally like to ride most major coasters (but not necessarily all the clones of one ride design). However, here are the top ones: U.S.: Superman-Ride Of Steel (Six Flags New England) Goliath (Six Flags Over Georgia) Nitro, Kingda Ka & El Toro(Six Flags Great Adventure) All 3 Holiday World Woodies Thunderhead Hades Ravine Flyer II Boulder Dash Phoenix Tremors International: Expedition GeForce Goliath (Walibi World) Colossos (Heide Park) Tonnerre de Zeus I will probably go on all the U.S. ones some day, but it is unlikely I wll get to any international parks unless I go on a coaster trip. There just really aren't many amusement parks outside the United States that I am interested in visiting.

If I have only been on a ride once or twice, I will usually give it the benefit of the doubt if I had a poor ride and rank it higher than I would if I rode it many times. I will also assume that it can give worse rides if I had a particularly good ride on it. For rides that I have been on many times, I usually base it off of what a typical ride is. For example, I have been on Silver Bullet many times. Usually it gives a pretty good ride. But I have had a couple rides on it that weren't so great. Since it usually gives a good ride, I will tend to not be influenced by the worse rides. However, if I started having a bad ride every single time I rode it my rating of it would change. In general, other people's opinions do not influence my rating of a ride. They do, however, help me prioritize rides I have never been on.

It's hard for me to pick a single good drop. However, I have a best for each category. Most airtime: Maverick Most thrilling: Millennium Force Scariest: X2 Best curving drop: Viper

Wooden Out & Back-Ghostrider (KBF) Wooden Twister-Roar (SFDK) Wooden Racing-Colossus (SFMM), although I've never actually seen it race Mine Train-Gold Rusher (SFMM) Wild Mouse-Technic Coaster (Legoland) Bobsled-Disaster Transport (Cedar Point) Stand Up-Riddler's Revenge (SFMM) Floorless-Scream! (SFMM) Mega-Looper-Viper (SFMM), since I haven't been on any non-Arrows. Flying-Tatsu (SFMM) Suspended-Ninja (SFMM) Inverted-Silver Bullet (KBF) Non Looper Mega Coaster-Goliath (SFMM) Hypercoaster-Desperado (Buffalo Bill's) Giga Coaster-Millennium Force (Cedar Point) Strata Coaster-Top Thrill Dragster (Cedar Point) Boomerang-Deja Vu (SFMM) LIM-Maverick (Cedar Point) Arrow Multi Looper-Viper (SFMM) Spinning-Tony Hawk's Big Spin (SFDK) Shuttle-Wicked Twister (Cedar Point) Obviously, I need to get to more coaster parks than Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point.

Best: Visiting Cedar Point for the first time and riding all the coasters in one day. Worst: Waiting over two hours for X2 due to a delayed opening and three breakdowns...on a weekday.

I will be going to Six Flags Magic Mountain on January 18th for my birthday. My first coaster there will probably be either Tatsu or X2.

17/20 Not bad for only really reading U.S. News.

I got more this year than I usually do but that is probably because most of what I asked for was something small. I got: -A new robe -2 Computer Games (Portal and LEGO Batman) -3 Movie DVDs (Batman Begins, Dark Knight, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) -4 Movie Soundtracks (Pink Panther (2006), Dark Knight, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Quantum of Solace) -5 TPR DVDS (Coaster Expeditions 1,3,4,5 and 10) -$175 in cash -Candy I still haven't celebrated Christmas with my Dad's side of the family (will do so over New Year's) but he usually doesn't get me much in the way of fun stuff (like above).