IntaminLove

Edited to add Banshee Banshee - I'm not much of a B&M fan so initially I wasn't too excited for Banshee. The reviews here made me optimistic, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Banshee far exceeded my expectations and it's fun from start to finish. B&M showed us that they can make an intense coaster and I hope they continue down this path. Chances are Banshee is a one time deal. Anyway Banshee is my favorite new for 2014 coaster. Thunderbolt - I thought this was going to be a decent coaster, but I loved it. I don't care much for inversions, but the inversions on Thunderbolt are very fun. The hills have ejector airtime, which was a big surprise. Thunderbolt is a well rounded coaster and I can't wait to ride it again. Goliath - I was very happy that my home park was getting an RMC, but I didn't set my expectations too high. My first ride was underwhelming, but the subsequent rides were much better. The first drop doesn't have airtime, which is really disappointing. The over banked turn is better than I expected and this is where the fun really starts. The airtime hill has ejector air and this is my second favorite part of the ride. The dive loop is cool and always reminds me that there's only a lap bar. The zero g stall is awesome and it's my favorite part of the ride. The final turn has sideways airtime, which is weird and fun. I really like Goliath and I think it's the best ride at SFGAm. It loses points due to a lack of airtime and length. I think it's a shame that Wilderness Theater wasn't removed in order to expand Goliath's layout. Nevertheless, Goliath is fun and I am more excited to ride RMC's other coasters.

Heartwork is a great album and I hope you like it. I went back a few pages in this topic and I'm glad to see that there are some metal fans here. I'm listening to Enslaved - Path to Vanir

I know I'm in the minority here, but I like Mantis. It's intense and I like the stand up experience. I even like the color scheme. Mantis isn't my favorite ride, but it saddens me that it will no longer be a stand up coaster. With that said, I am excited about the floorless conversion. I haven't been on an intense floorless so Rougarou will easily become my favorite. I like the logo and the new color scheme looks pretty nice too. I even warmed up to the new name because it reminds me of this b movie WolfCop. I'm not trying to be rude, but I want to address the complaining. The color scheme doesn't affect the ride and with 16 coasters it's a bit hard to come up with something unique. The direction changes aren't too abrupt so the restraints should be fine. Cedar Point isn't a theme park so don't be so hard on them for the lack of themeing. Rougarou already benefits from the lagoon location so the fog and lighting effects will be a nice touch. Be happy that the park chose a werewolf theme to tie in with the lagoon. They could have went with Carp: The Ride.

I went to the park last week Wednesday and had a great time as usual. The crowds were light and most of the employees were great. Unfortunately I couldn’t spend the whole day there, but I packed enough rides in. I really like drop towers so I was really looking forward to riding Zumanjaro. Despite the reviews on this site I had pretty high expectations. No pun intended. The ride ops were very friendly and made a point to interact with the guests. One op asked the oncoming riders if anyone was afraid and my sister raised her hand. The ride op made her sit at the end and it was all in good fun. The ride up was great and it provided some nice views. The drop was disappointing, but still fun. I like the new style restraints, but they don’t allow you to feel the free fall. The drop felt more like an S&S drop tower than an Intamin drop tower. Overall Zmanjaro is a fun ride and a good addition. Next up was Kingda Ka and I love this ride. The launch is amazing and the hill is fun. Kingda Ka would be even better if it just had a lap bar. I was able to ride it twice and the operations were smooth. Zumanjaro does affect the ride cycles a bit, but it’s not a big deal. The trains were still dispatched in a timely fashion. The last time I went on the safari was before the revamp so I did that next. The grouper before the station was a friendly grandpa type of guy. He told jokes and stories with everyone in line. I really like the open vehicles, but the off road experience is lacking. I don’t consider going off the road one time an off roading adventure. Other than that the safari was still fun. The safari guide for the first half was a lot of fun and knowledgeable. I decided to get off at Camp Aventura and check it out. If it wasn’t for the close encounters with the giraffes then Camp Aventura wouldn’t be worth the visit. The safari guide for the second half was a little strange, but friendly and knowledgeable. Now I just need to perfect my ostrich dance for my next visit. Next was the amazing El Toro. It’s what keeps me coming back to the park and it will continue to do so. El Toro is still my favorite wooden coaster and I don’t know if anything will ever take it’s place. The ejector airtime is incredible and the turns provide some great laterals. I wish I had time for more rides. The world would be a better place if there were more Intamin wooden coasters. Medusa(Bizarro) is a pretty good coaster, but I don’t like it as much as I used to. B&M sit down coasters don’t do much for me anymore and the floorless effect only works if you sit in the front row. Watching the floor drop in the station never gets old and I was happy to see that the on ride audio was removed. I love Arrow coasters so I always have to ride Runaway Mine Train. It gives you a break from all of the big coasters on that side of the park and it’s a good family coaster. I like the out of control feeling and the drops have some surprising airtime. I went to the other side of the park and started with Skull Mountain. The layout works well as a dark ride and it’s a good family coaster. Nitro is the best B&M hyper coaster I have been on, but I have always thought it’s overrated. Previously I have only had the typical boring forceless B&M rides. With that said, I had my best ride ever thanks to a mostly trimless ride. I was actually able to get some airtime before the mcbr and feel some forces. The mcbr wasn’t too strong this time so I was also able to get airtime on the bunny hills. I’m still not in love with Nitro, but this experience moved it up in my rankings. The last coaster I rode was Green Lantern. I actually like B&M stand up coasters, although they aren’t the best. They have nice forces and feel out of control at times. The only time I get head banging is in the corkscrews and it’s only minor. It’s a decent ride, but it’s not a proper replacement for the awesome GASM. The only flat ride I rode was Houdini’s Great Escape because I had never been on it before. I had no idea what to expect so it was nice having some mystery for a change. The preshow was lame and it dragged on too long. It didn’t help that everyone in the room was talking loudly so I couldn’t hear much. The operations were pretty bad as well. A lot of people left after the preshow because the op failed to mention that there was a ride. I almost left after a minute because I didn’t think the ride portion was working. Eventually everyone was told to sit down and wait. After everyone was seated they were told that have to put all of their belongings in the exit area. This took forever because people had to climb over each other or pass things to the ride op to put away. After that the ride op checked the seats 3 times to see if there were any belongings, which took forever. This whole process should have taken a few minutes, but it was more like 10 – 15 minutes. Anyway the ride portion turned out to be better than I expected and it was pretty fun. I imagine that kids love this ride. As I said in the beginning I had a great time, but I did have a pretty bad experience. In the middle of the day I decided to go to the car for a meal break. When I got to the exit there wasn’t anyone giving out hand stamps. There was an old guy sitting there sulking and not paying attention to anyone walking out. I asked the girl at the reentry gate if they were giving out hand stamps and she said yes. I asked if she could give me a hand stamp and she said the old man was giving them. I asked the old guy for a hand stamp and he told me no. The girl at the reentry gate and I had to argue with the old man to get a hand stamp. When he gave in he made me lay my hand completely flat on the turn style before giving me the stamp. He told me he wouldn’t give me a hand stamp next time and I thanked the girl for the help. This is the type of poor customer service I expect at a Six Flags park. Luckily this old guy was the only exception and the rest of the employees I encountered were great. Once again, I’m looking forward to my next visit.

I went to Coney Island this past Friday and I had a good time. I was on a bit of a time constraint so luckily the coasters were walk ons. First up was Thunderbolt. I didn't know what to expect, but I thought it was going to be average based on the layout. I was wrong and Thunderbolt was a lot of fun. The best parts were the zero g roll and the airtime hills. I can't wait to ride it again. The restraints were strange, but comfortable. I didn't understand the purpose of the very loose shoulder straps, but it didn't hurt the experience. I don't think I have read a positive review of Volare's, but I made a point to ride Soarin' Eagle. It was a weird experience, but fun. I didn't find it rough, but I can see why others would. I rode Cyclone for the first time 2 years ago and it was great. I didn't enjoy it as much this time because I had to sit in the middle car. It was still fun and much smoother. I also decided to check out the freak show, which was decent. I have seen better shows at other parks, but I can't complain too much for $5.

I went to Michigan's Adventure yesterday and had a great time. I'm not one to write trip reports so I'll just mention a few things. Lakeside Gliders is the first flying scooters I have been on and it was a lot of fun. Shivering Timbers was running very well and it was very smooth. Michigan's Adventure has done an amazing job retracking Shivering Timbers and it feels like a new ride. From the top of Shivering Timbers lift hill I could see some work going by the train tracks. I didn't get a good look, but it only seemed like minor work. I can't say whether it was maintenance work or preparation for a new ride. Now I did experience something for the first time and I will explain. Shivering Timbers broke down with a train on the lift hill between 9:00 pm - 9:30 pm. I decided to make my way over to the ride entrance and wait for a possible night ride. I got a good laugh hearing all of the stupid things people were saying about the break down. Around 9:45 pm the train was sent down the lift hill and the security guard said the ride was closed for the night. When someone asked why the security guard said because it was getting dark. I have never heard that as a reason for shutting a ride down and I stated this in a respectful way. The security guard said that park maintenance didn't to open Shivering Timbers in the dark. I was disappointed because it was very dark at this point and a night ride would have been awesome. Oh well I'll have to try again in a couple weeks.

Mean Streak is a beautiful ride, but the ride experience is lacking. It's boring, but at least the recent track work made it a tolerable ride. The only good thing I have to say about Mean Streak is that you get a good sense of speed. Cedar Point needs a great wooden coaster and I think Mean Streak could fill that spot. That means RMC will have to change the layout and use topper track. I think this would easily turn Mean Streak into a top 5 wooden coaster. I would also be happy if Mean Streak was replaced with an Intamin pre fab airtime machine. I'm a huge Intamin fan so I like this idea more. I can only imagine what Intamin could build on that huge plot of land . This must happen!

I know Cedar Fair has a bad reputation amongst enthusiasts for their wooden coaster maintenance and I somewhat agree. With that said, Michigan's Adventure has done a great job retracking Shivering Timbers the last few years. It has transformed from a torture device to a very fun ride. Seeing the retracked turn around made me more excited to ride this airtime machine this summer. It's been a while since Michigan's Adventure added Thunderhawk and I hope they get another coaster soon. I think it would be cool to see a suspended coaster or an S&S Free Fly over the lake.

I rode Colossus once during my only visit in 2002. I found it boring due to the pacing and lack of airtime. I wouldn't mind if RMC just restored Colossus back to it's original layout with topper track. On the other hand I am curious to see what crazy changes RMC could make. I don't have any personal attachment to Colossus so I don't care what changes are made. I'm sure the end result will be exciting.

^ I got a phone call from guest relations earlier today regarding a message I sent them. Goliath was brought and there isn't an opening date due to construction delays. Keep an eye on the SFGAm website and facebook page for updates. Also there aren't any plans for season passholder ERT. I know this information has been repeated, but I figured I should mention it because I heard it straight from guest relations. There is a lot of excitement surrounding Goliath and our patience will be rewarded soon.

I have been watching a lot of tv the last week and a half and I noticed something. I have only seen the Goliath commercial twice during this time. I'm surprised I didn't see it more leading up to the now cancelled media day. What I find funny is that I've seen the Diagon Alley commercial at least 15 times. I even heard it mentioned in the Rangers/Canadiens game before posting this. I'm surprised that our regional park has far less tv advertisements. Others may have seen the Goliath commercial more, but I figured I would share my observation.

^ This picture reminds me of a Bob Ross painting. I like Bob Ross, but it's easy to make fun of him. "Today we are going to paint some roller coasters from Kings Dominion. For the sky we are going to use some titanium white and prussian blue. Let's paint a few trees in the background with some phthalo green. Now for the roller coasters we are going to use some indian yellow, sap green and alizarin crimson. These coasters look like like a lot of fun. Unfortunately I can't ride them because they will ruin my afro. This is going to be a winter scene so we are going put some snow and rocks on the ground. We are going to use some titanium white and van dyke brown. There now, that's wonderful. Let's finish this painting off by ruining it with some large happy trees in the foreground."

Biggest Pleasant Surprise - Maverick When Maverick was announced I was really disappointed. I just couldn't believe this little coaster was going to be a thrill machine. I rode it opening year and was completely blown away after my first ride. That ride instantly changed how I view coasters. Maverick is in my top 5 and it's going to be there for a while. I figure I should mention Gatekeeper since I already brought up one Cedar Point coaster. B&M coasters are rather boring and I don't get excited when their new coasters are announced. I was hoping the long wait between coasters at Cedar Point was going to be worth it, but I was disappointed with the announcement of Gatekeeper. I rode X-Flight plenty of times previously so I felt I pretty much knew what to expect. The negative reviews from enthusiasts made my expectations even lower. I actually ended up liking Gatekeeper and I think it's a solid ride. The best part of the ride is the first drop and the immelmann. What surprised me the most is that I got some decent airtime on the hill. I did notice that the vest tightened a little bit, but I was still comfortable. That could be due to the fact that I rode it after the adjustments were made. Biggest Unpleasant Surprises - Shivering Timbers and Psyclone. My first and only visit to Magic Mountain was in 2002 and I was 13. At this point in time the only coasters I ever rode were in Illinois and Wisconsin. I loved Viper at SFGAm and I figured Psyclone was going to give the same experience. I never thought I could hate a coaster until I rode Psyclone. I could have skipped the line and had the park gangsters beat me up instead. I wanted to ride Shivering Timbers ever since it was announced and I had high expectations. My first ride was in 2005 and I was sorely disappointed. I didn't think I would ride a coaster worse than Psyclone, but Shivering Timbers was it. I felt like my back was broken and I was a little scared that I actually hurt myself. I felt better a few hours later and decided to give it another shot in case my experience was a fluke. My second ride was just as bad and I didn't ride Shivering Timbers again until 2010. It still sucked in 2010, but the park must have given it a lot of love because it was awesome in 2011. Now it's one of my favorite wooden coasters.

I'm thinking this coaster is going to purr instead of roar. You don't want to scare the kiddies.