Lori

So with a little prodding from the Homey one, we decided on an impromptu trip to VA this past weekend. We drove to our hotel in Richmond Thursday night so we could head to BGW first thing Friday morning. Attendance: low, low, low Weather: sunny, windy, chilly Staff: awesome Park operations: awesome Atmosphere: out of this world beautiful The park was opening at 10, so we left the hotel around 8:30ish. Didn't hit any traffic so we pulled into BGW about 9:20. BGW doesn't open the parking booths until a half hour before opening so we had to wait in line with about 30 or so others cars. We were meeting Brian and Alicia there and it turns out they were just 2 cars behind us. They open the booths promptly at 9:30, we paid, parked and took the tram to the gates. BGW has kiosks set up (in addition to ticket booths) to buy your addmission tickets. We walked up to a kiosk, touched the screen a couple times, slipped our credit card in the slot and bam, our tickets were printed. No muss, no fuss, done in less than a minute. Every park should have these. Of course it took Brian and Alicia a little longer to get theirs because they were buying a pass and had to type their address and all that kind of stuff, but it was still quicker than buying them at a booth or season pass center. Just a little background. Steve had never been to BGW, it's been 20 years for me, Alicia had never been and hadn't been on a coaster taller than 130 feet and Brian "love, Love, LOVE, this park." We probably spent the first 15 or so minutes taking pictures, well Steve spent 15 minutes taking pictures Then we finally got in line for LNM. Still a good ride after all these years. That tunnel is long, long, long. Then more pictures were taken and we decided to head for Alpie. Along the way we checked out the bald eagles, wolves, lorikeets, and some other animals that staff had out and about. Speaking of staff. By God, they have to be the nicest and most informed staff of any park. You asked a question, they knew the answer. Finally, Alpengiest. This ride is just wrong. An invert is not supposed to be this....HUGE. Good God, what was B&M thinking. Thank God they did. What an amazingly beautiful piece of steel this is. Blazing speed, great pacing , ultra smooth transitions, great theming, rock your world awesome ride. Our first ride was front seat. I knew this thing was going to be fast after looking at the size of the first drop but I was not prepared for just how fast "Holy shit" was all I could saying going down that drop. Of course, we got off and got right back in line for the back. Raptor has always been my favorite invert, but I think Alpie beats it by a hair and mainly because of it's nice smooth finish. Not the lashing whip you get on Raptor into the brakes. Alpie isn't quite as intense as Raptor but just as fun. Next up, BBW. I rode this the year it opened and remembered it being a good ride. This is THE best suspended, hands down. I swear to God it looks like you are going to hit some of those building and that last drop out over the lake still rocks even with the trim. Again, great theming. After BBW, more pictures were taken and we ate lunch at the Festhaus and watched the show. Good food, good entertainment. But the time had come for some hyper action. Now Nitro was a good hyper but it didn't rock my world so I wasn't getting my hopes for Apollo. Boy did it prove me wrong. Apollo rocked my world. It probably helped that Brian showed us a little trick (one to be use in the future on a certain B&M at GL). This was also Alicia's first hyper and the second time around, she put her hands up for the first time. We rode it several times, front and back with the back being our preference. With all the coasters ridden, we rode the train back towards Alpengiest. Rode Alpie and BBW again, then headed back to Apollo. Rode Apollo a couple times and Brian and Alicia decided to call it a day (they drive through the night and were ready for some sleep). Steve and I rode Apollo a couple more times and I was ready to call it a day also. It was cold and I had a headache that aspirin wasn't helping. Overall, beautiful, well kept park with great employess and rides. All the rides had a fresh coat of paint. Flowers were in bloom, trees were starting to green, you could even smell fresh paint walking through one area. Thank you Brian for talking us into going.

I'll help you out here Homey. GA Cyclone is my fav at the park, closely followed by Mindbender. Cyclone in the back rocks.

I can't imagine going to Disney without my daughter (6) nor would I go without my husband, but the Universals parks are different. When we visit FL and plan a day at Universal, daughter doesn't go with us. I could even see myself going to IOA by myself. We'll probably take her to IOA/USF in a couple years. Lori - leaving for FL in one week, visiting Disney in 11 days.

We have gone to CP mid-week either the second or third week in May for the past 4 years or so and you won't have to worry about lines. Even TTDs line shouldn't be bad. Who knows, we might even be there one of those days.

I'll probably miss a couple but here goes: WDW - MK Epcot MGM Animal Kingdom DL DCA IOA USF USH BGT BGW SWF SWSD PKD PKI PGA CP Dorney GL KBF SFDL SFA SFGAdv SFGAm SFMM SFoG SFoT SFStL SFAstrohell SFKK Kennywood Idlewild Waldameer Knoebel's Hershey Dutch Wonderland Lakemont Park Idora Park Holiday World Marineland Martin's Fantasy Island Opryland DogPatch USA Adventure City Scandia Vegas Erieview Park Old Town Will add a couple new ones this year but mainly going to use the crap out of our CF passes. coasterzak - I personally haven't been to Tuscora (yet) but know someone who has just for the credit. At least I've heard of it, lol.

Home park - Kennywood

My first coaster was Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park in 1973. I was 3 years old, God I'm getting old.