Nozzy

Here's the sign for The Great Pumpkin Coaster, hope it's okay. The Great Pumpkin Coaster

Thanks for the replies, and sorry it took so long to get back. I've been without Internet running around the past few days. After one of the best days I've ever had at a park Friday, we returned for a few final rides on Saturday. We were not yet experts at getting up, packing, and checking out early so we arrived only a half hour before the park opened, but that was still enough time for two more rides on Diamondback before the park opened. In order to make sure I got all the big credits, we then went to wait for a rope drop to get to Firehawk before it broke. We made it there and after about five minutes they let everyone in. We got the last row of the first train of the day. The ride was fun, though probably not worth so many trips making the long walk to get to it. While we never returned to the area, it seemed to be running better on Saturday. Firehawk's loop does not resemble a pretzel, but provided a great visual as we saw the front coming out as we went up. We went on Flight of Fear again with about a 10 minute wait, and then proceeded to Adventure Express again, also with a 10 minute wait. We tried Invertigo again, but the wait was already filling the queue house, which didn't seem worth it after yesterday's 20 minute wait. Instead, we went to Drop Zone once more for a 20 minute wait. We sat in about the same seats so the view didn't change much, but I looked down during the drop which was pretty cool. I also found the delay between the ride's drop and the blast of wind felt in the queue to be strange. After Drop Zone, pretty much everything seemed to have long waits, so we went up the Eiffel Tower to get some more pictures, which had no wait. The back of the park from the tower. Unfortunately, Racer had only the blue side open again. The orange strip are fish being fed by the three people. My new camera's ability to see details from so far away slightly frightens me. I found out that the $10 all you can eat BBQ was only at night, so we left the park to get lunch at Perkin's where I had a delicious Chicken Finger Scrambler and a Strawberry Muffin! Returning to the park, we could not find a -parking space. We wound up in the last row of parking, so we knew it would be completely mobbed now. The Crypt was the last thing I wanted to try, and it's line was coming out of the building. None of my friends were up for it, and the line barely moved after 15 minutes, so I bailed to join my friends on the park's train ride. If it's timed right this gives some nice shots of Diamondback. The snake eyes the choo-choo as it soars over it. From the train we saw the rapids ride, which looked awesome. Two of my friends went to ride it, but I stayed off with my anti-water friend since I had church later. We went back to Vortex, which had a line coming out of the overflow railing. Thanks to 3 trains and Vortex not actually having a queue area, it was only 20 minutes for another great ride. Still one of my favorite inversions ever. I couldn't stop taking pictures of Vortex. This is one of my favorites, despite the lack of train. After getting off we found our friends waiting for us, since the rapids line was extremely long (makes sense as the day was pretty hot). I remembered that Diamondback had a single rider line, but upon arrival it was full and not taking anyone else. Since the lines were so long and we had done so much the day before we left the park for the day. We stopped to get gas at a convenience store called United Dairy Farmers. Upon entering and seeing an entire aisle of ice cream, along with an ice cream counter with 99 cent cups it immediately catapulted past both Wawa and Sheetz to become the ultimate convenience store. I enjoyed some Paintball Blast ice cream, which was cake flavored with frosting. We then set out for Louisville, where we'd be staying en route to Holiday World. Upon arriving at the Microtel Inn, we were informed that no one under 21 is allowed to stay there, as a sign at the front desk says. I reserved through the Microtel site specifically because Priceline requires you to be 21, but the Microtel site had no such rule. We were allowed to stay because we had one person over 21, but all of our licenses were scanned and we were warned that any trouble would have the police there in minutes. While the entire experience really shook us up, the room was extremely nice and we were able to call our other hotels to inquire about age rules. This leads to Nozzy's travel lesson number 1: If under 25, call the hotel to make the reservation to check age requirements. We settled in for the night for some quick sleep before continuing to Santa Claus, Indiana.

I just finished my junior year of college and to celebrate three of my friends and I ventured over a state to tour the parks. My friends all enjoy coasters but are not really enthusiasts, but they were great to hang out with and all humored my early risings and staying til closing. The weather looked very iffy the week before the trip, but luckily we were never rained out of any park! We attend school in central PA so we started with a 8 hour drive to Mason OH for King's Island. Along the way we stopped at a cool rest stop called Goasis, which had the first Vault Icee machine I've seen in years! The drive went smoothly, and after going to the wrong hotel (my fault), we arrived at the Baymont Suites. We were up for the morning ERT on Diamondback the next morning, Friday May 14. King's Island has metal detectors that weren't used at all and there were tons of Physics students at opening, but we got past them and on to Diamondback. This was my first time on the new style B&M trains and they were cool, but I didn't feel like it had a huge impact on the ride. Diamondback was enjoyable, but didn't really amaze me. I think my favorite aspects of the ride were the snake train casing and watching the water splash (which actually got my shirt wet in the last row). The Snake Train coming down the first drop For opening we went to Beast, which also was open early. It was enjoyable to fly through the dense forest, but the true Beast comes out at night.... The park had opened at this point and we continued to work our way around the park, hitting Backlot Stunt coaster for the credit, followed by Vortex. Vortex wound up being the surprise of the day for me, as I overlooked it when examining the park's coasters, but upon walking up to it saw delicious loopy goodness. I was especially intrigued by the corkscrew between the two loops, which looked so squeezed in. I rode in the second to last row and loved it, though two of my friends got beat up by it and did not want to ride again. Vortex swoops under the Amazingly Placed Corkscrew We continued along to Flight of Fear with about a 20 minute wait, which I enjoyed, though I wish I understood the storyline better. There was a video playing from which I gathered something about looking out for aliens, but the volume was very low so I couldn't really tell. We then looked over to Firehawk, which was broken (this will become a major theme of the day). I found it amusing that the two rides I would pick to break down the most at the park were next to each other and far removed from everything else. Unfortunately, this also meant that FoF usually had a long line, since everyone would come to it whenever Firehawk broke. We skipped Racer for the moment and went on Adventure Express, which I loved! It was nice to ride a Minetrain with tunnels and theming around it. We loved the second lift hill, and imitated the statues' arm moments whenever going up a second lift hill the rest of the trip. After overpaying for lunch we went on Drop Zone and Invertigo, both about 20 minute waits. I think Drop Zone is my favorite drop tower ride, due to the rotation and long freefall. Guy on the right must have just realized his shoes are gone... We then started the long walk to Flight Deck, which is conveniently located out in the middle of nowhere. Of course, this meant no line so we rode three times. None of my friends had ridden a suspended coaster before and all enjoyed it a lot. It definitely blows Iron Dragon out of the water. My fellow CivE and I just finished a course on Steel, and enjoyed examining the structures of the rides. Here are more L angles than I'd ever seen in one place diligently holding up Flight Deck. Delirium came next, with about a 30 minute wait. Frisbees used to be my favorite flat, so I was thrilled to ride the giant version. It could use a bit more spinnning, but the height and airtime are amazing! Delirium shows the Eiffel Tower who's boss We then worked our way back over to the Racer, where only the blue side was running. Fun, but probably better when racing. We then went back to Firehawk, which broke immediately after we purchased a poofy poofy hamster stuffed with candy and slime. We left to get dinner outside the park and returned later that evening, going over to the kiddie section. Boo Blasters was fun, though the queue line was extremely dark. I think my favorite part was when some skeletons were chasing a guy who was "not-Shaggy" around in a circle. We continues to Woodstock Express, which won the "cutest ride" award from everyone. Never before have so many people said "Awww how cute" about a wood coaster. The Flying Ace Aerial Chase may have been credit 100, but I'm not certain. The kite eating tree also amused us greatly as was also in prime position to eat the Flying Ace riders We ended our return to childhood with the log flume, which was fun and had a great example of a hydraulic jump(Thank you Water Resources Engineering)! I was blown away by the size and quality of rides in Planet Snoopy. I wish I could have had these rides when I was a little kid. Between the three coasters, log flume, and tons of other kiddy rides, I can see why it has been so highly praised in the past. We went up the Eiffel Tower next, which never had any wait and allowed for some great pictures. I liked the lack of glass and the ability to stay up as long as you wanted. Ironically, many other guests would step out of the elevator, say "oh dear..." and immediately jump back in to go down. View from the top looking towards Vortex. We once again ran back to Firehawk, which broke upon our arrival. We decided to ignore it the rest of the night and focus on getting other twilight and night rides, as they would be the only ones of the trip. My fellow CivE had a hurt shoulder and was playing it safe, so he sat out Beast in the morning, but we told him it was fine and to come on. Instead of a tour of the forest though, the ride had started to play rough. We could still see, but the ride was hauling it compared to earlier in the day, and we knew we had to get back for a night ride. I apologized profusely to my friend, who was alright in the end. Those of us who liked it rode Vortex again, which looked very pretty in the sunset. We then rode Shake, Rattle, and Roll, which was a lot of fun and looked great all lit up! We then went back to the Beast around 9:20 to find that it had actually grown a wait. We anxiously waited for the back row as the crew announced that it would be temporarily be shutting down for fireworks soon. We made it on just in time for the ride of our lives. In complete darkness we couldn't anticipate the curves and really felt like we were at the mercy of some creature. The ride was not filled with airtime, but is still one of my best rides on a coaster. We ended the night by viewing the fireworks, and I spent lots of money in a gift shop. After making so many solo trips to parks, I was a bit nervous about making the trip with friends, that after a time there might be arguments, that the weather would ruin the trip or whatnot. Instead I had one of the best days of my life, thanks to my friends being there to share the experience with me. I did not ride as many coasters as I would have alone, or get as many pictures, but never have I ever left a park so utterly filled with joy. The fountains looked beautiful on the way out! Continued when I have a chance, but I've got more traveling to do today... Thanks!

I was the person you met at Legend, and you were right, it's Steve. You sure got some great pictures. Good luck with your son on Raven, though I'm sure he'll love it!

Spiderman has well known characters and a more easily identifiable storyline. Even if you ignore any attempt to set up the ride you have Spiderman good, villains bad. Oh no please don't hurt us villains! On the other hand, Darkkastle tries to set up a storyline quickly in the preshow but due to accents and the speed of it all, you really need to pay attention. As for the rides themselves, Spidey has a lot more special effects and sets, like the fireball and levitation parts. Darkkastle was much tamer and only had a water splash effect (which also appears in Spiderman), and from what I remember almost everything happens on 3-d screens. The best use of cars is probably when you are going down stairs backwards, but I didn't realize that's what we were doing until the second ride! Spidey's levitation scene was the highlight on the ride for me, and I thought it was done so well that my stomach and mind all were screaming "You're being lifted into the air OH MY GOSH HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!" That scene alone made Spiderman better to me. Darkkastle isn't bad, but espcially for a comic book fan like me, Spidey had a better story and from what I remember, much better effects. It has been 4 or 5 years since I rode Darkkastle though, so I may be forgetting some things. I rode Spiderman second.

Well, according to Facebook the PTC will continue to run this weekend and next while the manufacturing continues, and testing starts early next week (projected). So long as Voyage is open next Sunday/Monday, I am happy. (Though a Monday debut of Timberliners would make me ecstatic!)

The Looper at Knoebel's, most likely because riding alone would mean no one to help see-saw it, or once started the unbalanced wheel would be out of control. The first time I rode I was actually a single rider, so an employee rode with me so I could still go. He told me what unit to get into, and told me he'd take care of the pedal, just rock. I couldn't see/walk straight afterwards...

A part of me just died.....

I agree completely, the only things that have made me accept q-bots are the newer style beepers and the merge points before the station, rather than jumping in from the exit platform. If SFA is serious about it, they should reconfigure their stations to accommodate this. Great Adventure took a while to do so, but finally has most of their Flashpass configured this way (basically Scream Machine and the old smaller coasters without). You no longer get anywhere near as many holdups from people trying to get on the same train but a row was taken, clogged exit ramps, and FP don't complain about being forced to sit in specific rows. Of course, it is not likely to happen during the season due to necessary construction and this does require more staffing to work the flashpass entrance. Just whatever they do, make it better than Mind Eraser's FP entrance at SFNE! The FP "entrance" is take down the chains through the switch backs to walk through/past the people waiting in line... I can only imagine how many fights/ line cutters have happened with this.

I've been checking for this all week, excited to finally see it up ^_^ I'm going out to Holiday World for the first time the 16-17 and was starting to get nervous Voyage would be closed for testing the trains. Now I just need to hope these beauties get through their paces quickly and well!

With the beeper style Flashpasses there (theoretically) shouldn't be the same backlog problem where entire trains need to be devoted to Flashpass, since it can be listed as full/ wait time increased. The next step is creating merge points to get the Flashpass right into the station instead of directly on the ride. This removes most chance for the booing/jeering, appeases any Flashpass who complain about forced seating, and most importantly speeds up cycle times. Of course, it also requires more staffing and reworking the lines, so who knows how long (and if) they will do this, but it's essential to a good system.

I think it's the announcers that get me the most- the way that no matter what the ride is, its a terrifying ordeal that everyone is terrified of (yet it still has huge lines). The commentary can sometimes get annoying, but I would assume that that's what the riders are instructed to do (except for when they have the GP first time rider commentator, in which case it's all screaming). If they cut the amount of time they spend spouting hyperbole in half they could usually fit in another coaster! They also tend to not date well when they have too much hype- the last show I saw was sometime within 6 or 7 months ago, telling all about how great Hypersonic XLC is) That being said, I admit that this was one big way I got into coasters, and learned my basic knowledge of things like upstop wheels. I think my favorite one ever was called Scream Park, and featured a bunch of people at Magic Mountain doing competitions on the rides. I remember target drop from the Skycoaster, Keep the ball in the cup on X, and Eat & don't hurl on Goliath. It wasn't memorable for the POVs or anything, but showed people having fun in the park and did a good job of explaining basic physics and concepts.

Has anyone used the text system before? I had never heard of it. I used to be dead against Q-bots, but since the switch to the "reserve while walking around" type I've started using them on occasion (and loved having it every time I did.) I feel like using someone's phone would save costs on devices and you wouldn't need any deposit, but am curious if there are any other issues that go with using your phone, like what happens if your phone battery dies. Also, how does it affect the difficulty employees have checking for proper reservations, if at all? I suppose it might make more sense at a smaller park though...

Me and my friend went and tried it tonight. It looked no where near as delicious as in that picture (of course), but tasted great. I think I should of had a side or biscuits to slow me down while eating it since it seemed to be gone very quickly. I did enjoy the sauce, which I had never had before and I usually only have BBQ. In the end I'd get it again, but only as part of a value meal- in my opinion $5 is too much for just a fast-food sandwich, even if the buns are made of meat.

Last year my college had a small engineering trip where we got to tour Hersheypark's maintenance areas and Fahrenheit. It was awesome to see all the things backstage and get so up close to the ride. One interesting sight was in the sign shop, where the printer was christened the SuperDooperSignPooper II. Then, they let us ride Fahrenheit for half an hour before the park opened, which was awesome, and very nice of them.

I usually go to my home park alone, and most parks I go to with my family I'll end up on my own for a period of time. It just works better sometimes as people have pointed out, you can do whatever you want to without having to try to please others. I often feel like I'm holding others up when taking pictures, so I actually prefer being alone then so I can wait for a perfect shot. Additionally, if lines are long I can just relax and take pictures until lines get shorter. That being said, this summer I'm trying my first trip with friends, going around Ohio. There will be 4 of us total, whom I picked because we can get along and they all ride coasters (though one doesn't spin and another seems to dislike water rides). The benefits are that it's cheaper to split the costs and the car rides would be awful long without anyone to split driving and talk to. The trip might be a bit different than if I were alone, but I'm excited to see how things go compared to my solo visits. I know I have been places before where I would have preferred being alone, but hope this will be great.

First Park: Dorney (Unless I can sneak a Knoebel's trip opening weekend) First Coaster: Possessed or Talon (or Phoenix) First New Park: King's Island (first road trip with friends!) First Enthusiast Group: Club TPR

While I can't say for certain, I believe it's been open every opening weekend since its grand opening, so I would expect it to be. It might have a bit more downtime than usual though, especially if it's windy.

Thanks very much for the help. While I don't know exactly where we'll be living yet, but it will be close to the center where we hold classes, which is 98-103 Great Russell Street (they say it's near the West End and a block from the British Museum). I know that some kind of transportation pass is provided as well, so I'm hoping it won't cost me too much to get around. I'll need to figure out whether I'll be going solo on most of these or not, I don't know whether I'd have someone to go with every time, or really how frequently I would be going between classes, program trips, and other things to do in London. I'm hoping to get the class schedule soon so I'll know how much free time there will be during the week. Do you have any recommendations of good tourist things to do in London, or any other parks I should try to get to while there?

Hello, I'm a long time lurker who never posted, but decided to start trying. I'm lucky enough to be studying abroad in London this August to December and want to try to get to as many parks as possible on weekends. I noticed a nice amount of parks close to London, while things like Alton Towers were further away. I also found a Merlin annual pass online that would get me into Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, Legoland, and Chessington (among other attractions), but I don't want to get it and wind up having the pass but no way to get to the places. I figure I can only count on having public transportation while over there. So, can anyone advise me on how easy it would be to get to these parks and back on a 3 day weekend? Also, if you have the Annual Pass how does it work for the London Eye (there seemed to be lots of restrictions)? Thanks very much!

The platinum is new this year, so I've never actually seen it in action or know exactly how it works with the ride twice option. It sounds good, and you are right that once you're paying that much for gold, the jump isn't much higher to platinum, but I don't actually know the pricing so I can't say for certain (If it's too much it might make the VIP tours a better deal than the flash pass). However, I'm not sure how much better the platinum will be than gold if the park isn't crowded, but I'd need to wait for the park to open (and someone to buy one) for me to know exactly how platinum works and be able to recommend for or against it. While they say quantities are limited, they should not run out during the May offseason. The only real times you need to worry are late August and Frightfest in October. If you are definitely getting one though, I would go get it first thing in the morning to make sure there's no line to get the flash pass, and you can immediately reserve something (I say Kingda Ka).

Most of the Six Flags parks, and definitely Great Adventure have a newer style Flashpass now, actually, where you just need to select whatever you want to ride from a list on the beeper like device. The beeper tells you what time the ride will be available, and you are free to go right up to the station for a minimal wait time once that time comes. This can be very useful in such a big park, since you can reserve a time on one end of the park and once you've walked to the ride it could already be time to go on. Also, you can reserve a ride and then go to a different nearby rideand wait in the normal line, and then immediately go to the reserved ride afterwards. If you are going in May on a weekday you may not need one at all, but a Flashpass would guarantee doing everything. A regular one should do fine if you don't mind having some waits. If you don't want to wait for anything, get the gold. As a local, I only get them when I have friends come for one day only, but I have loved having it every time I got it. With a flashpass it is fairly easy to do all the roller coasters in one day, as long as Kingda Ka doesn't keep breaking down.

Awesome, pictures, I love the comments. Anyway, yes I am someone who liked Viper! I must get on that one. From this I've also figured out that everyone else would have loved Viper if they had ridden it in the snow! Oh well looks like it will always be remembered as a horrible painful ride no one except me enjoyed, but with a better offspring. Now if only our parks could stay open in the winter like these it would be so much better. Thanks for taking all the pics and videos.