ejot

Rollo Coaster Idlewild needs a vote so I'll go with it. BD was raw enough to actually hurt my back in the cold this fall, still great, but not endlessly rerideable on that particular visit for me. I may be forced to move it down my rankings.

Cool picture indeed! Interesting that they went with a steel structure instead of the spoked wheel design a la London, Singapore, Vegas. Always found it a jaw-dropping contrast that of the four 400'+ wheels in the world, three were $150-200million projects featuring elegant designs from world class firms, while the fourth is a clunky steel-structure wheel reportedly pieced together in China for just over $7million. I would assume Arup is engineering this. Anyone knows?

Are there single rider lines in GA? Which rides have them? Apologies, that was a small side conversation about Great Escape that branched off since I headed up there after my Great Adventure adventure. It was referring to single rider line on their Comet. The GL SRL was barricaded in classy SF style (garbage can) and 'Jaro was closed Sat, so there weren't any open SRL for my visit to Great Adventure.

I disagree, there's plenty of "filler" at parks - all the games, basketball, ropes climb, etc. can be neatly and easily swapped out with this sort of attraction. OMG yes! A one-smack hammer strike version and the rider is shot up the tower S&S style up to a height proportional to smack strength. You could even have a huge version of it, 75'... 200'...300' tall. You hear the pressure build up "whooosh"... then the player smacks it ... then you hear a "pssssst" calibrated/automated pressure release valve that releases an appropriate amount of air from the tank, and UP you go! Build the structure with two towers and get two riders as physically close as each other as possible, and time the release to start at the exact same time. You'll "race" up the launch with the stronger hammer striker player's rider winning and going up faster/higher. This would have to be a ridiculously expensive upcharge though. Just dreaming

Wow that is a gorgeous piece of track. Great pics. Premier was definitely my first thought, though I don't know anything about Diavolo.

It varies. If I'm alone and it's cloudy, I try to have nothing on me but my wallet. Car key goes in a hide-a-key under the car. If I'm with a group, and it's sunny, I need my phone, sunblock, and sunglasses. Then I usually end up with a bag also containing: camera, small towel, hat, aspirin, keys, flashlight, watershoes (if there are wet rides in a dry park), non-drowsy dramamine. In the car: cooler with food, beer, iced tea. extra clothes esp socks & hoodies, bigger towels, extra glasses straps, pen & paper

Yup, it was indeed closed when we got off, must have been wind. Seems like that might be the case but didn't ask anyone. We were definitely disappointed.

^ That makes more sense. It just seemed odd because my ride happened to be full (front half) and I think there were even a couple groups she made wait, when it seemed like they could have gotten on. I'm sure most of the rides throughout the day were less full.

We arrived about 11:30. It poured until maybe 2:00, cleared up all afternoon, then started lightly raining again around 8:00. We'd planned to stay the whole day but ended up bouncing around 8:30, as we'd used up all our changes of dry clothes in a few trips to the car. Still got in some great dark rides on Toro and Nitro. I don't think it got above 50 degrees all day, mostly mid 40's. Definitely an experience. Yeah, Nitro, our first ride too, HURT, wow! Did a second consecutive lap (whyyy?) STILL HURTS! One look at my friends after that, and I thought we were going home right then and there. . By noon BTR had a -- no exaggeration, I measured -- 6" deep lake flooding the queue path. We actually stopped for a minute and watched peoples' strategies for maneuvering around it, was decently entertaining. Basically you just grabbed each railing, pitched your body about 45 degrees and kept your feet against one side. . And generally: MASSIVE puddles EVERYWHERE. GAd really needs to invest in some drainage improvements. It's a funny contrast to CP where an army of squeegie-mop people come out at the slightest rain and literally wipe the whole park dry. At least Six Flags runs the rides though.... . Skull Mountain was a great way to get out of the rain, and I really got a new appreciation for the first drop in the back seats, catches you off guard even after a couple rerides . Houdini's Great Escape was another excellent escape from the downpour. The Vekoma Madhouse is in my top-3 flats. Such a unique ride. . GAd has to be home to laziest ride ops in the industry. Blackbeard op only let guests sit in the first 10 rows. Now perhaps there was some legitimate reason for this but there really didn't appear to be; I think she simply just didn't want to walk to the back of the train every cycle. Granted, Zierer Tivoli trains are 13,459 cars long, but ... c'mon, really? Really? . I got a great ride on Green Lantern in second to last row, left-most seat. I have no idea why but there just wasn't any headbanging, and I do like the layout. . Ka opened for a couple hours and we got a ride in. Zumanjaro, sadly, was down all day. Saw gondolas going up but they stopped halfway and stayed there all day. . Our Skyride stopped for about 10sec at like 8:00 when it was dark and cold and drizzling, and I freaked out a little more than I ever really do. Just did not want to be stuck up there all night or something. Not sure if this is a common thing on these rides? Only been on a couple and they never stopped. . Superman was closed the whole day until we were leaving when we saw them testing. Overall it was a lot of fun braving the crazy weather. Toro was absolutely the highlight. If you could keep your hands and nose warm it was strangely painless and just totally sublime. Nitro: 6 Toro: 8 Ka: 1 Bizarro: 2 GL: 1 Dark Knight: 1 Mine Train: 1 Batman: 1 Skull Mtn: 3 Blackbeard: 1 ------------------- Houdini: 1 Skyway: 2 Swashbucker: 1 Avoid the 2nd car on the red. I marathoned yesterday. Got 11 rides in total for the day. Sadly they were only running blue and the queue got pretty out of hand. I still did pretty well with the single rider line, and toward closing when it died down. Also got in 11 I think. It was very cold and must have been running quite slow as the airtime wasn't too strong.

The trick here for the park is to find the right price such that there is a constant stream of participants but no queue forms. Yeah! It would be awesome if they were little lifted gondolas and perhaps just the winner drops when s/he gets to the top. That would be a dramatic way to show the winner too.

Was in front of coasterbill for his first ride on Toro yesterday. There were a couple other TPR lurkers behind us as the only people insane enough to be out there were enthusiasts it seems. The ride wasd inded truly amazing and since my row kept staying open I managed five rides in a row before my fingers couldn't take it anymore. I had to pee afterwards and my hands were so numbed i couldn't unbutton my jeans, that wad extremely awkward lol. On my up to great escape now for some Comet marathoning. A more complete GAd TR when I return tonight...

Yeah, it looks like they pivot "outwards" like the Timberliner restraints...? I think it's a very good design. Well, at least the Gravitykraft version rode very comfortably and unrestrictive.

Already did mine but as a cool addendum: Rocket opened at Playland park the year my father was born (1948) and was relocated to Knoebels as Phoenix the year I was born (1985). And to continue with 1948, there's also Comet, now at Great Escape, which I'm excited to first ride this Sunday. I <3 Schmeck ... airtime genius

Wrapping up the east coast season with my fifth SFGAd visit on Saturday, with my typical coaster buddies .... and I just decided I'll probably head up to Great Escape alone on Sunday and marathon Comet for a few hours, hope it will be dead-ish for awhile after opening.

> Phoenix at Knoebel's if that counts!! > Texas Tornado > Le Monstre ....1985

^ That's it!

Wow that is a tough choice! I would choose the Hershey/GAd trip but that's just based on personal coaster preference - Skyrush over I305, Nitro over AC, and I probably enjoy ElToro and Lightning Racer over the rest of the KD/BGW collection except perhaps Volcano. The Point is great of course but I'd prefer the two-park experience. But they are three sweet trips so you really can't go wrong. I'm also (alone, it seems) hugely excited for Laff Trakk so that is biasing my choice as well. Did you mean Maverick? We were just wee tots @ Magnum's opening.

Classic woodie in the US....

The closest parks - Rye Playland, Lake Compounce, Quassy, and Bowcraft - are each 60-90 minutes from me. SFNE, SFGAd, Dorney are my home "big" parks - each is at or just under 2.5h However there is good variety: within ~5h, there are about ~40 "worthwhile" parks, and a further ~20 "credit whoring" parks/FECs.

Thanks Gwazi...well spotted!... there can't be toooo many more haha. Also added Seabreeze's Jack Rabbit @ exact 75'.

To potentially jog some memories, and for the sake of completeness in choosing, I believe this is very nearly the full list of eligible operating choices worldwide. Max height OR a single drop over 75ft eliminated a coaster from eligibility. I did not omit kiddie/family coasters, since the cutoffs are grey lines, but I did make a side note on some of the smallest/oddest. For heights not listed on rcdb, I noted the actual statistic if I could find it. Interesting that about 40% of all operating wood coasters fall into the sub-75' category. I would have suspected far fewer. Blackpool takes the cake with FIVE mini woodies! Let me know if you can think of any others and I will add them if I agree. 1. Animal Coaster – Jawa Timur Park 2 (wooden wild mouse) 2. Antelope – Gulliver’s Warrington, 45’ 3. Auto BergBahn – Wiener Prater (kiddie coaster) 4. Big Dipper – Camden Park, 50’ 5. Big Dipper – Pleasure Beach Blackpool 6. Blue Flyer – Pleasure Beach Blackpool 7. Cannon Ball – Lake Winnepesaukah 8. Cannonball Run – Waterville USA 9. Classic Coaster – Washington State Fair 10. Coaster – Vancouver Playland 11. Coastersaurus – Legoland Florida 12. Comet – Waldameer 13. Cornball Express – Indiana Beach 14. Crazy Car Coaster – Wisata Bahari Lamongan (wooden wild mouse) 15. Cyclone – Nikko Park, 55’ 16. Cyclops – Mt Olympus 17. Elf – Hirakata 18. Falken – Farup 19. Flying Turns – Knoebels 20. Ghoster Coaster – Canada’s Wonderland 21. Giant Dipper – Belmont Park 22. Giant Dipper – Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk 23. Grand National - Pleasure Beach Blackpool 24. High Roller – Valleyfair 25. Hochschaubahn – Wiener Prater 26. Hullamvasut – Vidampark/Holnemvolt 27. Jack Rabbit – Kennywood 28. Jack Rabbit - Seabreeze 29. Joris en de Draak – Efteling 30. Judge Roy Scream – SFOT 31. Kiddie Coaster – Rye Playland (kiddie coaster) 32. Kingdom Coaster – Dutch Wonderland 33. Leap the Dips – Lakemont 34. Legend – Arnolds 35. Lil Dipper – Camden (kiddie/family coaster) 36. Little Dipper – SFGAm (kiddie/family coaster) 37. Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain – Indiana Beach (CCI dark ride coaster) 38. Meteor – Little Amerricka (kiddie/family coaster) 39. Nickelodean Streak – Pleasure Beach Blackpool 40. Outlaw - Adventureland 41. Pegasus – Mt Olympus 42. Racer – Kennywood 43. Roar-O-Saurus – Story Land 44. Roller Coaster – Lagoon 45. Roller Coaster – Upper Clements Park 46. Roller Coaster – Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach 47. Rollo Coaster – Idlewild 48. Rutschebanen – Tivoli Gardens 49. Rutschebanen – Bakken 50. Scenic Railway – Luna Park Melbourne, 62’ 51. Sea Dragon – Columbus Zoo 52. Skyliner – Lakemont 53. Swamp Fox – Family Kingdom 54. Teddy Bear – Stricker’s Grove, 28’ 55. Thunderbolt – SFNE 56. Timberhawk: Ride of Prey – Wild Waves 57. Tomahawk – PortAventura 58. Tornado – Stricker’s Grove, 55’ 59. Twister – Grona Lund 60. White Lightening – Fun Spot 61. Wildcat – Frontier City 62. Wild Mouse – Aussie World (wooden wild mouse) 63. Wild Mouse – Luna Park Sydney (wooden wild mouse) 64. Wild Mouse – Pleasure Beach Blackpool (wooden wild mouse) 65. Wooden Warrior – Quassy 66. Woodstock Expresses – KI, KD, Carowinds (family coaster) 67. Yankee Cannonball – Canobie Lake 68. Zach’s Zoomer – Michigan’s Adventure 69. Zipper Dipper – EsselWorld 70. Zippin Pippin – Bay Beach I've only been on # 19, 55, 65, 66 and enjoyed WW the most. However I am going to add quite a few more next year

Woohoo! We'll stick with woodies.

I would have to guess Great White at Morey's Piers.

I have the same drive ... I'm planning on going ... can't believe they would close a Fright Fest night for anything but the most extreme weather, they must rake in the cash after dark even with a bit of rain. Optimistic that the worst will just be intermittent showers. Also despite the insane crowds last Sat after dark, a friend who was there from open to mid afternoon said lines were light that whole time.

I've only done a few SLCs - and I actually kind of like them - but Mind Eraser at SFA was the headbang-iest of them so far. Also, we were stuck on the lift for about 15 minutes before maintenance trucks showed up and guys with really massive toolbags walked over. Ride op walks up the lifts and tells us: "Don't worry guys, this happens ALL the time. Also, they keep a cherry picker parked under the ride. Yeah.