ejot

Wish they weren't painting the supports. The orange on purple looks good.

Sure thing! Sounds like a great time, I would try to budget for a flash pass or two, those will be some heavy crowds! I'll be hitting up SFNE one of the Oct weekends for frightfest, will definitely shoot you a message if it ends up being that Sat.

I think the suspended Arrows are some of their best work, and would like to know more about what look to have been two of the most intense versions, Eagle Fortress at Everland and Hyabusa at small park called Tokyo Summerland (mostly an indoor water park). The TPR ride POV video for Eagle Fortress looks INSANE, but unfortunately the ride has apparently been SBNO for well over five years. I wonder why? - seems like it won't run again, but odd that no demo has happened? Does anyone know background or latest info? I really wish I could have the chance to ride this coaster! Hyabusa is even more mysterious. It was the fastest suspended, and by far the tallest/biggest drop. There are some pics from a 2004 Japan trip but apparently it was demolished after an accident in 2005. I can't find any more infos on that, or any ride POV video. Either would be awesome.

I haven't done this particular trip, but these are my two home SF parks. To best avoid NYC my route would be from either {I95 or Rt15/Merritt Pkwy} to I287 (Cross Westchester Pkway across Tappan Zee Bridge to NYS Thruway). And then taking Garden State Parkway down. There are shorter, theoretically quicker routes through the city, but I just prefer keeping to the outside of it. For the night, if you can handle a 2.5+h ride at night I would consider somewhere around Spring Valley/Nanuet/Pearl River. Then you have easy access to the Parkway for a quick ride down. If more like a 2h drive is about your limit for the night, I would consider something around Stamford to Greenwich CT if coming in on 95, or around Purchase NY if coming in on Rt15/Merritt. You'll of course have more of the city to deal with in the morning, but there are worse times to drive than Sunday AM. Some dependence of course on your budget and if you're a morning or night person. Where does Lake Compounce fit in? Sounds like a fun trip, I really enjoy each of the parks you're hitting up!

Mine was Yolocoaster.

Mean Streak is my fourth favorite woodie overall and my favorite coaster of any kind at Cedar Point. I love just about everything about it.

Raging Bull @SFGAm was the first of the 23 B&M's I've experienced, all in the last 11 months. At the time I couldn't even look up at it from the ground because my knees would start to shake.

Revive: new coasters with five train operations with competent staff / popularity to support it Non revive: meh, lots .... Kill off: Zamperla flyers.... UGHH!!

Hmph, there was 30min+ wait in front of me when I got to 'Jaro on July 4. Of course it then immediately went down for mechanical issues and by the time it was back up half hour later I was nearly at front of the line. (Jersey folk seemingly have no patience, just look how they drive on the Pkwy )

As you'll see I don't really plan for these things.... :/ 001 - DrachenFire BGW 025 - Boomerang KBF 050 - Skull Mountain SFGAd 075 - Stormrunner HP 100 - Superflight - RP Superflight at Rye Playland was undoubtedly - and I mean with not even a close second - the single worst coaster I have ever experienced. Oh well. It may also be interesting to point out that all these milestones have been within in the last year... except #1 which was about 1993 "OMG never again"

ermahgerd^ Must. Do. That. Got my first night time wet ride on Dominator KD the Monday after Memorial Day weekend. Started raining just as the park was closing and we nabbed one of the last runs on our way out of the park. We got somewhat wet but the ride just before us got utterly drenched, was funny seeing their faces coming back into the station. Managed a twilight ride in a strong drizzle Saturday on Bizarro SNFE, right after they inexplicably spent >10 minutes removing the second train with less than an hour left to close. It was .... simply fantastic.

Likewise. After all the big rides closed briefly for some passing weather in the mid afternoon the crowds really cleared out. Bizarro line was station and stairs only. After the second brief weather closure it was walk-on everywhere but front and back. Awesome! Nothing like quick rerides on a top-rated coaster to really bring out the appreciation. Was running great too, fast and smooth. Many ride ops are so rude it's actually entertaining, so that was fun. And it was Pride in the Park, and sweltering, so there were scores of scantily clad gay dudes to ogle. No complaints.

Ah too easy, that's the one!

Heh, drawing these freehand is tricky. This isn't too bad though.

Scenic Railway - Luna Park, Melbourne ?

Goliath SFMM has one train that's very loud. The other is much quieter if I'm recalling correctly.

Boulder Dash from the back seat. X2 for the insane disorientation. Cyclones backseats at SFNE and Coney (I like punishment apparently). Big steel drops like MForce, I305, Goliath are great and all, but they don't differentiate themselves sufficiently from each other, and many many others, to be included. There is a drop, perhaps more of a "dip" on my bucket list that would probably make this list. It's on the Tornado at Stricker's Grove, and a mistake in either the design or construction apparently makes it swear-level insane.

In the west - YOLO. midwest - X-Flight. east - Dominator, Skyrush. I don't get the votes for Millennium Force. I felt this high frequency rattle/ chatter from front, middle and back. Like Ka, like C-train Nitro this year, just not as bad. My Dragster, Maverick, I305 rides were far smoother among the Intamins than MF. And if you can get your mind past the restraints and intensity and absolute awesomeness on Skyrush, one must also remember it is fantastically glassy!

Dorney, Knoebels, King's Dominion @ the end of the month! 30th, 31st, 1st respectively. But I may head over to Lake Compounce sometime before then.

April 15 of this year. It was a nasty, drizzly, rainy day in the northeast and SFGAd was a ghost park. It's 11:30am, misting lightly, feet are soaked to the bone, and we get word they are shutting the park down at noon. We jet over to El Toro and find a handful of people in the station. We sit in the second and third to back rows and start a bit of a marathon. About 11:50 we dispatch in the same mist, only to reach the lift hill and have the clouds suddently unleash a torrent of little water bullets right at our faces. Great, I'm on El Toro in the pouring rain. What have I gotten myself into! It hurt, but it was also a lot of fun.

Your ride operators calm passengers stuck on an SLC lift for 15 minutes with, "Guys, don't worry... this happens ALL the time!" (SFA 4/14/14)

I had so much fun last Friday that I decided to return for a second consecutive 50c 'bash' and get in a lot more time on this baby. Went with two friends tonight and we each managed 5-6 rides on WW along with three fun flat rides and a wait on the cheap hotdog line, in about two hours. (After work, and this place is well over an hr on the back roads, as CT interstate has crazy traffic Fri evenings) Once at the park, waits were tame tonight thanks to sketchy weather that held out nicely! For the miniature GG gem: Ten minute wait at 8:00, walk-on to 5min depending on seat preference after 9:00. My goodness, the Warrior is just a pure joy if you leave the restraint a bit more swung open than you'd really prefer -- ops are, ahem, "very casual" -- and extremely friendly. First of all, the anti-rollback dogs on this puppy play freaking music. Glorious. Then onto three or four seriously significant little pops of air in anything but first couple rows. Back seat (right) is still the best, especially for the first drop, but third row left was actually a TON of fun for a different take on the air...less intense but more sustained, and generally more noticeable throughout the course. Of note: I watched really closely one guy go through the tunnel with arms high, and...wow, it's ... like.. kinda pretty, er close there I think? But I do go through with them way up! There is a little hiccup with the restraints upon arriving back to the station. They occasionally don't want to release, and it seems they have to roll the train forward a touch to trigger/untrigger the proper sensors to allow the restraints to open. Last week, rideop was just sending the train around a second time when they didn't release, hoping for better luck. Of course that caused some interesting reactions among GP. This week they had a more finely tuned hack of nudging the train forward to get them releasing. These trains have grown on me each ride and I can now say I totally dig them. Would love to feel a big coaster on one. At 9:50 they courteously announced on the park speakers that rides were shutting at 10 regardless of lines so think ahead! I headed to WW to find just a few people at the station. Got on the back car for what was announced as the last ride. This coaster is the most fun when it's darkest at night. The first drop blasts you out of pitch blackness in the far corner of the park against the parking lot, toward the lights and excitement of the central park and rest of the ride. Just..... sublime! Arriving back at the station, a little guy had arrived at the gates wanting a ride. He gets in, they offer us another go-around, and most people got off (?!) It's funny, last week, everyone was roaring for rerides each time thanks to the ride op's restraint release tactic. So I had a final run viewing the nearly empty train from the back seat and it was fantastic and still "fast" and ejector-ish. That is all, I've probably had my fill for now. May take the niece/nephew one weekend and if the little coaster catches their fancy, perhaps trek over to LC. I think *most* of those Larsons are 60' - not sure if they or anyone has a smaller version - but I believe Quassy is limited to about 35' or 40' by local code. (It's actually a bit humorous to see the 35' adult drop/bounce ride next to the kiddie FrogHopper. ) "you're going to flip..." in 2015. I hope (dream) we get some kind of scaled-down Alan Schilke creation, like a micro followup to Steel Hawg. Not that he would have time for that kind of project these days, but I can dream. And he seems like the kind of guy the park would learn of and try to attract.

You know you're a Six Flags park if.... the composting mulch next to your queue slaloms initially causes patrons to suspect other nearby patrons haven't showered in.... years.

I keep my bucket list separate from my more realistic wishlist. Basically these are the ones where if I find out I have 3wks to live I'm getting on planes. But otherwise they're going to be very tough for me in the near future: > Fuji-Q - { Dodonpa / Fujiyama / Eejanaika } > Jupiter @ Kijima Kogen > Sky Scrapper @ World Joyland May get to Germany in the next couple years otherwise I would also put on there Expedition GeForce and Erlebnispark (whole park). I also enjoy trip reports from relatively "less-explored" locations, eastern Europe etc., but don't have any particular bucket list destination to add from them yet.

Cyclone SFNE grabbed very hard at least during it's last few weeks of existence when I rode it. Some have been worse but I've managed to forget which in particular. MCBR on Goliath SFMM: Holy mouthful of orange bar or seat back. That was the worst because I was so unprepared for any kind of severity.