Homey G.

Midwest Trip 2005 Brian Yarborough Kris Allen or "The Quest to go upside down smoothly on a coaster" Part 1 Prologue : 8 AM couldn't get here quick enough. Heck, once this trip was planned 30 days prior, it seemed like it would never get here. It had been a relatively busy year for coasters, but thusfar, not much in the way of new parks. That would change. Debates raged between us about where Kris and I should go for our week excursion. The most obvious choice would have been a "Dells area trip", but $$ is a bitch, so we settled on a midwest trip. Actually it wasn't like it was that big of a deal. Neither of us had been out that way, so it was a worthy second choice. So once my flight out of GSP was booked, it was a moo point (thanks Joey) after that. Hotels soon followed and it was settled. Sooo, the day finally came. Kinda. I work 3rd shift cause.. well I suck pretty bad, so my day before the trip actually started 8 hours earlier at about 10pm on Thursday night. Keep that in mind for future, non-sleep related moments. Friday August 5th, 2005 Greenville, SC After a rousing 8 hour shift hating life, I was free! Time to haul ass home to hop a 10:36 flight to Louisville (by way of Cincy). Yeah, I had a 30 minute drive home. God bless the '8bang Stang. So yeah, I make it with plenty of time, which makes total sense since the plane took off about 20 minutes late. Figures, right? We're taxi-ing out to the runway when the cap'n announces that Cincy's airport sucks and we've been put on a hold... yeah, I'm not gonna bore you with the details about air travel troubles. Let's just skip ahead to about 6:30 pm when Kris and I embark for Altoona, Iowa. Home of Adventureland! [8 hour gap here where you can imagine what it's like to travel through God's desolate country between Louisville and Iowa] [crickets chirping ad nauseum] Yay, we made it and it's only 3 in the morning EST. Oh we lost an hour, that's right. So the trip only took 7 hours? This time travel thing is for physics majors. In any event, I drove a bit and then crashed out like a hoe on Kris. God bless him. Haha. We pull into Des Moines where Priceline hooked us up with reasonable lodgings at the airport Hampton Inn for 33 bones. Not too shabby. You learn a lot about yourself sharing a king sized bed with your hetero buddy for the first time. But you'll be happy to know the enthusiast community still can boast two "breeders" in it's otherwise eclectic bunch. Saturday August 6th, 2005 Some kinda of alarm startled the piss out of me jerking me out of a pretty dandy dream and I had Kris's 800$ cell phone to thank. Actually I think I'll just roll over and take a few more winks. It's Iowa, how great could a park be there? Ughhh, ok. We DID drive all this way for it. A nummy continental breakfast of a chocolate chip muffin and two bagels and we were off. Seriously, what is up with 35 amusement parks located off of Route 6?? IS this THE amusement park road of America?? Cedar Point, Conneaut, Lake Compounce, Adventureland all off of Route 6! There's probably more, but it's just funny. No matter what state you happen to be in, if there's a park, it's a likely Route 6 is lurking closeby. In any event, we find it tucked back behind a Super WallyWorld (aka Wal-Mart) and Tornado's lift hill and Dragon's lift hill greet you. It's really kinda cool driving up right by coasters. Reminded me a lot of the backway into SFNE going right by Riverside Cyclone. Fortunately, Tornado offered NO horrific rides like that. ADVENTURELAND Altoona, Iowa Eric Griswold Rating scale in full effect here -3 to +5 rating with 0 being positive, but only slightly Pulling into the park, we knew we might be in a spot of trouble. There are 9 different zones in the parking lot that service patrons. We got there roughly at 11ish CST. It was about an hour after the park had opened and we were directed to lot 8. Oh boy. Oh well, you're on vacation. Enjoy it. 27 bucks lighter and we're entering a really neat looking park. It had an actual midway with stores on the sides and really put you at ease. Oddly enough, the first ride you see is the Carrousel (yes, it's spelled just like that) and it sported a decently sized line. We made our way to the Skyride which came highly recommended and gave us a chance to ride to the back of the park to hit the coasters, but also a very good opportunity to take video and pictures of a cool park. The Skyride goes literally through the treetops and several times your shoes kick branches, but it's cool. Hey footchoppers! First up was the out-n-back Tornado. TORNADO (wooden out-n-back) Rating 2 Most of their stations in this park aren't really easy for most folk to figure out. Many of them end up being like an RCT game with ops having to move people almost FOR them. Tornado is weird in that it loads from the back to the front and you can't choose your seat. Lucky us scored 1-1. I had heard some really positive reviews of this coaster and for the most part, I really enjoyed it. I didn't get any "rip you out of your seat" airtime pops, but it was a very fun and smooth coaster. Picture Hoosier Hurricane with just a lil' more pop over the hills. Again, nothing crazy, but still downright enjoyable. We waited about 20 minutes or so. We looked longlingly at the 2nd train sitting quietly on the transfer track. Oh well. After this, we challenged DRAGON (O.D. Hopkins steel looper) Rating -2 We lost terribly. Like it wasn't even close. I tried to pick up a sword and had my head bashed in. Dragon just ate Kris entirely. Dragon is one of 4, I believe, O.D. Hopkins coasters running. I can see why there's not 5. Seriously, it's just one of those coasters you look at from afar and worry about. Nothing about it looks all that fun, but the eternal optimists we were, we gave it a fighting chance. Funny side story about it. Right before our dispatch (last car, last row), we were told it would be a minute while they replaced a wheel. We were not asked to exit the train, but they did pop the restraints. While we sat there in disbelief, an unseen mechanic from underneath tink, tink, tinked at the undercarriage of the train. Anyway, 5 minutes pass and we're dispatched. It was a nightmare really. First drop into a double vertical loop and then something else happened. I'm not too sure. I think a figure 8 finale. Dunno. The exit queue takes you through a "Mirror Maze" which consists of a small 15ishx15ish room with funhouse mirrors. Laughs were had as I snapped off a few digital cam pics and then we made out way out. One thing we did notice was that a LOT of the flat rides were down today. It was quite busy, but their Pirate ship, their "Musik Express" type ride, something weird called "The Mixer" and I think one more. Kinda sucked that I had heard of a few of them only to see them SBNO. Oh well, another day. Well, maybe. Iowa ain't exactly close to South Carolina. After tackling Dragon (or after getting sacked for a 10 yard loss by Dragon I should say), we made our way back to.. OUTLAW (CCI wooden twister) Rating +2 Outlaw, their small-ish CCI in the back of the park. Well, we went the wrong way at first, so totally pulled out our park map like the tourons (tourist morons) we were and found it was back the way of the Dragon aka Laurence Taylor. They have a cool little themed area for it called Outlaw Gulch with a few rides like one of those spinning raft rides like SFA and Cypress have, and also what looked like a Huss Frisbee. It was in actuality just a smaller version of Delerium/MaxAir that face you out. I had never seen one, and would have liked to try it, but we were really feeling about a 7-8 ride cycle wait, so we headed on back and queued up for Outlaw. The turning drop is really reminiscent of GCI, which I'm reckoning (use only if you've heard a real southerner say it) makes sense cause Boodley helped build it. Outlaw, is really a small coaster, but for exactly what it was, it was quite fun. I'm not sure if I had to pick which coaster I liked better between Outlaw and Tornado which I'd pick. On this coaster, we were allowed to pick our seat, so we took a 1-1 spin on it. Although it only has one train, the line moves fast cause Outlaw is quite short. Not a problem though. It packs a decent punch. I had heard relatively nothing about this coaster, so it was a nice little surprise. Nothing mindblowing though. Maybe that's why I hadn't heard much about it. That and the fact that unless you KNOW it's back there or have a park map, you could really just miss this coaster entirely. 3 credits down and 1 to go. Now to find.. THE UNDERGROUND (CCI wooden/dark ride weird thing) Rating 0 Man, talk about ANOTHER one that really hides from you! This coaster reminds me so much of Chaos at Opryland. I had NO IDEA what the hell I was in for. Still don't really. Haha. Seriously, it's one of those coaster credits you almost feel bad counting. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's no doubt it's a credit, but only really in theory. It's themed to a mine shaft kinda deal. You're after this cat named BAD BOB (which name served for a few laughs later) who apparently was blown up in this mine by the good guy sheriff with a more forgettable name. Anyway, no one knows if Bad Bob faded or not. Actually, you're not really sure even afterwards. Anyway, a trainful of people at a time are brought in to the stationhouse and you hear the story from an animatronic cousin of the skeleton at Indiana Beach's Den O' Lost Theives. You dispatch and kinda roll a little while. I GUESS it has a slope, but I wouldn't bet more than 5 bucks on it. No kicker wheels. It's a coaster. You go up about 2 lifts, but again, no drop?? What the? So finally you see a skeleton sitting on a pile of gold I think. Maybe that's Bad Bob and he did the J.O.B. after all, who knows. We thought we were definitely in for a drop after that, but instead we pull into the station. Umm, ok. Again, it's NOT a bad experience at all! It's just like a combination of Blazing Fury and LoCoSuMo that never does anything drop-wise. Good for the kiddies I guess, if skeletons don't spook em. By this time, we had done all the coasters, and although our longest wait was Underground at about 20 minutes, we didn't feel ridiculously motivated to double any of the coasters up. If this park had been empty, and it wasn't easily in the 90s and smart boys Brian and Kris didn't wear black shirts that day, then sure. But as it was, it was decided to move onward towards Kansas City and Worlds of (maybe)Fun. The idea quickly became, let's see if we can maybe double up parks in one day. Heck, we drove this doggone far to do parks, and I don't expect much Fun out of Worlds of (maybe)Fun, so it could happen? Our hotel was literally right across the street. Could it happen? Time will tell, and we're 30 minutes outside of KC, I'm sitting in the direct sun and I can barely see the screen of my laptop, so I'm done for now. So our quest so far??? So far, we're miserable failures. See you for part 2 later and here are a few pictures : Ok that was fun.. how far is KC again? Can we make it today? Don't get much weirder than this ride.. or coaster.. what is THIS? Ok, while it's not "the lick", it's pretty solid Little CCIs usually are the lick I could be Jimmy Hoffa with Kris around. No one would know. Big line, I'll take your word if it's good. More credits to get, but look at my head! Worth the headbashing of Dragon Ok, maybe the fish idea ain't so bad This is bad news when people are more excited about feeding nasty carp than riding stuff This kid must have it going on, he's got his hoes on lock! I don't wanna ride that other thing Fun outtie and back.. uh backie Don't splash my camera, por favor Kinda neat, yet kinda strange ride through the park Woodies with 90 degree drops!

^^ And true!

Ack!! No mention of Boulderdash?? Brian, who really likes the Millennium Force of wooden coasters. 8)

Cal, That Batman is the best of the bunch (of the ones I've done... oG, MM, GAm, GAdv, and NO). Fastest, and offers a great view of Jazz lake and one of the few that offer an onride photo. Catwoman's Whip is of the devil. Pure and simple.

You're safe Shari.

That wink may last you about 3 more weeks. Brian, who his OWN wink.

Elissa, JUST BARELY visible is that Huss Flyaway too! Don't forget those! You love those! 8)

I guess on a parallel, I loved a song Tommy used in one of his videos, I had to use it for one of my videos (the Kennywood one) if any of you watched it. 8) What song about a fascination with Phoebe Cates based on "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" couldn't be awesome!?

I definitely would be interested for my friend on our Missouri trip! Thanks!

One thing to note about MB Grand Prix is that they have, I believe, the ONLY Top Star Tour flat ride in the continental US. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course. 8)

Changing the sheets is never mandatory as long as you have a girl who's not weird about sleeping in the wet spot. 8)

Dude, I know what you're getting at, but be careful with the broad brush of ACE members. I'm in ACE, but I'm not your standard ACEr. I don't own a single coaster patch. I don't own a single coaster shirt. I have a girlfriend (with a nice ass according to Gregg.. haha). and I guarantee you'd have fun at a park around me and my friends. Rollercoaster nerds don't have to be in ACE to be annoying.

^ If they have something that says that, it's a wonder no more parks don't jump on the RC Cola bandwagon! :shock:

^ Is anyone else as confused as me as to what the crap he's talking about?

The trains are very comfy. <-- Trying to help!

Anyone who says they would love to live in California FOR THE parks needs a reality check. And I mean that very seriously (but as friendly as possible). I live in Greenville, South Carolina and I love it here. It's a large enough city that I have all the nice things of a larger city, yet we don't have traffic galore. The temperature is nice, we get a nice mix of everything. Parkwise, you have several options within a days drive and lots more if you don't mind overnighters. Plus if you're that wrapped up in LA's choices of parks, you can fly out of GSP airport cheaper than you can out of Charlotte OR Atlanta lots of times. 187$ last year for Solace baby. Woohoo!

Dood forget the second picture!!! The girl in the first picture in the background is hot! :shock: But yeah, it was quite silly, the whole spectacle. I didn't take my camera because... well it's PCar and I've been a quadrillion times, but I should have, because out front was a big placard that said... "Borg will not open until 11AM because of the Borg Wedding" Seriously...

E, the USA section is in the highest elevation portion of the park. But I'm sure you already knew that. 8)

Ted, I'll take that bet if you want about whether that straight track will have any sort of braking device on it. Name the wager.

I get it too, I just think it woulda been funnier if the heading was "Karmafanatic" instead. I wasn't going for funny. I was going for something that cheered me up everytime I posted.

Pretty impressive that your rack is beating Vida Guerra's butt nearly 10 to 1, Elissa. 8)

Best Inverted: Montu Best Floorless: Kraken edges BKF in it's current form Best Stand-Up: Riddler's Revenge Best Hyper: SFNE's Superman Best Woodie: Georgia Cyclone (not most consistent though) Best Launched: Florida's Mummy Best Rocket Coaster: whichever of the 3 I'm on at the time.

^ Can someone tell me what that says?

Austell (where SFoG) is recieved 9 inches of rain and the Chatahoochie river (which runs parallel to GASM is at a flood stage. The park was closed today. Guaging by my pictures the park had recieved probably 3-4 inches tops by the time we had left. The flooded parking lot was caused by runoff from other higher lying areas. I'm sure that Mindbender is at LEAST as bad as that picture. Here is GASM with portions of the track under water. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/07/11/tropical.weather/index.html

Hi folks! I decided to do a quick Photo TR of me and Alicia's day at SFoG yesterday. This is more of a piggyback, I guess, of the previous guys TR of the park just 2 days prior. No need to rehash. It's also mostly in bullet form cause I accidentally hit the pinky button on my mouse, and lost everything so, I lose, you lose... we all lose.. But I still got pictures -Alicia and I were the participants on this journey to the drrrty South's finest amusement park. We got there about 11:45. No hurry really, after all it was 91 degrees and we both were none to pleased with the combo of sheer heat and sheer people in the park. -Solitary goal of the day was to get Alicia her credit on Deja Vu. We figured it was time since she was on her 5th visit in less than a calendar year without it. -SF forced our hand into getting the Goldbot because seriously, it was probably the busiest day I have ever seen there. That said, overall, the ops did a great job of loading peeps and getting close to interval on most coasters. That meant that Deja Vu was under 5 minutes -Mindbender was running 2 trains which was great, because that's easily the longest ride in the park when you include it's slowass lift hill. That said, they did great dispatches... til it broke down about 2:30. No clue if it reopened. You'll find out why. -Mindbender has a real problem with people not knowing which line they're supposed to be in. The normal line, which snakes back towards Freefall, is usually empty at the main entrance of the ride (aka under the ? sign), and the Qbot line is the closest to the station and usually has a line, so normal folk get in that line, only to be sent away. It was very frustrating for everyone involved. Most every other coaster has a completely different way of getting to the station, but these are literally side by side. Some folks waiting 10-15 minutes only to be turned away. -^That was a long bullet. -Skull Island is a HUGE success with the crowds, but I can see a few problems. First of all, their bucket that fills and spills draws a huge, enthusiastic crowd, which is good. That bad part is this bucket dumps a ridiculous amount of the wet stuff, and the surface folks stand on is a very slick concrete surface. It needs some texture to it for folks bare feet to grip or they need to put mats or tire-tread surface. SOMETHING. Kids have already been flattened face-first cause of the tremendous force and ended up with bloody noses. -Secondly, the entire Skull Island is wedged VERY tightly in a little nook between the Superman gift shop, GASM, and the Amphitheater. Lots of folks with little room to maneuver and navigate. Hopefully, they'll bite the bullet and rip out the Amphitheater and expand back that way. -At roughly 6PM, God opened up the heavens and dumped water on the entire state with an even greater force than that poor bucket and proceeded to completely show up Skull Island emasculating it. -Because we're stupid and had nothing else to do, we piddled around for basically the rest of the night walking around looking to see what WAS open. About 2 of the restaurants stayed open. All the shops (of course) stayed open, but NONE of the rides. Not even bumper cars or Monster Plantation. Boo. -At 9PM, we gave up the ghost, turned in our Goldbot and headed out to catch the tram back to our car. Except that whoever pulled the plug on all the rides, also did so for the trams, so with tired feet we trudged through water dangerously close to the tops of our sneakers. -That pond that had been drained, is completely full again. LOL to that wasted effort. -By the time we got to the parking lot area in front of Mindbender, we were greeted with quite a sight. The entire parking lot was at least 4 inches deep. With amazing high spirits after all this, we doffed our socks and shoes and took off through the Chatahoochie River v1.2 -Note pic below. That's all I have to say -Final ride total : Deja Vu twice Mindbender twice Batman once Skybuckets once GASM once Bumper Cars once Total park experience before rain - 6/10 Total park experience after rain - 8/10 Enjoy the pics! I don't wonder that anymore. ^That's your parking lot, folks. (Warning : old picture!) You know I always had reservations that this was a real pic of Mindbender... The drain for the pond that WAS drained. Well no more. No! They WILL reopen Superman with an hour left!! Haha, good one. Ok, we're going. God opens up the heavens and commands "GO HOME NOW... but don't forget flash your SF pass and save 20% on all purchases from the gift shop!" Ok, this is getting bad... the line for the Dippin Dots stand reaches 8 hours. 65,000 pounds of water dumps on guests who scramble for cover. You'll be happy to know that girls shower cap kept her hair safely dry. Skull Island... but wait, the buckets tipping!! GANGWAYYYY!!! Alicia : 10 minutes I can do! Brian : I have the most spoiled coaster girlfriend ever. *Shakes head* Alicia : 180 minutes?? No way! MORE people that I've EVER seen watcching the comedy show. Corny, but cute. Two support markings in sequence. I'd draw it out the lift for you, but I'm left handed. Use your noodle. No honey, you're supposed to look SAD that it's going away! Closeup of stake bullying the poor Looping Starship. I see no reason why this stake (ST1) means that Looping Starship and the station can't occupy the same space. Lots of people being at the park while we're there is awesome. We're big fans. Schwartzkopf goodness aplenty! Normal shot of Alicia at a park when it's really hot outside.