coneyislandchris

That taxi, known for its wackiness of the airtime variety.

Unless the weather forecast changes drastically within the next several days, the family and I will be hitting up Knoebels exactly one week from today. NYC schools are off next Tuesday and Thursday, so if next Tuesday doesn't work, we'll shoot for Thursday instead. And I've now got a 42" tall daughter who can't WAIT to ride their big three wooden coasters.

Maybe I'm just getting older, but I have absolutely nothing to say about the giga until it opens and I get to ride it. I've learned that plans and POVs don't always reflect the actual ride experience, so why bother psyching myself up or out over what may be an incredible or underwhelming ride? I'll be looking forward to trying it out when it opens.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Oscar's Wacky Taxi is the only coaster my wife legitimately enjoys as of the current moment. To the point where she bought a magnet from the gift shop and proudly displays it at work. That being said, our youngest finally hit the 42" mark, and we're gonna head out to Knoebels sometime early next month, so hopefully we can all convince her to hit up Phoenix at the very least. "It's wooden! It's got airtime! You're gonna like it!" "What about the seatbelts?" "Uhhhhhhh..." Sorry I missed you guys on New Year's, I ended up going on a pretty bad headache that only got worse throughout the day and ducked out around 4 or 5 I think. Sad part is I wasn't even drinking the night before and didn't have a good excuse for the headache. That's the worst kind of headache.

Well, it helps that their "new attraction" was already built to begin with. Can't say the same for anything out at Magic Mountain. And agreed with the poster above, those are some fantastic action shots! Great work!

*blinks a few times* What did I just walk into? Listen, if you don't like B&M hypers, that's on you. If you only want the most intense of the intense, then great, Skyrush is gonna be a few hundred steps away from it. As far as "bringing anything new to the table"? Hersheypark is way out there in the middle of cow country. It doesn't need to compete with other coasters that other parks may have. What it does need to do is fill a role that their park is currently missing, which is that of a rerideable crowd eater airtime machine. It's gonna fit that role perfectly. But yeah, if you're not a fan of B&M hypers for whatever reason, I can get how you'd find it boring, even before setting foot on it for the first time. Even before a footer's been poured. But I think most enthusiasts can wait to pass judgment on a coaster until after it's built and open to the public... ...wait, what am I saying? Not in this day and age. Everyone's gotta have their "this might be a controversial opinion BUT" hot take at the ready as soon as anything gets leaked. Forget I said anything.

^ Yeah I can't wait to ride this under the full moon late at night before they close down the pier and send everyone home. I'm a sucker for a good lighting package, and it was already great to begin with -- I can't wait to see what kind of madness it looks like in action.

So I was out in Denver last weekend to go see a concert at Red Rocks, and during some downtime on Saturday afternoon, I made a point of checking out the park, especially given the talk of that land being taken over for real estate development in the future. I was also hoping to check out Lakeside while I was out that way, but wouldn't you know it, I missed opening day by one week. Since I didn't have much time (was heading out to see a baseball game at Coors Field with a start time of 7:00), and the park appeared to be very much on the busy side thanks to a number of different school groups coming in and taking over, I made the quick decision to grab a fast pass wristband and limit myself to the coasters and the dark ride. I hadn't had any experience with Meow Wolf prior to this, but I had only heard good things. So that ended up being stop number one. Ended up being slightly tricked when it came to the length of the line; while it looked as if there may have only been about a dozen people in line, it turns out that the queue line goes through a door to outside, where it continues around. It ended up being about a fifty minute wait, due to no fast pass access, each car only seating 4 people, and what appeared to be a number of technical issues constantly causing the ride to stop. Once on board, I settled in for a crazy psychedelic trip, and was sufficiently overwhelmed with visuals. The first room was an 80's retro overload, with mountains made out of pink vector graphics and glowing neon structures, giving the whole thing a total outrun sort of vibe. The next room started off with the vectors being engulfed in fire, before giving way to a vibrant Lisa Frank jungle nightmare scene. Then the entire thing got progressively weirder as all the creatures started mutating in the next room, and a chair made a slow motion freeze frame trip across the room only to find itself drawn and quartered by some creepy TV-headed man. Followed it up with one of the coolest effects in the entire ride, a very effective hyperspace tunnel with projections and LEDs. It all concluded in a dark room with a single light shining on an egg, but I think at this point it must have malfunctioned again because nothing was happening. I mean, though, it was pretty hard to understand what was supposed to be happening for the entire ride. That's the price of "art", I guess. One disappointing thing was that it was supposed to be a shooting dark ride, but nothing much seemed to happen or change depending upon whether you were or weren't shooting. Overall, it was a really unique experience that I'm glad I got a chance to see in person, but I wouldn't wait more than 15 minutes for it a second time. As far as the coasters went, both the Boomerang and Mind Eraser models were pretty much stock off the shelf, yet neither one of them ended up being super rough or painful to ride. You know the park was packed when both of these rides had a full queue, I'm guessing at least 60-90 minutes per wait. At $40, the wristband was definitely worth the price of purchase to skip these lines. Their Half Pipe was actually the first one of those models I've ever been on, and it was super disorienting in all the best possible ways. If I find myself laughing hysterically mid-ride, I can't help but give it a thumbs up. I ended up making my way back to Twister II for my next ride. Having had many a good experience with Knoebels' Twister, I was looking forward to checking out its' Coloradan cousin. I enjoyed myself (short of its first turn after the drop, which sent me slamming my ribs into the side of the car), and it was definitely worth riding, but I still rate the one at Knoebels much higher. Then, my last ride of the day was on Sidewinder, which brought back some serious nostalgia for me, having grown up with the Lightnin' Loops out at Great Adventure. Again, it was fun enough as a quick one-time hit, but it's kind of weird to look back and see how far coasters have come since this ride was the big bad thrill to beat all others, and now it's just kind of tame. That backwards airtime though! Always a pleasant surprise. Overall, I was glad to have visited, but I don't really have any overwhelming urge to go back and visit, even if I find myself out Rocky Mountain way again in the future. I hope if they do end up moving the park to another location, they're able to invest more and modernize. Some pics! I can't think of many places that actually have you ENTER through the gift shop. Just because you keep repeating something doesn't necessarily make it true. If the font and color choices didn't give away the weirdness in store... ...then this mural on the back of the building definitely should. Or this sign. What's QDOT? "Quantum Department of Transportation", apparently. They may not be the best rides out there, but they're undoubtedly photogenic. Built wilder the second time around? You mean at Knoebels? Still, it's cool to see a coaster with an NFL stadium as its backdrop. Ride the lightning! I was underprepared for how awesome this little thing ended up being. Surprise sleeper hit of the trip!

Your wondering has turned dreams to reality.

I'll be out in Colorado starting on Thursday, as I'm seeing a concert out at Red Rocks on Friday and an Avs game on Thursday night. Hopefully at some point I'll manage to make it out to Elitch Gardens for my first visit. And apparently I'm one week too early for Lakeside. Oh well.

The one in my avatar, yesterday. Literally the only thing I got to do during a brief visit to the Coney Island boardwalk. Can't win 'em all.

Yeahhhhh, which is why if anything I'm planning on checking it out on Sunday. Can't pay me to get over there tomorrow.

Luna Park is opening this weekend. On the map on the website, it looks like they've removed more than just the Air Race in terms of flat rides; Coney Island Sound (their themed Kang'A Bounce), the Mermaid Parade mini-flume, and the weird Cosmo Jet flat + video game experience that they literally just put in last season are all gone from the map and corresponding listings. There are two "coming soon!" bubbles on the map corresponding to where Air Race and Cosmo Jet were, and I'll see if there's anything installed there when/if I visit on Sunday. As far as I can tell, Mermaid Parade ended up getting sold to Casino Pier down in Seaside Heights, and that general area is being turned into a new food pavilion according to a post on their FB. Hopefully my daughter doesn't freak out about it being missing, because it was her favorite ride the last time we visited (she'd literally run right around the gate to get back on like five times in a row).

$49 looks to be the slow weekday rate. Punching in a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday date returns a $105 rate, which is more along the lines of what I'd expect.

If they're anything like the hush puppies at the BGW Food & Wine Festival, they're very tasty. Does that happen on March 23, 2019? That’s when I am going and bacon cheddar hush puppies sound very appetizing. Sorry--doesn't start until May. And they are. Actually looks like it IS going on now, and March 23rd is one of the dates! Here's the landing page for the event, which says it's on Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays between February 9th & May 5th. And yes, I had those bacon cheddar hush puppies at BGW last year as well, and oh my god they are amazingly effing good. I'm going to be heading down to Orlando at the very end of this month, and knowing this information now, I'm pretty sure I'll be making SeaWorld my Friday stop.

Welp, looks like I'm visiting a close friend who currently lives down in Orlando at the end of this month, so I guess I'm hitting up SeaWorld at the very least, if not the Fun Spots and possibly even Universal! Going to hold off on Disney until the whole family can join, though. And depending on how much time I have, I may rent a car and drive up to BGT as well. We'll see.

My whole family and I still play! Both of the kids love Pokemon, and with four of us in the household, we're becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to taking down gyms and raids. Reposting my friend code and adding the rest of the fam's if you want them, because we're always happy to send gifts on a semi-daily basis. We love getting eggs from all around the world, especially from our coaster buddies! - Me: 6446 3072 7858 - The kiddo: 3410 1248 1908 - The wife: 2627 6691 7415 - The kiddette: 9060 9654 0815

I remember visiting the WEM as a young child, it must have been around the time the first Wayne's World movie came out because I remember seeing it with my parents at one of the theaters in the mall. Mindbender is one of those amazing coasters that really seems like it shouldn't exist but I'm super thankful that it does. I'm just hoping that it manages to last until whenever I can make a return trip, because being able to get another ride (or dozen) on Mindbender is right now probably my #1 bucket list item. Couldn't help but notice in that second-to-last picture of yours from the waterpark... are they still doing bungee jumps over the wave pool from that platform?

So, I'm heading out to Denver in early May with my father to go a see a concert at Red Rocks. I guess while I'm in town I should check out Elitch Gardens and Lakeside? Other than that, with my littlest finally hitting her 42" height mark, I plan on making the most of it at parks that have stuff just her height, so probably lots of Hershey and Knoebels on the books for this year.

Awesome report as always, Boldy. I completely agree -- it sucks that the park is losing Volcano, but to be honest, I rode it so infrequently due to its "maintenance" that my visits without riding it far outnumber the visits actually getting on. They made the right decision and I hope they put something else cool in that location, but even still and even without it, they've got just so much more to offer besides it. Twisted Timbers is f*cking amazeballs and I know I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it again here -- it was my favorite new ride of the year. I was dreading the scroll down reading about Dawn's first ride on it, but so glad to see she enjoyed the hell out of it too! (I doubt I'd be able to get any sort of a similar reaction out of my wife, but then again, I wasn't expecting her to enjoy Oscar's Wacky Taxi either, so who knows... maybe someday?). Can't wait to get back down Doswell way this year for sure. Virginia is turning into a home-away-from-home for us. I should really get around to posting up our trip report from December... yeah, right, it's going to be yet another one of those things that gets started and never completed from me. *shrug*

I know I'm late to the wake, but yeah, it's gonna be missed around here. The kiddo was only a couple of inches away from making the height requirement, and he's pretty disappointed as well that it's another coaster he'll never be able to ride. Personally, I'm happy for the good memories I had on it, but there's no denying that it was a total maintenance nightmare just from the sheer amount of downtime it's had. I hope whatever they end up replacing it with ends up faring a little better for the park down the road.

Like, I knew it was going to be massive, but it wasn't until they posted that photo of the sea serpent banana roll (mm, sushi) going up that I could see just how far it's towering over Racer, and how thoroughly this thing is going to absolutely dominate the skyline. I really can't wait for it to open up! Here's hoping the remainder of construction is smooth sailing.

Same.

Pouring one out for good old Flitzer and its brothers. It will be missed. I'm glad they're replacing it with another coaster, but it's still not going to be a patch on the silly fun that Flitzer provided for decades.

The family and I did our annual run to Great Adventure for Holiday in the Park yesterday. It was a wonderful day overall, with mild temperatures during the daytime that never dipped to anything too cold in the evening, and a pretty relaxed atmosphere. This isn't going to be a super long photo report or anything, but just a couple quick thoughts. - This is now the fourth year in a row we have gotten our Santa photos taken at Great Adventure, and we are always consistently amazed by the results. Somehow the photographers manage to coax smiles out of our kids we didn't even know existed. In general, the entire Santa House experience is one that can't really be matched by your average mall Santa, and we're glad to make this into a yearly tradition. - The LED tree show seems to have been shortened significantly from previous years, the song medley lasted maybe a grand total of six minutes. It's still as amazing as ever though. And everyone walked away humming that earworm of a theme song, especially my son, who wouldn't stop humming it all the way home. - Our youngest daughter finally measured up at 41" tall and got her first ride on Harley Quinn Crazy Train! She's been looking forward to this one for the past several seasons and the grin on her face throughout the entire ride was totally infectious. - We tried out the holiday retheme of the mirror maze. Didn't get a chance to actually try it during Fright Fest, but after watching the video, we all wanted to see what it was like. First off, surprised at the need for us to wear sanitary plastic gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints all over the place, but once we stepped foot in there, it was completely apparent that it's a necessity. I've been in quite a few mirror houses but never seen one as completely disorienting as this. I honestly couldn't tell what was a blank space, a pane of glass, or a mirror. The elf DJ in the middle spinning on Numarks was a nice touch, but how do you choose the name "DJ Jingle Jangle" and not spin jungle? C'mon, it's a no-brainer. - RIP Panda Express. In its place is "Holiday Feast" which gives you a holiday platter filled with one main (your choice of carved turkey, pot roast, or veggie lasagna) and two sides (mashed potatoes w/ gravy, stuffing, corn, carrots, mac & cheese, and some other stuff which I can't remember), as well as a buttered roll & cranberry sauce. It was a reasonable $2 upcharge per platter if you had a meal plan. I don't know if it was the combination of people not knowing the restaurant was back there, that it wasn't Panda Express anymore, or if the mercilessly penny-pinching Six Flags clientele just saw the upcharge and immediately wrote it off, but the place was vacant compared to the clusterflock over at Granny's Fried Chicken. No complaints here. The food was very good by Six Flags standards and we'd gladly go back again. - If you're planning on checking out the Cirque show at the Showcase theater, make sure you get in line... jesus, IDFK when. We originally tried checking out the 4:00 PM show, only to be turned away at the door and told it was filled to capacity. We then came back at 5:30 to try to get in at 6:00, and we could tell something was wrong when we saw a long line stretching over the bridge between Movietown and Metropolis. It couldn't be... could it? Yep, it sure as heck was. I guess this is one of those benefits to having Diamond Elite or whatever it's called where you get the reserved seating for shows. Not sure if it's worth it to upgrade for that benefit alone though. - Although the park started off earlier in the day with being light overall, as the sun went down it got more and more crowded. The kids rides were the most affected by this, but even the larger thrill rides weren't immune. By 5:00 the line for Nitro was almost all the way back to the switchbacks. I ended up holding off on that and hopefully saving it for a New Year's Day marathon once again. - Cyborg Cyberspin is one of those rides that's much more fun to watch other people ride than it is to actually ride it yourself. Especially once it starts getting dark and that trippy light package kicks in. That is all. We're going to be heading out on a 10-day trip beginning at the end of this week to Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, Dollywood, and Six Flags America (amongst other non-amusement park related stops), and it'll be our first time checking out the Holiday in the Park experience at other Six Flags parks. Interested to see how it compares!