jedimaster1227

This has been a really great trip report so far Erik! I'm looking forward to your Halloween Horror Nights coverage as well as that of the rest of the weekend. Thanks again for a great time!

The day at Kings Dominion for me was one of curiosity and minor anticipation. Another park filled with credits, ERT and a Q&A lunch session with park management, I had my hopes up. Our experience at Canada's Wonderland under Cedar Fair's management had been pretty spectacular for Behemoth Bash and it didn't leave the bad taste in my mouth that many had warned CF management would during my visit. I hoped the same would come with Kings Dominion. Another of the former Paramount parks, I had the hope that my visit would be similar to my Kings Island visit back in 2004. We started our morning out with a half-hour on Dominator, the newly relocated B&M floorless from the former Geauga Lake Park. Immediately standing out at the entrance of the park, its bright yellow loop (the same color scheme that the ride touted in its previous location) and an orange finish. Now, I'm a sucker for blue paint on B&Ms (SeaWorld Orlando is heaven to me for that reason alone), so the supports also helped get my attention. Compared to The Dark Knight at Six Flags New England, this was much larger in scale (somewhat comparable to Kraken) and far more intense. The ride is smooth and fun with some great elements and, if timed right, a good fly-by moment with the trains starting and finishing the ride. I was glad this piece of Geauga Lake history was saved, and it seems like its new home was in need of this staple attraction... After Dominator we moved on to Volcano, the Blast Coaster for another half hour of ERT. The coaster's launch caught me off guard, and the ride's twists were definitely interesting. But, as great as the ride was, I found myself more avidly starring at the barren space inside of the Volcano itself. The history buff inside me was beaming when I found out that the inside of the Volcano used to host several attractions, one including the Smurfs. Looking all around me for traces of the previous occupants, I was fascinated by all that I saw, even if it was a few footers or track imprints here and there. Following Volcano, we went on our credit run: Back Lot Stunt Coaster- Just as "wonderful" as all others. No working effects. Dark tunnels with weird transitions. The same old bag. Flight of Fear- I'd missed this one in Kings Island back in 2004, but after riding the outdoor version at Six Flags America, I wasn't too worried. Luckily, without OTSRs, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Though, the darkness of the ride itself was completely disorienting--more than I've ever felt. Ricochet- Just like The Fly at Canada's Wonderland. A weird model of the mouse, but fun regardless. Hurler- Rough and wild. Not sure how they could have tied this into Wayne's World back in the days of Paramount, but I'm not sure it matters. Shockwave- Closed. Shame considering I enjoyed its clone at Canada's Wonderland. Rebel Yell- Shaky but fun. A classic out and back racer, both sides facing forwards. It seems that made the ride a little safer, according to PTC. Avalanche- A Mack bobsled--my first. It was an interesting coaster but the seating configuration makes for some awkward situations... I'll say no more. In between our coaster splurge, we had the opportunity to take part in the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion Challenge. By averaging scores from two rides on the Sally dark ride, we were ranked among other participants from the group. The first ride I did really well beating Alan to shame. The second time--not so much. Needless to say my average was not so great leaving me without a top three ranking; also giving Alan plenty of room to gloat. Back to credits, we went after Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster but it had too long of a line. Taxi Jam was another missed credit due to our height but that was expected. It was then time for our lunch and Q&A session with management. We had a pretty interesting chat regarding the park and its many aspects, but I won't go in depth on that... At the end of our meal and session, we were given Walk-On Wednesday passes for Drop Zone, Anaconda, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Dominator and Grizzly, so we went on to finish off the day. Anaconda- the park's Arrow looper lives up to its company brand. Rough at times, Matt and I were cracking up throughout the entire ride. It was painfully funny. Grizzly, the last of the credits we needed for our visit was filled to the brim with guests [mostly] waiting patiently to get onto the next train. Needless to say, they didn't like when we walked onto the ride in less than a minute, stealing the front car with ease. Though most hated Grizzly, I found it to be pretty enjoyable; definitely one of the better wooden coasters on the trip (though far below any of those that made my top 7). We went on to Drop Zone with a slow dispatch but great drop. A decent tower, and my first Gyro Drop; it was pretty good. One more ride on Backlot Stink Coaster and Dominator before we left, and we were off. We drove back to New Jersey that night in preparation for our next day at Morey's Piers... "Scooby, Scooby Doo, looking for you..." Maximum R.P.M. laughs at you (or at least it did)... Not the worst, but definitely not the best. Wow. Just wow. The standard Paramount Eiffel Tower stands tall at Kings Dominion. This twisted mass of steel is just beautiful! Kings Dominion highlights the ride's loop because they are so proud... And they have good reason to be. Interlocking corkscrews are always fun... Dominator greets us!

These 1 line reviews have already got me laughing hysterically! I'm definitely looking forward to your next update!

I'm a solid fan of Jack, so I was a little sad to see him not here this year (with last year's event being my first), but I was definitely surprised at how much I've enjoyed the event this year. While certain houses aren't as good as I would have hoped, others surpassed my expectations (especially Doomsday). The scarezones were especially impressive this year, and in my opinion, better than those of the previous year. Bill and Ted's was as good as last year's show. Brian Brushwood was actually a huge disappointment for me, considering how little content there was to the show. I'll be putting up a full trip report later this month, but I can say that I have enjoyed the event so far, as much if not more than last year.

^Thanks again Jason! Six Flags America is one of those parks I just didn't take any photos of. So, my report for the park will likely be more in depth, so here goes... We started our morning with a nice load of ERT scheduled at our next Six Flags park. With this park, I had no expectations. I hadn't heard positives like those associated with Great Adventure or New England. I hadn't heard any negatives either. The park was essentially a blank slate for me, so I was ready for whatever would follow that day. Our ERT was set to start at Wild One, the park's historic wooden coaster. After getting in the train and strapping in, we hit a sudden stop when the ops told us they would need to have us exit the ride so they could test the coaster for a few runs. After a few tests, they told us that we'd need to come back. So, the head of PR escorted us backstage so that we could quickly move on to Superman: Ride of Steel. Once in the queue, we were hit with another breakdown (TPR was on a roll today), so we were sent back to Wild One, which was working when we got back. Wild One was pretty fun with a few good pops of airtime, and was fairly smooth for an old woody. Next, we moved on to Batwing, the park's Vekoma flyer (my first Vekoma flyer ever). I was definitely apprehensive about starting a ride on a lift backwards with no idea when we would reach the top. Though a little rough at times, the ride was definitely fun--though not as good as a B&M flyer. The park management, as a sign of thanks for patience during the break downs opened up Joker's Jinx as well for us before the park prepared to open. My first ever Spaghetti Bowl coaster (one of two on the trip) was also really fun. Matt, Brent and I spent the rest of the ERT on Joker's Jinx before moving onto the other credits in the park. Two-Face: The Flip Side was unfortunately closed during our visit (though it hasn't opened since, as far as I know), so we kept going. Onto Mind Eraser, we experienced the 2nd worst SLC of the trip, rivaled only by Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. Next was Roar, the wooden twister. I was disappointed with the ride itself--it was smooth (for the most part), but it just seemed to be a little uninteresting. Once was enough for us. We finished off by getting our Great Chase credit, which was the standard Road Runner/Wyle Coyote coaster found at the Six Flags parks--nothing special, but definitely fun. And so our day at Six Flags America ended pretty quickly as we moved on to Busch Gardens Europe the next day. Other moments of note: the weird drop tower, Wonder Woman, Mr. Penguins Blizzard River, the lunch buffet! Busch Gardens Europe was definitely one of my more anticipated parks of the trip, partially because of my love for Anheiser-Busch parks. I've been a passholder for Seaworld Orlando and Busch Gardens Africa since the time I was four, and had plenty of experience with the parks to anticipate Europe. And honestly, after seeing how well Busch had done with Sesame Place, I was excited to see what they could do with a full-fledged park in the middle of the Virginia woods. In what would be regarded as one of my favorite parks on the trip, we started our morning at Griffon for a filming session. Unfortunately, due to my age, I was unable to be on the official shoot train, but park management graciously operated a second, non-filming train for those not involved in the shoot. Griffon, the sister to Tampa's Sheikra is taller (by five feet) and wider (by two seats) with an extra immelman thrown in the mix. While I loved the wider trains (sitting on the far right seat in the front row is really incredible) and the small pop of air before the splashdown, I have to admit that I still prefer Sheikra. Both provide an incredible amount of airtime, and both are great, but for some reason I just prefer Tampa's ride to this one. Park management was also gracious enough to open Alpengeist for us while the shoot continued. Alpengeist is the larger brother of Tampa's Montu. Much like my comparison between Sheikra and Griffon, I seemed to prefer Montu to Alpengeist. Alpengeist is much larger in scale with far more intense elements and is truly a fun coaster--but I've never felt the blood rush into my feet like I did on Alpengeist to the point where I was scared to ride anymore. While I still enjoyed Alpengeist, I thought the appeal of the tightly-woven B&M inverted coaster was lost on the largely strewn out layout of Alpengeist. After ERT on the coasters, we proceeded to The Curse of DarKastle, the park's Spiderman-like dark ride. Another anticipated moment of the trip, I had been looking forward to this for quite some time. We had a great tour guide (Bill was his name, I believe) who took us through the entire ride on foot, afterwards answering many of our questions. I asked several of my own questions, including that of Drachen Fire, InBev and future projects. Others contributed some great questions (barring a few-- "Do you have white beer?") as well. And just when we thought the tour couldn't get any better, they let us ride the ride for real, making the experience even better. DarKastle is definitely a great attraction (I wish we could have something like it at Busch Gardens Africa), so the tour was well worth it! Afterwards, we continued on to Loch Ness Monster, which this year turned 30 years old. I had fairly low (but excited) expectations for this coaster because of the effect Python had on me in its last week of operation. I assumed that if Python was terrible as it was, Loch Ness could only be as bad, if not worse. Boy, was I wrong! Loch Ness has to be the smoothest Arrow Looper I've ever been on, and definitely my favorite. The ride has some great drops, two fantastic loops and a very unique layout. Long live the Loch Ness Monster! I'm glad that Python's trains went to good use here at Busch Gardens Europe, as the Loch Ness Monster has earned them! 30 years later and I can honestly say it was my favorite coaster in the park! Thanks to our Quick Queue passes, we breezed through the park for the rest of the day, picking up souvenirs and ride photos (to be posted at the end of the entire TR) as we went along. We got to ride Apollo's Chariot several times that day without the pass, but that was because of how efficient the ops were for the ride--another sign of Busch-quality operations. Apollo's Chariot is somewhat overhyped in my opinion, having sat both in the front row and back. It was good--but not as good as everyone made it out to be. I don't know if it is just because I spent so much time on Behemoth in the previous week, but this hyper just didn't get to me like it did others. With our Quick Queue, we proceeded to the water rides, Le Scoot and the Roman Rapids, both of which got us soaked. Afterwards we hit Escape from Pompeii, the first time without any effects, and the second with. We even had time to hit the park's 3-D simulator, Corkscrew Hill. The story itself was semi-bizarre with several jokes regarding continuous shaking made from our group--it was odd. The rest of the day we would continue to walk the park, ride the coasters more and blast riders on the Roman Rapids with set of amazing quarter-operated water jets. The only other moment of note during the day was our game of Water Wars. I personally cannot wait to watch the video because we just soaked each other. I played three full rounds, while some played two. The first was the full group. Armed with a slingshot and a bucket of water balloons, guests are meant to launch the balloons across the court to hit the tops of the individual huts, sending flurries of water rushing down onto the opposite warrior. Though some of us adhered to the "slingshot-only policy" others left their hut with balloons in hand and decided to use their arms as their slingshots. Round two was just between Max and me, pitted in a major water war. I hit Max several times with the larger water bombs, soaking his top half beyond recognition. Then, just when I thought I was free of his return volley, the brat next to me decided to take one his largest water bombs and chuck it at my side, soaking me in the process. Caught off guard by the attack, Max proceeded to leave his hut carrying his last two balloons--slamming both into my other side, thus leaving me soaked on both sides. One more time meant revenge on Max, and I definitely hit him hard! That night, we had ERT on Big Bad Wolf, the park's Arrow Suspended Swinging coaster. I'd heard nothing but good things about the coaster, so I anticipated the session for sure. Though the trains shimmied a little at times (and seemed to shed silver shards of metal), it was an overall fun ride that was boosted in thrill by the dark surroundings of the Virginia woods. We ended ERT and headed back to the bus after another great day, ready to move on to our next park, Kings Dominion... The sun sets on Griffon as our visit at Busch Gardens Europe comes to a close... So many things could be said... We love the Fudges! Elissa's dad had a question to be answered... This is way better than the face in the Matterhorn at Nara Dreamland! Even more spooky and eerie! Did I rotate this photo the wrong way? "Coaster-people make the greatest food for a fireplace monster... Om nom nom!" Even the maintenance bay entryway is themed! Another sign of Busch-quality! Enter the library. Ludwig doesn't look so unhappy here... Its a shame he became a vengeful ghost/werewolf/monster. Are we tilting or is that what you're supposed to think? Josh was definitely happy to be here! Guess who is filming you... Spooky even with the lights on. Let the tour begin... Busch Gardens Europe has its own Coaster Dynamix model of Alpengeist. It also sells Alpengeist and Griffon model trains by Coaster Dynamix. We had ours--do you have yours? Its time for some DarKastle! One thing that Busch always does right with its coasters--theming! Through the trees! Does this count? Hello beautiful! Alpengeist greets us on this morning...

1. 3 2. IE7 3. Yes, quite fast actually! 4. Definitely one of those anticipated additions to the site!

Running on IE7, I am only able to see the first video.

Sorry for the major delay in updates but school has been keeping me busy for the last month or so... But, to make it up to you, I've got another long update filled with text and some photos here and there. Our second morning at Six Flags New England started up with ERT on Pandemonium and Flashback. Those of us that wanted to get a few rides in on Pandemonium (Jes and I, as well as some others) went straight to Flashback to get it over with. Flashback is the park's standard Vekoma Boomerang. Not the most painful, but not the smoothest either--the ride took us up the lift hill as we all chatted through the slow ascent. At about three-fourths of the way up the lift, we felt an abrupt creak as the entire train shimmied. The lift stopped, as did we. The first ride of the day was the first breakdown of the day for us--and for the TPR observers on the ground, another Elissa Bingo square filled. After about five minutes of waiting, the lift process resumed and a few seconds later we were dropped backwards through the station, cobra roll, loop and up the second lift, just to go back through the course one more time. After our ride on Flashback, we went over to Pandemonium where we would test our theory of increasing the spin on a car (like we had on Whirlwind at Seabreeze). After four rides, we had a decent set of spins and were ready to go back to Superman: Ride of Steel for some more morning ERT. Just as good as the day before, the ERT was definitely fun. Day two at Six Flags New England meant Flash Passes (Q-bots), which had us excited. Three groups of four paired up to make twelve (though we ended up picking up a straggler along the way); making lines a thing of the past. We moved onto Catwoman's Whip, a kiddie coaster with an extremely long train and a statue that made Brent really happy... It also featured an incredible view of the Dark Knight's Glow in the Park Football/Golf multipurpose arena/field/swamp... I'll say no more on that. We hit Scream (the park's S&S tower), Thunderbolt (a really fun old school woodie), Great Chase (a credit whore's favorite kiddie coaster), Cyclone (a really fun but jarring woodie with an odd layout) and Catapult, the park's S&S Sky Swat. The Sky Swat has to be my least favorite amusement ride ever ridden. Now I know what it feels like to be put on a panini press... After that, the Prize Gang decided to hit the arcade to wins some prizes on Deal or No Deal and Stacker. It wasn't our most successful prize stop, but we did come back with a few pieces of candy. After lunch, we left Six Flags New England for our surprise park. Most of us hadn't figured it out at that point, even though Rye Playland was listed as one of the parks on our shirts but not on our schedules. Rye Playland has five coasters: a wild mouse, Dragon Coaster (a historical wooden), a kiddie wooden, a steel kiddie and Super Flight (a Zamperla flyer). We were able to get on all but the kiddie wooden, but none of the coasters were worth an in depth review. The park also features several great flats including a gravitron (and its very own Dance King), two fantastic dark rides, a hall of mirrors, and the Sky Skate--which we broke. Our visit to Rye was extremely fun as it was another unique park with some pretty fun attractions. Oh, and we won tons of prizes in the park's arcade. I consider Rye's Prize Raid to be one of the best runs we had throughout the trip, but I'll let the photos do the talking. The next day we moved on to Six Flags Great Adventure. We started off with a quick period of ERT on the new Dark Knight coaster. The ride, though overhyped by Six Flags was under hyped by the public. It is a mouse in a box with some cool effects and a knack for stealing Tyler's phone. One holographic effect really got me and the pre-show had me entertained, but the ride was pretty basic beyond that. I do prefer it to the swamp that has become the intended location for Six Flags New England's to-be version of the ride. On to El Toro, I was greatly anticipating this ride after all of the serious hype. Not to say that I was disappointed, because I wasn't--I just wasn't as blown away as most, likely because of how incredible Boulder Dash had been during our ERT. It really was great and incredibly smooth--I don't really think it can be made out of wood. The one coaster I had anticipated most on the trip was, of all things, Kingda Ka. After watching countless videos about it, I knew I was going to love it. I waited to ride in the front row just to make it the best first ride possible, and it worked. The launch was absolutely breath-taking (and eye-drying) and everything after that seemed to go by without notice, mostly because of my shock from our 0 to 128 mph motion. My photo was priceless and I was going to use my voucher to print it had the person managing the photo booth hit the delete button rather that of the print. Saddened by my lack of photo, I figured I'd get one later that day. We re-assembled into our Q-bot groups once more and decided to hit Rolling Thunder's dueling sides once each. Afterwards we went on to ride Great American Scream Machine, Superman - Ultimate Flight and Medusa. As we queued up for Medusa, it began to pour, and our group was separated. Half of us were loaded onto a train while the others waited for the next. Too bad the ride shut down after our train to wait out the storm. We regrouped as the queue emptied just to find that all other rides in the park except the Dark Knight and Fly Me to the Moon 3-D were closed. We tried the 3-D movie, bypassing what looked like a two hour line, immediately entering the pre-show area. The film was just a cut of the feature film with added 3-D visual effects and an odd set of simulator motions. It wasn't really worth the time. Next we moved back to the Dark Knight, and rode it twice more. The rain wouldn't stop. TPR had scheduled a mandatory meeting for 5:00 pm that day so that we could catch up in case the rain had shut everything down--and sure enough, it had. In what was a near unanimous decision, we decided to give up on the park for the day and get an early start on our long drive to Williamsburg, Virginia. We left the park without hesitation and made our long ride to the Busch Gardens area of Williamsburg. Getting in with plenty of time to spare, our group decided to go for a nice meal at Chili's for fajitas and good food. And so our day ended with an early nights rest and a good meal (not in that order). A great end to the day! The Chili's group was awesome! Photo #2. 1 of two photos I took at Six Flags Great Adventure during our visit. "Stuck with you" by Huey Lewis comes to mind when I see this photo... The Deal or No Deal Champions! The Prize Gang strikes again! And we hadn't even broken it yet... Can you find what is wrong with this picture? And how was your ride? Rye's Dragon Coaster has tons of history to it...

You've really got me anticipating the Waldameer videos now Brent... Its been a great TR so far!

^Thats good to know! I look forward to the rest of your trip report!

^^Provided the photos are not of me in overly embarassing situations, I'm mostly fine with you posting what you've got. Mostly.

Brent, I have been waiting for this trip report anxiously since we left... I'm specifically looking forward to your posting of our wonderful ride on Whacky Shack and our walk-thru in Pirate's Cove at Waldameer. Anyways, this is a great start to a much anticipated trip report--and you know I'll be reading it carefully for any special trip references...

Our first real Six Flags park of the trip was unique in that we spent two mornings there. Day 1 at Six Flags New England was our day without flash passes but with a full slate of ERT and a fantastic catered lunch at a private pavilion. Our group was pretty laid back that day, hitting only the ERT credits and some flats, roaming the park since we would be able to hit the rest of the credits through the next day's ERT and use of Flash Passes. ERT that morning started out with Batman and Mind Eraser. Batman is the park's B&M floorless coaster (the only Batman that isn't an inverted coaster, I believe). Having only been on Kraken at that point, Batman was an interesting experience for me due to the ride's compact layout and unique elements. It is not better than Kraken in my mind, but it was a fun ride that I went back for five times over the two visits. Mind Eraser was our second SLC of the trip; a clone of the one at Darien Lake. Once again taking the advice of Matt Damon when riding, I pinned my head to the side of my restraint, which helped with the random jolts here and there. Overall, it was the most enjoyable SLC of the trip (and that says a whole lot), which, dare I say it, was reasonable smooth. Send in the Vekoma gravel-blasters to rough that track up fast! Next up on ERT was our 45 minute session on our second Ride of Steel. Now, Darien Lake's had one layout, with Six Flags America's being a mirror, while SFNE's is a completely unique layout that most find to be the best of the three. I wasn't one of those people. Ride of Steel disappointed me somewhat, only because I had enjoyed so much airtime from the first drop until the end on Darien Lake's version. New England's ride seemed to keep me in my seat for the first few hills with the finale throwing me out of my seat. My favorite part of the ride was its twisted ending and misty tunnel run, which gained the ride points in my book. If Darien Lake got ride of its helixes and stole New England's finale, it would be incredible... After Superman, TPR had ERT at the waterpark's Zooma Falls and Typhoon (the park's water coaster). I didn't get to go because my bag got "stuck" in a locker. I'll leave it at that. Other memorable aspects of the visit: Houdini, Tomahawk and the catered lunch. After lunch, it was time to leave Six Flags New England for the day so that we could make it to Lake Compounce that night for ERT. Along the way, we took a two-hour credit stop at Quassy. The park has two credits, Wild Mouse and Little Dipper. James, Jes and I ran to Little Dipper, assuming that we'd beat the line of TPR members while they waited for Wild Mouse. The ops let us on the ride without any problems, and sent us on our way on one of the scariest, hand-built looking coasters I have ever been on. After Little Dipper, we ran back to Wild Mouse, only to find that it started to rain. The ops covered the cars and shut down the ride at the first sign of lightning, but we waited. Pulling out our TPR ponchos, we waited out the storm and ended up being second in line for the ride, since everyone else had left. I was pretty nervous about Wild Mouse since everyone kept telling me it was rough, but I found it enjoyably smooth. Following our ride on Wild Mouse, James and I ran to the Giant Slide, which is essentially a huge slide attached to a giant cardboard box. I couldn't tell what was scarier: walking up the cardboard stairs or sliding down the freakish slide. Craving some fried dough at a cheap price, I went over to the park's concession stand and picked up what ended up being an Elephant Ear, but it was good. We went back to Wild Mouse while splitting the ear, talking to the crowd of TPR members as they waited to ride. Jason needed a riding partner, and asked if I'd be willing to join him. I enjoyed Wild Mouse, so I said yes and got one more ride in. Back on the bus, we moved to Lake Compounce, which would become my favorite park of the trip. Lake Compounce has four coasters: Boulder Dash (my number 1 wooden coaster after this day), Kiddie Coaster, Wildcat and Zoomerang. The park also has a great collection of flats as well as a fun shooting dark ride. We started our evening at Lake Compounce indulging in the free soda offered around the park. Afterwards we walked to Wildcat (Garfield themed...) which wasn't too bad, but a little rough through some turns. Zoomerang was our next coaster, and you guessed it, another Vekoma Boomerang. It wasn't too bad for a Boomerang, but it still had some head banging typical of the Vekoma name. Kiddie Coaster was initially a denied credit, but thanks to Robb and Elissa, we had a quick session of pre-Boulder Dash ERT that night. And now, to Boulder Dash. We rode it once before ERT and I think everyone in our group was blown away. The ride is built on the side of mountain (or at least a very large forested hill) and its layout is absolutely incredible in that it catches you off guard every time. The night's ERT session on Boulder Dash was my favorite ERT session of the trip thanks to my 20 rides, the awesome ride op and the pitch black ride setting which we had for the session. Since that session, Boulder Dash has been at the top of my top ten wooden roller coasters, and one of the top coasters on my list in general. Other memorable aspects of the visit: Rotor, Ghostblasters, Skycoaster, Flyers, Thunder and Lightning S&S Screamin' Swing and the free soda. A display of Boulder Dash's well deserved awards! The ride op wanted me to put this photo online... Our awesome Boulder Dash ride op and I! Boulder Dash ERT had everyone excited! Statue credit! My first S&S Screamin' Swing was really fun! Several of these dummies have had their head's shaved, but a few lucky ones kept their prized hair. The death stare scares me... "I'm not having a good time... Why are we here?" Quassy has an old-school mouse called Wild Mouse that is really fun. Day 2 at Six Flags New England (this photo is here because it is my last photo of SFNE), I got my Dave Wilson eats disgusting food bingo sqaure. I wanted the wheel, but not enough to do the task that Robb asked of us... James is excited by the Intamin wheel... I hate Looney Tunes. I'm not sure why I took this photo. Mr. Six is on par (in my book) with the "More Flags" guy. Welcome to Six Flags New England! Robb meets with Six Flags New England management before ERT.

After a really fun time at Sesame Place, it came time to start the East Coast part of the tour, beginning with Coney Island. Now, for some background... Back in the days when I wanted to be a filmmaker/world traveler, there were three places in the US that I wanted to go to along with my international travels: New York, Anaheim/Hollywood/LA, and Washington D.C. When my family finally made it to New York, we didn't go to Coney Island because my family had been warned that it wasn't safe. After two additional trips to New York over the next three years, I still hadn't been to Coney Island. So, getting to go during this trip was once again, all too surreal. Flash forward to current day, knowing that Thor was preparing to shut the place down, it made the visit even more special. We started our time at Coney Island with two rides on the famous Cyclone, a coaster I had dreamed about riding since the time I could enjoy coasters. Padded with leather (for good reason) and covered in bright colors only faded by time, the ride is historical in every sense. The coaster's seats offered a far tighter fit, even for a guy of my size, but again, it is for good reason. The lift, skewing oddly to the left for a few seconds and then back to the center leads into a turning drop that had me slamming my riding partner (or the other way around) within the first five seconds of the post-lift ride. From then on in you are riding in a fantastic wooden journey with minimally banked turns and lots of jarring moments. Overall, I loved the ride, but I wasn't in the majority. Our visit to Coney Island came complete with wristbands that gave us entry to the attractions at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park as well as Astroland. Astroland offered up a quick ride on Dante's Inferno, the most evil dark ride ever. The ride's outside portion relies on the car hitting the re-entry doors, and when the doors come back to close, they have to hit something--my arm just happened to be that something. So for the first time in my life, I was bitten by a ride. Evil. Astroland also features a classic Wacky Worm, complete with a turntable station. The ride was pretty standard, but the turntable added some variety and made the experience far more fun. After the Wacky Worm, we walked next door as the rain started to hit, trying desperately to grab our Sea Serpent credit (a clone of Ravine Flyer III, without the water). The ride had a fantastic op that made our circuit go from the standard three to a whopping six times around the track. Following the Sea Serpent, we moved to Deno's Wonder Wheel, sitting on the swinging cars in what could be the scariest, most innovative ride of its time. I was hanging on for much of the ride. Past that, we moved on, exploring Coney Island, hitting whatever dark rides were included in our wristband's coverage, including the fantastic Spook-a-rama. After a stop for dinner at the fantastic Nathan's (the original location), we headed back to the bus, stopping only for a second ride on Spook-a-rama and the park's drop tower. The sun began to set, and a scarier crowd seemed to move in as we moved out, with us leaving at about the right amount of time. Coney Island was everything I expected and more, making the first park of the East Coast trip a real high point to start on... Sun down. Time for us to leave... Dante's Inferno: The most evil ride ever! Really. This photo has probably been taken billions of times. I love Nathans Deli! Spook-a-Rama's theming on the outside was just as incredible on the inside. The entrance to the ride looks like it hasn't been altered since the Wheel opened way back when. Deno himself in front of his Wonder Wheel. The famous Wonder Wheel. The history and architecture of the Parachute Tower just fascinates me to no end. I could take photos of this forever. Robb sets up his camera for a POV of the Cyclone. An amazing piece of history... Dave is excited to be here!

Well, with the Behemoth/Ravine Flyer II portion of the tour over, we lost several of our group mates (that means you Matt, Matt, Chris, Roxanne and anyone else I left out)... But with losses, we also found gain. Quickly added to our group was Sam Johnson, Alan Johnsrud and several more. Sesame Place was an optional addon for the downtime in between the Behemoth and East Coast trips, but many of us went to experience the park, rather than sitting in the hotel for a few extra hours. Having grown up on Sesame Place, I was pretty excited to go to a place where I would probably end up remembering aspects of my younger days... Surprisingly enough, alot of the aspects of the park (aside from some characters here and there) seemed foreign to me. What wasn't new to me was the amount of quality and detail put into every facet of the park, thanks to Busch Entertainment Company. The park's entrance bleeds Busch in its style and with the lovely Busch Park turnstyles, we were inside the park just minutes after we received our tickets. Our entire group seemed to charge towards the park's only credit, Vapor Trail. The Vekoma Roller Skater (if I am correct) features a larger layout that I had not seen before, and offered a pretty fun ride. We got two rides in on the coaster before we left the park, using the rest of our time to explore and eat. Knowing we only had four hours at the park (really all we needed), we all felt that we should get lunch first and then move on to the exploration. Eating inside of The Grill, James and I each got a large plate of Chicken Parmesiana, which was great (but ultimately too big for me to finish). I also (just for the sake of indulging) got myself a fantastic Elmo cupcake which I seemed to destroy with just one bite... That photo may show up in a trip TR later on I guess. After lunch, we moved on to walking the park, making our way to the netted play area, which is a similar complex as to what we have at Orlando's Shamu's Happy Harbor at Seaworld. Oddly enough, James, Brent, Matt and I seemed to have serious problems getting in and out of the rope tunnels, let alone running up and down the large rope walks. There were plenty of falls in the process of our running, as well as some hilarious moments of getting stuck in the middle of rope tunnels and nearly getting stuck inside the net. As time wrapped up, we prepared to leave for the bus, ready for a very long drive to New York. It was time for Coney Island... Another fun rope complex (and park) conquered! You too James? Having a little trouble there Brent? Elmo cupcakes and chicken parmesiana make for a great meal! Our group got some time to catch up with the Count. It was awesome! Which of these people are from our group? Could you tell? Super Grover's own coaster. We bypassed this line with a side entrance opened for us... TPR continues to spoil us. Vapor Trail has a pretty long train. This is really why we are here! Vapor Trail welcomes us at the gate. Everyone looks excited! This one belongs to Grover. In the presence of celebrities... Welcome to Sesame Place! IMGP9788.AVI Brent tries to run up Sesame Place's rope complex...

Just another reason the East Coast trip was perfectly timed... I'd always dreamed of visiting Coney Island, and knowing its lease was nearly up, the ability to visit it was significant.

^Thanks again Roxanne! You rock! This will be one of my larger reports in general since it will encompass two parks with some photos and my first videos of the report! We got to Lakemont pretty quickly after leaving Idlewild (which was one of the highlights of the trip at this point) just to see an interesting collection of flat rides and some unique coasters to match them. Before riding, we were treated to another wonderful catered lunch in a private pavilion (that group from California strikes for the first of many times during our visit). With potatoes au gratin, hot dogs and hamburgers, I felt right at home... By this point, I had 98 credits, and while I'm not one to normally plan out the order of my credits, I wanted to let Leap the Dips be my 100th, so we went straight to my first Toboggan to get my 99th credit. What followed was one of the scariest, most bizarre rides I've ever been on... Now James had become known as my "bizarre rides buddy" at this point, having ridden Whacky Shack, Spider and several other bizarre flats with me so far in the trip, so naturally, he joined me in the caged machine of death. With an interior similar to that of a Roll-O-Plane (which we would ride at Knoebels later in the trip), I was pretty worried about sliding around, but that didn't end up happening. The ride creeps along into a vertical missile-silo-esque lift with little air inside only to raise you out to begin a tight set of helix-like maneuvers around the silo. Gaining speed while moving lower, you prepare for what has to be the worst part of the ride--the drop. As you will see and hear in my video, it shook us up pretty badly, which James hitting his head on the roof of the car. After that, it’s pretty decent, but the ride did have its rough moments. I was initially afraid of Toboggan after hearing how terrible Little Amerika's had been on the Midwest trip, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be decent (if I haven't used that word enough so far, you'll see it spring up more often in my reviews). Afterwards, we headed over for our short session of ERT (in a sense) on Leap the Dips, which would be my 100th credit. The coaster has multiple cars, though only one was in operation during our visit (according to Screamscape, one of the cars had lost a wheel during its circuit just days before we got there). I ended up getting two rides in on the coaster (once in the front and once in the back). In front, the ride was fun, giving a fantastic view of the track and its interesting system (including the really cool, old school anti-rollbacks). In back, I found the "dips" to have more ejector airtime than some of the major wooden coasters we had done so far. Needless to say, it was a great 100th credit! We attempted to get our kiddie coaster credit, but the op was extremely strict when it came to allowing us on, so it was another missed credit. Our final credit of the park was Skyliner, an "interesting" wooden as Robb warned on the bus ride over. Matt and I decided to sit towards the front row in fear that the back would break us in half, and I ended up enjoying the odd pops of airtime that we got from the leveling of hills throughout the course. We ran to Skydiver to try to get on the ride, but the line and operations were too slow to risk waiting for without missing the bus (which none of us wanted to do). We left the park and drove to Delgrosso's. The first thing we saw entering the park's vicinity was the neighboring Delgrosso's Sauce Factory, which we would soon find out meant more to the park than we could possibly imagine. We entered the park and met with the owner and immediately were given information about the park and its origins. I felt extremely bad considering the man was extremely hospitable and willing to talk with us further (after we ate at his Spaghetti Wednesday), but almost everyone went to get their credits. Noting that the park was used as an outlet for his family's "famous" sauce, the ongoing joke about the sauce was born. The park has two credits: a wacky worm and a crazy mouse (Reverchon spinning mouse). The worm was my first Wacky Worm, so that was fun... As for the mouse, I rode with Brian Stoll, and we definitely spun. It was one of the better spinners of the trip, so I was content there as well. After we rode the coasters, we did the Space Caterpillar (watch the video to see what I'm talking about) and then got some Sauce Pizza. Following our mouth-burning, sauce munching meal, we boarded the bus and headed out towards our hotel... Other memorable moments of the visit: Space Caterpillar, Dan using his high-powered flash to set off the shooting gallery, the Sauce and the Sauce Pizza. Caterpillar+ZZ Top+Strobes+Rap Music=Wicked Experience. John and I on the Space Caterpillar Didn't get to do this, but I wasn't too sad about the loss. Another Robb and Dan filming preparation shot... Here is where it hurts... Artsy shot #2: Back in the old days... A time before wheelchair seats and such madness... Artsy shot #1 Aka Caged Machine of Death Robb and Dan went into the center of the ride to capture our group's expressions during ERT. Leap the Dips in all of its side-friction goodness... One of the original Leap the Dips cars is encased in glass in the station... Credit #100! space catepillar.wmv Delgrosso's Space Caterpillar tobaggon.wmv Lakemont's Tobaggon

Not my proudest moment... Not at all...

^^^^Remember that I ended up getting Bingo in two different rows, so I'm counting the one that I didn't need the boob credit for... I figure an explanation sooner or later will make it into this thread, but not yet. ^^I'd be happy to have you post those videos on this thread if you are willing... ^You mean Rain Flyer II... Idlewild is another one of those "hidden treasure" parks we did on the trip. Now by "hidden treasure" I mean that not only did I know very little about the park, but I enjoyed just about every aspect of our visit and was shocked at how it ranked among our other parks during the trip. Idlewild is a uniquely themed park featuring two coasters, Mr. Roger's Trolley, Adult Hand Cars, Fried Oreos and plenty more. We started our visit that morning, tired again but ready to get start up again. Immediately upon our entrance to the park we were escorted to the Carousel (refurbished by PTC years ago) for a surprise. Idlewild generously provided us with donuts, fine glass paperweights, leighs and cup holders! Needless to say, we were treated like royalty. Then, our ERT session started with both of the park's coasters reserved for us! Rollocoaster, the park's historical wooden credit was surprisingly fun. After riding it three times at the start of ERT, Brent, Matt and I moved over to the park's Wild Mouse. The Wild Mouse is one of the few Vekoma mice in existance with an oddly tilted lift. Apparantly the ride used to have a dark tunnel over the lift in its previous location (according to wikipedia, it came from Alton Towers). I'll come right out and say it--the ride was definitely the wildest mouse I've ever ridden and it lives up to the Vekoma name. The ride's loading procedures were pretty bizarre, with a minumum of three riders required for a car to dispatch (two people required to sit in back if there are only three riders). After getting in the car, we were instructed to keep our hands on the red tapes at all times (red colored duct tape added to the car's front bars recently from what I could tell). The ride's lift was confusing enough, but the truly untrimmed rides and insane [and sometimes jarring] airtime moments were incredible. I received a few bruises thanks to the ride slamming Brent into my right arm. So, after our four-ride marathon of Wild Mouse, we moved back to Rollocoaster. Then, the Rollocoaster Fanboys united! To end off ERT, Brent, Matt and I marathoned Rollocoaster without moving from our seats. Getting an extra six rides in, management would stop us for no more than three seconds in the station just to send us through again. I think of Rollocoaster as the little cousin of Boulder Dash, but that is just me. We ended up getting a photo of the three of us (as you will see below) to commemorate the creation of the Rollocoaster Fanboy group! So after ERT, we moved on to Mr. Roger's Trolley. An absolutely surreal ride for those of us that were raised on the show, I couldn't help but worry when I started to remember the character's and their songs. The ride was full of laughter, hugs and songs (and a really cute ride op). I won't ruin the experience for you (wait until Robb's video comes out--that will tell all), but I'll show some photos from the ride. We left the Trolley full of Hug and Song and ready to ride some fun flats. We took over the Flyers, the Carousel, my first Catepillar (the only one with its original tarp/covering still intact and working), my first Whip and a ride on the Adult Handcars. Before we left, most of us wanted something to eat so off we went. Now I know I haven't mentioned this yet, but I'd be doing this report an injustice if I did not explain something that most of the people in my group came to notice when hanging out with me... I have a severe addiction to East Coast "fried" foods. You would constantly hear me saying that I could go for some fried dough, a funnel cake or something of the like. Well, Idlewild delivered a set of newly fried items that my palette had never had. Sharing with Erik, Roxanne, John, James, Jes and Brad, we split several orders of Fried Oreos, Fried Apples, a fried waffle and funnel cake. Needless to say, I got my fried-food fix for the day! Historical Credit PTC stamp. Push Matt! Push! Confusion Hill was the most insane walkthru experience I've ever done. The Hug-n-Song Party is almost ready but someone is missing! Who could it be? Creepy lady... She really scared me. No idea... The King in person... Into the Neighborhood we go! Our cute conductor... Thomas the Tank Engine's Top Hat Man has nothing on you! Double thumbs photo #3 Dave is ready for the Hug-n-Song Party! Rollocoaster fanboys! My two Matts... PTC-a sign of quality. Anyone hungry? Boulder Dash's littlest cousin... Double thumbs shot #2 Double thumbs shot #1 Matt seems excited! Robbie is looking at me like I'm a certain someone filming him nonstop...

Let me start by saying that there were parks that I didn't take any photos of, not because I didn't want to--I just didn't think to. There are a few parks throughout the trip that I didn't get any photos of because I wanted to enjoy the experience so much that I left the camera in my pocket. Waldameer just happens to be one of those parks. Waldameer was one of the most memorable parks of the trip for me, just because of how quirky some of its attractions were and how relaxed we were at the park. It has four coasters, a Whacky Shack dark ride, a Pirates Cove haunted walkthru and some really fun flats. After our drive back from Canada we were all ready to get some rides in. We all rush into the park debating whether or not to go straight to Ravine Flyer II or to get everything else in since we would have an ERT session later that night. Most of us opted to ride just to see how it was beforehand. Ravine Flyer II is to this date, the most forceful wooden coaster I've ever been on. The speed is a major factor in this ride and from the first drop to the end of the course there is a mixture of force pushing you down and airtime hills the opposite. Ravine Flyer's view is absolutely breathtaking, considering that you look out and see nothing but Lake Waldameer. The ride itself drops you down a fast turning drop and into the course of the track, including a hop over a road (through the ride's specially constructed bridge) a fun turnaround and back towards the rest of the layout. It features a 90 degree turn which is definitely fun when you have the whole train yelling "90 degrees" in the rain, but we'll get to that later. Waldameer has a clone (with slight modifications here and there) of Seabreeze's Whirlwind, though I found this one to be far more tame. We rode it twice just for fun, but found that Whirlwind spun far more. The park's oldest coaster (since Ravine Flyer I hasn't stood for quite some time) is Comet. Similar [in feel] to Ghoster Coaster (especially the lap bars), it had a few pops of airtime but once was enough. Ravine Flyer III was built before Ravine Flyer II since the park knew the wooden was going to happen eventually. It is a standard Kiddie Coaster model we saw often in the trip, but this one is built completely over water. I sat in the front and once in the back, getting airtime over the first hill when in the front. We rode this three times that afternoon. Whacky Shack and Pirates Cove are two unique haunt-style attractions that I just couldn't get enough of. I still remember the Shack's spiel to this date. ERT that night was the best, considering the ride was running faster and better than it had earlier in the day. But the heat (or should I say the cool) was turned up when it started to pour... And I mean a deluge (for you Epcot fans)! I rode the ride with my eyes shut for my last five rides, making it scarier every time. Neil seranaded us with a "Only Happy When It Rains" tune which had us all clapping in synch. I stayed on the ride until the end of ERT hitting 25 rides (7 of which were in the rain). Other memorable aspects of the visit: Spider with James, the Drop Tower, the Tilt-A-Whirl takeover and my continued success on the Midway games...

There is a new cell phone on the front of the file on the site with a voicemail from Boris and another from a woman from a research team for paranormal activity. The woman's voicemail mentions 11:00 pm as the time when a "manefestation" will occur.

Marineland was an interesting experience for me because I couldn't help but imagine it being the Canadian version of Seaworld, one of my home parks. For nearly two and a half years I've had my brother tell me about how he kept seeing commercials for the park while he was living in Montreal (including his singing of the park's tune, "Everyone loves Marineland!"). The park, was far from what I expected.... To start our morning, I had not really been too awake (yet) as Matt's (Speeddeamon128) Marineland video shows. We stood at the front of the park, prepared to start a session of ERT and I figured a ride on Dragon Mountain would wake me up. After our group photo before entrance, I happened to look towards the bus and saw a black bag that looked eerily familiar on the ground. I ran up to it to see if I could figure out to whom it belonged, but quickly came to realize that the bag was infact my videocamera case, complete with my wide angle lense, filters, tapes, charger and camera. I'm not too sure how it made its way off of the back of the bus (especially because I didn't end up using or taking my videocamera off of the bus once during the trip), but by then, I was fully awake from the shock. Anyways, we moved on, walking a decent distance to get to the entrance of Dragon Mountain. Now if you've ever seen photos of the park before, you'll know that its plotted in the middle of a vast wilderness with plenty of room for expansion. What made Marineland so unique was the fact that unlike a typical park which clusters in a single location at its start, slowly expanding outward as it invests more money into the park, Marineland did the opposite. By placing each attraction distances away from each other, the park is massively spread out with plenty of internal room for future additions--though this setup made for a tiring walk through the park just to hit the attractions. Dragon Mountain's ERT was absolutely fun, and another first, as I had never done a filming session before. After doing a few warm up rides before the shoot started, we found our seats and strapped in for a set of three straight rides where Robb would be around the different parts of the ride to film our reactions. Definitely the best Arrow looper I've done so far, Dragon Mountain is not only long, but mostly smooth. It features a layout that hugs much of the park's terrain, including its lift plus a few features that have been added to the ride over the years including a volcano and a structure for a waterfall (I believe). After 25 years the ride has aged beautifly. The other ride for which we had ERT was Sky Screamer, the park's triple S&S Tower. What I didn't expect here was that the ride itself is situated on a mountain (of sorts) with a large walkway spiraling around the edges of the mound. It took about 10 minutes (I could be exaggerating, but that is what it felt like) to get to the top, so by the time we were there for ERT, I was ready to sit. Starting off with a few normal rides, we were given a quick but beautiful view of Niagra and the Falls. Soon afterwards we were offered the ability to go up on the ride in an "elevator mode" that would slowly bring us up to the top of the tower for some fantastic photo angles. Other memorable aspects of the visit: my first Topple Tower (walrus!) and the TPR takeover of Tivoli/Ladybug Coaster. Our last moment in Canada ends with a Culture Credit (I believe). All three of the guys seem to be having a great time. I'm impressed with this one as well! Tired? A true American/Canadian beauty... Take that Martin Short! Its a long way down from here... The larger look at the Falls... Crotch shot #1 Niagra looks just as I remember it from my visit 11 years ago! It was pretty sunny out that day... Erik looks excited! Pumped and ready to ride! Hey John! Bears! Bingo square #4. Dragon Mountain's entrance features a Yak-Dragon eating you. Feels a bit like retro Seaworld... "Everyone loves Marineland!" Welcome to Marineland!

Its up there... My current top ten wooden ranking is now as follows: 1. Boulder Dash 2. El Toro 3. Phoenix 4. Lighting Racer (Lighting) 5. Silver Comet 6. Ravine Flyer II (only because of our ERT session that night) 7. Son of Beast (with loop) 8. Beast 9. Dania Beach Hurricane 10. Gwazi Tiger (On its way out)

I'm going to make my Martin's part of the update pretty short (considering I only have one photo from that park) so I can get to my larger Canada's Wonderland update which seems to be filled to the brim with Behemoth photos. Martin's was one of those bust-out-surprisingly-fantastic parks that we visited on the trip with one of those wonderfully underated coasters that caught me by surprise. The park is a traditional, smaller space with a major wooden coaster and a "crazy" mouse (which isn't so crazy), some fun flat rides and "I Got It!" I Got It!: A fascination style game in which you throw balls into a five-by-five grated bingo box. The start of my in-park-game-addiction, I spent too much time and money here, but didn't regret it. Crazy Mouse: A spinning mouse that barely spins, the standard Reverchon model minus all fun and enjoyment, plus painful re-alignment jolts after every sharp turn. Silver Comet: After riding 30 times on this (the general marathoning goal I had for most ERT coasters was 20-25), I felt content with the fact that the coaster pushed its way into my top five for wooden coasters, being #1 for a few more days until Boulder Dash came along and knocked it out. Minus one extremely jarring turn around, the ride offered some incredible pops of airtime and a few partner-indused hits to the face. It is still an incredible ride regardless. Now onto Behemoth Bash at Canada's Wonderland. Behemoth Bash was our first of two "open" TPR days during the trip, but aside from picking up Jason (it was a pleasure to have you with us that morning), we basically just kept on moving. We started our long day off with ERT on Behemoth, Time Warp, Pysclone (the giant frisbee which opened since Time Warp was having trouble earlier in the ERT session) and Backlot Stunt Coaster. Following morning ERT we rushed to conquer as much of the park as possible before lunch, hitting Flight Deck, Thunder Run, Wild Beast, Dragon Fire and the Bat (plus some other random flats). At lunch we took part in TPR Trivia where I won a Behemoth Bag O' Crap with an opening day media badge, two Behemoth shirts, a nice Behemoth man purse and a death-metal Spongebob (which I later gave to Kidtums). Following lunch, we ran to Skyrider, Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Ghoster Coaster, Sky Streak and Vortex. The night's ERT included Minebuster, Vortex and Behemoth, but Matt, Matt and I stayed at Behemoth for the whole session since we were tired of walking the rest of the park to get from one coaster to another. Other rides of note for the day included Shockwave and Sledgehammer. Behemoth: As good as I hoped it would be and better, I rode Behemoth 25 times between the two sessions of ERT. The ride's new seating makes every seat have a front seat view, but the backseat (which I mongered once with Larry during the nightime ERT) offered some insane airtime. The ride ops, equiped with microphones hyped the ride thru every cycle through the station, and even though they pinned me, I felt like I was going to fly out of my seat at every hill. Not only does the ride have a fantastic amount of airtime, it is really photogenic (as you will see below). Needless to say, I took advantage of the photo walkback. Backlot Stunt Coaster: For my first Backlot Stunt Coaster I had low expectations. I hold a grudge against the coaster since it was chosen over the concept for a completely unique Top Gun for Kings Island (where the ride would have essentially been lifted backwards up a vertical spike, dropped from there and sent through a course of fantastic inversions; but surveyers to Kings Island chose the Italian Job instead). The ride was pretty confusing for me thanks to its tight turns, lack of effects and long time in a dark tunnel before a drop under a bridge and turn around into the station. I loved the Italian Job but the ride just didn't satisfy. Time Warp: Another ride I feared for my life on, I was nervous as to how bad it could hurt me, but the ride was really a surprise. While the transitions were jarring and slightly rough, I found the ride to be enjoyable and, had I not other credits to catch that day, I would have willingly ridden it again. Flight Deck: This lives up to the reputation of an SLC (unlike Mind Eraser at Darien Lake). Painful shimmies and bizarre transitions all around, the ride gave me a headache and the loss of feeling in my ear for over 20 minutes. If I ever return to Wonderland, I won't be riding it again. Thunder Run: My first powered coaster was pretty unique, considering it went through the park's former walkthru-of-a-mountain. We were stalked by a giant monster in the ride, but it was pretty fun. Wild Beast: The park's older wooden coaster. Not bad, but not great. In the words of Dave Wilson, "it exists... Meh!" Dragon Fire: My least favorite of the arrow loopers on the trip, the ride's restraints were designed with lovely bulges designed to butcher your ears... Thats about all I will say until I get to The Bat. The Bat: Instead of buying new Vekoma trains, Wonderland decided to transfer Dragon Fire's third train to the new boomerang by retrofitting it with a vekoma chassis. BAD IDEA. Take the typical headbanging of a boomerang and add the pain of the ear-busting restraints of Dragon Fire and you have The Bat. The definitive worst boomerang of the trip. Period. Skyrider: My first Togo, I was fearful, but the ride was surprisingly fun. The trick-track scared the hell out of me but the ride itself was pretty smooth and it ran pretty well. One of the more enjoyable rides at the park, surprisingly. Minebuster: A ride full of bizarre vibrations, Matt loved it, I didn't. Ghoster Coaster: Another older wooden coaster, not too bad, but my size made the lap bars a real issue for my knees. Sky Streak: A fun junior SLC with a few poor transitions. I still enjoyed it for what it was. Vortex: A clone of Flight Deck at Kings Island, it's most appealing factor, in my opinion was its flyover of the park's mountain where you can see the old paths that guests could take when walking in and around it. The rest of the ride was fine. Thats all I really have to say about that. The park is huge, in a good way, but it made walking for the full day truly tiring. Behemoth Bash was a blast and I had a great time taking part in a smaller aspect of our larger trip! I'll finish this update with the Italian Stuntlot Confusion Coaster photo... This is the last Behemoth photo I've got... I promise. Apparantly Behemoth loves Jesus... I don't know why, but I'm just proud of this photo... Artsy shot #2. Artsy shot #1. Proper representation found. Minebuster looks better than it rides... Flight Deck. Yeah, its that bad. Sledgehammer was a pretty fun flat ride. There is our Behemoth! Vortex going over the mountain... Mount Wonderland... A beautiful entry fountain typical of a former Paramount park. We have a pavilion for Behemoth Bash!

^^^^^ and ^^^^ I have never really had any problems with spinning (except on Clementon's Balloon Race with Mike and Dave Fudge, but I'll discuss that later). It really just felt natural for me to keep going back in line for Whirlwind, considering I felt fine after every ride. Darien Lake was our first major park of the trip, and my first former Six Flags park. It was interesting for me to see the visible changes made to the park to remove itself from the Six Flags chain, but I found that the park had done a pretty strong job of seperating as best as it could. We started off ERT with Ride of Steel and Predator, with many of us plotting to start with Ride of Steel, run over to get a ride or two on Predator and then finish off with Ride of Steel until the park opened. We had a fast-paced plan of attack to get all of the credits in by lunch, running to the Motocoaster, Boomerang and Mind Eraser as soon as possible. Along the way, we picked up people in our group (Matt Damon and the Powers). Viper, the park's Arrow looper was closed for a while, but we being the kind of group we are, waited for the ride to open while entertaining ourselves on my first ever roundup (this one titled UFO). We waited for the ride to open and flocked into the queue when the chain came down. We were only denied one credit in the day (Brain Teaser) since we couldn't bribe any children, like we found happening at Bear Trax the day before. Ride of Steel: My first ever Intamin Hyper and the first of the three Ride of Steels in our trip, it definitely surprised me in several ways. Starting with the first hill, I was amazed at how much airtime I got anywhere I sat (but especially in the backseat when backseat coaster mongering). I loved the airtime hills and felt that the first helix was forceful and fun (though the second one was pointless and dull) and loved the ending three bunny hops into the break run. I did notice some Intamin rattle to the ride, but it wasn't too bad compared to Six Flags America's Ride of Steel. Predator: My second most hated wooden coaster on my list, only trumped by Six Flags over Georgia's Georgia Cyclone was in my mind, terrible. It looks like a fun ride, especially its larger hills, but the fact that half the ride has been [quite visibly] retracked couldn't help to make this ride any more ominous before riding. From the moment my car left the station (I sat in the front this time since Roxanne warned me that the back would kill), I felt my spine slowly creep out of place and folllowing the first drop, it was shattered, battered, beaten and bruised up until the break run. To make a long explanation short, the best part of the ride was the exit. MotoCoaster: My first ever motocoaster (Vekoma or Zamperla) was pretty surprising for what it was. It looks like a simple set of figure eights, but the speed and speed of the transitions made for a more fun ride. It is meant to be a family coaster, but the height limit may be a problem for this one. My only hitch with the coaster is, much like a standup coaster, your restraints continue to get tighter if you release pressure against them during the ride, which made my posture on the coaster pretty bizarre by the end of the launch, let alone the rest of the ride. Boomerang: Coast to Coaster: Another first for the day was my first ever Boomerang (since La Ronde's broke down right in front of me during my visit). This one, not nearly as bad as I had braced for, was pretty decent with a couple of jolts, but not nearly the worst of what we had ridden throughout the trip (The Bat at Canada's Wonderland stands as my least favorite boomerang so far). The Mind Eraser: My first ever SLC was a more scary experience for me, considering I had it hammered into my mind that the ride was going to break me in half and then stomp on my remains past the point of recognition. I sat with Shawn (Matt Damon) for my first ride, and thanks to his advice, pinned my head to the side of my restraint in an effort to brace for whatever potential jolts could be ahead. Minus a few shimmies here and there, the ride was not too bad, even prompting me to ride again (though the second ride was a little less fun). The Viper: Our last coaster before we left, since it was closed for the morning was our first Arrow looper of the trip. I found it to be pretty smooth except for a few moments, but I wasn't in the majority on this one. In comparison, I preferred this to Dragon Fire at Canada's Wonderland, but most people I spoke to had it the other way around. Other notable moments included our ride on the UFO and Silver Bullet (my first Enterprise). Astroworld's Intamin standup sits in pieces outside of Darien Lake, waiting to be re-assembled or scrapped. The world may never know... Elissa peels the skin off a hot dog. Bingo square #3. We have our own pavilion! Viper was one of the better Arrow loopers on the trip... MotoCoaster in all of its prototypical glory... But avast, we've broken our first coaster during ERT (this wouldn't be the last time). I'm pretty sure everyone was extremely anxious to ride, so most pushed as fast as they could to get in... There it is! *fear* There it is! *joy* Hanno takes a photo of something. Bingo square #2. ...Get used to it... Welcome to Darien Lake! The group is here for a morning of ERT...