MonkeyPants

I agree that MF gets a bit dull after the first drop, but I love that first drop! I think it gives plenty of airtime... Especially in the back. Actually I think MF is pretty good up through the 3rd hill (the big floater). Then it gets pretty boring. But I'd still choose it over SD. I remember watching a show documenting the contruction of it, (and also Lightning Racer), and a little about MF. I was astounded at the contrast between the two in terms of design. MF has those open air, minimal, cool looking trains, SD has ugly, giant buckets that barely your head peeks over. And the track looks pretty lame too. It looks like magnum, except a little bigger. MF may not be an amazing ride, but at least I can admire the design.

Very fun TR! Hilarious commentary! Tell Eric I'm sorry he had to suffer for Chuck's trangressions!

deano - the wait for MF was about 30 min during the day and about 15 min once the sun went down... Since daylight savings time ending Sat night, we had a bonus hour of night rides! raptorcrew, I wonder why they don't install anti-rollbacks on the climb to the MCBR. That doesn't sound like too hard of a thing to do... But maybe it is. As for camera gear, since so many peeps are asking, it's a Canon digi Rebel XT, and for the long shots I used a 75-300 zoom. That lens is for film cameras and the sensor in the rebel is smaller than 35mm film, so in effect the max focal length is ~450mm. Then some cropping, which jobber noticed with some noise in the images, which I probably coulda reduce by using a lower ISO since it was so sunny. Next time. I'd love to have a sweet lens long enough to shoot that in camera, but you're starting to talk about lenses that cost $10-40k. I'll stick to cropping for now! Snoo snoo that's hilarious that you see yourself in the pic! And prominently featured too! I was wondering if anyone would see themselves in a pic, but I thought the odds were too high! Hope you had a great time! Wasn't it an amazing day?

That place has amazing themeing... At first I thought the place must be in Egypt! Too bad it has no good rides... suxors.

Wow, I'm glad peeps are liking the shots. Thanks for the compliments. I had a great time taking them. For those who asked, the camera is a Canon Digi Rebel XT, and I've got a few lenses. I wish I had know Rappie had rolled back... I woulda taken pictures of that for sure... It's strange... In the evening Sunday, I was eating pizza on the midway facing raptor, and I thought it was odd that it wasn't running. I didn't think Raptor would be susceptible to wind too much. Come to find out the thing valleyed! Man I wish I had seen that!

more pics... I really like this picture... I think I'll frame it and hang it on my wall. So that's it for Grannie-buzz 2006. Hope you enjoyed the pics! Very cool station lighting. These lucky folks just had a rollback and are v e r y s l o w l y rolling back to launch position Top Thrill Dragster became Stand Still Master with 5 trains to go in 2006. Fortunately, this maintenance man hadn't gone home for the season. One of the last TTD rides of 2006 I can't believe I timed this right Top Thrill Grannie & Me having a ball at Cedar Point! Skyhawk. it's like Maxair, but without the spinning I hope that kid doesn't fall out abstract painting of rollie - coaster? This goose kept getting in the way... I think he wanted to ride. Draggie in the water Top Squiggle Dragster Talk about steep! Yipes! fast! must come down What goes up.... Magnum.... Through the trees! Wheeee! And you thought Mil.f was tall

So a little over 20 (egads) years ago, I wanted to go to Cedar Point, and the annual family trip had ceased happening. So my mother decided she'd drive me down from Michigan, and sit on the beach reading or cross-stiching. She wasn't one for thrill rides, and only rode Gemini maybe once a trip. So this particular trip, I think she might enjoy the rides, and somehow talk her into trying Demon Drop. Mind you she was planning on cross-stitching on the beach all day. As we waited in line, she was soooo nervous. I was actually a little nervous, cause she always said she had back problems as a reason not to ride rollercoasters, and Demon Drop is not known for it's butter-smooth ride. Finally, we get on, and she's about to have a heart attack. Up the tower, forward, Drop! Then all I hear for the next few minutes is uncontrolable giggling! The instant we walked off the station, she says "Can we go again!?" Thus began my mom's love of thrill rides. Having taken her on many trips with friends and just the two of us, she's always loves going to parks. Years ago, walking into King's Island with a bunch of friends and her, someone asked "What should we ride first," to which she responding by jumping up and down going "The Beast! The Beast! The Beast!" Fast forward to this year... I was able to take a number of trips to parks, and each time I talked about it she got so excited. But she didn't make it herself. And it's been a few years since she's gone to a park. I really wanted her to be able to go out and have some fun, as she's getting up there in years (67) and doesn't know anyone else who likes rides. So Thrusday I said that if it's nice at all this last weekend at CP for 2006, we'd go down there. Friday evening.... Raining and cold.... No go. Saturday.... Even rainier and colder. Plus it's a Saturday... No go. Sunday.... Gorgeous weather.... We went! I was very glad for her to be able to ride some coasters... She loves it so much... I love hearing her giggle incessently, having a ball! I took a bunch of pics of the coasters, including some very nerdy ones... I kept trying to get shots that hadn't been done a million times before. Sometimes I got that, and others... Well, there's only so many views of dragster from the ground... Anyway, here they are... And my mom had a great time! She even told a ride-op on Milf that she's 67 and loves that ride. This one is for all you Intamin-4-rail track fans. I know you're out there... I guess it's also good for all the black, greasy goo fans. You know who you are. Didn't make it on to this ride... Just didn't happen by it. Purdy fall colors and purdy fall sunshine Cool train go zoom Cool train This kinda defeats the point of being in the first row, no? "Oh, no I can't!" "I can see my house from here!" Setting new standards in TTD photography Homey's having some fun at 120mph Dear God don't let me die on this... Or if you must, at least make it super-fun. This one looks familiar Never. Before. Seen. Magnum punches below the belt with a lapbar to the groin! Maggie go over a hill that used to be obscured by trees Maggie go down... Maggie go up... Nerd Alert! This shot shows the rarely seen anti-rollbback dogs... Woohoo! Oh... They do.... Guess this means the lines are short... It almost looks like these folks have the ride all to themselves! Drive-by shooting of Maverick Then down! ...and up.... ....and up... The people go up.... Nerd Alert! My mom was sitting in that last seat later in the day! At 67! Did I mention that it's tall? Might not have seen the shot before! Another one! Never-before-seen shot! And it has cool looking trains. This one's big. Cedar Point has rides...

I definitely feel that being really familiar with coaster safety, and having ridden them so much, has drastically lowered my excitement on them. It's almost as if my enjoyment comes from seeing photos of 'em, or thinking about them, more than actually riding them. So often, I find myself saying after a ride "I don't think I need to go on that again," especially if it was uncomforable. There are very few rides that actually cause any adrenaline to flow. When I started riding as a kid, the Gemini first drop was terrifying, and I felt like I'd fall right out of the train. Now, I'll ride Mill Force and kinda make myself say "wheee!" The ride feels pleasant, but certainly not scary or exciting. There have been only two rides as an adult that actually made me scared and gave an adrenaline rush. Big Shot on Stratosphere and X. Big Shot mainly cause the rest of Stratosphere seemed cheap, and the ride-ops seemed 'distant.' So I wasn't entirely sure about things like routine maintenance happening there. As for X, it was during the preview weeks, after having been delayed and delayed. I knew Arrow had design problems in the past (the Bat), and obviously with X, so I wasn't entirely sure the seats wouldn't break off. In both cases, feeling like the thing might fall apart was the reason I felt scared. So it could have to do with comparing it to my childhood views (which are different than adult views), doing other things that are less controlled and therefore more adrenaliny (riding a motorcyle, skiing), and/or knowing alot about ride safety. Also, I think it has to do with the fact that a rollercoaster is the same everytime you ride it.

I saw Bodyworld 2 in Cleveland last year. I found it to be an amazing display, certainly the most intriguing and worthwhile museum display I've ever seen, and I can't imagine ever topping it. It was a combination of disgusting and unbelievably fascinating. It didn't seem like it was designed to shock or repulse. More like it was to show the incredible intricacies of the human body, in interesting and (mostly) beautiful ways. And believe me, diagrams in biology textbooks and plaster models don't even begin to demonstrate the subtle, complex systems & structures in human bodies. One exhibit that sticks out is a complete human circulatory system (minus the miniscule capilaries) floating in a liquid. Also cool was three sets of lungs... Normal, smokers lungs, and coal miner's lungs. First you see the normal ones which are pretty white, except for a couple dark specs from dust accumation over the person's life. Next is smoker's lung, and the word that comes quickly to mind is 'repulsive.' Then the coal miner's lung, which makes the smokers's lung look healthy. It even glistened the way a hunk of coal does. Horrible! The display was at the Science Center, and it definitely was presented as a learning experience (which it was) and not a freak-show amusement. It was VERY worth seeing. In fact, I saw it twice, and would gladly see it again. Highly recommended, even for kids, though maybe not super little ones (there were quite a few kids there.)

You should check out the TPR video of Avalanche... It's in the section for Registered Cool People... Flat out insanity! I like your story... Coming to TPR for info, getting friendly advice and coming back to update everyone! Very cool. Looks like you two had a great trip!

Nice report... Lucky you getting the behind the scenes tour! Didn't that ride just open, though? Why does the blue train need maintenance already? Must admit, that is quite smart of them to have a 'spare' train... And obviously, they have a system in place to handle the disassembled trains, unlike on X.

Crucifixion - The Ride

ok, thanks for the info on uploading! I've got a couple backlogged TR's to post!

Umm, yea... What I was looking for was a way to upload those 30 pics all at once, instead of browsing for one, clicking the upload button, scrolling down again, repeating... Something more along the lines of - browse for all pics for the post, click upload, voila!

So I'm doing photo TR, and it's kinda a pain to upload each pic individually. Does anyone know a way to batch upload all the pics at once?

I like that shot of Gemini with Magnum in front... Very cool... You know... A lot of that 'themeing' on the Frontier trail isn't really themeing, but rather actual historic buildings that have been moved to CP. Personally, I think that's pretty cool.

Hmmm, never heard that quote before, but if he's so against gimmicks, then why a stand up? Why a suspended ride? Why a racing coaster? They're all gimmicks.

Hey! I used to live just off that map on Michigan Ave at 12th! I don't recall there being a video store on that corner. Of course, there's Vidiots on Pico, the worlds best video store!

Me likey this one!

This is very sad news. My condolences for the man's family. My friend and I were getting off Gobbler Getaway, walking out of the exit doorway, when EMTs rushed past us going in to GG. They looked very frantic. I wondered how someone could get injured on that ride. As we continued to walk, we were passed by more EMTs, and employees fetching a backboard. Now we were really wondering what had happened, still thinking it happened on GG. Apparently, they were just going through it to get outside the park. Then we saw Will Koch, and more employees rushing to the scene. It must have been very difficult for the Koch's and everyone else to continue on with the Holiwood Nights events, giving speeches and keeping the mood festive, while knowing the tragedy that had taken place. Very sad.

We covered this awhile ago. The first car is the zero car in all invert cases minus Alpie. Well, yea I know that the first two cars of all B&M trains only articulate rotationally. but as far as I knew, the term 'zero-car' meant the first car with no seats, ala Alpengeist, which is the only one with it. What would be the puppose of pointing out that Black Mamba has a zero-car, if one is refering to the design style that all B&M inverts have?

joris.tweakdsl.nl/blackmamba/Pre%20opening%20Blackmamba%20106.jpg You can clearly see in this picture that it has a zero car. Colin C Hmmm..... You can clearly see by this picture that it does NOT have a zero car...

Cause everything is breaking down! Is it a sign of the apocolypse? Wait and see!

Wow! Hope those riders are ok! In this pic it looks like the wheel assemblies are missing...

^ That la Ronde shot is nuts! The spines of the two track segments are not connected! I think I'll take a pass on riding that one! Yikes!