arrowfanman

Day Five: Little A-Merrick-A and Mount Olympus Hey everybody! Ok, so this installment will be a little bit shorter than the last one, in part due to the fact that today was mostly a “travel day”. That being said, we still did a goodly amount of stuff! We spent the first few hours of the day driving north, towards Wisconsin. After lunch, we arrived at the super-secret bonus park of the trip—Little A-Merrick-A! We all entered the little park (so small, I’m sure it would fit within the footprint of a ride like Raptor or something) and were escorted the park’s newest junior-wooden coaster, the Meteor! A big thank you to the park for this “sneak preview” of the coaster! Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of this little preview. Why?—I don’t even remember. All I remember is a few cycles on the first train and then Chris grabbed me away from it and said, “Hurry, if we don’t get to the other credit, the line will take forever!” “Which other credit?” *cue background music* Why, the Toboggan, of course! The Toboggan is a coaster that I have seen in pictures every once and a while, but despite the photographic evidence, I wasn’t ever really convinced that they existed. Or at least that they actually cycled people! As easy as it is to joke about it, I have to be honest—I was actually afraid of this thing! We waited in about a 10-person line, which grew to like, 40. So good deal to Chris, for getting me in line so soon! I'll give you credit for that! (but NOT for wooing the IB operator) We waited about 5 minutes and were on. Once the awesome ride op essentially locked us into a cage and our heads were touching the ceiling, I think we were both rather concerned! The ride helped make me feel reborn—in many ways. The ride doesn’t almost kill you until this part! Honestly, the ride wasn’t that bad! I mean, I’m sure Robb and Casey had a scary-ass experience! But my ride wasn’t all THAT bad. It could have been worse. Up next was the steel kiddie coaster. It was an old one, the same layout as Goliath Jr.—which was almost charming to me as I was a certified Goliath Jr. ride operator. I hadn’t been on the Magic Mountain version since childhood, so it was fun to get a chance to ride, since this park didn’t have a maximum height restriction. This ride did have Goliath Jr. one-upped for obvious reasons… Ride with a view! If you cant consider that “atmosphere”, I don’t know what is! I may be smiling, but I know what the operator has to do to literally snap my spine, so I was dying on the inside! This photo is soooooooo amazing for sooooooooooo many reasons! After the kiddie, we realized we were well paced and had plenty of time to round up the last credit, so we stopped to ride a flat ride. I forget the name, but you sat in this jet-shaped gondola and rotated side to side as the entire structure spun vertically! It was intense and torture on the testicles! I swear! Rock-o-planes are fun, but this thing was just brutal! I did manage to get a shot of the Meteor from the ride! Yay! We also got a decent view of our next torture-device, the Mad Mouse. I have never been on a mouse this old and screwed up before! It was definitely fun, but still somewhat scary! An aerial view of this work of genius. Once we had finished our credits, we had a bit of time to just wander the park, take it in. I would have liked to ride the train ride, but we weren’t convinced that we had enough time. We barely had the time to ride the go-karts as we did! Why we chose those instead of the awesome looking monorail thingy, I don’t know! I mean, we would be at Mount Olympus that night! But still, we did. Hey, Elissa—why are you so wet? (*giggle*)… …Oh! From children’s bumper boats in a vat of Gatorade! Ok, so that was about it for Little A-Merrick-A. It was a fun little park. I would definitely classify it as more of a “family fun center” than an “amusement park”, because it was so undeniably small and strove to provide a charming little family experience. Though it did technically have four credits, there was just something left to be desired for me. With the exception of the Meteor, the park was like a year-round fair—an asphalt midway with a few temporary flats and coasters popped up wherever they so desired. If you’re a credit whore, I definitely suggest stopping by at this park. If stopping at the park coordinates well with any driving-stops you were planning on taking anyway, I suggest stopping at the park. If you are not really a credit whore and would prefer to stay on the road, I would recommend passing the park and spending that extra hour or two at the Dells. Which is where we’re heading now. We were soon on the road, heading for one of the most anticipated stops on the trip! When we arrived at Wisconsin Dells, we were all pretty excited! The town reminded me of Branson, Missouri, with one roadside attraction after another, right up next to each other. But we were headed for the largest attraction in town… Time for an Aegean Adventure! I was very stoked—the park was far more expansive than I realized and very very beautiful! When we arrived at the Resort, we checked into our rooms and the group immediately headed down to the park. I held off, as Wes had to pick up a quick prescription down at the nearby pharmacy and I thought I could use a break from a crowd, so I ventured off with him. We waited forever for a stupid taxi driver who couldn’t find the most popular spot in town! When he drove us, we realized that the pharmacy was literally less than a mile down the road and so we just decided to walk back, getting a great view of the Dells and of the park. This was….interesting. Hmmm….this should be a Trojan joke… I got one! This Trojan horse reminds me of the numerous Trojan condoms secretly stashed around Mike’s house, unbeknownst to him. When Wes and I got back to Mount Olympus, we finally set foot into the park to discover that everyone was heading over to the water park portion of the park. And naturally, the first thing on the itinerary was Poseidon’s Fury, the wave pool with nine foot tall waves. Oh. My. God. The wave pool was literally one of the most insane “attractions” I have ever seen. It was part fun. Part unique. And very much freakin’ terrifying! I know a lot of TPR members were out there, getting used to the wave patterns and enjoying themselves, but I was just tossed about and scarred shitless! You would get out there and hear the normal park noises (people enjoying themselves, shouting, splashes), and then all of a sudden there would be a rumble. A rumble that shook fear into everyone’s heart. We would all look at each other, knowing what awaited us. The misters would rocket steam into the air and then *BOOM*—a nine foot tall wave was headed for you! I took a few cycles of those behemoth waves and then called it quits. Although the one funny thing was getting tossed by one of the waves and inadvertently kicking Homer in the leg! Some TPR members, getting their asses kicked! Wes is smarter than the people in the last photo. Nine inches of water and a great view of the lifeguards. After the suicidal maniacs were done with the wave pool, it was time to check out some of the family-raft slides. We all took our turns going down the pink slide. The last group to go?—Casey, Robb, Chuck, and Chris. Where could they be? They were taking forever! All of a sudden, the water in the slide just stopped. And then this… I was scared for them, and I was on the ground! I swear I saw the raft leave the slide for a moment! The raft didn’t splash IN to the water so much as it did OVER the water, literally carrying them nearly to the edge of the pool entirely! It was VERY amusing! Anyway, we then spent a good 30-45 minutes in the indoor theme park, before throwing ON the towel and heading back to the hotel to change into street clothes. The plan was to head back into the park and get a night-time ride on Hades. We made it all the way to the ride when all of a sudden the sky opened up and dropped one of the nastiest storms I have ever seen onto us! Mind you—I’m a Southern Californian. I don’t see all that many “storms” So I was all and all impressed with the torrential downpour and numerous lighting-bolts, firing off in rapid succession. We made it to the “indoor park” with just enough time to get the Zamperela spinning wild mouse, before calling it a night. We sought shelter in the hotel, ordering pizza as it was the only food available and willing to deliver in the downpour. I’m pretty sure that’s THE lightning bolt responsible for our little situation with Avalanche the following day. More on that later…. Anyway, with us stormed in and only one credit under my belt, the plan was to make the early-morning hotel ERT tomorrow to ensure maximum rides could be expierenced. And to hear about that, you’ll have to check back for the next installment! Our Dells experience was proving to be interesting, for lack of a better word. Tomorrow would prove to be even more interesting, so check back for that! Thanks for reading everyone! -Jahan

Great PTR Sean! Shame we didn't hang out that day! There were soooooooooo many people! Anyway, thanks for posting! -Jahan

If this goes into the wrong hands, I might NEVER get my West Coaster credit! And FLIPDUDE, Venice used to have several amusemet peirs WAY back in the day that rivaled Coney Island. In the fifties, Pacific Ocean Park or POP opened, but all have closed. Pacific Park is a pathetic harkening back to the true historic boardwalks. -Jahan

Great PTR Brent! It was so nice to see you again that day! I said it in Thomas Town and I'll say it again--you're awesome! Anyway, let me know the next time you come up for a visit! Thanks again for the PTR. -Jahan

Wow--Yesterday was great!!! One of the best times I've ever had at the park! Felt like I was 15 again, running around and riding all the rides during ERT! It was so fun to meet and play in the park with all of you! There were sooooooooooo many people at the event! I hope that all of you enjoyed the backstage tours! It was so much fun for me to share my little bits of the park with you. Truly a satisfying day. I want to thank SFMM, Jay, Tim, and of course Neal for hosting us! That was the greatest treatment of coaster enthusiasts I have ever personally seen. I would also like to take the time to thank Robb, Elissa, Mike, Colin, and an ENTIRE team of TPR folks who helped pull this event off! Between a speedy registration, the colored tour group posts, the video compilations, and soooooooo much more, the event was amazing and enjoyable to be a part of, from both sides of the coin. I appreciate your hard work, very much! -Jahan

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! Did you mean "leery" (also spelled "leary") of woodies, meaning "suspicious" or "wary," or were you really tired of them? Jahan, this has been one excellent TR (but yours always are). By golly Chuck, you're right. It shall be fixed! I did notice and considered adding you in, but then thought, "Psh--Matt's getting a WHOLE section of the SFGAm TR to his self. He would much rather prefer that to a simple name-drop. -Jahan

Believe it or not (I know this is totally not up my alley), but I used to sandboard! There's a massive hill/canyon behind my house and I'd go up there with a plastic board when I was bored. I find boarding on long grass is just as good. -Jahan

^ ^^ Your wish is my command. Day 4: Indiana Beach Hey everybody! Well, a late night and a long drive had us pulling into our hotel from Beech Bend at about one in the morning, so we were allowed to sleep in a little the following day. That being said, we were still up early enough to get on the road for the next park of the trip—Indiana Beach. At 11:30, we stopped for lunch. This was supposed to be a picture of the Taco Bell we ate at, but Carl thought he’d jump in and make it his own. That’s ok Carl. Photographic proof. Love you TJ. After lunch, we dashed across the street to grab us some Frozen Cokes for the road. This photo wishes it were as cool as the Waffle House photo. Indiana Beach was another park that I didn’t know anything about prior to that morning. It was equated to sort of a “Blackpool of the US”, which didn’t help me at all, not having been to Blackpool either! Lol! That being said, I was in for a huge surprise! I almost forgot why I took this photo, as it really is a horrible photo! I just remembered that I was showcasing the FREE PARKING. This park is already awesome and we just got there! This particular entrance to the park is rather humble, but… …the bridge immediately following it has to be one of the most grand and awesome park entrances ever! We got into the park without a problem and was quickly taken away into a fun little world. The park proves that you do not need themeing to have atmosphere! I let the rest of the group go ahead to let in some local friends of ours—Rich and Mel—and we were soon greeted by Cameron, Ted, Catrina, and several other friends. When I came back, the majority of my group had already begun to round up the credits, so Robb allowed me to tag along and help him get POV footage of everyone’s favorite coaster—The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. *cues background music* Now I knew nothing of the ride. Nothing at all. Well, I was told that it was VERY low-capacity. But other than that, I didn’t know of the elevator lift, tight turns, animatronics, show scenes, and most importantly—THE BEAR! And I certainly didn’t realize how much they were able to cram in such a tight area! Robb, about to get a train dispatched on him. What?! It was better than the duct-tape joke I was going to go for! While Robb set up his lipstick cam, I engaged in some “dorky ride-operator talk” with the friendly LoCoSuMo op. Transfering trains, evacuations, loading and unloading riders—you know, the standard stuff. She seemed genuinely interested though, so that’s good. By the time we were all strapped in, we were really starting to get scared! You can even tell in the LoCoSuMo POV from Roller Coasters in the RAW, that Robb, Chris, and myself were all rather freaked out! Apparently this thing used to hurt—badly! Jesus what is happening to me?! Where am I going?! By the time the ride was over, I couldn’t believe what just happened to me! The ride wasn’t uncomfortable, but was actually fun! Lots of fun! It’s actually probably one of the most “fun” coasters ever! Chris and I confused as to what exactly we just witnessed! These guys have no idea what’s coming at them! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdadbRSxYXw The TPR-filmed POV, for your viewing pleasure. Anyway, after LoCoSuMo, we began to round up some other credits. Oooh! Dueling woodies—Choose thy fate! A crappy photo, but the only decent one I had of Cornball. The Cornball Express was next. Again, I’m still somewhat leery of woodies due to my tragically-dull background with them, so I didn’t know what to expect from this one. That being said, it was running GREAT! Barring LoCoSuMo, it was my favorite coaster at Indiana Beach! After Cornball, we tried to get on the Tig’rr coaster, but was denied due to the “rainy” weather. Wes came all prepared to fight back against the rain. Retreating from the rain, we all hid in the Fascination gallery and played for seemingly forever! And yet not long enough, for some people! We were also able to try the shooting dark ride, of which its name escapes me. But it was probably like, my favorite shooting dark ride ever! It just worked out perfectly that we were on that side of the park, because our group meal was about to begin! I misunderstand the concept of the “meal ticket”. BTW, is it just me, or does my head looks unusually long in this photo?! This is no Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner, but the pre-food literature was very similar! All I remember from the meal is that it was that it was the most random assortment of food ever! They had like, taco stuff (naturally), next to ravioli, next to biscuits and gravy or something. It wasn’t bad! I just remember thinking to myself “Huh……….huh.” After food, it was time for my turn on the Hoosier Hurricane, the park’s dominating woodie. The ride’s entrance and exit, on a bridge it also shares with the log flume’s exit. Like, I seriously love how crammed in this park is! While not as amazing as Cornball Express, Hoosier Hurricane still simply owned the park! And with the rain away, we finally had a chance to round up that Tig’rr Coaster… A fun little ride, no doubt—again, lodged in by Cornball and I believe that it sits on top of something else! Here, Chris points out the vehicle transfer apparatus, for all of us vehicle transfer apparatus enthusiasts out there. We had also rounded up the Galaxy credit, which was AMAZING but I unfortunately had no photos of. After that, we all sort of met up with a bunch of friends and did a tour of the parks “over-water flat rides”. These are rides that are traditionally “whatever/filler” rides, that stood out as unique, fun, and signature attractions due to their simple placement over the water. Up first were the flyers. These were actually my first flyers ever! Afterwards was the chair-swing, which was probably one of my favorite rides in the park! LOL…I LOVE THIS SHOT. Mel is amazing! Come to think of it, with the stunt show underneath and the “movement” of the swings, this is a really great promo shot! What do you say Mel—we go 50/50 and sell it to Indiana Beach for some brochures? Up next was the Paratrooper. Just so you know, Chuck is deathly afraid of Paratroopers. I believe the story is that he saw one collapse at a fair as a child. So I thought I’d be a respecting friend—and drag him onto one perched dangerously over a body of water! You can tell Chuck isn’t so thrilled to be here. He’s going to kill me for this! I cant help but caption this “Boogy, boogy, boogy!” We finished our flat rides on the Scrambler, a classic. We decided to cram as many people into one unit as possible—a lesson I have learned before, but completely ignored. I need to learn to apply past lessons learned to currently unfolding situations. Grrr. Those are sincere expressions of pain. Even Dane’s ear looks like it’s hurting! After the flat ride tour, we decided to split a bit, do some different things. Cameron told me that despite the $3 admission fee, the haunted house tour was definitely worth it. He even offered to compensate my risk if I ended up not liking it, but I trusted him—I mean, everything else he said about the awesome little park had been true so far! And he was right about the haunted house tour! It was actually one of the coolest ones I’ve ever been in. Any tour with the jacob’s ladder effect is Jahan-approved! We even found Joey on the tour! At this point in the day, we were pretty comfortable with the pace at which we were hitting attractions, so a few of us decided to branch off and simply document the place! Grab photos, video, and generally just act like the geeks that we are! We thought it would be mighty-funny to throw Tex off the bridge leading into the park. …it was. The Ferris Wheel proved to be an excellent place to get a view of the park! From up here, you can really get a grasp of how compact and layered the park was. Ok, so story! We were on the Ferris Wheel for a good few cycles, getting shots of the park and of the Hurricane flying on by. Well, I had begun to grow very comfortable with the attraction and rested my elbow up onto the side of the gondola, as one would an arm rest. I didn’t even think it to be an issue! As we were cycling around, my elbow caught the edge of the station platform decking on precisely the spot that I hit it while at Holiday World! It wasn’t painful! Just a quick little bite and I went back to taking photos. That is until I was beginning to make a little mess. I mean, it was no “Hockey Player gets Gashed in the Neck”, but it was pretty impressive! Just kept bleeding and bleeding! Finally Elissa’s awesome mother Janice applied some first aid magic and kissed it better for me—metaphorically, of course. After our little photo and video run, we all rejoined for a ride that Kristen could ride—the train! I gave Kristen the camera to take photos on the train, but she just kept taking stupid emo photos of herself, so I had to take it away. We next went onto the antique car ride. Some wanted to get footage of the ride, and some just wanted another look at…. …..THE BEAR!!!! I love that. Anyway, one last ride of the night before the ERT begins! I *LOVE* the shorter shot towers. Way more powerful than some of the taller ones! —Words can not describe…. Anyway, after our rides the park began to shut down, which mean that our ERT was about to start. I forget exactly what was planned, but I recall the park keeping a few extra rides open, like the shooting dark ride and the bumper cars. But my favorite was Cornball! We rode that thing so many times! At one point we were going up the lift and saw a flash of lightning, far off in the distance, as part of a storm that was on its way. It was definitely a surreal coaster experience. Me and our new ride operator friend in front of a sign we immaturely found humorous. …We saw her throughout the day and she seemed genuinely interested in our event! She was the one I had a “dorky ride operator conversation” with at LoCoSuMo. She even joined us for a ride on Cornball at the end of her shift! Very nice!!! When ERT was over, I left feeling euphoric! I cant even describe it. I know a lot of people felt this way when leaving IB, but I know I havn’t had that genuinely enjoyable of a park experience in a long time. It was the park. The people I was with. The all-around energy that filled the day. I just loved it. Anyway, that should do it for this installment! Don’t forget to check back soon, when we begin our journey to Wisconsin! Thanks for reading! -Jahan

What is love? Baby don't hurt me. -Jahan

^ No one! That's why I can't believe I said that! -Jahan

^ I agree with that statement. I've spent my whole life looking forward at some milestone to change me. In fact, I did so much time waiting to change, that I never changed. And that doesn't help me. Make change today. If you wait for it to happen tomorrow, it never will. I also don't reccomend dealing in terms of "the one". That will only be a handicap in the end. Just go out and have fun. Meet people. Take different people for a test drive, even if they don't appear to be "the one". You'll get much farther that way. -Jahan "I cant believe I just said that" Makanvand

I don't mean to single you out, but I see this ALL THE TIME and wanted to comment... Guys, when you see a thread that you *KNOW* is going to be locked because it doesn't meet the Terms of Service, DO NOT respond. Especially with a comment like "*waits to be locked*". First of all, it's backseat-moderating, which isn't cool or allowed. Secondly, the reason we don't allow people to respond to spam is because doing so will bump topics that shouldn't be on our boards. By responding to spam, you're essentially promoting non-quality posts. Well, by responding to threads like this, you are doing the same--promoting non-quality threads when you KNOW they're going to be locked. So please. If you see a thread, spam or not, and you know it will be locked, please don't comment and bump the thread. Thank you. -Jahan

Not entirely. The Truman Show wasn't just about documenting a life, but rather about mass advertising and conformity. We don't do that here at TPR. -Jahan P.S. Oh, BTW...remember folks, you can see more of Kristen on TPR DVDs. The TPR DVDs are still only $10! Get them while they stay this cheap!--It's what the cool kids are doing!

No. I said the next installment will be of my favorite park. I'll let Casey answer that one. OMG...How could I have forgotten about that?!!? I even went back for seconds on the mystery meat! Basically, when you enter the park, if you go left, you'll head towards the Rumbler. If you head right, you head towards the wild mouse. No tower photos because I didn't ride. The only photo I took of the tower was one from beneath me, looking up at the tower--and it's pretty much a photo up my creamy-white and very hairy thigh. Not entirely flattering, so I didn't post it. Thanks for all of your nice comments guys! -Jahan

Day 3: Beech Bend Hey everybody! Alright, so I hope you’re all ready to pick up where I left off, because I’m about to jump right into this! We left Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at 3:00pm and made route to Beech Bend. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know anything about Beech Bend until my visit, other than that it was home to the Kentucky Rumbler, a compact GCI, and my first GCI (barring Roar-west, which wasn’t running to well by the time I finally got on it). But I was excited none-the-less. Our drive began with a quick briefing by Elissa on the upcoming park. After Elissa’s spiel, over half the bus literally crashed out! This is only day three of the tour and we were already exhausted! OMG…A KFC, in Kentucky! I’m such a horrible, shameless tourist! Two and a half hours later, we were there! An unnecessary photo of Beech Bend ticket distribution! Once we got in the park, we waited forever for a bathroom to come available. While waiting, we could tell that the park was somewhat crowded, but not in any way that would handicap our visit. In fact, once we started our circuit, we realized the ride lines themselves were actually rather short. Our first taste of Beech Bend was the Zamperla spinning wild mouse—one of five same models we’d encounter during the trip…lmao . As we were queuing, I was shocked to find maintenance freely doing checks within the track area as units were cycling. I soon realized it was that kind of park. LOL. The operations were also terrible, if I may say so. They were cycling so slowly for the number of vehicles that they had, that every car blocked! The second half of the ride literally consisted of coming to a complete stop in a block brake. Wait for the block ahead to clear. Reset automatically and slowly coast to the next block. Stop at the next block. Wait for the next block to clear. Reset automatically and slowly coast to the next block. It was pretty lame. You guys look excited enough to get back in line! After Wild Mouse, we messed around on some flat rides before making our way to the next credit. Lol. Dick. On our way to the Dragon Wagon, we played everybody’s favorite game—Steal Ryan’s Hat!!! !!! Once Ryan reached down Casey’s shorts and got his hat back, we all rode the Dragon Wagon. Chuck seems to have enjoyed it—TJ, not so much. I seem to have forgotten the order we did things at this point, but I’m pretty sure we went to grab a ride on the Pinfari Death Machine. The ride operator informed us that the ride vehicle’s name was Dora. Smelling our fear, she told us, “If you are nice to Dora, Dora will be nice to you.” She ended up being right! For a “Death Machine”, the ride was honestly not that bad! Dora, doing her thing. My post-Dora hair. Looks good, but not worth waking up every morning and riding a Pinfari Looper. With three out of four credits under our belts, it was time for one last. *cues background music* The Kentucky Rumbler was unique in that it was both Chuck and my 100th credit! But I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the ride. As I said, I had only been on GCI’s Roar-west before this ride, which was somewhat rough when I rode it. And this ride was even smaller than that. GCI certainly makes the most ‘photogenic’ woodies, in my opinion. Unfortunately one-train operation (by default) was somewhat obnoxious, considering the line wouldn’t have been longer than 7 minutes with a second train. But that was our own fault for waiting, as we had scheduled ERT, later that evening. LOL…I find that little chain-return roof-thingy to be charming! Chuck knew as a fact that the Rumbler would be his 100th credit. I was just mostly sure of it. If I was one off and my 100th ended up being Dora, I was actually ok with that. That being said, we rode together in the back row in case the Rumbler ended up being my 100th. Dorks. The Rumbler? Wow. I loved it. I have never had that much fun on a wooden coaster before. I mean, even the lift approach was fun! The first drop was perfect. As Joe described it, the laterals build as you round that turn, only to yield to a weightless-like drop. And the rest of the ride was a blur. You were here. You were there. You were everywhere. But the transitions and directional changes were so smooth. I’ve never been so comfortable on any coaster (I totally want a GCI coach for a couch or something!). Anyway, Raven was great. Voyage was fun. But this was my favorite wooden coaster on the trip thus far. And thus on the trip. And thereby in general. The entire ride was void of straight-aways. Directional changes were natural and everywhere! TJ and Dane demonstrate how fun the simple turn out of station is!:'> Anyway, after our ride on the Rumbler, we decided to round up a few last minute rides on random things. LOL…Ryan and Jon pretty much sum up how we all felt after the haunted house! BOO to penguin themed flat rides!!!! We also took a ride on—on—on—damn, the name escapes me at the moment! It was a giant orange flat ride, with arms and suspended seats that spun around and around! It was SO fun! I hate that I cant remember the name. Help, anyone? As the sun began to set in the Kentucky-sky, we had a SECOND group meal provided in the picnic pavilion. Dinner was tasty. Not “SFKK Italian Feast” tasty, but tasty. I still cant believe that. After dinner, it was time for our Kentucky Rumbler ERT. But there was a surprise— The GCI guys would be our ride operators!!! Riding off into the dark night air! It was really an amazing way to end the night, by marathoning a great ride! It was really a high-energy night and exhausted us all. I want to give a big “thank you!” to the GCI guys for volunteering their time and Beech Bend for hosting us! Well, I know it wasn't long, but that would do it for this installment. My favorite park of the trip, coming soon! -Jahan

^ That was the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw this video was posted! I was very much dissapointed! Great video find, however. Thanks for posting! I think I'm going to get me a pair of skates and recreate this! -Jahan

I remember seeing that model at Arrow's booth at the IAAPA convention. It was on display right along side the Ninja model which opened in 1988. Shock Wave at Six Flags Great America also opened in 1988 so I would assume that it is a model of Shock Wave and it was repainted and used as a promotional piece for Viper. Funny you mention that, I just walked passed the Ninja model you spoke of today. It looks pretty sweet. Just got repainted, like its real-life counterpart. Anyway, yeah, you guys are all right. Shockwave, GASM, and Viper are all sister-coasters. Viper, the tallest and fastest of the three, takes its layout-inspiration from the other two. This will be explained in the museum. -Jahan

^ Wait...Elissa gave birth?! WTF?! And I bet next you're going to try to tell me that Heath Ledger is dead! Happy Birthday Kristen! I love you! -Jahan

^ Lola and Stella. I don't remember which color is which. Thanks for all of the comments guys! Beech Bend will be up soon! -Jahan

^ In my opinion, Viper is intense, a little rough, but not really painful. Just intense, really. Great PTR! Thanks for posting your photos. -Jahan

LOL. This stuff is amazing. You are such a strong person to share this with us, Wes. -Jahan

Day 3: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Hey everybody! Welcome to day three of the trip! Today I was very excited as I would encounter what would be my very first Six Flags park outside of California. As Magic Mountain is one of the more frowned-upon parks in the chain and Discovery Kingdom is considered one of the new “flagship parks”, I was interested to see some “middle ground” on Six Flags. This being said, I’m going to be perfectly honest—I hadn’t heard that great of reviews about Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. I was told that I’d have to wait for Great America before getting a nice Six Flags treatment. Luckily, I was proven wrong. Read on. Saturday, August 4, 2007 was coincidentally the day of a nationwide “Hot Rod Convention” in Louisville. It was pretty neat driving to the park in our huge Anderson Coach and pass a bunch of shiny hot rods, even if I’m not into that kind of thing. Finally the park began to emerge in the distance! So we pulled up to SFKK and entered the park via a back entrance over by Chang for an ERT session on Chang, Twisted Twins, and Thunder Run. Regrettably, Thunder Run was down for an ill-timed maintenance issue, however the park made up for this by opening T2 and Greezed Lightin’ for ERT as well! Great deal! We were also promised a bit of ERT on Deluge, the new water slide in the water park…more on that later! We were greeted by park management, security, and an army of Six Flags PhotoPass Photographers. We quickly escaped them and headed for the nearest attraction—Chang! Chang, test running before we were in the park. The sight made me miss my “safety rides” on the Riddler’s Revenge back in the good old days. MMmmmmmm….stand up goodness! I really enjoyed Chang! Not quite as good as the Riddler’s Revenge, but definitely better than Mantis, IMO. That being said, the ride felt somewhat “out of place” at Kentucky Kingdom. Don’t ask why, it just did! Up next was probably the scariest ride of the park— T22222222!!!! I had heard the stories. Of how T2 was so bad, that each year they have to remove another row of seats from the train (see photo above). Of how T2 was one of the worst SLC coasters in the world. Of how it would hurt. Of how I would be pained. Of how T2 would marinade me, roast me on a spit, and eat me for dinner. I was kind of scared, especially as in all my years “coaster enthusiasm”, this would be my first SLC coaster! To be honest, with a set-up like that, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be! I mean, it was bad! Trust me on that! Just not as bad as I had been told. Although, it had a weird kind of shuffling. Like, I’ve been on coasters that shuffle up and down. I’ve been on coasters that bang you back and forth. This coaster, being suspended, managed to rock you back and forth as if on a rocking chair, rapidly, but not comfortably. Wes demonstrates the “eagle” while Patrick demonstrates how we all felt after T2. We continued to make our way around the park hoping to come across our next ride for ERT, the Twisted Twins. I will NOT ride a “Penguin” themed ride. And if ‘Man’ dares ask me why, I’ll slap him. It doesn’t even make sense but it makes me giggle! One of the cooler “ride entrances” to the park. Despite that cool entrance, Twisted Twins weren’t necessarily the most photographical of the park’s coasters. And unfortunately, only the blue side was running (I forget the names). The pink side would be down—until 20 minutes before our bus was set to depart. That all being said, it was a decent ride, IMO. Though our Deluge ERT was rapidly approaching, we thought it most fit to first ride Greezed Lightnin’, the parks counter-weight drop Schwarzkopf shuttle coaster as it was a single-train ride and we wouldn’t want to have to queue long for it. The bridge splitting the park into two haves was an interesting feature. Very RCT-esque! Great milk, comes from happy cows. Happy cows, come from Kentucky Kingdom’s antique car ride! LOL! I love this photo! I told Ryan to do the “Greased Lightnin’” dance under the sign…but apparently Wes had something else in mind! The ride was fun. Naturally, a solid compact coaster. As our ERT session was expiring and we still had Deluge to ride, we hurried on over to the water park to get a few rides in. MmmmmMMm. Deluge. *drools* I specifically remember showing up to Deluge and having a crazed-excited Elissa jump out of the exit of the ride shouting “OMGLOL YOU GUYS HAVE TO DO THIS!!!!” Sure enough, the ride was GREAT! A totally unique water ride experience, that rode like a coaster but soaked like a water slide. I LOVED it. No offense to the park’s ok coaster collection, but it was definitely my favorite ride in the park! And after all of that, I can’t help but think— —How come Magic Mountain doesn’t get one of these? You know, it would fit perfectly in Flashback’s footprint (I’ve Google-Earth measured it, in my persistence ), could be operated by ride operators and not only lifeguards, could be operated under Hurricane Harbor during the summer and Magic Mountain during the winter, and best of all, is a genuine FAMILY attraction! I win. Anyway, after 3 or 4 rides on Deluge, we realized that the park had now opened. We did a few of the water park’s other water slides, such as the Tornado and some of the older slides, but quickly realized that the crowds had began to pick up and thought it best to try and round up our other credits. Yup. Park is DEFINITELY open now. At the Roadrunner Express, a few things were going through my mind: 1) Ugh, this is a long line. 2) It’s hot. 3) At least this ride is better themed than Mulholland Madness. 4) It’s still really freakin’ hot. 5) We probably should have gone to such a low-capacity ride earlier in the day. 6) I *heart* Deluge. 7) God damn it’s HOT! Eventually the heat began to get to us, Chris needed to protect his head from the sun and I needed entertainment, so I taught him how to be a terrorist and well… *Random Islamic Yodeling* It’s ok guys. I can say that. I’m Persian. Like the cat. Meow. Roadrunner Express took so long that by the time we were done with it, our park catered lunch was about to begin, so we hurried on over to that. Now when Elissa told me in January of last year that we were going to have the “Italian Feast” meal at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, I was sort of scared. I mean, how great can Italian food be at a Six Flags park? OMG. Like, the “Italian Feast” at Kentucky Kingdom was probably my *favorite* park-catered meal of the trip! Like, seriously! The food was great and—the breadsticks! Oh dear God. I think we all took a bread stick for the hell of it, but they were these awesome breadsticks with cheese in the middle! I loved it! Lunch also provided what would be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, character interaction experience, ever! Basically, Bugs and Daffy came out to greet us. But Bugs got mischievous and stole Tex’s sandals and bag. The chase that ensued was probably one of the most fun character scenes ever! Like, literally 5 minutes after it began, Tex finally captured Bugs! The negotiations for his sandals would begin! After lunch, we realized we had very little time to round up our last credit, the roller skater, so we headed over there. Our train was so full that the front coach overshot the station! LOL. Finally, we headed back to the Twisted Twins to see if they ever got the Pink side running. Nope. They were working on it, but it wasn’t open. Despite this fact, there stood Tomi in line for the front row, determined to get his credit. If I properly recall, we thought it was ridiculous that he wait because we were sure that it wouldn’t open. After riding the blue side again, we began to head back for the bus with 20 minutes left. We were probably 100 yards from the coaster when we heard it— —Pink side dispatched. And sure enough, there was Tomi and Ben right in the front row! Robb told us “if you want the credit, you need to go NOW. We will NOT wait for you if you’re late to the bus.” We looked at one another, nodded our heads, and we were off! You should have seen us, jumping over queue rails and whatnot to get to the station! We were mad! We said they were ridiculous, but sure enough they got the credit! We were able to quickly get on and get off, at which point we had 12 minutes to get to the bus, which was across the park. We ran. As being a TPR bitch, I remember shouting at TPR members as we were in pursuit, warning them of time. I recall telling Tomi that he should probably stop taking photos of Deluge and come with us to the bus. He didn’t seem too concerned. That would change, as we would all find out on the bus, when we learned that he had an unfortunate “camera malfunction”. Anyway, I made it to the bus with seconds to spare and felt like I had my ass kicked. I promised myself that I would never push the bus-departure time so closely. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was certainly one of the surprises of the trip. I’m not going to lie when I say that I didn’t hear good things about the park. And to be given first-class treatment by their staff and see a genuinely enjoyable park was both unexpected and great! That should do it for this update! Check in soon for Beech Bend! -Jahan

Hello Michelle! Welcome to TPR! I moved the thread into this forum, specially designed for asking these sorts of questions. Now to get to some answers: 1) The twicket is in fact still available. I believe they cost $10. 2) So far, no Bertie the Bus or Harold the Helicopter rides have been planned for Thomas Town, as those exact ride models are currently in Magic Mountain's Bugs Bunny World. 3) I still cant find any photos of Circus Wheel, but it's just your standard Tilt a Whirl flat ride! I'll keep looking for photos. -Jahan

Hey folks! For those interested in the kind of memorablia that will be in the Sky Tower museum, the Daily News just posted a video online where Brandon from SFMM (the project manager of the museum) gives a little tour of the project! You can check it out by clicking here! -Jahan

Awesome coverage John, and great photos! That's actually pretty neat stuff! I'm totally looking forward to a TPR Middle East Trip! Although I'm pretty sure I have family in Dubai and I'd be disowned to go there for theme parks instead! -Jahan