traincrossin

My bet's on a tilt-a-whirl

Yes they do, although the did switch the blue side from backwards to forwards a couple seasons ago.

If you don't want to pay a buck for lock.ers at every ride, you can also get an all day locker at the front of the park.

Link

Just signed up for the event! I've always wanted to go to a TPR event and now that there is one I can!!! I can't wait to meet the midwest crew along with everyone else from Theme Park Review!

The Voyage had three PTC trains. When Holiday World bought two new Timberliner trains, they sold two of the PTC trains. Because Holiday World was reaching the busy part of their season and the Timberliners still weren't ready, they decided to take one of the two trains from The Raven to put on the Voyage. So Raven went from two trains to one and Voyage from one to two to help with capacity. Just clearing things up

I believe that there are 3 giant umbrellas in the queue, water jugs, shelves to put your bags, and sprinklers on you in line for Wildebeest. I thought it was fine.

That's what the single rider line is for It's just a really popular ride!

Wohoooo, the big man is back!!! I've missed the Big Mike Road Show so much this summer! Sounds like you've planned a lot of fun stuff, I can't wait to see those Big Mike Road "Show" videos! And who could forget the Find the Ducky Contest? I've started my own collection! On the left is graduation ducky and the two on the right I won by playing skeeball at Holiday World.

I'm definitely coming, i'm just checking to see if any of my other friends want to come too. I'm super excited!

Here's my opinion on The Voyage. I rode it this past weekend and absolutely loved it! The first time I rode it in the back row on the red train. The ride is rough in the back, but an intense kind of rough and not so much a painful rough. The airtime is all over the place and there were a ton of forces on you. I also rode it in the front row on the blue train which provided a smoother ride compared to the back. Still rough, but better. Maybe I was just having too much fun, but I didn't notice much jack-hammering. I did have a slight headache when I got off, but that went away very quick. It's my new number one woodie and will be even better with the new Timberliners!

Another rumor from the park today. It seems like things are close to dialed in on the first Timberliner train and it only needs 100 more laps of testing to go, but they want to test both Timberliner trains at the same time so they'll need to wait until August to do so. The second train isn't put together on the transfer track yet. I rode the Voyage today and I absolutely loved it! It was very intense and packed full of airtime, but I could see why they got the new Timberliners.

^Because they can? It's Six Flags?

I haven't heard anything from Holiday World about the new Timberliners. This is the latest from their Facebook page. I have heard a rumor that they won't be ready until August though. Like any new product, they are running into a couple problems, specifically the suspension. Again, just a rumor that i've heard.

Haha, love it FLIPDUDE! The talent here on TPR is amazing

^It's also because Shockwave had structural problems or something from the forces in the first loop.

I actually remember seeing that sign a long time ago before I was really into coasters. I loved the Whizzer (and still do) and it's one of my faorite rides. At that time, I only went to Great America once or twice a season, so I didn't know that they left it up until the next year. Boy was I happy!

Nice report Jon! Busch Gardens is one of those parks that I want to get back to when i'm in Florida next time. Of course by then the new coaster will be open!

Dinocroc vs. Supergator is on SyFy tonight!!! Anyone want to chat while watching it?

Six Flags Great America Gumball Rally Try 2 June 20, 2010 Quintin and I learned a lot from our first gumball attempt, so we were itching to try it again. We did so on Father's Day and crowds were light-medium. Unlike last time though, we had more to do because there were more shows open and we included character meet and greets (one in each location). I'm proud to say that we were successful in our latest attempt and we were able to ride and see everything except for the Logger's Run and Revolution which were closed. We did have time at the end of the day to ride them, but since they were closed we went on Viper 3 times in a row. You really need to plan around the shows because there are quite a few and they are all around 20-30 minutes each. Flat rides are also a bit tricky. The best time to ride them is if you see them boarding so you don't wait in a line. I didn't bring my camera with me into the park to reduce time as well. The park was open from 10-10 and that was just enough time to do everything. Below is a list of the order we rode and saw everything along with times for the shows, a couple tips, and a couple show reviews. 1. Superman: Ultimate Flight (park opening) – Get in line for Superman as soon as you get in the park (the earlier the better). The chain to get onto the rest of the park is after Superman so everybody lines up for it first and has a long line throughout the day. 2. Vertical Velocity – Low capacity, popular ride. Ride at the beginning of the day. 3. Batman: The Ride 4. Ragin’ Cajun – Another low capacity ride that always has a line. Use the single riders line. 5. The Jester’s Wild Ride – Never has a line 6. The Dark Knight Coaster – Low capacity ride. Be sure to be as close to the door as you can to exit the preshow before everyone else. 7. Roaring Rapids (11:00) – Builds a line VERY fast, get in line as soon as it opens at 11. Be sure to bring waterproof/Ziploc bags for your electronics and wallet because you will get wet. 8. Yankee Clipper – Go on it as long as you’re wet. 9. Little Dipper – Low capacity but popular ride. The ride has been up and down as it is still experiencing technical problems. Ride it when you can. 10. Spacely’s Sprocket Rockets – Low capacity 11. Iron Wolf – Get the suffering over with, no line 12. Fiddler’s Fling 13. Wiggles World: Get Ready to Wiggle (12:30) – Plan around showtimes! 14. County Fair: Character Meet and Greet – Never a line for meet and greets 15. Triple Play 16. Hometown Fun Machine – Only open for a short amount of time during the day, go on it while it's open. 17. Columbia Carousal 18. Rue Le Dodge – Depending on the ride op, this can be a decent wait (10-15min?) 19. Condor 20. King Chaos 21. Sky Trek Tower - Yay air conditioning! 22. The Orbit 23. Demon 24. Great America Idol Karaoke - One song is enough 25. Mr. Six Spectacular Dance Party (3:00) - Again, one song is enough 26. Southwest Territory: Character Meet and Greet 27. Chubasco 28. Gun Fight (3:15) - Bad acting, bad gun fight, bad jokes 29. Raging Bull – Any line goes quickly, high capacity 30. Giant Drop 31. Pictorium: Dick Clark’s Face the Music (4:00) - Just not very good in general. It's a Family Feud type of show, but the contestants are never very good. 32. Show Stoppin’ (4:45) - It's a good show if you like college students singing. I think that the song selection could have been better though. 33. Whizzer – Can have a long line 34. East River Crawler 35. Rockin’ Country Live (6:00) - If you like country music you'll enjoy this show. Bad acting though and there really isn't a designated seating area because it's in a restaurant. 36. Whirligig 37. Yankee Harbor: Character Meet and Greet 38. Big Easy Balloons – worst ride op of the day 39. Looney Tunes Dance Off (6:45) - Looney Tunes characters dancing to pop songs. Not my favorite show even though Beyonce is in it. 40. Scenic Railway – Long ride, account for time 41. American Eagle: Blue 42. American Eagle: Red 43. Great America Raceway – Low capacity, moderate line 44. Buccaneer Battle – Tried later in the day hoping no one would be firing at us, there still were. Steal someone’s haystack drier time. 45. River Rocker 46. Ricochet 47. Viper 48. Glow in the Park Parade (9:30) - I had never seen the show before, but I thought it was alright. Not good, but alright. The preshow before the parade sucked, but it did bring in a crowd for the parade. The song selection was just bad and there really was no point. The parade uses the entire entertainment department so if they cut the preshow they could save some money. As for the parade itself, the entire thing looked kind of thrown together and cheap. The floats, while cool looking, looked like they were going to fall apart any second because they were wobbling so much. The people driving them also weren't very hidden along with the speakers. I just didn't get the entire point of the parade. I mean there was a dragon, peacock, frog, and then suddenly Scooby Doo and Batman shows up. Also, those 5 people across things were very cheap. They were already falling apart and weren't very stable at all which made them look even more cheap. It also doesn't help that since they're going 5 across, you can't really have their hands do anything except go up and down. The two trollies and the antique car also just looked thrown in the parade for now reason. Also, the music doesn't match at all. The choreography was awful as well. The people that held the "Glow in the Park Parade" signs weren't even in a straight line. So yea, I didn't like it that much. Enjoy a couple pictures! I pass by this sign every time I go to Great America and I finally took a picture of it. This was the earliest that i've been to the park. They hadn't even opened the parking lot yet! Parking gates We're here once again! Superman from the parking lot And here is the master map full of scribbles. If anyone wants a clean copy, just let me know. There are a couple mistakes, can anyone spot them?

What a great first issue! There's just so much to read and see, you guys did a very nice job. But I have to wonder, when is the swimsuit edition coming out?

I think that an email was sent out to people on their mailing list, but they haven't updated the agenda on the website.

Jo might have a heart attack?

I think a waterpark expansion would be great considering they hit capacity on a regular basis. Either that or a new thrilling flat ride, we don't have many of those and we don't need more coasters.

This Chang news is definitely surprising and I actually hope that it will happen. It looks like Al Weber is changing things up in management and is re-evaluating what parks need and what they'll get. In other news, the Karate Kid ads on Whizzer are no more. They have been replaced by ads for the movie the Grown Up. The new ropes course is called Sky Trail and is $7 for one climb and $10 for two. It seemed fairly popular.