coasterferg

Orient Express at WOF. May she rest in pieces. Also, I was terrified and may have started crying when going up the lift hill...

Anyone know when the anticipated opening day is? I am trying to schedule a trip to Pennsylvania for either mid-May or mid-June. I would rather go in May when crowds would be less but I don't want to risk Skyrush not being opened yet... I couldn't find it on Herheypark's website and rcdb just says 5/2012. Anybody know if it's on schedule? THANKS!

Easy Zambezi Zinger at Worlds of Fun. I don't think I know of anybody that didn't like the coaster and thought it was a good idea to remove... ...and then they replaced it a couple of years later with...a BOOMERANG Was such a good ride...one that adults and kids liked equally and everybody could ride. ... Oh poo...I've saddened myself

Awesome. I was at the park last Saturday and they were testing the ride. I had a great time and the weather was perfect, I took a crap-ton of photos. I was faintly hoping for a soft opening but it didn't happen. Oh well! I'm glad you got to enjoy the ride!

I can honestly say I've never had a bad ride on a Boomerang... I think you experience some of the strongest G's of any coaster when you sit in the last car of the train and the train goes backwards through the loop...it's nirvana!

Ugh...it seems the most creative rides are being built in Asia while we continually get clones or just slight changes to existing rides...bummers.

I originally read this topic's headline as "Cursing with Theme Park Review..." I think that would be a fun topic as well...

I didn't see a Starship 2000. Is that a gravitron? No, I didn't see one. ^And yeah, there were a few flats down. They weren't running their Matterhorn, Flying Dutchman or Spider.

Later in day after driving through the mountains, we hit up Lakeside, which I had never been to. I was really excited because I am a HUGE fan of old timey nostalgic amusment parks. I was not disappointed. The only down side was that it was a beautiful night, and the population of Denver knew it so the lines were pretty long for a small park. Lakeside! Entrance fee is $2.50 and all-ride wristbands were $17.75 The iconic tower The park was small bus was nicely landscaped The Round Up poking through the trees. It's been awhile since I've been on an older small Round Up and I had forgotten how fast these things feel! The cool art deco carousel building...it kinda looks like a spaceship. I see a roller coaster! Exclusive, never-before-seen photo of the ACE sign In line for coaster #140! It was a good one. It was super thrilling, but it was a very enjoyable ride. I could see why it has lasted for 70 years. For the third park in a row, I was unable to ride the Spider...which is one of my favorite flats Tilt-A-Whirl time! fwiends A picture of Cyclone as the sun begins to set and the park comes alive Sadly, I didn't get to ride the satellite as the line was very long. Sports Cars! A beautiful sunset across the lake...it's too bad that ugly Chase building and billboard are there to slighly take away some splendor Another of my favorite old school rides Satellite and Rock-O-Planes looking awesome in their neons Another old school favorite...yeah, I have lots of favorites I really enjoyed the Wild Chipmunk...unfortunately we had to wait in line for about 40 minutes due the low capacity of the ride, so I only did it once. #141 The tower lookin' all pretty and stuff. You can tell the season is winding down as there are a lot of burnt out bulbs Bumper Boats! Flyers and Ferris Wheel So this drop tower was the scariest and best drop tower I have ever been on. It was way better than the Intamin Tower of Doom at Elitch Gardens even though it was shorter. We rode it 3 times. It just seemed so much more like an uncontrolled freefall. Can someone tell me who made this model? For you lovers out there, they had this ride called the Heart Flip, where you could spin the puke out of your date, but in a romantic way Loop-O-Plane. Sadly we were running out of time and I still have never ridden one of these. The worlds most exciting Round Up...the sign says so Got my first Whip credit, although I have heard this one is pretty tame. One last ride on the Flyers...I don't know how to make them "snap" though...

So this past weekend I hopped in the car with pal Lanae and drove 7.5 hours to Denver. We spent the night, went to Elitch Gardens, drove into the mountains, and then came back to Lakeside for a fun filled day. Then after Lakeside, we drove the 7.5 hours back to Lincoln through the middle of night...it was a long day. I don't know what it is, but I had a hard time getting excited for Elitch Gardens. I was trying to decide if Elitch Gardens or Adventureland in Des Moines is the better park. Before I went to Denver I would've picked Elitch over Adventureland. Elitch has larger, more modern rides, but the biggest ones just aren't that re-ridable. Elitch's two big coasters are the roughest in the park, while Adventureland's "biggest" two coasters, Outlaw and Tornado, are pretty darn fun and easily re-ridable. Elitch is definitely cramped for space, but they really need to get a full size, signature coaster that isn't painful. How would you compare Elitch and Adventureland? Thoughts? Later on tonight I will follow up with some Lakeside pictures. Your cast for today is the same as the last trip to Arnolds Park. This is Lanae and myself. Western Nebraska sunset….through a buggy window. First thing the next morning we hit up Elitch Gardens…a very small, compact park that could use a signature full size coaster. Half Pipe was pretty fun, although we only did it once. Another standard Boomerang. This one wasn’t too bad either. The Intamin tower was OK, but nothing special. We also rode the Thunderbolt, which was very rickety. Speaking of rickety, Thunderbolt's next door neighbor, Twister II, was worse… Strolling back to the front of the park we see the Ferris wheel, observation tower and Breakdance. Next we hit up Minderaser. The last time I was here I rode this 4 times. This time once was enough. I have been on 4 SLCs and this was by far the worst. It had a nice fresh paint coat though… Next we took a ride on the Dragon Wing I took some pictures while on the Dragon Wing…here are a couple of them I love when I forget to zoom out before taking self pictures So, you know the park is hurting for signature ride when the best coaster in the park is the Sidewinder, an Aarow launch coaster. This was the only coaster we did more than once. I still think the airtime on this coaster is as good as you will get anywhere. Just some gratuitous loop photos… Rapids ride hidden below. We didn’t ride because I was wearing VERY light khaki shorts and if they got wet everybody would’ve seen me in my undies… Dragon Wing from Sidewinder Twister II from Sidewinder A parting shot of Failure: the Ride A glance back at the north path of the park as we leave

Prowler is very good and has great airtime and laterals. It's a ride that doesn't let up the whole way. The last drop before you curve into the breaks might be the best airtime hill on the whole ride. I'm also glad to see you guys got to ride it at night. The ride goes out into the backwood trees of the park's land and at night it's pretty much pitch black after the lifthill and first drop.

^Big Mike, I did notice the kiddy credit and I actually looked at your old trip report before I went to Arnolds Park and read how you found the park operator. Unfortunately I'm still kind of a chicken when I comes to credit whoring. Also, we went on a beautiful Saturday and there were actually quite a few kids in line for the kiddy coaster all day long so I was afraid to ask...

"Are you a Screamer, Laugher or WHOOPer?" My answer is yes!

There is a big tree inside the turnaround after the first drop. When you drop out of the turnaround there are some really close branches that make good head choppers. The treasure island was a tall play structure for kids...not a roller coaster

My friend and I decided to make a quick spontaneous road trip to Lake Okoboji, Iowa and to Arnolds Park so I could college my Legend credit. The park was small but was very nicely landscaped and a good collection of rides for its size. All in all it was a great day. This is your cast for today’s Photo TR, Lanae and I. This is what we saw during 90% of the 3 hour drive. YEssssss…we made it! I see my credit #129!!! Here is the park map. What’s this??? Is there a bonus credit here that I didn’t know about??? OO!! I wonder if this is a modified Scrambler? The best part is you can see they used to put a piece of tape over it with the correct spelling. First up is the Legend. If you sit in the last seat you get some AWESOME air time on the last two bunny hops. Lanae and I were not prepared and we were thrown around…I loved it. Next up is the Rock-O-Plane. Not gonna lie, I am a master of this ride. This ride came to my small hometown carnival in Nebraska every summer and after riding it multiple times for about 10 summers I can make the car do whatever I want, such as make it continually spin and keep it upside down all the way around, as Lanae found out. If you ask nicely maybe I’ll treat you to a ride sometime *wink wink* So Lanae is a huge Tilt-a-Whirl fan, but sadly a storm swept through the park a couple of days ago and a tree fell on the ride. Bummer. In the same vein, I am a huge Octopus fan, but a tree fell on it too  (and yes, I know it’s a Spider). You notice there’s an arm missing its two tubs. I was excited because I have never ridden a Roll-O-Plane. One of these came to my town when I was 4 but I was too small to ride. This ride was awesome, but is very painful if you ride with someone and you take the door side of the car. Your partner is pretty much smashed against you for 80% of the ride. There was this shack called the “bug house” and we went because Lanae is an entomologist and we wanted to see the bugs. The shack ended up being this ghetto ride that was pretty much a porch swing inside a psychedelically painted room that spins while the seats swing…it was weird…. This park was very nostalgic for me. All the small capacity simple rides are the types of rides that you see in the small carnivals that I grew up with in rural Nebraska. The scrambler and Eyerly ride collection brought back many memories. I cannot pass up an opportunity to get Scrambled! Oops, I mean Scrabbled… Remember that bonus toboggan looking coaster? Well it is actually a play area with a slide. FALSE ADVERTISING, Arnolds Park! Next we tried the Log Flume, which had an interesting theme… That theme being “junkyard.” This is what you see on the log ride. Back for a couple more rides on the Legend, which was awesome good for its small size. If you are wondering where the Pedobear is hiding, he’s hanging out in Northern Iowa. These bunny hops were great. Thank you Arnolds Park! So on the drive home, we noticed one of the small towns was having its county fair! So of course we stopped. AND THEY HAVE AN OCTOPUS! We didn’t ride the Rock-O-Planes though. AND A TILT-A-WHIRL!! It had to have been divine intervention that Lanae and I got to ride the two rides that were broken at Arnolds Park. We only rode each once, but we got nice long rides because no one was in line. The people were all at the tractor pull. A sign of the type of quality you will see a rural county fair carnival. A splendid end to an awesome day. Thanks for reading.

These posts are so awesome. I wish I could've visited some of these parks when they were more 'traditional' Also, gotta love SFOG hawking their "triple" loop coaster, Mindbender.

That loop looks really tight. I wonder what kind of G's this thing offers in the loop.

At Indiana Beach, the Falling Star and the Air Crow were also down...thus I still have never been on a Flyers ride. Shivering Timbers depended on where you sat. For the first ride we rode int he last car. While I normally tolerate roughness fairly well and did enjoy the ride, I would not be able to do many rerides in the back of the train. It was very intense. However for the second ride we sat in the front and it was AWESOME! We got great airtime being pushed of the many, MANY hills and it didn't seem nearly as rough as it was in the back. So yeah, all in all I enjoyed Shivering Timbers.

Front seat of Shivering Timbers at Michigan's Adventure. It was soooooo long! And full of airtime.

I may be slightly massochistic, but I really enjoy the Rattler as SFFT...although I can only ride it once per trip. While riding Rattler its pretty much comical how rough it is...i love it!

I visited Indiana Beach 2 weeks ago and 3 of the 5 coasters were closed along with some flat rides...WTF!!1! 2/5 open = 40% open= failing percentage...

And now for something completely different... Thank you Michigan's Adventure...thanks for not being busy. All in all it was great trip...even though I missed some credits, I was able to up my count to 127...with more to look forward too in the future! Adios! Oh good...now Justine won't have to deal with me being a grumpy A$$ the for the whole drive home. HOORAY! Could it be? Why yes IT OPENED! Approximately 50 minutes before we have to leave I spot people in ShiTi's queue My turn Since its not open, we can only pose with Shivering Timbers...or ShiTi as i'm calling it as this point... The lake does offer some pretty views... Time for another trek around the lake. Moving on we hit up the Mad Mouse. So here we are Shivering Timbers...its is not open and I am not pleased with missing my 4th credit of the trip... While it was little rough...Wolverine was fun and had good airtime...whats with all the woodies having such good airtime...stupid Timberwolf ruining my expectations! Justine is all smiles before the violence that is the Wolverine Wildcat Shivering Timbers from the train...thankfully they are in the process of building a path connecting the two ends of the park...which also opens up a bunch of new land for rides! Time for Wolverine Wildcat. But how do we get there...well for now, you can either walk 27 miles back around the lake...or take the train...we chose the train Time for a quick pose with sexy Thunderhawk Side loop being groped by the train! Naughty train! Bet you've never seen this view b4...also, the onride videos were pretty sweet Yay for SLCs. It did have the typical ear banging...but tolerable... Across the lake I spy our next victim as we prepare for the MILE walk back over to it Justine, my partner in crime, thinks "OH, pretty colors!" Next it was time to get corkscrewed. While these rides are dated and short...you do get a great pop of airtime in the last car First up is Zach's Zoomer...a fun little woodie...we had a lot of fun cramming us two adults into the front car... More shots b4 we enter the park. Things are looking up! I'm getting excited!!1!1! Gotta take time for a vanity shot Driving thru the woods to MA

So a friend and I decided to take a quick road trip over Memorial Day weekend. When we were deciding where to go we thought "why not the midwest, specifically around Chicago, which has the highest gas prices in the nation"...so we did! I decided to hit up to parks I'd never been too: Indiana Beach and Michigan's Adventure! ZOMG YAY! I'm not much for writing a lot but heres a couple of things worth mentioning... Indiana Beach. I love unique and traditional parks and have been wanting to go here for ages. Unfortunately my day was slightly hampered as 3 of the 5 roller coasters were closed...LAME! But at least the parks two signature woodies were open, and they were great. I'm not one to leave a huge report, but the last car of the Cornball Express had some of the best ejector airtime I've ever experienced...it was friggin' awesome. I couldn't believe how much air could be gotten from such a small and compact ride. Michigan's Adventure. After missing three of Indiana Beach's coasters I was not in the mood for more closures. Sadly when we arrived at MA Shivering Timbers was closed...this made for a very unhappy Nick (me). Mechanics were working on it all day long. Well finally the coaster gods smiled at me and the ride opened with one train about 1 hour before we had to leave...Praise Jesus! We rode in the back and the front. The back was SUPER intense and a bit rough but the front had awesome airtime and was very enjoyable. Finally, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but Thunderhawk has employed on ride video cameras to ALL the cars! After the ride they sell on ride VIDEOS, not just photos. That's right, you can actually buy a DVD of yourself while on the ride. At first I did notice a camera sticking out in front of the first car but they actually have cameras for each car! After the ride they show you a quick video clip of yourself going down the first drop in a typical post photo shop. Pretty cool...unfortunately, these DVDs cost about $15. Any way on to some photos... Goodbye Indiana Beach...I shall return someday to get those other credits I missed! Obligatory vain photo 'nother badass photo more constructiony stuff If only we had visited three months later... OOO...AWWW...keep your composure construction nerds One cool thing about Indiana Beach is they can't ride hide the construction...you can go right up to the track! I really am kindof a big nerd...but for some reason I can pull off a good badass photo of myself... And now for some construction pics! Thank goodness Cornball and Hurricane were such good rides! I may look slightly grumpy due to the fact that I missed 3 of the 5 credits today... Rides over water...OOOOO...pretty OMG! Both trains on the lift while I was on the Skyride...what are the odds? Like 1 in a zillion!!1!?? I am a happy camper at this point Look at all that amusementy goodness! Its so beautiful... Yay...new rolly rides for me!

Here are a few more pics to keep ya'll interested...from the beginnings of the ride it looks a little more impressive than I thought it was going to be...

^ Well I'm not sure she could get you a penguin...Seaworld kind of has a "no smuggling animals out of the park" policy. I know, its ridiculous! Maybe she could take you backstage to play with them though...you'd just make sure you watch our for their projectile poop!