Olsor

And now for Part Two. More to come. Since his brief flirtation with internet fame, Dramatic Chipmunk has fallen on hard times. He now works with a landscaping crew at a Six Flags in New Jersey. Busted. My humps. From this vantage point, you can hear hundreds of people point to Batman and say, "Is that Nitro?" And vice versa. Over the trees? Panorama-rama. A sign of an efficient crew. Sadly, this would end by midday. Weird, twisty-floaty airtime. Nitro's all, "Yeah, I've got pink trim. You gotta problem with that?" And now for some aerial shots. The perfect ratio of airtime hills to garbage cans. Got that, Cedar Fair? Now that's a skyline. Nobody has EVER taken this picture before. Ever. Tasty sideways air. El Toro doing what it does best... launching you out of your seat.

For the third time in as many years, I used a trip to Baltimore (ostensibly to visit a friend) as an excuse to hit a few of my favorite East Coast parks: BGE and SFGAdv. I had been to BGE in the fall of 2003 and was blown away by how beautiful the park was. Unfortunately, my return trip would be on a 100-degree day. WTF, Virginia? It hasn't even gotten that hot this year in San Antonio. Anyway, we got to the park shortly after opening and headed straight for Griffon. A short 15-minute wait later, we were on board. Instant top-10 ride. I don't know if my butt was in the seat the entire ride. The first drop was magnificent, and the immelmans were just buttery smooth and full of hangtime. Easily the smoothest ride I've ever been on. Except for the brakes. They need to ease up on those. We did head back to the hotel for a few hours to escape the heat, but we were back in the park by 5:30. We rode everything, and it seemed like all the rides were running a little more intensely than they were the last time I was there... maybe because of the heat. We had two terrific rides on Apollo's Chariot that pushed it back ahead of Nitro in my rankings. Overall, the park still looked beautiful, the rides were outstanding, and the ride crews were excellent. The park was crowded, but we never waited more than 15 minutes for a ride all day. On Monday, I headed out to Joisey for a return trip to SFGAdv. I had gone on Memorial Day weekend 2005 (big mistake), and while I got to ride Kingda Ka, that was one of only two rides I rode that day. The lines were beyond miserable. I had vowed to return and ride everything else someday, and I did just that. Except for The Chiller, which was still busted. Damn you, Chiller. Damn you straight to hell. After the park opened, I followed the slightly smaller contingent of folks rushing to ride El Toro... which wasn't even testing at that point. One quick ride on Medusa later, I joined the informal line waiting for El Toro to open. After a 20-minute wait, the line was opened and the rush was on. I made it on the second to last row of the second train out that day. Reports of El Toro's ejector air have not been exaggerated. HOLY. CRAP. There really needs to be a new term for the air experienced on El Toro. Perhaps "WTF?!? Who broke teh gravity?" air. Yes, it's LOLcat good. Maybe I was looking for it, but it did seem like the park had improved a little since 2005. It was definitely cleaner, and I saw lots of little kids and families. I know Shapiro has no control over it, but even the punk kids seemed to be better behaved. The park still has a serious problem with crowds. If any park needs 17+ coasters, it's this one. I mean, I waited 50 minutes to ride Rotting Lumber. And now I feel so dirty. I will say this: El Toro's crew kicked ass. They were churning out riders all day. Twice I entered the line past the "60-minute wait" sign, and each time it was only a 20-minute wait. Inside the station, the crew leaders barked out orders and kept everyone on task. It seemed tense, but it got the job done. Overall, I had a great time at both parks, and Griffon and El Toro vaulted way up into my overall Top 10. Not bad for a weekend vacation. Not bad at all. Not to be outdone, Alpengeist strikes a romantic evening pose for the camera. Work it! Griffon looking all artsy in the sunset. #2,488 Hi! Cliched shot of the interlocking loops #2,487. A great picture ruined by the sky ride's cable. Just pretend it's not there. Photoshop it out with your mind. I could've had a cooler picture right here, but Loch Ness was broken down. Thanks, Nessie. You jerk. Through the woody perennial plant having a single, usually elongated, main stem, generally with few or no branches on its lower part! "AHHH... hey, why is this the only invert with a zero-car? AHHH!" All sorts of twisted metal goodness here. Alpengeist wasn't hitting the MCBR too hard that day. Dare I say it was slightly intense.

Holy crap, those were great pictures. That is all.

ATMs are as omnipresent there as they are here. If your bank here isn't linked to any bank in Germany, you might have to pay some steep fees for transactions, or your card might not work at all. You can always try going into a bank there or just bringing cash or traveler's checks ahead of time.

"Celebrate our nation's birthday by riding a neutered monstrosity!" So what's the over/under on when SOB finally meets the wrecking ball? Two years?

Evel Knievel did it better: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tqzWcI-2Odc

There are already a few preview clips from the show on YouTube. One shows Danny riding Sheikra (which is hilarious), and one shows him checking out a train with the maintenance crew.

Who didn't? She was already getting retracked by midseason.

Question: What rides have you ridden in their debut season that were NOT from your home park? I'll count relocated rides as "new," too, so Firehawk is fair game. I'll start: 2000 The Boss Superman Krypton Coaster 2003 Top Thrill Dragster Superman: Ultimate Flight (SFGAm) 2005 Hydra Kingda Ka 2006 The Voyage Home parks: SFGAm (until 2002), SFFT/SWSA (2002-current) If I remove the home-park degree of difficulty, then I can tack on Rolling Thunder (1989), Iron Wolf (1990), Batman (1992), Viper (1995), and Vertical Velocity (2001). I've got two trips coming up in July and August and hope to add Boardwalk Bullet and Griffon to the list.

Had a great time at SFKK last August. I only had a few hours before my flight out of Louisville, it was raining, and I was soaked... but I had a great time. Operations were a little slow, but then again, there were probably fewer than 100 people at the park. And everyone was polite. The woman at the parking booth called me "honey," and Bugs and Daffy gladly took a picture with a crazy, soaked out-of-towner. As I walked around, I couldn't help but think that it was a very nice-looking park, and that I'd love to come back on a nicer day. Taken from my seat at the gate at the Louisville airport. I am an idiot.

Nice Photo TR! Way to pull off the Buddy Christ pose in the Nitro on-ride photo.

^Agreed. For the pre-B&M era, I'd go with 1978. During the B&M era, it's definitely 2000.

When my wife and I booked a flight to Germany back in January, my specific goals for the trip included: 1) drink a tasty dark beer, 2) eat a huge pretzel, and 3) ride Expedition GeForce. Luckily, one of our friends lives in Kaiserslautern, not too far away from Holiday Park, so we were able to cram two hours of Achterbahn-riding into an excellent week-long trip. The weather, unfortunately, didn't cooperate. We went to Holiday Park on Wednesday, and it was cold, rainy, and I was wearing shorts. Of course the bright side of this was that there were probably 50 people in the park that day. No lines, re-rides... an enthusiast's dream, except for the lack of gravy (in Europe, they drown everything in mayonnaise instead). Anyway, down to business. EGF was a walk-on. About 75% of the riders were just re-riding in the same seats. A few of the same people keep popping up in all of my pictures of the ride. The first drop is fantastic, but I really wish it were longer. And, man, does that train haul through the first half of the ride. It didn't end up converting me... S:ROS at SFNE is still my top steel. But I'd definitely put it in my top 5 or 6. Super Wirbel is worth mentioning only because I managed to bang not my head on the ride, but rather my knee... on the front of the car. It actually was pretty smooth for a Vekoma. Except for the knee-banging. And the clearances on that ride are ridiculous. That's a lot of track in not a lot of space. We also went on the new Lighthouse Tower Star Flyer. It took a lot of effort to convince my wife to ride. I kept telling her it was just a regular swing ride, just much taller. When she saw little kids sitting in the seats, she finally agreed to ride. And then the ride started. Yikes. Yeah, no one would ever label a regular swing ride as "thrilling," but this one comes close. When you rise above the treetops - way above the treetops - and then your seats start to swing out... yeah, it's unnerving. A very fun ride. More parks need these. And that was pretty much it for the day. The weather kept deteriorating, and I was probably halfway to catching pneumonia, so we bailed out after only a few hours. I did get four rides on EGF, as well as a pretty sweet on-ride photo for the ol' office cubicle. Presented for your pleasure are some pictures of the park, as well as some pictures from the rest of our trip to Germany. Auf wiedersehen! The end. I am an idiot. Yes, they actually cite Mitch Hawker's poll to label EGF as the best coaster in the world. I got the mug to prove it. A postcard-picture view overlooking the Mosel River, near Herschwiesen. Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm at Deutsches Eck, the point where the Rhein [Rhine] and Mosel rivers meet, in Koblenz. A street in Rhens. Or Busch Gardens Europe. I can't tell. Close-up of Marksburg Castle Marksburg Castle overlooking the Rhine River The newly refurbished home of FC Kaiserslautern in western Germany, one of the sites of the 2006 World Cup. Statue of a Soviet soldier in Treptower Park Another view of Treptower Park The memorial to Soviet soldiers at the very awesome Treptower Park in Berlin A small section of the Berlin Wall still standing at the Topography of Terror exhibit Brandenburg Gate Inside the dome The dome at the Reichstag Kaiser Wilhelm Church in Berlin A few other pics from our trip. Here's a few skyscrapers in downtown Frankfurt (we happened to be there during an architectural conference on skyscrapers). Translated into English Me with Holly The sweet new Star Flyer, the Lighthouse Tower, and some brave soul water skiing in 50-degree temps and rain. Sturmschiff [storm ship]. Clearly, "Das Boot" would've been a better name. The Bounty Tower Yeah, I touched it. Some pictures just take themselves. A whole mess of pretty trees and trackage Two Intamins; a whole lot of airtime I am EGF's first drop. I will pwn you. In the lower left-hand corner, you will see a sign that reads "Pipi Station." It means what you think it means. Luftzeit, or as we call it here, airtime Twisty vertical dropping goodness

Yep - one of the cars in King Cobra derailed in the helix in August 1984. I've got a clipping from the Chicago Tribune article on it from the following day. The car didn't separate from the train, and the train just slowed to a stop close to the ground. Eight were injured, but there were no fatalities. It was somewhat noteworthy because that accident happened at the same time Rail Blazer was just reopening after its fatal accident in July. The Tribune ran an article about each that day.

^ Already posted on page 1 of the thread.

Just from glancing at the year-to-year comparisons, does Predator win the "Farthest Fall from Grace" award? From 27 to the cellar. Neat to see which rides stay consistent and which rides actually improve over time.

Since we're in the midst of Mitch's wooden coaster balloting, I was wondering what all of you TPR-ers base your ride rankings on. Do you base your ranking on the most recent ride on a particular coaster, or do you base your ranking on the best ride you've ever had on a particular coaster? Or do you base it on something else altogether? Since I've been taking the poll, I've based my rankings on the most recent ride I've had on a coaster. The downside of that, of course, is if you haven't ridden a coaster in years and it's downright awful now. For example, I rode the Boss within a few weeks of its debut in 2000, but haven't been on it since. When I rode it, it was terrific... like a junior Voyage, or The Beast with airtime. But I haven't seen one positive word written about it for a LONG time. The flip side of that is that a ride could presumably improve over a stretch of time. Heck, I've heard that Mean Streak is actually tolerable these days. Wouldn't know it because I had two horrific rides on it in 1998, and haven't dared to ride it since. Does anyone rank based on your best ride ever on a particular ride? Or does anyone average your total ride experiences on a particular ride? Say you've had a handful of bad rides on The Beast, but you've also had some insane night rides in the fall when it was pitch black and 40 degrees. Just curious what everyone's methodology is.

But there's the beauty of Mitch's poll - since it's based on rider comparisons and not total points, it doesn't matter if you have a small track record. Although it does feel a lot better taking the poll when you have 100+ lines to fill out instead of a few dozen. And it quickly goes from "fun" to "tedious."

This year, I abandoned my SFFT and SeaWorld season passes for "The Year of Good Wood." Low on quantity, high on quality. In June, I finally made it up to Wisconsin Dells to ride their excellent selection of woodies. Every ride blew me away... even Pegasus was a decent ride for its size. Hades, Zeus, and Avalanche all cracked my Top 5. Six weeks later, I flew out to the Ohio River Valley to hit Holiday World, SFKK, and Kings Island. The Voyage was insane. A pitch-black night ride on The Voyage was like riding into hell. New number one... across the board. Also finally got some night rides on The Beast, and I got to ride Greezed Lightnin' 15 years after last riding it as Tidal Wave at SFGAm. Just as good as it always was. Parks visited: 5 New rides this year: 11 New entrants to my Top-5 wooden list: 4

I'm shocked. I would actually buy this.

I blame this on Mel Gibson.

Cool TR, Derek! Do your best to reassure the Germans that not all Americans are fat, gun-loving rednecks. Or just tell them you're from America Jr. No one hates Canadians.

Great retro Photo TR! It's just amazing to see the park so devoid of coasters after all the years of building. I can't imagine how charming Cedar Point must have been back then... you know, before all the concrete and steel was added.

^^^ "Retro" is just how we refer to any trip report not from the last few months/years. Don't worry, the year 1994 isn't retro yet. I'm sure it'll have its day, though. Older women will be getting Hillary Clinton haircuts, younger women will be getting "Rachel" haircuts (Jennifer Aniston), and we'll all be craving the sensitive hits of Counting Crows and Gin Blossoms. Nice Photo TR!

A lot of good stuff here: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/