coasterville

TR: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (5/20/07) Trip Report: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom May 20, 2007 Louisville, KY Today was the day after HoliWood Nights, and it seems like more often than not, we find ourselves stopping off at Kentucky Kingdom on the way home. This was of course the case, so after having the hotel courtesy brekafast, we push check out time to the limit. I noted the hotel had a business center, which helped, since I am in the .1% of enthusiasts that don't have a Six Flags pass, and see no reason for one. I was able to save $5 by printing off an advanced sale E-Ticket. ($34.95) We then took the hour plus drive to Louisville. We had no trouble getting to the park, and had a somewhat strange experience for a Six Flags park. We pulled up at the toll plaza, handed the guy a $20, and got $15 back in change. As you know, usually when you visit a Six Flags park, you hand the guy a $20 and he hands you $5 back in change. Benefits of the parking lot not being owned by Six Flags. We drive around the lot and eventually find a space not too far from the gate, then proceed to walk up to the park and show various tickets and passes. Entry is delayed by the metal detectors they place right after the turnstiles which really slow things down. Once inside the park and past the strong security presence, we note the front gate plaza area to be filled with Looney Tunes characters. More interesting is they had to antique cars (from the ride) parked near the fountain in the front of the park. We enter the park and head to the right, and stop at Hellevator (Intamin Giant Drop), uhm, scratch that, the park has gone PC, the ride is now Superman: Tower of Power and sports a new red, yellow and blue paint job. It also sports a new simplified control system. Its an Intamin Giant Drop, but it has nice long seat belts, go figure. It also had a very effective drop, much better than the tower almost twice as tall up at Kings Island. Having enjoyed that ride we start to make our way around the park. We note the faded out tubs on the (Huss) Breakdance received a fresh coat of paint. We headed for Road Runner Express (Maurer Shoene Wild Mouse), but decided the line was a bit long, it was all the way out to the entrance using the short path. We instead find ourselves taking a back car ride on Greezed Lightning (Schwarzkopf Launch Loop). Greezed Lightning may be one of the best rides in the park at the current time, but that doesn't excuse it for braking the train as it goes backwards through the station, killing the unique back car float on the back spike. We had to kill some time before meeting Mark and Pete, so we took a spin on the Tin Lizzies (Antique Cars). They made me drive the car while they rode. It's not a particularly interesting track just one long elongated oval. We next caught a few moments of the character show in the ampitheatre, the Looney Tunes characters were line dancing to "Sweet Home Alabama" After that Dave and I take a ride on the (Huss) Enterprise. Be afraid, be very afraid. This Enterprise vibrated and shook the entire ride, and made real nasty noises. Unusual for a ride that is usually so quiet. The (Huss) Rainbow was down for the day, and it looked like the (Reverchon) Himalayah got some new paint to the railings, yet again. Maybe this time they did it right. By this time, it was time to meet the others at the front gate, and Mark needed to get a season pass processed. After all that was over with, the lot of us took another ride on Superman: Power of Tower and Greezed Lightnin (we skipped the mouse again, the line was about the same as it was before). We then headed across was has become unaffectionately known as "The Damned Bridge" Once across the bridge that separates the nicely laid out old part of the park from the haphazardly laid out new part of the park. They really should figure out how to move that fairgrounds entrance road. We all take a ride on the Giant Wheel. The line was through one switchback, and they were using 10 of the 40 cars on the ride. The Ferris Wheel ride was nice and scenic as it should be. What made it interesting is the operator. We will give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is brand new at operating the wheel. Besides not being able to park the wheel without jogging it back and forth several times, she also was losing track of which cars had had a ride cycle. We watched one group ahead of us get essentially a double ride, then she wanted to unload us after only one trip around the wheel. Needless to say all 5 cars in our group started complaining, so we got our full ride. We headed around the park and looked athe the food court at the entrance to Splashwater Kingdom (don't want to use Hurricane in the name, might offend some) though they still had hurricane flags up as theming. The water park is getting a big make over, and we could see workers working on the parks new watercoaster slide. The food court prices were horrendous, but to see the funnel cake stand trying to pass off prepackaged funnel cakes off to its marks as fresh funnel cakes is beyond the pale. I was the only one who wanted to ride Chang (B&M Stand Up coaster), so I did, it was a one train wait for the back row. I took the back left position, which seems to have some signifigance on lots of B&M coasters as being the best spot on the train. Chang did not disappoint with an inversion filled intense ride, followed by mandatory walk through retail as the exit goes through a gift shop. At least its arranged so there is a mostly straight shot to dash out. Oh, I did have to struggle to get the belt fastened on Chang, but thats no surprise on a B&M for me. At this point the pathway was blocked for waterpark construction, and the park continues to make sure the pathways are different every visit. Essentially we have to backtrack all the way back around to Thunder Run. On our way there, we note that Rollerskater (Vekoma junior coaster) got a new station roof including a cute new sign. Dave noted the International Carousel lost its seatbelts. We took a pause to rest here before getting in line for Thunder Run. The line for Thunder Run was just to the bottom of the stairs, but with single train operation and that patented slow dispatch times the ride is known for, it took a lot longer than it should have to get aboard. For our part, we didn't help matters by all insisting on riding in the front seat. So after waiting entirely too long, it was time for a front seat ride on Thunder Run. First let me struggle with this entirely too short seatbelt. Ahh, good buckled in, then do not pull back on the lap bar, the ride operator will do that for you. We depart the station, up the lift, so far so good, down and through the banked curve, and I am getting the feeling that while last year this ride was somebody's baby and was running very smooth, its starting to roughen up. Mind you when I say rough, this is better than a lot of parks "smooth" wooden coasters. At least the triple hill out passage delivers the airtime. So the ride is still above average, but is starting to get rough, and with the bad QRR (Queue To Ride Ratio) we were disappointed with it. QRR - the longer you have to wait for a ride, the more the ride has to deliver. Well we finish up Thunder Run, only one more coaster back here, its time to head back that long long dead end known as the Northwest Territory to ride Twisted Twins (commonly referred to as Twisted Whatevers) The ride in the back seat of the green train was particularly good for its ejector air on the first two or three hills. Overall though the ride is still rough and just isn't one of CCI's better rides. At this time we check our watches, it is almost 6PM, and we need to stop for food. Thats puts us back in Cincinnati at 9PM to drop me off, then Dave and April get back to Columbus around 11pm. Sadly, it is time to go. We grab some Taco Bell in downtown Lousiville, then head on home. A big thanks to Mark and/or Pete for phoning us to warn us about that bug traffic backup we were therefore able to avoid. Next up: Firehawk at King's Island - May 28, 2007

TR: Kings Island - 5/28/07 Trip Report: Kings Island Mason, OH May 28, 2007 "Firehawk Debut Weekend" Welcome to Memorial Day Weekend, the official start of the summer season for most seasonal attractions in America. Kings Island decided to mark the occasion by opening their new pre-owned coaster "Firehawk". I chose Monday as the day I would go up and check it out, and owing to partying a bit too much the day before, I didn't arrive at the park until shortly before noon. As I arrived at the park, I noted it was lightly raining. Reports indicated that Cedar Fair had just instituted a policy curtailing coaster operations in the rain, as a preventative measure until the Magnum investigation is completed. I approached the park and noted the flag was at half mast as it should be for Memorial Day, then I noted the season pass processing line was quite long. Signs have been posted that indicate that if all you need do is exchange a temporary pass for the real pass, to go on inside the park and do that at the Return Visit booth. Digital clocks have been added to the tops of the ride safety signs, unfortunately the time on them made no sense at all. I had no trouble getting through the metal detector, and the attendant merely had me hold my phone and keys out in front of me rather than using a red dish. I got to the main gate and the line was out of the main gate builidn flowing back into the metal detection area, but the line was moving steady, and then I eagle eyed and vultured a turnstile being opened and jumped into the newly created line and was in the park in a dash. One thing about being a single when you enter the park during a busy time, the Keyhole Photo people are too busy getting photos of the more lucrative family groups to worry about you. I enter International Street, note the new ride measurement station by the Return Visit OFfer Booth, and head down the left side of International Street towards the tower at a good rate of speed. I got near Tower, and decided to veer off to do a little research. It had been reported the band organ for the Carousel had been removed. While it is true the park has stopped to using a CD player this year, at least the cabinet of the band organ, and the instruments that were on display on the exterior of the machine are still there. I can't speak to if the guts of the organ are still there. So at least it looks right, even if it doesn't quite sound genuine. I headed down the center of the park near Italian Job. I noted it was still raining, but wait I see an Italian Job train zip by loaded with riders, then I see a Vortex train go down the first drop. Maybe the no coasters in the rain report is a mere exageration. I enter Coney Mall, and pause to look at the new X-Base sign that has been installed near the ring toss game to point people back to Flight of Fear and Firehawk (Vekoma flying coaster). I start down that path and note a loaded Racer train going by. I lok at the arch, the sign has been changed to read something like "X-Base Tactical, Experimental and Stratospheric Testing" The two sides of the arch have signs to suggest where an overflowing Flight of Fear queue and Firehawk queue should be. Speaking of the Firehawk queue , it is back to the gift trailer next to Zephyr. I join the Firehawk line, and note the ride isn't open at the current time. I figure this might be my best shot at it all day. Every now and then small groups give up and leave, but strangely enough every now and then the line makes great advances. Firehawk is more imposing than I thought it would be, clearly visible on both sides of Ft. Kinzel. At the end of this area where the helicopter ride concession once was and where a big service gate used to be, they have added Firehawk. The station for the ride appears to be almost right on the midway. A military looking sign marks the end of the path. To the right of the station is the on ride photo booth and the exit ramp, to the left of the station is the queue maze starting with an official looking checkpoint. The vending machines in this area have been replaced by a staffed snack stand. I also note that part of Flight of Fear's queue has been removed to add a locker rental area. Every now and then the line still manages to advance, and things really got exciting when we saw first a couple test trains, then loaded trains make their way around Firehawk's track. It seems the park is trying a whole new tactic on ride queuing for Firehawk. The line you first get in is stopped by the Firehawk sign by a group of green shirts. If my color guide is correct, green = guest relations types. Since the line extends quite a ways with no fencing or other control barrier, I also noted no less than four security officers maintaining order with this part of the queue. Every now and then a small group would be counted off the front of the line and taken over near locker rental. They give a spiel that starts out like a welcome to FIrehawk spiel , but the real purpose is to stress the no loose articles policy on the ride, and that the etimated wait from this point is 2-2.5 hours. This includes purses and backpacks. Fanny packs, and belt clip style camera holsters are permitted however. They give you time to lock up your loose articles, though I noted a lot of trusting souls leaving their stuff lay out in the open around the Firehawk plaza. Once everybody has secured there belongings, they have everybody fall into a single file line, then march you to the checkpoint at the queue entrance. Are they taking the military theme a bit too far? You then enter what looks to be an empty queue maze, just a few people up near the station. This is of course an evil trick, as you round a corner and find a big 10 lane switchback area loaded to the gills. The good news, if you can call it that, is that the last 4 lanes are slightly shorter than the first 6. A greeter is stationed at the end of this section of queue maze, and is holding the queue back here and only sending a trainload or so at a time from the queue maze up to the station. Remember that scene in Rollercoaster where it looked like they were sending one trainload from the midway up to the Revolution at a time, well this is similar. The line backed up a little bit past the queue maze, but after the next group was admitted I found myself about 3/4 of the way through lane 1 of the maze, another trainload and I was in lane 2, another train, and I just barely made it into lane 3. I look at my watch, only half an hour down, and I am a third of the way through the maze. Then the ride has some downtime which takes about half an hour or so. Some people bail the line, however those people all happened to be behind me in line. It also starts to get hot now that the rain has stopped, not to be seen again for the rest of the day. It is now I notice that only a very little of the actual queue maze area is shaded by those dinky Cedar Point style shades. It seems like ages, but about 2 hours total since we were marched into the queue maze I am finally getting up near the greeter station. It takes a special person to patiently wait two plus hours. A season pass is nice because I feel I can blow a whole day on one ride if I want. Something strange comes over you though, if you are of the right mind, where sure it may be 2-4 hours but it doesn't seem that long, the time in fact seems to fly by. I will comment that although I won't say there were any shenanigans going on, it seemed the closer I got to the greeter station, the farther the line moved with each advance. At long last I was admitted by the greeter, and it actually seemed weird to be able to walk the final section of queue at something nearing a normal walking pace. Firehawk is unique in that it has a double loading station, complete with two load and two unload areas, both sides of the station feed the same track. The grouper sits about midway through the 10th and final lane of the switchback, and although short this lane is twice as wide as it feeds to paths to the station. A potentially confusing part is the left lane goes to the right station, and the right lane goes to the left station. Today, only the right lane is open which is a mostly level direct path to the left station. The left lane goes down a flight of stairs, crosses under the right lane and the track, then comes back up stairs to enter the station. I got to the station entrance just as a seat assigner was asking for a single rider. Is it my lucky day or what Soon I am being escorted to a 'window' seat in row 5. Only the red train was running today, and disptaches were sporadic, they could be as close as every 5 mintutes, or they could be 10-15 minutes apart. It seemed like a Cedar Point crew running the ride, as the mic man was all into getting the crowd pumped up, something that used to happen at the park in the pre-Paramount days, but nowadays the crowd just isn't into getting pumped up. He didn't even get much reaction when he announced that today every rider would receive a free commemorative t-shirt, leading him to say "I guess people like to PAY for t-shirts now" (T-shirt offer is now expired, it was only the first four operating days). I note the seat queues are entirely too short, they might accommodate three people if they squeeze in, may I remind you each row seats four. So the train arrives and we board the train. There is a floor to help you load, and this will be some sort of footrest during the ride. It is diamond plate, and it is strongly discouraged to ride barefoot. I sit down and prepare to strap in, Firehawk has a rather complex restraint system. I would call it a safety vest (harness) rather than a shoulder harness. In ride terms shoulder harness seems to infer a rigid steel bar that comes down over your shoulders and crosses over your chest. This is more like shoulder straps that are encased in a real bulky rubber skin. Before you sit down, you would be wise to push both halves of the vest to the sides of the seat, making sure not to twist them, and the buckle ends face out. Sit down, then put one arm through each shoulder loop. The vest is permanently attached to the seat both above your shoulders and at the hip on both sides, the vest straps have some adjustability and play in them. So put one arm though each loop, and the tension on the vest will cause it to sit flat on your chest pretty much the way it should go. All you need to is fasten the buckle joining the two halves of the vest together. Once you buckle the vest, you can forget about reaching the lapbar, a ride attendant will take care of that for you. For those worried the minimum allowable setting is two clicks on the lapbar, so I am glad I can get 3 easy without the attendant putting any real effort into it. At one click the front edge of the lap bar bolster will be even with the ends of the armrests, it needs to go one click beyond that. If you look at the lap bar you can see the locking pegs on each side of the lapbar, and you can see the ratchets on each side of the armrest. The peg is about in the center of the bolster. Lowering the lapbar also lowers an ankle bar that traps your legs and makes sure they wont be flailing around. Locking the lapbar must also activate something on the vest, as I have tried pulling the yellow loop handles on the vest to tighten while waiting for the ride attendant to come around and nothing seems to happen, yet once they have that bar locked, they can seem to pull at will and take any slack out of the vest. Don't worry the buckle on the vest also locks, so they have you strapped to the back of the seat , with bars locked accross your waist and ankles. You aren't going anywhere, even though the ride is very good at convincing you that this restraint system just might not be enough. Okay, one change made when the ride moved was to replace the computerized motors in the cars with pistons in the station that raise and lower the seats. At this point the pistons lower into the floor and the seats tip all the way back, in fact I think you may be angled such that your head is the lowest part of your body. You are then carted off like so much cargo out onto the track. A quick turn and you are going up the lift. The feeling as you go up the lift is a cross between sitting and lying on your back, but one thing is for sure the vest has you pinned down so you won't be looking around. More often than not the people who place these rides in parks manage to make it so you have limited head mobility on the lift and you eyes pointed directly into the sun. This installation is no exception. You can either close your eyes on the way up, or turn your head to the side. At the top of the lift, especially on your first ever ride, prepare for one of the finest acrobatic manuevers in multi-element history: The Lie-to-Fly. Its a simple element, the track twists 180* so that instead of lying down on top of the track you flip over and are suddenly lying down on your stomach, your full weight being held by just the restraints, and a wide open view in front of you. Your first few times, this gives you a very unsettling feeling at first, then it becomes one of the most interesting positions on a steel coaster. You do a dive head first through the structure, your eyes playing tricks on you. Is that support post far enough away? You soar over the station, then on the second pass, you do a fly-to-lie which flips you back up on your back, before you go down a drop and into the vertical loop. The Vertical-Loop-Headfirst-On-Your-Back is another highlight of this ride, and what a unique feeling it is. After the loop you Lie-To-Fly again, criss cross the structure once more before doing 720* worth of barrel rolls. You exit the rolls in the fly position, fly around in circles through the helix before one final Fly-to-Lie puts you back on your back for the brake run. Yes, it may be secondhand, but I do believe we have a winner here. You are then paraded (while still tied down lying on your back) past the exit ramp and spectators before being taken back into the station. The floor pistons raise the seats back up, everything is supposed to unlock. The lapbar easily swings up out of the way, but a recurring problem with this model coaster still hasn't been solved. That locking vest buckle works too well, it often refuses to unlock at the end of the ride without a little persuasion commonly known as smacking it until it gives in and releases. You exit to the center of the station and down a stairway, which leads me to believe the lane we thought might be a Speed Lane may be the wheelchair exit lane. Today they had associates at the bottom of the stairs handing out vouchers for free shirts. You turn to the left, go under the brake run, turn right and up the exit ramp. A feeling of victory came over me, as I looked at my on ride photo. I didn't buy it, but I noticed I was one of a very few people who put his arms up in the true superhero riding posture. I then exited the area clutching my free shirt voucher like it was a Wonka golden ticket or something. From there, I noted the line was a bit shorter than before, only back to the refreshment cart, but I decided to ride something else, another three hours just doesn't sound appetizing. I enter Flight of Fear (Premier enclosed launch coaster) and find the hangar to be almost full. Time to bail out of Flight of Fear, I do pick up a Sour Apple soft frozen delight from the refreshment cart. Unlike most of the chill carts, this stuff is hand dipped in front of your eyes, instead of being pre-packaged. I decide to head somewhere I can get more instant ride gratification. I head to Vortex (Arrow multi-element). Vortex line is back out of the station building, alongside the midway but only about as far back as the transfer table. As most Vortex regulars know, with three trains on, this isn't much of a wait at all, even though it looks more impressive. One of the great benefits of the old Arrow coasters is exceptional throughput, unlike todays modern gimmick coasters that can't move half as many people. So with the station switchbacks out of use, it wasn't long at all until I was getting into the back seat, lowering the shoulder bar and buckling the new crotch strap. Up the lift, over the airtime laden first drop , and then Vortex continues to show itself off, I mean it has been running particularly well for its 20th birthday season. Well, hey if I look at my day as a whole and look at average queue time for a ride, my day just got a lot better on the whole, but the average may be longer than I have ever waited for Vortex at this point in the day. Better get some more rides in to get the average down. I pass by "License To Print Money" aka "Three Point Challenge" and see another "Basketball Legend in his own Mind" on the final rack of balls, going for that perfect score of 0. The park must love this game. I look at Italian Job (Premier launch coaster), and the line is back to and partially filling the queue house, I pass it up for now and head to Beast (In-house terrain wood coaster). The Beast queue is back to where the unmanned greeter station is, but like Vortex, Beast is built to move people, and none of the switchbacks were in use in either of the three queue houses. It might have been a bit longer than I had planned on waiting, but still manageable. When I got up to the part of the queue where you pick your seat, I waited for the dust to settle, and noted the wait for the front seat was only two trains longer than most other seats. I took the upgrade to First Class. While waiting, I overheard one family extolling the virtues of Holiday World to another family. Preach it! There is a better park experience available. Okay, he might have exaggerated when he said Voyage was twice as long as Beast, but maybe thats because Voyage has so much more action than Beast that it seems twice as long. Speaking of Voyage, I am sort of happy I had that stop at Kentucky Kingdom to transition me back from the wonderful PTC trains of Holiday World to the dreadful PTC trains of Kings Island. SFKK prepared me by having headrests, the KI trains add the seat dividers that go all the way up to your armpits, the lapbars that have their locking points set much tighter than the average PTC train, and the hard cushioning. At least KI did one thing right, they just might have the best seatbelt retrofit solution. They used retracting belts, which means they can use belts that are somewhat longer than other parks use, because once buckled, the excess strap slips back into its retractor. So the ride starts, and well by now most people know the layout and the brake situation. One of the benefits of the front seat is that I received a pretty smooth ride by Beast standards, and it might have been performing better than average because instead of limping onto the second chain lift, it hit that second chain lift with authority and got up to about where the evacuation exit platform is before catching the chain. The helix is still one of the better moments on a Kings Island coaster, and then we hit the final brake run. The park redid the brake run to use both magnetic and regular fin brakes a few years ago. They use the magnetic brakes out on the course as trims and then for the first part of the brake run to shave off train speed until its moving at a slow pace, then the second part of the brake run uses the friction fin brakes that are able to stop the train if needed. I say if needed, because on this ride even though all the fins did hit the train, none were strong enough to actually stop the train because the station itself was clear and ready to receive a train. How often does that happen? Usually you spend some time back on the brake run. They might just be working on this whole ride capacity and meeting interval thing. So from Beast, I headed through Rivertown. My interest in riding Tomb Raider (Huss Giant Top Spin) is low, so when I saw the line overflowing the cave and back into the outdoor queue maze, I skipped it. I usually like demented flat rides like Top Spins, but the program on Tomb Raider is so weak, and the line moves so slowly, thats its not worth it. I summarily passed the train and the water rides. My interest in water rides has been declining, something about walking around in wet jean shorts. I headed into Nickelodeon Universe, and noted the line for Reptar (Vekoma Junior Inverted) was about halfway through its queue path, that would be a pass. I headed back to Avatar (the last airbender, whatever that's supposed to mean), (Zamperla Skater "Coaster") and even though Avatar's queue path was just about full, I decided to wait it out. From where I was the line was a 5 cycle wait, so I guess a full queue would be a 6 cycle wait. But, good things come to those who wait. I was sent to an end row (#6), and then I was the only person in that row over 16. By the laws of Avatar, that means I was the only person in the row qualified to sit in the aisle seat nearest the loading dock. It's a rule to cover for a big shortcoming in the rides safety restraint system. You see, the rows only have gates on the far side (more like barriers since they don't open) The side nearest the loading dock has no such gates, which is odd because the ride that this was modeled after, (Zamperla Rocking Tug), does. Add to this the fact that the lap bars, while they give the illusion of being individually adjustable, are all ganged together so there is only one setting for an entire row. The largest rider controls how far down the lap bars come down. Now put a small child in that aisle seat, a nice large rider like myself somewhere else in the row, and that lap bar is not going to come down far enough secure that child. 5 riders in that row have either the grate on the far side or other riders to control their lateral movements, the rider on the aisle with no grate, well, there is a possibility, no matter how slight, of them getting tossed. Think about it, they wouldn't have that rule for only that one ride if the danger did not exist. All that said, I landed up in one of the four best seats on the rides, as far to an outside corner as you can get, the last row means you go in bigger cirlcles at the same RPM as everybody else, which means you actually move faster on a MPH basis, and the end seat allows for a more open feeling. I do really like Avatar, even with its shortened program, I would call it one of my favorite flat rides in the park, except my favorite flat rides in the park usually aren't flat, so we'll use the term iron rides. From Avatar, I actually skipped Fairly Odd Coaster (John Allen junior wood coaster), the line being just over the bridge starting into the queue house, and Scooby Doo's Haunted Castle with the line spilled out onto the 'drawbridge'. I headed onto International Street, and ducked in the new renovated pizza place. Don't get too excited, yeah they may have made it look more like the lobby of a real LaRosas, but the change really isn't as drastic as you might have thought. The big sign out front advertised hoagies, and while they are available the two kinds on offer are both cold cut subs. I was kind of hoping for a steak hoagy. Pizza is now sold in lots of 2 slices, and I noted the price is made so that after tax, it would come to about $6. I looked at the pizza on offer, and maybe I am spoiled after just having Holiday World pizza, but the pizza here looked dinky in size, and it also looked like it had been sitting out under the heat lamps for way too long. $6 for two slices of puny, lifeless pizza. I'd rather starve. Man, I can remember the days when the pizza was cheaper, the slices were bigger, and the lines were longer, which meant people were buying pizza as fast as they could make it, which meant no heat lamps. You saw your pizza coming out of the kitchen the cheese still in a semi liquid state, get sliced and handed to you fresh. Well onwards, and into Action Zone. I headed to Delirium (Huss Giant Frisbee) The line was through 1.5 switchbacks which is a reasonable wait. 5 cycles later, I was hopping into seat 36. Last time I rode this, the operator came back around to recheck my bar, so this time I lowered it to where I normally do, then gave it one more click. This seemed to appease everybody, and soon I was off on a swinging, spin ride delight. This is one of the parks finest flat ride additions in many years. It's no wonder parks and carnivals all over are installing versions of this ride concept. I headed back past the Days of Thunder Nascart track ($6) and Extreme Skyflyer (Skycoaster, list price $15, on special for $10) skipping both up charge attractions, I headed past a disused Son of Beast (RCCA Pile of Crap wood coaster), I think right now the rides strong point is that it is indeed currently disused. Yeah for a SBNO SOB! (Okay, it WAS a RCCA Looping wood coaster, but now its a RCCA wood hypercoaster, IF they get the thing running again. Maybe they will give it a mercy killing) I headed for Top Gun (Arrow suspended), and as usual, the ride was a walk on. Okay it was a bit busier than usual, but the ride was taking people away from the queue area, at about the same rate as people were arrivng, so it was really perfect in that regard. Top Gun also has the new crotch straps, and other than that still gives a nice solid reliable ride. (Second row from the back for those keeping score) I only wish Top Gun didn't begin and end with a mile long hike, thats not even on flat terrain. I wonder how popular the ride would be with better midway placement. I headed back to the Action Zone proper and the queue house for Drop Zone (Intamin Gyro Drop) was at least half full, which is too long for a ride I have a very real chance of getting rejected from, and it doesn't even give a good gut wrenching airtime filled drop feeling in my opinion. Summarily skipping Congo Falls (Intamin shoot-the-chutes), I headed to Face/Off (Vekoma Inverted Boomerang), even though I was sure I would be quickly turning around. The crowd must be thinning out as part of the switchbacks in the queue house were open. But now the line was only about halfway through the first one. Which means because the gates are on the far side of the queue house, you have to walk the length of the queue house twice, pointlessly. Unless, of course, you invoke the "I hate gratuitous walking" rule. It still took a bit of time, but soon I was loading into the second row from the back. Face/Off is one intense coaster, and that along with the helix of Italian Job are the two coaster moments at KI intense enough for me to gray-out. I like Face/Off, I just wish the lines for it weren't so long. From Face/Off, I headed into Oktoberfest, and as I walked past the Slingshot, I noted it was sale priced from a regular $25 down to $15. I also noted a very bored looking crew sitting in the ride capsule waiting for somebody, anybody to buy a ticket. Sorry, I'm not going to be that somebody. My last Slingshot ride (Old Town in Florida) was somewhat underwhelming. I headed to Adventure Express (Arrow mine train), as you might guess, it was a walk on. I chose the third seat from the back, fastened the new seat belt, and prepared to ride. Adventure Express is another one of the parks solid, reliable, and equally unnoteworthy coasters. They were having setup problems even with no queue to speak of, we got stopped on both the second lift, and then the transfer table/ ready brake. As did the train behind us, from what I heard. From Adventure Express, I took a look at the new Coke Oasis. Its a row of vending machines with a mister shaped like a giant Coke Bottle in front of it. Disney has the same giant coke bottle mister at its MGM Studios park, but they have it next to a manned refreshment stand. And, unlike a Pepsi Oasis, you have to pay at the Coke Oasis, at Holiday World's Pepsi Oasis, the drinks are FREE. I head into Coney Mall and head to Racer. (John Allen racing coaster). I first choose the forwards facing side and find a station wait. I choose the front of the back car, and with one group ahead of me, somebody on the incoming blue train could not contain themselves. So there was a little downtime owing to a sick rider. Then what they did after taking care of the immediate problem, they ghosted the blue train, so they could attend to cleaning it up in between cycles while still running the red train with riders. Effectively single train operation, but I like the solution better than no train operation with a longer cleanup delay taken all at once. Racer is a ride that is just begging to show off what it can be. The ride received some nice track work this year, so its running smoother than it has the last few seasons, some floater air is returning to some of the outbound hills. Now if we could lose the trim brakes that kill the return runs, we'd be back in business. I exited the ride, walked around, and opted for the backwards side or recaR as it is affectionately known. I quickly spotted a seat in the second to last row, and this ride confirms what I thought on the forwards side, there is a coaster here that isn't being allowed to live up to its full potential, yet its running better than it did under Paramount rule. I started to head down Coney, and whats this there is NO line at Monster (Eyerly Monster), oh wait that's because Monster is closed. I cheked my watch and took stock in the situation. Its 6:50, park closes at 8PM. I have 4 coasters left to ride to complete the set (Flight of Fear, Italian Job, Reptar, and Fairly Odd Coaster) We won't count the SBNO SOB, or Little Bill's Giggle Coaster (Miler kiddie oval) , since I am height restricted off of that one. I head back to X-Base where to the parks credit they have NOT cut the Firehawk line, there was still a line up waiting for the safety spiel, and could glance at a certain angle back to see a full queue house still. I opted instead for Flight Of Fear, where the even though the full queue was open, the line was short enough that they could have used the short path, the line was just back to the queue adjustment gate). I should have invoked the "I hate gratuitous walking" rule, but didn't, but then what do I know, as by the time I reached the steps up into the saucer the queue maze was half full again. Note there was some minor (less than 10 minutes) downtime. To go along with Ft. Kinzel, there solution to the preshow video referring to Ft. Cooper was to stop showing the preshow. I sense another Disaster Transport on its way. I mean not just the video was gone but all the show effects were off, and the work lights were on. At least they seemed to leave the station effects alone, and the ride effects are as always. I opted for the back seat, as its queue was no worse than any other, and if I had to walk the plank, it would be the least embarassing. (These lap bars, or more specifically the belts have been known to give me fits) So after a bit of a wait, I get into the back seat, lower the lapbar, and slide the buckle COMPLETELY over the metal tongue, and as usual the belt doesn't fasten. Folks, this isn't a "I'm too big" issue, its a "The buckles are cheap pieces of shit that don't work right" issue. Here is why I am starting to like the back row. They usually start checking bars at the front and work their way to the back, in the front the unhelpful loader instantly thinks its a rider size problem, and lowers the bar another click, the stubborn buckle refuses to go, then embed the lapbar into my gut, and the stubborn buckle refuses to go, then they stomp on the bar, and the stubborn buckle refuses to go then they finally decide to check the buckle itself and bang the buckle up against something, then it locks. Note they don't offer to loosen the lapbar back to a reasonable setting. In the back seat, I lower, the lapbar, attempt to buckle, the belt, the stubborn buckle refuses to go, I have time to beat the living shit out of the buckle against the train side, and then proceed to fasten the belt. Maybe from now on I'll just proceed to beat the living shit out of the buckle before attempting to fasten it. (Can we have the dog clips back??) The ride itself was pretty good, the first three inversions are over before you have time to realize what just happened, the mid course brake is still on "Bring the train to a total stop" mode, but they have the multi colored show lights on, and the ride gains some speed in the long helix like section, but that corkscrew is just missing something when you aren't barreling through it at top speed. All in all though, still one of the better coasters in the park. Upon exiting, I noted the ride video has not been rolled out yet. Time for another time check: 7:15. I zip down to Italian Job, well okay I don't zip anywhere anymore, but I walk at a nice clip to Italian Job. I note the line is just past the bridge, but past the adjustable rail. Here is another case of "I hate gratuitous walking". Just about everybody jumps rail here, otherwise you have to walk all the way down the hill to the queue house, go through at least one switchback, then back up the hill. At least tonight they have gotten rid of the grouper, so the line just continued all the way to the station where you could pick your own seat. I noted a totally empty lane for seat 2, and jumped in. Same bars as Flight of Fear without the stupid belt. This means I had no problem lowering the lap bar and closing the car door. Its a family launch coaster, but that helix gets to me everytime, man thats intense. Just how many rides launch right into a triple upwards helix. The middle part of the ride was good, it seems they have turned the siren volume down to a more reasonable level, and I got some airtime coming out of the dip. Down the subway stair drop that has never worked, and into the brake run for the show scene. The water effects seem to have gone. This time the show scene ended and the train just sat there, which means a ride setup. A few moments later the ride resumed with the quick peppy run through the tunnel and the big fake splashdown finale. We returned to the station, and sat on the back brake, yep another setup. Maybe they aren't getting the hang of it. I exited Italian Job, and another time check 7:36. That leasts 24 minutes to get the last two coasters, and a long haul through Rivertown. I make the long haul through Rivertown, the apparently empty Tomb Raider queue (well if it had a queue wasn't visible from the outside) failed to tempt me. I dashed through Rivertown, and right onto a walk on Reptar. Talk about being height restricted off, I am nearing the max height for this thing. Reptar is a cure little inverted coaster, and it actually does give an interesting little ride. Again, there is a reason why Vekoma sold a slew of these things. Okay, one more coaster to go, it pains me but I walk past a walk on Avatar to wind up at a walk on Fairly Odd Coaster. I think I creeped the parent and child who were waiting for my seat next. The little girl asked "How long have you been riding this coaster?" to which I responded "Since 1975" totally honest answer, but I think I got the "And what are you doing in kiddieland alone?" look by the parental unit. Fairly Odd Coaster is well cared for, gives a nice smooth ride, but in park tradition, they have installed a trim brake on the high turnaround over the station, making sure the trace amounts of airtime the ride had on the third pass through the structure are nuetralized. But hey, I hear victory bells, I just completed the full set of Kings Island coasters. This after arriving at the park late, on an early close, and spending at least three hours dealing with Firehawk. I even managed to squeeze in a couple flat rides. Not quite as good as the day I managed to fit in every adult ride in the park except for the Carousel, but I'll take it. For my victory lap, I decided that I'd go into Scooby Doo's Haunted Castle since the queue was still open. I found the ride to be a walk on. I sat in the middle of the bench in a car alone, and was dismayed when the center gun on my Mini Mystery Machine failed the Point Blank Range test. I grabbed the left gun (Fright Light, whatever anti-violence ephuseium you wish to use) and started nailing targets one after the other. The grand hall where peppers ghost used to be still presents a challenge but other than that, I was drilling them. The ride came to an end and I took my 2,000+ score with pride, I think I'll have another. The park decided I wouldn't as I exited the ride building just as the clock struck 8:00 and the ride closed. I took a whirlwind tour though the gift shops. The gift shops are starting to take on that "seen one, you've seen em all" appearance. I managed to stroll through all the International Street gift shops and leave without making a purchase. I grabbed Wonka's Golden Ticket (aka my free Firehawk T-shirt voucher) and proceeded to exit the park and head to the Group Sales windows where the voucher said I could pick up the shirt anytime after 6PM, but on the same day. I exited the park, headed out through the security checkpoint, to see a line stretched nearly all the way across the font gate plaza doing a wonderful job at totally screwing up the smooth park exit as even though that didn't have shirt vouchers had to excuse themselves through this line of people. What's worse is that the line was not moving at all. Free shirt vouchers could easily be obtained from those that did not have the time or patience to deal with it. Oh, and only one window open. How hard can this be, the park advertised 2,500 shirts per day, they didn't start passing them out till 6pm. Seems to me that around 5pm they should have had all 2,500 shirts delivered to the front gate area, then have a crew of people standing there, one collects your voucher the next hands you a shirt. Ballparks and arenas do this all the time with fast efficiency. Nope, they only had one lane open, then they didn't bring enough shirts up to the front gate, so this hold up is to, and I quote the GR person who walked the line to explain it "We ran out of shirts, we are having more shirts delivered from the warehouse, please be patient". Some time later, well after the line has lost its patience, they finally wheel out four boxes of shirts, now to be fair I don't know how many shirts are in four boxes. They did open more lanes, which might have hurt more than it helped at this point, becuase as soon as the other lanes opened, the line turned into a mob rushing the other windows. Oh it soon resolved itself, and I used my mob line tactics I learned in Italy where 'mob queuing' is commonplace, I found myself near a window when the dust settled. (From my trip to Italy, we had a tour guide in Rome tell us that there are cinemas in Rome that screen movies in English. She quipped you can easily identify which ones those are, because they will be the only movie theaters with orderly queues out front) From there, we made it to Culvers for some food and frozen custard. Ahh wonderful chain, I wish they had one closer to me, then again maybe the 17 mile drive is helping me so I don't get too much homemade root beer, cheese curds, and frozen custard

TR: Holiwood Nights (5/18-19, 2007) - Holiday World Trip Report: HoliWood Nights 2 Holiday World Santa Claus, IN May 18-19, 2007 Today begins that springtime ritual that declares roller coaster season is really upon us. Most seasons the prime coaster season starts with an event at Holiday World and ends with one at Knoebels. Holiday World sweetens the deal by having a second bonus ERT session and meal the night before the main event. Technically the event starts at park close on Friday, May 18, but the admission ticket will admit you as early as 5pm, and we learned quietly that they would start admitting people at 4pm. This didn’t really matter as we plan our arrival time around 5-6pm and anything else you get is a bonus. It’s about a three hour trek from my house to the park, so even though I could probably work a half day and then go to the event (and in fact when I had to punch a clock I would do just that) now I just take the entire day off. I started the day by trying out a newer Indian buffet in my area (It was your typical Indian buffet, seen one, you’ve seen them all). A short time later a Crown Vic containing Dave “Rideman” Althoff, Jr and April arrived at Coasterville and we started the 3 hour trek to the park. All told, we pulled into the Raven lot around 5:45. Since we knew we couldn’t do much in 15 minutes, we took the extra time to vulture (or is that Raven) a close in parking space donated to us by a departing park guest. Holiday World has coaster events down to a science, I mean they just activate “Coaster Event Mode” So, with little fuss, we headed up to the main gate, collected our packets, and then returned to the parking lot to drop off the stuff we didn’t need. First to go into the car was the event T-shirt. It seems they have settled on a look for the Holiwood Nights shirts. The front has a smallish Holiwood Nights logo, and the back is made to look like a movie poster. Last year’s shirt was gray, and the movie poster was “The Greatest Coaster Ever Built”, this year the shirts were a nice cream color with the movie poster being “Attack of the Airtime Monster”. We also ditched the envelopes containing the event schedule, (after confirming that yes, it is the usual schedule), the coupon sheet and Saturday’s tickets. We took the name badges and Friday tickets with us and headed back to the main gate. By this time the park had closed for the day, so instead of being sent to the picnic grove for the pre-event safety briefing and prayer, we were held outside the park in the entry plaza. As we would later find out this has great advantages, primarily we could talk to each other without having to compete with the PA system, we weren’t crammed into the grove with the herd, and when ERT started we were admitted through the front gate instead of joining the running of the bulls from the picnic grove. In fact, we reached Raven well before anybody starting from the picnic grove. Rideman made a smart comment about the sign “the park will close tonight at 6:00PM” as we enter at 6:30PM. We started the night with two back car rides on the Raven. Since, by now, most people have been to Holiday World or have read a lot about their coasters, I’ll leave the track layout descriptions as read. For me the first ride was 6.1 and the ride seemed sluggish , like it hadn’t quite warmed up yet. We then went for a second ride, which I took in the back seat. Ah, yes there is that infamous strong dose of airtime the ride is famous for. And the ride seems to be doing a tad better than the first ride. At this time, April went to join friends for pizza at 7, and Rideman and I headed for a Pepsi Oasis to start enjoying those free soft drinks, and then went for a back seat ride on Legend. Last year, we both thought Legend wasn’t performing well, it was sluggish and a shadow of its former self. We could tell right off with this first ride that Legend received a lot of attention and was already performing at or near as well as when it first opened. After Legend, we followed the shortcut path behind HoliSwings to go grab some pizza, and we made the silly error of continuing up the hill bypassing Raven instead of taking another Raven ride. We entered Kringles Kafe to join the rest of the group already dining. Two jumbo slices of pizza, pepsi, phudge, potato chips and a veggie tray were on the menu. Apparently seconds are available on everything except the fudge. So we wound up having 4 slices of pizza. We sat for awhile chatting as we enjoyed dinner, and someone was walking around passing out free CD’s that contained a copy of the HoliWood Nights theme song. I gave it a listen when I got home, pretty cool. After having our fill of all the pizza we could stand, it was time to head for the main event We headed to Thanksgiving, first being thankful they had the path through 4th of July open which is a little bit gentler terrain. We entered the Thanksgiving section of the park where the Voyage was running. We would wind up spending the rest of Friday on the Voyage. Rideman and I took our first Voyage ride in the very back seat. I could tell right off that Voyage is still “The Greatest Wood Coaster Ever Built”. In the back seat, the ride waits no longer than the first drop to start providing nice strong pops of quality “legs pinned to underside of lap bar” airtime. I mean airtime on just about every drop, and the turnarounds on either end are just wicked. We gabbed a drink, and followed that up with another Voyage ride, this time we took the first available seat, which happened to be the seat 4.2. It was a nice middle of the train ride, and we got to learn that the ride is no slouch in the middle cars. You may not get as strong of airtime as in the rear, but you do get nice floaters throughout the ride, and you still get all the wicked laterals in the turns. Having finished that ride, what’s a coaster enthusiast to do? Well, get back in line and this time we found ourselves strapping into seat 3.2. The train left the station with an uneasy vibration and grinding noise under our feet. This train did not track near as smooth as the other train, leading to a much rougher ride. That was still a good ride, but not near as good as the other train. After this ride we met up with April’s group, and decided she needed the back seat experience. So, we all got in line again, and we all waited for the back seat. Coaster nirvana coming up, nice strong airtime, great laterals, a wonderful layout and total darkness. Folks, it just doesn’t get much better than this. At this point, we were thinking about heading up to Raven, but hey we can squeeze in just one more Voyage ride. We got back in line, lined up for the back seat, and not much longer, looked out the station window to see the queue had been cut. Doing the math, we decided to turn 1 back seat ride into 4 car 3 rides. The only bad thing about it was we got the bad train, so while we got 4 rides on a great coaster, we were also feeling pretty drained. All told I wound up getting 8 Voyage rides. 2 in the very back seat, 2 in the middle, and then a 4 circuit super ride to end the night (in car 3). The queue for Voyage never extended much further than the stairs out of the station, which meant it was easy to get multiple rides. Woe to us, the Pepsi Oasis was closed for the evening, and we have, except for coming out of the back of Splashin’ Safari the harshest uphill hike to the front gate. We hiked up to the front gate, talked a bit in the entrance plaza, then headed to our car. We next made the trek to our hotel. The hotel website said it was off of the Dale exit in Huntingburg, it didn’t say it was on the far side of Huntingburg. Roughly 16 miles later we checked into our hotel in the middle of nowhere. Roughly 10 minutes later we were heading to Denny’s for some late night chat and munchies. Yeah, those hot and spicy buffalo wings at midnight were a great idea. Now, leave me alone as I enjoy a night of waking up about every half hour going “Why did you do that to yourself” The next morning, I wake up, check out the somewhat underwhelming hotel courtesy breakfast. We discover the hotel hot tub is anything but hot. All told, after some missteps, and backtracking we arrived at the park around 12:30. We could have parked in the back of the Raven lot, but decided to chance the gravely Legend lot. It was also looking pretty bad, but we were able to vulture a space not too far from the stairs. We walked down the stairs and tunnel, then the railings ensure you walk all the way to the front of the Raven lot, instead of taking the shorter path through the Raven lot. We arrive at the entry plaza to learn that Voyage was on the list of rides not currently operating. Boo Hiss. So with one of out 4 coasters closed, where does the group head? Towards Voyage naturally to see what’s wrong. By the time we got to Thanksgiving the ride was in fact reopened. However instead of going to ride it, or any of the other rides in Thanksgiving, we decided to check out the parks newest attraction, a brand new eatery called the Plymouth Rock Café. The PRC is a cafeteria style operation that serves up traditional style thanksgiving dinners. The concept is real simple, you get in line, choose 1 meat, any 3 sides (and they have darn near every side dish imaginable), and 1 bread. You take that up to the register, and pay just $6.99. Yep, a full meal at an amusement park for under $7. If you want to add dessert to your meal, its just $2.49 more. Don’t forget to grab a free beverage at the Pepsi Oasis located conveniently right outside the exit doors to the serving area. I opted for Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cornbread, a slice of Pumpkin Cheesecake, and a sweet ice tea. All for $9.48, it’s a fantastic price, but how is the food. Well, the portions were generous, and the food quality was above average. We enjoyed our lunch, had some nice conversation, then decided to go explore the park. April and her group headed to the waterpark. Dave and I headed to the rides. With Thanksgiving filling up fast now that people have figured out Voyage is open, we decided our futures were better served in Halloween. We headed to a walk-on Legend, and took a ride in car 2. Legend was running great, but it seemed rougher than our ride last night. We also ran into JerryD at this time. So the three of us went around for another Legend ride, this time in the front car, of the other train. This put Jerry in the same seat he just got out of, but on the other train. We agreed that the “A” train was running better than the “B” train and continued our park tour. Rideman wanted to get photos of all the rides, so we paused at but did not ride the Scarecrow Scrambler. I looked at the diving show, looks to be the same show as last year, except I noted in last years trip report that the American flag was displayed to the far right of a grouping of international flags, instead of the far left, this has been corrected this year. We next headed for a walk on ride on the Raven. We took a nice back seat ride, and the Raven is warming up, should be a great ride by tonight. Next Dave went to get photos of the rides in Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch children’s ride area. It’s something about taking video and photos of children that aren’t yours that has raised a significant amount of interest in some parks and carnivals, so Jerry and I stayed back by chatting until Dave safely cleared the area. We headed past through Christmas in an effort to get to 4th of July. Once in 4th of July, we headed to Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride (an Eyerly Spider). It’s a particularly well running Spider, and I noted we had an all Dave sweep. The riders in both tubs on that sweep were named Dave, as was the loader. The ride seemed somewhat short, but it delivered well in the spin department. We grabbed another drink and observed the Rough Riders bumper cars, they still have too many cars on the floor but they look to have been sped up a little bit since last year. We knew Liberty Launch has short seatbelts, not that I have ever been denied a ride, it just takes the operator really shoving on the bar. We decided to skip it owing to its line. We headed into Holidog’s FunTown so Dave could get more photos. It’s really a cute well done area. We grabbed some Orange N. Cream ICEE’s (no, those aren’t on the beverage plan, but the prices are reasonable) After enjoying our frozen slush, we headed back to 4th of July. Our next stop was the Revolution (a Dartron Zero Gravity) which is a modern Round Up. He Zero Gravity features a quicker ride owing to the fact it gets up to speed quite fast and slows down at the end of the ride quite fast, leaving more time for the main part of the ride. Never fear it spins quite fast and is actually a great ride. I noted it got new restraint belts this year. From the Revolution we headed to the Eagle’s Flight (a Bisch Rocco Flying Skooters). Why do we continue to waste our time with this ride. I think it’s partially because Kings Island removed their Skooters a couple years ago and we are suffering withdraw, and it isn’t going to help that my last Flyers ride was on THE Flyer of Knoebel’s Grove. I tried to remind myself this isn’t going to be as good as the Knoebel’s ride, but this was just lifeless. Jerry had to check into his hotel, so Dave and I headed into Thanksgiving, the line for Voyage still looked a bit long, so we thought we’d save that for ERT, and instead headed to the new Turkey Whirl (a Sellner G5 Tilt-A-Whirl), that I prefer to call “Turkey Twhirler” It’s a custom Tilt was the new open style cars that are made up to look like giant smiling turkeys. Its one of those ‘too-cute’ custom rides. We took a ride on the Turkey Whirl and to no ones surprise it rides about the same as a Tilt-A-Whirl. (What else did you expect?) Next we headed to Gobbler Getaway (a Sally interactive dark ride). This just opened last year, and it appeared as if they were still putting the finishing touches on it last year. There was a bit of a line, but it had just reopened after a shut down, and once things got moving, the line pretty much is constantly moving. We get into our car, lower the lapbars, and grab our Turkey Callers. You know, I want to say Gun so bad, but Holiday World, like most theme parks, don’t want to promote guns and violence, so instead of guns you have Turkey Callers, or Fright Lights, or some other innocent sounding device. But here I think the premise fails, as a Turkey Caller should attract any Turkey within earshot of the device, not just those with line of sight contact. But let’s dispense with that, even the Holiwood Nights theme song uses verses like “Shooting Turkeys for points is so fun” and “Dark ride lovers, grab your guns” It’s the modern version of the shooting gallery, except to make it harder, you are constantly moving. Hey, if it keeps both shooting galleries and dark rides alive, I’ll take the fusion of the two concepts. Gobbler Getaway is a great ride, its got several long scenes where you just get to watch, so you still get the story, then in other parts, you tune out the visuals and the sound, its just nail those targets, nail as many as you can. In the end we see the other problem with using Turkey Callers instead of guns, near the end of the ride, the family is sitting down to dinner and the father says he just couldn’t do it, as he raises the silver lid on the platter to reveal a pizza. After that we go through the infamous room of dancing turkeys and chaser lights. The turkeys have won, and they are rubbing it in your face. I didn’t notice the strong pumpkin pie smell this year, which is a shame, as that would have led to tons of suggestive sales at Plymouth Rock Café. From Thanksgiving, we head back up to Halloween. Dave needs a quick break, so I grab a ride on the Scarecrow Scrambler (Eli Bridge Scrambler). Then Jerry rejoins us, and eventually so does April’s group. We all head to Voyage, take 2-3 rides on Voyage, mostly towards the back, on our final ride of the regular day, we opt to ride in the front seat. Waiting for the front seat added another half an hour onto the wait, and made us officially late for dinner. The front seat ride is great for wind in your hair, and offers some nice airtime pops, but I think I prefer the back better. I think they were starting to clear the park when we exited Voyage, so we quickly pinned on our name tags, grabbed our meal tickets and made our way back to the Picnic Grove. They had closed two of the serving lines by the time we arrived and we were some of the last to get dinner, but to the parks credit, they did restock the buffet table even as we were grabbing our meal. They were halfway through the auction when we arrived. This year, I was good I totally ignored the auction, and didn’t buy anything. Especially not the massive Zinga vinyl banner, that the park suggested you could convert into the world’s longest Slip-N-Slide. At the end of the picnic style dinner, we waited for the herd to leave the Grove, then Rideman and I headed for Legend, figuring that the crowds all headed off towards Voyage. One back seat ride on Legend later, and I was heard to loudly proclaim “Now THAT’s The Legend I remember” It all seemed so fitting to be riding Legend wearing an Arnold’s Park shirt. It was so good we rode it again, and then again with April and group, and then maybe again. Legend was running fantastic tonight. But let’s not get carried away here. We did go up the hill and take some insurance rides on Raven, just in case we didn’t make it back up out of Voyage Canyon in time. Then we headed down to Voyage. I recall we weren’t as picky about where we sat on the second night, oh wait maybe we were, we did seem to wind up in that back car more often than not. We rode Voyage until it wore us out. Each ride seeming more intense and demanding than the ride before it. Voyage isn’t just a passive ride, Voyage is a challenge, Voyage is just about the most intense night ride there is out there, owing in large part to that wicked turnaround at the far end that demands bracing and anticipation, but you can’t see what is coming. Around 11:30 we headed up to Raven and finished up the night on Raven. Again, more often than not in the back car. Raven is a great ride, but when taken right after Voyage, seems to lose a little bit of its luster. We then made our way out of the park, and back to the hotel. We decided against any late night dining adventures tonight as we were all pretty much worn out, and I think I was asleep within 5-10 minutes of getting into my room, But wait, there is more! Stay tuned as on Sunday we head to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, watch for it in a separate trip report.

Trip Report: Kings Island April 22, 2007 Mason, OH "A transition period" I'm a coaster enthusiast from Cincinnati, and its opening weekend for Kings Island. Sounds like a natural to be, and although I got started a little bit later than planned, a fun day was in store for me. When I arrived at the park, I started looking for changes. This is the first full season under Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, so I was eager to see if they put their fingerprint on the park yet. The first thing I noticed is that the giant marquee sign still reads "Paramount's Kings Island" this did not come as a shock as I had heard at an off season event that the big sign was not going to change right away. This sign was replaced just a few years ago and has a very distinctive look, it is meant to look like the front gates of Paramount Studios. Therefore, perhaps just removing the word "Paramount" isn't going to be enough. I did note that the parking prices so far are the same as last year ($10/$15 for "Premier" close in parking). One of the first changes I noticed concerns the passenger drop off area. It seems that Cedar Fair isn't in favor of the gratuitous use of American flags as decorations. Last year the drop off area sported to United States flags, and two State of Ohio flags, this year it sports four brand new Cedar Fair logo flags. I proceeded towards the park when I noticed the chain link fence around the preferred parking area has been replaced with a ranch style split rail wood fence. I'm all for starting a chain link fence removal project, Paramount had an affinity with that stuff, sure it’s a cheap solution, but chain link fence has no place in a theme park. I also muse that the new fence will be easy to knock down if that preferred parking doesn't work out for them. I head up to the entrance plaza. The movie posters on the right hand side have been removed, cases and all, but I was disappointed not to see "Kings Island" written in topiaries return. Give them time on that landscaping though, as there was evidence in the park that a landscaping project is in progress. For example a nice arrangement has been setup around the big light post in the center of the front gate plaza. And in regards to my earlier comment, yes they did leave the oversize US flag on its pole out in front of the park, lowered to half staff today in honor of the Virginia Tech tragedy. There were a couple improvements to the front gate plaza that didn't make sense to me. The first one concerns the concrete curbs that used to separate the tram lanes from the pedestrian lanes. Those concrete barriers are still there, less than a foot high, and with new vivid yellow paint. Obviously they felt the need to point out these trip hazards, but why not get rid of them all together since trams hardly run at all, and when they do they no longer go up into the old tram circle. I'm hoping this is a stopgap measure waiting for Cedar Fair to begin one of its blacktop removal projects. Kings Island has far too many blacktop midways. I also noted the ride safety signs out in front of the park have been replaced with brand new ride safety signs, you know the ones that list the height requirements for all the rides and the general park rules. The new signs are missing a place to list which rides are closed, which seemed to me to be the most useful part of the old signs. I noted the canopy with the new logo has been installed over the entrance to the season, pass processing area and also noted some scary looking lines. I had processed last week, so it was forward and through the metal detector with no problem, and into the park. I also noted the "Park will close tonight at: " signs have been removed. It seems Cedar Fair is reluctant to share some basic information I would find useful before entering the park. I had no trouble entering the park with my faceless Maxx Pass, and since I was joining friends at the park I first glanced at some of the new shirts in the gift shop next to the gate, then grabbed a park map to look at. The map is of the same basic appearance as the maps used to be. Sure, Son of Beast has been redrawn to remove its loop, and Firehawk has been added, but the same basic map is still there. What did change is the style template. Instead of using a Disney-like style, they used a Cedar Fair style. The park services icons changed to those that Cedar Fair tends to use, ride names are now printed directly on the map, and the ride safety guide, as well as the general park information has been moved to the back side of the map. I think a benefit is that the map drawing itself is actually a bit larger than it used to be. The brochure also includes an operating calendar, a show schedule, an acknowledgement of the 35th anniversary, and a blurb about Fear Fest. Soon Dave, April, and Rob had arrived so we headed to Action Zone. I noticed the return ticket booth still had its Winterfest alpine chalet look, and that nothing had happened at the Paramount Theatre. Oh, the keyhole photo people were still there in full ambush mode as well. We entered Action Zone and I noted the water tower is still Paramount logoed, but the movie posters have been changed to ride and event posters. Our first ride was Drop Zone. Drop Zone was about a three cycle wait and there were no noticeable changes to the ride or the theme in the area. For the record I was able to fit, but it took operator assistance. At least the Cedar Fair "You must fasten it yourself" policy hasn't taken hold yet. I find it funny that Drop Zone is featured in the parks new television spot, and as they show Drop Zone the narration goes "Defy gravity!" I thought that Drop Zone was a demonstration of gravity. Maybe its because I am so tightly stuffed into my seat, that I actually like the smaller drop tower rides at carnivals and fairs better. I looked over at Congo Falls where things appeared to be going normal and unchanged, then we walked past some more basically unchanged things: On Location Shop, I Scream Zone, Days of Thunder, Extreme Skyflyer. Son of Beast is still closed, but we took a trip on Top Gun. Top Gun lost the Mach 3 razor sponsorship, and new seat belts have been added that feed up between your legs and fasten to the bottom center of the shoulder harness. These belts will prevent some riders who were able to ride this ride in the past from riding again. I did not have any problems with it, and we rode a Top Gun which other than the modifications indicated is running about the same as it did last year. As we exited Top Gun we craned our necks to look at the No Loop on Son of Beast, then headed back to the Action Zone proper. We made a stop for some Smurfy Blue Ice Cream ($3.50!), then headed towards Italian Job. We passed through Oktoberfest which didn't look to have changed. We noted the signs indicating that the Festhaus would soon add a Chinese station to the Italian station (in the form of LaRosas Pizza) , and the American station (burgers and chicken sticks). It's a building in Oktoberfest, themed to a German bier hall, and yet I don't think you can get a hot dog, let alone a bratwurst or mettwurst, and don't even think about schnitzel with noodles or sauerbraten. At least you can get bier in there as you sit in a subdued silence, as the German bier hall style entertainment has long been laid off, and in fact any live entertainment hasn't existed in here for over a decade, except for a brief stint during Winterfest. Come on Cedar Fair, turn this into a German themed Red Garter! Viking Fury was still swinging, and then we hit International Street. The Emporium is still going strong, and are those Ohio Lottery tickets on sale. I also noted additional keyhole photo booths have been added one in front of Emporium, and the other next to Starbucks, bringing the total count to 4 pick up locations. We walked around Tower where the flags have been replaced by either Kings Island or Cedar Fair flags. I noticed the info booth is gone, the International Showplace is being prepped for its show to open later in the summer, and there is a tropical island set on the bandstand. Cedar Fair gutted Paramount Story, but left the gigantic Tomb Raider sculpture. We headed back to Italian Job but it wasn't open. I noticed the gas pump style bulk candy machines have been replaced with units that look like giant globes. With Italian Job closed, we headed to Beast. We first had to dodge an ambush by one of those discount vacation booths, you know the kind that typically end in you having to spend part of your cut rate price vacation attending a high pressure sales pitch for a timeshare, condo or vacation club arrangement. I was hoping that would be gone, as I think it cheapens the theme park experience, this is the kind of thing I would expect to see at a state fair, not a major theme park. We approached Beast, and the Cool Zone has been removed as well as some of the vending machines in the queue. The vending machines that remain have been lowered from $3.25 last year to $3.00 this year. The concession stands are selling soft drinks for $3.50 this year, and have a souvenir cup deal. You get a real low quality souvenir cup for $6.99 that makes you eligible for refills for $1.99. Of more importance for those of us that don't like needless steep hills, the fence separating Beast Exit and Entrance has been removed. This makes getting a second ride a little easier. Now if we could get rid of the tacky chain link fence for the Gold Pass Speedlane. I say get rid of the chain link, and post a greeter at the Speed Lane entrance. We headed to seat 1.2 of Beast. Same seatbelts as last year. On the ride one could note some new perimeter safety fence going up around the ride, and it looks as if there was a retracking project between tunnel 2 and lift 2. It's not glass smooth, but I've felt it run a lot worse. We exited Beast, and stopped for some Bowler Roller fun, before heading to Italian Job. I noted the pizza stand is now advertising hoagies as a food choice, which is a good upgrade. We arrived at Italian Job and it was open with the line just reaching back to the queue maze. We were able to request and receive the front car, which is the only car of the three to get airtime, and the front seat is a lot better than the back seat in that same car. I was eager to see how this ride has gone special effects wise. Well the on board audio is still out, and it looks like they are removing the speakers from the cars. We launched, and I near grayed out in that first helix. It disoriented me enough that I was taken for a surprise that when we entered the s curve where you swerve around the police cars, not only did the police cars lights work, but their sirens as well. I don't recall those cars having sirens before. We went around the 90* bank curve, down the dip, scored a hint of airtime, and down the subway drop (still no subway stair effect), and into the show scene. The show scene looked to be running a bit better than it did at the end of last year, though the cars headlights still don't come on in the long tunnel, and the water splash finale was turned off as well. Not a bad ride by any means, we'll see how long the special effects hold out though. Oh, and the ride didn't get seatbelts yet. After riding Italian Job we ran into some other coaster enthusiasts and chatted for a few moments, then headed up towards Coney. We watched the Three Point Challenge, otherwise known as "License To Print Money" before heading to Skyline Chili. We grabbed a lunch of cheese coneys and water before looking over to see the Dodgem cars still have those ridiculously short shoulder loops, and I took a look at the flags in the middle of Coney. I was wondering what was going to happen to these. Last year they had eight flagpoles and on them they had a United States Flag, and Canadian Flag, as well as flags for Ohio, California, Virginia, Ontario, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The places where you could find the original KECO parks, and then by association the Paramount Parks. I was wondering how they were going to add in the new states, but they didn't, they are now solid yellow or purple flags, similar to what Cedar Fair used for decoration in their other parks. The decorative flags above the Coney Mall arch received a similar treatment. Some more Bowler Roller was played and I noted that not only did the rides get brand new Cedar Fair style safety signs, but the games received new uniform signage, with fun shaped yellow signs. The gift shop in Coney has returned to being a teen rock type shop, called "Attitudes", and the other one is a candy shop. It's Fried is now Midway Treats and Eats featuring paninni sandwiches. I also started to notice that the practice of a persons uniform matching their job function is returning to the park. Sweepers are in yellow, guest services in hunter green, games people are wearing referees stripes, and so forth. It adds a fun and colorful new look to the park. We then headed back towards Flight of Fear. This areas vending machines have also been removed. I for one appreciated the very low perimeter fence around the Firehawk construction site, allowing for a commanding view of the area. Can’t wait for that ride to open up. We entered Flight of Fear and the hangar was about half full of people. I hear it was about a half hour wait, which did include holding out for the front seat. Contrary to rumors I had heard the seatbelts on Flight of Fear hadn't changed, and in fact may have gotten a tad longer. What also hasn't changed is the fact they are bringing you to a near halt on the mid course brake. In other words, its running about as it did last season, but hey there was a sign promising on ride videos soon, that should be interesting to see. We headed from Flight of Fear to Racer. For the first round on Racer, Rideman scouted out the forwards side, translation being he doesn't care for backwards Racer (recaR). The rest of us gave a wonderfully retracked recaR a spin. How come the backwards side always gets all the love in terms of retracking. Rob and I headed back for a ride on Racer (forwards) and were pleasantly surprised by one of the better rides we have gotten on it in quite some time. Obviously Racer also got some love this year. We headed from Racer to Adventure Express. Adventure Express received seatbelts, and the installation is very similar to Beast and Racer, meaning they will not pose any problems for larger riders. The ride itself is about the same as always, the drummers appeared to be working, but the big dude at the top of the lift must have been laid off a few seasons ago. There is a work area for a new cool zone next to the Cyber Sez attraction (that thing is still here??), and over at Slingshot the ride is down as it looks to be getting its springs replaced. From Adventure Express, we took a spin on Delirium, with only a third of the queue maze in use. Delirium is still running a decent, though not exceptional ride cycle, and I didn't notice any real changes. At this point we made a run out to the car to drop off some things we didn't need, pick up a teddy bear that is the subject of one of those "Teddy Bears Vacation Photo Album" projects, you know the kind where you lend your teddy bear out to other family members and they get photos of your bear 'on vacation'. We then headed back into the park. Somehow they are using the usual black light ink handstamps, but you can reenter the park at any admission lane, and those lanes are not equipped with black lights yet. Curious. We headed up International Street, the Thrills are Paramount store is now Lotsapalooza, the Girls Space and the build-a-bear knockoff stores remain, as do the United States, Ohio and Kings Island flags in the flag display. I forgot to check at the base of the United States flag to see if the ACE marker remains. I glanced in the remodeled Laroasas, and checked out the menu at the new Fontana Bistro. We then headed to Nick Universe. Nick Universe seems to be basically the same as it was last year. We took a spin on the Fairly Odd Coaster and Avatar. Avatar is still running the shortened program it inherited partway through last season. We noticed seats have been added to the former Slime Bowl, which had been gutted a few years back to use as a character meet and greet, and it is being returned to a live performance space again. Don't worry though, because at least today the characters were out walking Nick Universe and the front gate area in force. You know, the way they used to do before meet and greet areas were established. We decided not to ride Reptar, and headed towards Rivertown. I noted that Wings is now a buffet, so the experiment at the end of last season must have worked out for them. The train ride was closed, shame the new owners also don't see the train as any more than transportation to the waterpark. Tomb Raider was also closed, what a surprise. We headed over to Vortex. Vortex, like Top Gun also got the crotch straps this year, something Cedar Fair seems adamant about in all their parks. Vortex, though, might, just might be running better than it has in several seasons. They weren't brining it to a near halt on the mid course brake. Happy 20th Vortex. Speaking of anniversaries - it is the parks 35th, Racer and Fairly Odd Coaster are also 35, Vortex is 20, Little Bills Giggle Coaster is 15. The Action FX Theater was closed and we started to head towards Tower. We noted the Launch Pad, which is a trampoline jump attraction, is still around. We also noted the person who made the new signage for it clearly wasn't thinking. The sign reads: Launch Pad: $10 Per Jump. Yikes! That could get real expensive, real fast. We noted no one experiencing the Launch Pad. We headed up to the top of Tower to get a view of the park from above, and noted it was going on 7:30. We decided to head out. In the Swiss Building, Animation Station has been replaced by another t shirt shop called "Thrillseekers" All in all it was a good day, obviously the park isn't quite ready for prime time yet, but it usually isn't until June. It will be interesting watching the changeover take place, now that we know it will be more gradual and less in-your-face.

Your wish is my command: I just happen to have a Yahoo Gallery set up from this visit: PKI 10/1/06 Photo Album

Trip ReportL Phantom Fright Night at Kennywood Pittsburgh, PA October 8, 2006 Notice: I you are here to find out about the haunts at Kennywood, this is not the trip report for you, I view amusement park halloween events as another way to get more coaster rides. We had left Lakemont Park around 5pm and had decided to make a stop at Kennywood. Consequently we made the drive from Altoona, PA to Pittsburgh, PA and were pulling into Kennywood right around 7:15pm. The park didn't open tonight until 7pm so we're right on time. The upper parking lots were closed, so we snagged a space in the free parking area at the back of Lot 1, and thanks to a well placed sidewalk we had a short walk to the gate, in fact I dare say its shorter than the walk some of the pay lot customers had. We had already purchased tickets at Lakemont for $16 each so we were all set. I could tell thsi would be no ordinary event when a large phantom figure was in the main entryway fountain and the front gate plaza just looked eerie. We made our way through the front gate and the metal detectors and were soon headed down the ramp. Kennywood has one of the greatest entrances with the gate actually being in the parking lot, then you go down a ramp, under the road and come out in the park. The park decided to turn the entrance tunnel into the first scare zone. They had the artifical fog cranked up so high you could harldy see down the ramp, and you almost had to feel for the tunnel entrance April wanted one of us on each side of her to guard her from the monsters, that may not have been the wisest choice as we were all set to help the monsters. We entered the park and took an immiedate left turn and headed to Phantom's Revenge. It was probably a good idea as when we arrived the line still hadn't even filled the station area. When we boarded the train he line was already started to back up on the bridge. Rideman and April took seat 2, and I took seat 3. No issues with the seatbelts or the lap bars that drop down from the sides. We setart out on a ride that seems like Steel Phnatom with the same lift hill, and we glance into the parking lot and the rumours the park would be dead tonight weren't exactly true. We then go down the twisting first drop, up the second hill, down the second, hill slice through the Thunderbolt, then the sweeping river turn to cut back over the Thunderbolt then the turnarounbd in the rides feature section the bunny hill run from the second pass of Thunderbolt to the end of the ride is filled with ejector airtime hills. Man every hill is better than the last. This just may be one of the greatest hypercoasters ever. We exited Phantom's Revenge, then headedover to SwingShot. SwingShot had a full queue, so we skipped that for now but noticed they decided to have a local radio personality do the bally tape for the ride. They learned nothing from when Hersheypark did something similar on Lightning Racer. We did wait around SwingShot for a few minutes for the rest of our crew to arrive at the park, then we all headed to Phantom's Revenge. It was close to an hour wait now, did I mention they didn't put the second train on. After a slow crawl we finally arrive at the station and break up into assorted seats. It seems there were several other coaster enthusiasts in the ride line as well. I wound up in seat 2 this time. If I thought seat 3 was great, seat 2 is even better. In fact seat 2 and the back seat are pretty close in terms of insane airtime on every hill. We exited Phantom's Revenge and we were deciding what to do, eventually rides won out over haunts. The pathway under the Lost Kennywood arch was blocked off so you had to exit the Lost Kennywood section by Swingshot. This area was the Gorky Park scarezone, whose main feature was a heavy duty fog machine and some scareactors making great effect out of just banging some trash can lids. They apparently thought totally littering this part of the park would add to the atmosphere. It's amazing how sometimes its the smallest things. We amde our way around Volcano which had a great light show, noted the Flying Carpet which was broken in August was still down, they even totally roped it off tonight with temproary baricade walls. We passed the Parkside Terrace which is normally a cafeteria but was turned into a haunt. We then passed the carousel which whike the ride was closed it had some errie lights on it and was playing music that sounded like a carousel organ in super slow mode, almost a sick sounding organ We made our way to Jack Rabbit and were delighted to find a short Jack Rabbit line, the line just down the ramp and halfway around the front of the ride. Didn't stop us from getting rudely line jumped. I wound up in seat 7 and we were soon off on a fun filled Jack Rabbit ride,and how come I always seem to wind up in the green train. I did note they had two trains on tonight so they were able to move people qucikly. I even decided to live large and hold my hands up through the infamous double down. They had added a few lighting effects and stuff to the rides tunnel for Fright Night. The train advanced forward, around past the queue area, down the drop up the hill, where my gaze at the lifthill was interupted by the tunel, through the tunnel turnaround, down the dip, up the lift. The lift has been modified to make accomodations for the newbrake fins, and they took a different tactic than PKI did with the Beast to solve the same issue. Crest the lift, turnaround, the airtime filled double dip, final trurnaound, final dip into the station brakes. The moment of truth, and quite frankly there is no noticable difference to the ride with the installation of the new braking system. Its odd that there are two brake fins per car, but the general effect is the same. The train pulled into unload and we exited down to the midway. At the bottom of the exit ramp I noted the the game where you usually try to get the ball to land in little illy pad has been transformed so it looks like a toxic ooze pool. Yep even the games get trnasformed. We follow the Kennywood Rules which state a Jack Rabbit ride must be followed by a Racer ride, Its only a 1 cycle wait for Racer, and soon we are taking up the back seats of both trains. I even got a seat that seemed to have a generously long seatbelt. Racer was its dependable self, but there wasn't too much hand slapping going on excpet maybe Rideman and myself. Oh, and I'd almost forgotten about that one good airtime pop on the return run in the back seat. After Racer it was time for a snack, most of us went to get frozen slush drinks. $2.60 later I had a Tangy Tangerine Brain Freze (yep, the items in the consession stands get new names). One member of our group managed to get the last chicken on a stick out of a tent that was setup alongside the lake. We drank our Brain Freezes as we headed back to Thunderbolt. We passes the sick sounding carousel again, then I noted the irnoy that the dark ride wasn't open during the haunt event. The park had several paths closed, and it was hard to see down the open paths due the copious amounts of artifical fog in use. We eventually find our way to Thunderbolt then realize we have 5 people, and there are no singles on Thunderbolt. Many thanks to the two who each decided to take one for the team and sit a ride out. Thunderblt had strobe lighting going on around its station giving the ride a neat effect. The better effect was the line was completely inside the station area. A couple trains later I was getting into the middle seat of the back car. We took off and proceeded to have a much smoother Thunderbolt ride than I remember having in a while. We get back in line, and there is almst nobdy in the station, I see only two people in the front seat queue, so I duck into the front seat queue and Rideman heads in after me. April and Pete take seat 2. It even works out that we are on the same train. We are seated and its out of the station down the drop, up ad around the turnaroundk down the next drop, up and onto the chain lift. Wow I even got some air on the drop before the lift. We then tur into the helix, and all that stuff. That was possiblt the smoothest best Thunderbolt ride I haver ever had, Of all the wood coasters I rode this weekend who would guess Thunderbolt was running the best. We left Thunderbolt and decided we had time for one more ride, I suggested the SwingShot and so we headed there, but not before a stop at the Round Stand for corn dogs. ($2.50 and they paint the mustard on for you). We make our way and I note the queue for Noah's Ark had been cut, as had the queue for Phantom's Revenge. After a brief incident we head to SwingShot. The line for SwingShot wsn't too bad and we were on in two or three cycles. Tonight they were only running one of their two swings, but I was able to board without the ride going down mechanical first, yes thats an improvement. The attendnat didn't push furher on my lapbar, so I got to ride again wth a fiarly loose bar which allowed me to get that unique feeling a the tops of the swings where you keep going up as the ride starts to go back down. All in all I really like the SwingShot, I hope Cedar Fair buys one of these for Kings Island, By the time the ride ended the park had closed for the night at 11PM. We made ou way out though the closed park, but did make a restroom stop. Geez, they even changed out the lihgtbulbs in the restrooms. We left the park as there was a lot of hoot and hollering going on in the exit tunnel. We soon made our way back to our cars and the three of us started to make the drive home. We did stop in West Virginia for a late night Eat'N'Park meal and thus we arrived back at Coaster Central around 4AM, wished Rideman a good night, switched cars, then April andI made the drive to Coasterville, where I got in shortly after 6AM, then April made the drive to AprilVille. Real fun weekend, can't wait to do it all again next year, but with some Flying Turns action!

Trip Report: RideFest at Lakemont Park Altoona, PA October , 2006 Last night we had gone to Knoebels for Phall Phunphest, so today on the way home we decided to stop past Lakemont for Ridefest. We awoke in Danville, PA and after running a few erands we were on the road towards Lakemont. It's about a 2 hour drive between the two parks so around 1:00 we are pulling into the parking lot. Lakemont park is your typical small town amusement park, well that is if small town amusement parks still existed. Nothing too fancy, just a bunch of rides located around a lake with a picnic grove. That is until the 1980's when a big corporation bought the park and tried to turn it into something it wasn't, a big theme park. They didn't get much done before they declared the idea a failure and darn near bankrupted the park in the process. One of the few remnants of that era is a big massive front gate entry plaza. Its a nice looking gate, it just doesn't go with the park its attached to. Today every single gate was locked, and all the ticket windows were closed, but Rideman had attended a past Ridefest and knew we had to go to the parks administrative offices. The area labeled Administrative Offices was clearly intended to be Guest Relations during the Boyertown USA period. We walked in through one door of the GR office, announced our presense and Rideman was handed an envelope which contained all our personalized nametags, and our door rpize raffle tickets. I noted they had Lakemont Park staff shirts on sale for $5, but I just didn't see one my size. Also in the office area we deposited our raffle tickets into the ticket box and were given programs for the day and informed about some extra add-ons. We could purchase a go-karts wistband for $10, or we could sign up for a under stucture coaster photo tour for free. We noted the Skyliner tours had already occured, but there was still room for the second Leap the Dips tour, so Rideman and I registered for the Leap the Dips photo tour at 1:30. Also, in the arcade you could purchase an arcade wristband for $2.95 for all you can play arcade games, We decided not to purchase eithr wristband and headed out the other door of the GR office into the park, Looking over the timetable, we saw how things were going to operate. It's important to note before you read about the park, that Lakemont Park had been closed since mid-September, and in fact they were already well under way at putting the rides into storage for the winter. It seems that the two wood coasters, go-karts, video arcade, and mini golf (free), would be open all day (11:30-5), and limitd other rides would be open in shifts, before lunch the Round Up and the Toboggan would be open, and after lunch it would be the Tilt-A-Whirl and the Antique Cars. All the other rides were already in storage, so it was sort of eerie walking past a carousel with no horeses, ferris wheel with no cars, and other flat rides in various stages of disassembly. I recalled the event fee for Ridefest was $17, which I thnk is quite high for what is offered, but then I am reminded that this event is a fundraiser for the ACE Preservation Fund. Looking at the schedue I note the Toboggan closes at 2pm, so we headed there first, The Toboggan is an early Chance Rides portable rollercoaster. The rides signature element is a tight helix wrapped around a rocket ship, the rocket ship also contains the vertical lift hill. Looking a the ride from the midway, you see on the front side the unload and load area, then the rocket ship with its internal lift, and helix track around the outside, after you finsihe the helix, you have a dip then a turnaround to the left, a few speed hills, then a turnaround to the lft back to the unload station. These were once commonplace at most major fairs. Lakemont was running three cars, and they were running it more like a flat ride, meaning they loaded up all three cars, dispatched them one at a time, then when all thee cars had comleted the ourse, they unloaded all three. The Toboggan runs single bench individual cars, but to call it a car just doesn't quite do it justice, you see they are actually cages. When you ride you are totally enclosed in an expanded metal grillwork style cage. You have the somewhat high seatback behidn you, the solid (unpadded) roof above you, then to the sides and in front of you is the metal grillwork, exceot for a plexiglass panel positioned right in front of you so you can see better. As if the age weren't enough there is a monster lapbar that has a big bolster around it. I didn't recall any problems last time I rode this ride, so I walked up the steps (no line) and climbed into car 3. I had to contort my legs to get them both to slide in under the lap bar, basically crossing my legs was a must, then the operator closed and locked the cage, which brings the lapbar even tighter than it was to begin with. I will state that my girth was not the issue on this ride, instead the issue was my height. When the cage roof closed the top of my head was brushing the cage roof, the unpadded cage roof, on a ride that has airtime. This is not going to be good, Also I found I could nbot move my legs at all as they were pinned in under the lapbar and the nose of the car pretty good. I think I might have had just about every square inch of that car occupied. I know we never seem to see ourselves grow, but I can remember when I could ride this at fairs with a ride patner. While I waited for my ride, Coach Rideman came up beside the car and started giving me tips on how to survive without too much injury, instructions which were repeated by the ride operator who remakred I am just too tall for this. Eventuallymy car is fed into the rocket, and starts its peppy but noisy ride straight up to the top of the rocket. Once at the top, I spiral back down and as I reach the bottom of the spiral, I roll myself into a fetal position wrapped around the lapbar, my legs tight on the underside so I don't bouce up, and my head bent down over it to keep it clear of the cage roof, and after felling the forces of the ride I'm glad I did that, even though I don't feel too good. I announce that I am through with Chance Toboggans. Rideman is on the next cycle, and we just could not convince April to give it a try. After Tobbogan, we head to Skyliner. We pass the go-karts where I note you can't buy a single ride ticket, you must get the armband if you wish to ride go-karts. I might have ridden if I could get a single ride ticket on them. We meet some more friends over by Skyliner, and then head up the ramp. No crowd at Skyliner, and I am soon climbing into the front seat with Rideman. Skyliner runs a classic train with older than traditional style lapbars, no seatbelts, and red seat cushions with no seat divders or headrests. This is an ACE Coaster Classic, and I note the train has been repainted green since my last visit with red trim, on the sides of the train, there is some theming with a baseball motif and the words "Go Curves" Like the Phoenix, thr Skyliner is also a coaster transplant this time from Roseland Park. According to Wiki I see we can credit the Boyertown USA people with purchasing the Skyliner and adding it to the park, so I guess they weren't all bad. Skyliner is a classic double out abnd back design, that is folded into an L shape. as you climb the lift, you can look to the right and see the locall minor league ballpark. The skyliner was running a bit rough, but with modest amounts of air and a couple laterals. By the time our Skyliner ride is over its time to start heading towards Leap The Dips. We pause to talk with some friends at Toboggan, and is that somebody asking for a reride? We get to Leap the Dips at around 1:25. When we arrived at Leap the Dips there was a car with two people sitting in it, and they were needing two more riders, so Rideman and I jumped in the car with them. It seems Leap The Dips now operateds with a strict there must be 4 riders per car rule. Leap The Dips is the world's oldest surviving wooden coaster, although it had a parter running over in England for a couple seasons. This is a 1902 figure eight side friction wood coaster. We climb into the yellow car, and the operator pushes us out on the lift. We note it has a slighly unusual lift chain but even more unusual is the anti rollback system, there are a series of green wood paddles along the sides of the lift hill, as the train goes up, the train pushed the paddle out of the way, as the train passes the paddl edrops back into place. At the top of the lift you go through a cupola then out on the course. The ride is a multi layer figure 8, I would guess at least three layers high. The idea is that each time you get arond to the center crossover of he 8, the car drops down a small dip, sometimes followed by a short rise. Once the car picks up enough speed it starts to leap just an inch or two as it goes down the dip, thus the name Leap the Dips, which also means you get some small ammounts of airtime. Don't misunderstand the whole ride is only about 40' tall, the longest single drop is 9' and I don't think the ride get above 10 mph. Yet, its a nostaligc throwback to the past. The station looks like a train station with benches, antique scale, and no real queue area, there is one big wide stairway with a railing down the center, one side to go up the other to go down. No fence or gate or anything like that. The cars have 2 benches each seating 2 people, and are richly uphosltered and have flared sides, and no active safety restraints. At the end of the ride, the car is still stopped by use of Big Old Brake Levers. We had a few moments to mingle after our ride before Gary Baker called us to take our tour. Leap The Dips hasn't had the best history recently, the ride was closed down about the time of the Boyertown USA project, apparently to be replaced by the Skyliner. The ride then fell into disrepair and it has been remarked that if the park could have afforded to take it down, they would have. A grass roots fundraising effore, spearheaded by the ACE was able to restore this ride and reopen it in 1999. It was then closed for much of the 2005 season. It s an antique ride and on the National Register, but apparenly it also has very high maintenance bills. Gary welcomed us, and we were invited to cross the track. We headed up the exit stairs, then stepped down into the wooden troughway in the station, then back up on the employee side of the track. Gary mentioned we were standing on the transfer table. He indicated the 8 slot car barn behind us where cars are stored, when one is needed this section of track rolls out along a spur track until it lines up with the parking space of the car barn, the car is slid on or off the transfer track into its parking space, then the transfer track is slide back into position. When it is ready to take a car on or off, another section of track slides under the boarding platform to allow the transfer track to allign with the main track. Gary noted they have 8 cars for Leap the Dips, however the Commonweath will only allow them to run 2 at a time, due to the lack of a blocking system. Apparently they can run two cars if they don't dispatch the second car until the first car has returned. Gary then noted that most days the ride only operates with one car like it is today, and with only one operator. Still one can imagine what it must have been like with 8 cars on at a time, with no computer, no block system, just skillfull timing of the dispatches. We looked around he station, then headed back to the car barn, where we could see the other 7 cars, and it looks like the seat cushions are being removed for safe winter storage. Gary mentioned they are trying different wheels and stuff to try to get the speed just right, some combinations of parts make the cars run faster than they would like, others will make it run too slow, they are still trying to find that winning combination. Gary mentioned they only had one car restored to show quality, and that was done by PTC and can be seen in a display case in front of the ride. The other cars were restored in house at much lower cost. We then walked down a stairway into the ride infield. Here is where the photo tour started and we were pretty much free to roam around the ride infield wherever we wanted, just us your common sense. Most of the infield is grass with some rockwork under the trackwork. The ride itself is white with green trim. We were given severasl laps of the ride to take photos videos whatever else we wanted. I noted what looks like a small house stands in the infield of the ride. After some time we were ushered back out of the ride area, apparently just in time for lunch. I noted that it looks like most of the midway games booths have been bricked over, and we headed down another stretch of errie deserted midway, this time with all its rides dismantled. We then exited the park through a side gate. Alongisde the park there is a fancy row of buildings that was originally supposed to be Lakemont Parks answer to Main Street USA with shops and stuff, its not really stuff the park needed so now the buildings have now been leased out as an office park. One of these buildings is called the Casino. No, you won;t find any games of chance in there, instead you will find a banquet hall. We walked in and it was just like going to a fancy corporate dinner or weddig reception. The round tables were set with real silverware, cloth napkins, and glassware, on top of a real linen tablecloth, We headed over to some tables that had beverages on them as the bar was closed. Coffee, water, and soft drinks were available. We then took our places at table. At one end of the room is a fancy bar and at the other end is a big stage. There seems to be a balcony level as well overhead. Without ceremony the buffet line was opened. On the buffet there was tossed salad w/ Italian dressing, mixed vegetabkes, cheese lasagna, rolls, butter, and assorted deserts. The banquet hall staff was dishing out the lasagna. I skipped the mixed vegetabkes but did opt for the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, We proceeded to eat lunch, then after lunch they gave away door prizes. Rideman won a Lakemont Park gift bag filled will assorted Lakemont Park souvenirs, April won a Sheetz gift card, and I won nothing. Everybody got a 2 for 1 coupon for Denny's. Also during lunch the go kart wristbands were on sale as well as Kennywood Phantom Fright Nights tickets, bargain priced at only $16. ACE made a presentation, noted the attendnace was juste under 100, noted that it is a very busy week for the Western PA region of ACE with Ridefest today, ACE day at Kennywood on Friday, and an event at Conneaut Lake Park on Saturday. Three events in a week, add the Knoebels event the night before and its an action packed week for the area in terms of coaster events, it was also mentioned that the money from todays event goes to the ACE Preservation Fund instead of to Lakemont Park. There was a show of hands as to how many people had ever been to Lakemont before, and of those how many had been to a Ridefest before. Their goal is to build Ridefest up to about 300-400 people. We learned the park had been closed for about 3 weeks now, and we could see they were well underway putting rides into winter storage, and that probably as soon as we leave the rest of the rides will begin disassembly. The rides that were open today were basically left set up just for our use. Then the park owner had a Q&A session. We learned he was missing his wedding aniversary to be with us, and that he would like to close the park as quickly as possible at 5pm to get home to his wife. He thakes us for comng to the park, promoted the parks christmas time light event, and then took some questions. He got asked the enthusiasts favorite question "Whats new next year?" Allof his answers really point back to one thing so instead of a trnascript, here is the gist of what he said. Lakemont Park caters to a unique market. In its market area, the median household income is around $20,000, and the area is economically depressed. Lakemont Parks normal ride pass price is only $7.95, with that kind of price the big modern new coasters and flat rides are clearly out of the parks budget at the current time. One of their most popular promotions is Dollar Day, and on that day, park admission is only $1, a ride pass is only $1. So for $2/person you get to ride all day, and again in his local market, without dollar days some of their citizens could never afford a day at a park. He mentioned possbily rasing the normal ride pass to $9.95 and making dollar days $2 days, He also mentioned they would like to add something new in the future. They are a free admission park, so they don't have a hard number on attendnace, but they do a lot of group picnics so they can rough an attendnace estimate becuse they know on average 1 in 3 people a a group picninc will purhcase a ride pass. He also mentioned that he used to only do one Dollar Day a month, but that led to park overcrowding that made the guests unhappy, it cuased the workers an un pleasant time, and has made the line for Skyliner reach the three hour mark. So now every Wedneday is Dollar Day which means that instead of getting 10,000 on those days, they get 4,000 each week. He made a big deal regarding a recent article in Amusement oday which was making a big deal about some parks annoucning they were lowering admission from $49 to $41, whereas Dollar Days desn't score even a mention, he defied anybody to fnd a better deal than $2 for a day of fun at an amusement park, and they have 28 rides, many of which are the same rides found at other more expensive parks, mini golf, a waterpark and more. I think he really made a point when he mentioned he was looking at one of those charts they put out once a year which compares what each park chagres for admission, parking, hot dog, soft drink. He said he found it interestng that there are 28 parks in the United States that charge more to park your car than Lakemont charges for a full price ride pass. My look at the time, its now 3:15, and lunch is ending. We renter the park through a back gate and peruse the gift shop which had been opened for our benefit. Not spotting anything in the gift shop we headed back inot the park. Rideman and I toyed with the idea of having a round of Traintown Mini Golf, but we ultimately wound up engaged in Coasternut Behavior. Yep, thats when a group of coaster enthusiasts is gathered up on the park midway, talking about coasters rather than riding coasters. We were engaged in convicing Rideman to stop by Kennywood on the way home, and truth be told it was quite an easy sale, We decided to get some more rides in at Lakemont park first. Rideman and I headed over to Leap The Dips. We got into a car, the three of us, and then learned we needed a fourth to ride. How is this we are coaster enthusasts, at a coaster event, at an open coaster, and there is no one around we can even press into service to fill the fourth seat. Rideman calls April to help out, but by the time she arrived another group arrived. We negotiated arrangements so that everybody in both groups would get to ride at least once and some twice. So I wound up with two more Leap The Dips rides. In a nostalgic kind of way I really like this coaster. After Leap the Dips I make my way around to the Skyliner. I see April in the first seat apparently going on a double ride as the train just flew through the station. I head up to the loading area and I learn that it was not an intentional double ride, instead the train literally blew through the station with the brakes unable to stop it. They stop the train on the lift, and leave that group out on the lift while the coaster mechanics readjust the skid brakes, taking them to their highest possible setting. Then the people in the back car are walked down the lift, and it is announced the back car would be closed for the remainder of the day. the train akes it back to unload, and we are invited to board "Front 2 cars only!" but now the brakes are so tight that the seats are now no longer lined up with the seat rows, so the back three rows actually seat the middle car, and the middle rows actually seat the first car. We had to do some reshuffling and not everyone who was supposed to be on the next train made it on. The Skylner station is truly a classic, there are no queue gates, not even queue rails, just a series of wooden posts and yellow lines to mark the queue lanes. I wind up in seat 4 and take what is surprisgnly a decent midtrain Skyliner ride. By the time we return to the station the crowd had appeared, and what with only filling 2 of the cars and all, we deicde to call it a day at Lakemont. We are fortunate to stop and talk to Bill Linkenheimer on the way out of the park, so he is able to arrange to have some of those Kennywood presale tickets held at the Lakemont Park office for us, after chiding us about not getting them at dinner like we were supposed to, So, you heard this rightm we next headed to the Lakemont Park Administrative Offices, where we proceeded to purchase Kennywood Park tickets. We then head to the parking lot. Many thanks to Lakemont Park for having us, and to Gary Baker for the Leap the Dips photo tour. But now, after an ATM run, its off to Kennywood. We do stop at a local Weis store to pick up some White Birch Beer before we pass the western border of the Birch Beer availability zone.

Trip Report: Phoenix Phall Phunphest @ Knoebels Groves Elysburg, PA October 7, 2006 I must be crazy! Why else would I be so easily talked into the idea of going on an 1,100 mile weekend coaster outing. The day started for me at 3:15 AM when April and I left Cincinnati. One fuel stop and 107 miles later we had left Coasterville and arrived at Coaster Central. At Coaster Central, Rideman joined our happy crew, and we switched to Rideman's car. Withouttoo much ceremony we were leaving Coaster Central (Columbus, OH) and starting towards Elysburg, PA. We made a fueling stop at Cambridge, OH then a longer than needed breakfast stop at an Eat'N'Park restuarant. Things would have gone so well, except for the road construction on PA-22, which meant long stretches of the ride were limited to 40mph. All told we arrived at Danville, PA around 2:30, picked up our room keys, then headed for Knoebels. April had a meeting time tomeet some friends in front of Phoenix, so first we drove back the campground road and dropped April off as close to Phoenix as we could get her, then Rideman took the car around to the main parking lot. Interestingly, the big roadside Knoebels sign is at the campground road, the road back to the parking lot is marked with a simple blue sign that reads "Amusement Park -->>" We make the turn and are soon passing under the entryway sign and heading towards a pretty full looking parking lot. One of the good things about ariving at the park so late is that we were able to vulture a parking space in row 4, which is the first non-handicap row of the lot. Knoebels Groves is a great piece of Americana. The park got its start as a simple picnic grove and swimming hole, but for the nation's 150th birthday on July 4, 1926 the picnic grove turned into an amusement park. The park really is a time capsule, as it still has lots of classic and now rare rides, the buildings are all of an older style. I like to use the term "frozen in the fifties" even if quite a few of the rides are actually newer than that. The park has managed to add quite a number of rides and other attractions, while still maintainng a very rustic woodsy feel. In several parts of the park the paths are gravel, and there appears to be no organization to the layout of the park. Instead it looks like rides and other buildings were added wherever it was convenient. The best thing is they have managed to maintain that old time nostalgic park feel while still able to add some of the very latest rides. Knoebels also has a strong history of purchasing old rides from other parks, mostly as other parks have shut down. It is said the legacy of several parks lives on at Knoebels, and the park is proud of this legacy, on their website several ride descriptions will even tell you which park a ride was purhased from. One such ride is the star attraction, the Phoenix. Originally it was the Rocket at San Antonio's Playland park until Playland closed, and the Knoebels family purchasedandmoved the ride to Knoebels, and renamed it the Phoenix, partly toremember the fact the coaster once thought dead has sprung to new life. Some time later the park decided to host a fall coaster enthusiast costume party and riding event. That event became known as the Phoenix Phall Phunphest, which is the reason we are here today. So we parked the car, and headed into the park. Phoenix Phall Phunphest (PPP) is only one of the events at the park this weekend. The other event this weekend is the Covered Bridge Festival, which is a hugely popular arts and crafts festival. The festival seems to run Friday-Sunday this weekend in the morning through 5pm, PPP conveniently starts on Saturday night at 6pn and runs until 10pm. What this meant for us was that when we walked into the park, the arts and crafts fest was in full swing and even though it takes place mostly in the picnic groves, part of it does take place in the front part of the park, which means the first stretch of pathway became narrow and tightly crowded once the crafts tents are added. We took a little walk around the park to take a fresh breath of that Knoebels atmosphere, then we headed to the handstamp booth. Knoebels maintains the traditions of classic amusement parks, including free parking, free gate admission, and the option to use either ride tickets or handstamps. So we went to the handstamp booth, which is clearly marked "Pay One Price All Day Ride Passes" While the park is dotted with numerous small booths selling ride tickets, handstamps are only sold at the handstamp booth in the center of the park, along with the original park entryway and sign. We walk up to the handstamp booth and look over our options. Let's see there is the afternoon 12-5 ride handstamp for $18, the PPP handstamp for $15, or the combo for $31. One cool thing is if you buy the combo stamp you can either combo it with the saturday afternoon session of the sunday afternoon session. We knew we would not be in town tommorow, and we also knew with our late arrival time, there was no way we could ride $18 worth of rides today before 5pm. So we bought the PPP only stamps for $15. It's a cool purple handstamp that reads "Phunphest" in fancy script. Along with our handstamps we also recieve a special ticket book. I look through my ticket book: Free Scenic Skyway Ride, Free Midway Game, 2 Free slices of regular pizza, Free Soft Drink. Adding the cash value of those up comes up close to $11, but wait he Phunphest stamp is also good for the Haunted Mansion and Lazer Runner, both of which are normally upchage attractions. If you make full use of your PPP perks, the rides themselves are basically free. We go to meet the rest of the gang over at the Phoenix Junction Steakhouse,. For those wondering if they saw me, I was the one in the purple t-shirt with a Purple People Bridge Climb logo. After introductions, April and her group head to the handstamp booth, and Rideman and I head to the swap meet at the Phoenix Junction Steakhouse. Various people have sales tables upon which you can buy a myriad of coaster books, videos, calendars, old park maps, park memorabillia, and much much more. We take some time to persue the sales tables. At the same time we run into several other coaster friends, then Rideman struck up a conversation with a Knoebels rides maintenance person. It was close to 4pm before we decided to take a ride or two. We headed over to what looks like an old trolley car parked next to Phoenix, it was there that we were able to each purchase a $5 book of ride tickets. We started to head for the Phoenix but then decided to take a different tactic. Phoenix had a short line, but what about the Flyers? We start to head to the Flyers. On our way to the Flyers we pass the future site of the Flying Turns. The Flying Turns will be the first wooden bobsled (bobsleigh) coaster to be built in quite some time. The sturcture looks to be mostly built, and possibly had the park not suffered a real bad flood this summer, the ride may have been ready. A small display about the ride was set up in its future ticket booth. Interesting enough there is a television in the ticket booth that was showing a POV video of the not even completed Flying Turns ride. We head alongside the Flying Turns to about where you would have boarded the Whirlwind when we saw that they had a preview center setup. We visited the Flying Turns preview center. They had an aerial view of the ride, and you could get up close and personal with a low to the ground section of the trough. They had a ladder setup to get as close to the trough as possible, they had signs up about the ride and the design team, they had piles of wood to be used on the ride as well as markers for those that wanted to sign the Flying Turns wood, they had representatives on the spot to answer questions about the ride. All in all it was a very good preview, and I got to see the s steel ribbed wooden trough up close and personal. As we left the preivew center I noted a small cutway section of trough that they must be using to test different wood treatments as it had several splotches on it labeled with different wood treatment product names. We walk around the back of the Flying Turns and see the incomplete lift hill. We then walk down the campground road, and instead of crossing the service road and heading to Twister, we continue to walk around the Flying Turns and head to the Flyers. The Flyers had a 2/3 full queue, so 2-3 rides and $1.00 each in tickets later we were boarding our Flyers. Knoebels Flyers are unlike any other, for one the tubs are mounted with the doors on the inside, and the ride spins in the opposite direction than normal. The mail sail on the Flyer feels to be canvas rather than metal. I fasten the length of nylon webbing strap seatbelt and prepare to FLY. The ride started and I need practice. Since PKI heartlessly removed the Flying Eagles two years ago *sniff*, I don't get around a good Flyer too often. It felt like I was doing everythign right, I just couldn't get that nice loud satisfying KERCHUNK sound followed by your back being rudely introduced to the seatback. I got a couple soft snaps but nothing like I used to be able to get at PKI or Knoebels. I like the carnival method of checking seatbelts b turning the ride on at low speed and checking the belts by standing in one spot and letting the tubs come around to you. Having flown the Flyers. I wanted a different interactive flying experince. We headed to the Roto-Jet, I had not ridden Knoebels Roto-Jet, and I noted it was not open during PPP. There was no line for Roto-Jet so 80 cents in tickets later I was boarding a little red rocket. Roto-Jet is the precursor to the Astro Orbiter at the Disney parks, you know several litlle 1-2 person rocket ships rotate around a center tower,and the rider can control the height their rocketflies at by using a control lever. Getting into the rocket was a minor challenge but not muuch. I suppose a small child could get in with me but thats about it as my legs completely filled the pockets on either side of the seat. There are no seatbelts, with the seating design itself keeping you safely in your craft. I noted it was a long reach to the control lever in the front of the rocket, but Rideman made a hint, and I realized the lever could just as easily be controlled by a foot. Knoebels Roto-Jet spins faster than I ever remember Astro Orbiter spinning. I mean when the rocket is at the bottom, the lateral forces have you bent over the outer sidewall of your rocket. Much more pleasent ride if you fly high, The rockets control system is apprently a three position switch. On most rides of its type I am used to pulling back on the lever to go up, and if you release it goes down. Knoebels is pull back to go up,push forward to go down, but if you let go your rocket will maintain its present altitude. It was a fun old vintage ride. We then walked around the park and took a look at the Teacups. The Teacups at Knoebels is actually a PTC Crazy Dasey, which means its half of a cudde up, which means that although you have no control of how the cup spins, you do get to be mesmerized as the cups switch turntables several times during the ride. It's not the Mad Tea Party at Disney, but that didn't stop them from posting a sign "The Mad Hatter invites you to ride the TEACUPS!" We opted to not ride the teacups, and after Rideman looked under the adjacent Tilt-A-Whirl to see that it was a cable drive machine we headed to the Cosmotron. Or I guess I should say the Cosmotron 2. Cosmotron is a Musik ride in the dark. There was a short line for the Cosmotron but we were on the next available ride ($1.20 - this must be the high rent district), and I noted its the same price to ride or watch. The Musik Ride itself is mostly painted black, so we sat in seperate cars, and pulled down on the massive ratcheting overhead lapbars. After everybody was settled in the ride started to spin. Add flashing lights, add strobes, add loud music, and you have the Cosmotron experience. My favorite part of the ride is right when it starts to spin backwards and they activate the strobes. The Cosmotron ride was of a nice length and by the time we exited the ride we had time for just one more ride before the 12-5 ride session ended, We headed over to one of Kenobels newest rides, which is actually a rare vintage Herschell Looper. At first it looked like there was quite a line to ride the Looper, but it turns out there were lots of people watching the Looper and not that many people in line. We were able to ride on the next available cycle,again that will be $1.20 each. In February I had taken an instant liking to the Chance Rok N Rol at the Florida State Fair and the Ocseola County Fair, and from a distance the Looper looks quite similar. Rideman and I were shown to our thin round cylinder shaped ride car. We took our seats and we started to feed the really wide seatbelts into the camlock mechanisms for the ride operator. The ride operator came around grabbed the end of the belts and with pulled them skin tight. You see the seatbelt is the only passenger restraint, there isnt even a cage door. The ride started and at first we are told not to step on the foot pedal, but once the ride gets up to speed we are allowed to press the pedal. You see the Looper comes with an automatic mode. If you step on the pedal it activated a brake which locks your ride tub to a large wheel that rides on the ride deck. Basically activate the pedal and the large wheel will cause your ride tub to loop continuosuly until you let go. We did let go a few times just to very the ride cycle, and getting the tub to stall out upside down for a revolution was pretty cool. All in all I'd say we had at least 16 flips. Its the closest I am going to come to a vertical loop all weekend, After the Looper ride, the rides had shut down and so we met back up with the rest of the crew then headed to Ceasaris. I notice I still have 80 cents inride tickets remaining that will have to wait for next year. Ceasari's is a pizza stand and is themed to look like a Roman temple. We join one of the about 8-10 long service lines and prepare for pizza. 15 minutes later we are still in line, and haven't moved up an inch, 30 minutes later, no change, at about 45 minutes later we start to seesoome movement, and about an hour later we have our pizza., We learn the vouchers are good only for 2 slices (or a fourth) of an 18" Cheese Pizza. Okay, everybody is getting the same thing, why did this just take an hour. It's not like the park didnt know the pizza shop was going to get slammed at 5pm, We grabbed our pizza, then headed over to the side patio to redeam our free drink voucher. I went with the White Birch Beer, which is best described as Wintergreen Soda, trust me, it's an acquired taste. April had a table saved for us, so we soon sat down to dinner. Well, the good news is the pizza is piping hot, very hot in fact, its also thin crust, so I decide to go for the pizza eating technique I learned in Roma, Itlalia which is to fold the pizza over something like a taco. Looking over the dinner tab that was a $6.80 value so I am currently $8.20 down, After the pizza dinner, we decide to head towards the Haunted Mansion. The park is renowned for having one of the nations best haunted house rides, and it is normally not included in the POP plans, but PhunPhest is an exception. The house looks perfectly nice from the outside, a wide 2 story victorian, with a big wrought iron fence around it, and is that a raven on the sign. The sign claims the ride is a terrifying adventure in darkness. We walk through the front yard, and bypass the gaebo out front where you normally purchase ride tickets. The queue had just filled the permanent queue area, and with the ultra efficient Koebels ride crew the line was moving really fast. It seemed as if no time had passed when we walked pased the coffin shaped control booth right past the "No handstamps or armbands" sign and split up and boarded our little red cars. We boarded the car on the porch of the house, made a turnaround by the control booth and proceeded to the center ofthe front porch where we turned and went in the front doors. Ah, crash doors, two sets of them to ensure the tour through the living room is nice and dark. The first room doesn't seem too bad, it looks like a living room, and then there is the mysterious pipe organ, oh and watch out for that granfather clock, be sure to take a good look to find out what time it is. This haunted house has really well done tableuax and a variety of pop up stunts But is more than that, they house has several crash doors to add their distincitve unsettling noise and to make sure each room is kept nice and dark. I like the skull and mirror room, its a cool visual. At the end of that roomthey flash some bright lights right before the nexte crash door and the lift. The lift has a very simple effect, just hang some bits of string from the ceiling that are low enough to brush the riders hair. Upstairs you go through the haunted attic with a lot of cool classic stunts. Also upstairs the rolling barrel wasn't turning, but the room with the stange black and white patterns on the wall and weird music was working and I still don't get it. The truck lights and horns at the bottom of the ramp dowm is always a hit, and the final jungle scene was cool. The fake out water curtain did not appear to be working. We exited the Haunted Mansion where a crew was sending the car back to load the second after we got out. The Haunted Mansion is a $1.20 value, and so we are down to $7.00 to break even. From the Haunted Mansion, we decided to head over to the Scenic Skyway. The Scenic Skyway is a chairlift style ride that takes riders up the mountainside accross from the park and back down. The park wins style points for having artifical snow in the Skyway station, The Skyway station is near the front of the park except that the ride runs away from the park. We form groups and head towards the trilift. We get to the loading area and learn that tickets will be required to ride depsite the fact this is PPP time. Luckily, my PPP ticket book has a Scenic Skyway ticket. I hand over my Skyway ticket while noting the Skyway is $3, so we are now just $4 down. The ride starts with a short rise to get up over the servive area and over the main parking lot entrance road. Once accross the street you go up through a narrow clearing in the hillside. Careful observers may note the zig-zag service/evacuation pathway. Going up there isn't much to see except to remark how tall the mountainside is, but once you hit the top and make the turnaround, all the way down you are treated to a stunning aerial view of the park. We get back to the ground and exit the Scenic Skyway. As I exit the Skyway I learn the rest of our group is boarding the Flying Tigers. Flying Tigers is one of Knoebels newer rides, and I join the group in riding. I take a seat in the airplane shaped car and fasten the seatbelt. The Flying Tigers ride is similar to a Whip ride but with one major difference. The cars are suspended from above, and are mounted so they can swing out, sort of like a suspended coaster car. Therefore instead of being pushed back into the seat as you whip around the ends, instead the airplance shaped car swings out as if performing an aerial manuever. The end towers are red and white control tower looking things. New for this year, the park built a pavilion over the ride. All in all it's a fun ride. I note the ride price is $1, so I am now just $3 down, After riding the new whip style ride, we decide to ride the old Whipper ride. This is the Mangels original, and had no wait. Classis red and green cars, with just a non-latching safety bar. I still find these rides funs as you whip around the ends. Knobels is somewhat original in that there is a crosswalk in the middle of the ride. I note the Whipper is 80 cents, so nowIam just $2.20 down. Our next stop is the infamous High Speed Thrill Coaster. The HSTC might easily be confused for a kiddie coaster, but don't let looks fool you. Two cycles later I am climbingi into the second car from the back and lowering the big lap bar. The ride starts, and it starts out as a kiddie coaster, but wait till you get to the bunny hops along the course, and is that airtime. But wait, they then crank the lift hill up to high speec where is seems like they are launching the train. With each circuit the bunny hops seem to be taken faster and the airtime gets that much more extreme. If you want to cram maximum airtime into minimum space, this is the ride for you. There aren't that many full size coasters that outperform this one, As we exit the ride,we are satisfied to see the queue is much longer than when we got in line. Oh and thats another 80 cents value, so now I'm just $1.40 out and I haven't even gotten to the wood coasters yet. Our next stop was to be the Skooters bumper cars. Knoebels Skooters are genuine vintage Lusse Auto Skooters, big heavy things that bump nice and hard. We arrived at the ride and the queue area was full and the line was overflowing out into the pathway. Knoebels Skooters may be good, but we decided not to wait in that line, In the area we looked at some of the parks decoration. Knoebels is a patriotic park and in this area is a replica of the famous Iwo Jima statue of US soldiers planting the United States Flag. Its mostly a bronze statue except that it does use a historically accurate fabric flag which adds color and makes the piece stand out. Rideman took a close look as I suppose he has seen a rendering of this scene where there are too many hands on the flagpole. Dave carefully looked at the statue and noted 5 soldiers and 10 hands on the flagpole, so everything is okay. After our brief art appreciation moment, we decide to head to the Flyers. There is a full queue over at the Flyers and we join in. We noted even more friends in the Flyer queue, and Chuck remarked about how it seemed just like it used to be at Kings Island at night with all the enthusiasts gathered around the Flying Eagles. 2-3 cycles later I am taking my second flight of the day. I think my second flight was better than my first but still not as good as I remember this ride being in 2000. But wait, Tina managed to hang the cable on her Flyer, so evidently extreme riding is still possible. Tina gets treated to a chant of "Tina! Tina! Tina!" as the crowd roars its approval. Oh, and thats a $1 value so I just need to ride 40 cents more to break even. I exit the Flyer just in time to see April and Rideman running down the midway, I try to catch up but thery had already gotten out of sight, so I decide to do some touring on my own, I walk back past the Flyer and head around the Flying Turns to the bidge that goes over to the park annex where Twister is located. Its now a nice plaza with a gift shop, snack bar, restrooms and the Twister. Next to Twister you can see their swimmng area. Twister is a massive coaster structure, and if it weren't for the Twister sign on the coaster it isn't obvious where the pathway to enter is. It looks like the crew that did the ride signs for Mt. Olympus did the Twister sign. I enter the Twister queue and note that had placed a couple classic haunted house stunts like the electric chair in the queue. I got to the place where they usually check tickets, and was surprised that there was still someone checking tickets, and accepting tickets. PPP used to be an ethusiast event and only the PPP handstamp would get you in rides, now its basically just a special evening ride session with a couple special promotions. There was just a station wait to ride Twister. I had heardto ride up front, and while the front seat line was long I went for seat 2. I next noted that although both trains were on the ride, they were only loading the purple train, so basically it was a single train operation. Twister is adaped from the late Mister Twister from the original Elitch Gardens, with a few new quriks thrown in. I take my seat in seat 1.2 pull the lap bar down 3 clicks, then note there is so much play in the lap bar that it may as well be in click 1 as loose as it is. We exit the curved station and make a dive into a sweeping turnaround to the right, up chain lift 1, then a curve to the lleft which leads to a big turnaround to the right so you continue up lift 2 which is directly above lift 1. This is one of the major changes designed too conserve space. Once at the top of the second lift, another long sweeping turnaround to the right brings us to the first drop. Afte the first drop, the layout is a classic twister with lots of laterals and a few airtime pops. There was one combination airtime pop/lateral that had me thinking I might be going over the seat divider. The signature moment for the ride is the double helix that wraps all the way around the station. All in all I found Twister to be runnng very rough with the shuffling and all. It was actually making Beast look good. So I exited the ride down the exit ramp, and noted that Twister goes for $2.20 so I am now $1.80 to the good. I cross back over the Twister bridge then it looks as if I have left the park and am walking down a service road. I'm glad I had my hand stamped as it looks like I am clean out of the park. I reenter the park near Fandango. I had heard things about Fandango, namely that it isn't tolerant of shall we say, larger riders, of which I am one. I decided to try Fandango anyway, so I got in line and was on the ride with just a 1 cycle wait. I sat down, but we were moved around in order to better balance the ride. The shoulder bar lowered automatically, then I reached down and had no trouble fastening the retracting seatbelt to the buckle of the front of the harness. But on this ride it isn't the seatbelt that is the limiting factor, I had to make the ride computer happy. A loader came around and saidhe needed topush in on my harness, it was really a light shove but just enough to make the computer happy. So I was now on Fandango, which is one of those new spinning pendulum rides that have become all the rage. It looks like this is the Moser Rides version. It has the outwards facing seats like the HUSS Giant Frisbee, but the ride itself is of a more regular size, like say a normal Frisbee. It also has a lot simpler moving floor with just two big panels instead of several pie wedge shaped pieces. The ride itself is much like Delirium at PKI, excpet I think Fandango is much more intense. I also note Fandango is $1.40 so now I am $3.20 to the good. I pass by the Gasoline Alley which is the parks Antique Car ride, for PPP and then every Saturday in October they run a Haunted Antique Car Ride. The line for the haunted antique cars was just way too long, and then I found myself having to move over to the side of the path becuase the evenig costume parade was coming through. I decided to get out of the way by ducking into the Swiss Chalet. Inside the Swiss Chalet I picked up an event sweatshirt, it was last years I think which featured a phoenix train loaded with skeletons on a black background. I prefered it to this years shirt which looked sort of childish, so $20.95 later I had a sweatshirt. As I was walking towards my next ride, I decided that rather than trying to lug the bag around, that I'll just slide the new sweatshirt on over my prrple people bridge climb shirt, besides it was getting a bit cool. I next headed to the Grand Carousel, its an antique 1913 carousel, and even though I'm not really a carousel enthusiast, this one is particularly interestng. You see, Knoebels is one of the few paks that still runs a ring machine on the carousel. I also noted their horses have the presumably real horsehair tails on the horses, something I had noted at the San Diego Loof Carousel. I got in line, and on my first attempt I was too far back in the line to get on the outside horses, so I didn't ride, and instead got back in line. You know its odd when the non-jumping horses are the first to go, its also odd when its mostly adults riding the carousel. I do score that outside seat on attempt 2 to ride the carousel. The ride starts and then the man comes around to take tickets or check handstamps. Thats an 80 cent value, so now I am $4 to the good. The first couple revolutions are a normal carousel ride, then the bell rings. The bell is the signal to assume the position, that is left hand firly grasping on to the caousel pole, right foot firmly in stirrup ans start to lean out to the right just a little bit. The next task is to try to quickly grab the rings from the ring dispenser. The ride turns at a good rate of speed so you don't have time to think about it, you have to pretty much reach grab and pull away all in one fluid motion, ifyou don't immediately grab the ring, let go and move your hand away, if you do grab the ring, you have to yank it out of the dispenser real fast. My technique is to have my second finger extended staight out, and try to poke that finger through the ring, then once I have the ring, immediately fold my finger towards the palmwhich both pulls the ring out and uses my palm to keep it n place until I have time to deal with it. While the ride is turning, you can transfer the ring to your other hand. Get the brass ring, get a free ride, just like the old days. The other alternative is to toss the ring into the lions mouth but that doesn't give you much time to get your hand in position to grab the next ring. You then hear a second bell, that is when the ring machine is retracted, and you are to go into ring toss mode, trying to get the rings into the lions mouth, on the final revolution theyinstruct you to toss in all remaingin rings at once, the rings are not souvenirs and you may not keep them. From the Grand Carousel I head to the Skooter. I see the line for the Skooter hasn't gotten any shorter, but I decide to wait through it. It ws about a 20 minute wait for the Skooters. Ah, to be back in the Lusses, with their big metal and chrome bodies, the large steerng wheels, the simple velcro seatbelts. "One way only, no head on collisions" I did note that the King of the Skooters was not operating the ride. When riding most bumper car rides, I think "They don't make bumper car rides like they used to", well "These they make like they used to", Fast heavy cars, loud colissions, and more importantly hard collisions, you get a good bump on one of these and you will feel it. The skooters is one of those rides that makes Knoebels. When I had finished my Skooters ride the line had been cut, so noting the $1 value, I am $5 to the good and head for the main attraction, the Phoenix. Phoenix line was out in the plaza in front of the ride, and I noted a few haunted touches had been added to the Phoenixlike a graeyard scene at the bottom of the ramp right past the ticket barrier, and a couple haunted props up in the station. I took my first ride in seat 2, where I noted the lift approach tunnel had some dark ride stunts put in it. As for the ride itself, it was running alright, but the airtime just wasn't waht I remembered excpet for the final pass. Oh, and how many other coasters can you handslap people in the station while going up the lift, and hey traditional style lapbar and no seatbelts. . I took my next ride in the back of the train, I was lined up for seat 11, but I noted a single rider getting into seat 12, so I took the upgrade to the back seat. So I rode in the back seat with the referee, and the back seat ride was much more impressive. Airtime on almostevery drop, and the double up double down rode like a dream in the back seat. The ride finished and I knew I needed to try out the money seat. Next time around it was seat 3. Sorry seat 3 fans, but even though I know seat 3 is a great seat, it just wasn't as good as the back seat. And hey, the back seat line was much shorter. So I take a few more rides,mostly in the back seat. All in all by the time they cut the line, I had scored 6 Phoenix rides, at $1.80 per that comes to $10.80 meaning I am $15.80 to the good for the event, As luck would have it, I saw the rest of my group while waiting to board my last Phoenix ride, so we could arrange a meet up spot. After the Phoenx rides I went to look at the collection of parade floats sitting in Phoenix Plaza. They are unique floats as they are made out of old ride vehicles with go kart motors put in them. Let;s see there is a boat from the Motorboat Cruise. Behind that was a Flyer tub, which was mounted on a chasis, and is steered by a control mechanism that was mouted to the rudder handle. Next to that was a PTC coaster car, complete with traditional style lap bars. The front seat of the car is missing its seat divider but has been fitted with a steetring wheel. Its a red car witht the Knoebels logo in front. Lastly there is a Lusse Auto Skooter, with a big blue light on top of the stinger pole. After looing at the parade vehicles, I headed to Phoenix Junction Steakhouse to meet up with everyone. Prize winners were announced, attendnace was annonced as being just over 1,600, but more interestingly some Flying Turns details were announced in a John Fetterman Q&A session. The POV video you see was made with a person walking the trough, the trains will seat 10 people, but won't be tandem seating like the originals. I don't think its really anything we hadn't heard before, but oh Knoebels is gonna be great next year. We decide to skip out on the Bonfire, and instead make our way to our 'campsite' at Camp Red Roof, whereupon we make an expedition to Applebees to score dinner. All in all it was a great day at a great park, and the weekend is still young. Tommorow we go to both Lakemont and Kennywood! Oh, and what does Knoebels use for handstamp ink, this stuff takes lots of effort and some good scrubbing to remove.

Trip Report: Paramount's Kings Island Cincinnati, OH October 1, 2006 I hadn't planned on going to the park today, but coming home from church the radio announcer said something that changed all that. He said that it would be 76 and sunny out today. I thought to myself, how many more days like this can I expect to have this year, and decided to spend it at the park. So after church I went home, changed from church going attire to theme park going attire. I also grabbed my camera and its accessories as the park had just been purchased by Cedar Fair and I wanted to document the park just in case Cedar Fair makes some big changes in the off season. I had also decided to renew my season pass, so I figured a few minutes online might save me several minutes in line. I soon had purchased, printed, and registered an eTicket for a Cedar Fair Maxx Pass. I grabbed a snack and was off to the park. Owing to my late start, I didn't arrive at the park until 12:45. I had forgotten a beverage with my snack, so I stopped at a coke machine out in the parking lot and bought a coke for $1.00. Sure it was a can, but on a per unit basis it was still a way better deal than in the park. I made my way through the parking lot and realized it's not going to be too crowded today. I did note the chains up blocking off the exits from the Gold Pass lot, but noted the entrances to both the Gold Pass Lot and the Premier lot appear to be unattended. I soon made my way to the front gate plaza and noted Son of Beast was going to be closed. What a uhm, surprise. I made my way to the season pass building and was happy to find the extra queue area empty, and registered e-ticket in hand I proceeded directly inside. The inside of the season pass building is still done up in its old time cameras and film strip motif. What has totally changed is the whole process. I showed my eTicket to the person at the front desk, as well as my 2006 PKI pass. He took my PKI Pass and stapled a yellow "Complimentary Parking" ticket onto my eTicket. I was then directed to a camera station. I had some brief difficulty at the camera station. From what I could gather the person is supposed to scan the eTicket or pass ticket, then scan the parking ticket. I gathered the photographer made a mistake, then tried to just do it over, but when he rescanned the eTicket, it showed up as void, and already used. He had to call a supervisor over, who noted what happened, and was able to reset the barcode on my eTicket so it could be used again, but it would take the computer system 5-10 minutes to reset. They offered me a chair while I waited. During that time I heard that no parking passes are being sold yet, only the free parking for renewals. I also determined that the season pass crew knows little more about how passes work next year than we do. Eventually the computer releases the block on my eTicket and I am able to process. A quick photo is taken, and then I am handed a stiff piece of paper, it's a little bit more durable than Florida theme park tickets. On the front side it is red, and still has the film strip motif of the old PKI passes, except that it reads "Temporary Cedar Fair Maxx Pass" The back has room for my signature, a big block of fine print that I need to get out a heavy duty magnifying glass to read, a barcode, and a small Paramount's Kings Island logo. The fine print explains how a Maxx Pass works, good at PKI only in 2006, good at all CF ride parks in 2007. Any passholder perks are only good at park of issue, then the usual stuff. He indicated he thinks the plan is to mail the regular passes out but that is purely speculation on their part. Pass in hand I exit the season pass building and make my way towards the metal detectors. Flanking the metal detection checkpoint is some fearfest theming in the flower beds, most notably two King Cobra cars with skeletons riding them on one side, and two Phantom Theater cars (again with skeletons) on the other side. I have not trouble clearing security, note the park closing time is 8pm, and head to the front gate. There were long lines at the stroller lanes (which don't have turnstiles), but almost no wait at the lines with turnstiles. I choose a regular lane, and am soon admitted to the park. I note as my paper pass is scanned the server puts my pass photo up on the ticket takers monitor. I enter the park and pass by the brochure rack as I can get a park map on the way out. I enter the entrance plaza, and the first thing I notice is the big Paramount's Kings Island logo is gone, replaced by a section of cemetery fencing, some headstones, a Kings Island Fearfest logo, all flanked by two hearses. I head towards Acton Zone, and note the alpine chalet look of the return visit booth has been removed now that it is not selling WinterFest tickets. I also note both a magic show and "Monster Bash" have moved into the Paramount Theater. I head to Delirium and was nervous at first, but upon closer inspection noted the switchbacks in the queue area were not in use, and in reality the line was just a one cycle wait. I would have gotten on in the next cycle but I was the 51st person back in line. While waiting my turn I awndered if I should stow the fannypack (with camera) in the metal bins or take it on the ride. I decided to take it on the ride, and when I sat down found just enough room to the side of me to slide the fannypack, almost as if the ride were designed that way. No problems with the belt or bar, so I was soon swinging and spinning on one of the best new rides the park has installed in awhile. After Delirium I head towards Top Gun. I note that Days Of Thunder (go-karts) are priced at $6 which is way too high for a dull oval track,. I get back in that area and note Son of Beast is barricaded with two trash cans at the entrance, a bench across the exit, and a greeter. I was headed to Top Gun when a sign caught me eye. I didn't have much time to read the sign until an Extreme Skyflyer attendant (Skycoaster) walked over to me and told me that I could ride for only $5 instead of the posted price of $15. I quickly made my way to the ticket booth and soon had a Skycoaster ticket. There were just two groups in front of me to be admitted to the harness shelter. There I was given a cubbyhole for my personal belongings and fitted into a harness. Lets see, last month I let some stranger help me into a harness, then tether me to a steel cable attached to a bridge, so that I could climb around on top of the bridge. This weekend I am letting some stranger help me into a harness, then tether me to a steel cable attached to a big arch, so that I may be winched up 153' and freefall back down. Harnessed up, I was sent to Flight Area 2, and there I found 4-5 groups ahead of me. I waited out the time by noting that Drop Zone could not get enough riders to fill a cycle, which is unusual for that ride. I also took the time to look about the Skycoaster harness, the first time I really had time to look it over. Eventually, it was my time to fly. They invited me into the flight area, I went up on the lift, changed places with the other flyers, they had me connected to the cables, had lowered the lift all the way to the ground, and were ready to start the winch when. STOP!!!! They brought the lift back up, unhooked me from the cables and had me exit the flight area. A foreman type person came over to me and explained that they needed to perform a test flight, but that I would be welcome to join the staff member on that test flight, oh and the staff member has to pull the ripcord. Fine by me, so soon myself and a staff member were being attached to the cables and winched up 153'. I think I surprised the staff member when I remained totally calm throughout the entire flight. I mean I have done numerous Skycoasters now, the novelty has worn off, but hey for $5 why not? I return to the harness shelter, trade them the harness back for my belongings, and head back to the midway. I next head to Top Gun. Lets just say the theming situation at Top Gun has not improved, but I was able to take a seat on the next train out. No waiting. Top Gun was its consistent good but short self. I was wanting to drop the main weapon out of my fighter plane onto the wooden coaster sitting next to it, but no such luck. I next headed to Drop Zone, which was another walk on. I usually avoid Drop Zone because I have a hard time fitting into the seat. That was not a problem today as the buckle fastened easily, just don't ask me to get an inch of slack in the belt. Drop Zone may be 300' tall, but some of the smaller carnival models I have been on recently provide a much wilder ride. I bypassed Congo Falls and headed to a walk on Face/Off (are you noticing a trend?) I took a seat towards the rear of the train, and had a wonderful g-force filled ride on Face/Off. I then headed to Adventure Express. On the way there I noticed some scaffolding, orange barrels, and other construction equipment from the Worksite scare zone. Doesn't look like too much of an attraction. I also noticed Slingshot was closed for a private party. Adventure Express was a walk on, and it was its reliable self. The dummers eyes were lit, and their hands were moving, and there seemed to be more light in lift 2, but the big temple god at the top was still turned off and had no light shone on him. Exiting Adventure Express, I noticed that Cyber Sez was closed, and headed into Coney Mall. (Or in its Fearfest persona Coney Maul). I headed over to Racer, where I turned down a walk on for a one wait front seat ride. They are still stapling you in, and I noted that I had my wallet in the wrong pocket. That was a slightly painful ride. But not too bad, as I took a walk on backwards Racer ride. How come backwards side always seems to run smoother? I headed down Coney Maul, next stopping in at Flight of Fear. Oh no the line is outside the hangar door, but it was taking the shortest possible route through the hangar. I waited it out and took a ride in the orange train. Flight of Fear is another ride I have had fit problems on in the past, but not so today. Its still a great ride but the mid course ride brings you to a total stop, which means you get hangtime in the final corkscrew. I took a peek at Holiday Horror which is another scare zone. The evil version of Christmas, smashed santa statue, bones sticking out of the strands of lights and all that. I wonder when someone is gonna get offended at this and complain. I head on to a walk on Vortex. Vortex was running its usual self, so I go to take a look at the new 3 point challenge. 3 point challenge is a new basketball game that has taken over the former Flying Eagles site. Sniff. It's a new kind of basketball game, the person gets 40 seconds to shoot 12 3 point shots, The more shots they make the better their prize. They flash the game with Xboxes and Ipods. Did I mention you need most if not all 12 3-pointers to get the top prizes? It had a small queue to play and they get $5 per player. From 3 Point Challenge, I headed over to Italian Job Stunt Track. Italian Job's line was just starting to back up into the queue house, so it was should have been about a 20 minute wait, except that they were only running 2 trains. I reached the front of the line and was grouped with a part of 3 and sent to row 3. I noted the special effects on Italian Job haven't really improved any, but at least the show scene still works. I thought I might have felt a faint pop of airtime, but that may just be wishful airtime. I next headed over to Beast, and walked right onto a ride in seat 1.3, As I was riding Beast I noticed the newish orange ski fencing apparently in place for next week's coaster event. The Beast ran about its usual self, which means its fine up until the horseshoe tunnel, then in the ground hugging ravine section it starts shuffling and jackhammering like mad. The final helix while still the rides signature element is just brutal. I wonder if some coaster enthusiasts mistake ride brutality for a good ride. From what I have seen of the Beast queue this season, the average park goers seem to know the difference and are shying away from it. After Beast, I headed down through Rivertown. I next passed a closed Tomb Raider, what a surprise. I then passed the train ride, during the summer the train ride serves as transportation to the water park, during FearFest it serves as the first part of one of the haunts, and during Nick or Treat as transportation to the pumpkin patch where a child can get their very own pumpkin to decorate. Having no interest in that I continued on and spotted a closed for the season White Water Canyon. By this time it was about 4:30 and I was getting hungry, I also spotted a sign for the new Wings Diner Buffet. Your seasoned park reviewer needs to check out this new eatery or this trip report wouldn't be complete, see the sacrifices I make for you? So they have restricted entry to only the front center door, and have set up benches so you have to go straight ahead to where they have to entrance lanes setup. You pay on the way in, I think $12.99 for adults, $7.99 for children 10 and under, and there is a special admission ticket/buffet combo deal available online. I go inside, and $13.86 with the tax later I am taking a place at table. Okay they are using the same serving line from Wings but the queue rails have been removed. Starting from the far left, there is a beverage station (soft drinks, tea, coffee, water), then the rolls/butter, then the first steam table has fried chicken, mashed potatoes (made with redskins, skin is in the mashed potatoes) , chicken gravy, carrots, green beans. The second steam table is the pasta bar with spaghetti, bowtie pasta, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, meatballs, and garlic sticks. Front and center the bottom shelf is a fairly decent salad bar with tossed salad fixins, cole slaw, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and puddings. On the top shelf are deserts such as cheesecake, german chocolate cake, and brownies. On the other serving line in the first section you have chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans. The last station has buns, hamburger patties, grilled chicken patties, and seasoned potato wedges. Next to that is the toppings bar with cheese, lettuce, onion, pickle and tomato. Lastly you have another beverage station, but this one also sells beer. Condiments are over where the checkouts used to be. I note they are using paper plates, plasticware and paper cups on this buffet, and apparently you are responsible for bussing your table at the end of the meal. I tired just about everything, most of it is on par with what you would expect at one of their catered picnics. The only item I didn't like was the chicken nuggets, a bit too hard. But I especially liked the homestyle mashed potatoes and gravy. (Hey it's a gravy buffet, and it was installed just in time for Caoster Con XXX!) Deserts were good, and the all in all I would have to say the food is nothing special, but if you consider what a burger, fries, and a Coke would cost you out in the park, I'd say its an excellent deal, especially since you also get the salad and desert to go with it. While I ate I watched the Bengals game for a quarter. Hey, unlimited food and drink, and football on TV, does it get any better. I noted for the most part the Wings theme package is still in place. Those American flags on the outside still haven't returned. After dinner, I headed towards the new Nick Universe. Hey I just overate at a buffet, and I got my money's worth on soft drinks alone, much less all the food. Nice tame kiddie rides seem to be just the picture. Again I wasn't in the mood for water rides so I passed on Wild Thornberries, but I did not the evil elephant had been given the day off. I also decided to pass on a walk on Phantom Phlyer (Zamperla Kite Flyer), and instead headed to Rugrat's Runaway Reptar, a nice gentle family inverted coaster. It was just a two train wait to ride Rugrats and there really isn't much to report, it was about the same ride as always. I do like these family inverted coasters though. Okay, so my stomach still hasn't settled, but I know, don't contents settle when being shaken? I headed over to Avatar. I was having doubts about my stomach as I was boarding the ride, but too late to back out now. Avatar was a walk on, hmm usually you can count on Nick being busy, especially with Nick or Treat going on. I am happy to announce that I easily survived my ride from Row 4, I am not as happy to mention that Avatar isn't the ride it used to be. It used to be you got 5 trips along the entire W shaped course, now you only get 3. I still think it, like Delirium are great additions to the park. I next headed to Beastie, I mean Fairly Odd Coaster. Another walk on ride, so I took a ride in the back seat on this junior wood coaster. It's still the best running of the Kings Island wood coasters. After Fairly Odd coaster, I took a look at the formerly empty plaza caused by removing Jetson's Orbiters, and relocating the Hampton car ride. That big plaza is the site if the family friendly funhouse maze. I passed on that and headed to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. Wow, Scooby had a line, not too much of one though just spilling out of the secret passage into the front room. One thing I noted is that the formerly dark queue areas in Flight of Fear, and Scooby Doo have been brightened somewhat. There was no grouper so it was a seat yourself operation. I took a car and headed into the ride. Man, why do I have to get the special needs slowdown in the first spot between the ride start and the first target. Total waste of a ride slowdown. While the special effects on the other rides seem to be suffering, Scooby Doo is actually looking better. I mean I saw Scooby and Shaggy actually running around in circles, haven't seen that stunt work in a long time. It was a respectable scoring ride and soon I was back on the midway. From there I decided to do a photo safari of the park, starting with Nick Universe, then through Rivertown. When I got towards the back of Rivertown I noted Tomb Raider was now open, so I decided to take a ride. I was leery about how my camera bag would hold up to being held upside down for 30 seconds solid, so I went ahead and rented one of the Smart Carte lockers then joined the queue. There was no queue and I walked right into the preshow room. The preshow played, the big door in front of us opened, then the door closed again. Our ride was being delayed because a rider on the previous ride lost a cell phone. Need I remind you the ride is the only one at PKI that has lockers right out in front for express use of the patrons of that ride, there is a big "No Carry On Gear" over the entrance, there is an announcement made in the pre show room, there is a chance to stash carry on items in cubbyholes in the "Rendevous Room", there is another announcement made in the actual ride chamber, there are fabric zipper pouches mounted to the ride and furnished for each rider. After all those warnings and provision by the park, I really have no sympathy in this case, besides its delaying my ride. We waited for them to either find the phone, or find the remnants of the phone. Then when they have the ride area clear, the big overhead door doesn't want to open, so there is another delay, why is it that no matter how short the line its this always turns into a half hour ordeal to ride? We are finally admitted to the ride chamber, and because of the large crowd that had no assembled they actually filled all three rows. That didn't improve ride performance any, as its still a pretty horrid ride. Normally Top Spins do not bother me, but when this one went upside down I had a real strange feeling in my sinus passages, it's the same feeling you get when you are underwater in a pool and you get water up your nose. Anyway I keep riding Tomb Raider in the hope it gets better, but it doesn't, but this time I wanted to take a ride just in case Cedar Fair does something to it. Oh, and I thought the ride chamber was brighter than usual you could actually see all the stunts around the walls. I exited Tomb Raider and continued my photo safari through Coney Mall. I did stop at Shake Rattle and Roll (Troika) because it was loading, there was no wait and it's a fun ride. From there I continued my photo safari down Coney Mall, through Oktoberfest, and it was turning dark as I toured Action Zone. Therefore my Action Zone and International Street photos are not the best. Up on International Street they have the cemetery of gone but not forgotten rides, and a real cool lighting job on the Eiffel Tower. I noticed Scrooge's House from WinterFest has been pressed into service for some kind of FearFest show. I looked in both the Emporium and Thrills are Paramount shops but the only Kings Island only merch I could find are the retro 70's style shirts. I noted the Kings Islandoply games are marked down to $19.95, which is annoying as I paid near $30. I noted the purple lights in the entryway, and grabbed a Fright Guide from the brochure rack, then stopped past Guest Relations to get a regular park guide. I looked around the old King Cobra car for a awhile then headed out. Next weekend is Knoebels!!!

Group, there was some minor interest in this in the coaster enthusiast community when it was first announced. More importantly, ACE CoasterCon XXX is held partly in Cincinnati, OH next year, so this is one of the more unique attractions you can visit on your free time during the Con. How unique? It's the only one in the entire Northern Hemisphere. Besides it was designed by International Theme Park Services, and run somewhat like an amusement park attraction. (Have I justified my post enough yet?) Anyway, here is a Photo Trip Report of my Purple People Bridge Climb (Cl!mb). Since it is photo intensive, I am merely posting the link here: http://www.coasterville.com/ppbc-a.htm Enjoy!

Trip Report: Stricker's Grove Cincinnati, OH August 13, 2006 Today is one of the two or three times of year that a small private picnic grove known as Stricker's Grove opens its grounds to the public. This particular grove is unusual in that in addition to group picnic facilities, it also has a small amusement midway complete with two wooden roller coasters. This trip report is most unusual because unlike my other visits to Stricker's Grove, I am not beginning my day in Cincinnati, OH, instead I am waking up in Pittsburgh, PA. We had a hard time waking up after two long nights of amusement rides, and so we barely woke some clothes on in time to take advantage of the hotel's courtesy breakfast. After that we still had to get cleaned up, so we just barely made check out time at 11AM. We then proceeded along the drive to Cincinnati, OH, and after a couple gas and comfort stops, we found ourselves arriving at the park, starving, right around 4:45. Stricker's Grove has an unusual way of doing things. Today the park was open from 1PM-9PM, but the rides are only open for a part of that time, the first ride session is from 2PM-5PM, and the second ride session is from 6PM-9PM. All the ride operators essentially take their break at the same time. We pulled into the park and parked in the free parking lot and scored a space that was quite close to the gate. We walked up to the admission gate where we each handed over $9 to enter the park. I noted at the admission gate they have a big sign laying on a table that has all the obligatory ride safety information, as well as the height requirements for all the rides. We entered the park, and first headed for a comfort stop in their one and only, but thankfully recently renovated restroom building, then headed to the free Pepsi stand. With the park only open 2 or 3 days a year the coaster enthusiast community makes a strong showing when the park is open so we met several people by the soft drink stand. We then decided that instead of trying to squeeze I one ride before the 5pm cutoff, that we would instead go and position ourselves to be at the front of the cookhouse line. The food line opened and soon I was handing over $4 for which I was handed a plate with a nice sized cheeseburger, hot off the grill, a hot roasted ear of corn, hot off the grill, as well as a scoop of potato salad, and a bag of potato chips. That has got to be one of the least expensive amusement park meals ever. I carried my plate over to the nearby toppings bar where they have a wide variety of burger toppings laid out At the end of the toppings bar they have a couple large garbage cans for you to shuck the husk off you own ear of corn, then a vat of melted butter with what looks like paint brushes sitting in it, so that you can 'paint' the butter all over your ear of corn. I made a detour past the beer booth, where I added a draft beer for a $1.75 fee. We soon gathered in the main picnic shelter and sat down to enjoy dinner as a coaster enthusiast group. The park had a steel drum band proving entertainment in the shelter during dinner, and while the music was nice it made it harder to carry on a conversation so after we ate, we moved to the field next to the miniature golf course. We did go back to the soft drink booth, and then headed to the rides area at the appointed time. We passed the carousel, and then we stopped and looked at a construction site. There is clearly the frame for a ride sitting here, and it looks like it might be for a Sellner spin ride, but instead of the usual 4 sweeps,, this one has 6 sweeps. A bit later in the evening we got confirmation that it is a Sellner Spin the Apple, but the rare 6 tub park mount version. We passed by the path back to the train ride, and then we decided to ride the Ferris Wheel. Its an Eli Hy-5 wheel, and after a reasonable wait, Rideman and his partner were being loaded into one tub, and I was being loaded into the next. It was a nice ride on the Eli wheel, even if the wheel does face away from the coasters. The Eli Wheel ride got interesting at the end, right after they unloaded Rideman/Partner, they managed to get the wheel so out of balance that it wouldn't turn and they had to get a ride mechanic out to fix it. Did I mention I was still on said wheel. So the Ferris Wheel ride was a bit longer than we had bargained for. We then decided to head back to the Tornado, not the spin ride. In this case the Tornado is the parks full size wood coaster. The line for the Tornado had spilled out of the queue and was back to just about the ids helicopter ride. We stood in the queue for some time before we realized we had not seen a train run the course, nor had the line advanced. The line eventually did start advancing as people gave up on it, and by the time things started to happen we were right up by the Tornado's ticket booth, which had a sign proclaiming that the Tornado is FREE today. After a long time we see two police officers head up the coaster exit ramp, this is not too strange as the park does hire off duty cops as security at these events. We still don't know what happened, but some time later the cops left the ride, and then the ride started running. The first train was near empty leading to comments like "If that's all the seats they are filling…" We were happier to see the second train out was a full load. After things got running smoothly, it was not too much longer before we were admitted to the station. I grabbed the back seat, fastened the individual belt, lowered the traditional double bar, and we were set to go. The ride has a classic profile, you do a right turnaround out of the station, up the lift, down the first drop, up the second hill, second turnaround to left, second drop, then over a series of speed hills to the third turnaround to the right, then the ride gets interesting, there is an unusual series of hills and valleys, including a part that acts like a double dip even though it really isn't. The spot kind of rides like a mistake on an otherwise very smooth coaster. At that spot, if you are in the back car, you are launched up into the lap bar with some force. A hill takes you up into the final turnaround to the left, then a couple more dips including one more good airtime spot and you are on the brakes. You can be assured the coaster fans ride the ride just for "the mistake". With a coaster ride under our belts, we head to the Flying Skooters. Since PKI heartlessly ripped out the Flying Eagles a couple years ago, the Stricker's Grove Flying Skooters is the only place left in town to practice the fine craft of Flyer flying in Cincinnati. Their Flyers aren't near as good as PKI's were, and the especially don't give that nice satisfying loud KERCHUNK when you snap. That didn't stop us from taking several rides on the Flyers. Eventually I need a flyer break, so I mosey over to the Teddy Bear. The Teddy Bear is the parks junior wood coaster. It does feature nice plushly padded PTC cars with openings on only one side. These cars have also not received seatbelts like almost all other PTC cars. The ride is a classic junior coaster. Leave the station, turnaround to the right, up the lift hill, then turnaround to the left before going down the first drop which passes under the lift hill to create a fine headchopper visual effect. You then travel along a series of mild speed hills around the perimeter of the coaster before heading back to the station. From the Teddy Bear, I headed to the Tip Top, which is a spin the tub ride where as the tubs go around the whole platform bounces up and down. Unfortunately I got a tub whose tub brake did not release, so I could not actually spin the tub, which led to a rather dull Tip Top ride. When the Tip Top ride ended I wound up with the rest of the crowd. We saw the train arriving, and since it is usually interesting to take the train ride here, we went for it. We boarded the Chance CP Huntington train which takes you on a lap around the complete perimeter of the park. We headed behind some service buildings where the center canvas for the parks new Round Up ride can be seen, then we headed into a filed in back of the park where parts for a Mack Hully Gully the park purchased but then decided not to assemble lie abandoned. In the far back of field we saw the parts for the new Round Up ride. We circled around the parking lot, then went through an impossibly small tunnel underneath the park entrance driveway, around the coasters then back into the station. After the train ride we headed to the soft drink stand for some refreshments. I grab a hot pretzel at this time for $1.50, but was disappointed that the funnel cake stand was already closed. We did peer into the skeeball building and the games building. The games building has some arcade games, but no pinball. We rentered the rides area. The park has one long midway, on the left hand side you have: Carousel, future site of Spin the Apple, train ride, ferris wheel, Tip Top, Scrambler, helicopters, Flying Skooter, and ending up at the Tornado. On the right hand side you have a games building then a pavilion with three kids rides inside (a wet boats, a car ride, and a little circle swing type ride that could pass as airplanes), then a kids Whip ride, a kid's Turtle, then the Teddy Bear coaster, then the future site of the Round Up, Tilt-A-Whirl and again ending at the Tornado. We headed back the midway and took another ride on the Teddy Bear, then we took a ride on the Scrambler. After the Scrambler, most of the group headed for more Flyer rides, and I took a Tornado ride. I was lucky to get somewhere in the back car for all my Tornado rides. I then learned that the park was giving double rides on the Tornado now, so every ride consisted of two times around the course. I could get used to that! After my Tornado double ride, I looked at the future site of the Round Up. It seems the park purchased the Electric Rainbow (Round-Up) from the now defunct LeSourdsville Lake (user grabs a tissue). They have built a nice brick work front of the ride, some loading ramps, and the rides main sign is there as well as the center and main boom. So work appears to be progressing nicely on this ride. I then join the Flyer crew for a flyer ride. Then we all head over to the Tornado, and were able to get in two more Tornado rides (so 4 laps total) before the line for the Tornado was cut. We slinked back to the Flying Skooters and were able to get in 2 more Flyer rides before the park closed. We were some of the last to leave the park, as security was walking out behind us. We did stop at the games building and picked up a flyer advertising the next public day. There was a lot of talking in the parking lot before we decided to all depart and head our separate ways. For us, that included a stop by Steak N Shake before Rideman graciously dropped me back off at Coasterville, OH.

Trip Report: Kennywood Pittsburgh, PA August 12, 2006 This morning, I awoke at an undisclosed location in Columbus, OH with some sore shoulder blades from the Ohio State Fair the night before. Nothing a nice hot shower couldn't soothe away. Shortly after 9AM, Rideman collected me from the undisclosed location and we started making the drive to Kennywood. It was a mostly uneventful drive, we scored some cheap gas up in Cambridge, OH, and listened to the NPR lineup while we drove to the park. We were all smiles and making time, even made it through the Fort Pitt tunnel and onto I-376 okay. Then we found ourselves in a slow moving traffic jam, just after passing exit 3, which meant we were committed to crawling along at a snail's pace for at least 2 more miles. We wound up taking exit 5 and following the way to Sandcastle from which we could easily plot a course to Kennywood. We pulled into the Kennywood parking area, and opted for the free parking. Kennywood has three or four lots, and the one closest to the park costs $5, all the other lots are free. It doesn't look like it matters as those who had headed for pay parking look to be returning to the free parking lane. Signs indicated to go to Lot 3. That is actually a good thing, because from lot 2, you take an escalator to lot 1, then walk through lot 1, lot 3 has a sky ride that floats you down the hillside, over lot 2, over lot 1, before gently depositing you directly outside the front gate. Did I mention the sky ride is free, and that lot 3 is free? The line of cars to get up to lot 3 was backed almost all the way back to Kennywood Blvd. This can't be a good thing. We finally arrive at lot 3, and happen to notice a space on the end of an aisle that is empty and almost right by the exit to Kenny's Parkway (the sky ride). We snag the convenient parking space, and prepare to trek down to the park. We head over towards Kenny's Parkway despite the "Sorry, closed" sign, and note the line stretched pack across almost the width of lot 3. While waiting in line for Kenny's Parkway we note a blue and yellow swing set and other playground equipment appear to be setup in a corner of the parking lot. Remember that, a blue and yellow swing set. Kennywood could do something about the queue for Kenny's Parkway as it crosses over the main roadway through the parking lot. At least the line is constantly moving, and before too long, we are entering the station. We are given lane numbers then told to walk behind the chair in front of us and stop at the line, then sit down on the chair behind us. It's a smooth operation and soon we are on Kenny's Parkway heading towards the park. My what a wonderful view of the park is afforded by the Skyway, you can see a good aerial shot, particularly of the Lost Kennywood section. You can also see their new for 2006 ride, the Swingshot, which looks just like a giant's blue and yellow swing set. See, I didn't make you wait too long for the payoff on that one. It's a nice leisurely ride down to the park gates, where we exit Kenny's Parkway and head to the entrance plaza. It should be noted there are other options, you can make the nasty looking hike down the hillside from lot 3, or the park will drive you from lot 3 to the main gate in a minibus. Kennywood has totally renovated their front gate plaza since my last visit, but they way in which they renovated makes it look even more classic and traditional than it looked before, if that makes any sense. We duck into one of the newer restrooms and find it to be way too small. This summer Geauga Lake and Kennywood have been fighting it out for customers. Geauga Lake took the dubious step of renting a billboard less than a quarter mile from Kennywood and plastering it with an anti-Kennywood advertisement. "The park that's closer, isn't even close" That tasteless billboard has since been removed, I mean you don't backslap someone else's park, particularly a park so beloved by its fans as Kennywood. One great thing to come from this, however, is Kennywood started marketing visitkennywood.com in the Ohio area. From that targeted portal, Funday tickets to Kennywood only cost $18 as opposed to the regular $28.95 list price. I note that a child's ticket is normally $18, so they are using that old carnival come one "For a limited time, we're making you all children again! For a limited time everybody can enter on a child's $18 ticket" I pull my eTicket out of my pocket and turn it in as we go through the turnstile and metal detector. Along with the new entrance plaza, the park has made it so that you can use either ramp to get down to the tunnel that goes under the main highway. It used to be there were two one way ramps. That said, the bulk of the crowd still turns right after entering the gate to head down the traditional way. At the bottom of the ramp, you go through a tunnel that takes you underneath the road and lets you out inside the park. This is still one of my favorite park entrances, the transition from the mundane parking lot then the tunnel to come out into the park is fantastic. Well, I can see by my watch it is already 3pm and we are just entering the park, but we had been on the road since 9am, so the rides will have to wait just a little bit longer. We take care of business then head to the traditional starting off point, the Jack Rabbit. The line for Jack Rabbit was all the way through its relatively small queue area and then wrapped back around the front of the ride almost reaching back to the exit ramp. We join the queue, from the queue area, I notice some things have changed with the Jack Rabbit. I really like the new logo with the rabbit that has a rocket pack strapped on. Also the trains have been repainted, instead of pink/blue/white, they are now pink/blue/green. Looking at the pink train again, the trim work does appear to be red, which would make the trains red/blue/green which is the same set of train colors as their other two wooden coasters. Today they had the green and red trains running, the queue area runs down one side of the coaster and while waiting in line we could see the ride has received a lot of recent trackwork. The line then wraps around the front of the ride and up into the station. Eventually we find ourselves heading to the front seat of the back car, where we sit down, and I notice the leather strap seatbelts are gone, and are replaced by regular automotive style belts, with the big square lift latch buckles. At least they left the classic slide-under lap bars intact. We took a ride on the vintage Jack Rabbit. You make a turnaround out of the station and ride alongside the queue area, then down the first drop, back up, through a tunneled turnaround, then down the second drop and back up. At this point you come to the rides lift hill and you go way up, make the next turnaround over the station roof, and now you are running parallel to the first drop, when you encounter the main drop. The main drop is the infamous double dip, the first half takes you down so that you are about even with the approach to the first drop, then you level out of a little bit, then you go down the second half of the drop. In the back car the airtime, especially on the second half of the double down is unreal. You then head back up, go through the last turnaround, then one last dip and back up into the unload station. It's a fun little ride, maybe it's a one trick pony, but what a trick. In accordance with one of the unwritten laws of Kennywood, we next headed to Racer. The line for Racer was completely through its queue area and wrapped around the shooting gallery. I also noticed the Pastimes area to be gone. The park has a way of making changes so that when they are done, you are convinced that things never changed, that it has been the new way all along. We carefully waited in the Racer queue, you see I said it was wrapped around the shooting gallery, and it's a shooting gallery that shoots back! It shoots back with water of course, but the gallery doesn't care if it hits players or innocent bystanders. We made our way through the Racer line and were soon taking seats towards the back of the green train. (Green and blue running today). These trains are reputed to either be new PTC trains, or newly rehabbed PTC. They have the new open-style PTC seat dividers as seen on Legend, and now sport individual seatbelts, but they retain the more traditional double bar. Racer is one of only three single track racers in the world, which means when you come back you finish at the opposite side of the station than you started on. We were soon on our way along this relatively gentle figure 8 shaped racing coaster, there was some hand slapping going on around those turns however. We returned to the midway and took a walk around the lake. I noticed the one stage that had the Swing Around on top is gone, as is the Swing Around. We eventually walk all the way around the lake and wind up at Midway Refreshments for some Philly Cheesesteak. Hey, is it even right to order Philly Steak in Pittsburgh? The park has done some interesting things, for starters it stays true to its roots as a picnic park, and so if you want to bring in your own picnic lunch and eat in their groves, you are welcomed and encouraged to do so, just don't bring in any alcoholic beverages. What this means for food prices, however, is that you get something that even though its not exactly street pricing, its much closer to street pricing than most other parks. This means the lines for the food stands are often long, and more amazing you will see people munching on snacks they got from one food stand while waiting for another food stand. So we get in line at Midway Refreshments, and for $6.55 each later we have ordered a Philly Steak sandwich and a frozen beverage each. The park makes a great deal out of these frozen beverages, serving them up in souvenir quality take-home cups that look like the kind of cups you might get a margarita in at a tropical bar. They have some interesting flavors, namely tangerine and sour apple, which I remembered are also the flavors for the frozen Moose Juice/Goose Juice beverages at Islands of Adventure. So we have received our frozen beverages, and are watching the grill cook toss real steaks onto the grill, finely chop them up right before our eyes, add seasonings and toppings and several slices of cheese. Its going great, they scrape the sandwich off the grill, place it in a bun, put it in a paper boat and set the sandwiches on the back counter for the server to retrieve and serve to us. Only one small problem, they had just had their 4pm shift change. The cashier who was being relieved failed to inform the person coming on about what orders were still due. So our sandwiches sat on the back counter, the people BEHIND us in line were getting served. No one seemed to have the slightest clue who we were and why were still standing at the food pick up area. We tried the nice way of getting somebody's attention, but since they took no notice, we switched to the loud and rude way to get somebody's attention. This had the desired effect of getting us our sandwiches. We grabbed our food and headed over to the condiment counter. This was where the stand foreman came over to us and we discussed what had just happened, why we were angry, and all that. The foreman apologized for the bad service and did offer to remake everything. So a bit later we were enjoying our lunch. It was a great sandwich by the way. After lunch, we decided to head towards Lost Kennywood. We got sidetracked and headed to Garfield's Nightmare. The queue for Garfield was almost but not entirely full. Garfield's Nightmare is the latest incarnation of the Old Mill. While you wait for the ride a documentary plays about the history of the Old Mill, including the famous bowling ball test. The documentary alternates with the safety announcements which Garfield makes, and throws in jokes after each one. The queue has been moved to the other side of the trough between the show building and the waterway. It still uses the same classic Old Mill boats and the same show buildings and waterway. We get grouped with a family and se take the back seat of the boat. As we head into the show building we are handed what must be the dirtiest pair of 3D glasses in existence. The inside of the building has been painted in bright vivid colors, no more dark areas, now it's a bright and cheery family dark ride. Rideman calls it a Garfield morality play, and that description fits because we see Garfield being his usual self - over eating, tormenting Odie, etc. The scenes of Garfield acting bad alternate with scenes where the tables are turned and suddenly Garfield is the one being tormented. It's a cute family ride, and includes a photo opportunity at the end. The building that was the Old Mill station now houses on ride photo booths for Garfield and the Turnpike Cars, as well as a concession stand. We passed by the Grand Prix, Flying Carpet, King Kahuna, Wipeout and Musik Express. Wait, what happened to the Bayern Kurve? We find ourselves heading to Phantom's Revenge. According to the sign at the entryway, Phantom's Revenge will be a 30 minute wait, and the line stretched back just beyond the long bridge almost back to the queue maze. Phantom's Revenge is the new for 2001 renovation of the Steel Phantom arrow multi-element into a Morgan non inverting hypercoaster. The cars are very interesting as they retained the arrow track style, so it has unique two bench cars with low seat backs, but more interesting the lap bars fold down from the sides of the car. After waiting through the line, we headed for the front seat of the back car. I happily note they still don't have queue gates. We take our seats fasten the belts, drop the lap bars and off we go. The ride starts out like Steel Phantom as it uses the same lift, first drop and second hill How many times are you at the top of a 200' coaster and have to look UP to see where you parked. After the second hill, the track plan is all Morgan, and it is an airtime feast in that back car. Nice laterals and air on almost every hill, and not gentle air, some strong airtime as well. The lap bars give no place to grab a hold of, which helps to exaggerate the airtime effect. Interesting layout, interesting forces, unique back story and great airtime, what more can you ask out of a coaster? We exited the ride down into Lost Kennywood. We walked past where the Roll-O-Plane used to sit, and made the turn by Pittfall. Pittfall had a scary looking line so we skipped PittFall and headed to Exterminator. Exterminator had an even scarier looking line, posted at 1 hour. We decided to head out of Lost Kennywood. We did stop at SwingShot, it had a full queue as well, but that was on my 'must-do' list. SwingShot is a brand new S&S Screaming Swing, its one of the larger ones, with two 16 passenger swings. The concept is that is an oversize playground swing that has some kick to it. Its one of those real simple ride ideas that makes you think "How come no one thought of this before?" After a lengthy wait in line, we are admitted to the ride area. No sooner had I sat down on the ride then we were all asked to return to the holding pen. Great, the ride has just gone down mechanical. I don't know what went wrong but it was solved by an technician who inserted a key in a panel, which caused a loud hiss from the air tanks, then they ran a test cycle, then they reopened. I sat down, and the attendant came by and lowered and adjusted the lap bars. These bars also fold down from the side, then once it is down it goes straight down to tighten up across your hips. A short time later we were happily swinging back and forth while kicking our legs in the air and the whole bit. The swing swings fast and high, but the best part is at the top of each swing. There is no pause before the swing changes direction, which means you get an airtime moment as your body still wants to go up as the swing starts going back down. I especially noted this on my first ride when I had a loose lap bar. I know see why Cedar Fair has ordered a boatload of these, as they are a real fun ride with a small footprint. From Swingshot, we headed to King Kahuna. Rideman sat out on King Kahuna, the King had a full queue but that was only 2 cycles long. I don't get the part of the queue where you walk through a volcano, particularly since the Enterprise next door is labeled Volcano. King Kahuna is a HUSS Top Spin, the regular sized edition, which still has the ball buster automatic lap bars. The ride started out with so much promise with 5 flips almost right at the start of the ride, but then petered out and didn't really do much after that. Also, the water effects have been cut down so they can't spray the riders. We did walk past the carousel which was playing Snow White music, namely the seven dwarves theme, hey exactly whose park am I in? From the Top Spin, we start to head to Noah's Ark, which has a full queue. We skip Noah and head to the Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt also has a full queue, but it didn't spread out onto the midway. Thunderbolt also has a security guard there to enforce the line jumping rules. While waiting in line for Thunderbolt, I heard "This is the Voice of Kennywood: Kennywood Park will close tonight at 11:30" Thanks, Voice of Kennywood. The line for Thunderbolt moved pretty fast and we eventually wound up in the back seat. Rideman announced HE was the smallest rider, and therefore had to enter first. Thunderbolt has some strict no single rider rules, and furthermore they dictate which side of the seat you sit on. One of the more mysterious practices the park has is to not have a set operating schedule, sure the park may open around 11AM, but the closing time is not set in advance, except on certain special occasions. Therefore, its prudent to keep your ear open for the public address announcer (who goes by the moniker "Voice Of Kennywood") to reveal the closing time. Now we have a better idea of how much time we have left. We take off on our Thunderbolt ride, I thought Thunderbolt was running rough, but it should be noted that Thunderbolt running rough was a better ride than some other parks wood coasters on their best days. After loading the train you are sent right out of the station and down a drop into the ravine, you come back up, turnaround, and drop again into the ravine, you are then brought back up and then engage the chain lift for a trip up 70', coming off the chain you turn right and drop into the 'spaghetti bowl' as i've heard it called . A double helix with hills in the back half. The helix generates ungodly laterals that squash the person sitting on the left. After the helix you hit the mid-course brake and then take the rides reported longest drop (95') into the ravine, to come back up, turnaround, drop again to come up into the brake shed, where you are stopped and then slowly brought through a turnaround into the station. I still like Thunderbolt, but not as much as I used to. Sorry, Thunderbolt, but there is a new Voyage. We headed from Thunderbolt and then took a walk through kiddieland. I noted the line for the Traver Auto Race to be just a bit longer than I wanted to wait in. The park was getting hit hard today, "Nobody goes to an amusement park on a Saturday anymore, it's way too crowded" While in kiddieland, I do take a ride on Lil' Phantom. Lil' Phantom is the parks kidddie coaster. Its by the Great American Coaster Company, which apparently has the Schiff product line. In other words this is a classic style kiddie coaster. Last time I visited the park, you had to rent a kid to ride this, now the rule is "No maximum height restriction" I shamelessly joined the full queue that was spilling out onto the midway. Several cycles later, I was climbing into the back seat, fasten the belt, lower the lap bar. Yes, I think we received the usual strange looks from other park guests and a look of "Whatever floats your boat" from the ride crew, we were allowed to ride. I like how the ride uses a manual brake lever as its primary control, something missing from their classic wood coasters. We received our two laps, and man that's violent for a kids ride, not quite as violent as the Allen Herschell Little Dipper, but still it makes you wonder how many children get scared off of coasters by rides like this one. "You can't say you've ridden all the parks coasters, unless you've ridden all the parks coasters" A credit counter clicks off coaster #262 for me. We continue to tour the kids area and note a real odd looking kiddie ride. It looks something like a mini tip top under a tent except the cars are geared to constantly spin. I haven't seen anything else quite like it, and Rideman noted that he hadn't either. We made our way out of kiddie land, saw a pavilion that would be just great to move the Whip to, and started to head back to the big park. We walked past Aero 360 (long line), we did take a walk through the cafeteria building but didn't order anything there. Instead we stopped at the Potato Patch and had some Potato Patch fries $3.60 and soft drink $1.90 while watching a magic show on the Kennyville Stage. After our potato patch fries, we headed to Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark is a walk through fun house like attraction. The queue for it was about 3/4 full when we joined it. By the time we had gotten through the queue maze and were walking around the end of the ark Kennywood switched to night mode and all the lights started coming on. We eventually get to the front of Noah's Ark and I note they have loose article bins for the fun house. We are led into what must be Mt. Ararat and we head to a mining elevator. Our guide says the elevator will take us up to the ark, and we start to go up in the elevator while the automated spiel gives some hokey history about the elevator and the ark and all kinds of nonsense, when something happens, the elevator operator goes "Oh no, not again!", then the elevator crashes back down to the bottom of the shaft. When the elevator door opens you aren't back to the entryway, instead you down in some mine apparently beneath the park. Okay, that's one simulated elevator fall stunt. Stepping out of the elevator, we go down a couple steps into the mine tunnel. Here the floor is all soft and squishy, you follow the squishy floor for a bit till the hard floor returns then you round a corner and come out into the catacombs. The stunt makes it look like you are walking across a pair of wooden beams and have to balance yourself to avoid falling into the crypt below. Part of the way across, the wood beams are reduced to stepping stones. Ignore the plexiglass that actually covers the crypt area. From the catacombs you enter a long area with just plain hallways painted black on both sides, really there is nothing to do or see here. I am about to turn a corner when this life size figure that looks just like Rideman pops out from around the corner. From there you make your way out of the Mt. Ararat area and onto the dock leading to the pilot house of the ark. Now, all the time the ark itself is slowly rocking back and forth, so while you are in the ark area you have to watch your footing. So you step off the steady dock and into the rocking ark. You pass through rooms that have tableaux showing what it might have looked like inside the ark, really they are well detailed. You do have to navigate a couple stairways that are also rocking back and forth, as well as some classic fun house floor stunts like shaker boards. There are few animated stunts that get triggered via magic eye placed a short distance in front of the stunt. Perhaps the most effective of these is a pop up gag that takes place at one end of the ark. I know its gotten me twice, because you think there is a solid wall on the other side, but there isn't, this is where the bottom of the ark is so instead of a wall it's a slanted floor/wall combo. Twice I have almost fallen in this same spot, you would think I would learn. The next set of stairs is where you step off the rocking part of the attraction back to solid stationary ground. You then head through a room in the underbelly of the ark that appears to roll from side to side. It's the haunted swing illusion, except it only rocks a little bit and doesn't roll over. Coming out of there its past the spitting cobra, then down a ramp into another queue area. To keep you entertained in the second queue there are some crazy mirrors and some neat light effects made through one of those persistence of vision tricks. You are then led into an area that looks like a submarine, and how does that fit on an ark? Anyway the intended effect here is that the boats walls have been compromised and you are taking on water, a lot of water. You see the walls buckle in and water starts spraying about the room. Just as the water is about to soak the metal bridge you are standing on the automatic doors behind you open up where upon you run out, hopefully screaming, just like the end of a Girl-to-Gorilla side show. However the effect doesn't really impress, and folks just wait for the doors to open up so they can exit. We headed back into the Lost Kennywood area. We returned to check on Pitt Fall which was posting a 45 minute wait. We saw that it only had two of its four sides open. Seat belts have been added to Pitt Fall, and I noted they have added a sign cautioning that due to changes in the safety restraint, some riders, even those who were able to ride in the past, may not be able to ride. I was not interested in a 45 minute wait for a Giant Drop. We skipped it and headed over to Exterminator, which was still posting a 1 hour wait. I know that's an awful queue to wait in, so we skipped that one as well. We did take a ride on the Whip while we were in the area. They still haven't replaced the cover over the Whip building since it was destroyed in the tornado of 2002. It was a few cycles wait to ride the Whip but it was well worth it. I had forgotten how intense the forces on a Whip can be, the crushing g-force as it throws you back into your seat as you whip around the ends of the elongated oval course. From the Whip we noted that Pittsburg Plunge did not have any riders, but it was a bit cold for that. We skipped the Swingshot for now and made our way back towards the front of the park. Phantom's Revenge was now posting a 1 hour wait as well. I knew from the website status page that the Flying Carpet had been down for some time, but they were nice enough to turn on the lights so I could see it lit up. We headed to the Wipeout. In the past the Wipeout was a no-single riders ride, but they have since relaxed that rule, probably about the same time they installed individual seatbelts in the seats. We sat in separate seats and were able to find a level of comfort not usually found in a Wipeout. For once I am glad that it seems Kennywood has slowed this ride down, before it was spinning almost too fast, particularly when you have another rider squashing you. Now it runs at a fast yet respectable speed for most of the ride, and kicks into high speed overdrive for the last 20 seconds or so. They also score points for the custom Kennywood scenery panels. It's now dark out, and I am getting my first ever taste of Kennywood at night. It's not the neon paradise that Lakeside is, but it is so beautiful none the less. If Kennywood were a magic land during the day, at night it really is a blast from the past. Parks don't like to stay open late anymore for whatever reason. Kennywood regularly stays open late, and not only that for the most part the crowds seem to stay right up until close, even buying more food right up till close. The park has really shattered a lot of the myths started by the big major corporate theme park chains about what people want in an amusement park. They do it be simply continuing to operate their park the good old fashioned way. We headed to the Grand Prix, again a few cycles wait, but then it was to a free for all bumper car ride. Seatbelts are optional, there is no center barrier in the floor, no one way driving rules, and apparently no rules against head on collisions. It's the way bumper cars were meant to be. After the bumper car ride we headed over to the Kangaroo where we waited a few more cycles to go on another ride from the past. The Kangaroo is an innocent looking ride with several three seat cars that go around in a circle. The trick to the ride, and it is a one trick pony, is that there is a jump ramp and one by one one each revolution your car goes up the jump ramp, goes airborne for a split second then comes gracefully back down to the ground. Several shock absorbers help smooth the cars decent. The upshot of it is that you get an airtime moment with each revolution. This is the original Flying Coaster. Often imitated recently, but never duplicated. From the Kangaroo we head over to the Racer. Its getting late and they have security guards overseeing the Racer queue area. The Racer queue is at least within its permanent queue area now. We wind up on the same side in roughly the same spot as before, but sitting on opposite sides of the car so that Rideman can have the hand slapping fun this time. We then follow the Rule, and head to Jack Rabbit. The queue is back to where you start to go down the hillside, so it's a bit shorter than before. We get into the station and I head to the back seat, Rideman for some reason heads to the second to back seat instead. We go around the course, and when we hit the double dip, I decide to let out a blood curdling scream as I experience airtime nirvana, I mean it was nice strong airtime even after the loader had pulled my seatbelt tight. How blood curdling was that scream? Enough that Rideman turned around to make sure I was okay, you see I have ridden numerous coasters with Rideman, and I very seldom if ever scream. We do return to the station and exit the ride. I look at my watch, and it looks like we have time for one more ride. We head over to Swingshot. The queue for Swingshot is near deserted so it's a much shorter wait. Again we enter the holding pen for next ride just in time to hear the autospiel announce the ride was going down mechanical. Not again, and with only 15 minutes till park close I was worried they may just close the ride and give up. We wished they would make some kind of announcement so that we could decide if we wanted to head elsewhere. The good news is the technician did arrive, insert key, turn key, air hiss, test cycle, reopen. I was able to get my second ride on Swingshot and it was just as fun as the first, I really want one of these closer to home. As we exited Swingshot, the Kennywood closing music was playing, at least that's what Rideman said it was, we were in an area where you could not hear the PA system well, so it was just faint music I couldn't really pick out. We figured we were done for the day and started making our way to the front of the park. As we started to pass the Musik Express I darted into line and we were the last people admitted to the Musik Express. It was an interesting Musik ride because big nets have been added to the fronts of the lap bars that run from the top of the bar down to the floor, there will be no sliding out from under the lap bar on this Musik ride. It wasn't as fast at the Musik Ride we rode at the Ohio State Fair, but it was a fun ride anyway, and when it was done, Kennywood was closed for the day. We made our way back past the Grand Prix, turn at the Turnpike to head through the tunnel that goes under the main road. One more ride tonight, and that is Kenny's Parkway back up to lot 3. When we got there the line was just starting to overflow out of the queue area, by the time we were halfway through the queue the line looked to stretch across the entrance plaza I thought it was a real nice touch when they tell each and every person "Thanks for coming to Kennywood, Goodnight!" as you board the chairlift. We took the nice calm relaxing ride up to Lot 3 and I realized that they have a built in system, to help reduce the crunch at the park gate in the morning, and to reduce the traffic crunch getting out of the lot, the speed of the chairlift really controls how fast people can move. We make our way up to lot 3 and I note they have guards stationed observing the chairlift. We get to the upper lot, and as I mentioned we went through the chairlift exit gate and practically walked right into our car. Now I know why the spaces along the main roadway were left empty. Our car was a maroon purple when we pulled into the lot, its now a dust brown. We get the windows cleaned off, and get everything ready to go, and by the time we are heading down the ramps to exit the parking lot, its just after midnight. We head to Swissvale and back to I-376. We had already decided we were not going to attempt to head back to Columbus, OH tonight, and instead checked into a reserved hotel room at a Comfort Inn near the Pittsburgh airport.

Trip Report: Ohio State Fair Columbus, OH August 11, 2006 I would be spending the weekend with fellow coaster enthusiast, Rideman, as we visited a couple amusement parks and the state fair. My day started off in Cincinnati, OH. I was to get a ride to the bus station at around 12:30, so I figured I could grab lunch at home and that would take care f me till later on in the day. I ventured into Oakley, OH and headed to Baba India for their luncheon buffet. I had timed it so I would arrive at the restaurant right at what I thought was their 11:00 opening. I arrive at the restaurant to find it dark, but a note on the door informed me that luncheon would start at 11:30. Fine, the library is just a block away, I'll duck into there while I wait. No dice as the library opens at noon. I eventually kill time by walking through a new organic/gourmet grocery store that just opened. I then return to the restaurant right at 11:30 and proceed to enjoy a buffet of fine Indian cuisine. I then return home and find out that my ride to the bus station is running a bit late, but not to worry, I still made it down to the bus station right around 1:00 or so. My eTicket indicated a 2:15 departure with the notice that if checking luggage I must arrive at least 1 hour ahead of departure. I proceed into the newly renovated terminal and proceed directly back to a scary looking line at the ticket counter. Greyhound's eTicket system requires you exchange the web printout for a real ticket at the counter. I am about to get in the long line when I notice a lane off to the side, a lane with nobody in it which was marked "Web Ticket Will Call Only", it even had a blue carpet. I make for the web check in line and then the one person they had behind the ticket counter moved over to the web check in station after she finished with the current customer. Needless to say I was the recipient of lots of dirty looks, scowls and rude comments. Greyhound Bus fills busses on a first come first served basis, so in their mind I was cutting the line, what they can't quite grasp that I joined the virtual queue for the ticket line about four days ago when I used their online ticketing system. Ok, ticket in hand, luggage placed on scale and then tagged, I returned with my luggage to the main terminal area and proceeded to Gate 4. There is an unwritten rule of etiquette amongst Greyhound riders that says you place your luggage in a line in front of the boarding door, and the line of luggage marks who was where in line. It seems nobody tampers with anybody else's bag, but that doesn't mean I venture anywhere I can't see my bag. I happened to grab the #2 spot. I then venture to the vending machines where I get a Cherry Coke in a 20oz. Bottle for the not quite reasonable price of $1.75. I then camped out till about 2:10pm, when the virtual queue of luggage was beginning to transform into an actual queue of people. The bus arrived a bit late, and then there was a delay in offloading a wheelchair rider, and hey that's neat the way they implemented wheelchair lifts. The lift is on the side of the bus and stows in one of the luggage compartments, then a huge door on the side of the bus opens up. Then those who were already on that same bus are given a chance to reboard before they open the regular line. So I board the bus, find a seat and realize the legroom just isn't there to do anything productive on the laptop, so I use my Windows based laptop to run Apple software to provide me with musical entertainment for the ride up. Its about 108 miles to Columbus according to my ticket, and at about mile marker 73 I take a call from Rideman inquiring about my progress. I then arrive at the Columbus bus station without incident, claim my luggage and do some activities that most folks do after a 2 hour bus ride, make some phone calls, and head out to Third Street. A bit later Rideman pulls up I load luggage into his car, and we head off to the State Fair. It's a short drive to the State Fair, and soon we are paying the almost reasonable $5 parking fee and head to row L of the yellow parking field. A short hike brought us to the admission plaza. I had a presale admission ticket in hand ($6), while Rideman did not, but at 5pm the lines for the ticket windows are short and soon Rideman had his $8 admission ticket. We head to the front gate where a new step has been added, the fair has added metal detectors. The way they run them is laughable, they have a metal detector for each admission lane, but there is no one monitoring it, instead they have a few representatives from the Ohio highway patrol overseeing the entire front gate, if a detector goes off they might look over at the person. I don't think I saw them actually intervene. A camera will make the metal detector buzz so I know for a fact they weren't actually doing anything when they buzzed. Something tells me the only reason the metal detectors are there is somebody said they had to be. So we enter through the Cardinal gate and proceed up a main street that is lined with food joints and vendors of various products. Wait, its gone, for as long as anybody can remember there has been a vendor of cowboy boots and other western apparel that has operated out of a distinctive block-long booth, that booth seems to have just vanished. We didn't head directly to the midway, instead we headed to the Arts and Crafts building. Before you think we are nuts, there is a figure made out of Legos right outside the door to the Arts and Crafts building, and when we ventured deep enough into the building in one of the exhibition halls was a miniland Columbus that somebody had put together out of legos. You could see the airport, the state fair, downtown, and several other interesting Columbus inspired scenes. There was an incredible level of detail, and Rideman took the opportunity to get photos of it. We then headed out, and then towards the midway. We turned the corner from the main drag to the path that leads back to the midway. Where the Giant Maze was last year was some sort of animal show, and next to that was a jumbo old time carnival sideshow. This particular sideshow seems to making the rounds as it was at the Florida State Fair, and my friend told me it also appeared at the Minnesota State Fair. Across from the side show is a Batcopter ride concession and a Euro Bungie. The fair seems to have gotten cold feet about booking in an actual bungee tower, or a slingshot ride anymore. We head into the midway proper and head directly to the booth where we could purchase a pay one price ride wristband for $18. Individual ride tickets are available for $1 each, with rides taking between 1 and 3 tickets. Amusements of America has solved the problem with making you put your wrist through a tiny opening. They just hand you the wristband and a staff member sitting in a folding chair next to the ticket booth actually puts the armband on you. Suitably adorned with our armbands, I make a high speed beeline directly for the Space Roller. That's not saying much as the Space Roller was anchoring this end of the midway. You may know that Space Roller is one of my favorite carnival amusement rides, and it did not disappoint here. I was able to grab an end seat and soon I was off on a competent round of Mondial Top Scan goodness. Space Roller is very hard to describe, but I'll try for those who have never seen one: Space Roller starts out with a large platform which is tilted at a slight angle so the back of the ride sits higher than the front, in the middle of the platform is a turret/piston thingee that has the power to both lift the bulk of the ride up and down vertically as to provide clearance from the ride platform while in run mode, as well as to spin. Mounted to the top of this raising turret is the main boom. Attached to the long end of the main boom is a windmill looking assembly which has the power to spin like a windmill, coming out from the windmill assembly are a multitude of spokes each spoke being mounted on a swivel assembly such that the blade can rotate around, mounted to the front side of each blade is a row of chairs (5-6 chairs), each chair secures one rider via OTSR. To the rider the individual blade rotation causes the chair to tumble either forwards or backwards. Are you reaching for the puke bucket yet? The ride also has two holding areas, of which the one nearest the operators booth was in use today. After our ride on Space Roller, we head over to Fireball, which is a KMG Afterburner. As I head up to the ride deck I comment that my ride might be a real short one, as in it might be over before it even begins. We head up and sit down on this popular spinning swinging pendulum ride and the bars lower. My bar fails to lock and the operator gives it a slight push, before he sends both Rideman and I away. Just as I had predicted. We head along one of the longer arms of the midway. To my left is a row of back end pieces like walk Arabian Daze, German Fun House, Thriller, Mardi Gras, Rainbow Rock, Haunted Castle, Ghost Pirates, and Ghoul City which wins points for having a spiral lift. On the right we pass a Wave Swinger, Flying Bobs, Ring of Fire and Spin Out until we come to the Crazy Mouse. There was a line for the Crazy Mouse but it moved quickly. The crew is good at making sure every car goes out with 4 people in it if at all possible. This is the good kind of Crazy Mouse the kind before Zamperla got their hands on it. We noted that unlike last year, they turned the coaster sideways so that it took up the maximum amount of midway footage. Our first ride we didn't get all that much spin action, I mean it's a fun ride, but we just didn't have a good load. The ride starts out like a wild mouse, you leave the station, turn left go along the front of the ride, turn left, up the lift hill, then you traverse the top layer switchbacks with the car locked to face forwards. , you come out of the switchbacks go down and up a dip, make the turnaround at the front of the ride, then you go down the big drop all the way to the ground, and then up what seems to be an impossibly tall hill, with a funky little double-up section near the top. You then enter the lower switchbacks, and here is where the car gets unlocked and is allowed to free spin. So you hopefully spin your way through the lower switchbacks, and around the next front turnaround. There are a couple speed hills as you head back to the rear of the ride for the final turnaround into the station. I still think it's a fun ride. From the Crazy Mouse we head back past Belle City's fabulous looking Bertazzon Rock and Roll, it's a 1950's themed Musik ride complete with a 1950's style car sticking out of the sign in the front, and a 1950's style jukebox as the rides centerpiece. It's a great looking ride, but we skipped it for now. We headed past a closed set of Skooters, then passed by a Tilt-a-Whirl, Fun Slide and Trapeze (a Chance Yo-Yo) and headed for the Fabrri Bonzai. Bonzai is one of those rides whose primary goal in life is to take you around and around in vertical loops, and of course perform the obligatory stunt where they hang you upside down at the top for a few seconds. Bonzai featured the open style seating with no cages around the seats and a very minimal floor. It was a tight squeeze to fit into the ride but we did it. Due to the way I was positioned the ride wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing on the midway. We then went by and noticed they have the Round Up and a Flying Bobs sitting in what just might be the worst locations on the midway. We walked past some food stands and went under the main Amusements of America front gate marquee. The whole main midway is a giant U shape with Space Roller and Fireball in the center of the U in the 'back' of the midway, and rides along the two arms. The arm of the U we had just left is perceived to be the lower traffic area, and we were heading to the higher traffic area. One thing I noticed is there did not seem to be as many game joints this year. Yeah, there was a full line of games, just not as many. Last year one whole side of this side of the midway was all games, this year they had a couple back end pieces mixed in, namely Playstation, Video Fun House, and Monkey Barrel. This section of the midway is headed by the Merry Go Round, and the Giant Wheel, sitting behind them is a row of rides. We headed for the Hang Ten, which was billed as one of the new rides this year. Hang Ten is sort of like a an Enterprise that never lifts off the ground. You sit in a fairly open car secured with only a lap bar, then the cars go around in a circle along a platform that is higher at the back than it is at the front, but what makes it interesting is the mechanism in the center of the ride which seems to bounce the wheel of cars up and down in a wave pattern. It's a really fun ride, so I give it my nod of approval. We headed next door to Avalanche and managed to get in line right before the crowd did. Avalanche is a Pinfari Zyklon coaster. It has a layout that is typical for a carnival coaster with a lot of helix like turns and tight clearances. The ride runs several two bench cars and we were grouped with another rider. We noted there were several block brakes along the ride that aren't used to trim so the ride runs pretty fast and all out. They have added magnetic brakes, so the final trim is now magnetic and hits hard, then the final brake run is lined with magnetic brakes. There are no brakes in the unload station, so after the car has been slowed down to a crawl the car is stopped by the manual brake action supplied by the arms of the unload attendants. It seems this coaster gets a new paint job almost every year, so it is really well taken care of. We headed next door to the Gravitron. Rideman indicated it has some of the improvements which should make it a Starship 2000, but it still goes with the Gravitron signage complete with the panel of lights out front that seem to blink on and off at random, and just happen to spell out the word "THRILLER" every few seconds. The ride vehicle is painted a bright lime green. They have their fencing set up a bit different than most, so instead of one set of stairs to go up, and the other to go down, both sets may be used to load and unload. We boarded the Gravitron and were awarded with one of the bumpiest Gravitron rides ever, I mean you could see the ship bump up and down from the outside, add to that we had an operator who loved to play with the speed control so that the couches went up and down several times. Not quite the Gravitron experience I was hoping for. Next door to the Gravitron is a blast from the past, its an Eyerly Sidewinder, which is the more modern looking car style for their popular Roll-O-Plane ride. Whereas the Roll-O-Plane emphasized roundness, the Sidewinder tubs are very angular. It was also at this point that Rideman did not ride as many rides. Rideman decided he didn't really need a Sidewinder ride, and as I was in line, they needed a single rider as they don't permit singles to ride, so I was paired with a much smaller rider. This means I got the side of the tub with the door. I was seated, the belt bar was lowered, the door locked and keyed. I then realized they have removed just about all the padding from the cages. Time for a defensive riding position to be assumed. All in all, it wasn't a bad ride, and I would say it was a much more pleasant ride experience than the Bonzai was. It could have been cooler if the ride would have tilted down and gone horizontal the way the one at Knobels does. From the Sidewinder we next both rode the Orbiter. Here we were introduced to what Rideman has dubbed Mic-Man-In-A-Can. Yep all the announcements were prerecorded and the operator just hit the button for whatever announcement they needed to play. I liked the fake out ending on the Orbiter where they have actually started to bring the ride back down, then they decide to go for a little more, and the ride rises back up for another blast. Its clearly a spin ride where the center spindle raises up then the various arms tilt up, each arm holding three cars, then the until poles start spinning extremely fast. It's another spin ride lovers dream. Next to the Orbiter sits the Power Surge. Rideman decided to sit Power Surge out as well. I did ride Power Surge. Power Surge is one of those demented spin rides that tosses you around like a rag doll every which way but loose. Even spins you upside down at times, I blame this ride for the sore shoulders I received. From the Power Surge we headed past an Eli Scrambler and a Wisdom Tornado. Unfortunately the Tornado appeared to be out of service at the current time. We stepped next door to the Fabrri Drop Zone. It's a drop tower ride, and was quite a hit as we had to wait several cycles to ride. It may not be the tallest drop tower ride, but man it has it where it counts, when that ride carriage falls, man does it fall. Short but very effective drop. Oh, and the seats are sized for giants, which I give the ride additional points for. After drop zone we passed by the smaller version of the Musik Express, where it was pointed out to me there was no music playing. Huh? A quick walk past another Skooters and the Wave Swinger brought our tour of the main midway full circle. And look, right ahead of us is the Space Roller! Rideman sat the Space Roller ride out but I managed to score another end seat after waiting a few cycles in line. Can't get enough of the Space Roller goodness. At this time we decided we needed a ride break, so we stopped for an ice cream. What's better than ice cream? FREE Ice Cream. Yep, we grabbed some free ice cream from a vendor that was passing out samples that was located next door to Space Roller. While getting our free ice cream we were stopped by some low lifes who wanted to know if we were leaving, and it they could have our ride wristbands. That's a NO and a bigger NO! We enjoyed our free ice cream as we walked back through the main midway, and then walked over to look at kiddieland. The main attraction in the kids area is the Giant Slide, but I noted the Giant Slide was included in the POP but also had a sizeable line. We looked around at the various kids rides for a bit. I noted they had a Wacky Worm and a Go-Gator coaster, as well as a Rocking Tug and a lot of cool kids rides that make you say "Where were these when I was a kid?" We headed from the kids area to Schmidt's Sausage Haus for a brief dinner stop. I'll take a Bahama Mama spicy sausage with kraut and a jumbo iced tea from the iced tea booth nearby. Schmidts, it's a Columbus tradition! ($5.50 for the sausage and kraut, but it was a big footlong link, and $2.50 for the Jumbo iced tea. We took a walk along the midway while we let our food digest. If by letting our food digest, you mean rode on some more rides. Next up was the nifty fifty's themed Rock and Roll which is a very fast running Musik Express ride. It's the fairground classic, where an endless chain of cars travels around a circle at high speed while negotiating a series of hills and dips. A cool ride, and they run it both forwards and backwards, for which it gains bonus points. After the Rock and Roll, I took a ride on the Spin Out. They needed a few riders to fill the claw, so I jumped on. The Spin Out, which already had at least 6 seats, including one whole arm of the claw roped off. Proceeded to cycle. I don't think it was as wild as other Spin Out rides I have received, which was a good thing, as there were a lot of nasty noises coming from the seatback behind me that sounded suspiciously like they were coming from the shoulder bar locking mechanism. After riding the Spin Out I was treated by my host to a Spin Out horror story that may have just ruined the ride for me. Coming back around to the other end of the midway, time to score Space Roller ride #3. I want one of these things at a park nearest me. "Hello, PKI, I know what would go great in your Coney Mall section". After the Space Roller ride, I decided to run to the car to fetch my camera, I probably should not have bothered because it was getting dark. But, oh a midway at night. We did stop at the Bricker Building for a convenience stop. I then noted that the booths along the main drag are starting to close. Its just after 9pm when we leave the fair and get our large green Ohio outline hand stamps. Oh wait, its Ohio Lottery day at the fair, and the hand stamp is the Ohio Lottery logo. We make a run to car, get camera, return to fair, make our way back past the useless metal detectors and head back to the midway. Yes we did get back in before the 10pm entrance gate cutoff. We take a photo safari tour of the midway, and then head to the kids area. Given recent postings about taking photos in a kids area, particularly when you don't have kids, I decided to not take any photos back there. I did stop to get a Hawaiian Shaved Ice in a big flower looking cup. ($3) After enjoying our shaved ice, we rode the Wacky Worm. I have been on the Wacky Worm style coaster before, but just not this Wacky Worm. We did get two laps around, and yes I was able to get the lap bar locked without too much effort. It's not bad for a kiddie coaster. Up above the coaster credit counter meekly clicks off coaster #261. I was not able to ride the Go-Gator. We did head over to and take a ride on the Rocking Tug. It's not quite Avatar at PKI, buts it's a fun little ride. Rocking Tug has the little doors at the ends of the rows that Avatar really needs so it can lose the 16 or older to ride in aisle seat rule. Oh and Rocking Tug has way more comfortable seats than Avatar. After Rocking Tug, we go to ride the Giant Slide. It was a climb up "over 100 stairs", mind you these stairs are kiddie sized stairs and were annoying shallow. I dunno the slide needs a good wax job, or they need to use less coarse mats, because there was just too much friction getting in the way. It's not as great as the Giant Slide at LeSourdsville Lake was though it appears to be the same model. We did note the mats were cruder than they used to be, no foot pockets, no handles just a piece of coarse burlap. We returned to the main midway where we took rides on the Hang Ten, Drop Zone, Tornado (which was running, and unlike Beech Bend no tub brakes) and the Skooter. Skooter is the type of ride I would not ride if this were a pay per ride show. I was given the worlds worst Skooter car , one that had a bad pick up brush, so that it would be traveling along, and then the car would die, then it would get bumped, spring back to life for a few seconds and die again. Not the most fun I have ever had on bumper cars, but hey do use the lap bar equipped cars so that is a plus. After the bumper cars we head back towards Hang Ten for another spin. Hang Ten is a featured new ride on the midway this year, its sitting in one of the prime spots on the midway, the ride looks great and had an enthusiastic crew, yet they could hardly get people to ride it. Does the ride just not do enough sitting next to other rides, or did it just sort of get hidden between the Giant Wheel and the Avalanche. It just didn't seem to be getting the crowds it should have. We noted the Giant Wheel line had finally gotten down to something reasonable, so we took a ride on the Giant Wheel so I could get some photos. It was a wheel ride. Not much to report. WE took one last walk down the back side of the midway. We stopped at the Yo-Yo (Trapeze) for a ride. Yes, I was easily able to fit on the Yo-Yo, and it wins points for having the tilting mechanism working. From the YoYo we headed back to the Crazy Mouse for another ride. This time we got a lot better grouping and we got spun like a top. What made it more fun is we were with a group that clearly did not like being spun like a top. We made our way to the end of the midway, and I glanced at my watch, which said it was just a few strokes shy of midnight. Midnight, that's when the monsters come out! That's when Cinderalla's carriage turns into a pumpkin, that's when the midway rides close. I had time for one more ride, better make it count. I knew what I had to do, I handed Rideman my camera and headed for a ride on Space Roller. Space Roller ride #4 baby! This ride was better than all the rest because it was the last ride of the night. The ride seemed to run a lot longer than the regular cycle, so long that at one point I looked down at the loading area while spinning upside down, and noted the holding pen to be empty. Ah, they are going to run us out till midnight I see. After the Space Roller ride, we headed through the darkened fairgrounds back to our car. We then drove to an undisclosed location for the evening, where soon I was getting prepared to surf the web, and then get some sleep.

Trip Report: Belmont Park San Diego, CA June 23, 2006 Note: This TR is an excerpt from my California Mega-TR, coming soon to Coasterville! We were driving through an oceanside village, and while stopped at a light, I saw an unmistakable wooden structure ahead of me. It was a white wooden structure with green and pink trim, we were driving past Belmont Park. Or are we? I could not have asked for more when the bus came to a stop alongside Belmont Park, and it was announced that here at Mission Beach, CA would be a 45 minute stop for those who wanted to take a dip in the ocean. Sorry ocean, I am much more interested in the Giant Dipper roller coaster that is mere feet from me. Mon and Rhonda would join the group headed towards the beach, so that me alone to head to Belmont Park. Mike commented that it looked like the Giant Dipper was down for repairs as there were stacks of pre painted wood and other work equipment sitting under one of the turns of the coaster. I didn't have to wait long before I heard and saw the reassuring sign of a trainload of happy riders come zooming around the track. It's off the Belmont Park for me. I walked through the parking lot and headed through the park entrance located about in the middle of the roller coaster structure. I then turned away from the coaster and headed to the gift shop, as that is where tickets are sold. I looked over my options, it looked to be either $5 a ride or $20 for the ride all day wristband. Hmm, what a dilemma, I knew I had time for more than one ride, but could I make good on the $20 wristband? Is the coaster worth $20 to me? I didn't deliberate long before I was purchasing a $20 wristband. Belmont Park has an interesting story, it started out as one of many oceanfront amusement parks. As is common with oceanfront amusement parks, this one fell out of fad in the 1970's and a developer bought the park and closed it to make way for a touristy shopping area. So Belmont Park closed at the end of 1976, but the new owner made a couple important decisions, one was to keep the park's indoor pool, the Plunge, open as a membership pool, The other decision was, even though he didn't want to operate the rides, he kept the Giant Dipper standing as a tribute to the park that once was. So the roller coaster sat dormant for about 15 years, and fell into disrepair. Then in the late 1980's, early 1990's a group got together to restore the Giant Dipper to service, a group that would become known as the San Diego Coaster Company. The group acquired the ride, restored it, purchased new trains for it, and in 1991 returned the ride to service. The ride has been a regular attraction at Belmont Park since, and now the coaster is lined with other amusement rides. You might say Belmont Park came back to life. I headed out of the gift shop and over to the Giant Dipper. The ride has a classic station with a highly polished hardwood floor. I waited in the short line behind the turnstile for the train to return to the station and unload. Then I was admitted and took a seat in the back car. Giant Dipper uses Morgan wood coaster trains, sometimes referred to as "California Style Trains" because there was a time, not too long ago when most if not all the wood coasters in California used these new style trains. Coaster enthusiasts in general dislike this brand of coaster train. Reasons for disliking them include the cars having a fiberglass instead of a wood or metal body, and the hard molded plastic seats with little or no cushioning. Those things don't bother me as much, and I really don't see why these trains get the dislike they do. I sit down, and the attendant comes around and lowers the lap bars, yep that's a bit tight. We soon take off on our ride, we take a left hand turn out of the station to pass by the park entrance, then we go into the tunnel. The Giant Dipper still has a long lift approach tunnel, a feature that is not seen much these days. The official stated reason for these tunnels is to disorient the riders , but I have to wonder if they also afforded young coupled the change at a kiss. In this case the tunnel makes an elongated S so that you are now on the side of the coaster that runs along the street, but heading the same direction you were when you left the station, The tunnel exits out directly onto the lift hill. You notice the trim is done in what the park has called emerald green and cotton candy pink, on a white structure. The train is mostly white with teal/green trim. We reach the top of the lift hill, and there is not big steep first drop, instead the first drop is a swooping furst drop that also incorporates a turnaround, you start the first pass of the coaster over several hills that make a crossover so when its time to make the next curve, you are again curing from the street side, around to the park side. For the second trip you travel alongside the perimeter of the coaster. The ride has a classic series of hills and valleys all the way around. You then pull into the final brakes, then one more turn into the station. The Giant Dipper might be referred to as a Gentle Giant, because there isn't any strong airtime or laterals, yet it has the classic looks of a vintage wood coaster and a ride experience that is pure fun and a joy to ride. So ride I did, a total of 6 times. Most of my rides were in the back car, and many of those in the back seat, but I did get a ride or two up front. I was careful to watch my time, since I had went off alone away from the group. He said 45 minutes, so I made it 35 in my mind to make sure I got back to the bus on time. I did take another look in the museum to look at the scale model of the Giant Dipper and an original Giant Dipper car, I also spotted some t-shirts that were left over from the rides 80th anniversary (2005) that were on sale, so I bought one of those. I then headed out to where the bus dropped us off, and just stepped out of the Belmont Park parking lot just as Mom and Rhonda were returning from the beach. We crossed the street and boarded the bus. BONUS FEATURE: Loof Carousel at Seaport Village, San Diego, CA (6/23/06) After a brief glimpse of the city, we headed to Seaport Village for a lunch stop. Seaport Village is a touristy shopping village. We had some hamburgers there at a hamburger stand, then looked around the shops. Set in the center of the village is a vintage carousel. The carousel pavilion building was easily recognized, and when looked inside the doors, I saw a magnificent Loof carsouel. Hand carved wood horses that had what looked like real horsehair tails. Several white horses, and the ride had a patriotic theme to it. I liked the use of hitching posts along the outer perimeter of the ride, and the downspouts that looked like horse heads. Signs around the carousel tell the story of Loof carousels, and another details where all the ride has been since it was built in 1895. I originally wasn't going to ride it, but then the children of the choir wanted to ride, as well as a few adults, so I joined them for the ride, The ride was a good value, with a 5 minute ride costing $2.

Trip Report: Universal Studios Hollywood Hollywood, CA June 22, 2006 Note: The TR is an exceprt from my California Mega-TR, which will be coming to Coasterville soon. We were referred to the hotel courtesy bus for transportation to the theme park, so shortly before 3pm a large group of us assembled and boarded the bus to Universal Studios. We had a nice bus driver who in addition to dropping people off at the usual spot in the middle of Citywalk, he was willing to make a second stop and drop people off almost right in front of the park gates, where the courtesy bus from the subway station stops. When we arrived at the park, Mom and Rhonda needed lunch so headed into Citywalk, where I was more interested in getting into the park, It was already almost 3pm, and the park closed at 7pm. Not as much time as I would have liked, so I had to tour in overdrive. I headed to the park entrance. Universal Studios Hollywood is almost entirely unlike Universal Studios Florida. The Orlando park was built as a theme park foremost, and had a token movie studio attached, the Hollywood park is chiefly a movie studio that has an amusement park attached. In fact the 'park' started out as just a movie studio tour that evolved into the world famous Universal Studio Tram Tour. More attractions were added to the studio tour until it evolved into an amusement park. I approached the park gates and noted the familiar iconic symbols of the hollow Universal Globe sitting out front, as well as the Universal studio gate in the middle of the entrance gate are in their usual places at this park. I already have a complimentary ticket in hand from the organized group tour that I am participating in. I did note the dizzying array of add on options available for tickets. It seems that the base ticket is about $60, then it goes up from there. You can add on "Front of the line" privileges for about $40 more, or you can add on unlimited food (but not drink) privileges for about $20 more, or you can elect both add on options. I didn't add on any options and instead headed into the park. They use the same cursory bag check that the Florida theme parks are doing, then I noted the ticket validation computer must have been acting up as my ticket was manually voided by the attendant drawing a star on the back. Front gate formalities out of the way, it's time to have fun. I entered the park and walked around construction walls that surround the parks front gate plaza sculpture. I didn't have time to look at that as I was ambushed not by the keyhole photo person, but by somebody offering me a free tote bag. I ask what the catch is and the person insists there is no catch until I reach out for the bag, then he attempted to drag me over to a booth to sign up for some credit card offer. I don't have time for this nonsense. I ultimately have to rudely tell the person to get out of my way, and I come to a crossroads. Universal Studios has done something really neat, that is instead of putting a poster of the park map and a schedule in a case and calling that a park directory, they instead use a Digital Park Directory. What this means is that by the descriptions of the shows it tells you when the remaining performances of that show are going to take place, and by the descriptions of the rides it tells you what the status or wait time for the ride is at the current time. My heart sank when I glanced over at "Mummy" and saw "Temporarily Closed" listed as its status. That's a bummer. I proceeded to alter my park touring plans, I have since 'Monday morning quarterback-ed" my day in the park and realized I probably could have done things better, but as they say, it's too late to worry about that now. \ Right behind me was the Van Helsing attraction, and according to the digital board, it had no wait. I don't know what possessed me to see Van Helsing, but I found myself walking towards the creepy castle like building. The park guide billed this as a chance to see some props from the movie, so I expected a museum exhibition like atmosphere. Soon after I entered, I realized the attraction was really a walk through haunted house. The park is known for its Halloween event, so I figured this just might be a good haunted house. It was just a run of the mill haunted house which utilized props from Van Helsing, and even combined some live actors. Unfortunately for Van Helsing, I come from a region where a haunted house isn't good until you have a chain saw wielding maniac come running towards your group, combined with scenes of blood, guts and gore. I guess its okay for an all ages theme park haunted house. It did win points for the cool tableaux and the rolling barrel bridge illusion. After I toured the haunted house, I started touring the park without the aid of a park map, and after strolling past the Blues Brothers stage and through an English themed area I came to Cyberdyne Systems. That can only mean one thing: Terminator 2: 3D, which I recalled from my visit to Universal Studios Florida as one of the best theme park 3D movies around. I joined the line, or I should say I picked up a pair of 3D glasses, and walked through the empty queue area up and into the pre show room. The back story is that you are attending a media event for the company's newest product. The pre show room is meant to resemble the lobby, ahead of you are the doors to the auditorium with a small balcony above the doors, and a video wall off to the side. After they keep you entertained/distracted by flashing humorous messages up on a scrolling electronic sign, your host comes out on the balcony. Imagine the stereotypical PR person, you know infectious enthusiasm, sickly sweet in what she says, and yes a bit condescending. Imagine all those traits exaggerated and you have the Cyberdyne PR person. After welcoming the group she starts with "And how many have already managed to break the safety glasses you were given just a short time ago?" In my group there was a group of guests heckling the PR person, I don't know if that's scripted but the PR person was able to respond back and still keep in character. She introduced the pre show video as an introduction to her company. The video was played on the video wall and offered an overly optimistic view of the company while detailing many of the futuristic projects they are working on. Or are they futuristic, in one case they talk about a future education system where "Every student gets exactly the same lesson, from exactly the same teacher, at exactly the same time", and I think of distance learning and web based training. In another case they talk about a mother who is able to tuck her child in, although she is halfway around the globe, and I think that I have heard that surgical robots are not that far off. The video is interrupted by static and then a rogue message cuts in, something about Skynet must be stopped. Just as you are wondering what Skynet is the PR video resumes and just happens to talk about Skynet which is a "Star Wars" style military defense system, where the Skynet computer would control missiles and command robotic soldiers that will take care of our national defense for us. "You can sleep easier at night knowing Skynet is there protecting you" . You switch back to the rogue video to learn that Skynet must be stopped before its too late, and it turns on the humans and turns the earth into a wasteland where the Terminator robotic soldiers take over. And, how do they know this, well the two ordinary people in the video claim to have come back from the future. They also come just short of saying there is a bomb in the building, but they do tell people they have 5 minutes to get out. The PR video returns and finished its overly happy spiel as if nothing had gone wrong. After the video the PR host apologizes for the disruption and comments on how it only take a few sick, twisted individuals to ruin it for everybody. In short, unless you are familiar with the story, at this point you don't know who to believe, the bubbly PR person, or they nuts from the future. Soon the doors open and you go into the main theatre. I entered the theatre, took a seat and prepared to watch the show. It starts out as a live action and animatronic show as the PR person takes the podium and introduces us to the robot soldiers they call the "Terminators" . On cue the robots appear on the sides of the auditorium on raised platforms and proceed to take target practice at the targets at the other side of the auditorium. It comes as no surprise that the robots are excellent marksman. Then the show gets interrupted as a terminator from the future comes riding through the audience on a motorcycle, and joined by the two people who were interrupting the PR video out in the lobby. They quickly take control of the auditorium and take out the PR person. Then what may be the signature special effect of the show occurs as the Terminator and the boy from the pre show get on the motorcycle and appear to ride right into the movie screen. The terminator robots lower down so you have a wide angle surrounding screen. They claim that you are jumping into the future to take on a then fully developed Skynet that has turned on its owners and turned the world into a wasteland just as promised. At that point the faux media event cover ends as you go into the future in the movie. The movie contains lots of good 3D effects, and you learn the seats have some motion base ability. What I don't get is why at the end of the show they slowly raise the seats up and then drop them down hard. All in all the show was just as great as I remembered it, and soon I was joining the group of people heading out of the auditorium and down a ramp into the gift shop. A congested gift shop at that, there is one clear path out, but they have a large video game blocking that path. I proceeded to walk across the back of the park skipping the Animal Actors Stage (see cute animals perform tricks), and Fear Factor (the park's new audience participation stunt show based on the hit TV series, and the character meet and greet areas until I came around to the Starway. Universal Studios theme park is not a very large park and appears to be shoehorned into one small corner of the studio. That's not to say there isn't a lot to do, but it's a congested park. You enter through the original part of the park that has the tram tour and several shows along with the Back to the Future ride, some time ago the park decided to expand into a part of the lower lot. When I saw lower lot, I can't stress enough that this park is on a steep hillside, so to get from the upper lot to the lower lot, required either using the Starway or taking a van. Most folks opt for the Starway which is a clever take on the word Stairway. Yes there are stairs, but they also offer escalators. The difference in height between the two parts of the park require the use of 4 separate escalators to get from one half to the other. To help move people they have three escalators, which are reversible. I was lucky in the fact I was going down, and they had 2 lanes going down and 1 up. You can tell you are in a theme park due to the repeated announcements on how to ride an escalator, for those people that have never seen one before. After going down the first escalator you come to a nice overlook where you can get a nice view of Hollywood, they even have coin operated binoculars whose timer mechanism looks suspiciously like a parking meter timer. They have also put some Apollo 13 props in this area. I proceed down three more escalators and arrive at the lower level. The layout of the lower level is pretty simple its basically a large I, you arrive at one end of the I which has Revenge of the Mummy on one side, and Jurassic Park on the other, then the center of the I has gift shops, food stands, a video arcade and a "I love Lucy" tribute museum. At the other end of the I sits Backdraft and the Special Effects Stages. I noted the posted wait for Revenge of the Mummy to be 30 minutes, so I grabbed a soft drink from a conveniently placed kiosk ($3) and head towards Mummy. I admit I am not a skinny person, and I have had trouble fitting on some rides because of my girth, so I took a seat on the test seat outside the ride. The test seat signage indicated the pointer on the lap bar must go into the green area, however I could never find where the green/red markings were, so as a test seat it is pretty useless. I then placed my loose articles into the courtesy locker provided at the ride entrance/exit. One of the things Universal does is to provide electronic courtesy lockers that allow you to leave your loose items secure, while the timer makes sure no one abuses the courtesy (and collects fines from those that do). It's a interesting system here as the lockers don't use keys or combinations, instead the computer takes a finger scan when you rent the locker, so in effect you fingerprint becomes your key. Pretty nifty idea! I entered the queue and was disappointed that the "Single Rider Line" was closed. Why is it that when I am at a park alone, the single rider option isn't available. I make my way into the large outdoor queue maze, and I must not have been in the line for over 5 minutes after I met up with the back of the line when they announced they were going "seeking volunteers for the single rider program, just present yourself to an attraction host" I wasted no time in bailing out of the line and presenting myself to the attraction host. I was directed back into the regular queue, but when I came to the first bend I saw another attraction host who was manning the single rider entrance. I indicated I wanted to ride single rider, so I was given a ride ticket and admitted to the single rider entrance. My wait just got expressed from 25 minutes or more, to third person in my line. I noted the ticket I was handed explained the rules of the single rider program, namely that it is designed for single riders, not for groups, you will be seated on the ride as empty seats become available. (The rows on this ride seat 4, so if they have a party of 3 come through the regular line, they can take one person from the singles line to fill in the empty seat.) Again those arriving in groups will not be able to ride together. They stress that point two or three times in two different languages. We were then admitted through a special gate where we walked down a separate lane along the length of the indoor tomb like queue area. It seemed as though there were seats waiting to be filled as I think I only had to wait about a minute after I reached the boarding platform. My ticket was collected and I saw shown to the rear left seat in the car. Instead of trains, Mummy uses individual cars, with 4 person rows, several rows per car. I took a seat and pulled down the lap bar, I felt an odd feeling as I lowered the bar when I noticed a mesh bag has been tied to the bar to hold loose articles. Apparently, any loose items that can't fit in the mesh bag can't be taken on the ride. We were soon loaded into the car and started on our way. This is billed as a roller coaster ride themed to "Revenge of The Mummy". Your car resembled a giant mine car and you start out at a slow speed almost as if you are riding a dark ride through the mummy's tomb. You travel through the cavernous tomb as you make abroad sweeping turnaround. After the turnaround you find out you have angered an Egyptian god or something like that as your car is catapulted to 40 mph and you traverse the roller coaster like portion. The coaster portion is mainly in the dark except for some static decorations that are lit by black light. The ride itself features no steep or sudden drops, and instead relies on a very twisted layout with lots of curves and gentle dips. That said, there is some slight floater airtime in the back seat. The signature element of the coater appears after you travel up a tall spike in the track as if you were headed to the top of the pyramid. There the walls are actually video screens and you can see snakes creeping out of the 'walls' headed for you as little brushes come in contact with your ankles to give the hint that there are snakes in the car. Neat special effect, then the brakes release and you travel backwards, but you don't go back the same way you came, instead a track switch has been activated and you go backwards via a different but similar route. At the end of the backwards section you travel into a room that is designed like you are in a part of the tomb that has a top opening where you can see the sun. This conveniently explains why this room is nicely lit, so that you can appreciate the fact your car is sitting on a giant turntable, which then rotates so that you pull back into the station facing forwards. The ride has two loading areas, one in back of the other, so that they can load two vehicles at once, and in this case you return to the opposite loading area than the one you boarded. I exited the ride, headed up the stairs to cross over the tracks, As soon as you make the turn at the top of the exit stairs the Egyptian tomb theme ends and its just plain walls as you exit the building, cross a bridge over part of the queue then come down stairs just in the right spot to stop at the on ride photo booth then you have access to the locker room along the exit path. My overall reaction to the ride was that it seemed to be a bit too short. While I liked the special effects, and the novelty items like going backwards down a different track, and the turntable at the end, I think I would have preferred a slightly longer ride. Don't get me wrong the ride tracks real smooth, offers some gentle airtime, and is a solid performer, it could just be a bit longer. At this point I got greedy and decided I wanted to take another ride on Mummy. I used the single rider queue again, but by this time single rider line was starting to get backed up, and it look me about 15-20 minutes to board (but the regular line was posting 1 hour). As fate would have it I was assigned the exact same seat when it was my turn in the station. There was a slight delay in the station ahead of me when a group who had entered through the single rider line, got upset that they could not ride together. I don't get that, every park single rider line I have seen specifically warns that "Groups will be split up" and that it is meant for single riders, yet groups get to the front of the line and then complain when they can't ride together. Its not just at this park, it seems to be common wherever I have seen single rider lines. I had another fun ride, I really do like this ride, just wish it were a bit longer. But I checked my watch and I hope I hadn't just made a real bad decision. I was relieved that I hadn't overstayed my welcome at the courtesy locker and was able to retrieve my items with no cost. Revenge of the Mummy is a ride that has a wonderful Egyptian tomb theme on the inside, but outside it looks like a soundstage building with the only signs of Egyptian theme being the ride hosts costumes and two sarcophagus that flank the ride entrance, I headed down the walkway and got into line as I saw them filling the Backdraft theater. Unfortunately there were more people than room in the theater, so my impatience was starting to get to me as I had bigger things to ride, so I skipped out on Backdraft. I also skipped the special effects stages and headed to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was posting a 10 minute wait so I decided to go for it. I entered the line and knowing it's a water ride I asked the host about a locker, and he replied that there are lockers available, even pointed them out to me, but then added that they cost $2. That doesn't make any sense as I could just walk back across the midway and use one of Mummy's free lockers. He assured me the ride wasn't that wet and my camera would be fine, in the same breath he offers to sell me a rain poncho. Why am I getting mixed messages here? I headed down a walkway where the tropical foliage has started to overtake the pathway, but I think that's part of the theme. I pass through the iconic Jurassic Park front gate, and why is that whenever I want to take a photo of a Jurassic Park gate at a Universal park the sun always appears to be in the wrong place. Jurassic Park the Ride is themed to a movie that is themed to an amusement park, so in a sense the ride is an amusement park ride themed to an amusement park ride. As most folks know, Jurassic Park is a fictional educational amusement park with real dinosaurs as the focus of its rides and exhibits. At the end of the first walkway you come to some signs directing you around Jurassic Park, it appears the route to the safari tour (in the land rovers) is blocked off, so only the path to the River Adventure is open. Ironically, the book version of Jurassic Park details the River Adventure, but it is not shown in the movie, except possibly as Hammond details some of the future attractions. I enter the queue house for the Jurassic Park River Adventure", I note the single rider line is blocked off and that Hammond himself is featured in the looping video that plays in the queue house. The video has the safety warnings along with a basic description of the ride as Hammond shows off the boat (you can almost hear him say "I spared no expense" in your mind). The boat seems to come equipped with some rather unusual safety equipment for an amusement park ride, but of course Hammond says that its just there because it is required, as nothing can possibly go wrong. Towards the end of the queue maze, the line divides into two lanes, clearly marked as Lane A and Lane B. That would not earn a mention in most parks, but most parks don't label their virtual queue entrances as Gate A. I picked lane B as it was shorter when it was my turn to pick. Just then I got a phone call from Mom telling me how wonderful the Studio Tram Tour was, so I made a note to head there as soon as I finished up Jurassic Park. I know the tram tour takes about an hour, it was nearing 5pm and the park closes at 7pm. I hope I didn't push it too long. I proceeded through the turnstile and the loader sent me to an empty spot in the front row of the boat. I noted an unusual queue gate arrangement, as after the queue gates opened, we stepped forward into yet another set of queue lanes, complete with a second set of gates. Then we boarded the boat, the ride has large lap bars that are shared by everybody in the row, and don't really come down that far. It made some of the smaller riders in my row feel just a bit uneasy. The ride starts with a short lift hill, then you start to float past some dinosaur exhibits. At first everything seems to be going nice and tranquil as you explore Jurassic Park. Of course, you know that's not going to last, as you come to a fork in the path and your boat takes the one that is clearly marked as off limits. A cool effect is that the speakers placed alongside the waterway continue to narrate the dinosaur exhibit you should be seeing, and since each speaker is controlled separate, that narration comes from the path you should have taken, and adds to the going toe wrong way feeling. You then enter the side of Jurassic Park where everything has gone wrong, the power has gone out on the electric fences, and the dinosaurs have taken over. Quite animal exhibits no more, now they start attacking your boat. A real cool effect is when you pass under where you can see a turn in the safari tour above you, and a dinosaur pushed a land rover off the edge and it appears to be falling and stops just above and to the side of your boat. You then enter the show building, and go up the main tall lift while passing by some angry dinosaurs, all culminating in the signature moment when the T-Rex is about t have you and your boat for dinner when just as he is about to attack, you drop safely out of range as you head down the tall steep drop. At the bottom of the drop you emerge from the show building, generating a nice wave. I am glad I didn't get too wet, just a few drops. You then float back around to the unload area and exit into a gift shop. I dashed through the gift shop at high speed and came to one of those digital park guides. The digital park guide in formed me that it would be a 15 minute wait for the tram tour. I took off for the tram tour, which required riding back up the Starway (which had been reversed so two lanes were now going up) then through the confusing congested layout of the upper lot. I reached the entrance for the Studio Tram Tour where the electronic signs were telling me the tram tour was closed for the day. "Please visit us another day". NO! I don't have another day! I also noted there was no gate, chain or other obstruction blocking the queue entrance, so I went into belligerent mode and entered the attraction anyway. I went across a walkway that looked down upon the studio below me, then started down an escalator. I was relieved when I started down the escalator and an attraction host at the bottom welcomed me to the tram tour. At the bottom of the escalator, I entered the tram station and took an empty seat in the back car of the tram that was being loaded. Moral of the story: don't always believe the signs. We waited a bit for the tram to fill up. Knowing it would be an hour long tour I was glad the tram had cushioned seats, and looking around I noted the tram was outfitted with video monitors and along the tops were advertisements for their new and upcoming movies. Shortly before the tour started the gull wing doors on the tram cars were closed, and our host introduced herself, and it appears she is on camera so that even those of us in the back car can see her We soon departed the tram station and headed down the hill to the lower lot. As we started the tram tour, it was revealed that we would have a second co-host, Whoopi Goldberg who would fill in other information via the video monitors. As we rode down the hill we got a basic introduction to Universal Studios and clips from some of their movies. We also basically made a lap around the lower lot of the park where I noted a Jurassic Park boat in a service area, then we got to wave at the guests in line for Backdraft. We then started driving between big warehouse looking buildings that were identified as sound stages. We were told that most of them were closed sets, which means that only authorized visitors are allowed to go inside, and that we would not be able to visit any of the soundstages during the tram tour, but the park does offer other VIP tour packages that would include the chance to see a production in progress. Seems most filming gets done on these soundstages. We left the lower lot area and drove past a row of identical looking bungalows where visiting directors, actors and other movie personnel can stay during filming. I note the bungalows all look the same from the outside with no signs of personalization. From the bungalow area we headed into the back lot. The back lot is where the interesting stuff to see is. I'm not going to give a play by play because as I said its an hour long tour, but there were some highlights. We toured various parts of the back lot which had different types of buildings. We went into an area that looks like the classic town square. We were informed that this town square is most famous as Hill Valley from Back to the Future, but by changing the fronts of the buildings it has been used in various films, and while we looked at the town on the back lot the video screens in the tram showed clips from films that showed this set in various incarnations. We then passed a New York City area, with some city areas and a row of brownstone houses. At the end of the New York segment we were told we had a chance to meet one of Hollywood's biggest stars, we then went inside a building and found ourselves on the set of King Kong. We saw King Kong swatting at the police helicopters, and then reach down and start to shake tram. As we exited the show building our host said "I did promise you would meet one of our BIGGEST stars" We proceeded to tour other areas of the back lot including an old west town. While we looked at the western town our hose explained about perspective. Forced perspective is when you fool around with the reference points to make something appear larger or smaller than it really is. The example she gave was to notice how they have buildings with large and small doors and windows. When you film the damsel in distress you film her against the large building so she appears even more helpless, on the flip side, you film the hero against the small building so that he appears to be bigger and therefore stronger than in real life. We drove through a Spanish town with accents that look like they might have been used in Pirates of the Caribbean, at this point we stopped and watched a weather forecast on the video panels, which said the weather would be nice in all parts of the back lot except the part we were in where a flash flood was predicted, moments later torrents of water were rushing down the hillsides at the tram to simulate a flash flood. Some time later we bypassed the collapsing bridge, but our host did point it out to us. A bit later we went past a row of picture cars, a picture car was defined as any vehicle seen in the movie, so we saw some of the more easily recognizable movie cars, finishing up with some cars from Fast and Furious. We then went into an open air round chamber where the tram curled around the outside edge of the space. The are had an urban Japanese theme with Japanese style vending machines along the walls, and in the center of the room were two card from the movie. Moments after the tram stopped an explosion took place and it looked like the cars were going to be hurled up and into the tram cars, but they stopped just in the nick of time. By that time the artificial fog cleared and we could see the robot arms. Our host asked the cars if they could do anything else, then some ballroom music came on and the cars moved in a way that made it look like they were dancing. She said, who needs "Dancing with the Stars", you've now seen "Dancing with the Cars" Leaving that area we passed some props and things from Jurassic Park and headed towards Little Europe. Little Europe is so named because it can resemble any quaint European town, just by changing the language on the signs. Oh, and yes I know I probably got some of the elements our of order, but you can get an idea of how packed the tram tour is. We were told we would have the chance to visit a hot set. A hot set is a set where there is a production going on, so they want to restrict who goes onto the set in order to minimize the risk of continuity errors. The simple act of bumping or moving something on a hot set can cause a problem between takes of a movie were suddenly a prop disappears, reappears or moves around the set apparently on its own, or the time on the clock or calendar changes. We have special permission to visit this hot set because, its after hours and they have stopped filming for the day. We enter a soundtage and find ourselves on the set for Earthquake. Specifically we are in s subway tunnel where the roof caves in, water starts flowing down the stairs in torrents, and a gas truck falls from the road through the roof and catches on fire. It's a very impressive piece of movie special effects demonstration. The only negative is that you leave the building before you get to watch the scene reset. A bit later we drove down a dip almost driving through a pond so that we may get a camera eye view of a boat from another movie. We also rode past some more famous movie places, like Whooville, or the street from Desperate Housewives, the Bates Motel, and the house from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" We drove through the town of Amityville and the town is celebrating because they think they have captured Jaws and they have him in display. They don't have the only shark though as a shark pulls a man standing in the water down under the water level, then the hark reappears just a few feet from the tram. They even manage to work some impressive fire effects into this one as well. We also passed though an area meant to resemble War of the Worlds, we see commercial airliners in ruins, and a town in ruins and debris just littering everything. The tram even stopped for a photo stop. We drove past more of the back lot and then things started to run together, there was a house built on stilts that is used in scenes where they need a house sitting over a lakeside, but you can see the house actually sits over a bowl of grass. Our host indicated the bowl area can be filled with water. And my, just like that it appears that an hour has flown past and we are pulling into the unload station. They thank us for taking the tour, and tell us to please refer and questions we may have to the attraction hosts as we exit. It appears that they need to close the back lot early tonight as we saw them setting up for a party of some kind, and I get the feeling I was on the last tram of the day. The people at the exit didn't really rush us, but you could tell they were eager to get us out of there. At the escalators they had all the escalators out of the tram tour area going up, and as soon as we had exited the area the barricades went up. I also mentioned earlier the difference in approach between this park and Orlando. Here, you ride the tram tour and feel you have gotten a whole days enjoyment out of one ride, in Orlando, they took the various special effects segments, like King Kong, Jaws, and Earthquake and they made separate stand alone attractions out of them. I exited the tram tour area and walked through a children's playground themed on Nickelodeon. Not much to report about it. I took stock in my options and realized I really only had two options, I could see Back to the Future the Ride, which I had ridden in Orlando, or Shrek 4D which I had not seen before. I opted to see Shrek, I entered the line for Shrek and the show must have filled for the group in front of me right when I got there because they cut the line for that show just as I had reached the turnstile. We waited at the turnstile for the next group to be admitted, while waiting the host went over the park guide for us and pretty much confirmed that I was right with my choices of where I could go. If I was lucky I may be able to squeeze in a ride on Back to the Future after this but that's about it. Some time later we were admitted through the castle gates around a passageway and into the pre show room. We were in some kind of castle ante room. Of special note above our heads we could see the three little pigs locked in cages (one straw, one wood, one brick) with little video screens to show the eyes. Next to them is a metal cage holding an upside down pinochio, with an opening for a mechanical nose, and above the cage you can see his feet sticking up and waving back and forth. Next to him you had a video screen of the torture chamber showing the ginger bread man on a torture table. On either far side were the magic mirrors. The magic mirror fills you in on the story. Basically the evil master of the castle wants the girl, but Shrek rescues the girl and takes her far away, and now the evil master is torturing anybody he thinks ay know the whereabouts of the girl. The evil master cuts off the magic mirrors narration, threatens his torture victims, well except for ginger bread man who managed to escape. The last plea you here from the torture victims is to not enter the auditorium. You, of course, then enter the auditorium. The main movie is a 3D movie with certain theater stunts like vibrating seats on motion bases, or water jets that spray water on you or other things. The main movie continues the story from the pre show, were the evil master does in fact find the girl and captures her, you then travel along with Shrek and Donkey to rescue the girl and then everything ends all nice and happy. I noticed they sprinkled in a few jabs at Disney, and all in all it was a neat show, with maybe a bit too much gratuitous chair shaking, The show ended, and I stepped out onto the midway and checked my watch, exactly 7PM. I'm not even going to try to find Back to the Future. I did look in some gift shops, and noted the cleverly themed Bedrock area with its Rock Vegas Casino games area, and an eatery that looks like the drive in from the cartoon. On my way out I spotted a photo opportunity area that had a sign "Visit Shrek Tomorrow", I laughed and took a photo, I wonder if that works like the saying on the side of Joe's Crab Shack "Free Crab Tomorrow" They do have some good theming, with a coffee cart named Brews Bros. placed across from the Blues Bros. show, or the Frank and Stein eatery next to Van Helsing. I took some photos of the main entryway and headed to Citywalk. I went and met up with Mom and Rhonda at the PEZ store in Citywalk, and then we went to the Daily Grill. The Daily Grill was highly recommended to us by others on our tour, and I was just happy that there was no waiting. We had been told about the chicken pot pie. We ordered some, and they were the largest chicken pot pies I have ever seen, We followed that up with the largest Apple Peach Cobbler I have ever seen. Not only were the portions large they were also very good. Yes, I would have to agree with the group that the Daily Grill was an excellent dinner choice.

Since the OP asked, here is the review I wrote for Dinsney quest last year: Finding Disney Quest Upon arriving at Downtown Disney, I soon realized that the boat dock, and Disney Quest are about as far as you could get from one another. Man, that was a haul. I checked my watch and realized I would have about 80 minutes at DisneyQuest before it closed. I might as well make the most of it. I pulled out my Ultimate Park Hopper Ticket, and walked inside. Entering Disney Quest I inserted my ticket into the turnstile and entered DisneyQuest. I received a handstamp and then was shown to a waiting elevator. DisneyQuest is five floors of fun, and to make sure you are totally and completely disoriented, the elevator has you come up in the center of the 3rd floor. This being Disney, of course this is no ordinary elevator. Looking through a window on one side of the car there is a video that plays, and some special lighting effects. Nothing to write home about. What is noteworthy is that there are no call buttons so you can't exit the facility the same way you came in. CyberSpace Mountain I checked the electronic tip board in the main hub, liked what I saw. And saw the wait for Cyberspace Mountain was 5 minutes (Yeah, uh huh, whatever) . I also saw on my watch that I had about 70 minutes to close, so I decided to head first to my main reason for coming, and that was Cyberspace Mountain. I followed some signs down a flight of stairs, through some rooms, and I finally got to the entrance for Cyberspace Mountain. Ahh, they must mean 5 minutes to enter the experience, not 5 minutes until you ride. I waited in line for the next available Navigator (as associates here are called), who asked me if I wanted to ride a pre-built coaster, or design my own. I opted to design my own, so I was handed a plastic card with a barcode on it, and shown to a workstation in the Coaster Design Studio. You first swipe your barcoded card so that your project can be saved to your card, then you watch a short orientation video on how to design a coaster and how to use the kiosk. Basically your coaster creation will be assembled on the main screen, where countdown will keep track of how much time you have left to complete your project, and how much more track you are allowed to use in your coaster. Along the sides of the screen are the track piece selector buttons, color coded of course. Green track elements are gentle, yellow are medium, and the red buttons, clearly labeled DANGER are extreme elements. In addition the touch screen often offers other track pieces that are not always available. At the bottom of the console are your Go Back and OK buttons. First you choose a theme for your coaster (say outer space, or ice age), (I went with Ice Age) then you choose a speed (Ahh, it must be a launched coaster, and you get to choose Slow, Medium or "Hang On For Dear Life") Yep, I chose the fastest possible setting. You don't need a lift hill, you don't need to worry about direction (as you can't really turn anyway), and you don't need to make a complete circuit, although the computer "tests" each new track addition as you build, I didn't see any warnings for faulty layout due to physics. You can also be assured that I limited my element selections to the red DANGER buttons, and the DANGER items that sometimes were offered in the special. The ride I built is a nightmare on any street. We'll also excuse them for the catapult leap and track jump track elements. Clearly realism is not the issue here. The design studio then ranks your coaster, and you get to name your coaster (from a list of pre-approved names) The computer then tells you to take your card, and get in line for the ride experience. Hello, paybacks? "You made your bed, now sleep in it?" Remember that hell on wheels coaster you just designed, now you, yes YOU have to go ride it. You are allowed to bring one friend along to share the fun (or misery as the case may be) with you. You enter a slow moving queue to wait for the next available coaster simulator (I think they have up to 8 two-person simulators) When a simulator becomes available you are told to head to a numbered door, and oh, be taking all loose articles from those pockets. Before your ride, the ride operator, allows you to place all your stuff into a courtesy locker, and you get to hold the key, which has an elastic band so it fits on your wrist. I happened to have all my stuff ready when the cast member came to me, and he comments "I see you've done this before", and I responded "No I read the warning signs", to which he answered in shock amazement "You mean somebody actually reads those things" (I mentioned it was a slow moving queue, didn't I). Luckily I was able to chat it up with a fellow park guest for most of it. I was then taken into the torture chamber, (Oops, I mean ride simulator). I must admit I was worried when I entered the ride, not because I had created a wild hellish ride, but because I had read that large park guests sometimes can not fit into the ride. The simulator is sunken into the floor so much that when the hood is raised, you have to walk down some stairs to get into the ride tub. You then take your seat, and the overhead restraints lower automatically and lock into place. I must admit I was relieved when I heard the reassuring click as the mechanical locks engaged. The cabin done is then closed around you. Up front is a big movie screen, and in case you really need it, there is an "I want off of this ride NOW!!!" plunger sized button located within reach. The ride started,a and I soon realized that all the simulator can do is rock back and forth and roll over. No sideways movement (which my be why no turn pieces are offered). I was expecting a simulator with more axis of movement, what it is, in reality is a rider customizable simulator with about as much movement as a Haunted Swing ride. Forwards roll, backwards roll, except that in this case you are actually the one rolling, not the room. I also noted a nameplate on the ride "ZAMPERLA" which is a nice Italian ride manufacturer, and I think the same people who supplied the latest rebuilds of Dumbo, Flying Carpets, Astro Orbiter, Tricreatops Spin, and after a recent re-organization they can be held technically responsible for primeval Whirl. I exited the ride at its conclusion, where I noted the ride operator took my key and unlocked the locker for me. You don't think all the lock boxes are keyed the same do you? Having retrieved my stuff, I walked down the exit stairs and neglected to stop by the booth where you can buy a video of you riding your coaster. I looked around the room I was in, and noticed they had a place where you can learn to draw a Disney character, some electronic sketchpad, a build your own toy workshop, a record your own music recording studio, and other similar attractions, all of which are free and most of which also have the potential to sell you your finished creation. Alladin's Flying Carpets Not knowing the layout , I started wandering through the facility. I next came upon Alladin's Flying Carpets, the VR experience. I merely had to wait until the next 'ride'. You are issued the inner working of a hard hat which you (literally) screw onto your head this has spots to which the VR helmet on the ride locks onto to. Its a nice touch which makes sure that the (expensive) helmet does not come off mid-ride. It also fully ensures that the helmet controls all that you can see and hear. The helmet also has motion sensors so that if you look up. down, or around the viewpoint changes so that what you see matches the way your head is turned. You then receive brief instructions on flying a magic carpet. You are seated on a bike seat. Lean forward to go down, lean back to go up, and steer with the handlebars, push forward on the handlebars to go faster, pull back to go slower. The ride itself is at its heart a VR videogame., fly and pick up the jewels while trying to rescue someone, You fly through and explore a fantasy world, lots of clever flying, and lots of decision, making points, though I wonder if you always complete the game. I mean we got all the way to the end on our game, and I noticed that those who flew down alternate passages were put back on the right course. I next walked down a stairway and saw a row of what looked like a rowing videogame. Its the Virtual Jungle Cruise, where you and your group has to row a rubber raft (virtually of course) in accordance with what you see on he screen ahead of you. I passed on Virtual Jungle Cruise. I did go into Virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates of the Caribbean - the VR experience In Pirates you are first issued some heavy duty 3D goggles, yes goggles, with a neck strap that tightens. You are then shown to your pirate ship. Onboard the group has to elect one person to man the ships wheel, and effectively steer the ship, the other members of the group stand alongside the edges of the deck and man the cannons. There are more cannons than people so you may have to run around the deck of the boat to find the most advantageous cannon to use. The cannons have limited aiming ability, and to fire, you have to yank on the rope. All around the very real deck of your virtual pirate ship is a wrap around screen, presenting in 3D, the ocean around you, and more importantly the rival pirate ships that your are trying to plunder and loot (Wake up me hearties, YO HO!) I don't quite get how it happens but when you sink a ship, you get all the treasure that was on board that ship. I would have thought that since you never leave your ship, and you have decimated the other ship, the treasure would go down with the ship. The game gets progessively harder as you go along, until finally you have to fight the ghostly pirates to claim the prize. Its a cute game. I decided to skip its counterpart, Alien Encounter which is a similar concept, only 360 degrees instead of 180. Next off in my travels I stopped for a quick game of Marble Madness (and with my pathetic performance, it was a quick game) All the arcade games in DisneyQuest that don't offer prizes are included with the admission. Just hit start!, On some of the older classic machines, or arcade games that don't normally allow for free play, they have installed a button right where the coin slot would normally be. Press the button and one credit is added to the game. Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters I explored further and I found Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. These are Dodgems taken to the next level. The Dodgems are contained in an entirely enclosed environment, with clear walls and doors surrounding the L shaped floor. In addition the cars have fully enclosed clear cages for their riders. You may ask why all the high security. Well this isn't your grandfather's Dodgem car. Oh no, these cars have a vacuum mounted to the bottom of the car that can scoop up basketball sized "asteroids" that are littered along the arena floor. Just roll over one to snag it, it will appear in an ammo bin between the cars two seats. One you have an asteroid, you place it into the Astro Blaster and fire it at another car. Your goal is to hit the target on another car. This will cause the cars interior strobe lights to flash, the driver of that car to loose control, and that car to spin for a few seconds. What's not to like! These Dodgems also come with a safety training. Mostly stuff like only one asteroid in the astro blaster at a time and since both the arena and your car doors are locked, it your astro blaster jams, you will be defenseless for the remainder of the ride. A truly sad fate. They also tell you to inspect the weaponry before the ride starts, to make sure the loading hatch on the Astro Blaster is OPEN, and that the ammo chamber is empty. This is to help make sure you don't have a jammed gun right from the start. Other tips involve seatbelts, If the belts are not fastened the car will not move., and to stay out of one end of the arena floor. Its a black hole and cars seem to get stuck there. Again if you get hopelessly stuck or your car malfunctions, there is nothing that can be done about it once the ride starts. I did not have a ride partner so I would have to be both Driver and Gunner in my car. The ride is ideally meant for teams of two. Also some ground rules: NO picking up asteroids while walking to and from your car, you may only use asteroids your car picks up during the ride. NO preloading the cannon. Okay briefing open, the arena hatch was opened, and I made my way to my craft. Once seated inside my craft, I did the recommended weapons system inspection, then I familiarized myself with the craft. In front of the driver is a steering wheel which well you can figure it out, on the floor is a foot pedal which controls the speed of the car, (supposedly), but a new addition has been added in the form of a gearshift. You have forwards and reverse gear. The idea must be to make these some of the most manueverable Dodgem cars on the planet, even if they are huge and bulky. I then inspected the Gunners station. There is a bin between the seats to pick up asteroids you have found, and a huge cannon in front of the gunner. The cannon has limited aiming potential, it also has a fire button located at its base, and a knob on the side. The knob opens and closes the ammo loading chamber. Behind both seats is a netted shelf for storing loose articles. I then made sure both doors were closed, then I fastened the seatbelt on the empty Gunner's seat, before I fastened my own. The cars use standard 3-point automotive style seatbelts. The attendants come around and perform a safety inspection. (There are also tattle tale lights on the top of the cars that tattle on those with unfastened seatbelts) The ride then started, I think the car doors maglock, then remember that big plastic clear cage that surrounds you. You would be relieved when you hear a nice cooling fan turn on to circulate fresh air into your plastic cage. whew, this is fun! I was at a disadvantage flying solo, but all in all I had a real fun ride, and the rides seemed to be a lot longer than your average dodgem ride. It did not take to long for e to learn how to pilot my craft, now if I could only load and fire cannon and drive at the same time. That would be an artform. As an extra bonus, due to the low crowds that night, we were offered a DOUBLE RIDE. Due to the ride control system we had to unfasten the seatbelts, wait until the ride reset, then refasten them, but Whee HEee DOUBLE RIDE! I want a set of these closer to home. What a wonderful way to help you take out your frustrations. Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam I wandered some more and came to Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam. hmm, a pinball themed game, I could hardly resist. This one isn't that great. You stand on a giant joystick, by leaning on the joystick you can move your ball around the pintable. Yep its pinball in name only. Hit the targets, score goals, it a lot of players at once in this 'pinball' free-for-all. I looked at my watch, 10:57, not really time to get to anything, but DisneyQuest also has a wide, wide, (and did I mention WIDE) selection of arcade games. I stumbled upon pinball alley. I played a game of Rollercoaster Tycoon pinball, and confirmed that even when its free and its at Disney, that pinball machine is still crap. towards the end of my pingame, I thought that there must be a FunHouse machine just around the corner. Right at 11, I hear a grandfather clock go BONG, BONG, BONG, some yawning noises, but instead of "The funhouse is now closed" I hear "DisneyQuest is now closed..." Its a fitting closing announcement as DisneyQuest is very much Disney's modern answer to a funhouse! Which leaves you this chilling challenge: To Find A WAY OUT Remember that disorienting and purposely confusing layout, well the one thing that doesn't seem to be well marked is the EXIT. I walked around the same floor a couple times, and noted that in un Disneylike fashion, the cast members were not being overly helpful at helping you locate the exit. The goal seems to be to find the down staircases and make your way to Level 1, then find the exit turnstiles on level 1. I finally found one of the elevators that was configured for guest use, and instructed the Happy Vertical People Transporter that I would like to go down. As you may know Happy Vertical People Transporters like going down more than they like going up. It just so happened to be my luck that when the doors opened on Level 1, I was right next to the exit turnstiles. It should come as a surprise to nobody that the exit turnstiles let you out into Disneyquests giftshop, which was still operating.

Don't forget both the Big Dipper and Little Dipper at Camden Park use NAD Century Flyers, with the Little Dipper using the even more elusive Junior century flyer. I beleive the Kiddie Coaster at Rye Playland is also a junior NAD Century Flyer. That one is a real elusive credit as they only allow adults on the ride during special events. Valleyfair runs a NAD train on High roller but its a newer model, not quite like the Century Flyer. Conneaut Lake Park actually took their NAD trains out of service then put even OLDER trains on the ride. Though not a NAD the Big Dipper at Geauga Lake runs a NAD look-alike train.

TR: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (5/29/06) Trip Report: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Lousiville, KY (USA) May 29, 2006 So begins the final leg of our Memorial Day coaster trip. We awake, get ready, yada yada, partake in the hotel's courtesy breakfast, and decide we want to stop at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on the way home. We are soon on the road, and with a quick refreshment stop along the way, we soon arrive at the park. WE follow the signs to the park as we are unused to arriving at the park from the south, and we exit into an industrial area ride accross from the airport. The Twisted Twins rollercoaster looks somewhat out of place in this industrial zone, but we notice Holiday World has done it again and went and put a Voyage billboard up right accross from the coaster. We almost miss the park entrance, but are soon heading on to the Kentucky State Fairgrounds (Hey, shouldn't that be the Kentucky Commonwealth Fairgrounds). WE are glad to see the parking lot is still run by the fair, so parking is at a reasonable $5. We enter the fairgrounds and drive down the entry road that literally runs right down the middle of the amusement park. This road in the middle of the park is part of the cause for the park's awful layout, as well as for a super annoying pedestrain bridge used to get from one side of the park to the other. Hey it looks like the staff doesn't care much for the pedestrain bridge either, as they have a ground level sidewalk. The sidewalk has a traffic guard using one of those "Stop/Slow" signs you often see at road construction sites. The staff is annoying in that instead of corossing in one clump they decide to go one at a time, and have no sense of urgency. We are eventually admitted to the parking lot and quickly realize there is another event goin on at the fair that is going to make parking harder to come by. In truth our space is closer than any space we could get at PKI, but it is still the furthest out we have ever parked for SFKK. We park, grab what we need, and head to the park gates. Rideman and John have to deal with guest relations and using their Wyandot Lake passes, I have to deal with the ticket sales people. We split up, I take advantage of the Six Flags fights Gas Prices promotion to lower the $40 admission price to $25. We all take about the same amount fo time and wind up entering the park one after the other. Man it is hot, humid and judging by the fact the parks giant American flag is totally limp on its pole, no wind either. Hey the park did remember to take the flag down to half-staff for Memorial Day. The park has metal detectors at the main gate, but the person manning them couldn't care less, no matter if the machine buzzed or not they waved you on in. We noted the Hellevator (Intamin Giant Drop) was closed as had been fortold on the sign out front. WE made a left and headed to Breakdance. Breakdance is a spinning flat ride, and while we waited for it we noted all the changes the park has made to the ride over the years. ALmost all the flash, including the mirrors center spindle have been removed and the paint on the cars is faded. Inside the cars is where theings really get funky. The wheels that were in the cars have been removed, and the bench seats have been replaced with molded bucket seats, complete with a seat divider and a seat horn between your legs. Seatbelts have been added, and when we pulled down the lapbar we noted the self-release knobs have been removed from the lapbar and that mechansim covered over. We lock the lapbar and note short bars have beel weleded to the lapbar that run down from the bar and come to rest on the seat horns, effectively encasing each leg in a loop. Locking doors then cover over the openeings on the side of the tub. Did I mention the ride has no automatic release, so the ride operator has to come around and key release each tub. At least I can report that they give you a nice long fast ride cycle. As we were riding the Breakdance we saw the Road Runner Express had opened. This is a Maurer Shoene Wild Mouse that has been themed to the Road Runner cartoons. We are able to enter throught the short entrance bypassing the queue maze, and they have this wonderful "Wait at the bottom of the stairs" until called policy. The cars themselves look like minecars, so when we are called, we board a car with Rideman and I in the front, and John in the back. We fasten the seatbelts and lower the lapbars as low as we though it would go. Our car advances but we are stopped because the lapbar isn't lowered to the computers satisfaction, stapling ensues and we are on our way. When I last rode this ride in October it was horrible, this time it was running a lot better. Very few brakes were in use, and the ride didn't seem quite so jerky. I do have to laugh that the lapbars spring open as soon as you hit unload, right before the one time you might want to use it. We exit Roadruner Express and head past the Skycoaster and the Rio GRande Train. We pass an area of the park that a carnie would refer to as Donikered. The picnicn grove at the end of the pathway is now a storage area, the major coaster that emptied out into this pathway ha been removed, and so the only people using the path are those headed to or from the HUSS Pirat (Bluebeards Bounty) that is set far off the beaten path. There were game joints along this path at one time, but they have been abandoned. I told you it was a doniker location. We rode the Pirat, and like the Breakdance this one is fading away in the sun. There is just a one cycle wait and the queue begins with a push gate to even enter the queue. Rideman and John get a nice sheltered end seat and I get a semi sheltered second to the end seat. Plently of room under the one position automatic lapbars. I do like the fact the ships mast , rigging and sails are still intact. That theming seems to be the first thing to go in these type rides. Speaking of things going, the park has sealed off the unload platform and done away with flush loading, presumeably so a single operator can handle the ride. They have also reconfigured the queue maze to allow for an exit path, where you exit through the gate with an upside down exit sign. You know you would think maintenance would catch that. So far today, the ride operators seem just a tad bit more enthusiastic than in years pase, and they are really pushing the 45th Anniversary of Six Flags. We next head around to Greezed Lightnin, which is a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop. There is a one train wait, and we are soon in the backseats. More enthusiastic ride ops, then we are launched. A powerful launch leads us to the forward loop and up the front spike, the train runs out of momontum, so we go back down the spike, backwards through the loop, then return to the sttion where we get braked hard (when did they start doing that, in 2003 you flew up the back spike with gusto), so you hardly go u the back spike at all before returning to the station. The lapbars pop up as soon as the train stops. We exit the ride, and head past the bumper cars that have lost their enclosure from last falls Halloween event, and the antique cars. We bypass some food and merch stands and cross the darned bridge. At the other end of the darned bridge we decide to reverse our usual pattern and head towards Belgian Village first instead of towards Chang. We pass Swampwater Jacks and pass the former site of the Quake, a unique flat ride that never seemed to operate. Its ground has been taken over by the waterpark and a Proslide Tornado put in its place. WE noted the park did not opt for the tube conveyor option so those poor suckers have to carry those heavy cloverleaf tubes up to the top themselves. I notice all the game joints and even the arcade in this section of the park have been closed, and one of the games buildings claims it will soon by a Guest comfort station with first aid and other guest services. We take a few moments to look at the parks Carousel, and I note the water fountains on the restroom building near the carousel have been removed. We decide to take a quick ride on Rollerskater. We pile into the back three cars, fasten the belts, lower the bars and off we go on this consistently fun kiddie coaster. We then opt for a ride on Flying Dutchman. This is a fairly unique ride, its like a circle swing ride except you ride in big dutch (wooden) shoes. I have only seen one other ride like it, at Kings Island, and there are some that claim this is the exact same ride. We board our shoes and you will be stunned to learn Six Flags has removed the lapbbars from the shoes and replaced them with seatbelts. Its a nice cool relazing ride, just what is needed in this hot humid 97 degree day. We next head to Thunder Run. It is just a station wait and a walk on unless you wanted the frnt seat, like we did. We waited a few trains for the frnt seat. They have added sternly worde signs reminding you to use the safety restraints properly, and I thought these lapbars used to be orange, but now they are black. A new policy has been instituted on the ride where you are to fasten your seatbelt but not pull back on the lapbar. After your seatbelt has been checked the operator will lower your lapbar. Soon we are in the front seat, and man this ride still has short seat belts. I struggle but I do get my belt fastened. We are soon on our way, turnaround, up the lift, turnaround again and the top of the lift is lined with Holiday World style lift hill flags, and down the first drop, though the banked turnaround then out on three nice airtime filled hills, turnaround again one hill on the way in, another turnaround, circle the lift hill structure, then trurnaround and head back to the station. It's very similr to the Hurler line of rollercoasters. Last fall this was running ultra smooth like it was somebody's baby, now its not running bad, but it is running a bit rougher than last year. I notice the Severe Weather (Tropical Storm red with black square) flags in the Waterpark are fluttering about in some kind of breeze from somewhere. As we exit the ride, we seem to add one of the parks, shall we say day-care-service guests to our group, We start to head around past Top Eliminator DRagster back to Twisted Twins, when alas, Kentucky Kingdom has done it to us once again. I think the layout of the back half of the park changes every time I come. The front half is straight forward, a ring of family rides circling kiddieland. The back half is more or less a ring of rides that circle the waterpark. First they added Belgain Village section with rides games and stuff, anchored by Thunder Run, and the Giant Wheel on the way to the waterpark. In 1998 they added a "Northen Exposure" looking area that runs from Mile High Falls (near the carousel) running back along Thunder Run, the area was lined with flat rides, food stands, merch, and games, and anchored in the back by Twisted Twins. The section first opend as a big dead end path, accesible only from Mile High Falls area. Either offically or unofficially a path was made through what looked like it was an employee area so as to form a loop that came out by Top Eliminator. The park then sealed off the pathway that ran under Thunder Run in order to make a big old Duell Loop. It was probably the best layour for getting people back by Twisted Twins, but it annoyed those of us used to the walkway between Top Eliminator and Thunder Run to no end. Over time they have ripped out almost all the flat rides in the new section, and closed the food stands and games and stuff. So last fall they used much of the area as a haunt with the area from the Carousel restrooms to the restrooms by Twisted Twins blocked off, making the only access back to Twisted Twins by Top Eliminator once again making it a dead end section. This year they have returned to the original configuration, where the only entrance is alongside the now dead midway from Mile High Falls. At least it looks like theymight be going to remove Top ELiminator so we can hope something better replaces it. We walk back to Twisted Twins and make a quick stop to find the restroom building air conditioned. WE think we'll just relax here for several minutes. Outside they have nice cool water fountains. See at the park, where they have water fountains they are generally really cold, which is a good thing. There were several guests playing with a water bottle filling it up and dumping or spraying it at each other. This is what happens at a park when its this unbearably hot and humid out, and peopl don't want to pay the concession prices. I remember playing in the lawn sprinklers at Great Escape for much the same reason. We note a new stage has been installed where Thriller Bees used to be, and they were using it for Karaoke. We go back to Twisted Twins. At elast they have added lots of shade trees and plants to the Twisted Twins plaza, and they have added a new second entrance which bypasses the ridiculously large queue maze you used to have to walk through. Much to our delight they had both sides running, so we go up the front stairs and ride the pink train first. We take a back seat ride. This ride, while not as rough as it was last fall is running noticeably slow and sluggish. There are still two nice airtime moments at the start of the ride, then the ride just sort of meanders around the course until you come to the end. We exit,walk around, and board the teal train, again in the backseat. This side starts off with two strong ejector air moments and runs a bit faster than the pink side. Overall this ride has not aged well at all. We exit the Twisted Twins area, and stop for water as we watch a horrid rendition of "Devil Went Down to Goeorgia" at the karaoke booth, I mean it was so obvious the guy was merely reading the screen and didn't put any kind of emotion into the song. This was followed by a rendition of "Chantilly Lace" that was only decent because I could not hear the guest star over the backtrack. We start to head towardsT^2, which of course demands we stop for another front seat Thunder Run ride along the way (John and new pal opt for back seat). We then head towards T^2. Back when T^2 was first built it was the only ride at the very end of a long path that goes around the back of the waterpark. I was sure they would add several flat rides along the way, but they only added Blizzard River, and with the weather like it was today the line for that was totally obnoxious. We did pause at a nice misting fan before pasing some food stands that are literally in carnival grab joints, and headed back to T^2. T^2 was a 1 or two train wait for end seats, and Rideman and I opted for the back seat, and John and Pal headed to the front. The vegetation under the lift hill and around the station approach have not been trimmed in a long time. I find my ride wasn't really that bad using defensive riding posture, Rideman aggravated something in his leg, and John came from the front seat to tell us the ride was awful from up there. Looks like I faired the best out of that ride. Oh, and even with walk on conditions, the park was running two trains on T^2. Thats something I have not seen them do in a while. We bid our new friend bye, and headed towards Chang. I noted the Chaos has been removed, its mechancials pit filled in, and the area is now a smoking area. I think the smoking area will get more use than Chaos ever did. Only John and I rode Chang, and we were able to walk right onto the front row. I was glad to see the park added shade canvas over the queue area. They were also running two trains on this as well. Perhaps the new owners are making a lot of the right minor changes to operations. I really like Chang, it was a nice smooth, somewhat forceful action backed B&M coaster. Chang is also on its third paint job. You may remember it started out all Yellow, then went to lime green with purple supports, now its yellow again with blue supports. We went from Chang and took a ride on the Giant Wheel. Ah that was a refreshing cool ride. We then crossed te pedestrain bridge back to the other side of the park. Now I thought the idea of smoking areas as to place them in out of the way areas, but the pedestrian bridge is apparently a smoking area right in the narrow area at the older side of the park. The park has removed the railing down the center of the stairs. We headed for the HUSS Rainbow. They were filling all the seats, and we got a very nice forceful ride on the Rainbow, one of my better Rainbow rides. We spotted a Smoking Permitted symbol on the front of the Rainbow gondola. Huh? Ww next headed to Enterprise and noted she was cycling the ride empty, the ride was not running to the operators satisfaction. We watched a second test ride as the ride barely went halfway up then came right back down. Clearly something was amiss with the Enterprise, so the operator did the righ thing and closed the ride. We noted the motion sim theater is showing the same Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera movie that seems to be playing all the Paramount parks. Gee with Iwerks big movie library why does it seem like all the motion theaters in the parks all decide to play the same film at the same time these days. We skip Thrill Park Theater. We walk past the Himmalayah ride without riding and note that the new paint job on the railings already looks like crap. We cut through the kiddieland and all through the 'old' side of the parks the Loony Tunes characters are walking around, and earlier today I saw them at a distance doing a character show. I really think the new owners of Six Flags are onto something. Take SFKK, I think this is really the best this park has been run in years. We finish up the day with a double ride on Greezed Lightnin in the back car. We then head to the Crown Victoria Ride. We exit the park and we get hunger pangs right after we pass La Grange, where is hwere we learn that outside of gas station fast food, their really aren't any convenient food places between La Grange and Florence. We stop by a Ponderosa Steakhouse that was woefully short staffed, and you can guess how the service was. This Ponderrosa was still runnng a seafood fest on selected nights, and they hd strung up the tradition oode of signals nautical themeing. I didn't have my translator guide with me, but I remembered the flags. "L - N- Diver Down - Tropical Storm" in other words the flags they chose really did make no sense. Though I do see in my guidecard that "L" can stand for " "I have or had some dangerous, infectious disease on board."" That's reassuring going into a restaurant... Soon, Rideman and John drop me off and so ends this weekend of roller coaster excitement,

TR:Rumblefest - May 28, 2006 TR: Rumblefest - Beech Bend Park, Bowling Green, KY (USA) May 28, 2006 We awake, and we are pushing the hotel check out time to the limit. We clean out our room, get dressed and don't really have time to adequately enjoy the hotel courtesy breakfast. Soon we are on the road. We are heading to Beech Bend Park, its a park that we have often talked about visiting, but in the past it was just too far out of the way for what it offered. This year, Beech Bend upped the ante in two major ways, first they introduced theirnew-for-2006 wooden coaster, the GCII Kentucky Rumbler, then added a coaster event the day after Holiwood Nights. With this new information we headed to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We were dutifully following the GPS monitor, but in the sunlight the state line looked just like the purple line, and we were driving past the Casino Aztar before we realized something is wrong. We pulled off onto a side street, recalibrated our course, and were soon headed the correct way to Bowling Green, KY. We found a turnpike we could use to gofrom Evansville to Owensborro for just 50 cents. Geez, we go from the park that gives free soft drinks and sunscreen to the Comonwealth that chrages to use its parkways. We make a fueling stop before we get on the turnpike from Owens that also involves sime minor automotive maintenance as well as a stop at G.D. Ritzys for a wonderful double cheeseburger basket and an even better giant dip of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip ice cream, complete with a huge chunk of solid chocolate. Hmm, was that good, So get on the turnpike from Owensboro to Bowling Green, and $1.50 and some minor construction later we arrive at Bowling Green. We attempt to check into our hotel, but the hotel would not budge on their check in time, So it looks like we will be checking in at 1am. We head to the park. Beech Bend is one of those parks that sits far, far, far, off the main road. You drive down a two lane road with trees lining the center of it. It looks more like you are heading to a country club or city park than an amusement park. You see the big fancy campground gate but right before the campground gate is the one lane exit to the amusement park parking area. We park in what we thought was a fantastic parking space, until we realized where the front gate was, then the sapce was downgraded to merely a good parking space. We admitted we could all use the walk anyway. We headed up to the front gate where we are greeted "Here for Rumblefest? Sign in right over there!" Gee, was it the coaster shirts that gave it away? We enter the queue for group sales and there are just about 3 people ahead of us in line. We check infor the event. I recieve the t-shirt I had preordered as well asa nambadge. The park mispelled my name on the name badge, but I told themnot to worry about it, besides from the looks of I won't be wearing the thing for too long anyway. The name badge holder also contained a card with a schedule of the days events, and even more importantly our meal ticket. They also apply a yellow ride all day armband to my wrist. The name badge holder came with a length of string to put around our necks sort of likea lanyard. The aranagement looked like it would fly off the first time we tried to take it on a ride, or worse the namebadge could get jammed in some ride part and cause a choking hazard. These may be fin name badge holders for convention credentials, but they don't look like the right kind of name badge holders for riding thrill rides. So I put the meal ticket in my wallet for safe keeping, and I put the name badge in my pokcet. Hey if I am asked to show it, I'll pull the thing out. Oh and if you saw a David Bowes at the event, that was me. Oh, and of course we have to run the t-shirts out to the car. I examine my nice blue t-shirt. It has a small Rumblefest logo on the front, and a Kentucky Rumbler logo on the back. It also has a top ten list. "Top Ten reasons to attend Rumblefest '06" 1. Kentucky Rumbler is 100% wood! 2. Three station rumbling fly bys 3. Twisted track with thirty crossovers 4. Only woodie with headlights 5. GCI builders Jeff, Chris and Clair are operating the controls 6. Weighlessness! Twelve airtime moments 7. Crazy, insane night rides 8. Steep baked curves, head choppers, lateral g's 9. With this much wood, its gotta be good 10. To ride the Kentucky Rumbler OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER!!!! Okay we head to the front gate, they use the Hersheypark approach where you pay the gate admission as you enter the gate in a one step process. The regular admission lanes to the left, the group sales area to the right and the exit and re-entry lanes in the center. A wristband is all that is needed to re-eter, but no one was manning the reentry gate so we headed on in. We go through another little gate where we pick up park maps. The park map here s most unusual, it shows the path layout of the park, then has little pictures of the rides located where the ride would be in real life. A novel and interesting idea. It looks lke the park is laid out in a big figure 8, and the entrance is located right next to the center crosspath off the eight. Eyeing the map the waterpark is to the right, it looks like kiddie rides straight ahead, so we veer to the left. We first pass the Go-Kaart attraction. The go-karts are not included in the POP so we passed them up. At first we started walking the park without riding. We turned left at the Wisdom Torndo and headed along that loop of the park. Along the way we passed Wisdom Sizzler, Chance Flying Bobs, Hampton Combo, a kids teacup ride, a couple of game joints, a Zamperla Power Surge (closed all day) and took the next right to walk along side the lake, passing by the portable log flume. When we hit the entrance for Kentucky Rumbler we decided to take a ride. I'm glad I have this wristband, as the Rumbler is priced at 10 tickets ($5) per ride. The queue maze was unused so we headed straight and to the right, then headed left under ths trackworkwhere we came to the stairs up to the station. The line was just about halfway down the stairs. Not bad at all. Ah, I do like the looks of an all wood woodie. GCI's wood coasters scream instant timless classic. Whether it be the all wood structure, the graaceful curves, the twisted trackplan, or the very classic trains. We were not picky about seats and found somethng towards the back. Kentucky Rumbler - Coaster Credit #257 We got seated in the classic red Flyer train, fastened the shared seatbelt, and lowered the lapbar to the first notch. Soon we were off, we exit the station and make a right turn as we parade past the ride exit ramp, a little dip and we do a swooping turnround to the right to go up the lift. At the top of the lift, I note the Kentucky Rumbler flags already look to be in bad shape, perhaps they got hit by the storm. At the top of the lift you make a totally odd turnaround to the right, the train gains speed even though you have not really been down the twisting first drop yet The drop drops and twists you to the right. From hereon out I haven't a clue. The second drop has a nice headchopper under another piece of track, then you do the station fly by where you are even with the station, where you can look in at the people waiting, and they can look out to see you waitng, you do a figure 8 ish manuever around the lift hill structureto set you up for the next station fly by that goes over the roof of the station and down the other side. More twisted track ensued on the other side including a liitle bump of maybe 5' that provides a nice airtime jolt. The ride is an instant classic. Its not a top rollercoaster like Voyage, but it is an instant classic. So many twists and turns I was disoriented by the time the train rolled back into the station. Initial thoughts were its a neat layout, has classic looks, has trains that are way cooler looking and a whole lot more comfortable than anything PTC has come up with, but so far the ride isn't really doing it for me, of course it is awfully unfair to the ride that it has to overcome two nights of Voyage ERT. Ride Ticket Equivilants used: 10 We exit the ride down the obnoxiosuly long series of exit ramps, which spill out into a fenced walkway that forces you to enter the Kentucky Rumlber gift shop. Boo, I hate exit through retail. The Rumbler gift shop contains the ride on-ride photo booth, gift shop, fudge shop, ice cream stand, and the Rumbler Cafe snack bar, oh along with a set of retrooms. The outside of the gift shop kind of reminds me of a Cracker Barrel with its front porch lined with rocking chairs. The gift shop building is a sign of how much money went into ride accesories and really makes for a classy entire package for the new addition. We take the next right turn past a kids ride area with a Mangels kiddie whip, Zamperla Convoy, Zamperla Jumping Star and Zamplera Crazy Bus. We then pass the new petting farm and head to the Looping Star. Looping Star is the coaster your mother warned you about. We had not heard good things about it, but of course we had to ride and find out for ourselves. Worse yet, we could not even get a coaster credit as we had all ridden this ride when it traveled wih Amusements of America. We did hear it recieved a new train this year, and at first glance that was confirmed. We had a one train wait, which was delayed as the crew was insisting the trains went out full. I sat down in row 2, and ack the seat is like maybe 6 inches off the floor of the car tops. It ake be the first coaster where my knees were literally even with my head as I crammed myself into the entirely too small coaster car. I had to lower the shoulder bar very carefully and very gingerly slide my head through it. This is not going to be fun. I do get the bar to lock in maybe the loosest setting I have ever ridden a ride with a shoulder bar, It looks like one sudden stop will be enough to cuase death by shoulder bar. Still I remain seated as the ride starts. In other words this is one of those coasters that is screaming "Run like hell" yet the coaster enthusiast gene demands you ride. As we exit the station the ride safety sign has a very distinctive picture of an animated firecracker character. Why I do beleive thise maybe a relic that came from Holiday World's Firecracker rollercoater, though this was not the Firecracker, but another coaster Amusements of America carries around was the Firecracker. The ride starts up the lift and so far so good, we make the turaround again so far so good, down the first drop, okay, around the next turnaround and OUCH as I get slammed into the side of the shoulder bar, through the loop, not too bad, then into the helix, and OUCHOUCHOUCH back accross the ride,around the next turn OUCH around the perimiter of the ride and one more OUCH then we head into the station. We hit the unload area, and without warning the shoulder bars pop open as if jet propelled. You may recall how gingerly I lowered the thing, well it wqas wrenched up and gave e a good whacking on the chin. It was a good thing my mouth was closed or that would have hurt like hell worse than it already did, We exited the ride making comments like "That ride demands we create a whole new category for rides where SUCK is too good an adjective for them" I pull down the shoulders of my shirt and there are two nice bright red splotches on top of my shoulder blades that hurt with the lightest touch. Ride ticket equivilants used: 14 We continue our tour of the park and hit the bumper car pavilion. The park has placed both their kiddie bumper cars and their adult bumper cars side by side in the same pavilion. Yes there is a barrier sperating the two rides. Its only a one cycle wait, and se are on, Ah finally, bumper cars that hae some speed to them, and with lapbars. This may be one of the best bumper car rides I have seen in awhile, Nicely done. Ride ticket equivilants used: 16 We exit the bumper cars and head to the kiddie coaster, a Wisdom Dragon, Due the number of adults ridin ghtey were only loading 3 people per ride, and giving 2 cicruits per ride, so the line took a little bit. Soon though I was getting into car two, where I pulled the bar down and had more room than than I get in many adult coasters. Dragon Coaster - Credit #258 We head up the tire drive lift and head down the first spiral, then we head over to the upwards spiral and the train almost xomes to a complete stop, just barely making it over the top to let us finish the ride, then we did it all over again. We exited the ride, and rentered the midway. Ride ticket equivilants used: 18 We skipped the Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel and the Wisdom Starship 3000 and headed to the ARM Supershot (they call it Shock Drop) Just a one ride wait for Shock Drop which was enough to learn there is aqbsolutely no pause at the top, as soon as the carriage his the top, WHAM it comes on its fast decent. We are loaded on the side of the ride facing the campground. Ba rs down, belts fastened, up we go. I realize there is literally nothing to hold onto which heigtens the open vulnerable feeling. We were talking about if we were near the top when rightqas it was going up, with no hesitation it just dropped. Wow that was an exciting fall. We exit the ride. Ride ticket equivilants used: 22 We pass a food grab joint called the Rockin Raceway Diner, and I wonder if it came from the failed Pigeon Forge attraction. We continue along the outer perimter of the park where we see them setting up the picnic grove for tongihts meal and pass a few kiddie rides, like the Happy Pond, Bumble Bee, Jitterbug and Super Slide. We make our way to the Haunted House. I thought this was a true vintage Haunted Pretzel, but after reading the nice article about Beech Bend Park on the "Dark Ride and Funhouse Enthusiasts"(DAFE) website, I learned the original darkride was gutted when Beech Bend Park closed in the early 1980's, and since its reopening they have built a new darkride using vintage Pretzel cars and ride system, along with a collection of Funni Frite and home brew stunts. So yes, the ride used vintage darkride hardware, although the ride itself is not a vintage ride. The line for the hanted house was stretched clear accross the front of the attraction, andwe would soon figure out they had 3 two seater cars working. The outside of the house has a white brick facade with several rahter startling figured painted on it, as well as some poor guy getting a big shock out of an electric chair. They had a 4th car pushed off the track, the cars themselves have high backs that look sort of like hearts. After quite a while Rideman and I are ushered in. Rideman makes a crack about how the ride probably won't be air conditioned, when the operator overhears him and comments, "Normally you'd be right, but today you'd be wrong" She explained that she decided to air condition the place up today for her special guests. As I would soon discover the ride operators at Beech Bend are everybit as friendly and personable as those at Holiday World, and maybe even moreso. We enter the Haunted House, and aw "Old House Smell" Yep its got that musty smell you associte with old houses. Hey, its a haunted house, that shoudl add to the effect. Its your classic haunted house dark ride, to sets of crash doors followed by a very curvy track, around each curve some stunt either lights us, a buzer sounds, or some animation starts, or a combination. Stuff like the falling barrels, or a giant rat for example. I do think the stunts mat not be timed exactly right, case in point would be the giant coffin towards the end of the ride, as we turn to face it it slams shut, then as we are just about passed it it starts to open again. Two more creash doors, and we are back outside. That was nice and nostalgic, a piece of americana, the old traditonal style dark ride, Ride ticket equivilants used: 24 Okay, now its time for an intestinal fortitude test. Next to the Hauntd House is a rare ride piece called a Scat II. To the uninitiated it loooks like a stand up Tempest. We baord the Scat. Unlike the Tempest instead of 4 octagon shaped cars, you have 2 long rectangular cars, each with about 6 bays on each of the narrow ends. This means up to 24 per load. I take my place in one of the bays, and secure the seatbelt accross my body. Pick your bay carefully, they have the backrests at different heights and they are secured by cable ties so they are not adjustable. There is also a ridge along the floor to suggest where to keep your feet. The ride starts and first the two big cars start going around, then the individual cars start spinning. It's more like a Storm than a Tempest in that the spin of the individual cars seems to be very controlled, and thus very smooth and very fast. Its a real neat ride, but I must say it's bark is worse than its bite. Ride ticket equivilantes used: 27 We skipped past the carousel, Dizzy Dragon, Tilt-A-Whirl (but I like the classic paint job on the Tilt), noted they still have one of those Water Wars water baloon games, and then we slid past Moby Dick. Our next stop is the Wild Mouse. The Wild Mouse isa Zamperla Crazy Mouse. he queue area has 2 switchbacks full, so thats 4 trips along the entire frontage of the ride. We note despite the long line several cars are going out with just 1 or 2 riders. We eventually make it up to the station. I really like the Reverchon cars for this ride better. The Reverchon cars have two bench seats with nice well padded overhead lapbars. In fact both lapbars are usually chained together so its one size fits all. One of the first things Zamperla must have done is totally change the car style. I kind of like the high backrest on a spinning mouse, but I hate the individual molded hard seats, with the seat divider molds and the seat horns. These are all of course made necesary becuase the ride has individual T-shape lap bars for everybody. The lap bar support arm has a big triangular grab loop. We leave the station and head up to the top. Man,I don't think I have seen a crazy mouse braked quite this much. All in all its a reliable Crazy Mouse ride with more braking and less spin. Oh one positive is the park stops the cars for load and unload,no needed to jump into and out of moving cars. Oh, and almost forgot: Crazy Mouse - Credit #259 Ride ticket equivilants used: 31 We next meet up with Wolf and his party. Wolf's party wished to challenge my cast iron rides stomach to a duel. I tell Wolf to name his battlefield. Wolf tells me he has something special picked out. I pick up the gauntlet that has been thrown at me, We first walk past a shelterhouse cotaining small kids rides and a Jumbos that has a lot shorter line than I have seen for the Jumbos rides at a chain of very famous theme parks. We take the time to walk through the arcade. One pinball machine, out of order. We also walk around past the small waterpark. Let's see pool, interactive sprayground and a handful of water slides. This returns us to the front of the park. I suspect Wolfis leading meto the Tornado, but we walk past the Tornado and the Hampton Combo. I find myself looking at what Rideman dubbed the Demitasse Cup Ride. Yep, this is clearly a teacup ride that is intended for small children. Wolf fails to notice ita a kiddie ride,and actually acts shocked when the operator won't let us ride. I TOLD you so! We backtrack to the Tornado, where Rideman, John Peck, Wolf and myself all crowd into one tub and lower the lap bars. You know you are with a group of geeks when as the ride is being loaded they start discussin which series of rotations will cause the greatest amount of force. Several years ago Rideman tried to shake me to my core on a King Frolic, he did come close, but no puke, no foul. This time all three juys tried the same manuever, that is to spin the tub as faste as you can one way, then when your stomach is getting the hang of things, suddenly reverse the rotation. Sorry guys, I have the Cast iron Stomach V.2 with me today. In fact I got the last laugh as I had taken my hands off the wheel right before the end of the ride, so the three of them got to experience the full effects of having the wheel ripped out of their hands as the tub brake activated bringing us to an instantaneous stop. Tee Hee. Ride ticket equivilants used: 34 Okay we have now walked the perimeter of the park,, so we next headed for the center cross over walkway. It contains the entrance to the waterpark, some food joints, a Rockin Tug, Rainbow Rock, Eli Wheel, Jalopy Junction, and the miniature golf course. Rideman and I go take a ride on the Starship 3000. Here something odd happened, they had speakers outside the Starship blasting loud music as is common on Starship rides, but the speakers inside the ride were turned off, and you could not hear the music inside. A quick poppy Starship 3000 ride ensued and soon we were back on the midway. Ride ticket equivilenats used: 38 We all took another fun filled spin on the Bumper carss. Ride ticket equivilants useed: 40 We then headed back to the Kentucky Rumbler. The line was just barely out of the station, so Rideman and I waited for a front seat ride. Folks, the front seat is the best spot to ride the Kentucky Rumbler, much better airtime. And with that, we are officially late for dinner. Ride ticket equivilents used: 50 Value book of 50 tickets = $20 Plus Gate Admission $10 So we got $30 worth of rides at pay per ride + dinner + all the ERT rides at night for $20. Shoot that even beats the parks standard POP price ($24). Its not often a park offers you admission, POP , dinner and ERT for LESS than the normal days admission. We made our way to the picnic grove. I decided to actually wear my name badge during dinner, and retreived the lunch ticket from my wallet. It was merely a red generic two part raffle ticket. I turned in one half as I startede into the buffet line. Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob, cole slaw hot dogs, pull pork, BBQ Chicken, the sauce it yourself station, banana pudding, rich fudgy brownies, and icetea/lemonade/water to drink. I filled up a plate, piled high, balaning both a brownie and a bowl of banana pudding on top of it while clutchin some sweet tea and headed out of the shelter where Wolf was and where I saw Rideman heading. Rideman disapeared so it was dinner with Wolf. I liked the BBQ sauce, and though dinner overall was excellent, the brownie was nice and rich, the banana pudding was alright. I think Beech Bend got a rude awakening into the eating habits of coaster enthusiasts as the group collectively gave that buffet a workout. After dinner I found Rideman in the shelterhouse and found a seat for the presentations. We got the opening remarks from the park PR person, and the big Beech Bend welcome. They stated that it is their very first coaster event, and they were hopng to get 200, but they were amazed they attracted 480 people to their first event. They talked a little bit about Kentucky Rumbler which was the seque into Jeff and Chris's presentation. Clair could not make it. Jeff and Chris toolk some questions from the floor, many of which they could not answer, like "What is your next project?" and "Will somebody build a corkscrew on a wooden coaster? they did get the "Will you ever sell MF trains for someone elses ride" Yeah, right they are going to take their very unique and superior coaster trans and just sell them off to their competitors, Yeah right. They gracefully answered much that it is a branding issue. You buy a GCII coaster and you get the looks, the solid engineering, the tight curves, and yes those trains. It's all part of a package. Jeff and Clair excused themselves saying they had to get the headlights on the trai ready. I thought they were joking about the headlights. The park then gave away many many many door prizes, and if they didn't have the shirt in your size, no poblem you can exchange it in the gift shop. I tell you the park is seriouslyh bending over backwards for their first coaster event, they may give Holiday World a run for the title of friendliest park. They also announce that members of park management, the maintenance team, and Jeff and Chris will be around Kentucky Rumbler all night to answer questions. The group adjourns to the coasters. As it is not quite dark yet, the headlights aren't turned on right away. We proceed to ride the coaster numerous times in various seats, and right after nightfall, the headlights are turned on. They are two bright LED lights mounted at the very botom of the car chassis. It lights the track ahead but little else. I think its great the gimmick of headlights has returned to coasters, and maybe the low draw of LED lights will mean the batteries will last all night, not that Beech Bend has many night time hours on their schedule. The ride does start to get better and better, with nice gentle airtime. Its a very rerideable ride, easily marathonable. The park also kept the gift shop, photo booth and snack bar open throughout ERT which was a nice touch. Also permitted hand slapping along the first turn out of the station that runs alongside the exit ramp. As this sort of behavior was banned at HoliWood Nights, it was rebelliously refreshing. We took numerous rides on the coaster, the line never growing much further than just the bottom of the stairs. What happened to the long insane lines we had all feared? At around 8:45 we went to Looping Star to meet somebody, they weren't there but we did meetup with Wolf, who talked us into a in-the-dark ride on Looping Star. I mustered my best c3po voice "I'm going to regret this" I took a seat in the back of the train, and the operateorsknow their ride, andwere quite willing to joke along with how painful the ride is. I must admit that due to improved defensive riding posture the second ride wasn't near as bad as the first, and I remembered to hold down the shoulder bar at the end of the ride to thwart the automatic release. We did meet April who apparently had not obtained any of the Beech Bend coaster credits yet. Hmm Looping Star and Wild Mouse are scheduled to close in 10 minutes. We tell her that Wild Mouse is the better ride, but Looping Star is the rarer ride. We opt for a ride on Looping Star. Man, I am almost getting to be old hat at this,then we make the dash accrosspark to Wild Mouse. They did keep the lights on at the dark ride building to help guide us, We found Wild Mouse to have one half of a switchback full of line, They did keep the ride open until all had ridden, and maybe then some. No strict ride closing times here, no sireee, not when you have VIP guests to entertain, We took another ride on Wild Mouse before heading back to Kentucky Rumber. The rest of the evening from about 9:20 to 12:30 was a cycle of ride Rumber, ride Rumber, ride Rumber, ride Rumber, etc. We did take about a 20 minute break to chat up one of the maintenance men, and between two of the rides I went to the snack bar. They had run out of ice, but that did not stop them from charging full price for drinks. That will be $1.75 for a lukewarm Pepsi. That warm soft drink may be my only compaint about the park. We kept riding, and riding, and riding, and riding,until as you know All Good Things Must Come to an End, and they had cut the line. We made our way out of the park before the park owners had formed their recieving line. On the way out Power Surge and Rocking Tug were performing well as light pieces to help guide the way out to the parking lot. Many Thanks to Dallas Jones and family and staff for having us, and congratulations on your first very succesful coaster event. We made our way back to our hotel where we did get checked in on the second try, made our way up to our room. Futzed around on the internet and prepared for bed. Next up: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (with no organized coaster event)

Here is the colnclusion to the above TR, it seems I discovered the maximum post length for this brand of BBS. From this point until about 11:30 the pattern was approximately this "Ride Voyage, grab drink, get back in line for Voyage". We saw the line shrink from using the entire lower level queue maze, to just going downstairs and right back up by the end of ERT. WE got a front seat ride, we got several back car rides. With each ride the Voyage seemed more and more out of control. At one point we though, hey instead of lockers, purhaps the park could install a 3 compartment locking treausre chest next to each row. At one point we went to take a break by riding Gobbler Getaway, and we were in the seat queues to be the next group loaded when the ride broke down for the night. We exited by going forwards onto the loading platform then took a left and exited the ride. Our requests to walk through the dark ride were cheerfully ignored. Okay back to Voayge it is, and so we took more and more Voyage rides until abou 11:40 or so. We deicded that now was the time start making our exit. WE made the arduous journeym drink in hand, up to Legend, where we came into a totally empty Legend station and John and I took a front seat ride, and Ridean took a backseat ride. We then headed over to Raven, where Rideman and I scored a double ride in the backseat of Raven, then when John entered the back seat queue, we moved up to seat 4 and finished off the night with a quadruple ride in seat 4 of Raven. As we exited Raven Pat Koch was on the exit ramp, so we thanked Pat for having us, and headed towards the front gate where Paula, Pat and Will were all stationed in sort of a recieving line. WE gave our thanks for being invited back to the Coaster Enthusiasts Family Reunion at Holiday World and headed out to the parking lot. It was a very fast trip back to the hotel for John and I as I think we slept most of the way back to the hotel. Sorry bout that Rideman,. Again, Many thanks to Will, Pat, Paula and the rest of the Holiday World staff and family for having us once again, thanks for putting on what continues to be one of the best coaster events. We'll be back, thats for sure! Next up: Rumblefest at Beech Bend Park, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

TR: Holiwood Nights (5/26-27, 2006) - Holiday World Trip Report: Holiday World - Santa Claus, IN (USA) Welcome to Memorial Day weekend, often thought of as the start of the prime amusement park season, that reputation lives on as Holiday World has opened their gates once again to around 1,100 (per Paula Werne) coaster enthusiasts as part of its new Holiwood Nights coaster festival. Our group this year consisted of Rideman and John Peck from Columbus, OH, and myself from Cincinnati, OH. I was expecting the group to pick me up around 2pm, so I took the opportunity to grab some lamb curry at the local Indian cuisine restaurant. I was also grateful for the late departure time as our area had a terrible storm on Thursday night that left us without power from 7PM-2AM, but we were lucky, the house four doors down from us is dealing with the aftermath of a fire caused by the storm. So at around 2:15 I jump into the car and we start making our way to the park. We have some pleasant conversation on the way to the park, and stop once to make sure the car and its riders get enough to drink. Oh, and Moon Pies! Must Have Moon Pie. Yummmm. We arrive at Holiday World just before 5pm and make our way up to the front gate. We are lucky enough to park in the main (Raven) lot just two rows behind the handicap parking area. We walk alongside the Raven and make our way up to the festive entry way. Just beyond the ticket booths are the event registration windows. John Peck gets faster service owing to having a last name in a seemingly unpopular part of the alphabet. I show my ACE membership card and I get handed a goode packet consisting of: a Holiwood nights T-shirt, a park map, a name badge, a FUNvelope with tickets, meal passes, in park coupons, and a schedule of events. Okay, we have our tickets, so now its time to, head back to the parking lot to drop off all the stuff we don't really need tonight. Basially all we keep are the Friday admission ticket, the Friday meal ticket and the name badge. We committ the nights schedule to memory and put everything else in the trunk. I take a moment to look over the event t-shirt. This years shirt is grey, and the front bears a small logo that looks like a movie marquee with the words "Holiwood Nights - a Holiday World & Splashin Safari production" the back contains a large graphic that looks like an old time movie poster. Said poster has what may be a low res image of Voyage's lift hill, and reads: Thrills!!! Hills!!! Turns!!! The Voyage starring in "The Greatest Coaster Ever Built" Featuring: The Raven, The Legend and introducing The Voyage. Directed by Will Koch. Produced by Larry Bill, Chad Miller, Korey Klepert, Michael Graham and Will Koch/ Transportation by PTC/ Power provided by Sir Issac Newton/ Financing by 90 Degree Banking/ Filmed in Tunnelvision/ rated P for Perfect, contains Airtime, Speed, and G-Forces. A banner over the poster reads May 26-27, 20006 Holiwood Nights Exclusive Engagement. All in all I think is a cool shirt astetically, though the big graphic on the back make me leery of wearing it in the hot and humid Holiday World climate. I also look at the ticket sheet. Holiday World has improved the ticket sheet this time around. They were notorius for not having the tikets on the strip in order, and ite always seemed like the Friday admission ticket was in the middle, this time the tickets are in the order they will be used. We take our new tickets to the gate and proceed into the park. Once bast the ticket checkpoint we find ourselves in Christmas. To the left are some park services like guest relations and locker rental, and to the right is the rental center and some gift shops. We ignore those and head towards the giant christmas tree that is in the middle of the walkway straight ahead. Christmas carols fill the air and how can one not pause if just for a moment and suddenly feel all relaxed. It will soon be time to head to Thanksgiving where I understand the park is giving me my 2006 Christmas present early. We ignore the first turn to the right that leads to "Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch" childrens rides area and the giant Santa Claus statue and proceed forwards. We note the Appluase award sculpture has not yet made its way to the parks fountain. Instead of pursuing Christmas further, we take the second right, past the nativity sceneand head into Halloween. We had been warned to ride Raven and Legend before heading back to Voyage, just in case you never make it bak to the rids in the front. Therefore we headed down the ramp, through the wrought iron gates with "Raven" over them and into the Raven queue. There was just a little challenge getting into the queueas the high dive show was in session and folks tend to stand and watch the show from the Raven's queue area. We headed up the driveway where no switchbacks were being used, up on the porch, through the front door of the Victorian house themed station and we met the line about halfway up the stairs. We headed towards the back of the train and found some seats in car 5. Buckled in, lapbar down, its time to go for a ride. We left the station, did a turnaround to he left over the queue area and then into the carriage house. The carriage house was added last season when the ride was upgraded to two trains, At the time, we saw one train operating, but really given the short wait that was reasonable. Coming out of the carriage house, a quick jog to the left amd its up the lift. From the top of the lifthill you can see more people arriving at the front gate. A turn to the right leads to the first drop and into the tunnel at the base of he first drop. We experience some airtime on the drop, then we come back up, a slight turn to the right, and dwon another drop, back up and then a big turn to the right for the swoop turn over Lake Rudolph turn. Coming out of the Lake Rudolph turnaround we turn to the left to run alongisde the outrun of the coaster, a small dip is followed by a turn to the left which is followed by the rides major drop that goes down depp into the ravine. At the bottom of the ravene the ride stops focusing on hills and drops and stars focusing on a series of curves designed to fling you both ways. Its both experiences combined, that make Raven a great coaster. We soon arrive back at the brake run after the S-Cure and the follwing left turn. We are soon advanced back into the station. Ah, Raven Air is still its usual consistant self. We continue down the hill, bypassing the Scarecrow Srambler and Frigtfull Falls (log flume), proceed though the games area, pick up our first of many free soft drinks, and head down the stairs to Legend. Legends queue starts with a flight of stairs to go down under the break run, then there is a queue maze setup inside the home stretch of the coaster, then you go back up the stairs to the 1 room schoolhouse themed station. The line is just to the bottom of the stairs but the switchback in the station is not being used. Without too much of a waitwe are in row 4 of the train. We hear the schoolbell ring, and offwe go. We exit the station andturn to the right togo up the lift. As we climb the lift we see thecoaster mechanics preparing the second train for tonights ERT. We climb the lift,remembering to Wave to the Wave, and at the topwe are pleasantly surprised that the"Don't Look Back!" audio clip has been resotred. A turn to the right at the top of the lift leads us to the frist drop which ends in a curve to the left through the first tunnel, we then go over a speed hill, then job a bit to the right up hill 3, and down the 'cured drop' which runs around Zinga. We start our journey back with an airtime hill 4, then a slower hill 5, through tunnel 2 which leads to the 540 degree helix. Unlike most helices, this one does not just calmly spiral around,, no its one side is tunneled, and ont he first pass you go into the tunnel high, down a drop in the tunnel and come out low, the second pass you enter the tunnel low, climb a hill in the tunnel and come out onthe highter part of track. After the helix you hit what has become lovingly known as "The Four Turns of Death" One sharp turn to exit the helix and dive through the lift hill stucture, the second turn (in the opposite direction) to head back towards the station. You diver under the hill on Frightfull Falls, then come back up again just in time for turn 3 (again in the opposite direction) which diverts you away from the station at the last possible moment. You then head around the ride queue area, which leads to Corner of Death 4 which is a turnaound to bring you back to the brake run. (So the 4 turns of death are left, right, left, right) Legend is still an okay ride, but it just isn't running as fast as I know it can run, and therefore just doesn't have that usual intensity. This can be felt the most as it just sort of meanders around the Four Courners of Death instead of racing through them at high speed. We grab a soft drink, then we just can't wait any longer. We walk right past HallowSwings and the water park entrance. There is a pathway that is not well marked that runs behind the ampitheater and seems to go right from the edge of Halloween to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the parks newest themed section. The walkway circles the slide tower for a couple water slides, and in fact one slide even goes over the new walkway twice. Look at the waterslide now because once you come to the next curve, your view will be comanded by Voyage as you justsee a massive lift hill going off into the woods. The station end trackage is mosty well hidden by the brake run. Be careful, especailly at night as there are some wooden posts in the middle of the midway at either end of the wooden bridge like section. We cross over the bridge and whie still mesmarized by the track head towards the station. We note there is a signifigant secion of track on the opposite side of te walkway than the station. We head for the ride entrance but alas the line has already been closed so that all in line may ride before park close. ARRRGGGHHH!!! We forlornly look at the coaster for a few minutes before looking over the new themed area. As you come into the section a huge Thanksgiving sign on the Voyages structure welcomes you into the area. Along the new midway on the left you come to the giant cape cod type structure that houses the Vyage station. It's at least three levels complete with dormer windows in the attic. Next to the station is the Voyage gift shop, and further along is the future site of the Plymouth Rock Cafe. On the right side of the midway is a comfort station inlcuding a Pepsi Oasis, then behind the front buildings which are all done in blue is a big red barn looking building that houses the Gobbler Getaway dark ride. We decide to take a ride on Gobbler Getaway, the linewas just outside the entrance doors. We enter the buildingandthere is a nice mural in the foyer and I see the ride has a "Single Rider Line" which was not open today. We move into the main waiting room, which I am pleased to report is air conditioned. The queue was taking its shortest route, which meas going the width of the building and back. As we were about halfway through the line, the park closed the front doors cutting off the line after opening upthe indoor queues so tha all guests who were due a ride could wait inside. Before you get to the ride itself, you pass an animatronic that I called "Grandma" Grandma is sitting in her easy chair petting her cat with one hand and waving around a Turkey Caller in the other. Yep, in the interest of making it a non violent dark ride, instead of being on a hunting expedition and killing turkeys, you are merely 'calling' them using your Turkey Caller. Grandma explains the story to you (or she would if the park would turn the volume up, I think the overall volume for the sound in the entire attraction could stand to be turned up several notches. ) I think the milk and cookies onher end table evoke feelings of Christmas rather than Thanksgiving. We soon reach the boarding area. The cars seat 4 in two rows of two, with stadium style seating where the back row is a bit higher. Riders are secured with two accross lapbars, thenyou pick up your Turkey Caller. and are on your way. You first head to the target practice wall which is full of targets where you can get the feel for how to use the Turkey Caller. I don't know about using a Turkey Call as a pointing device, the top is a big rectangle and there is no real mark on the caller to help aim the thing, and besides if its a call, it should work by emitting a sound, which does not depend on line of sight aim. I say lets loose the turkey callers, and install toy shotguns in the cars. You turn away from target practice and the socreboard in the car resets. You then pass through what must be the time warp tunnel that Grandma was talking about, but more importantly for dark ride fans, this dark ride usued actual inertia powered crash doors at the begining and end of the ride as well as at several set changes during the ride. I thought the era of using crash doors on dark rides had come to and end, so it was nice to see this nod to traditional styling. You first pass trrough several scenes with no targets, I guess they still want to get the story accross, since they know you won;t be paying much attention in the rooms where you are calling turkeys. You don't shoot at turkeys, but if you hit the targets, turkeys will appear. In the first room inside the actual ride itself, they pump in pumpkin pie smell, and it smells so good, that if they were to have installed a pumpkin pie booth at the ride exit, I would have bought a slice. The remainder of the ride does have a few spots with no targets, but overall I think the ride needs more targets to shoot at. Since each target can only be hit once per car, if you have a full car thats not many targets to divy up. Oh, and yes the Tukey Calls do "Call" by emitting a funny noise when you use them. Towards the end of the ride, after the turkey calling is over there is a scene of the family sitting down to table, and the father says "I couldn't do it" and lifts the cover on a big serving platter containing a pizza. The last room contains, I kid you not, what look to be dancing turkeys complete with chase lights. Since we could not really here the rides sountrack, we added our own, starting first with "It's a Hershey's Chocolate, Hershey's Chocolate, Hershey's Chocolate World!" and continuing with the Small World theme song. We noted the ratings chart has not yet been completed, and we were still singing the Small World tune as we hit unload. The ride operator kindly reminded us that we were in the wrong park for that song. Oh, I advise caution getting out of the cars its quite the step down to the floor. We then exit through a plain black exit hallway and back out onto the midway. Holiday World is very much a theme park. For example the banners lining the walkways are different colors for each theme section, the rides and things all have thematic names and each area has thematic music. For example, Christmas plays Christmas Carols, you can hear patriotic standards in 4th of July, Haloween has such hits as Monster Mash, and a certain Tocatta and Fugue you normally associate with haunted houses. In Thankisgiving, I heard a some hymns (We Gather Together), as well as some lighter fare "The Mashed Potato", and even "Candyman" figured into the mix. We grab some refreshments, then head to the picnic grove for the opening meeting. The opening meeting consisted of soem opening remarks about the park "Our mission is to provide a fun, safe park experience at reasonable prices" or something like that., I especially liked how the return run on Voyage was dubbed "The Ewok Adventure". Then we went over the schedule of events, then we had a safety briefing. We were also informed that the park had already removed two enthusiasts for violation of park policies. Pat Koch have us a heart felt personal welcome back and let us in an opening prayer. She very briefly acknowledged the last time she led us in prayer at the picnic grove was not a happy occasion, and that was the only allusion to the incident during the entire event. Just the right move, I say, they felt the need to somehow acknowledge something happened, but in the same breath, move forward. Very gracefully handled. They also announced they had some bad news for us, Voyage would only be running two trains tonight, something about parts. We were then releqased back into the park. We made our way down to Voyage. We crossed the thin wooden walkway over what I would later realize is the station fly under tunnell. Hmm, I think the visual would have been a bit more effective without the metal grating, but at the same time I can easily see why its there. We entered the cape cod style station and we made a left turn, up a stair or two then two more left turns to the stairway up to the station. We were anxious to get onto the ride, so we made our way to a row near the back half of the train, which offered a minimal wait of a train or two. The Voyage - Coaster Credit #256 Ah, I am now seated in the blue PTC train with red and gold trimwork on the sides, and the exposed metal parts that are usually silverish are gold tone. The train floor is a black diamond plate. The train, has no headrests, the new open style seat dividers, seatbelts and black ratcheting lapbars. So its still true, there are no orange lapbars at Holiday World. So I fasten the belt, lower the lapbar several clicks and we see the tumbs up given. It's time to ride a coaster I have been waiting for since, well like the middle of 2005. I sure hope I don't get bit by the anticipointment bug. So we go straight out of the station, then a little jog to the left puts us on the lift hill, we see the other train flying overhead into the station tunnel. Man this lift is high, it is also fairly steep and the lift chain is nice and fast, which makes short work of climbing the lift. Holiday World is known for lining the top parts of their lift hills with brightly colored flags, no design, just nice solid colored flags. We notice the flags on Voyage are more squarish or at least more traditionally shaped than the tall narrow flags that line the lift hills on Raven or Legend. My I barely have a chance to enjoy the views of the new Bahari section of the waterpark and the employee parking area when its time. Drop #1, a nice float all the way down steep drop 1, then right back up into a nice tall hill 2, over the top and a nice float down the other side. Its the ultimate out and back coaster, but wait now the bottoms of the drops contain short tunnels. Cool, there is a Tremors like moment where you come out of one tunnel crest a short hill, then its right back into another tunnel. The outband leg is classic textbook out-and-back coaster. John Miller would be proud. We then hit the turnaround. The turnaround is where we first get the hint this will be no ordinary coaster. Forget a simple swoop turn or fan turn, you can't really call it a helix or figure 8. Its the oddest bit of track. You first take a jog to the right while going down a drop, with airtime, what a totally insane feeling, the melding of lateral and negative G's. You go around the turaround which mas a few more random direction changes just so you can't really get too comfortable. This sets you up for the set of two 90* banked turns in opposite directions. By now, you realize this coaster is calling out notions of the Crystal Beach Cyclone. Yes, I heard more than a couple event attendees make the reference to the revered Crystal Beach Cyclone. Just when you think the turnaround is done, you make a hard slamming turn into a drop into a tunnel, when you come back up out of the tunnel, you come to the mid course brake. Luckily the brake is not used to slow the train down, yet with the way the ride is laid out, and the way the terrain is, the brake is only like 6' off the ground, yet the train can afford to roll over it at a relaxed pace. Take advantage of it, this is the last chance to catch your breath, once you leave this part of the ride, you won't get another good breath until the final brakes. The ride next does its Mauch Chunk Railway impersonation as you are about to traverse a 100' downard elevation change. What better way to do that than an enclosed triple down in the dark. Moden coaster designers seem to be leary of using double downs as they wish to curtail airtime, and here we have a triple down. As you might expect the airtime gets a bit stronger with each drop. Coming out of the triple down, we go up a slight hill, where we have another airtime filled drop. The ride now goes into Will's Ewok Adventure mode as it still goes up and down hills and provides all kinds of airtime, but it does it while zigging back and forth underneath the outbound ride structure, culminatng with the rides thirs 90* bank turn to start the station return run, We zip aroundf the base of the lift hill, and a severe righ turn and a nice airtime filled srop through the station tunnel. If you glance you can see the ride queue area for a split second. As you come out of the station tunnel, you may have some crazy thought that the ride is about over? Whatecer gave you that idea as instead of heading to the right to return to the station, you instead dive back down and head left through a tunnel under the midway where you pop up on the opposite side of the midway by the Pepsi Oasis, you then doubel back and head into the brake run which is right over the entrance to this section of the park. You are then brought in around one more right turn over another block point, then an S-curve into the station. At this point ou applaud, you catch your breath, gather up your sense of direction and balance and attempt to exit the train. There is an exit ramp at the front of the station and an exit stairway at the back end. Those exiting the front exit go down a nice covered interior hallway/ramp that leads towards the back of the station, where we join the people coming down the stairs from the back exit, then everybody goes down the second ramp which then exits the station at the front. You then make a couple turns to go under the lift approach, then over the station tunnel and finnally out next to the gift shop. Notice I said NEXT to the gift shop, not THROUGH the gift shop. Holiday World is not that heavy handed with reatil yet, but with both Legned and Voyage, they did put the ride entrance and exit right next to each other, and near a Pepsi Oasis. See, they really do care about us. WE grab a drink and get back in line. This time we enter the station building and we turn right, down a flight of stairs, turnaround to the right down a couple more stairs. We walk alongside the windows that look into the station tunnell. OOoohh Ahhhh. The tunnel windows are to the left, and a big unused at this point queue maze is to the right. Luckily we are directed to go straigh ahead and up a flight of stairs, then turnaround to the right alongide a hallway, then a jog to the right and its up the stairs and into the station. The load side of the station is a big open area, with lots of room to wait for the row of your choice, the bad thing is this can lead to confusion in the back of the station trying to determine who is waiting for which row. We decide to take a ride towards the front. Again WOW. We exit the ride and head to the gift shop. I purchase the on-ride photo ($8), and the Holiday World pictoral history book ($20), which was then personalized and autographed by Pat Koch. I did notice that despite the note on the event FAQ stating that the Voyage rugs are NOT for sale, signs in the gift shop stated that there were, in fact, for sale, and by Saturday I noticed they were gone. At this point John Peck had ogne back to the car to get money to buy the book for the book signing and we got seperated from Rideman on the walk back to the Voyage. I decided to take a ride on Gobbler Getaway. Hmm, Pumpkin pie smell, hmm, my Turkey Calling isn't getting any better. On this ride we noted a problem a friend had told me about. Maybe they have too many cars on the ride, which causes the Small World effect where you have cars backed up through the last few rooms of the ride waiting to unload. Hmm, the pizza gag at the end of the ride. Wait that reminds me, I have to pick up my own pizza. I start to leave Thanksgiving, but instead I find myself stopping at the Pepsi Oasis, then getting into line for Voyage. We still just zip through the lower level, and soon I am up in the station, I hold out for the back seat. It takes some time to get to the front of the back seat queue. I notice that the walls of the queue area and station for Voyage are decorated with a few sets of "Generic Nautical Theming" You know, ships wheels, harpoons, cargo nets, large diameter rough rope. Conspicuously absent were the traditional "International Code of Signals" flags you typically associate with nautical theming, but then I just looked those up, and they were developed in 1855, and the ride is developed around a more 1600's experience. For the same reason, I suppose I can leave my semaphore flag signalling kit at home. I kind of likes the Captains Quarters sign on the control console. We need to work in how to mount a ships wheel on there, if only for decoration. Out on the circuit I go for my first ever back seat ride on Voyage, and twilight is starting to set in. We crest the first hill, and remember everything I said earler, well multiply the airtime quality by 10. The back seat ride is absolutely insane. This is the #1 perfect coaster ride. It was right then and there, that I offically made Voyage my new #1. The folks at Gravity Group have just raised the bar on wood coaster construction. However, its kind of like going to a buffet: You want a tall lift, you want a steep drop, you want airtime laden hills, headchoopers, tunnels, sudden direction changes, surprise direction changes, a triple down? Okay great, here is everything you ever wanted in a wood coaster all crammed into one ride. Some folks might declare it to be a bit too much for one ride, but I just think we have now advanced to the Extreme Wood Coaster. Funny thing about it is, that during the course of the weekend, I didn't see one member of the GP get off that ride upset, or vowing to never ride again. We may think its extreme, but I think for the average park guests its actually just right. Its a very noteworthy wood coaster, and unlike us, they don't try to repeat ride,and turn it into an endurance contest. They will ride Voyage, then go down and ride Gobbler Getaway, then head towards 4th of July, etc. I exit the ride, and check my watch. My, my its 8:20, and the pizza party is scheduled to end at 8:30. I don't think Holiday World would cut the line off at 8:30 sharp, but when it comes to food, one can never be too safe. I make my way quickly but carefully from Thanksgiving to Christmas using the "new" walkway behind HalowSwings. Let me tell you, it was on that hike I learned. "Holiday World is not flat" I always knew the park has its share of hills, but the walk from Voyage to Kringles is just one solid uphill trek. Must, Reach, Kringles! I head into Kringles and sure enough there is still food being served. I pick up my 2 slices of pizza, root beer, potato chips, and a piece of chocolate pecan fudge. The fudge is the limited item for which you surrender your meal ticket. I also notices some relish trays and nachos set out. Lo and behold as I am looking for a table, I run into Rideman and John Peck, and later Rastus joins us for dinner and conversation. Hmm, good food. I go back to get some more pizza. You know its not really anything special about the pizza except the fact its Holiday World Pizza. I deicde to put my fudge into my bag for a late night snack. While the others finish up eating, I run my purchases back to the car and rejoin the group. We head out, and the original plan was to ride Raven, then Legend and then head back to Voyage. By this time though it is near 9:00 so even though we technically entered the Raven's queue, John and I back out and head down to Voyage. It is a good thing we did as Voyage was now using a good portion of the lower level queue maze. With the queue maze and all I would say it made the wait about 30 minutes or so. We see Rideman entering the lower level maze just as we are heading up the stairs to the ground level. We take seats near the back of the train and experience Voayge in near darkness except for lighing in the Thanksgiving area and around the lift, and one light above the mid course brake, the rest of the ride was totally dark, including the wild and insane turnaround. It just keeps getting better and better. We exit, we grab a drink, we reenter. We wait through the lower level queue. Just as we are about to go up the stairs, we note no one entering the queue. Hmmm. When we make it to the second upwards staircase we can see the queue entrance has been cut. We make it into the station, and we hold out fo the back seat. John loses his patience and gets worried that they may consolidate the remainig riders so as to run as few trains as possible after 10pm, but they dont' John bails in time for 2 rides in a middle of the train seat, while I was the last rider in the back seat, for 1 back seat ride. Quality over Quantity! That back seat, in the dark is sheer coaster nirvana. And just think, tommorow we get to come back and do it all again!!! John and I meet up as we exit Voyage about 10:20, grab drinks, and make the long arduous uphill climb to the front gate. We meed Rideman by the fountain. He had finished out the night on Raven. By the time we finished said arduous climb we more like "We're tired out, and its only night 1" As we exit the park, I note the giant christmas tree had its lights on, then a big surrpirse that showed the true hearts of the Holiday World crew. At the park exit was a sign, the sgn informed us that Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park had been repaired and would operate on Saturday. Now I ask you, how many other parks would advertise, much less give ride status notices about competing parks? This is part of what makes Holiday World the friendliest theme park in the world. We head out to the car, fire up the GPS mapping system, put on some George Carlin, and make the trek to Evansville for the night. We get checked into our room where we probably stayed up too late messing around on the internet and such. Then it hits us, Waterpark ERT, 8:45 sharp, that means getting up at like 6AM. Totally uncivilized, this is like a WORK day! Better get to sleep! Day 2! We wkae up, get ready, yada yada, enjoy the hotel's courtesy breakfast, and we all gather into the car right around 7:50. That gives us just under an hour to get to Holiday World. Thanks to GPS we make it to Holiday World without incident, also aided by the nice large signs the park has placed at each turn coming from exit 57. We pull into the paring lot right around 8:30 or so and pull out the items we would need for a waterpark. We make our way to the front gate plaza and join the large group of event members waiting for the gates to swing open. Right around 8:45 the gates swing open and we enter the park and make it all of about 500' of ro when I stop to get in another line for locker rental. Yep, unlike the others in my group I am a locker person when it comes to waterparks. There were only a couple lines, but the lines did move at a pretty fast clip. I handed over the $10 for locker rental ($7 of which is a refundable deposit) and filled out a little registration card with my name and phone number. Key in hand I make my way down to the waterpark. In hindsight I should have propably surveyed the area around locker rental for John and Dave, but I just assumed they went on down. I fell into line with the group taking the new shortcut between Haloswings and the Louis and Clark Trail, labeled "Shortest way to Splashin Safari" and soon made my way into Splashin Safari and at the the bottom of the entrance ramp found the main bathhouse. Let me get off my chest right now: I HATE public bathhouses, particularly the ones with one large room like back in gym class in which to change. This may be why I don't typically do waterparks. So I find one of those private changing booths, you know the ones where you have to change while half the booth is occupied by a toilet. Okay, now that I am changed, lets head out. Man, I never did get used to walking around barefoot outside. Note to self: Next time bring the aqua sox. Next game is to find my locker, which I locate across a small wooden bridge. Its a tiny locker, so I still have to cram my swim bag into it, lock it, and put the key, well actually up near the elbow, as thats where the elastic key ring feels snug enough on me that I won't loose said key. Here I learn how spread out Splashn Safari is. When I first started going to Holiday World in 1996 I thought that Splashin Safari was kind of a small waterpark, man has it grown in size. After about an 11 mile hike I find the Bahari section. I also find a line of event memebers and I learn that the line is for the parks courtesy breakfast. I pass on the breakfast and head towards Bahari Wave Pool. Its a nice large wave pool with a stairless entrance like at the beach, and the entry area is lined with some water jets. Noticeable along the decorative sides of the pool which look more like rock formations than a concrete pool side are several idol masks, each of whcih is sprayign water into the pool. Its also an unusual shape pool, more like a V shape with a lifeguard station that juts out into the middle of the pool. Its also a very cold pool, yikes. It takes me some time to get aclimated to the water temperature. I know they are those that beleive in the quick-submerge and get it over with, but I fall into the gradual approach, you know a few steps further each time. Ah how nice it is to be in a pool. I stick around for one wave cycle. They alternate 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. However, like with most newer wave pools, I think the deep end in this pool is 5', I am 6', so it just never gets deep enough. I kind of like the old school wave pools, like at the Beach in Cincinnati that reach like 8-10' depth. I exit the pool and note the breakfast line hasn't gotten any shorter, so I make the trek to Bahari River. This isn't one of those wateprarks where things are literally piled on on top of each other. Its a short walk to Bahari River, and then I learn the entry/exit point is on the island in the center of Bahari RIver, so I cross over the bridge, and make my way through the empty queue maze. I like how most of the waterpark queue mazes are built using PVC tubing, which won't burn your hands when the sun beats down on it. I enter Bahari River, now somewhere in my home movie library there is a 5 minute or so film on Super 8 that was shot at a pool in Florida that involves numerous attempts at getting into an innertube that merely resulted in the tube flipping over, unceremoniously dumping its payload into the pool. WE had numerous members of my family try to board said tube, and more othen that not the result was "Splash!" into the pool you go. That was real funny back in 1985 when it only involved family members, it was not so funny in 2006 when I displayed the exact same ineptitude at getting into a tube in Bahari River in front of total strangers. I guess I never did learn... I do have to commend the Splashin Safari staff member who was right there as soon as I flipped over, even if it did add to the embarament factor, but hey no blood no foul, just a nice scrape across the knuckles to remind me thats why we used to attempt to board said tube at the deep end of the pool. So now succesfully on a tube, I start making my way around Bahari River. Okay I like the rock formations for the sides of the pool. There was one section that had jacuzi like jets, then there were a couple of waterfalls, but these elements came few and far between. I suppose I like a little more action in my lazy rivers. I do like how whenever there is a waterfall or water element it is designed so that you may bypass it, and speaking of bypasses, I chose not to bypass the grand canyon section of Bahari River and went the long way around. There are a coule water curtains under the footbridges to and from Bahari River. The water current moves at a fairly fast clip and it seemed like I was back to the single entry/exit point in no time. I wonder if Splashin Safari ever considered using a lazy river as Transportainment like at that famous waterpark in Texas. You know grab a tube at Bahari section and float around till you reach the original slide tower, then float some more till you reach the locker rental area, then float some more for Wautubee and Ottorogo, float some more for Zoombabwe and Zinga, finally completing the circle back at Bahari. The Bahari River exit is interesting in that the PVS tubing suggests a U shaped exit, whereas I observed most people stepping through a small gap and avoiding the little extra turn. I make my way back towards Bahari Snacks. Okay, this line isn't going to get any shorter, now is it? I get in line which has stretched back to right accorss from the smoking area, and there are some annoying gnats to contend with, but the line moves fairly quickly and I soon pick up my muffin (Banana nut), a fruit cup, and a beverage. I took a few minutes to enjoy my breakfast before heading back towards the slides. I find it interesting that waterparks have food concessions located near the water activities as I grew up in a "No swimming until one hour after eating" household, that and where do people stash their money to use at said food stands? Splashin Safari has many food stands and arguably some of the best food in the park is in Splashin Safari. I mean the only fish, chicken and wraps stand, the Bosco Sticks. Yummmy! Okay, I choose to ignore that motherly advice about waiting an hour, and head for Jungle Racers. Jungle Racers reminds me of the old time Giant Slides that have all but disapeared from major amusement parks, and now seem to be relegated to state fairs and carnivals. In this one you grab a mat from a bin at the bottom of the slide, then make you way up 50' of stairs to the loading area. There must be about 10 or so lanes, and the lanes take on that classic triple down configuration seem in the old time giant slides. And to add to it they race you. Here is where the thing differs from those Giant Slides of old. Do you remember what you always wanted to do on those slides, but couldn't? Yep, slide down head first on your stomach. Well that is the only way to slid down Jungle Racers. So you place you mat into the water being very careful not to let it get away from you. You then kneel on said mat, and then bend over and grab the handles with a nice tight grip. Depending on your size vs/ the mats size you may be able to more or less lie down at this point. The position you assume is almost like that of a track racer in the starting blocks, getting ready to push off the back wall of the pool with your legs. ush off and away you go, keep hloding on tight, as we are about to experience airtime on those humps. Whee!!! You eventually (in like all of 6-7 seconds) reach the checkerboard pattern run out at the bottom of the slide. If you are light you then have to pick up your mat and walk to the end of your lane, if you are heavy like me, don't worry physics will propel you to the end of your lane. Wow, that was so fun I did it 3 more times. I did note the electronic scoreboard at the end of the slide was not changing between races. Okay, time to grab something from the Pepsi Oasis, then head towards Zinga. Zinga was the hit of ERT with the line about halfway down the stairs. The line moves fast however and I did join ito a conversation as we made our way up the stairs, and even identified another single rider, so I was already paired before reaching the top. At the top. the sliders are responsible for picking up their own tube from the tube conveyor and then the slide attendant helps position the tube into the water. We boarded the cloverleaf shaped tube and with a little push to get things started, found ourselves sliding down the dark twisty enclosed slide. This is of course just the appetizer, the main event is when the tube slide becomes very steep and dumps you into the funnel. Here you slide back and forth going up the sides of the funnel, never too fasr but you go back and forth like an extreme sprots person doing the half pipe, until the funnel narrows into another short slide that slides you into the landing pool. Neat, I like Zinga, and there is a reason why the Proslide Tornado has become the most common waterpark installation in the past few year. I head back to Bahari Snacks and join in with some conversation that is going on, and at the same time find both Rideman and John. Oh, and then we saw what maybe the most infamous ERT participant, the guy who chose to do the waterpark ERT in a full body wet suit. And the point of participating in water activities while taking every precaution not to get wet would be? Towards the end of ERT John and I decided to sample a couple other Spashin Safari attractions. While Rideman was headed toward the rope to make the Exodus to Voyage, John and I headed to ZOOMbabwe. We found it to be a popular choice as there was already a sizeable line of ERT participants awaiting the opening of Zoombabwe. When the queue opened and the line filed in, by the time the line stopped filing in, we were almost to the top of the stairs right before the line splits into two lanes. It took a while for the line to settle in, becuase being near the end of ERT we were not exactly sprinting up the stairs. The last time I rode ZOOMbabwe, I did not enjoy my ride, mainly due to an incident that occured that may have well led to the "2 adults max per tube, 600lb max per tube" rules being added. This time instead of putting 4 of us into a tube, it was just the two of us. I noted the water curtain at the top of the slide was off, and after a push away we went. Wow, Zoombabwe is a long slide, much longer than you would expect. Every now and then they have patterns punched into the sides of the slide, similar to the idol carvings in Bahari rivers. These let in just the right amount of light. Now I can say I really enjoyed Zoombabwe, its a nice long dark slide with plenty of twists and turns along the way. We headed from Zoombabwe to Wautubee. Wautubee uses the same type of tubes ats Zoombabwe, meaning the large group tubes, except that Wautubee uses an open slide instead of an enclosed slide. On the way up the stairs I looked at Otorongo which has three single person tube slides in a pattern not unlike a set of body slides at Boomerang Bay at PKI. As we were nearing the top of Wautubee, a single rider asked to join us. John and I who were both in the 2003 Zoombabwe incident were a little leary, but apparently three on this ride is okay. We had the first clue something interesting was about to happen when the slide attendant at the top needed all of her strength to inch our tube out onto the slide, then we slid for about 5' and stopped where we then pushed ourselves off the sides until the tube started moving on its own. Once it started moving, did it ever pick up speed. I mentioned this was not an enclosed slide, but the curves have higher walls on them, much like a bobsled run. I think we almost hit the top of the walls on every turn. We didn't know this slide coudl be so wild, but the best was yet to come. As we were nering the end of the slide, we saw the lifeguard try to move out of the way. You know how most lifeguards seem to have nice dry shirts? Well, when our tube hit the splash pool, it caused a nice tidal wave that completely soaked the life guard from top to bottom despite attemps to jump out of the way. What was better is that the way our tube was positioned we got front row seats to watch it happen. I suppose we should now aplogize for the fact we could not stop laughing for the next two minutes. At this point John was going to had back to the Bahari Wave Pool, but Voyage was just calling my name in a loud voice. I bade John farewell, and headed to Locker Island to claim my swim bag, then I headed back to the bathhouse, changed into street clothes, and then chucked the swim gear back into the locker. I then made the trip up the hill where I realized how close the walkway to Thanksgivng comes to the walkway out of the waterpark. I admit I was very tempted to climb up the grass and climb over a couple railings, but decorum prevents. The walkway to thanksgiving walks around and under the parks original slide tower and slides, and also runs right alongside the flooded town scene in their rapids ride. Hmm, maybe I should have ridden the rapids ride to see what other changes needed tobe made to acoomodate Thanksgiving. I made my way down to Voyage where I spotted Rideman shooting video of the ride. I went ahead and took a couple rides. I mean hey, once making the trek back here, you really need to make it worth it. I noticed the lower level queue maze was in use, and here is where I got a nice realization of just how cool that lower level room is. Its almost refreshingy cold in there. Between this and Gobbler Getaway, the park is adding some nicely cool waiting areas. The Voyage waiting area reminds me of a cartoon I saw in "The unofficial guide to Walt Disney World", becuase from the midway you see people going in one door, then a few feet over you see people coming out another door, and up the stairs. What you don't see from the midway is the completely hidden lower level queue area. So it appears that people enter turn and then go up the stairs, when in reality they go into a whole nother secret area for quite some time. Its almost just like the cartoon of the disney queue that shows a building where people appear to be going in the front door, then right out the back door, till you see the second block where you see they go in the front door down stairs to a big queuee maze then back up the other stairs. We got to the part where we had just reached the top of the first set fo stairs on the way up, right by the doorway to the rides service area when Voyage decided to take its 15 minute coffee break. A few people bailed line but not as many as you would think. Eventually I made it up to the station, and took another ride. Yep, the Voyage still has it, even this early in the morning the ride seems to be running all out. I tell you perfect ride, number one. So I took another ride on it. I was happy to see the maintenance crew prepating Voyage's third train,and I also noted that the safety line had not yet been painted on the ground for the photo walkback. By the time I left Thanksgiving, free beverage in hand, Rideman must have moved on, so I decided to take a lap around the park to experience Holiday World's other fine rides. My first stop was the Revolution, this is a Dartron Zero Gravity which replaced the parks earlier Roundhouse round-up ride. The ride action between the two is nearly identical, and the paint jobs are very similar. The revolution has a bit more flash, and a lot more get up and go as it gets to speed a lot faster, and it parks itself a lot faster. So even though the ride itself is actually shorter than a Roundhouse ride was, you spend almost all of that tie at full height and speed. The safety straps on this one seemed to be a bit longer than the ones on the portable model I rode at the Florida State Fair. That said I think the operator for Revolution could use a loudspeaker, as the operator this morning had a fairly soft voice so it was hard to hear the safety instructions. Revolution was a walk on. From the Revolution I headed accross the midway to Eagle's Flight. Eagles Flight was a 2 cycle wait, but hey isince my home park hearlessly ripped out its Flying Skooters, I need to get these rides in when I can. I observed the rides ahead of mine, and to be quite honest, a still quiet is not what you want to hear while waiting for Flying Skooters, I didn't see anybody getting any snapping action. It came my turn to ride, where I was informed "You must have 2 people per bird", along with "400 pounds maximum per bird" Truth be known, I didn't press the issue, but I was a bit disapointed as I left the ride area without an Eagle's Flight ride. I skipped Holidog's Fun Town as I already have the Howler credit, and have already experienced the Freedom Train. I heaqded back up the other side of 4th of July. I skipped Thunder Biumpers on Chesapeke Bay due to the 250 pound weight limit, and the fact that prior rides on it have taught me its a slow hot wait. But, how many other parks include thie bumber boats in with the POP? I headed to Liberty Launch. I was ready to take full advantage of my eligibility to use the singe rider line, until I looked at the ride line and noted that the Single rider line had 8 people in it, and there was less than one load in the regular queue. I entered the regular queue and was able to board the next cycle. Liberty Launch has the tightest seats I have found ofr an S&S Tower ride, and I admit I needed operator assistance to get the bar down far enough to get the belt fastened. This is something I don't usually need on S&S Tower rides. So we get loaded and we launch up bounce a few times, then there is the downwards thrust, bounce a few more times and its over. In a park known for airtime laden rides, Liberty Launch is run in a weaker setting that offers no airtime. I know the Double Shot can provide the goods after riding the one at Playland Pier in Ocean City, NJ. A neat thing is that launch towers seem to lend themselves, almost demand that they be used as giant flagpoles. Holiday World's is no exception, I guess that gives a whole new meaning to "Let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes" From Liberty Launch I headed next door to Rough Riders. Rough Riders may look like, but it is not a bumper car ride. Bumper Bison and Bumper horse, or Bumper Cow ride maybe. The ride units are all shaped and painted to look like animals one may find in a stampede. The ride also has adjustable, comfortable safety belts that don't feel as if they are going to choke you on the next hard bump. The ride starts, and its an okay bumper ride, the 'cars' could stand to be a little bit faster, and bump a bit harder but all in all it was a good ride. I exited Rough Riders, had yet another free soft drink. Exiting the free drink station, I noted the parks's hero's memorial complete with its row of 14 American flags. I wonder how they settled on the number 14. The area also has to childrens rides the Salmon Run (Winky the Whale) and the Indian River Canoe (Venture Canoe). The Virginia Reel Tilt -A-Whirl was removed at the end of the last season. I then headed over to a one cycle wait on one of my favortie flat rides in the park, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. Its a spider ride that if you even look at the ride tub funny it starts spinning. This ride was no exception and a wonderful spin fest soon ensued. After PAul Revere I took a look around the Liberty Bell Shop, where none of the souvenirs really jumped out at me. I then headed up towards Christmas. It was now about 1:30 or so. I walked past the Toyland Museum (as I also avoided the Betsy Ross Doll Museum in 4th of July) The area has some shops like the Glassbower, the bakery, the fudge shop, the ice cream parlour, and Krinlgee Cafe. Further down is the Holiday Thetre, Santa's Storytime Theatre, the skeeball building and such. I stopped in Kringles for yet another drink, then headed towards Halloween. I passed right by Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch kiddie area, which has a very unque seahorse ride I don't think I've seen anywhere else. I kept right on going and entered Halloween where I took a ride on the Raven. It was a station wait for the Raven and only a two train wait for the back seat. While waiting for the Raven I noted the rides new computer control console,which apparently has the neat feature in that the status display panel can inform the operator which lap bars have not yet been locked. Neat feature. I soon paired up with another single rider, and soon found myself sitting in the back left seat of the train. We took off, and the back seat of Raven still has it. The first drop was good, the second drop was great, but man look out for the nice powerful sustained airtime moment all the way down drop five. Raven is not taking the news that it has a new much larger brother in town lightly, Raven still wants to show that it can be a world class rollercoaster. Thanks for flying Raven Air, indeed. I exited Raven and headed through Halloween, bypassing both the Scarecrow Scrambler and the Frightfull Falls. I noticed the high dive show which appeared to be in a rehearsal mode. The show is titled History of Diving and the stage area is decorated by various international flags. Flags, I might add, that are taken down at night. I'm not quite sure if proper flag etiquette is being followed, what with the Amerian flag being to the right of the stage instead of the left, but right now I have important matters to attend to. I take a trip through Merlin's Arcade and note the lack of pinball machines, then I took a ride on Legend. Man, there was hardly anybody riding Legend, as evidenced by the fact I had the entire back two cars to myself. As I was sitting down, I noticed a cell phone in the seat, so I turned in the phone to the operator, and wondered if anybody would have the guts to try to claim it, I mean after all the signs expressly forbidding taking cell phones on the ride. The ride started, and whereas Raven is trying to be all that it can be, Legend is more in "lie down and play dead" mode. Its just going too slow, although it still gives that one nice airtime pop midway through the ride, the former 4 corners are just weak. I did notice that the water in the Frightfull Falls attraction appeared to be quite skanky from my vantage point on the Legend train. From Legend, I went to take a ride on Hallowswings. Halllowswings is one of the parks newer rides, and is a wave swinger type ride, but done up in a Frightfully funny halloween theme where even the skulls are smiling. It was a fun ride flying above the halloween section of the park,then I headed back to Voyage. I took another ride on Voyage, where I noted the autospiel starring Will Koch himself. Its something about preparing for your Voyage to the new world. I especailly liked the line about loose articles will be washed out to sea and never seen again. I took another ride or two on Voyage in middle of the train seats. The middle seats on this ride are better than the end seats on a lot of other coasters. After my second ride, I realized it was getting close to 3pm, and I knew the photo walkback of Voyage was at 4pm. So I got a soft drink and headed out of Thanksgiving, and headed down into the water park. Paul Drabek had hertily recommended the Bosco Sticks,so I was curious and wanted to try one. You know that line "I'd walk a mile to smoke a Camel",well thats how it felt getting back to the Bhari Snacks stand. Bosco sticks are cheese filled breadsticks served with your choice of pizza sauce, garlic butter, or nacho cheese. I followed Paul's advice and opted for the garlic butter. You get two sticks for $2.49, and the dipping sauce will run you another 49 cents, so $3. And worth every penny, hmm those were good. I washed them down with a drink from the Pepsi Oasis then made the trek back to Locker Island where I emptied out my locker and retained the key. I then made that arduous trek once again up to the Christmas section of the park. At this time, I am all for Holiday World's next ride being an in-park transportation system. Say a Skyride from Christmas to he intersection of 4th of July/ Thanksgiving/ Haloween, and Splashin Safari. So one more arduous trek up the hill, then I stop by the locker rental booth. I had feared returning the locker rental both would take time as they looked up the reigstration card on the deposit envelope. Nope, they have a pretty efficient filing system, and they use your phone number (which you wrote on the envelope) as a passcode before releasing the $7 refund. I traded the key in for the refund, and then ran my swim bag out to the car, and picked up the camera. For re-entry you put your paw on Holidogs paw print on the support poles of the front gate for the uv magic lamp handstamp to glow. I took a few pictures, and made a stop to return all these free soft drinks I have been enjoying. I then returned to Thanksgiving via the shortcut path. Hey at least this time it was DOWN the big hill. I entered the Thanksgiving section and found the crew assembed in the smoking area and basically filling the midway alsmost all the way back to the Voyage gift shop. I picked up another drink, and man is it hot and humid and not all that pleasant standing here on this blacktop. I son joind the group that was waiting inside the Gobbler Getaway building. We enjoyed the air conditioning until we saw the crew outside moving forward for the photo walkback. There were a couple muddy spots to avoid as we passed the construction site for the Plymouth Rock Cafe, and then we spotted the orange lines that would demarcate the boundaries we are to stay between for the walk back. I took a nice walk alongside the entire length of the Voyage stopping several times to take all sorts of various photos. It is also along the walkback that you get a beter appreciation for the terrain the ride sits on. It is a nice long steed hill up to the top of Voyage. They did allow a spot where we could walk out on the ground covering the tunnels for better shots of trains exiting and leaving tunnels, and unlike during the construction tour, they opened up a hillside going down so that we could get near one part of the turnaround. Not only was the photo walkback good for taking photos, it was also a good downtime as all the trees in the area actually made that part of the park nice and cool. I also enjoyed some nice conversation back by the turnaround (Hi Wolf!) and as we walked back the same way we entered to head back to Thanksgiving. At the end of the photo walk back, we had some more drinks, then we rode Voyage. It was a short wait and so we all decided to go for back seat rides. Sure, no problem, back seat rides are my favorites on this. When it came time to board, I had my camera plaed in a free courtesy locker. This is just another case where Holiday World excels above other parks. The park realizes that people may not feel comfortable leaving their belonging out on shelfs, so they also provide lockers, but unlike other parks, they do not charge for these lockers. Yes they are coin operated lockers, which I don't understand, but Holiday World provided the coin. And wow antoher ride of Voyagey good perfection. I want to run down to the gift shop and get my very own Voyage to take home with me. We look at the clock, we look at our schedule and realize we probably don't have time for another Voyage ride before the meeting in the picnic grove. We head up into Halooween, and take a Legend ride instead. We grab a second seat ride, and yes the camera goes into a nice courtesy locker. We mmet up with April and some other people on LEgends platform, so after our ride we have some drinks and head back to the picnic grove. We enter the picnic grove using the entrance near the rapids ride, and at first I see what I think is a line to be admited to the picnic grove, but turns out to be a line to get to the sales tables and silent auction. I get into the line for these aspects of the activity. It is soon announced that in order to serve people faster the buffet lines will open early. Hmm, smell that fried chicken. Unlike the punctual opening of the buffets, the sales table area opens quite late. There were two rows of tables, one row was for a silent auction, the other was for straight sales. I headed first for the sales table. I dub this the Holiday World Mainteance Warehouse Flea Market. Items for sale: Road wheels ($30), coaster bearings ($1),Holibolts ($1), lift hill flags ($30), PR/Marketing B-roll video ($10), Raven cicuit boards ($10) envelopes ($1), tickets allowing the bearer to photo/video Gobbler Getaway ($10), and possibly other items. Now it is no secret that I have gone to just about every Holiday World event since 1999, and have tried unsuscsefully to obtain a lift hill flag at auction. (At auction they have gone upwards of $50), so my first prioirty was to acquire a lift hill flag. I found a nice purple one (BTW:Purple is my favorite color), sure its a bit faded out, and yes there is some damage to the both corners on the fly end, but hey I'm not purchasing a flag to fly in front of my house, I am purchasing a rollercoaster flag that has some providence and history, and the fading and the damaged spots add to the authenticity of same. I decide to toss in a Raven bearing so I can have a part from each coaster and $31 later I am heading to look at the auction table. I note the Holiday World mainteance crew was standing around the area and they were engaged in answering coaster maintenance questions from the coaster nuts in attendance. Oh, and they even had a credit card machine setup. Over on the auction table there were Voyage media kits, lapbars, coaster car dividers, a signed framed Voyage photo, Gravity Group shirts and mugs, and much more. The oddest thing on the auction table was a big plastic pail labeled "Will Koch's Coffee Mug" I'm sure there is a story behind that somewhere. I soon took my purchases and headed up to the blue shelter house to obtain my buffett dinner. Okay, we grabbed plates and silverware then proceesed to play "Guess which condiments I need" since they have the condiments set out before you see what dinner consists of. We pass some dinner rolls, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, fruit salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, soft drinks, and all sorts of cookies. We fill our plates, then we went to join the rest of our group who had acquired seats in the red shelterhouse. Its not easy balancing a full plate of food, beverage, a coaster bearing, and a lift hill flag. And,now that I have the flag at home, I am wondering what AM I supposed to do with a 6'x2.5' piece of purple fabric complete with white header and4 grommets down one side. But I make it to my table without spilling or dropping anything. It was a delicious dinner, and at the end of it we piled a community plate full of cookiews to bring back to the table, Hmm, Cookies. Don't worry there wan't any sign of that plate of cookies by the time we got finished with it, And they were so soft, like they were right out of the oven. After dinner, there was a much shot presentation where the reitterated the safety rules, thanked everybody for coming, and announced the winners of the auction prizes. They then asked anybody holding a Gobbler Getaway photo ride ticket ($10),to assemble near the front of the grove to be escorted to Gobbler Getaway, then the rest of the group would be released. I think the exodus from the picnic grove came earleier than the park planned. We spotted a security guard, and he merely told us to stay in either the Halloween or Thanksgicing sections of the park. Rideman and I both wanted to drop off lose articles to the car, so we asked about park reentry, and the guard replied that park reentry was not yet available. We decided to head to Raven so that we wouls be near the gate when the time came to allow us to return stuff to cars and reenter. So yes, it was me that caused the Raven to stack as I loaded a courtesy lockcer up with Rideman's camcorder, my camera, a Raven bearing, and a Legend flag. We took a middle of the train ride on Raven to start ERT and the ride was no ad at all, I soon reclaimed all the aforementioned stuff out of the locker and we spotted other enthusiasts who were returning from their cars, so we made the dash out to the car. "Leaving already??!??" We dropped off a lot of stuff,then we renetered the park, gathered up our group, and headed for Voyage. From this point until about 11:30 the pattern was approximately this "Ride Voyage, grab drink, get back in line for Voyage". We saw the line shrink from using the entire lower level queue maze, to just going downstairs and right back up by the end of ERT. WE got a front seat ride, we got several back car rides. With each ride the Voyage seemed more and more out of control. At one point we though, hey instead of lockers, purhaps the park could install a 3 compartment locking treausre chest next to each row. At one point we went to take a break by riding Gobbler Getaway, and we were in the seat queues to be the next group loaded when the ride broke down for the night. We exited by going forwards onto the loading platform then to

As has been mentioned by others, Length of Stay was discontinued starting with the 2005 season, although if you had bought one prior to 2005 they would honor it. Length of Stay was meant to help give the guest more of an all inclusive feal, meaning that they had unlimited use of the 4 major theme parks, the water parks, DisneyQuest, Pleasure Island and general admission to Wide World of Sports from the moment they checked in, (and for purposes of the pass you could check in early in the morning before your room was even ready), until midnight on your check out day. Sounds nice doesn it, not to have to worry about tickets and the lke, right? Well, those tickets were often criticised for being awful deals. The reasons being that as of midnight on your check out day, they totally expired no matter how much or how little you used it. Additionally, no matter how much the park tried to sugar coat it, you paid for each and every available park day. Take a day off to go visit another companies park, well you still get dinged for the Disney park you didn't visit? Take a day off to just relax around the resort, or use Disney's extensive recreational facilities, thats another wasted park day. The rub is that if you wanted to purchase the meal plan, or any other package plan of the era, it came with the LOS pass as standard equipment. Now with Magic Your Way if you want the LOS experience, purchase a MYW for the number of park days you have available to you, and fully load it up with both the park hopper and parks plus add ons, (but not the no expiration, I mean you want the LOS experience, right) True you may only get a total of 6 admissions to water parks, DQ, PI and WoS, but for most folks that should be plenty. Or use your new found flexibility to purchase only the park days or options you really need and save a few bucks.