Erik Johnson

I love Photo TR's like this. Thanks for posting!

Well, I guess the lift is exactly 200 feet, for some reason I thought it was a little shorter.

I remember there was one going up the third hill. I wonder if the second pothole occurred recently, because I do not remember that one. I can concur that rain really seems to help make both Voyage and Legend run a bit faster, though Raven is good no matter what.

Sound like this has really been the year to ride Voyage! It certainly shot up to my top 5 woodies after riding it earlier this month.

Take a look at this: http://www.themeparkreview.com/wedding/ak/ak1.htm

Yay! I have to admit, that was the real purpose of this trip report.

I need to go back to Lake Winnie so I can try out the Fly-O-Planes. Awesome trip report, I love Lake Winnie.

Great Photo TR! I simply love IB.

Wow, its now $14 to ride the worst roller coaster in the country. Awesome pictures Mike!

BLOB!

http://www.giantbomb.com/a-boy-and-his-blob/61-25508/ The new art style uses hand-painted backgrounds and hand drawn character models, paired with advanced lighting and visual effects. A greater emphasis is also put on the friendship and reliance on one another between The Boy, now with a younger design, and Blob (not Blobert as referred to in previous games). I would totally still call it Blobert!!!!

I did not see the Power Surge or the Inverter while we were there. I need to double check my map when I get a chance. Also, I did not see the Chaos either.

Part 4: Splash Island and more. Well, that is pretty much the water park. Tornado! Tornado! We just found the new attraction. More random slides. Random slides. Wavepool! Another angle. The waterfort. Random theming. This is where the new Tornado is located. Park Rules. There is a free waterpark connected to the main park. On the way out of the parking lot, you can get a closer look at Cheetah. Bye Cheetah! I guess it is time to head on out. We also stopped by the restroom. We checked out the gift shop before leaving. Splash! Here is the stage. They do have concerts at Wild Adventures. Another time then. We wanted to do the train, but it was having problems that day. Double Shot! Here you go Elissa. I did not forget about you. Insect-O-Slide. I hope you enjoyed this Photo: TR

Part 3 Noted! The tiger show is a must see. I can not remember where the free Screamin Swings used to be, but they are gone. This is some random dirt pit. There were several people working on it to try to get it running again. Here is a closer look. Too bad the ride broke before we got to ride it. The ride area was quite nice. Rattler's Rules. The Rattler was last year's new ride. This gives you an idea of the layout. Another group of riders. The ride isn't as bad as others. Vekoma Junior Hang and Bang. There is a little theming. Rules of Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing is the final credit in the park. Cha-Ching! Ha ha! Fiesta Express! Wave good-bye to the cats. Pretty tall cats. Pretty cool cats. Uh-oh, there he goes! There he goes. He is thinking about it. The tiger show is really insane.

Part 2 More Rules. Ride Rules. I have taken many sign photos for the Park Index. Let us head on over to the world's best standard Vekoma Boomerang. Weeeee! Another lift shot. Now with people. Nerd shot #2 Nerd shot #1 After walking for a while, we found the station. Seriously, it was difficult to find. Just like in Roller Coaster Tycoon, it took us 5 minutes to find the entrance. Who are these guys again? Next is the CCI coaster. Some random show that we did not see. Backwards or forwards? Release in 3..2...1.. Heading on back. This would be the workhorse of the ride. It does not smash in your head as much as others do. From across the swamp. Usually I never double ride SLCs, but I did this one today. Hangman doing its thing. Maybe the wheels track much better in Georgia, really who knows. For whatever reason, this SLC you do not get banged up nearly as much as the others. The exact same train of riders. A train of riders. There is a little bit of of theming. Hangman is considered to be the very best standard Vekoma SLC in the world. No joke! Rules of the ride. Next is the Vekoma SLC. Gold Rush station. It is difficult to get good shots of the layout, but you get the idea. Another nerd shot. Track! Train! Next was the mini-mine-train, Gold Rush.

I finally made it back to Wild Adventures this past weekend after being away from the park for more than two years. Wild Adventures is technically my home park (it is 2 miles closer than Universal Orlando), so I should be the one responsible to finally do a huge update for this park. I have noticed quite a few improvements since Herschend Family Entertainment took over the park. For one, they pretty much had every attraction open including all the coasters. Overall the place seemed cleaner and had better operations. Also we found that the employee friendliness to really be top notch. I know that not many people are able to get to this park due to its geographical location (Nothing is close to Valdosta, Georgia) so I will include a lot of photos. Ok, let us head on over to some coasters. It was also Eric's first trip to the park. The park is actually pretty large with a lot of attractions. Snake! Where are we again, oh right. With a Wild Adventures season pass, you get a 50% discount on a ticket to any other Herschend park. We are first greeted by peacocks. Park Rules. Good to know. Ok, let us go into the park. Wild Adventures is located near Valdosta, Georgia. It is very close to the Florida/Georgia border. Wow, Wild Aventures has become a big league park now. Weeeeee! Up the lift they go. Here is another batch of riders. Its a typical roller skater layout. Here we go! Ready to earn your credit? It is an actual roller skater coaster car. Track. Station photo. Rules of the Ride. Ant Farm Express is a Vekoma Skater. As far as I know, this attraction is only for kids. It even has some nice theming. It really looks better than the old Tiger Terror area. Attraction rules. This pony ride area is located where Tiger Terror used to be. Tiger got sold to the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. Almost to the top. Another dispatch. Bug Out car. Noted. It is difficult to get a good picture due to all the trees in the area. Next was the mouse. Here is some final theming near the exit. Another group of riders heading down the river. Welcome to the end of the ride. After the whirlpool you go through the waterfall section. Another closer look. That is the exit of the whirlpool area. Here is the whirlpool feature that is very popular over in Europe. Here we go. We were suprised to find there was not any type of restraints on this ride. Ready to get wet? The next one was our boat. Looks like they made it. Another gorup of riders waiting for a boat. You first had to cross over before getting into the boat. This was very important to know. The boats were a bit unusual, but they can fit quite a few people. This is part of the layout. What is that over there? Noted. The official ride sign. We have been warned. Rules of the ride. Let's go check out the rapids ride. Where should we go next? A closer look. Nerd shot. It is called The Aviator. They also have one of these as well. Flying Bobs ride. Let us head on over to another land.

Goliath technically is not a B&M Hyper, though its a bit taller than a mini-Hyper. While I thought it was fun riding it yesterday, I do prefer Behemoth. Behemoth is still my favorite B&M Hyper, even over the brand new one, Diamondback.

There isn't a trim on the third drop (Which is the best part of the ride). The trim comes after the bottom of the spiral down helix. It has always been there since day one, but not on as hard.

The video does not show it, but as you get your photo taken you see your boat on the video screen.

Almost finished. Thanks for another great visit Six Flags! Ok, let us head on out of the park. It only has two inversions. I rather like this one, even though I normally do not like Standup coasters. Oops, I almost forgot about Scorcher.

Hey TPR! I just got back from a wonderful trip to one of my all time favorite Six Flags parks, Six Flags Over Georgia. In case if you did not know, they just re-opened their classic dark ride Monster Plantation with a slew of new effects, lighting, and sound. Monster Plantation, which is now renamed Monster Mansion, is considered to be the absolute premier dark ride that Six Flags has ever created for any park. I honestly think most of you will be impressed in what they have done to fix up this classic ride. This report will also be a general park update which I have to say turned out to be one of the best visits to the park I have had yet. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Monster_Mansion_Internet_TPR_ek70[/coastertube] I think you will be as well. I think they did a really great job with the ride. We were very impressed. Other awesome monsters can be purchased. You can also buy the beanie hat. T-Shirts can be purchased. Some information about the ride. Some character models. Here is the poster. Inside the store they included a small section devoted to the original version of the ride. Its been years since this has been called the Monstore. It's back! You can check out your photo in the brand new version of the Monstore. I think this has been redone. Speaking of boats, they hold about 6 people. They do take an onride photo of your boat. Here are some of the new signs. Monster Mansion (Plantation) is considered to be the very best dark ride that Six Flags has produced. I am planning on visiting all three original Six Flags parks this year. This was the second one built. This little guy is considered to be the ride's mascot. A classic dark ride has been reborn for 2009, Monster Mansion. They have one of these in case you decided to bring a pet with you. Mmmmmm....Mindbender. Still one of my favorites. Noted! Batman was testing 15 minutes before park opening. Lets first go park our car. The Georgia Scorcher and Goliath tower over the front of the park. Heading west down I-20, what do you see off in the distance? Only open during October now. But they no longer run it in the dark with its special light package anymore. I never ridden the indoor Scrambler before. I think they were running it in maintenance mode today, because this simply was pathetic. Normally I find this wave swinger to be really good. Wheeeee! Every single one of these Batman coasters rock. And yes they are intense. I can't imagine to see this full. I never noticed the warehouse extended queue trash cans before. This does make them easier to clean. More theming. Fountain theming. This one does include the park queue area as well. I love these coasters. Close up of the bottom of a moving train. Through the many trees that populate this ride. Its still my favorite Schwarzy, but I still need to ride Shockwave over at SFOT. Looks like ACE came by an dropped this off last year. Mindbender simply still rocks. They run it pretty the same as opening day. When you exit the ride, you walk right past the back of Monster Mansion. Here is what the station looks like. While it was running well, the trim after the helix was on pretty hard today. This is what the line looked like at 1:30pm. Even though it was a holiday weekend, the weather kept a lot of people away. Ok, let us head on over to Goliath. I rode it twice, its running great this year. Well, for me it is! This is the 4th drop. Those who have ridden it know what I am talking about. Just make sure you ride in the first row of the last car, otherwise you will be in a lot of pain. This coaster has some of the most extreme jolting airtime that you will ever experience. Oh yes! While most will not agree with me, I really like this one. Was there a name change a while back? I thought these used to be called the Confederate Sky Buckets. Right into the storage shed. Here they go. Dispatch! It was the second mine train built by Six Flags, it is the first coaster in the park as well. I do not know how to say the name of this ride, but the mine train is now on Flash Pass. Something seems different. We see you Goliath, we did ride it three times today. Most of the coaster is over the lake. I have not ridden this one in a few years. Wheelie being Wheelie What is great is a lot of flats are on Flash Pass as well. For Tyler. Anyone know where Deja Vu has ended up? Yes, that is pretty much it for Thomas Town. And some other odd attractions. The rest of Thomas town consists of a playground. Who is this person? I think it pretty much has the same layout at the others. Train!! The Thomas Train station. Thomas Town paved over Deja Vu! Something big and green is now missing. Which M&M are you? Another shot for Elissa. Once you get to the top the seats tip further out away from the pole. Its quite scary. Here they go up. Acrophobia is probably they most insane Intamin drop tower in the country. Ready for dispatch. It looks like old Superman has been out in the sun too long. The rest of the coaster is really nothing too special. Pretzel Loops are quite intense if you never experienced one before. Since I just rode Manta, I can be a geek and say I have ridden the oldest and newest pretzel loops in the world in the same week. The first B&M flyer in the country. This classic shot is a bit ruined by the skycoaster. Also make sure you brace yourself for the brake run. Just make sure you ride in the middle row of a car, otherwise you will not like it. Since 1973, this one has been thrilling coasters riders. This one also has a magic seat. First row of the last car. Heading back into the station. It does have a really different layout.

^ Manta is a much better coaster than any of the Superman UF clones. I still prefer Tatsu, but not by much. I like Tatsu more simply because it stands much higher off the ground than Manta. Well, its because Tatsu is built on top of Magic Mountain. Though as a full concept ride/attraction, Manta is the one to beat.

Yes the weather has been very dark and gloomy in Florida this week. I wish we were able to get many more photos of the coaster in action but they simply did not come out very well at all. We did need the rain though, so I can not complain about it. I think the new construction wall was kind of close to Kraken. Maybe near the locker area? Maybe Adam remembers.

Sea World had one final Media Day on 5/21/09 to present to the world its brand new themed attraction, Manta. Adam, Andrew, Colin, and myself were invited to go down to Orlando to check it out. They did give us a special treat in that they hooked up a special onride "Manta Cam" to capture our onride experience. We were also able to hang out with Manta's creative director, Brian Morrow, to answer several of our questions about the new attraction. Overall I think that the whole Manta concept is a real winner, I simply was very impressed. Sure the coaster is really fun, but I was simply blown away with all the detail that went into the theming. Anyways, onto to good stuff: [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Manta_Media_Day_TPR_vbrf[/coastertube] Several radio stations were around to cover the event. Just to the left of Manta is the new Flamingo area. Over by the wing dip there was a rather large camera to help make our Manta Cam video. Manta Sign! We first has to check in for the event. Here we are, and we are ready to check out Manta. And even a few more. There are first a few rules to follow. Are you ready to ride? It is open now, go ride it! The attention to theming is really top notch. I think its my favorite coaster area that I have seen so far. Just a few more finishing touches to the attraction. Sign! The floor has a lot of fancy tile. You really can spend a lot of time in here. Hey there Adam. Be careful of the Colinfish. Scary Stuff. This includes rays. There were a lot to see in here. Through this door is the non-rider section of the attraction. The entire area has been transformed into something really special. Waterfall! Wing Dip! Its fun and very smooth. Wheee. The pretzel loop is very intense. And we are off. Via Manta Cam, you get to see us ride. Make sure you watch the video. Yes, you can use Quick Queue for Manta. And the cycle begins yet again with a new construction wall. The pretzel is just as intense as Tatsu's. Another train. The wing dip is my favorite element. And photo prices. Photo Station. You can pick up your onride photo here. And we leave you with this shot. I can't wait to go back and ride it again. Through the Trees! Weeeee! Simply a stunning coaster. The forces are VERY strong on the bottom of the Pretzel Loop. Right before the big drop. In better weather, Manta really shines off its beauty.

We stoppped by Universal for a little bit, here is another shot of the train from today. Here is another look at the train.