imbordisux

And, yes, we rode the back row of El Toro - I spent a LOT of time pinned to the lap-bar, but I rose into it gently and landed back in the seat gently. On The Voyage, I was thrown violently into the lap-bar, and then jack-hammered back down into the seat. El Toro was an incredible floating - almost flying - sensation, where I spent several consecutive seconds out of my seat, whereas The Voyage was more like driving down the highway and slamming on the brakes repeatedly, with by body jerking back and forth very quickly.

Sooperdooperlooper

Well, this is it. The biggest coaster feud since Millenium Force vs. SROS (SFNE) . Arguably the two baddest, meanest, most intense woodies on the planet, and the two most hyped rides of 2006. Retro Extreme vs. Completely New-School. Let's start with the tale of the tape: Category: El Toro --- The Voyage Height: 181' --- 163' Speed: 70mph --- 67mph Drop Length: 176' --- 174' Drop Degree: 76* --- 66* Track Length: 4400' --- 6442' Ride Time: 1:42 --- 2:45 Manufacturer: Intamin --- The Gravity Group Location: "SF: Great Adventure", New Jersey --- "Holiday World", Indiana So to start off, El Toro is taller, faster, and features a taller and steeper drop, but The Voyage is much longer, with over a minute more of ride time, and is in what most consider a much better park. So what does all that mean? Well, not much, but who doesn't love comparing stats? Numbers are fun. I’ll start off with El Toro, which we FINALLY rode on 8/5/06, and is thus fresher in my mind. A combination of back-problems, insanely hot weather, and busy weekends have kept us from riding this behemoth for two months, but it was Monica’s birthday the week before, and we didn’t get to celebrate, so we found our excuse to go. Now, I don’t think it’s fair to let the way a park is run influence my opinion as a ride; I mean, it’s not El Toro’s fault that it took forever to open, but I will mention that we were the FIRST people on line at 10am, and the ride didn’t open until three in the afternoon! But hey, we were first, and we weren’t gonna give up our spot for anything. We did have fun on line, though, we were talking to everyone around us, and letting the ride-ops know how much we sympathize with them over all the abusive customers who give the “I paid my money!” spiel. Yeah, you paid your money, does that mean they should let you on an unsafe ride? Anyway, as for the ride… let me first say that I was not expecting to like this ride much. I know, I know, but I generally don’t like “Intamin”, I find SFNE’s Superman: Ride of Steel pretty over-rated, and just generally don’t find their coasters all that exciting. The promise of a “glass smooth” ride was also a concern of mine - I was kinda picturing a GCI-style ride, which isn’t my taste; I like them, but I’m not crazy about their rides, they’re generally too gentle, when I think “woodie”, I think of a ride that should beat the crap out of you. That’s me, that’s my preference, I want a woodie to leave big welts on my stomach and thighs; I know some people hate that, but I love it. All that said, this completely blew my expectations away. Not just that it was “good”, it was an absolutely phenomenal ride. I’m a big believer that steel coasters should be smooth while wood coasters should be rough, but it’s the baby-bottom smoothness that allows this coaster to provide the insane floater air that it’s becoming known for. And, yes, I know most people will argue that this should be categorized as “ejector air”, since you spend so much time out of your seat, but I’ll still argue that it’s not the amount of time you spend out of your seat, but the amount of force with which you are propelled out of the seat that should be the determining factor in the great “floater/ejector” argument. Regardless, this thing is air-central as it pertains to how long your ass is actually up out of the seat before coming back down. You build-up so much momentum on your way up the hills that you’re pretty much out of it from the time you hit the apex until you reach the valley. If you like B&M or Intamin hypers, this thing is the steroid-shooting big-brother to all of them – you’re literally floating on air through the entire first half. And the rapidly-becoming infamous “Rolling Thunder” hill? Believe the hype, that one hill is THE single greatest moment of air-time ever. This might sound like an exaggeration, but it really does feel more like a 1st-generation Intamin free-fall than a coaster; the train just seems to disappear from under you, it’s like in the cartoons when the character doesn’t realize they’ve just walked off a cliff, only to look down and plummet. All those good things aside, though, I do have two problems with the ride. One, the “twister” portion, to me, was very weak; three turns is hardly enough to be called a “twister”, and they’re so inclined that you don’t actually feel any laterals. Secondly, it’s far too short; it reminds me of Storm Runner in that regard, that what IS there is awesome, but there’s that feeling that there was plenty of room (and momentum from the train) to keep going. As a whole, though, it’s a phenomenal ride, and a definite winner for SFGAdv; many in the GP don’t like wooden coasters, don’t like anything rough at all, and SFGAdv deserves credit for allowing Intamin to bring this awesome design to the US. It’s not my cup of tea, but there’s no question that the crowd absolutely loves it. [As a side-tangent, I want to just chime in on the “El Toro is not really a wooden coaster” debate. While I firmly believe that it should be treated like any other woodie, after riding it, I can definitely see where some people are coming from. Yes, it’s made entirely of wood, but there’s really no denying that it WAS designed to feel more like a steel hyper than a traditional wooden coaster, in the sense that the idea is that you build up a lot of momentum going up a hill, with the inertia being what tossed you out. I think it comes down to the fact that, while it’s wood, the track itself is pre-formed, unlike other wood coasters but just like steelies. I don’t completely buy it, but there is definitely an argument to be made.] /// The Voyage. What can I say about this coaster that hasn’t already been said? This is the exact opposite of El Toro, this is a down-right nasty coaster, it lives to engage in “rough fun”. If El Toro is a dad holding his son over his head and pretending the kid is Superman, The Voyage is the cast of MTV’s “Jackass” having fun by beating the ever-loving crap out of each other. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. The only coaster I can really compare this to is Coney Island’s Cyclone, and if you’ve never ridden THAT, just sit there and yell out a bunch of curses with “oww” thrown in a bunch of times; that’s what riders on Cyclone sound like. I think I’ve finally found the perfect way to describe this ride: you know when you’re driving really fast, and your car begins to violently vibrate? That’s what this feels like, except someone else is controlling the gas. It’s like being tied by the waist to a runaway train, it’s going, and you’re stuck to it. Unlike the sustained-yet-gentle air of El Toro, this is the world Jack-hammering champion of roller-coasters, it tosses you, it throws you, it HURLS you out of your seat, like a wild bull, your upper- and lower-body are NOT going in the same directions, and your brain just canNOT comprehend everything that’s going on. It’s the wildest, most insane ride ever, there is nothing “smooth” or “flowing” about this ride, you can’t recall any specific “elements” like you can on other coasters, you can’t say “Oh, well, first was this hill, then a turn, then a double-down”, no, this is just a mile (plus) of ever-changing track, it does not go straight at any time, just left, right, up, down, left, down, right, up, a little left, a lot right, leftdownupright, all in the span of a few moments. Think of the most uneven road you’ve ever seen, and imagine speeding down it while hanging out the window. That, my friends, is The Voyage. It’s the equivalent of shaking a stuffed-animal back and forth as fast as you can, with you in the role of the animal. When you talk about a coaster making you feel like you have no idea what’s coming next, that’s what this does best. It is, quite simply, the greatest coaster I’ve ever ridden, by the absolute largest margin you can imagine; if “#1” is up by my head, “#2” is down by my knees. This thing kicks so many forms of ass, I can’t even list them, but it is just the most incredible blur of a coaster-memory I’ve ever had. And I know that maybe my opinion doesn’t count for much, sure, I haven’t ridden 1000 different coasters, but I’m also not a credit-whore; I’m not gonna ride 500 kiddie-coasters and boomerangs to up my “count”, I go for the big stuff, and that’s what this is: King of the Big Stuff. /// So which is better? Well, that depends on your taste. If you prefer smoother coasters with gentle “floater” air, then El Toro is for you. If you prefer a rough-neck rib-cracker, go with The Voyage. Honestly, both coasters are awesome, try them both. For what it’s worth Monica’s new favorite coaster is El Toro, so our household is tied 1-1. One things for sure, though – 2006 is the year that wood finally got to dominate once again.

I know that SFGAm and SFGAdv make up something like 50% of the profit for the entire chain, if that helps.

Thanks a lot.

What is the name of the restaurant near Hershey that makes everything with chocolate? Thanks.

I have a similar question to ask: How far are you willing to DRIVE to ride a roller-coaster?

SFNE has AMAZING food - I'm not talking about the generic chicken-nuggets and stuff, I'm talking about their juicy prime-rib. A little expensive for what you get, but one of the most incredibly moist, tender pieces of meat I've ever eaten. And how has this topic gone three pages without anybody mentioning FRIED OREOS???

My Top 10, in no particular order: "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" "Best Friends Forever" "Good Times with Weapons" "Woodland Critter Christmas" "Scott Tenorman Must Die" "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" "The Death Camp of Tolerance" (Lemmiwinks) "Cartmanland" "Helen Keller: The Musical" (Gobbles) "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics"

http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/holiblog.html :

*sniff* I love 1st-gen free-falls... so much more than drop towers...

Rye Playland kicks ass! If you love classic flat-rides, this is your place - every single ride there is cranked up to 11.

Nope. I, too, heart Zippers.

To quote Half Baked - "Boo this man!" I know, a lot of people hate "rib-cracker" woodies, but if you DO like them, this is certainly one of the best.

Thanks for the replies. One thing I forgot to mention was that, at PKI, it seemed like nobody knew basic math. TWICE, I had made a purchase, and the change due was something like 4 or 9 dollars, and BOTH times, I handed the cashier an extra dollar... wouldn't you know, they both refused both times, questioning me as if I was trying to scam them. Good times, good times.

Hey guys, Didn't want to seem rude by not responding to your post - we've been having a ton of net-related problems, so we really weren't able to respond. Anyway, really nice meeting you two - I had no idea we had been waiting for TWO HOURS for The Raven to reopen, time flies when you're having fun. Great TR, and great photos - I myself am a pretty bad photographer, I try to make everything look nice and artsy, but when we get our photos back, they're always kinda bland. I'm jealous. Take care, - Stu

Sun 6/11 – Philly to Long Island (4 hours) And so, our vacation came to an end with the wonderful drive back to LI. Of course, this was the ONLY time we hit traffic during the entire trip (which had been one hell of a blessing – I was dreading the potential traffic-situations beforehand), and it took us over six hours to get home. So, did we have a great time? Absolutely. We loved two of the parks, and really liked two others; we also had so much fun with (or at the expense at) the different cultures that were on display – the people of Indiana were truly the nicest people we’d ever met, and the people Elysburg were certainly the most inbred-looking hicks we’d ever encountered. I’m pretty sure there’s a Klan chapter there, too; Monica used to live near there, and left very quickly, as there was a Klan right near her. Here’s basically how we’d rate the parks: Holiday World – 10 Kennywood – 8 PKI – 7 SFKK – 6 Knoebel’s – 2 To give an idea, here’s how we rate the parks that we frequent most often: SFNE – 9 Hershey – 8 SFGAdv – 8 Dorney – 7 We had a great time, and we look forward to doing a road-trip again every year, including hitting “Holiday World” again next year. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed presenting. Take care, everyone. - imbordisux (aka Stu and Monica)

Sat 6/10 – KNOEBEL’S {and Centralia} Ugh. Where to start on this. I’m sure that this will likely get our enthusiast-licenses revoked, but we actually found this park incredibly boring. Sorry, but we both found everything about the place – the rides, the food, the “simple” pricing, and, especially, the atmosphere – completely over-rated. The rides were decent at best, the food was somewhat bland, those stupid little ticket-books were a pain in the ass (and the to-the-dime pricing was ridiculous), and the settings were about as redneck as we ever could have imagined. Wood-carving demonstrations? Engrave your own horseshoe? ALLIGATOR MEAT??? The only things missing were a jug-band and some kids calling their parent “Uncle Dad”. As for the rides we did: Phoenix – No denying, this was a very good coaster. I liked the really old look, and there was some great air on there. Twister – It was fun, but nothing all that great; seemed like a “my first coaster” type of deal, with little kids finally trying one of the “big” rides for the first time. High Speed Thrill Coaster – Definitely the highlight of the park, the air on this thing was SICK! Definitely as good as many “full-sized” coasters. Looper – Lots of fun, though I think it would have been better if it weren’t so “old” – if it had actually been designed to roll continuously and smoothly, instead of holding the thing down and barely getting over, it would have been better. Still, glad we did it, it was fun. “Haunted House” – Fun? Yes. Good? Yes. Best dark-ride in the world? Hardly. I know we sound really negative about it, but we just didn’t like the park at all; we were bored out of our minds as soon as we arrived, and only rode each ride once, which is NOT like us at all. Ok, you know what, I’ll say something positive about it. It was a great family park. If you have really small children, and want to take them to a small place where they can both have fun and learn stuff, then, yes, it’s a great choice – the “picnic area” look of the park is perfect for families, it was extremely inexpensive, and the rides would be exactly what you’re looking for. I’ll also mention that they had great merchandise there, they had, by far, the largest selection and highest-quality t-shirts we’d ever seen, and, even if we didn’t like the park, we still bought t-shirts cuz they looked really good. So, was it a horrible park? No. It’s a great place for families. Is it one of – or even THE – best park in the world? For two thrill-seeking New Yorkers, not by a long shot. It was actually the “low-light” of the trip, which was kind of a bummer, as we were really hoping to end on a high-note. Fortunately, after “Knoebel’s” turned-out to be a bust, we headed-out to try to find the forbidden town of “Centralia”. Supposedly haunted, it has pretty much been erased from history; it is not on any of the maps there, and the zip-code is not listed anywhere, so finding it took a while, but we eventually did. Yay! For anyone who doesn’t know, the town of Centralia is an old, abandoned town about fifteen minutes from “Knoebel’s”. It was originally closed because of massive underground mine-fires beneath the town, which continue to burn to this day – they can erupt again at any moment, not to mention that they emit poisonous gas and have weakened the ground considerably, meaning that the entirety of the town is prone to just collapsing at any moment. The entry-roads are now completely blocked-off, though in that wonderfully creepy way of still allowing you to view right in – instead of a big wall or something, there are big dirt piles, probably about three feet high, so, while you can’t drive over them, you can certainly climb over on foot. I really wanted to go in, but that whole “ground might collapse under you at any moment” was my breaking point, and we decided to live to fight another day; Monica was already creeped-out, and pretty much refused to even get near the road-blocks. Definitely a lot of fun just being there, though, and the dirty-looks that the bumpkin-looking natives were giving us was worth it. For more info on this awesome little spot, click here.

Friday 6/9 – Cincinnati to Philly (8 hours) And here’s where the trip really started to wear on us. Unlike the last two 8-hour drives, where we woke-up at 5:00am to get an early start, we didn’t leave the hotel until 10 or 11 or something, and boy were we sorry later when it was 6:00pm and we were still driving. Our bodies were going, but we kept our spirits up at the thought of finally hitting “Knoebel’s” for the first time after hearing so much about it. I think it was near Cinci that we saw signs for “Big Stick Lick”, or some other similarly perverted-sounding town. If anyone knows the name of it, please let me know.

Thurs 6/8 – PARAMOUNT’S KINGS ISLAND I hadn’t been to a “Paramount” park in ten years (“PKD” in ’96), so I was quite surprised to see just how “grand” it was – the big fountains and Eiffel Tower at the entrance (along with the music) really made the place feel special, like you were entering a Disney-esque magical world. The place was really crowded, though I think the ride-ops did a pretty good job of moving the lines. Before I get into the rides, though, I gotta point-out how disgusted we were with the pricing of the up-charge rides. The idea that they raise prices through-out the day seemed like such a rip-off, and really left a bad taste in our mouths – talk about “corporate”. I mean, I know this is probably more the choice of the independent ride-owners than the park, but it still left us feeling really slimy, especially since that info isn’t posted anywhere, and they try to hustle you into thinking you’re getting a great price. Also, there was some a-hole at the café’ by Drop Zone that rolled his eyes at EVERYTHING – asking him for a drink was a big friggin’ deal, taking two steps to the left and carrying the enormous weight of a turkey wrap (or whatever it was) was just too much to ask of him. Italian Job: Stunt Track – This was a cute ride, though we were both disappointed in the quality of the effects; we were expecting tons of motion and explosions, with cars skidding, helicopters flying, and big ride-rocking explosions, but all we really got was some squirting water and a few dingy sound effects. I really thought it was supposed to be more like a stunt-show. Cute, but not worth the hype, and why they’re building these all over is beyond us. Racer – We only hit the backwards side. Very fun ride. Flight of Fear – Real quick: great ride, great atmosphere, great themeing. Sling Shot – Monica isn’t big on the “extreme flats”, but she’s always willing to wait while I do something, which is always nice. Anyway, really disappointing, not worth the $15 I paid in the afternoon. Son of Beast – Ya know, I wonder about coaster-enthusiasts sometimes. It seems that as time goes on, and more and more super-smooth coasters are erected, people just have no tolerance for anything even slightly rough. I’ve heard people complain that B&M HYPERS were rough! It’s like anything that isn’t by Intamin is just too much to handle, and causes unspeakable pain, even if it’s just a slight shuffle during a valley. Of course, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, and if you don’t like being thrown out of your seat in every direction, that’s fine; I mean, hey, I won’t ride Arrow loopers cuz I can’t take the head-banging. But we just can’t comprehend how people can call certain rides rough. Now, I’m not saying this wasn’t rough, nor would I say it was even a great ride – it was kinda boring, actually, with very few long and/or steep drops, and helixes that really didn’t provide a lot in terms of G’s. However, we couldn’t quite understand why this was said to be the most unbearably painful coaster ever – it was rough, yes, but neither of us really found it that different than most other wooden coasters. How exactly is The Voyage or the “Coney Island” Cyclone, both of which we feel are ROUGHER than this one, different in their roughness than this or Rolling Thunder? Feels the same to us, just a constant, hard jack-hammering vibration sensation through-out, and that’s exactly the type of sensation we love. Anyway, good ride, but nothing special. Top Gun – Monica had never done a suspended coaster before, and I hadn’t done one in years; very cool ride, though it was definitely too short. We really liked the industrial, steel-gray look of this, as well. Tomb Raider: The Ride – We had no idea what this was, and tried to avoid all “spoilers”. Anyway, when I realized it was a “Top Spin”, I was very happy, as I love Top Spins, though Monica hates them, and would have been perfectly happy not doing this. She agreed that the themeing was awesome, though, they really did a great job making a relatively generic ride something really memorable. Drop Zone – Fun, though I gotta say I was hoping it would drop faster; I still prefer the old 1st-gen “Free Falls” to any others. ”Rockin’ Tug” – I forgot what they called it, but it was a lot of fun. The kiddie-section was really cute and well-done, more parks need big, expansive kiddie-areas like this. I wanted to hit Face Off, Delirium, and the “Scooby Doo” ride (whatever it was), but we were both getting tired, and didn’t feel like waiting for them. We both liked the park, not enough to make the trip all the way out again, but definitely something we’ll be doing in conjunction with “HW” next year. Plus, how can you beat 2 days for $50? Still ticked about the up-charge pricing, but that was definitely a pleasant surprise from a big corporate park.

Wed 6/7 – Santa Claus to KENTUCKY KINGDOM to Cincinnati More corn fields. Yippee. I believe, though, that this was the part of the trip where we drove by a memorable little store that sold smoked-meats. The name? “Cox’s Smokers” Anyway, we got to “SFKK” relatively early, and we couldn’t believe how EMPTY the place was. I mean, we’d heard it was a small park that doesn’t do a lot of business, but DAMN! We really wanted to hit this park, though, as neither of us had ever done a stand-up, and Monica had never done a shuttle-loop. Greezed Lightnin’ – Ironically, the last one I rode was this very one when it was Viper at “SFOG”, way back in the ancient year of 1996. I’m guessing you either love these or hate these, well, this was a great ride for what it was, we rode this over and over. The ride-ops were having a ton of fun, too, laughing and joking with the few of us that were there. “When I say ‘Greezed’, you say ‘Lightnin’’, ‘Greezed’!” “Lightnin’” “Greezed” “Lightnin’” “Greeeeeeeezed…..” Chang – We didn’t like the new paint-job, though we definitely thought the idea of a contest to pick the new colors was a really sweet way of promoting the park. Monica hated it, her legs were in a lot of pain afterwards; I wasn’t crazy about it, either, though I managed to get a little space between my “friends” and the seat, so it wasn’t as “un-man-friendly” as I had heard, though we both agreed the lay-out itself was kinda boring, and wouldn’t have been all that exciting even if it had been a sit-down. Wow, that was a bit of a run-on. Still, glad we got to do it. Thunder Run – THIS was an awesome ride. Lots of air, lots of laterals, and a really fast pace. One of the best of the trip. Twisted Twins – What is this? A boring CCI? Say it ain’t so! The only positive thing we could say was that we really liked the trains, they were comfy. We skipped the SLC (though it did look impressively massive), and instead hit a couple flat-rides, as we weren’t ready to leave yet. The Huss Rainbow was quite forceful, actually. Overall, we really liked this park; it was small, yes, but we liked the atmosphere, and there were a few really fun rides. Not saying we’d do the drive out there just to do this park, but we’re planning on doing “Holiday World” again next year, and we’ll probably hit this again then. It WAS obvious, however, that we were back in the land of the corporations, as the food/beverages were over-priced, and the help didn’t really want to help – we ate at the “Papa John’s” there, and they were actually OUT OF PIZZA!!! Double-you, Tee, Eff? It took about twenty minutes to get my food, and it tasted like crap. Seriously, if one of them had just pulled their pants down and taken a big dump on the plate, it would have tasted better. It was a cute little park, though, and if we lived nearby (say, within an hour or so), we would be frequent visitors. Crappy merchandise, though. As for Cincinnati… look, I don’t mean to offend anyone. I’m sure there are people on this board from Cinci that are really nice, but we really didn’t like the place, seemed like EVERYONE was really rude. I know that sounds odd considering where we’re from, but at least in NY, when someone’s rude, they say it to your face – there, they just sighed and tapped their fingers, it was like an entire population of pissed-off valley girls. Really turned us off to the city.

Tues 6/6 - HOLIDAY WORLD (And “Santa’s Lodge”) No long intro needed, The Voyage is the greatest coaster either of us have ever ridden. I could just stop the recap now, as that was definitely THE highlight of the trip, but I won’t do that to you. It was worth every second of that miserable 16-hour drive, and we’re already planning on doing it again next year. We stayed at “Santa’s Lodge”, which was incredibly homey and comfortable, and the people there were just the friendliest people you could ever imagine, but I’ll get to hotel later. First, the park: The Voyage – I’ve corresponded with Chad Miller of “The Gravity Group” a handful of times (he’s an incredibly cool, friendly guy), and this is what I said to him: “It doesn’t feel like a roller-coaster. It feels like being strapped to the hood of a car with no driver and a brick on the accelerator.” I know Robb and Elissa said it still hadn’t fully broken-in at the time they went, and, while I have no idea how long it takes for a coaster to fully “break in” (Weeks? Months? Years?), this thing was just running like nothing else. We love rough woodies, we love when a coaster just throws you around and gives you a bunch of bruises, and this was the KING of “beat-the-crap-out-of-you” fun. I know that’s not for everyone, some people hate that, but for us, we couldn’t ask for anything more. This thing was like Coney Island’s Cyclone times 10, it just SLAMMED you in every direction, tossing and turning, changing direction a million different times, the lap-bar getting tighter and tighter, causing more and more welts on your stomach as the ride wore on. I can’t say enough great things about this coaster, it was just something else. THIS is the “new breed” of coasters, it’s like every “Cyclone” and “Thunderbolt” rolled into one, then stretched to insane heights and speeds. I think the thing that impressed me the most was that there were NO straight sections of track. I mean, yes, it technically goes straight when you’re in the tunnels and stuff, but what I mean is that the “back” portion of the “Out-and-Back” design didn’t just head straight back to the beginning, it just twisted and turned, bucking in all directions, throwing you over the sides with insane laterals, to the point where you come off exhausted. Seriously, we came off the ride each time and headed to that Pepsi stand, it really knocks the wind out of you. It just… I don’t even know what else to say. This thing effing ruled. We came, we saw, we conquered, but not without a few battle-scars (legs and stomachs covered in bruises) along the way. We’ll be hitting El Toro next week, and, while I’m excited about it, and will definitely check-in with a review and a comparison of the two, I’ve always found Intamin overrated, and the promise of a “glass-smooth” ride just isn’t doing it for me; I could be completely wrong, but I have a feeling that this will end-up being a classic example of “different strokes for different folks”, with people who prefer smoother rides enjoying ET more, and people who prefer the old “rib-crackers” enjoying Voyage more. But anyway, yeah, best ride ever. Gobbler Getaway – This thing was just too cool. The neon paint-job was killer, the sound-effects were cartoonishly cute, and the tune was almost as catchy as “It’s a Small World”. Great addition. The Raven & The Legend– I really wanted to ride Raven and Legend first, as I was afraid that, after riding Voyage, I might be disappointed in the other two. Well, we hit Voyage first, but, thankfully, that didn’t happen; they were both completely kick-ass rides. I know Raven gets all the love, but I think I actually liked Legend a little more, couldn’t tell ya why. Just more awesome CCI/GG goodness. The technician who was repairing Raven was extremely nice, and I thought it really showed a lot that they had PR-reps coming over to apologize for the inconvenience. That was all we did in the park, just those four rides, and we were perfectly fine with that – we’ll take four absolutely awesome rides over ten or twenty good/mediocre ones. The park was just absolutely SPOTLESS, the surroundings were gorgeous, the ride-ops were extremely friendly and efficient, the themeing was very nicely done (it wasn’t overdone, with big cartoon turkeys or anything, but it didn’t look cheap, either – it was simple, yet very sharp, colorful, and consistent), and FREE SODA!!! Definitely our new favorite park. I know 307 and shesaidboom felt the park was poorly run, and, while I can definitely see where they were coming from, and agreed that 2-train operation was definitely warranted, this was where our “Nu Yawk” roots kept us calm, as, even with 1-train operation on Raven AND Legend during a relatively busy day, the lines were STILL shorter than the parks we generally frequent. I also have to mention “Santa’s Lodge”, which is the hotel we stayed at – it’s right down the block from the park, you can see Voyage’s lift-hill from there, and was a really nice, comfy place, very clean, with an incredibly friendly staff. Oh, and I tried grits for the first time. Holy crap was that gross. I’d heard that it could be served different ways, so maybe I just got a bad batch or something, but mine was like extremely salty oatmeal – not exactly the most appetizing thing. The waitress gave me such a… not so much a “dirty” look, she didn’t mean any ill intent, but she was clearly shocked at what I was doing; I had no idea you’re supposed eat it on a biscuit, I just had a big puddle of it on my plate, and tried to string it to my mouth with the fork. Awesome park, awesome place, awesome time.

Mon 6/5 - Pittsburgh to Santa Claus (8 hours) By far, the most boring 8 hours of my life. Gone were the gorgeous rolling hills, present were the corn-fields (or whatever they were). Once we crossed into Ohio, we started seeing all the religious stuff; not that it bothers us (or that I mean to offend anyone by saying “religious stuff”), we’re just not used to seeing religion displayed so prominently everywhere. Big-ass billboards that read “Where are YOU going to spend eternity?” are not exactly common where we’re from. Only “highlight” was a bird flying right into our windshield at 80mph. You don’t see that every day. Oh, and we couldn’t believe how many people our own age (early-20’s) were missing teeth. Just saying.

Sun 6/4 - KENNYWOOD We’ve never been to any of the parks on this trip, so it’s nice to be able to share our first-impressions with everyone. We both loved this park, it kinda reminded us of Dorney, but with more TLC taken to make it look more cozy and family-friendly. The weather was horrible, very cold, windy, and on-and-off rain, but that doesn’t change the park. The only downer was that we didn’t know just how “soft” of a soft-open they have, and being in the rain after eight hours of driving, it was a bit upsetting to find everything closed (not even running or testing!) for the first hour or so. We saw the “ride is closed” sign at the entrance to each ride, but after about half an hour, we saw a bunch of people on Thunderbolt, and figured, hey, it must be open. We went through the queue, and were greeted by some sarcastic Brit who said to his friends “here are two more who can’t read the signs”, and then yelled at us that it’s closed. I said “there are people right there”, to which he retorted, “Yes, but we’re British”. I generally try not to believe stereotypes, and I don’t mean to offend anyone on here, obviously it doesn’t apply to everyone, but you talk about a guy who really embodied the “snobby Brit”, that was him. And, yes, I know about ERT (they were a European Coaster Club), but it’s usually done BEFORE park-hours, and the park usually has a notice of some kind posted, so it’s not like I’m a complete idiot. Anyway, onto this awesome park. Phantom’s Revenge – Well, we certainly found-out why it’s featured in so many specials and magazines, that’s for sure. An absolutely incredible ride, with very comfortable, unique seating, and great air on the hills. I’ll interrupt myself for a moment, because I want to explain the differences in what we call “air” and “air-time”. To us, “air-time” is more gentle, it’s the feeling of being lifted out of your seat and staying suspended for a moment due to the momentum built-up in the first-half of a parabolic arch, whereas “air” is being outright ejected out of your seat due to the cars suddenly climbing and/or falling very sharp, “V”-shaped drops: Nitro and S:ROS have air-time, HSTC has air. Well, this thing had air out the yin-yang, those bunny-hops that are anything but round really tossed you around, and the dive under Thunderbolt is even better in person. Absolutely awesome. The Exterminator – Hell of a job on the theming, and those Reverchon models, while very cheap and ghetto-looking, really get you spinning. A great ride all around. Racer – The station and queue were beautifully old-fashioned, but that’s about all I can say about this ride. It was a nice little bit of nostalgia, but was too tame for us. Thunderbolt & Jack Rabbit – Now THESE are more our speed. I’ve always been partial to woodies, especially the real rough and wild ones, and that’s exactly what these were. Great air, great laterals, and seemed like the car was gonna go flying off the tracks at any moment. Exactly our cup of tea. Swingshot – Monica skipped-out on the one at Dorney, and it took some convincing to get her on this… afterwards, it became one of her favorite rides, and we can now enjoy them together. Anyway, absolutely awesome air, these “Screamin’ Swings” are probably my favorite flat-ride – that feeling of literally freezing in mid-air is incredible, you’re floating for so long it’s like time stands still. Nice to see so many parks adding these. “Skycoaster” – I don’t remember if it had a name, but this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me, not that it had anything to do with the park itself (I could have had this experience at any park), but there were some “problems” that made it really memorable. Monica won’t get anywhere near one of these, and I generally pass them up due to being such an expensive up-charge, but I figured it’s vacation, it had been about ten years since I did one, and it was relatively cheap, so I had to go. As I said, the weather was horrible, they had to wait for a lightning storm to pass-by, and then when I finally got up there, the wind was so bad that they wouldn’t let me pull the rip-cord. Anyway, after maybe ten minutes up there, they lower me down and add two other people to give me more weight – I really wanted to ride solo, but I also didn’t want to splat into the big metal support, so I guess it evened out. Well, again, I got up there, and we had to wait for another windy bit to finish. My co-riders were nervous, and couldn’t believe that I really wasn’t affected by anything. What can I say, I completely trust these rides. Anyway, the whole ordeal took about 30 minutes, but, hey, it was worth it; that initial head-first plunge is even more of a rush than I remembered, and I tried to let out a “WHOOO-HOOO” loud enough for the whole park to hear. Great stuff. The setting was perfect, too, as it’s RIGHT in the middle of the walkways, and over a big pool, with people able to stand right under you on the bridge. Great location. Also worth mentioning are the drop-tower (Intamin free-falls > S&S “push”-falls), which seemed to fall much quicker than any other one I’ve seen, and the amazing quality of the food at the park. I forget the name of the big café, but the food was absolutely delicious. Pittsburgh was also a beautiful, very unique city, with the trolleys, old bridges, tunnels through the mountains, and the buildings on the hills, and it was Overall, just an absolutely awesome park, and something we’ll hit again next year.

Sat 6/3 - From LI to Pittsburgh (8 hours) If you’re not from LI or NYC, especially if you’re nowhere near it or have never been there, I’ll let you in on a little secret: most N’yawkas, especially those that haven’t traveled a lot, think the entire world is like New York. We think the entire nation is crammed full of dirty, dilapidated buildings, and are paranoid enough to think that everyone is out to get us. Even if you know that the majority of the US is farm-land, you can’t really comprehend it, and when a complete stranger stops you because they want to know how your day has been, you wonder if they’re just trying to distract you while their friend picks your pocket. Even the two of us, as much as we think we’re not typical New Yorkers, and try to be really friendly and talkative with strangers, we still have the mind-set that, while packing/unpacking the car at a hotel, we still lock the doors between trips. Anyway, all that said, as soon as we crossed the PA border, and especially once we got about half-way through the state, people just got nicer and nicer. It’s also a gorgeous state, absolutely breath-taking mountains, cool, crisp air, and really lush with the greenest green nature. We love the state, and would like to move there eventually.