FLIPDUDE

Beech Bend PLEASE NOTE: Seeing as I broke my camera I will use pictures from other TRs here, I will credit each and every one of them though and link back to it's origin. If this is not okay please let me know and I will remove them immidiatly! So on the bus ride from Kentucky Kingdom I went all upset about my camera, by the time we got to Beech Bend I had decided that I was going to at least TRY and have some fun. At first I was still upset but by the end of the day I was having a blast. I was surprised at how long of a dirt road we had to drive through to get to the park. I figured "If its an amusement park, wont more people be going there?". The dirt road ended up being pretty common around midwest parks. When wegot to the park they handed out wristbands and these low-budget park maps that were basically made out of pictures of the rides. in little squares.(Awww, I lost the map ) I don't recall being in a very enthusiastic, running-to-rides-y mood but somehow I sitll ended up getting to the Wild Mouse miles before everyone else. The park wasn't much to look at but it offered some fun rides. Taken from WillMontu's TR: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38161&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30 As you can see here I was positively extatic to get my riding on after breaking my new camera. Sitting in the car(left to right): Max, me, Chris and Anthony. I hung out with Max and Anothony %70 of the day. The ride starts, keep in mind this is my first spinning mouse and 2nd mouse ever. It ende dup being extremely fun and crazy. It didn't spin like crazy because there were 4 of us in the car but it spun just enough to be crazy without making me sick. The entire ride was nice but the last airtime bump at the end made everyone go "WTF!!?!". We seriously had no idea where that came from. Well I think next we kept walking around the park(the entire park surrounded a small waterparky area) and hit the dragon wagon. Max was nice enought o let me ride in the front, but only after sitting down I realized there's zero view there because of the dragonhead. You knew this ride screamed "quality" once the ride op had to manually attach a compressed air hose to the car just to open the restraints. The ride was pretty fun(considering it was a weird little dragon wagon), and the lift made you feel like you're about to fall off. Taken from the official TR at http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=436135#436135 (I would imagine more direct credit goes to Jahan) During this part of the track the trains would go at about 1mph. Kinda like Mean Streak. Also taken from the official TR at http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=436135#436135 Next we decided to hit the pinafari looper. There is one at one of my home parks so I wondered how this will measure up. While waiting in line(which was short length-wise, but took FOREVER because of one-train operations and the back car not being operational), we talked to an EXTREMELY nice ride op lady who said she loves this ride and even had a name for it. I think it was Betsy or something like that. Or maybe that was the ride op's name? It was also getting really hot outside. Well after 20 minutes of waiting lin line and talking to the ride op. It was finally our turn to ride. The best place to ride these thigns is in the back car becuase it gets crazy airtime but since that was closed we sat somewhere else and the ride went on it's way. It really didn't measure up to the ride at my home park, and they really went crazy on trimming it at every possible point, but I didn't have the heart to tell that to the ride op. (Then again, this ride is 25 years old, the one at my home park is less). It was still a nice ride though. We continued to walk around the park, and the only credit we hadn't gotten yet was Kentucky Rumbler, but for some reason I don't remember we decided not to ride it just yet.(Or did we? My memory is kinda vague) I think maybe it was due to lack of time int he park and knowing we have ERT on it later anyway. Well, I decided to go on the log flume, but everyone else wanted to ride the power surge and didn't feel like wiating in line for the flume, so I went ahead and rode alone. In the line I noiced the water for the ride is blue. Now, keep in mind, this isn't the ocean we're talking about here. It's not blue because of the sky. It also wasn't transparent, so it wasn't the color of the track. It was this dark, creepy, I've-seen-less-colorful-sodas water. This has nothing to do wiht my art style, it is the actual color of the water, though the water were actually darker and a bit greener. Did I mention this was one of those portable log flumes? The two facts added together made me rethink riding this. I ende dup riding anyway. But some mixup(mostly at fault due to the conveyor belt at the station moving so fast) made it so I accidently rode with a small child while his dad rode in the boat bnehind us. Well the ride ende dup beign pretty fun, depsite the fact that the btotom of the big drop had these extremely... (uuuuh, what's a less inconsiderate word for Ghetto?) splash guards. Well the wait and ride ended up beign so short I actually managed to catch up with my friends at the power surge before they even went on. Chris was afraid to ride, and Freddie,who was already there, said he loved it! Picture taken from old TR by Robb: http://www.themeparkreview.com/rumbler/rumbler3.htm We got Chris to ride(he rode with me) and we all loved it. Power surges rock! I think we may have actually ridden twice but I don't remember. For the rest of the day Max and Freddie would talk my ear off about wanting to ride the Power Surge again. Well we kept walking and came across this little playground thing that was screaming "trailer mounted". In fact I think the truck itself was still there. It was obviously for little kids but it looked so cool and it had this big old slide at the end so we had to all go in and play. We made sure we weren't too old and started crawling and climbing and sliding through that thing. Image taken form www.beechbend.com It was a tight squeeze (Especially for Anthony and Chris) but we all made it to the slide. Max went down the slide and had toruble getting it to, well, slide, so when I slide down I just lifted my legs and slid on my ass so I'd slide down more easily. Then came Chris or Anthony's turn, I don't remember which one of them. But either way the slide was so small they got stuck on it. It was too friggen funny. Does anybody have a picture of that ride? After that we raced a little in the sack slide and grabbed a bite at the gorup lunch. When we came back I wanted to ride the drop tower but Max and Freddie wanted to ride the Power Surge again. So I rode the drop tower by myself. Taken from www.beechbend.com It was so creepy. As it starts to go up it starts creaking. And the furhter up you go the louder it creaks. At some point it creaks so hard you're sure something is going to break, and then, without the car stopping or anything... SNAP!!! There is a sound of a cable snapping and te car plummets down. For a second or two I HONESTLY didn't know if the ride is supposed to do that or did the cable snap.(It didn't really help that we just came back from Kentucky Kingdom, either... *cough*). I screamed my ass off. But then the brakes kicked in and all was good. That was one awsome ride. However I thought something of mine flew away so I kept looking for it. I think it was some money. I ende dup letting it go. At some point I came across Shawn and we played Mini Golf, and after that rode the UFO. This was my first time on a UFO so I didn't know what to expect. Taken from www.beechbend.com Well the entire ride was enclosed(as in, the inside of it. No tthe ride itself), and there was music playing. Some stereotypical, tough-looking african american teens walked in too. I have no idea how but somehow Shawn, the pudgy, glass wearing white dude, got into a DANCE BATTLE with them right there on the UFO, and WON!!! It was hillarious!!! I have never seen a spontaneous dance battle before, let alone one like that, and on an amusement park ride. Well, the ride starts. Next thing I know I'm stuck to the wall. Shawn managed to turn himself upside down somehow. Becase the ride is enclosed and all you can hear is the music and not the ride, it feels as though somehting's wrong wiht gravity, and not like you're on a spinning ride. It was pretty awsome, though it was a little too storng for me, I couldn't lift my head. (Shawn, however, was walking around on the walls). Next thing I know The walls move and I'm off the ground. The ride was so cool we rode it twice. (I actually htink the dance battle happened on the 2nd go) I think Shawn then went to do whatever and I decided to ride the wild mouse again but the park was closing so I quickly got a ride in on the ghost train ride. Taken from Will's TR: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38161&start=30 It looked very image from beechbend.com It actually ended up being really good and really scary. I was actually scared not knowing what's gonna pop up next and where. Taken from Will's TR Taken from Will's TR It was then time to head over to ERT on RUMBLAH! I waited in line for the front row and talked to Wanda, Shawn's grandma. She seemed like a sweet old lady with stories to tell. And indeed she had a very nice story about a pot party she attended 10 years ago. And I'm not talking about no picnic. I was extremely amused by that. The entire time trains were flying past the station from every possible direction. The station is actually in the MIDDLE of the layout. Well it came time to ride, I got in and rode. The ride was excellent! I really did enjoy it! It wasn't as good in my opinion as some of the pepole ont he trip say it was(some people consider it the #1 wooden coaster they've ever been on. For me it was maybe #3 on the trip alone.) But it was still spectacular. As I got off the ride I entered the souvenier shop the exit path goes through(kinda like the Alton Towers rides). In that souvenier shop I saw something I have not seen in a long long long time, and sorely missed. FUDGE! Many differnet types of fudge(I never realized there's more than one) were on sale at the store. I tried some, but I didn't like it so much so I threw it away. I didn't touch fudge for the rest of the trip out of fear for being dispapointed again. I don't like being disappointed by chocolate. Throwing it away makes me feel guilty. I headed back to Rumbler. At some point(maybe it was earlier that day, or last night, seeing as me and Ryan shared our room with him) GCI Joe, as I called him(Based on ACEr Joe, but then other people started calling him GCI Joe too and it lost it's meaning) told us only 6 people work for GCI. That kinda too me and Ryan by surprise. Well I kept riding Rumbler over and over and over, and relaxed on the rocking chairs outside the shop untill it was time to head back to the buses. Overall it was a very awosme day and I got to ride many cool rides and hang out with awsome people By the end of the day I was happy and almost forgot about my camera. Thanks Beech Bend! Next up... Possibly my favourite park of the trip... INDIANA BEACH!

I never really heard any Goliath bashing around here. Maybe I just blocked it out or something 'cus I love it. Awsome ride!

Don't tempt me to put that quote in as my signature.(What? I'm a cartoonsit, it's my job to think of hidden meanings and innuendos) And yeah, I think I told you over AIM but I rode in the front too and halfway through I realized my seatbelt was unbuckled and had to grab onto the front of the train scremaing my head off. Later that night when I rode int he same spot my seatbelt streched so far it actually went past the lapbars.

^What happened on the Cornball? Did he almost get ejected too?

^From what I heard riding at the front at night was total bugfest.

Lol, cool TR! Keep it going! What's witht he creepy mist effect in the first two IB pics?

Sorry to break the consensus here but it doesn't sound fishy to me at all. I beleive that hte rollercoaster did hurt him for whatever reason, he was taken to the hospital and somethign that happened during surgery or later is what made him pass on. I don't think this has anything to do with speeding up the closing of Coney Island because while Astroland is being closed it was already determined the Cyclone will stay open. Also, this is the kind of thing you can't stage just for the sake of closing down a park. Insurance fraud maybe but not closing down a park. His family claims he didn't have any health problems. There are three options. 1) They're right, and something went wrong with the ride. I find this to be less likely seeing as the ride kept operating that day. 2) They know he had problems and are not telling the truth to proteect him, his memory, the lawwsuit or whatnot. 3) None of them knew that he had problems and there's nothing wrong with the ride. I can't blame this fully on surgery seeing he did say he was losing feeling in his legs and fingers before he even got to the hospital but as to what was the full story behind it we can't know untill all the facts are checked.

^I think they were hanging out together when we got off the ride. ^^np. I figured it would help with loading times. but I still suggest after reading it you go down to the bottom and see if maybe you missed one. ^^^I didn't get claustrophobic, mostly because Ryan only rode next to me once or twice and then for some reason I don't remember we decided to sit apart. Headbanging was my magor issue. The second I would fall asleep, CLANG. Then I'd wake up but I'd still be tired so I'd go to sleep again... rinse and repeat.

^*Sigh* Well, as my mom says, always leave an amusement park wanting more.

New comic posted

Wes is right, this topic isn't about the picture it's about what's behind it, the loss of Masked_Maverick. If someone wants to comment on the picture send me a PM, but I would like to keep this thread about wha it's supposed to be.

I disagree, man, that's jsut your opinion. I used to dirnk Fanta Melon whenever I could and I'm not ta tbig a fan of grapefruit, but fi you read what I'm saying you'd notice that the fanta melon Robb's holding is green, the one over here is another color.

^I don't know what's a towel dispenser, let alone an automatic one.

Wait... Fanta Melon? We have Fanta Melon here and it's not green O.o odd.

Kentucky Kingdom - Concluded! Well after I exited the waterpark it was time to head over to the picnic area. Everyone said int hir TRs it was the best meal but I honestly don't rememebr it. Only meals I remember were Coney Isalnd(and that's just the cookies) and Kennywood(Mostly 'cus of the Sundae bar). I remember they gave us awsome park map posters, though. Crossing the bridge to the other side of the park. Remember that scenario in RCT where the park is on two sides of a highway? It's based on this park, only the highway is a little side road. At first I was real exceted to see an antique car ride thinking they're rare. There ended up being one on practically every park in the trip. This I had never seen before, thoguh. Circular bumper cars. Despite ERT having been long over now I went and rode Greez'd. Which didn't have any wait so I rode in the front. I was interested in seeing hwo it compares to Montezuma's Revenge having hear alot of things about how weight drop coasters don't compare to flywheel. It actually ended up being very awsome! The launchw asn't as intense as I had hope dbut the loop was more than what I expected and pulled some really strong Gs. I was soaking in the Schwartzkopfy goodness. Seeing as we entered the park from the back it was only now, about 4-5 hours into our day at the park that I finally got to the front gate. I went around and walked into a big old store that sold lots of candy and got some Nerds ropes, which I have spent too long of a time without. They were yummy. Earlier the line for Roadrunner was moving so slowly I decided to skip it and wiat for later but I saw the line aint getting any shorter so I figured I'd wait it out.(It doesn't look like much of a wait but ont his trip I learned that Wild Mouse coasters have a rediculously low capacity, this 10ft line ended up taking about 40 minutes) I don't remember who I rode with. I think Max and Methos and someone else? My memory is lame. It actually turned out to be a pretty cool ride! Quite forceful, not tame like Ricochet at KD. Everyone waited to get a picture of Casey going down this drop. I rathered jsut snap a picture of some other car and go get me some Ben and Jerry's. By the time I came back they were nowehre in sight and Casey was just getting off the ride. It was then time to come back to Shoe Fetish Land! Hurray for shoe-themed rides! It was quite amusing, after I sat down the ride op noticed my nametag or shirt or whatever and asked me about the trip and theme park review. He held up the entire train for like 10 minutes jsut to talk to me. I thinka t some point hte people behind me got interested too. I may have recruited 3 pepole for future trips right then and there. Time to head back to TT and try to get that illusive pink side credit! Blue was running, okay... But what about pink? Pink was running! Yay!!! I ran over to the station just in time to watch it E-stop on the brakes. Bah. ------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pink Side Campout: I then decided to wait in line untill it reopened, seeing as I got all my credits in except for Thunder Run, which showed no sign of opening. There were two TPR members waiting in line as well as two children. After 20 minutes the children left and after that the TPR members left. I just kept hanging around the station, determined to get that credit. TPRers that went by told me I'd be late for the bus. View of the blue side from the empty pink side. I waited around for an hour and a half or so. The ride ops were kinda clueless. At some point I decided to go ride the blue line and come back to the pink side's line. So I did just that, and as we dispatched I saw they were running the pink side on emptey, too. Yay! Well after the ride Ir an over to the station and the people who were just waiting in line with me came back too. I felt exemely smug thinking I'm gonna be one of the only people to get that credit, but then pretty much half the group showed up. The ride finally opened and as I was leaving the station those of us who were waiting for an hour or so shouted to the rest of hte group waiting in the station that they're gonna be late for the bus and they can't ride. The pink side ended up being a whole lot better than the blue side but I'm still not sure if that's got anything to do with what I went through to ride it or not. After riding it it was time to make my way back tot he buses. I had just enough time, especially seeing as everyone else(including Robb) were still on TT. -------------------------------------------------------------- Shoe Fetish Land had some nice theming Hurray for shoes! I only uploaded this because going over my pics I saw this and went "WTF is that? I don't remember taking a picture of that!" Delly and Chang. I had no idea what was about to happen. Sexy back. Now, as some of you may remember, I said that Deluge's first drop is something that's VERY hard to get a good picture of. So I climbed a planter to take a good pic of it, knowing I ahve ltitle time to get to the buses. All of a sudden Ryan runs past me telling me to hurry up. I snap the photo and in my hurry... This happens. I WALK OFF THE PLANTER. I don't step down. I just walk as though I forgot I'm on a 3ft planter. Next thing I know I'm face down on the tarmac and my brand new, state of the art, present from my dad for the trip, Nikon camera is at the end of some skidmarks on the ohter side of the midway. I get up and some woman asks me "Are you okay?" and I answer "At this point I'm more concirned about the camera." I start dashing for the bus, trying to turn the camera back on and all I get is "Lens Error." My camera was broken. Stay tuned to see how I continue this TR without any photos untill we get to Wisconsin! The picture I was taking right before the camera's demise:

New comic posted! And apologies to EltoroExtreme which was supposed to be in comic #46 but I got confused and drew another person instead.

Actually Twisted Sisters(the coaster) had to change it'sname to Twisted Twins because the band was suing them.

Glad you're all having fun! Awsome TR! How is everyone impressed wiht Japan?

^That's because I don't remember who rode with us. ^^Lol, thanks! I'm glad I drew the right person, I wasn't sure if it were you or the guy you were hanging out with. ^^^Err... I'm not sure if thats a positive or a negative comment.

^You can't be sure, he might've gotten on it the day of the accident. He was in the midst of a coaster run form what I understand.

^Lol, I'm not so sure that'll be there... I didn't even know you were a TPRer untill after the trip, remember? I guess you were too subtle. Keep in mind folks not anything and everythign that happened everywhere willbe in the comics. There were plenty of awsome things that happened, but: 1) Either I wasn't around to see them so I can't really make a comic about 'em 2) They're too complicated to draw(I wanted to make a comic of Casey on the Python but it didn't work out) 3) I can only make so many comics... Making four in one whack is tiresome enough and I wanna get alot more of the trip done before I get recruited on Oct. 8th. Also, don't expect to see yourself in the comic unless something memorable happened while we were together on the trip that I can turn into a joke. People who I hung out with (Freddie, Will, Max, etc.) will have a better chance to appear in comics than people who I can't recognize.

^Heheh, I remember when the Midwest trip was "less than 300 days away"

^I wasn't at the waterpark. I didnt know anybody was, so I didnt catch that moment. ^^Hey it reopened! Lol ^^^Yeah, that's Nadia Drew and Brad(I'm assuming that's who it is, I wen tby a picture, I don't know his name), though I ogtta say I'm really displeased with how Nadia came out. But this was meant to be just a sketch of all three. If I make a more detailed comic I will go the usual trace-the-face way of drawing. ^^^^Lol, that was a Hooters crew moment? I had no idea. Cool!

^Actually I did it 'cus I wanted to do a comic about the baot ride and Will was sitting next to me on it. o.O I'm not that cunning. If I were trying to slap you in the face I wouldve made it much mmore obvious And yes, Will, hopefully that is a good thing.

Several new comics posted! All of them based (at least loosely) on something real. And no, I didn't get cupons. Blah.