steel

I hate to disagree with you, Robb, but if you haven't ridden it since 2003, you don't really have any place to say whether or not it's still a bad coaster. I agree that it is *sometimes.* However, there have already been many days this season that TW has gone trimless or on low trims. And when the trims are down...

That would work a lot better. I wouldn't be surprised if they look into something like that.

I'm sure the "MCBR" he's talking about is actually the set of antirollbacks after the helix.

Upload #2. Please try again. It should work this time. Huge thanks to rckrazy06 of ThrillNetwork for helping me out. Please tell me if it works and what you think of the park. Melling Park.SV6 If this works, I will reupload Worlds of Fun 2006 as well.

^^You know why they took out the loop, right? The only reason for the PSVs was to safely navigate the loop. Without the loop, the PSVs aren't needed, meaning they can replace them with more comfortable trains. I have no idea what possessed them to choose G-Trains, but nonetheless, the thinking in it makes perfect sense.

Kennywood!007 - Yeah, it's really too bad. It could be such a great coaster if only it had different trains. Bgwfreak - Right now, it seems like it's probably on its way out. We actually had cherry cobbler on one of the nights at Kings Island. JUNE 17: KINGS ISLAND (CoasterCon XXX) -new park for me- I LOVE Kings Island. Why does everyone bash it? I had nothing but great experiences with everyone at the park. PR and Guest Relations at this park are bested only by Holiday World, IMO. Wait and see. We didn't get into the park until mid-afternoon. It was nice to have another relaxing morning. When we got into the park, I was stunned by the beauty of the place. International street is stunningly pretty. Anyway, we went to Nickelodeon Universe and rode Avatar first. I wasn't too impressed. I guess DiskOs aren't my thing. After that, we headed for Beast. Unfortunately, it was about to storm, so they closed it right before we got on. Drat. We figured there were two rides that were likely to be open: Tomb Raider and Flight of Fear. My friend told me that Tomb Raider wasn't all that great, so we hurried to Flight of Fear before the line got massive. When we got there, the line was already massive. No matter, though. It was a great place to hide from the storm. The ride itself was very disappointing. The launch was quite weak and the ride was slow and a little rough. I was expecting a launch more like that of Mr. Freeze for some reason. Oh well. Supper was pretty good. I don't remember what we had, but it was pretty good. ERT that night was Tomb Raider, Shake, Rattle, & Roll, Italian Job, Vortex, and The Beast. This session was by far the best session of ERT I have ever experienced. This is where I really started to love Kings Island. They gave out free popcorn and pop until 11:15. And Beast is magnificent. It is everything a coaster should be and more. Even after riding Voyage, it is my number one wooden coaster. The *only* problem with Beast is the MCBR. My night ride in the front row of Beast was arguably the most exciting, most fun, most miraculously perfect ride I have ever had. I don't understand why everyone complains about its roughness. Yeah, it's incredibly bouncy, but it isn't rough. Actually, the ride would be a shadow of its current self if they resolved the bouncing. Later in the week, I talked to a guy on Voyage who said it would be better if it didn't have the second lift hill. I could not disagree more. The second lift hill adds so much anticipation and so much excitement. And without the second lift, it would be impossible to have the super-gradual drop into the helix that ends the ride perfectly. Vortex sucked. Bad transitions every which-way. I want Bat back. Shake, Rattle, & Roll is a really nice little Troika. I had the pleasure of riding it during the nightly fireworks (yet another glorious feature of Kings Island). Tomb Raider was really weird. Does it usually hold you upside-down for abnormally long periods of time? Some of it was fun, but the amount of blood in my head by the time we stopped really killed the ride. On the other hand, whoever thought of putting zipper pockets in front of each seat was ingenious. Italian Job is very under-rated, IMO. The helix at the beginning is just intense enough, and the rest of the ride is simply a lot of fun. Fwoosh! I heard these are really uncomfortable for fully grown females. Wheee! Best kiddie coaster ever. Blue paid a visit to supper that night. ... Why do all the crappy coasters have to look so cool? Ick. The obligatory "Fort Kinzel" shot. ... Bleh. Wild Thornberry's River Adventure. Never got to riding it. Just as well, though. I probably wouldn't have liked it all that much. Avatar (which is not a coaster) is about as so-so as they come. By the time it actually started to get fun, the ride was over. Little Bill's Giggle Coaster. More on that later. Beautiful International Street. I think I took this picture all four days there. Ah, there's the entrance. I thought this was the entrance at first. Very confusing. Beautiful.

They still don't do the ride justice, though. Both of them make the Stengels look a little weak. BTW, I flagged the second one as inappropriate for "Other Terms of Use Violation" because the guy is bragging that he did this without getting caught. That really gets me mad. I would love you all if you followed my lead here. He doesn't deserve to have videos on YouTube if he feels like he needs to brag about breaking park rules and putting other people in danger (can you imagine getting hit by a camera anywhere on Maverick? That's almost as bad as TTD).

Bgwfreak - Yes, the lunch line was very long and very unorganized. That wasn't fun to wait. Kennywood!007 - The names don't actually light up like that, but yes, the ride looks really cool at night. JUNE 16: MEMPHIS KIDDIE PARK -new park to me- & GEAUGA LAKE (CoasterEXT) The nice people at Geauga Lake knew that most of us would be totally wiped out from Mania, so they forwent morning ERT and let us sleep in. Thank you, thank you, thank you. On the way to GLP, we credit stopped at Memphis Kiddie Park. Nothing to report there. We actually arrived at the park about an hour before the lunch. More than enough time to ride Head Spin, Big Dipper, Thunderhawk, Double Loop, Villain, and Beaver Land Mine Ride. The park looks really strange without X-Flight and Venom. There's not really a point in keeping Head Spin now unless they put something in, which I doubt. Lunch was okay. Typical event food. Hot dogs and potato salad. Every single time. Without fail. The Q&A session after lunch sucked like nobody's business. He really did look and sound like we suspected him of murder most foul. We decided we couldn't bear any more of it, so we took a walk to Wildwater Kingdom. I love this water park. It's one of the best anywhere, IMO. And I've never even done anything there except walk through. We made our way to the new Lego Racing 4D show, which was pretty dumb, then rode the ultra-fast scrambler that they have up there. BTW, if any of you want to know Geauga Lakes 2008 plans, they're on the kitchen table in the red house between Wolf Bobs and Wildwater Kingdom. No joke. We had heard by this time that Bobs had vallied, so we went to see for ourselves. Yep. Right there in the middle of the track. For some reason, they didn't want us to take pictures (which was really weird), but I did sort of get a picture from Dominator's exit path. I was disappointed by this. I loved Bobs last year and I really wanted to ride it again. Dominator was running normally. Nothing too fast or too slow. I love the first drop from the back row. We were going to do RipCord, but they were booked until 7:30, and there was no way we could stay that long. I want Geauga Lake to be good. I really do. If it were anywhere else in the world, it would be a successful place. I think the park is beautiful and the atmosphere is lovely. It just happens to be a little too close to Cedar Point. I'll leave you with this. Just in case you didn't notice the huge enormous gigantic gaping hole at the front of the park. Last year I rode Villain in the second row and I nearly dislocated three of my vertebrae. This year I rode Villain in the front row and I nearly dislocated only two of my vertebrae. ... Dominator broke down right before we got to the front row. They ran a train empty and stopped at the midcourse, so we decided to leave. What are you supposed to do at GLP when Venom and X-Flight are gone and RWB and Dominator are down? ... You can still see the wording on the station - "Bruce Wayne Industries." Ah, there we go. Much better. I didn't actually mean for this to be such a good picture. I was actually aiming for the RWB train. Let's zoom in a bit. Interesting view of the cobra roll. Signature shot. If only those stupid cables weren't there... Great picture. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Walking back to Wildwater Kingdom. But I like this view of Dominator more. I like this view of Dominator. Lunchtime! OMGtrain. Yummy. These things annoy me. But that's a completely different story that I won't go into. Double Loop actually wasn't bad. It's got some nice airtime. They even take a video of your torture. ... ... *vomits* ... Shipwreck Falls was closed for some reason. ... I don't know why I rode Head Spin. This is just wrong. I love GLP's entrance. This honestly has to be the most terrifying mascot at any park anywhere. Not quite Millennium Force, but it'll do. Thar she blows.

^When did you ride it? I rode it in the third row at Mania and I only got Wild Thing-esque until the last two hills. Maybe I just got a bad ride.

It varies from day to day this season. Your best bet is to probably ride in the very front first. Then, if it seems bearable, head straight for the back.

Steel, this would be jumping to conclusions. I did explain that in my second post. Either way, I would not consider that jumping to conclusions, since they were rude *in my experience.* We weren't flaming either. I don't recall anyone saying anything about anyone else personally. In fact, none of us ever even raised our intellectual voices, if you will. Obviously, we're not getting anywhere, but I certainly would not think of it as flaming. On topic now. It would make sense that her feet were "torn off," since witnesses say the cable "whipped around." If this is indeed true, the cable could easily have wrapped around the girls feet and pulled. Something like a lasso.

Oh god, she was right in front of me in line for Roadrunner Express. I remember her specifically.

2004 Storm Runner 2006 Patriot 2007 Renegade Maverick

Well that's why you hold on. It really isn't that bad if you hold on.

^Are you kidding? Demon Drop is fifty bagillion times better than Powerless Tower! It's hardly even a contest! PT is about as forceful as Jr. Gemeni! Awesome trip report, though. I would love to live less than ten hours away from Cedar Point. That seems like it would be nice.

When? I was with my mom at Mayhem this year, lol. If you mean Mania, the younger one was my friend from Michigan and the older one was my dad. JUNE 15: CEDAR POINT (CoasterMania) First of all, 6:00 EST is way too early for a CDT native to ride coasters. But Maverick awakened me nicely. I can't say enough about Maverick. It's *this* close to being perfect, but those darn harnesses take away just enough from the ride to knock it out of first place. The first drop is totally insane in the back row. You slow down at the top of the hill, so you think it might not be all that great, but then it whips you over like nothing else. The rest of the ride is a perfect mix of speed and intensity. There is not a weak moment on the ride. The problem with Mania is the massive crowds. It would be so much better if they had two Manias on two different days to divide the crowds in half. MF is still the best. Maverick lines drastically shortened MF lines, which was heavenly. I don't think MF has a lot of airtime or anything, but if you honestly think that it doesn't have any, you need to go back and ride it again. Raptor and Skyhawk were also running during ERT. Raptor's onride video feature is working, but it really isn't that interesting. I prefer onride photos (although it was really funny when the recorder caught me frantically stuffing my lanyard down my shirt while going into the vertical loop - great stuff). The rest of the day was pretty much as expected. The Q&A session was really great. They answered a lot of questions that I thought would never be answered. We ended up riding Maverick four more times before closing, which puts my Maverick count at six. Night ERT on Dragster was brilliant, but I was way too tired to enjoy it fully. We rode it twice before leaving. The second time, my watch turned to midnight the very second we launched. Sweet. vacation07cp 026.mpg Maverick's water bombs at dusk. TTD sometime around midnight. The line of ERT-goers stretched past Corkscrew's corkscrews before they opened the queue for us. Apparently, Maverick's trains look really cool in night pictures. The exit path goes over the station. First time you've ever seen this, eh? Oops, I forgot a couple day pictures. Finally! Too bad it's the shortest single rider line ever. Hitchin' Post is the Maverick Gift Shop. For some reason, there's a sign for it in the queue. This might just be the coolest picture ever taken. This will be my avatar in a few hours. Snake River Falls is pretty at night as well. Maverick is especially gorgeous at dusk. My camera died right after I took this. That's why I don't have many Maverick pictures. Sorry. I love Demon Drop. I like this picture. GAH! I *just* missed the money shot! Stupid support! I bet you've never seen this before. Yay! We didn't actually ride this, either. We never got around to maXair either. That's okay though. I've never much liked giant frisbees. Please don't shoot me. I just think they're boring. We planned to ride DT right before closing, when the lines are shortest, but we ended up riding Maverick instead. Troika is always a great ride. Love this shot. Delicious.

Lol, my dad drove.

Ride in back next time. Somehow, it's even better.

In telling me not to jump to conclusions, you yourself are, in fact, jumping to the conclusion that I didn't know why she was yelling. I do actually know exactly what was happening because I was in line when it happened. A little kid was sitting on the railing with his sister and dad behind him. I'm not saying this was okay, but there are way better was to handle a situation like this than yelling, which is exactly what happened. I'm not saying that guests are always perfect little angels. I know very well how nasty people can be. I am, however, saying that many employees at SFKK do not know how to effectively handle situations involving misbehaving guests without coming off as rude.

The Schedule: June 13: drive to Muskegon 14: MIA; drive to Ann Arbor; drive to Sandusky; Maverick 15: CoasterMania; drive to Cleveland 16: CoasterEXT 17: drive to Mason; register for CoasterCon XXX; KI 18: KI; Stricker's Grove; Wonderpark 19: KI; Coney Island 20: KI; CoasterCon Banquet 21: drive to Louisville; SFKK; drive to Santa Claus; HW 22: HW 23: drive to Bowling Green; Beech Bend; drive to Lafayette 24: Indiana Beach; drive to Chicago 25: SFGAm 26: drive home JUNE 14: MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE, ETC. We ended up getting to the park about 45 minutes early (what kind of park opens at 11:00 am in the middle of June?). Great start to the trip. As you will see, this proved to be only the beginning of a series of events that would make this vacation the most memorable of my life. EDIT: I apologize for the size of the photos. The next ones will be smaller. I promise. Yet another booming day at Michigan's Adventure. Stay tuned for pictures from CoasterMania at Cedar Point. Zas Zoor! Lol. Seriously, though, Zach's Zoomer was instrumental in the growth of my love for coasters. Still closed! W00t! We didn't go into Wildwater Adventure, but Funnel of Fear looks pretty cool. I hadn't ever ridden Grand Rapids before this trip. It was actually a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to ride this without getting soaked. I don't care what you say. Wolverine Wildcat can be a lot of fun. MIA's train is just about the most pointless ride in existence. You don't even go past any rides, other than Timbers, as seen here. Flying Trapeze was wonderful, of course. I still prefer Valleyfair!'s, but this one did just fine. We didn't actually ride this. I just like the view. I don't think there's an angle of Shivering Timbers that isn't awesome. There were even people down at the bottom of the first drop looking all thoughtful and perplexed. Woohoo! Corkscrew was closed. OMGZ YAY!!!!!!11!!!2!!!!one! I am head over heels in love with its picture. If only it had a train... Oh well. I snapped this coming into the parking lot.

I'll have you know that Beast is my #3 coaster. That's even ahead of Voyage. Great TR. CoasterMania was a lot of fun. What did you not like about Maverick? I can understand it if you tried to keep your hands up and rode in the middle or something.

There should be no difference between SFKK's and Disney's staffs. They are both amusement parks. They both have rides. They both have roller coasters. The only differences are the amount of theming and the size. Disney has young employees as well. So what? SFKK's staff is rude. The op at Rollerskater was actually yelling at a group of kids when I was there. If that's not rude, please tell me what is. If it's only the task of the rides to give people a good experience, then why does Holiday World constantly win awards? Sure, Voyage and Raven are great, but the park really doesn't have any other standout rides. SFKK has Superman, Thunder Run, Greezed Lightnin', and Chang. All of these are fairly good rides, but the park is still horrible. All of it has to do with maintenance, upkeep, and friendliness. If a park has a crappy atmosphere, people don't want to come back. You say that they can't just leave and find another job. I'm sorry, but that just is not true. I don't care what part of the country you're in. There are plenty of Targets, Dairy Queens, and Burger Kings to go around.

That video doesn't even come close to describing the ride. The transitions feel so, so, so much faster than that, especially the Stengels. You really can't see the launch in the video, but it plasters you to your seat perfectly. I love this ride. I love, love, love this ride. It never gets old and it never lets up. It would be my number one coaster if not for the OTSRs. As is, I place it right behind Millennium Force as number two.

I hate to disagree with you, but Kentucky Kindom really is the worst park I've ever been to. First of all, a simple hose-down of the park doesn't do the trick. Paint was peeling in a lot of places. Rooves needed to be replaced. Many of the rides looked old and faded. And I'm really sorry about this, and I don't mean your brother personally, but the staff SUCKS overall. You say that it's funny when they sing. That may be true for some people, but it's also, it's annoying, inefficient, and unprofessional when a job needs to be done. Chang was releasing trains so slow that we were stacked longer than we were riding. Same story with T2, which was the most painful coaster I have ever had the displeasure to ride. The worst was Thunder Run (by far the best ride in the park). My friend was getting on as I exited. A young man in a wheelchair had to get on the ride as well. So the ride ops handled that normally. No problem, right? Well, it wouldn't be a problem if not for everything that happened next. After this young man was safely buckled in, one of the two ops plays around with his wheelchair for two full minutes before doing anything. Finally, they opened the gates and let my friend and the rest of the train in. One of the people who boarded was extremely overweight. She probably should never have gotten in line. One op tried to staple her by herself for around three minutes before asking the other op to come over and use her weight to help get her in safely. It took about five minutes just to get her in, and she looked like she could barely breathe. I propose that you should not be allowed to ride if it takes two people to buckle you in. That can't have been safe. After all this, they finally unlocked the lapbars and spent another three minutes checking. All in all, it took nearly fifteen minutes to release ONE train. If that's efficient, please give me an example of inefficient. One more thing - if your excuse for this behavior is the heat, please take a look at Six Flags Over Texas, Beech Bend, or even Holiday World. All of those parks are as far south or further south than SFKK and I have had great experiences with the staffs at each one (HW in particular, of course). EDIT: ^I don't think they were able to reattatch the feet, if that is what you are asking.

"Ratatouille" is the only one I care about at all. I was really excited for "Evan Almighty," but I've heard nothing good about it. Lot's of reviews calling it a waste of talent and a boring family movie. "Transformers" should go electrocute itself for all I care. I've never seen a good Micheal Bay movie, and he's a jerk in real life.