cygnusx1

I'll update my old list using coasters I have actually ridden now. Best endings: Raptor - corkscrew into a double helix Flight of Fear's ending corkscrew Dominator Big Bad Wolf's drop over the river (RIP) Worst endings: Mean Streak Volcano I don't really like Alpengeist's ending compared to the first half of Alpie and the endings of the other B&M inverts I've been on.

Gotta update my list now! 2 new parks, cf. Busch Gardens Europe and Cedar Point... Top 10 steel (not including clones), approximately... : 1a. Montu, Busch Gardens Africa 1b. Apollo's Chariot, Busch Gardens Europe 3. Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point 4. Wicked Twister, Cedar Point 5. Volcano, Kings Dominion 6. Raptor, Cedar Point 7. SheiKra, Busch Gardens Africa 8. Millennium Force, Cedar Point 9. Dominator, Kings Dominion 10. Flight of Fear, Kings Dominion / Poltergeist, SFFT Wood, at least for this year: 1. Rebel Yell (South), Kings Dominion 2. Blue Streak, Cedar Point 3t. Grizzly, Kings Dominion 3t. Hurler, Kings Dominion 5. Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster, Kings Dominion 6. Gwazi Tigre, Busch Gardens Africa (all right ride, but didn't make much of an impression on me compared to the others in the park) 7, and last. Mean Streak, Cedar Point I need to ride some more of the great wooden coasters before I really think about combining the lists. edit: oops, somewhere Maverick probably ought to fit into my top 10... great ride that I rode 4 times in less than an hour on a recent visit to CP, but the OTSRs gave my shoulders bruises for the next two weeks.

Right now I think mine are: 1, and the others are not even close: maXair at Cedar Point. I got off of that one thinking I had never had that much fun on any ride, including coasters... except maybe on Montu and Apollo's Chariot! The upside-down view of the park on maXair late at night is mindblowing. 2. Drop Tower at Kings Dominion... great view of the park and very good airtime. I wish I made my visits to my home park with more people that could summon the courage to ride it, haha. 3. Flying Eagles at Kings Dominion 4. Super Himalayas are fun... I'll pick Trade Wind at Busch Gardens Europe since it gave me nice airtime earlier this season! 5a. Huss Troikas... I'd go with Triple Spin at Kings Dominion for this. I've also ridden the Troika at Cedar Point, but its setting in the park isn't so great and makes the ride look wimpy with maXair and Wicked Twister so close by. 5b. Tea cups at wherever... my first set was Mad Tea Party at the Magic Kingdom, but I like SFFT's too because they're billiard balls (non-traditional theme) One that I think is highly, highly overrated: Skyhawk. It did nothing for me at all... except cause my acrophobia to kick in (which even Top Thrill Dragster did not do!). I got no airtime on that thing and was happy to get off.

The Drop Tower itself is 305 feet tall. It drops from 272 feet. That's the height that the ride ops give when they tell you about the ride on the way up.

Of the rerides I have gotten: Montu (BGA), Grizzly (KD). Of the rerides I nearly got: Apollo's Chariot (BGE). Next year: Laser Snake Horse on Fire Behind the Other Snake Ride, Kings Dominion.

^ "fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo"?! Did you actually type all of that out, or does TPR censor that word because we don't like having to pay to put our stuff away? If so, that is a great word censor, even better than "indoor sporting eventing" and "that other donkey from that other movie" on the Washington Capitals' message boards. I have a digital camera case that I can tie onto my belt so that my stuff doesn't go anywhere... it's also big enough to (tightly) fit my cell phone and keys. I took it on Alpie and Apollo with no problem. I tied it down very well and creatively (involving my belt, two belt loops, and using the wrist strap on my camera to make sure the zipper was going nowhere!) so that I would not lose them on the ride. Let me make it abundantly clear: *No*, I did not actually *use* the camera or the cell phone while on the rides! And the only thing the ride ops had to hold for me was my hat. They didn't make me pay to put that away. Before I figured out that I could do this, the ride ops on Griffon in the morning let me put my stuff down by the exit ramp but made it clear to me that I was holding up the line. I didn't pay for a locker all day. Edit: Wow. Just wow. That word is censored. Next I'll try... Vekoma?

At some Subway restaurants in Maryland, I have found coupons offering varying discounts for Hersheypark (depending on the time of year) for up to 6 admissions. I think it's $12 off for June. I think I've also seen these coupons at Burger Kings.

I'll answer a couple questions... 1. As another poster said, KD for more credits, BGE for better shows/theming. I think Apollo's Chariot is the best coaster at either of the parks. Also, if you're interested in riding Big Bad Wolf (Arrow suspended coaster with cool theming), rumors have said that this season is the last season for that coaster. 4. Kings Dominion is hosting HurlFest on Saturday, which will have ERT on Volcano, Dominator, Flight of Fear, and Anaconda. The ERT is from 9:00-10:30am; more info on this event is available at KDFansite. It would be well worth it to go to that, maybe stay until lunchtime to pick up the rest of the credits in the park, and then go to BGE. BGE has 6 credits (counting Grover's) which should only take a couple hours to pick up all of. If you're not interested going to Hurlfest, but you do want to do KD, wait until Sunday. Saturdays in the summer are extremely crowded; expect lines to spill out of their queue areas by mid-afternoon and be slow. In contrast, BGE's lines all move pretty fast (I especially noticed this on Alpengeist), except for Big Bad Wolf's. 5. I would doubt it, especially if you're going to the park on Sunday. BGE's crews are good at handling big crowds... when I rode Alpie there on Memorial Day, the line went out of the queue house and through the next set of switchbacks. I was expecting it to be about a 45 minute wait from there (given wait times for Volcano and Dominator at KD) and got through it in 15 minutes. My longest line of the day was about 25 minutes. Griffon's line went up to about 35 minutes in the afternoon; I waited about 15 minutes for the back and 20 for the front in the morning. I'd say ride a couple coasters and gauge the crowds before you decide whether or not QuickQueue is worth the extra money... you've already pointed out (rightfully) that BGE's ticket prices are higher than most of the neighboring parks. If you want, and since you are not a Virginia resident, you can buy tickets online that let you go back to the park as many times as you want to in a week with the first day's ticket.

Of what I have ridden... 1. Montu, Busch Gardens Tampa 2. Dominator, Kings Dominion 3. Volcano, Kings Dominion 4. SheiKra, Busch Gardens Tampa 5. Flight of Fear, Kings Dominion 6. Poltergeist, SFFT 7. Kumba, Busch Gardens Tampa 8. Hurler, Kings Dominion 9. Rebel Yell, Kings Dominion (when it runs well) 10. Gwazi, Busch Gardens Africa and 11 would be Tony Hawk's Big Spin, SFFT. Too bad I chickened out on the Superman Krypton Coaster that year; I hope I get another chance to ride it! I'm going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg on Monday and hopefully SFGAdv and Hersheypark the week after next.

I'm in a similar situation since I'll be in Williamsburg with my folks from Sunday night through Wednesday, with two park days (Mon and Tues). Right now we are planning to do BGE on Monday (Memorial Day) and Water Country on Tuesday. Our reasoning for this is that BGE will be open later (8pm) on Monday than on Tuesday. How are BGE's crowds on Memorial Day? Would you recommend that we switch those two days?

Do you know if it will be open by June 1? That's when I'm planning to make the 3-hour drive up to SFGAdv, and I really want to ride KK and El Toro.

Hi Matthew, I'll be there tomorrow to pick up my season pass and go to the KDFansite meetup. I plan on staying open to close. 1. Would Log Flume and WWC be open? I expect so. I went on the 2nd or 3rd weekend of the season last year, and they were open. Very short lines too... I think I did 3 laps on WWC before I had to get off. 2. How much is the range of food, and wheres the best place to go to? I've got several favorite food places. Wayside Grill has decent burgers, and the Juke Box Diner has good fries. I like the $5 footlong hot dogs at Johnny's too. You can get a big bag of pretty good popcorn for - I think - about $3 at a lot of places throughout the park (especially in the Grove). 3. Is there going to be a mass amount of crowds during opening day? Sometimes there is, and later in April may be a better time to visit. I may also be going on the 25th. Another thing to keep in mind is that others' past opening day TRs for KD have mentioned that some of the ride ops were slower on Opening Day because it was their first day on the job. 4. I know I said my friend wants to ride coasters, but he hasn't sense 06, so I want to warm him up. Whats the best way to go? Old VA, or Congo? I've heard that Grizzly is closed for rehab through at least the middle of May. Hurler is actually my favorite woodie in the park, but a lot of people would disagree. I sit in the front to avoid the pain and get really good airtime on several of the hills. I took a guy to the park last year who had never ridden a coaster before. Since KD has one of the best collections of launched coasters in the world, I started him off with Backlot, then Flight of Fear, then Volcano. If you want to take him on the non-launched coasters, Rebel Yell or Hurler is good. Dominator's great if your friend is up for it. Get him ready to ride Volcano after dark too - it is a great ride at night! A good flat ride for a little inversion practice is Triple Spin, near Shockwave. I can usually get a reride on it. I think that may be the best flat ride in the park, not counting the Drop Tower. 5. We should go through the park more than 3 times right, if were staying that long? Probably so. In April the lines tend to be shorter. When I went on a Saturday in April last year, I had no problem getting rerides on Anaconda and Grizzly.

Montu at Busch Gardens Africa. I think I could ride Montu all day and not get tired of it. I love being upside down, and I love B&Ms. I have a pretty long wish list for parks I would like to visit eventually. So from parks I haven't been to, I might choose Black Mamba at Phantasialand, Katun or iSpeed at Mirabilandia (I'd love to see what iSpeed looks like when it's finished!), Hulk at IoA, or The Voyage at Holiday World.

Upcharge flashpass systems. Either give first-in-line privileges to no one or everyone. And don't charge extra for it! The flash pass prices and how often the park guests used them were the one thing that made me decide against going to Islands of Adventure on my recent trip to Florida and just take a second day at BGA / Adventure Island instead... and Montu made that time well spent! That said, I have a VIP pass at Kings Dominion and did one of the walk-on Wednesdays this year. But I didn't have to pay extra for that. A few honorable mentions: - Paying for parking, unless they're also going to give me a free full tank of gas for the way home. - Midway game operators with megaphones. This year, "A quarter to play, a quarter to win" sounds really good to the Washington Nationals. - Regular fast-food restaurants that I can go to outside the park for 1/3 the price. I like getting good food that's only at the park. - Themed areas and rides that don't fit with the park's theme, for example the upcoming Sesame Street at Busch Gardens or the Italian Job coaster in the middle of Congo at Kings Dominion (it's a fun ride, but poorly placed)

Montu at Busch Gardens Africa, 15 days ago.

My best was four (Flight of Fear at KD, Poltergeist at SFFT) until June, when I rode Dominator at KD. Then I just got back from a trip to Tampa, where I rode all of the coasters at Busch Gardens Africa except for Gwazi Lion (closed). So now it's Kumba and Montu, 7 each. Kumba: 1. Vertical loop which the lift hill passes through 2. Dive loop 3. Zero-G roll going left 4,5. Cobra roll 6,7. Interlocking corkscrews after MCBR Montu: 1. Vertical loop 2. Immelman with the big tower as a footchopper 3. Zero-G roll going right 4,5. Batwing 6. Smaller vertical loop after MCBR 7. Corkscrew going left

I might go to a ballgame. Then I'll watch Michael Phelps. But I'm flying to Florida on Wednesday and am planning to get my Kumba, Montu, and SheiKra credits on Thursday!

I have a small statue of two sharks from SeaWorld San Antonio and a baseball from Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, both of which I bought this year. The baseball has pictures of the Master Blaster, the Hillside Tube Chutes, and a couple other things from Schlitterbahn. I keep both of them on my desk at work.

I took a vacation to San Antonio over the 4th of July. It was my second trip there (first one was in 2005). I hope to go again in a couple of years.

SeaWorld San Antonio Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Six Flags Fiesta Texas (2 days) Kings Dominion

Yeah, I'm afraid of heights and don't ride many coasters. After BTTM at Disney World as a kid, I didn't ride another coaster until Flight of Fear two years ago (I didn't like it then; I must have been too tense when I rode it)... and then didn't visit another park until I went to some San Antonio parks in July. So the small- to mid-sized coasters were good enough for me today. Thanks for that bit of information about Volcano's line. I thought that building had about an hour and a half of queue, like FoF's would if all of the switchbacks were in use.

I'll post this to KDSource and Theme Park Review. I went to Kings Dominion with my folks today. We really wanted to take some people with us, but we must not have given them enough notice for that to happen. So my folks went on their rides, and I wandered around the park all day and went on a few rides myself. We got to the park around 11, and after getting a locker for my stuff I went straight to Flight of Fear. There was about a 2 train wait for it. I rode in the third car the first time and had the front car to myself the second time. The line was just in the loading area, not into the rest of the queue, so I just got back in line in the loading area and rode it the second time. The ride was a lot better than I remembered it. The corkscrew at the end is still my favorite part of any spaghetti bowl coaster! (I went on Poltergeist at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in July.) I find it interesting how SFFT and KD have such different ways to present the same coaster. At SFFT the station is a peaceful-looking German house, and when the train comes to you there are people in it. The track is outside, and except for not having a midcourse brake run it's basically the same coaster. (I thought it was better without the MCBR.) With Flight of Fear I like the setting a lot better. The spaghetti bowl layout and the black track really make it "work" as an indoor coaster. Riding it in the front seat today might be the best experience I've had on a ride all year. The people behind me weren't screaming (or at least they were in cars behind me - I had the "Theme Park Review POV" seat), and it was just me and this big ball of track. Also, the rumbling sound that KD has on FOF before the launch is not on Poltergeist and really adds to the intensity of that ride. Next I went over to Italian Job, which was down. I was drinking water like a fish since it was 97 out and humid today (that's not that hot... Radhames Liz is throwing harder than 97 for the Orioles tonight!... heh). So I got more water and headed back toward Avalanche. That ride opened at noon, so I spent about 10 minutes waiting for it to open and had about a 3 train wait. Again, I had no one to ride with; so I got the front seat and basically rode pkdcoaster's Avalanche video, which is in my Winamp... cool. The ride itself didn't do much for me though, aside from its uniqueness as the only ride of its kind in the US. It could have been longer. So after Avalanche, I got back in line for Italian Job, which broke down again soon after I got in line. I was about 5th in line for the front seat, and a few people in front of me left while an attendant was checking the ride and watching 2-3 test runs. So I ended up being second or third in line for a front seat... pretty good deal. I found the helix was appropriately intense (didn't black out but got some decent G forces) and the second launch and the dark part of the ride were really good. That overbanked turn was fun too! In all, I consider that ride fun, although it could have been longer especially since it has multiple launches. After that, I headed back to Ricochet. I got the back of the car for that one, which was pretty much a walk-on. I wanted to ride Ricochet since I rode the new Gerstlauer spinner at SFFT (Tony Hawk's Big Spin) and wanted to see how a regular wild mouse compared. The first drop on Ricochet was pretty nice; but I found the brakes were on way too strong, especially in the last couple brake runs. That said, if the brake runs are the only thing you don't like about Ricochet, ride one of the new Gerstlauer spinners if you can... they're a lot of fun, and you get a different ride every time. It's like a ProSlide Tornado compared to a regular water slide of the same height. By then it was a little after 12:30, so I wanted to get one more ride in before lunch. I went with the Flying Eagles, which I thought was a good choice for my first flat of the day. Lunch at the Wayside Grill was decent; but I could have used more food considering that I was hungry and that a 1/4 pound hamburger, fries, and small Vault was $10.75. I then visited the Action F/X Theater for the SpongeBob SquarePants movie. That was the first time I've ever watched SpongeBob out of my own free will (I was desperate for a motion simulator ride after all of this actual motion). All I can say is that KD needs to get a new movie in that theater. The "ride" itself was still pretty fun. Then I got ready to head to WaterWorks. At WaterWorks I noticed that Tornado had a huge line just to get tubes. Baja Bends, likewise, had a line off the tower. Spiral Chute and Shoot the Curl were both closed even though the waterpark was packed and it was pretty hot out. So I headed back to Pipeline Peak. The Peak, which I'd say has the best slides in the water park aside from the Tornado, had a relatively short line of about two flights of stairs for any of the 4 slides on it. I went on Rip Tide but was disappointed when the lifeguard wouldn't let me ride solo on Turbo Twister. Rip Tide was a pretty good ride today. Power Plunge was disappointing, however. I got a lot of water up my nose, and I had to concentrate on keeping my stuff together (hat, water shoes, and shirt - which I had to remove for the ride... why?) rather than the ride itself. Without my shirt on, the slide was very bumpy. I guess ProSlide body slides don't age well. I also got a ride on Zoom Flume with a pretty cool couple. That slide's rather fun. The double-down at the end gave good air. I rode a ProSlide Mammoth at Fiesta Texas, which was OK (fun but not nearly as good as their great CannonBowl!), and thought this one was significantly better. After some time in Big Wave Bay, which is bigger and was less crowded than Tidal Wave Bay (which KD did a great job on - it's a very nice-looking wave pool!), I went back to Tornado. I went ahead and waited in line, riding with another cool couple (not the girl and her boyfriend who was *smoking in line* in front of me... grrr...). I really enjoyed this Tornado. I rode a Tornado at SFFT earlier this year; it was taller and had a great drop on it. The spiral down to the drop was cool on KD's Tornado, even though the drop itself was shorter. We still got a great angle in the funnel; we went back and forth a bunch of times; and the girl that I was riding with almost crashed into me. After that, I went with them to FreeStylin', which I liked as much as I ever have. Of course I went down FreeStylin' backwards. I was done for the day in the water park after that and headed for Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion. I didn't ride it, though, because the line was pretty long (it went out of the building). By then it was 5:30, so I only had time for one more ride; I chose Nickelodeon Space Surfer based on some recommendations from people at KDSource. I enjoyed the ride. I'm normally afraid of heights, but in this case I had fun looking down at the trees and little people. After a full day in water shoes, it felt good to take them off for the Space Surfer. That ride is one of the park's out-of-the-way, well-kept secrets. There was a 1-load wait for it. After that, we left around 6 so that we could get back home to watch Radhames Liz make his major league debut with the Orioles. (We're Baysox fans and have seen him pitch 3 times in person already; he puts on a great show!) I didn't get to have my first-ever ride on Volcano today; the line almost went out of the station when I went over there around noon to ride Avalanche; and when I came back after leaving the water park, it was down.

Remove the mid-course brakes on Flight of Fear. I rode Poltergeist this summer, so I know that spaghetti bowls are great without the brakes!

One that I can think of right off the top of my head is one that I just rode today, Tony Hawk's Big Spin at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I'll hopefully be able to post a photo TR of my San Antonio trip next week (went to Sea World - but did not ride Journey to Atlantis, Schlitterbahn, and 2 days of SFFT). I think I also rode a few new rides at Disney World in the early to mid 1990s in their first season; I wasn't keeping track. At Kings Dominion... - when their water park first opened I did Splash Island (the kids area) - Pipeline Peak / Big Wave Bay - 7th Portal in the Action F/X Theater - Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion - hoping to get the new WaterWorks rides in this year, if I get to go. Now that I'm working full time, days off during the week don't come so often.

Regina - Tobu Zoo Park (Japan) "Regina" is Italian or Latin for "queen"; it's also a woman's name.