Coaster Expedition 2007: Mania, EXT, Con 30, and more

steel · June 27, 2007

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.

Swoosh · June 27, 2007

So who went with you steel, since you are not old enough to drive yet?

steel · June 27, 2007

Lol, my dad drove.

Swoosh · June 27, 2007

Was that the guy you were with at Mania? -- corrected because i stoopedd

steel · June 27, 2007

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.

bgwfreak · June 27, 2007

Yeah i couldn't believe all the people queueing up for Dragster that night.

It was as long as the line for lunch that time Robb was there a couple years ago (at least I think it was Robb's video). These things run together after a while.

Surprisingly though waits weren't bad even with all those people.

kennywood!007 · June 27, 2007

Wow, very nice photo TR! Mavericks trains look awesome at night!

steel · June 28, 2007

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.

kennywood!007 · June 28, 2007

Villian sucks so bad. It looks awesome, and like it will have tons of air, but then you ride it and your like "WTF!!!"

bgwfreak · June 28, 2007

Looks like the observation tower is still stuck in the same place it was on the 13th!!

I'm hoping that Carowinds still is good to us at C3. We even had CHEESE CAKE for dessert last year!

steel · June 28, 2007

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.

steel · June 29, 2007

JUNE 18: KINGS ISLAND (CoasterCon XXX), STRICKER'S GROVE -new park to me-, WONDERPARK -new park to me-

Here's where the fun started. We were half way to the park when my dad discovered that he had left the trip book (directions, money, etc.) in the hotel and he needed to go back and get it. I rode to the park with friends while he went back to look.

ERT was at Nickelodeon Universe on pretty much everything. The wonderful people at Kings Island got Giggle Coaster running for us.

Halfway through ERT, I get a frantic phone call from my dad, who has scoured the hotel room and cannot find the trip book. On top of that, his iTrip broke in the car on the way there, so he has to find a Best Buy or an Apple Store somewhere to get a new one. Fortunately, I knew exactly where the trip book was (turns out it was exactly the same color as the carpet and it was hidden in the shadows). But this was only the beginning of the day's events.

The drive to Stricker's Grove wasn't bad and the park itself is very nice. Tornado has some surprising airtime and there's a good set of flyers.

After lunch, we drove to Cincinnati Mills Mall to ride Boa Squeeze. Other than the presence of a roller coaster, this place completely sucks. It feels completely empty and it doesn't have good stores.

We're about to leave when my dad realizes that he doesn't have his wallet. Not his regular wallet with credit cards and money and stuff (thank god), but his sport wallet, which contained his Maxx Pass, his SF Pass, and his ACE card. Not good. We hurried back to Stricker's Grove and looked everywhere. It wasn't anywhere to be found there. It wasn't at Wonderpark (Cincinnati Mills Mall) either.

We never did find it while we were on vacation. We finally got a call about it from the Apple Store in Cincinnati where he got a new iTrip a couple days ago. Thank you, Jesus.

Guest Relations at Kings Island, being awesome, as usual, knew my dad was a Con attendee and let him in without his pass. Before we knew they would do that, we got a two-day pass at Meijer, which they refunded.

We arrived at the park just in time for the Beast walkback.

And that is where I will leave you for right now.

This was interesting. They were having a rehearsal as we walked past.

It may look tame... BUT JUST WAIT UNTIL THE LIMS KICK IN!!!!

*video contest knock-off - some of you may get that*

We are such whores.

"Ocean Merry-Go-Round"

Wonderpark.

These were under Tornado's station.

That drop right there.

Oooh.

Airtime-o-rama.

The train takes you unnecessarily far away from the park.

Stricker's Grove is much prettier than Little Amerricka.

YES!

This is the biggest Round-Up I've ever seen.

The drop right behind the first one is the best.

Awwww.

This ride got me so dizzy. I can't believe I went on it twice.

Stricker's Grove had free soft drinks all day.

The schedule of events... and my knee...

It might not be Big Bad Wolf, but at least it isn't Tin Foil Drag-on.

Son of Beast was closed all four days. Imagine that.

Yum.

Nick Universe. The helicopter thing is themed to Lazy Town. Lazy Town scares the living daylights out of me. It's like Barney and clowns rolled up into one terrifying package.

Cosmo!

This coaster was surprisingly great.

Probably the longest line they've ever had.

See? Every time.

steel · July 4, 2007

I apologize for the lack of updates. I don't really have an excuse. I had more than enough time. I was just lazy, I guess.

Today I bring pictures of one of the highlights of the trip: The Beast walkback tour.

We were about two feet from the track at the end of the tour, and the track itself was maybe three feet off the ground.

I wish I could have gotten more video, but my camera died.

That's also why I don't have any pictures from ERT. I rode Firehawk once, decided it sucked, then spent the rest of the night riding Flight of Fear with the lights on, which was (IMO) more fun than with the lights off.

Just a bit of trivia - King Cobra's trains are being store in Flight of Fear.