TPR Midwest Trip PTR

August 16, 2007

Day "0": Coney Island

So.... day "0" started off with getting through the airport security in like 10 minutes, meeting up up with the group, and going to the "surprise" (everyone kinda knew I think) park: Coney Island Ohio!

So... This park has like a knockoff Galixi type ride... a Moser Spring.... Rock-O-Plane.... and that's about it. It is a really nice park for what it is, and was kept up well. I don't know their whole flood situation, but I think a smaller GCI twister would fit in perfectly there.

So yeah.. pics.

Robb tells us some stuff on the way to the hotel

bye Coney Island

nerds.

Kind of an "overview" of the park from the Spring

Yay Moser Spring

Python is..... cool! (I was the only one who thought so though.. kind of like how amazing Legend was yet no one "got" it lol)

Rock-O-Plane which I forgot to ride >

More airtime than Millennium Force

Yay Pepsi Python

On the way to the "surprse" park, Coney Island!

Best way to start off a TPR trip

August 16, 2007

Day 1: Holiday World

So I had a lot of fun at Holiday World. The park let me down in some ways (tame/very few flats) but pleased me in others (great setting, great coasters). Voyage was absolutely amazing, and a very intense ride. It's very similar to J2 in that it's not actually rough (no potholes or jack hammering), just aggressive.

However, one coaster there absolutely blew me away, and that was Legend (I'm sure everyone on the trip knows about my obsession with this ride). Legend was rough so I think a lot of people looked down on it, however I loved how out of control it was. It had some decent airtime, some amazing laterals, and it was FAST. I have seen so many videos and read so many things that say this ride is slow around the helix, but it was FLYING.

Raven to me was very similar to Grizzly at PKD. Decent air and laterals (although where is that 5th hill air? I felt more on the first 2 drops), all around fun, and only good at night. Day rides on Raven disappointed the hell out of me. The ride was fast but that's about it. No real air, no real lats, not out of control, short. At night, it was faster, and you couldn't see where you were going (again, this is similar to Grizzly; I hate it in the day for the same reasons, and love it at night for the same reasons).

Holiday World's flatrides aren't great. They all run slow (couldn't even start to snap the flyers), weak (their S&S tower is nothing compared to Indiana Beach's, and both are the same size/model), and all around tame. Gobbler Getaway is one of the weirdest rides I have been on, but sorry, Holiday World didn't even pull the "WTF" off as good as Beechbend's darkride. So yeah, nothing too great about Holiday World's flats.

A big thanks to Paula and the rest of the PR staff for hosting the walkback (of all 3 woodies, which was a surprise), and Mrs. Koch for the nice conversation before the walkback.

Halloswings at night

Ain't got nothing on BeechBend's darkride..

Holiday World can't spell

They don't snap

Double Shot > Liberty Launch

The new Cafe thing turned out nice (and actually looks somewhat "new england" so that's cool)

........and fast

Weeee

And it's kinda fast, too

And also big

And fast

Voyage is big

Whoring it up

Which is also not as cool as Legend

Hey it's Voyage...

sooo good...

mmmm

But not as cool as LEGEND...

Raven is cool...

lake turn with bonus barbed wire

waiting for the walkback

represent

Hey there Raven...

Canadmos · August 16, 2007

Great pictures so far. Can't wait to see Beech Bend and Indiana Beach's.

August 16, 2007

Day 2 part 1: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

Ok, so I've read a lot of crap about this park. Stuff about unfriendly employees, trash everywhere, lack of shade, etc. I'm not too sure why I've read this, because SFKK was one of the nicest parks to us. They basically gave us half of the park to ourselves from 9-11am, the park was very clean, and the employees were very friendly (I had conversations with ops on Twisted Twins, maintenence workers, ops on Greezed Lightning, the food catering people, and the park's PR person; all were very nice).

The rides were pretty decent; Chang is the best standup and third best B&M I have ridden. It was very forceful and smooth.

T2 was very very bad. The train shuffled so much and it wasn't that forceful. I did like that it didn't get slow at the end though, due to the short train.

Twisted Twins green was ok. In the back seat it had airtime on the first two drops in the back seat, and was smooth. However it didn't really "do" anything after said first two drops, and was kind of weak besides some occasional laterals. Twins pink had the much more logical and fun layout. It had far more laterals, airtime, and better pacing. However the airtime was more floater (besides the first drop) than green's ejector. All in all a fun ride, I like pink better. Also, I was one of only a few to get Pink. It opened later in the day (this is when I was talking to the maintenence workers, and found out some interesting things about wood coasters in general), and on the first train with people out (that I was on), it overshot the brakes. It was down until the last half hour we were there, when some people ran back to it to try and get it.

Greezed Lightning was my first shuttle loop. People were saying Montezooma is better, but I thought Greezed was good. The launch was fun and the loops had forces.

The mouse was fun as it was unbraked. Thats about it. The kiddie was fun because it was my 50th.

Thunder Run was down for the day. The maintenence people I talked to said it was too hot and dry to run it. They said they were going to wait until night when it cooled off a bit and then hose it down. After talking with them, I have a lot more respect when rides (atleast wooden coasters) don't open when they should.

The meal they gave us was amazing. Fettucini Alfredo with garlic bread sticks and Caesar salad. Probably my favorite (and definitely my favorite free) meal of the trip.

Thanks to SFKK and all it's staff for being so cool to us...

wheel

No one has seen this before..

Wonder who did that...

It's not that bad..

yay Greezed...

Hey James..

great for a family coaster

Twins is cool

Dead

blah

Back to Chang. Thats what you get when ERT includes 4/6 coasters at a park, all running multiple trains. For Greezed and Twisted Twins, I was the only one on the train.

T2... yay?

More diveloop

Twisty

Dive loop

Down the first drop

Yay it's Chang

August 16, 2007

Day 2 part 2: Beech Bend

The second part of the day was Beech Bend, a carniv- err park in Bowling Green, KY. Beech Bend has the potential to be something great. They have a pretty good line up of rides, they just need to start doing some landscaping and building the rides into the park. Kentucky Rumbler is absolutely amazing, and only gets better at night. Lots of "hidden" airtime and speed that never lets up makes this ride great. The crew did a good job of scaring the crowd by telling them that the ride wasn't safe and eating cheezeits, but they do need to work on load times. The GCI crew did an amazing job with our ERT and are very cool guys. Joe made I and a few others ride the darkride, which is one of the most messed up things i have ridden. We also rode Beech Bend's ARM tower, which is the best tower I have ever ridden (beats out Dropzonre PKI and PKD, Giant Drop, Pittfall, Scream, Double Shot, Liberty Launch, and Downtime). It's only like 80' tall, but it ejects you all the way down. All in all Beech Bend is a cool park, and I look forward to seeing how it is in 5-6 years.

ERT was amazing... Rumbler was FLYING

First drop

GCI guys running the ride (thanks, you guys were awesome)

Rumblah at sunset

Power Surge!

I don't get it...

door to nowhere blah blah

""takeover""

turn

lifthill

I love Zamperla Mice

"luxurious"

Up there with Lost Coaster and Adventure Express for biggest "WTF?" ride

overview of Beech Bend

best tower ever

Kiddie coaster of death (banked lift, wtf?)

there it be

ow ow ow

amazing track shaping

fun

last turn

turn

first drop

yay Rumbler

the "beech"

Nightmare500 · August 16, 2007

I just wasted ten minutes of my life on that. thanks.

eskater132 · August 16, 2007

good TR

August 16, 2007

Day 3: Indiana Beach

Indiana Beach was by far my favorite park of the trip. The place is so unique, and has really cool rides. All the flatrides run really fast (with the excepion of the Fallingstar) and pretty long cycles.

Cornball Express has so much airtime it's not even funny. Some of those hills will actually stand ypou up, it's so insane. The ride was a bit lacking in the day (the air was still great but it lacked lats and out of control) but at night, in the rain (and thunder & lightning!) it was very fast and wild.

Lost Coaster is another wicked screwed up ride.... But it's so fun. Even if you "know" the layout you really don't... the ride is so surprising. The backwards seat in car 2 was nuts.. the air on the double dip is awesome. The only thing i didn't really like about it was that it never "got to the point"... it just kind of did it's thing and that was it. Still... sooo screwed up.

Hoosier Hurricane was very good as a family ride. It's not very forceful, but still kinda fun. it had some decent lats. Not any airtime though..

Tig'rr was cool as it had no restraints. The ride was kind of fun and had a little pop of air in the back of the car on the first drop.

Galixi has some crazy airtime in the back seat of car 2... like close to Cornball's. The air there was seriously strong.

The flats were great. The flyers snapped without even holding on, the paratrooper ran pretty fast and really long (but not as long as Canobie's), the Music Express was good. The Flying Bobs and Falling star weren't great, but whatever. The tower had a really insane pop of ejector on it's second shot, too.

The food at IB was great. We had like a firesta thing going on with fajitas, tacos, etc.

Overall I love this park and would go back any time I could. 37 Pics for this one just because the place is so damn cool. Seriously, go.

also not as good as Canobie's

the midway at night

lift

Cornball at night

Hoosier at night

wheel

no one has this picture

Lost Coaster is f***ing messed up

Midway from the skyride

we had awesome rides on the Tilt a whirl

Not as good as Canobie's

Music Express

Dave, Allison, and Chris

The swings look better than they are, but are still fun

these flyers actually snap themselves...

Awesome airtime here

helix

laterals

such a fun ride

there are lots of drops on it, this is the first one.

Hoosier Hurricane

Tig'rr POV

mmm Cornball

Tig'rr and Cornball

Hoosier Hurricane

Yay

We had to drive through the ghetto to get to Indiana Beach

CoasterFanatic · August 16, 2007

kind of like how amazing Legend was yet no one "got" it

I am with you man! i had an excellent ride on it back in July. I thought it was running great.

Wish I could agree with you on Chang. Such garbage

terrancew_hod · August 16, 2007

Two things:

Must have jumped up there after I got my statue credit. Emotionally scarred, I guess. Also the ride op is actually standing? I'm getting faint...

This should have been called "2000 Flushes - The Ride" What was up with that water? No way I was getting in that!

August 16, 2007

Day 4 part 1: Little A-Merrick-A

So the second surprise park was a bit ore tricky, seeing as there were 2 parks in the area and a fair going on at the time we were there. I had always thought it would be Little A-Merrick-A, but could never be sure. Anyway, thats what it ended up being. We got a "preview" of their new for 2007 wooden coaster, Meteor, and had a fun time with the rest of he rides in the park. I also tried my first Roll-O-Plane there, which ended up being one of my favorite flats.

The park has plans to build a large wooden coaster in the future. It'll be a replica of the Comet at Lincoln Park. I talked to one of the workers there and he said Meteor was a learning experience that should help a lot going into a project as large as Comet. He also said he had just pulled out the train last week to start seeing what it needed for refurbishment. I will certianly return once they complete this project, because Comet looked like a cool ride and I liked the park for what it was.

Cool train ride

my new #2 steel

the real coaster of death

"coaster of death blah blah blah"

more adults than kids

Meteor is awesome for a family ride

yay Herschell mice

yay for skid brakes

Meteor!

August 16, 2007

This should have been called "2000 Flushes - The Ride" What was up with that water? No way I was getting in that!

It didn't look as bad as Dive to Atlantis.... I seriously got sick after riding that thing (I was so stuffed up for the rest of the trip).

Dells part one coming up next... when I feel like resizing more photos.

coasterdude5 · August 16, 2007

Great trip report, LA's miniature train looks awesome!!

August 16, 2007

Day 4 part 2: Mt. Olympus

So the first day was kind of crappy to me. I know a lot of people got a lot done, but doing laundry for 2 hours, and then the second I was done getting rained out kind of ruined my day. I did get 3 of the woodies (Pegasus, Zeus, and Cyclops) and the spinner, but by the time I got over to Hades it was raining really hard so I didn't get a ride on it. The ERT was also canceled, so all the people who were waiting until night to ride were out of luck.

Still, Pegasus was fun for a family coaster, Zeus was decent, and Cyclops insane. I also got a crazy ride on the spinner, which I'll post my POV of at some point.

Mt. Olympus is an odd "park". the whole place is really spread out with lots of stairs. And they have all of 3 flatrides (none being "classic"), yet like 7 gokarts. They also have the huge waterpark that i didn't use at all.

Anyway... pics. I didn't take many this day, just trying to ride. Got a lot for day 2 though.

the impossible credit (seriously... tried with a kid.. denied.... tried paying.. denied)

nevermind.....

Apollo swing looks fun

this photo sucks... don't worry I took better ones on day 2

Cyclops is small but nuts

yay gokarts

Zeus

I'll have to wait until tomorrow for you..

Spookbaby · August 16, 2007

^ Okay, how did you now get that kiddie credit? When I went they liet me and my 5 friends take over the whole trains... no kids... no questions asked!

Spookbaby · August 16, 2007

^ Okay, how did you now get that kiddie credit? When I went they let me and my 5 friends take over the whole train... no kids... no questions asked!

August 16, 2007

The lady was sooooo strict... like 2 people got it (I think they hid the TPR things). I seriously pulled out a $10 bill and she said no...

Reon · August 16, 2007

^But not a $20?

Anyways, glad to see SOMEONE liked Python. It gives some nice air in the back seat. Plus I worked the ride when you were there, so I must rep the Island.

Also, YAY CYCLOPS! Still my number 1 coaster to date.

-Jared"the TPR member who works at Coney that no one cares about"Becker

Shockwave · August 17, 2007

Wow, I went to Mt. Olympus in June, and Ian and I got on their kiddie coaster no problem! Must have been our British accents!

Keep the photos coming, all the reports are great so far!

Canobie Fan · August 17, 2007

Hey James..

+ Bridge photo = OWNS

Canobie "I <3 the Bridge!!" Fan

Homer · August 17, 2007

Did you not ask the ops for sexual favors?

Freddy, great TR so far. Just a question, whats to get about Legend?

August 17, 2007

It was just so soooo good to me... The roughness didn't really bother me and it was made up for by the laterals and out of control feeling. Laterals are something I really love, and I think a lot of people don't like them that sustained, hence why they don't like the ride. But to me that was perfect.

Stuff like the pop of air on the first drop into the low banked swoop curve... that's just so awesome to me.

August 17, 2007

Day 5: Mt. Olympus, Timberfalls, and Disney's Riverview Adventureland

Day 2 at Mt. Olympus was much better.... But I'm still not sure if I like the place. Anway got 2 rides on Hades which kind of let me down. Overall it's a good ride, and has everything I want from a ride, but I didn't come back to the station thinking "wow". Did Dive To Atlantis too... that thing has gross water. For the next 3-4 days I was sick too.. never again. To quote James: "Sucks as a coaster, sucks as a log ride."

Riverview was uh, cool? We had 2.5 hours there, ended up staying 3 because of the Avalanche incident (will get to that in a sec), and for the most part everyone had the credits in 10 minutes. They had like one flatride and thats it.

Timberfalls was awesome. The park is basically a mini golf place wrapped in a coaster, with a flume and skyscraper. Avalanche was hit by lightning the night before, and basically fried the PLC and sensors on the ride. Well, this is how Timberfalls owns. The ran the coaster in manual for us, which was absolutely awesome.

So like, photos go like this: First is MTO in the morning, second are Riverview, third are Timberfalls, fourth are back to MTO. If it seems to confusing once posted I'll split it up.

On the way to the hotel. Since we were Arrow bus, we had to have coat hanger coasters.

The double dip that no one knows about until they ride it... OH WAIT

The turnaround has some awesome laterals

first drop

Zeusssss

some people getting ejected and stuff

Some people going to hell and stuff

Zeus is fun

We then went back to MTO for some more Cyclops goodness

They moved all 100 of us through very quickly, and most went to play minigolf, so it was basically ERT the whole time we were there. Thanks again Timberfalls!

It's a really fun coaster, but I still think J2 is better.

And down the drop

Up the lift

And now to ride it

It was hit by lightning the night before which fried all the electronics, so this dood came up and ran it for us. Thank you so much Timberfalls, you guys were awesome.

in we go

Yay Avalanche

Riverview's atmosphere and theming is on par with Busch Gardens Europe

them too

look at those damn losers on the kiddie coaster

Not as good as Indiana Beach's or Pepsi Python

Galixi

Here we are at Creditview Park

Hades turnaround has a really cool shape.

Here it comes...

Cyclops... so small.. but so intense.

We rode Pegasus again, it was fun.

splash of diseases...

ewwww

weee

but now we're out again

hell POV

going back into hell

"exclusive"

lifttttt

It's pretty sad when a drop out of the station has more airtime than all of MF

bye...

turnaround

going up

stair POV :O

Yay we're there

As promised, better pic of Cyclops

Walking the .8 mile walk to Hades

August 17, 2007

Day 6: Six Flags Great America

I don't feel like typing a lot, So i'll just run you through my thoughts quickly: Great America is a nice park, but has a bunch of mediocre rides. Viper is pretty fun but I rode it in the morning with literally 5 other people on the train, Batman is pretty fun, and Deja Vu is fun. The rest all lack in some way or another.

The park gave us ERT on Bull and Viper which was cool. They ran both rides at full capacity, which is A LOT. There were more seats than people on Bull, plus 60 more on Viper. Basically, rides were only going with the front and back rows filled.

We also had gold Qbots, which were nice as we blew past a 3 hour Superman line in literally 2.5 minutes ("I wish we didn't have to walk so far!" lol). Even with this though, the combination of us stopping to eat a meal (I think this was the only time on the trip I stopped an ate a meal that wasn't catered), us getting stuck on American Eagle for 30 minutes, and the pouring rain that came in just as we got off Eagle made us miss 3 credits (Eagle blue, Demon, and Whizzer). Still, while it's not my favorite park, I would probably go back to it given the opportunity, if not just to get the rest of the credits.