FLIPDUDE's Midwest PTR

[dandaman]

Sorry, Tomi... I've replayed that video over 10 times, and it doesn't get any less hilarious.

 

*For the record, I'd have been in the same boat as you. Death grip on the rail with the most regret coming conveniently just before you plummet to uncertain doom.

[FLIPDUDE]

Mt. O waterpark(s?)

 

Note: Today ended up being about more than just fun and coasters for me. It also ended up taking a surprise turn for real personal growth. So this TR won't just be about rides and credit whoring, because my hope in my TRs is to bring the EXPERIENCE of the trip through words, and today, as much of an emotional rollercaoster as it was(Credit!), is part of the experience of the trip. So if you want just reviews of rides and pictures, without all the meaningful psycho babble(As I sadly learned that most Americans I shared the trip with do) just stick to the pics and captions, the rest is very Myspacey(I would imagine. I don't go on myspace). If you want to learn about how TPR trips can be more than just riding coasters, read on.

 

 

So after I was done riding the scariest ride of my life(maybe excpet for the first time I rode revolution back when I was 9 years old), I headed back to Mt. O with every intention of finally hitting the waterparks. Up to this point in time I didn't get to so much as SEE Poseidon's rage.(Well, unless he was responsible for that crazy storm last night!)

 

Everybody was over at the picnic shelter enjoying a meal and having a crazy time fighting each other on the grass, Casey tackling people, other people just basically having fun and messing about on the grass, Sean fighting everyone and losing because he got on everybody's nerves so they ganged up on him, etc.

I just looked from the side. I kind of wanted to be part of what I felt at the time was a "clique" but in retrospect it's probably best that I wasn't, seeing as it wasn't really my type of humor/craziness and I had much more fun hanging out with Max, Freddie Chris, Luke, Shirley and Anthony than I would've had with the Hooters crew, the "Usual LA gang" or whoever.

 

 

Anyhow, after a quick minigolf game with Sean, I left my stuff at the shelter and invited a couple people to go with me to the waterpark. They agreed but they ended up leaving without me. This made me a bit upset(I now realize that getting upset was rediculous but that has to do with something that'll only happen later tonight, which is why I mentioned this in the firstplaced)

 

So I headed on over to the waterpark and tried to have fun, which wasn't that hard, because despite the rediculously long lines(as in almost every waterpark on the trip we've been to, seeing asit was August), the slides were very good and very fun. For the first time I rode a slalom slide that required using a mat(the only waterslide I rode before that required a mat was the racing slide at Holiday World earlier on the trip). I then went to their speed slide, which was extremely tall and resembled the ones at my home park. I was a little hesitant to ride it, because the ones at my home park give the meanest wedgie in existence, but after a long wait, I rode it, and it was awsome!

 

 

Despite only having ridden two slides, the long lines combined with the fact we were leaving soon forced me to try and move on through the park.

 

I left the waterpark area and moved to the other waterpark area.

 

 

I went under the triton slide tower and went over to...

 

Poseidon's Rage! oh my god those are big waves! They did NOT seem all that big in pictures but once you get there it's "HOLYWTF".

 

Every so often the smokestacks behind the wave pool shoot out a burst of ominous smoke and release an enormous wave. Man, was I glad I bought the waterproof camera the night before!

 

The place had a gorgeous view on almost every ride in the park(which, sadly, isn't a whole lot of rides)

 

The area was very crowded but the good thing about Wave pools is that it doesn't really matter because they have an endless capacity(well, nearly endless, as that japanese wavepool video on youtube shows)

 

So, I got in the pool... swam as far as I could into the deep end of the pool(there was an uncrossable line that was very far form the wave machine, much like in most sane wave pools).

I was really at the "front row", another foot further in and I would be at the part of the pool you're not allowed into.

 

And then, smoke shot up into the sky from the hidden smokestacks, and a second later...

 

A giant tsunami wave came barreling towards us. I'm pretty sure I thought something along the lines of "Oh ****".

 

Then the water hit. I was tossing and turning and tumbling underwater with no sense of direction or which way is up. This only happened to me once before and that was when I almost drowned while surfing a very stormy Mediterranian sea.

 

Next thing I know, I am sitting at the shallow end of the pool. Yes, from the deepest side of the pool, the wave carried me over to the area that is so shallow you can sit. That was baffling, and a whole lot of fun. I immediatly went in for more.

 

This is probably the most unflattering picture of me ever taken but it still manages to be awsome. I am also glad it turned out good because I only tried taking it once, and many pictures didn't make it out okay out of the disposable camera.

Don't be mistaken, the wave is taller, this was not taken at the deepest end of the pool because I couldn't stand there, and I was afraid of losing my camera.

 

Well, after some crazy fun in the wavepool I decided to head out and try the Triton slide tower.

 

Did I mention the freakin' robocoaster was closed? It was probably the ride I was most looking forward to. Ah well, I still had a blast so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

So anyway I go up and wait for a while in the line for either one of the slides, but seeing as I coudln't decide which slide to go on, I had nobody to ride with, and the line was moving EXTREMELY slowly, I decided to pass. This ended up being a mistake because I hear the pink slide was amazing.

 

 

I went to hit the indoor waterpark quickly and take some pictures of it before we had to hit the road again. %75 of my pictures turned out too dark to be able to see anything in them. So my camera ended up having wonderful pictures such as:

 

 

"Inner tube to nowhere"

 

"Twoface's Emo myspace picture"

 

"Child of darkness"

 

"Blobzilla rides the waves"

 

And

 

"Blobzilla's revenge"

 

 

not to mention some pics who are mostly just a black mess of pipes.

 

But I still ended up having some slightly decent pics, and I don't think anyone else on the trip has any Waterslide POV shots.

 

All in all the park was a whole lot of fun. The slides were enjoyable, there were practically no lines, because everyone was enjoying the sun outside, and unlike most amusement parks, the body slides here did not scrape the **** out of my back. Not to mention the fact that body slides even EXISTED here, which was a big plus, seeing as for some reason American parks have almsot zero body slides and alot of tube/mat slides(exact opposite from Israeli parks)

 

One of(if not both) tube slides ended up shooting you into the lazy river, which was alot of fun. After a crazy week as the first half of the trip it was amazingly relaxing using up my last few minutes relaxing in my inner tubne in the lazy river. In fact, it was SURPRISINGLY relaxing! With all the crazy thrill riding and credit whoring and running from place to place I did not know how much I needed to relax untill I had let myself just lay back and enjoy the current in the lazy river(which was surprisingly long considering the small space they had for it)

 

After that it was time to head on back to the buses and move on to SFGAm. We had the whole night ahead of us but Robb and Elissa kept going on and on about "Killer Chicago Traffic." They ended up being right.

 

 

It was time to say goodbye to the wonderful Mt. Olympus resort(As tacky and as ill-equipped with rides as it was, it was still alot of fun, and at the end of the day, that's what counts).

 

I took some pictures from under the giant canopy where I hid in the storm the night before, to compare.

 

Today

 

Yesterday

 

Today

 

Yesterday.

 

 

The go karts were runnning again and there was no sign of the fact that the night before they were flooded with rainwater.

 

This was the nice part of the park. Visually speaking.

 

This is the go karts ride I rode with Elissa, her parents, and Ryan.

 

 

So after all that we got on the bus and headed on out. It was a silent, dark bus ride as everybody was sleeping. And it took for ages. Eventually we reached our SFGAm hotel.

 

 

{Warning: This is where it is all about that personal growth I menitoned earlier, and not at all about coasters, so if you can't read htis like an adult, move on}

 

So me and Ryan get our hotel room, which has a beautiful view of... The lobby?! I never saw a hotel who's rooms viewed it's INSIDE.

 

Anyhow, Ryan tears himself away from the cellphone for a couple of minutes and we start a serious discussion.

He tells me(in a considerate way) that alot of people on the trip find me kind of obnoxious and annoying. And that I am extremely argumentative.(Though in Ryan's defense he said all this tactfully).

I took this very hard.

Apparantly I have ticked off people like Jahan, Chris, Casey, Robb and Elissa, and several others, without even realizing it by doing things that I didn't mean to be obnoxious but ende dup being so afterall(such as scremaing "CREDIT WHORES!" on the orient express, having Elissa announce my 100th credit on the microphone, running to get the first place in Chang etc.(it doesn't sound obnoxious all summarized but if you read the TRs in detail you'll understand why it was).

I was not expecting such a serious deep issue to pop up during 11 days of fun and rollercoasters so I took the news very hard and at the time it really hurt me to hear all that, this is not the first time I heard some of these things but before I didn't think they were true, but now I was being told that by people who just met me , so they must've had a point.

It would seem I was being thought of in a similar way to someone else who's name I won't mention who was considered very obnoxious and annoying on the trip, and having been annoyed by this person myself, I did not want to be looked at that way and was willing to work on myself to make the 2nd half of the trip better(partly because of what I said earlier in this TR segment about not feeling like I was in the clique at the time).

Ryan and Casey suggested I go apologize to the group, I thought it was a great idea. And went down to the hall next to the lobby for Casey to let us know when I can come apologize.

It took up alot of energy, and it was rather scary knowing I'm about to do something that's rather humiliating and humbling and all in front of everyone on the trip which were sitting together in the lobby.

I was pacing when Ryan got a text from Casey saying maybe now isn't a good time. People were having fun and everything and such a serious tpic would bring them down.

Needless to say I was feeling pretty crappy. This was my golden opportunity to make things better, and show everyone I'm gonna work on myself, and I couldn't.

 

I felt really bad as me and Ryan went back up to the room.

 

I decided I didn't really want to try and go to sleep because I had to calm down a bit first so I went outside to look around the area. Outside I saw a group of people heading back from somewhere, we exchanged "Hi"s and I kept walking. Every business around was closed because it was already like 1AM. But in the distance I saw a "Steak n' shake."

Keep in mind I have never eaten at a real diner before. It was always something out of American road trip movies and a place where characters go in the middle of the night when they're feeling blue. So I figured this was perfect.

I went in, got myself a hamburger and a milkshake(which were served insnaely fast, again with americans taking fast food too litteraly), and ate them all up. They were surprisingly delicious! After I ate them I actually felt refreshed and hopeful and decided that tomorrow is going to be a new day, and that I'm going to show everyone I can improve.

I was impressed with how the Diner helped me feel better so I took a picture of it.

 

So I went outside and sat across the street from the hotel just taking in the moment.

 

Soon enough I saw a thunderstorm rumbling behind the hotel. This was a gorgeous sight because I live in the city, we can't see a storm untill it's already there. So I gazed at it for a while. I probably would've stayed out longer but it was 1:30AM, and I was sitting under a tree with no umbrella in an otherwise rather open area. The probability of lightning striking me was not that low. So I went back in to our extremely over-air-conditioned room. Ryan was glad to see I was feeling better and that I was more optimistic about tomorrow. I thank the Steak n' shake.

 

The next morning I had gone up to the people I interacted with during the trip and apologized. Most of them accepted my apology, glad to see that I was now aware of the issue and working on myself, while the others(which were the people that hung out wiht me during the trip) claimed they didnt have any issues with me so there was nothign to apologize for.

 

And thanks to Ryan being brutally honest, that one unpleasant night, and the Steak n' shake, I ended up fitting in alot better during the rest of the trip, having much more fun, and I'm pretty sure it helped me alot in the long run, too.

 

So the lesson of today is that TPR trips aren't just fun, they could actually help you improve yourself. *Afterschool special music*

 

On one hand I feel very silly for typing all this on a public board, but on the other hand, if I hadn't opened up to everyone and apologized I wouldn't of had as much fun on the 2nd half of the trip, so sometimes opening up is worth it.

[arrowfanman]

Wow! That was a very interesting update, Tomi! I thought the water slide/wave pool pictures were kind of neat!

 

Thanks for posting!

 

-Jahan

[RIP Psyclone]

It took a big man to share those thoughts, Tomi! However, there is sort of a double standard. If you are part of the "cool clique" then you can be as obnoxious as you want. The other people in the clique will be entertained, and everyone not in the clique will just be jealous since it appears all of them are having a great time. If you're not part of the cool clique, you can be sort of screwed. If you act like them, they will think you're obnoxious. If you try to be nice to them and be accepted by them, they will think you're trying too hard. If you avoid them altogether, they will either not notice you or think you're a weird loner. Yeah, it can be tough, but I'm glad it worked out. Looking forward to the rest of the trip report, as it is refreshing to hear the point of view of a non American. Keep up the good work, Tomi!

[FLIPDUDE]

Thank you very much Cyclone and Jahan. I appreciate the feedback.

 

 

Though this isn't school, the "cliques" weren't necesarily obnoxious or whatever. The CA people (Robb, Elissa, Ryan, Jahan, etc.) were inf act very nice all the time, and if I haven't been told I would never have guessed I was doing something to upset them. and the hooters crew weren't nasty either, My humor just wasn't as wacky as theirs.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the fact I was the only middle-eastern guy on the trip had a big effect on it, seeing as I was accostumed to a different culture and different people.

 

But like I said, in retrospect it was very much for the best that I didnt hang out with those "cliques" because I had a whole lot more fun hanging out with Max, Freddie, Luke, Shirley, and others than I would with the "Cliques". I was simply pointing out how I was feeling at the time when everyone was going crazy on the lawn.

 

 

I am still debating leaving all these thoughts up. It feels weird bringing up sucha serious topic in a forum that's mostly based on careless fun and vacations.

[Vffreak07]

Good for you man.

[coaster05]

It took a big man to share those thoughts, Tomi! However, there is sort of a double standard. If you are part of the "cool clique" then you can be as obnoxious as you want. The other people in the clique will be entertained, and everyone not in the clique will just be jealous since it appears all of them are having a great time. If you're not part of the cool clique, you can be sort of screwed. If you act like them, they will think you're obnoxious. If you try to be nice to them and be accepted by them, they will think you're trying too hard. If you avoid them altogether, they will either not notice you or think you're a weird loner. Yeah, it can be tough, but I'm glad it worked out. Looking forward to the rest of the trip report, as it is refreshing to hear the point of view of a non American. Keep up the good work, Tomi!

 

Or you could just try being yourself and not worry about it.

 

Seriously, as someone who has been on 2 TPR trips I am curious as to where you gathered all this information. I was in a "clique" both times and I got to say I don't view this at all like you described it. I choose to hang out with people I really liked to be with and I have that right since this is my vacation. I got to say I don't see it this way and would love to know why you do.

[Hand 0f Time]

Tsunami is the right word, lol. Yikes! Those are some pretty imstant/huge waves. I would be saying the same lines to what you said.

 

Looks like fun, but it seems like my eyes were hurting from the darkness of the pictures while on0ride a tube slide.

[angryemobeaver]

Will there be a KI trip report?

[WillMontu]

I can somewhat feel what you just went through. I don't take criticism very well (many years ago I was once booted from a chat room for breaking a rule that nobody knew about, and I never talked to that moderator again, and I recently had a mental breakdown after doing something minor at work that was misinterpreted), and I can upset or annoy people without even being aware it.

Sometimes I will mention jokes that others misinterpret or not find to be funny, including a very minor incident in chat several days ago that I thought may have upset Robb. I have actually been diagnosed with an Autism spectrum disorder, which results in poor social skills, attention to detail, and other psychological conditions.

 

The trouble is that people try to be nice and if somebody is obnoxious, others may simply be avoid them instead of confronting them about it to avoid upsetting them. Of course, this is just my humble opinion

 

And by the way, I'm enjoying your Photo TR. The amount of commentary contrasts a lot with my "pictures only" version

[DBru]

Wow, reading that really made me feel emotional, lol. I'm serious, its exactly like that when you find out your annoying people at school, and you hate it when somebody doesn't like you.

 

But anyway... great TR! Those waves look INSANE!

[FLIPDUDE]

^^^^Heheh, yeah, inf act I'm fairly certain a better word for them is what they seemed like at the time which is basically A wall of water.

 

^^^Well, assuming I don't stop updating my TR at some point, there should be. But it'll be a while seeing as KI was the last park on the trip. Also, cameras there were extremely expensive($20 for a camera that cost $7 at another park) so I didn't buy any and therefore I don't have any pictures from it.

 

^^Wow, Will, I appreciate you sharing that with us. I know it's probably not the easiest thing to share.

 

However it's not like there's no justificiation to people not letting people know. If someone doesn't know you all that well and he tells you youre being obnoxious it's easy to dismiss it as them being a jerk and wrong. Whereas Ryan, who was my roomate, told me the same thing but I decided to take it to mind and do something about it.

I am also glad you like the large amounts of commentary. I was beginning to wonder if that actually makes people skip the TR.

 

^Thank you very much! Yeah, I'd imagine that it's kinda similar. It was awful feeling like I was being looked at the same way someone who annoyed me was looked at. But gladly everything turned out for the best and I'm always up for working on improving myself so this was a good opportunity.

[MattyD]

It took a lot of guts to post that on a public board and to apologise to people on the trip like that, good on you! I am really enjoying reading your TR; as someone who has never been on a TPR Trip it is great to hear about the trip in a different light, I love looking at all the photo's in other TR's but it is so nice to hear about your own personal experiences of the trip!

 

It is so hard to fit in with new people, especially being from a completely different culture, I know I would find it difficult coming from England and meeting the whole TPR Crew for the first time, plus a lot of the people would already know each other and have friendship groups and that makes things even harder! Hopefully by apologising and trying not to cause any upset during the rest of the trip you have redeemed yourself and people are giving you a second chance, but at the end of the day you can only be yourself and people just have to deal with that! Kudos to Ryan for being a good friend and telling you the truth and helping you out, sounds like a great guy!

 

Thank you for posting a different perspective on the trip, it's been really interesting to read and I am gald to hear despite this major downer in the middle of the trip you still had a good time!

 

Keep up the good work on the Comics and the TR!

 

Matt

[FLIPDUDE]

Thank you very much! And yes, this one "donwer" night did end up paying off and helped me in the long run.

 

 

I am glad you enjoy reading about the experience because I mostly go into detail for people who have never been on a TPR trip and wonder what it's like.

 

 

Overall the trip was pretty mind-blowing and you should definately try to go on one in the future. Things that before I didn't think could exist outside of RCT(and even then I wouldn't build them because they seemed unrealistic) ended up being real and right in front of me(mostly at Indiana Beach). For the first time I made friends in another country that weren't just online, becuase usually when I go to America I just hang out with family.

Also, I don't think you will have any problem fitting in just because you're british, alot of people on the trip(and half of the Hooters crew) were british/european.

[MattyD]

It's good to hear some more details about your experiences, it is very different to a lot of the other trip reports on here and so it makes your trip reports unique and gives them a level of detail that many other people don't go for, I just find it interesting to read!

 

They definately look like Mind Blowing experiences and I would love to go one day, unfortunately money is always an issue, I am in full time work but not earning a huge amount so it is often not affordable for me to go and add into that the travel it just doesn't work out financially for me at the moment, I would love to go though!

 

My only other problem is that I am pretty shy so would probably find travelling with a big group of strangers difficult, I have difficulty coping with situations where there are large groups of people so I worry about that a bit too - that's kind of why I was saying about difficulties fitting in, I know being British would be nowhere near as difficult as it would be for you as there would probably be a large group of Brits there so I wouldnt be the only one, but I can understand where you were coming from and why you had a bit of a hard time fitting into some of the groups!

 

Glad you had such a great experience and gained so much from it!

 

Matt

[thecoasterkid]

^^ Lol, I love the repeated mentions of the "Hooters Crew". In some ways I guess we were a "clique", although we were anything but an exclusive group. There were many people that came and went through the crew as the trip went on. And yes, we were more or less VERY international. The vast majority of the internationals (including all 3 canadians!) hung out together in the group, only a few of us were American. Tomi I really hope that no one in our group made you feel unwelcome when you spent any time with us, we really tried to be as inclusive to everyone as possible.

 

TPR trips are more or less one giant exercise of group dynamics. If you gather up 100 people and put them together for 2 weeks, it's inevitable that you will have many mini-groups form. As people find others with like interests and behaviours, you naturally spend more time with them. I found that everyone floated in and out of the groups though and in the end you get to spend a little bit of time with everyone.

[FLIPDUDE]

^^Don't worry about beign shy and such. Some people hardly spoke at all during the trip and they still managed to have fun and hang out with people.

 

 

^Naw, the Hooters crew was cool, and nobody made me feel unwelcome Like I said, y'all were nice, and Nadia and Thomas(?) sat behind me on the bus most of the trip and were fun to chat with. Like I said, the dynamics there were just different than what I'm used to, and your humor was a bit wilder than mine.

[FLIPDUDE]

I was just reminded of a photoshopping I did with the Poseidon's Rage picture based on a comment I got on it a while ago. Figured I'd post it here.

 

"Ruh Roh"

 

 

In fact, now that I'm studing photoshop I could probably make some other cool eidts of it. I'ma go messa round with it! Check back for updates

[DBru]

lol, I want photoshop!

 

Who was the youngest person on the trip, do you know? I'm sure anyone who wants to could go, but I'd feel kind of awkward being the only *young* teen on a trip for two weeks...

[Cameron]

I think a lot of people might be confusing "clique" (which is typically a negative description) with "friends who've known each other for years". Of course the CA group are going seem closer, because they are; they're actually friends, rather than just "people who know each other".

 

Before I went on the UK trip I only knew Robb and Elissa, and not even all that well. However I certainly didn't feel excluded from anything, or "not cool" - just that I didn't know anyone .. which, funnily enough was the truth. For the first few days I hung around with many different people, in several groups, before I started to naturally fit in with just one or two.

 

I didn't go on the Midwest trip, but I did tag along for Indiana Beach, Kennywood and was even at the Gurnee hotel on Tomi's fateful evening. I really felt like an outsider when I met the trip .. and it's because everyone already knew everyone else (I only knew a handful of people), and lots of friendships were already developed. Again, I know it wasn't intentional; and I did really enjoy meeting a few new folks (but I really went to catch up with old friends). I actually thought it was nice to see everyone having so much fun.

 

Anyway - this is quite a long story, sorry - but it basically boils down to just relax, and be yourself. There are many different types of people on these trips (which is what makes them so great), but you're not going to get along with everyone. There were people on the UK trip who I knew weren't for me, and I'm sure there were people who didn't feel compelled to hang out with me either - it's fine.

 

However someone suspects that they bother a lot of people, then they're probably right. It was good for Ryan to lay it all out for you, and you seemed to have handled it well - learn from it.

 

Anyway, back to singing..

 

Cameron.

[FLIPDUDE]

^^Luke was the youngest on the trip, he was 16 and the only one to get the Little Titans credit.

 

^I did not say the word "clique" as a bad word. I was just using it becuase it's shorter than "A bunch of people who hang out all the time and get along well". Theyre not all long time friends, like Thecoasterkid said, the hooters crew had people coming and going in and out of it.

Also, I am not critiquing cliques one bit, I think its great that people found people to have fun with. All I was saying was that at the time, when I was watching everyone mess aorund on the lawn, BEFORE I had the insight I got later that night, I kinda wanted to be in the "clique", that's all.

 

As for

Anyway - this is quite a long story, sorry - but it basically boils down to just relax, and be yourself. There are many different types of people on these trips (which is what makes them so great), but you're not going to get along with everyone. There were people on the UK trip who I knew weren't for me, and I'm sure there were people who didn't feel compelled to hang out with me either - it's fine.

That's exactly what I learned and gained from that night. Which is why the rest of the trip was better(socially, anyway. Park-wise I think the first half was better).

 

 

 

 

 

I must say I am very surprised for the better by how accepting and mature everybody is being about the thigns I wrote. I was a little hestiant to write it all at first.

 

 

Regardless, seeing as that day was the only one that had such a messy underline to it, the TR shall now resume to it's usual "I was riding a coaster when all of a sudden such and such happened!" self.

[dandaman]

God bless Steak 'n Shake.

 

Seriously, it would have taken some balls, both for Ryan to say it with such consideration, and you for that apology. (And even posting it here.) Good job, if that phrase could apply.

 

^ I always think that, if I were to go on one of these trips (with an insane amount of luck/consent), I'd be the youngest member.

 

...Apparently I'd be darn close to it.

[chaos]

Wow, I kind of thought everyone had forgotten me. But yeah, I was the youngest guy on the trip (or at least I think I was.) It wasn't really that bad for me, except that I kind of hung out with my mom most of the time.

 

I really identified with what Tomi said though. I was constantly worried about getting someone mad at me, even though everyone was so nice. Thanks for sharing, Tomi.

 

-Luke

[FLIPDUDE]

^Heya Luke! Of course I ahdn't forgotten about you! All over the TR I wrote that you and your mom were a blast to hang out with! Plus, next up is SFGAm, in which we hung out the most.

 

It was funny that despite being a relatively non-credit whoring group we were possibly the only ones to get all the credits that day!

[FLIPDUDE]

Six Flags Great America

 

And for once, I have LOTS OF PICTURES!!! YAY!!!

 

Well, morning came up and after a quick breakfast and round of apologies I felt like a new day was here and it was time to make the best of it. We all got on the bus and drove for 3 agonizingly long minutes. I had no idea we were so close to the park because when we arrived at the hotel it was dark and we were all sleepy.

I honestly couldn't figure out why we didn't just walk to the parks most of the times we were so close to a park. But I guess it makes sense because if the buses have to go there to wait for us anyway we might as well just ride them, plus it'll save a couple minutes of sleep, which were sorely needed on the trip(I always seemed to be the only one that got enough hours of sleep for some reason)

 

 

Don't you just love that first glance of a park in the distance? I was constantly on the lookout for those during the trip.

 

SFGAm had a surprisingly dominant waterpark in it's skyline. I meant on going there but my plans would eventually be foiled.

 

Blobzilla attacks Superman from the parking lot. Don't worry, Suuperman won.

 

 

...This time.

 

 

 

 

so we all got off the bus(Yes, only now! told ya I have alot of pictures this time!) and headed towards the park entrance.

 

The entrance was already piled up with people even though the park wasn't scheueled to open for quite some time.

They let us in through the side and you could just feel the jealousy confusion and anger from the GP in the air. It was evilly delicious. Or maybe just wishful thinking. ERT is definately the stuff awsomeness is made of.

 

SFGAm had a beautiful entrance plaza, and now I model most of my RCT parks' entrances around it.

 

Aaanyhoo we started headin on over to our esignated ERT area of the park.

 

No, Deja... We'll get to you later...

 

Sorry, Demon, gotta run... We're heading over to...

 

AGING BULL!... I mean... SLEEPING BULL!... I mean... NOT EL TORO!

 

Did I mention ERT is full of win?

 

Anyhow, we knew everybody was going to head on over to Raging bull first, so not wanting to wait the entire 5 seconds in line for the front row, me, Luke, and Shirley went over to Viper. We weren't the only ones who did that but there still weren't enough people in line to fill a train.

 

Viper had surprisingly good theming for a Cyclone at a Six Flags park. It was basically themed to some run-down old mine or something.

 

 

Viper's queue went right under Raging Bull, for some spectacular shots!

 

One redeeming quality about Raging Bull is that it photographs extremely well.

 

I know the picture turned out dark, but look at those air gates! Did I say already that ERT rocks?

 

Anyhow, we get on in the front row, and I'm really not getting my hopes up about this ride. I'm just riding it 'cus it's there, basically. I've ridden two Cyclone coasters in my life. The original Cyclone at Coney Island, and Psyclone at SFMM. You all know how "wonderful" Psyclone was, and while the Cyclone is ALOT of fun it does toss you around quite a bit.

 

And man was I taken for a ride!(Ba-dum-tiss!) Viper ended up ROCKING!

It was alot of fun, it wasn't rough, it was well paced, had airtime, and was overall an extremely enjoyable ride! I was shocked to find out that a Cyclone was the best ride in the park! And this is not a park that lacks a variety of rides, mind you! It was so great we had to ride it again instead of heading on over to Raging Bull.

 

Viper's exit had views just as awesome as the queue.

 

Well, just as planned, everyone who went for Raging Bull first was now heading over to Viper and the drop tower(I think that's the only flat ride we got ERT on during the trip), so the station was ABANDONED! Me, Luke, and Shirley went to the front row.

 

I was really excited to ride Raging Bull. I had heard good things about it, it looked fantastic, and I had been on Goliath, which I love.

 

Well, the train leaves the station, and slowly climbs up the lift hill.

I'm scared and excited, and then...

 

A gigantic fall underground, very thrilling, followed by a giant turn in mid-air. The view from that turn I still have in my mind because it's very pretty.

 

The train drops back down, climbs up and -TSSSST!-

 

 

Strongest. trims. ever. You could really feel your body weight shift forward, and the first thought that instantly came to mind was "Awwww..."

 

The mediocre floater airtime on that hill was the ominous forecast of the rest of the ride.

 

At that point it was basically the world's tallest and fastest scenic railway.

 

Amazing views, watching the track twist and turn in front of you was quite a sight, but as for sensation... Nothing. By the time it was zig-zagging on the low-to-the-concrete turns I was practically trying to stifle a yawn thinking "Oh please."

 

The train hit the brakes and rolled back into the station. I was surprised to see there was nobody in line for the front row. So despite the ride being a disappointement, it was still rather fun, and prretty, so we didn't even get up and rode again.

 

We left the ride and headed back out to the midway.

 

The busy, busy midway.

Did I mention ERT rocks yet?

 

Well, it was time to hit the last ERT ride left.

 

*Cue scary music*

 

The drop tower(who's name I can't recall) was very well themed, and, while it looked quite short in photos, was looking pretty darn tall in person.

 

I have never been on an Intamin drop tower before but knew they were supposed to be way better than S&S towers, and I love S&S towers, so I was excited to see what could possibly be the difference.

 

I would've ridden Superman at Kentucky Kingdom first if it weren't for the terrible accident that happened on it. Once again we were asked by Robb not to make any refferences of the accident in the park.

 

After a 2 minute wait I get on the ride, buckle up, and it climbs up slowly. there are great views and I am pretty scared, wishing I could've taken my camera with me.

 

It gets to the top, stops, and drops.

 

Yeah, that's about it.

 

It was fun. Very fun even. But... I didn't get what the big fuss was about. I had much more fun on S&S towers.

 

 

Well, ERT is over and it's time to get together at the plaza for Q-bot distirbution and a lecture. We had to split to groups of 4 in order for us all to get Q bots and Is till didn't have my group. Luckily Luke and Shirley, which I've been hanging around with and talking to during the trip, didn't have a group either so I teamed up with them, and we needed just one more person and evrybody already had groups so we teame dup with some random guy who's name I never really caught(sorry, person!), and through the day it felt awkward asking for his name which I shouldve already known. But together the four of us made a very fun team. I was worried about the fact that Luke and Shirley aren't credit whores, but they ended up being very efficient and energetic when it came down to planning the attack strategy on the park.

 

 

We were instructed by Robb and Elissa to hit Deja Vu, Ragin' Cajun, and Demon first, seeing as they weren't on the Q-bot's list, and rather low capacity rides(The first two, anyway).

 

Seeing as Deja Vu was closest(entry-wise, anyway), we decided to hit that first and as soon as we were allowed to roam the park(which was already after the gates opened to the GP! Eep!), we all made a mad dash to Deja. At that point I was very impressed with Luke and Shirley, which I totally did not take for the "running of the bulls" type.

 

 

 

We got in line very quickly. There was already a bit of a line before us, which took forever because fo the ride's low capacity, but thanks to our mad dash, the line we had to wait in was significantly shorter than the line people who came in just a minute later had to wait in. In retrospect, this might be what saved our visit, credits-wise.

 

We watched Deja cycle a couple of times and got in line. I was waiting for the last row.

 

I was rather worried, though, because the only other time I rode a Deja Vu was at SFMM, and it gave me a drilling headache.

 

 

eventually the airgates opened, we sat in the seats, and the train started climbing backwards, it was fun hanging vertically.

 

 

The train dropped, and to my surprise I was treated to a fun, thrilling ride that didn't leave me with a bit of a headache. I actually enjoyed it, and I believe so did the rest of my group! I was surprised to find out that other TPR members did not enjoy it as much as we did.

 

We exited the ride and immediatly rushed over to Ragin' Cajun, the park's wild mouse coaster.

 

To get to it we had to detour around the wole park, seeing as much like other six flags parks, SFGAm is built in a circle. On our way there we passed the entrance plaza, which was now crawling with people, and entered a very nicely themed area called Mardi Gras which was built new orleans-style and had people inc ostuems throwing out beads. Overall the entire park was very well themed and landscaped for a Six Flags park.

 

Waiting in line for a bit for Deja Vu, plus having to take a HUGE detour around the park to get to Ragin Cajun, combined with the fact that Wild Mouse coasters have a painfully low capcity meant that this was going to be painful.

 

when we finally got to the coaster it had a huge line. We got in, and waited.

 

For ages it seemed like we weren't moving at all. While this gave us time to just chat, relax, take pictures, think of a strategy and enjoy ourselves, it was still, you know, a long wait in a long line.

I think Luke gave me his large-sized park map, which I have on the desk next to me at the moment.

 

Batman teasing us from afar with it's fancy schmancy high capcity.

 

Meanwhile all we could do is stand around, and gaze at the tubs rolling by every so often.

 

After a rediculously long wait we were close enough to the station to understnad why the ride was taking even longer than usual. They were running an average of 2 people per car. Basically you rode in the groups you came in, which was just plain rediculous. In fact, I'm not sure why, but I had actually to ride seperately from Luke and Shirley. I don't remember who the 4th guy rode with.

 

A rare sight of a 4-person car.

 

 

Well, we got the credit out of the way. My car hardly spun at all, but as I was looking at Luke and Shirley's car, which was behind mine, they were spinning like crazy! I mean real whirlwind "spinning dragons" spinning!

 

Well, as we determined while waiting in line, next up we were going to try and head for V2. And basically work around the park in a clockwise movement.

 

Now, I've sene picures of V2, but not videos, so I didn't know it actually stops once it hits the top of the spike, so this was a nice surprise to see.

 

The station provided some very nice views of the park.

 

 

I've been on Wicked Twister at CP before, but I sat in the middle so the ride pretty much sucked. I knew I had to ride in an edge seat this time so I sat in the back for the true impulse invert experience. I preffered the weightlessness over the twist.

 

And the ride was off!

 

Overall it was a very fun ride and saved my opinions on Impulse coasters, seeing as it was way better than riding Wicked Twister in the middle.

The train stopping while vertical was very weird and fun as well.

 

 

 

Anyhow, I can go on and on but if this TR is too long nobody'll read it so I'll continue some other time.

 

NEXT: SFGAm part 2!