Photo TR: Jahan's Awesome TPR-Midwest Trip Report!

[gotdane]

I can't believe I forgot about the butterfly! Who has those pictures!? I was surprised that it landed on my hand in the first place...perplexed when it wouldn't fly away after shaking my hand...then COMPLETELY shocked when it came back and landed on my hand again! It was pretty cool.

 

Seeing pictures makes me want to go back! Mainly to ride MF, Raptor, and Maverick again. Such good rides. I felt the same way about Maverick, being a Screamin' on drugs sort of ride. And I kind of feel ya on the Golden Zephyr comment. While it is a peaceful ride and beautiful at night, and will always have a special place in my heart (first attraction I was signed off on to operate), it really is just a stepping stone for me to a RO on Screamin'.

[RCFreak]

Jahan, You'll make the ladies (and some men ) swoon with the stubble, that or flag security at an airport. Awesome TR so far and I'm glad you liked Cedar Point. I know it's not the best (I don't like Millennium Force actually, it bores me aside from the first drop), but it's definitely my home away from home.

[jtizzle]

very fun TR. I always enjoy your input. Crappy that the rain had to ruin part of your first day. Hey, like someone else said... "swooning" over the stubble. ha ha. Lookin forward for more of your trip reports.

[Mr Stratosphere]

I too have never seen the sky like that. It looks really cool, but also really creepy!!

 

John

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I loved Maverick! And I really do like Cedar point as well. That night in the hotel was crazy, and really creepy. Great TR Jahan; all these pictures bring back soooooo many memories.

[FLIPDUDE]

Fantastic TR, Jahan! Your TR always makes me want to go update my TR.

 

And aah, yes... The hot chicks me and Ryan "picked up". I can't believe during the entire trip I was using my american accent when it's my Israeli accent that they ended up liking so much!

 

Oh, and also, it turns out that the creepy "independence day" cloud was in fact, a Tornado cloud, that ended up hitting not too far south from where we were.

[RIP Psyclone]

"Arrowfanman, what did you think of Arrow's most acclaimed coaster in the world?"

"Eh, it was meh."

 

[slither37]

Great TR at all the parks, but I really like the CP part.

 

Must take points away on the CP though, no obligatory trash can photo.

Just kidding, it was great to see great comments about where I spend so many weekends in the summer.

[cfc]

Your description of Magnum reminds me of Pepsi Max: The Big One at Blackpool--starts out promisingly, but is really kind of dull (the ride, not the description, that is).

 

Still haven't been to Cedar Point, but this TR has piqued my interest again. Maybe I'll renew my Maxx Pass after all.

[hemmy]

The Wednesday after Memorial day 07 the rain came on in the evening and most rides still ran until the lightning came.

 

This was like a week or so after the Magnum accident.

 

They should manually dry the brakes with a hair dryer

[jamesdillaman]

Your description of Magnum reminds me of Pepsi Max: The Big One at Blackpool--starts out promisingly, but is really kind of dull (the ride, not the description, that is).

 

Still haven't been to Cedar Point, but this TR has piqued my interest again. Maybe I'll renew my Maxx Pass after all.

 

Call me up, Chuck. I owe you a theme park touring guide service.

 

Great pictures, Jahan, although I am slightly shocked you didn't find airtime on Magnum. The bunny hills at the end always provide me with almost painful ejector air.

 

-James Dillaman

[PKI Jizzman]

*is always waiting for the CP and KI sections of these TR's* Awesome update, Jahan! Glad to see good reviews of the coasters and park; despite the rain and crappy weather. But sometimes, it's those things that make the *trips* more awesome! But like James said...I always get that awesome ejector air in the back of Magnum! Hmm, maybe they had all of the trims on extra hard.

[RaptorBoyASU]

Jahan has become my favoritest person alive after saying that Raptor > Batman. So true, so true

[FeelTheFORCE]

Awesome PTR Jahan! I really enjoy reading! I, myself am a huge MF fan as well (hence my name)!

[TexTitan01]

I can't believe I forgot about the butterfly! Who has those pictures!?

 

That would be me

 

Cedar Point was one of my more favored park experiences. Yes, the rain sucked unbelievable, but I look back at it and laugh about how funny the whole situation was, and thats a memory I wont soon forget. It was pretty awesome how I got evac'd off Maverick, but by that point I said "F it" and went about getting other credits in the park. I never did get on Magnum or Iron Dragon. Oh well...I can live without those!

aww...he doesnt love them back...

LOL, Dane is able to connect with the insects of Cedar Point! They love him!

[DBru]

It's funny how people have such low expectations for Corkscrew... its my favorite Arrow! I think the airtime is great!

 

And CCMR is my favorite Arrow mine train coaster too, followed by SFOG's. I think it depends on where you sit. What row were you in, do you know?

[gldude]

Great TR. Cedar Point is a place that there are just no words for. I live within an hour of it and have been to it many times, but i still can't wrap my head around it. Why this beautiful, spectacular park is smack dab in the middle of Ohio between Cleveland and Toledo of all places I will never know.

 

From my experience the best way to ride magnum is to sit in the front row of the last car. The airtime is amazing there and never fails. other then that, airtime on magnum is hit or miss. I hope I don't sound like know-it-all but i just wanted to run to the defence of maggie!

[arrowfanman]

^^ It's just not one of the rides that I really think of when I think "Cedar Point". At least that's just me.

 

 

 

Thanks for all of the comments guys!

 

And yes Kyle. I think I like Raptor best.

 

-Jahan

[lil jimmy norton]

Nice TR man. I loved my trip to Cedar Point, Maverick was awesome, every other ride was meh. I did enjoy Millennium Force for the sheer height and speed, but with no airtime for me in both the front and the back, it left me wanting a little more. As for the operations, many of the ops were unenthusiastic, and, in my opinion, were not working as fast as they could. Again, maybe its my Six Flags bias, but I didn't think their was anything special about the operations. Again, awesome TR and great pics.

[dandaman]

[Maverick] was essentially California Screamin’ on drugs. I still cant decide which of the two I like more. I just know that I really like both.

 

What, coasters and drugs?

 

Disaster Transport was dumb. Some people found that this dumbness is what gave it its charm. I just thought it was dumb.

 

Aah, that takes me back...

 

When my friend went on it the first time with me, the whole time we were in line I was trying to explain how you're going to Alaska, and totally failed at coming up with WHY.

 

During, we both kept yelling things like "I think that paint splotch was a sled dog!" or "Look! It's Anchorage! I'd recognize that skyline anywhere!"

 

After, the ride op asked how we enjoyed "our trip to Alaska".

 

5 seconds of crickets followed by a GP: "It... kinda sucked."

 

How come it looks like it’s in a swamp of bubbling feces?

 

They don't call it "Charlie Brown" for nothing. *ducks*

 

Awesome stuff here, Jahan.

[FLIPDUDE]

^

[Wes]

Oddly, I liked Disaster Transport a lot. Probably because I've heard it get dumped on constantly for the past 10 years and had absolutely no expectation for it. I had never done a bobsled coaster either, and the darkness, albeit cheesy, sort of added to the experience. I wouldn't say it was a great ride, but it was fun at least.

[speedracer]

Excellent TR as always guy, always fun to read your perspectives. But this took me by surprise:

 

OMG…these are like the greatest things ever!

 

I honestly had never even heard of or SEEN an elephant ear (unless you count the piece of plastic on X!) let alone eaten one. It was amazing. A party in my mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

You live in SoCal (practically Mexico!), and it took a trip to Ohio to experience your first bunuelo? Very sad!

[TexTitan01]

Hey Jahan, how about an update?

 

That nostalgic "I miss the midwest" feeling is wearing off...

[arrowfanman]

Day 10: Kennywood

 

 

 

Hey everybody!

 

 

Ok, so the following morning we woke up bright and early (the sun wasn’t even fully up yet) and made our way back down the peninsula, leaving the silhouettes of the Cedar Point coasters behind us. We were off to our next destination—Kennywood.

 

This reminds me of the “Circle of Life”—if you ignore all of the dead bugs on the windshield.

 

 

 

Now, some may be wondering, “Why Kennywood?—It’s not even in the Midwest?!”, which is true and became ever more apparent with the drive as the geography changed quite a bit. This particular day was originally planned to be spent at Geauga Lake. The issue with Geauga Lake was that two coasters and a series of other random rides had already begun to be removed from the park. When Kennywood offered ERT and promised that all of their rides would be open (which Cedar Fair definitely couldn’t offer either of that), a vote was held and the decision was made to instead go to Kennywood.

 

Anyway, the drive was interesting as we headed further and further into a wooded region and the hills grew steeper and steeper. Eventually, we were driving on the side of large hills and crossing expanse ravines on classic steel bridges.

 

We knew that we were getting close when the classic yellow Kennywood arrows began to appear.

 

Finally, we were there. We unloaded the busses and waited patiently outside of the gates as we were organized for our ERT session.

 

“Give me some candy!!!”

 

 

After some metal detectors, we were in the park. Interestingly enough, the entrance was on the other side of a street from the park and involved walking down some ramps, through a tunnel under the street, and into the park. The park is located on the top of a hill overlooking a river. This was cool because a lot of their rides were built into the terrain, rather than simply plopped down on flat land.

 

Anyway, after passing through the tunnel, we arrived at our first ride for ERT, the Racer.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the only picture I have of Racer—this photo was taken AFTER ERT, once the park had opened.

 

….which proves how awesome it is to have ERT.

 

What else was awesome about ERT is that Racer is one of those racing coasters that isn’t dual-tracked. Meaning there is technically only one track, that feeds directly into the other—if you were dispatched from the left station, you will return on the right, and visa versa. As a result, the Kennywood team let us ride the entire Racer credit in one sitting. When we came back from our rides, we were allowed to stay and ride the other side as well!

 

Racer, as a coaster, was ok. Yet again, unique because of the racing aspect and obviously a historic ride. It wasn’t crazy or anything. Just fun. After Racer, we headed over to the other side of the park to get the other coaster with ERT, Thunderbolt.

 

A really neat entrance marquee that you see as you’re approaching the ride.

 

Thunderbolt was an interesting ride. I totally didn’t realize that it was going to do what it was going to, until it did it. If you can get that. The ride is essentially split into two halves. There’s the dips off of the side of the hill half, and the lets make a bunch of right turns/crazy laterals half.

 

One of the many “dips off of the side of the hill”.

 

The setting of this half of the park was pretty neat as well, perched high above the river-valley, with some creepy, old, Scooby-dooesque factory across the way!

 

Thunderbolt wasn’t quite as smooth as the Racer, but it did do more. I can’t say that I really cared for the “lets make a bunch of right turns and crush our passengers with insane laterals” part, but the “dips” half of the ride was fun.

 

When we got off of Thunderbolt, Phantom’s Revenge began it’s test-runs.

 

What was cool was, Thunderbolt was practically next to the entrance for Phantom’s Revenge, so once we were done with our rides, we quickly scurried over there and waited for the ride to open, so we could get on without a wait.

 

Jahan v. the Phantom. Guess who won?

 

 

…for the time being, Phantom won because the park opening came and went and yet, Phantom’s Revenge did not. Boo. Still, we held out, hoping that would change.

 

Held up at the entrance of the ride, the group began to go crazy. I included this photo because Casey is awesome.

 

Hearing a smashing collection of ‘hit music’ from the nearby flat ride, Wes and Ryan got down. Right after this was taken, they turned their dancing attention to me.

 

 

 

…Yes, I was assaulted.

 

 

About 20-25 minutes into our wait, we were informed that some sort of component was broken and that they were working as quickly as possible to get the ride open for us. That being said, it would be better for us to try some other attractions. Which is how we found our way to…

 

“How can we make a twist on the bland and generic mouse coaster?”

 

“Well—we can just kill the mice. No one’s done that yet.”

 

“Me likey.”

 

 

 

The Exterminator was the FOURTH Zamperala spinning mouse coaster we encountered on the trip (the others being at Beech Bend, Mount Olympus, SFGAm)—all the same model. But of all of them, this one stood out, because the ride was enclosed in a building, and themed. Not just themed, might I add, but themed to extermination, which makes it awesome.

 

The ride itself was the same as the others. But everything else about it is what set it apart and made it one of the wackiest coasters of the trip.

 

 

After the Exterminator, we ride The Whip, which was my first and only Whip attraction. It was neat. Definitely a fun little novelty ride. I wish more of these still existed. After we were done with our ride, we noticed that Phantom’s Revenge was open, so we hurried over there to spare ourselves a longer wait.

 

Yay!! There’s people on the train!

 

 

Phantom’s Revenge was probably one of my favorite coasters of the trip. I mean, I don’t typically advocate the maiming of an Arrow product to create a different ride entirely, but this ride was just pure cool. Sparring the passengers a typical line up of Arrow inversions, they have instead turned the ride into a great experience, diving riders down the hillside! The sensation of dropping with the terrain and through Thunderbolt was pretty neat!

 

It may not seem like much, but this was sooooooooooooo neat.

 

After the dive, the ride then helices around a bit and then runs you through a series of decent airtime hills before finishing where you started. It was pretty fun! I rode multiple times, in both the front and back, always enjoying it.

 

 

When we were done riding Phantom’s Revenge, we sort of just hung out for a bit.

 

I think more people are inclined to use the button if you ask them not to. At least dumb people like me!

 

We made our way to get some of the “famous Kennywood fries”, which were a bit overrated if you ask me. I mean, most things fried, covered in cheese, and bacon taste good! That’s no “secret”!

 

Not feeling like exactly jumping onto another coaster after eating those things, we made our way up to the Noah’s Ark funhouse. And I gotta tell you—it was really fun! I think the floor that bounced up and down was definitely the highlight!

 

After the funhouse, we were finally ready for the final credits.

 

 

 

Best. Logo. Ever.

 

 

We had to queue a bit for the Jack Rabbit, but that was ok. The ride is actually very small—two laps around an area a little bit smaller than the Racer. What was the highlight of such a short ride, was this double-down of extreme awesomeness! The airtime was VERY cool! I didn’t get the back row, because everybody naturally jumped for it. But still, I could enjoy what I got!

 

After Jack Rabbit, I reluctantly queued for Lil’ Phantom, the small kiddie coaster and we then just chilled, visiting some of the more charming and vintage attractions. I remember us riding this funny little car ride where once you boarded, you literally took off and just sort of sped around this course, circling around a bit before returning to the station. We also rode the big Phantom again! LOL…I loved that thing.

 

Anyway, after a bit Robb asked if I could help him with a quick photo walkback of Thunderbolt and Phantom’s Revenge, to help him get some photos while he took video. I gladly obliged.

 

 

Behind the scenes of the next TPR DVD!!!

 

You can also note how dumb those lateral forces are by how the riders are squished in the car.

 

 

 

I look like such a DORK!

 

What’s funny is I work around coaster track. Every night, I climb under and around it. But it’s different when I’m there and have a camera and full permission to geek-out!

 

 

 

 

I also love capturing peoples faces on rides!

 

 

 

After the photo walk back, I met back up with friends and we continued to walk the park. We met for a group dinner and then got ready to leave.

 

Oh! And I found this on the way out…

 

The History buff (and major) in me totally went giddy when I read this. Very interesting!

 

(Wikipedia “George Washington” or “Edward Braddock” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)

 

 

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed Kennywood! It was a charming, old-style park with both new and old style rides. The location was actually very cool. It was a different flavor park from what we had been experiencing in the Midwest and personally, I enjoyed the break.

 

 

 

Anyway, that evening we took off from Pennsylvania and headed back to Ohio for the last park of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for reading the PTR so far! Just ONE MORE installment to go!

 

 

 

-Jahan