Thrill Times east coaster tour Photo TR

[Reon]

Today through the 17th, Doug Trovinger and I are embarking on an east coast tour to kick off the summer/celebrate Doug's graduation, and celebrate making it to the 1/3 point of our amusement park schedule site, www.thrilltimes.com Of-course, I will be doing a photo TR for everyone, and Doug will be putting up his blog on thrilltimes.com. Anyways, enough of my blabbering. On with the show!

 

 

May 11: Day of dissapointment/mother's day

 

This morning started out with some mother's day stuff before I left. I got my mom some coffee, a bath pillow, and some oils (and actually did my laundry for once). Once we celebrated enough, Doug and I headed out for our first stop on the trip: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The drive took about 2 hours, plus lots of fun rain storms....

 

Doug (grey hoodie) and I (dark blue raincoat)

 

By the time we got there at 1:30, the rain died down to a slight drizzle. Parking in the fairground lot (almost right next to the front entrance), we went straight to season pass processing to get our passes processed. After that was done, we did the only logical thing a credit whore would: head for the kiddie. I already had all the credits at SFKK, so this time it was for Doug. Rollerskater was fun for a kiddie, and we were the only ones on it (a common theme that day).

 

Kiddie out of the way, I lead Doug to one of our disappointments that day: the Twisted Twins area was fenced off. Thoroughly pissed at the world, I decided to lead Doug instead to the roughest ride in the park: Thunder Run. For those of you that don't know, TR is a modified mirror of the Hurler. Fortunately, it was actually pretty smooth compared to it's cousin, and provided a few nice pops of air.

 

For a nice change of pace, we then journeyed to the park's star coaster: Chang. Personally, I love this ride, and enjoy it much more than Mantis at Cedar Point. Its smooth, has a great flow of elements, and today it had a walk on to the front row (did I mention how empty the park was?)

 

Chang out of the way, we went for the remaining credits. T2 was...a SLC, though it wasn't that bad compared to some other one's I've ridden.

I even got some nice hangtime in a few inversions. Done with that side of the park, we went back across the bridge to his the last two coasters.

 

Greezed Lightning was beutiful as usual. It didn't go too far up the back spike, but still provided some nice forces in the loop.

Finally, we hit Road Runner. Not much to say about mice, though this one isn't really braked that much, and the entrance has some nice theming.

 

 

No more Hellevator/Superman: Power Tower

 

Now slightly chilled by the 50* weather, with all our credits out of the way, we hit the shops and started to head back. In the car, I looked at my park map to confirm that not only was Twisted Twins not open today, but apparently that entire area has been written off the map. Are they constructing something, or are the rides just that bad? Personally, I enjoyed those duelers, and the splash from Mile High Falls was absolutely HUGE! Oh well, atelast I got the credits a few years ago

 

A couple of hours later, we hit the second park of the day: my homepark Kings Island. Before we could hit anything, Doug had to get his Platinum Pass processed. I already got mine on opening day, so I just waited outside, watching some flats operate. Unfortunately, once Doug got done, I had some bad news to report: Kings Island was closing at 5 thanks to inclamate weather, and it was already 4:30. Because none of the coasters were running, and it was still raining, we decided to just head back to my house and call it a day. 2009 construction shots and Doug's missing credits would just have to wait for another day.

 

 

 

On a brighter note, Doug and I will be up at Cedar Point for the next two days. I'll be wearing some sort of amusement park-related clothes, so stop on by if you want.

[spaceace12]

The back part of park at SFKK is fenced off for Perlious Plunge refurbishment and well, TT just plain sucks, so no one is hardly ever back there. This information was posted here a while back.

[shesaidboom]

"Day of dissapointment/mother's day" hahahahaha.

[TheRapidsNerd]

Hey, always good to see SFKK. Bummer KI was closing early. Regardless, thanks for posting the pics.

 

I read somewhere that SFKK was closing off the Twisted Twins section to save operating costs, like SFGAdv is doing with The Old Country. Makes you wonder if they're eyeing demo in the next couple years like Great Adventure is.

[Reon]

Guess I missed that info about that section closing..Like I said though, I got the credits before, so I don't really mind.

[YoshiFan]

Hey, always good to see SFKK. Bummer KI was closing early. Regardless, thanks for posting the pics.

 

I read somewhere that SFKK was closing off the Twisted Twins section to save operating costs, like SFGAdv is doing with The Old Country. Makes you wonder if they're eyeing demo in the next couple years like Great Adventure is.

 

Which is horrible considering they removed a ton of rides from GADV this offseason and for a park with around 10 non coaster non kiddie rides, closing 2 flats in Old Country is ridiculous

[SharkTums]

^Hey! No complaining about losing flats at SFGAd!!!!

 

First off, you still have some decent flat rides, including ones built in the 90's or even 2000's!!!!

 

Secondly, you have El Toro.

 

Yeah, come to SFMM!!!

[Reon]

edit: ^ I'd love to hit SFMM sometime later this year, but I'll need to figure out when and transportation, since I'll be coming from either West Virginia or Ohio without my own car (unless plans change)

 

At least SFGAdv still has a full day's worth of rides (I assume). We'll be heading down there on thursday for the Dark Knight premier, plus scoring all the credits, since neither of us have ever been.

 

 

By the way, I have added all our stops to my signature if anyone is interested in a meet up.

[YoshiFan]

It's a full day's worth of rides, if there are lines. It's just when you want a break from the coasters, there isn't much else to do. I am worried this summer lines are going to be bad because there isn't a huge selection of rides like there was. The good news is that operations have really been great this year. I have been to the park 4 times this season and Nitro, Medusa and GASM have been running 3 trains except when there are no crowds and they go to 2 trains.

 

I would have liked to met up at Dorney but I have work all weekend

 

Also, if you are trying to get all the credits at Dorney, go to the mouse first if you get there at opening. They have a rule of no more than 2 adults per car, and they added seatbelts so the line crawls. Last week there were maybe 50 people in line and it was close to a 20 minute wait. Everything else should be a walk on

[Reon]

Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

 

May 12: Cedar Point, Part 1

 

Long TR short: CP still rocks. We arrived at around 3:30 and parked near the front of the Soak City parking lot. As soon as we got through the gates, we hit the red train on Gemini (only one running that day). Doug still needed his Maverick credit, so we were hitting that side first. Unfortunately, Maverick was down for technical or something, so we went over to...Mean Streak! *Cues dramatic music* Actually, I'm not sure if this was just me, but MS seems beareble this year. Sure, it still isn't that fun with the trim killing all the airtime and speed, but Streak really wasn't that rough on my back car ride. Maybe they profiled the track over offseason?

 

As we exited Mean Streak, we saw Maverick cycling with employees. Naturally, I ran over to get in line, which at that point stretched back to the guess-your-weight/age/etc game.

 

Retarded quick story time: When we got to the back of the line, I took a pic to show how long the line was. AS SOON AS I SNAPPED THE SHOT, the line started to move. I looked over at the queue house, and people were moving through. Guess my camera FIXES rides or something.

 

 

Anyways, Maverick still kicks butt and takes names. I just love how it flows, all the air time, and the beautiful pacing the ride has. Well worth what turned out to be a 20 minute wait. If you haven't made it up to the point yet, I STRONGLY encourage going, if not just for that ride.

 

After Maverick, we quickly hit the Mine Ride. Quick ride, but nothing to write home about. We mainly rode it because Skyhawk was down and we were in the area. Continuing our quest, Doug suggested we hit Raptor. Eager to ride one of my favorite inverts, we took the long way around to take some more shots and such. Dragster had a nearly walk-on line, so we naturally got a quick ride on it. No roll back, but theres still tomorrow for re-rides.

 

Once we were done with TTD, we got on the skyride and head towards the front of the park. Did Raptor, was awesome. It seems a little rough and forceless this year, but still a great ride. After riding Raptor, there wasn't much time left, so we decided to get Disaster Transport out of the way. We did, then had just enough time to hit Wicked Twister. It was the first time I actually rode near the front, but I think I prefer back myself. Seeing the front spike is cool, but the back spike is a great surprise.

 

 

Anyways, I have lots of pics to upload, so photos will either be up soon or tomorrow. We will continue to be at the Point until about 3 or 4 tomorrow, so feel free to meet up with us or something. I'll be wearing my Dueling Dragons shirt and maybe my grey zip up hoodie (depending on weather)

[Reon]

And now, some pictures! (In photobucket-vision, because my camera takes shots too big to directly upload.)

 

We had lunch here. The mall is HUGE, and still growing. It wouldn't surprise me if they pulled a Mall of America, and installed a mini-park.

 

We drove past some parts at the Soak City lot.

 

I think its for some new ride at Challenge park

 

Either way, its construction photos.

 

Heres the erection.

 

We started the day on this

 

They were only running the red side

 

Insert airtime here

 

Lines were all like this today, but then again isn't Mean Streak's line ALWAYS empty?

 

2 trains in one shot!

 

It looks harmless enough...

 

I mean, its ridable this year

 

Whee!

 

See look? A happy face. Clearly its a harmless coaster that just wants attention...

 

We rode this piece of awesome!

 

Cedar Point's attempt at theming, part 1

 

This could have been a cool mine train if it DID something...

 

 

Okay, enough stalling for time.

 

Does this count as lift hill porn?

 

My rule is to never justify a Maverick shot without a train in it.

 

Donkey-shoe roll?

 

Insert airtime here

 

Twisty goodness

[Reon]

More

 

More airtime here

 

I love how this shot came out

 

Maverick, through its own supports

 

Another train of what better be happy riders.

 

Honestly, who DOESN'T like this ride?

 

The picture that fixed Maverick

 

I am posting a witty and informative caption to distract you from the fact that there is no train in this picture.

 

I <3 Stengle Dives

 

WHEE!

 

So yeah, Maverick won the golden ticket last year. Know why? Its made of win!

 

And now, back to the pointless ride

 

All of Dragster

 

See ya later!

 

Pre-launch

 

Post-launch

 

VROOM!

 

Best tower shot I could get

 

Racing to the finish.

 

And now for a skyride into the next post...

[Reon]

More

 

Hi, Raptor!

 

Zero G rolls are my friends

 

Another train about to plunge in

 

Raptor is really photogenic

 

Especially the helix

 

See?

 

More helixy goodness

 

Hi Derek! Didn't forget about you...

 

Soaring like some sort of bird

 

Some layout shot of DT, which doesn't go to Alaska anymore.

 

The end of DT, which doesn't go to Alaska anymore.

 

The Pair Bay. Cedar Point's attempt at theming part 2

 

Hi Doug! Also, more zany CP theming.

 

And now, for something fun

 

Sweet spot #1

 

Sweet spot #2

 

On the way out, I caught this. It's like some sort of employee walking of the bulls...

 

Anyways, I'm off to ERT Maverick. More CP later tonight, along with whatever adventures we have here on the Thrilltimes.com east coaster tour!

[signal]

Great TR so far! I can't wait to go to Cedar Point! Thanks alot!

[slither37]

Great TR. I was watching the web cams on 5/12 and was thinking WOW, there is no one there!

 

Was everything operating on 5/12? May have to get up there this week.

[Philrad71]

Construction in Soak City is for a new upcharge attraction - Skyscraper. It was listed in the park Getaway Guide that I received in the mail last week. While I didn't see a price listed, it describes it as such:

 

"The new skyscraper features a giant propeller that spins guests in a full circle, up to 160 feet in the air!"

 

Basically a clone of the ride that they have just about everywhere. *Pic provided by Idexter, courtesy of Google.

[Reon]

^I figured that much.

^^Everything was running more or less, just somethings werent running both sides, like Gemini.

 

May 13: CP Day 2, and Doug gets "drunk"

 

Today started out with some Maverick ERT. On the way up, I saw TTD rollback a few times. Pity I wasn't on it, but lets just say it's a good thing I got in a ride yesterday. I nabbed a bunch of shots of Maverick while we waited for Doug's friend and former CP ride op, Jeff, to meet us. Right before he got there, Doug and I nabbed a quick lap, then went back to the entrance. Here's where the fun began.

 

Because Jeff's addition made an uneven number, I ran off for a single ride in the front car while they waited for the back. On my launch up the lift, I rolled back. 3 times. Not as cool as a TTD rollback, but hey it was my first. I'll take what I can get. After about 1/2 an hour of waiting, we were evacuated and walked over to MF for a exit pass ride. Jeff told me about his sweet spot near the rear of the train, and I rode with him, while Doug rode with some ACEr.

 

After Milly, things took a turn for the worse. Due to the wind, and malfunctions I personally experienced, all 3 Intamin launchers were down technical. In addition, Mantis hadn't tested yet. The three of us hit the lesser coasters in the area, then set off towards the front of the park. Blue Streak had a 1/2 hour wait, so we decided to start back towards the back entrance. Midway through our wait for Power Tower, Jeff had to leave, so we bid our farewells. PT was only running one shot tower, so the wait was longer than it should have been.

 

After Tower, we went over to Doug's favorite ride at the Point: Magnum XL200. We rode in the backseat, which was a wheel but produced some great air! Getting off Maggie, we went back towards Maverick. It was still down technical, and Gemini's wait was too long, so we just took the train back towards Millie. Now that Mantis was operating, we considered riding it. However, it had a 3/4 hour wait, and we walked on to Chang earlier that week. Not worth it. Deciding that MF wasn't worth over an hour wait when we already hit it, we just went back to the front to hit Blue Streak.

 

BS was still fun, even though the back car had 6/12 working. Even so, airtime ahoy. We hit Wicked once more, and were out of the park for the trip.

 

Exiting CP, we hit a local mom and pop Dairy Corner nearby for lunch. Great prices and no taxes on anything, which is awesome in my books! I got 2 pizza steaks and a chocolate malt for $6.80 total. After we scarfed that, we went to battery park to take a last round of shots for the Point. After stalling for time to stay near the Rockin' Roller Coast, we finally left Sandusky, and went towards our next destination....

 

A few hours later, we arrived at Keglers Sports Bar and Lounge in Morgantown, West Virginia, home of some of Doug's old friends. We had dinner and fun times were had by all. I'm not that much of a drinker yet, so I just had 2 lite beers (since I haven't really tried much anyways). Doug is the least likely person to become an alcoholic, so everyone in the entire lounge immediately stopped what they were doing to see him take the smallest sip ever seen out of my first cup. Thats right, Doug was drunk, or the closest he'll probably ever get in his life. After that, nothing significant happened, so now I'm crashing at his friend's apartment for the night.

 

Tomorrow we will be up at Kennywood, where I'll actually get my first new credits of the trip. Pics will be up soon.

[thepoint4life23]

what mall was that out

[Dougerz]

what mall was that out

 

That was at the Polaris Fashion Place on the East Side of the Mall. It is next to the food court. They're also doing construction right next to it for something that I'm not sure. Looks like it'll be some more shops and another anchor. They just opened Von Maur a few months ago too.

 

Doug

[thepoint4life23]

thats what i thought i live 10 15 min from there next time your in that part of Ohio let me know maybe we can meet up or even go to a park some places.

[Reon]

Well we HAVE been encouraging meet ups for our whole trip. Check my sig to see where we are going.

 

Anyways, I promised CP pics, so CP I will deliver. I won't have time to scan them all in until we get done with Kennywood today, so heres some Maverick goodness to hold you over.

 

DONKEY SHOE ROLL! (new official inversion name from TPR?)

 

Maverick was running 5 trains before it shut down.

 

Yay for ERT

 

DONKEY SHOE ROLL!

 

Best part of the ride, period

 

Do I have to say it?

 

Airtime on Maverick, through the Maverick

 

Donkey....

 

Shoe....

 

ROLL!!

 

Zooming into the brakes

 

Whee!

 

Aww, over already?

 

Even the brakes are photogenic

 

Into the tunnel!

 

Airtime!

 

This unfortunately concludes our Maverick section of the trip. Stay tuned later today for Kennywood, and the rest of the CP photos.

 

 

Also, Donkey shoe roll

[signal]

Nice Maverick pictures! I can't wait to ride my first Donkey Shoe Roll

[FeelTheFORCE]

Awesome pictures! I was there Monday and yesterday also!

 

I was also in that line somewhere, lol.

[SFjunkie2010]

Nice Maverick Pictures! I like the angles you used. Did they really have 5 trains running?

[Reon]

Yeah. They ran 5 trains most of the time we were there.

 

May 14: Kennywood and alot of driving

 

Today was where things finally started to get interesting on my behalf. Starting with Kennywood, this trip was all new territory, which meant it was time to whore me some credits.

 

Right from the start, I was amazed by Kennywood. Free parking, an escalator ride to the park entrance, and $22 admission? Amazing! After we walked through the tunnel that connects the park entrance to the actual park, we hit the first ride I could find: Garfield's Nightmare. Nothing spectacular, but still interesting. After that, it was off to a classic flatride: the Auto Race. Fun ride, very cool for a normal flat, and fast around the corners. I'd love to see more parks install these again, but I understand that Kennywood is home to a slew of ancient rides. Done stalling for time, we whored the only way we knew how: Lil' Phantom. LP was awesome for the fact that there was no height limit, and the lift had a decent speed. Credit 99 in the bag.

 

For my 100th coaster, I felt the need to step it up to the ACTUAL Phantom, or rather Phantom's Revenge. They were only running one train, but it was about a 15 minute wait for back row. Completely worth it to say the least. The first half of the ride is a fun twister, and the second is filled to the brim with airtime. After Phantom's Revenge, it was starting to rain, so we hit a few more rides in that area of the park. Pitt Fall was an awesome Intamin drop tower, where I got floater air down a good 2/3 of the drop. Whip was pretty true to it's name, and had some nice whips around the bend.

 

Getting back to the coasters, we got in line for Exterminator. This enclosed coaster is a themed spinning wild mouse. I almost consider it a warm up for Dark Knight later today, but then again I don't know what to expect from Six Flags. Either way, Exterminator had great theming, and was a really fun ride. I would've loved to re-ride it if we weren't rushing through the park on a time limit. To finish off the section, we hopped on Swing Shot, the S&S Screaming Swing. Fun ride, but short cycle.

 

Once we were done with Lost Kennywood, we headed over to Thunderbolt, for my 101st coaster. TBolt has some great airtime spots no matter where you sit, but lets just say you don't want to be on the inside of the train. On Thunderbolt you are required to ride with a partner because the middle section slams you around so much. One side gets to squish their riding partner while the other is...well, the squished. We got off Thunder and went across the path to Kennywood's newest addition: Ghostwood Manor. Ghostwood is a seemingly trackless shooting dark ride . The way it loads is pretty interesting: Theres a big queue section, then a group is taken through a doorway into the pre-ride chamber, then escorted up a staircase to the main platform. Because of this, people in line see groups disappear up the stairs while they stay still in line. A cool effect that adds to the ride.

 

After I beat everyone in our car's score, we continued our credit run to the mobius racer, Racer. It raced....except not. The lazy ride ops gave the green train a huge head start, so it wasn't really that fair on our run through. Oh well, a coaster's a coaster, and it still had some nice airtime. 103, check. Then we went to the only coaster left in the park, aka Jackrabbit. It only had one good spot of air, but the awesome sign and interesting train more than made up for the actual experience. 104 credits in the bag, and still growing.

 

Once we finished the coasters, Doug thought it was time to leave, but there were still a few rides I wanted to hit, so I dragged him back towards the classics. First up was Kangaroo, the only Flying Coaster flatride left in operation. The basic concept is cars go up a ramp, then soar until they land. Fun ride, and you get a hop of air as you launch. Next up was my final ride of the day: Cosmic Chaos. I rode this alone because Doug doesn't like spinny rides. Awesome ride, and a much better alternative to Delerium *continues to scorn KI for taking down King Cobra*

 

Rides out of the way, we hit the Potato Patch. I hadn't got any famous theme park food all trip, so I wasn't about to let that opportunity slip. Doug's a plain guy, so he just had gravy and catsup on his. Me on the other hand...bacon, cheese, barbecue sauce, and gravy. Strangely enough, my mutant potatoes weren't half bad. We hit the shop to get some souvenirs, then bid adue to Kennywood. From my first impressions of the park, I'll have to give it a 7/10. Great rides and atmosphere, but horrible ride operations.

 

 

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but tommarow I'll be checking in to our hotel early in the night. Expect a HUGE photo update with CP, Kennywood, and SFGAdv then. Until then, I'll be at SFGAdv today. Hope to see whoever there!