DerekRx Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 As usual, on a holiday weekend we like to utilize our extra day off by heading somewhere a little farther away. Since there was so much new stuff opening around the Buffalo area and Nicole wanted to show off her bling to her parents anyway, we figured this weekend would be a great opportunity to get there. Even better was that every one of the new coasters in the area was already opened for the season, that rarely seems to happen anymore! The first stop was Sylvan Beach, a small park outside of Syracuse that Nicole visited last year and I tried visiting the year before but it was closed due to rain. Sylvan Beach is a really cute little park with some older rides, as well as newer old rides. Apparently they just added a Rotor this year. It reminded me of a smaller Conneaut only nicer and actually opened. The dark ride was good, though a little too dark to catch all the stunts, and best of all, we got a credit in the Galaxi there. We could have easily spent more time there if we wanted. and Nicole and I do our sappy myspace style picture at the lake As Heath eats his ice cream, he ponders his next beer but that didn't stop some people from finding some water recreational fun in Lake Oneida It was still a little too cool out to go in the water for swimming and frolicking waves crash onto the shores of Sylvan Beach We had some time to relax so we decided to check out the actual Sylvan Beach and Lake Oneida. I bet these bbq grills were used later that weekend Heath and Kim are not the scares, but they seemed to enjoy themselves Lots of good classic effects, but some were too dark to see right. There's a good scare or two in there though Next up, Laffland, the park's haunted pretzel dark ride The carousel looked pretty good, but no ring grab that I could see another train full of happy riders Nothing too painful in this ride, fairly smooth for its age, and with minimal braking 4 whiteys in a Galaxi, finally a new credit! except this year it has a companion in the form of a Rotor which was just added. So new in fact that it stole Galaxi's entrance queue! The coaster sets back in the corner all by itself With our tickets in hand, it's time to do what we do at parks Typical older flat rides, but Sylvan Beach has both a Rock-O-Plane and a Roll-o-Plane Its midway has a classic sort of feel to it, I bet it looks a little like Lakeside at night As soon as you cross the bridge into Sylvan Beach from the Thruway you can't miss the park, it's right there!
DerekRx Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 After lunch and brews in Syracuse, our next stop was Darien Lake to take advantage of their after 5 admission prices and to try out the new for 2008 OCC MotoCoaster. I hadn't been to Darien Lake since 1999 when Superman opened, but from what I can tell, not much has changed. It's nice to see that at least the new owners are investing in the place with this new coaster. OCC Motocoaster was surprisingly fun, like a launched rollerskater. The restraints are definitely more comfortable than Vekoma's motorbike restraints, and the operations were great! Full queue was like a 25 minute wait. The location was a bit weird though, and you had to technically leave the park at the campground entrance in order to get into the plaza for the new ride. here's some stuff from Buffalo that I love, all in the same photo at the same time Hello Anchor Bar, bring me your wings! We departed Darien Lake and the beauty of Ride of Steel for Buffalo. Hopefully it won't be another 9 years until you get a coaster! Our last ride of the evening was Predator. Even though they're retracking like the whole thing, I think they need to invest in non-trailered trains to make any sort of difference. It still blows the lilacs were in bloom so Nicole was happy riding over water > riding over a field with tram car and Ultra Twister scrap pieces and it still delivers a great ride and has a nice location, even if the crew is really slow and the station smells like a dumpster _______: Ride of Steel, dumb name, but it sure beats Flight Deck! "I can only eat pureed fish, sonny!" Why, he's SharkGums! Time to visit with SharkTums' relative. But what the heck is wrong with him? I think Six Flags added this during their reign. It didn't have much of a wait this day. We did ride the log flume though, and didn't get very wet. Twas actually a pleasant though simple ride No Mind Eraser for us today, we all already have the credit. Sure looks pretty though, doesn't it? Brain teaser still eludes us, curses to those who say this is only for children! For being built like in 1982, Viper is still pretty fun and thrilling for those of you who still think I like vertical loops, here, have some Viper Oh Predator, you look like you could be a nice wood coaster, you deceiving devil! Bummer that we got here too early to witness the OCC cycle on display for the ride. Hopefully we can catch it on tv If you look at the last car you will see...the handicap row where they just tie your wheelchair onto the actual ride! I would have thought they would have tried going for more OCC inspired motorcycle cars, but oh well. And where's Bruno, I saw him on the park map!? The restraints were much more comfortable than the Vekoma ones, and very simple yet effective The launch caught us a little off-guard, and you gotta love a flywheel style launch Hooray for new coasters that open before June! Some cool I-beam logos The new owners were pretty smart by adding in New York's own Orange County Chopper dudes into the theming On the other side of that lake we find Zamperla's first motocoaster in operation They call the park Darien Lake for a reason, it's on the Darien Lakes. This be one of them Yup, we're at Darien Lake, the atomic coaster logo says so When you see this giant mass of Intamin goodness, you know you're at Darien Lake...or you somehow got lost in the Largo area and are driving in a field, which would make you pretty dumb
DerekRx Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 On Sunday we got up bright and early and made our way to Canada's Wonderland for opening so we could experience Behemoth with the least amount of waiting. Crossing the border was a piece of cake for us, but getting into the park was still a giant clusterfrak thanks to the greatness that is Cedar Fair's pass policy. After we ran into mass confusion and passes that wouldn't scan at Kings Dominion earlier in the year, we went right to Guest Services to get our comp tickets. After waiting for about 15 minutes with only 3 other parties in front of us, we're told "oh, you have Platinum Passes, we don't give you tickets, you just scan your pass at the gate." Grrrr.... So we go to the gate and the dude looks at us confused, tries to scan the pass, tells us to go to Guest Services to get comp tickets. We explain we were there, they told us they don't give us comp tickets. He runs over, talks to them (because I ain't getting in a line that now looks like it's about 45 minutes long) tells us to wait a few minutes, and then some other dude comes over, punches in some numbers and we're all good to go. We'd be good to go like 20 minutes sooner had Cedar Fair yet figured out what Six Flags and Busch figured out years ago, make your scanners universal across your chain! Basically, the gist I get so far is old Paramount park passes are good everywhere chainwide, as Heath and Kims passes scanned. All old CF park passholders still have to go to Guest Relations, at least at Paramount parks. Behemoth really surprised us, the seating isn't too retarded to understand unlike the Deja Vus, and the extra length of the train really helps dish out more airtime. With all three trains running, a full queue plus additional temp queue only ended up being about a 50 minute wait, and they were stacking trains (but they'd only let 1 train of people into the station at a time, except for the front rows, they could have 3 trains worth). Good airtime, speed, a good forcefull helix and a nice view put this towards the top of my B&M hyper list, just below Goliath at SFOG, but I did keep my expectations low. Rode it twice, both times in the last car, once on the end, and once in the middle. Hopefully we'll ride this thing again soon because it was excellent! and coming back across the border, here's a shot of Niagara Falls that some of you may see come August Time to head back to the US, but here's one final shot of Behemoth for you. Probably would be better without the random light post in the shot, but whatever Offering you the Lamest Name Award, Flight Deck, is BACT Team Extreme member Heath. But that honor is saved for you, oh ever so lamely named Flight Deck! LOL, Time Warp! What is so Time Warped about this?! Almost the lamest name ever....almost horse butts! (you had to be there to understand the random sync of it all) for those carousel building enthusiasts out there Boo to the giant wine corkscrew known as Sledgehammer being broken A little over 2 years ago I did this at the same exact spot, only now Nicole is used to it A little over 2 years ago I did this at the same exact spot, only without there being a diamond on Nicole's finger. I just wanted to point out how funny I think it is that Six Flags thinks people don't like flat rides, yet this thing had a full queue One ride we won't skip though is Thunder Run, another top "coaster" in the park, even if it is powered. We skipped the Fly (and many other rides) on this visit because we did them before and they had long lines now. But the extra ride on Behemoth was worth it Paul proves that he can get a normal hand stamp and that he doesn't have bad circulation like we were led to believe 2 years ago Even with a full queue, this sucker eats lines when running two trains. Do NOT skip this! Leggo my egg turn! unlike most Arrow suspendeds, this one only has one lift, and really has a lot of speed and high swing to it Vortex, now the 2nd best coaster in the park, but still one of Arrow's finest Minebuster would like to remind everyone that it is still there and it is still an out and back and is older than Behemoth. As an added bonus it even offers free chiropractic sessions to all who ride airtime = good. airtime on standup = ouch elsewhere in the park we're reminded of the old Canada's Wonderland, but with bright new paints! The lift has a great view of the park and the skyline of Toronto, and the drop has some nice air It really is a Behemoth, and it really is a great coaster. At first I wasn't expecting much from it, but it really surprised me, and it's early in the season! No Evel Knievel-esque stunts are allowed while in line There must have been some sort of morning ERT for some company, as by the time we got there, Behemoth already had a huge line like everyone else, we first went to Behemoth Finally we're inside and saying hi to Wonder Mt again. It's been too long, my friend (yes, I know it's a fake mountain, and it's not really alive so it can't be my friend) There's the reason. 2 windows opened on a Saturday at one of the busiest parks in the Western Hemisphere? Sounds like old Paramount mentality to me Why do we look annoyed and frustrated? The new park entrance could this ride be even better than Canada's last offering to the world, Canadian Geese?! there's a new hulking goliath err behemoth greeting patrons to the park The skyline sure has changed about 2 hours later, here we are, at Paramountless Canada's Wonderland Before we could make the venture into Canada, we needed Tim Hortons, it's a requirement now, just like passports
DerekRx Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 Our final stop on this Memorial Day weekend trip was to Waldameer to finally ride the Ravine Flyer II, a coaster that has been in the works since before I was a coaster enthusiast. I heard some good things about the coaster, but I didn't really follow its construction or layout or anything, because frankly I like to be a little surprised. And boy was I ever! The park was fairly empty first thing on Monday afternoon when they opened at 1pm, which works fine for us, and seems to be the norm at all parks over Memorial Day. Even with the whole lower queue of RFII filled, the wait time was only about 40 minutes with a 1 train operation. Again, like Behemoth, they were only allowing 1 trains worth of people into the station, but if you were nice, they'd let you wait for a particular row. I won't ruin the ride with a full fledged dissertation on the ride, but I will say it's a good one, like a mini-Voyage, only a fraction of the size, more rideable, and without the witch hunts for evil doing rule breakers. This ride will definitely boost Waldameer's attendance, and I'm glad to see they went with 2 trains from the get go. It's freaking great to see the Ravine Flyer II finally become a reality! not very big, but it offers a different ride from the other Jr Woodies out there, what few there are one final credit for Nicole before heading back for more Ravine Flyer thrills is the park's old Jr Woodie, Comet, which is really cute and fun another carousel, another photo for you fans of the animals that go around in a circle, sometimes bobbing up and down it made me sad, I like being the only clown she enjoys sitting with Nicole enjoyed sitting with some clown at Waldameer or maybe this Lifeguard frog freaked them out Waldameer also has a waterpark, but not many people seemed to be there yet. Maybe they were in line for Ravine Flyer II like every other soul in the park While it's no Dragon's Fury, this thing is fun and if you arrange your group right, you spin real good. 90 degrees! I love a good Maurer Sohne spinner, and Steel Dragon is no exception One of Waldameer's newer additions is the X-scream Pirates Cove is a walk thru sort of like Noah's Ark with lots of different rooms and some prop gags With lots of black lights and cool gags, Heath was easily frightened Besides an awesome wood coaster, Waldameer also has a few good dark rides. This one is cool, and disorienting The new park map, but you shouldn't have looked at that either! The best you can do from inside the park is this sign. Maybe you shouldn't have looked at that if you wanted to be surprised. Sorry! You can't see much of the ride from inside the park, adding to the mysteriousness, and accentuating the thrill First order of business, the new Gravity Group goodie Welcome to Waldameer, now let's get to work!
Big Mike Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Derek Dude! It was like dejavu for me. I did those exact parks, plus some more! I was at Canada's Womderland at opening Sunday too and ran to Bohemoth at the rope drop. No company function, just a mass rush there. I was about 50th in line. Also did Waldemeer at opening at 1pm on Monday! You got a picture of Big Mike on the comet in your last picture of your report! Peace, Big Mike
coaster05 Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 We were at Waldameer on Saturday and had an amazing time.
Shockwave Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 This was my favourite part of the report! Great report Derek, I feel slightly bummed out that all those parks I went to last year have now got some new rides which look like a lot of fun, but at least I have a good reason to go back there soon!
shesaidboom Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Great report Derek, I feel slightly bummed out that all those parks I went to last year have now got some new rides which look like a lot of fun, but at least I have a good reason to go back there soon! Not to mention an awesome Canadian couple to hang out with!
pianojohn Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 I will be doing all of those parks in 2 weeks! Woo hoo! Hopefully they will get the 2nd train on Ravine Flyer II by then!
chemical_echo Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Nice pictures, you even got Cesar...the half million dollar horse on CW's carousel in a shot. (I worked on that ride one season and it was one of the things we had to know...you know, in case somebody asked about it)
Leaping La Ronde Boobis Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 I was at Canada's Wonderland on Friday night/ Saturday morning on a school trip. The park was closed to the GP, only waited seven minutes for Behemoth... then the crowd came and it jumped to an hour. At least I reached my 60th credit!
CoasterLine Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Big Mike, I was in line for Ravine Flyer infront of you... You should wear a shirt that says who you are on it . (Sarcasm: On)
mcjaco Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Very nice Derek. Hope that wedding this weekend isn't you and Nicole eloping! Perhaps our paths will cross again soon. We need to drink.
Coaster Palooza Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Great TR as always, Derek! It is awesome to see everyone enjoying themselves. I wish we lived in an area where there are more than 4 amusement parks within close proximity. We have to get out to the Buffalo/Niagara Falls/Toronto area sometime.
Big Mike Posted May 30, 2008 Posted May 30, 2008 Big Mike, I was in line for Ravine Flyer infront of you... You should wear a shirt that says who you are on it . (Sarcasm: On) That's a very good idea! I should have thought of that earlier! Peace, Big Mike
larrygator Posted May 31, 2008 Posted May 31, 2008 Derek/Nicole - so you saw Big Mike, took a picture of him and then avoided him for the rest of the day. AWESOME!
BeemerBoy Posted May 31, 2008 Posted May 31, 2008 ^ lol. another carousel, another photo for you fans of the animals that go around in a circle, sometimes bobbing up and down Much appreciated. Cool report, guys.
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