Memorial Day Weekend Trip Report And Video

[almightyfire]

SUNDAY MAY 25TH SFKK

 

Arrived at 2:30pm. I bought a parking season pass at Fiesta Texas but it wasn't valid at SFKK. So I paid $5.00 to park and I entered. First off the park is in an odd place. It is on the grounds of the Convention Center and it is extremely small. The parking lot was filthy and full of holes, but Sf doesn't own this. Get to the gate and the landscaping is horrible. First ride was the Roadrunner Express which is just a regular Wild Mouse ride. It was a 5 minute wait and the track is rusted. Then off to Chang which I went to ride. The park looks as if NONE of the grass anywhere had been cut this year. Weeds growing in the beds and just plain horrible. There was a 30 min wait for Chang and when I got up there I noticed that they don't have the locker policy and everyone had backpacks and that slowed the loading down. Also they don't open gates until the people from the previous ride have ALL exited the ride. Now by the time they get their belongings and exit, the other train has gone through its cycle and is back to the brake run. Which equated to One train operation as far as I am concerned. The ride was a cheap imitation of Riddler and no where as intense but more intense than Batman from Six Flags Astroworld. After that I walked to ride a woodie at the back of the park that looked like it would be fun but the whole section is closed off. So I left after those 2 rides,

 

It is apparent that SF must be planning on getting rid of this park and they need to. This was a total waste of time.

 

CHANG 1X

ROADRUNNER 1X

 

MONDAY MAY 26TH HOLIDAY WORLD

 

Arrived at 9:00 am or so I thought to a totally empty parking lot. Didn't know it was on Central Time and I was in Kentucky that was on Eastern, so it was actually 8:00am there. It was a very dark morning and it appeared as if it were gonna storm. I was so happy that parking was free. Park opened at 9:30 and it started to rain. None of the coasters were open then. I rode a few flats including the log ride and the river rapids ride. Both were fun but short. It started raining harder but I got scared. The Voyage is the reason i spent $700.00 on the trip and it appeared that it might not open because the rain got worse, but i refused to leave. Around 11am I looked up and saw Voyage running so i ran to it, got in line and got on the very next train. The anticipation had my heart pounding. I couldn't believe I was getting a rain ride as my first ride on Voyage ever. I was in the 2nd seat and the train dispatched. Now it is truly raining hard and when we got to the top of the lift OMG, ZOOOOOOOM were off. I couldn't really enjoy the ride because the rain hurt soo bad and I couldn't open my eyes because of it. All i knew is that this ride was OUT OF CONTROL. I was out of breath when we got back to the station and I wanted it to be over. I got off and took a long breath and said "this thing isn't gonna beat me" and I got back in line but this time with my shades on hoping that I would be able to hold my eyes open, but that Didn't work, they fogged up immediately by the time we got to the top of the lift.

 

I got off and was very sad that I came all this way and couldn't enjoy the ride. So I went to the car and sat there for an hour and the rain let up around 1pm. The park was totally empty so I went back to Voyage and got on immediately again.

 

OMFG

 

Sorry El Toro but u have been bumped to number 2 on my list of woodies. There is nothing on earth like it. This thing had my heart in my throat. The change of direction was amazing. I got the same elements as on El Toro but the only difference was, the terrain. I am a big terrain coaster fan. That is what put it over Toro for me. I never got off after that. I got 15 rides in back to back. I went over to Raven and Legend and they did absolutely nothing for me. Raven was too quick and Legend was a little better but nothing like Voyage.

 

The staff was superb, the park was clean, the food was delicious and totally affordable and free drinks.

 

So on a scale of 1 to 10 I give Holiday World a 9. It will only get a ten if they get a B&M hyper.

 

I don't see how this place makes any money. The popcorn was only $1.50, a full thanksgiving dinner was $7.99 (which was excellent and filling) and the drinks are free. Hell the darn souvenirs we even cheap. i recommend this park to everyone just due to customer service and affordability and of course my new number one VOYAGE.

 

VOYAGE 17X

LEGEND 1X

RAVEN 1X

LOG RIDE 1X

RAPIDS RIDE 1X

MONSTER 1X

 

TUESDAY MAY 27TH KINGS ISLAND

 

Arrived at 9:30am to an almost empty park except for a few school buses. Opened at 10 sharp and I immediately went to ride Son Of The Beast. Now I have been waiting for years to ride this and this was my chance. First off let me tell u all this, THIS RIDE IS NOT ROUGH AT ALL. I just don't understand why people say that. It wasn't as rough as Voyage to me. I Didn't see the problem at all. Now here is my rating. It was a worthless ride. It just coasts and does absolutely nothing. I don't think it should be torn down because it is a part of history and it is a beautiful coaster. After that I went to Adventure Express, this is my favorite ride in the park. It is a mine train but not ur typical one. It is nicely themed, packs a punch and not short at all. Then to Racer. 2 train operation on same track not racing. Nothing special at all. Then over to Backlot coaster. Nicely themed but way tooooo short. A very nice ride but the ride ops played too much and the ride operator wasn't paying attention and the ride ops kept going in the booth after the dispatch of every train. Vortex was next. I am not a fan of these but it is a knock off of Viper at SFMM. 3 train operation. Now to BIG DADDY, THE BEAST. This thing still is in my top 5 of woodies. It was trimmed in about 4 places but I think it needs it. It really Didn't take anything away from the ride at all. The son has nothing on daddy. This thing was out of control also.

 

To sum it up Kings Island was clean and organized and had all trains running even with an empty park.

 

SON OF BEAST 2X

ADVENTURE EXPRESS 10X

TOP GUN (WHATEVER THE NAME IS, THE SUSPENDED COASTER) 1X too short

RACER 2X

BACKLOT 3X

THE BEAST 6X

2 RIDES IN NICKELODEON

SKY TOWER 1X

VORTEX 1X

MONSTER1X

KIDDIE INVERT 1X

THE SKATING RIDE IN KIDDIE LAND 1X

 

Didn't ride Firestorm because the line was long and it hurts my breast. I rode it at Guega Lake

 

Flight of Fear was closed and I hated it because I love that ride.

 

Kings Island also has the best kiddie part that I have been to

 

 

I had a wonderful time on my trip and I have a video attached.

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

ADMIN EDIT: Changed the title so it wasn't in all caps.

[almightyfire]

Is this thing broke. Umm not one response out of 53 views. Oh ok sorry

[pianojohn]

If you would like some constructive criticism, the paragraphs you wrote were too long. Think about breaking them up into 3-4 sentence ones to make them easier to read.

 

And I didn't get through your video since it seemed to be a 12 minute slide show of the pictures you took. Most people do not have 12 minutes just to watch some pictures scroll by. I would suggest uploading the best pics so people can read your TR and check out the pics all in about 1-2 minutes.

 

I am jealous of your 17 rides on the Voyage though!

[mcjaco]

^ These are wise words.

 

And posting asking why no one is replying....not so good either.

[texcoaster]

I think that there haven't been any replies because you had the audacity to rank Voyage over El Toro.

 

Don't you know that around here, the only people who do that are "fanboys" and emos? You're likely to get a bad reputation by saying you rank Voyage ahead of ET, let alone ranking it #1 overall!!!

 

I'm glad you liked it. It's my #1 coaster, too, but then my reputation was shot on here long ago.

 

OH, and you can't like the Boardwalk Bullet, either, since you live nearby. It's a lousy coaster, you just have "local bias" or something if you like it.

 

 

[ginzo]

I think that there haven't been any replies because you had the audacity to rank Voyage over El Toro.

 

Don't you know that around here, the only people who do that are "fanboys" and emos? You're likely to get a bad reputation by saying you rank Voyage ahead of ET, let alone ranking it #1 overall!!!

 

I'm glad you liked it. It's my #1 coaster, too, but then my reputation was shot on here long ago.

 

OH, and you can't like the Boardwalk Bullet, either, since you live nearby. It's a lousy coaster, you just have "local bias" or something if you like it.

 

 

 

I think the main thing is that old school text TRs aren't as popular as photo TRs on here. We like the pretty pictures. That's why I like to order off the picture menu at McDonald's. I'll point at the menu item I want, grunt a little, and then shout, "I WANT DAT!"

[SharkTums]

^^If you really feel that way, you probably shouldn't post here!

 

Like Ginzo said, there haven't been many replies because in today's digital age most people want to see Photos.

 

Also let's be honest, none of these parks added anything interesting this year...or last year...etc.

[cfc]

^He now has 24 hours to think about it.

[spaceace12]

Not to sound like a broken record, but no photos and a video slideshow really won't get the views. I tried watching the video, but 30 seconds in and just seeing plain photos that would make a better photo tr than a video slideshow, you lost me.

[ConleyKE]

The ride was a cheap imitation of Riddler and no where as intense

 

Vortex was next. I am not a fan of these but it is a knock off of Viper at SFMM.

 

Hate to be a fact nazi but these two made me chuckle. I always thought the imitations and knock offs came second?

[almightyfire]

Ok this is my first post and I think all of u are a little too harsh. I have sat here and read trip reports longer than mine without pics. I thought u all liked details. Now I had no idea that people got mad because someone would like Voyage over El Toro. I like them both. I dont take anything personally that doesnt have anything to do with me at all. These are rollercoasters that none of us have designed ourselves and I dont understand. I couldnt wait to get home and write this because I wanted to share my trip with you all. Hell, I just wont do it anymore. I didnt think that this was that personal. I joined this group because I am a coaster junkie and I felt as if we all had the same interest but this is a group online not rocket science and I think most of u all are taking this WAYYYY to seriously.

 

GET A LIFE

 

I cant believe this

 

This is funny

[SharkTums]

It has nothing to do with your ranking of coasters!!!

 

That was just an idiot poster trying to cause trouble. He's been warned and temporarily banned.

 

Everyone else has given you very valid reasons for the 'lack of response'.

[robbalvey]

Let me chime in here on a couple of things -

 

1. I think some of our users have given you some very good advice on what could be done better for future trip reports.

 

2. The one person who was being harsh was apparently joking, but I don't think anyone "got" the joke. Sometimes sarcasm doesn't come across well over an internet message forum.

 

3. While I realize you may wonder "what was wrong with my TR when I've seen others just as long..." but listen to people like Piano John. He is trying to help you make a better TR in the future because we DO want to read what you have to say.

 

4. Elissa is right, it has nothing to do with how you rank coasters compared to how any of us rank coasters. The person who stated that was just being obnoxious. Ignore him. Fun little fact! There are TPR mods who voted Voyage as their #1 coaster and TPR mods who have voted El Toro as their #1 coaster. Do we care? No. Anyone that thinks we do doesn't know us or TPR that well.

 

5. Posting to the forum "GET A LIFE" isn't going to help your case any.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps!

 

--Robb

[spaceace12]

I forgot to say something....

 

17 rides on Voyage...wow, being a local and going to the park about 6 times a year, I just eclipsed 50 since 2006 with about 15 visits. I rarely ride it more than 7 times a day because it is so intense and in my opinion, not very reridable in the back.

[ginzo]

I forgot to say something....

 

17 rides on Voyage...wow, being a local and going to the park about 6 times a year, I just eclipsed 50 since 2006 with about 15 visits. I rarely ride it more than 7 times a day because it is so intense and in my opinion, not very reridable in the back.

 

I thought it was pretty tolerable when we first rode it in May of 2006. I think we probably rode it 20 times over 2 days during that first visit. The ride seemed to get progressively worse in our two subsequent visits in '06 and our single cycle in '07 was also a bit rough.

 

I've got my fingers crossed that the same thing doesn't happen to Ravine Flyer II.

[spaceace12]

I only visited twice in 2006 to ride coaster (didn't ride till Sept. of 2006 and only went once more after that) and it was good then. This last year, it was rougher and a little less re ridable. This year, the two times I have been down there, it is better than last year. But the re ride factor is only do able for me in the front seat. Back seat is okay the first re ride, but when the third comes to me, I have to take a break. Raven is the only coaster there I don't even have to take a break from riding, which is pretty awesome to just sit on a coaster for an hour and a half.