Ben's Behemoth/East Coast Tour PTR

[grinch1313]

Between Sesame Place and the Mr Rogers ride at Idlewild, my 5 year old self was in complete and utter heaven. I was a Sesame Street addict from about age 2 or 3 until way later than I care to admit.

 

Chalk me up as another Super Grover fan too. Vapor Trail was a great coaster. I have to say I honestly enjoyed it.

 

We only rode that and a Tweedle Bug rockin' tug ride that we broke the lap bar on.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Who *is* this, I must ask? Sort of reminded me of a cartoon version of Borat, only American

 

Mr. Noodle of course

[televisedconfession]

^^^ Erik, you picked the best possible video to showcase Super Grover. He was also one of my favorites of the Sesame Street gang. I was also a big fan of the Count.

 

Which, speaking of:

[Fry]

OK, Coney Island. A place that ended up pretty much terrifying me, but I kinda liked. It was a lot like I thought it would be, but even more ghetto and scary! The drive to the park was probably the most interesting part, with views like this being quite exciting to someone who is used to London and all both of its skyscrapers. Although, I am aware this is a terrible photo, it gets the point across

 

But, that didn’t compare to some of the stuff we saw in Brooklyn… McDonalds Express, for instance. What the hell is that? Then we arrived at the park, and everyone headed to this…

 

Well, I tried to find a toilet. Interesting experience to say the least… By this point we lost like, everyone else, but got to be the first in the front after Robb finished, so it wasn’t all bad. Apart from the fact it sucked in the front I mean. This part sucked perhaps the most. Apart from the really random painful sideways hill at the end.

 

And yes, I only look like that because this is before we rode…

 

We then managed to catch up with everyone, rode the scary Mini Apple (eventually, after the human equivalent of 101 Dalmatians cut in front of us), and then hit up everyone’s favourite - another kiddie coaster! Which, BTW, Luke, there’s no need to look so disgust about…

 

OK, maybe you should have stuck with disgusted…

 

It gives a pretty view of Cyclone, which at this point still sucked

 

And then it was time for the Wheel, which I thought I’d hate, but I LOVED! BTW, these must be the closest whore opportunities ever. Love them.

 

The wheel gives you a view of what I imagine explains a lot of the park’s clients

 

Josh didn’t like it as much as I did…

 

I see you tiny-yet-awesome Drop Tower

 

And random kiddie rides. Yay. Exciting.

 

A few things to note. A. Hmmmm, what beautiful atmosphere the bottom of the photo gives. B. This must be where every school bus in the US comes to sleep. C. You can’t see it, but that stadium has a really cool little fake coaster on the side. D. Awww, poor Parachute Tower.

 

There’s a bridge. Big. May have a proper name. I don’t know it however.

 

This creepy guy hung out above the awesome Spook-a-rama. Another scary dark ride we had to take Josh on because we’re cruel.

 

There’s the Wheel with a car in mid-awesome-swing

 

This is the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen anywhere ever.

 

That’s not our bull!

 

Seriously, freakin’ insane little thing!

 

This alley-area was scary as hell! I’m sure this is the one where we got randomly attacked by a game stall man who didn’t want to leave Josh alone

 

So, we went back to re-ride…

 

And this time we walked-on (plus point one)

 

And rode in the back - and it was AWESOME! A lot smoother, and a much, much better ride!

 

We also did the insane manual Top Spin, which was out of this World!

 

And ate pizza next to a highly a-musing bin (get it, a-musing, like a-team…)

 

Here’s the Big Wheel.

 

And a stroll along “Brighton Beach” finished the day off. Ironic I’ve been to this one, but not the English one. Good work Ben.

 

And that was it for Coney - a scary place, but I’m glad we did it since it doesn’t look like it has too long (Astroland, at least). The next day was SFNE! Woo!

[televisedconfession]

Even though I've never been to Coney Island... From all the pictures I've seen, it seems like one of those really artistic parks, photography-wise. Every picture is interesting, because the park is so unique and the people there are beaming with interest. I wish I would have gone. This kills me.

[Fry]

OK, so it was time for the first full day of the East Coast tour with Six Flags New England. Now, we spent two mornings here, but I’ll just do them as one trip report, cause I can’t be bothered to do it any other way. I is lazy, I know.

 

So where better to start then with an entrance photo?

 

I have no idea if this was first or second in ERT… But, we rode it in ERT! I really liked it, and thought it was a lot of fun. Kind of along the lines of Nemesis Inferno, which I also think is cool!

 

Anyone spot the irony here?

 

You all have been warned. But, they can’t enforce it, so I guess you haven’t been THAT warned.

 

Yay, TPR members getting ready for their ride

 

On the “counter-clockwise” coaster. The weirdest one was Pandemonium, which was “spinning”. So it’s “clockwise” for the SLC, “counter-clockwise” and then “spinning”. Well done.

 

I really liked how you could bump into characters around the park. Very ghetto-Disney

 

And so I don’t have to explain who he is…

 

The Drop Tower was cool, only because we rode with some randomer who was terrified.

 

Yay, Kiddie Coaster whoreage! I didn’t take any of the ride, so the sign will do

 

While this Woodie sucked awfully, what is that I see in the structure?

 

Subtlety-fail!

 

Oh, they happen to have this ride too…

 

But, a few of us preferred this ride… VERY few though

 

We hung out in the Justice League for a while because A. We couldn’t be bothered to ride at this point and B. It had air-con

 

We found Batman in the Justice League!

 

And actually bumped into some other guys we knew

 

SMILEY CONTROL PANEL

 

Yeah, the Wonder Woman was in amazing shape

 

And no, Robin is NOT Batman’s bitch. And yes, we asked

 

Group photo time!

 

Ew. Yes that IS sweat. Back sweat. Charming.

 

I kinda liked this area (we see you Superman)

 

Embarrassing photo 1

 

Superman. I kinda liked it, but not how it was hyped up to be.

 

Overall, I preferred Dutch Goliath

 

Thus begins random characters with me photos

 

Shaggy. Baby.

 

Haha, Tweety at lunch was awesome!

 

The SLC wasn’t half as bad as some others I’ve done, but that might have been because I rode with Dave who kept yelling at me how to do the Vekoma Brace Position - thanks, it helped!

 

Eh, Darien’s non-Superman did that better

 

For the Aussies. I still don’t know what it’s all about…

 

I was gutted it was shut… Less fun.

 

Speaking of which… OMG, it’s the Japanese/Chinese/whatever guy!

 

I didn’t ride cause these things suck!

 

And I close it off with “the wheel”

 

I really liked SFNE overall. For anyone that’s been, it really reminded me of a less themed version of Warner Bros Movie World Madrid. They could do with something else though, but I’m not entirely sure what…

 

Next up would be that evening at Quassy, and the awesome Lake Compounce!

[RIP Psyclone]

Wow, you actually took a picture with Allison in it in which she is totally blocked from view! (Except for those legs!) Congratulations to you, sir! That wasn't easy!

 

[U2Rox]

OMG!!!

Ben You are freakin funny Dude!! I couldn't stop laughing during the Sesame Place Photos!

 

I was glad I punked out of that rope course, my knees hurt for days!!

 

Awsome Photos of Coney Island!! I was able to go the day before I left New York! I had a great time out there, really Great!

BTW: That bridge is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. It connects Brooklyn and Staten Island! (Sorry I'm sort of a history Dork!)

[Fry]

OK, time for Quassy, and then Lake Compounce! This is one of those updates I warned y’all about - most of these are pretty pointless and crappy photos of not a lot, but what the hell, I’m going to post them anyway, because they’re all I have…

 

Quassy then - it was, um, interesting to say the least? The Mouse was a lot of fun (boo to those who missed it, btw, y’all know who you are, and you get a boo), but the Kiddie Coaster was obviously the highlight - I was even cool enough to ride it twice! We SO should have tried to squeeze three into a car like the op said, lol! It was totally a death trap though, I LOVED it. The only other ride I did was the Dodgems, which were amazing because you could reverse them - something I don’t think I’ve seen before, so that led to a lot of hilarity!

 

OK, photos or else I’ll bore everyone…

 

On the way we played with Mr Intamin Wheel

 

Who obviously needed to be molested

 

Yay, we’re here! Side note - when this thing shut for the rain, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move so fast to shut a ride!

 

It looks like it’s about to fall apart, and these guy’s expressions doesn’t fill me with too much hope - but it actually didn’t ride too bad!

 

Yes, I found this sign funny. I am also seven.

 

More TPRers finding it’s not actually too bad

 

How was your ride?

 

And then it started to rain, so I gave up with photos until we reached Lake Compounce, a place I thought was all kinds of awesome. Just like this queue, boo cattlepens (and yes - I do have a geeky love for queue pictures, so there’s a few)

 

Check-out that side-loop

 

Anyone else think this thing had one of the best colour schemes ever?

 

And these trains are amazing! They fascinated me.

 

Wow, that’s some serious looking folks on the Boomerang…

 

And not so serious… hi to you too, Jay

 

Haha, it wasn’t actually that bad at all, in fact, it rode really well, but that look does sum up Vekoma in general

 

This the ONE photo I took of Dash. ONE. Considering it was also the best coaster I’ve ever ridden (and remains that way), that’s a disgrace on my part. It was such a great ride - so long and never lets up, just seems to get faster. And then the last airtime section was absolutely mad - my favourite finale to be found. And then ERT on it, well, that was just insane!

 

I get the feeling that somewhere in Australia there’s a very similar photo of me…

 

Yeah, at this point I was pretty much just flashing at everything

 

Haha, see?

 

LOL

 

This dude was hilarious - but again, I have no idea why…

 

But yeah, we rode this. Well Josh and I did, Jake and Luke wimped out… I thought it would be horrible, and we span it quite a lot, but it was good fun actually and didn’t make me feel bad. Didn’t do it again or anything silly like that, but it wasn’t bad.

 

And to finish it off, this is Luke. Wimping. Boo.

 

OK, the next photos will be Stabland. And trust me, if you thought the photos of this day were bad, just wait. Stabland’s going to be amazing, haha… *cough*

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Really enjoying the updates. Lake Compounce is the main reason I am so jelous of the East Coast Trippers.

 

I have to ask, what is with the Intamin wheel?

[cherryblossom]

I must have missed the weather station guy with the "Idiots guide to Weather"

Now that is funny!

[cobra_roll06]

Hey Ben great TR! I remember talking to you about this trip at Loudoun Castle. Glad you had an awesome!

Can't wait for the rest!

 

--Steven

[Erik Johnson]

The Intamin wheel came from Superman: ROS as a gift from the park to Robb. I am pretty sure someone else ended up with it because it became the super duper Elissa Photo Bingo Prize. Boulder Dash is also now my favorite coaster, that thing was soooo awesome.

[Fry]

First off, thanks for the comments guys! It’s nice to know people read and appreciate! As far as the Intamin wheel goes I *think* it’s in Valencia, but I’m not sure either! I certainly didn’t hear of anyone winning it, and I think we would have to say the least!

 

OK, now I promised you an AWESOME update from Stabland, so prepare yourself, I took six photos, yay! Now, three of them were just clones of the others, so I’ve only actually got three to post, more yay!

 

I must say, despite the name, I didn’t think the park was *too* bad. It had a sort of… charm about it. Had you taken out the clients, and it would have been a lot better! Highlights of the park were the awesome Graviton, the stupid Log Flume that soaked ME and no-one else - my punishment for suggesting it, the great Shot Tower, the great Dark Ride that Josh again *hated*, the Dragon Coaster which seemed to go on for days, breaking the kiddie coaster which meant Josh thought we were going to be shot, getting on the Mouse (“Yes, look at my bling so we can get on the coaster”, and we were SO lucky those employees swapped - well, Josh and I were fine, so Jake and Luke were SO lucky), and of course, the Derby Racer’s LOVELY employees…

 

PUT YOUR LEFT FOOT ON THE BOTTOM RUNG, YOUR RIGHT FOOT ON THE TOP RUNG AND LEAN LEFT! (BTW, for any Brits, do you totally hear the Gladiators announcer’s voice when reading that… “CONTENDERS, PUT YOUR LEFT FOOT…”)

 

I wanted to edit out leg and replace it with another body part, and remove “on or”, which would have made this sign a LOT funnier, but it amuses me as it is, so it’s all good I guess.

 

And the third, and final photo is the great Volare! Yay… It wasn’t quite as bad as Time Warp though (which is… good?)

 

And at this point we went to ride the Mouse, so I put my camera in a locker and didn’t bother getting it out! BTW, anyone remember the really creepy locker guy who kept putting the keys in his mouth? He was GROSS!

 

Ha, the next update will be Six Flags Great Adventure, which will also be VERY photo-heavy because of the rain…

[the_muke_85]

Am a little disconcerted at the amount of weird shots of me, but I don't mind since I kinda brought it on myself: doing a rope course for kiddies at Sesame Place, using prescription sunnies inside to see Elmo properly, surviving Coney Island......

 

And speaking of Stabland.... you took 6 photos, I took 3. I wish I got more of that place, it was pretty good, and I wish I could get photo evidence of my Mouse credit given I was borderline to taller than the max height limit of 6ft.

[Fry]

^Borderline? There was nothing borderline about it, lol! And believe me - there's more bad photos of you left to come to be disconcerted about!

 

OK, so Six Flags Great Adventure was the next park, and was the park I was most looking forward to on the whole trip. Unfortunately, the first day there was cut short by a storm (though we still got a massive amount done for only two hours of open park time), so, R&E, as you probably know by now, were awesome enough to arrange a return visit! Although initially the whole weather situation was a bit annoying to say the least, it ended up being a blessing in disguise since we got to the traffic early, and also the return trip was among the best park time of the trip - beautiful weather, Gold Q-Bots, fun folks and a lot of nice, warmed-up rides meant it was all good. Plus, I got to have another Ben and Jerry’s, always a plus. And Luke - I think you’ll agree, that was a MUCH better choice for lunch then crappy pizza!

 

Um, I didn’t take any pictures the return day since we all agreed to leave belongings on the bus so we didn’t get slowed down by lockers, so… yeah, just take my word for all this basically.

 

So, the first visit again then. Let me just say, I really liked SFGAdv, but not maybe as much as I’d anticipated, and BGE beat it as my favourite park of the trip. As did Hershey actually. But, still, it had probably the best collection of coasters we did, it’s just that’s sort of it. No decent flats, and a bit of a bleh atmosphere. Still, for coasters, it’s hard to beat.

 

OK, picture time! And I warn ye who enter, these are really bad.

 

Here’s a blurry picture of Skull Mountain, which annoyingly for an indoor coaster, shut in the storm. Boo to that! I can’t remember much about the ride other then it was OK, a bit randomly in-a-warehouse inside, and we didn’t get to ride “the back” cause of Q-Bot-seat-assignage. However, that’s something I’m MORE then willing to give up for skipping a huge queue! Although, actually, I do remember the way they did it on SM being stupid and exit-blocking.

 

Luke’s happy for one of two reasons. 1. Is that he knows we’re off to ride kiddie coasters. 2. He can see that woman’s bra strap. I’ll let you guess which it was.

 

Yay, Batman! I didn’t think it was as good as its Spanish clone, but whatever, still a kick ass ride. We also got either the last or second to last train before the storm hit - in fact, it was raining while we were on it which did impede my enjoyment a bit… So it may actually be better then Spain’s. Who knows!

 

Nitro! Which I also loved - not a Behemoth, and not Apollo’s either, but, still, a fantastic coaster and I REALLY like these types of rides! Order one for Thorpe, thank-you. Also, can anyone see the employees? I can’t quite spot them myself

 

Batman pretending to be Nitro. Bad Batman.

 

Superman! Closed by this point!

 

This and the inline twist were pretty much the only parts that didn’t suck. Still, at least it’s better then Air

 

This kinda confused me… the American way is to have someone in red hot-pants saving people? OK, whatever works, I guess?

 

Lol, so now the storm had moved in, so we entertained ourselves on Fly Me To The Moon (which sucked) and then the carousel. With a highly indecent horse, I must say!

 

I dunno… probably trying to do a “I’m hot cause I’m with a pole” photo. Fail.

 

Anyone else think the pole makes it look like a Final Destination 3 photo? I’d be wary if I was you Luke, to be honest… Or is it The Omen that happens in…? Both, maybe? I dunno…

 

And that’s it for Great Adventure - I did tell you it was gonna be good. So, I’ll round off the photos with Josh who seems a little scared of the carousel and so feels the need to hold on tight

 

Next up is everyone’s favourite park - Six Flags America! And don’t worry, I actually took a semi-decent amount of photos there! Yay, it won’t suck… too much! Hopefully not as much as the park at least!

[ernierocker]

Batman is always worth a ride, but after that it is time to move on to other things.

 

I was really anticipating SFGadv as well, and have a similar opinion of it as you. Great coaster collection, but not much else beyond the coasters.

[YoshiFan]

I agree, the park has removed way too much in the past 2 years. For 2007, the 2nd log flume and Stuntman's Freefall were removed. For 2008, The Chiller, Swings, Splashdown Boat, Looping Space Shuttle, Houidini/Haunted Swing (SBNO), Bumper Cars (SBNO), Music Express (SBNO) were removed. That is a ton of stuff removed in 2 seasons with only the Dark Knight being added. Not to mention there are basically no family rides, it's all kiddie rides and coasters with a few flats and even less with the rumor the round up is leaving at the end of this season. Still, I love the coaster collection and that's why I go to the park as much as I can especially since Dorney's coaster collection isn't as good but has a way better selection of non coaster rides.

[Fry]

OK, Six Flags America! To say the very least, it sucked. But, I’ll get into that as we go along.

 

This is the entrance - not too bad yet

 

OK, so we reached the first ride, and for the life of me, I’m not sure who sponsors it? Anyone who knows? It’s very discreet.

 

Batwing! I liked it. Nothing to really say…

 

And my semi-decent attempt at capturing an on-ride esque photo.

 

I see you Scott, trying to get in the photo, and everyone else is clearly thrilled by a new Vekoma

 

This is about the part where the seats go *BANG* and hurt as they lean back

 

Ew.

 

And then it’s quite a trial to get strapped in… still a bit comfier then the silly B&M Flyers

 

Damn, huge wait

 

See, terrriblllle queue

 

And as if to prove a point…

 

I think these guys may have enjoyed it

 

I could stoop and make yet another Rudolph joke, but I won’t stoop to that level.

 

These guys look a little worried

 

Yay, layout. It was crap, however. Lucky we actually made it round…

 

I haven’t got a photo of it that really explains it, but this is the “Fast Pass entrance” for Blizzard Falls, but which really just emptied out onto a random path further up. OK. Fail one for SFA

 

I did not want to spin.

 

It makes me sad that you don’t get wet though

 

L.O.L.

 

Once again, who the heck would wait in THAT?

 

Joker’s is like, the only ride I took photos of. However, I’ll take this to say just how much Superman here SUCKED. The difference between that and Darien Lake’s was amazing. Garbage can and rolling and hill are words that come to mind.

 

Yes. It’s funny how bad this ride really was.

 

If you can spot what I love about this photo, you win

 

Two things. Yes Luke, this is to fill an embarrassing photo quota. And the background scares me…

 

Typhon Sea Costar was shut. And reminded so.

 

Wild One! I’d heard good things. It sucked!

 

Awww… I just wanted to pet it

 

And boo, the only ride in the park with a queue DOESN’T take Flash Pass

 

Hehe, seven-year-old humour is fun

 

This was good - a picnic area built IN the splash zone for the splash-down. Placement fail on the part of SFA

 

At least they had characters

 

And running out of the place, you actually pass a nice entrance. Don’t be deceived

 

And that’s all the photos for SFA. Here’s what I didn’t photograph- Mind Eraser, sucked. Roar, really, really sucked. That’s it, I think.

 

Haha, and then that night was Hooters! So glad we left early. Hahaha, WAL MART… hehe

 

What’s up next… Oooooo! Busch! Yay! FANTASTIC. Love that place. So, that’ll be up next.

[Erik Johnson]

That is too bad that Wild One was not running well that day, its normally the best coaster in the park.

[the_muke_85]

If you can spot what I love about this photo, you win

 

I know - I have it!!!!!! Crotch Rot!!!!

[krazekiddd]

^HAHA That's what I was going to say!

 

With the amount of horrible photos of me, I'm going to say that I'm really not all the photogenic.

 

So this park actually has potential but the staff sucked! I loved getting booed by the ride op for using a flashpass on one of the longest lines in the park. I equally loved the ride op encouraging the people in line to boo us as well. Oh and the "I can't believe you are cutting in front of all those kids" line was just fantastic . That was more embarrassing but oh well.

 

I'm glad we left early to fight the horrible D.C. "traffic". It did get us to Williamsburg super early and enough time for us to find ABC liquors! At this point, I was super glad to be done with all of the Six Flags parks.

[HerBlackWings]

^But you ARE photogenic, when b!tches collide! We could almost be a couple! ...if I was Lizzie Borden....

[cfc]

That is too bad that Wild One was not running well that day, its normally the best coaster in the park.

 

Yeah--it made my top-ten-woodies list last year (might not this year, even though it was running well in April).

[downunder]

Wild One was definitely Mild One on our day at the park, there was such an amazing contrast between day and night rides on many wooden coasters, so if we had hung around til night it might have been better, but night would have been a bit scary maybe fatal.

 

You guys went to hooters, I missed out there, hope you have photos.