Ben's Behemoth/East Coast Tour PTR

[Fry]

Yeah, I was a bit miffed Wild One wasn't running well, but oh well, what can you do?

 

OK, Busch Gardens Europe! This was easily my favourite park on the trip, and one of my favourite parks in the World. Everything about it was just fantastic - the coaster selection, the setting, the theming, the landscaping, the operations… everything! To say the worst coaster there was Big Bad Wolf just goes to show how totally kick ass the coaster selection there was! Throw in some really good water rides and the insane DarKastle, and you’ve got a park I can’t say enough about how awesome it is!

 

Now, for whatever reason I took literally no photos of people this day! So it’ll be the geekiest update I’ve done so far! But, oh well, lets all engage our inner-geek and get excited by ride photos!

 

The first thing we did was Griffon. I don’t have a photo of it for right now, so lets skip to Alpengeist! We rode it in the second from front and back during ERT, and I thought it was rubbish! It was slow, forceless and dull!

 

However… we gave it another re-ride later on, and I began to like it some more. Then, even later on we re-rode it at the front, and I loved it! So, it sits as my third favourite Invert beneath Talon and Montu now.

 

I think it might just be my 7-year-old season of humour again, but does no-one else see the funny side of a guy with a load of white stuff in his eye, blinding him?

 

Then we headed over to the GREAT DarKastle tour, which my photos all sucked of cause the “new fantastic” mode I discovered on my camera turned out to not be all that… Still, the ride made up for my camera sucking!

 

Anyone else see the “And things are going to… HEAT UP!” fireplace and just want to put NOM NOM on the screen?

 

This stuff just looks a little silly with the lights on, but off… yay!

 

I personally thought that while it wasn’t *quite* up to Spiderman in sort of “technical” terms, in terms of fun, it was right up there. So, we rode it three times. The same amount of times as there are faces here… spooky

 

Geeky question… but do the Spiderman cars not have a third row? I can’t find any pictures to confirm my suspicion…

 

And scary blurry tree faces tell us to enjoy the rest of our day here at Busch Gardens

 

I see you Arrow in the distance, but you’ll just have to be patient

 

Same goes to you Mr Highlight of the ride

 

These last two views were courtesy of what we came to dub “Patriotism Bridge”, which didn’t in any way, shape or form stand-out like a sore thumb, all of Europe is filled with bridges *just like this*.

 

Yay, time for Apollo’s Chariot - which to follow the theme of B&M Hypers on the trip, I loved. Not as much as Behemoth, but more then Nitro. And a better back seat ride then front, which was something the others didn’t share.

 

This is the best photo of Griffon I got, so I’ll use it as my chance to say it wasn’t as good as Sheikra, but I still really liked it, and the Floorless trains don’t impress-a me much

 

And Loch Ness was AWESOME! What was even better was the way it was being run, so fast the queue never stopped!

 

Here’s the second Immelman on Griffon… Something I didn’t like was how the first half and the second half were the same.

 

The loops on LNM were very cool, how one is at the start of the ride and the other the end - great design idea

 

Bad design idea was the way the whole train slammed to one side at both peaks of the Cobra Roll. Not fun.

 

I can’t possibly think of anything to say about a Turtle. I feel the need to express some sort of positive attitude to them, but how, I just could not say

 

And more LNM. Interesting fact - this is exactly how the Scottish version does not look

 

And then the photos randomly jump back over to DarKastle

 

Which was broken… despite the fact people are getting in the queue. Never mind, we came back like an hour later and skipped ahead of them all with Quick Queue. Yay-age!

 

While I thought this part of BBW was “cute”, Vortex had really spoilt me. Still, a LOT better then that… thing we have down in Surrey

 

And I did think this little drop before it all was a lot of fun

 

And the awesome Festhaus! This was actually taken while waiting for lunch, but we went back later in the day, and I got to dance on stage with a real live woman-pretending-to-be-German-and-kind-of-failing! That was awesome, and she so totally wanted me.

 

And that was the part where I put my stuff in a locker to ride BBW, left it there to do the water rides and didn’t retrieve it until the end of night ERT! So, no more photos for you.

 

But, as I’ve not said enough - Busch Gardens Europe rocked my socks. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be as good as people say since I found Africa to be a disappointment without much of a theme and poor operations when I went in 06, but this place blew it so far out of the water it’s not even funny.

 

Next up will be a combination of Kings Dominion/Morey’s/Clementon cause I took 8/6/0 photos respectfully!

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Nice updates Ben.

 

I have to agree that from what I saw this year at SFA it totally sucked. SROS has aged so much over the course of like....a year...... Wild One is not as good as it used to be, or maybe Phoenix and Boulder Dash have spoiled me.

[Fry]

OK, so Kings Dominion to start the update (… and I just realised I keep putting “OK” at the start of every update… how annoying), a park I didn’t really like. It felt a lot like Canada’s Wonderland, but… worse. The park just lacked any sort of atmosphere and just felt like some asphalt with some coasters around it. Most of which blew! What I don’t have photos of is Dominator, which I thought was great! The drop is awesome, and then loved the ride. A favourite Floorless for me… until we got back to Great Adventure at least!

 

Other then that, nothing really stood out. Volcano was a lot of fun, but after the sidewinder, pretty lack-lustre. Flight of Fear was cool and better then JJ, but pretty rough. The rest of the park was just lame. Really.

 

This is Josh and Luke waiting for Hurter. It lived up to the name. However, this was after Grizzly, which wasn’t too bad!

 

The day guest starred Robbie from the add-on, yay! Who we were all very happy to see again!

 

See. Obviously ecstatic.

 

Volcano! I liked. But not too much. The launch was funny the second time, mid-conversation with Jenn “blah blah… aghhhh… hahaha”… at least I think it was when I rode with Jenn… whoever, fun!

 

Yay, queue! And we see you Jenn!

 

OK, now we really see you…

 

Robbie’s not quite sure what to make of that…

 

And with a goodbye from Volcano, that’s it for KD!

 

OK, fast-forward to Morey’s a park I LOVED! It was just so much fun! From the funniest wait for an SLC ever with Jenn, to peanut butter milkshakes (not as nice as the one at Lakemont though Robbie!) just before riding this…

 

Which was on a horrid cycle and almost killed me! Suffice to say, there’s a reason why this photo…

 

Did not include me! And the heat that day was killing me! I’d have killed for a Log Flume… Not bitter… And the Dark Rides I forgot to mention! Hahaha, with the random Chinese woman who went “boo” then quickly resumed doing her nails.

 

And that’s all I took at Morey’s, other then one more to finish the quota of silly Luke photos for the update… OMG, looking at it, those are totally *Spirit Fingers*! Josh’s amusement level just went down like a Dive Machine (I needed more geek in here somewhere)…

 

I’m not sure I can really describe how awesome of a place Morey’s was - just go yourself. But don’t ride Great White in a wheel seat, and certainly don’t ride it in a wheel seat “to be nice” - you never know, you may have to ride it there repeatedly… hehe!

 

Next up, not Clementon, cause I took no photos! It sucked. Basically. Hell-Puma-Tsunami-Cat-2 sucked. A lot. The trim on the first drop was the funniest trim, ever. The Log Flume was cool up until the point I got a mouthful of water. I can’t remember what the kid on the Inverter said - but it was funny! And whatever the op said was funnier! “I don’t get paid enough to care”… or whatever it was, lol! And then we did the scary ghetto Matterhorn which did something I laughed at… but what, I have no idea! And the scary balloon ride! OMG! Josh and I dragged Luke on that, and it ended in tears - for me. Those two bastards ended up spinning it so much I got very, very ill and could well have passed out/puked/both. I didn’t… just. Still, even til the hotel I was not well and shivering like I had the chills all the bus journey back - thanks guys…. Lol…ah well… And then the carousel, aww…

 

I think that’s it… Sorry for photo-less-ness, but I didn’t want my camera there. CBA.

 

Next up - Hershey Park! One of my personal favourites!

[krazekiddd]

My favorite part of Kings Dominion was during the Q&A Management.

 

Q: Why doesn't KD have some sort of Fastpass upgrade option at the park.

A from Mgmt: I personally hate fast passes and don't agree with them. People can get upset for cutting.

 

At the end of the Q&A session: Here are some front of the line passes for the remainder of the day.

[ElToroExtreme]

Im gonna bring back a quote for my crew last year...

 

Cedar Fair high five = FAIL!

[All Clear]

I was so sad when you guys left Kings Dominion. Sooooo saaaaaaad! It was then that it was really all over for me. I wander aimlessly around I-Street thinking about a snack, got nothing and went home. I didn't cry. Almost. Maybe a little.

[Fry]

Wow, cause this didn't take me ages or anything, lol! My apologises! But, in fairness, I've been moving and all that crap!

 

OK, Hershey Park! I loved this park to say the very least - the theming isn’t amazing, or really existent, but the atmosphere and general prettiness of the park was superb. Lots of flowers, trees, shrubberies (Boulder Dash ERT flash-back) and… stuff. The coaster selection and water rides were then also some of the best on the trip - though for shame it is that the Rapids have now gone, they were totally amazing!

 

OK, so we started off with ERT on Storm Runner, so here’s a photo of people in the station, yay!

 

And there be the Top Hat! Great little Top Hat, btw. The straight ones are a lot better when it comes to going down.

 

And this isn’t a good photo but it highlights how close the ride comes to the little stream, and the ducks that we obviously fed! Twice…

 

I’d heard this thing was neck-chop-central. Wimps telling me that. Or I’m just used to it with Rita, whatever.

 

Hmmm… messed-up inversions were the order of the ride

 

And… fast-forward most of the morning because once again, I didn’t take any photos for that period! We went to queue for the random Reese’s sports meet confectionary (always a great combination) Dark Ride, the bizarre queue signs modelled by Luke

 

Josh is obviously trying to work out the random plastic people placed on the wall with a pen outline of them a few inches to one side… well placed, obviously

 

And this was my tragic attempt of photographing the track, which went up, down, banked… everything. Basically, it was a coaster, and I say we all count it! Yay?

 

At some point after this, we went off to do a “Water Ride tour”, as I liked to dub it, which included the Rapids, which were SO cool! Shame they’re gone… fun wave pool will be a great replacement I’m sure… *cough*

 

This section of the photos features today’s special guest - “The Smudge!” Here The Smudge attacks Fahrenheit, which I thought was “fun” in ERT, but not amazing.

 

Luke suggested the Boomerang… so The Smudge attacked him

 

And while The Smudge did attempt to destroy the Boomerang, we still rode…

 

Josh gave me a lot of looks like this… not sure why…

 

Yay, by this point I’d realised my camera was being attacked, and destroyed The Smudge - victory. However, the Mine Train was shut, so my joy was short lived

 

This drop was INSANE in the back…

 

This would be a good picture for once, but the greenery just had to ruin it…

 

I loved how in this part of the park everything was just sort of plonked on top of each other. I did not like how SooperDooperLooper (is that even right?) only ran ONE train. Still, they ran it like pros… so good work on that. Plus, I had Twizzlers while queuing, so I wasn’t going to complain. Mmmmm… someone in the US send me some, please? I miss Twizzlers. Oh yeah, the coaster

 

Great Bear was fun, but the infamous ending lived up to its infamy

 

Fast-forward past the Water Park Tour I mentioned (OMFG Roller Soaker MAY just have been my favourite coaster in the park - it’s awesome! Apart from that brat on a water pistol whose balls I well could have ripped off. Oh, and the fact the loading was hilariously bad… other then that!), and I took a photo of Lightning Racer. Great ride. We did ride. Just not yet.

 

We did Chocolate World instead! Here’s the proof -

 

And um, eventually ended up with Kimmy in the Fahrenheit queue!

 

It was about a 45 minute wait, but I had a blast!

 

Primarily because my favourite part of Hersheypark made their appearance - the matching orange Reese’s t-shirts we got from Chocolate Factory. Josh hated us, and some people gave down-turned glances, but screw the non-Reese’s lovers.

 

And yay, this blurry photo is an opportunity for me to say I LOVED Fahrenheit this time round - I was pumped from the queue, it was running like mad, and we got the back… oh, and it was night! Bliss!

 

Hahaha, this just makes me laugh. Kimmy et une… plastic chair?

 

I expect I should embarrass myself too…

 

And finally, in what will be the penultimate East Coast update - different people! First to note - Eli, you are the tan line king... queen... ruler! OK, I think that was all I had to note actually…

 

So, that was Hershey. The night ERT after this was amazing on Lightning Racer - two fantastic woodies, although, being a bus betrayer, Lightning was a better ride. Taunting was what made it REALLY fun though! Especially when we got Thunder the first win of the evening! SCORE! Against those who ditched for an easy win on Lightning and ended up losing anyway… .

 

Next, I’ll do Dorney (all three photos - treat!) and Knoebels as one final ECT update, then a few bonus photos from NYC, and then that’s it! Booo!

[grinch1313]

Hey, it's one of my favorite pictures from the trip. As you can see, it became my avatar!

 

Hershey was a great day. I had an awesome time there!! And I'm glad you guys hijacked me for the night ride on Fahrenheit! It was soooo much better than during ERT.

 

Then there was the night ERT on Lightning Racer. Taunting the other train was so completely amazing. I believe Ben and I were in the front and taunting when Lightning got it's first win of the night. That was complete bliss.

 

I liked the Reese's shirts.

 

I have no idea what was happening in that one photo of me. It is cracking me up though!

 

Great photos of a great day, Ben. "Smudge" and all.

 

Edit: I forgot...."It's the milk chocolate."