Photo TR: Sam's TPR East Coast Trip Report

[ernierocker]

I completely forgot about the trim brake on Avalanche. That thing literally stopped the ride!

 

Rebel Yell wasn't that bad, but I actually passed up riding one of the sides because I was still recovering from my kidney blow on Hurler.

 

Enjoying the update so far!

[Mike Austin]

Why do Jahan and WANK seem so interested in Tyler's a$$?!?

 

Because I'm THAT desperate?

 

DISCLAIMER- I'm bending over as I was sitting on a slanted wall thing, the picture makes me seem much closer to the antics than I actually was and I wasn't actually staring directly at his arse as I was just glancing over to look at the antic.

 

King's Dominion was so rubbish it was unbelievable.

[Speeddeamon128]

Great pics update Sam! That was an interesting Q&A session wasn't it

[Goliath513]

Day 8, Part 1 - Morey's Piers

 

 

Starting off with Tony missing the bus, this day was redemption from our previous day at Kings Dominion. The other highlight of the day was the chance to experience an SLC with no headbanging. More on that later in the report.

 

 

 

 

We were welcomed with open arms!

 

Off in the distance, is the new and improved Great Nor Easter. After getting our free t-shirt and other stuff, we headed over for the filming session for us to be featured in a promotional video for Vekoma.

 

They sure pack the rides in tightly here. Reminded me of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in California.

 

Zoom Phloom was down for most of the day. I don't think any of us got to ride it. The only person happy about this was Dan.

 

Where there weren't coasters or flats - there was water slides. We didn't have enough time to hit up the water slides.

 

Back to the main reasons we are here - to experience a supposedly pain-free SLC. What is that I see in the middle of the picture. Does WANK actually look excited!!??

 

 

Despite there being no headbanging, the ride still was not very re-rideable. The loose wheels on the trains caused the ride to be very shaky and rough. I

 

can only imagine what this was like with the OTSRs. Despite the discomfort, the new trains are definitely an improvement over any other SLC I've ridden.

 

 

 

 

The coaster is built around some water slides too.

 

Some improvements to the wheels systems, and this could be the most re-rideable Vekoma in existence.

 

First train of the day, and the ERT begins!

 

Being right under the ride, close up shots were easy to get.

 

Close-ups of the patented Vekoma wheel gap that causes their rides to be so rough.

 

Elissa's parents and KidTums take a break while the rest of us run wild.

 

 

After the hour ERT on Surfside Pier, we headed over to Mariner's Landing Pier for the second hour of ERT - in which, I would get my 150th credit!

 

 

 

Sea Serpent, a 1984 original Boomerang, was credit #150 for me!

 

The chipped off paint on one of its supports says exactly what the ride is. Time to get out our "Boomerang Survival Kits"

 

Next up, we went over to Rollie's Coaster - only to find out it was down for repairs.

 

While we waited for Rollie's Coaster to reopen, we used our time to hit up the various flats on the pier - including Maelstrom as shown here with Tyler and Brandon waiting for it. A few weeks earlier, I rode one of these at a county fair in Wisconsin, and it was the absolute most painful experience of my life on a flat. Thrilling, but not worth the pain. I decided to skip this one, and go ride Musik Express with Matt instead.

 

Double credit (boob AND statue credit) for Elissa bingo. Yes, this double credit was approved by Robb.

 

Included with our visit, was money for Jumbo's restaurant on the pier. The entire group happened to show up for lunch at the same time, so it turned out to be a massive takeover of the place!

 

After lunch, we went back and found that Rollie's Coaster had reopened!

 

What's that off in the distance? Even MORE ERT!

 

We headed over to Adventure Pier around 2:00 when it opened up for ERT on Great White!

 

After the traumatic experience the previous day on Kings Dominion's woodies, I was nervous about this one. It actually redeemed woodies for me!

 

We found the Fudge brothers had been put up for sale!

 

Lots of interesting shops along the pier. The shop owners, however, did not let us take pictures, so all I got was this shot of the boardwalk itself.

 

We headed back for one last ride on Great Nor Easter before catching the bus to Clementon.

 

 

 

 

 

Clementon trip report to be posted shortly!

[thrillgeek]

Great report as usual Sam! Morey's Piers really reminds me of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. So overall how much more enjoyable were the new SLC trains on a scale of 1-10? (10 best)

[Goliath513]

^ Compared to previous SLC experiences. 7.

 

 

Day 8, Part 2

 

 

On our way back from the Jersey shore, we stopped in Matt's hometown of Clementon for their amusement park. Elissa explained to us how this is one of those parks we should try to enjoy since it might not be around much longer, etc.

 

Their woodie which has been through more names than the Hitler kid will have to endure, was surprisingly fun. Nothing like El Toro, but having rode the worst woodies on the east coast already, anything seemed good to us!

 

 

 

With ERT promised for later, we decided to hit up the log flume first. If it weren't for the lake water it used that smelled like something had recently died, this might have been better than BGE's log ride.

 

We're not in Mexico, but, DON'T DRINK THE WATER!

 

They look like the actually enjoyed the ride!

 

So this is what it's called today! What will it be next time? Hopefully not Flight Deck.

 

Robb and Dan did some filming, then the rest of us rode it as we were told there was a storm approaching, and we should all be sure to get the credit now.

 

Elissa's mom rides something! Bingo square! Apparently, there was an epic TPR takeover of the carousel that I missed sometime around dinner.

 

The storm!

 

 

Well, the storm came, and hit hard. We didn't have the ERT session after all, because we just wanted to leave. I kind of feel sorry for the park since they offered us ERT and we chose to leave early instead.

 

 

 

 

Hersheypark trip report to come sometime soon!

[Speeddeamon128]

Nice update again Sam. Great pics of Morey's & my neighborhood amusement park Clementon! I don't no what HellCat will be called next year but I'll let everyone no when the name changes again I wish we would have passed my house on the way to PA but my house is on Erial Rd & we were on Blackwood Clementon RD which are parallel to each other.

[cfc]

Am I the only one who thinks the transitions on the corkscrews do not flow very well?

 

I like Dominator a lot, but I agree that the corkscrews are the worst part of it. I've found that corkscrews are usually the worst part of any coaster.

 

KD has lost something over the years (I've lived in Virginia since the mid-1980s).

[Speeddeamon128]

Am I the only one who thinks the transitions on the corkscrews do not flow very well?

 

I like Dominator a lot, but I agree that the corkscrews are the worst part of it. I've found that corkscrews are usually the worst part of any coaster.

 

KD has lost something over the years (I've lived in Virginia since the mid-1980s).

 

I agree I am not a big fan of corkscrews either.

[hyyyper]

^ and ^^, both of you should ride more B&M Inverts, those flatspins are heaven

[Goliath513]

Let's see if I can't get in one last update before the new year.

 

 

Day 9 - Hersheypark

 

 

Well, as uploading my pictures, it looks like this will be another photo trip report lacking photos of all coasters at the park. Too many pictures of Fahrenheit.

 

 

 

Cowster...

 

 

We headed over to Stormrunner for the first ERT of the day!

 

 

Sad to say this is my only picture of Stormrunner.

 

After my two rides on Stormrunner (which were awesome!), we walked over to Fahrenheit for the remainder of our morning ERT!

 

The lift was pretty cool.

 

As was the 97-degree drop!

 

The Norwegian Loop was also pretty fun.

 

 

We then headed over to Roller Soaker for those of us who wanted to get the credit out of the way early on before the crowds on this low capacity ride.

 

 

 

But first, we payed a visit to Canyon River Rapids which would close down two days later to make way for the lazy river and wave pool.

 

The first section was like a generic rapids ride.

 

And the second part of the ride went under Roller Soaker and featured waterfalls that crossed over the track - drenching everyone in the boat!

 

Very fun ride, and I think it was a mistake to remove this great ride.

 

We got to Roller Soaker to find it was down. After waiting about 20 minutes or so, it opened up and we got on!

 

More Fahrenheit!

 

Mediocre rides get all the highlight in this trip report.

 

Yeah, I was letdown by this. Not sure what all the hype was about. I enjoyed Storm Runner more.

 

Next, we went and got our Wildcat and Wild Mouse credits.

 

The new Millennium Flyer trains sure made the ride fun, but you could feel the damage done to the track from the previous PTC's.

 

 

 

 

Trivia - what coaster now uses the original Wildcat trains?

 

 

 

 

For later in the day.

 

Sidewinder was the last Vekoma death machine credit of the trip. And this was one of the worst boomerang experiences I ever had.

 

We rode Great Bear and Sooperdooperlooper several times each. Great Bear reminded me of a tamer Raptor, and Sooperdooperlooper reminded me of a better SFMM Revolution!

 

Odd supporting.

 

Tilt-a-whirl and Comet. Enough said.

 

After an "interesting" ride on Chocolate World (which is like Hershey's version of Disneyland's "It's a Small World"), we found ourselves in the chocolate shop.

 

This place had death written all over the walls for Dan.

 

Hershey History.

 

Historical plaque dedicated to Milton Hershey.

 

More of Comet!

 

Due to its location on the otherside of the waterpark, Lightning Racer shots were hard to get. This is my only one.

 

Dinner at Wildcat Catering made for some new angles for Fahrenheit shots.

 

And, of course, Wildcat shots too!

 

But mostly Fahrehneit...

 

I don't know why I wanted so many pictures of this. Seriously, it's not THAT photogenic of a ride.

 

TPR Trivia face off! Fun times!

 

Last shot of Fahrenheit.

 

The REAL chocolate factory.

 

Carousel credit!

 

One last ride on Great Bear for the night, and we found this interesting sign!

 

 

 

Last ride of the night was a takeover of the Coal Cracker flume ride!

 

 

 

 

That was our day at Hershey. After park closure, we ended with ERT on Wildcat and Lightning Racer. The majority of the time was spent on Lightning Racer!

 

 

 

 

Okay, ONE LAST picture of Fahrenheit. Had enough?

 

 

 

 

Dorney Park up next!

[astroworldfan1]

When was the Cowster removed from the park?

 

-Tatum

[R.C.]

Nice pictures, Sam. Hershey Park looks like a lot of fun. Stormrunner looks pretty awesome and I definitely want to ride it in the future. I definitely don't think you included enough pictures of Fahrenheit. It's a new coaster, you're required that 98% of all the pictures you post have something to do with the new coaster. Epic Fail! I'm looking forward to more.

[hyyyper]

 

 

Trivia - what coaster now uses the original Wildcat trains?

 

 

 

 

Boulder Dash

 

 

WIN!

[Speeddeamon128]

Great update Sam. That ert on Lightning Racers that night was AMAZING I was 10-3 on the Lightning side. I'm looking forward to seeing the end of your report.

[Ccron10]

When was the Cowster removed from the park?

 

-Tatum

I don't think I was. I think I remember seeing it near the park entrance a month ago.

 

Great Photos!

[thrillgeek]

Cowster....? LOL. I think you included a good ammount of variety in your pics. Glad u had fun!

[BuschSchoe]

Great trip report, Hersheypark is a great park with a great variety of rides.

[kenshinmac]

Great update Sam. That ert on Lightning Racers that night was AMAZING I was 10-3 on the Lightning side. I'm looking forward to seeing the end of your report.

LOL

 

Yeah that was fun. Especially yelling short bus at Thunder the entire time

[Goliath513]

Day 10 - Dorney Park

 

 

Hey everybody!

 

 

We got up nice and early on our "day off" before the end of the trip the following day. Why our day off? Well, Robb and Elissa explained to us that this Cedar Fair park is not one of the best run parks around, and since our hotel was right across the street, the park was optional. I, of course, was up early as always, to walk over to the park for our ERT session on Steel Force and Voodoo before park opening. From what I had heard, I had very low expectations for this park, but it turned out to be quite fun!

 

 

Taking pictures of the GP behind the gates is always a fun perk of TPR trips! Hehe...

 

Empty train is always a good sign.

 

The logo seemed like a rip off of Phantom's Revenge, but this came first.

 

The ERT begins!

 

So having ridden Magnum XL200 at Cedar Point less than two months prior to this trip, I expected these rides to be similar. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was my first Morgan credit and I now understand the meaning of "Forceless Morgan." The ride was about as intense as the powered Dragon Coaster in the kiddie section near Laser. The drop was great, and as was the airtime, but the ride had nothing else. Despite being incredibly tame, Steel Force gets my vote over Magnum because it did not leave me with bruises on my thighs when riding.

 

 

After our Steel Force ERT, we headed over to ride the new Voodoo. I had not rode a standard Intamin Impulse since the original V2 at SFDK in 2001. The holding break in use on the back tower was a nice reminder of what SFDK's V2 has not had since the first month of operation after they turned it off. One ride was all I got on this.

 

 

The logo was awesome, but with the conflict of name with a ride at SFDK, rumor has it this might be changed. Let's start the speculation... "Backlot Impulse Coaster" "Steel Venom" What will Cedar Fair come up with this time?

 

 

Steel Forceless, and Thunderhawk

 

For its age, Thunderhawk was a decent ride. I rode it twice throughout the day with my group. Nothing too special, a bit slow throughout, but still a good ride. Much like the Lakeside Cyclone back home in Denver.

 

After Voodoo, we all lined up to ride the Laser - which would be leaving the park soon. Unlike it's next door neighbor Steel Force, Laser was one of the most intense rides of the day. Very smooth and powerful! I only rode this once. This seemed like what the late Zonga at SFDK would have been like if Six Flags hadn't messed with it. Old school Schwarzkopf loopers rock!

 

 

We the proceeded to ride the Dragon kiddie coaster here for the credit.

 

 

 

My only shot of Laser, but it is a good one!

 

After the ride on Laser, those who were headed off to SFGAdv literally ran around the park to snag the credits while there were still no lines (it was a Saturday which = massive crowds). "Why SFGAdv?" you ask. Well, on our day at the park it rained after we had only been there several hours. We all got our ERT on Dark Knight, El Toro, and Kingda Ka, but many of us still had many more credits to get at the park. Robb and Elissa had arranged one bus to take anyone back who still wanted the credits. We were given rain-checks upon leaving that day to return later, however, we would have to pay for the Q-bots ourselves. Fortunately for me, I flew in a day early to go to the park with some others from the group and got in most of my credits that day. The only new one I got on the TPR day was Dark Knight. Which leaves Superman as my only missing credit at the park. I decided it was not worth it to come back just for a parking lot B&M flyer. There were still other attractions in the park I wanted to experience, so I will probably come back sometime within the next few years anyways. With this in mind, I decided to stay and enjoy a relaxing day at Dorney.

 

Those of us who stayed got a backstage tour of the park. The guy (his name escapes me) who led us was an excellent guide! We started by entering the employee parking lot behind Steel force!

 

 

 

The employee parking lot made for some great shots of the park! If it weren't for the power lines, this would make a great desktop background.

 

Talon and Dominator...

 

The park was still pretty empty at this point.

 

 

Had we waited and got the backstage tour after lunch or so, we could have got all the credits in before hand and spend the remainder of the day in the awesome water park!

 

 

We got a tour of one of the park's warehouses where ride parts, trains, etc are kept. We also got a sneak preview at Haunt! No pictures were allowed inside though.

 

Halloween came early for us!

 

A never before seen angle of Steel Force?

 

"Complete with audio effects and everything!"

 

We concluded the hour long tour by entering the park from the employee entrance.

 

Seriously, this tour was awesome! The park had already exceeded my expectations for it by this point!

 

But the tour was not done yet?...

 

We walked behind Hydra and White Water Landing for a tour of the under construction "Club Blood" maze for haunt!

 

I decided to skip White Water Landing since I rode the clone of it earlier in the summer at Cedar Point already.

 

A circumcised Cedar Fair trash can...instead of Dave.

 

We will be back at night for Talon.

 

The second part of the tour came to an end in the water park - which we would return to in the evening!

 

Patriots Plunge was unquestionably the most fun I ever had on an innertube slide.

 

Story time! I believe it was after our early dinner that Robb, Elissa, me, Tyler, and a few others went over to Wildwater Kingdom. Starting of with "Locker Tetris" by cramming the belongings of 10 people into a small locker that required Robb to put his weight on it to close it, our hour long visit to the water park topped off the day! Getting lost while trying to find the lazy river entrance, near death on the Cascade innertube drop down slide when Robb and I came down so fast we glided across the splashdown pool and hit the fence on the edge of the path, epic journey down the innertube rapids ride - a series of pools connected by terrain style rivers with rapids and whirlpools, takeover of the body slides, followed by Patriots Plunge! The water park was about to close, so we went up to Patriots plunge. These aren't your typical curvy innertube slides; they are insane speed slides. After my run down the white tunnel, the park was about to close. So a few of us rushed back up for one more time down, this time, I went down the red side which was even better!

 

Wildwater Kingdom is awesome!

 

 

 

Back to the main park from earlier in the day...

 

"Do you want to know how I got these scars?..."

 

"Dan is tormented with sugar." - Bingo square!

 

 

Sometime after dinner, we went and got the Wild Mouse credit. This had the longest lines of the day. After the park closed, we got ERT on Hydra and Talon!

 

Hydra was nothing more than a mediocre B&M floorless. Talon on the other hand, was great! Two rides on this, and it was time to head back to the hotel to rest for our final day.

 

It was like Raptor mixed with Silver Bullet.

 

 

 

Overall, Dorney by far exceeded my expectations. It was better than other Cedar Fair parks like Knott's and especially Kings Dominion! It seemed like a small Cedar Point to me! Thanks to the awesome water park, this was one of my favorite days of the trip so far!

 

 

 

 

I will post the final photo TR from this awesome trip soon!

[BuschSchoe]

Dorney Park really looks like a great park.

I really hope to get out there this upcoming summer.

[thrillgeek]

All your behind the scenes tours are making me jealous Sam! Steel Force still looks pretty decent for it being so old. Too bad they had to get rid of the classic Laser. Never rode it but Zonga and Revolution were great. Thanks as always for all these wonderful pics. You rock Sam!!

[kenshinmac]

I loved the day but I have to respectfully disagree on Steel Force... It had 0 forces the entire ride. In fact I am not sure the ride actually turned I think instead it relies on the earth to spin beneath it. I felt absolutely no airtime nor did I feel any real thrill from that first hill.

 

Oh and I also must have had a crap ride on Thunderhawk because my spine was screaming at me afterwards. Needless to say I had little desire to re-ride nevermind the fact that the kid in front of me had a giant blob of lift hill lube drop on him while we were in the brakes waiting to get into the station (part of that brake run under the lift was covered but it left a good 3rd of the train uncovered...).

 

Honestly I had a great time a the park despite some other issues. (Waiting for another ride on Steel Force later in the day it died when we got to the station and we were treated to some of the public threatening the crew... Also saw people sneaking through a broken fence from the overflow parking...). Lets just say that it was miles better than the other Cedar Fair experience of the trip who were apparently better than Disney.

Someday that will get old... But not today!

Oh and the Log Flume there kicks ass!! Plus ERT on Talon was just amazing... I did a ton of rides and the back seats were incredibly fun in the turns at the end.

[Jim S.]

I have to wonder what seats you rode Steel Force in. Sure it's no Magnum but it certainly has some airtime, particularly in the back seat.

 

Thunderhawk can be dangerous. If you sit in the right seats, the airtime can be violent indeed. And slamming into the brakes is no fun either. (At least after the first ride, you're prepared for that part.) Also, I'm sure you could touch the structure going into the dogleg, not that anyone would do that of course... But I still ride it every time, because I like violent airtime.

 

Did you have any problems with Hydra? Last year every time I rode it it had a terrible vibration problem.

[philthephorce]

I wasn't impressed with Steel Force either, although I think it's better than Mamba. I thought Mamba was even less forceful than SF, and I actually did get some floater air on SF.

 

Thunderhawk was better than I expected, although it wasn't terribly memorable either.

 

Laser was pretty awesome! I grayed out during the second loop. The only similar ride I've been on is Scorpion @ BGT, and this was much better, although both are very fun. It's sad that Laser had to go since the only other intense coaster would be Talon.

 

Hydra was fun. My expectations for it weren't too high since I've read plenty of reviews saying it was mediocre at best. It was better than a lot of people make it out to be, but it doesn't seem to be an attempt at a super intense coaster.

 

Talon was waaay better than I thought or even hoped it would be. It was fairly forceful and the constant changes in direction left me a bit disoriented every time. Montu was my favorite B&M invert since it opened in '96 and this one is seriously making me rethink my choice.

 

PS Montu without trims is better, but when was the last time they ran it untrimmed?