Eric's 2009 Theme Park Adventures - RESURRECTED!

live2tell75 · October 18, 2010

Thanks guys for the kind comments!

Question: were all those Musik Express-type rides at least somewhat far away from each other? Talk about overkill...

Yep, they seemed to be spread out pretty far. But It was kind of overkill. There were duplicates of many of the rides. I think it is because the Florida State Fair is held in the winter and it features is a bunch of different midway companies that are already in the southern part of the country where is it warm. So this equates to lots of duplicate rides.

live2tell75 · October 22, 2010

In April, Kevin and I travelled to Gatlinburg to attend our friend's wedding. We didn't have time to visit Dollywood on this quick trip (we had been there a few years ago and stayed in Pigeon Forge). This was the first time exploring the Gatlinburg area Attractions. We had a great day! We were pretty impressed with Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. Got to do lots of old-school cheezy attractions like Mysterious Mansion, Ripley's Haunted Adventure & Mirror Maze and Hanutings. Also did some hiking in the gorgeous Smokies. It was a great weekend. Onto the photos!

The gorgeous Smokey Mountains.

It's such a nice change to be away from flat Florida.

Our first stop in Gatlinburg was Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.

Since Kevin works at an aquarium, checking out the local aquarium is always a must.

Inside the lobby of the Aquarium of the Smokies.

With the Aquarium's mascot.

Caught the dive show, which was interesting.

I love Jellyfish.

And this little guy.

So coasters and theme parks are my element, while wildlife and nature are totally Kevin's. I think he could of hung out here all day.

With our friends in the pretty impressive shark tunnel exhibit.

Another cool guy.

I love when aquariums and zoos have these pop-ups.

We definitely enjoyed our visit to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.

So I'm a big sucker for any type of haunted house walk-thrus. I had actually always wanted to check out Mysterious Mansion ever since I got a brochure for this place when I was young. Even though it is off the main street, it was so much fun, both Kevin and I really enjoyed it.

We also did the Ripley's Haunted Adventure. This was fun but we ended up enjoying Mysterious Mansion more.

Hauntings, another place I wanted to visit since getting a brochure for it when I was young. I was the only one that shelled out the money while everyone waited outside. It was really weird, cheesy, and a little creepy, especially being the only person in the theater. But I thought it was unique and fun. Again I'm a sucker for these cheesy old-school attractions.

Had fun experiencing the mirror maze.

Adrian loved it.

Your admission into the maze was good all day, so you can come and go as much as you like.

Played a few games.

Did a little bit of hiking in the Smokies.

With my best friend's family: Brett, Amanda and Adrian.

We hiked to an area that had really gorgeous falls.

With Adrian. Next up my Midwest theme park adventure. Stay tuned!

live2tell75 · October 23, 2010

On the 2008 TPR Tokyo trip, I became friends with some great people. Two of these people were MIke and Julie Hill from Cincinnati. I had never really been to the midwest except to Cedar Point in 2003, so I wanted to do a mini midwest trip. Mike and Julie were awesome enough to be my fantastic tourguides of 4 midwest parks: Kings Island, Indiana Beach, Holiday World and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. We had a blast. A 1000 thank yous to them for such a great trip! Our first park was Kings Island. Ever since I was a kid and heard about the Beast and seen the famous Brady Bunch episode I had always wanted to check out the park. Once I finally got to ride The Beast, I thought it was a fun ride. Mike and Julie recommend I sit on a certain seat for a better ride. And it was a really smooth ride! The second ride I sat in a different seat, OMG what a different rought experience! Diamond Back was new and a fantastic ride! I actually enjoyed Son of Beast, I think it must of been that we sat in the front car, it really wasn't that rough - I was expecting a lot worst. The only letdown of the day was The Crypt, I wish I could have experienced the ride when it first opened. I was told that it had a more intense ride cycle and featured a lot of special effects back then. But overall I really enjoyed Kings Island, I thought it was a pretty good balanced-out park. Onto the photos!

My awesome hosts and tour guides, Mike and Julie. Great friends I met on The Tokyo 2008 trip.

Mike made Julie and I some tastely fruity alcoholic beverages at his bar.

First stop on my midwest tour, Kings Island.

When we visited Diamond Back had just opened for the 2009 season.

I loved Diamond Back - it was such a great ride!

I could ride these type of coasters over and over!

The water portion was cool, kind of Shiekra like.

Such a fun ride!

Firehawk, the park's flying coaster. For some reason these flying coaster models freak me out more than B&M's.

Invertigo was fun, a little rough.

So it was time to ride Son of Beast. I had always heard so many awful things about this ride. I really hate rough coasters so I wasn't really looking forward to this.

Julie and I waited for the front seat and I don't know if because I was expecting the absolute worst ride of my life, but it wasn't that bad. I actually liked it. I must have had a fluke ride.