Gary's 2010 Adventures - EAST COAST BASH! Page 12!!!!

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone!

 

2009 honestly had to be one of the most bipolar years I have ever had in my life. While I had the difficulties of a failing marriage that made life a little rough, there was much to enjoy about 2009. For one, I finally graduated from East Carolina University in May with my degree in Middle Grade Education, and was given my first teaching position in August. I was also able to go on my first TPR Trip in Texas, which was a great experience, and I like many others who have been on one would fully reccommend it! 2009 came to an awesome end with my little adventure during the winter break to Florida, which included some sight-seeing in Daytona, a few credit runs, stops at some old favorites like the Universal parks, and stops at some new favorites like SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.

 

So now enjoying the benefits of a stable career and better financial stability, I am ready to do a lot more travelling! I am starting this thread as a place for me to share my adventures with everyone here on TPR, and also to list where I am planning on going so that if anyone would like to meet-up at anypoint if I am near by, just give me a heads up and we can make arrangements. This front page is where I will list where my PTRs can be found, I will post and update my plans here as well. While a large part of this will be about the parks that I go to, I am also inspired by the likes of Big Mike to share my other adventures that I go on since most of us would agree that there is more to life than just roller coasters and themeparks.

 

 

Gary's Report Index (Updated Sept 6)

 

- March 14th: A side trip to Wilmington, NC

- March 16th: East Carolina University Baseball Game Vs. Gardner-Webb, Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, NC

- March 20th: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Passholder Preview Day

- March 27th: Carowinds Opening Day

- April 2nd: Drive up to Washington, DC for a Spring Break Adventure!

- April 3rd: Hersheypark, Part 1, Hersheypark, Part 2

- April 4th: Six Flags America

- April 5th: Kings Dominion

- April 11th: A day trip to Raleigh, North Carolina

- April 24th: The NC Science Olympiad Competition/Maryland vs. NC State Softball Game, NC State University, Dail Stadium and Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina

- May 1st: The Paschal/Acheson Wedding Reception, Greenville Hilton in Greenville, NC

- May 9th: Return to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

- June 15th: Travel to Seattle for the Pacific Northwest Tour - Video

- June 17th: A day in Downtown Seattle - Video

- June 18th: Wild Waves Theme Park - Video

- June 19th: Kitsap Destruction Derby Association Event, Thunderbird Stadium, Silverdale, WA - Video

- June 20th Resturants of WA/OR, Enchanted Forest in Turner, OR, and Oaks Amusement Park in Portland OR - Video

- June 22nd Seattle Mariners vs. Chicago Cubs, Safeco Field, Seattle, WA - Video

- July 27th Coney Island, Cincinnati, OH

- August 22nd TPR's East Coast Bash at Kings Dominion

 

 

Gary's Top 5 Ridden Coasters in 2010 (Updated Sept 6)

 

1) Intimidator - 30 Rides

2) Afterburn - 29 rides

3) Intimidator 305 - 22 Rides

4) Alpengeist - 11 Rides

5) Apollo's Chariot - 10 Rides

 

 

As always, I hope you all enjoy this continually developing report, and hope to see many of you at some point along the way!

 

-Gary T.

Edited September 6, 2010 by carolinacaniac

[Skycoastin Steve]

Sounds like a fun year ahead. You aren't the only one with the plan to do KD on opening day and hit SFA the next day. Although the day after that for me is Carowinds on my way back to Alerbammer.

[larrygator]

Gary - get me pictures from Oaks for the Park Index, I accidentally deleted half of those pictures before downloading them.

 

Oh and the Ice Mountain Bobsled sign from Enchanted Forest.

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone,

 

I know I havn't done a whole lot with this yet, but my travels are about to pick up here soon with coaster season comming to start soon for me, as I am going to kick it off with three strait weekends of parks!

 

March 20: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Season Pass Holder Preview Day

March 27: Carowinds Opening Day (Openning of Intimidator

April 2-4: Kings Dominion Opening Day (Opening of Intimidator 305), Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America!

 

If there is anyone wanting to hang out any of those days, I would love to meet up with some other folks from here on TPR!!

 

I do have a little side trip update for you all today.....

 

A Wilimington Adventure

 

As I had mentioned in the beginning of this, I was going to make this not only about my theme park travels, but also my side trips as well, and this past weekend I was in Wilmington, NC to visit a friend of mine named Liz. She and I did a little cruise by the UNCW campus, had breakfast at an awesome place called Chris' Cosmic Kitchen that had F'N HUGE PANCAKES!!!!!! I mean, they were enormous, I hardly even did the edges as you will see in the pictures. Still good though. We also made a visit to Wrightsville Beach, and there happend to be a carnival in town that we checked out for a bit before it was time for me to come back to Greenville.

 

I think the pancakes alone will make this a great first PTR for my 2010 Adventures report!

 

and Larry, I will most certainly do what I can to help out the TPR Index when I stop by Oaks and any other park I visit!

 

-Gary T

The UNCW Watertower......where water is kept and what not

The Seahawk statue of UNCW

And here we are at Chris' Cosmic Kitchen......

....a cool little local place. One that serves.......

....BIG PANCAKES!!!!!

A quarter beside it, just to give you an idea of how big they are!

And this was all I could do before I tapped out.

This is supposed to be their short stack..........a tall stack would have two more.....OH GOD!

To be continued......

A cool place that I recommend to anyone who is in the Wilimington area

After breakfast, Liz and I decided to go for a little drive to Wrightsville Beach

North Carolina is loaded with these smaller waterways near the coast

The pier of Wrightsville Beach. According to Liz, it has been in a good number of shows and movies, but perhaps I just havn't seen the ones it is featured in

Getting my feet wet for the first time in 2010, even if it was freezing!

We also happend to spot this sand mountain/castle/thing along the way

And here we have Liz, completely oblivious to the fact that I have her on camera!

after the beach, we took a little drive back into town and found a carnival, so we checked it out for a bit

Just a good old, run-of-the-mill random carnival. This was Powers Midways, which also does the NC State Fair

With a Larson Fireball

and one of these whirl-and-hurls

We decided to give the whirl and hurl a try

.........which was intense.......like camping

And this little adventure will be wrapped with a shot of my Gravitron mode mug shot. Hope you all enjoyed, and hope to see some of you at a park soon!

Edited June 8, 2010 by carolinacaniac

[WFChris]

Great to see another 'Adventure' thread join the forums! Enjoyed it and looking forward to seeing more randomness......

 

Chris.

[ratdogg68]

Nice report, if you make it to Holiday world let me know. I'm only a hour away and off every Tue. and Sat. Look forward to more of your adventures this year.

[Pufferfish]

I don't know yet if I have to work all day or not on Carowinds' opening day. If I only have to work closing then I can meet up for a few hours before having to head in for my shift. Otherwise, I'll be sure to just keep an eye out for you when you come to ride Intimidator and just say hi or something.

[carolinacaniac]

^Pufferfish - I will definately say hey if I spot you at the park! Would love to hang out if you have the free time in the beginning of the day.

 

^^ratdogg - I have actually been considering visiting Holiday World, and will certainly let everyone know on here if I make the plans more solid.

 

Things are looking good for Busch Gardens on Saturday, as the forcast calls for sun with 71 degrees! I can't wait to start coaster season, but the weekend is not yet here, so I will have to find other ways to kill time until then......

 

East Carolina University Baseball Game vs. Gardner-Webb @ Clark-LeClair Stadium: Greenville, NC

 

Time for another small adventure, this one from right here in Greenville, and something of a page out of Scott and Joey's Sporting event and stadium threads. This evening I went with my friend Chris to see the ECU baseball team take on Gardner-Webb. The Pirates are currently ranked 16 or so in the nation, and play their home games at one of the nicest facilities in collegiate baseball, Clark-LeClair stadium.

 

Many of the pictures are based on the stadium itself, but do feature some game shots as well as some construction going on nextdoor for the new softball stadium that is going to be similar to the baseball stadium. Hope you all enjoy this little side adventure to the ballgame!

 

-Gary T.

Here we have Chris, who is being a bit camera shy......how adorable!

A couple of Pirate Fans ready to cheer the home team on!

And here we have Clark-LeClair Stadium, certainly one of the nicest facilities on campus

Right next door is where the new softball stadium will be, which is going to be similar to the baseball stadium

Here we have the old softball field, and construction around it

And this will be the new stadium. The athletic dept. of ECU has been updating facilities like crazy, which will include a new section on one endzone at the football stadium.

Back to Clark-LeClair Stadium

Who knew that I was that well respected of an Alumni!?!?!?

The stairs that lead to the seating area

And this is what you see as you arrive at the top of the stairs

Here come the Pirates!

Getting ready to start the game

First Pitch

Chris is thinking it is getting a little chilly out

Gardner-Webb pitcher

ECU Homerun!!!! This was actually the second one of the inning, which tied the game at 3 each

Celebrating the homer with the team!

All notched up at 3 each

It's time to celebrate with Pee Dee the Pirate!

After our celebration, Pee Dee was ready to totally dominate this kid in a race to home plate......

.....fail Pee Dee......fail.....

Now...most places have an awesome prize if a player hits a target with a homerun, like cash, or a steak if they hit the bull in a Durham Bulls game, here........you win a taco from Taco Bell........meh.

Off in the distance, you find Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium, where our football team has won some big games against the likes of NC State, West Virginia, UNC, and the Conference USA Title game against Houston last season, which Chris and I saw.

A side view of Clark-LeClair Stadium

This plaque is dedicated to Keith LeClair, who was the head coach of ECU until he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. It would eventually claim his life in 2006, but he play a major part in ECU becoming a major team in college baseball.

The Wall of Donors who helped in funing the building of Clark-LeClair Stadium

Back on the field, ECU had taken the lead later on, and would try their best not to relinquish it

Time to get a reliever ready in the bullpen

One neat feature about the staduim is the hill that was built around the outfield fence to allow people to stand along the outfield wall, which had been a longtime tradition when there used to be large cedar trees along the leftfield fence and more drunken badgering of the visiting players. They used to call it the Jungle

A side view of the hill that surrounds the outfield wall. It would be awesome to see a large crowd for a tournament game or rivalry game.

A view of the stadium from the outfield

I give Clark-LeClair Stadium a thumbs up!

A great place to watch a ballgame.

And with that, ECU would come out with the victory!

Always good to see sportsmanship shown by shaking hands with your opponent, regardless of the result

ECU WINS!!!

And thus, it is time to exit by the main staircase

One last nighttime shot of the stadium before going home.

Thanks for checking it out!

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone!

 

Tomorrow is looking to be an excellent day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg for passholder preview day, as the forcast has been calling for the high 70's and sunny! Anyone who is planning on being there, don't be shy! I will be there with my younger sister, but would enjoy hanging out with any else who will be there! If you plan on looking for me, I will most likely be the guy who professes his love for wood.......roller coaster, as I will most likely have my I <3 Wood.....roller coasters t-shirt on. If it is cool out, I may have my black A.G. Cox jacket on. Don't be afraid to say hello if you are there tomorrow!

 

-Gary "Can't wait to finally kick off the 2010 coaster season!" T

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone,

 

This past Saturday, I had a chance to check out Busch Gardens' Pass Holder Preview Day, and had a great time! It was a little bit on the shorter side, as I went to a movie night in Raleigh that evening, and unfortunatly my camera's battery died once I took some pictures of the old Big Bad Wolf site, but the weather was great, and I had a chance to meet B-RadG while in line for Apollo's Chariot. You can check out his pictures from the day by clicking here

 

Just as a reminder, I will be at Carowinds this Saturday for the opening of Intimidator! Anyone else who is planning on being there and would like to hang out, let me know!

 

While this is going to be a bit on the short side for BGE update, I hope you all enjoy it!

This is a sign of just how much driving I have done with my Saturn Ion as when I purchased it in November, it had 24,000 miles........yeah, I have been doing some driving already!

One thing I decided I was going to do this year since a lot of my travels will include driving, I decided I would take pictures of the "welcome" signs. This being for North Carolina, as it is my home!

My car, as it has been left behind in NC.

And Virginia, the first state I have visited in 2010!

A time-honored tradition of mine when I travel.....stop at 7-Eleven!!!!!

Just some basic items, like a Slim Jim, a "Fuzzy Dice" scatch off ticket, and of course...........SLURPEE!!!!!!

Turns out the scratch off was a big looser....oh well, there are bigger things to get to today!

Comming up to Busch Gardens...

The Busch Gardens Skyline!

Apollo doing a test run...stretching the legs out after a long winter's slumber

Something seems to be missing here

Seems to be that the park hasn't completely forgotten the memory of Big Bad Wolf

Here we have a good crowd for Passholder Day

And as you can see, it was a beautiful day.

The water for Escape from Pompeii seems to be very clean. I don't remember it being this blue.

Trying to go for artsy...

Just thought I would say howdy to Grover!

Some pictures of the Alpine Express

First Drop

Some pictures of Roman Rapids......

......just for a friend of mine........

....here's to you Michael (RapidsNerd)

Again, just an absolute beautiful day!

It looked like Loch Ness had a paint job during the off-season, either way it was looking good!

And here we begin the look at what remains of Big Bad Wolf, a bit of a bummer, but kind of neat to see what used to be at the same time

The side of the station has these window covers now to hide what used to be.

A look through the lattrice into the station, and you see that the individual queue lines are still there.....let the speculation begin!!!!

Where the train used to come out of the station

and the last picture I got before the camera died, where the Bavarian Village used to be. Hope you enjoyed my update. Up next is Carowinds this Saturday!!!!!

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone!

 

Tomorrow is the big day for Carowinds opening day, and the opening of Intimidator! Planning on saying hello to Pufferfish while he is at work, but accoring to his account of media day, it seems that this ride doesn't disappoint, so I can't wait to check it out! If you happen to spot a guy in a black A.G. Cox jacket, or a TPR Texas Trip shirt (Supposed to be cooler tomorrow, so we may have a jacket kind of day), don't be afraid to say hello!

 

Also, I have made plans with my dad for a day to check out Oregon's two parks when I am out in Washington, so Enchanted Forest and Oak's are set other than the date.

 

I am also changing up my spring break plans as it looks as though I will not be visiting the Wilmington area that second weekend after all, and I have decided to shift the order of the parks I visit that first weekend. Originally it was going to be something like this:

 

-April 2: Kings Dominion

-April 3: SF Great Adventure

-April 4: SF America

 

Due to something that went wrong when I tried to renew my season pass at SFA, I could not do so, which ment I had to get a new pass. What I have decided to do since I have to get the new pass before going to SF Great Adventure on saturday, as that is the day my brother Kellen can go with me, and he is wanting to check out the awesomeness of El Toro and Nitro, as well as the others. So instead of rushing through KD and Intimidator, and trying to beat traffic in DC to get my pass at SFA before they close at 6, I decided to go Monday the 5th as I thought maybe the lines would be shorter then.

 

Why Monday you may ask? Well, I also found out that Hersheypark would have all of their coasters minus Farhenheit open, so I thought it would be worth it to go on Sunday when the admission is almost half what it normally is. With all of that said, here is the new plan for that weekend:

 

-April 2: SF America

-April 3: SF Great Adventure

-April 4: Hersheypark

-April 5: Kings Dominion

 

A bigger change on the schedule, and I am giving up being at KD for Intimidator 305's opening, but maybe I will luck out and have a minimal crowd that day and can do a marathon session. Either way, it should be a good time!

 

Hope everyone who will be at one of the many parks that are opening tomorrow has a great day, and I look forward to possibly running into some fellow readers at Carowinds tomorrow!!!

 

-Gary T.

[carolinacaniac]

Hey Everyone!

 

So today (well, yesterday now), I went to Carowinds for opening day, and for the opening of Intimidator! What I can say about the day was that I had a blast! I was very surprised at how good Intimidator was! It has a lot of floater air to it, and while I did not get a chance to see what the last row was all about, row 3 provided some great airtime for me!

 

I also had a chance to talk with a lot of different people throughout the day! I talked with a group of people from Ohio that are a part of PKI Central, who names elude me right now, other than an older gentleman named Dave, who was great to talk to! I also had a chance to say hey to Pufferfish, a.k.a. Andrew, while he was working on the Intimidator. I also happend to be in line with BGWFreak at one point, and had a great chat with him and a younger guy at the time. I thought it was funny that he had posted pictures from a month ago for Intimidator, and that I apparently got credit for them. I had missed that one, but it was good for a laugh. In anycase, I want to say thank you to everyone who was cool enough to shoot the breeze with me for a little while, and for the occasional ride together during the day.

 

Now, I am going to warn you now before you go into the pictures, I took A LOT of Intimidator pictures, but I also took some of Planet Snoopy as well as some other favorites of Carowinds.

 

It was a great day, and I hope you all enjoy my update, for what is my largest update yet in 2010!!

 

-Gary T.

So, considering that I am about to make a four-plus hour drive after three hours of sleep, with the intentions of staying at the park for the full day, I believe I am going to find a place to stay for the night.

If anyone was in doubt as to whether it is a good idea to have a NASCAR themed coaster at Carowinds......exhibit A.....

....exhibit B....

...and exhibit C

Gotta love a nice skyline, which Charlotte does have (you can see if you look to the left going up Intimidator's lift)

State Road Sign in 2010 Number 3....South Carolina!

And there it is!

From the parking entrance area

Now, if you would rather not see a ton of Intimidator pictures, you have been warned!

The next many pictures will cover the many angles of Intimidator that can be seen!

The ride that got me to the other ride.

Train!!!!

And around 9 or so, they began testing

Got my pass! Ready to go

The two new main features of Carowinds, both of which I have covered for all of you. But before we get to Planet Snoopy.......

It's time for more Intimidator! (okay, so it is the gift shop......but believe me, there is no shortage of Intimidator pictures here in this update)

See! But we will take a quick break from Intimidator, to bring you.....

The presentation of the proceeds from the first rider auction to the Dale Earnhardt Foundation

As well as Kerry Earnhardt, Dale's oldest son and past driver. He was on the ceremonial first ride.

First train of the day going up!

and there is Kerry in the front row coming back to the station

Personally, I really like the stickers and design for the train. It looks really cool as a total package if you ask me.

Kerry gives his thoughts about the ride, which he says he liked it.

One of the cars that I don't believe hase been raced before, but I am not positive

But enough of the ceremonial stuff....let's get back to the boatload of Intimidator pictures I have for you all!

The drop before the MCBR

The inclined-helix

The s-turn, one of the coolest parts of the ride, besides the tons of airtime and cool turnaround

said turnaround

One of my favorite first-drop pictures I have

the turnaround portion

and one final shot to cover the Intimidator portion of this update

Now let us take a look at what has been done for the other new for 2010 item at Carowinds...Planet Snoopy!

most of the changes were simply ride re-names, other required the decor of the ride to be changed, like gr8 sk8

Joe Cool Cafe

A credit I still have not yet gained!

An overview look

And while not directly tied to the Nick-to-Peanuts coversion, Boo Blasters was also changed

How about an addition for the TPR Index? Last I had seen, this ride was listed as having pictures needed, so.....

....here is my contribution!

but if it was already taken care of.....

then these are dedicated to everyone's favorite rapids fan.......therapidsnerd

Here's to you Michael!

Now I think we can give the other rides some love too!

Vortex can actually be fun in the front row.

This Hurler hurts much less than the one at KD.....THANK GOD IT IS GETTING WORK DONE TO IT!!!

Gotta love Identity Crisis: The Ride

A cool shot I thought

evidence that they just painted it

Now, at first glance, this first aid station doesn't seem to imply anything......

....until you see what it is near!

I do have to admit though, the new harnesses make a huge difference!

It may just be a boomerang, but they did the area up pretty well for it!

Goldrusher

While I didn't ride it this time, I still wanna give Nighthawk some love too.

Last ride shout out goes to one of the best inverts around.....with one of the worst names (Everytime I said Afterburn, it made me think of someone passing gas)

Still Top Gun in my heart

One of my favorite parts of the ride

If it wasn't for Intimidator being so Awesome, this would still be my favorite coaster in the park

Tierd of looking at pictures yet?

GREAT!!!!!! Then here are some aerial pictures from the Carolina Skytower

Nighthawk, upclose

Intimidator!!!!!

Rip Roarin' Rapids

Richochet......passed because of the line, but I could get it next time

Carolina "Identity Crisis" Cyclone

Carolina Cobra

Top Gun......errrrrr, Afterburn

Overview of Intimidator

Flying Ace

and finally Vortex

While sitting on Intimidator after one of the rides, I noticed the space between backseats was really dusty, and made this, and took the picture after getting back in the station and out of the seat. It turned out to be a great day, and to Carowinds, I say that you have a winner on your hands now! Thanks everyone for checking it out!

[larrygator]

Gary - thanks I'm adding some of your pictures to the index right now.

[CPmaverick]

How long was Intimidator's line? It looks to be fairly short in those pictures which is odd for opening day of a new ride.

[B-RadG]

Amazing Intimidator seems to be pretty epic theming-wise for a Cedar Fair coaster.

 

Why does Cedar Fair insist on painting coasters orange with yellow inversions?

[CoasterGuy06]

How long was Intimidator's line? It looks to be fairly short in those pictures which is odd for opening day of a new ride.

The longest I waited today (5 rides) was 15 mins or so...it was really short all day and the crew was doing a good job.

[carolinacaniac]

When they first took people in to line-up, they probably had the Queue filled, but I do believe it was around 15 minutes for the regular line, with the single-riders line being between 5-10 minutes

 

-Gary T.

[LJGoBlue]

Great pictures of Intimidator...it looks like I need to find a way to Carowinds sometime this summer!

[PKI Jizzman]

Awesome stuff, Gary! Can't wait to try Intimidator, I know it won't be a dissapointment. Afterburn should never be neglected..that ride is sooo good.

[bgwfreak777]

Gary, Good to finally meet you in the flesh.

 

It's funny you took the pic of Dale Earnhardt Blvd. because (honestly we didn't plan it this way) we ended up eating dinner at Carino's off of that exit last night. Seemed very appropriate after meeting his son on Friday, and riding his ride the past 2 days.

 

Great report

 

Edit: LOL I made it in the report.

Edited March 28, 2010 by bgwfreak777

[F1shy]

Great report - loved the pictures! I've never seen so many photos of Carowinds before so it was nice to see those.

 

I'll be Ride Op'ing at Hersheypark on April 4th!

[ArizonaGuy]

Awesome TR. Amazing pics. Great eye for detail.

[redfoot12]

Awesome report, Gary!

Can't wait to make it down there to try out Intimidator (and Carolina Cobra)!

[tigellinus]

Truly sweet PTR and I can't wait to make it to Carowinds very soon!

 

Question, do you know for the regular line if they were assigning seats? And if so, how accomodating were they if you requested either the last or first row?

 

Thanks!

[carolinacaniac]

^tigellinus - They were assigning rows, and from what I could see they VERY rarely let people request a row. But if the line is short enough, you could always just go again and again until you get the row you want

 

^F1shy - That will be cool to spot you at Hershey, do you know what ride(s) you will be working on? I would love to say hello sometime while there

 

^BGWfreak - It was awesome to have a chance to chat with you! And I didn't even notice that I got you in one my pics from the day. That is pretty funny.

 

^Zach, Rob, and anyone else planning on coming down, over or up to Carowinds for Intimidator......I believe that you all will not be disappointed! Intimidator was truely awesome!

 

Thank you everyone for the compliments so far! I certainly hope that you all enjoyed it, and that you will continue to check out this thread for future updates!

 

-Gary T.