The WCB 2010 Appreciation Thread

[Sir Clinksalot]

This thread is to post your thanks to the TPR/Rideworld staff and the folks at SFMM and Knott's who made WCB 2010 so awesome!!!

 

Post your highlights of your 2010 WCB Experience!!!

 

I only did the SFMM day, but here are the highlights for me:

 

- I thought the Revolution "April Fools" joke was hilarious during morning announcements

- Thanks for having Muffins in addition to Donuts this year for Breakfast!!!

- The ride crews during Morning ERT were amazing

- The event Excursions. We got to see the block-check for Scream and it was awesome. The Ride Crews and especially Mark were AWESOME!!!!

- I liked having the lunch at the bigger picnic area so we could all be together.

- The backstage tour, again, a big shout-out ot Mark!

- The Presentation get's better every year!!!

- The add-on dinner was great and OMG!!! Best Chocolate Cake EVER!!!!

- Dive Devil ROCKS!!!!

- Nighttime ERT was amazing. We only did Terminator and Colossus but that was PLENTY for us. Terminator is so amazing at night, the new audio was hilarious. Racing Colossus ... brought back great memories of the ride!!!!

 

So thanks to everybody at TPR and Rideworld (Robb, Elissa, Chris and the rest of the crew). Thanks to everybody at Magic Mountain (special shout outs to William and Mark for going WAY above and beyond to make our day even better).

 

In probably over 200 trips to SFMM this was the longest I've ever spent in the park at one time (15 hours) and I loved it. Despite fighting a cold and cough for most of the day, it was one of the best park days ever.

[robbalvey]

- I thought the Revolution "April Fools" joke was hilarious during morning announcements

I too thought this was hilarious! I applaud the park management for having such a great sense of humor and playing into the stuff that is posted to the website.

 

Too bad a select few of our members also couldn't be good sports about the joke. I would totally encouage the park to keep up the great sense of humor towards TPR! Love it!!!

 

We only did Terminator and Colossus but that was PLENTY for us. Terminator is so amazing at night, the new audio was hilarious. Racing Colossus ... brought back great memories of the ride!!!!

Same. In fact, those ended up being the only two coasters I rode all day (I had a lot of work to do, though) Racing Colossus for me, was the highlight of the event. And the Terminator changes was a very, very, very close second.

 

--Robb

[Jew]

Since all the love thus far seems to be directed at SFMM, lest we forget KBF also hosted an amazing second day of West Coast Bash!

 

-Being the first-ever groups of guests allowed inside the Mine Ride for pictures was a real treat. As someone who works at a park and knows exactly how much planning (and all the approvals) it takes before something like that can happen, I really did appreciate it! I hope they will be able to expand upon the backstage tours for next year.

 

-The Q&A session was great! The guy from Arrow unveiled a new ride concept for us (has that ever happened at a coaster event before?) and was real informative answering any questions. Jeff Tucker was hilarious in handling all of the questions, and all members of the Knott's management team (the GM, operations manager, shows manager, tech services manager, and a haunt designer) were honest and informative in their answers. It's refreshing to be able to get real answers from management like that, instead of the "tow the company line" mentality you see from most enthusiast Q&A's.

 

-How awesome is it that they chose West Coast Bash to unveil a Haunt maze? And to give us an entire concept walk-through of the maze? Again, that is something that has NEVER happened before! Not even websites who have been covering haunt for years get that sort of access! As a member of the "Haunt Family" and a huge haunt fan, that was the highlight for me! Haunt information is usually kept under lock-and-key until August! I hope this is something that can continue to be a part of WCB as well.

 

The event was very much like how Solace used to be: a GREAT coaster event planned/hosted/operated by people who really care about providing the best experience possible for all attendees. Robb, Elissa, Chris, and all members of Knott's management should be applauded for their efforts!

 

May next year be even bigger & better!

Edited March 22, 2010 by Jew

[PAL]

WCB was unbelievable! I can't imagine how much time it takes to set this event up, but it must be huge. Magic Mt was spectacular, especially the backstage tours and that super-generous ERT (customized even!). What a wonderful surprise.

 

We were giddy at the chance to get to see the maintenance shop and transfer track at X2, just amazing. All credit to the park for treating us like royalty. We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

 

Thanks so much. My family was smiling ear to ear. I want the TPR and RideWorld teams and the wonderful Magic Mt management crew to know how much pleasure you brought to my family. Obviously we weren't alone, we were in great company.

 

More quick highlights:

* The friendly banter and joshing from management, who handled the Q&A session with aplomb.

* Free photos! Most coaster ride booths stayed open for ERT. Wow, another unexpected bonus.

* No lines for ERT! No lines for ERT! No lines for ERT! Coaster heaven, we are so lucky.

* The ride ops rocked! Upbeat, fun-loving, and cranking trains, especially that great Goliath crew.

* We didn't do the scavenger hunt, but wow! That was one action-packed day. Cool prizes too.

* Muffin ERT!

* Club TPR welcome packets. I know the day guests suffered serious pen envy.

 

Let's go again!

[fatdaddy]

best day at sfmm ever, check in was flawless, morning ert was great, should wake up every day like that, riding coasters and stuffing maple bars in my face, tours were awesome, not sure if my friends got some of the more "coaster geek" parts, but they still thought it was awesome, all the six flags people were extremely friendly, went from having "a six flags day" to having "a six flags night", they were still smiling at midnight when i left, add on dinner was grub, i didn't know there was dessert or i wouldn't of eaten so many meatballs, carrot cake was awesome and huge, server was great and cute, q and a was no hold barred, loved the honesty, ride ops were cool as hell for the night time ert, rode seven coasters including racing colossus, won the race by the way my superior coaster skills, special sound track was cool, my cousin wouldn't stop saying he "took the tunnel" all the way home, and texting it all the following day, could of swore terminator was faster at night, was still able to get the group photo around midnight, along with some funnel cake and a coke, way cool, how tpr/rideworld/sfmm puts together such a kick ass event every year is beyond me, thanks to anyone and everyone who had a hand in making this event the insanely great day it was, now if i could just figure out how to escape the wife and kids and go to bab

[wrs28330]

Now that I have almost recovered from an amazing weekend, I would like to thank Theme Park Review, Ride World, and Knott's Berry Farm for putting on a wonderful weekend!

 

As a Guest for the day at Knott's, I appreciate all the work they did to make our day a memorable one!

The morning ERT was a wonderful start to a long day of rides.

I was blown away by the Calico Mine Train's maintenance crews' pride in their ride!

The games during the picnic were wonderful, as they appealed to all ages. (I have never seen water balloons that big!)

The presentation was amazing, and I look forward to both the maze "concept" coming to life as well as the possible TPR Haunt event!

The night ERT was a wonderul end to a great day on a great mix of rides.

 

Thank you Knott's Berry Farm!

[rcdude]

I'd never been to WCB before this year so I wasn't sure how it would be. Despite being tired and getting over a cold most of the weekend, West Coast Bash was AMAZING! Everyone involved in the planning of the event did an excellent job and I definitely look forward to attending again next year.

 

Now for the list of things I liked:

 

1. Both presentations were very well done. The Q&A sessions were great, and although I am not a huge haunt fan the presentation for the maze was interesting.

2. ERT...wow! SFMM went above and beyond with their ERT sessions, especially the night one. Terminator with altered audio was awesome, and racing Colossus was excellent. Other than Deja Vu being down for both ERT sessions, they were flawless. Knott's was pretty good as well, but Unlike SFMM you could do all that during the day, although you may have to wait a while (Sierra Sidewinder looked like a 45 minute wait when we went for the group photo, but I rode it 4 times in fifteen minutes during ERT).

3. Lunch at Knott's was very good and the games they did were interesting. I totally think Dan should have participated in the water balloon challenge

4. The backstage tours were interesting. I liked the X2 wheel shop and transfer track area tour at SFMM, and Knott's Calico Mine Ride and Roundhouse tours were great. I only wish that the Mine Ride tour could have been one tour visiting both areas as opposed to two separate tours.

5. All the little bonuses that the parks included, such as photos and a T-shirt, were good. Unfortunately, I didn't make use of all of them.

 

A few things I didn't like so much or that could probably be changed to make the event better:

 

1. Terminator had a mandatory preshow during morning ERT. Luckily, they were allowing people to re-ride in an empty row but I feel that during ERT the preshow should be optional (maybe play it but allow people to walk through if they don't want to watch).

2. There was no milk or water at breakfast at SFMM. Maybe they could have cups or bottles of water next year.

3. Revolution still had over the shoulder restrants. (Just kidding, I thought that joke was great).

 

Once again, Robb, Elissa, Chris, and both parks did a great job with the events. If Bay Area Bash is half as good, it will be an awesome event. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend that one. Can't wait for WCB 2011.

[radiohead8989]

This was my second year at WCB, and it was fantastic. I wish my local park, Six Flags Great America, had an event like this. I rode X2 30 times, and I still had time to ride other coasters during ERT. ERT was scheduled to end at midnight, but X2 stayed open until 12:30AM. I'm already looking forward to West Coast Bash 2011.

[robbalvey]

I wish my local park, Six Flags Great America, had an event like this.

*wink*

 

[Top Thrill Dragster]

Great event!

 

 

Racing Colossus was by far the highlight of the event.

[PAL]

Oh ho, can we get a wink for Six Flags Great Adventure?

[Ledgy]

While watching the updates on facebook and in the Forum, I got so sad not being there. Seems like a great fun over there!

But I want to thank for the live pictures on facebook and thank Hanno for the fast updates in the Forum, too! So we could share in.

[Mr. Starr]

I wish my local park, Six Flags Great America, had an event like this.

*wink*

 

 

Robb, you're wink is now uber-sexy.

[socalMAN123]

I only attended the Knott's portion, but I can officially say that it was the best visit to Knott's I have ever had and Xcelerator wasn't even open! Every single little thing the park did for us was amazing! Some highlights include:

- Morning ERT was a blast! I rode everything that was open in the morning and had a bunch of re-rides on everything but Boomerang and Timberline Twister.

- The lunch was DELICIOUS. The chicken was heavenly and the games were super fun. It was also nice to hang out and talk with some people that I don't get to see very often, if not once a year.

- The afternoon presentation was probably the highlight of my day. The S&S representative was great and answered all the questions like a normal person would and not how most corporations would answer questions for the general public. I really appreciated that aspect. Also, the park management was HILARIOUS and I thought was awesome during the Q&A session, answering in the same way the S&S rep did. And my absolute favorite part of the day, being a HUGE Haunt fan, was the presentation by Daniel Miller. WOW! Does that maze look awesome or what?! Look forward to walking through it in October.

- The cherry on top was the nighttime ERT. I got five rides on Silver Bullet without even leaving my seat, five rides on Ghostrider in different seats, and one ride on Sierra Sidewinder. I'd say that is pretty amazing for an hour of ERT!

 

Much appreciation goes out to Robb, Elissa, Chris, and the Knott's management for planning an epic day for us! Can't wait till next year!

---Brent

[nursemelis374]

Still trying to recover from a great weekend! Thanks to everyone that was involved in the planning! Had a wonderful time both days. Here are my highlights:

 

- Winning the scavenger hunt on Saturday. We had fun doing it and it was exciting to win! Team 38!

- X2 ERT - though my shoulders are still hurting from it!

- Q and A at both parks. I can not even imagine how stressful this must be for the park management teams and yet they handle it not only professionaly but also with a great sense of humor!

- Even though the backstage tour on the Calico Mine Ride was a bit short, it was still really cool. I liked going back there and getting to take pictures, as evidenced by my new avatar!

- I love trains so the roundhouse tour was interesting. Those guys clearly have a passion for what they are doing.

- I know some people thought the Knott's presentation was kind of boring, but as a lifetime visitor to Knott's, I enjoyed it. I liked hearing the history of the parks and the thought processes behind some of their decision making as well as insight into future projects. Robb - your finesse at handling some of the complaints and issues is astounding. You handle these things much more politely than most.

- As always the best part of these things is hanging out with friends and meeting new people. This was once again the case!

 

Thanks again!!!

[fpsphil]

Thanks guys for an amazing Sunday at Knott's, i had so much fun i regret not signing up for Magic Mountain now, but next year i will definitely try to attend both days.

 

I dont know why people are complaining, maybe after having such a busy day at Six Flags, the shorter day at Knott's didnt seem as "grand" and entertaining. Sure there are somethings that would have made the day taht much better, but im 100% grateful for what we got.

 

1. While short, the Calico Mine Ride tour was actually quite interesting, wish they would have walked us around some more or showed us more of the workings of the ride but hey like robb said, we were the first group ever allowed to wander around in there which is pretty cool in itself.

2. Would have preferred 2 hours of night ERT especially with Silver Bullet and Ghostrider, but once again im not dissapointed because 1 hour is better than 0 hours.

3. The presentations were very good and interesting, hearing from the S&S guy was very interesting and the Q&A with Knott's management was hilarious

 

Suggestion for next year: schedule some mid-day event, Knotts doesnt have that many rides, and a guided tour or more presentations would help to better fill out the day

 

Anyways, great event, absolutely loved it, I think im not going to be a lurker on the forums as much anymore and going to start posting more after yesterdays awesome day.

 

Thanks guys

Phil

 

Group Photo 11:00 by Sierra Sidewinder

Edited March 22, 2010 by fpsphil

[ZeroG001]

Thank you so much for such an amazing day on Saturday at SFMM! It was my first coaster event in general, and I will definitely try to make any future TPR events that are within my reach, and will definitely be back for WCB 2011! Some things I thought were awesome were:

 

-Morning ERT on X2 was great. I got 3 rides in and all 3 times we just walked back around the station and got on again. My friends and I rode every coaster open for morning ERT, but unfortunately missed the expedition excursion. We want to try and do all the extra WCB stuff next year, instead of just focusing on rides.

-The backstage tour from Deja to Batman was awesome. William was there waiting with us before we started and he was a really cool guy! Alex was our tour guide and I think he did a great job.

-The lunch was excellent. I got some of everything and it was all great. The unlimited refills on drinks was the best part, though!

-The Q&A and presentation was awesome! I had no idea the management was such a chill group of guys, and I really felt welcomed at the park with how much of a fun attitude they all had. The whole day there were employees smiling and asking us how our days going, even Jay Thomas himself! I love how the park president can take time out of his busy day to walk around the park, picking up trash and interacting with guests. The staff at Magic Mountain did an excellent job making my friends and I feel welcome!

-Night ERT was the highlight of the day. Racing Colossus was amazing, and I couldn't believe how much fun it actually was! I wasn't expecting much but it was awesome how the ride seemed really competitive! The audio remix on Terminator was hilarious, and that was the best night ride I've ever had in the park! Terminator is blazing fast at night! The only other rides we went on during night ERT were Batman and Goliath, and both were excellent.

 

Overall, we had an awesome time at SFMM and I'm looking forward to attending next year's WCB, too! Thank you to Robb and everyone at SFMM who worked so hard to put on such an awesome event!

 

I just have one more question. When were the backstage tours for X2, Scream, and Colossus? If those were during the morning expeditions, I wish I could have made it! Oh well, I'm already looking forward to next year!

[robbalvey]

Oh ho, can we get a wink for Six Flags Great Adventure?

Next year I hope to be able to give you that wink.

 

[the ghost]

^ I think everyone had different charter tours. We had a Goliath backstage tour where we got to go under the lift, go by the tunnel for the big drop, and go near the helix of death. After the Goliath tour we rode Colossus, and there were people underneath us, so I am assuming the tour was at around 2:20 as our tour was around 20/25 minutes and was at 1:55.

 

The day was amazing. It was my first ever enthusiast event, and I brough my non enthusiast friends, who also had an amazing time. We rode everything besides Deja Vu during morning ert, but it may have broken down, so we didnt bother, and its not a favorite of mine. We got rerides on Tatsu, and my group was 3 out of the 4 people on the entire train.

 

The scavenger hunt was fun although we did not do to well, especially considering my charter tour was smack dab in the middle of the scavenger hunt.

 

I enjoyed all of the tours, and although some were a little dissapointed by the backstage tour, you got some cool angles and pictures, and the charter tour later in the day more than made up for any dissapointment, as our Goliath tour was awesome.

 

The Q&A was a blast, and it was very entertaining, and I loved everyones enthusiasm throughout, and the way they announced ERT with the black eyed peas song "Good night" I think its called, was a great way to get everyone pumped up. I am glad Ninja is staying, and new flat rides are coming at some point.

 

Evening ERT was the hilight of the day for sure. We went on Riddler at exactly 10, so ERT had not totally started yet. Ran to Goliath and waited four trains, as some of the GP were still in the station. We got on and went around twice thanks to the awesome ride ops. We then went on racing Colossus, then to Batman, whch is insane at night in the front, it feels like its going 1000 miles per hour, CRAZY RIDE! We then ran to Terminator for a ride with the audio, which was awesome and a highlight of the night with Colossus. We then went on Superman twice, and the floater air was great. Then two rides on Tatsu, and one ride on X all during night time ERT. Such a fun day. I want to thank the entire magic mountain staff, Robb and all the people that made registration go so smoothly(we were registered and ready to go with t shirts and everything in less than 5 minutes) as well as Rideworld. I cannot wait until 2011, as this was easily the best day I have ever had in a park anywhere. Such a great day, and I will do knott's next year if I have the money as well!

[chickenbowl]

My weekend was full of SO MANY firsts.

I had 8 rides on Tatsu, 6 on Terminator, 5 on X2, 2 on Goliath, 3 on Silver Bullet, and 2 on GhostRider, and thats just some.

I thought it was amazing and I thank you so much for all the food and ride oppurtunites.

Maintainence on X2 excursion was great. Calico tour was great. Everything was great. I can't wait to do a full trip in the near future (I just need some money).

Thank you SO MUCH Robb and everybody for the best roller coaster trip (for me) ever!

 

-Jeremy "Wishes I could get out more" Cole

[dandaman]

I wish my local park, Six Flags Great America, had an event like this.

*wink*

 

 

Oh God, if this happens, I AM THERE.

 

Theoretically, of course.

[ebl]

Park management at both SFMM and Knott's went above and beyond to give us a great weekend, as did Robb and Elissa here at TPR and Chris at Ride World. I can't even imagine how much work had to be done, but rest assured, this ancient relic appreciated it more than you know.

 

The food was good and plentiful, and there was a lot to see and do. Thank you all for a great weekend.

 

Eric

[FitchCoaster]

Well I've already posted in the other WCB thread, but I'll post here also. I don't think I can stress enough how much I appreciate everyone involved in putting this event on, and how much fun I had! I was telling Jaclyn constantly during the event how spoiled we're going to be next time we go to either Knott's or SFMM. The "perks" we got for the event were fantastic! The two main highlights for me:

 

-Night time ERT at SFMM... oh man. This had to be my favorite part of the entire weekend. Colossus racing the trains was epic, and the energy of the people in the trains was great fun. The remixed Terminator soundtrack... hilarious! "We took the tunnel! We took the tunnel!" These were, I think, the only two rides we got to during ERT because we couldn't get enough of both.

-The presentations, at both SFMM and Knott's. Both crews were fantastic and hilarious! Very informative and interesting. Do I even need to say what I thought of the new Haunt maze presentation? Probably not, but I will anyways. I thought it was awesome! The fact that we were getting Haunt maze news in March was worth the $112 price tag alone! It was really cool, for me, seeing how a maze is brought to realization and the different room concepts Daniel Miller had in mind. The new maze sounds awesome, and the presentation has definitely made my Haunt withdrawals much worse... thanks a lot.

 

...and those weren't the only two highlights of my trip, I'm just to lazy to type more, hahaha. There's definitely a lot more things that happened over the weekend that I loved. I have a ton of pictures from the event... maybe if I have time I'll do a trip report.

 

This was definitely the most fun I've had at either park (well, for Knott's, it's tied with Haunt ). Another huge thank you to everyone involved. Can't wait for WCB 2011, I'll be there for sure!

[X2coasterfreak]

Words can't really describe this event, but it was AMAZING!! X2 excursion was the highlight for me. I have wanted to go back into the transfer and ride shop since I first rode X, it was so cool. Ron Frye is a really cool guy and had an answer to everything, I could spend a full day asking him about what makes X2. Night ERT rocked!! Collossus racing was another high point. Thank you Robb, Chris from RideWorld, Jay, Tim, Neal, and a big special shout out to Wiliam who made WCB even more special, and Terminators audio, incredible.

Next day at Knott's was kind of hard for me because I was so tired, but I got my two credits on Boomerang and GhostRider.

 

THANK YOU guys so much!

 

 

Andrew (We Took the Tunnel!) Kaminsky

[Mr. Starr]

I wish my local park, Six Flags Great America, had an event like this.

*wink*

 

 

Oh God, if this happens, I AM THERE.

 

Theoretically, of course.

 

Agreed, if this happens, I will definitely be there!