PTR: Texas' Mega Midwest Memoir: Kennywood now Pg 4!

[Jakizle]

Hey guys, I finally have free time (college rules, atleast Freshmen year ) so I've decided to do a HUGE photo trip report of all of the parks I did in one month this summer. I was always signed up for the Middle America trip, so I knew which parks were included there. However, I had yet to visit any of the Ohio parks or West Pennsylvania parks, and by chance a friend (HoustonThrills aka Byron) asked me if I'd like to do a trip. I had the funds so after some loose planning we booked flights. I guess there's nothing else to say, so I'll just post the itinerary below. Once every trip report goes up, I will link to that PTR from the index below. Just to warn you the first trip will be a little park heavy while I tried to capture all of the TPR fun during the Middle America trip to mix in with all of the park coverage. Anyways, thanks for reading!

 

1. King's Island - July 19th (BELOW)

2. Beech Bend - July 20th

3. Holiday World - July 20th

4. Cedar Point - July 21st and 22nd

5. Waldameer - July 22nd

6.Kennywood July 23rd

(We stopped by Jungle Jack's Landing on July 24th before flying home where I rode my 300th coaster, Sea Dragon. Sadly I did not bring my camera in the park since it was a 15 minute stop).

 

Middle America Trip

 

7. Mall of America/ Nick Universe - August 5th,

8. Adventureland - August 6th,

9. Worlds of Fun and Lamberts - August 6th and 7th

10. Silver Dollar City - August 8th

11. Arch and City Musuem - August 9th

12. Six Flags St. Louis aka Hottest Park day ever - August 10th

13. Holiday World - August 11th

14. Indiana Beach - August 12th

15. Six Flags Great America - August 13th

16. Mt. O, Timberfalls, Knuckleheads - August 14th

17. Valleyfair - August 15th

 

 

 

And to start it off....

 

Kings Island, July 19th 2010

 

On Sunday night, Byron drove from H-town to my place in San Antonio (He hit SFFT during the day) and we were all set to leave at 6:30 am to arrive in Cincinatti around 10:30 am. However, at the hour of 10pm, Delta gives us a phone call telling us our flight in 8 hours is Canceled! No reason or anything given, but they just threw us on a 11am flight that didn't arrive into Cincy until after 6pm...which obviously wasn't going to work. Eventually my mom got hold of a Delta representative and we found the same exact 6:30 am flight out of Austin...so we drove up to Austin at midnight, arrived at our hotel around 1:30am, and got up at 4:30am for out flight. Thankfully all went well out of Austin and we even landed a little early. We grabbed our rental car and drove up to Kings Island, arriving around 11:30am. Jizzman was waiting at the entrance and the rest went like this...(credit whore day)...

Probably the coolest part of Kings Island is their sky line...they have a lot of giant structures!

I don't know why, but we found the parking booths at Kings Island to be quite funny. Also, this parking lot was insane to navigate..

We eventually found a parking spot (I'm not exaggerating at all). For a Monday the park appeared to be fairly busy!

The entry plaza.

We began by heading to the Extreme Zone...which was a bad idea. Drop Zone and Invertigo had full queses, but Jizzman said Flight Deck should have a short wait

This would be the first of ridiculously long queue lines that aren't used that we would encounter...but it is a Cedar Fair Park. As you can see the ride is tucked away in the woods of Ohio.

Jizzman was luckily correct on the short wait, saving him from the wrath of Jake and Byron. We are spoiled with not waiting in line after TPR and Ace events.

Flight Deck was fun, albeit short...and it's showing its age. In other news, Delirium was down with many mechanics working on it all day. Therefore we moved on to a new section...

...and let the credit whoring begin! Next door was Adventure Express.

For me in station shots are kind of obligatory. I'm not sure why, but deal with it! The line for this ride was at the entrance basically, but moved super fast. Anyways, great mine train! I really liked it despite the amazing lift that leads to the final brakes.

True story...Coney Mall will be home to a new attraction in 2011. However, we visited in 2010.

Therefore we rode Racer next, which was unfortunately only running the Red side.

We rode in the back and...wow! I actually really liked the ride! It was smooth in the middle bench and offered some good air.

As we were getting off the Red side fate was on our side as the Blue side opened for riders. I cannot say the same about the Blue Side when it comes to offering a decent ride.

Next up on the To-Do-List was Vortex.

Kings Island operations are actually very good...Vortex was running 3 trains. They barely stacked also! The line was full but the wait was like 10 minutes.

Vortex is a mess of steel. Despite being rough, I really liked it! Favorite arrow coaster?

Vortex doing its thing

My attempt at an artsy shot, which failed. Anyways, I hope this ride stays operating as the Arrows start to disappear.

I thought it was time to ride Diamondback next, but I completely forgot this park had Stunt Coaster...which was between Vortex and Dback.

Diamondback teasing us through the trees

This is where you enter. Fortunately the ride had a pretty short wait as it looked much longer later in the day.

I KNOW no one has ever taken this photo before...

We ended up getting assigned the front row...and I thought it was a cool ride. Even better, all of the effects were working!!

Finally it was time to ride the most anticipated ride of the park...Diamondback!

However as we walked towards the ride I couldn't help but take photos of it

It is very cool how you can just stand directly under the track...the placement of this ride rules.

Jizzman talked us into checking out how pathetic the Crypt has become, so we did that first. Wait one minute, Dback!

Lead the way Jizzman...

As we predicted, the Crypt was super lame. The best thing is the exit provided many angles of Dback that you can't get elsewhere!

If I had any vote, I would say Diamondback is one of the funnest rides to take pictures of...Kings Island does have a winner with this ride and I haven't even ridden yet!

See what I mean? You can't walk directly under the drop of most B&M megas.

Okay enough drooling, time to ride...

Kings Island has a weird fascination with not using ANY switchbacks for the coasters...instead they use one big line that spills outside into the midway. At least the wait was only 10 minutes.

Kasploosh! I was skeptical but I have to say I love the water splash visual.

Jizzman used his buddies working the ride to get us back row, as he recommended the most extreme ride first.

Diamondback was completely awesome and easily a top 10 coaster for me (steel) but it rattled a TON. This ride is only a year old so I don't get it. I got off with the worst head ache I have ever had. I bought some Tylenol and moved on though...we have more whoring to do. Next up!

There was no wait here, maybe because the GP understands this ride is a torture device?

How can it look so cute and innocent and inflict so much pain??

Woodstock Express was located next door and was way more enjoyable.

Cute ride setup...this kiddie woodies are very cool. No line here either!

Another station shot. The only thing im curious about is why this ride requires a HUGE trim break...I guess they ran out of straight track on the Beast.

We also rode the dark ride, which is VERY well done. I apologize Larry but I failed to get a picture of the inside loading area...the moving walkway thing made it difficult!

OMG a person photo! I had to take one of me in front of the famous Eiffel tower...

We were also told to try the Skyline chili...and to be honest it didn't even compare to chili we have back in Texas.

Next up we ventured up the Eiffel Tower for pictures before it started to get dark or anything. Next couple of photos won't require captions...

Splashhhh

After the tower we wanted to give Diamondback another ride, so this time we opted for the front. (We see you Vortex)

Diamondback doing its thing

Did I mention I LOVE the splash? It's fun on ride and looks awesome elsewhere.

This is the most horrible pic of me EVER! I tried to look excited and epically failed. Byron looks excited, however!

Best first drop of any hyper? I vote yes.

Look ma, no supports!

Okay, if you are paying any attention we still had 4 coasters to go at this point. Beast time!

Alternate views of Diamondback can be found here.

Entry plaza...and I had no idea what to expect out of this ride.

These dividers seem like they should work, but they just confuse people as they dump into the gates at the same point. It congested the middle of the station while front and back rows had shorter lines!

We rode towards the back and I wasn't impressed...the ride doesn't do anything. There is a trim brake every 5 feet and every time the ride seemed to pick up speed a giant strip of magnets killed it.

Two trains at once...beat that

Next up we rode the train, which gives more views of Diamondback. I also forgot to mention it was absolutely GORGEOUS outside...rain was forcasted.

Beautiful.

Other than the views of Dback the train really had nothing else to it other than service to the waterpark and back...sort of confusing.

Awesome views of Diamondback though

Next we headed to the front of the park to try the Extreme Zone again or what ever they call it. It was a good call because Drop Tower's line was down to one cycle! Great view, but still underwhelming.

Invertigo just reopened after a breakdown...we got pretty lucky here!

This was our wait for a ride that was over an hour wait earlier...score! Good forceful ride but my headache returned!

Looky there! Delirium is running??

Empty . I did find out it reopened the next day after a length closing.

Once again, if you're keeping count, 2 coasters to go!

Once again, the line for a ride was spilling outside the entrance.

However no switchbacks were being used and the line went directly into the station

Have you ever seen this picture before?

Last but not least, my last American flying Dutchman.

This was our longest wait of the day at 30 minutes...not terrible. It actually delivered a pretty decent ride, and I place it after Batwing but before Nighthawk (sorry Carowinds fanboys)

For the rest of the night we just rode Dback over and over...and here is behind the scenes of Byron's picture taking. Instead of breaking the ride, his camera of doom brought bad weather...

As we were on the stairs the heavens unleashed a display of lightning followed by rain

Best picture I have of the weather...ifail

Eventually the weather passed and we got an hour worth of night rides on Diamondback! Just stay away from the outside seats and this ride kicks ass!

Beast was given an obligatory night ride...and it still did the same thing (nothing)

Thanks for a good day, Kings Island! I expected to hate this place and ended up having a good day despite headaches, silly Ohio people, lots of concrete, and masses of trash cans. Thanks to Jizzman for touring us around his home park. Beech Bend up next! Sorry for the heavy ride photos but this was a solo trip!

Edited October 19, 2010 by Jakizle

[let1gre]

Great report! Looks like you had one helluva trip. I can't believe any park could be that busy on a Monday. I'm looking forward to more posts!

[mattnz]

Nice report on Kings Island! Andrew and I hit the park after the Mid-America trip on a very quiet day, which was awesome. I agree with you on the outside seats on Diamondback. B&M rattle! Weird huh?!

[Jakizle]

Nice report on Kings Island! Andrew and I hit the park after the Mid-America trip on a very quiet day, which was awesome. I agree with you on the outside seats on Diamondback. B&M rattle! Weird huh?!

 

Yes! I have no idea why it was so bad. Has anyone ridden the outside seats on Behemoth and had a similar experience? It was incredibly bad...at least the ride is really good for B&M hyper standards despite the rattle in select seats.

 

Once again, sorry this was so ride/park heavy on photos...Middle America reports will definitely be more about the fun we all had in addition to the great rides.

[Geauga Dog]

Nice photos. I was at Kings Island the day after your visit.

 

Sorry to hear the Beast wasn't all that. I tend to sit towards the front on this one and generally have good rides. I agree about Diamondback, it is a great ride but, like you, don't get why it rattles so much.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your photos.

[WFChris]

I agree with you; after all the hype, I thought The Beast was pretty stupid.

[Midgetman82]

It's not the only coaster with the B&M rattle, sadly Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia has it too but I'm pretty sure one of the trains is rougher than the other. Great photos, I haven't been to Kings Island for a very long time, probably since 2000 or 2001. It's great seeing photos of it now, thanks for sharing.

[1pizza14]

Behemoth doesn't rattle.. Its very smooth however.. the orange train sounds like a machine gun. Great TR best I have seen for KI.

[robbalvey]

Dammit! Get to the TPR Trip stuff already!

 

Seriously though, great TR Texas! I would encourage everyone to follow this one!

 

--Robb

[Jakizle]

^ I know I know, but I really wanted to post these photos since I actually had my Nikon with me...I should be able to get these done pretty quickly! Figured I would just do them all together since the trips were 1.5 weeks apart and over the same area of the country (I did the Midwest AND Mid-America trips ). I will post Beech Bend tomorrow, HW Friday, and the rest over the weekend and Monday. Should get to Middle America by Wednesday!

[stingrock23]

At least you didn't have to ride the hell that was Son of Beast.

[Fat-G]

I cant remember if I was working that day. I don't know if you remember but on Top Gun or Drop Zone (I don't use their CF names unless I am working) was one of the ride operators kind of overweight with glasses and brown hair?

[Jakizle]

I have no idea, unless this is you in this photo lol:

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4847384500_caefdb6369_o.jpg

 

By the way, as I finish this post I begin to upload the Beech Bend update...

[Fat-G]

Yep, thats me. God I need to go on a diet!

[Sir Clinksalot]

Wow, looks like an Epic coaster trip. Can't wait to see more.

[Jakizle]

Update 2: Beech Bend July 20th, 2010

 

After Kings Island we stayed in the local Blue Ash Hyatt Place...Priceline name your own price rules as we got the room for 2 nights at $65 a night. Between 2 people it was a great deal! So on Tuesday our plan was to visit Beech Bend and Holiday World since they are very close together. Originally we were just going to do the Ohio and West Pennsylvania parks, but we decided the trip was so low cost we could add another day. Byron really wanted to visit Holiday World (I knew Id be going on the Middle America trip) and I really wanted to ride Kentucky Rumbler since we were that close to it. In the end we made the compromise to do both, as he wanted to visit Beech Bend as well. It doesn't make sense to visit this part of the country and miss out on this ride...

The halfway point on our drive took us through Louisville, and here is a crappy photo of SFKK from the road. Should have done this trip a year earlier!

3 hours later, it was quite nice to see this sign . The hour change right before the park made the drive a lot easier as we gained an hour of sleep!

It seemed like we were getting lost...this is the only clue that you are heading in the right direction!

Ah much better, looks like we made it!

I spy wooden awesomeness out in the middle of a random field!

Parked the car on the grass somewhere and made our way to the park entrance!

Ticket prices if you are interested. Beech Bend has a Club TPR discount too! They were very excited to see two people using debit cards from Texas

After receiving your ticket, the friendly staff will stamp your hand here

Of course, the first thing we did was head straight for Kentucky Rumbler

When I saw the ride entrance the first thing I thought of was the Discovery Special that talks about their process for choosing the name Kentucky Rumbler.

This is what I expected out of Beech Bend...no lines at all! As we were anxious to ride we chose the next train in the back seat

Station shot for the geeks. Friendly staff resides here!

Holy crap, where did all these people come from? The park definitely started to pick up as the morning progressed. Another back seat ride for us!

As for the ride, I'm kind of torn. It is PERFECT for this park, and just a general fun ride. No extreme forces anything but there is enough airtime moments and good speed to please the thrill seeker.

Moving on, as there was more to ride here. The rides are basically spread out around a small pond in the middle of the park.

Starship 4000? In all seriousness does anyone know if there is any difference from a 3000? We should have rode, I have NO clue why we passed!

However, there were credits to achieve here.

Here we encountered another friendly ride op who was fascinated that we came all the way from Texas to visit Beech Bend. However, he said he was an Alabama fan which was uncool!

This lift hill turned out to be one of the most terrifying moments of my life. We sat together for some unknown reason and as the train crawled up if felt like the car was going to snap right off the track...or I was going to fall out. Anyone who did the Oakland Zoo with TPR in May knows what I mean...

Credit in hand, we made our way to the drop tower next door.

No line for a serious kick ass drop ride. If you don't know about ARM drop rides you need to go ride one right now!

Also next door was the parks classic dark ride.

I had heard good things about this ride, but it was a bit of a let down. I love these things, but I think only 2-3 scenes actually worked or did anything.

The infamous Scat 2...no thanks. I don't do well with spine and puke rides!

Last but not least, let's check out the Wild Mouse.

Wait a second...it's looking a little dead over there. This can't be good!

Our anticipation was correct...ride closed. We later talked to a ride op and were told the ride was struck by lightning the night prior, just like Liberty Launch at Holiday World.

Walking back to the front of the park, we saw what appeared to be a new looking ride. Good to see they add rides even if small!

Beech Bend is also home to its very own circus! However due to time constraints we decided to pass...

I forgot to mention, the dark ride only ran 2 cars, with only one inside at a time. This created a very long line! Glad we rode earlier.

We couldn't pass up more rides on the drop tower...also another plug for how GORGEOUS it was outside despite forecasts for storms all day....this would become a theme.

Another shot for the ARM enthusiasts...I am so ready to start that club

The operator this time around was very friendly and permitted us to bring our cameras on the ride. Here is a look at the kiddie coaster (name escapes me)

This shows a majority of the ride park, with the dark ride and wild mouse off to the bottom left of the picture.

Lets be honest...this is the reason why anyone comes to Beech Bend. Who wouldn't want to have a coaster in their field?

Wanted to ride this thing SOOO bad, but I just can't handle the spinning.

This ride looked insane, but I had a bad experience on one before and decided to pass. Lets reride Krumbler and dip!

This is what it's all about.

Queue line photo delivered.

People in the midwest are a strange breed...they waited on the stairs until the train boarded despite there being nothing keeping you from lining up for a row. Don't block the line!

It was finally time to ride the front seat. As you can see the ride was fairly busy for Beech Bend standards.

First drop action. Since the station is in the middle of the ride and surrounded by wood photos are very hard to get!

Airtime begins here. I am a fan of the 3 station fly byes!

The Kentucky Rumbler ride ops were very friendly and also allowed us to photograph the ride. Everyone here is friendly!

I think there is a thread on TPR for people that like this sorta thing (prelifts)

Lift hill enthusiasts rejoice. For some reason I agree that lift hill POV photos look awesome.

Looking back at a mess of track. Nice design, GCI!

This means you have reached the top...and its time to ride

First drop.

At this point I had to shoot blindly, but I liked how some of these came out.

Who needs banking all the time? One of my favorite parts of the ride.

One last spot of airtime before the final brakes!

For some reason I feel like this defines Beech Bend!

We ended our visit at BB by reriding Krumbler as many times as we could...here are some looks from the back.

I like this one.

If you like airtime, the drop in the back is quite satisfying!

I just really like how these next 3 photos came out, so enjoy

Families love the Rumbler

View from the final brake run. I think the onride photo system is new?

Did I mention the front changed my opinion of the ride greatly? The airtime was much more frequent and forceful up front! Here are a few more pics..

The ride is twistyyyy

Nobody makes these tight banked curves better than GCI

This is what airtime looks like!

Last one for the fans, I promise! This ride is a great mix of air and twisty wooden bits

Sadly we had to depart Beech Bend and the Rumbler. I think in total we ended up with 6 rides, being 4 back and 2 front.

One the way out, we noticed Beech Bend offers free soft drinks!

Anyone that REALLY knows me knows that I will do almost anything for Pink Lemonade.

The park exit.

Just to give you an idea of how the parking lot looked as we left. If they can keep this size crowd coming on a random weekday I think Beech Bend should be pretty well off. They did just open a $5 million water park expansion!

Speaking of water parks, I failed to include any photos of it. It was pretty popular with the families as it turned out to be pretty hot outside!

The parting shot. I love love love how the family that runs the park made a dream reality by building a great woodie on their land. I'm jealous!

 

HW coming up next.

[cal1br3tto]

Beech Bend looks like my kind of park. There seems to be a decent selection of flats, and KR's layout looks amazing! You got some pretty disorienting onride shots that make me want to ride it! I'm starting to really appreciate GCIs even though my experiences with them have been a bit mixed.

[stingrock23]

Beech Bend was fun. That drop tower was one of the best I've ever been on.

[cal1br3tto]

^ARM/Larson towers are certainly not to be underestimated! I've been on taller towers from other companies that were nowhere near as good as even the smallest ARM tower I've ridden.

[Jakizle]

^ARM/Larson towers are certainly not to be underestimated! I've been on taller towers from other companies that were nowhere near as good as even the smallest ARM tower I've ridden.

 

This is how I feel! I have yet to go on any drop ride that comes close to the intensity of the ARMS. Kemah and Moreys have the 140' models that are insane! Ive been told Larson is designing a 225' version also...I can't WAIT to see that happen.

 

Holiday World will go up tomorrow or Friday!

[coasterbear30]

I just went to KI, HW and BB last weekend and I can agree that the kiddie coaster at BB was one of the scariest things I rode the whole trip! You are entirely correct in saying that the first turn/lift thing felt like it was going to fall off the track. Now imagine 8 grown adults taking up the whole train and you will get an idea what we felt like. I thought for sure we would rip the track apart. Not to mention that the ride op had to push the train to get us on the lift. LOL

[PKI Jizzman]

Hey Texas!

 

Been meaning to comment sooner, thanks for the shoutouts in the KI update! Can't wait to see the rest of the pics from the trip, definately had a great time at KI and in Chicago. Damn, you had one hell of a year this year!

 

College should be awesome.

[Pirouettes907]

I am loving how detailed your trip reports are!

 

I went to Beech Bend for the first time last June and it was completely dead, so it's great to see they can pull in a crowd. I found Kentucky Rumbler pretty "meh"--there was one turn in the middle of the ride that seemed to kill the pacing and the train felt like it crawled through the rest of the course, not to mention airtime was practically nonexistent. Hopefully I just caught it on a bad day! I'm curious about this Discovery Special you mentioned; what's the origin of the name "Kentucky Rumbler"?

 

I wholeheartedly agree about their drop tower, though--it is, by far, one of the best I've been on. It definitely lives up to its name.

 

Looking forward to future installments!

[Jakizle]

Sorry for the delay, but another trip report in on the way...

 

Holiday World! 7/20/10

 

I will just tell the story via pictures since I already talked about this day before!

After stopping for lunch at Culvers somewhere in kentucky, we crossed this bridge.

Crossing such bridge means you are now in Indiana! (unless you drive in the other direction, of course)

PKIDelirium demanded a picture of the Nuclear Plant right near the KY-IN border, so here it is. Don't explode please!

After making it into Indiana you get to Holiday World via these awesome roads. True Story: These roads have more airtime than all of Kings Island and Cedar Point combined!

Where???

I spy Voyage out of nowhere...seriously!

If you've never been to Holiday World seeing the entry plaza is quite exciting!

Since we arrived later in the day (2:30-3pm) we were forced to park in the Legend Lot

Love the water tower! Enough though, lets go in.

Just kidding, who doesn't have this picture of Raven? I like how the drop is the ONLY visible part of the ride for the GP.

Holiday World's "famous entrance." Here we were able to get our coaster group discount

Santa Claus welcomes you to the main attraction of Santa Claus.

First thing first, lets ride the woodies of Halloween. (Kind of sounds like a messed up porno, just saying)

From the "top" of the park you get a nice view of Legend. I never realized this part of Holiday World was so hilly!

True story- best drop in the park.

However, the first thing we did was ride Raven

The Raven lives in the woods! All 3 coasters here have fun settings.

Despite one train operation this is what the wait for Raven looked like!

We decided to go for the back row first, a wise choice...

I thought Raven was a great ride....automatically top 10 considerations were in my head. The airtime was great and the pacing is like no other.

Time to tame the Legend!

Ride Entrance.

If you are creative in Legend's queue you can get some through the tree shots

I absolutely love the small details that go into Legend's Theming.

If you wait for the front this view of the drop is there for you...and it looks as awesome as it rides

Speaking of the front row, this is what it looks like?

Can you tell I like station pictures? Sorry I'm not sure why! Anyways, I wasn't a fan of Legend in the front row, but you'll hear more about this ride later.

Can you guess what we were going to ride next?

If you guessed Gobbler Getaway you were correct!

Who am I kidding? Lets ride the Voyage that everyone has been hyping up.

We were told this entire queue was filled up around park opening- maybe its a good thing we waited until the afternoon.

This is what the line was like- about 25 minutes long.

This is what you see from the Station! Excitement starts to build here...

Our first ride on Voyage was taken in the front seat of the original blue train.

We see you, Timberliners! However I am very happy I got to ride the PTCs as I can always go back and ride the Timberliners and compare!

After my first ride I ABSOLUTELY loved Voyage. The airtime was AMAZING, I didn't find it rough at ALL, and overall it even exceeded the hype it had received.

 

However, this feeling only lasted about 2 weeks...more on this later when I return to Holiday World.

Everyone has this picture, so I wanted to be cool.

Thanks for the amazing ride Voyage, we will see you shortly.

Next on the agenda was Pilgrims Plunge, which had just reopened following the thunderstorm the day prior.

Holy long line!

Looks can be deceiving though, as only part of the indoor queue was filled. I think we got on in about 15 minutes!

I am a fan of Pilgrims Plunge. The lift is very cool and drop never seems to end...and you don't get THAT wet. It was super hot outside also!

Speaking of the heat, the name Oasis couldn't be any more appropriate. Thanks HW!

Voyage is wild.

The first time I saw this picture I could have sworn there was 3 people in the front seat. And why yes, the water park was still open and housed a majority of the HW visitors.

Time to go credit whoring boys and girls.

My first thought entering this area was about the Midwest trip video from 2007

This ride makes me want to do the howl from Legend's drop!

Credit in our pocket, it was time to get some rerides as darkness falls.

We did check out Liberty Launch, which sadly was struck by lightning during the storm the prior night. Its okay though, I gave her a ride in August! (teehee)

To get to Raven we walked along the front of the park to make sure we saw everything.

Raven's line had a grew a little bit by now, but it still was only about 15 minutes.

I don't think this girl liked my picture taking!

Front row this time! Mistake

After riding in the back and front, I promised myself to only ride Raven in the back...no other seat can even compare!

Back at Legend, this is a good site.

This time we rode Legend in the back...HOLY CRAP! This was by far one of the wildest rides I had ever had. It was out of control air and lateral madness...good enough to be my #3 wood coaster. Call me crazy but it delivered.

We ended the night at Voyage, also with a much shorter line now!

We waited for the front once, and it was amazing again. For the last ride of the night we decided to check out the back seat.

This is an idea of how dark it started to get...park closed at 8:30 pm.

We ended up getting the very last train of the night on Ravage...awesome!

Good night Voyage, see you again in 2 weeks. As a Texan I never thought I'd get to say that.

It's always Christmas in Santa Claus!

Holiday World has it's own gifts with the 3 woodies...what a collection. As a lover of wooden coasters this place was sort of like heaven.

Fail on my part, but I just forgot 3 pictures I wanted to include. Ravage doing it's thing here...

This is my current desk top, no joke.

Did I mention it was absolutely gorgeous? Despite storms in the forecast....blah blah blah! You've probably heard that enough by now

Last picture from Holiday World. Forgot to mention this, but due to our short time and a SUPER long line for Wildebeest we didn't even try to ride it. We ended up with 2, 2, and 4 rides on the woodies going from smallest to largest, oldest to youngest, slowest to fastest. Cedar Point up next!

[texcoaster]

I did KI and HW in June this year. Rode Wildebeest, but had to queue for 2 hours to do it. Fun, but not 2-hr-queue fun.

Voyage is still my #1. I found that it ran substantially smoother than a couple years ago when I first rode it.

 

Too bad your first ride on The Beast was this year. They've trimmed the life out of it. True, it doesn't really do anything, but when it's allowed to run like it should, even straight, flat track can be pretty intense. The last helix was braked to death this year and the mind-numbing laterals were completely absent. Such a shame.

 

Glad you liked Diamondback. I thought it was a pretty coaster, but I was pretty underwhelmed by it. Rode in the front, back, and a couple of different spots in the middle. Meh. But then, I'm just as meh about Nitro and Silver Star, so maybe I just don't get a charge from B&M megas.