bgwfreak777 Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 (edited) Hello all, I have to give a little prologue before I start: This summer has been a blast working and playing at Carowinds. Intimidator has been a great addition as you'd imagine, but on the night I got my 100th ride in, my camera was stolen. So that stopped my 100th ride trip report as well as the possibility of further trip reports until I could afford a new camera. Said camera has been purchased, and now on with the show! For a long time I have wanted to do Hershey and Great Adventure, so I finally bit the bullet and made the long drive up to PA and NJ this past weekend. I had a great time, great weather and no serious traffic problems at all. Overall a fantastic weekend. Edited January 16, 2011 by bgwfreak777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Beautiful pictures! I agree with you on Talon. Fun ride, places after Afterburn though. The thing that really freaks me out about the coasters at Dorney (B&M wise) is how quiet they are. I was told that the tracks were filled with sand or something to dampen the roar. Whatever they did - worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaMiTsPaT Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 ^^I stayed at that hotel this summer when my friend and I went to Dorney, Hershey, and GADV (weird that its the same 3 parks!) and I found it quite convenient! I also loved Talon and despised Hydra. ps great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted September 21, 2010 Author Share Posted September 21, 2010 (edited) Time for round numero dos. Edited January 16, 2011 by bgwfreak777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted September 23, 2010 Author Share Posted September 23, 2010 Round 3: Great Adventure! I finally made it to Great Adventure!!! You don't know how long I've wanted to go to this park. WELCOME TO THE LARGEST SIX FLAGS IN AMERICA. This would be the reason for the Tiger part of my story (Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My!) I stopped and paid my respects. I'm not upset so much it's gone, but that I missed the credit. I'm feeling very super. I thought I'd piss off the big guy by reminding him he's not the fastest man on Earth. My tour guide for the day chillerc1 was on hand to show me his home park, and what a park it is. Green Lantern you're looking a little yellow. Oh no! You've turned evil already! (See, in the Lantern colors the yellow is like the nemesis of the green lanterns). I look sooooooooooooo excited to be riding the world's tallest and fastest (for one more month) coaster don't I? Rattler: The Launch Coaster. And yes, I was denied by Sandor again. Boo! I know, I know I'm moving my fat behind along Sandor. Such a pretty section of the park. Fire! Fire Good! Loved Medu, er, Bizarro. Six Flags has good food? What is this!?! I really liked my meal at the Wild West place near the mine train. I'm thinking of doing the New England trip next year, and if I can get some more weight off maybe do the add-on and try again. Plus I missed out on the right side of Rolling Thunder as it was down. Ah baby. Loved this thing. I wonder what ride is next? Of the 3 new mice (for me) on this trip, the indoor one came in 2nd of the 3. lol Not a terrible job, but both indoor coasters at Gr. Adventure just seemed like "WAREHOUSE: THE RIDE". After his issues earlier, Batman came up so I could get my 3rd BTR credit. SFOG's is running so much better than this model in my opinion. Anybody got some bat spray? Pesky things. How ya doin' Derek? Wow Bruce must have fallen on hard times. Noted! I'm such a geek. Flash of course was too cool to show up and take a pic with me. We have a situation here. Loved this ride! Reminded me so much of Black Beard's Revenge at Carowinds (replaced with Super Saturator). Yeah yeah, moving along. "Interesting" anatomy. I liked the classic feel of a lot of the areas. And I ended my visit with another round on Nitro. Loved my first visit to Great Adventure, hope it's not my last. But wait! There's even more to come! In my next update you'll see ghosts! p.s. The Lions part of my story is a bit shady, but it makes my reference to the Wizard of Oz work. lol chillerc1 is a big Eagles fan, so during the day he was checking in on the Eagles/Lions game. So there ya have it, Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 Nice pictures, Dorney is always empty this past weekend since WWK is not open and Haunt hasn't started yet. Once Haunt starts the crowds pick up but ride lines are never that bad (same in the summer when crowds on the ride side only pick up when WWK closes for the day) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfoot12 Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 Nice TR. Sorry we couldn't coordinate any type of meet-up but I had already done Dorney and SFGAdv. I also refused to try out Hershey on a Saturday based on the stories I'd heard about crowds. I've only been on 4 Batmans and SFoG's is my favorite as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adavis Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 You are so right on the Stormrunner launch, that is fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted September 25, 2010 Author Share Posted September 25, 2010 Visual scan! Oh wait, I'm not at Great Adventure anymore... On to the final chapter of this trip report...Luray Caverns! I haven't been since I was a kid, probably on the same trip as the Natural Bridge so I stopped by and check it out again. It was a nice break from the road, cause after all the drive from Philly to Charlotte is a very long one when you're driving alone. OK so I've paid my money, and got my super fancy (Hey Pierce!) headphones so I can listen to the guide. The x marks the spot that at some point had been explored until they started poking around or something like that. Is it too late to go back up? Ah! What is that! It looks like that yeti creature from Empire Strikes Back! That looks scary too. I'm going back up. Now this also reminds me of Star Wars. What's up with that? Remember the shot in on of the original movies (Ep. 4 I think) out in the desert and there's a shot like this? No? Well I guess it's just me. This is Mirror Lake or something like that. This is pretty freaking cool. The water is so still down here that it creates such a reflection of the stalagmites and such that it looks like they just continue on at the bottom, even though it's just the reflection. Another shot of Mirror Lake. Ghost! This formation is called Pluto's Ghost. Apparently in a fit of maniacal rage Mickey killed Pluto and threw his body down in these caverns in Virginia! Or something like that. Hey Mr. Ghost. You're too scary, I'm getting away from you. K? Apparently 10, trillion, billion or so years ago this one fell down when Barney the dinosaur was stomping around Virginia. No, really! That's what the audio guide said! Ah! Pluto's Ghost up close! Run! The organ was a bit of a letdown. I didn't think the sound the formations made when hit with little hammers made all that much of a sound. The ghost is following us. Ah! Wishing Well. You guys hold down the guide while I jump in! The copper in the coins has turned the formations in the pool a cool green color. Hope they don't find it makes the whole place fall apart in 10 years. Oops! We didn't know! They donate all the money each year to a different charity, which is pretty cool. Alright who left their fried eggs down here? The little formation on the right I called Father Christmas, cause that's what it looked like to me. And we've come the full loop on our hour plus trip through the underworld! Well worth the money to me, to see a lot of gorgeous formations. Even more that I've got here in these pics. Apparently they are big Rush fans. And that brings this trip report to and end. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawesome1124 Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Awesome TR! I haven't ridden Kingda Ka but I have to agree, Storm Runner's launch is awesome, and Great Bear is awesome, and Fahrenheight is awesome, and... you get my point. Some of the rock formations in those caverns do look pretty ominous, I will have to check them out sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Great report. Did you happen to check out Foamhenge while you were in Natural Bridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted September 26, 2010 Author Share Posted September 26, 2010 Nope, I just stayed a few minutes since the prices were so steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSiRockin Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 Wow, I'm the guy in the white shirt in the Kingda Ka station pic. Luray Caverns is awesome by the way. I love the organ there, it echos very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenaapple1974 Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 WWWOOOWW! The caverns look amazing! I'd love to spend some time there. Great PTR! Makes me not have to post mine! (Yeah, eventually I will) I will also be hitting up SFNE next year. I originally wanted to finish my year out there, but something came up, so Bizarro will have to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philphan25 Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Last week my family and I stopped at the Natural Bridge on my way to NC. We just wanted to see it, but seeing the price, no way. The lady said "the price is just for the bridge, everything else (such as a wax museum) was complementary." We left after that. It's a shame that it's not a national park cause then it would be free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted September 30, 2010 Author Share Posted September 30, 2010 I know! I was shocked to see it was $18 to see it! I had already seen it as a kid so I just checked out the gift shop and moved on down the road. I understand it takes a lot to upkeep these places, but surely not $18 a head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLERLC1 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 I didn't expect to be in the tr here first. It's about time to have it on the other site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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