coasterer Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 (edited) Hey TPR So a few weeks back Kyle and I took a trip up to Toronto and the upper western New York area for a few parks out that way, taking advantage of the free weekend I had before school started up. Having left the previous night, we made it to Marineland just over the border by early afternoon the next day. And I have to say: holy weirdest place ever. It was somewhere between a theme park and a lost mountain wilderness. It was big and empty and hilly and barren and Dragon Mountain was the weirdest ride ever and there were whales. Huh. But, actually, for how weird Dragon Mountain was, it was pretty enjoyable. It used the terrain well enough (in fact, it was never more than like 20 feet off the terrain), and it was long and a real nice way to just get away from everything, out in the Canadian scenery. It was smooth enough, and though were some spots (the volcano, the flat stretch that went out over the dirt pit for a few hundred feet), were kinda pointless, it was still a pretty fun ride. We got out of there within a couple hours, after we made sure to see the whales, but it was a pretty enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. There's a ton more to come so just stay tuned. Thanks for reading!! Hello Marineland, hello first credit of the trip, hello lady bug coaster Credit managed Here's some of the rest of the park. Wheeerrreee areee weeee??? Oh look, a wilderness!! OH! OH! There it is!!! A three mile walk later, and we've finally arrived Canada is great. Real great So many open mouths (2) Pointless The end of the ride a BEAR! Doin the "old lady waddle" So many bears and... a WHALE! OHHH YEEEAAAAHHHHH Dragon Mountain Thumbs up This dragon would be a lot more intimidating if it looked less constipated. Thanks for reading so far! There's a pretty darn unique ride comin up next Edited October 5, 2010 by coasterer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatle11 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Welcome to Canada. Nice pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterer Posted October 2, 2010 Author Share Posted October 2, 2010 Cool. So after Marineland we hauled up into Canada around the lake, passing through heavy traffic, in an effort to get about an hour/ hour and a half up past the city. Why? Wild Wonder Water Western Waves Warlocks of the World and Wheels ... or whatever it was called. No really, there's this nifty place up past the city in the middle of nowhere with the only pipeline coaster left in the world. What is a pipeline coaster you ask? I actually didn't know either. Props to Kyle for finding this little thing. These auto sled Pipeline coasters apparently used to be in a lot more places than they are now, but were eventually all taken down for one reason or another (I'm pretending to give you a history lesson, but really I don't have a very good idea of what I'm talking about at all). Well, so this is the only one left in the world, and you basically climb to the top of a tower, sit in this individual sled that was pulled up the chain lift without you in it. At the top of the tower, once strapped in, the ride op kind of gives you a running shove off the tower, and you plunge down the drop, your little 3 x 4 foot sled attached to two pipes that serve as the tracks perhaps a little less securely than you'd hope, but then it's just you and the world as you fly around these two narrow strips of steel, completely exposed to the wind. It was awesome. Really, it was. Whether you count it as a credit or not (naturally, I do), if you're ever in the area, stop by this place. I'm not sure how long it'll stick around, but it was such a fun idea, and a really unique individual 'coaster' experience that doesn't quite measure up to anything I've ever experienced before. Anyways here are some PICTURES!!! Thanks for reading, next is Seabreeze park due to some horrible, horrible unforeseen circumstance and lack of planning on our part. The layout was pretty much a huge square with a couple turns and a few great hops 5 stories worth of stairs isn't something I typically look for in a theme park experience, but in this case, It's worth it ohhhhhhh yeah Got there just in time before closing. Sun setting over a great first day View from the top. You literally just get shoved off the platform and fly down the first drop Kyle, ready to go And he's OFF!! Revolutionary 360 degree rotational photography. I know, I'm an artist The lift hill More places in the world should be like Canada. What a great place We really did love it Thanks for reading, Seabreeze next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatle11 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 About a 2 1/2 hour drive away from me. I should go grab that credit. Nice pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowboard83 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Sweet dude! You posted the TR! I was thinking about it, but I'm too lazy and I thought it may steal your thunder. The Bailey Pipeline is totally a credit! haha. It even has a guy who controls the brakes! That makes it different than an alpine coaster in my opinion! It really is an awesome contraption. I highly recommend it to all! It really did end up being an awesome trip in my mind, even with the occasional issue... Now we have to look at some other trip... EDIT: Is it just me or does the guy working on the top platform I caught in last picture of you have a freakishly long thumb??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterer Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks for the comments so far guys. Definitely appreciate it So the next thing that happened was pretty silly. We make it back to a hotel right outside Canada's Wonderland but weren't sure if we wanted to stay there or try to find a cheaper place, so we sneak their free internet by sitting right outside the front doors on a bench to look up some facts, and by chance check CW's website to find that they had changed the operating schedule last minute and were having a job fair all day the next day, so they weren't going to be open. Well what could we do, but get the heck out of Canada? It was already 11 at this point, but there was nothing for it. So we bolt, and head all the way back through Niagara and the extra hour, hour and half or whatever it is to a hotel near Seabreeze, in which we fully planned to make the trip BACK in to Canada the next night, and then make the terrifying drive all the way home from above Toronto to NJ after CW closed the following night. Here's to ambition! So we finally crash around 2:30 or something, and wake up the next day to hit Seabreeze by opening and then haul it to Darien and Martin's. I couldn't tell if Seabreeze wasn't the place for me, or if it was because I was so flustered from not being in Canada and all the extra driving, but I didn't enjoy Seabreeze all that much. I mean, it was niiiiiice, sure, but from a credit standpoint it didn't have much to offer me except for the numbers. The woodie was pretty uneventful, the bobsled was reeeeal small, the whirlwind was fine, but nothing spectacular, and the line for the kiddie coaster was outrageous, and Kyle had to wait in it twice to ride with the kid I had already stolen. I recall describing the park as "almost fun". But really, I'm sure it was because I was just grumpy. I think it would have been a wonderful place to take young-ish children for an afternoon. We were out by 12:30 (they didn't open the kiddie and the whirlwind til noon, ugh) and were off, rapidly tearing up New York [again]. Thanks for reading, Darien Lake next! First stop, Jackrabbit! Nothing to right home about, but certainly not one of the worst I've been on We should be in Canada Whirlwind! Ho ho hooooo it's like we're in Holland!! (I've never been to Holland) The Bobsled ride kinda felt like something somebody's uncle put together for their backyard, but it was nice, and definitely unique Log flume! I mean, the place would have been great for an afternoon with the kids An abysmal attempt to capture Jackrabbit's layout Kiddie coaster has landscaping. Nice Done and done Whirlwind from the disco coaster we rode waiting for Ww to open. Noooooot the biggest fan of sitting like that Oh yeah we were right next to a lake!!! Story.of.the.trip. There's Kyle in the middle, the least proactive credit whore ever. You have to WANT IT! Anyways, thanks for reading, Darien Lake next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Awesome report. It was nice meeting you at Gam Danny! -Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks for the report, I now have a new ride type to add to the bucket list, pipeline coaster, awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowboard83 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Hey! I'm proactive Danny! Just never had my coffee first so I wasn't outgoing yet! look who whored a kid at CW and who didn't!!! ShaaaaaWing So proud of that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterer Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks Zach - we'll for sure have to meet up again at some point down the line. A shouted introduction across ten people in line for Giant Drop was hardly sufficient Yeah right come on Kyle haha. All else equal I got 9 rides on Behemother-of-all-rides in the time you were a whore. Proactive my rear end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowboard83 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Yeah right come on Kyle haha. All else equal I got 9 rides on Behemother-of-all-rides in the time you were a whore. Proactive my rear end. Eh, don't worry Danny, you are a whore too...2 of 3 kiddies wasn't half bad. This was the first time I ever stole a kid! I was reminiscing of the Big Bad Wolf on Vortex 6 times while you did Behemoth. Pretty proactive...I walk away with 1 or 2 more credits than you did from CW. Don't be mad that I organized my time! Vortex is the next best thing to BBW out there, unfortunately. Don't know how much longer parks will continue to fund their Arrow suspendeds, and Behemoth will be there a while. Hence my decision is justified. Once in front of Behemoth was fantastic, but it will always be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterer Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Right. Anyways, continuing. We arrived at Darien Lake at like 2????? Or something? And had like four hours there so that we could leave in time to make Martin's like a half hour away. OH andasmallnotethat'sreallyimportanttoeveryonenotthinkingI'mtheworld'sworstphotographer, the screen on my camera was broken..? sooooo... if a picture is very much out of focus or slightly cuts off something or looks like it was generally taken very haphazardly... it most definitely was. Which is all well and good because there wasn't all that much to do at Darien Lake anyways. We hit up Superman first, and while Kyle had ridden the one at SFA and I have yet to, I think we both can agree that this thing was a thing of beauty. While Kyle hands down ranks it above the one in SFNE, I wasn't so sure... But regardless, the whole experience felt rather poetic. You're taken up this very narrow, imposing lift from this mere little garden area outside of the station, completely away from the rest of the park. The first drop was beautifully steep and sustained - we even got a kick of airtime from the front of the train. Then you fly low to the ground around this still lake, low enough to scoop up a handful of gravel if you so desired to (only mildly recommended), and then you're ejected from your seat straight into the sky, before diving down and being wrapped tightly around that way-out-there helix, gaining speed as your almost squeezed through the aperture at the end. And then you really are flying, across the lake again, the reflections screaming up at you from either side, the imposingly stout airtime hill approaching quickly. Then once more you're tossed skyward out from the lake, and dive once more to an elegantly sweeping helix, this one slowing slightly as you prepare for the home stretch, the station now in sight. Then it's a gracefully sloped dip into the twisted airtime hill, and two last little hurrahs before careening to a halt, nothing but power, the willow trees swaying as in repercussion to your flight. But of course you all know this. Sometimes I just get carried away. I really enjoyed it, actually, more than I thought I would. What I had taken for standard helixes, wasted flat stretches, and a lack of innovation and utility in design, could really be mistaken for a precision in creating a unique, specified experience, though I'm still not entirely convinced. Either way, this ride is one for the books. The rest of the park wasn't too much to write home about, though it was nice to sit in Voyage's old trains again, and motocoaster was almost fun. The rest was nothing but painful, although the aesthetic of the center lake (Darien, I'm assuming), was a nice touch. 3 more rides on Superman for me, and another 3 on Predator as well (there was no line and Kyle was infatuated with how much the ride didn't necessarily suck, despite his expectations), and we were off by early evening. Next stop, Martin's Fantasy Island, thanks again for reading! We're here! We're here! I missed all the good on-the-drive-in pictures of Superman because... I have no excuse Thar she blows From the queue. This is about as much as you can see of superman from within the park, unfortunately What stunning intentional photographic composition! .. Predator did a good job of hiding the correct direction to Superman's queue for those of us too excited to grab a map One of the many things I've learned from TPR, a big smile means it's a good ride Predator looks really really good from this angle. Too bad this is from its exit ramp so you're jaded from having just ridden it DE of steel They have a beautiful blue boomerang, situated right next to the lake. And this guy's pretty new. A surprisingly forceful launch, followed by a surprisingly uninspired layout. Well hey there! Darien Lake, (I'm guessing here..) Not my favorite way to spend the afternoon At least there was foliage Ba de ya, say do you remember Ok and enough of everything else, let's get back to my newest lover A little more of the layout than last time I took this picture Well hey there TPR.. Can't for the life of me figure out why I'm skipping towards this thing Hey there beautiful Signature shot. Thanks for reading!! Next up is Martin's Fantasy Island Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rochester26 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Nice Pictures! I sure wish they would come up with a better name than "Ride of Steel" for the former Superman. Not that it would matter, most people (myself included), still refer to it as "Superman" anyway.... I love that they painted Viper black again! I always thought it just looked "wrong" in the years when it was green. The Boomerang looks nice with the new paint as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterer Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Martin's Fantasy Island was next. We only had about 40 minutes here or so. Their woodie was actually a ton of fun. It was set right up against the woods, and just seemed way out of the way and great for a local "hidden gem" of a ride, if you live around the area. Actually, I just got a vibe from the park that said "this is the perfect place to be spending all of your fall days." I don't know, kind of like a Knoebels, out of the way, back in the woods up north, great woodie hidden in a rather family oriented park. The airtime and forces were great, and though the layout did a little bit of puttzing around at times, it didn't really detract from the overall ride. They also had a wild mouse, which we grabbed, but got a good 5 or 6 Silver Comet rides in before they closed around sundown for the night. Then it's back off to Canada, Canada's Wonderland up next. Thanks for reading! Silver Comet, the night is cooling down, the clouds are covering the sky, the smell of smoke floats in faintly, what a damn near perfect night to ride Gotta love retro I really wasn't expecting much from this thing, but it sure delivered Solid CCI Love the colors on the train Ope, this was odd. This is not the way to wait for the front of the train Oh wait, sorry, excuse me sir, what.. wait, wha-?? This is not ok. Walking around towards the back The back half Wild mouse cha ching. Thanks for reading, Canada's Wonderland next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 I wholeheartedly agree with you on Silver Comet. It was a great ride that really surprised me when I rode it this summer. I think that's my overall feeling with Martin's Fantasy Island...surprisingly good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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