Skycoastin' Steve's 2011 Season Extravaganza!!

[SpookySaint]

The old cars are from the comet, before they changed the colors to the orange and green. Not sure if they're the original ones or if there was another set before them though.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^That's what I figured, thanks for the info!

[Skycoastin Steve]

Giving this a bump post so the trip report will start on the next page.

 

Pre-Northeast Trip report coming soon! While you're waiting in eager anticipation, feel free to check out some of my other reports from this year, like the OMFG Windseeker pictures and terrific fireworks show from BGW!

[Skycoastin Steve]

Since I have a ludicrous amount of trip reports to do for the Northeast Trip, I'm going to slowly ease into them and start with the pre-pre-pre trip day that Jen and I had on July 26. I picked her up at the Baltimore airport in the morning and we headed off to Clementon Park in New Jersey to get a new woodie credit for both of us, and then we went to Morey's Piers after that to get her all the credits there (I already went there on my Whore on the Shore day).

 

Clementon Park wasn't much, more like a large carnival than anything. It had a few flats here and there, and then of course Hellcat, which lived up to its name. We rode Hellcat twice, took some pictures, and left. Hellcat was just rough and uninteresting for the most part, and the four trims on the first drop didn't help. I can imagine it was INSANE when it first opened, but those days are long, long gone for this coaster. I'm looking forward to riding S&S's other woodie in Wisconsin a lot more.

 

Morey's Piers was the same as it was when I went in May. Nothing special, just a ton of rides spread out over three piers and LOTS of people. The ride we had on the SLC officially ranks in my top 5 worst rides I've ever had. You couldn't pay me to ride that again. Great White honestly wasn't running very well, but it's not that great of a ride to begin with. It seems like CCI wasn't too inspired on the layout. I imagine I won't be going back to Morey's until they build that GCI in 2013.

 

Either way, it was a good credit run and a nice way to wade into the craziness that would be the TPR Northeast Trip! Here come the photos, please comment! Thank you for reading!

First stop of our 13-day journey was Clementon Park!

Johnny Cash approves.

Hellcat, new woodie!

Probably was a lot more fun when it opened.

Sign action.

EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE!

First drop.

The four trims that basically murder the first drop. But given the rest of the ride, I imagine it would break ribs if it didn't have them.

As you can see, the park was packed today.

Hellcat did have some good turns mixed in there. Once again, I wish I could have experienced them when it opened.

And I'm sure this had great airtime pre-trims.

The three "big" rides in the park.

Then we made the drive to Wildwood, home of........

Morey's Piers!

The first boomerang of FIVE that we would ride on the trip.

And it sucks just as much as the rest of them.

Death wheel.

Forwards or backwards?

Rollie's Coaster, I'm too tall for it.

But Jen isn't, and it was her 150th steel coaster!

Time to head to that pier.

Home of Great White, a rather mediocre CCI creation.

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!

My favorite part of the ride happens before the lift, that's pretty much my standing on Great White.

We rode the Sky Ride, which provides excellent views of Great White.

Lift hill and the Atlantic Ocean.

Cresting!

The first drop actually isn't that bad in the back row.

Those swooping CCI curves that I love so much.

Not too much excitement here.

The airtime hills on the back side had decent air, but nothing special.

A look at the other two piers.

Vekoma death machine sitting next to the death wheel.

I'm still perplexed by the anime' theming of the Flitzer.

Wild Mouse themed to fast food.

Worst coaster ever.

It just beats you to death the ENTIRE ride.

The absolute best thing about Morey's (and other shore parks) is they sell Stewart's Orange Cream soda! It's hands down the best soft drink ever created!!!

[paiging_jen]

That was the worst ride I've ever had on a boomerang. I had thankfully forgotten about it until now when looking back at the pictures. I have never been more stapled in a ride in my life.

 

Definitely an interesting day to start the 13 day adventure. Thankfully it only improved!

[tatertot3710]

I was there yesterday. I agree about the SLC. I got off and told myself it was the worst coaster I've ever been on. I can't imagine it with the normal restraints. As far as the boomerang, it's actually my favorite and IMO, the smoothest I've been on, above the ones at Great Escape and Hershey. I don't know, I just didn't experience any headbanging. Stapling is another story though...ouch.

[Medusa1861]

They removed the drop tower from Clementon? It was the best ride there last year.

[VinTheAttendant]

^^Surprisingly, the SLC was a lot less violent with the old restraints. It used to be really smooth for an SLC. But then I rode it last weekend and it is clear that it hasn't aged well. The new restraints are very comfortable, but I would totally sacrifice comfort for a smoother ride.

 

Anyway, these pictures are fantastic (I particularly like the shots of Hell Cat)! I can't wait to see the rest of the trip!

[TheSchwitek]

I defintely indulged at that same Stewart's restaurant last summer. I 100% agree with the delicious orange soda, and I had a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich there as well. Not to mention, the waitresses there were very nice to look at. As for the two parks, I couldn't agree more with the ride collections being very "meh". On a positive note, the other Hellcat (my #100 woodie) is WAY better.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^I've been drinking that Stewart's Orange Cream soda since I was a kid, and it's so depressing because it's incredibly hard to find! It needs to be sold everywhere!

 

And at some point I'll finally travel to the Dells and get all those credits, including the other Hellcat. If not next year, then it'll probably be in the 2013 edition of the extravaganza.

[Skycoastin Steve]

Now it's time for the Un-Un-Official Day of the TPR Northeast Trip!

 

As has already been seen in other trip reports, the un-un-official day was spent at Bowcraft Amusement Park and then in NYC with Scott's Pizza Tour. Jen and I skipped the kiddie coaster in Central Park in lieu of spending some time walking around and enjoying the sites of the park, since I had never been there. I do have to say that Central Park is an absolutely gorgeous part of the city that everyone should experience at some point. There were so many times I looked around and literally couldn't tell that I was in the middle of a city as big as New York. It was quite a relaxing part of the day (a theme that really didn't last).

 

Scott's Pizza Tour was also pretty awesome, that guy is effing crazy about pizza! That's also something I would highly recommend for anyone who enjoys pizza. It was very informative, and you could tell the guy has the same passion about pizza that all of us have about theme parks and roller coasters. Not to mention the pizza was delicious!

 

After the tour was over, we broke away from the TPR pack to go check out construction on Freedom Tower (the new World Trade Center building) and then to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center for a great night view of the city. All I have to say about Freedom Tower is that it's going to be spectacular when it's finished. I think they've finished about half (or less) of the building so far, and it's already towering over everything else in lower Manhattan. The top of the Rockefeller Center was both good and bad. Good in that it provided some truly amazing night views of the city, bad in that it was PACKED with annoying and rude tourists. I guess it just comes with the territory of being in New York City, but I had the urge to hurl a few people off the roof more than once in the 15 minutes we were up there.

 

Either way, the un-un-official day was a great way to kick off the TPR portion of our trip, and a great way to sort of "wade" into all the people we would be meeting over the next week. Here are the pics!

 

If you so wish to see all of the spectacular photos I took on this day, please feel free to check out my facebook album that contains the rest of them. The album is public so you shouldn't have any issues viewing it.

First stop of TPR's week in the Northeast, Bowcraft!

This was definitely a whore-ish stop, but that's how we roll. This Dragon looks ferocious.

Gary and Neil have no shame, and chose the hands up approach. However, I chose to ride with my hands down. Giants like me can't do hands up on kiddie coasters, not if we want to keep our hands attached to our bodies. That plus the ride was scary.

Bowcraft also had what I would consider to be a "real" roller coaster.

And it had a few helices with actual "real" forces. And it farted coming back into the station.

Robb filming this epic beast of a coaster. I'm thinking we should "fix" the Mitch Hawker poll next year so Crossbow comes out at #1. Who's with me?

Upon seeing the skyline, I couldn't help but think of Pace Picante sauce commercials.

 

Says here this stuff is made in.....New York City.

 

 

........NEW YORK CITY?!?!

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

We also checked out the giant toy store from the movie Big.

Which has a place you can build your own Muppets. I didn't build one for myself, but if I had, it would have been a male stripper with a leopard thong and keys to a tour bus. True story.

The giant toy store from the movie Big is also home to the giant piano from the movie Big.

Let's see Stevie Wonder play this.

Upon Robb's recommendation, we stopped by this waffle stand in Central Park. What I received was the most diabetic coma inducing treat I've ever eaten, but it was worth every life-shortening bite!

Now that my stomach is struggling to digest 2 pounds of sugar, let's take a walk!

This was a neat fountain.

These were pretty lily pads in the water around the fountain. What it doesn't show are the cigarette butts and trash that were also in the water.

Beautiful pond on the edge of the park.

Calm down all you Harry Potter dorks, this isn't IOA. It's the Belvedere Castle.

Hibiscuses are pretty.

This is the entrance to John Lennon's old apartment building.

And this is where John Lennon was shot and killed. I've now been to the spots where Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and John Lennon were assassinated. Is that a disturbing pattern?

Now that we're done with the park, it's time for Little Italy!

And Scott's Pizza Tour! Happy dance!

The first stop was Lombardi's. This is a look inside the kitchen.

If you have difficulty reading (but are somehow following along to this report), the plaque says that Lombardi's was the first pizzeria in this wonderful country we call home.

Scott said that the internal temperature in the oven was something like 830 degrees, or hot enough to bake a pizza in 3 minutes. And I thought microwaves were efficient.

Our next stop was Arturo's.

While this pizza was completely nom-licious, it wasn't as good as Lombardi's. Although I seemed to be in the minority on that one

Our final stop was Ben's Pizza, which provided us with these ridiculous slices of Sicilian pizza. It was most definitely my favorite pizza of the day, but I failed to take any pictures of it because I was drowning in deliciousness!

While our TPR comrades went for canolies, we took the subway to lower Manhattan to check out Freedom Tower. I can't wait to see the finished product whenever they get it done. Hopefully it resembles a giant middle finger to assholes everywhere who like to blow themselves up "in the name of Allah."

Some random cherry fountain. It was pretty.

Radio City Music Hall!

Two tickets to the observation deck, please.

As you can see, you get a wonderful, unobstructed view of the Empire State Building.

As you can also see, you get a fairly obstructed view of the Chrysler Building.

Times Square is glowing bright tonight.

I'm glad to see the Empire State Building survived King Kong. They really made a disaster out of it in that movie. Almost as big as the disaster that was Jack Black's acting.

I also did a few panoramas during the day, this was a lake in Central Park where you can row boats around. I don't remember what it was called. For the sake of this trip report, we can call it Row Boat Lake, not to be confused with Motorboat Lake, which is somewhere between two mountains (or hills, depending on the "landscape").

This was a big grass field where people did things like throw frisbee, tan, and read books. I took a picture of it.

I do like this one. I'll bet you can't guess what it is.

 

The end!

[Intimidator305]

Great photos, especially those from on "Top of the Rock"! Call me crazy, but I really like the view and experience better at Rockefeller Center better than at the Empire State Building.

 

Also, thanks for that construction update on Freedom Tower, they are getting closer and closer to topping it off!

[larrygator]

Row Boat Lake is the correct name.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Is it really? I was just being a smartass.

[larrygator]

^Is it really? I was just being a smartass.

 

So was I.

 

It is actually just called "The Lake" or "Central Park Lake".

http://www.centralpark.com/guide/attractions/lake.html

Edited August 15, 2011 by larrygator

[piers]

I really like the last picture of the city, usually panorama's make me want to throw up for some reason but this one is nice.

And I agree with you that Lombardi's was the better pizza!

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Thanks, Piers! The full size version of that panorama is stunning, but unfortunately I can't post that here.

[beatle11]

I visited Lombardi's with a few other Road to CP members the day before the trip and it completely lived up to they hype. Unbelievably delicious.

[805Andrew]

Nice Jersey Shore and NYC pics! I really like Stewart's sodas too, all their non-diet flavors I've tried are great. i especially like their Key Lime and Peach flavors, and if you think the Orange Cream flavor is hard to find, try finding the Peach one.

[televisedconfession]

Maybe your K-o-D has something to do with your visiting the location of fallen celebrities.

 

Maybe next you can stay in the hotel room where Anna Nichole Smith died. It's just up the road from the fallen Dania Beach Hurricane.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^I like your thinking, Neil. Maybe the KoD will have a road show one day.

[KDcoasterMAN]

I thought it was just "the Lake"

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Yeah, after consulting the Greek God Googlethela, I'm pretty sure that's the name. Even though Row Boat Lake has a nice ring to it.

[fatdaddy]

Wish I had done some of the NY stuff, but was content to have Elissa babysit me for the night, and between the muppet and kiddie credit there wasn't much time before the Pizza tour. More pictures please.

[jynx242]

Thanks for the pictures Steve. Looking forward to future updates to get me over my post-trip depression.